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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of The Decline and Fall of the
+Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon
+
+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: The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
+       Volume 2
+
+Author: Edward Gibbon
+
+Commentator: H. H. Milman
+
+Posting Date: June 7, 2008 [EBook #732]
+Release Date: November, 1996
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DECLINE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Reed
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
+
+Edward Gibbon, Esq.
+
+With notes by the Rev. H. H. Milman
+
+
+
+
+VOLUME TWO
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
+Constantine.--Part I.
+
+     The Conduct Of The Roman Government Towards The Christians,
+     From The Reign Of Nero To That Of Constantine. [1a]
+
+[Footnote 1a: The sixteenth chapter I cannot help considering as a
+very ingenious and specious, but very disgraceful extenuation of the
+cruelties perpetrated by the Roman magistrates against the Christians.
+It is written in the most contemptibly factious spirit of prejudice
+against the sufferers; it is unworthy of a philosopher and of humanity.
+Let the narrative of Cyprian's death be examined. He had to relate
+the murder of an innocent man of advanced age, and in a station deemed
+venerable by a considerable body of the provincials of Africa, put to
+death because he refused to sacrifice to Jupiter. Instead of pointing
+the indignation of posterity against such an atrocious act of tyranny,
+he dwells, with visible art, on the small circumstances of decorum and
+politeness which attended this murder, and which he relates with as much
+parade as if they were the most important particulars of the event.
+Dr. Robertson has been the subject of much blame for his real or
+supposed lenity towards the Spanish murderers and tyrants in America.
+That the sixteenth chapter of Mr. G. did not excite the same or greater
+disapprobation, is a proof of the unphilosophical and indeed fanatical
+animosity against Christianity, which was so prevalent during the latter
+part of the eighteenth century.--Mackintosh: see Life, i. p. 244, 245.]
+
+If we seriously consider the purity of the Christian religion, the
+sanctity of its moral precepts, and the innocent as well as austere
+lives of the greater number of those who during the first ages embraced
+the faith of the gospel, we should naturally suppose, that so benevolent
+a doctrine would have been received with due reverence, even by the
+unbelieving world; that the learned and the polite, however they may
+deride the miracles, would have esteemed the virtues, of the new sect;
+and that the magistrates, instead of persecuting, would have protected
+an order of men who yielded the most passive obedience to the laws,
+though they declined the active cares of war and government. If, on the
+other hand, we recollect the universal toleration of Polytheism, as it
+was invariably maintained by the faith of the people, the incredulity of
+philosophers, and the policy of the Roman senate and emperors, we are at
+a loss to discover what new offence the Christians had committed, what
+new provocation could exasperate the mild indifference of antiquity,
+and what new motives could urge the Roman princes, who beheld without
+concern a thousand forms of religion subsisting in peace under their
+gentle sway, to inflict a severe punishment on any part of their
+subjects, who had chosen for themselves a singular but an inoffensive
+mode of faith and worship.
+
+The religious policy of the ancient world seems to have assumed a more
+stern and intolerant character, to oppose the progress of Christianity.
+About fourscore years after the death of Christ, his innocent disciples
+were punished with death by the sentence of a proconsul of the most
+amiable and philosophic character, and according to the laws of
+an emperor distinguished by the wisdom and justice of his general
+administration. The apologies which were repeatedly addressed to the
+successors of Trajan are filled with the most pathetic complaints, that
+the Christians, who obeyed the dictates, and solicited the liberty,
+of conscience, were alone, among all the subjects of the Roman empire,
+excluded from the common benefits of their auspicious government. The
+deaths of a few eminent martyrs have been recorded with care; and from
+the time that Christianity was invested with the supreme power, the
+governors of the church have been no less diligently employed in
+displaying the cruelty, than in imitating the conduct, of their Pagan
+adversaries. To separate (if it be possible) a few authentic as well as
+interesting facts from an undigested mass of fiction and error, and
+to relate, in a clear and rational manner, the causes, the extent, the
+duration, and the most important circumstances of the persecutions to
+which the first Christians were exposed, is the design of the present
+chapter. [1b]
+
+[Footnote 1b: The history of the first age of Christianity is only
+found in the Acts of the Apostles, and in order to speak of the first
+persecutions experienced by the Christians, that book should naturally
+have been consulted; those persecutions, then limited to individuals
+and to a narrow sphere, interested only the persecuted, and have been
+related by them alone. Gibbon making the persecutions ascend no higher
+than Nero, has entirely omitted those which preceded this epoch, and of
+which St. Luke has preserved the memory. The only way to justify this
+omission was, to attack the authenticity of the Acts of the Apostles;
+for, if authentic, they must necessarily be consulted and quoted. Now,
+antiquity has left very few works of which the authenticity is so well
+established as that of the Acts of the Apostles. (See Lardner's Cred. of
+Gospel Hist. part iii.) It is therefore, without sufficient reason, that
+Gibbon has maintained silence concerning the narrative of St. Luke, and
+this omission is not without importance.--G.]
+
+The sectaries of a persecuted religion, depressed by fear animated with
+resentment, and perhaps heated by enthusiasm, are seldom in a proper
+temper of mind calmly to investigate, or candidly to appreciate,
+the motives of their enemies, which often escape the impartial and
+discerning view even of those who are placed at a secure distance from
+the flames of persecution. A reason has been assigned for the conduct of
+the emperors towards the primitive Christians, which may appear the more
+specious and probable as it is drawn from the acknowledged genius of
+Polytheism. It has already been observed, that the religious concord of
+the world was principally supported by the implicit assent and reverence
+which the nations of antiquity expressed for their respective traditions
+and ceremonies. It might therefore be expected, that they would unite
+with indignation against any sect or people which should separate itself
+from the communion of mankind, and claiming the exclusive possession of
+divine knowledge, should disdain every form of worship, except its own,
+as impious and idolatrous. The rights of toleration were held by mutual
+indulgence: they were justly forfeited by a refusal of the accustomed
+tribute. As the payment of this tribute was inflexibly refused by the
+Jews, and by them alone, the consideration of the treatment which they
+experienced from the Roman magistrates, will serve to explain how far
+these speculations are justified by facts, and will lead us to discover
+the true causes of the persecution of Christianity.
+
+Without repeating what has already been mentioned of the reverence of
+the Roman princes and governors for the temple of Jerusalem, we
+shall only observe, that the destruction of the temple and city was
+accompanied and followed by every circumstance that could exasperate the
+minds of the conquerors, and authorize religious persecution by the most
+specious arguments of political justice and the public safety. From the
+reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius, the Jews discovered a fierce
+impatience of the dominion of Rome, which repeatedly broke out in the
+most furious massacres and insurrections. Humanity is shocked at the
+recital of the horrid cruelties which they committed in the cities
+of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous
+friendship with the unsuspecting natives; [1] and we are tempted to
+applaud the severe retaliation which was exercised by the arms of
+the legions against a race of fanatics, whose dire and credulous
+superstition seemed to render them the implacable enemies not only of
+the Roman government, but of human kind. [2] The enthusiasm of the Jews
+was supported by the opinion, that it was unlawful for them to pay
+taxes to an idolatrous master; and by the flattering promise which they
+derived from their ancient oracles, that a conquering Messiah would soon
+arise, destined to break their fetters, and to invest the favorites of
+heaven with the empire of the earth. It was by announcing himself as
+their long-expected deliverer, and by calling on all the descendants
+of Abraham to assert the hope of Israel, that the famous Barchochebas
+collected a formidable army, with which he resisted during two years the
+power of the emperor Hadrian. [3]
+
+[Footnote 1: In Cyrene, they massacred 220,000 Greeks; in Cyprus,
+240,000; in Egypt, a very great multitude. Many of these unhappy victims
+were sawn asunder, according to a precedent to which David had given the
+sanction of his example. The victorious Jews devoured the flesh, licked
+up the blood, and twisted the entrails like a girdle round their bodies.
+See Dion Cassius, l. lxviii. p. 1145. * Note: Some commentators, among
+them Reimar, in his notes on Dion Cassius think that the hatred of
+the Romans against the Jews has led the historian to exaggerate the
+cruelties committed by the latter. Don. Cass. lxviii. p. 1146.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Without repeating the well-known narratives of Josephus, we
+may learn from Dion, (l. lxix. p. 1162,) that in Hadrian's war 580,000
+Jews were cut off by the sword, besides an infinite number which
+perished by famine, by disease, and by fire.]
+
+[Footnote 3: For the sect of the Zealots, see Basnage, Histoire des
+Juifs, l. i. c. 17; for the characters of the Messiah, according to the
+Rabbis, l. v. c. 11, 12, 13; for the actions of Barchochebas, l. vii. c.
+12. (Hist. of Jews iii. 115, &c.)--M.]
+
+Notwithstanding these repeated provocations, the resentment of the
+Roman princes expired after the victory; nor were their apprehensions
+continued beyond the period of war and danger. By the general indulgence
+of polytheism, and by the mild temper of Antoninus Pius, the Jews
+were restored to their ancient privileges, and once more obtained the
+permission of circumcising their children, with the easy restraint, that
+they should never confer on any foreign proselyte that distinguishing
+mark of the Hebrew race. [4] The numerous remains of that people, though
+they were still excluded from the precincts of Jerusalem, were permitted
+to form and to maintain considerable establishments both in Italy and
+in the provinces, to acquire the freedom of Rome, to enjoy municipal
+honors, and to obtain at the same time an exemption from the burdensome
+and expensive offices of society. The moderation or the contempt of the
+Romans gave a legal sanction to the form of ecclesiastical police which
+was instituted by the vanquished sect. The patriarch, who had fixed
+his residence at Tiberias, was empowered to appoint his subordinate
+ministers and apostles, to exercise a domestic jurisdiction, and to
+receive from his dispersed brethren an annual contribution. [5] New
+synagogues were frequently erected in the principal cities of the
+empire; and the sabbaths, the fasts, and the festivals, which were
+either commanded by the Mosaic law, or enjoined by the traditions of the
+Rabbis, were celebrated in the most solemn and public manner. [6] Such
+gentle treatment insensibly assuaged the stern temper of the Jews.
+Awakened from their dream of prophecy and conquest, they assumed the
+behavior of peaceable and industrious subjects. Their irreconcilable
+hatred of mankind, instead of flaming out in acts of blood and violence,
+evaporated in less dangerous gratifications. They embraced every
+opportunity of overreaching the idolaters in trade; and they pronounced
+secret and ambiguous imprecations against the haughty kingdom of Edom.
+[7]
+
+[Footnote 4: It is to Modestinus, a Roman lawyer (l. vi. regular.) that
+we are indebted for a distinct knowledge of the Edict of Antoninus. See
+Casaubon ad Hist. August. p. 27.]
+
+[Footnote 5: See Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l. iii. c. 2, 3. The
+office of Patriarch was suppressed by Theodosius the younger.]
+
+[Footnote 6: We need only mention the Purim, or deliverance of the
+Jews from he rage of Haman, which, till the reign of Theodosius, was
+celebrated with insolent triumph and riotous intemperance. Basnage,
+Hist. des Juifs, l. vi. c. 17, l. viii. c. 6.]
+
+[Footnote 7: According to the false Josephus, Tsepho, the grandson of
+Esau, conducted into Italy the army of Eneas, king of Carthage. Another
+colony of Idumaeans, flying from the sword of David, took refuge in the
+dominions of Romulus. For these, or for other reasons of equal weight,
+the name of Edom was applied by the Jews to the Roman empire. * Note:
+The false Josephus is a romancer of very modern date, though some of
+these legends are probably more ancient. It may be worth considering
+whether many of the stories in the Talmud are not history in a
+figurative disguise, adopted from prudence. The Jews might dare to say
+many things of Rome, under the significant appellation of Edom, which
+they feared to utter publicly. Later and more ignorant ages took
+literally, and perhaps embellished, what was intelligible among the
+generation to which it was addressed. Hist. of Jews, iii. 131. ----The
+false Josephus has the inauguration of the emperor, with the seven
+electors and apparently the pope assisting at the coronation! Pref. page
+xxvi.--M.]
+
+Since the Jews, who rejected with abhorrence the deities adored by
+their sovereign and by their fellow-subjects, enjoyed, however, the free
+exercise of their unsocial religion, there must have existed some other
+cause, which exposed the disciples of Christ to those severities from
+which the posterity of Abraham was exempt. The difference between them
+is simple and obvious; but, according to the sentiments of antiquity,
+it was of the highest importance. The Jews were a nation; the Christians
+were a sect: and if it was natural for every community to respect the
+sacred institutions of their neighbors, it was incumbent on them
+to persevere in those of their ancestors. The voice of oracles, the
+precepts of philosophers, and the authority of the laws, unanimously
+enforced this national obligation. By their lofty claim of superior
+sanctity the Jews might provoke the Polytheists to consider them as an
+odious and impure race. By disdaining the intercourse of other nations,
+they might deserve their contempt. The laws of Moses might be for the
+most part frivolous or absurd; yet, since they had been received during
+many ages by a large society, his followers were justified by the
+example of mankind; and it was universally acknowledged, that they had
+a right to practise what it would have been criminal in them to neglect.
+But this principle, which protected the Jewish synagogue, afforded not
+any favor or security to the primitive church. 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. Nor was this apostasy (if we may use the
+expression) merely of a partial or local kind; since the pious deserter
+who withdrew himself from the temples of Egypt or Syria, would equally
+disdain to seek an asylum in those of Athens or Carthage. Every
+Christian rejected with contempt the superstitions of his family, his
+city, and his province. The whole body of Christians unanimously refused
+to hold any communion with the gods of Rome, of the empire, and of
+mankind. It was in vain that the oppressed believer asserted the
+inalienable rights of conscience and private judgment. Though his
+situation might excite the pity, his arguments could never reach the
+understanding, either of the philosophic or of the believing part of
+the Pagan world. To their apprehensions, it was no less a matter
+of surprise, that any individuals should entertain scruples against
+complying with the established mode of worship, than if they had
+conceived a sudden abhorrence to the manners, the dress, or the language
+of their native country. [8] [8a]
+
+[Footnote 8: From the arguments of Celsus, as they are represented and
+refuted by Origen, (l. v. p. 247--259,) we may clearly discover the
+distinction that was made between the Jewish people and the Christian
+sect. See, in the Dialogue of Minucius Felix, (c. 5, 6,) a fair and
+not inelegant description of the popular sentiments, with regard to the
+desertion of the established worship.]
+
+[Footnote 8a: In all this there is doubtless much truth; yet does not
+the more important difference lie on the surface? The Christians
+made many converts the Jews but few. Had the Jewish been equally
+a proselyting religion would it not have encountered as violent
+persecution?--M.]
+
+The surprise of the Pagans was soon succeeded by resentment; and the
+most pious of men were exposed to the unjust but dangerous imputation of
+impiety. Malice and prejudice concurred in representing the Christians
+as a society of atheists, who, by the most daring attack on the
+religious constitution of the empire, had merited the severest
+animadversion of the civil magistrate. They had separated themselves
+(they gloried in the confession) from every mode of superstition
+which was received in any part of the globe by the various temper of
+polytheism: but it was not altogether so evident what deity, or what
+form of worship, they had substituted to the gods and temples of
+antiquity. The pure and sublime idea which they entertained of the
+Supreme Being escaped the gross conception of the Pagan multitude,
+who were at a loss to discover a spiritual and solitary God, that was
+neither represented under any corporeal figure or visible symbol, nor
+was adored with the accustomed pomp of libations and festivals, of
+altars and sacrifices. [9] The sages of Greece and Rome, who had
+elevated their minds to the contemplation of the existence and
+attributes of the First Cause, were induced by reason or by vanity to
+reserve for themselves and their chosen disciples the privilege of this
+philosophical devotion. [10] They were far from admitting the prejudices
+of mankind as the standard of truth, but they considered them as flowing
+from the original disposition of human nature; and they supposed that
+any popular mode of faith and worship which presumed to disclaim the
+assistance of the senses, would, in proportion as it receded from
+superstition, find itself incapable of restraining the wanderings of the
+fancy, and the visions of fanaticism. The careless glance which men
+of wit and learning condescended to cast on the Christian revelation,
+served only to confirm their hasty opinion, and to persuade them that
+the principle, which they might have revered, of the Divine Unity,
+was defaced by the wild enthusiasm, and annihilated by the airy
+speculations, of the new sectaries. The author of a celebrated dialogue,
+which has been attributed to Lucian, whilst he affects to treat the
+mysterious subject of the Trinity in a style of ridicule and contempt,
+betrays his own ignorance of the weakness of human reason, and of the
+inscrutable nature of the divine perfections. [11]
+
+[Footnote 9: Cur nullas aras habent? templa nulla? nulla nota
+simulacra!--Unde autem, vel quis ille, aut ubi, Deus unicus, solitarius,
+desti tutus? Minucius Felix, c. 10. The Pagan interlocutor goes on to
+make a distinction in favor of the Jews, who had once a temple, altars,
+victims, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 10: It is difficult (says Plato) to attain, and dangerous
+to publish, the knowledge of the true God. See the Theologie des
+Philosophes, in the Abbe d'Olivet's French translation of Tully de
+Natura Deorum, tom. i. p. 275.]
+
+[Footnote 11: The author of the Philopatris perpetually treats the
+Christians as a company of dreaming enthusiasts, &c.; and in one place
+he manifestly alludes to the vision in which St. Paul was transported
+to the third heaven. In another place, Triephon, who personates a
+Christian, after deriding the gods of Paganism, proposes a mysterious
+oath.]
+
+It might appear less surprising, that the founder of Christianity should
+not only be revered by his disciples as a sage and a prophet, but that
+he should be adored as a God. The Polytheists were disposed to adopt
+every article of faith, which seemed to offer any resemblance, however
+distant or imperfect, with the popular mythology; and the legends of
+Bacchus, of Hercules, and of Aesculapius, had, in some measure, prepared
+their imagination for the appearance of the Son of God under a human
+form. [12] But they were astonished that the Christians should abandon
+the temples of those ancient heroes, who, in the infancy of the world,
+had invented arts, instituted laws, and vanquished the tyrants or
+monsters who infested the earth, in order to choose for the exclusive
+object of their religious worship an obscure teacher, who, in a recent
+age, and among a barbarous people, had fallen a sacrifice either to
+the malice of his own countrymen, or to the jealousy of the Roman
+government. The Pagan multitude, reserving their gratitude for
+temporal benefits alone, rejected the inestimable present of life and
+immortality, which was offered to mankind by Jesus of Nazareth. His mild
+constancy in the midst of cruel and voluntary sufferings, his universal
+benevolence, and the sublime simplicity of his actions and character,
+were insufficient, in the opinion of those carnal men, to compensate for
+the want of fame, of empire, and of success; and whilst they refused to
+acknowledge his stupendous triumph over the powers of darkness and of
+the grave, they misrepresented, or they insulted, the equivocal
+birth, wandering life, and ignominious death, of the divine Author of
+Christianity. [13]
+
+[Footnote 12: According to Justin Martyr, (Apolog. Major, c. 70-85,)
+the daemon who had gained some imperfect knowledge of the prophecies,
+purposely contrived this resemblance, which might deter, though by
+different means, both the people and the philosophers from embracing the
+faith of Christ.]
+
+[Footnote 13: In the first and second books of Origen, Celsus treats the
+birth and character of our Savior with the most impious contempt. The
+orator Libanius praises Porphyry and Julian for confuting the folly of
+a sect., which styles a dead man of Palestine, God, and the Son of God.
+Socrates, Hist. Ecclesiast. iii. 23.]
+
+The personal guilt which every Christian had contracted, in thus
+preferring his private sentiment to the national religion, was
+aggravated in a very high degree by the number and union of the
+criminals. It is well known, and has been already observed, that Roman
+policy viewed with the utmost jealousy and distrust any association
+among its subjects; and that the privileges of private corporations,
+though formed for the most harmless or beneficial purposes, were
+bestowed with a very sparing hand. [14] The religious assemblies of
+the Christians who had separated themselves from the public worship,
+appeared of a much less innocent nature; they were illegal in their
+principle, and in their consequences might become dangerous; nor were
+the emperors conscious that they violated the laws of justice, when,
+for the peace of society, they prohibited those secret and sometimes
+nocturnal meetings. [15] The pious disobedience of the Christians made
+their conduct, or perhaps their designs, appear in a much more serious
+and criminal light; and the Roman princes, who might perhaps have
+suffered themselves to be disarmed by a ready submission, deeming their
+honor concerned in the execution of their commands, sometimes attempted,
+by rigorous punishments, to subdue this independent spirit, which boldly
+acknowledged an authority superior to that of the magistrate. The extent
+and duration of this spiritual conspiracy seemed to render it everyday
+more deserving of his animadversion. We have already seen that the
+active and successful zeal of the Christians had insensibly diffused
+them through every province and almost every city of the empire. The new
+converts seemed to renounce their family and country, that they might
+connect themselves in an indissoluble band of union with a peculiar
+society, which every where assumed a different character from the rest
+of mankind. Their gloomy and austere aspect, their abhorrence of the
+common business and pleasures of life, and their frequent predictions of
+impending calamities, [16] inspired the Pagans with the apprehension of
+some danger, which would arise from the new sect, the more alarming as
+it was the more obscure. "Whatever," says Pliny, "may be the principle
+of their conduct, their inflexible obstinacy appeared deserving of
+punishment." [17]
+
+[Footnote 14: The emperor Trajan refused to incorporate a company of
+150 firemen, for the use of the city of Nicomedia. He disliked all
+associations. See Plin. Epist. x. 42, 43.]
+
+[Footnote 15: The proconsul Pliny had published a general edict against
+unlawful meetings. The prudence of the Christians suspended their
+Agapae; but it was impossible for them to omit the exercise of public
+worship.]
+
+[Footnote 16: As the prophecies of the Antichrist, approaching
+conflagration, &c., provoked those Pagans whom they did not convert,
+they were mentioned with caution and reserve; and the Montanists were
+censured for disclosing too freely the dangerous secret. See Mosheim,
+413.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Neque enim dubitabam, quodcunque esset quod faterentur,
+(such are the words of Pliny,) pervicacian certe et inflexibilem
+obstinationem lebere puniri.]
+
+The precautions with which the disciples of Christ performed the offices
+of religion were at first dictated by fear and necessity; but they were
+continued from choice. By imitating the awful secrecy which reigned in
+the Eleusinian mysteries, the Christians had flattered themselves that
+they should render their sacred institutions more respectable in the
+eyes of the Pagan world. [18] But the event, as it often happens to
+the operations of subtile policy, deceived their wishes and their
+expectations. It was concluded, that they only concealed what they
+would have blushed to disclose. Their mistaken prudence afforded an
+opportunity for malice to invent, and for suspicious credulity to
+believe, the horrid tales which described the Christians as the most
+wicked of human kind, who practised in their dark recesses every
+abomination that a depraved fancy could suggest, and who solicited the
+favor of their unknown God by the sacrifice of every moral virtue. There
+were many who pretended to confess or to relate the ceremonies of this
+abhorred society. It was asserted, "that a new-born infant, entirely
+covered over with flour, was presented, like some mystic symbol of
+initiation, to the knife of the proselyte, who unknowingly inflicted
+many a secret and mortal wound on the innocent victim of his error; that
+as soon as the cruel deed was perpetrated, the sectaries drank up
+the blood, greedily tore asunder the quivering members, and pledged
+themselves to eternal secrecy, by a mutual consciousness of guilt. It
+was as confidently affirmed, that this inhuman sacrifice was succeeded
+by a suitable entertainment, in which intemperance served as a
+provocative to brutal lust; till, at the appointed moment, the lights
+were suddenly extinguished, shame was banished, nature was forgotten;
+and, as accident might direct, the darkness of the night was polluted
+by the incestuous commerce of sisters and brothers, of sons and of
+mothers." [19]
+
+[Footnote 18: See Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 101, and
+Spanheim, Remarques sur les Caesars de Julien, p. 468, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 19: See Justin Martyr, Apolog. i. 35, ii. 14. Athenagoras, in
+Legation, c. 27. Tertullian, Apolog. c. 7, 8, 9. Minucius Felix, c. 9,
+10, 80, 31. The last of these writers relates the accusation in the most
+elegant and circumstantial manner. The answer of Tertullian is the
+boldest and most vigorous.]
+
+But the perusal of the ancient apologies was sufficient to remove
+even the slightest suspicion from the mind of a candid adversary. The
+Christians, with the intrepid security of innocence, appeal from the
+voice of rumor to the equity of the magistrates. They acknowledge, that
+if any proof can be produced of the crimes which calumny has imputed to
+them, they are worthy of the most severe punishment. They provoke the
+punishment, and they challenge the proof. At the same time they urge,
+with equal truth and propriety, that the charge is not less devoid of
+probability, than it is destitute of evidence; they ask, whether any
+one can seriously believe that the pure and holy precepts of the gospel,
+which so frequently restrain the use of the most lawful enjoyments,
+should inculcate the practice of the most abominable crimes; that a
+large society should resolve to dishonor itself in the eyes of its own
+members; and that a great number of persons of either sex, and every age
+and character, insensible to the fear of death or infamy, should consent
+to violate those principles which nature and education had imprinted
+most deeply in their minds. [20] Nothing, it should seem, could weaken
+the force or destroy the effect of so unanswerable a justification,
+unless it were the injudicious conduct of the apologists themselves, who
+betrayed the common cause of religion, to gratify their devout hatred to
+the domestic enemies of the church. It was sometimes faintly insinuated,
+and sometimes boldly asserted, that the same bloody sacrifices, and
+the same incestuous festivals, which were so falsely ascribed to the
+orthodox believers, were in reality celebrated by the Marcionites, by
+the Carpocratians, and by several other sects of the Gnostics, who,
+notwithstanding they might deviate into the paths of heresy, were still
+actuated by the sentiments of men, and still governed by the precepts of
+Christianity. [21] Accusations of a similar kind were retorted upon the
+church by the schismatics who had departed from its communion, [22] and
+it was confessed on all sides, that the most scandalous licentiousness
+of manners prevailed among great numbers of those who affected the name
+of Christians. A Pagan magistrate, who possessed neither leisure nor
+abilities to discern the almost imperceptible line which divides the
+orthodox faith from heretical pravity, might easily have imagined that
+their mutual animosity had extorted the discovery of their common guilt.
+It was fortunate for the repose, or at least for the reputation, of the
+first Christians, that the magistrates sometimes proceeded with more
+temper and moderation than is usually consistent with religious zeal,
+and that they reported, as the impartial result of their judicial
+inquiry, that the sectaries, who had deserted the established worship,
+appeared to them sincere in their professions, and blameless in their
+manners; however they might incur, by their absurd and excessive
+superstition, the censure of the laws. [23]
+
+[Footnote 20: In the persecution of Lyons, some Gentile slaves were
+compelled, by the fear of tortures, to accuse their Christian master.
+The church of Lyons, writing to their brethren of Asia, treat the horrid
+charge with proper indignation and contempt. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. v. i.]
+
+[Footnote 21: See Justin Martyr, Apolog. i. 35. Irenaeus adv. Haeres. i.
+24. Clemens. Alexandrin. Stromat. l. iii. p. 438. Euseb. iv. 8. It would
+be tedious and disgusting to relate all that the succeeding writers have
+imagined, all that Epiphanius has received, and all that Tillemont
+has copied. M. de Beausobre (Hist. du Manicheisme, l. ix. c. 8, 9) has
+exposed, with great spirit, the disingenuous arts of Augustin and Pope
+Leo I.]
+
+[Footnote 22: When Tertullian became a Montanist, he aspersed the morals
+of the church which he had so resolutely defended. "Sed majoris est
+Agape, quia per hanc adolescentes tui cum sororibus dormiunt, appendices
+scilicet gulae lascivia et luxuria." De Jejuniis c. 17. The 85th canon
+of the council of Illiberis provides against the scandals which too
+often polluted the vigils of the church, and disgraced the Christian
+name in the eyes of unbelievers.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Tertullian (Apolog. c. 2) expatiates on the fair and
+honorable testimony of Pliny, with much reason and some declamation.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
+Constantine.--Part II.
+
+History, which undertakes to record the transactions of the past, for
+the instruction of future ages, would ill deserve that honorable office,
+if she condescended to plead the cause of tyrants, or to justify the
+maxims of persecution. It must, however, be acknowledged, that the
+conduct of the emperors who appeared the least favorable to the
+primitive church, is by no means so criminal as that of modern
+sovereigns, who have employed the arm of violence and terror against
+the religious opinions of any part of their subjects. From their
+reflections, or even from their own feelings, a Charles V. or a Lewis
+XIV. might have acquired a just knowledge of the rights of conscience,
+of the obligation of faith, and of the innocence of error. But the
+princes and magistrates of ancient Rome were strangers to those
+principles which inspired and authorized the inflexible obstinacy of the
+Christians in the cause of truth, nor could they themselves discover in
+their own breasts any motive which would have prompted them to refuse a
+legal, and as it were a natural, submission to the sacred institutions
+of their country. The same reason which contributes to alleviate the
+guilt, must have tended to abate the vigor, of their persecutions.
+As they were actuated, not by the furious zeal of bigots, but by the
+temperate policy of legislators, contempt must often have relaxed, and
+humanity must frequently have suspended, the execution of those laws
+which they enacted against the humble and obscure followers of Christ.
+From the general view of their character and motives we might naturally
+conclude: I. That a considerable time elapsed before they considered the
+new sectaries as an object deserving of the attention of government. II.
+That in the conviction of any of their subjects who were accused of so
+very singular a crime, they proceeded with caution and reluctance. III.
+That they were moderate in the use of punishments; and, IV. That the
+afflicted church enjoyed many intervals of peace and tranquility.
+Notwithstanding the careless indifference which the most copious and
+the most minute of the Pagan writers have shown to the affairs of the
+Christians, [24] it may still be in our power to confirm each of these
+probable suppositions, by the evidence of authentic facts.
+
+[Footnote 24: In the various compilation of the Augustan History, (a
+part of which was composed under the reign of Constantine,) there are
+not six lines which relate to the Christians; nor has the diligence of
+Xiphilin discovered their name in the large history of Dion Cassius.
+* Note: The greater part of the Augustan History is dedicated to
+Diocletian. This may account for the silence of its authors concerning
+Christianity. The notices that occur are almost all in the lives
+composed under the reign of Constantine. It may fairly be concluded,
+from the language which he had into the mouth of Maecenas, that Dion was
+an enemy to all innovations in religion. (See Gibbon, infra, note 105.)
+In fact, when the silence of Pagan historians is noticed, it should be
+remembered how meagre and mutilated are all the extant histories of the
+period--M.]
+
+1. By the wise dispensation of Providence, a mysterious veil was cast
+over the infancy of the church, which, till the faith of the Christians
+was matured, and their numbers were multiplied, served to protect them
+not only from the malice but even from the knowledge of the Pagan world.
+The slow and gradual abolition of the Mosaic ceremonies afforded a safe
+and innocent disguise to the more early proselytes of the gospel. As
+they were, for the greater part, of the race of Abraham, they were
+distinguished by the peculiar mark of circumcision, offered up their
+devotions in the Temple of Jerusalem till its final destruction, and
+received both the Law and the Prophets as the genuine inspirations of
+the Deity. The Gentile converts, who by a spiritual adoption had been
+associated to the hope of Israel, were likewise confounded under the
+garb and appearance of Jews, [25] and as the Polytheists paid less
+regard to articles of faith than to the external worship, the new sect,
+which carefully concealed, or faintly announced, its future greatness
+and ambition, was permitted to shelter itself under the general
+toleration which was granted to an ancient and celebrated people in
+the Roman empire. It was not long, perhaps, before the Jews themselves,
+animated with a fiercer zeal and a more jealous faith, perceived the
+gradual separation of their Nazarene brethren from the doctrine of the
+synagogue; and they would gladly have extinguished the dangerous heresy
+in the blood of its adherents. But the decrees of Heaven had already
+disarmed their malice; and though they might sometimes exert the
+licentious privilege of sedition, they no longer possessed the
+administration of criminal justice; nor did they find it easy to infuse
+into the calm breast of a Roman magistrate the rancor of their own zeal
+and prejudice. The provincial governors declared themselves ready to
+listen to any accusation that might affect the public safety; but as
+soon as they were informed that it was a question not of facts but of
+words, a dispute relating only to the interpretation of the Jewish laws
+and prophecies, they deemed it unworthy of the majesty of Rome seriously
+to discuss the obscure differences which might arise among a barbarous
+and superstitious people. The innocence of the first Christians was
+protected by ignorance and contempt; and the tribunal of the Pagan
+magistrate often proved their most assured refuge against the fury of
+the synagogue. [26] If indeed we were disposed to adopt the
+traditions of a too credulous antiquity, we might relate the distant
+peregrinations, the wonderful achievements, and the various deaths
+of the twelve apostles: but a more accurate inquiry will induce us
+to doubt, whether any of those persons who had been witnesses to the
+miracles of Christ were permitted, beyond the limits of Palestine,
+to seal with their blood the truth of their testimony. [27] From the
+ordinary term of human life, it may very naturally be presumed that most
+of them were deceased before the discontent of the Jews broke out into
+that furious war, which was terminated only by the ruin of Jerusalem.
+During a long period, from the death of Christ to that memorable
+rebellion, we cannot discover any traces of Roman intolerance, unless
+they are to be found in the sudden, the transient, but the cruel
+persecution, which was exercised by Nero against the Christians of the
+capital, thirty-five years after the former, and only two years before
+the latter, of those great events. The character of the philosophic
+historian, to whom we are principally indebted for the knowledge of this
+singular transaction, would alone be sufficient to recommend it to our
+most attentive consideration.
+
+[Footnote 25: An obscure passage of Suetonius (in Claud. c. 25) may
+seem to offer a proof how strangely the Jews and Christians of Rome were
+confounded with each other.]
+
+[Footnote 26: See, in the xviiith and xxvth chapters of the Acts of the
+Apostles, the behavior of Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, and of Festus,
+procurator of Judea.]
+
+[Footnote 27: In the time of Tertullian and Clemens of Alexandria, the
+glory of martyrdom was confined to St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. James.
+It was gradually bestowed on the rest of the apostles, by the more
+recent Greeks, who prudently selected for the theatre of their preaching
+and sufferings some remote country beyond the limits of the Roman
+empire. See Mosheim, p. 81; and Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiastiques,
+tom. i. part iii.]
+
+In the tenth year of the reign of Nero, the capital of the empire was
+afflicted by a fire which raged beyond the memory or example of former
+ages. [28] The monuments of Grecian art and of Roman virtue, the
+trophies of the Punic and Gallic wars, the most holy temples, and the
+most splendid palaces, were involved in one common destruction. Of the
+fourteen regions or quarters into which Rome was divided, four only
+subsisted entire, three were levelled with the ground, and the remaining
+seven, which had experienced the fury of the flames, displayed a
+melancholy prospect of ruin and desolation. The vigilance of government
+appears not to have neglected any of the precautions which might
+alleviate the sense of so dreadful a calamity. The Imperial gardens
+were thrown open to the distressed multitude, temporary buildings were
+erected for their accommodation, and a plentiful supply of corn and
+provisions was distributed at a very moderate price. [29] The most
+generous policy seemed to have dictated the edicts which regulated the
+disposition of the streets and the construction of private houses; and
+as it usually happens, in an age of prosperity, the conflagration of
+Rome, in the course of a few years, produced a new city, more regular
+and more beautiful than the former. But all the prudence and humanity
+affected by Nero on this occasion were insufficient to preserve him from
+the popular suspicion. Every crime might be imputed to the assassin of
+his wife and mother; nor could the prince who prostituted his person
+and dignity on the theatre be deemed incapable of the most extravagant
+folly. The voice of rumor accused the emperor as the incendiary of his
+own capital; and as the most incredible stories are the best adapted
+to the genius of an enraged people, it was gravely reported, and firmly
+believed, that Nero, enjoying the calamity which he had occasioned,
+amused himself with singing to his lyre the destruction of ancient Troy.
+[30] To divert a suspicion, which the power of despotism was unable
+to suppress, the emperor resolved to substitute in his own place some
+fictitious criminals. "With this view," continues Tacitus, "he inflicted
+the most exquisite tortures on those men, 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 the procurator Pontius
+Pilate. [31] For a while this dire superstition was checked; but it
+again burst forth; [31a] 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. [32] They died in torments, and their
+torments were imbittered by insult and derision. Some were nailed on
+crosses; others sewn up in the 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." [33] Those who survey with a curious eye the
+revolutions of mankind, may observe, that the gardens and circus of
+Nero on the Vatican, which were polluted with the blood of the first
+Christians, have been rendered still more famous by the triumph and by
+the abuse of the persecuted religion. On the same spot, [34] a temple,
+which far surpasses the ancient glories of the Capitol, has been
+since erected by the Christian Pontiffs, who, deriving their claim of
+universal dominion from an humble fisherman of Galilee, have succeeded
+to the throne of the Caesars, given laws to the barbarian conquerors of
+Rome, and extended their spiritual jurisdiction from the coast of the
+Baltic to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
+
+[Footnote 28: Tacit. Annal. xv. 38--44. Sueton in Neron. c. 38. Dion
+Cassius, l. lxii. p. 1014. Orosius, vii. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 29: The price of wheat (probably of the modius,) was reduced
+as low as terni Nummi; which would be equivalent to about fifteen
+shillings the English quarter.]
+
+[Footnote 30: We may observe, that the rumor is mentioned by Tacitus
+with a very becoming distrust and hesitation, whilst it is greedily
+transcribed by Suetonius, and solemnly confirmed by Dion.]
+
+[Footnote 31: This testimony is alone sufficient to expose the
+anachronism of the Jews, who place the birth of Christ near a century
+sooner. (Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l. v. c. 14, 15.) We may learn
+from Josephus, (Antiquitat. xviii. 3,) that the procuratorship of Pilate
+corresponded with the last ten years of Tiberius, A. D. 27--37. As to
+the particular time of the death of Christ, a very early tradition
+fixed it to the 25th of March, A. D. 29, under the consulship of the two
+Gemini. (Tertullian adv. Judaeos, c. 8.) This date, which is adopted by
+Pagi, Cardinal Norris, and Le Clerc, seems at least as probable as the
+vulgar aera, which is placed (I know not from what conjectures) four
+years later.]
+
+[Footnote 31a: This single phrase, Repressa in praesens exitiabilis
+superstitio rursus erumpebat, proves that the Christians had already
+attracted the attention of the government; and that Nero was not the
+first to persecute them. I am surprised that more stress has not been
+laid on the confirmation which the Acts of the Apostles derive from
+these words of Tacitus, Repressa in praesens, and rursus erumpebat.--G.
+----I have been unwilling to suppress this note, but surely the
+expression of Tacitus refers to the expected extirpation of the religion
+by the death of its founder, Christ.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Odio humani generis convicti. These words may either
+signify the hatred of mankind towards the Christians, or the hatred of
+the Christians towards mankind. I have preferred the latter sense, as
+the most agreeable to the style of Tacitus, and to the popular error, of
+which a precept of the gospel (see Luke xiv. 26) had been, perhaps, the
+innocent occasion. My interpretation is justified by the authority of
+Lipsius; of the Italian, the French, and the English translators of
+Tacitus; of Mosheim, (p. 102,) of Le Clerc, (Historia Ecclesiast. p.
+427,) of Dr. Lardner, (Testimonies, vol. i. p. 345,) and of the Bishop
+of Gloucester, (Divine Legation, vol. iii. p. 38.) But as the word
+convicti does not unite very happily with the rest of the sentence,
+James Gronovius has preferred the reading of conjuncti, which is
+authorized by the valuable MS. of Florence.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Tacit. Annal xv. 44.]
+
+[Footnote 34: Nardini Roma Antica, p. 487. Donatus de Roma Antiqua, l.
+iii. p. 449.]
+
+But it would be improper to dismiss this account of Nero's persecution,
+till we have made some observations that may serve to remove the
+difficulties with which it is perplexed, and to throw some light on the
+subsequent history of the church.
+
+1. The most sceptical criticism is obliged to respect the truth of this
+extraordinary fact, and the integrity of this celebrated passage of
+Tacitus. The former is confirmed by the diligent and accurate Suetonius,
+who mentions the punishment which Nero inflicted on the Christians, a
+sect of men who had embraced a new and criminal superstition. [35] The
+latter may be proved by the consent of the most ancient manuscripts;
+by the inimitable character of the style of Tacitus by his reputation,
+which guarded his text from the interpolations of pious fraud; and by
+the purport of his narration, which accused the first Christians of
+the most atrocious crimes, without insinuating that they possessed any
+miraculous or even magical powers above the rest of mankind. [36] 2.
+Notwithstanding it is probable that Tacitus was born some years
+before the fire of Rome, [37] he could derive only from reading and
+conversation the knowledge of an event which happened during his
+infancy. Before he gave himself to the public, he calmly waited till his
+genius had attained its full maturity, and he was more than forty years
+of age, when a grateful regard for the memory of the virtuous Agricola
+extorted from him the most early of those historical compositions which
+will delight and instruct the most distant posterity. After making a
+trial of his strength in the life of Agricola and the description of
+Germany, he conceived, and at length executed, a more arduous work; the
+history of Rome, in thirty books, from the fall of Nero to the accession
+of Nerva. The administration of Nerva introduced an age of justice and
+propriety, which Tacitus had destined for the occupation of his old age;
+[38] but when he took a nearer view of his subject, judging, perhaps,
+that it was a more honorable or a less invidious office to record the
+vices of past tyrants, than to celebrate the virtues of a reigning
+monarch, he chose rather to relate, under the form of annals, the
+actions of the four immediate successors of Augustus. To collect, to
+dispose, and to adorn a series of fourscore years, in an immortal work,
+every sentence of which is pregnant with the deepest observations and
+the most lively images, was an undertaking sufficient to exercise the
+genius of Tacitus himself during the greatest part of his life. In
+the last years of the reign of Trajan, whilst the victorious monarch
+extended the power of Rome beyond its ancient limits, the historian was
+describing, in the second and fourth books of his annals, the tyranny
+of Tiberius; [39] and the emperor Hadrian must have succeeded to the
+throne, before Tacitus, in the regular prosecution of his work, could
+relate the fire of the capital, and the cruelty of Nero towards the
+unfortunate Christians. At the distance of sixty years, it was the duty
+of the annalist to adopt the narratives of contemporaries; but it was
+natural for the philosopher to indulge himself in the description of
+the origin, the progress, and the character of the new sect, not so
+much according to the knowledge or prejudices of the age of Nero, as
+according to those of the time of Hadrian. 3 Tacitus very frequently
+trusts to the curiosity or reflection of his readers to supply those
+intermediate circumstances and ideas, which, in his extreme conciseness,
+he has thought proper to suppress. We may therefore presume to imagine
+some probable cause which could direct the cruelty of Nero against the
+Christians of Rome, whose obscurity, as well as innocence, should have
+shielded them from his indignation, and even from his notice. The Jews,
+who were numerous in the capital, and oppressed in their own country,
+were a much fitter object for the suspicions of the emperor and of the
+people: nor did it seem unlikely that a vanquished nation, who already
+discovered their abhorrence of the Roman yoke, might have recourse to
+the most atrocious means of gratifying their implacable revenge. But the
+Jews possessed very powerful advocates in the palace, and even in the
+heart of the tyrant; his wife and mistress, the beautiful Poppaea, and
+a favorite player of the race of Abraham, who had already employed their
+intercession in behalf of the obnoxious people. [40] In their room
+it was necessary to offer some other victims, and it might easily be
+suggested that, although the genuine followers of Moses were innocent of
+the fire of Rome, there had arisen among them a new and pernicious sect
+of Galilaeans, which was capable of the most horrid crimes. Under the
+appellation of Galilaeans, two distinctions of men were confounded,
+the most opposite to each other in their manners and principles; the
+disciples who had embraced the faith of Jesus of Nazareth, [41] and the
+zealots who had followed the standard of Judas the Gaulonite. [42] The
+former were the friends, the latter were the enemies, of human kind;
+and the only resemblance between them consisted in the same inflexible
+constancy, which, in the defence of their cause, rendered them
+insensible of death and tortures. The followers of Judas, who impelled
+their countrymen into rebellion, were soon buried under the ruins of
+Jerusalem; whilst those of Jesus, known by the more celebrated name of
+Christians, diffused themselves over the Roman empire. How natural was
+it for Tacitus, in the time of Hadrian, to appropriate to the Christians
+the guilt and the sufferings, [42a] which he might, with far greater
+truth and justice, have attributed to a sect whose odious memory was
+almost extinguished! 4. Whatever opinion may be entertained of this
+conjecture, (for it is no more than a conjecture,) it is evident that
+the effect, as well as the cause, of Nero's persecution, was confined
+to the walls of Rome, [43] [43a] that the religious tenets of the
+Galilaeans or Christians, were never made a subject of punishment, or
+even of inquiry; and that, as the idea of their sufferings was for
+a long time connected with the idea of cruelty and injustice, the
+moderation of succeeding princes inclined them to spare a sect,
+oppressed by a tyrant, whose rage had been usually directed against
+virtue and innocence.
+
+[Footnote 35: Sueton. in Nerone, c. 16. The epithet of malefica, which
+some sagacious commentators have translated magical, is considered
+by the more rational Mosheim as only synonymous to the exitiabilis of
+Tacitus.]
+
+[Footnote 36: The passage concerning Jesus Christ, which was inserted
+into the text of Josephus, between the time of Origen and that
+of Eusebius, may furnish an example of no vulgar forgery. The
+accomplishment of the prophecies, the virtues, miracles, and
+resurrection of Jesus, are distinctly related. Josephus acknowledges
+that he was the Messiah, and hesitates whether he should call him a man.
+If any doubt can still remain concerning this celebrated passage, the
+reader may examine the pointed objections of Le Fevre, (Havercamp.
+Joseph. tom. ii. p. 267-273), the labored answers of Daubuz, (p. 187-232,
+and the masterly reply (Bibliotheque Ancienne et Moderne, tom. vii. p.
+237-288) of an anonymous critic, whom I believe to have been the learned
+Abbe de Longuerue. * Note: The modern editor of Eusebius, Heinichen, has
+adopted, and ably supported, a notion, which had before suggested
+itself to the editor, that this passage is not altogether a forgery, but
+interpolated with many additional clauses. Heinichen has endeavored
+to disengage the original text from the foreign and more recent
+matter.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 37: See the lives of Tacitus by Lipsius and the Abbe de
+la Bleterie, Dictionnaire de Bayle a l'article Particle Tacite, and
+Fabricius, Biblioth. Latin tem. Latin. tom. ii. p. 386, edit. Ernest.
+Ernst.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Principatum Divi Nervae, et imperium Trajani, uberiorem,
+securioremque materiam senectuti seposui. Tacit. Hist. i.]
+
+[Footnote 39: See Tacit. Annal. ii. 61, iv. 4. * Note: The perusal of
+this passage of Tacitus alone is sufficient, as I have already said, to
+show that the Christian sect was not so obscure as not already to have
+been repressed, (repressa,) and that it did not pass for innocent in the
+eyes of the Romans.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 40: The player's name was Aliturus. Through the same channel,
+Josephus, (de vita sua, c. 2,) about two years before, had obtained the
+pardon and release of some Jewish priests, who were prisoners at Rome.]
+
+[Footnote 41: The learned Dr. Lardner (Jewish and Heathen Testimonies,
+vol ii. p. 102, 103) has proved that the name of Galilaeans was a very
+ancient, and perhaps the primitive appellation of the Christians.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Joseph. Antiquitat. xviii. 1, 2. Tillemont, Ruine des
+Juifs, p. 742 The sons of Judas were crucified in the time of Claudius.
+His grandson Eleazar, after Jerusalem was taken, defended a strong
+fortress with 960 of his most desperate followers. When the battering
+ram had made a breach, they turned their swords against their wives
+their children, and at length against their own breasts. They dies to
+the last man.]
+
+[Footnote 42a: This conjecture is entirely devoid, not merely of
+verisimilitude, but even of possibility. Tacitus could not be deceived
+in appropriating to the Christians of Rome the guilt and the sufferings
+which he might have attributed with far greater truth to the followers
+of Judas the Gaulonite, for the latter never went to Rome. Their revolt,
+their attempts, their opinions, their wars, their punishment, had
+no other theatre but Judaea (Basn. Hist. des. Juifs, t. i. p. 491.)
+Moreover the name of Christians had long been given in Rome to the
+disciples of Jesus; and Tacitus affirms too positively, refers too
+distinctly to its etymology, to allow us to suspect any mistake on his
+part.--G. ----M. Guizot's expressions are not in the least too strong
+ against this strange imagination of Gibbon; it may be doubted
+whether the followers of Judas were known as a sect under the name of
+Galilaeans.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 43: See Dodwell. Paucitat. Mart. l. xiii. The Spanish
+Inscription in Gruter. p. 238, No. 9, is a manifest and acknowledged
+forgery contrived by that noted imposter. Cyriacus of Ancona, to flatter
+the pride and prejudices of the Spaniards. See Ferreras, Histoire
+D'Espagne, tom. i. p. 192.]
+
+[Footnote 43a: M. Guizot, on the authority of Sulpicius Severus, ii. 37,
+and of Orosius, viii. 5, inclines to the opinion of those who extend the
+persecution to the provinces. Mosheim rather leans to that side on this
+much disputed question, (c. xxxv.) Neander takes the view of Gibbon,
+which is in general that of the most learned writers. There is indeed no
+evidence, which I can discover, of its reaching the provinces; and the
+apparent security, at least as regards his life, with which St. Paul
+pursued his travels during this period, affords at least a strong
+inference against a rigid and general inquisition against the Christians
+in other parts of the empire.--M.]
+
+It is somewhat remarkable that the flames of war consumed, almost at the
+same time, the temple of Jerusalem and the Capitol of Rome; [44] and it
+appears no less singular, that the tribute which devotion had destined
+to the former, should have been converted by the power of an assaulting
+victor to restore and adorn the splendor of the latter. [45] The
+emperors levied a general capitation tax on the Jewish people;
+and although the sum assessed on the head of each individual was
+inconsiderable, the use for which it was designed, and the severity with
+which it was exacted, were considered as an intolerable grievance. [46]
+Since the officers of the revenue extended their unjust claim to many
+persons who were strangers to the blood or religion of the Jews, it was
+impossible that the Christians, who had so often sheltered themselves
+under the shade of the synagogue, should now escape this rapacious
+persecution. Anxious as they were to avoid the slightest infection of
+idolatry, their conscience forbade them to contribute to the honor of
+that daemon who had assumed the character of the Capitoline Jupiter.
+As a very numerous though declining party among the Christians still
+adhered to the law of Moses, their efforts to dissemble their Jewish
+origin were detected by the decisive test of circumcision; [47] nor were
+the Roman magistrates at leisure to inquire into the difference of
+their religious tenets. Among the Christians who were brought before the
+tribunal of the emperor, or, as it seems more probable, before that
+of the procurator of Judaea, two persons are said to have appeared,
+distinguished by their extraction, which was more truly noble than
+that of the greatest monarchs. These were the grandsons of St. Jude the
+apostle, who himself was the brother of Jesus Christ. [48] Their natural
+pretensions to the throne of David might perhaps attract the respect of
+the people, and excite the jealousy of the governor; but the meanness of
+their garb, and the simplicity of their answers, soon convinced him that
+they were neither desirous nor capable of disturbing the peace of the
+Roman empire. They frankly confessed their royal origin, and their near
+relation to the Messiah; but they disclaimed any temporal views, and
+professed that his kingdom, which they devoutly expected, was purely of
+a spiritual and angelic nature. When they were examined concerning their
+fortune and occupation, they showed their hands, hardened with daily
+labor, and declared that they derived their whole subsistence from the
+cultivation of a farm near the village of Cocaba, of the extent of
+about twenty-four English acres, [49] and of the value of nine thousand
+drachms, or three hundred pounds sterling. The grandsons of St. Jude
+were dismissed with compassion and contempt. [50]
+
+[Footnote 44: The Capitol was burnt during the civil war between
+Vitellius and Vespasian, the 19th of December, A. D. 69. On the 10th of
+August, A. D. 70, the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the hands of
+the Jews themselves, rather than by those of the Romans.]
+
+[Footnote 45: The new Capitol was dedicated by Domitian. Sueton. in
+Domitian. c. 5. Plutarch in Poplicola, tom. i. p. 230, edit. Bryant. The
+gilding alone cost 12,000 talents (above two millions and a half.) It
+was the opinion of Martial, (l. ix. Epigram 3,) that if the emperor had
+called in his debts, Jupiter himself, even though he had made a general
+auction of Olympus, would have been unable to pay two shillings in the
+pound.]
+
+[Footnote 46: With regard to the tribute, see Dion Cassius, l. lxvi. p.
+1082, with Reimarus's notes. Spanheim, de Usu Numismatum, tom. ii. p.
+571; and Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l. vii. c. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Suetonius (in Domitian. c. 12) had seen an old man of
+ninety publicly examined before the procurator's tribunal. This is what
+Martial calls, Mentula tributis damnata.]
+
+[Footnote 48: This appellation was at first understood in the most
+obvious sense, and it was supposed, that the brothers of Jesus were the
+lawful issue of Joseph and Mary. A devout respect for the virginity
+of the mother of God suggested to the Gnostics, and afterwards to the
+orthodox Greeks, the expedient of bestowing a second wife on Joseph.
+The Latins (from the time of Jerome) improved on that hint, asserted the
+perpetual celibacy of Joseph, and justified by many similar examples
+the new interpretation that Jude, as well as Simon and James, who were
+styled the brothers of Jesus Christ, were only his first cousins. See
+Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiat. tom. i. part iii.: and Beausobre, Hist.
+Critique du Manicheisme, l. ii. c. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 49: Thirty-nine, squares of a hundred feet each, which, if
+strictly computed, would scarcely amount to nine acres.]
+
+[Footnote 50: Eusebius, iii. 20. The story is taken from Hegesippus.]
+
+But although the obscurity of the house of David might protect them
+from the suspicions of a tyrant, the present greatness of his own
+family alarmed the pusillanimous temper of Domitian, which could only be
+appeased by the blood of those Romans whom he either feared, or hated,
+or esteemed. Of the two sons of his uncle Flavius Sabinus, [51] the
+elder was soon convicted of treasonable intentions, and the younger,
+who bore the name of Flavius Clemens, was indebted for his safety to
+his want of courage and ability. [52] The emperor for a long time,
+distinguished so harmless a kinsman by his favor and protection,
+bestowed on him his own niece Domitilla, adopted the children of that
+marriage to the hope of the succession, and invested their father with
+the honors of the consulship.
+
+[Footnote 51: See the death and character of Sabinus in Tacitus, (Hist.
+iii. 74 ) Sabinus was the elder brother, and, till the accession of
+Vespasian, had been considered as the principal support of the Flavium
+family]
+
+[Footnote 52: Flavium Clementem patruelem suum contemptissimoe
+inertice.. ex tenuissima suspicione interemit. Sueton. in Domitian. c.
+15.]
+
+But he had scarcely finished the term of his annual magistracy, when, on
+a slight pretence, he was condemned and executed; Domitilla was banished
+to a desolate island on the coast of Campania; [53] and sentences either
+of death or of confiscation were pronounced against a great number of
+who were involved in the same accusation. The guilt imputed to
+their charge was that of Atheism and Jewish manners; [54] a singular
+association of ideas, which cannot with any propriety be applied except
+to the Christians, as they were obscurely and imperfectly viewed by the
+magistrates and by the writers of that period. On the strength of so
+probable an interpretation, and too eagerly admitting the suspicions of
+a tyrant as an evidence of their honorable crime, the church has placed
+both Clemens and Domitilla among its first martyrs, and has branded the
+cruelty of Domitian with the name of the second persecution. But this
+persecution (if it deserves that epithet) was of no long duration. A
+few months after the death of Clemens, and the banishment of Domitilla,
+Stephen, a freedman belonging to the latter, who had enjoyed the favor,
+but who had not surely embraced the faith, of his mistress, [54a]
+assassinated the emperor in his palace. [55] The memory of Domitian was
+condemned by the senate; his acts were rescinded; his exiles recalled;
+and under the gentle administration of Nerva, while the innocent
+were restored to their rank and fortunes, even the most guilty either
+obtained pardon or escaped punishment. [56]
+
+[Footnote 53: The Isle of Pandataria, according to Dion. Bruttius
+Praesens (apud Euseb. iii. 18) banishes her to that of Pontia, which was
+not far distant from the other. That difference, and a mistake, either
+of Eusebius or of his transcribers, have given occasion to suppose two
+Domitillas, the wife and the niece of Clemens. See Tillemont, Memoires
+Ecclesiastiques, tom. ii. p. 224.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Dion. l. lxvii. p. 1112. If the Bruttius Praesens,
+from whom it is probable that he collected this account, was the
+correspondent of Pliny, (Epistol. vii. 3,) we may consider him as a
+contemporary writer.]
+
+[Footnote 54a: This is an uncandid sarcasm. There is nothing to connect
+Stephen with the religion of Domitilla. He was a knave detected in the
+malversation of money--interceptarum pecuniaram reus.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 55: Suet. in Domit. c. 17. Philostratus in Vit. Apollon. l.
+viii.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Dion. l. lxviii. p. 1118. Plin. Epistol. iv. 22.]
+
+
+II. About ten years afterwards, under the reign of Trajan, the younger
+Pliny was intrusted by his friend and master with the government of
+Bithynia and Pontus. He soon found himself at a loss to determine by
+what rule of justice or of law he should direct his conduct in the
+execution of an office the most repugnant to his humanity. Pliny had
+never assisted at any judicial proceedings against the Christians,
+with whose name alone he seems to be acquainted; and he was totally
+uninformed with regard to the nature of their guilt, the method of their
+conviction, and the degree of their punishment. In this perplexity he
+had recourse to his usual expedient, of submitting to the wisdom of
+Trajan an impartial, and, in some respects, a favorable account of the
+new superstition, requesting the emperor, that he would condescend to
+resolve his doubts, and to instruct his ignorance. [57] The life of
+Pliny had been employed in the acquisition of learning, and in the
+business of the world.
+
+Since the age of nineteen he had pleaded with distinction in the
+tribunals of Rome, [58] filled a place in the senate, had been invested
+with the honors of the consulship, and had formed very numerous
+connections with every order of men, both in Italy and in the provinces.
+From his ignorance therefore we may derive some useful information. We
+may assure ourselves, that when he accepted the government of Bithynia,
+there were no general laws or decrees of the senate in force against the
+Christians; that neither Trajan nor any of his virtuous predecessors,
+whose edicts were received into the civil and criminal jurisprudence,
+had publicly declared their intentions concerning the new sect; and that
+whatever proceedings had been carried on against the Christians, there
+were none of sufficient weight and authority to establish a precedent
+for the conduct of a Roman magistrate.
+
+[Footnote 57: Plin. Epistol. x. 97. The learned Mosheim expresses
+himself (p. 147, 232) with the highest approbation of Pliny's moderate
+and candid temper. Notwithstanding Dr. Lardner's suspicions (see Jewish
+and Heathen Testimonies, vol. ii. p. 46,) I am unable to discover any
+bigotry in his language or proceedings. * Note: Yet the humane Pliny put
+two female attendants, probably deaconesses to the torture, in order to
+ascertain the real nature of these suspicious meetings: necessarium
+credidi, ex duabus ancillis, quae ministrae dicebantor quid asset veri
+et per tormenta quaerere.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Plin. Epist. v. 8. He pleaded his first cause A. D. 81;
+the year after the famous eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, in which his
+uncle lost his life.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
+Constantine.--Part III.
+
+The answer of Trajan, to which the Christians of the succeeding age have
+frequently appealed, discovers as much regard for justice and humanity
+as could be reconciled with his mistaken notions of religious policy.
+[59] Instead of displaying the implacable zeal of an inquisitor, anxious
+to discover the most minute particles of heresy, and exulting in the
+number of his victims, the emperor expresses much more solicitude to
+protect the security of the innocent, than to prevent the escape of the
+guilty. He acknowledged the difficulty of fixing any general plan; but
+he lays down two salutary rules, which often afforded relief and support
+to the distressed Christians. Though he directs the magistrates to
+punish such persons as are legally convicted, he prohibits them, with
+a very humane inconsistency, from making any inquiries concerning the
+supposed criminals. Nor was the magistrate allowed to proceed on every
+kind of information. Anonymous charges the emperor rejects, as too
+repugnant to the equity of his government; and he strictly requires, for
+the conviction of those to whom the guilt of Christianity is imputed,
+the positive evidence of a fair and open accuser. It is likewise
+probable, that the persons who assumed so invidiuous an office, were
+obliged to declare the grounds of their suspicions, to specify (both in
+respect to time and place) the secret assemblies, which their
+Christian adversary had frequented, and to disclose a great number of
+circumstances, which were concealed with the most vigilant jealousy from
+the eye of the profane. If they succeeded in their prosecution, they
+were exposed to the resentment of a considerable and active party, to
+the censure of the more liberal portion of mankind, and to the ignominy
+which, in every age and country, has attended the character of an
+informer. If, on the contrary, they failed in their proofs, they
+incurred the severe and perhaps capital penalty, which, according to a
+law published by the emperor Hadrian, was inflicted on those who falsely
+attributed to their fellow-citizens the crime of Christianity. The
+violence of personal or superstitious animosity might sometimes prevail
+over the most natural apprehensions of disgrace and danger but it cannot
+surely be imagined, that accusations of so unpromising an appearance
+were either lightly or frequently undertaken by the Pagan subjects of
+the Roman empire. [60] [60a]
+
+[Footnote 59: Plin. Epist. x. 98. Tertullian (Apolog. c. 5) considers
+this rescript as a relaxation of the ancient penal laws, "quas Trajanus
+exparte frustratus est:" and yet Tertullian, in another part of his
+Apology, exposes the inconsistency of prohibiting inquiries, and
+enjoining punishments.]
+
+[Footnote 60: Eusebius (Hist. Ecclesiast. l. iv. c. 9) has preserved
+the edict of Hadrian. He has likewise (c. 13) given us one still more
+favorable, under the name of Antoninus; the authenticity of which is
+not so universally allowed. The second Apology of Justin contains some
+curious particulars relative to the accusations of Christians. *
+Note: Professor Hegelmayer has proved the authenticity of the edict of
+Antoninus, in his Comm. Hist. Theol. in Edict. Imp. Antonini. Tubing.
+1777, in 4to.--G. ----Neander doubts its authenticity, (vol. i. p. 152.)
+In my opinion, the internal evidence is decisive against it.--M]
+
+[Footnote 60a: The enactment of this law affords strong presumption,
+that accusations of the "crime of Christianity," were by no means so
+uncommon, nor received with so much mistrust and caution by the ruling
+authorities, as Gibbon would insinuate. --M.]
+
+The expedient which was employed to elude the prudence of the laws,
+affords a sufficient proof how effectually they disappointed the
+mischievous designs of private malice or superstitious zeal. In a large
+and tumultuous assembly, the restraints of fear and shame, so forcible
+on the minds of individuals, are deprived of the greatest part of their
+influence. The pious Christian, as he was desirous to obtain, or to
+escape, the glory of martyrdom, expected, either with impatience or with
+terror, the stated returns of the public games and festivals. On
+those occasions the inhabitants of the great cities of the empire were
+collected in the circus or the theatre, where every circumstance of the
+place, as well as of the ceremony, contributed to kindle their devotion,
+and to extinguish their humanity. Whilst the numerous spectators,
+crowned with garlands, perfumed with incense, purified with the blood
+of victims, and surrounded with the altars and statues of their tutelar
+deities, resigned themselves to the enjoyment of pleasures, which
+they considered as an essential part of their religious worship, they
+recollected, that the Christians alone abhorred the gods of mankind,
+and by their absence and melancholy on these solemn festivals, seemed
+to insult or to lament the public felicity. If the empire had been
+afflicted by any recent calamity, by a plague, a famine, or an
+unsuccessful war; if the Tyber had, or if the Nile had not, risen beyond
+its banks; if the earth had shaken, or if the temperate order of the
+seasons had been interrupted, the superstitious Pagans were convinced
+that the crimes and the impiety of the Christians, who were spared
+by the excessive lenity of the government, had at length provoked the
+divine justice. It was not among a licentious and exasperated populace,
+that the forms of legal proceedings could be observed; it was not in an
+amphitheatre, stained with the blood of wild beasts and gladiators, that
+the voice of compassion could be heard. The impatient clamors of the
+multitude denounced the Christians as the enemies of gods and men,
+doomed them to the severest tortures, and venturing to accuse by name
+some of the most distinguished of the new sectaries, required with
+irresistible vehemence that they should be instantly apprehended and
+cast to the lions. [61] The provincial governors and magistrates who
+presided in the public spectacles were usually inclined to gratify the
+inclinations, and to appease the rage, of the people, by the sacrifice
+of a few obnoxious victims. But the wisdom of the emperors protected
+the church from the danger of these tumultuous clamors and irregular
+accusations, which they justly censured as repugnant both to the
+firmness and to the equity of their administration. The edicts of
+Hadrian and of Antoninus Pius expressly declared, that the voice of the
+multitude should never be admitted as legal evidence to convict or to
+punish those unfortunate persons who had embraced the enthusiasm of the
+Christians. [62]
+
+[Footnote 61: See Tertullian, (Apolog. c. 40.) The acts of the martyrdom
+of Polycarp exhibit a lively picture of these tumults, which were
+usually fomented by the malice of the Jews.]
+
+[Footnote 62: These regulations are inserted in the above mentioned
+document of Hadrian and Pius. See the apology of Melito, (apud Euseb. l
+iv 26)]
+
+III. Punishment was not the inevitable consequence of conviction, and
+the Christians, whose guilt was the most clearly proved by the testimony
+of witnesses, or even by their voluntary confession, still retained in
+their own power the alternative of life or death. It was not so much the
+past offence, as the actual resistance, which excited the indignation
+of the magistrate. He was persuaded that he offered them an easy pardon,
+since, if they consented to cast a few grains of incense upon the altar,
+they were dismissed from the tribunal in safety and with applause. It
+was esteemed the duty of a humane judge to endeavor to reclaim, rather
+than to punish, those deluded enthusiasts. Varying his tone according
+to the age, the sex, or the situation of the prisoners, he frequently
+condescended to set before their eyes every circumstance which could
+render life more pleasing, or death more terrible; and to solicit, nay,
+to entreat, them, that they would show some compassion to themselves,
+to their families, and to their friends. [63] If threats and persuasions
+proved ineffectual, he had often recourse to violence; the scourge and
+the rack were called in to supply the deficiency of argument, and
+every art of cruelty was employed to subdue such inflexible, and, as it
+appeared to the Pagans, such criminal, obstinacy. The ancient apologists
+of Christianity have censured, with equal truth and severity, the
+irregular conduct of their persecutors who, contrary to every principle
+of judicial proceeding, admitted the use of torture, in order to obtain,
+not a confession, but a denial, of the crime which was the object of
+their inquiry. [64] The monks of succeeding ages, who, in their peaceful
+solitudes, entertained themselves with diversifying the deaths and
+sufferings of the primitive martyrs, have frequently invented torments
+of a much more refined and ingenious nature. In particular, it has
+pleased them to suppose, that the zeal of the Roman magistrates,
+disdaining every consideration of moral virtue or public decency,
+endeavored to seduce those whom they were unable to vanquish, and that
+by their orders the most brutal violence was offered to those whom they
+found it impossible to seduce. It is related, that females, who were
+prepared to despise death, were sometimes condemned to a more severe
+trial, [64a] and called upon to determine whether they set a higher
+value on their religion or on 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 even of 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. [65]
+
+[Footnote 63: See the rescript of Trajan, and the conduct of Pliny. The
+most authentic acts of the martyrs abound in these exhortations. Note:
+Pliny's test was the worship of the gods, offerings to the statue of the
+emperor, and blaspheming Christ--praeterea maledicerent Christo.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 64: In particular, see Tertullian, (Apolog. c. 2, 3,) and
+Lactantius, (Institut. Divin. v. 9.) Their reasonings are almost the
+same; but we may discover, that one of these apologists had been a
+lawyer, and the other a rhetorician.]
+
+[Footnote 64a: The more ancient as well as authentic memorials of the
+church, relate many examples of the fact, (of these severe trials,)
+which there is nothing to contradict. Tertullian, among others, says,
+Nam proxime ad lenonem damnando Christianam, potius quam ad leonem,
+confessi estis labem pudicitiae apud nos atrociorem omni poena et omni
+morte reputari, Apol. cap. ult. Eusebius likewise says, "Other virgins,
+dragged to brothels, have lost their life rather than defile their
+virtue." Euseb. Hist. Ecc. viii. 14.--G. The miraculous interpositions
+were the offspring of the coarse imaginations of the monks.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 65: See two instances of this kind of torture in the Acta
+Sincere Martyrum, published by Ruinart, p. 160, 399. Jerome, in his
+Legend of Paul the Hermit, tells a strange story of a young man, who
+was chained naked on a bed of flowers, and assaulted by a beautiful and
+wanton courtesan. He quelled the rising temptation by biting off his
+tongue.]
+
+The total disregard of truth and probability in the representation of
+these primitive martyrdoms was occasioned by a very natural mistake. The
+ecclesiastical writers of the fourth or fifth centuries ascribed to the
+magistrates of Rome the same degree of implacable and unrelenting zeal
+which filled their own breasts against the heretics or the idolaters of
+their own times.
+
+It is not improbable that some of those persons who were raised to
+the dignities of the empire, might have imbibed the prejudices of the
+populace, and that the cruel disposition of others might occasionally be
+stimulated by motives of avarice or of personal resentment. [66] But it
+is certain, and we may appeal to the grateful confessions of the first
+Christians, that the greatest part of those magistrates who exercised
+in the provinces the authority of the emperor, or of the senate, and
+to whose hands alone the jurisdiction of life and death was intrusted,
+behaved like men of polished manners and liberal education, who
+respected the rules of justice, and who were conversant with the
+precepts of philosophy. They frequently declined the odious task of
+persecution, dismissed the charge with contempt, or suggested to the
+accused Christian some legal evasion, by which he might elude
+the severity of the laws. [67] Whenever they were invested with a
+discretionary power, [68] they used it much less for the oppression,
+than for the relief and benefit of the afflicted church. They were
+far from condemning all the Christians who were accused before their
+tribunal, and very far from punishing with death all those who were
+convicted of an obstinate adherence to the new superstition. Contenting
+themselves, for the most part, with the milder chastisements of
+imprisonment, exile, or slavery in the mines, [69] they left the unhappy
+victims of their justice some reason to hope, that a prosperous event,
+the accession, the marriage, or the triumph of an emperor, might
+speedily restore them, by a general pardon, to their former state. The
+martyrs, devoted to immediate execution by the Roman magistrates, appear
+to have been selected from the most opposite extremes. They were either
+bishops and presbyters, the persons the most distinguished among the
+Christians by their rank and influence, and whose example might strike
+terror into the whole sect; [70] or else they were the meanest and most
+abject among them, particularly those of the servile condition, whose
+lives were esteemed of little value, and whose sufferings were viewed by
+the ancients with too careless an indifference. [71] The learned Origen,
+who, from his experience as well as reading, was intimately acquainted
+with the history of the Christians, declares, in the most express terms,
+that the number of martyrs was very inconsiderable. [72] His authority
+would alone be sufficient to annihilate that formidable army of martyrs,
+whose relics, drawn for the most part from the catacombs of Rome, have
+replenished so many churches, [73] and whose marvellous achievements
+have been the subject of so many volumes of Holy Romance. [74] But
+the general assertion of Origen may be explained and confirmed by the
+particular testimony of his friend Dionysius, who, in the immense city
+of Alexandria, and under the rigorous persecution of Decius, reckons
+only ten men and seven women who suffered for the profession of the
+Christian name. [75]
+
+[Footnote 66: The conversion of his wife provoked Claudius Herminianus,
+governor of Cappadocia, to treat the Christians with uncommon severity.
+Tertullian ad Scapulam, c. 3.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Tertullian, in his epistle to the governor of Africa,
+mentions several remarkable instances of lenity and forbearance, which
+had happened within his knowledge.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Neque enim in universum aliquid quod quasi certam formam
+habeat, constitui potest; an expression of Trajan, which gave a very
+great latitude to the governors of provinces. * Note: Gibbon altogether
+forgets that Trajan fully approved of the course pursued by Pliny. That
+course was, to order all who persevered in their faith to be led to
+execution: perseverantes duci jussi.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 69: In Metalla damnamur, in insulas relegamur. Tertullian,
+Apolog. c. 12. The mines of Numidia contained nine bishops, with a
+proportionable number of their clergy and people, to whom Cyprian
+addressed a pious epistle of praise and comfort. See Cyprian. Epistol.
+76, 77.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Though we cannot receive with entire confidence either the
+epistles, or the acts, of Ignatius, (they may be found in the 2d volume
+of the Apostolic Fathers,) yet we may quote that bishop of Antioch
+as one of these exemplary martyrs. He was sent in chains to Rome as a
+public spectacle, and when he arrived at Troas, he received the pleasing
+intelligence, that the persecution of Antioch was already at an end. *
+Note: The acts of Ignatius are generally received as authentic, as are
+seven of his letters. Eusebius and St. Jerome mention them: there are
+two editions; in one, the letters are longer, and many passages appear
+to have been interpolated; the other edition is that which contains the
+real letters of St. Ignatius; such at least is the opinion of the wisest
+and most enlightened critics. (See Lardner. Cred. of Gospel Hist.) Less,
+uber dis Religion, v. i. p. 529. Usser. Diss. de Ign. Epist. Pearson,
+Vindic, Ignatianae. It should be remarked, that it was under the reign
+of Trajan that the bishop Ignatius was carried from Antioch to Rome,
+to be exposed to the lions in the amphitheatre, the year of J. C. 107,
+according to some; of 116, according to others.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Among the martyrs of Lyons, (Euseb. l. v. c. 1,) the
+slave Blandina was distinguished by more exquisite tortures. Of the five
+martyrs so much celebrated in the acts of Felicitas and Perpetua, two
+were of a servile, and two others of a very mean, condition.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Origen. advers. Celsum, l. iii. p. 116. His words deserve
+to be transcribed. * Note: The words that follow should be quoted. "God
+not permitting that all his class of men should be exterminated:"
+which appears to indicate that Origen thought the number put to death
+inconsiderable only when compared to the numbers who had survived.
+Besides this, he is speaking of the state of the religion under
+Caracalla, Elagabalus, Alexander Severus, and Philip, who had not
+persecuted the Christians. It was during the reign of the latter that
+Origen wrote his books against Celsus.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 73: If we recollect that all the Plebeians of Rome were not
+Christians, and that all the Christians were not saints and martyrs, we
+may judge with how much safety religious honors can be ascribed to bones
+or urns, indiscriminately taken from the public burial-place. After ten
+centuries of a very free and open trade, some suspicions have arisen
+among the more learned Catholics. They now require as a proof of
+sanctity and martyrdom, the letters B.M., a vial full of red liquor
+supposed to be blood, or the figure of a palm-tree. But the two former
+signs are of little weight, and with regard to the last, it is observed
+by the critics, 1. That the figure, as it is called, of a palm, is
+perhaps a cypress, and perhaps only a stop, the flourish of a comma
+used in the monumental inscriptions. 2. That the palm was the symbol of
+victory among the Pagans. 3. That among the Christians it served as the
+emblem, not only of martyrdom, but in general of a joyful resurrection.
+See the epistle of P. Mabillon, on the worship of unknown saints, and
+Muratori sopra le Antichita Italiane, Dissertat. lviii.]
+
+[Footnote 74: As a specimen of these legends, we may be satisfied with
+10,000 Christian soldiers crucified in one day, either by Trajan or
+Hadrian on Mount Ararat. See Baronius ad Martyrologium Romanum;
+Tille mont, Mem. Ecclesiast. tom. ii. part ii. p. 438; and Geddes's
+Miscellanies, vol. ii. p. 203. The abbreviation of Mil., which may
+signify either soldiers or thousands, is said to have occasioned some
+extraordinary mistakes.]
+
+[Footnote 75: Dionysius ap. Euseb l. vi. c. 41 One of the seventeen
+was likewise accused of robbery. * Note: Gibbon ought to have said,
+was falsely accused of robbery, for so it is in the Greek text. This
+Christian, named Nemesion, falsely accused of robbery before the
+centurion, was acquitted of a crime altogether foreign to his character,
+but he was led before the governor as guilty of being a Christian, and
+the governor inflicted upon him a double torture. (Euseb. loc. cit.) It
+must be added, that Saint Dionysius only makes particular mention of
+the principal martyrs, [this is very doubtful.--M.] and that he says,
+in general, that the fury of the Pagans against the Christians gave
+to Alexandria the appearance of a city taken by storm. [This refers to
+plunder and ill usage, not to actual slaughter.--M.] Finally it should
+be observed that Origen wrote before the persecution of the emperor
+Decius.--G.]
+
+During the same period of persecution, the zealous, the eloquent, the
+ambitious Cyprian governed the church, not only of Carthage, but even of
+Africa. He possessed every quality which could engage the reverence
+of the faithful, or provoke the suspicions and resentment of the Pagan
+magistrates. His character as well as his station seemed to mark out
+that holy prelate as the most distinguished object of envy and danger.
+[76] The experience, however, of the life of Cyprian, is sufficient
+to prove that our fancy has exaggerated the perilous situation of a
+Christian bishop; and the dangers to which he was exposed were less
+imminent than those which temporal ambition is always prepared to
+encounter in the pursuit of honors. Four Roman emperors, with their
+families, their favorites, and their adherents, perished by the sword
+in the space of ten years, during which the bishop of Carthage guided by
+his authority and eloquence the councils of the African church. It was
+only in the third year of his administration, that he had reason, during
+a few months, to apprehend the severe edicts of Decius, the vigilance
+of the magistrate and the clamors of the multitude, who loudly demanded,
+that Cyprian, the leader of the Christians, should be thrown to the
+lions. Prudence suggested the necessity of a temporary retreat, and
+the voice of prudence was obeyed. He withdrew himself into an obscure
+solitude, from whence he could maintain a constant correspondence with
+the clergy and people of Carthage; and, concealing himself till the
+tempest was past, he preserved his life, without relinquishing either
+his power or his reputation. His extreme caution did not, however,
+escape the censure of the more rigid Christians, who lamented, or the
+reproaches of his personal enemies, who insulted, a conduct which they
+considered as a pusillanimous and criminal desertion of the most sacred
+duty. [77] The propriety of reserving himself for the future exigencies
+of the church, the example of several holy bishops, [78] and the divine
+admonitions, which, as he declares himself, he frequently received in
+visions and ecstacies, were the reasons alleged in his justification.
+[79] But his best apology may be found in the cheerful resolution, with
+which, about eight years afterwards, he suffered death in the cause of
+religion. The authentic history of his martyrdom has been recorded with
+unusual candor and impartiality. A short abstract, therefore, of its
+most important circumstances, will convey the clearest information of
+the spirit, and of the forms, of the Roman persecutions. [80]
+
+[Footnote 76: The letters of Cyprian exhibit a very curious and original
+picture both of the man and of the times. See likewise the two lives of
+Cyprian, composed with equal accuracy, though with very different views;
+the one by Le Clerc (Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. xii. p. 208-378,)
+the other by Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. iv part i. p.
+76-459.]
+
+[Footnote 77: See the polite but severe epistle of the clergy of Rome to
+the bishop of Carthage. (Cyprian. Epist. 8, 9.) Pontius labors with the
+greatest care and diligence to justify his master against the general
+censure.]
+
+[Footnote 78: In particular those of Dionysius of Alexandria, and
+Gregory Thaumaturgus, of Neo-Caesarea. See Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. l.
+vi. c. 40; and Memoires de Tillemont, tom. iv. part ii. p. 685.]
+
+[Footnote 79: See Cyprian. Epist. 16, and his life by Pontius.]
+
+[Footnote 80: We have an original life of Cyprian by the deacon Pontius,
+the companion of his exile, and the spectator of his death; and we
+likewise possess the ancient proconsular acts of his martyrdom. These
+two relations are consistent with each other, and with probability; and
+what is somewhat remarkable, they are both unsullied by any miraculous
+circumstances.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
+Constantine.--Part IV.
+
+When Valerian was consul for the third, and Gallienus for the fourth
+time, Paternus, proconsul of Africa, summoned Cyprian to appear in
+his private council-chamber. He there acquainted him with the Imperial
+mandate which he had just received, [81] that those who had abandoned
+the Roman religion should immediately return to the practice of the
+ceremonies of their ancestors. Cyprian replied without hesitation, that
+he was a Christian and a bishop, devoted to the worship of the true and
+only Deity, to whom he offered up his daily supplications for the safety
+and prosperity of the two emperors, his lawful sovereigns.
+
+With modest confidence he pleaded the privilege of a citizen, in
+refusing to give any answer to some invidious and indeed illegal
+questions which the proconsul had proposed. A sentence of banishment
+was pronounced as the penalty of Cyprian's disobedience; and he
+was conducted without delay to Curubis, a free and maritime city of
+Zeugitania, in a pleasant situation, a fertile territory, and at the
+distance of about forty miles from Carthage. [82] The exiled bishop
+enjoyed the conveniences of life and the consciousness of virtue.
+His reputation was diffused over Africa and Italy; an account of his
+behavior was published for the edification of the Christian world; [83]
+and his solitude was frequently interrupted by the letters, the visits,
+and the congratulations of the faithful. On the arrival of a new
+proconsul in the province the fortune of Cyprian appeared for some time
+to wear a still more favorable aspect. He was recalled from banishment;
+and though not yet permitted to return to Carthage, his own gardens
+in the neighborhood of the capital were assigned for the place of his
+residence. [84]
+
+[Footnote 81: It should seem that these were circular orders, sent at
+the same time to all the governors. Dionysius (ap. Euseb. l. vii. c. 11)
+relates the history of his own banishment from Alexandria almost in the
+same manner. But as he escaped and survived the persecution, we must
+account him either more or less fortunate than Cyprian.]
+
+[Footnote 82: See Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 3. Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq.
+part iii. p. 96. Shaw's Travels, p. 90; and for the adjacent country,
+(which is terminated by Cape Bona, or the promontory of Mercury,)
+l'Afrique de Marmol. tom. ii. p. 494. There are the remains of an
+aqueduct near Curubis, or Curbis, at present altered into Gurbes; and
+Dr. Shaw read an inscription, which styles that city Colonia Fulvia. The
+deacon Pontius (in Vit. Cyprian. c. 12) calls it "Apricum et competentem
+locum, hospitium pro voluntate secretum, et quicquid apponi eis ante
+promissum est, qui regnum et justitiam Dei quaerunt."]
+
+[Footnote 83: See Cyprian. Epistol. 77, edit. Fell.]
+
+[Footnote 84: Upon his conversion, he had sold those gardens for the
+benefit of the poor. The indulgence of God (most probably the liberality
+of some Christian friend) restored them to Cyprian. See Pontius, c. 15.]
+
+At length, exactly one year [85] after Cyprian was first apprehended,
+Galerius Maximus, proconsul of Africa, received the Imperial warrant
+for the execution of the Christian teachers. The bishop of Carthage was
+sensible that he should be singled out for one of the first victims;
+and the frailty of nature tempted him to withdraw himself, by a secret
+flight, from the danger and the honor of martyrdom; [85a] but soon
+recovering that fortitude which his character required, he returned to
+his gardens, and patiently expected the ministers of death. Two officers
+of rank, who were intrusted with that commission, placed Cyprian between
+them in a chariot, and as the proconsul was not then at leisure, they
+conducted him, not to a prison, but to a private house in Carthage,
+which belonged to one of them. An elegant supper was provided for the
+entertainment of the bishop, and his Christian friends were permitted
+for the last time to enjoy his society, whilst the streets were filled
+with a multitude of the faithful, anxious and alarmed at the approaching
+fate of their spiritual father. [86] In the morning he appeared before
+the tribunal of the proconsul, who, after informing himself of the name
+and situation of Cyprian, commanded him to offer sacrifice, and pressed
+him to reflect on the consequences of his disobedience. The refusal of
+Cyprian was firm and decisive; and the magistrate, when he had taken the
+opinion of his council, pronounced with some reluctance the sentence of
+death. It was conceived in the following terms: "That Thascius Cyprianus
+should be immediately beheaded, as the enemy of the gods of Rome, and as
+the chief and ringleader of a criminal association, which he had seduced
+into an impious resistance against the laws of the most holy emperors,
+Valerian and Gallienus." [87] The manner of his execution was the
+mildest and least painful that could be inflicted on a person convicted
+of any capital offence; nor was the use of torture admitted to obtain
+from the bishop of Carthage either the recantation of his principles or
+the discovery of his accomplices.
+
+[Footnote 85: When Cyprian; a twelvemonth before, was sent into exile,
+he dreamt that he should be put to death the next day. The event made it
+necessary to explain that word, as signifying a year. Pontius, c. 12.]
+
+[Footnote 85a: This was not, as it appears, the motive which induced
+St. Cyprian to conceal himself for a short time; he was threatened to be
+carried to Utica; he preferred remaining at Carthage, in order to suffer
+martyrdom in the midst of his flock, and in order that his death might
+conduce to the edification of those whom he had guided during life.
+Such, at least, is his own explanation of his conduct in one of his
+letters: Cum perlatum ad nos fuisset, fratres carissimi, frumentarios
+esse missos qui me Uticam per ducerent, consilioque carissimorum
+persuasum est, ut de hortis interim recederemus, justa interveniente
+causa, consensi; eo quod congruat episcopum in ea civitate, in qua
+Ecclesiae dominicae praeest, illie. Dominum confiteri et plebem
+universam praepositi praesentis confessione clarificari Ep. 83.--G]
+
+[Footnote 86: Pontius (c. 15) acknowledges that Cyprian, with whom he
+supped, passed the night custodia delicata. The bishop exercised a
+last and very proper act of jurisdiction, by directing that the younger
+females, who watched in the streets, should be removed from the dangers
+and temptations of a nocturnal crowd. Act. Preconsularia, c. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 87: See the original sentence in the Acts, c. 4; and in
+Pontius, c. 17 The latter expresses it in a more rhetorical manner.]
+
+As soon as the sentence was proclaimed, a general cry of "We will die
+with him," arose at once among the listening multitude of Christians who
+waited before the palace gates. The generous effusions of their zeal
+and their affection were neither serviceable to Cyprian nor dangerous
+to themselves. He was led away under a guard of tribunes and centurions,
+without resistance and without insult, to the place of his execution,
+a spacious and level plain near the city, which was already filled with
+great numbers of spectators. His faithful presbyters and deacons were
+permitted to accompany their holy bishop. [87a] They assisted him in
+laying aside his upper garment, spread linen on the ground to catch
+the precious relics of his blood, and received his orders to bestow
+five-and-twenty pieces of gold on the executioner. The martyr then
+covered his face with his hands, and at one blow his head was separated
+from his body. His corpse remained during some hours exposed to
+the curiosity of the Gentiles: but in the night it was removed, and
+transported in a triumphal procession, and with a splendid illumination,
+to the burial-place of the Christians. The funeral of Cyprian was
+publicly celebrated without receiving any interruption from the Roman
+magistrates; and those among the faithful, who had performed the last
+offices to his person and his memory, were secure from the danger of
+inquiry or of punishment. It is remarkable, that of so great a multitude
+of bishops in the province of Africa, Cyprian was the first who was
+esteemed worthy to obtain the crown of martyrdom. [88]
+
+[Footnote 87a: There is nothing in the life of St. Cyprian, by Pontius,
+nor in the ancient manuscripts, which can make us suppose that the
+presbyters and deacons in their clerical character, and known to be
+such, had the permission to attend their holy bishop. Setting aside all
+religious considerations, it is impossible not to be surprised at the
+kind of complaisance with which the historian here insists, in favor of
+the persecutors, on some mitigating circumstances allowed at the
+death of a man whose only crime was maintaining his own opinions with
+frankness and courage.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 88: Pontius, c. 19. M. de Tillemont (Memoires, tom. iv. part
+i. p. 450, note 50) is not pleased with so positive an exclusion of any
+former martyr of the episcopal rank. * Note: M. de. Tillemont, as an
+honest writer, explains the difficulties which he felt about the text of
+Pontius, and concludes by distinctly stating, that without doubt there
+is some mistake, and that Pontius must have meant only Africa Minor
+or Carthage; for St. Cyprian, in his 58th (69th) letter addressed
+to Pupianus, speaks expressly of many bishops his colleagues, qui
+proscripti sunt, vel apprehensi in carcere et catenis fuerunt; aut qui
+in exilium relegati, illustri itinere ed Dominum profecti sunt; aut qui
+quibusdam locis animadversi, coeleses coronas de Domini clarificatione
+sumpserunt.--G.]
+
+It was in the choice of Cyprian, either to die a martyr, or to live an
+apostate; but on the choice depended the alternative of honor or infamy.
+Could we suppose that the bishop of Carthage had employed the profession
+of the Christian faith only as the instrument of his avarice or
+ambition, it was still incumbent on him to support the character he
+had assumed; [89] and if he possessed the smallest degree of manly
+fortitude, rather to expose himself to the most cruel tortures, than
+by a single act to exchange the reputation of a whole life, for the
+abhorrence of his Christian brethren, and the contempt of the Gentile
+world. But if the zeal of Cyprian was supported by the sincere
+conviction of the truth of those doctrines which he preached, the crown
+of martyrdom must have appeared to him as an object of desire rather
+than of terror. It is not easy to extract any distinct ideas from the
+vague though eloquent declamations of the Fathers, or to ascertain the
+degree of immortal glory and happiness which they confidently promised
+to those who were so fortunate as to shed their blood in the cause of
+religion. [90] They inculcated with becoming diligence, that the fire of
+martyrdom supplied every defect and expiated every sin; that while the
+souls of ordinary Christians were obliged to pass through a slow
+and painful purification, the triumphant sufferers entered into the
+immediate fruition of eternal bliss, where, in the society of the
+patriarchs, the apostles, and the prophets, they reigned with Christ,
+and acted as his assessors in the universal judgment of mankind. The
+assurance of a lasting reputation upon earth, a motive so congenial to
+the vanity of human nature, often served to animate the courage of the
+martyrs.
+
+The honors which Rome or Athens bestowed on those citizens who
+had fallen in the cause of their country, were cold and unmeaning
+demonstrations of respect, when compared with the ardent gratitude and
+devotion which the primitive church expressed towards the victorious
+champions of the faith. The annual commemoration of their virtues and
+sufferings was observed as a sacred ceremony, and at length terminated
+in religious worship. Among the Christians who had publicly confessed
+their religious principles, those who (as it very frequently happened)
+had been dismissed from the tribunal or the prisons of the Pagan
+magistrates, obtained such honors as were justly due to their imperfect
+martyrdom and their generous resolution. The most pious females courted
+the permission of imprinting kisses on the fetters which they had worn,
+and on the wounds which they had received. Their persons were esteemed
+holy, their decisions were admitted with deference, and they too often
+abused, by their spiritual pride and licentious manners, the preeminence
+which their zeal and intrepidity had acquired. [91] Distinctions like
+these, whilst they display the exalted merit, betray the inconsiderable
+number of those who suffered, and of those who died, for the profession
+of Christianity.
+
+[Footnote 89: Whatever opinion we may entertain of the character or
+principles of Thomas Becket, we must acknowledge that he suffered
+death with a constancy not unworthy of the primitive martyrs. See Lord
+Lyttleton's History of Henry II. vol. ii. p. 592, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 90: See in particular the treatise of Cyprian de Lapsis, p.
+87-98, edit. Fell. The learning of Dodwell (Dissertat. Cyprianic. xii.
+xiii.,) and the ingenuity of Middleton, (Free Inquiry, p. 162, &c.,)
+have left scarcely any thing to add concerning the merit, the honors,
+and the motives of the martyrs.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Cyprian. Epistol. 5, 6, 7, 22, 24; and de Unitat.
+Ecclesiae. The number of pretended martyrs has been very much
+multiplied, by the custom which was introduced of bestowing that
+honorable name on confessors. Note: M. Guizot denies that the letters
+of Cyprian, to which he refers, bear out the statement in the text. I
+cannot scruple to admit the accuracy of Gibbon's quotation. To take only
+the fifth letter, we find this passage: Doleo enim quando audio quosdam
+improbe et insolenter discurrere, et ad ineptian vel ad discordias
+vacare, Christi membra et jam Christum confessa per concubitus illicitos
+inquinari, nec a diaconis aut presbyteris regi posse, sed id agere ut
+per paucorum pravos et malos mores, multorum et bonorum confessorum
+gloria honesta maculetur. Gibbon's misrepresentation lies in the
+ambiguous expression "too often." Were the epistles arranged in a
+different manner in the edition consulted by M. Guizot?--M.]
+
+The sober discretion of the present age will more readily censure than
+admire, but can more easily admire than imitate, the fervor of the
+first Christians, who, according to the lively expressions of
+Sulpicius Severus, desired martyrdom with more eagerness than his own
+contemporaries solicited a bishopric. [92] The epistles which Ignatius
+composed as he was carried in chains through the cities of Asia, breathe
+sentiments the most repugnant to the ordinary feelings of human nature.
+He earnestly beseeches the Romans, that when he should be exposed in
+the amphitheatre, they would not, by their kind but unseasonable
+intercession, deprive him of the crown of glory; and he declares his
+resolution to provoke and irritate the wild beasts which might be
+employed as the instruments of his death. [93] Some stories are related
+of the courage of martyrs, who actually performed what Ignatius had
+intended; who exasperated the fury of the lions, pressed the executioner
+to hasten his office, cheerfully leaped into the fires which were
+kindled to consume them, and discovered a sensation of joy and pleasure
+in the midst of the most exquisite tortures. Several examples have been
+preserved of a zeal impatient of those restraints which the emperors
+had provided for the security of the church. The Christians sometimes
+supplied by their voluntary declaration the want of an accuser, rudely
+disturbed the public service of paganism, [94] and rushing in crowds
+round the tribunal of the magistrates, called upon them to pronounce and
+to inflict the sentence of the law. The behavior of the Christians was
+too remarkable to escape the notice of the ancient philosophers;
+but they seem to have considered it with much less admiration than
+astonishment. Incapable of conceiving the motives which sometimes
+transported the fortitude of believers beyond the bounds of prudence or
+reason, they treated such an eagerness to die as the strange result of
+obstinate despair, of stupid insensibility, or of superstitious frenzy.
+[95] "Unhappy men!" exclaimed the proconsul Antoninus to the Christians
+of Asia; "unhappy men! if you are thus weary of your lives, is it so
+difficult for you to find ropes and precipices?" [96] He was extremely
+cautious (as it is observed by a learned and picus historian) of
+punishing men who had found no accusers but themselves, the Imperial
+laws not having made any provision for so unexpected a case: condemning
+therefore a few as a warning to their brethren, he dismissed the
+multitude with indignation and contempt. [97] Notwithstanding this
+real or affected disdain, the intrepid constancy of the faithful was
+productive of more salutary effects on those minds which nature or
+grace had disposed for the easy reception of religious truth. On these
+melancholy occasions, there were many among the Gentiles who pitied,
+who admired, and who were converted. The generous enthusiasm was
+communicated from the sufferer to the spectators; and the blood of
+martyrs, according to a well-known observation, became the seed of the
+church.
+
+[Footnote 92: Certatim gloriosa in certamina ruebatur; multique avidius
+tum martyria gloriosis mortibus quaerebantur, quam nunc Episcopatus
+pravis ambitionibus appetuntur. Sulpicius Severus, l. ii. He might have
+omitted the word nunc.]
+
+[Footnote 93: See Epist. ad Roman. c. 4, 5, ap. Patres Apostol. tom.
+ii. p. 27. It suited the purpose of Bishop Pearson (see Vindiciae
+Ignatianae, part ii. c. 9) to justify, by a profusion of examples and
+authorities, the sentiments of Ignatius.]
+
+[Footnote 94: The story of Polyeuctes, on which Corneille has founded
+a very beautiful tragedy, is one of the most celebrated, though not
+perhaps the most authentic, instances of this excessive zeal. We should
+observe, that the 60th canon of the council of Illiberis refuses the
+title of martyrs to those who exposed themselves to death, by publicly
+destroying the idols.]
+
+[Footnote 95: See Epictetus, l. iv. c. 7, (though there is some doubt
+whether he alludes to the Christians.) Marcus Antoninus de Rebus suis,
+l. xi. c. 3 Lucian in Peregrin.]
+
+[Footnote 96: Tertullian ad Scapul. c. 5. The learned are divided
+between three persons of the same name, who were all proconsuls of
+Asia. I am inclined to ascribe this story to Antoninus Pius, who was
+afterwards emperor; and who may have governed Asia under the reign of
+Trajan.]
+
+[Footnote 97: Mosheim, de Rebus Christ, ante Constantin. p. 235.]
+
+But although devotion had raised, and eloquence continued to inflame,
+this fever of the mind, it insensibly gave way to the more natural hopes
+and fears of the human heart, to the love of life, the apprehension
+of pain, and the horror of dissolution. The more prudent rulers of the
+church found themselves obliged to restrain the indiscreet ardor of
+their followers, and to distrust a constancy which too often abandoned
+them in the hour of trial. [98] As the lives of the faithful became less
+mortified and austere, they were every day less ambitious of the honors
+of martyrdom; and the soldiers of Christ, instead of distinguishing
+themselves by voluntary deeds of heroism, frequently deserted their
+post, and fled in confusion before the enemy whom it was their duty to
+resist. There were three methods, however, of escaping the flames of
+persecution, which were not attended with an equal degree of guilt:
+first, indeed, was generally allowed to be innocent; the second was of
+a doubtful, or at least of a venial, nature; but the third implied a
+direct and criminal apostasy from the Christian faith.
+
+[Footnote 98: See the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, ap. Euseb. Hist.
+Eccles. Liv. c. 15 * Note: The 15th chapter of the 10th book of the
+Eccles. History of Eusebius treats principally of the martyrdom of St.
+Polycarp, and mentions some other martyrs. A single example of weakness
+is related; it is that of a Phrygian named Quintus, who, appalled at
+the sight of the wild beasts and the tortures, renounced his faith. This
+example proves little against the mass of Christians, and this chapter
+of Eusebius furnished much stronger evidence of their courage than of
+their timidity.--G----This Quintus had, however, rashly and of his own
+accord appeared before the tribunal; and the church of Smyrna condemn
+"his indiscreet ardor," coupled as it was with weakness in the hour of
+trial.--M.]
+
+I. A modern inquisitor would hear with surprise, that whenever an
+information was given to a Roman magistrate of any person within his
+jurisdiction who had embraced the sect of the Christians, the charge
+was communicated to the party accused, and that a convenient time was
+allowed him to settle his domestic concerns, and to prepare an answer to
+the crime which was imputed to him. [99] If he entertained any doubt
+of his own constancy, such a delay afforded him the opportunity of
+preserving his life and honor by flight, of withdrawing himself into
+some obscure retirement or some distant province, and of patiently
+expecting the return of peace and security. A measure so consonant to
+reason was soon authorized by the advice and example of the most
+holy prelates; and seems to have been censured by few except by the
+Montanists, who deviated into heresy by their strict and obstinate
+adherence to the rigor of ancient discipline. [100]
+
+II.The provincial governors, whose zeal was less prevalent than their
+avarice, had countenanced the practice of selling certificates, (or
+libels, as they were called,) which attested, that the persons therein
+mentioned had complied with the laws, and sacrificed to the Roman
+deities. By producing these false declarations, the opulent and timid
+Christians were enabled to silence the malice of an informer, and to
+reconcile in some measure their safety with their religion. A slight
+penance atoned for this profane dissimulation. [101] [101a]
+
+III. In every persecution there were great numbers of unworthy
+Christians who publicly disowned or renounced the faith which they had
+professed; and who confirmed the sincerity of their abjuration, by the
+legal acts of burning incense or of offering sacrifices. Some of
+these apostates had yielded on the first menace or exhortation of the
+magistrate; whilst the patience of others had been subdued by the length
+and repetition of tortures. The affrighted countenances of some betrayed
+their inward remorse, while others advanced with confidence and alacrity
+to the altars of the gods. [102] But the disguise which fear had
+imposed, subsisted no longer than the present danger. As soon as the
+severity of the persecution was abated, the doors of the churches were
+assailed by the returning multitude of penitents who detested their
+idolatrous submission, and who solicited with equal ardor, but with
+various success, their readmission into the society of Christians. [103]
+[103a]
+
+[Footnote 99: In the second apology of Justin, there is a particular
+and very curious instance of this legal delay. The same indulgence was
+granted to accused Christians, in the persecution of Decius: and Cyprian
+(de Lapsis) expressly mentions the "Dies negantibus praestitutus." *
+Note: The examples drawn by the historian from Justin Martyr and Cyprian
+relate altogether to particular cases, and prove nothing as to the
+general practice adopted towards the accused; it is evident, on the
+contrary, from the same apology of St. Justin, that they hardly ever
+obtained delay. "A man named Lucius, himself a Christian, present at an
+unjust sentence passed against a Christian by the judge Urbicus, asked
+him why he thus punished a man who was neither adulterer nor robber,
+nor guilty of any other crime but that of avowing himself a Christian."
+Urbicus answered only in these words: "Thou also hast the appearance
+of being a Christian." "Yes, without doubt," replied Lucius. The judge
+ordered that he should be put to death on the instant. A third, who came
+up, was condemned to be beaten with rods. Here, then, are three examples
+where no delay was granted.----[Surely these acts of a single passionate
+and irritated judge prove the general practice as little as those quoted
+by Gibbon.--M.] There exist a multitude of others, such as those of
+Ptolemy, Marcellus, &c. Justin expressly charges the judges with
+ordering the accused to be executed without hearing the cause. The words
+of St. Cyprian are as particular, and simply say, that he had appointed
+a day by which the Christians must have renounced their faith; those who
+had not done it by that time were condemned.--G. This confirms the
+statement in the text.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 100: Tertullian considers flight from persecution as an
+imperfect, but very criminal, apostasy, as an impious attempt to elude
+the will of God, &c., &c. He has written a treatise on this subject,
+(see p. 536--544, edit. Rigalt.,) which is filled with the wildest
+fanaticism and the most incoherent declamation. It is, however, somewhat
+remarkable, that Tertullian did not suffer martyrdom himself.]
+
+[Footnote 101: The libellatici, who are chiefly known by the writings
+of Cyprian, are described with the utmost precision, in the copious
+commentary of Mosheim, p. 483--489.]
+
+[Footnote 101a: The penance was not so slight, for it was exactly the
+same with that of apostates who had sacrificed to idols; it lasted
+several years. See Fleun Hist. Ecc. v. ii. p. 171.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 102: Plin. Epist. x. 97. Dionysius Alexandrin. ap. Euseb.
+l. vi. c. 41. Ad prima statim verba minantis inimici maximus fratrum
+numerus fidem suam prodidit: nec prostratus est persecutionis impetu,
+sed voluntario lapsu seipsum prostravit. Cyprian. Opera, p. 89. Among
+these deserters were many priests, and even bishops.]
+
+[Footnote 103: It was on this occasion that Cyprian wrote his treatise
+De Lapsis, and many of his epistles. The controversy concerning the
+treatment of penitent apostates, does not occur among the Christians of
+the preceding century. Shall we ascribe this to the superiority of their
+faith and courage, or to our less intimate knowledge of their history!]
+
+[Footnote 103a: Pliny says, that the greater part of the Christians
+persisted in avowing themselves to be so; the reason for his consulting
+Trajan was the periclitantium numerus. Eusebius (l. vi. c. 41) does not
+permit us to doubt that the number of those who renounced their faith
+was infinitely below the number of those who boldly confessed it. The
+prefect, he says and his assessors present at the council, were alarmed
+at seeing the crowd of Christians; the judges themselves trembled.
+Lastly, St. Cyprian informs us, that the greater part of those who had
+appeared weak brethren in the persecution of Decius, signalized
+their courage in that of Gallius. Steterunt fortes, et ipso dolore
+poenitentiae facti ad praelium fortiores Epist. lx. p. 142.--G.]
+
+IV. Notwithstanding the general rules established for the conviction
+and punishment of the Christians, the fate of those sectaries, in an
+extensive and arbitrary government, must still in a great measure, have
+depended on their own behavior, the circumstances of the times, and
+the temper of their supreme as well as subordinate rulers. Zeal might
+sometimes provoke, and prudence might sometimes avert or assuage, the
+superstitious fury of the Pagans. A variety of motives might dispose the
+provincial governors either to enforce or to relax the execution of the
+laws; and of these motives the most forcible was their regard not only
+for the public edicts, but for the secret intentions of the emperor,
+a glance from whose eye was sufficient to kindle or to extinguish
+the flames of persecution. As often as any occasional severities were
+exercised in the different parts of the empire, the primitive Christians
+lamented and perhaps magnified their own sufferings; but the celebrated
+number of ten persecutions has been determined by the ecclesiastical
+writers of the fifth century, who possessed a more distinct view of the
+prosperous or adverse fortunes of the church, from the age of Nero to
+that of Diocletian. The ingenious parallels of the ten plagues of Egypt,
+and of the ten horns of the Apocalypse, first suggested this calculation
+to their minds; and in their application of the faith of prophecy to the
+truth of history, they were careful to select those reigns which
+were indeed the most hostile to the Christian cause. [104] But these
+transient persecutions served only to revive the zeal and to restore the
+discipline of the faithful; and the moments of extraordinary rigor
+were compensated by much longer intervals of peace and security. The
+indifference of some princes, and the indulgence of others, permitted
+the Christians to enjoy, though not perhaps a legal, yet an actual and
+public, toleration of their religion.
+
+[Footnote 104: See Mosheim, p. 97. Sulpicius Severus was the first
+author of this computation; though he seemed desirous of reserving the
+tenth and greatest persecution for the coming of the Antichrist.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
+Constantine.--Part V.
+
+The apology of Tertullian contains two very ancient, very singular, but
+at the same time very suspicious, instances of Imperial clemency; the
+edicts published by Tiberius, and by Marcus Antoninus, and designed not
+only to protect the innocence of the Christians, but even to proclaim
+those stupendous miracles which had attested the truth of their
+doctrine. The first of these examples is attended with some difficulties
+which might perplex a sceptical mind. [105] We are required to believe,
+that Pontius Pilate informed the emperor of the unjust sentence of death
+which he had pronounced against an innocent, and, as it appeared,
+a divine, person; and that, without acquiring the merit, he exposed
+himself to the danger of martyrdom; that Tiberius, who avowed his
+contempt for all religion, immediately conceived the design of placing
+the Jewish Messiah among the gods of Rome; that his servile senate
+ventured to disobey the commands of their master; that Tiberius, instead
+of resenting their refusal, contented himself with protecting the
+Christians from the severity of the laws, many years before such laws
+were enacted, or before the church had assumed any distinct name or
+existence; and lastly, that the memory of this extraordinary transaction
+was preserved in the most public and authentic records, which escaped
+the knowledge of the historians of Greece and Rome, and were only
+visible to the eyes of an African Christian, who composed his apology
+one hundred and sixty years after the death of Tiberius. The edict of
+Marcus Antoninus is supposed to have been the effect of his devotion and
+gratitude for the miraculous deliverance which he had obtained in the
+Marcomannic war. The distress of the legions, the seasonable tempest of
+rain and hail, of thunder and of lightning, and the dismay and defeat of
+the barbarians, have been celebrated by the eloquence of several Pagan
+writers. If there were any Christians in that army, it was natural that
+they should ascribe some merit to the fervent prayers, which, in the
+moment of danger, they had offered up for their own and the public
+safety. But we are still assured by monuments of brass and marble, by
+the Imperial medals, and by the Antonine column, that neither the prince
+nor the people entertained any sense of this signal obligation, since
+they unanimously attribute their deliverance to the providence of
+Jupiter, and to the interposition of Mercury. During the whole course of
+his reign, Marcus despised the Christians as a philosopher, and punished
+them as a sovereign. [106] [106a]
+
+[Footnote 105: The testimony given by Pontius Pilate is first mentioned
+by Justin. The successive improvements which the story acquired (as
+if has passed through the hands of Tertullian, Eusebius, Epiphanius,
+Chrysostom, Orosius, Gregory of Tours, and the authors of the several
+editions of the acts of Pilate) are very fairly stated by Dom Calmet
+Dissertat. sur l'Ecriture, tom. iii. p. 651, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 106: On this miracle, as it is commonly called, of the
+thundering legion, see the admirable criticism of Mr. Moyle, in his
+Works, vol. ii. p. 81--390.]
+
+[Footnote 106a]: Gibbon, with this phrase, and that below, which admits
+the injustice of Marcus, has dexterously glossed over one of the most
+remarkable facts in the early Christian history, that the reign of the
+wisest and most humane of the heathen emperors was the most fatal to the
+Christians. Most writers have ascribed the persecutions under Marcus to
+the latent bigotry of his character; Mosheim, to the influence of the
+philosophic party; but the fact is admitted by all. A late writer (Mr.
+Waddington, Hist. of the Church, p. 47) has not scrupled to assert, that
+"this prince polluted every year of a long reign with innocent blood;"
+but the causes as well as the date of the persecutions authorized or
+permitted by Marcus are equally uncertain. Of the Asiatic edict recorded
+by Melito. the date is unknown, nor is it quite clear that it was an
+Imperial edict. If it was the act under which Polycarp suffered, his
+martyrdom is placed by Ruinart in the sixth, by Mosheim in the ninth,
+year of the reign of Marcus. The martyrs of Vienne and Lyons are
+assigned by Dodwell to the seventh, by most writers to the seventeenth.
+In fact, the commencement of the persecutions of the Christians appears
+to synchronize exactly with the period of the breaking out of the
+Marcomannic war, which seems to have alarmed the whole empire, and the
+emperor himself, into a paroxysm of returning piety to their gods, of
+which the Christians were the victims. See Jul, Capit. Script. Hist
+August. p. 181, edit. 1661. It is remarkable that Tertullian (Apologet.
+c. v.) distinctly asserts that Verus (M. Aurelius) issued no edicts
+against the Christians, and almost positively exempts him from the
+charge of persecution.--M. This remarkable synchronism, which explains
+the persecutions under M Aurelius, is shown at length in Milman's
+History of Christianity, book ii. v.--M. 1845.]
+
+By a singular fatality, the hardships which they had endured under the
+government of a virtuous prince, immediately ceased on the accession of
+a tyrant; and as none except themselves had experienced the injustice
+of Marcus, so they alone were protected by the lenity of Commodus. The
+celebrated Marcia, the most favored of his concubines, and who at length
+contrived the murder of her Imperial lover, entertained a singular
+affection for the oppressed church; and though it was impossible that
+she could reconcile the practice of vice with the precepts of the
+gospel, she might hope to atone for the frailties of her sex and
+profession by declaring herself the patroness of the Christians. [107]
+Under the gracious protection of Marcia, they passed in safety the
+thirteen years of a cruel tyranny; and when the empire was established
+in the house of Severus, they formed a domestic but more honorable
+connection with the new court. The emperor was persuaded, that in a
+dangerous sickness, he had derived some benefit, either spiritual or
+physical, from the holy oil, with which one of his slaves had anointed
+him. He always treated with peculiar distinction several persons of
+both sexes who had embraced the new religion. The nurse as well as the
+preceptor of Caracalla were Christians; [107a] and if that young prince
+ever betrayed a sentiment of humanity, it was occasioned by an
+incident, which, however trifling, bore some relation to the cause of
+Christianity. [108] Under the reign of Severus, the fury of the populace
+was checked; the rigor of ancient laws was for some time suspended; and
+the provincial governors were satisfied with receiving an annual present
+from the churches within their jurisdiction, as the price, or as the
+reward, of their moderation. [109] The controversy concerning the
+precise time of the celebration of Easter, armed the bishops of Asia
+and Italy against each other, and was considered as the most important
+business of this period of leisure and tranquillity. [110] Nor was
+the peace of the church interrupted, till the increasing numbers of
+proselytes seem at length to have attracted the attention, and to
+have alienated the mind of Severus. With the design of restraining the
+progress of Christianity, he published an edict, which, though it was
+designed to affect only the new converts, could not be carried into
+strict execution, without exposing to danger and punishment the
+most zealous of their teachers and missionaries. In this mitigated
+persecution we may still discover the indulgent spirit of Rome and of
+Polytheism, which so readily admitted every excuse in favor of those who
+practised the religious ceremonies of their fathers. [111]
+
+[Footnote 107: Dion Cassius, or rather his abbreviator Xiphilin, l.
+lxxii. p. 1206. Mr. Moyle (p. 266) has explained the condition of the
+church under the reign of Commodus.]
+
+[Footnote 107a: The Jews and Christians contest the honor of having
+furnished a nurse is the fratricide son of Severus Caracalla. Hist. of
+Jews, iii. 158.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Compare the life of Caracalla in the Augustan History,
+with the epistle of Tertullian to Scapula. Dr. Jortin (Remarks on
+Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 5, &c.) considers the cure of
+Severus by the means of holy oil, with a strong desire to convert it
+into a miracle.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Tertullian de Fuga, c. 13. The present was made during
+the feast of the Saturnalia; and it is a matter of serious concern
+to Tertullian, that the faithful should be confounded with the most
+infamous professions which purchased the connivance of the government.]
+
+[Footnote 110: Euseb. l. v. c. 23, 24. Mosheim, p. 435--447.]
+
+[Footnote 111: Judaeos fieri sub gravi poena vetuit. Idem etiam de
+Christianis sanxit. Hist. August. p. 70.]
+
+But the laws which Severus had enacted soon expired with the authority
+of that emperor; and the Christians, after this accidental tempest,
+enjoyed a calm of thirty-eight years. [112] Till this period they had
+usually held their assemblies in private houses and sequestered places.
+They were now permitted to erect and consecrate convenient edifices for
+the purpose of religious worship; [113] to purchase lands, even at Rome
+itself, for the use of the community; and to conduct the elections of
+their ecclesiastical ministers in so public, but at the same time in
+so exemplary a manner, as to deserve the respectful attention of the
+Gentiles. [114] This long repose of the church was accompanied with
+dignity. The reigns of those princes who derived their extraction from
+the Asiatic provinces, proved the most favorable to the Christians; the
+eminent persons of the sect, instead of being reduced to implore the
+protection of a slave or concubine, were admitted into the palace in the
+honorable characters of priests and philosophers; and their mysterious
+doctrines, which were already diffused among the people, insensibly
+attracted the curiosity of their sovereign. When the empress Mammaea
+passed through Antioch, she expressed a desire of conversing with the
+celebrated Origen, the fame of whose piety and learning was spread over
+the East. Origen obeyed so flattering an invitation, and though he
+could not expect to succeed in the conversion of an artful and ambitious
+woman, she listened with pleasure to his eloquent exhortations, and
+honorably dismissed him to his retirement in Palestine. [115] The
+sentiments of Mammaea were adopted by her son Alexander, and the
+philosophic devotion of that emperor was marked by a singular but
+injudicious regard for the Christian religion. In his domestic chapel he
+placed the statues of Abraham, of Orpheus, of Apollonius, and of Christ,
+as an honor justly due to those respectable sages who had instructed
+mankind in the various modes of addressing their homage to the supreme
+and universal Deity. [116] A purer faith, as well as worship, was openly
+professed and practised among his household. Bishops, perhaps for the
+first time, were seen at court; and, after the death of Alexander, when
+the inhuman Maximin discharged his fury on the favorites and servants of
+his unfortunate benefactor, a great number of Christians of every rank
+and of both sexes, were involved in the promiscuous massacre, which, on
+their account, has improperly received the name of Persecution. [117]
+[117a]
+
+[Footnote 112: Sulpicius Severus, l. ii. p. 384. This computation
+(allowing for a single exception) is confirmed by the history of
+Eusebius, and by the writings of Cyprian.]
+
+[Footnote 113: The antiquity of Christian churches is discussed by
+Tillemont, (Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. iii. part ii. p. 68-72,)
+and by Mr. Moyle, (vol. i. p. 378-398.) The former refers the first
+construction of them to the peace of Alexander Severus; the latter, to
+the peace of Gallienus.]
+
+[Footnote 114: See the Augustan History, p. 130. The emperor Alexander
+adopted their method of publicly proposing the names of those persons
+who were candidates for ordination. It is true that the honor of this
+practice is likewise attributed to the Jews.]
+
+[Footnote 115: Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. l. vi. c. 21. Hieronym. de
+Script. Eccles. c. 54. Mammaea was styled a holy and pious woman, both
+by the Christians and the Pagans. From the former, therefore, it was
+impossible that she should deserve that honorable epithet.]
+
+[Footnote 116: See the Augustan History, p. 123. Mosheim (p. 465) seems
+to refine too much on the domestic religion of Alexander. His design
+of building a public temple to Christ, (Hist. August. p. 129,) and the
+objection which was suggested either to him, or in similar circumstances
+to Hadrian, appear to have no other foundation than an improbable
+report, invented by the Christians, and credulously adopted by an
+historian of the age of Constantine.]
+
+[Footnote 117: Euseb. l. vi. c. 28. It may be presumed that the success
+of the Christians had exasperated the increasing bigotry of the Pagans.
+Dion Cassius, who composed his history under the former reign, had
+most probably intended for the use of his master those counsels of
+persecution, which he ascribes to a better age, and to and to the
+favorite of Augustus. Concerning this oration of Maecenas, or rather of
+Dion, I may refer to my own unbiased opinion, (vol. i. c. 1, note 25,)
+and to the Abbe de la Bleterie (Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxiv. p.
+303 tom xxv. p. 432.) * Note: If this be the case, Dion Cassius must
+have known the Christians they must have been the subject of his
+particular attention, since the author supposes that he wished his
+master to profit by these "counsels of persecution." How are we to
+reconcile this necessary consequence with what Gibbon has said of the
+ignorance of Dion Cassius even of the name of the Christians?
+(c. xvi. n. 24.) (Gibbon speaks of Dion's silence, not of his
+ignorance.--M) The supposition in this note is supported by no proof; it
+is probable that Dion Cassius has often designated the Christians by the
+name of Jews. See Dion Cassius, l. lxvii. c 14, lxviii. l--G. On this
+point I should adopt the view of Gibbon rather than that of M Guizot.--M]
+
+[Footnote 107a: It is with good reason that this massacre has been
+called a persecution, for it lasted during the whole reign of Maximin,
+as may be seen in Eusebius. (l. vi. c. 28.) Rufinus expressly confirms
+it: Tribus annis a Maximino persecutione commota, in quibus finem et
+persecutionis fecit et vitas Hist. l. vi. c. 19.--G.]
+
+Notwithstanding the cruel disposition of Maximin, the effects of his
+resentment against the Christians were of a very local and temporary
+nature, and the pious Origen, who had been proscribed as a devoted
+victim, was still reserved to convey the truths of the gospel to the ear
+of monarchs. [118] He addressed several edifying letters to the emperor
+Philip, to his wife, and to his mother; and as soon as that prince,
+who was born in the neighborhood of Palestine, had usurped the Imperial
+sceptre, the Christians acquired a friend and a protector. The public
+and even partial favor of Philip towards the sectaries of the new
+religion, and his constant reverence for the ministers of the church,
+gave some color to the suspicion, which prevailed in his own times,
+that the emperor himself was become a convert to the faith; [119] and
+afforded some grounds for a fable which was afterwards invented, that he
+had been purified by confession and penance from the guilt contracted
+by the murder of his innocent predecessor. [120] The fall of Philip
+introduced, with the change of masters, a new system of government, so
+oppressive to the Christians, that their former condition, ever since
+the time of Domitian, was represented as a state of perfect freedom and
+security, if compared with the rigorous treatment which they experienced
+under the short reign of Decius. [121] The virtues of that prince will
+scarcely allow us to suspect that he was actuated by a mean resentment
+against the favorites of his predecessor; and it is more reasonable to
+believe, that in the prosecution of his general design to restore the
+purity of Roman manners, he was desirous of delivering the empire from
+what he condemned as a recent and criminal superstition. The bishops
+of the most considerable cities were removed by exile or death: the
+vigilance of the magistrates prevented the clergy of Rome during sixteen
+months from proceeding to a new election; and it was the opinion of the
+Christians, that the emperor would more patiently endure a competitor
+for the purple, than a bishop in the capital. [122] Were it possible to
+suppose that the penetration of Decius had discovered pride under the
+disguise of humility, or that he could foresee the temporal dominion
+which might insensibly arise from the claims of spiritual authority, we
+might be less surprised, that he should consider the successors of St.
+Peter, as the most formidable rivals to those of Augustus.
+
+[Footnote 118: Orosius, l. vii. c. 19, mentions Origen as the object of
+Maximin's resentment; and Firmilianus, a Cappadocian bishop of that age,
+gives a just and confined idea of this persecution, (apud Cyprian Epist.
+75.)]
+
+[Footnote 119: The mention of those princes who were publicly
+supposed to be Christians, as we find it in an epistle of Dionysius of
+Alexandria, (ap. Euseb. l. vii. c. 10,) evidently alludes to Philip and
+his family, and forms a contemporary evidence, that such a report had
+prevailed; but the Egyptian bishop, who lived at an humble distance
+from the court of Rome, expresses himself with a becoming diffidence
+concerning the truth of the fact. The epistles of Origen (which were
+extant in the time of Eusebius, see l. vi. c. 36) would most probably
+decide this curious rather than important question.]
+
+[Footnote 120: Euseb. l. vi. c. 34. The story, as is usual, has
+been embellished by succeeding writers, and is confuted, with much
+superfluous learning, by Frederick Spanheim, (Opera Varia, tom. ii. p.
+400, &c.)]
+
+[Footnote 121: Lactantius, de Mortibus Persecutorum, c. 3, 4. After
+celebrating the felicity and increase of the church, under a long
+succession of good princes, he adds, "Extitit post annos plurimos,
+execrabile animal, Decius, qui vexaret Ecclesiam."]
+
+[Footnote 122: Euseb. l. vi. c. 39. Cyprian. Epistol. 55. The see
+of Rome remained vacant from the martyrdom of Fabianus, the 20th of
+January, A. D. 259, till the election of Cornelius, the 4th of June, A.
+D. 251 Decius had probably left Rome, since he was killed before the end
+of that year.]
+
+The administration of Valerian was distinguished by a levity and
+inconstancy ill suited to the gravity of the Roman Censor. In the first
+part of his reign, he surpassed in clemency those princes who had been
+suspected of an attachment to the Christian faith. In the last three
+years and a half, listening to the insinuations of a minister addicted
+to the superstitions of Egypt, he adopted the maxims, and imitated the
+severity, of his predecessor Decius. [123] The accession of Gallienus,
+which increased the calamities of the empire, restored peace to the
+church; and the Christians obtained the free exercise of their religion
+by an edict addressed to the bishops, and conceived in such terms as
+seemed to acknowledge their office and public character. [124] The
+ancient laws, without being formally repealed, were suffered to sink
+into oblivion; and (excepting only some hostile intentions which are
+attributed to the emperor Aurelian [125] the disciples of Christ passed
+above forty years in a state of prosperity, far more dangerous to their
+virtue than the severest trials of persecution.
+
+[Footnote 123: Euseb. l. vii. c. 10. Mosheim (p. 548) has very clearly
+shown that the praefect Macrianus, and the Egyptian Magus, are one and
+the same person.]
+
+[Footnote 124: Eusebius (l. vii. c. 13) gives us a Greek version of this
+Latin edict, which seems to have been very concise. By another edict, he
+directed that the Coemeteria should be restored to the Christians.]
+
+[Footnote 125: Euseb. l. vii. c. 30. Lactantius de M. P. c. 6. Hieronym.
+in Chron. p. 177. Orosius, l. vii. c. 23. Their language is in general
+so ambiguous and incorrect, that we are at a loss to determine how far
+Aurelian had carried his intentions before he was assassinated. Most of
+the moderns (except Dodwell, Dissertat. Cyprian. vi. 64) have seized the
+occasion of gaining a few extraordinary martyrs. * Note: Dr. Lardner
+has detailed, with his usual impartiality, all that has come down to us
+relating to the persecution of Aurelian, and concludes by saying,
+"Upon more carefully examining the words of Eusebius, and observing the
+accounts of other authors, learned men have generally, and, as I think,
+very judiciously, determined, that Aurelian not only intended, but did
+actually persecute: but his persecution was short, he having died soon
+after the publication of his edicts." Heathen Test. c. xxxvi.--Basmage
+positively pronounces the same opinion: Non intentatum modo, sed
+executum quoque brevissimo tempore mandatum, nobis infixum est in
+aniasis. Basn. Ann. 275, No. 2 and compare Pagi Ann. 272, Nos. 4, 12,
+27--G.]
+
+The story of Paul of Samosata, who filled the metropolitan see of
+Antioch, while the East was in the hands of Odenathus and Zenobia, may
+serve to illustrate the condition and character of the times. The wealth
+of that prelate was a sufficient evidence of his guilt, since it was
+neither derived from the inheritance of his fathers, nor acquired by the
+arts of honest industry. But Paul considered the service of the church
+as a very lucrative profession. [126] His ecclesiastical jurisdiction
+was venal and rapacious; he extorted frequent contributions from
+the most opulent of the faithful, and converted to his own use a
+considerable part of the public revenue. By his pride and luxury, the
+Christian religion was rendered odious in the eyes of the Gentiles. His
+council chamber and his throne, the splendor with which he appeared in
+public, the suppliant crowd who solicited his attention, the multitude
+of letters and petitions to which he dictated his answers, and the
+perpetual hurry of business in which he was involved, were circumstances
+much better suited to the state of a civil magistrate, [127] than to the
+humility of a primitive bishop. When he harangued his people from the
+pulpit, Paul affected the figurative style and the theatrical gestures
+of an Asiatic sophist, while the cathedral resounded with the loudest
+and most extravagant acclamations in the praise of his divine eloquence.
+Against those who resisted his power, or refused to flatter his vanity,
+the prelate of Antioch was arrogant, rigid, and inexorable; but he
+relaxed the discipline, and lavished the treasures of the church on
+his dependent clergy, who were permitted to imitate their master in the
+gratification of every sensual appetite. For Paul indulged himself
+very freely in the pleasures of the table, and he had received into
+the episcopal palace two young and beautiful women as the constant
+companions of his leisure moments. [128]
+
+[Footnote 126: Paul was better pleased with the title of Ducenarius,
+than with that of bishop. The Ducenarius was an Imperial procurator, so
+called from his salary of two hundred Sestertia, or 1600l. a year. (See
+Salmatius ad Hist. August. p. 124.) Some critics suppose that the bishop
+of Antioch had actually obtained such an office from Zenobia, while
+others consider it only as a figurative expression of his pomp and
+insolence.]
+
+[Footnote 127: Simony was not unknown in those times; and the clergy
+some times bought what they intended to sell. It appears that the
+bishopric of Carthage was purchased by a wealthy matron, named Lucilla,
+for her servant Majorinus. The price was 400 Folles. (Monument. Antiq.
+ad calcem Optati, p. 263.) Every Follis contained 125 pieces of silver,
+and the whole sum may be computed at about 2400l.]
+
+[Footnote 128: If we are desirous of extenuating the vices of Paul, we
+must suspect the assembled bishops of the East of publishing the most
+malicious calumnies in circular epistles addressed to all the churches
+of the empire, (ap. Euseb. l. vii. c. 30.)]
+
+Notwithstanding these scandalous vices, if Paul of Samosata had
+preserved the purity of the orthodox faith, his reign over the capital
+of Syria would have ended only with his life; and had a seasonable
+persecution intervened, an effort of courage might perhaps have placed
+him in the rank of saints and martyrs. [128a]
+
+Some nice and subtle errors, which he imprudently adopted and
+obstinately maintained, concerning the doctrine of the Trinity, excited
+the zeal and indignation of the Eastern churches. [129]
+
+From Egypt to the Euxine Sea, the bishops were in arms and in
+motion. Several councils were held, confutations were published,
+excommunications were pronounced, ambiguous explanations were by turns
+accepted and refused, treaties were concluded and violated, and at
+length Paul of Samosata was degraded from his episcopal character,
+by the sentence of seventy or eighty bishops, who assembled for that
+purpose at Antioch, and who, without consulting the rights of the clergy
+or people, appointed a successor by their own authority. The
+manifest irregularity of this proceeding increased the numbers of the
+discontented faction; and as Paul, who was no stranger to the arts of
+courts, had insinuated himself into the favor of Zenobia, he maintained
+above four years the possession of the episcopal house and office.
+[129a] The victory of Aurelian changed the face of the East, and the two
+contending parties, who applied to each other the epithets of schism and
+heresy, were either commanded or permitted to plead their cause before
+the tribunal of the conqueror. This public and very singular trial
+affords a convincing proof that the existence, the property,
+the privileges, and the internal policy of the Christians, were
+acknowledged, if not by the laws, at least by the magistrates, of the
+empire. As a Pagan and as a soldier, it could scarcely be expected that
+Aurelian should enter into the discussion, whether the sentiments
+of Paul or those of his adversaries were most agreeable to the true
+standard of the orthodox faith. His determination, however, was founded
+on the general principles of equity and reason. He considered the
+bishops of Italy as the most impartial and respectable judges among the
+Christians, and as soon as he was informed that they had unanimously
+approved the sentence of the council, he acquiesced in their opinion,
+and immediately gave orders that Paul should be compelled to relinquish
+the temporal possessions belonging to an office, of which, in the
+judgment of his brethren, he had been regularly deprived. But while we
+applaud the justice, we should not overlook the policy, of Aurelian, who
+was desirous of restoring and cementing the dependence of the provinces
+on the capital, by every means which could bind the interest or
+prejudices of any part of his subjects. [130]
+
+[Footnote 128a: It appears, nevertheless, that the vices and
+immoralities of Paul of Samosata had much weight in the sentence
+pronounced against him by the bishops. The object of the letter,
+addressed by the synod to the bishops of Rome and Alexandria, was to
+inform them of the change in the faith of Paul, the altercations and
+discussions to which it had given rise, as well as of his morals and the
+whole of his conduct. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. vii c. xxx--G.]
+
+[Footnote 129: His heresy (like those of Noetus and Sabellius, in the
+same century) tended to confound the mysterious distinction of the
+divine persons. See Mosheim, p. 702, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 129a: "Her favorite, (Zenobia's,) Paul of Samosata, seems to
+have entertained some views of attempting a union between Judaism and
+Christianity; both parties rejected the unnatural alliance." Hist.
+of Jews, iii. 175, and Jost. Geschichte der Israeliter, iv. 167. The
+protection of the severe Zenobia is the only circumstance which may
+raise a doubt of the notorious immorality of Paul.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. l. vii. c. 30. We are entirely
+indebted to him for the curious story of Paul of Samosata.]
+
+Amidst the frequent revolutions of the empire, the Christians still
+flourished in peace and prosperity; and notwithstanding a celebrated
+aera of martyrs has been deduced from the accession of Diocletian, [131]
+the new system of policy, introduced and maintained by the wisdom of
+that prince, continued, during more than eighteen years, to breathe the
+mildest and most liberal spirit of religious toleration. The mind of
+Diocletian himself was less adapted indeed to speculative inquiries,
+than to the active labors of war and government. His prudence rendered
+him averse to any great innovation, and though his temper was not very
+susceptible of zeal or enthusiasm, he always maintained an habitual
+regard for the ancient deities of the empire. But the leisure of the two
+empresses, of his wife Prisca, and of Valeria, his daughter, permitted
+them to listen with more attention and respect to the truths of
+Christianity, which in every age has acknowledged its important
+obligations to female devotion. [132] The principal eunuchs, Lucian
+[133] and Dorotheus, Gorgonius and Andrew, who attended the person,
+possessed the favor, and governed the household of Diocletian, protected
+by their powerful influence the faith which they had embraced. Their
+example was imitated by many of the most considerable officers of the
+palace, who, in their respective stations, had the care of the Imperial
+ornaments, of the robes, of the furniture, of the jewels, and even of
+the private treasury; and, though it might sometimes be incumbent on
+them to accompany the emperor when he sacrificed in the temple, [134]
+they enjoyed, with their wives, their children, and their slaves, the
+free exercise of the Christian religion. Diocletian and his colleagues
+frequently conferred the most important offices on those persons
+who avowed their abhorrence for the worship of the gods, but who had
+displayed abilities proper for the service of the state. The bishops
+held an honorable rank in their respective provinces, and were treated
+with distinction and respect, not only by the people, but by the
+magistrates themselves. Almost in every city, the ancient churches were
+found insufficient to contain the increasing multitude of proselytes;
+and in their place more stately and capacious edifices were erected
+for the public worship of the faithful. The corruption of manners and
+principles, so forcibly lamented by Eusebius, [135] may be considered,
+not only as a consequence, but as a proof, of the liberty which the
+Christians enjoyed and abused under the reign of Diocletian. Prosperity
+had relaxed the nerves of discipline. Fraud, envy, and malice prevailed
+in every congregation. The presbyters aspired to the episcopal office,
+which every day became an object more worthy of their ambition. The
+bishops, who contended with each other for ecclesiastical preeminence,
+appeared by their conduct to claim a secular and tyrannical power in the
+church; and the lively faith which still distinguished the Christians
+from the Gentiles, was shown much less in their lives, than in their
+controversial writings.
+
+[Footnote 131: The Aera of Martyrs, which is still in use among the
+Copts and the Abyssinians, must be reckoned from the 29th of August, A.
+D. 284; as the beginning of the Egyptian year was nineteen days earlier
+than the real accession of Diocletian. See Dissertation Preliminaire a
+l'Art de verifier les Dates. * Note: On the aera of martyrs see the
+very curious dissertations of Mons Letronne on some recently discovered
+inscriptions in Egypt and Nubis, p. 102, &c.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 132: The expression of Lactantius, (de M. P. c. 15,)
+"sacrificio pollui coegit," implies their antecedent conversion to the
+faith, but does not seem to justify the assertion of Mosheim, (p. 912,)
+that they had been privately baptized.]
+
+[Footnote 133: M. de Tillemont (Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. v. part
+i. p. 11, 12) has quoted from the Spicilegium of Dom Luc d'Archeri a
+very curious instruction which Bishop Theonas composed for the use of
+Lucian.]
+
+[Footnote 134: Lactantius, de M. P. c. 10.]
+
+[Footnote 135: Eusebius, Hist. Ecclesiast. l. viii. c. 1. The reader
+who consults the original will not accuse me of heightening the picture.
+Eusebius was about sixteen years of age at the accession of the emperor
+Diocletian.]
+
+Notwithstanding this seeming security, an attentive observer might
+discern some symptoms that threatened the church with a more violent
+persecution than any which she had yet endured. The zeal and rapid
+progress of the Christians awakened the Polytheists from their supine
+indifference in the cause of those deities, whom custom and education
+had taught them to revere. The mutual provocations of a religious war,
+which had already continued above two hundred years, exasperated the
+animosity of the contending parties. The Pagans were incensed at the
+rashness of a recent and obscure sect, which presumed to accuse their
+countrymen of error, and to devote their ancestors to eternal misery.
+The habits of justifying the popular mythology against the invectives
+of an implacable enemy, produced in their minds some sentiments of faith
+and reverence for a system which they had been accustomed to consider
+with the most careless levity. The supernatural powers assumed by the
+church inspired at the same time terror and emulation. The followers
+of the established religion intrenched themselves behind a similar
+fortification of prodigies; invented new modes of sacrifice, of
+expiation, and of initiation; [136] attempted to revive the credit of
+their expiring oracles; [137] and listened with eager credulity to every
+impostor, who flattered their prejudices by a tale of wonders. [138]
+Both parties seemed to acknowledge the truth of those miracles which
+were claimed by their adversaries; and while they were contented with
+ascribing them to the arts of magic, and to the power of daemons,
+they mutually concurred in restoring and establishing the reign of
+superstition. [139] Philosophy, her most dangerous enemy, was now
+converted into her most useful ally. The groves of the academy, the
+gardens of Epicurus, and even the portico of the Stoics, were almost
+deserted, as so many different schools of scepticism or impiety; [140]
+and many among the Romans were desirous that the writings of Cicero
+should be condemned and suppressed by the authority of the senate. [141]
+The prevailing sect of the new Platonicians judged it prudent to connect
+themselves with the priests, whom perhaps they despised, against the
+Christians, whom they had reason to fear. These fashionable Philosophers
+prosecuted the design of extracting allegorical wisdom from the fictions
+of the Greek poets; instituted mysterious rites of devotion for the use
+of their chosen disciples; recommended the worship of the ancient gods
+as the emblems or ministers of the Supreme Deity, and composed against
+the faith of the gospel many elaborate treatises, [142] which have since
+been committed to the flames by the prudence of orthodox emperors. [143]
+
+[Footnote 136: We might quote, among a great number of instances, the
+mysterious worship of Mythras, and the Taurobolia; the latter of which
+became fashionable in the time of the Antonines, (see a Dissertation of
+M. de Boze, in the Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ii.
+p. 443.) The romance of Apuleius is as full of devotion as of satire. *
+Note: On the extraordinary progress of the Mahriac rites, in the West,
+see De Guigniaud's translation of Creuzer, vol. i. p. 365, and Note 9,
+tom. i. part 2, p. 738, &c.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 137: The impostor Alexander very strongly recommended the
+oracle of Trophonius at Mallos, and those of Apollo at Claros and
+Miletus, (Lucian, tom. ii. p. 236, edit. Reitz.) The last of these,
+whose singular history would furnish a very curious episode, was
+consulted by Diocletian before he published his edicts of persecution,
+(Lactantius, de M. P. c. 11.)]
+
+[Footnote 138: Besides the ancient stories of Pythagoras and Aristeas,
+the cures performed at the shrine of Aesculapius, and the fables related
+of Apollonius of Tyana, were frequently opposed to the miracles of
+Christ; though I agree with Dr. Lardner, (see Testimonies, vol. iii. p.
+253, 352,) that when Philostratus composed the life of Apollonius, he
+had no such intention.]
+
+[Footnote 139: It is seriously to be lamented, that the Christian
+fathers, by acknowledging the supernatural, or, as they deem it, the
+infernal part of Paganism, destroy with their own hands the great
+advantage which we might otherwise derive from the liberal concessions
+of our adversaries.]
+
+[Footnote 140: Julian (p. 301, edit. Spanheim) expresses a pious joy,
+that the providence of the gods had extinguished the impious sects,
+and for the most part destroyed the books of the Pyrrhonians and
+Epicuraeans, which had been very numerous, since Epicurus himself
+composed no less than 300 volumes. See Diogenes Laertius, l. x. c. 26.]
+
+[Footnote 141: Cumque alios audiam mussitare indignanter, et dicere
+opportere statui per Senatum, aboleantur ut haec scripta, quibus
+Christiana Religio comprobetur, et vetustatis opprimatur auctoritas.
+Arnobius adversus Gentes, l. iii. p. 103, 104. He adds very properly,
+Erroris convincite Ciceronem... nam intercipere scripta, et publicatam
+velle submergere lectionem, non est Deum defendere sed veritatis
+testificationem timere.]
+
+[Footnote 142: Lactantius (Divin. Institut. l. v. c. 2, 3) gives a very
+clear and spirited account of two of these philosophic adversaries
+of the faith. The large treatise of Porphyry against the Christians
+consisted of thirty books, and was composed in Sicily about the year
+270.]
+
+[Footnote 143: See Socrates, Hist. Ecclesiast. l. i. c. 9, and Codex
+Justinian. l. i. i. l. s.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
+Constantine.--Part VI.
+
+Although the policy of Diocletian and the humanity of Constantius
+inclined them to preserve inviolate the maxims of toleration, it was
+soon discovered that their two associates, Maximian and Galerius,
+entertained the most implacable aversion for the name and religion of
+the Christians. The minds of those princes had never been enlightened
+by science; education had never softened their temper. They owed their
+greatness to their swords, and in their most elevated fortune they still
+retained their superstitious prejudices of soldiers and peasants. In the
+general administration of the provinces they obeyed the laws which
+their benefactor had established; but they frequently found occasions of
+exercising within their camp and palaces a secret persecution, [144] for
+which the imprudent zeal of the Christians sometimes offered the most
+specious pretences. A sentence of death was executed upon Maximilianus,
+an African youth, who had been produced by his own father [144a] before
+the magistrate as a sufficient and legal recruit, but who obstinately
+persisted in declaring, that his conscience would not permit him to
+embrace the profession of a soldier. [145] It could scarcely be expected
+that any government should suffer the action of Marcellus the Centurion
+to pass with impunity. On the day of a public festival, that officer
+threw away his belt, his arms, and the ensigns of his office, and
+exclaimed with a loud voice, that he would obey none but Jesus Christ
+the eternal King, and that he renounced forever the use of carnal
+weapons, and the service of an idolatrous master. The soldiers, as
+soon as they recovered from their astonishment, secured the person of
+Marcellus. He was examined in the city of Tingi by the president of that
+part of Mauritania; and as he was convicted by his own confession, he
+was condemned and beheaded for the crime of desertion. [146] Examples of
+such a nature savor much less of religious persecution than of martial
+or even civil law; but they served to alienate the mind of the emperors,
+to justify the severity of Galerius, who dismissed a great number of
+Christian officers from their employments; and to authorize the opinion,
+that a sect of enthusiastics, which avowed principles so repugnant to
+the public safety, must either remain useless, or would soon become
+dangerous, subjects of the empire.
+
+[Footnote 144: Eusebius, l. viii. c. 4, c. 17. He limits the number of
+military martyrs, by a remarkable expression, of which neither his Latin
+nor French translator have rendered the energy. Notwithstanding the
+authority of Eusebius, and the silence of Lactantius, Ambrose,
+Sulpicius, Orosius, &c., it has been long believed, that the Thebaean
+legion, consisting of 6000 Christians, suffered martyrdom by the order
+of Maximian, in the valley of the Pennine Alps. The story was first
+published about the middle of the 5th century, by Eucherius, bishop of
+Lyons, who received it from certain persons, who received it from Isaac,
+bishop of Geneva, who is said to have received it from Theodore, bishop
+of Octodurum. The abbey of St. Maurice still subsists, a rich monument
+of the credulity of Sigismund, king of Burgundy. See an excellent
+Dissertation in xxxvith volume of the Bibliotheque Raisonnee,
+p. 427-454.]
+
+[Footnote 144a: M. Guizot criticizes Gibbon's account of this incident.
+He supposes that Maximilian was not "produced by his father as a
+recruit," but was obliged to appear by the law, which compelled the sons
+of soldiers to serve at 21 years old. Was not this a law of Constantine?
+Neither does this circumstance appear in the acts. His father had
+clearly expected him to serve, as he had bought him a new dress for the
+occasion; yet he refused to force the conscience of his son. and when
+Maximilian was condemned to death, the father returned home in joy,
+blessing God for having bestowed upon him such a son.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 145: See the Acta Sincera, p. 299. The accounts of his
+martyrdom and that of Marcellus, bear every mark of truth and
+authenticity.]
+
+[Footnote 146: Acta Sincera, p. 302. * Note: M. Guizot here justly
+observes, that it was the necessity of sacrificing to the gods, which
+induced Marcellus to act in this manner.--M.]
+
+After the success of the Persian war had raised the hopes and the
+reputation of Galerius, he passed a winter with Diocletian in the palace
+of Nicomedia; and the fate of Christianity became the object of their
+secret consultations. [147] The experienced emperor was still inclined
+to pursue measures of lenity; and though he readily consented to exclude
+the Christians from holding any employments in the household or the
+army, he urged in the strongest terms the danger as well as cruelty
+of shedding the blood of those deluded fanatics. Galerius at length
+extorted [147a] from him the permission of summoning a council, composed
+of a few persons the most distinguished in the civil and military
+departments of the state.
+
+The important question was agitated in their presence, and those
+ambitious courtiers easily discerned, that it was incumbent on them to
+second, by their eloquence, the importunate violence of the Caesar. It
+may be presumed, that they insisted on every topic which might
+interest the pride, the piety, or the fears, of their sovereign in the
+destruction of Christianity. Perhaps they represented, that the glorious
+work of the deliverance of the empire was left imperfect, as long as an
+independent people was permitted to subsist and multiply in the heart
+of the provinces. The Christians, (it might specially be alleged,)
+renouncing the gods and the institutions of Rome, had constituted a
+distinct republic, which might yet be suppressed before it had acquired
+any military force; but which was already governed by its own laws and
+magistrates, was possessed of a public treasure, and was intimately
+connected in all its parts by the frequent assemblies of the bishops,
+to whose decrees their numerous and opulent congregations yielded an
+implicit obedience. Arguments like these may seem to have determined the
+reluctant mind of Diocletian to embrace a new system of persecution;
+but though we may suspect, it is not in our power to relate, the secret
+intrigues of the palace, the private views and resentments, the jealousy
+of women or eunuchs, and all those trifling but decisive causes which
+so often influence the fate of empires, and the councils of the wisest
+monarchs. [148]
+
+[Footnote 147: De M. P. c. 11. Lactantius (or whoever was the author of
+this little treatise) was, at that time, an inhabitant of Nicomedia;
+but it seems difficult to conceive how he could acquire so accurate a
+knowledge of what passed in the Imperial cabinet. Note: * Lactantius,
+who was subsequently chosen by Constantine to educate Crispus, might
+easily have learned these details from Constantine himself, already of
+sufficient age to interest himself in the affairs of the government,
+and in a position to obtain the best information.--G. This assumes the
+doubtful point of the authorship of the Treatise.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 147a: This permission was not extorted from Diocletian; he
+took the step of his own accord. Lactantius says, in truth, Nec tamen
+deflectere potuit (Diocletianus) praecipitis hominis insaniam; placuit
+ergo amicorum sententiam experiri. (De Mort. Pers. c. 11.) But this
+measure was in accordance with the artificial character of Diocletian,
+who wished to have the appearance of doing good by his own impulse and
+evil by the impulse of others. Nam erat hujus malitiae, cum bonum quid
+facere decrevisse sine consilio faciebat, ut ipse laudaretur. Cum autem
+malum. quoniam id reprehendendum sciebat, in consilium multos advocabat,
+ut alioram culpao adscriberetur quicquid ipse deliquerat. Lact. ib.
+Eutropius says likewise, Miratus callide fuit, sagax praeterea et
+admodum subtilis ingenio, et qui severitatem suam aliena invidia vellet
+explere. Eutrop. ix. c. 26.--G.----The manner in which the coarse and
+unfriendly pencil of the author of the Treatise de Mort. Pers. has drawn
+the character of Diocletian, seems inconsistent with this profound
+subtilty. Many readers will perhaps agree with Gibbon.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 148: The only circumstance which we can discover, is the
+devotion and jealousy of the mother of Galerius. She is described by
+Lactantius, as Deorum montium cultrix; mulier admodum superstitiosa. She
+had a great influence over her son, and was offended by the disregard of
+some of her Christian servants. * Note: This disregard consisted in the
+Christians fasting and praying instead of participating in the
+banquets and sacrifices which she celebrated with the Pagans. Dapibus
+sacrificabat poene quotidie ac vicariis suis epulis exhibebat.
+Christiani abstinebant, et illa cum gentibus epulante, jejuniis hi
+et oratiomibus insisteban; hine concepit odium Lact de Hist. Pers. c.
+11.--G.]
+
+The pleasure of the emperors was at length signified to the Christians,
+who, during the course of this melancholy winter, had expected, with
+anxiety, the result of so many secret consultations. The twenty-third
+of February, which coincided with the Roman festival of the Terminalia,
+[149] was appointed (whether from accident or design) to set bounds
+to the progress of Christianity. At the earliest dawn of day, the
+Praetorian praefect, [150] accompanied by several generals, tribunes,
+and officers of the revenue, repaired to the principal church of
+Nicomedia, which was situated on an eminence in the most populous and
+beautiful part of the city. The doors were instantly broke open; they
+rushed into the sanctuary; and as they searched in vain for some
+visible object of worship, they were obliged to content themselves
+with committing to the flames the volumes of the holy Scripture. The
+ministers of Diocletian were followed by a numerous body of guards and
+pioneers, who marched in order of battle, and were provided with all
+the instruments used in the destruction of fortified cities. By their
+incessant labor, a sacred edifice, which towered above the Imperial
+palace, and had long excited the indignation and envy of the Gentiles,
+was in a few hours levelled with the ground. [151]
+
+[Footnote 149: The worship and festival of the god Terminus
+are elegantly illustrated by M. de Boze, Mem. de l'Academie des
+Inscriptions, tom. i. p. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 150: In our only MS. of Lactantius, we read profectus; but
+reason, and the authority of all the critics, allow us, instead of
+that word, which destroys the sense of the passage, to substitute
+proefectus.]
+
+[Footnote 151: Lactantius, de M. P. c. 12, gives a very lively picture
+of the destruction of the church.]
+
+The next day the general edict of persecution was published; [152] and
+though Diocletian, still averse to the effusion of blood, had moderated
+the fury of Galerius, who proposed, that every one refusing to offer
+sacrifice should immediately be burnt alive, the penalties inflicted on
+the obstinacy of the Christians might be deemed sufficiently rigorous
+and effectual. It was enacted, that their churches, in all the provinces
+of the empire, should be demolished to their foundations; and the
+punishment of death was denounced against all who should presume to
+hold any secret assemblies for the purpose of religious worship. The
+philosophers, who now assumed the unworthy office of directing the blind
+zeal of persecution, had diligently studied the nature and genius of the
+Christian religion; and as they were not ignorant that the speculative
+doctrines of the faith were supposed to be contained in the writings
+of the prophets, of the evangelists, and of the apostles, they most
+probably suggested the order, that the bishops and presbyters should
+deliver all their sacred books into the hands of the magistrates; who
+were commanded, under the severest penalties, to burn them in a public
+and solemn manner. By the same edict, the property of the church was at
+once confiscated; and the several parts of which it might consist
+were either sold to the highest bidder, united to the Imperial domain,
+bestowed on the cities and corporations, or granted to the solicitations
+of rapacious courtiers. After taking such effectual measures to abolish
+the worship, and to dissolve the government of the Christians, it was
+thought necessary to subject to the most intolerable hardships the
+condition of those perverse individuals who should still reject the
+religion of nature, of Rome, and of their ancestors. Persons of
+a liberal birth were declared incapable of holding any honors or
+employments; slaves were forever deprived of the hopes of freedom, and
+the whole body of the people were put out of the protection of the law.
+The judges were authorized to hear and to determine every action that
+was brought against a Christian. But the Christians were not permitted
+to complain of any injury which they themselves had suffered; and thus
+those unfortunate sectaries were exposed to the severity, while they
+were excluded from the benefits, of public justice. This new species of
+martyrdom, so painful and lingering, so obscure and ignominious, was,
+perhaps, the most proper to weary the constancy of the faithful: nor can
+it be doubted that the passions and interest of mankind were disposed on
+this occasion to second the designs of the emperors. But the policy of a
+well-ordered government must sometimes have interposed in behalf of the
+oppressed Christians; [152a] nor was it possible for the Roman princes
+entirely to remove the apprehension of punishment, or to connive at
+every act of fraud and violence, without exposing their own authority
+and the rest of their subjects to the most alarming dangers. [153]
+
+[Footnote 152: Mosheim, (p. 922--926,) from man scattered passages of
+Lactantius and Eusebius, has collected a very just and accurate
+notion of this edict though he sometimes deviates into conjecture and
+refinement.]
+
+[Footnote 152a: This wants proof. The edict of Diocletian was executed
+in all its right during the rest of his reign. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l
+viii. c. 13.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 153: Many ages afterwards, Edward J. practised, with great
+success, the same mode of persecution against the clergy of England. See
+Hume's History of England, vol. ii. p. 300, last 4to edition.]
+
+This edict was scarcely exhibited to the public view, in the most
+conspicuous place of Nicomedia, before it was torn down by the hands
+of a Christian, who expressed at the same time, by the bitterest
+invectives, his contempt as well as abhorrence for such impious and
+tyrannical governors. His offence, according to the mildest laws,
+amounted to treason, and deserved death. And if it be true that he was
+a person of rank and education, those circumstances could serve only to
+aggravate his guilt. He was burnt, or rather roasted, by a slow fire;
+and his executioners, zealous to revenge the personal insult which had
+been offered to the emperors, exhausted every refinement of cruelty,
+without being able to subdue his patience, or to alter the steady and
+insulting smile which in his dying agonies he still preserved in his
+countenance. The Christians, though they confessed that his conduct
+had not been strictly conformable to the laws of prudence, admired the
+divine fervor of his zeal; and the excessive commendations which they
+lavished on the memory of their hero and martyr, contributed to fix a
+deep impression of terror and hatred in the mind of Diocletian. [154]
+
+[Footnote 154: Lactantius only calls him quidam, et si non recte,
+magno tamer animo, &c., c. 12. Eusebius (l. viii. c. 5) adorns him with
+secular honora Neither have condescended to mention his name; but the
+Greeks celebrate his memory under that of John. See Tillemont, Memones
+Ecclesiastiques, tom. v. part ii. p. 320.]
+
+His fears were soon alarmed by the view of a danger from which he very
+narrowly escaped. Within fifteen days the palace of Nicomedia, and even
+the bed-chamber of Diocletian, were twice in flames; and though both
+times they were extinguished without any material damage, the singular
+repetition of the fire was justly considered as an evident proof that it
+had not been the effect of chance or negligence. The suspicion naturally
+fell on the Christians; and it was suggested, with some degree of
+probability, that those desperate fanatics, provoked by their present
+sufferings, and apprehensive of impending calamities, had entered into
+a conspiracy with their faithful brethren, the eunuchs of the
+palace, against the lives of two emperors, whom they detested as the
+irreconcilable enemies of the church of God.
+
+Jealousy and resentment prevailed in every breast, but especially in
+that of Diocletian. A great number of persons, distinguished either
+by the offices which they had filled, or by the favor which they had
+enjoyed, were thrown into prison. Every mode of torture was put in
+practice, and the court, as well as city, was polluted with many bloody
+executions. [155] But as it was found impossible to extort any discovery
+of this mysterious transaction, it seems incumbent on us either to
+presume the innocence, or to admire the resolution, of the sufferers.
+A few days afterwards Galerius hastily withdrew himself from Nicomedia,
+declaring, that if he delayed his departure from that devoted palace, he
+should fall a sacrifice to the rage of the Christians.
+
+The ecclesiastical historians, from whom alone we derive a partial and
+imperfect knowledge of this persecution, are at a loss how to account
+for the fears and dangers of the emperors. Two of these writers, a
+prince and a rhetorician, were eye-witnesses of the fire of Nicomedia.
+The one ascribes it to lightning, and the divine wrath; the other
+affirms, that it was kindled by the malice of Galerius himself. [156]
+
+[Footnote 155: Lactantius de M. P. c. 13, 14. Potentissimi quondam
+Eunuchi necati, per quos Palatium et ipse constabat. Eusebius (l.
+viii. c. 6) mentions the cruel executions of the eunuchs, Gorgonius and
+Dorotheus, and of Anthimius, bishop of Nicomedia; and both those writers
+describe, in a vague but tragical manner, the horrid scenes which were
+acted even in the Imperial presence.]
+
+[Footnote 156: See Lactantius, Eusebius, and Constantine, ad Coetum
+Sanctorum, c. xxv. Eusebius confesses his ignorance of the cause of this
+fire. Note: As the history of these times affords us no example of any
+attempts made by the Christians against their persecutors, we have no
+reason, not the slightest probability, to attribute to them the fire in
+the palace; and the authority of Constantine and Lactantius remains to
+explain it. M. de Tillemont has shown how they can be reconciled.
+Hist. des Empereurs, Vie de Diocletian, xix.--G. Had it been done by a
+Christian, it would probably have been a fanatic, who would have avowed
+and gloried in it. Tillemont's supposition that the fire was first
+caused by lightning, and fed and increased by the malice of Galerius,
+seems singularly improbable.--M.]
+
+As the edict against the Christians was designed for a general law of
+the whole empire, and as Diocletian and Galerius, though they might not
+wait for the consent, were assured of the concurrence, of the Western
+princes, it would appear more consonant to our ideas of policy, that the
+governors of all the provinces should have received secret instructions
+to publish, on one and the same day, this declaration of war within
+their respective departments. It was at least to be expected, that the
+convenience of the public highways and established posts would have
+enabled the emperors to transmit their orders with the utmost despatch
+from the palace of Nicomedia to the extremities of the Roman world; and
+that they would not have suffered fifty days to elapse, before the edict
+was published in Syria, and near four months before it was signified to
+the cities of Africa. [157]
+
+This delay may perhaps be imputed to the cautious temper of Diocletian,
+who had yielded a reluctant consent to the measures of persecution, and
+who was desirous of trying the experiment under his more immediate
+eye, before he gave way to the disorders and discontent which it must
+inevitably occasion in the distant provinces. At first, indeed, the
+magistrates were restrained from the effusion of blood; but the use of
+every other severity was permitted, and even recommended to their zeal;
+nor could the Christians, though they cheerfully resigned the ornaments
+of their churches, resolve to interrupt their religious assemblies,
+or to deliver their sacred books to the flames. The pious obstinacy of
+Felix, an African bishop, appears to have embarrassed the subordinate
+ministers of the government. The curator of his city sent him in chains
+to the proconsul. The proconsul transmitted him to the Praetorian
+praefect of Italy; and Felix, who disdained even to give an evasive
+answer, was at length beheaded at Venusia, in Lucania, a place on
+which the birth of Horace has conferred fame. [158] This precedent, and
+perhaps some Imperial rescript, which was issued in consequence of it,
+appeared to authorize the governors of provinces, in punishing with
+death the refusal of the Christians to deliver up their sacred books.
+There were undoubtedly many persons who embraced this opportunity of
+obtaining the crown of martyrdom; but there were likewise too many who
+purchased an ignominious life, by discovering and betraying the holy
+Scripture into the hands of infidels. A great number even of bishops
+and presbyters acquired, by this criminal compliance, the opprobrious
+epithet of Traditors; and their offence was productive of much present
+scandal and of much future discord in the African church. [159]
+
+[Footnote 157: Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiast. tom. v. part i. p. 43.]
+
+[Footnote 158: See the Acta Sincera of Ruinart, p. 353; those of Felix
+of Thibara, or Tibiur, appear much less corrupted than in the other
+editions, which afford a lively specimen of legendary license.]
+
+[Footnote 159: See the first book of Optatus of Milevis against the
+Donatiste, Paris, 1700, edit. Dupin. He lived under the reign of
+Valens.]
+
+The copies as well as the versions of Scripture, were already so
+multiplied in the empire, that the most severe inquisition could no
+longer be attended with any fatal consequences; and even the sacrifice
+of those volumes, which, in every congregation, were preserved for
+public use, required the consent of some treacherous and unworthy
+Christians. But the ruin of the churches was easily effected by the
+authority of the government, and by the labor of the Pagans. In some
+provinces, however, the magistrates contented themselves with shutting
+up the places of religious worship. In others, they more literally
+complied with the terms of the edict; and after taking away the doors,
+the benches, and the pulpit, which they burnt as it were in a funeral
+pile, they completely demolished the remainder of the edifice. [160]
+It is perhaps to this melancholy occasion that we should apply a very
+remarkable story, which is related with so many circumstances of variety
+and improbability, that it serves rather to excite than to satisfy
+our curiosity. In a small town in Phrygia, of whose names as well as
+situation we are left ignorant, it should seem that the magistrates and
+the body of the people had embraced the Christian faith; and as some
+resistance might be apprehended to the execution of the edict, the
+governor of the province was supported by a numerous detachment of
+legionaries. On their approach the citizens threw themselves into the
+church, with the resolution either of defending by arms that sacred
+edifice, or of perishing in its ruins. They indignantly rejected the
+notice and permission which was given them to retire, till the soldiers,
+provoked by their obstinate refusal, set fire to the building on all
+sides, and consumed, by this extraordinary kind of martyrdom, a great
+number of Phrygians, with their wives and children. [161]
+
+[Footnote 160: The ancient monuments, published at the end of Optatus,
+p. 261, &c. describe, in a very circumstantial manner, the proceedings
+of the governors in the destruction of churches. They made a minute
+inventory of the plate, &c., which they found in them. That of the
+church of Cirta, in Numidia, is still extant. It consisted of two
+chalices of gold, and six of silver; six urns, one kettle, seven lamps,
+all likewise of silver; besides a large quantity of brass utensils, and
+wearing apparel.]
+
+[Footnote 161: Lactantius (Institut. Divin. v. 11) confines the calamity
+to the conventiculum, with its congregation. Eusebius (viii. 11) extends
+it to a whole city, and introduces something very like a regular siege.
+His ancient Latin translator, Rufinus, adds the important circumstance
+of the permission given to the inhabitants of retiring from thence.
+As Phrygia reached to the confines of Isauria, it is possible that the
+restless temper of those independent barbarians may have contributed to
+this misfortune. Note: Universum populum. Lact. Inst. Div. v. 11.--G.]
+
+Some slight disturbances, though they were suppressed almost as soon as
+excited, in Syria and the frontiers of Armenia, afforded the enemies of
+the church a very plausible occasion to insinuate, that those troubles
+had been secretly fomented by the intrigues of the bishops, who
+had already forgotten their ostentatious professions of passive and
+unlimited obedience. [162]
+
+The resentment, or the fears, of Diocletian, at length transported him
+beyond the bounds of moderation, which he had hitherto preserved, and
+he declared, in a series of cruel edicts, [162a] his intention of
+abolishing the Christian name. By the first of these edicts, the
+governors of the provinces were directed to apprehend all persons of
+the ecclesiastical order; and the prisons, destined for the vilest
+criminals, were soon filled with a multitude of bishops, presbyters,
+deacons, readers, and exorcists. By a second edict, the magistrates were
+commanded to employ every method of severity, which might reclaim
+them from their odious superstition, and oblige them to return to the
+established worship of the gods. This rigorous order was extended, by a
+subsequent edict, to the whole body of Christians, who were exposed to a
+violent and general persecution. [163]
+
+Instead of those salutary restraints, which had required the direct
+and solemn testimony of an accuser, it became the duty as well as the
+interest of the Imperial officers to discover, to pursue, and to torment
+the most obnoxious among the faithful. Heavy penalties were denounced
+against all who should presume to save a prescribed sectary from the
+just indignation of the gods, and of the emperors. Yet, notwithstanding
+the severity of this law, the virtuous courage of many of the Pagans, in
+concealing their friends or relations, affords an honorable proof,
+that the rage of superstition had not extinguished in their minds the
+sentiments of nature and humanity. [164]
+
+[Footnote 162: Eusebius, l. viii. c. 6. M. de Valois (with some
+probability) thinks that he has discovered the Syrian rebellion in
+an oration of Libanius; and that it was a rash attempt of the tribune
+Eugenius, who with only five hundred men seized Antioch, and might
+perhaps allure the Christians by the promise of religious toleration.
+From Eusebius, (l. ix. c. 8,) as well as from Moses of Chorene, (Hist.
+Armen. l. ii. 77, &c.,) it may be inferred, that Christianity was
+already introduced into Armenia.]
+
+[Footnote 162a: He had already passed them in his first edict. It
+does not appear that resentment or fear had any share in the new
+persecutions: perhaps they originated in superstition, and a specious
+apparent respect for its ministers. The oracle of Apollo, consulted
+by Diocletian, gave no answer; and said that just men hindered it from
+speaking. Constantine, who assisted at the ceremony, affirms, with an
+oath, that when questioned about these men, the high priest named the
+Christians. "The Emperor eagerly seized on this answer; and drew against
+the innocent a sword, destined only to punish the guilty: he instantly
+issued edicts, written, if I may use the expression, with a poniard;
+and ordered the judges to employ all their skill to invent new modes of
+punishment. Euseb. Vit Constant. l. ii c 54."--G.]
+
+[Footnote 163: See Mosheim, p. 938: the text of Eusebius very plainly
+shows that the governors, whose powers were enlarged, not restrained, by
+the new laws, could punish with death the most obstinate Christians as
+an example to their brethren.]
+
+[Footnote 164: Athanasius, p. 833, ap. Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiast. tom v
+part i. 90.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
+Constantine.--Part VII.
+
+Diocletian had no sooner published his edicts against the Christians,
+than, as if he had been desirous of committing to other hands the
+work of persecution, he divested himself of the Imperial purple. The
+character and situation of his colleagues and successors sometimes urged
+them to enforce and sometimes inclined them to suspend, the execution of
+these rigorous laws; nor can we acquire a just and distinct idea of
+this important period of ecclesiastical history, unless we separately
+consider the state of Christianity, in the different parts of the
+empire, during the space of ten years, which elapsed between the first
+edicts of Diocletian and the final peace of the church.
+
+The mild and humane temper of Constantius was averse to the oppression
+of any part of his subjects. The principal offices of his palace
+were exercised by Christians. He loved their persons, esteemed their
+fidelity, and entertained not any dislike to their religious principles.
+But as long as Constantius remained in the subordinate station
+of Caesar, it was not in his power openly to reject the edicts of
+Diocletian, or to disobey the commands of Maximian. His authority
+contributed, however, to alleviate the sufferings which he pitied and
+abhorred. He consented with reluctance to the ruin of the churches; but
+he ventured to protect the Christians themselves from the fury of the
+populace, and from the rigor of the laws. The provinces of Gaul (under
+which we may probably include those of Britain) were indebted for the
+singular tranquillity which they enjoyed, to the gentle interposition of
+their sovereign. [165] But Datianus, the president or governor of Spain,
+actuated either by zeal or policy, chose rather to execute the public
+edicts of the emperors, than to understand the secret intentions
+of Constantius; and it can scarcely be doubted, that his provincial
+administration was stained with the blood of a few martyrs. [166]
+
+The elevation of Constantius to the supreme and independent dignity
+of Augustus, gave a free scope to the exercise of his virtues, and the
+shortness of his reign did not prevent him from establishing a system
+of toleration, of which he left the precept and the example to his son
+Constantine. His fortunate son, from the first moment of his accession,
+declaring himself the protector of the church, at length deserved the
+appellation of the first emperor who publicly professed and established
+the Christian religion. The motives of his conversion, as they may
+variously be deduced from benevolence, from policy, from conviction,
+or from remorse, and the progress of the revolution, which, under his
+powerful influence and that of his sons, rendered Christianity the
+reigning religion of the Roman empire, will form a very interesting and
+important chapter in the present volume of this history. At present
+it may be sufficient to observe, that every victory of Constantine was
+productive of some relief or benefit to the church.
+
+[Footnote 165: Eusebius, l. viii. c. 13. Lactantius de M. P. c. 15.
+Dodwell (Dissertat. Cyprian. xi. 75) represents them as inconsistent
+with each other. But the former evidently speaks of Constantius in the
+station of Caesar, and the latter of the same prince in the rank of
+Augustus.]
+
+[Footnote 166: Datianus is mentioned, in Gruter's Inscriptions, as
+having determined the limits between the territories of Pax Julia, and
+those of Ebora, both cities in the southern part of Lusitania. If we
+recollect the neighborhood of those places to Cape St. Vincent, we may
+suspect that the celebrated deacon and martyr of that name had been
+inaccurately assigned by Prudentius, &c., to Saragossa, or Valentia.
+See the pompous history of his sufferings, in the Memoires de Tillemont,
+tom. v. part ii. p. 58-85. Some critics are of opinion, that the
+department of Constantius, as Caesar, did not include Spain, which still
+continued under the immediate jurisdiction of Maximian.]
+
+The provinces of Italy and Africa experienced a short but violent
+persecution. The rigorous edicts of Diocletian were strictly and
+cheerfully executed by his associate Maximian, who had long hated the
+Christians, and who delighted in acts of blood and violence. In the
+autumn of the first year of the persecution, the two emperors met at
+Rome to celebrate their triumph; several oppressive laws appear to
+have issued from their secret consultations, and the diligence of the
+magistrates was animated by the presence of their sovereigns. After
+Diocletian had divested himself of the purple, Italy and Africa were
+administered under the name of Severus, and were exposed, without
+defence, to the implacable resentment of his master Galerius. Among the
+martyrs of Rome, Adauctus deserves the notice of posterity. He was of
+a noble family in Italy, and had raised himself, through the successive
+honors of the palace, to the important office of treasurer of the
+private Jemesnes. Adauctus is the more remarkable for being the only
+person of rank and distinction who appears to have suffered death,
+during the whole course of this general persecution. [167]
+
+[Footnote 167: Eusebius, l. viii. c. 11. Gruter, Inscrip. p. 1171, No.
+18. Rufinus has mistaken the office of Adauctus, as well as the place
+of his martyrdom. * Note: M. Guizot suggests the powerful cunuchs of the
+palace. Dorotheus, Gorgonius, and Andrew, admitted by Gibbon himself to
+have been put to death, p. 66.]
+
+The revolt of Maxentius immediately restored peace to the churches of
+Italy and Africa; and the same tyrant who oppressed every other class of
+his subjects, showed himself just, humane, and even partial, towards the
+afflicted Christians. He depended on their gratitude and affection, and
+very naturally presumed, that the injuries which they had suffered, and
+the dangers which they still apprehended from his most inveterate enemy,
+would secure the fidelity of a party already considerable by their
+numbers and opulence. [168] Even the conduct of Maxentius towards the
+bishops of Rome and Carthage may be considered as the proof of his
+toleration, since it is probable that the most orthodox princes would
+adopt the same measures with regard to their established clergy.
+Marcellus, the former of these prelates, had thrown the capital into
+confusion, by the severe penance which he imposed on a great number
+of Christians, who, during the late persecution, had renounced or
+dissembled their religion. The rage of faction broke out in frequent and
+violent seditions; the blood of the faithful was shed by each other's
+hands, and the exile of Marcellus, whose prudence seems to have been
+less eminent than his zeal, was found to be the only measure capable of
+restoring peace to the distracted church of Rome. [169] The behavior
+of Mensurius, bishop of Carthage, appears to have been still more
+reprehensible. A deacon of that city had published a libel against the
+emperor. The offender took refuge in the episcopal palace; and though it
+was somewhat early to advance any claims of ecclesiastical immunities,
+the bishop refused to deliver him up to the officers of justice. For
+this treasonable resistance, Mensurius was summoned to court, and
+instead of receiving a legal sentence of death or banishment, he was
+permitted, after a short examination, to return to his diocese. [170]
+Such was the happy condition of the Christian subjects of Maxentius,
+that whenever they were desirous of procuring for their own use any
+bodies of martyrs, they were obliged to purchase them from the most
+distant provinces of the East. A story is related of Aglae, a Roman
+lady, descended from a consular family, and possessed of so ample an
+estate, that it required the management of seventy-three stewards. Among
+these Boniface was the favorite of his mistress; and as Aglae mixed love
+with devotion, it is reported that he was admitted to share her bed. Her
+fortune enabled her to gratify the pious desire of obtaining some sacred
+relics from the East. She intrusted Boniface with a considerable sum
+of gold, and a large quantity of aromatics; and her lover, attended
+by twelve horsemen and three covered chariots, undertook a remote
+pilgrimage, as far as Tarsus in Cilicia. [171]
+
+[Footnote 168: Eusebius, l. viii. c. 14. But as Maxentius was vanquished
+by Constantine, it suited the purpose of Lactantius to place his death
+among those of the persecutors. * Note: M. Guizot directly contradicts
+this statement of Gibbon, and appeals to Eusebius. Maxentius, who
+assumed the power in Italy, pretended at first to be a Christian, to
+gain the favor of the Roman people; he ordered his ministers to cease
+to persecute the Christians, affecting a hypocritical piety, in order to
+appear more mild than his predecessors; but his actions soon proved that
+he was very different from what they had at first hoped. The actions
+of Maxentius were those of a cruel tyrant, but not those of a persecutor:
+the Christians, like the rest of his subjects, suffered from his vices,
+but they were not oppressed as a sect. Christian females were exposed to
+his lusts, as well as to the brutal violence of his colleague Maximian,
+but they were not selected as Christians.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 169: The epitaph of Marcellus is to be found in Gruter,
+Inscrip. p 1172, No. 3, and it contains all that we know of his history.
+Marcellinus and Marcellus, whose names follow in the list of popes, are
+supposed by many critics to be different persons; but the learned Abbe
+de Longuerue was convinced that they were one and the same. Veridicus
+rector lapsis quia crimina flere Praedixit miseris, fuit omnibus hostis
+amarus. Hinc furor, hinc odium; sequitur discordia, lites, Seditio,
+caedes; solvuntur foedera pacis. Crimen ob alterius, Christum qui in
+pace negavit Finibus expulsus patriae est feritate Tyranni. Haec
+breviter Damasus voluit comperta referre: Marcelli populus meritum
+cognoscere posset.----We may observe that Damasus was made Bishop of
+Rome, A. D. 366.]
+
+[Footnote 170: Optatus contr. Donatist. l. i. c. 17, 18. * Note: The
+words of Optatus are, Profectus (Roman) causam dixit; jussus con reverti
+Carthaginem; perhaps, in pleading his cause, he exculpated himself,
+since he received an order to return to Carthage.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 171: The Acts of the Passion of St. Boniface, which abound in
+miracles and declamation, are published by Ruinart, (p. 283--291,) both
+in Greek and Latin, from the authority of very ancient manuscripts.
+Note: We are ignorant whether Aglae and Boniface were Christians at the
+time of their unlawful connection. See Tillemont. Mem, Eccles. Note on
+the Persecution of Domitian, tom. v. note 82. M. de Tillemont proves
+also that the history is doubtful.--G. ----Sir D. Dalrymple (Lord
+Hailes) calls the story of Aglae and Boniface as of equal authority with
+our popular histories of Whittington and Hickathrift. Christian
+Antiquities, ii. 64.--M.]
+
+The sanguinary temper of Galerius, the first and principal author of the
+persecution, was formidable to those Christians whom their misfortunes
+had placed within the limits of his dominions; and it may fairly be
+presumed that many persons of a middle rank, who were not confined by
+the chains either of wealth or of poverty, very frequently deserted
+their native country, and sought a refuge in the milder climate of the
+West. [171a] As long as he commanded only the armies and provinces of
+Illyricum, he could with difficulty either find or make a considerable
+number of martyrs, in a warlike country, which had entertained the
+missionaries of the gospel with more coldness and reluctance than any
+other part of the empire. [172] But when Galerius had obtained the
+supreme power, and the government of the East, he indulged in their
+fullest extent his zeal and cruelty, not only in the provinces of Thrace
+and Asia, which acknowledged his immediate jurisdiction, but in those
+of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, where Maximin gratified his own
+inclination, by yielding a rigorous obedience to the stern commands
+of his benefactor. [173] The frequent disappointments of his ambitious
+views, the experience of six years of persecution, and the salutary
+reflections which a lingering and painful distemper suggested to the
+mind of Galerius, at length convinced him that the most violent efforts
+of despotism are insufficient to extirpate a whole people, or to subdue
+their religious prejudices. Desirous of repairing the mischief that he
+had occasioned, he published in his own name, and in those of Licinius
+and Constantine, a general edict, which, after a pompous recital of the
+Imperial titles, proceeded in the following manner:--
+
+[Footnote 171a: A little after this, Christianity was propagated to the
+north of the Roman provinces, among the tribes of Germany: a multitude
+of Christians, forced by the persecutions of the Emperors to take
+refuge among the Barbarians, were received with kindness. Euseb. de Vit.
+Constant. ii. 53. Semler Select. cap. H. E. p. 115. The Goths owed their
+first knowledge of Christianity to a young girl, a prisoner of war;
+she continued in the midst of them her exercises of piety; she fasted,
+prayed, and praised God day and night. When she was asked what good
+would come of so much painful trouble she answered, "It is thus that
+Christ, the Son of God, is to be honored." Sozomen, ii. c. 6.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 172: During the four first centuries, there exist few traces
+of either bishops or bishoprics in the western Illyricum. It has been
+thought probable that the primate of Milan extended his jurisdiction
+over Sirmium, the capital of that great province. See the Geographia
+Sacra of Charles de St. Paul, p. 68-76, with the observations of Lucas
+Holstenius.]
+
+[Footnote 173: The viiith book of Eusebius, as well as the supplement
+concerning the martyrs of Palestine, principally relate to the
+persecution of Galerius and Maximin. The general lamentations with which
+Lactantius opens the vth book of his Divine Institutions allude to their
+cruelty.] "Among the important cares which have occupied our mind for
+the utility and preservation of the empire, it was our intention to
+correct and reestablish all things according to the ancient laws and
+public discipline of the Romans. We were particularly desirous of
+reclaiming into the way of reason and nature, the deluded Christians who
+had renounced the religion and ceremonies instituted by their fathers;
+and presumptuously despising the practice of antiquity, had invented
+extravagant laws and opinions, according to the dictates of their fancy,
+and had collected a various society from the different provinces of our
+empire. The edicts, which we have published to enforce the worship of
+the gods, having exposed many of the Christians to danger and distress,
+many having suffered death, and many more, who still persist in their
+impious folly, being left destitute of any public exercise of religion,
+we are disposed to extend to those unhappy men the effects of our wonted
+clemency. We permit them therefore freely to profess their private
+opinions, and to assemble in their conventicles without fear or
+molestation, provided always that they preserve a due respect to the
+established laws and government. By another rescript we shall signify
+our intentions to the judges and magistrates; and we hope that our
+indulgence will engage the Christians to offer up their prayers to the
+Deity whom they adore, for our safety and prosperity for their own, and
+for that of the republic." [174] It is not usually in the language of
+edicts and manifestos that we should search for the real character or
+the secret motives of princes; but as these were the words of a dying
+emperor, his situation, perhaps, may be admitted as a pledge of his
+sincerity.
+
+[Footnote 174: Eusebius (l. viii. c. 17) has given us a Greek version,
+and Lactantius (de M. P. c. 34) the Latin original, of this memorable
+edict. Neither of these writers seems to recollect how directly
+it contradicts whatever they have just affirmed of the remorse and
+repentance of Galerius. Note: But Gibbon has answered this by his just
+observation, that it is not in the language of edicts and manifestos
+that we should search * * for the secre motives of princes.--M.]
+
+When Galerius subscribed this edict of toleration, he was well assured
+that Licinius would readily comply with the inclinations of his friend
+and benefactor, and that any measures in favor of the Christians would
+obtain the approbation of Constantine. But the emperor would not venture
+to insert in the preamble the name of Maximin, whose consent was of
+the greatest importance, and who succeeded a few days afterwards to the
+provinces of Asia. In the first six months, however, of his new reign,
+Maximin affected to adopt the prudent counsels of his predecessor; and
+though he never condescended to secure the tranquillity of the church by
+a public edict, Sabinus, his Praetorian praefect, addressed a
+circular letter to all the governors and magistrates of the provinces,
+expatiating on the Imperial clemency, acknowledging the invincible
+obstinacy of the Christians, and directing the officers of justice
+to cease their ineffectual prosecutions, and to connive at the secret
+assemblies of those enthusiasts. In consequence of these orders, great
+numbers of Christians were released from prison, or delivered from the
+mines. The confessors, singing hymns of triumph, returned into their
+own countries; and those who had yielded to the violence of the tempest,
+solicited with tears of repentance their readmission into the bosom of
+the church. [175]
+
+[Footnote 175: Eusebius, l. ix. c. 1. He inserts the epistle of the
+praefect.]
+
+But this treacherous calm was of short duration; nor could the
+Christians of the East place any confidence in the character of their
+sovereign. Cruelty and superstition were the ruling passions of the soul
+of Maximin. The former suggested the means, the latter pointed out the
+objects of persecution. The emperor was devoted to the worship of the
+gods, to the study of magic, and to the belief of oracles. The prophets
+or philosophers, whom he revered as the favorites of Heaven, were
+frequently raised to the government of provinces, and admitted into his
+most secret councils. They easily convinced him that the Christians had
+been indebted for their victories to their regular discipline, and that
+the weakness of polytheism had principally flowed from a want of
+union and subordination among the ministers of religion. A system of
+government was therefore instituted, which was evidently copied from the
+policy of the church. In all the great cities of the empire, the
+temples were repaired and beautified by the order of Maximin, and
+the officiating priests of the various deities were subjected to the
+authority of a superior pontiff destined to oppose the bishop, and to
+promote the cause of paganism. These pontiffs acknowledged, in their
+turn, the supreme jurisdiction of the metropolitans or high priests
+of the province, who acted as the immediate vicegerents of the emperor
+himself. A white robe was the ensign of their dignity; and these
+new prelates were carefully selected from the most noble and opulent
+families. By the influence of the magistrates, and of the sacerdotal
+order, a great number of dutiful addresses were obtained, particularly
+from the cities of Nicomedia, Antioch, and Tyre, which artfully
+represented the well-known intentions of the court as the general sense
+of the people; solicited the emperor to consult the laws of justice
+rather than the dictates of his clemency; expressed their abhorrence of
+the Christians, and humbly prayed that those impious sectaries might at
+least be excluded from the limits of their respective territories. The
+answer of Maximin to the address which he obtained from the citizens of
+Tyre is still extant. He praises their zeal and devotion in terms of
+the highest satisfaction, descants on the obstinate impiety of the
+Christians, and betrays, by the readiness with which he consents to
+their banishment, that he considered himself as receiving, rather than
+as conferring, an obligation. The priests as well as the magistrates
+were empowered to enforce the execution of his edicts, which were
+engraved on tables of brass; and though it was recommended to them to
+avoid the effusion of blood, the most cruel and ignominious punishments
+were inflicted on the refractory Christians. [176]
+
+[Footnote 176: See Eusebius, l. viii. c. 14, l. ix. c. 2--8. Lactantius
+de M. P. c. 36. These writers agree in representing the arts of Maximin;
+but the former relates the execution of several martyrs, while the
+latter expressly affirms, occidi servos Dei vetuit. * Note: It is
+easy to reconcile them; it is sufficient to quote the entire text of
+Lactantius: Nam cum clementiam specie tenus profiteretur, occidi servos
+Dei vetuit, debilitari jussit. Itaque confessoribus effodiebantur oculi,
+amputabantur manus, nares vel auriculae desecabantur. Haec ille moliens
+Constantini litteris deterretur. Dissimulavit ergo, et tamen, si quis
+inciderit. mari occulte mergebatur. This detail of torments inflicted on
+the Christians easily reconciles Lactantius and Eusebius. Those who died
+in consequence of their tortures, those who were plunged into the sea,
+might well pass for martyrs. The mutilation of the words of Lactantius
+has alone given rise to the apparent contradiction.--G. ----Eusebius.
+ch. vi., relates the public martyrdom of the aged bishop of Emesa, with
+two others, who were thrown to the wild beasts, the beheading of Peter,
+bishop of Alexandria, with several others, and the death of Lucian,
+presbyter of Antioch, who was carried to Numidia, and put to death in
+prison. The contradiction is direct and undeniable, for although
+Eusebius may have misplaced the former martyrdoms, it may be doubted
+whether the authority of Maximin extended to Nicomedia till after the
+death of Galerius. The last edict of toleration issued by Maximin and
+published by Eusebius himself, Eccl. Hist. ix. 9. confirms the statement
+of Lactantius.--M.]
+
+The Asiatic Christians had every thing to dread from the severity of
+a bigoted monarch who prepared his measures of violence with such
+deliberate policy. But a few months had scarcely elapsed before the
+edicts published by the two Western emperors obliged Maximin to suspend
+the prosecution of his designs: the civil war which he so rashly
+undertook against Licinius employed all his attention; and the defeat
+and death of Maximin soon delivered the church from the last and most
+implacable of her enemies. [177]
+
+[Footnote 177: A few days before his death, he published a very ample
+edict of toleration, in which he imputes all the severities which the
+Christians suffered to the judges and governors, who had misunderstood
+his intentions.See the edict of Eusebius, l. ix. c. 10.]
+
+In this general view of the persecution, which was first authorized by
+the edicts of Diocletian, I have purposely refrained from describing the
+particular sufferings and deaths of the Christian martyrs. It would have
+been an easy task, from the history of Eusebius, from the declamations
+of Lactantius, and from the most ancient acts, to collect a long series
+of horrid and disgustful pictures, and to fill many pages with racks and
+scourges, with iron hooks and red-hot beds, and with all the variety
+of tortures which fire and steel, savage beasts, and more savage
+executioners, could inflict upon the human body. These melancholy scenes
+might be enlivened by a crowd of visions and miracles destined either to
+delay the death, to celebrate the triumph, or to discover the relics of
+those canonized saints who suffered for the name of Christ. But I cannot
+determine what I ought to transcribe, till I am satisfied how much I
+ought to believe. The gravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius
+himself, indirectly confesses, that he has related whatever might
+redound to the glory, and that he has suppressed all that could tend to
+the disgrace, of religion. [178] Such an acknowledgment will naturally
+excite a suspicion that a writer who has so openly violated one of the
+fundamental laws of history, has not paid a very strict regard to the
+observance of the other; and the suspicion will derive additional credit
+from the character of Eusebius, [178a] which was less tinctured with
+credulity, and more practised in the arts of courts, than that of
+almost any of his contemporaries. On some particular occasions, when
+the magistrates were exasperated by some personal motives of interest or
+resentment, the rules of prudence, and perhaps of decency, to overturn
+the altars, to pour out imprecations against the emperors, or to strike
+the judge as he sat on his tribunal, it may be presumed, that every mode
+of torture which cruelty could invent, or constancy could endure, was
+exhausted on those devoted victims. [179] Two circumstances, however,
+have been unwarily mentioned, which insinuate that the general treatment
+of the Christians, who had been apprehended by the officers of justice,
+was less intolerable than it is usually imagined to have been. 1. The
+confessors who were condemned to work in the mines were permitted by the
+humanity or the negligence of their keepers to build chapels, and freely
+to profess their religion in the midst of those dreary habitations.
+[180] 2. The bishops were obliged to check and to censure the forward
+zeal of the Christians, who voluntarily threw themselves into the hands
+of the magistrates. Some of these were persons oppressed by poverty
+and debts, who blindly sought to terminate a miserable existence by a
+glorious death. Others were allured by the hope that a short confinement
+would expiate the sins of a whole life; and others again were actuated
+by the less honorable motive of deriving a plentiful subsistence, and
+perhaps a considerable profit, from the alms which the charity of the
+faithful bestowed on the prisoners. [181] After the church had triumphed
+over all her enemies, the interest as well as vanity of the captives
+prompted them to magnify the merit of their respective sufferings. A
+convenient distance of time or place gave an ample scope to the progress
+of fiction; and the frequent instances which might be alleged of holy
+martyrs, whose wounds had been instantly healed, whose strength had been
+renewed, and whose lost members had miraculously been restored, were
+extremely convenient for the purpose of removing every difficulty, and
+of silencing every objection. The most extravagant legends, as they
+conduced to the honor of the church, were applauded by the credulous
+multitude, countenanced by the power of the clergy, and attested by the
+suspicious evidence of ecclesiastical history.
+
+[Footnote 178: Such is the fair deduction from two remarkable passages
+in Eusebius, l. viii. c. 2, and de Martyr. Palestin. c. 12. The prudence
+of the historian has exposed his own character to censure and suspicion.
+It was well known that he himself had been thrown into prison; and it
+was suggested that he had purchased his deliverance by some dishonorable
+compliance. The reproach was urged in his lifetime, and even in
+his presence, at the council of Tyre. See Tillemont, Memoires
+Ecclesiastiques, tom. viii. part i. p. 67.]
+
+[Footnote 178a: Historical criticism does not consist in rejecting
+indiscriminately all the facts which do not agree with a particular
+system, as Gibbon does in this chapter, in which, except at the last
+extremity, he will not consent to believe a martyrdom. Authorities are
+to be weighed, not excluded from examination. Now, the Pagan historians
+justify in many places the detail which have been transmitted to us by
+the historians of the church, concerning the tortures endured by
+the Christians. Celsus reproaches the Christians with holding their
+assemblies in secret, on account of the fear inspired by their
+sufferings, "for when you are arrested," he says, "you are dragged to
+punishment: and, before you are put to death, you have to suffer all
+kinds of tortures." Origen cont. Cels. l. i. ii. vi. viii. passing.
+Libanius, the panegyrist of Julian, says, while speaking of the
+Christians. "Those who followed a corrupt religion were in continual
+apprehensions; they feared lest Julian should invent tortures still more
+refined than those to which they had been exposed before, as mutilation,
+burning alive, &c.; for the emperors had inflicted upon them all these
+barbarities." Lib. Parent in Julian. ap. Fab. Bib. Graec. No. 9, No.
+58, p. 283--G. ----This sentence of Gibbon has given rise to several
+learned dissertation: Moller, de Fide Eusebii Caesar, &c., Havniae,
+1813. Danzius, de Eusebio Caes. Hist. Eccl. Scriptore, ejusque tide
+historica recte aestimanda, &c., Jenae, 1815. Kestner Commentatio de
+Eusebii Hist. Eccles. conditoris auctoritate et fide, &c. See also
+Reuterdahl, de Fontibus Historiae Eccles. Eusebianae, Lond. Goth., 1826.
+Gibbon's inference may appear stronger than the text will warrant, yet
+it is difficult, after reading the passages, to dismiss all suspicion of
+partiality from the mind.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 179: The ancient, and perhaps authentic, account of the
+sufferings of Tarachus and his companions, (Acta Sincera Ruinart, p.
+419--448,) is filled with strong expressions of resentment and contempt,
+which could not fail of irritating the magistrate. The behavior of
+Aedesius to Hierocles, praefect of Egypt, was still more extraordinary.
+Euseb. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 5. * Note: M. Guizot states, that the
+acts of Tarachus and his companion contain nothing that appears dictated
+by violent feelings, (sentiment outre.) Nothing can be more painful than
+the constant attempt of Gibbon throughout this discussion, to find some
+flaw in the virtue and heroism of the martyrs, some extenuation for the
+cruelty of the persecutors. But truth must not be sacrificed even to
+well-grounded moral indignation. Though the language of these martyrs is
+in great part that of calm de fiance, of noble firmness, yet there are
+many expressions which betray "resentment and contempt." "Children
+of Satan, worshippers of Devils," is their common appellation of the
+heathen. One of them calls the judge another, one curses, and declares
+that he will curse the Emperors, as pestilential and bloodthirsty
+tyrants, whom God will soon visit in his wrath. On the other hand,
+though at first they speak the milder language of persuasion, the cold
+barbarity of the judges and officers might surely have called forth one
+sentence of abhorrence from Gibbon. On the first unsatisfactory answer,
+"Break his jaw," is the order of the judge. They direct and witness the
+most excruciating tortures; the people, as M. Guizot observers, were so
+much revolted by the cruelty of Maximus that when the martyrs appeared
+in the amphitheatre, fear seized on all hearts, and general murmurs
+against the unjust judge rank through the assembly. It is singular, at
+least, that Gibbon should have quoted "as probably authentic," acts so
+much embellished with miracle as these of Tarachus are, particularly
+towards the end.--M. * Note: Scarcely were the authorities informed of
+this, than the president of the province, a man, says Eusebius, harsh
+and cruel, banished the confessors, some to Cyprus, others to different
+parts of Palestine, and ordered them to be tormented by being set to
+the most painful labors. Four of them, whom he required to abjure
+their faith and refused, were burnt alive. Euseb. de Mart. Palest. c.
+xiii.--G. Two of these were bishops; a fifth, Silvanus, bishop of
+Gaza, was the last martyr; another, named John was blinded, but used
+to officiate, and recite from memory long passages of the sacred
+writings--M.]
+
+[Footnote 180: Euseb. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13.]
+
+[Footnote 181: Augustin. Collat. Carthagin. Dei, iii. c. 13, ap.
+Tillanant, Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. v. part i. p. 46. The
+controversy with the Donatists, has reflected some, though perhaps a
+partial, light on the history of the African church.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
+Constantine.--Part VIII.
+
+The vague descriptions of exile and imprisonment, of pain and torture,
+are so easily exaggerated or softened by the pencil of an artful orator,
+[181a] that we are naturally induced to inquire into a fact of a more
+distinct and stubborn kind; the number of persons who suffered death in
+consequence of the edicts published by Diocletian, his associates, and
+his successors. The recent legendaries record whole armies and
+cities, which were at once swept away by the undistinguishing rage of
+persecution. The more ancient writers content themselves with pouring
+out a liberal effusion of loose and tragical invectives, without
+condescending to ascertain the precise number of those persons who were
+permitted to seal with their blood their belief of the gospel. From
+the history of Eusebius, it may, however, be collected, that only nine
+bishops were punished with death; and we are assured, by his particular
+enumeration of the martyrs of Palestine, that no more than ninety-two
+Christians were entitled to that honorable appellation. [182] [182a] As
+we are unacquainted with the degree of episcopal zeal and courage
+which prevailed at that time, it is not in our power to draw any useful
+inferences from the former of these facts: but the latter may serve
+to justify a very important and probable conclusion. According to the
+distribution of Roman provinces, Palestine may be considered as the
+sixteenth part of the Eastern empire: [183] and since there were some
+governors, who from a real or affected clemency had preserved their
+hands unstained with the blood of the faithful, [184] it is reasonable
+to believe, that the country which had given birth to Christianity,
+produced at least the sixteenth part of the martyrs who suffered
+death within the dominions of Galerius and Maximin; the whole might
+consequently amount to about fifteen hundred, a number which, if it is
+equally divided between the ten years of the persecution, will allow an
+annual consumption of one hundred and fifty martyrs. Allotting the same
+proportion to the provinces of Italy, Africa, and perhaps Spain, where,
+at the end of two or three years, the rigor of the penal laws was either
+suspended or abolished, the multitude of Christians in the Roman empire,
+on whom a capital punishment was inflicted by a judicia, sentence, will
+be reduced to somewhat less than two thousand persons. Since it cannot
+be doubted that the Christians were more numerous, and their enemies
+more exasperated, in the time of Diocletian, than they had ever been in
+any former persecution, this probable and moderate computation may teach
+us to estimate the number of primitive saints and martyrs who sacrificed
+their lives for the important purpose of introducing Christianity into
+the world.
+
+[Footnote 181a: Perhaps there never was an instance of an author
+committing so deliberately the fault which he reprobates so strongly
+in others. What is the dexterous management of the more inartificial
+historians of Christianity, in exaggerating the numbers of the martyrs,
+compared to the unfair address with which Gibbon here quietly dismisses
+from the account all the horrible and excruciating tortures which fell
+short of death? The reader may refer to the xiith chapter (book
+viii.) of Eusebius for the description and for the scenes of these
+tortures.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 182: Eusebius de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13. He closes his
+narration by assuring us that these were the martyrdoms inflicted in
+Palestine, during the whole course of the persecution. The 9th chapter
+of his viiith book, which relates to the province of Thebais in Egypt,
+may seem to contradict our moderate computation; but it will only lead
+us to admire the artful management of the historian. Choosing for the
+scene of the most exquisite cruelty the most remote and sequestered
+country of the Roman empire, he relates that in Thebais from ten to one
+hundred persons had frequently suffered martyrdom in the same day. But
+when he proceeds to mention his own journey into Egypt, his language
+insensibly becomes more cautious and moderate. Instead of a large, but
+definite number, he speaks of many Christians, and most artfully selects
+two ambiguous words, which may signify either what he had seen, or
+what he had heard; either the expectation, or the execution of the
+punishment. Having thus provided a secure evasion, he commits the
+equivocal passage to his readers and translators; justly conceiving that
+their piety would induce them to prefer the most favorable sense. There
+was perhaps some malice in the remark of Theodorus Metochita, that all
+who, like Eusebius, had been conversant with the Egyptians, delighted in
+an obscure and intricate style. (See Valesius ad loc.)]
+
+[Footnote 182a: This calculation is made from the martyrs, of whom
+Eusebius speaks by name; but he recognizes a much greater number.
+Thus the ninth and tenth chapters of his work are entitled, "Of
+Antoninus, Zebinus, Germanus, and other martyrs; of Peter the monk. of
+Asclepius the Maroionite, and other martyrs." [Are these vague contents
+of chapters very good authority?--M.] Speaking of those who suffered
+under Diocletian, he says, "I will only relate the death of one of
+these, from which, the reader may divine what befell the rest." Hist.
+Eccl. viii. 6. [This relates only to the martyrs in the royal
+household.--M.] Dodwell had made, before Gibbon, this calculation and
+these objections; but Ruinart (Act. Mart. Pref p. 27, et seq.) has
+answered him in a peremptory manner: Nobis constat Eusebium in historia
+infinitos passim martyres admisisse. quamvis revera paucorum nomina
+recensuerit. Nec alium Eusebii interpretem quam ipsummet Eusebium
+proferimus, qui (l. iii. c. 33) ait sub Trajano plurimosa ex fidelibus
+martyrii certamen subiisse (l. v. init.) sub Antonino et Vero
+innumerabiles prope martyres per universum orbem enituisse affirmat. (L.
+vi. c. 1.) Severum persecutionem concitasse refert, in qua per omnes
+ubique locorum Ecclesias, ab athletis pro pietate certantibus, illustria
+confecta fuerunt martyria. Sic de Decii, sic de Valeriani,
+persecutionibus loquitur, quae an Dodwelli faveant conjectionibus
+judicet aequus lector. Even in the persecutions which Gibbon has
+represented as much more mild than that of Diocletian, the number of
+martyrs appears much greater than that to which he limits the martyrs of
+the latter: and this number is attested by incontestable monuments. I
+will quote but one example. We find among the letters of St. Cyprian one
+from Lucianus to Celerinus, written from the depth of a prison, in which
+Lucianus names seventeen of his brethren dead, some in the quarries,
+some in the midst of tortures some of starvation in prison. Jussi sumus
+(he proceeds) secundum prae ceptum imperatoris, fame et siti necari, et
+reclusi sumus in duabus cellis, ta ut nos afficerent fame et siti et
+ignis vapore.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 183: When Palestine was divided into three, the praefecture of
+the East contained forty-eight provinces. As the ancient distinctions of
+nations were long since abolished, the Romans distributed the provinces
+according to a general proportion of their extent and opulence.]
+
+[Footnote 184: Ut gloriari possint nullam se innocentium poremisse, nam
+et ipse audivi aloquos gloriantes, quia administratio sua, in hac paris
+merit incruenta. Lactant. Institur. Divin v. 11.]
+
+We shall conclude this chapter by a melancholy truth, which obtrudes
+itself on the reluctant mind; that even admitting, without hesitation or
+inquiry, all that history has recorded, or devotion has feigned, on
+the subject of martyrdoms, it must still be acknowledged, that the
+Christians, in the course of their intestine dissensions, have inflicted
+far greater severities on each other, than they had experienced from
+the zeal of infidels. During the ages of ignorance which followed the
+subversion of the Roman empire in the West, the bishops of the Imperial
+city extended their dominion over the laity as well as clergy of the
+Latin church. The fabric of superstition which they had erected, and
+which might long have defied the feeble efforts of reason, was at length
+assaulted by a crowd of daring fanatics, who from the twelfth to the
+sixteenth century assumed the popular character of reformers. The church
+of Rome defended by violence the empire which she had acquired by fraud;
+a system of peace and benevolence was soon disgraced by proscriptions,
+war, massacres, and the institution of the holy office. And as the
+reformers were animated by the love of civil as well as of religious
+freedom, the Catholic princes connected their own interest with that of
+the clergy, and enforced by fire and the sword the terrors of spiritual
+censures. In the Netherlands alone, more than one hundred thousand of
+the subjects of Charles V. are said to have suffered by the hand of the
+executioner; and this extraordinary number is attested by Grotius, [185]
+a man of genius and learning, who preserved his moderation amidst the
+fury of contending sects, and who composed the annals of his own age and
+country, at a time when the invention of printing had facilitated the
+means of intelligence, and increased the danger of detection.
+
+If we are obliged to submit our belief to the authority of Grotius, it
+must be allowed, that the number of Protestants, who were executed in a
+single province and a single reign, far exceeded that of the primitive
+martyrs in the space of three centuries, and of the Roman empire. But if
+the improbability of the fact itself should prevail over the weight of
+evidence; if Grotius should be convicted of exaggerating the merit and
+sufferings of the Reformers; [186] we shall be naturally led to inquire
+what confidence can be placed in the doubtful and imperfect monuments
+of ancient credulity; what degree of credit can be assigned to a courtly
+bishop, and a passionate declaimer, [186a] who, under the protection
+of Constantine, enjoyed the exclusive privilege of recording the
+persecutions inflicted on the Christians by the vanquished rivals or
+disregarded predecessors of their gracious sovereign.
+
+[Footnote 185: Grot. Annal. de Rebus Belgicis, l. i. p. 12, edit. fol.]
+
+[Footnote 186: Fra Paola (Istoria del Concilio Tridentino, l. iii.)
+reduces the number of the Belgic martyrs to 50,000. In learning and
+moderation Fra Paola was not inferior to Grotius. The priority of time
+gives some advantage to the evidence of the former, which he loses, on
+the other hand, by the distance of Venice from the Netherlands.]
+
+[Footnote 186a: Eusebius and the author of the Treatise de Mortibus
+Persecutorum. It is deeply to be regretted that the history of this
+period rest so much on the loose and, it must be admitted, by no means
+scrupulous authority of Eusebius. Ecclesiastical history is a solemn
+and melancholy lesson that the best, even the most sacred, cause will
+eventually the least departure from truth!--M.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.--Part I.
+
+Foundation Of Constantinople.--Political System Constantine, And His
+Successors.--Military Discipline.--The Palace.--The Finances.
+
+The unfortunate Licinius was the last rival who opposed the greatness,
+and the last captive who adorned the triumph, of Constantine. After a
+tranquil and prosperous reign, the conquerer bequeathed to his family
+the inheritance of the Roman empire; a new capital, a new policy, and
+a new religion; and the innovations which he established have been
+embraced and consecrated by succeeding generations. The age of the
+great Constantine and his sons is filled with important events; but
+the historian must be oppressed by their number and variety, unless he
+diligently separates from each other the scenes which are connected only
+by the order of time. He will describe the political institutions that
+gave strength and stability to the empire, before he proceeds to relate
+the wars and revolutions which hastened its decline. He will adopt the
+division unknown to the ancients of civil and ecclesiastical affairs:
+the victory of the Christians, and their intestine discord, will supply
+copious and distinct materials both for edification and for scandal.
+
+After the defeat and abdication of Licinius, his victorious rival
+proceeded to lay the foundations of a city destined to reign in future
+times, the mistress of the East, and to survive the empire and religion
+of Constantine. The motives, whether of pride or of policy, which
+first induced Diocletian to withdraw himself from the ancient seat
+of government, had acquired additional weight by the example of
+his successors, and the habits of forty years. Rome was insensibly
+confounded with the dependent kingdoms which had once acknowledged
+her supremacy; and the country of the Caesars was viewed with cold
+indifference by a martial prince, born in the neighborhood of the
+Danube, educated in the courts and armies of Asia, and invested with
+the purple by the legions of Britain. The Italians, who had received
+Constantine as their deliverer, submissively obeyed the edicts which he
+sometimes condescended to address to the senate and people of Rome;
+but they were seldom honored with the presence of their new sovereign.
+During the vigor of his age, Constantine, according to the various
+exigencies of peace and war, moved with slow dignity, or with active
+diligence, along the frontiers of his extensive dominions; and was
+always prepared to take the field either against a foreign or a domestic
+enemy. But as he gradually reached the summit of prosperity and the
+decline of life, he began to meditate the design of fixing in a more
+permanent station the strength as well as majesty of the throne. In the
+choice of an advantageous situation, he preferred the confines of Europe
+and Asia; to curb with a powerful arm the barbarians who dwelt between
+the Danube and the Tanais; to watch with an eye of jealousy the conduct
+of the Persian monarch, who indignantly supported the yoke of an
+ignominious treaty. With these views, Diocletian had selected and
+embellished the residence of Nicomedia: but the memory of Diocletian was
+justly abhorred by the protector of the church: and Constantine was not
+insensible to the ambition of founding a city which might perpetuate
+the glory of his own name. During the late operations of the war against
+Licinius, he had sufficient opportunity to contemplate, both as a
+soldier and as a statesman, the incomparable position of Byzantium;
+and to observe how strongly it was guarded by nature against a hostile
+attack, whilst it was accessible on every side to the benefits of
+commercial intercourse. Many ages before Constantine, one of the most
+judicious historians of antiquity [1 had described the advantages of a
+situation, from whence a feeble colony of Greeks derived the command of
+the sea, and the honors of a flourishing and independent republic. [2]
+
+[Footnote 1: Polybius, l. iv. p. 423, edit. Casaubon. He observes that
+the peace of the Byzantines was frequently disturbed, and the extent of
+their territory contracted, by the inroads of the wild Thracians.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The navigator Byzas, who was styled the son of Neptune,
+founded the city 656 years before the Christian aera. His followers
+were drawn from Argos and Megara. Byzantium was afterwards rebuild and
+fortified by the Spartan general Pausanias. See Scaliger Animadvers. ad
+Euseb. p. 81. Ducange, Constantinopolis, l. i part i. cap 15, 16. With
+regard to the wars of the Byzantines against Philip, the Gauls, and
+the kings of Bithynia, we should trust none but the ancient writers who
+lived before the greatness of the Imperial city had excited a spirit of
+flattery and fiction.]
+
+If we survey Byzantium in the extent which it acquired with the
+august name of Constantinople, the figure of the Imperial city may be
+represented under that of an unequal triangle. The obtuse point, which
+advances towards the east and the shores of Asia, meets and repels
+the waves of the Thracian Bosphorus. The northern side of the city is
+bounded by the harbor; and the southern is washed by the Propontis, or
+Sea of Marmara. The basis of the triangle is opposed to the west, and
+terminates the continent of Europe. But the admirable form and division
+of the circumjacent land and water cannot, without a more ample
+explanation, be clearly or sufficiently understood. The winding channel
+through which the waters of the Euxine flow with a rapid and incessant
+course towards the Mediterranean, received the appellation of Bosphorus,
+a name not less celebrated in the history, than in the fables, of
+antiquity. [3] A crowd of temples and of votive altars, profusely
+scattered along its steep and woody banks, attested the unskilfulness,
+the terrors, and the devotion of the Grecian navigators, who, after
+the example of the Argonauts, explored the dangers of the inhospitable
+Euxine. On these banks tradition long preserved the memory of the palace
+of Phineus, infested by the obscene harpies; [4] and of the sylvan reign
+of Amycus, who defied the son of Leda to the combat of the cestus. [5]
+The straits of the Bosphorus are terminated by the Cyanean rocks, which,
+according to the description of the poets, had once floated on the face
+of the waters; and were destined by the gods to protect the entrance of
+the Euxine against the eye of profane curiosity. [6] From the Cyanean
+rocks to the point and harbor of Byzantium, the winding length of the
+Bosphorus extends about sixteen miles, [7] and its most ordinary breadth
+may be computed at about one mile and a half. The new castles of Europe
+and Asia are constructed, on either continent, upon the foundations
+of two celebrated temples, of Serapis and of Jupiter Urius. The old
+castles, a work of the Greek emperors, command the narrowest part of the
+channel in a place where the opposite banks advance within five hundred
+paces of each other. These fortresses were destroyed and strengthened by
+Mahomet the Second, when he meditated the siege of Constantinople: [8]
+but the Turkish conqueror was most probably ignorant, that near two
+thousand years before his reign, Darius had chosen the same situation to
+connect the two continents by a bridge of boats. [9] At a small distance
+from the old castles we discover the little town of Chrysopolis,
+or Scutari, which may almost be considered as the Asiatic suburb of
+Constantinople. The Bosphorus, as it begins to open into the Propontis,
+passes between Byzantium and Chalcedon. The latter of those cities was
+built by the Greeks, a few years before the former; and the blindness
+of its founders, who overlooked the superior advantages of the opposite
+coast, has been stigmatized by a proverbial expression of contempt. [10]
+
+[Footnote 3: The Bosphorus has been very minutely described by Dionysius
+of Byzantium, who lived in the time of Domitian, (Hudson, Geograph
+Minor, tom. iii.,) and by Gilles or Gyllius, a French traveller of the
+XVIth century. Tournefort (Lettre XV.) seems to have used his own eyes,
+and the learning of Gyllius. Add Von Hammer, Constantinopolis und der
+Bosphoros, 8vo.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 4: There are very few conjectures so happy as that of Le
+Clere, (Bibliotehque Universelle, tom. i. p. 148,) who supposes that
+the harpies were only locusts. The Syriac or Phoenician name of those
+insects, their noisy flight, the stench and devastation which they
+occasion, and the north wind which drives them into the sea, all
+contribute to form the striking resemblance.]
+
+[Footnote 5: The residence of Amycus was in Asia, between the old and
+the new castles, at a place called Laurus Insana. That of Phineus was in
+Europe, near the village of Mauromole and the Black Sea. See Gyllius de
+Bosph. l. ii. c. 23. Tournefort, Lettre XV.]
+
+[Footnote 6: The deception was occasioned by several pointed rocks,
+alternately sovered and abandoned by the waves. At present there are two
+small islands, one towards either shore; that of Europe is distinguished
+by the column of Pompey.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The ancients computed one hundred and twenty stadia, or
+fifteen Roman miles. They measured only from the new castles, but they
+carried the straits as far as the town of Chalcedon.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Ducas. Hist. c. 34. Leunclavius Hist. Turcica Mussulmanica,
+l. xv. p. 577. Under the Greek empire these castles were used as state
+prisons, under the tremendous name of Lethe, or towers of oblivion.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Darius engraved in Greek and Assyrian letters, on two
+marble columns, the names of his subject nations, and the amazing
+numbers of his land and sea forces. The Byzantines afterwards
+transported these columns into the city, and used them for the altars of
+their tutelar deities. Herodotus, l. iv. c. 87.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Namque arctissimo inter Europam Asiamque divortio
+Byzantium in extrema Europa posuere Greci, quibus, Pythium Apollinem
+consulentibus ubi conderent urbem, redditum oraculum est, quaererent
+sedem oecerum terris adversam. Ea ambage Chalcedonii monstrabantur
+quod priores illuc advecti, praevisa locorum utilitate pejora legissent
+Tacit. Annal. xii. 63.]
+
+The harbor of Constantinople, which may be considered as an arm of the
+Bosphorus, obtained, in a very remote period, the denomination of the
+Golden Horn. The curve which it describes might be compared to the horn
+of a stag, or as it should seem, with more propriety, to that of an ox.
+[11] The epithet of golden was expressive of the riches which every wind
+wafted from the most distant countries into the secure and capacious
+port of Constantinople. The River Lycus, formed by the conflux of two
+little streams, pours into the harbor a perpetual supply of fresh water,
+which serves to cleanse the bottom, and to invite the periodical
+shoals of fish to seek their retreat in that convenient recess. As the
+vicissitudes of tides are scarcely felt in those seas, the constant
+depth of the harbor allows goods to be landed on the quays without the
+assistance of boats; and it has been observed, that in many places the
+largest vessels may rest their prows against the houses, while their
+sterns are floating in the water. [12] From the mouth of the Lycus to
+that of the harbor, this arm of the Bosphorus is more than seven miles
+in length. The entrance is about five hundred yards broad, and a strong
+chain could be occasionally drawn across it, to guard the port and city
+from the attack of a hostile navy. [13]
+
+[Footnote 11: Strabo, l. vii. p. 492, [edit. Casaub.] Most of the
+antlers are now broken off; or, to speak less figuratively, most of the
+recesses of the harbor are filled up. See Gill. de Bosphoro Thracio, l.
+i. c. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Procopius de Aedificiis, l. i. c. 5. His description
+is confirmed by modern travellers. See Thevenot, part i. l. i. c. 15.
+Tournefort, Lettre XII. Niebuhr, Voyage d'Arabie, p. 22.]
+
+[Footnote 13: See Ducange, C. P. l. i. part i. c. 16, and his
+Observations sur Villehardouin, p. 289. The chain was drawn from
+the Acropolis near the modern Kiosk, to the tower of Galata; and was
+supported at convenient distances by large wooden piles.]
+
+Between the Bosphorus and the Hellespont, the shores of Europe and Asia,
+receding on either side, enclose the sea of Marmara, which was known to
+the ancients by the denomination of Propontis. The navigation from the
+issue of the Bosphorus to the entrance of the Hellespont is about one
+hundred and twenty miles.
+
+Those who steer their westward course through the middle of the
+Propontis, may at once descry the high lands of Thrace and Bithynia,
+and never lose sight of the lofty summit of Mount Olympus, covered with
+eternal snows. [14] They leave on the left a deep gulf, at the bottom
+of which Nicomedia was seated, the Imperial residence of Diocletian; and
+they pass the small islands of Cyzicus and Proconnesus before they cast
+anchor at Gallipoli; where the sea, which separates Asia from Europe, is
+again contracted into a narrow channel.
+
+[Footnote 14: Thevenot (Voyages au Levant, part i. l. i. c. 14)
+contracts the measure to 125 small Greek miles. Belon (Observations,
+l. ii. c. 1.) gives a good description of the Propontis, but contents
+himself with the vague expression of one day and one night's sail. When
+Sandy's (Travels, p. 21) talks of 150 furlongs in length, as well as
+breadth we can only suppose some mistake of the press in the text of
+that judicious traveller.]
+
+The geographers who, with the most skilful accuracy, have surveyed the
+form and extent of the Hellespont, assign about sixty miles for the
+winding course, and about three miles for the ordinary breadth of those
+celebrated straits. [15] But the narrowest part of the channel is found
+to the northward of the old Turkish castles between the cities of Sestus
+and Abydus. It was here that the adventurous Leander braved the passage
+of the flood for the possession of his mistress. [16] It was here
+likewise, in a place where the distance between the opposite banks
+cannot exceed five hundred paces, that Xerxes imposed a stupendous
+bridge of boats, for the purpose of transporting into Europe a hundred
+and seventy myriads of barbarians. [17] A sea contracted within such
+narrow limits may seem but ill to deserve the singular epithet of
+broad, which Homer, as well as Orpheus, has frequently bestowed on the
+Hellespont. [17a] But our ideas of greatness are of a relative nature:
+the traveller, and especially the poet, who sailed along the Hellespont,
+who pursued the windings of the stream, and contemplated the rural
+scenery, which appeared on every side to terminate the prospect,
+insensibly lost the remembrance of the sea; and his fancy painted those
+celebrated straits, with all the attributes of a mighty river flowing
+with a swift current, in the midst of a woody and inland country, and
+at length, through a wide mouth, discharging itself into the Aegean or
+Archipelago. [18] Ancient Troy, [19] seated on a an eminence at the foot
+of Mount Ida, overlooked the mouth of the Hellespont, which scarcely
+received an accession of waters from the tribute of those immortal
+rivulets the Simois and Scamander. The Grecian camp had stretched twelve
+miles along the shore from the Sigaean to the Rhaetean promontory; and
+the flanks of the army were guarded by the bravest chiefs who fought
+under the banners of Agamemnon. The first of those promontories was
+occupied by Achilles with his invincible myrmidons, and the dauntless
+Ajax pitched his tents on the other. After Ajax had fallen a sacrifice
+to his disappointed pride, and to the ingratitude of the Greeks, his
+sepulchre was erected on the ground where he had defended the navy
+against the rage of Jove and of Hector; and the citizens of the rising
+town of Rhaeteum celebrated his memory with divine honors. [20] Before
+Constantine gave a just preference to the situation of Byzantium, he had
+conceived the design of erecting the seat of empire on this celebrated
+spot, from whence the Romans derived their fabulous origin. The
+extensive plain which lies below ancient Troy, towards the Rhaetean
+promontory and the tomb of Ajax, was first chosen for his new capital;
+and though the undertaking was soon relinquished the stately remains
+of unfinished walls and towers attracted the notice of all who sailed
+through the straits of the Hellespont. [21]
+
+[Footnote 15: See an admirable dissertation of M. d'Anville upon the
+Hellespont or Dardanelles, in the Memoires tom. xxviii. p. 318--346. Yet
+even that ingenious geographer is too fond of supposing new, and perhaps
+imaginary measures, for the purpose of rendering ancient writers as
+accurate as himself. The stadia employed by Herodotus in the description
+of the Euxine, the Bosphorus, &c., (l. iv. c. 85,) must undoubtedly
+be all of the same species; but it seems impossible to reconcile them
+either with truth or with each other.]
+
+[Footnote 16: The oblique distance between Sestus and Abydus was
+thirty stadia. The improbable tale of Hero and Leander is exposed by M.
+Mahudel, but is defended on the authority of poets and medals by M.
+de la Nauze. See the Academie des Inscriptions, tom. vii. Hist. p. 74.
+elem. p. 240. Note: The practical illustration of the possibility of
+Leander's feat by Lord Byron and other English swimmers is too well
+known to need particularly reference--M.]
+
+[Footnote 17: See the seventh book of Herodotus, who has erected an
+elegant trophy to his own fame and to that of his country. The review
+appears to have been made with tolerable accuracy; but the vanity, first
+of the Persians, and afterwards of the Greeks, was interested to magnify
+the armament and the victory. I should much doubt whether the invaders
+have ever outnumbered the men of any country which they attacked.]
+
+[Footnote 17a: Gibbon does not allow greater width between the two
+nearest points of the shores of the Hellespont than between those of the
+Bosphorus; yet all the ancient writers speak of the Hellespontic strait
+as broader than the other: they agree in giving it seven stadia in its
+narrowest width, (Herod. in Melp. c. 85. Polym. c. 34. Strabo, p. 591.
+Plin. iv. c. 12.) which make 875 paces. It is singular that Gibbon, who
+in the fifteenth note of this chapter reproaches d'Anville with being
+fond of supposing new and perhaps imaginary measures, has here adopted
+the peculiar measurement which d'Anville has assigned to the stadium.
+This great geographer believes that the ancients had a stadium of
+fifty-one toises, and it is that which he applies to the walls of
+Babylon. Now, seven of these stadia are equal to about 500 paces, 7
+stadia = 2142 feet: 500 paces = 2135 feet 5 inches.--G. See Rennell,
+Geog. of Herod. p. 121. Add Ukert, Geographie der Griechen und Romer, v.
+i. p. 2, 71.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See Wood's Observations on Homer, p. 320. I have, with
+pleasure, selected this remark from an author who in general seems to
+have disappointed the expectation of the public as a critic, and still
+more as a traveller. He had visited the banks of the Hellespont; and had
+read Strabo; he ought to have consulted the Roman itineraries. How
+was it possible for him to confound Ilium and Alexandria Troas,
+(Observations, p. 340, 341,) two cities which were sixteen miles distant
+from each other? * Note: Compare Walpole's Memoirs on Turkey, v. i.
+p. 101. Dr. Clarke adopted Mr. Walpole's interpretation of the salt
+Hellespont. But the old interpretation is more graphic and Homeric.
+Clarke's Travels, ii. 70.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Demetrius of Scepsis wrote sixty books on thirty lines
+of Homer's catalogue. The XIIIth Book of Strabo is sufficient for our
+curiosity.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Strabo, l. xiii. p. 595, [890, edit. Casaub.] The
+disposition of the ships, which were drawn upon dry land, and the posts
+of Ajax and Achilles, are very clearly described by Homer. See Iliad,
+ix. 220.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Zosim. l. ii. [c. 30,] p. 105. Sozomen, l. ii. c. 3.
+Theophanes, p. 18. Nicephorus Callistus, l. vii. p. 48. Zonaras,
+tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 6. Zosimus places the new city between Ilium and
+Alexandria, but this apparent difference may be reconciled by the large
+extent of its circumference. Before the foundation of Constantinople,
+Thessalonica is mentioned by Cedrenus, (p. 283,) and Sardica by Zonaras,
+as the intended capital. They both suppose with very little probability,
+that the emperor, if he had not been prevented by a prodigy, would have
+repeated the mistake of the blind Chalcedonians.]
+
+We are at present qualified to view the advantageous position of
+Constantinople; which appears to have been formed by nature for the
+centre and capital of a great monarchy. Situated in the forty-first
+degree of latitude, the Imperial city commanded, from her seven hills,
+[22] the opposite shores of Europe and Asia; the climate was healthy and
+temperate, the soil fertile, the harbor secure and capacious; and the
+approach on the side of the continent was of small extent and easy
+defence. The Bosphorus and the Hellespont may be considered as the two
+gates of Constantinople; and the prince who possessed those important
+passages could always shut them against a naval enemy, and open them to
+the fleets of commerce. The preservation of the eastern provinces
+may, in some degree, be ascribed to the policy of Constantine, as the
+barbarians of the Euxine, who in the preceding age had poured their
+armaments into the heart of the Mediterranean, soon desisted from
+the exercise of piracy, and despaired of forcing this insurmountable
+barrier. When the gates of the Hellespont and Bosphorus were shut, the
+capital still enjoyed within their spacious enclosure every production
+which could supply the wants, or gratify the luxury, of its numerous
+inhabitants. The sea-coasts of Thrace and Bithynia, which languish
+under the weight of Turkish oppression, still exhibit a rich prospect of
+vineyards, of gardens, and of plentiful harvests; and the Propontis
+has ever been renowned for an inexhaustible store of the most exquisite
+fish, that are taken in their stated seasons, without skill, and almost
+without labor. [23] But when the passages of the straits were thrown
+open for trade, they alternately admitted the natural and artificial
+riches of the north and south, of the Euxine, and of the Mediterranean.
+Whatever rude commodities were collected in the forests of Germany
+and Scythia, and far as the sources of the Tanais and the Borysthenes;
+whatsoever was manufactured by the skill of Europe or Asia; the corn of
+Egypt, and the gems and spices of the farthest India, were brought by
+the varying winds into the port of Constantinople, which for many ages
+attracted the commerce of the ancient world. [24]
+
+[See Basilica Of Constantinople]
+
+[Footnote 22: Pocock's Description of the East, vol. ii. part ii. p.
+127. His plan of the seven hills is clear and accurate. That traveller
+is seldom unsatisfactory.]
+
+[Footnote 23: See Belon, Observations, c. 72--76. Among a variety of
+different species, the Pelamides, a sort of Thunnies, were the most
+celebrated. We may learn from Polybius, Strabo, and Tacitus, that the
+profits of the fishery constituted the principal revenue of Byzantium.]
+
+[Footnote 24: See the eloquent description of Busbequius, epistol. i.
+p. 64. Est in Europa; habet in conspectu Asiam, Egyptum. Africamque
+a dextra: quae tametsi contiguae non sunt, maris tamen navigandique
+commoditate veluti junguntur. A sinistra vero Pontus est Euxinus, &c.]
+
+The prospect of beauty, of safety, and of wealth, united in a single
+spot, was sufficient to justify the choice of Constantine. But as some
+decent mixture of prodigy and fable has, in every age, been supposed
+to reflect a becoming majesty on the origin of great cities, [25] the
+emperor was desirous of ascribing his resolution, not so much to the
+uncertain counsels of human policy, as to the infallible and eternal
+decrees of divine wisdom. In one of his laws he has been careful to
+instruct posterity, that in obedience to the commands of God, he laid
+the everlasting foundations of Constantinople: [26] and though he has
+not condescended to relate in what manner the celestial inspiration
+was communicated to his mind, the defect of his modest silence has been
+liberally supplied by the ingenuity of succeeding writers; who describe
+the nocturnal vision which appeared to the fancy of Constantine, as he
+slept within the walls of Byzantium. The tutelar genius of the city, a
+venerable matron sinking under the weight of years and infirmities, was
+suddenly transformed into a blooming maid, whom his own hands adorned
+with all the symbols of Imperial greatness. [27] The monarch awoke,
+interpreted the auspicious omen, and obeyed, without hesitation,
+the will of Heaven The day which gave birth to a city or colony was
+celebrated by the Romans with such ceremonies as had been ordained by a
+generous superstition; [28] and though Constantine might omit some rites
+which savored too strongly of their Pagan origin, yet he was anxious
+to leave a deep impression of hope and respect on the minds of the
+spectators. On foot, with a lance in his hand, the emperor himself led
+the solemn procession; and directed the line, which was traced as the
+boundary of the destined capital: till the growing circumference was
+observed with astonishment by the assistants, who, at length, ventured
+to observe, that he had already exceeded the most ample measure of a
+great city. "I shall still advance," replied Constantine, "till He,
+the invisible guide who marches before me, thinks proper to stop."
+[29] Without presuming to investigate the nature or motives of this
+extraordinary conductor, we shall content ourselves with the more humble
+task of describing the extent and limits of Constantinople. [30]
+
+[Footnote 25: Datur haec venia antiquitati, ut miscendo humana divinis,
+primordia urbium augustiora faciat. T. Liv. in prooem.]
+
+[Footnote 26: He says in one of his laws, pro commoditate urbis quam
+aeteras nomine, jubente Deo, donavimus. Cod. Theodos. l. xiii. tit. v.
+leg. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 27: The Greeks, Theophanes, Cedrenus, and the author of
+the Alexandrian Chronicle, confine themselves to vague and general
+expressions. For a more particular account of the vision, we are obliged
+to have recourse to such Latin writers as William of Malmesbury. See
+Ducange, C. P. l. i. p. 24, 25.]
+
+[Footnote 28: See Plutarch in Romul. tom. i. p. 49, edit. Bryan. Among
+other ceremonies, a large hole, which had been dug for that purpose,
+was filled up with handfuls of earth, which each of the settlers brought
+from the place of his birth, and thus adopted his new country.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Philostorgius, l. ii. c. 9. This incident, though borrowed
+from a suspected writer, is characteristic and probable.]
+
+[Footnote 30: See in the Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxxv p. 747-758,
+a dissertation of M. d'Anville on the extent of Constantinople. He
+takes the plan inserted in the Imperium Orientale of Banduri as the most
+complete; but, by a series of very nice observations, he reduced the
+extravagant proportion of the scale, and instead of 9500, determines the
+circumference of the city as consisting of about 7800 French toises.]
+
+In the actual state of the city, the palace and gardens of the Seraglio
+occupy the eastern promontory, the first of the seven hills, and cover
+about one hundred and fifty acres of our own measure. The seat of
+Turkish jealousy and despotism is erected on the foundations of a
+Grecian republic; but it may be supposed that the Byzantines were
+tempted by the conveniency of the harbor to extend their habitations
+on that side beyond the modern limits of the Seraglio. The new walls of
+Constantine stretched from the port to the Propontis across the enlarged
+breadth of the triangle, at the distance of fifteen stadia from the
+ancient fortification; and with the city of Byzantium they enclosed
+five of the seven hills, which, to the eyes of those who approach
+Constantinople, appear to rise above each other in beautiful order.
+[31] About a century after the death of the founder, the new buildings,
+extending on one side up the harbor, and on the other along the
+Propontis, already covered the narrow ridge of the sixth, and the broad
+summit of the seventh hill. The necessity of protecting those suburbs
+from the incessant inroads of the barbarians engaged the younger
+Theodosius to surround his capital with an adequate and permanent
+enclosure of walls. [32] From the eastern promontory to the golden gate,
+the extreme length of Constantinople was about three Roman miles; [33]
+the circumference measured between ten and eleven; and the surface
+might be computed as equal to about two thousand English acres. It is
+impossible to justify the vain and credulous exaggerations of modern
+travellers, who have sometimes stretched the limits of Constantinople
+over the adjacent villages of the European, and even of the Asiatic
+coast. [34] But the suburbs of Pera and Galata, though situate beyond
+the harbor, may deserve to be considered as a part of the city; [35]
+and this addition may perhaps authorize the measure of a Byzantine
+historian, who assigns sixteen Greek (about fourteen Roman) miles for
+the circumference of his native city. [36] Such an extent may not seem
+unworthy of an Imperial residence. Yet Constantinople must yield to
+Babylon and Thebes, [37] to ancient Rome, to London, and even to Paris.
+[38]
+
+[Footnote 31: Codinus, Antiquitat. Const. p. 12. He assigns the
+church of St. Anthony as the boundary on the side of the harbor. It is
+mentioned in Ducange, l. iv. c. 6; but I have tried, without success, to
+discover the exact place where it was situated.]
+
+[Footnote 32: The new wall of Theodosius was constructed in the year
+413. In 447 it was thrown down by an earthquake, and rebuilt in three
+months by the diligence of the praefect Cyrus. The suburb of the
+Blanchernae was first taken into the city in the reign of Heraclius
+Ducange, Const. l. i. c. 10, 11.]
+
+[Footnote 33: The measurement is expressed in the Notitia by 14,075
+feet. It is reasonable to suppose that these were Greek feet, the
+proportion of which has been ingeniously determined by M. d'Anville.
+He compares the 180 feet with 78 Hashemite cubits, which in different
+writers are assigned for the heights of St. Sophia. Each of these cubits
+was equal to 27 French inches.]
+
+[Footnote 34: The accurate Thevenot (l. i. c. 15) walked in one hour and
+three quarters round two of the sides of the triangle, from the Kiosk
+of the Seraglio to the seven towers. D'Anville examines with care,
+and receives with confidence, this decisive testimony, which gives a
+circumference of ten or twelve miles. The extravagant computation of
+Tournefort (Lettre XI) of thirty-tour or thirty miles, without including
+Scutari, is a strange departure from his usual character.]
+
+[Footnote 35: The sycae, or fig-trees, formed the thirteenth region, and
+were very much embellished by Justinian. It has since borne the names
+of Pera and Galata. The etymology of the former is obvious; that of
+the latter is unknown. See Ducange, Const. l. i. c. 22, and Gyllius de
+Byzant. l. iv. c. 10.]
+
+[Footnote 36: One hundred and eleven stadia, which may be translated
+into modern Greek miles each of seven stadia, or 660, sometimes only 600
+French toises. See D'Anville, Mesures Itineraires, p. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 37: When the ancient texts, which describe the size of Babylon
+and Thebes, are settled, the exaggerations reduced, and the measures
+ascertained, we find that those famous cities filled the great but not
+incredible circumference of about twenty-five or thirty miles. Compare
+D'Anville, Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xxviii. p. 235, with his Description
+de l'Egypte, p. 201, 202.]
+
+[Footnote 38: If we divide Constantinople and Paris into equal squares
+of 50 French toises, the former contains 850, and the latter 1160, of
+those divisions.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.--Part II.
+
+The master of the Roman world, who aspired to erect an eternal monument
+of the glories of his reign could employ in the prosecution of that
+great work, the wealth, the labor, and all that yet remained of the
+genius of obedient millions. Some estimate may be formed of the expense
+bestowed with Imperial liberality on the foundation of Constantinople,
+by the allowance of about two millions five hundred thousand pounds for
+the construction of the walls, the porticos, and the aqueducts. [39] The
+forests that overshadowed the shores of the Euxine, and the celebrated
+quarries of white marble in the little island of Proconnesus, supplied
+an inexhaustible stock of materials, ready to be conveyed, by the
+convenience of a short water carriage, to the harbor of Byzantium. [40]
+A multitude of laborers and artificers urged the conclusion of the work
+with incessant toil: but the impatience of Constantine soon discovered,
+that, in the decline of the arts, the skill as well as numbers of
+his architects bore a very unequal proportion to the greatness of his
+designs. The magistrates of the most distant provinces were therefore
+directed to institute schools, to appoint professors, and by the hopes
+of rewards and privileges, to engage in the study and practice of
+architecture a sufficient number of ingenious youths, who had received
+a liberal education. [41] The buildings of the new city were executed by
+such artificers as the reign of Constantine could afford; but they were
+decorated by the hands of the most celebrated masters of the age of
+Pericles and Alexander. To revive the genius of Phidias and Lysippus,
+surpassed indeed the power of a Roman emperor; but the immortal
+productions which they had bequeathed to posterity were exposed without
+defence to the rapacious vanity of a despot. By his commands the cities
+of Greece and Asia were despoiled of their most valuable ornaments. [42]
+The trophies of memorable wars, the objects of religious veneration, the
+most finished statues of the gods and heroes, of the sages and poets,
+of ancient times, contributed to the splendid triumph of Constantinople;
+and gave occasion to the remark of the historian Cedrenus, [43] who
+observes, with some enthusiasm, that nothing seemed wanting except
+the souls of the illustrious men whom these admirable monuments were
+intended to represent. But it is not in the city of Constantine, nor in
+the declining period of an empire, when the human mind was depressed by
+civil and religious slavery, that we should seek for the souls of Homer
+and of Demosthenes.
+
+[Footnote 39: Six hundred centenaries, or sixty thousand pounds' weight
+of gold. This sum is taken from Codinus, Antiquit. Const. p. 11; but
+unless that contemptible author had derived his information from some
+purer sources, he would probably have been unacquainted with so obsolete
+a mode of reckoning.]
+
+[Footnote 40: For the forests of the Black Sea, consult Tournefort,
+Lettre XVI. for the marble quarries of Proconnesus, see Strabo, l.
+xiii. p. 588, (881, edit. Casaub.) The latter had already furnished the
+materials of the stately buildings of Cyzicus.]
+
+[Footnote 41: See the Codex Theodos. l. xiii. tit. iv. leg. 1. This law
+is dated in the year 334, and was addressed to the praefect of Italy,
+whose jurisdiction extended over Africa. The commentary of Godefroy on
+the whole title well deserves to be consulted.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Constantinopolis dedicatur poene omnium urbium nuditate.
+Hieronym. Chron. p. 181. See Codinus, p. 8, 9. The author of the
+Antiquitat. Const. l. iii. (apud Banduri Imp. Orient. tom. i. p. 41)
+enumerates Rome, Sicily, Antioch, Athens, and a long list of other
+cities. The provinces of Greece and Asia Minor may be supposed to have
+yielded the richest booty.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Hist. Compend. p. 369. He describes the statue, or rather
+bust, of Homer with a degree of taste which plainly indicates that
+Cadrenus copied the style of a more fortunate age.]
+
+During the siege of Byzantium, the conqueror had pitched his tent on the
+commanding eminence of the second hill. To perpetuate the memory of
+his success, he chose the same advantageous position for the principal
+Forum; [44] which appears to have been of a circular, or rather
+elliptical form. The two opposite entrances formed triumphal arches; the
+porticos, which enclosed it on every side, were filled with statues;
+and the centre of the Forum was occupied by a lofty column, of which
+a mutilated fragment is now degraded by the appellation of the burnt
+pillar. This column was erected on a pedestal of white marble twenty
+feet high; and was composed of ten pieces of porphyry, each of
+which measured about ten feet in height, and about thirty-three in
+circumference. [45] On the summit of the pillar, above one hundred and
+twenty feet from the ground, stood the colossal statue of Apollo. It
+was a bronze, had been transported either from Athens or from a town
+of Phrygia, and was supposed to be the work of Phidias. The artist had
+represented the god of day, or, as it was afterwards interpreted, the
+emperor Constantine himself, with a sceptre in his right hand, the globe
+of the world in his left, and a crown of rays glittering on his head.
+[46] The Circus, or Hippodrome, was a stately building about four
+hundred paces in length, and one hundred in breadth. [47] The space
+between the two metoe or goals were filled with statues and obelisks;
+and we may still remark a very singular fragment of antiquity; the
+bodies of three serpents, twisted into one pillar of brass. Their triple
+heads had once supported the golden tripod which, after the defeat
+of Xerxes, was consecrated in the temple of Delphi by the victorious
+Greeks. [48] The beauty of the Hippodrome has been long since defaced by
+the rude hands of the Turkish conquerors; [48a] but, under the similar
+appellation of Atmeidan, it still serves as a place of exercise for
+their horses. From the throne, whence the emperor viewed the Circensian
+games, a winding staircase [49] descended to the palace; a magnificent
+edifice, which scarcely yielded to the residence of Rome itself, and
+which, together with the dependent courts, gardens, and porticos,
+covered a considerable extent of ground upon the banks of the Propontis
+between the Hippodrome and the church of St. Sophia. [50] We might
+likewise celebrate the baths, which still retained the name of
+Zeuxippus, after they had been enriched, by the munificence of
+Constantine, with lofty columns, various marbles, and above threescore
+statues of bronze. [51] But we should deviate from the design of this
+history, if we attempted minutely to describe the different buildings
+or quarters of the city. It may be sufficient to observe, that whatever
+could adorn the dignity of a great capital, or contribute to the benefit
+or pleasure of its numerous inhabitants, was contained within the walls
+of Constantinople. A particular description, composed about a century
+after its foundation, enumerates a capitol or school of learning, a
+circus, two theatres, eight public, and one hundred and fifty-three
+private baths, fifty-two porticos, five granaries, eight aqueducts or
+reservoirs of water, four spacious halls for the meetings of the senate
+or courts of justice, fourteen churches, fourteen palaces, and four
+thousand three hundred and eighty-eight houses, which, for their size
+or beauty, deserved to be distinguished from the multitude of plebeian
+inhabitants. [52]
+
+[Footnote 44: Zosim. l. ii. p. 106. Chron. Alexandrin. vel Paschal. p.
+284, Ducange, Const. l. i. c. 24. Even the last of those writers seems
+to confound the Forum of Constantine with the Augusteum, or court of the
+palace. I am not satisfied whether I have properly distinguished what
+belongs to the one and the other.]
+
+[Footnote 45: The most tolerable account of this column is given by
+Pocock. Description of the East, vol. ii. part ii. p. 131. But it is
+still in many instances perplexed and unsatisfactory.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Ducange, Const. l. i. c. 24, p. 76, and his notes ad
+Alexiad. p. 382. The statue of Constantine or Apollo was thrown down
+under the reign of Alexius Comnenus. * Note: On this column (says M. von
+Hammer) Constantine, with singular shamelessness, placed his own statue
+with the attributes of Apollo and Christ. He substituted the nails of
+the Passion for the rays of the sun. Such is the direct testimony of
+the author of the Antiquit. Constantinop. apud Banduri. Constantine was
+replaced by the "great and religious" Julian, Julian, by Theodosius. A.
+D. 1412, the key stone was loosened by an earthquake. The statue fell
+in the reign of Alexius Comnenus, and was replaced by the cross.
+The Palladium was said to be buried under the pillar. Von Hammer,
+Constantinopolis und der Bosporos, i. 162.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Tournefort (Lettre XII.) computes the Atmeidan at four
+hundred paces. If he means geometrical paces of five feet each, it was
+three hundred toises in length, about forty more than the great circus
+of Rome. See D'Anville, Mesures Itineraires, p. 73.]
+
+[Footnote 48: The guardians of the most holy relics would rejoice if
+they were able to produce such a chain of evidence as may be alleged
+on this occasion. See Banduri ad Antiquitat. Const. p. 668. Gyllius de
+Byzant. l. ii. c. 13. 1. The original consecration of the tripod
+and pillar in the temple of Delphi may be proved from Herodotus and
+Pausanias. 2. The Pagan Zosimus agrees with the three ecclesiastical
+historians, Eusebius, Socrates, and Sozomen, that the sacred ornaments
+of the temple of Delphi were removed to Constantinople by the order of
+Constantine; and among these the serpentine pillar of the Hippodrome is
+particularly mentioned. 3. All the European travellers who have visited
+Constantinople, from Buondelmonte to Pocock, describe it in the same
+place, and almost in the same manner; the differences between them are
+occasioned only by the injuries which it has sustained from the Turks.
+Mahomet the Second broke the under jaw of one of the serpents with a
+stroke of his battle axe Thevenot, l. i. c. 17. * Note: See note 75, ch.
+lxviii. for Dr. Clarke's rejection of Thevenot's authority. Von
+Hammer, however, repeats the story of Thevenot without questioning its
+authenticity.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 48a: In 1808 the Janizaries revolted against the vizier
+Mustapha Baisactar, who wished to introduce a new system of military
+organization, besieged the quarter of the Hippodrome, in which stood
+the palace of the viziers, and the Hippodrome was consumed in the
+conflagration.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 49: The Latin name Cochlea was adopted by the Greeks, and very
+frequently occurs in the Byzantine history. Ducange, Const. i. c. l, p.
+104.]
+
+[Footnote 50: There are three topographical points which indicate the
+situation of the palace. 1. The staircase which connected it with the
+Hippodrome or Atmeidan. 2. A small artificial port on the Propontis,
+from whence there was an easy ascent, by a flight of marble steps, to
+the gardens of the palace. 3. The Augusteum was a spacious court, one
+side of which was occupied by the front of the palace, and another by
+the church of St. Sophia.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Zeuxippus was an epithet of Jupiter, and the baths were a
+part of old Byzantium. The difficulty of assigning their true situation
+has not been felt by Ducange. History seems to connect them with St.
+Sophia and the palace; but the original plan inserted in Banduri places
+them on the other side of the city, near the harbor. For their beauties,
+see Chron. Paschal. p. 285, and Gyllius de Byzant. l. ii. c. 7.
+Christodorus (see Antiquitat. Const. l. vii.) composed inscriptions in
+verse for each of the statues. He was a Theban poet in genius as well
+as in birth:--Baeotum in crasso jurares aere natum. * Note: Yet, for
+his age, the description of the statues of Hecuba and of Homer are by no
+means without merit. See Antholog. Palat. (edit. Jacobs) i. 37--M.]
+
+[Footnote 52: See the Notitia. Rome only reckoned 1780 large houses,
+domus; but the word must have had a more dignified signification. No
+insulae are mentioned at Constantinople. The old capital consisted of 42
+streets, the new of 322.]
+
+The populousness of his favored city was the next and most serious
+object of the attention of its founder. In the dark ages which succeeded
+the translation of the empire, the remote and the immediate consequences
+of that memorable event were strangely confounded by the vanity of
+the Greeks and the credulity of the Latins. [53] It was asserted, and
+believed, that all the noble families of Rome, the senate, and the
+equestrian order, with their innumerable attendants, had followed their
+emperor to the banks of the Propontis; that a spurious race of strangers
+and plebeians was left to possess the solitude of the ancient capital;
+and that the lands of Italy, long since converted into gardens, were at
+once deprived of cultivation and inhabitants. [54] In the course of this
+history, such exaggerations will be reduced to their just value: yet,
+since the growth of Constantinople cannot be ascribed to the general
+increase of mankind and of industry, it must be admitted that this
+artificial colony was raised at the expense of the ancient cities of
+the empire. Many opulent senators of Rome, and of the eastern provinces,
+were probably invited by Constantine to adopt for their country
+the fortunate spot, which he had chosen for his own residence. The
+invitations of a master are scarcely to be distinguished from commands;
+and the liberality of the emperor obtained a ready and cheerful
+obedience. He bestowed on his favorites the palaces which he had built
+in the several quarters of the city, assigned them lands and pensions
+for the support of their dignity, [55] and alienated the demesnes
+of Pontus and Asia to grant hereditary estates by the easy tenure of
+maintaining a house in the capital. [56] But these encouragements and
+obligations soon became superfluous, and were gradually abolished.
+Wherever the seat of government is fixed, a considerable part of the
+public revenue will be expended by the prince himself, by his ministers,
+by the officers of justice, and by the domestics of the palace. The most
+wealthy of the provincials will be attracted by the powerful motives of
+interest and duty, of amusement and curiosity. A third and more
+numerous class of inhabitants will insensibly be formed, of servants,
+of artificers, and of merchants, who derive their subsistence from their
+own labor, and from the wants or luxury of the superior ranks. In less
+than a century, Constantinople disputed with Rome itself the preeminence
+of riches and numbers. New piles of buildings, crowded together with too
+little regard to health or convenience, scarcely allowed the intervals
+of narrow streets for the perpetual throng of men, of horses, and of
+carriages. The allotted space of ground was insufficient to contain
+the increasing people; and the additional foundations, which, on either
+side, were advanced into the sea, might alone have composed a very
+considerable city. [57]
+
+[Footnote 53: Liutprand, Legatio ad Imp. Nicephornm, p. 153. The modern
+Greeks have strangely disfigured the antiquities of Constantinople. We
+might excuse the errors of the Turkish or Arabian writers; but it is
+somewhat astonishing, that the Greeks, who had access to the authentic
+materials preserved in their own language, should prefer fiction to
+truth, and loose tradition to genuine history. In a single page of
+Codinus we may detect twelve unpardonable mistakes; the reconciliation
+of Severus and Niger, the marriage of their son and daughter, the
+siege of Byzantium by the Macedonians, the invasion of the Gauls, which
+recalled Severus to Rome, the sixty years which elapsed from his death
+to the foundation of Constantinople, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Montesquieu, Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, c. 17.]
+
+[Footnote 55: Themist. Orat. iii. p. 48, edit. Hardouin. Sozomen, l. ii.
+c. 3. Zosim. l. ii. p. 107. Anonym. Valesian. p. 715. If we could credit
+Codinus, (p. 10,) Constantine built houses for the senators on the exact
+model of their Roman palaces, and gratified them, as well as himself,
+with the pleasure of an agreeable surprise; but the whole story is full
+of fictions and inconsistencies.]
+
+[Footnote 56: The law by which the younger Theodosius, in the year 438,
+abolished this tenure, may be found among the Novellae of that emperor
+at the end of the Theodosian Code, tom. vi. nov. 12. M. de Tillemont
+(Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 371) has evidently mistaken the nature
+of these estates. With a grant from the Imperial demesnes, the same
+condition was accepted as a favor, which would justly have been deemed a
+hardship, if it had been imposed upon private property.]
+
+[Footnote 57: The passages of Zosimus, of Eunapius, of Sozomen, and of
+Agathias, which relate to the increase of buildings and inhabitants at
+Constantinople, are collected and connected by Gyllius de Byzant. l.
+i. c. 3. Sidonius Apollinaris (in Panegyr. Anthem. 56, p. 279, edit.
+Sirmond) describes the moles that were pushed forwards into the sea,
+they consisted of the famous Puzzolan sand, which hardens in the water.]
+
+The frequent and regular distributions of wine and oil, of corn or
+bread, of money or provisions, had almost exempted the poorest citizens
+of Rome from the necessity of labor. The magnificence of the first
+Caesars was in some measure imitated by the founder of Constantinople:
+[58] but his liberality, however it might excite the applause of the
+people, has in curred the censure of posterity. A nation of legislators
+and conquerors might assert their claim to the harvests of Africa, which
+had been purchased with their blood; and it was artfully contrived by
+Augustus, that, in the enjoyment of plenty, the Romans should lose
+the memory of freedom. But the prodigality of Constantine could not be
+excused by any consideration either of public or private interest; and
+the annual tribute of corn imposed upon Egypt for the benefit of his
+new capital, was applied to feed a lazy and insolent populace, at the
+expense of the husbandmen of an industrious province. [59] [59a] Some
+other regulations of this emperor are less liable to blame, but they
+are less deserving of notice. He divided Constantinople into fourteen
+regions or quarters, [60] dignified the public council with the
+appellation of senate, [61] communicated to the citizens the privileges
+of Italy, [62] and bestowed on the rising city the title of Colony, the
+first and most favored daughter of ancient Rome. The venerable parent
+still maintained the legal and acknowledged supremacy, which was due to
+her age, her dignity, and to the remembrance of her former greatness.
+[63]
+
+[Footnote 58: Sozomen, l. ii. c. 3. Philostorg. l. ii. c. 9. Codin.
+Antiquitat. Const. p. 8. It appears by Socrates, l. ii. c. 13, that the
+daily allowance of the city consisted of eight myriads of which we may
+either translate, with Valesius, by the words modii of corn, or consider
+us expressive of the number of loaves of bread. * Note: At Rome the
+poorer citizens who received these gratuities were inscribed in a
+register; they had only a personal right. Constantine attached the right
+to the houses in his new capital, to engage the lower classes of
+the people to build their houses with expedition. Codex Therodos. l.
+xiv.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 59: See Cod. Theodos. l. xiii. and xiv., and Cod. Justinian.
+Edict. xii. tom. ii. p. 648, edit. Genev. See the beautiful complaint of
+Rome in the poem of Claudian de Bell. Gildonico, ver. 46-64.----Cum
+subiit par Roma mihi, divisaque sumsit Aequales aurora togas; Aegyptia
+rura In partem cessere novam.]
+
+[Footnote 59a: This was also at the expense of Rome. The emperor ordered
+that the fleet of Alexandria should transport to Constantinople the
+grain of Egypt which it carried before to Rome: this grain supplied Rome
+during four months of the year. Claudian has described with force the
+famine occasioned by this measure:--
+
+     Haec nobis, haec ante dabas; nunc pabula tantum
+     Roma precor: miserere tuae; pater optime, gentis:
+     Extremam defende famem. Claud. de Bell. Gildon. v. 34.--G.
+
+It was scarcely this measure. Gildo had cut off the African as well as
+the Egyptian supplies.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 60: The regions of Constantinople are mentioned in the code
+of Justinian, and particularly described in the Notitia of the younger
+Theodosius; but as the four last of them are not included within the
+wall of Constantine, it may be doubted whether this division of the city
+should be referred to the founder.]
+
+[Footnote 61: Senatum constituit secundi ordinis; Claros vocavit.
+Anonym Valesian. p. 715. The senators of old Rome were styled
+Clarissimi. See a curious note of Valesius ad Ammian. Marcellin. xxii.
+9. From the eleventh epistle of Julian, it should seem that the place
+of senator was considered as a burden, rather than as an honor; but the
+Abbe de la Bleterie (Vie de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 371) has shown that this
+epistle could not relate to Constantinople. Might we not read, instead
+of the celebrated name of the obscure but more probable word Bisanthe
+or Rhoedestus, now Rhodosto, was a small maritime city of Thrace. See
+Stephan. Byz. de Urbibus, p. 225, and Cellar. Geograph. tom. i. p. 849.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Cod. Theodos. l. xiv. 13. The commentary of Godefroy (tom.
+v. p. 220) is long, but perplexed; nor indeed is it easy to ascertain in
+what the Jus Italicum could consist, after the freedom of the city had
+been communicated to the whole empire. * Note: "This right, (the Jus
+Italicum,) which by most writers is referred with out foundation to the
+personal condition of the citizens, properly related to the city as a
+whole, and contained two parts. First, the Roman or quiritarian
+property in the soil, (commercium,) and its capability of mancipation,
+usucaption, and vindication; moreover, as an inseparable consequence of
+this, exemption from land-tax. Then, secondly, a free constitution
+in the Italian form, with Duumvirs, Quinquennales. and Aediles, and
+especially with Jurisdiction." Savigny, Geschichte des Rom. Rechts i. p.
+51--M.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Julian (Orat. i. p. 8) celebrates Constantinople as not
+less superior to all other cities than she was inferior to Rome itself.
+His learned commentator (Spanheim, p. 75, 76) justifies this language
+by several parallel and contemporary instances. Zosimus, as well as
+Socrates and Sozomen, flourished after the division of the empire
+between the two sons of Theodosius, which established a perfect equality
+between the old and the new capital.]
+
+As Constantine urged the progress of the work with the impatience of
+a lover, the walls, the porticos, and the principal edifices were
+completed in a few years, or, according to another account, in a few
+months; [64] but this extraordinary diligence should excite the less
+admiration, since many of the buildings were finished in so hasty and
+imperfect a manner, that under the succeeding reign, they were preserved
+with difficulty from impending ruin. [65] But while they displayed the
+vigor and freshness of youth, the founder prepared to celebrate the
+dedication of his city. [66] The games and largesses which crowned the
+pomp of this memorable festival may easily be supposed; but there is one
+circumstance of a more singular and permanent nature, which ought
+not entirely to be overlooked. As often as the birthday of the city
+returned, the statute of Constantine, framed by his order, of gilt wood,
+and bearing in his right hand a small image of the genius of the place,
+was erected on a triumphal car. The guards, carrying white tapers, and
+clothed in their richest apparel, accompanied the solemn procession as
+it moved through the Hippodrome. When it was opposite to the throne of
+the reigning emperor, he rose from his seat, and with grateful reverence
+adored the memory of his predecessor. [67] At the festival of the
+dedication, an edict, engraved on a column of marble, bestowed the title
+of Second or New Rome on the city of Constantine. [68] But the name of
+Constantinople [69] has prevailed over that honorable epithet; and after
+the revolution of fourteen centuries, still perpetuates the fame of its
+author. [70]
+
+[Footnote 64: Codinus (Antiquitat. p. 8) affirms, that the foundations
+of Constantinople were laid in the year of the world 5837, (A. D. 329,)
+on the 26th of September, and that the city was dedicated the 11th
+of May, 5838, (A. D. 330.) He connects those dates with several
+characteristic epochs, but they contradict each other; the authority of
+Codinus is of little weight, and the space which he assigns must appear
+insufficient. The term of ten years is given us by Julian, (Orat. i. p.
+8;) and Spanheim labors to establish the truth of it, (p. 69-75,) by
+the help of two passages from Themistius, (Orat. iv. p. 58,) and of
+Philostorgius, (l. ii. c. 9,) which form a period from the year 324
+to the year 334. Modern critics are divided concerning this point of
+chronology and their different sentiments are very accurately described
+by Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 619-625.]
+
+[Footnote 65: Themistius. Orat. iii. p. 47. Zosim. l. ii. p. 108.
+Constantine himself, in one of his laws, (Cod. Theod. l. xv. tit. i.,)
+betrays his impatience.]
+
+[Footnote 66: Cedrenus and Zonaras, faithful to the mode of superstition
+which prevailed in their own times, assure us that Constantinople was
+consecrated to the virgin Mother of God.]
+
+[Footnote 67: The earliest and most complete account of this
+extraordinary ceremony may be found in the Alexandrian Chronicle, p.
+285. Tillemont, and the other friends of Constantine, who are offended
+with the air of Paganism which seems unworthy of a Christian prince, had
+a right to consider it as doubtful, but they were not authorized to omit
+the mention of it.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Sozomen, l. ii. c. 2. Ducange C. P. l. i. c. 6. Velut
+ipsius Romae filiam, is the expression of Augustin. de Civitat. Dei, l.
+v. c. 25.]
+
+[Footnote 69: Eutropius, l. x. c. 8. Julian. Orat. i. p. 8. Ducange C.
+P. l. i. c. 5. The name of Constantinople is extant on the medals of
+Constantine.]
+
+[Footnote 70: The lively Fontenelle (Dialogues des Morts, xii.) affects
+to deride the vanity of human ambition, and seems to triumph in the
+disappointment of Constantine, whose immortal name is now lost in
+the vulgar appellation of Istambol, a Turkish corruption of. Yet the
+original name is still preserved, 1. By the nations of Europe. 2. By
+the modern Greeks. 3. By the Arabs, whose writings are diffused over
+the wide extent of their conquests in Asia and Africa. See D'Herbelot,
+Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 275. 4. By the more learned Turks, and by the
+emperor himself in his public mandates Cantemir's History of the Othman
+Empire, p. 51.]
+
+The foundation of a new capital is naturally connected with the
+establishment of a new form of civil and military administration.
+The distinct view of the complicated system of policy, introduced by
+Diocletian, improved by Constantine, and completed by his immediate
+successors, may not only amuse the fancy by the singular picture of a
+great empire, but will tend to illustrate the secret and internal causes
+of its rapid decay. In the pursuit of any remarkable institution, we may
+be frequently led into the more early or the more recent times of the
+Roman history; but the proper limits of this inquiry will be included
+within a period of about one hundred and thirty years, from the
+accession of Constantine to the publication of the Theodosian code; [71]
+from which, as well as from the Notitia [71a] of the East and West, [72]
+we derive the most copious and authentic information of the state of the
+empire. This variety of objects will suspend, for some time, the course
+of the narrative; but the interruption will be censured only by those
+readers who are insensible to the importance of laws and manners, while
+they peruse, with eager curiosity, the transient intrigues of a court,
+or the accidental event of a battle.
+
+[Footnote 71: The Theodosian code was promulgated A. D. 438. See the
+Prolegomena of Godefroy, c. i. p. 185.]
+
+[Footnote 71a: The Notitia Dignitatum Imperii is a description of all
+the offices in the court and the state, of the legions, &c. It resembles
+our court almanacs, (Red Books,) with this single difference, that our
+almanacs name the persons in office, the Notitia only the offices. It is
+of the time of the emperor Theodosius II., that is to say, of the fifth
+century, when the empire was divided into the Eastern and Western. It is
+probable that it was not made for the first time, and that descriptions
+of the same kind existed before.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Pancirolus, in his elaborate Commentary, assigns to the
+Notitia a date almost similar to that of the Theodosian Code; but his
+proofs, or rather conjectures, are extremely feeble. I should be rather
+inclined to place this useful work between the final division of
+the empire (A. D. 395) and the successful invasion of Gaul by the
+barbarians, (A. D. 407.) See Histoire des Anciens Peuples de l'Europe,
+tom. vii. p. 40.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.--Part III.
+
+The manly pride of the Romans, content with substantial power, had
+left to the vanity of the East the forms and ceremonies of ostentatious
+greatness. [73] But when they lost even the semblance of those virtues
+which were derived from their ancient freedom, the simplicity of Roman
+manners was insensibly corrupted by the stately affectation of the
+courts of Asia. The distinctions of personal merit and influence, so
+conspicuous in a republic, so feeble and obscure under a monarchy, were
+abolished by the despotism of the emperors; who substituted in their
+room a severe subordination of rank and office from the titled slaves
+who were seated on the steps of the throne, to the meanest instruments
+of arbitrary power. This multitude of abject dependants was interested
+in the support of the actual government from the dread of a revolution,
+which might at once confound their hopes and intercept the reward of
+their services. In this divine hierarchy (for such it is frequently
+styled) every rank was marked with the most scrupulous exactness,
+and its dignity was displayed in a variety of trifling and solemn
+ceremonies, which it was a study to learn, and a sacrilege to neglect.
+[74] The purity of the Latin language was debased, by adopting, in the
+intercourse of pride and flattery, a profusion of epithets, which Tully
+would scarcely have understood, and which Augustus would have rejected
+with indignation. The principal officers of the empire were saluted,
+even by the sovereign himself, with the deceitful titles of your
+Sincerity, your Gravity, your Excellency, your Eminence, your sublime
+and wonderful Magnitude, your illustrious and magnificent Highness. [75]
+The codicils or patents of their office were curiously emblazoned
+with such emblems as were best adapted to explain its nature and high
+dignity; the image or portrait of the reigning emperors; a triumphal
+car; the book of mandates placed on a table, covered with a rich carpet,
+and illuminated by four tapers; the allegorical figures of the provinces
+which they governed; or the appellations and standards of the troops
+whom they commanded Some of these official ensigns were really exhibited
+in their hall of audience; others preceded their pompous march whenever
+they appeared in public; and every circumstance of their demeanor, their
+dress, their ornaments, and their train, was calculated to inspire
+a deep reverence for the representatives of supreme majesty. By a
+philosophic observer, the system of the Roman government might have been
+mistaken for a splendid theatre, filled with players of every character
+and degree, who repeated the language, and imitated the passions, of
+their original model. [76]
+
+[Footnote 73: Scilicet externae superbiae sueto, non inerat notitia
+nostri, (perhaps nostroe;) apud quos vis Imperii valet, inania
+transmittuntur. Tacit. Annal. xv. 31. The gradation from the style of
+freedom and simplicity, to that of form and servitude, may be traced in
+the Epistles of Cicero, of Pliny, and of Symmachus.]
+
+[Footnote 74: The emperor Gratian, after confirming a law of precedency
+published by Valentinian, the father of his Divinity, thus continues:
+Siquis igitur indebitum sibi locum usurpaverit, nulla se ignoratione
+defendat; sitque plane sacrilegii reus, qui divina praecepta neglexerit.
+Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. v. leg. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 75: Consult the Notitia Dignitatum at the end of the
+Theodosian code, tom. vi. p. 316. * Note: Constantin, qui remplaca le
+grand Patriciat par une noblesse titree et qui changea avec d'autres
+institutions la nature de la societe Latine, est le veritable fondateur
+de la royaute moderne, dans ce quelle conserva de Romain. Chateaubriand,
+Etud. Histor. Preface, i. 151. Manso, (Leben Constantins des Grossen,)
+p. 153, &c., has given a lucid view of the dignities and duties of the
+officers in the Imperial court.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Pancirolus ad Notitiam utriusque Imperii, p. 39. But his
+explanations are obscure, and he does not sufficiently distinguish the
+painted emblems from the effective ensigns of office.]
+
+All the magistrates of sufficient importance to find a place in the
+general state of the empire, were accurately divided into three classes.
+1. The Illustrious. 2. The Spectabiles, or Respectable. And, 3. the
+Clarissimi; whom we may translate by the word Honorable. In the times
+of Roman simplicity, the last-mentioned epithet was used only as a
+vague expression of deference, till it became at length the peculiar
+and appropriated title of all who were members of the senate, [77] and
+consequently of all who, from that venerable body, were selected to
+govern the provinces. The vanity of those who, from their rank and
+office, might claim a superior distinction above the rest of the
+senatorial order, was long afterwards indulged with the new appellation
+of Respectable; but the title of Illustrious was always reserved to some
+eminent personages who were obeyed or reverenced by the two subordinate
+classes. It was communicated only, I. To the consuls and patricians;
+II. To the Praetorian praefects, with the praefects of Rome and
+Constantinople; III. To the masters-general of the cavalry and the
+infantry; and IV. To the seven ministers of the palace, who exercised
+their sacred functions about the person of the emperor. [78] Among those
+illustrious magistrates who were esteemed coordinate with each other,
+the seniority of appointment gave place to the union of dignities. [79]
+By the expedient of honorary codicils, the emperors, who were fond of
+multiplying their favors, might sometimes gratify the vanity, though not
+the ambition, of impatient courtiers. [80]
+
+[Footnote 77: In the Pandects, which may be referred to the reigns
+of the Antonines, Clarissimus is the ordinary and legal title of a
+senator.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Pancirol. p. 12-17. I have not taken any notice of the two
+inferior ranks, Prefectissimus and Egregius, which were given to many
+persons who were not raised to the senatorial dignity.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Cod. Theodos. l. vi. tit. vi. The rules of precedency
+are ascertained with the most minute accuracy by the emperors, and
+illustrated with equal prolixity by their learned interpreter.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Cod. Theodos. l. vi. tit. xxii.]
+
+I. As long as the Roman consuls were the first magistrates of a free
+state, they derived their right to power from the choice of the people.
+As long as the emperors condescended to disguise the servitude which
+they imposed, the consuls were still elected by the real or apparent
+suffrage of the senate. From the reign of Diocletian, even these
+vestiges of liberty were abolished, and the successful candidates who
+were invested with the annual honors of the consulship, affected to
+deplore the humiliating condition of their predecessors. The Scipios and
+the Catos had been reduced to solicit the votes of plebeians, to pass
+through the tedious and expensive forms of a popular election, and to
+expose their dignity to the shame of a public refusal; while their own
+happier fate had reserved them for an age and government in which the
+rewards of virtue were assigned by the unerring wisdom of a gracious
+sovereign. [81] In the epistles which the emperor addressed to the
+two consuls elect, it was declared, that they were created by his sole
+authority. [82] Their names and portraits, engraved on gilt tables of
+ivory, were dispersed over the empire as presents to the provinces, the
+cities, the magistrates, the senate, and the people. [83] Their solemn
+inauguration was performed at the place of the Imperial residence; and
+during a period of one hundred and twenty years, Rome was constantly
+deprived of the presence of her ancient magistrates. [84]
+
+[Footnote 81: Ausonius (in Gratiarum Actione) basely expatiates on this
+unworthy topic, which is managed by Mamertinus (Panegyr. Vet. xi. [x.]
+16, 19) with somewhat more freedom and ingenuity.]
+
+[Footnote 82: Cum de Consulibus in annum creandis, solus mecum
+volutarem.... te Consulem et designavi, et declaravi, et priorem
+nuncupavi; are some of the expressions employed by the emperor Gratian
+to his preceptor, the poet Ausonius.]
+
+[Footnote 83:
+     Immanesque... dentes
+     Qui secti ferro in tabulas auroque micantes,
+     Inscripti rutilum coelato
+     Consule nomen Per proceres et vulgus eant.
+     --Claud. in ii. Cons. Stilichon. 456.
+
+Montfaucon has represented some of these tablets or dypticks see
+Supplement a l'Antiquite expliquee, tom. iii. p. 220.]
+
+[Footnote 84:
+     Consule laetatur post plurima seculo viso
+     Pallanteus apex: agnoscunt rostra curules
+     Auditas quondam proavis:
+     desuetaque cingit Regius auratis
+     Fora fascibus Ulpia lictor.
+     --Claud. in vi. Cons. Honorii, 643.
+
+From the reign of Carus to the sixth consulship of Honorius, there was
+an interval of one hundred and twenty years, during which the emperors
+were always absent from Rome on the first day of January. See the
+Chronologie de Tillemonte, tom. iii. iv. and v.]
+
+On the morning of the first of January, the consuls assumed the ensigns
+of their dignity. Their dress was a robe of purple, embroidered in silk
+and gold, and sometimes ornamented with costly gems. [85] On this solemn
+occasion they were attended by the most eminent officers of the state
+and army, in the habit of senators; and the useless fasces, armed with
+the once formidable axes, were borne before them by the lictors. [86]
+The procession moved from the palace [87] to the Forum or principal
+square of the city; where the consuls ascended their tribunal, and
+seated themselves in the curule chairs, which were framed after
+the fashion of ancient times. They immediately exercised an act of
+jurisdiction, by the manumission of a slave, who was brought before
+them for that purpose; and the ceremony was intended to represent the
+celebrated action of the elder Brutus, the author of liberty and of
+the consulship, when he admitted among his fellow-citizens the faithful
+Vindex, who had revealed the conspiracy of the Tarquins. [88] The public
+festival was continued during several days in all the principal cities
+in Rome, from custom; in Constantinople, from imitation in Carthage,
+Antioch, and Alexandria, from the love of pleasure, and the superfluity
+of wealth. [89] In the two capitals of the empire the annual games of
+the theatre, the circus, and the amphitheatre, [90] cost four thousand
+pounds of gold, (about) one hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling:
+and if so heavy an expense surpassed the faculties or the inclinations
+of the magistrates themselves, the sum was supplied from the Imperial
+treasury. [91] As soon as the consuls had discharged these customary
+duties, they were at liberty to retire into the shade of private
+life, and to enjoy, during the remainder of the year, the undisturbed
+contemplation of their own greatness. They no longer presided in the
+national councils; they no longer executed the resolutions of peace
+or war. Their abilities (unless they were employed in more effective
+offices) were of little moment; and their names served only as the legal
+date of the year in which they had filled the chair of Marius and of
+Cicero. Yet it was still felt and acknowledged, in the last period
+of Roman servitude, that this empty name might be compared, and even
+preferred, to the possession of substantial power. The title of consul
+was still the most splendid object of ambition, the noblest reward of
+virtue and loyalty. The emperors themselves, who disdained the faint
+shadow of the republic, were conscious that they acquired an additional
+splendor and majesty as often as they assumed the annual honors of the
+consular dignity. [92]
+
+[Footnote 85: See Claudian in Cons. Prob. et Olybrii, 178, &c.; and
+in iv. Cons. Honorii, 585, &c.; though in the latter it is not easy to
+separate the ornaments of the emperor from those of the consul. Ausonius
+received from the liberality of Gratian a vestis palmata, or robe of
+state, in which the figure of the emperor Constantius was embroidered.
+
+     Cernis et armorum proceres legumque potentes:
+     Patricios sumunt habitus; et more Gabino
+     Discolor incedit legio, positisque parumper
+     Bellorum signis, sequitur vexilla Quirini. Lictori cedunt aquilae, ridetque
+     togatus Miles, et in mediis effulget curia castris.
+     --Claud. in iv. Cons. Honorii, 5.
+     --strictaque procul radiare secures.
+     --In Cons. Prob. 229]
+
+[Footnote 87: See Valesius ad Ammian. Marcellin. l. xxii. c. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 88:
+
+     Auspice mox laeto sonuit clamore tribunal;
+     Te fastos ineunte quater; solemnia ludit
+     Omina libertas; deductum Vindice morem
+     Lex servat, famulusque jugo laxatus herili
+     Ducitur, et grato remeat securior ictu.
+     --Claud. in iv Cons. Honorii, 611]
+
+[Footnote 89: Celebrant quidem solemnes istos dies omnes ubique
+urbes quae sub legibus agunt; et Roma de more, et Constantinopolis
+de imitatione, et Antiochia pro luxu, et discincta Carthago, et domus
+fluminis Alexandria, sed Treviri Principis beneficio. Ausonius in Grat.
+Actione.]
+
+[Footnote 90: Claudian (in Cons. Mall. Theodori, 279-331) describes,
+in a lively and fanciful manner, the various games of the circus,
+the theatre, and the amphitheatre, exhibited by the new consul. The
+sanguinary combats of gladiators had already been prohibited.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Procopius in Hist. Arcana, c. 26.]
+
+[Footnote 92: In Consulatu honos sine labore suscipitur. (Mamertin.
+in Panegyr. Vet. xi. [x.] 2.) This exalted idea of the consulship is
+borrowed from an oration (iii. p. 107) pronounced by Julian in the
+servile court of Constantius. See the Abbe de la Bleterie, (Memoires de
+l'Academie, tom. xxiv. p. 289,) who delights to pursue the vestiges of
+the old constitution, and who sometimes finds them in his copious fancy]
+
+The proudest and most perfect separation which can be found in any age
+or country, between the nobles and the people, is perhaps that of the
+Patricians and the Plebeians, as it was established in the first age of
+the Roman republic. Wealth and honors, the offices of the state, and the
+ceremonies of religion, were almost exclusively possessed by the former
+who, preserving the purity of their blood with the most insulting
+jealousy, [93] held their clients in a condition of specious vassalage.
+But these distinctions, so incompatible with the spirit of a free
+people, were removed, after a long struggle, by the persevering efforts
+of the Tribunes. The most active and successful of the Plebeians
+accumulated wealth, aspired to honors, deserved triumphs, contracted
+alliances, and, after some generations, assumed the pride of ancient
+nobility. [94] The Patrician families, on the other hand, whose original
+number was never recruited till the end of the commonwealth, either
+failed in the ordinary course of nature, or were extinguished in so
+many foreign and domestic wars, or, through a want of merit or fortune,
+insensibly mingled with the mass of the people. [95] Very few remained
+who could derive their pure and genuine origin from the infancy of
+the city, or even from that of the republic, when Caesar and Augustus,
+Claudius and Vespasian, created from the body of the senate a competent
+number of new Patrician families, in the hope of perpetuating an order,
+which was still considered as honorable and sacred. [96] But these
+artificial supplies (in which the reigning house was always included)
+were rapidly swept away by the rage of tyrants, by frequent revolutions,
+by the change of manners, and by the intermixture of nations. [97]
+Little more was left when Constantine ascended the throne, than a vague
+and imperfect tradition, that the Patricians had once been the first
+of the Romans. To form a body of nobles, whose influence may restrain,
+while it secures the authority of the monarch, would have been very
+inconsistent with the character and policy of Constantine; but had he
+seriously entertained such a design, it might have exceeded the measure
+of his power to ratify, by an arbitrary edict, an institution which
+must expect the sanction of time and of opinion. He revived, indeed,
+the title of Patricians, but he revived it as a personal, not as an
+hereditary distinction. They yielded only to the transient superiority
+of the annual consuls; but they enjoyed the pre-eminence over all the
+great officers of state, with the most familiar access to the person of
+the prince. This honorable rank was bestowed on them for life; and as
+they were usually favorites, and ministers who had grown old in
+the Imperial court, the true etymology of the word was perverted
+by ignorance and flattery; and the Patricians of Constantine were
+reverenced as the adopted Fathers of the emperor and the republic. [98]
+
+[Footnote 93: Intermarriages between the Patricians and Plebeians were
+prohibited by the laws of the XII Tables; and the uniform operations of
+human nature may attest that the custom survived the law. See in Livy
+(iv. 1-6) the pride of family urged by the consul, and the rights of
+mankind asserted by the tribune Canuleius.]
+
+[Footnote 94: See the animated picture drawn by Sallust, in the
+Jugurthine war, of the pride of the nobles, and even of the virtuous
+Metellus, who was unable to brook the idea that the honor of the
+consulship should be bestowed on the obscure merit of his lieutenant
+Marius. (c. 64.) Two hundred years before, the race of the Metelli
+themselves were confounded among the Plebeians of Rome; and from the
+etymology of their name of Coecilius, there is reason to believe that
+those haughty nobles derived their origin from a sutler.]
+
+[Footnote 95: In the year of Rome 800, very few remained, not only of
+the old Patrician families, but even of those which had been created by
+Caesar and Augustus. (Tacit. Annal. xi. 25.) The family of Scaurus (a
+branch of the Patrician Aemilii) was degraded so low that his father,
+who exercised the trade of a charcoal merchant, left him only teu
+slaves, and somewhat less than three hundred pounds sterling. (Valerius
+Maximus, l. iv. c. 4, n. 11. Aurel. Victor in Scauro.) The family was
+saved from oblivion by the merit of the son.]
+
+[Footnote 96: Tacit. Annal. xi. 25. Dion Cassius, l. iii. p. 698.
+The virtues of Agricola, who was created a Patrician by the emperor
+Vespasian, reflected honor on that ancient order; but his ancestors had
+not any claim beyond an Equestrian nobility.]
+
+[Footnote 97: This failure would have been almost impossible if it
+were true, as Casaubon compels Aurelius Victor to affirm (ad Sueton,
+in Caesar v. 24. See Hist. August p. 203 and Casaubon Comment., p. 220)
+that Vespasian created at once a thousand Patrician families. But this
+extravagant number is too much even for the whole Senatorial order.
+unless we should include all the Roman knights who were distinguished by
+the permission of wearing the laticlave.]
+
+[Footnote 98: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 118; and Godefroy ad Cod. Theodos. l.
+vi. tit. vi.]
+
+II. The fortunes of the Praetorian praefects were essentially different
+from those of the consuls and Patricians. The latter saw their ancient
+greatness evaporate in a vain title.
+
+The former, rising by degrees from the most humble condition, were
+invested with the civil and military administration of the Roman world.
+From the reign of Severus to that of Diocletian, the guards and the
+palace, the laws and the finances, the armies and the provinces, were
+intrusted to their superintending care; and, like the Viziers of the
+East, they held with one hand the seal, and with the other the standard,
+of the empire. The ambition of the praefects, always formidable, and
+sometimes fatal to the masters whom they served, was supported by the
+strength of the Praetorian bands; but after those haughty troops had
+been weakened by Diocletian, and finally suppressed by Constantine, the
+praefects, who survived their fall, were reduced without difficulty to
+the station of useful and obedient ministers. When they were no longer
+responsible for the safety of the emperor's person, they resigned the
+jurisdiction which they had hitherto claimed and exercised over all
+the departments of the palace. They were deprived by Constantine of all
+military command, as soon as they had ceased to lead into the field,
+under their immediate orders, the flower of the Roman troops; and
+at length, by a singular revolution, the captains of the guards were
+transformed into the civil magistrates of the provinces. According to
+the plan of government instituted by Diocletian, the four princes had
+each their Praetorian praefect; and after the monarchy was once more
+united in the person of Constantine, he still continued to create the
+same number of Four Praefects, and intrusted to their care the same
+provinces which they already administered. 1. The praefect of the East
+stretched his ample jurisdiction into the three parts of the globe which
+were subject to the Romans, from the cataracts of the Nile to the banks
+of the Phasis, and from the mountains of Thrace to the frontiers of
+Persia. 2. The important provinces of Pannonia, Dacia, Macedonia, and
+Greece, once acknowledged the authority of the praefect of Illyricum. 3.
+The power of the praefect of Italy was not confined to the country from
+whence he derived his title; it extended over the additional territory
+of Rhaetia as far as the banks of the Danube, over the dependent islands
+of the Mediterranean, and over that part of the continent of Africa
+which lies between the confines of Cyrene and those of Tingitania. 4.
+The praefect of the Gauls comprehended under that plural denomination
+the kindred provinces of Britain and Spain, and his authority was obeyed
+from the wall of Antoninus to the foot of Mount Atlas. [99]
+
+[Footnote 99: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 109, 110. If we had not fortunately
+possessed this satisfactory account of the division of the power and
+provinces of the Praetorian praefects, we should frequently have been
+perplexed amidst the copious details of the Code, and the circumstantial
+minuteness of the Notitia.]
+
+After the Praetorian praefects had been dismissed from all military
+command, the civil functions which they were ordained to exercise over
+so many subject nations, were adequate to the ambition and abilities of
+the most consummate ministers. To their wisdom was committed the supreme
+administration of justice and of the finances, the two objects which,
+in a state of peace, comprehend almost all the respective duties of the
+sovereign and of the people; of the former, to protect the citizens
+who are obedient to the laws; of the latter, to contribute the share
+of their property which is required for the expenses of the state. The
+coin, the highways, the posts, the granaries, the manufactures, whatever
+could interest the public prosperity, was moderated by the authority
+of the Praetorian praefects. As the immediate representatives of the
+Imperial majesty, they were empowered to explain, to enforce, and on
+some occasions to modify, the general edicts by their discretionary
+proclamations. They watched over the conduct of the provincial
+governors, removed the negligent, and inflicted punishments on the
+guilty. From all the inferior jurisdictions, an appeal in every matter
+of importance, either civil or criminal, might be brought before the
+tribunal of the praefect; but his sentence was final and absolute; and
+the emperors themselves refused to admit any complaints against the
+judgment or the integrity of a magistrate whom they honored with such
+unbounded confidence. [100] His appointments were suitable to his
+dignity; [101] and if avarice was his ruling passion, he enjoyed
+frequent opportunities of collecting a rich harvest of fees, of
+presents, and of perquisites. Though the emperors no longer dreaded the
+ambition of their praefects, they were attentive to counterbalance
+the power of this great office by the uncertainty and shortness of its
+duration. [102]
+
+[Footnote 100: See a law of Constantine himself. A praefectis autem
+praetorio provocare, non sinimus. Cod. Justinian. l. vii. tit. lxii.
+leg. 19. Charisius, a lawyer of the time of Constantine, (Heinec. Hist.
+Romani, p. 349,) who admits this law as a fundamental principle of
+jurisprudence, compares the Praetorian praefects to the masters of the
+horse of the ancient dictators. Pandect. l. i. tit. xi.]
+
+[Footnote 101: When Justinian, in the exhausted condition of the empire,
+instituted a Praetorian praefect for Africa, he allowed him a salary of
+one hundred pounds of gold. Cod. Justinian. l. i. tit. xxvii. leg. i.]
+
+[Footnote 102: For this, and the other dignities of the empire, it
+may be sufficient to refer to the ample commentaries of Pancirolus and
+Godefroy, who have diligently collected and accurately digested in their
+proper order all the legal and historical materials. From those authors,
+Dr. Howell (History of the World, vol. ii. p. 24-77) has deduced a very
+distinct abridgment of the state of the Roman empire]
+
+From their superior importance and dignity, Rome and Constantinople were
+alone excepted from the jurisdiction of the Praetorian praefects. The
+immense size of the city, and the experience of the tardy, ineffectual
+operation of the laws, had furnished the policy of Augustus with a
+specious pretence for introducing a new magistrate, who alone could
+restrain a servile and turbulent populace by the strong arm of arbitrary
+power. [103] Valerius Messalla was appointed the first praefect of Rome,
+that his reputation might countenance so invidious a measure; but, at
+the end of a few days, that accomplished citizen [104] resigned his
+office, declaring, with a spirit worthy of the friend of Brutus, that he
+found himself incapable of exercising a power incompatible with public
+freedom. [105] As the sense of liberty became less exquisite, the
+advantages of order were more clearly understood; and the praefect, who
+seemed to have been designed as a terror only to slaves and vagrants,
+was permitted to extend his civil and criminal jurisdiction over the
+equestrian and noble families of Rome. The praetors, annually created as
+the judges of law and equity, could not long dispute the possession
+of the Forum with a vigorous and permanent magistrate, who was usually
+admitted into the confidence of the prince. Their courts were deserted,
+their number, which had once fluctuated between twelve and eighteen,
+[106] was gradually reduced to two or three, and their important
+functions were confined to the expensive obligation [107] of exhibiting
+games for the amusement of the people. After the office of the Roman
+consuls had been changed into a vain pageant, which was rarely displayed
+in the capital, the praefects assumed their vacant place in the senate,
+and were soon acknowledged as the ordinary presidents of that venerable
+assembly. They received appeals from the distance of one hundred miles;
+and it was allowed as a principle of jurisprudence, that all municipal
+authority was derived from them alone. [108] In the discharge of his
+laborious employment, the governor of Rome was assisted by fifteen
+officers, some of whom had been originally his equals, or even his
+superiors. The principal departments were relative to the command of a
+numerous watch, established as a safeguard against fires, robberies,
+and nocturnal disorders; the custody and distribution of the public
+allowance of corn and provisions; the care of the port, of the
+aqueducts, of the common sewers, and of the navigation and bed of the
+Tyber; the inspection of the markets, the theatres, and of the private
+as well as the public works. Their vigilance insured the three principal
+objects of a regular police, safety, plenty, and cleanliness; and as
+a proof of the attention of government to preserve the splendor and
+ornaments of the capital, a particular inspector was appointed for the
+statues; the guardian, as it were, of that inanimate people, which,
+according to the extravagant computation of an old writer, was scarcely
+inferior in number to the living inhabitants of Rome. About thirty years
+after the foundation of Constantinople, a similar magistrate was created
+in that rising metropolis, for the same uses and with the same powers.
+A perfect equality was established between the dignity of the two
+municipal, and that of the four Praetorian praefects. [109]
+
+[Footnote 103: Tacit. Annal. vi. 11. Euseb. in Chron. p. 155. Dion
+Cassius, in the oration of Maecenas, (l. lvii. p. 675,) describes the
+prerogatives of the praefect of the city as they were established in his
+own time.]
+
+[Footnote 104: The fame of Messalla has been scarcely equal to his
+merit. In the earliest youth he was recommended by Cicero to the
+friendship of Brutus. He followed the standard of the republic till it
+was broken in the fields of Philippi; he then accepted and deserved the
+favor of the most moderate of the conquerors; and uniformly asserted his
+freedom and dignity in the court of Augustus. The triumph of Messalla
+was justified by the conquest of Aquitain. As an orator, he disputed the
+palm of eloquence with Cicero himself. Messalla cultivated every muse,
+and was the patron of every man of genius. He spent his evenings in
+philosophic conversation with Horace; assumed his place at table between
+Delia and Tibullus; and amused his leisure by encouraging the poetical
+talents of young Ovid.]
+
+[Footnote 105: Incivilem esse potestatem contestans, says the translator
+of Eusebius. Tacitus expresses the same idea in other words; quasi
+nescius exercendi.]
+
+[Footnote 106: See Lipsius, Excursus D. ad 1 lib. Tacit. Annal.]
+
+[Footnote 107: Heineccii. Element. Juris Civilis secund ordinem
+Pandect i. p. 70. See, likewise, Spanheim de Usu. Numismatum, tom. ii.
+dissertat. x. p. 119. In the year 450, Marcian published a law, that
+three citizens should be annually created Praetors of Constantinople by
+the choice of the senate, but with their own consent. Cod. Justinian.
+li. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Quidquid igitur intra urbem admittitur, ad P. U. videtur
+pertinere; sed et siquid intra contesimum milliarium. Ulpian in Pandect
+l. i. tit. xiii. n. 1. He proceeds to enumerate the various offices of
+the praefect, who, in the code of Justinian, (l. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 3,)
+is declared to precede and command all city magistrates sine injuria ac
+detrimento honoris alieni.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Besides our usual guides, we may observe that Felix
+Cantelorius has written a separate treatise, De Praefecto Urbis;
+and that many curious details concerning the police of Rome and
+Constantinople are contained in the fourteenth book of the Theodosian
+Code.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.--Part IV.
+
+Those who, in the imperial hierarchy, were distinguished by the title
+of Respectable, formed an intermediate class between the illustrious
+praefects, and the honorable magistrates of the provinces. In this class
+the proconsuls of Asia, Achaia, and Africa, claimed a preeminence, which
+was yielded to the remembrance of their ancient dignity; and the appeal
+from their tribunal to that of the praefects was almost the only mark
+of their dependence. [110] But the civil government of the empire was
+distributed into thirteen great Dioceses, each of which equalled the
+just measure of a powerful kingdom. The first of these dioceses was
+subject to the jurisdiction of the count of the east; and we may convey
+some idea of the importance and variety of his functions, by observing,
+that six hundred apparitors, who would be styled at present either
+secretaries, or clerks, or ushers, or messengers, were employed in his
+immediate office. [111] The place of Augustal proefect of Egypt was
+no longer filled by a Roman knight; but the name was retained; and the
+extraordinary powers which the situation of the country, and the temper
+of the inhabitants, had once made indispensable, were still continued
+to the governor. The eleven remaining dioceses, of Asiana, Pontica,
+and Thrace; of Macedonia, Dacia, and Pannonia, or Western Illyricum; of
+Italy and Africa; of Gaul, Spain, and Britain; were governed by twelve
+vicars or vice-proefects, [112] whose name sufficiently explains
+the nature and dependence of their office. It may be added, that the
+lieutenant-generals of the Roman armies, the military counts and dukes,
+who will be hereafter mentioned, were allowed the rank and title of
+Respectable.
+
+[Footnote 110: Eunapius affirms, that the proconsul of Asia was
+independent of the praefect; which must, however, be understood with
+some allowance. the jurisdiction of the vice-praefect he most assuredly
+disclaimed. Pancirolus, p. 161.]
+
+[Footnote 111: The proconsul of Africa had four hundred apparitors;
+and they all received large salaries, either from the treasury or the
+province See Pancirol. p. 26, and Cod. Justinian. l. xii. tit. lvi.
+lvii.]
+
+[Footnote 112: In Italy there was likewise the Vicar of Rome. It has
+been much disputed whether his jurisdiction measured one hundred miles
+from the city, or whether it stretched over the ten thousand provinces
+of Italy.]
+
+As the spirit of jealousy and ostentation prevailed in the councils
+of the emperors, they proceeded with anxious diligence to divide the
+substance and to multiply the titles of power. The vast countries
+which the Roman conquerors had united under the same simple form of
+administration, were imperceptibly crumbled into minute fragments; till
+at length the whole empire was distributed into one hundred and
+sixteen provinces, each of which supported an expensive and splendid
+establishment. Of these, three were governed by proconsuls, thirty-seven
+by consulars, five by correctors, and seventy-one by presidents.
+The appellations of these magistrates were different; they ranked in
+successive order, the ensigns of and their situation, from accidental
+circumstances, might be more or less agreeable or advantageous. But they
+were all (excepting only the pro-consuls) alike included in the class of
+honorable persons; and they were alike intrusted, during the pleasure of
+the prince, and under the authority of the praefects or their deputies,
+with the administration of justice and the finances in their respective
+districts. The ponderous volumes of the Codes and Pandects [113]
+would furnish ample materials for a minute inquiry into the system of
+provincial government, as in the space of six centuries it was approved
+by the wisdom of the Roman statesmen and lawyers.
+
+It may be sufficient for the historian to select two singular and
+salutary provisions, intended to restrain the abuse of authority.
+
+1. For the preservation of peace and order, the governors of the
+provinces were armed with the sword of justice. They inflicted corporal
+punishments, and they exercised, in capital offences, the power of
+life and death. But they were not authorized to indulge the condemned
+criminal with the choice of his own execution, or to pronounce a
+sentence of the mildest and most honorable kind of exile. These
+prerogatives were reserved to the praefects, who alone could impose the
+heavy fine of fifty pounds of gold: their vicegerents were confined to
+the trifling weight of a few ounces. [114] This distinction, which seems
+to grant the larger, while it denies the smaller degree of authority,
+was founded on a very rational motive. The smaller degree was infinitely
+more liable to abuse. The passions of a provincial magistrate might
+frequently provoke him into acts of oppression, which affected only
+the freedom or the fortunes of the subject; though, from a principle of
+prudence, perhaps of humanity, he might still be terrified by the
+guilt of innocent blood. It may likewise be considered, that exile,
+considerable fines, or the choice of an easy death, relate more
+particularly to the rich and the noble; and the persons the most exposed
+to the avarice or resentment of a provincial magistrate, were thus
+removed from his obscure persecution to the more august and impartial
+tribunal of the Praetorian praefect. 2. As it was reasonably apprehended
+that the integrity of the judge might be biased, if his interest was
+concerned, or his affections were engaged, the strictest regulations
+were established, to exclude any person, without the special
+dispensation of the emperor, from the government of the province
+where he was born; [115] and to prohibit the governor or his son from
+contracting marriage with a native, or an inhabitant; [116] or
+from purchasing slaves, lands, or houses, within the extent of his
+jurisdiction. [117] Notwithstanding these rigorous precautions, the
+emperor Constantine, after a reign of twenty-five years, still deplores
+the venal and oppressive administration of justice, and expresses the
+warmest indignation that the audience of the judge, his despatch of
+business, his seasonable delays, and his final sentence, were
+publicly sold, either by himself or by the officers of his court. The
+continuance, and perhaps the impunity, of these crimes, is attested by
+the repetition of impotent laws and ineffectual menaces. [118]
+
+[Footnote 113: Among the works of the celebrated Ulpian, there was one
+in ten books, concerning the office of a proconsul, whose duties in the
+most essential articles were the same as those of an ordinary governor
+of a province.]
+
+[Footnote 114: The presidents, or consulars, could impose only two
+ounces; the vice-praefects, three; the proconsuls, count of the east,
+and praefect of Egypt, six. See Heineccii Jur. Civil. tom. i. p. 75.
+Pandect. l. xlviii. tit. xix. n. 8. Cod. Justinian. l. i. tit. liv. leg.
+4, 6.]
+
+[Footnote 115: Ut nulli patriae suae administratio sine speciali
+principis permissu permittatur. Cod. Justinian. l. i. tit. xli. This law
+was first enacted by the emperor Marcus, after the rebellion of Cassius.
+(Dion. l. lxxi.) The same regulation is observed in China, with equal
+strictness, and with equal effect.]
+
+[Footnote 116: Pandect. l. xxiii. tit. ii. n. 38, 57, 63.]
+
+[Footnote 117: In jure continetur, ne quis in administratione
+constitutus aliquid compararet. Cod. Theod. l. viii. tit. xv. leg. l.
+This maxim of common law was enforced by a series of edicts (see
+the remainder of the title) from Constantine to Justin. From this
+prohibition, which is extended to the meanest officers of the governor,
+they except only clothes and provisions. The purchase within five
+years may be recovered; after which on information, it devolves to the
+treasury.]
+
+[Footnote 118: Cessent rapaces jam nunc officialium manus; cessent,
+inquam nam si moniti non cessaverint, gladiis praecidentur, &c. Cod.
+Theod. l. i. tit. vii. leg. l. Zeno enacted that all governors should
+remain in the province, to answer any accusations, fifty days after the
+expiration of their power. Cod Justinian. l. ii. tit. xlix. leg. l.]
+
+All the civil magistrates were drawn from the profession of the law.
+The celebrated Institutes of Justinian are addressed to the youth of
+his dominions, who had devoted themselves to the study of Roman
+jurisprudence; and the sovereign condescends to animate their diligence,
+by the assurance that their skill and ability would in time be rewarded
+by an adequate share in the government of the republic. [119] The
+rudiments of this lucrative science were taught in all the considerable
+cities of the east and west; but the most famous school was that of
+Berytus, [120] on the coast of Phoenicia; which flourished above three
+centuries from the time of Alexander Severus, the author perhaps of
+an institution so advantageous to his native country. After a regular
+course of education, which lasted five years, the students dispersed
+themselves through the provinces, in search of fortune and honors; nor
+could they want an inexhaustible supply of business in a great empire
+already corrupted by the multiplicity of laws, of arts, and of vices.
+The court of the Praetorian praefect of the east could alone furnish
+employment for one hundred and fifty advocates, sixty-four of whom were
+distinguished by peculiar privileges, and two were annually chosen, with
+a salary of sixty pounds of gold, to defend the causes of the treasury.
+The first experiment was made of their judicial talents, by appointing
+them to act occasionally as assessors to the magistrates; from thence
+they were often raised to preside in the tribunals before which they had
+pleaded. They obtained the government of a province; and, by the aid of
+merit, of reputation, or of favor, they ascended, by successive steps,
+to the illustrious dignities of the state. [121] In the practice of the
+bar, these men had considered reason as the instrument of dispute; they
+interpreted the laws according to the dictates of private interest and
+the same pernicious habits might still adhere to their characters in the
+public administration of the state. The honor of a liberal profession
+has indeed been vindicated by ancient and modern advocates, who have
+filled the most important stations, with pure integrity and consummate
+wisdom: but in the decline of Roman jurisprudence, the ordinary
+promotion of lawyers was pregnant with mischief and disgrace. The noble
+art, which had once been preserved as the sacred inheritance of the
+patricians, was fallen into the hands of freedmen and plebeians,
+[122] who, with cunning rather than with skill, exercised a sordid and
+pernicious trade. Some of them procured admittance into families for the
+purpose of fomenting differences, of encouraging suits, and of preparing
+a harvest of gain for themselves or their brethren. Others, recluse
+in their chambers, maintained the dignity of legal professors, by
+furnishing a rich client with subtleties to confound the plainest
+truths, and with arguments to color the most unjustifiable pretensions.
+The splendid and popular class was composed of the advocates, who
+filled the Forum with the sound of their turgid and loquacious rhetoric.
+Careless of fame and of justice, they are described, for the most part,
+as ignorant and rapacious guides, who conducted their clients through a
+maze of expense, of delay, and of disappointment; from whence, after
+a tedious series of years, they were at length dismissed, when their
+patience and fortune were almost exhausted. [123]
+
+[Footnote 119: Summa igitur ope, et alacri studio has leges nostras
+accipite; et vosmetipsos sic eruditos ostendite, ut spes vos pulcherrima
+foveat; toto legitimo opere perfecto, posse etiam nostram rempublicam
+in par tibus ejus vobis credendis gubernari. Justinian in proem.
+Institutionum.]
+
+[Footnote 120: The splendor of the school of Berytus, which preserved in
+the east the language and jurisprudence of the Romans, may be computed
+to have lasted from the third to the middle of the sixth century
+Heinecc. Jur. Rom. Hist. p. 351-356.]
+
+[Footnote 121: As in a former period I have traced the civil and
+military promotion of Pertinax, I shall here insert the civil honors of
+Mallius Theodorus. 1. He was distinguished by his eloquence, while he
+pleaded as an advocate in the court of the Praetorian praefect. 2.
+He governed one of the provinces of Africa, either as president or
+consular, and deserved, by his administration, the honor of a brass
+statue. 3. He was appointed vicar, or vice-praefect, of Macedonia. 4.
+Quaestor. 5. Count of the sacred largesses. 6. Praetorian praefect of
+the Gauls; whilst he might yet be represented as a young man. 7. After a
+retreat, perhaps a disgrace of many years, which Mallius (confounded by
+some critics with the poet Manilius; see Fabricius Bibliothec. Latin.
+Edit. Ernest. tom. i.c. 18, p. 501) employed in the study of the Grecian
+philosophy he was named Praetorian praefect of Italy, in the year 397.
+8. While he still exercised that great office, he was created, it the
+year 399, consul for the West; and his name, on account of the infamy of
+his colleague, the eunuch Eutropius, often stands alone in the Fasti. 9.
+In the year 408, Mallius was appointed a second time Praetorian praefect
+of Italy. Even in the venal panegyric of Claudian, we may discover the
+merit of Mallius Theodorus, who, by a rare felicity, was the intimate
+friend, both of Symmachus and of St. Augustin. See Tillemont, Hist. des
+Emp. tom. v. p. 1110-1114.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Mamertinus in Panegyr. Vet. xi. [x.] 20. Asterius apud
+Photium, p. 1500.]
+
+[Footnote 123: The curious passage of Ammianus, (l. xxx. c. 4,) in which
+he paints the manners of contemporary lawyers, affords a strange
+mixture of sound sense, false rhetoric, and extravagant satire. Godefroy
+(Prolegom. ad. Cod. Theod. c. i. p. 185) supports the historian by
+similar complaints and authentic facts. In the fourth century, many
+camels might have been laden with law-books. Eunapius in Vit. Aedesii,
+p. 72.]
+
+III. In the system of policy introduced by Augustus, the governors,
+those at least of the Imperial provinces, were invested with the
+full powers of the sovereign himself. Ministers of peace and war, the
+distribution of rewards and punishments depended on them alone, and
+they successively appeared on their tribunal in the robes of civil
+magistracy, and in complete armor at the head of the Roman legions.
+[124] The influence of the revenue, the authority of law, and the
+command of a military force, concurred to render their power supreme and
+absolute; and whenever they were tempted to violate their allegiance,
+the loyal province which they involved in their rebellion was scarcely
+sensible of any change in its political state. From the time of Commodus
+to the reign of Constantine, near one hundred governors might be
+enumerated, who, with various success, erected the standard of revolt;
+and though the innocent were too often sacrificed, the guilty might be
+sometimes prevented, by the suspicious cruelty of their master. [125]
+To secure his throne and the public tranquillity from these formidable
+servants, Constantine resolved to divide the military from the civil
+administration, and to establish, as a permanent and professional
+distinction, a practice which had been adopted only as an occasional
+expedient. The supreme jurisdiction exercised by the Praetorian
+praefects over the armies of the empire, was transferred to the two
+masters-general whom he instituted, the one for the cavalry, the other
+for the infantry; and though each of these illustrious officers was more
+peculiarly responsible for the discipline of those troops which were
+under his immediate inspection, they both indifferently commanded in the
+field the several bodies, whether of horse or foot, which were united
+in the same army. [126] Their number was soon doubled by the division of
+the east and west; and as separate generals of the same rank and title
+were appointed on the four important frontiers of the Rhine, of the
+Upper and the Lower Danube, and of the Euphrates, the defence of the
+Roman empire was at length committed to eight masters-general of
+the cavalry and infantry. Under their orders, thirty-five military
+commanders were stationed in the provinces: three in Britain, six in
+Gaul, one in Spain, one in Italy, five on the Upper, and four on the
+Lower Danube; in Asia, eight, three in Egypt, and four in Africa.
+The titles of counts, and dukes, [127] by which they were properly
+distinguished, have obtained in modern languages so very different a
+sense, that the use of them may occasion some surprise. But it should be
+recollected, that the second of those appellations is only a corruption
+of the Latin word, which was indiscriminately applied to any military
+chief. All these provincial generals were therefore dukes; but no
+more than ten among them were dignified with the rank of counts or
+companions, a title of honor, or rather of favor, which had been
+recently invented in the court of Constantine. A gold belt was the
+ensign which distinguished the office of the counts and dukes; and
+besides their pay, they received a liberal allowance sufficient
+to maintain one hundred and ninety servants, and one hundred and
+fifty-eight horses. They were strictly prohibited from interfering
+in any matter which related to the administration of justice or the
+revenue; but the command which they exercised over the troops of their
+department, was independent of the authority of the magistrates.
+About the same time that Constantine gave a legal sanction to the
+ecclesiastical order, he instituted in the Roman empire the nice balance
+of the civil and the military powers. The emulation, and sometimes the
+discord, which reigned between two professions of opposite interests
+and incompatible manners, was productive of beneficial and of pernicious
+consequences. It was seldom to be expected that the general and the
+civil governor of a province should either conspire for the disturbance,
+or should unite for the service, of their country. While the one delayed
+to offer the assistance which the other disdained to solicit, the troops
+very frequently remained without orders or without supplies; the public
+safety was betrayed, and the defenceless subjects were left exposed to
+the fury of the Barbarians. The divided administration which had been
+formed by Constantine, relaxed the vigor of the state, while it secured
+the tranquillity of the monarch.
+
+[Footnote 124: See a very splendid example in the life of Agricola,
+particularly c. 20, 21. The lieutenant of Britain was intrusted with
+the same powers which Cicero, proconsul of Cilicia, had exercised in the
+name of the senate and people.]
+
+[Footnote 125: The Abbe Dubos, who has examined with accuracy (see
+Hist. de la Monarchie Francoise, tom. i. p. 41-100, edit. 1742) the
+institutions of Augustus and of Constantine, observes, that if Otho had
+been put to death the day before he executed his conspiracy, Otho would
+now appear in history as innocent as Corbulo.]
+
+[Footnote 126: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 110. Before the end of the reign of
+Constantius, the magistri militum were already increased to four. See
+Velesius ad Ammian. l. xvi. c. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 127: Though the military counts and dukes are frequently
+mentioned, both in history and the codes, we must have recourse to the
+Notitia for the exact knowledge of their number and stations. For the
+institution, rank, privileges, &c., of the counts in general see Cod.
+Theod. l. vi. tit. xii.--xx., with the commentary of Godefroy.]
+
+The memory of Constantine has been deservedly censured for another
+innovation, which corrupted military discipline and prepared the ruin
+of the empire. The nineteen years which preceded his final victory over
+Licinius, had been a period of license and intestine war. The rivals
+who contended for the possession of the Roman world, had withdrawn the
+greatest part of their forces from the guard of the general frontier;
+and the principal cities which formed the boundary of their respective
+dominions were filled with soldiers, who considered their countrymen as
+their most implacable enemies. After the use of these internal garrisons
+had ceased with the civil war, the conqueror wanted either wisdom or
+firmness to revive the severe discipline of Diocletian, and to suppress
+a fatal indulgence, which habit had endeared and almost confirmed to the
+military order. From the reign of Constantine, a popular and even legal
+distinction was admitted between the Palatines [128] and the Borderers;
+the troops of the court, as they were improperly styled, and the troops
+of the frontier. The former, elevated by the superiority of their pay
+and privileges, were permitted, except in the extraordinary emergencies
+of war, to occupy their tranquil stations in the heart of the provinces.
+The most flourishing cities were oppressed by the intolerable weight
+of quarters. The soldiers insensibly forgot the virtues of their
+profession, and contracted only the vices of civil life. They were
+either degraded by the industry of mechanic trades, or enervated by the
+luxury of baths and theatres. They soon became careless of their martial
+exercises, curious in their diet and apparel; and while they inspired
+terror to the subjects of the empire, they trembled at the hostile
+approach of the Barbarians. [129] The chain of fortifications which
+Diocletian and his colleagues had extended along the banks of the great
+rivers, was no longer maintained with the same care, or defended with
+the same vigilance. The numbers which still remained under the name
+of the troops of the frontier, might be sufficient for the ordinary
+defence; but their spirit was degraded by the humiliating reflection,
+that they who were exposed to the hardships and dangers of a perpetual
+warfare, were rewarded only with about two thirds of the pay and
+emoluments which were lavished on the troops of the court. Even the
+bands or legions that were raised the nearest to the level of those
+unworthy favorites, were in some measure disgraced by the title of
+honor which they were allowed to assume. It was in vain that Constantine
+repeated the most dreadful menaces of fire and sword against the
+Borderers who should dare desert their colors, to connive at the inroads
+of the Barbarians, or to participate in the spoil. [130] The mischiefs
+which flow from injudicious counsels are seldom removed by the
+application of partial severities; and though succeeding princes labored
+to restore the strength and numbers of the frontier garrisons, the
+empire, till the last moment of its dissolution, continued to languish
+under the mortal wound which had been so rashly or so weakly inflicted
+by the hand of Constantine.
+
+[Footnote 128: Zosimus, l ii. p. 111. The distinction between the two
+classes of Roman troops, is very darkly expressed in the historians,
+the laws, and the Notitia. Consult, however, the copious paratitlon,
+or abstract, which Godefroy has drawn up of the seventh book, de Re
+Militari, of the Theodosian Code, l. vii. tit. i. leg. 18, l. viii. tit.
+i. leg. 10.]
+
+[Footnote 129: Ferox erat in suos miles et rapax, ignavus vero in hostes
+et fractus. Ammian. l. xxii. c. 4. He observes, that they loved downy
+beds and houses of marble; and that their cups were heavier than their
+swords.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Cod. Theod. l. vii. tit. i. leg. 1, tit. xii. leg. i. See
+Howell's Hist. of the World, vol. ii. p. 19. That learned historian, who
+is not sufficiently known, labors to justify the character and policy of
+Constantine.]
+
+The same timid policy, of dividing whatever is united, of reducing
+whatever is eminent, of dreading every active power, and of expecting
+that the most feeble will prove the most obedient, seems to pervade the
+institutions of several princes, and particularly those of Constantine.
+The martial pride of the legions, whose victorious camps had so often
+been the scene of rebellion, was nourished by the memory of their past
+exploits, and the consciousness of their actual strength. As long as
+they maintained their ancient establishment of six thousand men, they
+subsisted, under the reign of Diocletian, each of them singly, a visible
+and important object in the military history of the Roman empire. A few
+years afterwards, these gigantic bodies were shrunk to a very diminutive
+size; and when seven legions, with some auxiliaries, defended the city
+of Amida against the Persians, the total garrison, with the inhabitants
+of both sexes, and the peasants of the deserted country, did not exceed
+the number of twenty thousand persons. [131] From this fact, and from
+similar examples, there is reason to believe, that the constitution
+of the legionary troops, to which they partly owed their valor and
+discipline, was dissolved by Constantine; and that the bands of Roman
+infantry, which still assumed the same names and the same honors,
+consisted only of one thousand or fifteen hundred men. [132] The
+conspiracy of so many separate detachments, each of which was awed
+by the sense of its own weakness, could easily be checked; and the
+successors of Constantine might indulge their love of ostentation, by
+issuing their orders to one hundred and thirty-two legions, inscribed on
+the muster-roll of their numerous armies. The remainder of their troops
+was distributed into several hundred cohorts of infantry, and squadrons
+of cavalry. Their arms, and titles, and ensigns, were calculated to
+inspire terror, and to display the variety of nations who marched
+under the Imperial standard. And not a vestige was left of that severe
+simplicity, which, in the ages of freedom and victory, had distinguished
+the line of battle of a Roman army from the confused host of an Asiatic
+monarch. [133] A more particular enumeration, drawn from the Notitia,
+might exercise the diligence of an antiquary; but the historian will
+content himself with observing, that the number of permanent stations or
+garrisons established on the frontiers of the empire, amounted to five
+hundred and eighty-three; and that, under the successors of Constantine,
+the complete force of the military establishment was computed at six
+hundred and forty-five thousand soldiers. [134] An effort so prodigious
+surpassed the wants of a more ancient, and the faculties of a later,
+period.
+
+[Footnote 131: Ammian. l. xix. c. 2. He observes, (c. 5,) that the
+desperate sallies of two Gallic legions were like a handful of water
+thrown on a great conflagration.]
+
+[Footnote 132: Pancirolus ad Notitiam, p. 96. Memoires de l'Academie des
+Inscriptions, tom. xxv. p. 491.]
+
+[Footnote 133: Romana acies unius prope formae erat et hominum et
+armorum genere.--Regia acies varia magis multis gentibus dissimilitudine
+armorum auxiliorumque erat. T. Liv. l. xxxvii. c. 39, 40. Flaminius,
+even before the event, had compared the army of Antiochus to a supper in
+which the flesh of one vile animal was diversified by the skill of the
+cooks. See the Life of Flaminius in Plutarch.]
+
+[Footnote 134: Agathias, l. v. p. 157, edit. Louvre.]
+
+In the various states of society, armies are recruited from very
+different motives. Barbarians are urged by the love of war; the citizens
+of a free republic may be prompted by a principle of duty; the subjects,
+or at least the nobles, of a monarchy, are animated by a sentiment of
+honor; but the timid and luxurious inhabitants of a declining empire
+must be allured into the service by the hopes of profit, or compelled
+by the dread of punishment. The resources of the Roman treasury were
+exhausted by the increase of pay, by the repetition of donatives, and by
+the invention of new emolument and indulgences, which, in the opinion
+of the provincial youth might compensate the hardships and dangers of
+a military life. Yet, although the stature was lowered, [135] although
+slaves, least by a tacit connivance, were indiscriminately received
+into the ranks, the insurmountable difficulty of procuring a regular
+and adequate supply of volunteers, obliged the emperors to adopt more
+effectual and coercive methods. The lands bestowed on the veterans,
+as the free reward of their valor were henceforward granted under a
+condition which contain the first rudiments of the feudal tenures; that
+their sons, who succeeded to the inheritance, should devote themselves
+to the profession of arms, as soon as they attained the age of manhood;
+and their cowardly refusal was punished by the loss of honor, of
+fortune, or even of life. [136] But as the annual growth of the sons of
+the veterans bore a very small proportion to the demands of the service,
+levies of men were frequently required from the provinces, and
+every proprietor was obliged either to take up arms, or to procure a
+substitute, or to purchase his exemption by the payment of a heavy fine.
+The sum of forty-two pieces of gold, to which it was reduced ascertains
+the exorbitant price of volunteers, and the reluctance with which the
+government admitted of this alterative. [137] Such was the horror
+for the profession of a soldier, which had affected the minds of the
+degenerate Romans, that many of the youth of Italy and the provinces
+chose to cut off the fingers of their right hand, to escape from being
+pressed into the service; and this strange expedient was so commonly
+practised, as to deserve the severe animadversion of the laws, [138] and
+a peculiar name in the Latin language. [139]
+
+[Footnote 135: Valentinian (Cod. Theodos. l. vii. tit. xiii. leg. 3)
+fixes the standard at five feet seven inches, about five feet four
+inches and a half, English measure. It had formerly been five feet ten
+inches, and in the best corps, six Roman feet. Sed tunc erat amplior
+multitude se et plures sequebantur militiam armatam. Vegetius de Re
+Militari l. i. c. v.]
+
+[Footnote 136: See the two titles, De Veteranis and De Filiis
+Veteranorum, in the seventh book of the Theodosian Code. The age at
+which their military service was required, varied from twenty-five to
+sixteen. If the sons of the veterans appeared with a horse, they had
+a right to serve in the cavalry; two horses gave them some valuable
+privileges]
+
+[Footnote 137: Cod. Theod. l. vii. tit. xiii. leg. 7. According to the
+historian Socrates, (see Godefroy ad loc.,) the same emperor Valens
+sometimes required eighty pieces of gold for a recruit. In the following
+law it is faintly expressed, that slaves shall not be admitted inter
+optimas lectissimorum militum turmas.]
+
+[Footnote 138: The person and property of a Roman knight, who had
+mutilated his two sons, were sold at public auction by order of
+Augustus. (Sueton. in August. c. 27.) The moderation of that artful
+usurper proves, that this example of severity was justified by the
+spirit of the times. Ammianus makes a distinction between the effeminate
+Italians and the hardy Gauls. (L. xv. c. 12.) Yet only 15 years
+afterwards, Valentinian, in a law addressed to the praefect of Gaul,
+is obliged to enact that these cowardly deserters shall be burnt alive.
+(Cod. Theod. l. vii. tit. xiii. leg. 5.) Their numbers in Illyricum were
+so considerable, that the province complained of a scarcity of recruits.
+(Id. leg. 10.)]
+
+[Footnote 139: They were called Murci. Murcidus is found in Plautus and
+Festus, to denote a lazy and cowardly person, who, according to Arnobius
+and Augustin, was under the immediate protection of the goddess
+Murcia. From this particular instance of cowardice, murcare is used
+as synonymous to mutilare, by the writers of the middle Latinity. See
+Linder brogius and Valesius ad Ammian. Marcellin, l. xv. c. 12]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.--Part V.
+
+The introduction of Barbarians into the Roman armies became every day
+more universal, more necessary, and more fatal. The most daring of the
+Scythians, of the Goths, and of the Germans, who delighted in war, and
+who found it more profitable to defend than to ravage the provinces,
+were enrolled, not only in the auxiliaries of their respective nations,
+but in the legions themselves, and among the most distinguished of the
+Palatine troops. As they freely mingled with the subjects of the empire,
+they gradually learned to despise their manners, and to imitate their
+arts. They abjured the implicit reverence which the pride of Rome had
+exacted from their ignorance, while they acquired the knowledge
+and possession of those advantages by which alone she supported her
+declining greatness. The Barbarian soldiers, who displayed any military
+talents, were advanced, without exception, to the most important
+commands; and the names of the tribunes, of the counts and dukes, and of
+the generals themselves, betray a foreign origin, which they no longer
+condescended to disguise. They were often intrusted with the conduct of
+a war against their countrymen; and though most of them preferred the
+ties of allegiance to those of blood, they did not always avoid
+the guilt, or at least the suspicion, of holding a treasonable
+correspondence with the enemy, of inviting his invasion, or of sparing
+his retreat. The camps and the palace of the son of Constantine were
+governed by the powerful faction of the Franks, who preserved the
+strictest connection with each other, and with their country, and who
+resented every personal affront as a national indignity. [140] When
+the tyrant Caligula was suspected of an intention to invest a very
+extraordinary candidate with the consular robes, the sacrilegious
+profanation would have scarcely excited less astonishment, if, instead
+of a horse, the noblest chieftain of Germany or Britain had been the
+object of his choice. The revolution of three centuries had produced
+so remarkable a change in the prejudices of the people, that, with the
+public approbation, Constantine showed his successors the example of
+bestowing the honors of the consulship on the Barbarians, who, by their
+merit and services, had deserved to be ranked among the first of the
+Romans. [141] But as these hardy veterans, who had been educated in
+the ignorance or contempt of the laws, were incapable of exercising
+any civil offices, the powers of the human mind were contracted by the
+irreconcilable separation of talents as well as of professions. The
+accomplished citizens of the Greek and Roman republics, whose characters
+could adapt themselves to the bar, the senate, the camp, or the schools,
+had learned to write, to speak, and to act with the same spirit, and
+with equal abilities.
+
+[Footnote 140: Malarichus--adhibitis Francis quorum ea tempestate in
+palatio multitudo florebat, erectius jam loquebatur tumultuabaturque.
+Ammian. l. xv. c. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 141: Barbaros omnium primus, ad usque fasces auxerat et
+trabeas consulares. Ammian. l. xx. c. 10. Eusebius (in Vit. Constantin.
+l. iv c.7) and Aurelius Victor seem to confirm the truth of this
+assertion yet in the thirty-two consular Fasti of the reign of
+Constantine cannot discover the name of a single Barbarian. I should
+therefore interpret the liberality of that prince as relative to the
+ornaments rather than to the office, of the consulship.]
+
+IV. Besides the magistrates and generals, who at a distance from the
+court diffused their delegated authority over the provinces and armies,
+the emperor conferred the rank of Illustrious on seven of his more
+immediate servants, to whose fidelity he intrusted his safety, or his
+counsels, or his treasures. 1. The private apartments of the palace were
+governed by a favorite eunuch, who, in the language of that age, was
+styled the proepositus, or praefect of the sacred bed-chamber. His
+duty was to attend the emperor in his hours of state, or in those of
+amusement, and to perform about his person all those menial services,
+which can only derive their splendor from the influence of royalty.
+Under a prince who deserved to reign, the great chamberlain (for such we
+may call him) was a useful and humble domestic; but an artful domestic,
+who improves every occasion of unguarded confidence, will insensibly
+acquire over a feeble mind that ascendant which harsh wisdom and
+uncomplying virtue can seldom obtain. The degenerate grandsons of
+Theodosius, who were invisible to their subjects, and contemptible to
+their enemies, exalted the praefects of their bed-chamber above the
+heads of all the ministers of the palace; [142] and even his deputy, the
+first of the splendid train of slaves who waited in the presence, was
+thought worthy to rank before the respectable proconsuls of Greece
+or Asia. The jurisdiction of the chamberlain was acknowledged by the
+counts, or superintendents, who regulated the two important provinces
+of the magnificence of the wardrobe, and of the luxury of the Imperial
+table. [143] 2. The principal administration of public affairs was
+committed to the diligence and abilities of the master of the offices.
+[144] He was the supreme magistrate of the palace, inspected the
+discipline of the civil and military schools, and received appeals from
+all parts of the empire, in the causes which related to that numerous
+army of privileged persons, who, as the servants of the court, had
+obtained for themselves and families a right to decline the authority
+of the ordinary judges. The correspondence between the prince and his
+subjects was managed by the four scrinia, or offices of this minister of
+state. The first was appropriated to memorials, the second to epistles,
+the third to petitions, and the fourth to papers and orders of a
+miscellaneous kind. Each of these was directed by an inferior master of
+respectable dignity, and the whole business was despatched by a
+hundred and forty-eight secretaries, chosen for the most part from the
+profession of the law, on account of the variety of abstracts of reports
+and references which frequently occurred in the exercise of their
+several functions. From a condescension, which in former ages would have
+been esteemed unworthy the Roman majesty, a particular secretary was
+allowed for the Greek language; and interpreters were appointed to
+receive the ambassadors of the Barbarians; but the department of foreign
+affairs, which constitutes so essential a part of modern policy, seldom
+diverted the attention of the master of the offices. His mind was more
+seriously engaged by the general direction of the posts and arsenals
+of the empire. There were thirty-four cities, fifteen in the East,
+and nineteen in the West, in which regular companies of workmen were
+perpetually employed in fabricating defensive armor, offensive weapons
+of all sorts, and military engines, which were deposited in the
+arsenals, and occasionally delivered for the service of the troops. 3.
+In the course of nine centuries, the office of quaestor had experienced
+a very singular revolution. In the infancy of Rome, two inferior
+magistrates were annually elected by the people, to relieve the consuls
+from the invidious management of the public treasure; [145] a similar
+assistant was granted to every proconsul, and to every praetor, who
+exercised a military or provincial command; with the extent of conquest,
+the two quaestors were gradually multiplied to the number of four, of
+eight, of twenty, and, for a short time, perhaps, of forty; [146] and
+the noblest citizens ambitiously solicited an office which gave them
+a seat in the senate, and a just hope of obtaining the honors of the
+republic. Whilst Augustus affected to maintain the freedom of election,
+he consented to accept the annual privilege of recommending, or rather
+indeed of nominating, a certain proportion of candidates; and it was his
+custom to select one of these distinguished youths, to read his orations
+or epistles in the assemblies of the senate. [147] The practice of
+Augustus was imitated by succeeding princes; the occasional commission
+was established as a permanent office; and the favored quaestor,
+assuming a new and more illustrious character, alone survived the
+suppression of his ancient and useless colleagues. [148] As the orations
+which he composed in the name of the emperor, [149] acquired the force,
+and, at length, the form, of absolute edicts, he was considered as the
+representative of the legislative power, the oracle of the council, and
+the original source of the civil jurisprudence. He was sometimes invited
+to take his seat in the supreme judicature of the Imperial consistory,
+with the Praetorian praefects, and the master of the offices; and he was
+frequently requested to resolve the doubts of inferior judges: but as
+he was not oppressed with a variety of subordinate business, his
+leisure and talents were employed to cultivate that dignified style
+of eloquence, which, in the corruption of taste and language, still
+preserves the majesty of the Roman laws. [150] In some respects, the
+office of the Imperial quaestor may be compared with that of a modern
+chancellor; but the use of a great seal, which seems to have been
+adopted by the illiterate barbarians, was never introduced to attest the
+public acts of the emperors. 4. The extraordinary title of count of the
+sacred largesses was bestowed on the treasurer-general of the revenue,
+with the intention perhaps of inculcating, that every payment flowed
+from the voluntary bounty of the monarch. To conceive the almost
+infinite detail of the annual and daily expense of the civil and
+military administration in every part of a great empire, would exceed
+the powers of the most vigorous imagination.
+
+The actual account employed several hundred persons, distributed into
+eleven different offices, which were artfully contrived to examine and
+control their respective operations. The multitude of these agents had
+a natural tendency to increase; and it was more than once thought
+expedient to dismiss to their native homes the useless supernumeraries,
+who, deserting their honest labors, had pressed with too much eagerness
+into the lucrative profession of the finances. [151] Twenty-nine
+provincial receivers, of whom eighteen were honored with the title of
+count, corresponded with the treasurer; and he extended his jurisdiction
+over the mines from whence the precious metals were extracted, over the
+mints, in which they were converted into the current coin, and over
+the public treasuries of the most important cities, where they were
+deposited for the service of the state. The foreign trade of the empire
+was regulated by this minister, who directed likewise all the linen and
+woollen manufactures, in which the successive operations of spinning,
+weaving, and dyeing were executed, chiefly by women of a servile
+condition, for the use of the palace and army. Twenty-six of these
+institutions are enumerated in the West, where the arts had been more
+recently introduced, and a still larger proportion may be allowed for
+the industrious provinces of the East. [152] 5. Besides the public
+revenue, which an absolute monarch might levy and expend according
+to his pleasure, the emperors, in the capacity of opulent citizens,
+possessed a very extensive property, which was administered by the
+count or treasurer of the private estate. Some part had perhaps been
+the ancient demesnes of kings and republics; some accessions might be
+derived from the families which were successively invested with the
+purple; but the most considerable portion flowed from the impure source
+of confiscations and forfeitures. The Imperial estates were scattered
+through the provinces, from Mauritania to Britain; but the rich and
+fertile soil of Cappadocia tempted the monarch to acquire in that
+country his fairest possessions, [153] and either Constantine or his
+successors embraced the occasion of justifying avarice by religious
+zeal. They suppressed the rich temple of Comana, where the high priest
+of the goddess of war supported the dignity of a sovereign prince; and
+they applied to their private use the consecrated lands, which were
+inhabited by six thousand subjects or slaves of the deity and her
+ministers. [154] But these were not the valuable inhabitants: the plains
+that stretch from the foot of Mount Argaeus to the banks of the Sarus,
+bred a generous race of horses, renowned above all others in the ancient
+world for their majestic shape and incomparable swiftness. These sacred
+animals, destined for the service of the palace and the Imperial games,
+were protected by the laws from the profanation of a vulgar master.
+[155] The demesnes of Cappadocia were important enough to require the
+inspection of a count; [156] officers of an inferior rank were stationed
+in the other parts of the empire; and the deputies of the private, as
+well as those of the public, treasurer were maintained in the exercise
+of their independent functions, and encouraged to control the authority
+of the provincial magistrates. [157] 6, 7. The chosen bands of cavalry
+and infantry, which guarded the person of the emperor, were under the
+immediate command of the two counts of the domestics. The whole number
+consisted of three thousand five hundred men, divided into seven
+schools, or troops, of five hundred each; and in the East, this
+honorable service was almost entirely appropriated to the Armenians.
+Whenever, on public ceremonies, they were drawn up in the courts and
+porticos of the palace, their lofty stature, silent order, and splendid
+arms of silver and gold, displayed a martial pomp not unworthy of the
+Roman majesty. [158] From the seven schools two companies of horse and
+foot were selected, of the protectors, whose advantageous station was
+the hope and reward of the most deserving soldiers. They mounted guard
+in the interior apartments, and were occasionally despatched into
+the provinces, to execute with celerity and vigor the orders of their
+master. [159] The counts of the domestics had succeeded to the office
+of the Praetorian praefects; like the praefects, they aspired from the
+service of the palace to the command of armies.
+
+[Footnote 142: Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 143: By a very singular metaphor, borrowed from the military
+character of the first emperors, the steward of their household was
+styled the count of their camp, (comes castrensis.) Cassiodorus very
+seriously represents to him, that his own fame, and that of the empire,
+must depend on the opinion which foreign ambassadors may conceive of
+the plenty and magnificence of the royal table. (Variar. l. vi. epistol.
+9.)]
+
+[Footnote 144: Gutherius (de Officiis Domus Augustae, l. ii. c. 20, l.
+iii.) has very accurately explained the functions of the master of the
+offices, and the constitution of the subordinate scrinia. But he vainly
+attempts, on the most doubtful authority, to deduce from the time of
+the Antonines, or even of Nero, the origin of a magistrate who cannot be
+found in history before the reign of Constantine.]
+
+[Footnote 145: Tacitus (Annal. xi. 22) says, that the first quaestors
+were elected by the people, sixty-four years after the foundation of the
+republic; but he is of opinion, that they had, long before that period,
+been annually appointed by the consuls, and even by the kings. But this
+obscure point of antiquity is contested by other writers.]
+
+[Footnote 146: Tacitus (Annal. xi. 22) seems to consider twenty as the
+highest number of quaestors; and Dion (l. xliii. p 374) insinuates, that
+if the dictator Caesar once created forty, it was only to facilitate the
+payment of an immense debt of gratitude. Yet the augmentation which he
+made of praetors subsisted under the succeeding reigns.]
+
+[Footnote 147: Sueton. in August. c. 65, and Torrent. ad loc. Dion. Cas.
+p. 755.]
+
+[Footnote 148: The youth and inexperience of the quaestors, who entered
+on that important office in their twenty-fifth year, (Lips. Excurs. ad
+Tacit. l. iii. D.,) engaged Augustus to remove them from the management
+of the treasury; and though they were restored by Claudius, they seem to
+have been finally dismissed by Nero. (Tacit Annal. xiii. 29. Sueton. in
+Aug. c. 36, in Claud. c. 24. Dion, p. 696, 961, &c. Plin. Epistol. x.
+20, et alibi.) In the provinces of the Imperial division, the place of
+the quaestors was more ably supplied by the procurators, (Dion Cas. p.
+707. Tacit. in Vit. Agricol. c. 15;) or, as they were afterwards called,
+rationales. (Hist. August. p. 130.) But in the provinces of the senate
+we may still discover a series of quaestors till the reign of Marcus
+Antoninus. (See the Inscriptions of Gruter, the Epistles of Pliny, and a
+decisive fact in the Augustan History, p. 64.) From Ulpian we may learn,
+(Pandect. l. i. tit. 13,) that under the government of the house of
+Severus, their provincial administration was abolished; and in the
+subsequent troubles, the annual or triennial elections of quaestors must
+have naturally ceased.]
+
+[Footnote 149: Cum patris nomine et epistolas ipse dictaret, et edicta
+conscrib eret, orationesque in senatu recitaret, etiam quaestoris vice.
+Sueton, in Tit. c. 6. The office must have acquired new dignity, which
+was occasionally executed by the heir apparent of the empire. Trajan
+intrusted the same care to Hadrian, his quaestor and cousin. See
+Dodwell, Praelection. Cambden, x. xi. p. 362-394.]
+
+[Footnote 150: Terris edicta daturus; Supplicibus responsa.--Oracula
+regis Eloquio crevere tuo; nec dignius unquam Majestas meminit sese
+Romana locutam.----Claudian in Consulat. Mall. Theodor. 33. See likewise
+Symmachus (Epistol. i. 17) and Cassiodorus. (Variar. iv. 5.)]
+
+[Footnote 151: Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. 30. Cod. Justinian. l. xii. tit.
+24.]
+
+[Footnote 152: In the departments of the two counts of the treasury,
+the eastern part of the Notitia happens to be very defective. It may
+be observed, that we had a treasury chest in London, and a gyneceum or
+manufacture at Winchester. But Britain was not thought worthy either of
+a mint or of an arsenal. Gaul alone possessed three of the former, and
+eight of the latter.]
+
+[Footnote 153: Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. xxx. leg. 2, and Godefroy ad
+loc.]
+
+[Footnote 154: Strabon. Geograph. l. xxii. p. 809, [edit. Casaub.] The
+other temple of Comana, in Pontus, was a colony from that of Cappadocia,
+l. xii. p. 835. The President Des Brosses (see his Saluste, tom. ii. p.
+21, [edit. Causub.]) conjectures that the deity adored in both Comanas
+was Beltis, the Venus of the east, the goddess of generation; a very
+different being indeed from the goddess of war.]
+
+[Footnote 155: Cod. Theod. l. x. tit. vi. de Grege Dominico. Godefroy
+has collected every circumstance of antiquity relative to the
+Cappadocian horses. One of the finest breeds, the Palmatian, was the
+forfeiture of a rebel, whose estate lay about sixteen miles from Tyana,
+near the great road between Constantinople and Antioch.]
+
+[Footnote 156: Justinian (Novell. 30) subjected the province of the
+count of Cappadocia to the immediate authority of the favorite eunuch,
+who presided over the sacred bed-chamber.]
+
+[Footnote 157: Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. xxx. leg. 4, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 158: Pancirolus, p. 102, 136. The appearance of these military
+domestics is described in the Latin poem of Corippus, de Laudibus
+Justin. l. iii. 157-179. p. 419, 420 of the Appendix Hist. Byzantin.
+Rom. 177.]
+
+[Footnote 159: Ammianus Marcellinus, who served so many years, obtained
+only the rank of a protector. The first ten among these honorable
+soldiers were Clarissimi.]
+
+The perpetual intercourse between the court and the provinces was
+facilitated by the construction of roads and the institution of posts.
+But these beneficial establishments were accidentally connected with
+a pernicious and intolerable abuse. Two or three hundred agents or
+messengers were employed, under the jurisdiction of the master of the
+offices, to announce the names of the annual consuls, and the edicts
+or victories of the emperors. They insensibly assumed the license
+of reporting whatever they could observe of the conduct either of
+magistrates or of private citizens; and were soon considered as the
+eyes of the monarch, [160] and the scourge of the people. Under the warm
+influence of a feeble reign, they multiplied to the incredible number
+of ten thousand, disdained the mild though frequent admonitions of
+the laws, and exercised in the profitable management of the posts a
+rapacious and insolent oppression. These official spies, who regularly
+corresponded with the palace, were encouraged by favor and reward,
+anxiously to watch the progress of every treasonable design, from the
+faint and latent symptoms of disaffection, to the actual preparation
+of an open revolt. Their careless or criminal violation of truth and
+justice was covered by the consecrated mask of zeal; and they might
+securely aim their poisoned arrows at the breast either of the guilty or
+the innocent, who had provoked their resentment, or refused to purchase
+their silence. A faithful subject, of Syria perhaps, or of Britain, was
+exposed to the danger, or at least to the dread, of being dragged in
+chains to the court of Milan or Constantinople, to defend his life and
+fortune against the malicious charge of these privileged informers. The
+ordinary administration was conducted by those methods which extreme
+necessity can alone palliate; and the defects of evidence were
+diligently supplied by the use of torture. [161]
+
+[Footnote 160: Xenophon, Cyropaed. l. viii. Brisson, de Regno Persico,
+l. i No 190, p. 264. The emperors adopted with pleasure this Persian
+metaphor.]
+
+[Footnote 161: For the Agentes in Rebus, see Ammian. l. xv. c. 3, l.
+xvi. c. 5, l. xxii. c. 7, with the curious annotations of Valesius. Cod.
+Theod. l. vi. tit. xxvii. xxviii. xxix. Among the passages collected in
+the Commentary of Godefroy, the most remarkable is one from Libanius, in
+his discourse concerning the death of Julian.]
+
+The deceitful and dangerous experiment of the criminal quaestion, as
+it is emphatically styled, was admitted, rather than approved, in
+the jurisprudence of the Romans. They applied this sanguinary mode of
+examination only to servile bodies, whose sufferings were seldom weighed
+by those haughty republicans in the scale of justice or humanity; but
+they would never consent to violate the sacred person of a citizen, till
+they possessed the clearest evidence of his guilt. [162] The annals
+of tyranny, from the reign of Tiberius to that of Domitian,
+circumstantially relate the executions of many innocent victims; but, as
+long as the faintest remembrance was kept alive of the national freedom
+and honor, the last hours of a Roman were secured from the danger of
+ignominions torture. [163] The conduct of the provincial magistrates
+was not, however, regulated by the practice of the city, or the strict
+maxims of the civilians. They found the use of torture established not
+only among the slaves of oriental despotism, but among the Macedonians,
+who obeyed a limited monarch; among the Rhodians, who flourished by the
+liberty of commerce; and even among the sage Athenians, who had asserted
+and adorned the dignity of human kind. [164] The acquiescence of the
+provincials encouraged their governors to acquire, or perhaps to usurp,
+a discretionary power of employing the rack, to extort from vagrants or
+plebeian criminals the confession of their guilt, till they insensibly
+proceeded to confound the distinction of rank, and to disregard the
+privileges of Roman citizens. The apprehensions of the subjects urged
+them to solicit, and the interest of the sovereign engaged him to
+grant, a variety of special exemptions, which tacitly allowed, and even
+authorized, the general use of torture. They protected all persons of
+illustrious or honorable rank, bishops and their presbyters, professors
+of the liberal arts, soldiers and their families, municipal officers,
+and their posterity to the third generation, and all children under
+the age of puberty. [165] But a fatal maxim was introduced into the new
+jurisprudence of the empire, that in the case of treason, which included
+every offence that the subtlety of lawyers could derive from a hostile
+intention towards the prince or republic, [166] all privileges were
+suspended, and all conditions were reduced to the same ignominious
+level. As the safety of the emperor was avowedly preferred to every
+consideration of justice or humanity, the dignity of age and the
+tenderness of youth were alike exposed to the most cruel tortures; and
+the terrors of a malicious information, which might select them as the
+accomplices, or even as the witnesses, perhaps, of an imaginary crime,
+perpetually hung over the heads of the principal citizens of the Roman
+world. [167]
+
+[Footnote 162: The Pandects (l. xlviii. tit. xviii.) contain the
+sentiments of the most celebrated civilians on the subject of torture.
+They strictly confine it to slaves; and Ulpian himself is ready to
+acknowledge that Res est fragilis, et periculosa, et quae veritatem
+fallat.]
+
+[Footnote 163: In the conspiracy of Piso against Nero, Epicharis
+(libertina mulier) was the only person tortured; the rest were intacti
+tormentis. It would be superfluous to add a weaker, and it would be
+difficult to find a stronger, example. Tacit. Annal. xv. 57.]
+
+[Footnote 164: Dicendum... de Institutis Atheniensium, Rhodiorum,
+doctissimorum hominum, apud quos etiam (id quod acerbissimum est)
+liberi, civesque torquentur. Cicero, Partit. Orat. c. 34. We may learn
+from the trial of Philotas the practice of the Macedonians. (Diodor.
+Sicul. l. xvii. p. 604. Q. Curt. l. vi. c. 11.)]
+
+[Footnote 165: Heineccius (Element. Jur. Civil. part vii. p. 81) has
+collected these exemptions into one view.]
+
+[Footnote 166: This definition of the sage Ulpian (Pandect. l. xlviii.
+tit. iv.) seems to have been adapted to the court of Caracalla, rather
+than to that of Alexander Severus. See the Codes of Theodosius and ad
+leg. Juliam majestatis.]
+
+[Footnote 167: Arcadius Charisius is the oldest lawyer quoted to justify
+the universal practice of torture in all cases of treason; but this
+maxim of tyranny, which is admitted by Ammianus with the most respectful
+terror, is enforced by several laws of the successors of Constantine.
+See Cod. Theod. l. ix. tit. xxxv. majestatis crimine omnibus aequa est
+conditio.]
+
+These evils, however terrible they may appear, were confined to the
+smaller number of Roman subjects, whose dangerous situation was in
+some degree compensated by the enjoyment of those advantages, either of
+nature or of fortune, which exposed them to the jealousy of the monarch.
+The obscure millions of a great empire have much less to dread from
+the cruelty than from the avarice of their masters, and their humble
+happiness is principally affected by the grievance of excessive taxes,
+which, gently pressing on the wealthy, descend with accelerated weight
+on the meaner and more indigent classes of society. An ingenious
+philosopher [168] has calculated the universal measure of the public
+impositions by the degrees of freedom and servitude; and ventures to
+assert, that, according to an invariable law of nature, it must always
+increase with the former, and diminish in a just proportion to the
+latter. But this reflection, which would tend to alleviate the miseries
+of despotism, is contradicted at least by the history of the Roman
+empire; which accuses the same princes of despoiling the senate of its
+authority, and the provinces of their wealth. Without abolishing all
+the various customs and duties on merchandises, which are imperceptibly
+discharged by the apparent choice of the purchaser, the policy of
+Constantine and his successors preferred a simple and direct mode of
+taxation, more congenial to the spirit of an arbitrary government. [169]
+
+[Footnote 168: Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l. xii. c. 13.]
+
+[Footnote 169: Mr. Hume (Essays, vol. i. p. 389) has seen this
+importance with some degree of perplexity.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.--Part VI.
+
+The name and use of the indictions, [170] which serve to ascertain the
+chronology of the middle ages, were derived from the regular practice of
+the Roman tributes. [171] The emperor subscribed with his own hand, and
+in purple ink, the solemn edict, or indiction, which was fixed up in the
+principal city of each diocese, during two months previous to the first
+day of September. And by a very easy connection of ideas, the word
+indiction was transferred to the measure of tribute which it prescribed,
+and to the annual term which it allowed for the payment. This general
+estimate of the supplies was proportioned to the real and imaginary
+wants of the state; but as often as the expense exceeded the revenue, or
+the revenue fell short of the computation, an additional tax, under the
+name of superindiction, was imposed on the people, and the most valuable
+attribute of sovereignty was communicated to the Praetorian praefects,
+who, on some occasions, were permitted to provide for the unforeseen and
+extraordinary exigencies of the public service. The execution of these
+laws (which it would be tedious to pursue in their minute and intricate
+detail) consisted of two distinct operations: the resolving the general
+imposition into its constituent parts, which were assessed on the
+provinces, the cities, and the individuals of the Roman world; and the
+collecting the separate contributions of the individuals, the cities,
+and the provinces, till the accumulated sums were poured into the
+Imperial treasuries. But as the account between the monarch and
+the subject was perpetually open, and as the renewal of the demand
+anticipated the perfect discharge of the preceding obligation, the
+weighty machine of the finances was moved by the same hands round the
+circle of its yearly revolution. Whatever was honorable or important in
+the administration of the revenue, was committed to the wisdom of the
+praefects, and their provincia. representatives; the lucrative functions
+were claimed by a crowd of subordinate officers, some of whom depended
+on the treasurer, others on the governor of the province; and who,
+in the inevitable conflicts of a perplexed jurisdiction, had frequent
+opportunities of disputing with each other the spoils of the people. The
+laborious offices, which could be productive only of envy and reproach,
+of expense and danger, were imposed on the Decurions, who formed the
+corporations of the cities, and whom the severity of the Imperial laws
+had condemned to sustain the burdens of civil society. [172] The whole
+landed property of the empire (without excepting the patrimonial estates
+of the monarch) was the object of ordinary taxation; and every new
+purchaser contracted the obligations of the former proprietor. An
+accurate census, [173] or survey, was the only equitable mode of
+ascertaining the proportion which every citizen should be obliged to
+contribute for the public service; and from the well-known period of the
+indictions, there is reason to believe that this difficult and expensive
+operation was repeated at the regular distance of fifteen years. The
+lands were measured by surveyors, who were sent into the provinces;
+their nature, whether arable or pasture, or vineyards or woods, was
+distinctly reported; and an estimate was made of their common value from
+the average produce of five years. The numbers of slaves and of cattle
+constituted an essential part of the report; an oath was administered
+to the proprietors, which bound them to disclose the true state of their
+affairs; and their attempts to prevaricate, or elude the intention of
+the legislator, were severely watched, and punished as a capital crime,
+which included the double guilt of treason and sacrilege. [174] A large
+portion of the tribute was paid in money; and of the current coin of the
+empire, gold alone could be legally accepted. [175] The remainder of the
+taxes, according to the proportions determined by the annual indiction,
+was furnished in a manner still more direct, and still more oppressive.
+According to the different nature of lands, their real produce in the
+various articles of wine or oil, corn or barley, wood or iron, was
+transported by the labor or at the expense of the provincials [175a] to
+the Imperial magazines, from whence they were occasionally distributed
+for the use of the court, of the army, and of two capitals, Rome and
+Constantinople. The commissioners of the revenue were so frequently
+obliged to make considerable purchases, that they were strictly
+prohibited from allowing any compensation, or from receiving in money
+the value of those supplies which were exacted in kind. In the primitive
+simplicity of small communities, this method may be well adapted to
+collect the almost voluntary offerings of the people; but it is at once
+susceptible of the utmost latitude, and of the utmost strictness, which
+in a corrupt and absolute monarchy must introduce a perpetual contest
+between the power of oppression and the arts of fraud. [176] The
+agriculture of the Roman provinces was insensibly ruined, and, in the
+progress of despotism which tends to disappoint its own purpose, the
+emperors were obliged to derive some merit from the forgiveness of
+debts, or the remission of tributes, which their subjects were utterly
+incapable of paying. According to the new division of Italy, the fertile
+and happy province of Campania, the scene of the early victories and of
+the delicious retirements of the citizens of Rome, extended between the
+sea and the Apennine, from the Tiber to the Silarus. Within sixty years
+after the death of Constantine, and on the evidence of an actual survey,
+an exemption was granted in favor of three hundred and thirty thousand
+English acres of desert and uncultivated land; which amounted to one
+eighth of the whole surface of the province. As the footsteps of the
+Barbarians had not yet been seen in Italy, the cause of this amazing
+desolation, which is recorded in the laws, can be ascribed only to the
+administration of the Roman emperors. [177]
+
+[Footnote 170: The cycle of indictions, which may be traced as high
+as the reign of Constantius, or perhaps of his father, Constantine, is
+still employed by the Papal court; but the commencement of the year
+has been very reasonably altered to the first of January. See l'Art de
+Verifier les Dates, p. xi.; and Dictionnaire Raison. de la Diplomatique,
+tom. ii. p. 25; two accurate treatises, which come from the workshop of
+the Benedictines. ---- It does not appear that the establishment of the
+indiction is to be at tributed to Constantine: it existed before he had
+been created Augustus at Rome, and the remission granted by him to
+the city of Autun is the proof. He would not have ventured while only
+Caesar, and under the necessity of courting popular favor, to establish
+such an odious impost. Aurelius Victor and Lactantius agree in
+designating Diocletian as the author of this despotic institution. Aur.
+Vict. de Caes. c. 39. Lactant. de Mort. Pers. c. 7--G.]
+
+[Footnote 171: The first twenty-eight titles of the eleventh book of the
+Theodosian Code are filled with the circumstantial regulations on the
+important subject of tributes; but they suppose a clearer knowledge of
+fundamental principles than it is at present in our power to attain.]
+
+[Footnote 172: The title concerning the Decurions (l. xii. tit. i.) is
+the most ample in the whole Theodosian Code; since it contains not less
+than one hundred and ninety-two distinct laws to ascertain the duties
+and privileges of that useful order of citizens. * Note: The Decurions
+were charged with assessing, according to the census of property
+prepared by the tabularii, the payment due from each proprietor. This
+odious office was authoritatively imposed on the richest citizens of
+each town; they had no salary, and all their compensation was, to be
+exempt from certain corporal punishments, in case they should have
+incurred them. The Decurionate was the ruin of all the rich. Hence
+they tried every way of avoiding this dangerous honor; they concealed
+themselves, they entered into military service; but their efforts were
+unavailing; they were seized, they were compelled to become Decurions,
+and the dread inspired by this title was termed Impiety.--G. ----The
+Decurions were mutually responsible; they were obliged to undertake for
+pieces of ground abandoned by their owners on account of the pressure of
+the taxes, and, finally, to make up all deficiencies. Savigny chichte
+des Rom. Rechts, i. 25.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 173: Habemus enim et hominum numerum qui delati sunt, et agrun
+modum. Eumenius in Panegyr. Vet. viii. 6. See Cod. Theod. l. xiii. tit.
+x. xi., with Godefroy's Commentary.]
+
+[Footnote 174: Siquis sacrilega vitem falce succiderit, aut feracium
+ramorum foetus hebetaverit, quo delinet fidem Censuum, et mentiatur
+callide paupertatis ingenium, mox detectus capitale subibit exitium, et
+bona ejus in Fisci jura migrabunt. Cod. Theod. l. xiii. tit. xi. leg. 1.
+Although this law is not without its studied obscurity, it is, however
+clear enough to prove the minuteness of the inquisition, and the
+disproportion of the penalty.]
+
+[Footnote 175: The astonishment of Pliny would have ceased. Equidem
+miror P. R. victis gentibus argentum semper imperitasse non aurum. Hist
+Natur. xxxiii. 15.]
+
+[Footnote 175a: The proprietors were not charged with the expense of
+this transport in the provinces situated on the sea-shore or near
+the great rivers, there were companies of boatmen, and of masters of
+vessels, who had this commission, and furnished the means of transport
+at their own expense. In return, they were themselves exempt,
+altogether, or in part, from the indiction and other imposts. They had
+certain privileges; particular regulations determined their rights and
+obligations. (Cod. Theod. l. xiii. tit. v. ix.) The transports by
+land were made in the same manner, by the intervention of a privileged
+company called Bastaga; the members were called Bastagarii Cod. Theod.
+l. viii. tit. v.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 176: Some precautions were taken (see Cod. Theod. l. xi. tit.
+ii. and Cod. Justinian. l. x. tit. xxvii. leg. 1, 2, 3) to restrain the
+magistrates from the abuse of their authority, either in the exaction or
+in the purchase of corn: but those who had learning enough to read the
+orations of Cicero against Verres, (iii. de Frumento,) might instruct
+themselves in all the various arts of oppression, with regard to the
+weight, the price, the quality, and the carriage. The avarice of an
+unlettered governor would supply the ignorance of precept or precedent.]
+
+[Footnote 177: Cod. Theod. l. xi. tit. xxviii. leg. 2, published the
+24th of March, A. D. 395, by the emperor Honorius, only two months after
+the death of his father, Theodosius. He speaks of 528,042 Roman jugera,
+which I have reduced to the English measure. The jugerum contained
+28,800 square Roman feet.]
+
+Either from design or from accident, the mode of assessment seemed to
+unite the substance of a land tax with the forms of a capitation. [178]
+The returns which were sent of every province or district, expressed the
+number of tributary subjects, and the amount of the public impositions.
+The latter of these sums was divided by the former; and the estimate,
+that such a province contained so many capita, or heads of tribute; and
+that each head was rated at such a price, was universally received, not
+only in the popular, but even in the legal computation. The value of
+a tributary head must have varied, according to many accidental, or at
+least fluctuating circumstances; but some knowledge has been preserved
+of a very curious fact, the more important, since it relates to one of
+the richest provinces of the Roman empire, and which now flourishes as
+the most splendid of the European kingdoms. The rapacious ministers of
+Constantius had exhausted the wealth of Gaul, by exacting twenty-five
+pieces of gold for the annual tribute of every head. The humane policy
+of his successor reduced the capitation to seven pieces. [179] A
+moderate proportion between these opposite extremes of extraordinary
+oppression and of transient indulgence, may therefore be fixed at
+sixteen pieces of gold, or about nine pounds sterling, the common
+standard, perhaps, of the impositions of Gaul. [180] But this
+calculation, or rather, indeed, the facts from whence it is deduced,
+cannot fail of suggesting two difficulties to a thinking mind, who
+will be at once surprised by the equality, and by the enormity, of the
+capitation. An attempt to explain them may perhaps reflect some light on
+the interesting subject of the finances of the declining empire.
+
+[Footnote 178: Godefroy (Cod. Theod. tom. vi. p. 116) argues with weight
+and learning on the subject of the capitation; but while he explains the
+caput, as a share or measure of property, he too absolutely excludes the
+idea of a personal assessment.]
+
+[Footnote 179: Quid profuerit (Julianus) anhelantibus extrema penuria
+Gallis, hinc maxime claret, quod primitus partes eas ingressus, pro
+capitibusingulis tributi nomine vicenos quinos aureos reperit flagitari;
+discedens vero septenos tantum numera universa complentes. Ammian. l.
+xvi. c. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 180: In the calculation of any sum of money under Constantine
+and his successors, we need only refer to the excellent discourse of Mr.
+Greaves on the Denarius, for the proof of the following principles; 1.
+That the ancient and modern Roman pound, containing 5256 grains of Troy
+weight, is about one twelfth lighter than the English pound, which is
+composed of 5760 of the same grains. 2. That the pound of gold, which
+had once been divided into forty-eight aurei, was at this time coined
+into seventy-two smaller pieces of the same denomination. 3. That five
+of these aurei were the legal tender for a pound of silver, and that
+consequently the pound of gold was exchanged for fourteen pounds eight
+ounces of silver, according to the Roman, or about thirteen pounds
+according to the English weight. 4. That the English pound of silver is
+coined into sixty-two shillings. From these elements we may compute the
+Roman pound of gold, the usual method of reckoning large sums, at forty
+pounds sterling, and we may fix the currency of the aureus at somewhat
+more than eleven shillings. * Note: See, likewise, a Dissertation of
+M. Letronne, "Considerations Generales sur l'Evaluation des Monnaies
+Grecques et Romaines" Paris, 1817--M.]
+
+I. It is obvious, that, as long as the immutable constitution of human
+nature produces and maintains so unequal a division of property,
+the most numerous part of the community would be deprived of their
+subsistence, by the equal assessment of a tax from which the sovereign
+would derive a very trifling revenue. Such indeed might be the theory of
+the Roman capitation; but in the practice, this unjust equality was no
+longer felt, as the tribute was collected on the principle of a
+real, not of a personal imposition. [180a] Several indigent citizens
+contributed to compose a single head, or share of taxation; while the
+wealthy provincial, in proportion to his fortune, alone represented
+several of those imaginary beings. In a poetical request, addressed to
+one of the last and most deserving of the Roman princes who reigned in
+Gaul, Sidonius Apollinaris personifies his tribute under the figure of
+a triple monster, the Geryon of the Grecian fables, and entreats the new
+Hercules that he would most graciously be pleased to save his life
+by cutting off three of his heads. [181] The fortune of Sidonius far
+exceeded the customary wealth of a poet; but if he had pursued the
+allusion, he might have painted many of the Gallic nobles with the
+hundred heads of the deadly Hydra, spreading over the face of the
+country, and devouring the substance of a hundred families. II. The
+difficulty of allowing an annual sum of about nine pounds sterling, even
+for the average of the capitation of Gaul, may be rendered more evident
+by the comparison of the present state of the same country, as it is
+now governed by the absolute monarch of an industrious, wealthy, and
+affectionate people. The taxes of France cannot be magnified, either
+by fear or by flattery, beyond the annual amount of eighteen millions
+sterling, which ought perhaps to be shared among four and twenty
+millions of inhabitants. [182] Seven millions of these, in the capacity
+of fathers, or brothers, or husbands, may discharge the obligations of
+the remaining multitude of women and children; yet the equal proportion
+of each tributary subject will scarcely rise above fifty shillings of
+our money, instead of a proportion almost four times as considerable,
+which was regularly imposed on their Gallic ancestors. The reason of
+this difference may be found, not so much in the relative scarcity or
+plenty of gold and silver, as in the different state of society, in
+ancient Gaul and in modern France. In a country where personal freedom
+is the privilege of every subject, the whole mass of taxes, whether they
+are levied on property or on consumption, may be fairly divided among
+the whole body of the nation. But the far greater part of the lands of
+ancient Gaul, as well as of the other provinces of the Roman world, were
+cultivated by slaves, or by peasants, whose dependent condition was a
+less rigid servitude. [183] In such a state the poor were maintained at
+the expense of the masters who enjoyed the fruits of their labor; and as
+the rolls of tribute were filled only with the names of those citizens
+who possessed the means of an honorable, or at least of a decent
+subsistence, the comparative smallness of their numbers explains and
+justifies the high rate of their capitation. The truth of this assertion
+may be illustrated by the following example: The Aedui, one of the most
+powerful and civilized tribes or cities of Gaul, occupied an extent of
+territory, which now contains about five hundred thousand inhabitants,
+in the two ecclesiastical dioceses of Autun and Nevers; [184] and
+with the probable accession of those of Chalons and Macon, [185] the
+population would amount to eight hundred thousand souls. In the time
+of Constantine, the territory of the Aedui afforded no more than
+twenty-five thousand heads of capitation, of whom seven thousand were
+discharged by that prince from the intolerable weight of tribute. [186]
+A just analogy would seem to countenance the opinion of an ingenious
+historian, [187] that the free and tributary citizens did not surpass
+the number of half a million; and if, in the ordinary administration of
+government, their annual payments may be computed at about four millions
+and a half of our money, it would appear, that although the share of
+each individual was four times as considerable, a fourth part only of
+the modern taxes of France was levied on the Imperial province of
+Gaul. The exactions of Constantius may be calculated at seven millions
+sterling, which were reduced to two millions by the humanity or the
+wisdom of Julian.
+
+[Footnote 180a: Two masterly dissertations of M. Savigny, in the Mem. of
+the Berlin Academy (1822 and 1823) have thrown new light on the taxation
+system of the Empire. Gibbon, according to M. Savigny, is mistaken in
+supposing that there was but one kind of capitation tax; there was a
+land tax, and a capitation tax, strictly so called. The land tax was,
+in its operation, a proprietor's or landlord's tax. But, besides this,
+there was a direct capitation tax on all who were not possessed of
+landed property. This tax dates from the time of the Roman conquests;
+its amount is not clearly known. Gradual exemptions released different
+persons and classes from this tax. One edict exempts painters. In Syria,
+all under twelve or fourteen, or above sixty-five, were exempted; at a
+later period, all under twenty, and all unmarried females; still
+later, all under twenty-five, widows and nuns, soldiers, veterani and
+clerici--whole dioceses, that of Thrace and Illyricum. Under Galerius
+and Licinius, the plebs urbana became exempt; though this, perhaps, was
+only an ordinance for the East. By degrees, however, the exemption
+was extended to all the inhabitants of towns; and as it was strictly
+capitatio plebeia, from which all possessors were exempted it fell at
+length altogether on the coloni and agricultural slaves. These were
+registered in the same cataster (capitastrum) with the land tax. It
+was paid by the proprietor, who raised it again from his coloni and
+laborers.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 181: Geryones nos esse puta, monstrumque tributum,
+
+    Hic capita ut vivam, tu mihi tolle tria.
+    Sidon. Apollinar. Carm. xiii.
+
+The reputation of Father Sirmond led me to expect more satisfaction than
+I have found in his note (p. 144) on this remarkable passage. The words,
+suo vel suorum nomine, betray the perplexity of the commentator.]
+
+[Footnote 182: This assertion, however formidable it may seem, is
+founded on the original registers of births, deaths, and marriages,
+collected by public authority, and now deposited in the Controlee
+General at Paris. The annual average of births throughout the whole
+kingdom, taken in five years, (from 1770 to 1774, both inclusive,) is
+479,649 boys, and 449,269 girls, in all 928,918 children. The province
+of French Hainault alone furnishes 9906 births; and we are assured, by
+an actual enumeration of the people, annually repeated from the year
+1773 to the year 1776, that upon an average, Hainault contains 257,097
+inhabitants. By the rules of fair analogy, we might infer, that the
+ordinary proportion of annual births to the whole people, is about 1 to
+26; and that the kingdom of France contains 24,151,868 persons of both
+sexes and of every age. If we content ourselves with the more moderate
+proportion of 1 to 25, the whole population will amount to 23,222,950.
+From the diligent researches of the French Government, (which are not
+unworthy of our own imitation,) we may hope to obtain a still greater
+degree of certainty on this important subject * Note: On no subject has
+so much valuable information been collected since the time of Gibbon,
+as the statistics of the different countries of Europe but much is still
+wanting as to our own--M.]
+
+[Footnote 183: Cod. Theod. l. v. tit. ix. x. xi. Cod. Justinian. l. xi.
+tit. lxiii. Coloni appellantur qui conditionem debent genitali solo,
+propter agriculturum sub dominio possessorum. Augustin. de Civitate Dei,
+l. x. c. i.]
+
+[Footnote 184: The ancient jurisdiction of (Augustodunum) Autun in
+Burgundy, the capital of the Aedui, comprehended the adjacent territory
+of (Noviodunum) Nevers. See D'Anville, Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p.
+491. The two dioceses of Autun and Nevers are now composed, the former
+of 610, and the latter of 160 parishes. The registers of births, taken
+during eleven years, in 476 parishes of the same province of Burgundy,
+and multiplied by the moderate proportion of 25, (see Messance
+Recherches sur la Population, p. 142,) may authorizes us to assign
+an average number of 656 persons for each parish, which being again
+multiplied by the 770 parishes of the dioceses of Nevers and Autun, will
+produce the sum of 505,120 persons for the extent of country which was
+once possessed by the Aedui.]
+
+[Footnote 185: We might derive an additional supply of 301,750
+inhabitants from the dioceses of Chalons (Cabillonum) and of Macon,
+(Matisco,) since they contain, the one 200, and the other 260 parishes.
+This accession of territory might be justified by very specious reasons.
+1. Chalons and Macon were undoubtedly within the original jurisdiction
+of the Aedui. (See D'Anville, Notice, p. 187, 443.) 2. In the Notitia
+of Gaul, they are enumerated not as Civitates, but merely as Castra.
+3. They do not appear to have been episcopal seats before the fifth and
+sixth centuries. Yet there is a passage in Eumenius (Panegyr. Vet. viii.
+7) which very forcibly deters me from extending the territory of the
+Aedui, in the reign of Constantine, along the beautiful banks of the
+navigable Saone. * Note: In this passage of Eumenius, Savigny supposes
+the original number to have been 32,000: 7000 being discharged, there
+remained 25,000 liable to the tribute. See Mem. quoted above.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 186: Eumenius in Panegyr Vet. viii. 11.]
+
+[Footnote 187: L'Abbe du Bos, Hist. Critique de la M. F. tom. i. p. 121]
+
+But this tax, or capitation, on the proprietors of land, would have
+suffered a rich and numerous class of free citizens to escape. With
+the view of sharing that species of wealth which is derived from art or
+labor, and which exists in money or in merchandise, the emperors imposed
+a distinct and personal tribute on the trading part of their subjects.
+[188] Some exemptions, very strictly confined both in time and place,
+were allowed to the proprietors who disposed of the produce of their own
+estates. Some indulgence was granted to the profession of the liberal
+arts: but every other branch of commercial industry was affected by the
+severity of the law. The honorable merchant of Alexandria, who imported
+the gems and spices of India for the use of the western world; the
+usurer, who derived from the interest of money a silent and ignominious
+profit; the ingenious manufacturer, the diligent mechanic, and even the
+most obscure retailer of a sequestered village, were obliged to admit
+the officers of the revenue into the partnership of their gain; and the
+sovereign of the Roman empire, who tolerated the profession, consented
+to share the infamous salary, of public prostitutes. [188a] As this
+general tax upon industry was collected every fourth year, it was styled
+the Lustral Contribution: and the historian Zosimus [189] laments that
+the approach of the fatal period was announced by the tears and terrors
+of the citizens, who were often compelled by the impending scourge to
+embrace the most abhorred and unnatural methods of procuring the sum at
+which their property had been assessed. The testimony of Zosimus cannot
+indeed be justified from the charge of passion and prejudice; but, from
+the nature of this tribute it seems reasonable to conclude, that it was
+arbitrary in the distribution, and extremely rigorous in the mode of
+collecting. The secret wealth of commerce, and the precarious profits of
+art or labor, are susceptible only of a discretionary valuation, which
+is seldom disadvantageous to the interest of the treasury; and as
+the person of the trader supplies the want of a visible and permanent
+security, the payment of the imposition, which, in the case of a land
+tax, may be obtained by the seizure of property, can rarely be extorted
+by any other means than those of corporal punishments. The cruel
+treatment of the insolvent debtors of the state, is attested, and
+was perhaps mitigated by a very humane edict of Constantine, who,
+disclaiming the use of racks and of scourges, allots a spacious and airy
+prison for the place of their confinement. [190]
+
+[Footnote 188: See Cod. Theod. l. xiii. tit. i. and iv.]
+
+[Footnote 188a: The emperor Theodosius put an end, by a law. to this
+disgraceful source of revenue. (Godef. ad Cod. Theod. xiii. tit. i. c.
+1.) But before he deprived himself of it, he made sure of some way of
+replacing this deficit. A rich patrician, Florentius, indignant at this
+legalized licentiousness, had made representations on the subject to
+the emperor. To induce him to tolerate it no longer, he offered his own
+property to supply the diminution of the revenue. The emperor had the
+baseness to accept his offer--G.]
+
+[Footnote 189: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 115. There is probably as much passion
+and prejudice in the attack of Zosimus, as in the elaborate defence of
+the memory of Constantine by the zealous Dr. Howell. Hist. of the World,
+vol. ii. p. 20.]
+
+[Footnote 190: Cod. Theod. l. xi. tit vii. leg. 3.]
+
+These general taxes were imposed and levied by the absolute authority
+of the monarch; but the occasional offerings of the coronary gold still
+retained the name and semblance of popular consent. It was an ancient
+custom that the allies of the republic, who ascribed their safety or
+deliverance to the success of the Roman arms, and even the cities of
+Italy, who admired the virtues of their victorious general, adorned the
+pomp of his triumph by their voluntary gifts of crowns of gold, which
+after the ceremony were consecrated in the temple of Jupiter, to remain
+a lasting monument of his glory to future ages. The progress of zeal and
+flattery soon multiplied the number, and increased the size, of these
+popular donations; and the triumph of Caesar was enriched with two
+thousand eight hundred and twenty-two massy crowns, whose weight
+amounted to twenty thousand four hundred and fourteen pounds of gold.
+This treasure was immediately melted down by the prudent dictator, who
+was satisfied that it would be more serviceable to his soldiers than to
+the gods: his example was imitated by his successors; and the custom
+was introduced of exchanging these splendid ornaments for the more
+acceptable present of the current gold coin of the empire. [191] The
+spontaneous offering was at length exacted as the debt of duty; and
+instead of being confined to the occasion of a triumph, it was supposed
+to be granted by the several cities and provinces of the monarchy,
+as often as the emperor condescended to announce his accession, his
+consulship, the birth of a son, the creation of a Caesar, a victory over
+the Barbarians, or any other real or imaginary event which graced the
+annals of his reign. The peculiar free gift of the senate of Rome was
+fixed by custom at sixteen hundred pounds of gold, or about sixty-four
+thousand pounds sterling. The oppressed subjects celebrated their own
+felicity, that their sovereign should graciously consent to accept this
+feeble but voluntary testimony of their loyalty and gratitude. [192]
+
+[Footnote 191: See Lipsius de Magnitud. Romana, l. ii. c. 9. The
+Tarragonese Spain presented the emperor Claudius with a crown of gold
+of seven, and Gaul with another of nine, hundred pounds weight. I have
+followed the rational emendation of Lipsius. * Note: This custom is of
+still earlier date, the Romans had borrowed it from Greece. Who is not
+acquainted with the famous oration of Demosthenes for the golden crown,
+which his citizens wished to bestow, and Aeschines to deprive him
+of?--G.]
+
+[Footnote 192: Cod. Theod. l. xii. tit. xiii. The senators were supposed
+to be exempt from the Aurum Coronarium; but the Auri Oblatio, which was
+required at their hands, was precisely of the same nature.]
+
+A people elated by pride, or soured by discontent, are seldom qualified
+to form a just estimate of their actual situation. The subjects of
+Constantine were incapable of discerning the decline of genius and manly
+virtue, which so far degraded them below the dignity of their ancestors;
+but they could feel and lament the rage of tyranny, the relaxation of
+discipline, and the increase of taxes. The impartial historian,
+who acknowledges the justice of their complaints, will observe some
+favorable circumstances which tended to alleviate the misery of
+their condition. The threatening tempest of Barbarians, which so soon
+subverted the foundations of Roman greatness, was still repelled, or
+suspended, on the frontiers. The arts of luxury and literature were
+cultivated, and the elegant pleasures of society were enjoyed, by the
+inhabitants of a considerable portion of the globe. The forms, the pomp,
+and the expense of the civil administration contributed to restrain the
+irregular license of the soldiers; and although the laws were violated
+by power, or perverted by subtlety, the sage principles of the Roman
+jurisprudence preserved a sense of order and equity, unknown to the
+despotic governments of the East. The rights of mankind might derive
+some protection from religion and philosophy; and the name of freedom,
+which could no longer alarm, might sometimes admonish, the successors of
+Augustus, that they did not reign over a nation of Slaves or Barbarians.
+[193]
+
+[Footnote 193: The great Theodosius, in his judicious advice to his son,
+(Claudian in iv. Consulat. Honorii, 214, &c.,) distinguishes the station
+of a Roman prince from that of a Parthian monarch. Virtue was necessary
+for the one; birth might suffice for the other.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Character Of Constantine And His Sons.--Part I.
+
+Character Of Constantine.--Gothic War.--Death Of Constantine.--Division
+Of The Empire Among His Three Sons.--Persian War.--Tragic Deaths Of
+Constantine The Younger And Constans.--Usurpation Of Magnentius.--Civil
+War.--Victory Of Constantius.
+
+The character of the prince who removed the seat of empire, and
+introduced such important changes into the civil and religious
+constitution of his country, has fixed the attention, and divided
+the opinions, of mankind. By the grateful zeal of the Christians, the
+deliverer of the church has been decorated with every attribute of a
+hero, and even of a saint; while the discontent of the vanquished party
+has compared Constantine to the most abhorred of those tyrants, who,
+by their vice and weakness, dishonored the Imperial purple. The same
+passions have in some degree been perpetuated to succeeding generations,
+and the character of Constantine is considered, even in the present age,
+as an object either of satire or of panegyric. By the impartial union of
+those defects which are confessed by his warmest admirers, and of those
+virtues which are acknowledged by his most-implacable enemies, we might
+hope to delineate a just portrait of that extraordinary man, which the
+truth and candor of history should adopt without a blush. [1] But
+it would soon appear, that the vain attempt to blend such discordant
+colors, and to reconcile such inconsistent qualities, must produce a
+figure monstrous rather than human, unless it is viewed in its proper
+and distinct lights, by a careful separation of the different periods of
+the reign of Constantine.
+
+[Footnote 1: On ne se trompera point sur Constantin, en croyant tout le
+mal ru'en dit Eusebe, et tout le bien qu'en dit Zosime. Fleury, Hist.
+Ecclesiastique, tom. iii. p. 233. Eusebius and Zosimus form indeed the
+two extremes of flattery and invective. The intermediate shades are
+expressed by those writers, whose character or situation variously
+tempered the influence of their religious zeal.]
+
+The person, as well as the mind, of Constantine, had been enriched
+by nature with her choices endowments. His stature was lofty, his
+countenance majestic, his deportment graceful; his strength and activity
+were displayed in every manly exercise, and from his earliest youth,
+to a very advanced season of life, he preserved the vigor of his
+constitution by a strict adherence to the domestic virtues of chastity
+and temperance. He delighted in the social intercourse of familiar
+conversation; and though he might sometimes indulge his disposition to
+raillery with less reserve than was required by the severe dignity
+of his station, the courtesy and liberality of his manners gained the
+hearts of all who approached him. The sincerity of his friendship
+has been suspected; yet he showed, on some occasions, that he was not
+incapable of a warm and lasting attachment. The disadvantage of an
+illiterate education had not prevented him from forming a just estimate
+of the value of learning; and the arts and sciences derived some
+encouragement from the munificent protection of Constantine. In the
+despatch of business, his diligence was indefatigable; and the active
+powers of his mind were almost continually exercised in reading,
+writing, or meditating, in giving audiences to ambassadors, and in
+examining the complaints of his subjects. Even those who censured
+the propriety of his measures were compelled to acknowledge, that he
+possessed magnanimity to conceive, and patience to execute, the most
+arduous designs, without being checked either by the prejudices of
+education, or by the clamors of the multitude. In the field, he infused
+his own intrepid spirit into the troops, whom he conducted with the
+talents of a consummate general; and to his abilities, rather than to
+his fortune, we may ascribe the signal victories which he obtained over
+the foreign and domestic foes of the republic. He loved glory as the
+reward, perhaps as the motive, of his labors. The boundless ambition,
+which, from the moment of his accepting the purple at York, appears as
+the ruling passion of his soul, may be justified by the dangers of his
+own situation, by the character of his rivals, by the consciousness of
+superior merit, and by the prospect that his success would enable him
+to restore peace and order to the distracted empire. In his civil
+wars against Maxentius and Licinius, he had engaged on his side the
+inclinations of the people, who compared the undissembled vices of those
+tyrants with the spirit of wisdom and justice which seemed to direct the
+general tenor of the administration of Constantine. [2]
+
+[Footnote 2: The virtues of Constantine are collected for the most part
+from Eutropius and the younger Victor, two sincere pagans, who wrote
+after the extinction of his family. Even Zosimus, and the Emperor
+Julian, acknowledge his personal courage and military achievements.]
+
+Had Constantine fallen on the banks of the Tyber, or even in the plains
+of Hadrianople, such is the character which, with a few exceptions, he
+might have transmitted to posterity. But the conclusion of his reign
+(according to the moderate and indeed tender sentence of a writer of
+the same age) degraded him from the rank which he had acquired among
+the most deserving of the Roman princes. [3] In the life of Augustus,
+we behold the tyrant of the republic, converted, almost by imperceptible
+degrees, into the father of his country, and of human kind. In that of
+Constantine, we may contemplate a hero, who had so long inspired his
+subjects with love, and his enemies with terror, degenerating into a
+cruel and dissolute monarch, corrupted by his fortune, or raised by
+conquest above the necessity of dissimulation. The general peace which
+he maintained during the last fourteen years of his reign, was a period
+of apparent splendor rather than of real prosperity; and the old age
+of Constantine was disgraced by the opposite yet reconcilable vices of
+rapaciousness and prodigality. The accumulated treasures found in the
+palaces of Maxentius and Licinius, were lavishly consumed; the
+various innovations introduced by the conqueror, were attended with
+an increasing expense; the cost of his buildings, his court, and
+his festivals, required an immediate and plentiful supply; and the
+oppression of the people was the only fund which could support the
+magnificence of the sovereign. [4] His unworthy favorites, enriched
+by the boundless liberality of their master, usurped with impunity the
+privilege of rapine and corruption. [5] A secret but universal decay
+was felt in every part of the public administration, and the emperor
+himself, though he still retained the obedience, gradually lost the
+esteem, of his subjects. The dress and manners, which, towards the
+decline of life, he chose to affect, served only to degrade him in the
+eyes of mankind. The Asiatic pomp, which had been adopted by the pride
+of Diocletian, assumed an air of softness and effeminacy in the person
+of Constantine. He is represented with false hair of various colors,
+laboriously arranged by the skilful artists to the times; a diadem of
+a new and more expensive fashion; a profusion of gems and pearls, of
+collars and bracelets, and a variegated flowing robe of silk, most
+curiously embroidered with flowers of gold. In such apparel, scarcely
+to be excused by the youth and folly of Elagabalus, we are at a loss to
+discover the wisdom of an aged monarch, and the simplicity of a Roman
+veteran. [6] A mind thus relaxed by prosperity and indulgence, was
+incapable of rising to that magnanimity which disdains suspicion, and
+dares to forgive. The deaths of Maximian and Licinius may perhaps be
+justified by the maxims of policy, as they are taught in the schools
+of tyrants; but an impartial narrative of the executions, or rather
+murders, which sullied the declining age of Constantine, will suggest
+to our most candid thoughts the idea of a prince who could sacrifice
+without reluctance the laws of justice, and the feelings of nature, to
+the dictates either of his passions or of his interest.
+
+[Footnote 3: See Eutropius, x. 6. In primo Imperii tempore optimis
+principibus, ultimo mediis comparandus. From the ancient Greek version
+of Poeanius, (edit. Havercamp. p. 697,) I am inclined to suspect that
+Eutropius had originally written vix mediis; and that the offensive
+monosyllable was dropped by the wilful inadvertency of transcribers.
+Aurelius Victor expresses the general opinion by a vulgar and indeed
+obscure proverb. Trachala decem annis praestantissimds; duodecim
+sequentibus latro; decem novissimis pupillus ob immouicas profusiones.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Julian, Orat. i. p. 8, in a flattering discourse pronounced
+before the son of Constantine; and Caesares, p. 336. Zosimus, p. 114,
+115. The stately buildings of Constantinople, &c., may be quoted as a
+lasting and unexceptionable proof of the profuseness of their founder.]
+
+[Footnote 5: The impartial Ammianus deserves all our confidence.
+Proximorum fauces aperuit primus omnium Constantinus. L. xvi. c. 8.
+Eusebius himself confesses the abuse, (Vit. Constantin. l. iv. c. 29,
+54;) and some of the Imperial laws feebly point out the remedy. See
+above, p. 146 of this volume.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Julian, in the Caesars, attempts to ridicule his uncle.
+His suspicious testimony is confirmed, however, by the learned Spanheim,
+with the authority of medals, (see Commentaire, p. 156, 299, 397, 459.)
+Eusebius (Orat. c. 5) alleges, that Constantine dressed for the public,
+not for himself. Were this admitted, the vainest coxcomb could never
+want an excuse.]
+
+The same fortune which so invariably followed the standard of
+Constantine, seemed to secure the hopes and comforts of his domestic
+life. Those among his predecessors who had enjoyed the longest and
+most prosperous reigns, Augustus Trajan, and Diocletian, had been
+disappointed of posterity; and the frequent revolutions had never
+allowed sufficient time for any Imperial family to grow up and multiply
+under the shade of the purple. But the royalty of the Flavian line,
+which had been first ennobled by the Gothic Claudius, descended through
+several generations; and Constantine himself derived from his royal
+father the hereditary honors which he transmitted to his children. The
+emperor had been twice married. Minervina, the obscure but lawful object
+of his youthful attachment, [7] had left him only one son, who was
+called Crispus. By Fausta, the daughter of Maximian, he had three
+daughters, and three sons known by the kindred names of Constantine,
+Constantius, and Constans. The unambitious brothers of the great
+Constantine, Julius Constantius, Dalmatius, and Hannibalianus, [8]
+were permitted to enjoy the most honorable rank, and the most affluent
+fortune, that could be consistent with a private station. The youngest
+of the three lived without a name, and died without posterity. His two
+elder brothers obtained in marriage the daughters of wealthy senators,
+and propagated new branches of the Imperial race. Gallus and Julian
+afterwards became the most illustrious of the children of Julius
+Constantius, the Patrician.
+
+The two sons of Dalmatius, who had been decorated with the vain title of
+Censor, were named Dalmatius and Hannibalianus. The two sisters of the
+great Constantine, Anastasia and Eutropia, were bestowed on Optatus and
+Nepotianus, two senators of noble birth and of consular dignity. His
+third sister, Constantia, was distinguished by her preeminence of
+greatness and of misery. She remained the widow of the vanquished
+Licinius; and it was by her entreaties, that an innocent boy, the
+offspring of their marriage, preserved, for some time, his life, the
+title of Caesar, and a precarious hope of the succession. Besides the
+females, and the allies of the Flavian house, ten or twelve males, to
+whom the language of modern courts would apply the title of princes of
+the blood, seemed, according to the order of their birth, to be destined
+either to inherit or to support the throne of Constantine. But in less
+than thirty years, this numerous and increasing family was reduced to
+the persons of Constantius and Julian, who alone had survived a series
+of crimes and calamities, such as the tragic poets have deplored in the
+devoted lines of Pelops and of Cadmus.
+
+[Footnote 7: Zosimus and Zonaras agree in representing Minervina as the
+concubine of Constantine; but Ducange has very gallantly rescued her
+character, by producing a decisive passage from one of the panegyrics:
+"Ab ipso fine pueritiae te matrimonii legibus dedisti."]
+
+[Footnote 8: Ducange (Familiae Byzantinae, p. 44) bestows on him, after
+Zosimus, the name of Constantine; a name somewhat unlikely, as it
+was already occupied by the elder brother. That of Hannibalianus is
+mentioned in the Paschal Chronicle, and is approved by Tillemont. Hist.
+des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 527.]
+
+Crispus, the eldest son of Constantine, and the presumptive heir of
+the empire, is represented by impartial historians as an amiable and
+accomplished youth. The care of his education, or at least of his
+studies, was intrusted to Lactantius, the most eloquent of the
+Christians; a preceptor admirably qualified to form the taste, and
+the excite the virtues, of his illustrious disciple. [9] At the age
+of seventeen, Crispus was invested with the title of Caesar, and the
+administration of the Gallic provinces, where the inroads of the Germans
+gave him an early occasion of signalizing his military prowess. In the
+civil war which broke out soon afterwards, the father and son divided
+their powers; and this history has already celebrated the valor as
+well as conduct displayed by the latter, in forcing the straits of the
+Hellespont, so obstinately defended by the superior fleet of Lacinius.
+This naval victory contributed to determine the event of the war;
+and the names of Constantine and of Crispus were united in the joyful
+acclamations of their eastern subjects; who loudly proclaimed, that the
+world had been subdued, and was now governed, by an emperor endowed with
+every virtue; and by his illustrious son, a prince beloved of Heaven,
+and the lively image of his father's perfections. The public favor,
+which seldom accompanies old age, diffused its lustre over the youth of
+Crispus. He deserved the esteem, and he engaged the affections, of the
+court, the army, and the people. The experienced merit of a reigning
+monarch is acknowledged by his subjects with reluctance, and frequently
+denied with partial and discontented murmurs; while, from the opening
+virtues of his successor, they fondly conceive the most unbounded hopes
+of private as well as public felicity. [10]
+
+[Footnote 9: Jerom. in Chron. The poverty of Lactantius may be applied
+either to the praise of the disinterested philosopher, or to the shame
+of the unfeeling patron. See Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiast. tom. vi. part
+1. p. 345. Dupin, Bibliotheque Ecclesiast. tom. i. p. 205. Lardner's
+Credibility of the Gospel History, part ii. vol. vii. p. 66.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. l. x. c. 9. Eutropius (x. 6)
+styles him "egregium virum;" and Julian (Orat. i.) very plainly alludes
+to the exploits of Crispus in the civil war. See Spanheim, Comment. p.
+92.]
+
+This dangerous popularity soon excited the attention of Constantine,
+who, both as a father and as a king, was impatient of an equal. Instead
+of attempting to secure the allegiance of his son by the generous ties
+of confidence and gratitude, he resolved to prevent the mischiefs which
+might be apprehended from dissatisfied ambition. Crispus soon had reason
+to complain, that while his infant brother Constantius was sent, with
+the title of Caesar, to reign over his peculiar department of the Gallic
+provinces, [11] he, a prince of mature years, who had performed such
+recent and signal services, instead of being raised to the superior rank
+of Augustus, was confined almost a prisoner to his father's court; and
+exposed, without power or defence, to every calumny which the malice of
+his enemies could suggest. Under such painful circumstances, the royal
+youth might not always be able to compose his behavior, or suppress his
+discontent; and we may be assured, that he was encompassed by a train of
+indiscreet or perfidious followers, who assiduously studied to inflame,
+and who were perhaps instructed to betray, the unguarded warmth of
+his resentment. An edict of Constantine, published about this time,
+manifestly indicates his real or affected suspicions, that a secret
+conspiracy had been formed against his person and government. By all the
+allurements of honors and rewards, he invites informers of every degree
+to accuse without exception his magistrates or ministers, his friends
+or his most intimate favorites, protesting, with a solemn asseveration,
+that he himself will listen to the charge, that he himself will revenge
+his injuries; and concluding with a prayer, which discovers some
+apprehension of danger, that the providence of the Supreme Being may
+still continue to protect the safety of the emperor and of the empire.
+[12]
+
+[Footnote 11: Compare Idatius and the Paschal Chronicle, with Ammianus,
+(l, xiv. c. 5.) The year in which Constantius was created Caesar seems
+to be more accurately fixed by the two chronologists; but the historian
+who lived in his court could not be ignorant of the day of the
+anniversary. For the appointment of the new Caesar to the provinces of
+Gaul, see Julian, Orat. i. p. 12, Godefroy, Chronol. Legum, p. 26. and
+Blondel, de Primaute de l'Eglise, p. 1183.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Cod. Theod. l. ix. tit. iv. Godefroy suspected the secret
+motives of this law. Comment. tom. iii. p. 9.]
+
+The informers, who complied with so liberal an invitation, were
+sufficiently versed in the arts of courts to select the friends and
+adherents of Crispus as the guilty persons; nor is there any reason to
+distrust the veracity of the emperor, who had promised an ample measure
+of revenge and punishment. The policy of Constantine maintained,
+however, the same appearances of regard and confidence towards a son,
+whom he began to consider as his most irreconcilable enemy. Medals were
+struck with the customary vows for the long and auspicious reign of the
+young Caesar; [13] and as the people, who were not admitted into the
+secrets of the palace, still loved his virtues, and respected his
+dignity, a poet who solicits his recall from exile, adores with equal
+devotion the majesty of the father and that of the son. [14] The time
+was now arrived for celebrating the august ceremony of the twentieth
+year of the reign of Constantine; and the emperor, for that purpose,
+removed his court from Nicomedia to Rome, where the most splendid
+preparations had been made for his reception. Every eye, and every
+tongue, affected to express their sense of the general happiness, and
+the veil of ceremony and dissimulation was drawn for a while over
+the darkest designs of revenge and murder. [15] In the midst of the
+festival, the unfortunate Crispus was apprehended by order of the
+emperor, who laid aside the tenderness of a father, without assuming the
+equity of a judge. The examination was short and private; [16] and as it
+was thought decent to conceal the fate of the young prince from the
+eyes of the Roman people, he was sent under a strong guard to Pola, in
+Istria, where, soon afterwards, he was put to death, either by the hand
+of the executioner, or by the more gentle operations of poison. [17] The
+Caesar Licinius, a youth of amiable manners, was involved in the ruin of
+Crispus: [18] and the stern jealousy of Constantine was unmoved by the
+prayers and tears of his favorite sister, pleading for the life of a
+son, whose rank was his only crime, and whose loss she did not long
+survive. The story of these unhappy princes, the nature and evidence of
+their guilt, the forms of their trial, and the circumstances of their
+death, were buried in mysterious obscurity; and the courtly bishop, who
+has celebrated in an elaborate work the virtues and piety of his hero,
+observes a prudent silence on the subject of these tragic events. [19]
+Such haughty contempt for the opinion of mankind, whilst it imprints an
+indelible stain on the memory of Constantine, must remind us of the very
+different behavior of one of the greatest monarchs of the present age.
+The Czar Peter, in the full possession of despotic power, submitted to
+the judgment of Russia, of Europe, and of posterity, the reasons which
+had compelled him to subscribe the condemnation of a criminal, or at
+least of a degenerate son. [20]
+
+[Footnote 13: Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 28. Tillemont, tom. iv. p. 610.]
+
+[Footnote 14: His name was Porphyrius Optatianus. The date of his
+panegyric, written, according to the taste of the age, in vile
+acrostics, is settled by Scaliger ad Euseb. p. 250, Tillemont, tom. iv.
+p. 607, and Fabricius, Biblioth. Latin, l. iv. c. 1.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Zosim. l. ii. p. 103. Godefroy, Chronol. Legum, p. 28.]
+
+[Footnote 16: The elder Victor, who wrote under the next reign, speaks
+with becoming caution. "Natu grandior incertum qua causa, patris judicio
+occidisset." If we consult the succeeding writers, Eutropius, the
+younger Victor, Orosius, Jerom, Zosimus, Philostorgius, and Gregory of
+Tours, their knowledge will appear gradually to increase, as their means
+of information must have diminished--a circumstance which frequently
+occurs in historical disquisition.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Ammianus (l. xiv. c. 11) uses the general expression
+of peremptum Codinus (p. 34) beheads the young prince; but Sidonius
+Apollinaris (Epistol. v. 8,) for the sake perhaps of an antithesis to
+Fausta's warm bath, chooses to administer a draught of cold poison.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Sororis filium, commodae indolis juvenem. Eutropius, x. 6
+May I not be permitted to conjecture that Crispus had married Helena the
+daughter of the emperor Licinius, and that on the happy delivery of the
+princess, in the year 322, a general pardon was granted by Constantine?
+See Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 47, and the law (l. ix. tit. xxxvii.) of
+the Theodosian code, which has so much embarrassed the interpreters.
+Godefroy, tom. iii. p. 267 * Note: This conjecture is very doubtful. The
+obscurity of the law quoted from the Theodosian code scarcely allows any
+inference, and there is extant but one meda which can be attributed to a
+Helena, wife of Crispus.]
+
+[Footnote 19: See the life of Constantine, particularly l. ii. c. 19,
+20. Two hundred and fifty years afterwards Evagrius (l. iii. c. 41)
+deduced from the silence of Eusebius a vain argument against the reality
+of the fact.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Histoire de Pierre le Grand, par Voltaire, part ii. c.
+10.]
+
+The innocence of Crispus was so universally acknowledged, that the
+modern Greeks, who adore the memory of their founder, are reduced to
+palliate the guilt of a parricide, which the common feelings of human
+nature forbade them to justify. They pretend, that as soon as the
+afflicted father discovered the falsehood of the accusation by which
+his credulity had been so fatally misled, he published to the world
+his repentance and remorse; that he mourned forty days, during which
+he abstained from the use of the bath, and all the ordinary comforts of
+life; and that, for the lasting instruction of posterity, he erected a
+golden statue of Crispus, with this memorable inscription: To my son,
+whom I unjustly condemned. [21] A tale so moral and so interesting
+would deserve to be supported by less exceptionable authority; but if
+we consult the more ancient and authentic writers, they will inform us,
+that the repentance of Constantine was manifested only in acts of blood
+and revenge; and that he atoned for the murder of an innocent son, by
+the execution, perhaps, of a guilty wife. They ascribe the misfortunes
+of Crispus to the arts of his step-mother Fausta, whose implacable
+hatred, or whose disappointed love, renewed in the palace of Constantine
+the ancient tragedy of Hippolitus and of Phaedra. [22] Like the
+daughter of Minos, the daughter of Maximian accused her son-in-law of
+an incestuous attempt on the chastity of his father's wife; and easily
+obtained, from the jealousy of the emperor, a sentence of death against
+a young prince, whom she considered with reason as the most formidable
+rival of her own children. But Helena, the aged mother of Constantine,
+lamented and revenged the untimely fate of her grandson Crispus; nor
+was it long before a real or pretended discovery was made, that Fausta
+herself entertained a criminal connection with a slave belonging to the
+Imperial stables. [23] Her condemnation and punishment were the instant
+consequences of the charge; and the adulteress was suffocated by
+the steam of a bath, which, for that purpose, had been heated to an
+extraordinary degree. [24] By some it will perhaps be thought, that the
+remembrance of a conjugal union of twenty years, and the honor of their
+common offspring, the destined heirs of the throne, might have softened
+the obdurate heart of Constantine, and persuaded him to suffer his wife,
+however guilty she might appear, to expiate her offences in a solitary
+prison. But it seems a superfluous labor to weigh the propriety, unless
+we could ascertain the truth, of this singular event, which is attended
+with some circumstances of doubt and perplexity. Those who have
+attacked, and those who have defended, the character of Constantine,
+have alike disregarded two very remarkable passages of two orations
+pronounced under the succeeding reign. The former celebrates the
+virtues, the beauty, and the fortune of the empress Fausta, the
+daughter, wife, sister, and mother of so many princes. [25] The latter
+asserts, in explicit terms, that the mother of the younger Constantine,
+who was slain three years after his father's death, survived to weep
+over the fate of her son. [26] Notwithstanding the positive testimony of
+several writers of the Pagan as well as of the Christian religion, there
+may still remain some reason to believe, or at least to suspect, that
+Fausta escaped the blind and suspicious cruelty of her husband. [26a]
+The deaths of a son and a nephew, with the execution of a great number
+of respectable, and perhaps innocent friends, [27] who were involved in
+their fall, may be sufficient, however, to justify the discontent of the
+Roman people, and to explain the satirical verses affixed to the palace
+gate, comparing the splendid and bloody reigns of Constantine and Nero.
+[28]
+
+[Footnote 21: In order to prove that the statue was erected by
+Constantine, and afterwards concealed by the malice of the Arians,
+Codinus very readily creates (p. 34) two witnesses, Hippolitus, and
+the younger Herodotus, to whose imaginary histories he appeals with
+unblushing confidence.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Zosimus (l. ii. p. 103) may be considered as our original.
+The ingenuity of the moderns, assisted by a few hints from the ancients,
+has illustrated and improved his obscure and imperfect narrative.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Philostorgius, l. ii. c. 4. Zosimus (l. ii. p. 104, 116)
+imputes to Constantine the death of two wives, of the innocent Fausta,
+and of an adulteress, who was the mother of his three successors.
+According to Jerom, three or four years elapsed between the death of
+Crispus and that of Fausta. The elder Victor is prudently silent.]
+
+[Footnote 24: If Fausta was put to death, it is reasonable to believe
+that the private apartments of the palace were the scene of her
+execution. The orator Chrysostom indulges his fancy by exposing the
+naked desert mountain to be devoured by wild beasts.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Julian. Orat. i. He seems to call her the mother of
+Crispus. She might assume that title by adoption. At least, she was not
+considered as his mortal enemy. Julian compares the fortune of Fausta
+with that of Parysatis, the Persian queen. A Roman would have more
+naturally recollected the second Agrippina:
+
+     Et moi, qui sur le trone ai suivi mes ancetres:
+     Moi, fille, femme,soeur, et mere de vos maitres.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Monod. in Constantin. Jun. c. 4, ad Calcem Eutrop. edit.
+Havercamp. The orator styles her the most divine and pious of queens.]
+
+[Footnote 26a: Manso (Leben Constantins, p. 65) treats this inference o:
+Gibbon, and the authorities to which he appeals, with too much
+contempt, considering the general scantiness of proof on this curious
+question.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Interfecit numerosos amicos. Eutrop. xx. 6.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Saturni aurea saecula quis requirat? Sunt haec gemmea, sed
+Neroniana. Sidon. Apollinar. v. 8. ----It is somewhat singular that
+these satirical lines should be attributed, not to an obscure libeller,
+or a disappointed patriot, but to Ablavius, prime minister and favorite
+of the emperor. We may now perceive that the imprecations of the Roman
+people were dictated by humanity, as well as by superstition. Zosim. l.
+ii. p. 105.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Character Of Constantine And His Sons.--Part II.
+
+By the death of Crispus, the inheritance of the empire seemed to devolve
+on the three sons of Fausta, who have been already mentioned under
+the names of Constantine, of Constantius, and of Constans. These young
+princes were successively invested with the title of Caesar; and the
+dates of their promotion may be referred to the tenth, the twentieth,
+and the thirtieth years of the reign of their father. [29] This conduct,
+though it tended to multiply the future masters of the Roman world,
+might be excused by the partiality of paternal affection; but it is not
+so easy to understand the motives of the emperor, when he endangered
+the safety both of his family and of his people, by the unnecessary
+elevation of his two nephews, Dalmatius and Hannibalianus. The former
+was raised, by the title of Caesar, to an equality with his cousins.
+In favor of the latter, Constantine invented the new and singular
+appellation of Nobilissimus; [30] to which he annexed the flattering
+distinction of a robe of purple and gold. But of the whole series
+of Roman princes in any age of the empire, Hannibalianus alone was
+distinguished by the title of King; a name which the subjects of
+Tiberius would have detested, as the profane and cruel insult of
+capricious tyranny. The use of such a title, even as it appears under
+the reign of Constantine, is a strange and unconnected fact, which
+can scarcely be admitted on the joint authority of Imperial medals and
+contemporary writers. [31] [31a]
+
+[Footnote 29: Euseb. Orat. in Constantin. c. 3. These dates are
+sufficiently correct to justify the orator.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Zosim. l. ii. p. 117. Under the predecessors of
+Constantine, No bilissimus was a vague epithet, rather than a legal and
+determined title.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Adstruunt nummi veteres ac singulares. Spanheim de Usu
+Numismat. Dissertat. xii. vol. ii. p. 357. Ammianus speaks of this Roman
+king (l. xiv. c. l, and Valesius ad loc.) The Valesian fragment styles
+him King of kings; and the Paschal Chronicle acquires the weight of
+Latin evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 31a: Hannibalianus is always designated in these authors by
+the title of king. There still exist medals struck to his honor, on
+which the same title is found, Fl. Hannibaliano Regi. See Eckhel, Doct.
+Num. t. viii. 204. Armeniam nationesque circum socias habebat, says Aur.
+Victor, p. 225. The writer means the Lesser Armenia. Though it is not
+possible to question a fact supported by such respectable authorities,
+Gibbon considers it inexplicable and incredible. It is a strange abuse
+of the privilege of doubting, to refuse all belief in a fact of such
+little importance in itself, and attested thus formally by contemporary
+authors and public monuments. St. Martin note to Le Beau i. 341.--M.]
+
+The whole empire was deeply interested in the education of these five
+youths, the acknowledged successors of Constantine. The exercise of
+the body prepared them for the fatigues of war and the duties of
+active life. Those who occasionally mention the education or talents of
+Constantius, allow that he excelled in the gymnastic arts of leaping and
+running that he was a dexterous archer, a skilful horseman, and a master
+of all the different weapons used in the service either of the cavalry
+or of the infantry. [32] The same assiduous cultivation was bestowed,
+though not perhaps with equal success, to improve the minds of the sons
+and nephews of Constantine. [33] The most celebrated professors of
+the Christian faith, of the Grecian philosophy, and of the Roman
+jurisprudence, were invited by the liberality of the emperor, who
+reserved for himself the important task of instructing the royal youths
+in the science of government, and the knowledge of mankind. But
+the genius of Constantine himself had been formed by adversity and
+experience. In the free intercourse of private life, and amidst the
+dangers of the court of Galerius, he had learned to command his own
+passions, to encounter those of his equals, and to depend for his
+present safety and future greatness on the prudence and firmness of his
+personal conduct. His destined successors had the misfortune of being
+born and educated in the imperial purple. Incessantly surrounded with a
+train of flatterers, they passed their youth in the enjoyment of luxury,
+and the expectation of a throne; nor would the dignity of their rank
+permit them to descend from that elevated station from whence the
+various characters of human nature appear to wear a smooth and uniform
+aspect. The indulgence of Constantine admitted them, at a very tender
+age, to share the administration of the empire; and they studied the art
+of reigning, at the expense of the people intrusted to their care. The
+younger Constantine was appointed to hold his court in Gaul; and his
+brother Constantius exchanged that department, the ancient patrimony of
+their father, for the more opulent, but less martial, countries of
+the East. Italy, the Western Illyricum, and Africa, were accustomed to
+revere Constans, the third of his sons, as the representative of the
+great Constantine. He fixed Dalmatius on the Gothic frontier, to which
+he annexed the government of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece. The city
+of Caesarea was chosen for the residence of Hannibalianus; and the
+provinces of Pontus, Cappadocia, and the Lesser Armenia, were destined
+to form the extent of his new kingdom. For each of these princes a
+suitable establishment was provided. A just proportion of guards, of
+legions, and of auxiliaries, was allotted for their respective dignity
+and defence. The ministers and generals, who were placed about their
+persons, were such as Constantine could trust to assist, and even to
+control, these youthful sovereigns in the exercise of their delegated
+power. As they advanced in years and experience, the limits of their
+authority were insensibly enlarged: but the emperor always reserved for
+himself the title of Augustus; and while he showed the Caesars to the
+armies and provinces, he maintained every part of the empire in equal
+obedience to its supreme head. [34] The tranquillity of the last
+fourteen years of his reign was scarcely interrupted by the contemptible
+insurrection of a camel-driver in the Island of Cyprus, [35] or by the
+active part which the policy of Constantine engaged him to assume in the
+wars of the Goths and Sarmatians.
+
+[Footnote 32: His dexterity in martial exercises is celebrated by
+Julian, (Orat. i. p. 11, Orat. ii. p. 53,) and allowed by Ammianus, (l.
+xxi. c. 16.)]
+
+[Footnote 33: Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. l. iv. c. 51. Julian, Orat. i.
+p. 11-16, with Spanheim's elaborate Commentary. Libanius, Orat. iii. p.
+109. Constantius studied with laudable diligence; but the dulness of
+his fancy prevented him from succeeding in the art of poetry, or even of
+rhetoric.]
+
+[Footnote 34: Eusebius, (l. iv. c. 51, 52,) with a design of exalting
+the authority and glory of Constantine, affirms, that he divided the
+Roman empire as a private citizen might have divided his patrimony. His
+distribution of the provinces may be collected from Eutropius, the two
+Victors and the Valesian fragment.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Calocerus, the obscure leader of this rebellion, or rather
+tumult, was apprehended and burnt alive in the market-place of Tarsus,
+by the vigilance of Dalmatius. See the elder Victor, the Chronicle of
+Jerom, and the doubtful traditions of Theophanes and Cedrenus.]
+
+Among the different branches of the human race, the Sarmatians form a
+very remarkable shade; as they seem to unite the manners of the Asiatic
+barbarians with the figure and complexion of the ancient inhabitants of
+Europe. According to the various accidents of peace and war, of alliance
+or conquest, the Sarmatians were sometimes confined to the banks of the
+Tanais; and they sometimes spread themselves over the immense plains
+which lie between the Vistula and the Volga. [36] The care of their
+numerous flocks and herds, the pursuit of game, and the exercises
+of war, or rather of rapine, directed the vagrant motions of the
+Sarmatians. The movable camps or cities, the ordinary residence of their
+wives and children, consisted only of large wagons drawn by oxen, and
+covered in the form of tents. The military strength of the nation was
+composed of cavalry; and the custom of their warriors, to lead in their
+hand one or two spare horses, enabled them to advance and to retreat
+with a rapid diligence, which surprised the security, and eluded the
+pursuit, of a distant enemy. [37] Their poverty of iron prompted
+their rude industry to invent a sort of cuirass, which was capable
+of resisting a sword or javelin, though it was formed only of horses'
+hoofs, cut into thin and polished slices, carefully laid over each other
+in the manner of scales or feathers, and strongly sewed upon an under
+garment of coarse linen. [38] The offensive arms of the Sarmatians were
+short daggers, long lances, and a weighty bow with a quiver of arrows.
+They were reduced to the necessity of employing fish-bones for the
+points of their weapons; but the custom of dipping them in a venomous
+liquor, that poisoned the wounds which they inflicted, is alone
+sufficient to prove the most savage manners, since a people impressed
+with a sense of humanity would have abhorred so cruel a practice, and
+a nation skilled in the arts of war would have disdained so impotent a
+resource. [39] Whenever these Barbarians issued from their deserts in
+quest of prey, their shaggy beards, uncombed locks, the furs with which
+they were covered from head to foot, and their fierce countenances,
+which seemed to express the innate cruelty of their minds, inspired the
+more civilized provincials of Rome with horror and dismay.
+
+[Footnote 36: Cellarius has collected the opinions of the ancients
+concerning the European and Asiatic Sarmatia; and M. D'Anville has
+applied them to modern geography with the skill and accuracy which
+always distinguish that excellent writer.]
+
+[Footnote 37: Ammian. l. xvii. c. 12. The Sarmatian horses were
+castrated to prevent the mischievous accidents which might happen from
+the noisy and ungovernable passions of the males.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Pausanius, l. i. p. 50,. edit. Kuhn. That inquisitive
+traveller had carefully examined a Sarmatian cuirass, which was
+preserved in the temple of Aesculapius at Athens.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Aspicis et mitti sub adunco toxica ferro, Et telum causas
+mortis habere duas. Ovid, ex Ponto, l. iv. ep. 7, ver. 7.----See in the
+Recherches sur les Americains, tom. ii. p. 236--271, a very curious
+dissertation on poisoned darts. The venom was commonly extracted from
+the vegetable reign: but that employed by the Scythians appears to have
+been drawn from the viper, and a mixture of human blood.]
+
+The use of poisoned arms, which has been spread over both worlds, never
+preserved a savage tribe from the arms of a disciplined enemy. The
+tender Ovid, after a youth spent in the enjoyment of fame and luxury,
+was condemned to a hopeless exile on the frozen banks of the Danube,
+where he was exposed, almost without defence, to the fury of these
+monsters of the desert, with whose stern spirits he feared that his
+gentle shade might hereafter be confounded. In his pathetic, but
+sometimes unmanly lamentations, [40] he describes in the most lively
+colors the dress and manners, the arms and inroads, of the Getae and
+Sarmatians, who were associated for the purposes of destruction; and
+from the accounts of history there is some reason to believe that these
+Sarmatians were the Jazygae, one of the most numerous and warlike tribes
+of the nation. The allurements of plenty engaged them to seek a
+permanent establishment on the frontiers of the empire. Soon after the
+reign of Augustus, they obliged the Dacians, who subsisted by fishing on
+the banks of the River Teyss or Tibiscus, to retire into the hilly
+country, and to abandon to the victorious Sarmatians the fertile plains
+of the Upper Hungary, which are bounded by the course of the Danube and
+the semicircular enclosure of the Carpathian Mountains. [41] In this
+advantageous position, they watched or suspended the moment of attack,
+as they were provoked by injuries or appeased by presents; they
+gradually acquired the skill of using more dangerous weapons, and
+although the Sarmatians did not illustrate their name by any memorable
+exploits, they occasionally assisted their eastern and western
+neighbors, the Goths and the Germans, with a formidable body of cavalry.
+They lived under the irregular aristocracy of their chieftains: [42] but
+after they had received into their bosom the fugitive Vandals, who
+yielded to the pressure of the Gothic power, they seem to have chosen a
+king from that nation, and from the illustrious race of the Astingi, who
+had formerly dwelt on the hores of the northern ocean. [43]
+
+[Footnote 40: The nine books of Poetical Epistles which Ovid composed
+during the seven first years of his melancholy exile, possess, beside
+the merit of elegance, a double value. They exhibit a picture of the
+human mind under very singular circumstances; and they contain many
+curious observations, which no Roman except Ovid, could have an
+opportunity of making. Every circumstance which tends to illustrate the
+history of the Barbarians, has been drawn together by the very accurate
+Count de Buat. Hist. Ancienne des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. iv. c. xvi.
+p. 286-317]
+
+[Footnote 41: The Sarmatian Jazygae were settled on the banks of
+Pathissus or Tibiscus, when Pliny, in the year 79, published his Natural
+History. See l. iv. c. 25. In the time of Strabo and Ovid, sixty or
+seventy years before, they appear to have inhabited beyond the Getae,
+along the coast of the Euxine.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Principes Sarmaturum Jazygum penes quos civitatis regimen
+plebem quoque et vim equitum, qua sola valent, offerebant. Tacit. Hist.
+iii. p. 5. This offer was made in the civil war between Vitellino and
+Vespasian.]
+
+[Footnote 43: This hypothesis of a Vandal king reigning over Sarmatian
+subjects, seems necessary to reconcile the Goth Jornandes with the Greek
+and Latin historians of Constantine. It may be observed that Isidore,
+who lived in Spain under the dominion of the Goths, gives them for
+enemies, not the Vandals, but the Sarmatians. See his Chronicle in
+Grotius, p. 709. Note: I have already noticed the confusion which must
+necessarily arise in history, when names purely geographical, as this of
+Sarmatia, are taken for historical names belonging to a single nation.
+We perceive it here; it has forced Gibbon to suppose, without any reason
+but the necessity of extricating himself from his perplexity, that
+the Sarmatians had taken a king from among the Vandals; a supposition
+entirely contrary to the usages of Barbarians Dacia, at this period, was
+occupied, not by Sarmatians, who have never formed a distinct race, but
+by Vandals, whom the ancients have often confounded under the general
+term Sarmatians. See Gatterer's Welt-Geschiehte p. 464--G.]
+
+This motive of enmity must have inflamed the subjects of contention,
+which perpetually arise on the confines of warlike and independent
+nations. The Vandal princes were stimulated by fear and revenge; the
+Gothic kings aspired to extend their dominion from the Euxine to the
+frontiers of Germany; and the waters of the Maros, a small river which
+falls into the Teyss, were stained with the blood of the contending
+Barbarians. After some experience of the superior strength and numbers
+of their adversaries, the Sarmatians implored the protection of the
+Roman monarch, who beheld with pleasure the discord of the nations, but
+who was justly alarmed by the progress of the Gothic arms. As soon
+as Constantine had declared himself in favor of the weaker party, the
+haughty Araric, king of the Goths, instead of expecting the attack of
+the legions, boldly passed the Danube, and spread terror and devastation
+through the province of Maesia.
+
+To oppose the inroad of this destroying host, the aged emperor took the
+field in person; but on this occasion either his conduct or his fortune
+betrayed the glory which he had acquired in so many foreign and domestic
+wars. He had the mortification of seeing his troops fly before an
+inconsiderable detachment of the Barbarians, who pursued them to the
+edge of their fortified camp, and obliged him to consult his safety by
+a precipitate and ignominious retreat. [43a] The event of a second and
+more successful action retrieved the honor of the Roman name; and the
+powers of art and discipline prevailed, after an obstinate contest, over
+the efforts of irregular valor. The broken army of the Goths abandoned
+the field of battle, the wasted province, and the passage of the Danube:
+and although the eldest of the sons of Constantine was permitted to
+supply the place of his father, the merit of the victory, which diffused
+universal joy, was ascribed to the auspicious counsels of the emperor
+himself.
+
+[Footnote 43a: Gibbon states, that Constantine was defeated by the Goths
+in a first battle. No ancient author mentions such an event. It is, no
+doubt, a mistake in Gibbon. St Martin, note to Le Beau. i. 324.--M.]
+
+He contributed at least to improve this advantage, by his negotiations
+with the free and warlike people of Chersonesus, [44] whose capital,
+situate on the western coast of the Tauric or Crimaean peninsula,
+still retained some vestiges of a Grecian colony, and was governed by
+a perpetual magistrate, assisted by a council of senators, emphatically
+styled the Fathers of the City.
+
+The Chersonites were animated against the Goths, by the memory of the
+wars, which, in the preceding century, they had maintained with unequal
+forces against the invaders of their country. They were connected with
+the Romans by the mutual benefits of commerce; as they were supplied
+from the provinces of Asia with corn and manufactures, which they
+purchased with their only productions, salt, wax, and hides. Obedient
+to the requisition of Constantine, they prepared, under the conduct of
+their magistrate Diogenes, a considerable army, of which the principal
+strength consisted in cross-bows and military chariots. The speedy march
+and intrepid attack of the Chersonites, by diverting the attention of
+the Goths, assisted the operations of the Imperial generals. The Goths,
+vanquished on every side, were driven into the mountains, where, in the
+course of a severe campaign, above a hundred thousand were computed to
+have perished by cold and hunger Peace was at length granted to their
+humble supplications; the eldest son of Araric was accepted as the most
+valuable hostage; and Constantine endeavored to convince their chiefs,
+by a liberal distribution of honors and rewards, how far the friendship
+of the Romans was preferable to their enmity. In the expressions of his
+gratitude towards the faithful Chersonites, the emperor was still more
+magnificent. The pride of the nation was gratified by the splendid
+and almost royal decorations bestowed on their magistrate and his
+successors. A perpetual exemption from all duties was stipulated for
+their vessels which traded to the ports of the Black Sea. A regular
+subsidy was promised, of iron, corn, oil, and of every supply which
+could be useful either in peace or war. But it was thought that
+the Sarmatians were sufficiently rewarded by their deliverance from
+impending ruin; and the emperor, perhaps with too strict an economy,
+deducted some part of the expenses of the war from the customary
+gratifications which were allowed to that turbulent nation.
+
+[Footnote 44: I may stand in need of some apology for having used,
+without scruple, the authority of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in all
+that relates to the wars and negotiations of the Chersonites. I am
+aware that he was a Greek of the tenth century, and that his accounts
+of ancient history are frequently confused and fabulous. But on this
+occasion his narrative is, for the most part, consistent and probable
+nor is there much difficulty in conceiving that an emperor might have
+access to some secret archives, which had escaped the diligence of
+meaner historians. For the situation and history of Chersone, see
+Peyssonel, des Peuples barbares qui ont habite les Bords du Danube, c.
+xvi. 84-90. ----Gibbon has confounded the inhabitants of the city of
+Cherson, the ancient Chersonesus, with the people of the Chersonesus
+Taurica. If he had read with more attention the chapter of Constantius
+Porphyrogenitus, from which this narrative is derived, he would have
+seen that the author clearly distinguishes the republic of Cherson from
+the rest of the Tauric Peninsula, then possessed by the kings of the
+Cimmerian Bosphorus, and that the city of Cherson alone furnished
+succors to the Romans. The English historian is also mistaken in saying
+that the Stephanephoros of the Chersonites was a perpetual magistrate;
+since it is easy to discover from the great number of Stephanephoroi
+mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, that they were annual
+magistrates, like almost all those which governed the Grecian republics.
+St. Martin, note to Le Beau i. 326.--M.]
+
+Exasperated by this apparent neglect, the Sarmatians soon forgot,
+with the levity of barbarians, the services which they had so lately
+received, and the dangers which still threatened their safety. Their
+inroads on the territory of the empire provoked the indignation of
+Constantine to leave them to their fate; and he no longer opposed the
+ambition of Geberic, a renowned warrior, who had recently ascended the
+Gothic throne. Wisumar, the Vandal king, whilst alone, and unassisted,
+he defended his dominions with undaunted courage, was vanquished and
+slain in a decisive battle, which swept away the flower of the Sarmatian
+youth. [44a] The remainder of the nation embraced the desperate
+expedient of arming their slaves, a hardy race of hunters and herdsmen,
+by whose tumultuary aid they revenged their defeat, and expelled the
+invader from their confines. But they soon discovered that they had
+exchanged a foreign for a domestic enemy, more dangerous and more
+implacable. Enraged by their former servitude, elated by their present
+glory, the slaves, under the name of Limigantes, claimed and usurped the
+possession of the country which they had saved. Their masters, unable to
+withstand the ungoverned fury of the populace, preferred the hardships
+of exile to the tyranny of their servants. Some of the fugitive
+Sarmatians solicited a less ignominious dependence, under the hostile
+standard of the Goths. A more numerous band retired beyond the
+Carpathian Mountains, among the Quadi, their German allies, and were
+easily admitted to share a superfluous waste of uncultivated land. But
+the far greater part of the distressed nation turned their eyes towards
+the fruitful provinces of Rome. Imploring the protection and forgiveness
+of the emperor, they solemnly promised, as subjects in peace, and as
+soldiers in war, the most inviolable fidelity to the empire which should
+graciously receive them into its bosom. According to the maxims adopted
+by Probus and his successors, the offers of this barbarian colony were
+eagerly accepted; and a competent portion of lands in the provinces of
+Pannonia, Thrace, Macedonia, and Italy, were immediately assigned for
+the habitation and subsistence of three hundred thousand Sarmatians.
+[45] [45a]
+
+[Footnote 44a: Gibbon supposes that this war took place because
+Constantine had deducted a part of the customary gratifications, granted
+by his predecessors to the Sarmatians. Nothing of this kind appears in
+the authors. We see, on the contrary, that after his victory, and to
+punish the Sarmatia is for the ravages they had committed, he withheld
+the sums which it had been the custom to bestow. St. Martin, note to Le
+Beau, i. 327.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 45: The Gothic and Sarmatian wars are related in so broken and
+imperfect a manner, that I have been obliged to compare the following
+writers, who mutually supply, correct, and illustrate each other. Those
+who will take the same trouble, may acquire a right of criticizing
+my narrative. Ammianus, l. xvii. c. 12. Anonym. Valesian. p. 715.
+Eutropius, x. 7. Sextus Rufus de Provinciis, c. 26. Julian Orat. i.
+p. 9, and Spanheim, Comment. p. 94. Hieronym. in Chron. Euseb. in Vit.
+Constantin. l. iv. c. 6. Socrates, l. i. c. 18. Sozomen, l. i. c. 8.
+Zosimus, l. ii. p. 108. Jornandes de Reb. Geticis, c. 22. Isidorus in
+Chron. p. 709; in Hist. Gothorum Grotii. Constantin. Porphyrogenitus de
+Administrat. Imperii, c. 53, p. 208, edit. Meursii.]
+
+[Footnote 45a: Compare, on this very obscure but remarkable war, Manso,
+Leben Coa xantius, p. 195--M.]
+
+By chastising the pride of the Goths, and by accepting the homage of a
+suppliant nation, Constantine asserted the majesty of the Roman empire;
+and the ambassadors of Aethiopia, Persia, and the most remote countries
+of India, congratulated the peace and prosperity of his government. [46]
+If he reckoned, among the favors of fortune, the death of his eldest
+son, of his nephew, and perhaps of his wife, he enjoyed an uninterrupted
+flow of private as well as public felicity, till the thirtieth year of
+his reign; a period which none of his predecessors, since Augustus, had
+been permitted to celebrate. Constantine survived that solemn festival
+about ten months; and at the mature age of sixty-four, after a short
+illness, he ended his memorable life at the palace of Aquyrion, in the
+suburbs of Nicomedia, whither he had retired for the benefit of the air,
+and with the hope of recruiting his exhausted strength by the use of
+the warm baths. The excessive demonstrations of grief, or at least of
+mourning, surpassed whatever had been practised on any former occasion.
+Notwithstanding the claims of the senate and people of ancient Rome,
+the corpse of the deceased emperor, according to his last request, was
+transported to the city, which was destined to preserve the name and
+memory of its founder. The body of Constantine adorned with the vain
+symbols of greatness, the purple and diadem, was deposited on a golden
+bed in one of the apartments of the palace, which for that purpose had
+been splendidly furnished and illuminated. The forms of the court were
+strictly maintained. Every day, at the appointed hours, the principal
+officers of the state, the army, and the household, approaching the
+person of their sovereign with bended knees and a composed countenance,
+offered their respectful homage as seriously as if he had been still
+alive. From motives of policy, this theatrical representation was for
+some time continued; nor could flattery neglect the opportunity of
+remarking that Constantine alone, by the peculiar indulgence of Heaven,
+had reigned after his death. [47]
+
+[Footnote 46: Eusebius (in Vit. Const. l. iv. c. 50) remarks three
+circumstances relative to these Indians. 1. They came from the shores of
+the eastern ocean; a description which might be applied to the coast
+of China or Coromandel. 2. They presented shining gems, and unknown
+animals. 3. They protested their kings had erected statues to represent
+the supreme majesty of Constantine.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Funus relatum in urbem sui nominis, quod sane P. R.
+aegerrime tulit. Aurelius Victor. Constantine prepared for himself a
+stately tomb in the church of the Holy Apostles. Euseb. l. iv. c. 60.
+The best, and indeed almost the only account of the sickness, death, and
+funeral of Constantine, is contained in the fourth book of his Life by
+Eusebius.]
+
+But this reign could subsist only in empty pageantry; and it was soon
+discovered that the will of the most absolute monarch is seldom obeyed,
+when his subjects have no longer anything to hope from his favor, or to
+dread from his resentment. The same ministers and generals, who bowed
+with such referential awe before the inanimate corpse of their deceased
+sovereign, were engaged in secret consultations to exclude his two
+nephews, Dalmatius and Hannibalianus, from the share which he had
+assigned them in the succession of the empire. We are too imperfectly
+acquainted with the court of Constantine to form any judgment of the
+real motives which influenced the leaders of the conspiracy; unless
+we should suppose that they were actuated by a spirit of jealousy and
+revenge against the praefect Ablavius, a proud favorite, who had long
+directed the counsels and abused the confidence of the late emperor. The
+arguments, by which they solicited the concurrence of the soldiers and
+people, are of a more obvious nature; and they might with decency,
+as well as truth, insist on the superior rank of the children of
+Constantine, the danger of multiplying the number of sovereigns, and the
+impending mischiefs which threatened the republic, from the discord of
+so many rival princes, who were not connected by the tender sympathy of
+fraternal affection. The intrigue was conducted with zeal and secrecy,
+till a loud and unanimous declaration was procured from the troops,
+that they would suffer none except the sons of their lamented monarch to
+reign over the Roman empire. [48] The younger Dalmatius, who was united
+with his collateral relations by the ties of friendship and interest, is
+allowed to have inherited a considerable share of the abilities of the
+great Constantine; but, on this occasion, he does not appear to have
+concerted any measure for supporting, by arms, the just claims which
+himself and his royal brother derived from the liberality of their
+uncle. Astonished and overwhelmed by the tide of popular fury, they seem
+to have remained, without the power of flight or of resistance, in the
+hands of their implacable enemies. Their fate was suspended till the
+arrival of Constantius, the second, and perhaps the most favored, of the
+sons of Constantine.
+
+[Footnote 48: Eusebius (l. iv. c. 6) terminates his narrative by
+this loyal declaration of the troops, and avoids all the invidious
+circumstances of the subsequent massacre.]
+
+[Footnote 49: The character of Dalmatius is advantageously, though
+concisely drawn by Eutropius. (x. 9.) Dalmatius Ceasar prosperrima
+indole, neque patrou absimilis, haud multo post oppressus est factione
+militari. As both Jerom and the Alexandrian Chronicle mention the third
+year of the Ceasar, which did not commence till the 18th or 24th
+of September, A. D. 337, it is certain that these military factions
+continued above four months.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Character Of Constantine And His Sons.--Part III.
+
+The voice of the dying emperor had recommended the care of his funeral
+to the piety of Constantius; and that prince, by the vicinity of his
+eastern station, could easily prevent the diligence of his brothers, who
+resided in their distant government of Italy and Gaul. As soon as he had
+taken possession of the palace of Constantinople, his first care was
+to remove the apprehensions of his kinsmen, by a solemn oath which
+he pledged for their security. His next employment was to find some
+specious pretence which might release his conscience from the obligation
+of an imprudent promise. The arts of fraud were made subservient to the
+designs of cruelty; and a manifest forgery was attested by a person of
+the most sacred character. From the hands of the Bishop of Nicomedia,
+Constantius received a fatal scroll, affirmed to be the genuine
+testament of his father; in which the emperor expressed his suspicions
+that he had been poisoned by his brothers; and conjured his sons to
+revenge his death, and to consult their own safety, by the punishment
+of the guilty. [50] Whatever reasons might have been alleged by these
+unfortunate princes to defend their life and honor against so incredible
+an accusation, they were silenced by the furious clamors of the
+soldiers, who declared themselves, at once, their enemies, their
+judges, and their executioners. The spirit, and even the forms of legal
+proceedings were repeatedly violated in a promiscuous massacre; which
+involved the two uncles of Constantius, seven of his cousins, of whom
+Dalmatius and Hannibalianus were the most illustrious, the Patrician
+Optatus, who had married a sister of the late emperor, and the Praefect
+Ablavius, whose power and riches had inspired him with some hopes of
+obtaining the purple. If it were necessary to aggravate the horrors of
+this bloody scene, we might add, that Constantius himself had espoused
+the daughter of his uncle Julius, and that he had bestowed his sister in
+marriage on his cousin Hannibalianus. These alliances, which the policy
+of Constantine, regardless of the public prejudice, [51] had formed
+between the several branches of the Imperial house, served only to
+convince mankind, that these princes were as cold to the endearments
+of conjugal affection, as they were insensible to the ties of
+consanguinity, and the moving entreaties of youth and innocence. Of so
+numerous a family, Gallus and Julian alone, the two youngest children
+of Julius Constantius, were saved from the hands of the assassins, till
+their rage, satiated with slaughter, had in some measure subsided. The
+emperor Constantius, who, in the absence of his brothers, was the most
+obnoxious to guilt and reproach, discovered, on some future occasions,
+a faint and transient remorse for those cruelties which the perfidious
+counsels of his ministers, and the irresistible violence of the troops,
+had extorted from his unexperienced youth. [52]
+
+[Footnote 50: I have related this singular anecdote on the authority
+of Philostorgius, l. ii. c. 16. But if such a pretext was ever used by
+Constantius and his adherents, it was laid aside with contempt, as
+soon as it served their immediate purpose. Athanasius (tom. i. p. 856)
+mention the oath which Constantius had taken for the security of his
+kinsmen. ----The authority of Philostorgius is so suspicious, as not to
+be sufficient to establish this fact, which Gibbon has inserted in his
+history as certain, while in the note he appears to doubt it.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Conjugia sobrinarum diu ignorata, tempore addito
+percrebuisse. Tacit. Annal. xii. 6, and Lipsius ad loc. The repeal
+of the ancient law, and the practice of five hundred years, were
+insufficient to eradicate the prejudices of the Romans, who still
+considered the marriages of cousins-german as a species of imperfect
+incest. (Augustin de Civitate Dei, xv. 6;) and Julian, whose mind was
+biased by superstition and resentment, stigmatizes these unnatural
+alliances between his own cousins with the opprobrious epithet (Orat.
+vii. p. 228.). The jurisprudence of the canons has since received and
+enforced this prohibition, without being able to introduce it either
+into the civil or the common law of Europe. See on the subject of these
+marriages, Taylor's Civil Law, p. 331. Brouer de Jure Connub. l. ii.
+c. 12. Hericourt des Loix Ecclesiastiques, part iii. c. 5. Fleury,
+Institutions du Droit Canonique, tom. i. p. 331. Paris, 1767, and Fra
+Paolo, Istoria del Concilio Trident, l. viii.]
+
+[Footnote 52: Julian (ad S. P.. Q. Athen. p. 270) charges his cousin
+Constantius with the whole guilt of a massacre, from which he himself
+so narrowly escaped. His assertion is confirmed by Athanasius, who,
+for reasons of a very different nature, was not less an enemy of
+Constantius, (tom. i. p. 856.) Zosimus joins in the same accusation. But
+the three abbreviators, Eutropius and the Victors, use very qualifying
+expressions: "sinente potius quam jubente;" "incertum quo suasore;" "vi
+militum."]
+
+The massacre of the Flavian race was succeeded by a new division of
+the provinces; which was ratified in a personal interview of the three
+brothers. Constantine, the eldest of the Caesars, obtained, with a
+certain preeminence of rank, the possession of the new capital, which
+bore his own name and that of his father. Thrace, and the countries of
+the East, were allotted for the patrimony of Constantius; and Constans
+was acknowledged as the lawful sovereign of Italy, Africa, and the
+Western Illyricum. The armies submitted to their hereditary right; and
+they condescended, after some delay, to accept from the Roman senate the
+title of Augustus. When they first assumed the reins of government, the
+eldest of these princes was twenty-one, the second twenty, and the third
+only seventeen, years of age. [53]
+
+[Footnote 53: Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. l. iv. c. 69. Zosimus, l. ii.
+p. 117. Idat. in Chron. See two notes of Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs,
+tom. iv. p. 1086-1091. The reign of the eldest brother at Constantinople
+is noticed only in the Alexandrian Chronicle.]
+
+While the martial nations of Europe followed the standards of his
+brothers, Constantius, at the head of the effeminate troops of Asia,
+was left to sustain the weight of the Persian war. At the decease of
+Constantine, the throne of the East was filled by Sapor, son of
+Hormouz, or Hormisdas, and grandson of Narses, who, after the victory
+of Galerius, had humbly confessed the superiority of the Roman power.
+Although Sapor was in the thirtieth year of his long reign, he was still
+in the vigor of youth, as the date of his accession, by a very strange
+fatality, had preceded that of his birth. The wife of Hormouz remained
+pregnant at the time of her husband's death; and the uncertainty of the
+sex, as well as of the event, excited the ambitious hopes of the princes
+of the house of Sassan. The apprehensions of civil war were at length
+removed, by the positive assurance of the Magi, that the widow of
+Hormouz had conceived, and would safely produce a son. Obedient to
+the voice of superstition, the Persians prepared, without delay, the
+ceremony of his coronation.
+
+A royal bed, on which the queen lay in state, was exhibited in the
+midst of the palace; the diadem was placed on the spot, which might be
+supposed to conceal the future heir of Artaxerxes, and the prostrate
+satraps adored the majesty of their invisible and insensible sovereign.
+[54] If any credit can be given to this marvellous tale, which seems,
+however, to be countenanced by the manners of the people, and by
+the extraordinary duration of his reign, we must admire not only the
+fortune, but the genius, of Sapor. In the soft, sequestered education
+of a Persian harem, the royal youth could discover the importance of
+exercising the vigor of his mind and body; and, by his personal merit,
+deserved a throne, on which he had been seated, while he was yet
+unconscious of the duties and temptations of absolute power. His
+minority was exposed to the almost inevitable calamities of domestic
+discord; his capital was surprised and plundered by Thair, a powerful
+king of Yemen, or Arabia; and the majesty of the royal family was
+degraded by the captivity of a princess, the sister of the deceased
+king. But as soon as Sapor attained the age of manhood, the presumptuous
+Thair, his nation, and his country, fell beneath the first effort of the
+young warrior; who used his victory with so judicious a mixture of rigor
+and clemency, that he obtained from the fears and gratitude of the Arabs
+the title of Dhoulacnaf, or protector of the nation. [55] [55a]
+
+[Footnote 54: Agathias, who lived in the sixth century, is the author
+of this story, (l. iv. p. 135, edit. Louvre.) He derived his information
+from some extracts of the Persian Chronicles, obtained and translated
+by the interpreter Sergius, during his embassy at that country. The
+coronation of the mother of Sapor is likewise mentioned by Snikard,
+(Tarikh. p. 116,) and D'Herbelot (Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 703.)
+----The author of the Zenut-ul-Tarikh states, that the lady herself
+affirmed her belief of this from the extraordinary liveliness of the
+infant, and its lying on the right side. Those who are sage on such
+subjects must determine what right she had to be positive from these
+symptoms. Malcolm, Hist. of Persia, i 83.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 55: D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 764.]
+
+[Footnote 55a: Gibbon, according to Sir J. Malcolm, has greatly
+mistaken the derivation of this name; it means Zoolaktaf, the Lord of
+the Shoulders, from his directing the shoulders of his captives to be
+pierced and then dislocated by a string passed through them. Eastern
+authors are agreed with respect to the origin of this title. Malcolm,
+i. 84. Gibbon took his derivation from D'Herbelot, who gives both, the
+latter on the authority of the Leb. Tarikh.--M.]
+
+The ambition of the Persian, to whom his enemies ascribe the virtues of
+a soldier and a statesman, was animated by the desire of revenging the
+disgrace of his fathers, and of wresting from the hands of the Romans
+the five provinces beyond the Tigris. The military fame of Constantine,
+and the real or apparent strength of his government, suspended the
+attack; and while the hostile conduct of Sapor provoked the resentment,
+his artful negotiations amused the patience of the Imperial court.
+The death of Constantine was the signal of war, [56] and the actual
+condition of the Syrian and Armenian frontier seemed to encourage the
+Persians by the prospect of a rich spoil and an easy conquest.
+The example of the massacres of the palace diffused a spirit of
+licentiousness and sedition among the troops of the East, who were no
+longer restrained by their habits of obedience to a veteran commander.
+By the prudence of Constantius, who, from the interview with his
+brothers in Pannonia, immediately hastened to the banks of the
+Euphrates, the legions were gradually restored to a sense of duty and
+discipline; but the season of anarchy had permitted Sapor to form
+the siege of Nisibis, and to occupy several of the mo st important
+fortresses of Mesopotamia. [57] In Armenia, the renowned Tiridates had
+long enjoyed the peace and glory which he deserved by his valor
+and fidelity to the cause of Rome. [57a] The firm alliance which he
+maintained with Constantine was productive of spiritual as well as of
+temporal benefits; by the conversion of Tiridates, the character of a
+saint was applied to that of a hero, the Christian faith was preached
+and established from the Euphrates to the shores of the Caspian, and
+Armenia was attached to the empire by the double ties of policy and
+religion. But as many of the Armenian nobles still refused to abandon
+the plurality of their gods and of their wives, the public tranquillity
+was disturbed by a discontented faction, which insulted the feeble age
+of their sovereign, and impatiently expected the hour of his death. He
+died at length after a reign of fifty-six years, and the fortune of the
+Armenian monarchy expired with Tiridates. His lawful heir was driven
+into exile, the Christian priests were either murdered or expelled
+from their churches, the barbarous tribes of Albania were solicited to
+descend from their mountains; and two of the most powerful governors,
+usurping the ensigns or the powers of royalty, implored the assistance
+of Sapor, and opened the gates of their cities to the Persian garrisons.
+The Christian party, under the guidance of the Archbishop of Artaxata,
+the immediate successor of St. Gregory the Illuminator, had recourse to
+the piety of Constantius. After the troubles had continued about three
+years, Antiochus, one of the officers of the household, executed with
+success the Imperial commission of restoring Chosroes, [57b] the son
+of Tiridates, to the throne of his fathers, of distributing honors and
+rewards among the faithful servants of the house of Arsaces, and of
+proclaiming a general amnesty, which was accepted by the greater part of
+the rebellious satraps. But the Romans derived more honor than advantage
+from this revolution. Chosroes was a prince of a puny stature and a
+pusillanimous spirit. Unequal to the fatigues of war, averse to the
+society of mankind, he withdrew from his capital to a retired palace,
+which he built on the banks of the River Eleutherus, and in the centre
+of a shady grove; where he consumed his vacant hours in the rural sports
+of hunting and hawking. To secure this inglorious ease, he submitted to
+the conditions of peace which Sapor condescended to impose; the payment
+of an annual tribute, and the restitution of the fertile province of
+Atropatene, which the courage of Tiridates, and the victorious arms of
+Galerius, had annexed to the Armenian monarchy. [58] [58a]
+
+[Footnote 56: Sextus Rufus, (c. 26,) who on this occasion is no
+contemptible authority, affirms, that the Persians sued in vain for
+peace, and that Constantine was preparing to march against them: yet
+the superior weight of the testimony of Eusebius obliges us to admit the
+preliminaries, if not the ratification, of the treaty. See Tillemont,
+Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 420. ----Constantine had endeavored
+to allay the fury of the prosecutions, which, at the instigation of the
+Magi and the Jews, Sapor had commenced against the Christians. Euseb
+Vit. Hist. Theod. i. 25. Sozom. ii. c. 8, 15.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 57: Julian. Orat. i. p. 20.]
+
+[Footnote 57a: Tiridates had sustained a war against Maximin. caused
+by the hatred of the latter against Christianity. Armenia was the
+first nation which embraced Christianity. About the year 276 it was the
+religion of the king, the nobles, and the people of Armenia. From St.
+Martin, Supplement to Le Beau, v. i. p. 78.----Compare Preface to
+History of Vartan by Professor Neumann, p ix.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 57b: Chosroes was restored probably by Licinius, between 314
+and 319. There was an Antiochus who was praefectus vigilum at Rome, as
+appears from the Theodosian Code, (l. iii. de inf. his quae sub ty.,) in
+326, and from a fragment of the same work published by M. Amedee Peyron,
+in 319. He may before this have been sent into Armenia. St. M. p. 407.
+[Is it not more probable that Antiochus was an officer in the service
+of the Caesar who ruled in the East?--M.] Chosroes was succeeded in the
+year 322 by his son Diran. Diran was a weak prince, and in the sixteenth
+year of his reign. A. D. 337. was betrayed into the power of the
+Persians by the treachery of his chamberlain and the Persian governor of
+Atropatene or Aderbidjan. He was blinded: his wife and his son Arsaces
+shared his captivity, but the princes and nobles of Armenia claimed the
+protection of Rome; and this was the cause of Constantine's declaration
+of war against the Persians.--The king of Persia attempted to make
+himself master of Armenia; but the brave resistance of the people, the
+advance of Constantius, and a defeat which his army suffered at Oskha in
+Armenia, and the failure before Nisibis, forced Shahpour to submit to
+terms of peace. Varaz-Shahpour, the perfidious governor of Atropatene,
+was flayed alive; Diran and his son were released from captivity; Diran
+refused to ascend the throne, and retired to an obscure retreat: his son
+Arsaces was crowned king of Armenia. Arsaces pursued a vacillating
+policy between the influence of Rome and Persia, and the war recommenced
+in the year 345. At least, that was the period of the expedition of
+Constantius to the East. See St. Martin, additions to Le Beau, i. 442.
+The Persians have made an extraordinary romance out of the history of
+Shahpour, who went as a spy to Constantinople, was taken, harnessed like
+a horse, and carried to witness the devastation of his kingdom. Malcolm.
+84--M.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Julian. Orat. i. p. 20, 21. Moses of Chorene, l. ii. c.
+89, l. iii. c. 1--9, p. 226--240. The perfect agreement between the
+vague hints of the contemporary orator, and the circumstantial narrative
+of the national historian, gives light to the former, and weight to the
+latter. For the credit of Moses, it may be likewise observed, that
+the name of Antiochus is found a few years before in a civil office of
+inferior dignity. See Godefroy, Cod. Theod. tom. vi. p. 350.]
+
+[Footnote 58a: Gibbon has endeavored, in his History, to make use of the
+information furnished by Moses of Chorene, the only Armenian
+historian then translated into Latin. Gibbon has not perceived all the
+chronological difficulties which occur in the narrative of that writer.
+He has not thought of all the critical discussions which his text ought
+to undergo before it can be combined with the relations of the western
+writers. From want of this attention, Gibbon has made the facts which he
+has drawn from this source more erroneous than they are in the original.
+This judgment applies to all which the English historian has derived
+from the Armenian author. I have made the History of Moses a subject
+of particular attention; and it is with confidence that I offer the
+results, which I insert here, and which will appear in the course of
+my notes. In order to form a judgment of the difference which exists
+between me and Gibbon, I will content myself with remarking, that
+throughout he has committed an anachronism of thirty years, from whence
+it follows, that he assigns to the reign of Constantius many events
+which took place during that of Constantine. He could not, therefore,
+discern the true connection which exists between the Roman history and
+that of Armenia, or form a correct notion of the reasons which induced
+Constantine, at the close of his life, to make war upon the Persians, or
+of the motives which detained Constantius so long in the East; he does
+not even mention them. St. Martin, note on Le Beau, i. 406. I have
+inserted M. St. Martin's observations, but I must add, that the
+chronology which he proposes, is not generally received by Armenian
+scholars, not, I believe, by Professor Neumann.--M.]
+
+During the long period of the reign of Constantius, the provinces of
+the East were afflicted by the calamities of the Persian war. [58c] The
+irregular incursions of the light troops alternately spread terror and
+devastation beyond the Tigris and beyond the Euphrates, from the gates
+of Ctesiphon to those of Antioch; and this active service was performed
+by the Arabs of the desert, who were divided in their interest and
+affections; some of their independent chiefs being enlisted in the
+party of Sapor, whilst others had engaged their doubtful fidelity to the
+emperor. [59] The more grave and important operations of the war
+were conducted with equal vigor; and the armies of Rome and Persia
+encountered each other in nine bloody fields, in two of which
+Constantius himself commanded in person. [60] The event of the day was
+most commonly adverse to the Romans, but in the battle of Singara, their
+imprudent valor had almost achieved a signal and decisive victory. The
+stationary troops of Singara [60a] retired on the approach of Sapor, who
+passed the Tigris over three bridges, and occupied near the village
+of Hilleh an advantageous camp, which, by the labor of his numerous
+pioneers, he surrounded in one day with a deep ditch and a lofty
+rampart. His formidable host, when it was drawn out in order of battle,
+covered the banks of the river, the adjacent heights, and the whole
+extent of a plain of above twelve miles, which separated the two armies.
+Both were alike impatient to engage; but the Barbarians, after a slight
+resistance, fled in disorder; unable to resist, or desirous to weary,
+the strength of the heavy legions, who, fainting with heat and thirst,
+pursued them across the plain, and cut in pieces a line of cavalry,
+clothed in complete armor, which had been posted before the gates of the
+camp to protect their retreat. Constantius, who was hurried along in the
+pursuit, attempted, without effect, to restrain the ardor of his troops,
+by representing to them the dangers of the approaching night, and the
+certainty of completing their success with the return of day. As they
+depended much more on their own valor than on the experience or the
+abilities of their chief, they silenced by their clamors his timid
+remonstrances; and rushing with fury to the charge, filled up the ditch,
+broke down the rampart, and dispersed themselves through the tents to
+recruit their exhausted strength, and to enjoy the rich harvest of their
+labors. But the prudent Sapor had watched the moment of victory. His
+army, of which the greater part, securely posted on the heights, had
+been spectators of the action, advanced in silence, and under the shadow
+of the night; and his Persian archers, guided by the illumination of the
+camp, poured a shower of arrows on a disarmed and licentious crowd. The
+sincerity of history [61] declares, that the Romans were vanquished with
+a dreadful slaughter, and that the flying remnant of the legions was
+exposed to the most intolerable hardships. Even the tenderness of
+panegyric, confessing that the glory of the emperor was sullied by
+the disobedience of his soldiers, chooses to draw a veil over the
+circumstances of this melancholy retreat. Yet one of those venal
+orators, so jealous of the fame of Constantius, relates, with amazing
+coolness, an act of such incredible cruelty, as, in the judgment of
+posterity, must imprint a far deeper stain on the honor of the Imperial
+name. The son of Sapor, the heir of his crown, had been made a captive
+in the Persian camp. The unhappy youth, who might have excited the
+compassion of the most savage enemy, was scourged, tortured, and
+publicly executed by the inhuman Romans. [62]
+
+[Footnote 58c: It was during this war that a bold flatterer (whose name
+is unknown) published the Itineraries of Alexander and Trajan, in order
+to direct the victorious Constantius in the footsteps of those great
+conquerors of the East. The former of these has been published for the
+first time by M. Angelo Mai (Milan, 1817, reprinted at Frankfort, 1818.)
+It adds so little to our knowledge of Alexander's campaigns, that it
+only excites our regret that it is not the Itinerary of Trajan, of whose
+eastern victories we have no distinct record--M]
+
+[Footnote 59: Ammianus (xiv. 4) gives a lively description of the
+wandering and predatory life of the Saracens, who stretched from the
+confines of Assyria to the cataracts of the Nile. It appears from the
+adventures of Malchus, which Jerom has related in so entertaining a
+manner, that the high road between Beraea and Edessa was infested by
+these robbers. See Hieronym. tom. i. p. 256.]
+
+[Footnote 60: We shall take from Eutropius the general idea of the war.
+A Persis enim multa et gravia perpessus, saepe captis, oppidis, obsessis
+urbibus, caesis exercitibus, nullumque ei contra Saporem prosperum
+praelium fuit, nisi quod apud Singaram, &c. This honest account is
+confirmed by the hints of Ammianus, Rufus, and Jerom. The two first
+orations of Julian, and the third oration of Libanius, exhibit a more
+flattering picture; but the recantation of both those orators, after
+the death of Constantius, while it restores us to the possession of
+the truth, degrades their own character, and that of the emperor. The
+Commentary of Spanheim on the first oration of Julian is profusely
+learned. See likewise the judicious observations of Tillemont, Hist. des
+Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 656.]
+
+[Footnote 60a: Now Sinjar, or the River Claboras.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 61: Acerrima nocturna concertatione pugnatum est, nostrorum
+copiis ngenti strage confossis. Ammian. xviii. 5. See likewise
+Eutropius, x. 10, and S. Rufus, c. 27. ----The Persian historians, or
+romancers, do not mention the battle of Singara, but make the captive
+Shahpour escape, defeat, and take prisoner, the Roman emperor. The Roman
+captives were forced to repair all the ravages they had committed, even
+to replanting the smallest trees. Malcolm. i. 82.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Libanius, Orat. iii. p. 133, with Julian. Orat. i. p. 24,
+and Spanneism's Commentary, p. 179.]
+
+Whatever advantages might attend the arms of Sapor in the field, though
+nine repeated victories diffused among the nations the fame of his
+valor and conduct, he could not hope to succeed in the execution of his
+designs, while the fortified towns of Mesopotamia, and, above all, the
+strong and ancient city of Nisibis, remained in the possession of the
+Romans. In the space of twelve years, Nisibis, which, since the time
+of Lucullus, had been deservedly esteemed the bulwark of the East,
+sustained three memorable sieges against the power of Sapor; and the
+disappointed monarch, after urging his attacks above sixty, eighty, and
+a hundred days, was thrice repulsed with loss and ignominy. [63] This
+large and populous city was situate about two days' journey from the
+Tigris, in the midst of a pleasant and fertile plain at the foot of
+Mount Masius. A treble enclosure of brick walls was defended by a deep
+ditch; [64] and the intrepid resistance of Count Lucilianus, and his
+garrison, was seconded by the desperate courage of the people. The
+citizens of Nisibis were animated by the exhortations of their bishop,
+[65] inured to arms by the presence of danger, and convinced of the
+intentions of Sapor to plant a Persian colony in their room, and to lead
+them away into distant and barbarous captivity. The event of the two
+former sieges elated their confidence, and exasperated the haughty
+spirit of the Great King, who advanced a third time towards Nisibis,
+at the head of the united forces of Persia and India. The ordinary
+machines, invented to batter or undermine the walls, were rendered
+ineffectual by the superior skill of the Romans; and many days had
+vainly elapsed, when Sapor embraced a resolution worthy of an eastern
+monarch, who believed that the elements themselves were subject to his
+power. At the stated season of the melting of the snows in Armenia, the
+River Mygdonius, which divides the plain and the city of Nisibis, forms,
+like the Nile, [66] an inundation over the adjacent country. By the
+labor of the Persians, the course of the river was stopped below the
+town, and the waters were confined on every side by solid mounds of
+earth. On this artificial lake, a fleet of armed vessels filled with
+soldiers, and with engines which discharged stones of five hundred
+pounds weight, advanced in order of battle, and engaged, almost upon a
+level, the troops which defended the ramparts. [66a] The irresistible
+force of the waters was alternately fatal to the contending parties,
+till at length a portion of the walls, unable to sustain the accumulated
+pressure, gave way at once, and exposed an ample breach of one hundred
+and fifty feet. The Persians were instantly driven to the assault, and
+the fate of Nisibis depended on the event of the day. The heavy-armed
+cavalry, who led the van of a deep column, were embarrassed in the mud,
+and great numbers were drowned in the unseen holes which had been filled
+by the rushing waters. The elephants, made furious by their wounds,
+increased the disorder, and trampled down thousands of the Persian
+archers. The Great King, who, from an exalted throne, beheld the
+misfortunes of his arms, sounded, with reluctant indignation, the signal
+of the retreat, and suspended for some hours the prosecution of the
+attack. But the vigilant citizens improved the opportunity of the night;
+and the return of day discovered a new wall of six feet in
+height, rising every moment to fill up the interval of the breach.
+Notwithstanding the disappointment of his hopes, and the loss of more
+than twenty thousand men, Sapor still pressed the reduction of Nisibis,
+with an obstinate firmness, which could have yielded only to the
+necessity of defending the eastern provinces of Persia against
+a formidable invasion of the Massagetae. [67] Alarmed by this
+intelligence, he hastily relinquished the siege, and marched with rapid
+diligence from the banks of the Tigris to those of the Oxus. The danger
+and difficulties of the Scythian war engaged him soon afterwards to
+conclude, or at least to observe, a truce with the Roman emperor, which
+was equally grateful to both princes; as Constantius himself, after the
+death of his two brothers, was involved, by the revolutions of the
+West, in a civil contest, which required and seemed to exceed the most
+vigorous exertion of his undivided strength.
+
+[Footnote 63: See Julian. Orat. i. p. 27, Orat. ii. p. 62, &c., with the
+Commentary of Spanheim, (p. 188-202,) who illustrates the circumstances,
+and ascertains the time of the three sieges of Nisibis. Their dates are
+likewise examined by Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 668,
+671, 674.) Something is added from Zosimus, l. iii. p. 151, and the
+Alexandrine Chronicle, p. 290.]
+
+[Footnote 64: Sallust. Fragment. lxxxiv. edit. Brosses, and Plutarch
+in Lucull. tom. iii. p. 184. Nisibis is now reduced to one hundred and
+fifty houses: the marshy lands produce rice, and the fertile meadows,
+as far as Mosul and the Tigris, are covered with the ruins of towns and
+allages. See Niebuhr, Voyages, tom. ii. p. 300-309.]
+
+[Footnote 65: The miracles which Theodoret (l. ii. c. 30) ascribes to
+St. James, Bishop of Edessa, were at least performed in a worthy cause,
+the defence of his couutry. He appeared on the walls under the figure of
+the Roman emperor, and sent an army of gnats to sting the trunks of the
+elephants, and to discomfit the host of the new Sennacherib.]
+
+[Footnote 66: Julian. Orat. i. p. 27. Though Niebuhr (tom. ii. p. 307)
+allows a very considerable swell to the Mygdonius, over which he saw a
+bridge of twelve arches: it is difficult, however, to understand this
+parallel of a trifling rivulet with a mighty river. There are many
+circumstances obscure, and almost unintelligible, in the description of
+these stupendous water-works.]
+
+[Footnote 66a: Macdonald Kinnier observes on these floating batteries,
+"As the elevation of place is considerably above the level of the
+country in its immediate vicinity, and the Mygdonius is a very
+insignificant stream, it is difficult to imagine how this work could
+have been accomplished, even with the wonderful resources which the king
+must have had at his disposal" Geographical Memoir. p. 262.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 67: We are obliged to Zonaras (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 11) for
+this invasion of the Massagetae, which is perfectly consistent with
+the general series of events to which we are darkly led by the broken
+history of Ammianus.]
+
+After the partition of the empire, three years had scarcely elapsed
+before the sons of Constantine seemed impatient to convince mankind that
+they were incapable of contenting themselves with the dominions which
+they were unqualified to govern. The eldest of those princes soon
+complained, that he was defrauded of his just proportion of the spoils
+of their murdered kinsmen; and though he might yield to the superior
+guilt and merit of Constantius, he exacted from Constans the cession
+of the African provinces, as an equivalent for the rich countries of
+Macedonia and Greece, which his brother had acquired by the death of
+Dalmatius. The want of sincerity, which Constantine experienced in a
+tedious and fruitless negotiation, exasperated the fierceness of his
+temper; and he eagerly listened to those favorites, who suggested to
+him that his honor, as well as his interest, was concerned in the
+prosecution of the quarrel. At the head of a tumultuary band, suited for
+rapine rather than for conquest, he suddenly broke onto the dominions of
+Constans, by the way of the Julian Alps, and the country round Aquileia
+felt the first effects of his resentment. The measures of Constans, who
+then resided in Dacia, were directed with more prudence and ability. On
+the news of his brother's invasion, he detached a select and disciplined
+body of his Illyrian troops, proposing to follow them in person, with
+the remainder of his forces. But the conduct of his lieutenants soon
+terminated the unnatural contest.
+
+By the artful appearances of flight, Constantine was betrayed into an
+ambuscade, which had been concealed in a wood, where the rash youth,
+with a few attendants, was surprised, surrounded, and slain. His body,
+after it had been found in the obscure stream of the Alsa, obtained the
+honors of an Imperial sepulchre; but his provinces transferred their
+allegiance to the conqueror, who, refusing to admit his elder brother
+Constantius to any share in these new acquisitions, maintained the
+undisputed possession of more than two thirds of the Roman empire. [68]
+
+[Footnote 68: The causes and the events of this civil war are related
+with much perplexity and contradiction. I have chiefly followed Zonaras
+and the younger Victor. The monody (ad Calcem Eutrop. edit. Havercamp.)
+pronounced on the death of Constantine, might have been very
+instructive; but prudence and false taste engaged the orator to involve
+himself in vague declamation.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Character Of Constantine And His Sons.--Part IV.
+
+The fate of Constans himself was delayed about ten years longer, and the
+revenge of his brother's death was reserved for the more ignoble hand of
+a domestic traitor. The pernicious tendency of the system introduced by
+Constantine was displayed in the feeble administration of his sons;
+who, by their vices and weakness, soon lost the esteem and affections of
+their people. The pride assumed by Constans, from the unmerited success
+of his arms, was rendered more contemptible by his want of abilities
+and application. His fond partiality towards some German captives,
+distinguished only by the charms of youth, was an object of scandal to
+the people; [69] and Magnentius, an ambitious soldier, who was himself
+of Barbarian extraction, was encouraged by the public discontent to
+assert the honor of the Roman name. [70] The chosen bands of Jovians and
+Herculians, who acknowledged Magnentius as their leader, maintained
+the most respectable and important station in the Imperial camp. The
+friendship of Marcellinus, count of the sacred largesses, supplied with
+a liberal hand the means of seduction. The soldiers were convinced by
+the most specious arguments, that the republic summoned them to break
+the bonds of hereditary servitude; and, by the choice of an active
+and vigilant prince, to reward the same virtues which had raised the
+ancestors of the degenerate Constans from a private condition to the
+throne of the world. As soon as the conspiracy was ripe for execution,
+Marcellinus, under the pretence of celebrating his son's birthday, gave
+a splendid entertainment to the illustrious and honorable persons of the
+court of Gaul, which then resided in the city of Autun. The intemperance
+of the feast was artfully protracted till a very late hour of the night;
+and the unsuspecting guests were tempted to indulge themselves in a
+dangerous and guilty freedom of conversation. On a sudden the doors were
+thrown open, and Magnentius, who had retired for a few moments,
+returned into the apartment, invested with the diadem and purple. The
+conspirators instantly saluted him with the titles of Augustus and
+Emperor. The surprise, the terror, the intoxication, the ambitious
+hopes, and the mutual ignorance of the rest of the assembly, prompted
+them to join their voices to the general acclamation. The guards
+hastened to take the oath of fidelity; the gates of the town were shut;
+and before the dawn of day, Magnentius became master of the troops and
+treasure of the palace and city of Autun. By his secrecy and diligence
+he entertained some hopes of surprising the person of Constans, who was
+pursuing in the adjacent forest his favorite amusement of hunting, or
+perhaps some pleasures of a more private and criminal nature. The rapid
+progress of fame allowed him, however, an instant for flight, though
+the desertion of his soldiers and subjects deprived him of the power of
+resistance. Before he could reach a seaport in Spain, where he intended
+to embark, he was overtaken near Helena, [71] at the foot of the
+Pyrenees, by a party of light cavalry, whose chief, regardless of the
+sanctity of a temple, executed his commission by the murder of the son
+of Constantine. [72]
+
+[Footnote 69: Quarum (gentium) obsides pretio quaesitos pueros
+venustiore quod cultius habuerat libidine hujusmodi arsisse pro certo
+habet. Had not the depraved taste of Constans been publicly avowed, the
+elder Victor, who held a considerable office in his brother's reign,
+would not have asserted it in such positive terms.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Julian. Orat. i. and ii. Zosim. l. ii. p. 134. Victor in
+Epitome. There is reason to believe that Magnentius was born in one of
+those Barbarian colonies which Constantius Chlorus had established in
+Gaul, (see this History, vol. i. p. 414.) His behavior may remind us of
+the patriot earl of Leicester, the famous Simon de Montfort, who could
+persuade the good people of England, that he, a Frenchman by birth had
+taken arms to deliver them from foreign favorites.]
+
+[Footnote 71: This ancient city had once flourished under the name of
+Illiberis (Pomponius Mela, ii. 5.) The munificence of Constantine gave
+it new splendor, and his mother's name. Helena (it is still called
+Elne) became the seat of a bishop, who long afterwards transferred his
+residence to Perpignan, the capital of modern Rousillon. See D'Anville.
+Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 380. Longuerue, Description de la France,
+p. 223, and the Marca Hispanica, l. i. c. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 119, 120. Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiii. p.
+13, and the Abbreviators.]
+
+As soon as the death of Constans had decided this easy but important
+revolution, the example of the court of Autun was imitated by the
+provinces of the West. The authority of Magnentius was acknowledged
+through the whole extent of the two great praefectures of Gaul and
+Italy; and the usurper prepared, by every act of oppression, to collect
+a treasure, which might discharge the obligation of an immense donative,
+and supply the expenses of a civil war. The martial countries of
+Illyricum, from the Danube to the extremity of Greece, had long obeyed
+the government of Vetranio, an aged general, beloved for the simplicity
+of his manners, and who had acquired some reputation by his experience
+and services in war. [73] Attached by habit, by duty, and by gratitude,
+to the house of Constantine, he immediately gave the strongest
+assurances to the only surviving son of his late master, that he would
+expose, with unshaken fidelity, his person and his troops, to inflict a
+just revenge on the traitors of Gaul. But the legions of Vetranio were
+seduced, rather than provoked, by the example of rebellion; their
+leader soon betrayed a want of firmness, or a want of sincerity; and
+his ambition derived a specious pretence from the approbation of the
+princess Constantina. That cruel and aspiring woman, who had obtained
+from the great Constantine, her father, the rank of Augusta, placed
+the diadem with her own hands on the head of the Illyrian general; and
+seemed to expect from his victory the accomplishment of those unbounded
+hopes, of which she had been disappointed by the death of her husband
+Hannibalianus. Perhaps it was without the consent of Constantina, that
+the new emperor formed a necessary, though dishonorable, alliance with
+the usurper of the West, whose purple was so recently stained with her
+brother's blood. [74]
+
+[Footnote 73: Eutropius (x. 10) describes Vetranio with more temper, and
+probably with more truth, than either of the two Victors. Vetranio was
+born of obscure parents in the wildest parts of Maesia; and so much had
+his education been neglected, that, after his elevation, he studied the
+alphabet.]
+
+[Footnote 74: The doubtful, fluctuating conduct of Vetranio is described
+by Julian in his first oration, and accurately explained by Spanheim,
+who discusses the situation and behavior of Constantina.]
+
+The intelligence of these important events, which so deeply affected the
+honor and safety of the Imperial house, recalled the arms of Constantius
+from the inglorious prosecution of the Persian war. He recommended
+the care of the East to his lieutenants, and afterwards to his cousin
+Gallus, whom he raised from a prison to a throne; and marched towards
+Europe, with a mind agitated by the conflict of hope and fear, of grief
+and indignation. On his arrival at Heraclea in Thrace, the emperor gave
+audience to the ambassadors of Magnentius and Vetranio. The first author
+of the conspiracy Marcellinus, who in some measure had bestowed the
+purple on his new master, boldly accepted this dangerous commission; and
+his three colleagues were selected from the illustrious personages
+of the state and army. These deputies were instructed to soothe the
+resentment, and to alarm the fears, of Constantius. They were empowered
+to offer him the friendship and alliance of the western princes,
+to cement their union by a double marriage; of Constantius with the
+daughter of Magnentius, and of Magnentius himself with the ambitious
+Constantina; and to acknowledge in the treaty the preeminence of rank,
+which might justly be claimed by the emperor of the East. Should pride
+and mistaken piety urge him to refuse these equitable conditions, the
+ambassadors were ordered to expatiate on the inevitable ruin which must
+attend his rashness, if he ventured to provoke the sovereigns of the
+West to exert their superior strength; and to employ against him
+that valor, those abilities, and those legions, to which the house of
+Constantine had been indebted for so many triumphs. Such propositions
+and such arguments appeared to deserve the most serious attention; the
+answer of Constantius was deferred till the next day; and as he had
+reflected on the importance of justifying a civil war in the opinion
+of the people, he thus addressed his council, who listened with real or
+affected credulity: "Last night," said he, "after I retired to rest,
+the shade of the great Constantine, embracing the corpse of my murdered
+brother, rose before my eyes; his well-known voice awakened me to
+revenge, forbade me to despair of the republic, and assured me of the
+success and immortal glory which would crown the justice of my arms."
+The authority of such a vision, or rather of the prince who alleged
+it, silenced every doubt, and excluded all negotiation. The ignominious
+terms of peace were rejected with disdain. One of the ambassadors of
+the tyrant was dismissed with the haughty answer of Constantius; his
+colleagues, as unworthy of the privileges of the law of nations, were
+put in irons; and the contending powers prepared to wage an implacable
+war. [75]
+
+[Footnote 75: See Peter the Patrician, in the Excerpta Legationem p.
+27.]
+
+Such was the conduct, and such perhaps was the duty, of the brother
+of Constans towards the perfidious usurper of Gaul. The situation and
+character of Vetranio admitted of milder measures; and the policy of
+the Eastern emperor was directed to disunite his antagonists, and to
+separate the forces of Illyricum from the cause of rebellion. It was
+an easy task to deceive the frankness and simplicity of Vetranio, who,
+fluctuating some time between the opposite views of honor and interest,
+displayed to the world the insincerity of his temper, and was insensibly
+engaged in the snares of an artful negotiation. Constantius acknowledged
+him as a legitimate and equal colleague in the empire, on condition that
+he would renounce his disgraceful alliance with Magnentius, and appoint
+a place of interview on the frontiers of their respective provinces;
+where they might pledge their friendship by mutual vows of fidelity, and
+regulate by common consent the future operations of the civil war. In
+consequence of this agreement, Vetranio advanced to the city of Sardica,
+[76] at the head of twenty thousand horse, and of a more numerous body
+of infantry; a power so far superior to the forces of Constantius, that
+the Illyrian emperor appeared to command the life and fortunes of his
+rival, who, depending on the success of his private negotiations, had
+seduced the troops, and undermined the throne, of Vetranio. The chiefs,
+who had secretly embraced the party of Constantius, prepared in his
+favor a public spectacle, calculated to discover and inflame the
+passions of the multitude. [77] The united armies were commanded to
+assemble in a large plain near the city. In the centre, according to the
+rules of ancient discipline, a military tribunal, or rather scaffold,
+was erected, from whence the emperors were accustomed, on solemn and
+important occasions, to harangue the troops. The well-ordered ranks of
+Romans and Barbarians, with drawn swords, or with erected spears, the
+squadrons of cavalry, and the cohorts of infantry, distinguished by the
+variety of their arms and ensigns, formed an immense circle round the
+tribunal; and the attentive silence which they preserved was sometimes
+interrupted by loud bursts of clamor or of applause. In the presence of
+this formidable assembly, the two emperors were called upon to explain
+the situation of public affairs: the precedency of rank was yielded to
+the royal birth of Constantius; and though he was indifferently skilled
+in the arts of rhetoric, he acquitted himself, under these difficult
+circumstances, with firmness, dexterity, and eloquence. The first part
+of his oration seemed to be pointed only against the tyrant of Gaul;
+but while he tragically lamented the cruel murder of Constans, he
+insinuated, that none, except a brother, could claim a right to the
+succession of his brother. He displayed, with some complacency, the
+glories of his Imperial race; and recalled to the memory of the troops
+the valor, the triumphs, the liberality of the great Constantine, to
+whose sons they had engaged their allegiance by an oath of fidelity,
+which the ingratitude of his most favored servants had tempted them to
+violate. The officers, who surrounded the tribunal, and were
+instructed to act their part in this extraordinary scene, confessed
+the irresistible power of reason and eloquence, by saluting the emperor
+Constantius as their lawful sovereign. The contagion of loyalty and
+repentance was communicated from rank to rank; till the plain of Sardica
+resounded with the universal acclamation of "Away with these upstart
+usurpers! Long life and victory to the son of Constantine! Under his
+banners alone we will fight and conquer." The shout of thousands, their
+menacing gestures, the fierce clashing of their arms, astonished and
+subdued the courage of Vetranio, who stood, amidst the defection of his
+followers, in anxious and silent suspense. Instead of embracing the last
+refuge of generous despair, he tamely submitted to his fate; and taking
+the diadem from his head, in the view of both armies fell prostrate at
+the feet of his conqueror. Constantius used his victory with prudence
+and moderation; and raising from the ground the aged suppliant, whom he
+affected to style by the endearing name of Father, he gave him his hand
+to descend from the throne. The city of Prusa was assigned for the
+exile or retirement of the abdicated monarch, who lived six years in the
+enjoyment of ease and affluence. He often expressed his grateful sense
+of the goodness of Constantius, and, with a very amiable simplicity,
+advised his benefactor to resign the sceptre of the world, and to seek
+for content (where alone it could be found) in the peaceful obscurity of
+a private condition. [78]
+
+[Footnote 76: Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 16. The position of Sardica,
+near the modern city of Sophia, appears better suited to this interview
+than the situation of either Naissus or Sirmium, where it is placed by
+Jerom, Socrates, and Sozomen.]
+
+[Footnote 77: See the two first orations of Julian, particularly p.
+31; and Zosimus, l. ii. p. 122. The distinct narrative of the historian
+serves to illustrate the diffuse but vague descriptions of the orator.]
+
+[Footnote 78: The younger Victor assigns to his exile the emphatical
+appellation of "Voluptarium otium." Socrates (l. ii. c. 28) is the
+voucher for the correspondence with the emperor, which would seem to
+prove that Vetranio was indeed, prope ad stultitiam simplicissimus.]
+
+The behavior of Constantius on this memorable occasion was celebrated
+with some appearance of justice; and his courtiers compared the studied
+orations which a Pericles or a Demosthenes addressed to the populace
+of Athens, with the victorious eloquence which had persuaded an armed
+multitude to desert and depose the object of their partial choice. [79]
+The approaching contest with Magnentius was of a more serious and bloody
+kind. The tyrant advanced by rapid marches to encounter Constantius, at
+the head of a numerous army, composed of Gauls and Spaniards, of Franks
+and Saxons; of those provincials who supplied the strength of the
+legions, and of those barbarians who were dreaded as the most formidable
+enemies of the republic. The fertile plains [80] of the Lower Pannonia,
+between the Drave, the Save, and the Danube, presented a spacious
+theatre; and the operations of the civil war were protracted during
+the summer months by the skill or timidity of the combatants. [81]
+Constantius had declared his intention of deciding the quarrel in
+the fields of Cibalis, a name that would animate his troops by the
+remembrance of the victory, which, on the same auspicious ground,
+had been obtained by the arms of his father Constantine. Yet by the
+impregnable fortifications with which the emperor encompassed his camp,
+he appeared to decline, rather than to invite, a general engagement.
+
+It was the object of Magnentius to tempt or to compel his adversary to
+relinquish this advantageous position; and he employed, with that view,
+the various marches, evolutions, and stratagems, which the knowledge of
+the art of war could suggest to an experienced officer. He carried by
+assault the important town of Siscia; made an attack on the city of
+Sirmium, which lay in the rear of the Imperial camp, attempted to force
+a passage over the Save into the eastern provinces of Illyricum; and cut
+in pieces a numerous detachment, which he had allured into the narrow
+passes of Adarne. During the greater part of the summer, the tyrant of
+Gaul showed himself master of the field. The troops of Constantius
+were harassed and dispirited; his reputation declined in the eye of the
+world; and his pride condescended to solicit a treaty of peace, which
+would have resigned to the assassin of Constans the sovereignty of the
+provinces beyond the Alps. These offers were enforced by the eloquence
+of Philip the Imperial ambassador; and the council as well as the army
+of Magnentius were disposed to accept them. But the haughty usurper,
+careless of the remonstrances of his friends, gave orders that Philip
+should be detained as a captive, or, at least, as a hostage; while he
+despatched an officer to reproach Constantius with the weakness of
+his reign, and to insult him by the promise of a pardon if he would
+instantly abdicate the purple. "That he should confide in the justice of
+his cause, and the protection of an avenging Deity," was the only answer
+which honor permitted the emperor to return. But he was so sensible of
+the difficulties of his situation, that he no longer dared to retaliate
+the indignity which had been offered to his representative. The
+negotiation of Philip was not, however, ineffectual, since he determined
+Sylvanus the Frank, a general of merit and reputation, to desert with a
+considerable body of cavalry, a few days before the battle of Mursa.
+
+[Footnote 79: Eum Constantius..... facundiae vi dejectum Imperio in pri
+vatum otium removit. Quae gloria post natum Imperium soli proces sit
+eloquio clementiaque, &c. Aurelius Victor, Julian, and Themistius (Orat.
+iii. and iv.) adorn this exploit with all the artificial and gaudy
+coloring of their rhetoric.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Busbequius (p. 112) traversed the Lower Hungary and
+Sclavonia at a time when they were reduced almost to a desert, by the
+reciprocal hostilities of the Turks and Christians. Yet he mentions with
+admiration the unconquerable fertility of the soil; and observes that
+the height of the grass was sufficient to conceal a loaded wagon from
+his sight. See likewise Browne's Travels, in Harris's Collection, vol
+ii. p. 762 &c.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Zosimus gives a very large account of the war, and the
+negotiation, (l. ii. p. 123-130.) But as he neither shows himself a
+soldier nor a politician, his narrative must be weighed with attention,
+and received with caution.]
+
+The city of Mursa, or Essek, celebrated in modern times for a bridge
+of boats, five miles in length, over the River Drave, and the adjacent
+morasses, [82] has been always considered as a place of importance in
+the wars of Hungary. Magnentius, directing his march towards Mursa, set
+fire to the gates, and, by a sudden assault, had almost scaled the walls
+of the town. The vigilance of the garrison extinguished the flames; the
+approach of Constantius left him no time to continue the operations of
+the siege; and the emperor soon removed the only obstacle that could
+embarrass his motions, by forcing a body of troops which had taken post
+in an adjoining amphitheatre. The field of battle round Mursa was a
+naked and level plain: on this ground the army of Constantius formed,
+with the Drave on their right; while their left, either from the nature
+of their disposition, or from the superiority of their cavalry, extended
+far beyond the right flank of Magnentius. [83] The troops on both sides
+remained under arms, in anxious expectation, during the greatest part of
+the morning; and the son of Constantine, after animating his soldiers
+by an eloquent speech, retired into a church at some distance from
+the field of battle, and committed to his generals the conduct of
+this decisive day. [84] They deserved his confidence by the valor and
+military skill which they exerted. They wisely began the action upon the
+left; and advancing their whole wing of cavalry in an oblique line,
+they suddenly wheeled it on the right flank of the enemy, which was
+unprepared to resist the impetuosity of their charge. But the Romans of
+the West soon rallied, by the habits of discipline; and the Barbarians
+of Germany supported the renown of their national bravery. The
+engagement soon became general; was maintained with various and singular
+turns of fortune; and scarcely ended with the darkness of the night. The
+signal victory which Constantius obtained is attributed to the arms of
+his cavalry. His cuirassiers are described as so many massy statues
+of steel, glittering with their scaly armor, and breaking with their
+ponderous lances the firm array of the Gallic legions. As soon as the
+legions gave way, the lighter and more active squadrons of the second
+line rode sword in hand into the intervals, and completed the disorder.
+In the mean while, the huge bodies of the Germans were exposed almost
+naked to the dexterity of the Oriental archers; and whole troops of
+those Barbarians were urged by anguish and despair to precipitate
+themselves into the broad and rapid stream of the Drave. [85] The number
+of the slain was computed at fifty-four thousand men, and the slaughter
+of the conquerors was more considerable than that of the vanquished;
+[86] a circumstance which proves the obstinacy of the contest, and
+justifies the observation of an ancient writer, that the forces of the
+empire were consumed in the fatal battle of Mursa, by the loss of a
+veteran army, sufficient to defend the frontiers, or to add new triumphs
+to the glory of Rome. [87] Notwithstanding the invectives of a servile
+orator, there is not the least reason to believe that the tyrant
+deserted his own standard in the beginning of the engagement. He seems
+to have displayed the virtues of a general and of a soldier till the
+day was irrecoverably lost, and his camp in the possession of the enemy.
+Magnentius then consulted his safety, and throwing away the Imperial
+ornaments, escaped with some difficulty from the pursuit of the light
+horse, who incessantly followed his rapid flight from the banks of the
+Drave to the foot of the Julian Alps. [88]
+
+[Footnote 82: This remarkable bridge, which is flanked with towers, and
+supported on large wooden piles, was constructed A. D. 1566, by Sultan
+Soliman, to facilitate the march of his armies into Hungary.]
+
+[Footnote 83: This position, and the subsequent evolutions, are clearly,
+though concisely, described by Julian, Orat. i. p. 36.]
+
+[Footnote 84: Sulpicius Severus, l. ii. p. 405. The emperor passed the
+day in prayer with Valens, the Arian bishop of Mursa, who gained his
+confidence by announcing the success of the battle. M. de Tillemont
+(Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 1110) very properly remarks the
+silence of Julian with regard to the personal prowess of Constantius in
+the battle of Mursa. The silence of flattery is sometimes equal to the
+most positive and authentic evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 85: Julian. Orat. i. p. 36, 37; and Orat. ii. p. 59, 60.
+Zonaras, tom ii. l. xiii. p. 17. Zosimus, l. ii. p. 130-133.
+The last of these celebrates the dexterity of the archer Menelaus,
+who could discharge three arrows at the same time; an advantage
+which, according to his apprehension of military affairs, materially
+contributed to the victory of Constantius.]
+
+[Footnote 86: According to Zonaras, Constantius, out of 80,000
+men, lost 30,000; and Magnentius lost 24,000 out of 36,000. The other
+articles of this account seem probable and authentic, but the numbers of
+the tyrant's army must have been mistaken, either by the author or his
+transcribers. Magnentius had collected the whole force of the West,
+Romans and Barbarians, into one formidable body, which cannot fairly be
+estimated at less than 100,000 men. Julian. Orat. i. p. 34, 35.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Ingentes R. I. vires ea dimicatione consumptae sunt,
+ad quaelibet bella externa idoneae, quae multum triumphorum possent
+securitatisque conferre. Eutropius, x. 13. The younger Victor expresses
+himself to the same effect.]
+
+[Footnote 88: On this occasion, we must prefer the unsuspected testimony
+of Zosimus and Zonaras to the flattering assertions of Julian. The
+younger Victor paints the character of Magnentius in a singular light:
+"Sermonis acer, animi tumidi, et immodice timidus; artifex tamen ad
+occultandam audaciae specie formidinem." Is it most likely that in the
+battle of Mursa his behavior was governed by nature or by art should
+incline for the latter.]
+
+The approach of winter supplied the indolence of Constantius with
+specious reasons for deferring the prosecution of the war till the
+ensuing spring. Magnentius had fixed his residence in the city of
+Aquileia, and showed a seeming resolution to dispute the passage of
+the mountains and morasses which fortified the confines of the Venetian
+province. The surprisal of a castle in the Alps by the secret march of
+the Imperialists, could scarcely have determined him to relinquish the
+possession of Italy, if the inclinations of the people had supported the
+cause of their tyrant. [89] But the memory of the cruelties exercised
+by his ministers, after the unsuccessful revolt of Nepotian, had left
+a deep impression of horror and resentment on the minds of the Romans.
+That rash youth, the son of the princess Eutropia, and the nephew of
+Constantine, had seen with indignation the sceptre of the West usurped
+by a perfidious barbarian. Arming a desperate troop of slaves and
+gladiators, he overpowered the feeble guard of the domestic tranquillity
+of Rome, received the homage of the senate, and assuming the title of
+Augustus, precariously reigned during a tumult of twenty-eight days.
+The march of some regular forces put an end to his ambitious hopes:
+the rebellion was extinguished in the blood of Nepotian, of his mother
+Eutropia, and of his adherents; and the proscription was extended to
+all who had contracted a fatal alliance with the name and family of
+Constantine. [90] But as soon as Constantius, after the battle of Mursa,
+became master of the sea-coast of Dalmatia, a band of noble exiles, who
+had ventured to equip a fleet in some harbor of the Adriatic, sought
+protection and revenge in his victorious camp. By their secret
+intelligence with their countrymen, Rome and the Italian cities were
+persuaded to display the banners of Constantius on their walls. The
+grateful veterans, enriched by the liberality of the father, signalized
+their gratitude and loyalty to the son. The cavalry, the legions,
+and the auxiliaries of Italy, renewed their oath of allegiance to
+Constantius; and the usurper, alarmed by the general desertion, was
+compelled, with the remains of his faithful troops, to retire beyond the
+Alps into the provinces of Gaul. The detachments, however, which were
+ordered either to press or to intercept the flight of Magnentius,
+conducted themselves with the usual imprudence of success; and allowed
+him, in the plains of Pavia, an opportunity of turning on his pursuers,
+and of gratifying his despair by the carnage of a useless victory. [91]
+
+[Footnote 89: Julian. Orat. i. p. 38, 39. In that place, however, as
+well as in Oration ii. p. 97, he insinuates the general disposition of
+the senate, the people, and the soldiers of Italy, towards the party of
+the emperor.]
+
+[Footnote 90: The elder Victor describes, in a pathetic manner, the
+miserable condition of Rome: "Cujus stolidum ingenium adeo P. R.
+patribusque exitio fuit, uti passim domus, fora, viae, templaque,
+cruore, cadaveri busque opplerentur bustorum modo." Athanasius (tom.
+i. p. 677) deplores the fate of several illustrious victims, and Julian
+(Orat. ii p 58) execrates the cruelty of Marcellinus, the implacable
+enemy of the house of Constantine.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Zosim. l. ii. p. 133. Victor in Epitome. The panegyrists
+of Constantius, with their usual candor, forget to mention this
+accidental defeat.]
+
+The pride of Magnentius was reduced, by repeated misfortunes, to sue,
+and to sue in vain, for peace. He first despatched a senator, in whose
+abilities he confided, and afterwards several bishops, whose holy
+character might obtain a more favorable audience, with the offer of
+resigning the purple, and the promise of devoting the remainder of his
+life to the service of the emperor. But Constantius, though he granted
+fair terms of pardon and reconciliation to all who abandoned the
+standard of rebellion, [92] avowed his inflexible resolution to inflict
+a just punishment on the crimes of an assassin, whom he prepared
+to overwhelm on every side by the effort of his victorious arms.
+An Imperial fleet acquired the easy possession of Africa and Spain,
+confirmed the wavering faith of the Moorish nations, and landed a
+considerable force, which passed the Pyrenees, and advanced towards
+Lyons, the last and fatal station of Magnentius. [93] The temper of the
+tyrant, which was never inclined to clemency, was urged by distress to
+exercise every act of oppression which could extort an immediate supply
+from the cities of Gaul. [94] Their patience was at length exhausted;
+and Treves, the seat of Praetorian government, gave the signal of
+revolt, by shutting her gates against Decentius, who had been raised
+by his brother to the rank either of Caesar or of Augustus. [95] From
+Treves, Decentius was obliged to retire to Sens, where he was
+soon surrounded by an army of Germans, whom the pernicious arts of
+Constantius had introduced into the civil dissensions of Rome. [96] In
+the mean time, the Imperial troops forced the passages of the Cottian
+Alps, and in the bloody combat of Mount Seleucus irrevocably fixed the
+title of rebels on the party of Magnentius. [97] He was unable to bring
+another army into the field; the fidelity of his guards was corrupted;
+and when he appeared in public to animate them by his exhortations,
+he was saluted with a unanimous shout of "Long live the emperor
+Constantius!" The tyrant, who perceived that they were preparing to
+deserve pardon and rewards by the sacrifice of the most obnoxious
+criminal, prevented their design by falling on his sword; [98] a death
+more easy and more honorable than he could hope to obtain from the hands
+of an enemy, whose revenge would have been colored with the specious
+pretence of justice and fraternal piety. The example of suicide
+was imitated by Decentius, who strangled himself on the news of his
+brother's death. The author of the conspiracy, Marcellinus, had
+long since disappeared in the battle of Mursa, [99] and the public
+tranquillity was confirmed by the execution of the surviving leaders
+of a guilty and unsuccessful faction. A severe inquisition was extended
+over all who, either from choice or from compulsion, had been involved
+in the cause of rebellion. Paul, surnamed Catena from his superior
+skill in the judicial exercise of tyranny, [99a] was sent to explore the
+latent remains of the conspiracy in the remote province of Britain. The
+honest indignation expressed by Martin, vice-praefect of the island, was
+interpreted as an evidence of his own guilt; and the governor was urged
+to the necessity of turning against his breast the sword with which
+he had been provoked to wound the Imperial minister. The most innocent
+subjects of the West were exposed to exile and confiscation, to death
+and torture; and as the timid are always cruel, the mind of Constantius
+was inaccessible to mercy. [100]
+
+[Footnote 92: Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 17. Julian, in several
+places of the two orations, expatiates on the clemency of Constantius to
+the rebels.]
+
+[Footnote 93: Zosim. l. ii. p. 133. Julian. Orat. i. p. 40, ii. p. 74.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Ammian. xv. 6. Zosim. l. ii. p. 123. Julian, who (Orat.
+i. p. 40) unveighs against the cruel effects of the tyrant's despair,
+mentions (Orat. i. p. 34) the oppressive edicts which were dictated
+by his necessities, or by his avarice. His subjects were compelled to
+purchase the Imperial demesnes; a doubtful and dangerous species of
+property, which, in case of a revolution, might be imputed to them as a
+treasonable usurpation.]
+
+[Footnote 95: The medals of Magnentius celebrate the victories of the
+two Augusti, and of the Caesar. The Caesar was another brother, named
+Desiderius. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 757.]
+
+[Footnote 96: Julian. Orat. i. p. 40, ii. p. 74; with Spanheim, p. 263.
+His Commentary illustrates the transactions of this civil war. Mons
+Seleuci was a small place in the Cottian Alps, a few miles distant from
+Vapincum, or Gap, an episcopal city of Dauphine. See D'Anville, Notice
+de la Gaule, p. 464; and Longuerue, Description de la France, p.
+327.---- The Itinerary of Antoninus (p. 357, ed. Wess.) places Mons
+Seleucu twenty-four miles from Vapinicum, (Gap,) and twenty-six from
+Lucus. (le Luc,) on the road to Die, (Dea Vocontiorum.) The situation
+answers to Mont Saleon, a little place on the right of the small river
+Buech, which falls into the Durance. Roman antiquities have been found
+in this place. St. Martin. Note to Le Beau, ii. 47.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 97: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 134. Liban. Orat. x. p. 268, 269.
+The latter most vehemently arraigns this cruel and selfish policy of
+Constantius.]
+
+[Footnote 98: Julian. Orat. i. p. 40. Zosimus, l. ii. p. 134. Socrates,
+l. ii. c. 32. Sozomen, l. iv. c. 7. The younger Victor describes his
+death with some horrid circumstances: Transfosso latere, ut erat vasti
+corporis, vulnere naribusque et ore cruorem effundens, exspiravit. If
+we can give credit to Zonaras, the tyrant, before he expired, had the
+pleasure of murdering, with his own hand, his mother and his brother
+Desiderius.]
+
+[Footnote 99: Julian (Orat. i. p. 58, 59) seems at a loss to determine,
+whether he inflicted on himself the punishment of his crimes, whether
+he was drowned in the Drave, or whether he was carried by the avenging
+daemons from the field of battle to his destined place of eternal
+tortures.]
+
+[Footnote 99a: This is scarcely correct, ut erat in complicandis
+negotiis artifex dirum made ei Catenae inditum est cognomentum. Amm.
+Mar. loc. cit.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 100: Ammian. xiv. 5, xxi. 16.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX: Constantius Sole Emperor.--Part I.
+
+     Constantius Sole Emperor.--Elevation And Death Of Gallus.--
+     Danger And Elevation Of Julian.--Sarmatian And Persian
+     Wars.--Victories Of Julian In Gaul.
+
+The divided provinces of the empire were again united by the victory of
+Constantius; but as that feeble prince was destitute of personal merit,
+either in peace or war; as he feared his generals, and distrusted his
+ministers; the triumph of his arms served only to establish the reign
+of the eunuchs over the Roman world. Those unhappy beings, the ancient
+production of Oriental jealousy and despotism, [1] were introduced into
+Greece and Rome by the contagion of Asiatic luxury. [2] Their progress
+was rapid; and the eunuchs, who, in the time of Augustus, had been
+abhorred, as the monstrous retinue of an Egyptian queen, [3] were
+gradually admitted into the families of matrons, of senators, and of the
+emperors themselves. [4] Restrained by the severe edicts of Domitian
+and Nerva, cherished by the pride of Diocletian, reduced to an humble
+station by the prudence of Constantine, [6] they multiplied in the
+palaces of his degenerate sons, and insensibly acquired the knowledge,
+and at length the direction, of the secret councils of Constantius. The
+aversion and contempt which mankind had so uniformly entertained for
+that imperfect species, appears to have degraded their character, and to
+have rendered them almost as incapable as they were supposed to be, of
+conceiving any generous sentiment, or of performing any worthy action.
+[7] But the eunuchs were skilled in the arts of flattery and intrigue;
+and they alternately governed the mind of Constantius by his fears, his
+indolence, and his vanity. [8] Whilst he viewed in a deceitful mirror
+the fair appearance of public prosperity, he supinely permitted them to
+intercept the complaints of the injured provinces, to accumulate immense
+treasures by the sale of justice and of honors; to disgrace the most
+important dignities, by the promotion of those who had purchased
+at their hands the powers of oppression, [9] and to gratify their
+resentment against the few independent spirits, who arrogantly
+refused to solicit the protection of slaves. Of these slaves the most
+distinguished was the chamberlain Eusebius, who ruled the monarch and
+the palace with such absolute sway, that Constantius, according to
+the sarcasm of an impartial historian, possessed some credit with
+this haughty favorite. [10] By his artful suggestions, the emperor was
+persuaded to subscribe the condemnation of the unfortunate Gallus, and
+to add a new crime to the long list of unnatural murders which pollute
+the honor of the house of Constantine.
+
+[Footnote 1: Ammianus (l. xiv. c. 6) imputes the first practice of
+castration to the cruel ingenuity of Semiramis, who is supposed to have
+reigned above nineteen hundred years before Christ. The use of eunuchs
+is of high antiquity, both in Asia and Egypt. They are mentioned in the
+law of Moses, Deuteron. xxxiii. 1. See Goguet, Origines des Loix, &c.,
+Part i. l. i. c. 3.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Eunuchum dixti velle te; Quia solae utuntur his
+reginae--Terent. Eunuch. act i. scene 2. This play is translated from
+Meander, and the original must have appeared soon after the eastern
+conquests of Alexander.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Miles.... spadonibus Servire rugosis potest. Horat. Carm.
+v. 9, and Dacier ad loe. By the word spado, the Romans very forcibly
+expressed their abhorrence of this mutilated condition. The Greek
+appellation of eunuchs, which insensibly prevailed, had a milder sound,
+and a more ambiguous sense.]
+
+[Footnote 4: We need only mention Posides, a freedman and eunuch of
+Claudius, in whose favor the emperor prostituted some of the most
+honorable rewards of military valor. See Sueton. in Claudio, c. 28.
+Posides employed a great part of his wealth in building.
+
+     Ut Spado vincebat Capitolia Nostra
+     Posides.
+     Juvenal. Sat. xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Castrari mares vetuit. Sueton. in Domitian. c. 7. See Dion
+Cassius, l. lxvii. p. 1107, l. lxviii. p. 1119.]
+
+[Footnote 6: There is a passage in the Augustan History, p. 137, in
+which Lampridius, whilst he praises Alexander Severus and Constantine
+for restraining the tyranny of the eunuchs, deplores the mischiefs
+which they occasioned in other reigns. Huc accedit quod eunuchos nec in
+consiliis nec in ministeriis habuit; qui soli principes perdunt, dum
+eos more gentium aut regum Persarum volunt vivere; qui a populo etiam
+amicissimum semovent; qui internuntii sunt, aliud quam respondetur,
+referentes; claudentes principem suum, et agentes ante omnia ne quid
+sciat.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Xenophon (Cyropaedia, l. viii. p. 540) has stated the
+specious reasons which engaged Cyrus to intrust his person to the guard
+of eunuchs. He had observed in animals, that although the practice of
+castration might tame their ungovernable fierceness, it did not diminish
+their strength or spirit; and he persuaded himself, that those who were
+separated from the rest of human kind, would be more firmly attached to
+the person of their benefactor. But a long experience has contradicted
+the judgment of Cyrus. Some particular instances may occur of eunuchs
+distinguished by their fidelity, their valor, and their abilities; but
+if we examine the general history of Persia, India, and China, we shall
+find that the power of the eunuchs has uniformly marked the decline and
+fall of every dynasty.]
+
+[Footnote 8: See Ammianus Marcellinus, l. xxi. c. 16, l. xxii. c. 4. The
+whole tenor of his impartial history serves to justify the invectives
+of Mamertinus, of Libanius, and of Julian himself, who have insulted the
+vices of the court of Constantius.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Aurelius Victor censures the negligence of his sovereign in
+choosing the governors of the provinces, and the generals of the army,
+and concludes his history with a very bold observation, as it is much
+more dangerous under a feeble reign to attack the ministers than the
+master himself. "Uti verum absolvam brevi, ut Imperatore ipso clarius
+ita apparitorum plerisque magis atrox nihil."]
+
+[Footnote 10: Apud quem (si vere dici debeat) multum Constantius potuit.
+Ammian. l. xviii. c. 4.]
+
+When the two nephews of Constantine, Gallus and Julian, were saved from
+the fury of the soldiers, the former was about twelve, and the latter
+about six, years of age; and, as the eldest was thought to be of a
+sickly constitution, they obtained with the less difficulty a precarious
+and dependent life, from the affected pity of Constantius, who was
+sensible that the execution of these helpless orphans would have been
+esteemed, by all mankind, an act of the most deliberate cruelty. [11]
+Different cities of Ionia and Bithynia were assigned for the places of
+their exile and education; but as soon as their growing years excited
+the jealousy of the emperor, he judged it more prudent to secure those
+unhappy youths in the strong castle of Macellum, near Caesarea. The
+treatment which they experienced during a six years' confinement, was
+partly such as they could hope from a careful guardian, and partly such
+as they might dread from a suspicious tyrant. [12] Their prison was an
+ancient palace, the residence of the kings of Cappadocia; the situation
+was pleasant, the buildings of stately, the enclosure spacious. They
+pursued their studies, and practised their exercises, under the tuition
+of the most skilful masters; and the numerous household appointed to
+attend, or rather to guard, the nephews of Constantine, was not unworthy
+of the dignity of their birth. But they could not disguise to themselves
+that they were deprived of fortune, of freedom, and of safety; secluded
+from the society of all whom they could trust or esteem, and condemned
+to pass their melancholy hours in the company of slaves devoted to the
+commands of a tyrant who had already injured them beyond the hope
+of reconciliation. At length, however, the emergencies of the state
+compelled the emperor, or rather his eunuchs, to invest Gallus, in the
+twenty-fifth year of his age, with the title of Caesar, and to cement
+this political connection by his marriage with the princess Constantina.
+After a formal interview, in which the two princes mutually engaged
+their faith never to undertake any thing to the prejudice of each other,
+they repaired without delay to their respective stations. Constantius
+continued his march towards the West, and Gallus fixed his residence at
+Antioch; from whence, with a delegated authority, he administered the
+five great dioceses of the eastern praefecture. [13] In this fortunate
+change, the new Caesar was not unmindful of his brother Julian, who
+obtained the honors of his rank, the appearances of liberty, and the
+restitution of an ample patrimony. [14]
+
+[Footnote 11: Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iii. p. 90) reproaches the
+apostate with his ingratitude towards Mark, bishop of Arethusa, who
+had contributed to save his life; and we learn, though from a less
+respectable authority, (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p.
+916,) that Julian was concealed in the sanctuary of a church. * Note:
+Gallus and Julian were not sons of the same mother. Their father, Julius
+Constantius, had had Gallus by his first wife, named Galla: Julian
+was the son of Basilina, whom he had espoused in a second marriage.
+Tillemont. Hist. des Emp. Vie de Constantin. art. 3.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The most authentic account of the education and adventures
+of Julian is contained in the epistle or manifesto which he himself
+addressed to the senate and people of Athens. Libanius, (Orat.
+Parentalis,) on the side of the Pagans, and Socrates, (l. iii. c. 1,)
+on that of the Christians, have preserved several interesting
+circumstances.]
+
+[Footnote 13: For the promotion of Gallus, see Idatius, Zosimus, and the
+two Victors. According to Philostorgius, (l. iv. c. 1,) Theophilus, an
+Arian bishop, was the witness, and, as it were, the guarantee of this
+solemn engagement. He supported that character with generous firmness;
+but M. de Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 1120) thinks it
+very improbable that a heretic should have possessed such virtue.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Julian was at first permitted to pursue his studies at
+Constantinople, but the reputation which he acquired soon excited the
+jealousy of Constantius; and the young prince was advised to withdraw
+himself to the less conspicuous scenes of Bithynia and Ionia.]
+
+The writers the most indulgent to the memory of Gallus, and even Julian
+himself, though he wished to cast a veil over the frailties of his
+brother, are obliged to confess that the Caesar was incapable of
+reigning. Transported from a prison to a throne, he possessed neither
+genius nor application, nor docility to compensate for the want of
+knowledge and experience. A temper naturally morose and violent,
+instead of being corrected, was soured by solitude and adversity; the
+remembrance of what he had endured disposed him to retaliation rather
+than to sympathy; and the ungoverned sallies of his rage were often
+fatal to those who approached his person, or were subject to his power.
+[15] Constantina, his wife, is described, not as a woman, but as one of
+the infernal furies tormented with an insatiate thirst of human blood.
+[16] Instead of employing her influence to insinuate the mild counsels
+of prudence and humanity, she exasperated the fierce passions of her
+husband; and as she retained the vanity, though she had renounced, the
+gentleness of her sex, a pearl necklace was esteemed an equivalent price
+for the murder of an innocent and virtuous nobleman. [17] The cruelty of
+Gallus was sometimes displayed in the undissembled violence of popular
+or military executions; and was sometimes disguised by the abuse of law,
+and the forms of judicial proceedings. The private houses of Antioch,
+and the places of public resort, were besieged by spies and informers;
+and the Caesar himself, concealed in a a plebeian habit, very frequently
+condescended to assume that odious character. Every apartment of the
+palace was adorned with the instruments of death and torture, and a
+general consternation was diffused through the capital of Syria. The
+prince of the East, as if he had been conscious how much he had to fear,
+and how little he deserved to reign, selected for the objects of his
+resentment the provincials accused of some imaginary treason, and his
+own courtiers, whom with more reason he suspected of incensing, by their
+secret correspondence, the timid and suspicious mind of Constantius.
+But he forgot that he was depriving himself of his only support, the
+affection of the people; whilst he furnished the malice of his enemies
+with the arms of truth, and afforded the emperor the fairest pretence of
+exacting the forfeit of his purple, and of his life. [18]
+
+[Footnote 15: See Julian. ad S. P. Q. A. p. 271. Jerom. in Chron.
+Aurelius Victor, Eutropius, x. 14. I shall copy the words of Eutropius,
+who wrote his abridgment about fifteen years after the death of Gallus,
+when there was no longer any motive either to flatter or to depreciate
+his character. "Multis incivilibus gestis Gallus Caesar.... vir natura
+ferox et ad tyrannidem pronior, si suo jure imperare licuisset."]
+
+[Footnote 16: Megaera quidem mortalis, inflammatrix saevientis assidua,
+humani cruoris avida, &c. Ammian. Marcellin. l. xiv. c. 1. The sincerity
+of Ammianus would not suffer him to misrepresent facts or characters,
+but his love of ambitious ornaments frequently betrayed him into an
+unnatural vehemence of expression.]
+
+[Footnote 17: His name was Clematius of Alexandria, and his only crime
+was a refusal to gratify the desires of his mother-in-law; who solicited
+his death, because she had been disappointed of his love. Ammian. xiv.
+c. i.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See in Ammianus (l. xiv. c. 1, 7) a very ample detail of
+the cruelties of Gallus. His brother Julian (p. 272) insinuates, that a
+secret conspiracy had been formed against him; and Zosimus names (l. ii.
+p. 135) the persons engaged in it; a minister of considerable rank, and
+two obscure agents, who were resolved to make their fortune.]
+
+As long as the civil war suspended the fate of the Roman world,
+Constantius dissembled his knowledge of the weak and cruel
+administration to which his choice had subjected the East; and the
+discovery of some assassins, secretly despatched to Antioch by the
+tyrant of Gaul, was employed to convince the public, that the emperor
+and the Caesar were united by the same interest, and pursued by the same
+enemies. [19] But when the victory was decided in favor of Constantius,
+his dependent colleague became less useful and less formidable. Every
+circumstance of his conduct was severely and suspiciously examined, and
+it was privately resolved, either to deprive Gallus of the purple, or
+at least to remove him from the indolent luxury of Asia to the hardships
+and dangers of a German war. The death of Theophilus, consular of the
+province of Syria, who in a time of scarcity had been massacred by the
+people of Antioch, with the connivance, and almost at the instigation,
+of Gallus, was justly resented, not only as an act of wanton cruelty,
+but as a dangerous insult on the supreme majesty of Constantius. Two
+ministers of illustrious rank, Domitian the Oriental praefect, and
+Montius, quaestor of the palace, were empowered by a special commission
+[19a] to visit and reform the state of the East. They were instructed to
+behave towards Gallus with moderation and respect, and, by the gentlest
+arts of persuasion, to engage him to comply with the invitation of his
+brother and colleague. The rashness of the praefect disappointed these
+prudent measures, and hastened his own ruin, as well as that of his
+enemy. On his arrival at Antioch, Domitian passed disdainfully
+before the gates of the palace, and alleging a slight pretence of
+indisposition, continued several days in sullen retirement, to prepare
+an inflammatory memorial, which he transmitted to the Imperial court.
+Yielding at length to the pressing solicitations of Gallus, the praefect
+condescended to take his seat in council; but his first step was to
+signify a concise and haughty mandate, importing that the Caesar should
+immediately repair to Italy, and threatening that he himself would
+punish his delay or hesitation, by suspending the usual allowance of his
+household. The nephew and daughter of Constantine, who could ill brook
+the insolence of a subject, expressed their resentment by instantly
+delivering Domitian to the custody of a guard. The quarrel still
+admitted of some terms of accommodation. They were rendered
+impracticable by the imprudent behavior of Montius, a statesman whose
+arts and experience were frequently betrayed by the levity of his
+disposition. [20] The quaestor reproached Gallus in a haughty language,
+that a prince who was scarcely authorized to remove a municipal
+magistrate, should presume to imprison a Praetorian praefect; convoked
+a meeting of the civil and military officers; and required them, in
+the name of their sovereign, to defend the person and dignity of his
+representatives. By this rash declaration of war, the impatient temper
+of Gallus was provoked to embrace the most desperate counsels. He
+ordered his guards to stand to their arms, assembled the populace
+of Antioch, and recommended to their zeal the care of his safety and
+revenge. His commands were too fatally obeyed. They rudely seized the
+praefect and the quaestor, and tying their legs together with ropes,
+they dragged them through the streets of the city, inflicted a thousand
+insults and a thousand wounds on these unhappy victims, and at last
+precipitated their mangled and lifeless bodies into the stream of the
+Orontes. [21]
+
+[Footnote 19: Zonaras, l. xiii. tom. ii. p. 17, 18. The assassins had
+seduced a great number of legionaries; but their designs were discovered
+and revealed by an old woman in whose cottage they lodged.]
+
+[Footnote 19a: The commission seems to have been granted to Domitian
+alone. Montius interfered to support his authority. Amm. Marc. loc.
+cit.--M]
+
+[Footnote 20: In the present text of Ammianus, we read Asper, quidem,
+sed ad lenitatem propensior; which forms a sentence of contradictory
+nonsense. With the aid of an old manuscript, Valesius has rectified
+the first of these corruptions, and we perceive a ray of light in the
+substitution of the word vafer. If we venture to change lenitatem into
+lexitatem, this alteration of a single letter will render the whole
+passage clear and consistent.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Instead of being obliged to collect scattered and
+imperfect hints from various sources, we now enter into the full stream
+of the history of Ammianus, and need only refer to the seventh and ninth
+chapters of his fourteenth book. Philostorgius, however, (l. iii. c. 28)
+though partial to Gallus, should not be entirely overlooked.]
+
+After such a deed, whatever might have been the designs of Gallus, it
+was only in a field of battle that he could assert his innocence with
+any hope of success. But the mind of that prince was formed of an equal
+mixture of violence and weakness. Instead of assuming the title of
+Augustus, instead of employing in his defence the troops and treasures
+of the East, he suffered himself to be deceived by the affected
+tranquillity of Constantius, who, leaving him the vain pageantry of a
+court, imperceptibly recalled the veteran legions from the provinces
+of Asia. But as it still appeared dangerous to arrest Gallus in his
+capital, the slow and safer arts of dissimulation were practised with
+success. The frequent and pressing epistles of Constantius were filled
+with professions of confidence and friendship; exhorting the Caesar to
+discharge the duties of his high station, to relieve his colleague from
+a part of the public cares, and to assist the West by his presence, his
+counsels, and his arms. After so many reciprocal injuries, Gallus had
+reason to fear and to distrust. But he had neglected the opportunities
+of flight and of resistance; he was seduced by the flattering assurances
+of the tribune Scudilo, who, under the semblance of a rough soldier,
+disguised the most artful insinuation; and he depended on the credit
+of his wife Constantina, till the unseasonable death of that princess
+completed the ruin in which he had been involved by her impetuous
+passions. [22]
+
+[Footnote 22: She had preceded her husband, but died of a fever on the
+road at a little place in Bithynia, called Coenum Gallicanum.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX: Constantius Sole Emperor.--Part II.
+
+After a long delay, the reluctant Caesar set forwards on his journey to
+the Imperial court. From Antioch to Hadrianople, he traversed the wide
+extent of his dominions with a numerous and stately train; and as he
+labored to conceal his apprehensions from the world, and perhaps from
+himself, he entertained the people of Constantinople with an exhibition
+of the games of the circus. The progress of the journey might, however,
+have warned him of the impending danger. In all the principal cities he
+was met by ministers of confidence, commissioned to seize the offices of
+government, to observe his motions, and to prevent the hasty sallies
+of his despair. The persons despatched to secure the provinces which he
+left behind, passed him with cold salutations, or affected disdain; and
+the troops, whose station lay along the public road, were studiously
+removed on his approach, lest they might be tempted to offer their
+swords for the service of a civil war. [23] After Gallus had been
+permitted to repose himself a few days at Hadrianople, he received a
+mandate, expressed in the most haughty and absolute style, that his
+splendid retinue should halt in that city, while the Caesar himself,
+with only ten post-carriages, should hasten to the Imperial residence at
+Milan.
+
+In this rapid journey, the profound respect which was due to the
+brother and colleague of Constantius, was insensibly changed into rude
+familiarity; and Gallus, who discovered in the countenances of the
+attendants that they already considered themselves as his guards, and
+might soon be employed as his executioners, began to accuse his fatal
+rashness, and to recollect, with terror and remorse, the conduct by
+which he had provoked his fate. The dissimulation which had hitherto
+been preserved, was laid aside at Petovio, [23a] in Pannonia. He was
+conducted to a palace in the suburbs, where the general Barbatio, with
+a select band of soldiers, who could neither be moved by pity, nor
+corrupted by rewards, expected the arrival of his illustrious victim. In
+the close of the evening he was arrested, ignominiously stripped of
+the ensigns of Caesar, and hurried away to Pola, [23b] in Istria, a
+sequestered prison, which had been so recently polluted with royal
+blood. The horror which he felt was soon increased by the appearance of
+his implacable enemy the eunuch Eusebius, who, with the assistance of
+a notary and a tribune, proceeded to interrogate him concerning the
+administration of the East. The Caesar sank under the weight of shame
+and guilt, confessed all the criminal actions and all the treasonable
+designs with which he was charged; and by imputing them to the advice of
+his wife, exasperated the indignation of Constantius, who reviewed with
+partial prejudice the minutes of the examination. The emperor was easily
+convinced, that his own safety was incompatible with the life of his
+cousin: the sentence of death was signed, despatched, and executed;
+and the nephew of Constantine, with his hands tied behind his back,
+was beheaded in prison like the vilest malefactor. [24] Those who are
+inclined to palliate the cruelties of Constantius, assert that he soon
+relented, and endeavored to recall the bloody mandate; but that the
+second messenger, intrusted with the reprieve, was detained by the
+eunuchs, who dreaded the unforgiving temper of Gallus, and were desirous
+of reuniting to their empire the wealthy provinces of the East. [25]
+
+[Footnote 23: The Thebaean legions, which were then quartered at
+Hadrianople, sent a deputation to Gallus, with a tender of their
+services. Ammian. l. xiv. c. 11. The Notitia (s. 6, 20, 38, edit. Labb.)
+mentions three several legions which bore the name of Thebaean. The zeal
+of M. de Voltaire to destroy a despicable though celebrated legion, has
+tempted him on the slightest grounds to deny the existence of a Thenaean
+legion in the Roman armies. See Oeuvres de Voltaire, tom. xv. p. 414,
+quarto edition.]
+
+[Footnote 23a: Pettau in Styria.--M]
+
+[Footnote 23b: Rather to Flanonia. now Fianone, near Pola. St.
+Martin.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 24: See the complete narrative of the journey and death of
+Gallus in Ammianus, l. xiv. c. 11. Julian complains that his brother
+was put to death without a trial; attempts to justify, or at least to
+excuse, the cruel revenge which he had inflicted on his enemies; but
+seems at last to acknowledge that he might justly have been deprived of
+the purple.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Philostorgius, l. iv. c. 1. Zonaras, l. xiii. tom. ii. p.
+19. But the former was partial towards an Arian monarch, and the latter
+transcribed, without choice or criticism, whatever he found in the
+writings of the ancients.]
+
+Besides the reigning emperor, Julian alone survived, of all the numerous
+posterity of Constantius Chlorus. The misfortune of his royal birth
+involved him in the disgrace of Gallus. From his retirement in the happy
+country of Ionia, he was conveyed under a strong guard to the court
+of Milan; where he languished above seven months, in the continual
+apprehension of suffering the same ignominious death, which was daily
+inflicted almost before his eyes, on the friends and adherents of
+his persecuted family. His looks, his gestures, his silence, were
+scrutinized with malignant curiosity, and he was perpetually assaulted
+by enemies whom he had never offended, and by arts to which he was
+a stranger. [26] But in the school of adversity, Julian insensibly
+acquired the virtues of firmness and discretion. He defended his honor,
+as well as his life, against the insnaring subtleties of the eunuchs,
+who endeavored to extort some declaration of his sentiments; and whilst
+he cautiously suppressed his grief and resentment, he nobly disdained to
+flatter the tyrant, by any seeming approbation of his brother's
+murder. Julian most devoutly ascribes his miraculous deliverance to the
+protection of the gods, who had exempted his innocence from the sentence
+of destruction pronounced by their justice against the impious house of
+Constantine. [27] As the most effectual instrument of their providence,
+he gratefully acknowledges the steady and generous friendship of the
+empress Eusebia, [28] a woman of beauty and merit, who, by the ascendant
+which she had gained over the mind of her husband, counterbalanced,
+in some measure, the powerful conspiracy of the eunuchs. By the
+intercession of his patroness, Julian was admitted into the Imperial
+presence: he pleaded his cause with a decent freedom, he was heard with
+favor; and, notwithstanding the efforts of his enemies, who urged
+the danger of sparing an avenger of the blood of Gallus, the milder
+sentiment of Eusebia prevailed in the council. But the effects of a
+second interview were dreaded by the eunuchs; and Julian was advised to
+withdraw for a while into the neighborhood of Milan, till the emperor
+thought proper to assign the city of Athens for the place of his
+honorable exile. As he had discovered, from his earliest youth, a
+propensity, or rather passion, for the language, the manners, the
+learning, and the religion of the Greeks, he obeyed with pleasure an
+order so agreeable to his wishes. Far from the tumult of arms, and
+the treachery of courts, he spent six months under the groves of the
+academy, in a free intercourse with the philosophers of the age, who
+studied to cultivate the genius, to encourage the vanity, and to inflame
+the devotion of their royal pupil. Their labors were not unsuccessful;
+and Julian inviolably preserved for Athens that tender regard which
+seldom fails to arise in a liberal mind, from the recollection of the
+place where it has discovered and exercised its growing powers. The
+gentleness and affability of manners, which his temper suggested and his
+situation imposed, insensibly engaged the affections of the strangers,
+as well as citizens, with whom he conversed. Some of his fellow-students
+might perhaps examine his behavior with an eye of prejudice and
+aversion; but Julian established, in the schools of Athens, a general
+prepossession in favor of his virtues and talents, which was soon
+diffused over the Roman world. [29]
+
+[Footnote 26: See Ammianus Marcellin. l. xv. c. 1, 3, 8. Julian himself
+in his epistle to the Athenians, draws a very lively and just picture of
+his own danger, and of his sentiments. He shows, however, a tendency to
+exaggerate his sufferings, by insinuating, though in obscure terms, that
+they lasted above a year; a period which cannot be reconciled with the
+truth of chronology.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Julian has worked the crimes and misfortunes of the family
+of Constantine into an allegorical fable, which is happily conceived and
+agreeably related. It forms the conclusion of the seventh Oration, from
+whence it has been detached and translated by the Abbe de la Bleterie,
+Vie de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 385-408.]
+
+[Footnote 28: She was a native of Thessalonica, in Macedonia, of a noble
+family, and the daughter, as well as sister, of consuls. Her marriage
+with the emperor may be placed in the year 352. In a divided age, the
+historians of all parties agree in her praises. See their testimonies
+collected by Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 750-754.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Libanius and Gregory Nazianzen have exhausted the arts as
+well as the powers of their eloquence, to represent Julian as the first
+of heroes, or the worst of tyrants. Gregory was his fellow-student at
+Athens; and the symptoms which he so tragically describes, of the future
+wickedness of the apostate, amount only to some bodily imperfections,
+and to some peculiarities in his speech and manner. He protests,
+however, that he then foresaw and foretold the calamities of the church
+and state. (Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iv. p. 121, 122.)]
+
+Whilst his hours were passed in studious retirement, the empress,
+resolute to achieve the generous design which she had undertaken, was
+not unmindful of the care of his fortune. The death of the late Caesar
+had left Constantius invested with the sole command, and oppressed by
+the accumulated weight, of a mighty empire. Before the wounds of civil
+discord could be healed, the provinces of Gaul were overwhelmed by a
+deluge of Barbarians. The Sarmatians no longer respected the barrier
+of the Danube. The impunity of rapine had increased the boldness and
+numbers of the wild Isaurians: those robbers descended from their craggy
+mountains to ravage the adjacent country, and had even presumed, though
+without success, to besiege the important city of Seleucia, which was
+defended by a garrison of three Roman legions. Above all, the Persian
+monarch, elated by victory, again threatened the peace of Asia, and the
+presence of the emperor was indispensably required, both in the West
+and in the East. For the first time, Constantius sincerely acknowledged,
+that his single strength was unequal to such an extent of care and of
+dominion. [30] Insensible to the voice of flattery, which assured
+him that his all-powerful virtue, and celestial fortune, would still
+continue to triumph over every obstacle, he listened with complacency to
+the advice of Eusebia, which gratified his indolence, without offending
+his suspicious pride. As she perceived that the remembrance of Gallus
+dwelt on the emperor's mind, she artfully turned his attention to the
+opposite characters of the two brothers, which from their infancy had
+been compared to those of Domitian and of Titus. [31] She accustomed
+her husband to consider Julian as a youth of a mild, unambitious
+disposition, whose allegiance and gratitude might be secured by the gift
+of the purple, and who was qualified to fill with honor a subordinate
+station, without aspiring to dispute the commands, or to shade the
+glories, of his sovereign and benefactor. After an obstinate, though
+secret struggle, the opposition of the favorite eunuchs submitted to
+the ascendency of the empress; and it was resolved that Julian, after
+celebrating his nuptials with Helena, sister of Constantius, should be
+appointed, with the title of Caesar, to reign over the countries beyond
+the Alps. [32]
+
+[Footnote 30: Succumbere tot necessitatibus tamque crebris unum se,
+quod nunquam fecerat, aperte demonstrans. Ammian. l. xv. c. 8. He
+then expresses, in their own words, the fattering assurances of the
+courtiers.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Tantum a temperatis moribus Juliani differens fratris
+quantum inter Vespasiani filios fuit, Domitianum et Titum. Ammian. l.
+xiv. c. 11. The circumstances and education of the two brothers, were so
+nearly the same, as to afford a strong example of the innate difference
+of characters.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Ammianus, l. xv. c. 8. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 137, 138.]
+
+Although the order which recalled him to court was probably accompanied
+by some intimation of his approaching greatness, he appeals to the
+people of Athens to witness his tears of undissembled sorrow, when he
+was reluctantly torn away from his beloved retirement. [33] He trembled
+for his life, for his fame, and even for his virtue; and his sole
+confidence was derived from the persuasion, that Minerva inspired all
+his actions, and that he was protected by an invisible guard of angels,
+whom for that purpose she had borrowed from the Sun and Moon. He
+approached, with horror, the palace of Milan; nor could the ingenuous
+youth conceal his indignation, when he found himself accosted with false
+and servile respect by the assassins of his family. Eusebia, rejoicing
+in the success of her benevolent schemes, embraced him with the
+tenderness of a sister; and endeavored, by the most soothing caresses,
+to dispel his terrors, and reconcile him to his fortune. But the
+ceremony of shaving his beard, and his awkward demeanor, when he first
+exchanged the cloak of a Greek philosopher for the military habit of
+a Roman prince, amused, during a few days, the levity of the Imperial
+court. [34]
+
+[Footnote 33: Julian. ad S. P. Q. A. p. 275, 276. Libanius, Orat. x.
+p. 268. Julian did not yield till the gods had signified their will by
+repeated visions and omens. His piety then forbade him to resist.]
+
+[Footnote 34: Julian himself relates, (p. 274) with some humor, the
+circumstances of his own metamorphoses, his downcast looks, and his
+perplexity at being thus suddenly transported into a new world, where
+every object appeared strange and hostile.]
+
+The emperors of the age of Constantine no longer deigned to consult
+with the senate in the choice of a colleague; but they were anxious that
+their nomination should be ratified by the consent of the army. On this
+solemn occasion, the guards, with the other troops whose stations were
+in the neighborhood of Milan, appeared under arms; and Constantius
+ascended his lofty tribunal, holding by the hand his cousin Julian, who
+entered the same day into the twenty-fifth year of his age. [35] In
+a studied speech, conceived and delivered with dignity, the emperor
+represented the various dangers which threatened the prosperity of the
+republic, the necessity of naming a Caesar for the administration of
+the West, and his own intention, if it was agreeable to their wishes,
+of rewarding with the honors of the purple the promising virtues of the
+nephew of Constantine. The approbation of the soldiers was testified by
+a respectful murmur; they gazed on the manly countenance of Julian, and
+observed with pleasure, that the fire which sparkled in his eyes was
+tempered by a modest blush, on being thus exposed, for the first
+time, to the public view of mankind. As soon as the ceremony of his
+investiture had been performed, Constantius addressed him with the tone
+of authority which his superior age and station permitted him to assume;
+and exhorting the new Caesar to deserve, by heroic deeds, that sacred
+and immortal name, the emperor gave his colleague the strongest
+assurances of a friendship which should never be impaired by time, nor
+interrupted by their separation into the most distant climes. As soon as
+the speech was ended, the troops, as a token of applause, clashed their
+shields against their knees; [36] while the officers who surrounded the
+tribunal expressed, with decent reserve, their sense of the merits of
+the representative of Constantius.
+
+[Footnote 35: See Ammian. Marcellin. l. xv. c. 8. Zosimus, l. iii. p.
+139. Aurelius Victor. Victor Junior in Epitom. Eutrop. x. 14.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Militares omnes horrendo fragore scuta genibus illidentes;
+quod est prosperitatis indicium plenum; nam contra cum hastis clypei
+feriuntur, irae documentum est et doloris... ... Ammianus adds, with
+a nice distinction, Eumque ut potiori reverentia servaretur, nec supra
+modum laudabant nec infra quam decebat.]
+
+The two princes returned to the palace in the same chariot; and during
+the slow procession, Julian repeated to himself a verse of his favorite
+Homer, which he might equally apply to his fortune and to his fears.
+[37] The four-and-twenty days which the Caesar spent at Milan after his
+investiture, and the first months of his Gallic reign, were devoted to
+a splendid but severe captivity; nor could the acquisition of honor
+compensate for the loss of freedom. [38] His steps were watched, his
+correspondence was intercepted; and he was obliged, by prudence,
+to decline the visits of his most intimate friends. Of his former
+domestics, four only were permitted to attend him; two pages, his
+physician, and his librarian; the last of whom was employed in the care
+of a valuable collection of books, the gift of the empress, who studied
+the inclinations as well as the interest of her friend. In the room of
+these faithful servants, a household was formed, such indeed as became
+the dignity of a Caesar; but it was filled with a crowd of slaves,
+destitute, and perhaps incapable, of any attachment for their new
+master, to whom, for the most part, they were either unknown or
+suspected. His want of experience might require the assistance of a wise
+council; but the minute instructions which regulated the service of his
+table, and the distribution of his hours, were adapted to a youth still
+under the discipline of his preceptors, rather than to the situation of
+a prince intrusted with the conduct of an important war. If he aspired
+to deserve the esteem of his subjects, he was checked by the fear of
+displeasing his sovereign; and even the fruits of his marriage-bed were
+blasted by the jealous artifices of Eusebia [39] herself, who, on this
+occasion alone, seems to have been unmindful of the tenderness of her
+sex, and the generosity of her character. The memory of his father and
+of his brothers reminded Julian of his own danger, and his apprehensions
+were increased by the recent and unworthy fate of Sylvanus. In the
+summer which preceded his own elevation, that general had been chosen
+to deliver Gaul from the tyranny of the Barbarians; but Sylvanus soon
+discovered that he had left his most dangerous enemies in the Imperial
+court. A dexterous informer, countenanced by several of the principal
+ministers, procured from him some recommendatory letters; and erasing
+the whole of the contents, except the signature, filled up the vacant
+parchment with matters of high and treasonable import. By the industry
+and courage of his friends, the fraud was however detected, and in a
+great council of the civil and military officers, held in the presence
+of the emperor himself, the innocence of Sylvanus was publicly
+acknowledged. But the discovery came too late; the report of the
+calumny, and the hasty seizure of his estate, had already provoked the
+indignant chief to the rebellion of which he was so unjustly accused.
+He assumed the purple at his head- quarters of Cologne, and his active
+powers appeared to menace Italy with an invasion, and Milan with a
+siege. In this emergency, Ursicinus, a general of equal rank, regained,
+by an act of treachery, the favor which he had lost by his eminent
+services in the East. Exasperated, as he might speciously allege, by the
+injuries of a similar nature, he hastened with a few followers to join
+the standard, and to betray the confidence, of his too credulous friend.
+After a reign of only twenty-eight days, Sylvanus was assassinated: the
+soldiers who, without any criminal intention, had blindly followed the
+example of their leader, immediately returned to their allegiance; and
+the flatterers of Constantius celebrated the wisdom and felicity of the
+monarch who had extinguished a civil war without the hazard of a battle.
+[40]
+
+[Footnote 37: The word purple which Homer had used as a vague but common
+epithet for death, was applied by Julian to express, very aptly, the
+nature and object of his own apprehensions.]
+
+[Footnote 38: He represents, in the most pathetic terms, (p. 277,) the
+distress of his new situation. The provision for his table was, however,
+so elegant and sumptuous, that the young philosopher rejected it with
+disdain. Quum legeret libellum assidue, quem Constantius ut privignum
+ad studia mittens manu sua conscripserat, praelicenter disponens quid in
+convivio Caesaris impendi deberit: Phasianum, et vulvam et sumen exigi
+vetuit et inferri. Ammian. Marcellin. l. xvi. c. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 39: If we recollect that Constantine, the father of Helena,
+died above eighteen years before, in a mature old age, it will appear
+probable, that the daughter, though a virgin, could not be very young
+at the time of her marriage. She was soon afterwards delivered of a
+son, who died immediately, quod obstetrix corrupta mercede, mox natum
+praesecto plusquam convenerat umbilico necavit. She accompanied the
+emperor and empress in their journey to Rome, and the latter, quaesitum
+venenum bibere per fraudem illexit, ut quotiescunque concepisset,
+immaturum abjicerit partum. Ammian. l. xvi. c. 10. Our physicians will
+determine whether there exists such a poison. For my own part I am
+inclined to hope that the public malignity imputed the effects of
+accident as the guilt of Eusebia.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Ammianus (xv. v.) was perfectly well informed of the
+conduct and fate of Sylvanus. He himself was one of the few followers
+who attended Ursicinus in his dangerous enterprise.]
+
+The protection of the Rhaetian frontier, and the persecution of the
+Catholic church, detained Constantius in Italy above eighteen months
+after the departure of Julian. Before the emperor returned into the
+East, he indulged his pride and curiosity in a visit to the ancient
+capital. [41] He proceeded from Milan to Rome along the Aemilian and
+Flaminian ways, and as soon as he approached within forty miles of the
+city, the march of a prince who had never vanquished a foreign enemy,
+assumed the appearance of a triumphal procession. His splendid train
+was composed of all the ministers of luxury; but in a time of profound
+peace, he was encompassed by the glittering arms of the numerous
+squadrons of his guards and cuirassiers. Their streaming banners of
+silk, embossed with gold, and shaped in the form of dragons, waved
+round the person of the emperor. Constantius sat alone in a lofty car,
+resplendent with gold and precious gems; and, except when he bowed
+his head to pass under the gates of the cities, he affected a stately
+demeanor of inflexible, and, as it might seem, of insensible gravity.
+The severe discipline of the Persian youth had been introduced by the
+eunuchs into the Imperial palace; and such were the habits of patience
+which they had inculcated, that during a slow and sultry march, he was
+never seen to move his hand towards his face, or to turn his eyes either
+to the right or to the left. He was received by the magistrates and
+senate of Rome; and the emperor surveyed, with attention, the civil
+honors of the republic, and the consular images of the noble families.
+The streets were lined with an innumerable multitude. Their repeated
+acclamations expressed their joy at beholding, after an absence of
+thirty-two years, the sacred person of their sovereign, and Constantius
+himself expressed, with some pleasantry, he affected surprise that the
+human race should thus suddenly be collected on the same spot. The son
+of Constantine was lodged in the ancient palace of Augustus: he presided
+in the senate, harangued the people from the tribunal which Cicero had
+so often ascended, assisted with unusual courtesy at the games of the
+Circus, and accepted the crowns of gold, as well as the Panegyrics which
+had been prepared for the ceremony by the deputies of the principal
+cities. His short visit of thirty days was employed in viewing the
+monuments of art and power which were scattered over the seven hills and
+the interjacent valleys. He admired the awful majesty of the Capitol,
+the vast extent of the baths of Caracalla and Diocletian, the severe
+simplicity of the Pantheon, the massy greatness of the amphitheatre of
+Titus, the elegant architecture of the theatre of Pompey and the Temple
+of Peace, and, above all, the stately structure of the Forum and column
+of Trajan; acknowledging that the voice of fame, so prone to invent
+and to magnify, had made an inadequate report of the metropolis of the
+world. The traveller, who has contemplated the ruins of ancient Rome,
+may conceive some imperfect idea of the sentiments which they must
+have inspired when they reared their heads in the splendor of unsullied
+beauty.
+
+[See The Pantheon: The severe simplicity of the Pantheon]
+
+[Footnote 41: For the particulars of the visit of Constantius to Rome,
+see Ammianus, l. xvi. c. 10. We have only to add, that Themistius was
+appointed deputy from Constantinople, and that he composed his fourth
+oration for his ceremony.]
+
+The satisfaction which Constantius had received from this journey
+excited him to the generous emulation of bestowing on the Romans some
+memorial of his own gratitude and munificence. His first idea was to
+imitate the equestrian and colossal statue which he had seen in the
+Forum of Trajan; but when he had maturely weighed the difficulties of
+the execution, [42] he chose rather to embellish the capital by the gift
+of an Egyptian obelisk. In a remote but polished age, which seems to
+have preceded the invention of alphabetical writing, a great number of
+these obelisks had been erected, in the cities of Thebes and Heliopolis,
+by the ancient sovereigns of Egypt, in a just confidence that the
+simplicity of their form, and the hardness of their substance, would
+resist the injuries of time and violence. [43] Several of these
+extraordinary columns had been transported to Rome by Augustus and his
+successors, as the most durable monuments of their power and victory;
+[44] but there remained one obelisk, which, from its size or sanctity,
+escaped for a long time the rapacious vanity of the conquerors. It was
+designed by Constantine to adorn his new city; [45] and, after being
+removed by his order from the pedestal where it stood before the Temple
+of the Sun at Heliopolis, was floated down the Nile to Alexandria. The
+death of Constantine suspended the execution of his purpose, and this
+obelisk was destined by his son to the ancient capital of the empire.
+A vessel of uncommon strength and capaciousness was provided to convey
+this enormous weight of granite, at least a hundred and fifteen feet in
+length, from the banks of the Nile to those of the Tyber. The obelisk of
+Constantius was landed about three miles from the city, and elevated, by
+the efforts of art and labor, in the great Circus of Rome. [46] [46a]
+
+[Footnote 42: Hormisdas, a fugitive prince of Persia, observed to the
+emperor, that if he made such a horse, he must think of preparing a
+similar stable, (the Forum of Trajan.) Another saying of Hormisdas is
+recorded, "that one thing only had displeased him, to find that men died
+at Rome as well as elsewhere." If we adopt this reading of the text of
+Ammianus, (displicuisse, instead of placuisse,) we may consider it as
+a reproof of Roman vanity. The contrary sense would be that of a
+misanthrope.]
+
+[Footnote 43: When Germanicus visited the ancient monuments of Thebes,
+the eldest of the priests explained to him the meaning of these hiero
+glyphics. Tacit. Annal. ii. c. 60. But it seems probable, that before
+the useful invention of an alphabet, these natural or arbitrary signs
+were the common characters of the Egyptian nation. See Warburton's
+Divine Legation of Moses, vol. iii. p. 69-243.]
+
+[Footnote 44: See Plin. Hist. Natur. l. xxxvi. c. 14, 15.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Ammian. Marcellin l. xvii. c. 4. He gives us a Greek
+interpretation of the hieroglyphics, and his commentator Lindenbrogius
+adds a Latin inscription, which, in twenty verses of the age of
+Constantius, contain a short history of the obelisk.]
+
+[Footnote 46: See Donat. Roma. Antiqua, l. iii. c. 14, l. iv. c. 12,
+and the learned, though confused, Dissertation of Bargaeus on Obelisks,
+inserted in the fourth volume of Graevius's Roman Antiquities, p. 1897-
+1936. This dissertation is dedicated to Pope Sixtus V., who erected the
+obelisk of Constantius in the square before the patriarchal church of
+at. John Lateran.]
+
+[Footnote 46a: It is doubtful whether the obelisk transported by
+Constantius to Rome now exists. Even from the text of Ammianus, it is
+uncertain whether the interpretation of Hermapion refers to the older
+obelisk, (obelisco incisus est veteri quem videmus in Circo,) raised, as
+he himself states, in the Circus Maximus, long before, by Augustus, or
+to the one brought by Constantius. The obelisk in the square before the
+church of St. John Lateran is ascribed not to Rameses the Great but to
+Thoutmos II. Champollion, 1. Lettre a M. de Blacas, p. 32.--M]
+
+The departure of Constantius from Rome was hastened by the alarming
+intelligence of the distress and danger of the Illyrian provinces. The
+distractions of civil war, and the irreparable loss which the Roman
+legions had sustained in the battle of Mursa, exposed those countries,
+almost without defence, to the light cavalry of the Barbarians; and
+particularly to the inroads of the Quadi, a fierce and powerful nation,
+who seem to have exchanged the institutions of Germany for the arms
+and military arts of their Sarmatian allies. [47] The garrisons of the
+frontiers were insufficient to check their progress; and the indolent
+monarch was at length compelled to assemble, from the extremities of
+his dominions, the flower of the Palatine troops, to take the field in
+person, and to employ a whole campaign, with the preceding autumn and
+the ensuing spring, in the serious prosecution of the war. The
+emperor passed the Danube on a bridge of boats, cut in pieces all that
+encountered his march, penetrated into the heart of the country of the
+Quadi, and severely retaliated the calamities which they had inflicted
+on the Roman province. The dismayed Barbarians were soon reduced to sue
+for peace: they offered the restitution of his captive subjects as an
+atonement for the past, and the noblest hostages as a pledge of their
+future conduct. The generous courtesy which was shown to the first among
+their chieftains who implored the clemency of Constantius, encouraged
+the more timid, or the more obstinate, to imitate their example; and the
+Imperial camp was crowded with the princes and ambassadors of the most
+distant tribes, who occupied the plains of the Lesser Poland, and
+who might have deemed themselves secure behind the lofty ridge of the
+Carpathian Mountains. While Constantius gave laws to the Barbarians
+beyond the Danube, he distinguished, with specious compassion, the
+Sarmatian exiles, who had been expelled from their native country by the
+rebellion of their slaves, and who formed a very considerable accession
+to the power of the Quadi. The emperor, embracing a generous but
+artful system of policy, released the Sarmatians from the bands of this
+humiliating dependence, and restored them, by a separate treaty, to the
+dignity of a nation united under the government of a king, the friend
+and ally of the republic. He declared his resolution of asserting the
+justice of their cause, and of securing the peace of the provinces by
+the extirpation, or at least the banishment, of the Limigantes, whose
+manners were still infected with the vices of their servile origin. The
+execution of this design was attended with more difficulty than glory.
+The territory of the Limigantes was protected against the Romans by the
+Danube, against the hostile Barbarians by the Teyss. The marshy
+lands which lay between those rivers, and were often covered by their
+inundations, formed an intricate wilderness, pervious only to the
+inhabitants, who were acquainted with its secret paths and inaccessible
+fortresses. On the approach of Constantius, the Limigantes tried the
+efficacy of prayers, of fraud, and of arms; but he sternly rejected
+their supplications, defeated their rude stratagems, and repelled with
+skill and firmness the efforts of their irregular valor. One of their
+most warlike tribes, established in a small island towards the conflux
+of the Teyss and the Danube, consented to pass the river with the
+intention of surprising the emperor during the security of an amicable
+conference. They soon became the victims of the perfidy which they
+meditated. Encompassed on every side, trampled down by the cavalry,
+slaughtered by the swords of the legions, they disdained to ask for
+mercy; and with an undaunted countenance, still grasped their weapons in
+the agonies of death. After this victory, a considerable body of Romans
+was landed on the opposite banks of the Danube; the Taifalae, a Gothic
+tribe engaged in the service of the empire, invaded the Limigantes on
+the side of the Teyss; and their former masters, the free Sarmatians,
+animated by hope and revenge, penetrated through the hilly country, into
+the heart of their ancient possessions. A general conflagration revealed
+the huts of the Barbarians, which were seated in the depth of the
+wilderness; and the soldier fought with confidence on marshy ground,
+which it was dangerous for him to tread. In this extremity, the bravest
+of the Limigantes were resolved to die in arms, rather than to yield:
+but the milder sentiment, enforced by the authority of their elders, at
+length prevailed; and the suppliant crowd, followed by their wives and
+children, repaired to the Imperial camp, to learn their fate from the
+mouth of the conqueror. After celebrating his own clemency, which was
+still inclined to pardon their repeated crimes, and to spare the remnant
+of a guilty nation, Constantius assigned for the place of their exile a
+remote country, where they might enjoy a safe and honorable repose. The
+Limigantes obeyed with reluctance; but before they could reach, at least
+before they could occupy, their destined habitations, they returned to
+the banks of the Danube, exaggerating the hardships of their situation,
+and requesting, with fervent professions of fidelity, that the emperor
+would grant them an undisturbed settlement within the limits of the
+Roman provinces. Instead of consulting his own experience of their
+incurable perfidy, Constantius listened to his flatterers, who were
+ready to represent the honor and advantage of accepting a colony of
+soldiers, at a time when it was much easier to obtain the pecuniary
+contributions than the military service of the subjects of the empire.
+The Limigantes were permitted to pass the Danube; and the emperor gave
+audience to the multitude in a large plain near the modern city of Buda.
+They surrounded the tribunal, and seemed to hear with respect an oration
+full of mildness and dignity when one of the Barbarians, casting his
+shoe into the air, exclaimed with a loud voice, Marha! Marha! [47a] a
+word of defiance, which was received as a signal of the tumult. They
+rushed with fury to seize the person of the emperor; his royal throne
+and golden couch were pillaged by these rude hands; but the faithful
+defence of his guards, who died at his feet, allowed him a moment to
+mount a fleet horse, and to escape from the confusion. The disgrace
+which had been incurred by a treacherous surprise was soon retrieved
+by the numbers and discipline of the Romans; and the combat was only
+terminated by the extinction of the name and nation of the Limigantes.
+The free Sarmatians were reinstated in the possession of their
+ancient seats; and although Constantius distrusted the levity of their
+character, he entertained some hopes that a sense of gratitude might
+influence their future conduct. He had remarked the lofty stature and
+obsequious demeanor of Zizais, one of the noblest of their chiefs. He
+conferred on him the title of King; and Zizais proved that he was not
+unworthy to reign, by a sincere and lasting attachment to the interests
+of his benefactor, who, after this splendid success, received the name
+of Sarmaticus from the acclamations of his victorious army. [48]
+
+[Footnote 47: The events of this Quadian and Sarmatian war are related
+by Ammianus, xvi. 10, xvii. 12, 13, xix. 11]
+
+[Footnote 47a: Reinesius reads Warrha, Warrha, Guerre, War. Wagner note
+as a mm. Marc xix. ll.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Genti Sarmatarum magno decori confidens apud eos regem
+dedit. Aurelius Victor. In a pompous oration pronounced by Constantius
+himself, he expatiates on his own exploits with much vanity, and some
+truth]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX: Constantius Sole Emperor.--Part III.
+
+While the Roman emperor and the Persian monarch, at the distance
+of three thousand miles, defended their extreme limits against the
+Barbarians of the Danube and of the Oxus, their intermediate frontier
+experienced the vicissitudes of a languid war, and a precarious truce.
+Two of the eastern ministers of Constantius, the Praetorian praefect
+Musonian, whose abilities were disgraced by the want of truth and
+integrity, and Cassian, duke of Mesopotamia, a hardy and veteran
+soldier, opened a secret negotiation with the satrap Tamsapor. [49]
+[49a] These overtures of peace, translated into the servile and
+flattering language of Asia, were transmitted to the camp of the Great
+King; who resolved to signify, by an ambassador, the terms which he was
+inclined to grant to the suppliant Romans. Narses, whom he invested with
+that character, was honorably received in his passage through Antioch
+and Constantinople: he reached Sirmium after a long journey, and, at his
+first audience, respectfully unfolded the silken veil which covered the
+haughty epistle of his sovereign. Sapor, King of Kings, and Brother
+of the Sun and Moon, (such were the lofty titles affected by Oriental
+vanity,) expressed his satisfaction that his brother, Constantius
+Caesar, had been taught wisdom by adversity. As the lawful successor of
+Darius Hystaspes, Sapor asserted, that the River Strymon, in Macedonia,
+was the true and ancient boundary of his empire; declaring, however,
+that as an evidence of his moderation, he would content himself with
+the provinces of Armenia and Mesopotamia, which had been fraudulently
+extorted from his ancestors. He alleged, that, without the restitution
+of these disputed countries, it was impossible to establish any treaty
+on a solid and permanent basis; and he arrogantly threatened, that if
+his ambassador returned in vain, he was prepared to take the field in
+the spring, and to support the justice of his cause by the strength of
+his invincible arms. Narses, who was endowed with the most polite and
+amiable manners, endeavored, as far as was consistent with his duty, to
+soften the harshness of the message. [50] Both the style and substance
+were maturely weighed in the Imperial council, and he was dismissed
+with the following answer: "Constantius had a right to disclaim the
+officiousness of his ministers, who had acted without any specific
+orders from the throne: he was not, however, averse to an equal and
+honorable treaty; but it was highly indecent, as well as absurd, to
+propose to the sole and victorious emperor of the Roman world, the same
+conditions of peace which he had indignantly rejected at the time when
+his power was contracted within the narrow limits of the East: the
+chance of arms was uncertain; and Sapor should recollect, that if the
+Romans had sometimes been vanquished in battle, they had almost always
+been successful in the event of the war." A few days after the departure
+of Narses, three ambassadors were sent to the court of Sapor, who was
+already returned from the Scythian expedition to his ordinary residence
+of Ctesiphon. A count, a notary, and a sophist, had been selected for
+this important commission; and Constantius, who was secretly anxious for
+the conclusion of the peace, entertained some hopes that the dignity
+of the first of these ministers, the dexterity of the second, and the
+rhetoric of the third, [51] would persuade the Persian monarch to abate
+of the rigor of his demands. But the progress of their negotiation was
+opposed and defeated by the hostile arts of Antoninus, [52] a Roman
+subject of Syria, who had fled from oppression, and was admitted into
+the councils of Sapor, and even to the royal table, where, according to
+the custom of the Persians, the most important business was frequently
+discussed. [53] The dexterous fugitive promoted his interest by the same
+conduct which gratified his revenge. He incessantly urged the ambition
+of his new master to embrace the favorable opportunity when the bravest
+of the Palatine troops were employed with the emperor in a distant war
+on the Danube. He pressed Sapor to invade the exhausted and defenceless
+provinces of the East, with the numerous armies of Persia, now
+fortified by the alliance and accession of the fiercest Barbarians. The
+ambassadors of Rome retired without success, and a second embassy, of
+a still more honorable rank, was detained in strict confinement, and
+threatened either with death or exile.
+
+[Footnote 49: Ammian. xvi. 9.]
+
+[Footnote 49a: In Persian, Ten-schah-pour. St. Martin, ii. 177.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 50: Ammianus (xvii. 5) transcribes the haughty letter.
+Themistius (Orat. iv. p. 57, edit. Petav.) takes notice of the silken
+covering. Idatius and Zonaras mention the journey of the ambassador; and
+Peter the Patrician (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 58) has informed us of his
+behavior.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Ammianus, xvii. 5, and Valesius ad loc. The sophist,
+or philosopher, (in that age these words were almost synonymous,) was
+Eustathius the Cappadocian, the disciple of Jamblichus, and the friend
+of St. Basil. Eunapius (in Vit. Aedesii, p. 44-47) fondly attributes to
+this philosophic ambassador the glory of enchanting the Barbarian king
+by the persuasive charms of reason and eloquence. See Tillemont, Hist.
+des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 828, 1132.]
+
+[Footnote 52: Ammian. xviii. 5, 6, 8. The decent and respectful behavior
+of Antoninus towards the Roman general, sets him in a very interesting
+light; and Ammianus himself speaks of the traitor with some compassion
+and esteem.]
+
+[Footnote 53: This circumstance, as it is noticed by Ammianus, serves to
+prove the veracity of Herodotus, (l. i. c. 133,) and the permanency of
+the Persian manners. In every age the Persians have been addicted to
+intemperance, and the wines of Shiraz have triumphed over the law of
+Mahomet. Brisson de Regno Pers. l. ii. p. 462-472, and Voyages en Perse,
+tom, iii. p. 90.]
+
+The military historian, [54] who was himself despatched to observe the
+army of the Persians, as they were preparing to construct a bridge of
+boats over the Tigris, beheld from an eminence the plain of Assyria, as
+far as the edge of the horizon, covered with men, with horses, and with
+arms. Sapor appeared in the front, conspicuous by the splendor of
+his purple. On his left hand, the place of honor among the Orientals,
+Grumbates, king of the Chionites, displayed the stern countenance of an
+aged and renowned warrior. The monarch had reserved a similar place on
+his right hand for the king of the Albanians, who led his independent
+tribes from the shores of the Caspian. [54a] The satraps and generals
+were distributed according to their several ranks, and the whole army,
+besides the numerous train of Oriental luxury, consisted of more than
+one hundred thousand effective men, inured to fatigue, and selected from
+the bravest nations of Asia. The Roman deserter, who in some measure
+guided the councils of Sapor, had prudently advised, that, instead of
+wasting the summer in tedious and difficult sieges, he should march
+directly to the Euphrates, and press forwards without delay to seize the
+feeble and wealthy metropolis of Syria. But the Persians were no sooner
+advanced into the plains of Mesopotamia, than they discovered that every
+precaution had been used which could retard their progress, or defeat
+their design. The inhabitants, with their cattle, were secured in places
+of strength, the green forage throughout the country was set on fire,
+the fords of the rivers were fortified by sharp stakes; military engines
+were planted on the opposite banks, and a seasonable swell of the waters
+of the Euphrates deterred the Barbarians from attempting the ordinary
+passage of the bridge of Thapsacus. Their skilful guide, changing his
+plan of operations, then conducted the army by a longer circuit, but
+through a fertile territory, towards the head of the Euphrates, where
+the infant river is reduced to a shallow and accessible stream. Sapor
+overlooked, with prudent disdain, the strength of Nisibis; but as he
+passed under the walls of Amida, he resolved to try whether the majesty
+of his presence would not awe the garrison into immediate submission.
+The sacrilegious insult of a random dart, which glanced against the
+royal tiara, convinced him of his error; and the indignant monarch
+listened with impatience to the advice of his ministers, who conjured
+him not to sacrifice the success of his ambition to the gratification of
+his resentment. The following day Grumbates advanced towards the gates
+with a select body of troops, and required the instant surrender of the
+city, as the only atonement which could be accepted for such an act
+of rashness and insolence. His proposals were answered by a general
+discharge, and his only son, a beautiful and valiant youth, was pierced
+through the heart by a javelin, shot from one of the balistae. The
+funeral of the prince of the Chionites was celebrated according to the
+rites of the country; and the grief of his aged father was alleviated by
+the solemn promise of Sapor, that the guilty city of Amida should serve
+as a funeral pile to expiate the death, and to perpetuate the memory, of
+his son.
+
+[Footnote 54: Ammian. lxviii. 6, 7, 8, 10.]
+
+[Footnote 54a: These perhaps were the barbarous tribes who inhabit the
+northern part of the present Schirwan, the Albania of the ancients. This
+country, now inhabited by the Lezghis, the terror of the neighboring
+districts, was then occupied by the same people, called by the ancients
+Legae, by the Armenians Gheg, or Leg. The latter represent them as
+constant allies of the Persians in their wars against Armenia and the
+Empire. A little after this period, a certain Schergir was their king,
+and it is of him doubtless Ammianus Marcellinus speaks. St. Martin, ii.
+285.--M.]
+
+The ancient city of Amid or Amida, [55] which sometimes assumes the
+provincial appellation of Diarbekir, [56] is advantageously situate in
+a fertile plain, watered by the natural and artificial channels of the
+Tigris, of which the least inconsiderable stream bends in a semicircular
+form round the eastern part of the city. The emperor Constantius
+had recently conferred on Amida the honor of his own name, and the
+additional fortifications of strong walls and lofty towers. It was
+provided with an arsenal of military engines, and the ordinary garrison
+had been reenforced to the amount of seven legions, when the place was
+invested by the arms of Sapor. [57] His first and most sanguine hopes
+depended on the success of a general assault. To the several nations
+which followed his standard, their respective posts were assigned;
+the south to the Vertae; the north to the Albanians; the east to
+the Chionites, inflamed with grief and indignation; the west to the
+Segestans, the bravest of his warriors, who covered their front with a
+formidable line of Indian elephants. [58] The Persians, on every side,
+supported their efforts, and animated their courage; and the monarch
+himself, careless of his rank and safety, displayed, in the prosecution
+of the siege, the ardor of a youthful soldier. After an obstinate
+combat, the Barbarians were repulsed; they incessantly returned to the
+charge; they were again driven back with a dreadful slaughter, and two
+rebel legions of Gauls, who had been banished into the East, signalized
+their undisciplined courage by a nocturnal sally into the heart of the
+Persian camp. In one of the fiercest of these repeated assaults, Amida
+was betrayed by the treachery of a deserter, who indicated to the
+Barbarians a secret and neglected staircase, scooped out of the rock
+that hangs over the stream of the Tigris. Seventy chosen archers of the
+royal guard ascended in silence to the third story of a lofty tower,
+which commanded the precipice; they elevated on high the Persian
+banner, the signal of confidence to the assailants, and of dismay to the
+besieged; and if this devoted band could have maintained their post a
+few minutes longer, the reduction of the place might have been purchased
+by the sacrifice of their lives. After Sapor had tried, without success,
+the efficacy of force and of stratagem, he had recourse to the slower
+but more certain operations of a regular siege, in the conduct of which
+he was instructed by the skill of the Roman deserters. The trenches
+were opened at a convenient distance, and the troops destined for that
+service advanced under the portable cover of strong hurdles, to fill
+up the ditch, and undermine the foundations of the walls. Wooden towers
+were at the same time constructed, and moved forwards on wheels, till
+the soldiers, who were provided with every species of missile weapons,
+could engage almost on level ground with the troops who defended the
+rampart. Every mode of resistance which art could suggest, or courage
+could execute, was employed in the defence of Amida, and the works of
+Sapor were more than once destroyed by the fire of the Romans. But the
+resources of a besieged city may be exhausted. The Persians repaired
+their losses, and pushed their approaches; a large preach was made by
+the battering-ram, and the strength of the garrison, wasted by the sword
+and by disease, yielded to the fury of the assault. The soldiers, the
+citizens, their wives, their children, all who had not time to escape
+through the opposite gate, were involved by the conquerors in a
+promiscuous massacre.
+
+[Footnote 55: For the description of Amida, see D'Herbelot, Bebliotheque
+Orientale, p. Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 108. Histoire de Timur Bec, par
+Cherefeddin Ali, l. iii. c. 41. Ahmed Arabsiades, tom. i. p. 331, c. 43.
+Voyages de Tavernier, tom. i. p. 301. Voyages d'Otter, tom. ii. p.
+273, and Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 324-328. The last of these
+travellers, a learned and accurate Dane, has given a plan of Amida,
+which illustrates the operations of the siege.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Diarbekir, which is styled Amid, or Kara Amid, in the
+public writings of the Turks, contains above 16,000 houses, and is the
+residence of a pacha with three tails. The epithet of Kara is derived
+from the blackness of the stone which composes the strong and ancient
+wall of Amida. ----In my Mem. Hist. sur l'Armenie, l. i. p. 166, 173, I
+conceive that I have proved this city, still called, by the Armenians,
+Dirkranagerd, the city of Tigranes, to be the same with the famous
+Tigranocerta, of which the situation was unknown. St. Martin, i. 432. On
+the siege of Amida, see St. Martin's Notes, ii. 290. Faustus of
+Byzantium, nearly a contemporary, (Armenian,) states that the Persians,
+on becoming masters of it, destroyed 40,000 houses though Ammianus
+describes the city as of no great extent, (civitatis ambitum non nimium
+amplae.) Besides the ordinary population, and those who took refuge from
+the country, it contained 20,000 soldiers. St. Martin, ii. 290. This
+interpretation is extremely doubtful. Wagner (note on Ammianus)
+considers the whole population to amount only to--M.]
+
+[Footnote 57: The operations of the siege of Amida are very minutely
+described by Ammianus, (xix. 1-9,) who acted an honorable part in the
+defence, and escaped with difficulty when the city was stormed by the
+Persians.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Of these four nations, the Albanians are too well known
+to require any description. The Segestans [Sacastene. St. Martin.]
+inhabited a large and level country, which still preserves their name,
+to the south of Khorasan, and the west of Hindostan. (See Geographia
+Nubiensis. p. 133, and D'Herbelot, Biblitheque Orientale, p. 797.)
+Notwithstanding the boasted victory of Bahram, (vol. i. p. 410,) the
+Segestans, above fourscore years afterwards, appear as an independent
+nation, the ally of Persia. We are ignorant of the situation of the
+Vertae and Chionites, but I am inclined to place them (at least
+the latter) towards the confines of India and Scythia. See Ammian.
+----Klaproth considers the real Albanians the same with the ancient
+Alani, and quotes a passage of the emperor Julian in support of his
+opinion. They are the Ossetae, now inhabiting part of Caucasus. Tableaux
+Hist. de l'Asie, p. 179, 180.--M. ----The Vertae are still unknown. It
+is possible that the Chionites are the same as the Huns. These people
+were already known; and we find from Armenian authors that they were
+making, at this period, incursions into Asia. They were often at war
+with the Persians. The name was perhaps pronounced differently in the
+East and in the West, and this prevents us from recognizing it. St.
+Martin, ii. 177.--M.]
+
+But the ruin of Amida was the safety of the Roman provinces.
+
+As soon as the first transports of victory had subsided, Sapor was at
+leisure to reflect, that to chastise a disobedient city, he had lost the
+flower of his troops, and the most favorable season for conquest. [59]
+Thirty thousand of his veterans had fallen under the walls of Amida,
+during the continuance of a siege, which lasted seventy-three days; and
+the disappointed monarch returned to his capital with affected triumph
+and secret mortification. It is more than probable, that the inconstancy
+of his Barbarian allies was tempted to relinquish a war in which they
+had encountered such unexpected difficulties; and that the aged king
+of the Chionites, satiated with revenge, turned away with horror from a
+scene of action where he had been deprived of the hope of his family and
+nation. The strength as well as the spirit of the army with which
+Sapor took the field in the ensuing spring was no longer equal to the
+unbounded views of his ambition. Instead of aspiring to the conquest of
+the East, he was obliged to content himself with the reduction of two
+fortified cities of Mesopotamia, Singara and Bezabde; [60] the one
+situate in the midst of a sandy desert, the other in a small peninsula,
+surrounded almost on every side by the deep and rapid stream of the
+Tigris. Five Roman legions, of the diminutive size to which they had
+been reduced in the age of Constantine, were made prisoners, and
+sent into remote captivity on the extreme confines of Persia. After
+dismantling the walls of Singara, the conqueror abandoned that solitary
+and sequestered place; but he carefully restored the fortifications
+of Bezabde, and fixed in that important post a garrison or colony of
+veterans; amply supplied with every means of defence, and animated
+by high sentiments of honor and fidelity. Towards the close of the
+campaign, the arms of Sapor incurred some disgrace by an unsuccessful
+enterprise against Virtha, or Tecrit, a strong, or, as it was
+universally esteemed till the age of Tamerlane, an impregnable fortress
+of the independent Arabs. [61] [61a]
+
+[Footnote 59: Ammianus has marked the chronology of this year by three
+signs, which do not perfectly coincide with each other, or with
+the series of the history. 1 The corn was ripe when Sapor invaded
+Mesopotamia; "Cum jam stipula flaveate turgerent;" a circumstance,
+which, in the latitude of Aleppo, would naturally refer us to the month
+of April or May. See Harmer's Observations on Scripture vol. i. p. 41.
+Shaw's Travels, p. 335, edit 4to. 2. The progress of Sapor was checked
+by the overflowing of the Euphrates, which generally happens in July and
+August. Plin. Hist. Nat. v. 21. Viaggi di Pietro della Valle, tom. i. p.
+696. 3. When Sapor had taken Amida, after a siege of seventy-three days,
+the autumn was far advanced. "Autumno praecipiti haedorumque improbo
+sidere exorto." To reconcile these apparent contradictions, we must
+allow for some delay in the Persian king, some inaccuracy in the
+historian, and some disorder in the seasons.]
+
+[Footnote 60: The account of these sieges is given by Ammianus, xx. 6,
+7. ----The Christian bishop of Bezabde went to the camp of the king of
+Persia, to persuade him to check the waste of human blood Amm. Mare xx.
+7.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 61: For the identity of Virtha and Tecrit, see D'Anville,
+Geographie. For the siege of that castle by Timur Bec or Tamerlane, see
+Cherefeddin, l. iii. c. 33. The Persian biographer exaggerates the merit
+and difficulty of this exploit, which delivered the caravans of Bagdad
+from a formidable gang of robbers.]
+
+[Footnote 61a: St. Martin doubts whether it lay so much to the south.
+"The word Girtha means in Syriac a castle or fortress, and might be
+applied to many places."]
+
+The defence of the East against the arms of Sapor required and would
+have exercised, the abilities of the most consummate general; and it
+seemed fortunate for the state, that it was the actual province of the
+brave Ursicinus, who alone deserved the confidence of the soldiers
+and people. In the hour of danger, [62] Ursicinus was removed from his
+station by the intrigues of the eunuchs; and the military command of
+the East was bestowed, by the same influence, on Sabinian, a wealthy and
+subtle veteran, who had attained the infirmities, without acquiring
+the experience, of age. By a second order, which issued from the same
+jealous and inconstant councils, Ursicinus was again despatched to the
+frontier of Mesopotamia, and condemned to sustain the labors of a war,
+the honors of which had been transferred to his unworthy rival. Sabinian
+fixed his indolent station under the walls of Edessa; and while he
+amused himself with the idle parade of military exercise, and moved
+to the sound of flutes in the Pyrrhic dance, the public defence was
+abandoned to the boldness and diligence of the former general of
+the East. But whenever Ursicinus recommended any vigorous plan of
+operations; when he proposed, at the head of a light and active army, to
+wheel round the foot of the mountains, to intercept the convoys of the
+enemy, to harass the wide extent of the Persian lines, and to relieve
+the distress of Amida; the timid and envious commander alleged, that he
+was restrained by his positive orders from endangering the safety of
+the troops. Amida was at length taken; its bravest defenders, who had
+escaped the sword of the Barbarians, died in the Roman camp by the hand
+of the executioner: and Ursicinus himself, after supporting the disgrace
+of a partial inquiry, was punished for the misconduct of Sabinian by the
+loss of his military rank. But Constantius soon experienced the truth
+of the prediction which honest indignation had extorted from his injured
+lieutenant, that as long as such maxims of government were suffered to
+prevail, the emperor himself would find it is no easy task to defend
+his eastern dominions from the invasion of a foreign enemy. When he had
+subdued or pacified the Barbarians of the Danube, Constantius proceeded
+by slow marches into the East; and after he had wept over the smoking
+ruins of Amida, he formed, with a powerful army, the siege of Becabde.
+The walls were shaken by the reiterated efforts of the most enormous of
+the battering-rams; the town was reduced to the last extremity; but it
+was still defended by the patient and intrepid valor of the garrison,
+till the approach of the rainy season obliged the emperor to raise the
+siege, and ingloviously to retreat into his winter quarters at Antioch.
+[63] The pride of Constantius, and the ingenuity of his courtiers, were
+at a loss to discover any materials for panegyric in the events of the
+Persian war; while the glory of his cousin Julian, to whose military
+command he had intrusted the provinces of Gaul, was proclaimed to the
+world in the simple and concise narrative of his exploits.
+
+[Footnote 62: Ammianus (xviii. 5, 6, xix. 3, xx. 2) represents the merit
+and disgrace of Ursicinus with that faithful attention which a soldier
+owed to his general. Some partiality may be suspected, yet the whole
+account is consistent and probable.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Ammian. xx. 11. Omisso vano incepto, hiematurus Antiochiae
+redit in Syriam aerumnosam, perpessus et ulcerum sed et atrocia, diuque
+deflenda. It is thus that James Gronovius has restored an obscure
+passage; and he thinks that this correction alone would have deserved
+a new edition of his author: whose sense may now be darkly perceived.
+I expected some additional light from the recent labors of the learned
+Ernestus. (Lipsiae, 1773.) * Note: The late editor (Wagner) has
+nothing better to suggest, and le menta with Gibbon, the silence of
+Ernesti.--M.]
+
+In the blind fury of civil discord, Constantius had abandoned to the
+Barbarians of Germany the countries of Gaul, which still acknowledged
+the authority of his rival. A numerous swarm of Franks and Alemanni were
+invited to cross the Rhine by presents and promises, by the hopes of
+spoil, and by a perpetual grant of all the territories which they should
+be able to subdue. [64] But the emperor, who for a temporary service had
+thus imprudently provoked the rapacious spirit of the Barbarians, soon
+discovered and lamented the difficulty of dismissing these formidable
+allies, after they had tasted the richness of the Roman soil. Regardless
+of the nice distinction of loyalty and rebellion, these undisciplined
+robbers treated as their natural enemies all the subjects of the
+empire, who possessed any property which they were desirous of acquiring
+Forty-five flourishing cities, Tongres, Cologne, Treves, Worms, Spires,
+Strasburgh, &c., besides a far greater number of towns and villages,
+were pillaged, and for the most part reduced to ashes. The Barbarians of
+Germany, still faithful to the maxims of their ancestors, abhorred the
+confinement of walls, to which they applied the odious names of prisons
+and sepulchres; and fixing their independent habitations on the banks of
+rivers, the Rhine, the Moselle, and the Meuse, they secured themselves
+against the danger of a surprise, by a rude and hasty fortification of
+large trees, which were felled and thrown across the roads. The Alemanni
+were established in the modern countries of Alsace and Lorraine; the
+Franks occupied the island of the Batavians, together with an extensive
+district of Brabant, which was then known by the appellation of
+Toxandria, [65] and may deserve to be considered as the original seat
+of their Gallic monarchy. [66] From the sources, to the mouth, of the
+Rhine, the conquests of the Germans extended above forty miles to the
+west of that river, over a country peopled by colonies of their own name
+and nation: and the scene of their devastations was three times more
+extensive than that of their conquests. At a still greater distance the
+open towns of Gaul were deserted, and the inhabitants of the fortified
+cities, who trusted to their strength and vigilance, were obliged to
+content themselves with such supplies of corn as they could raise on the
+vacant land within the enclosure of their walls. The diminished legions,
+destitute of pay and provisions, of arms and discipline, trembled at the
+approach, and even at the name, of the Barbarians.
+
+[Footnote 64: The ravages of the Germans, and the distress of Gaul,
+may be collected from Julian himself. Orat. ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 277.
+Ammian. xv. ll. Libanius, Orat. x. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 140. Sozomen, l.
+iii. c. l. (Mamertin. Grat. Art. c. iv.)]
+
+[Footnote 65: Ammianus, xvi. 8. This name seems to be derived from the
+Toxandri of Pliny, and very frequently occurs in the histories of
+the middle age. Toxandria was a country of woods and morasses, which
+extended from the neighborhood of Tongres to the conflux of the Vahal
+and the Rhine. See Valesius, Notit. Galliar. p. 558.]
+
+[Footnote 66: The paradox of P. Daniel, that the Franks never obtained
+any permanent settlement on this side of the Rhine before the time of
+Clovis, is refuted with much learning and good sense by M. Biet, who
+has proved by a chain of evidence, their uninterrupted possession of
+Toxandria, one hundred and thirty years before the accession of Clovis.
+The Dissertation of M. Biet was crowned by the Academy of Soissons, in
+the year 1736, and seems to have been justly preferred to the discourse
+of his more celebrated competitor, the Abbe le Boeuf, an antiquarian,
+whose name was happily expressive of his talents.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XIX: Constantius Sole Emperor.--Part IV.
+
+Under these melancholy circumstances, an unexperienced youth was
+appointed to save and to govern the provinces of Gaul, or rather, as he
+expressed it himself, to exhibit the vain image of Imperial greatness.
+The retired scholastic education of Julian, in which he had been more
+conversant with books than with arms, with the dead than with the
+living, left him in profound ignorance of the practical arts of war and
+government; and when he awkwardly repeated some military exercise which
+it was necessary for him to learn, he exclaimed with a sigh, "O Plato,
+Plato, what a task for a philosopher!" Yet even this speculative
+philosophy, which men of business are too apt to despise, had filled the
+mind of Julian with the noblest precepts and the most shining examples;
+had animated him with the love of virtue, the desire of fame, and the
+contempt of death. The habits of temperance recommended in the schools,
+are still more essential in the severe discipline of a camp. The simple
+wants of nature regulated the measure of his food and sleep. Rejecting
+with disdain the delicacies provided for his table, he satisfied his
+appetite with the coarse and common fare which was allotted to the
+meanest soldiers. During the rigor of a Gallic winter, he never suffered
+a fire in his bed-chamber; and after a short and interrupted slumber, he
+frequently rose in the middle of the night from a carpet spread on the
+floor, to despatch any urgent business, to visit his rounds, or to steal
+a few moments for the prosecution of his favorite studies. [67] The
+precepts of eloquence, which he had hitherto practised on fancied topics
+of declamation, were more usefully applied to excite or to assuage the
+passions of an armed multitude: and although Julian, from his early
+habits of conversation and literature, was more familiarly acquainted
+with the beauties of the Greek language, he had attained a competent
+knowledge of the Latin tongue. [68] Since Julian was not originally
+designed for the character of a legislator, or a judge, it is probable
+that the civil jurisprudence of the Romans had not engaged any
+considerable share of his attention: but he derived from his philosophic
+studies an inflexible regard for justice, tempered by a disposition
+to clemency; the knowledge of the general principles of equity and
+evidence, and the faculty of patiently investigating the most intricate
+and tedious questions which could be proposed for his discussion.
+The measures of policy, and the operations of war, must submit to the
+various accidents of circumstance and character, and the unpractised
+student will often be perplexed in the application of the most perfect
+theory.
+
+But in the acquisition of this important science, Julian was assisted
+by the active vigor of his own genius, as well as by the wisdom and
+experience of Sallust, and officer of rank, who soon conceived a
+sincere attachment for a prince so worthy of his friendship; and whose
+incorruptible integrity was adorned by the talent of insinuating the
+harshest truths without wounding the delicacy of a royal ear. [69]
+
+[Footnote 67: The private life of Julian in Gaul, and the severe
+discipline which he embraced, are displayed by Ammianus, (xvi. 5,) who
+professes to praise, and by Julian himself, who affects to ridicule,
+(Misopogon, p. 340,) a conduct, which, in a prince of the house of
+Constantine, might justly excite the surprise of mankind.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Aderat Latine quoque disserenti sufficiens sermo. Ammianus
+xvi. 5. But Julian, educated in the schools of Greece, always considered
+the language of the Romans as a foreign and popular dialect which he
+might use on necessary occasions.]
+
+[Footnote 69: We are ignorant of the actual office of this excellent
+minister, whom Julian afterwards created praefect of Gaul. Sallust was
+speedly recalled by the jealousy of the emperor; and we may still read a
+sensible but pedantic discourse, (p. 240-252,) in which Julian deplores
+the loss of so valuable a friend, to whom he acknowledges himself
+indebted for his reputation. See La Bleterie, Preface a la Vie de
+lovien, p. 20.]
+
+Immediately after Julian had received the purple at Milan, he was sent
+into Gaul with a feeble retinue of three hundred and sixty soldiers.
+At Vienna, where he passed a painful and anxious winter in the hands of
+those ministers to whom Constantius had intrusted the direction of his
+conduct, the Caesar was informed of the siege and deliverance of
+Autun. That large and ancient city, protected only by a ruined wall and
+pusillanimous garrison, was saved by the generous resolution of a few
+veterans, who resumed their arms for the defence of their country. In
+his march from Autun, through the heart of the Gallic provinces, Julian
+embraced with ardor the earliest opportunity of signalizing his courage.
+At the head of a small body of archers and heavy cavalry, he preferred
+the shorter but the more dangerous of two roads; [69a] and sometimes
+eluding, and sometimes resisting, the attacks of the Barbarians, who
+were masters of the field, he arrived with honor and safety at the camp
+near Rheims, where the Roman troops had been ordered to assemble.
+The aspect of their young prince revived the drooping spirits of the
+soldiers, and they marched from Rheims in search of the enemy, with
+a confidence which had almost proved fatal to them. The Alemanni,
+familiarized to the knowledge of the country, secretly collected their
+scattered forces, and seizing the opportunity of a dark and rainy day,
+poured with unexpected fury on the rear-guard of the Romans. Before the
+inevitable disorder could be remedied, two legions were destroyed; and
+Julian was taught by experience that caution and vigilance are the most
+important lessons of the art of war. In a second and more successful
+action, he recovered and established his military fame; but as the
+agility of the Barbarians saved them from the pursuit, his victory was
+neither bloody nor decisive. He advanced, however, to the banks of
+the Rhine, surveyed the ruins of Cologne, convinced himself of the
+difficulties of the war, and retreated on the approach of winter,
+discontented with the court, with his army, and with his own success.
+[70] The power of the enemy was yet unbroken; and the Caesar had no
+sooner separated his troops, and fixed his own quarters at Sens, in the
+centre of Gaul, than he was surrounded and besieged, by a numerous host
+of Germans. Reduced, in this extremity, to the resources of his own
+mind, he displayed a prudent intrepidity, which compensated for all the
+deficiencies of the place and garrison; and the Barbarians, at the end
+of thirty days, were obliged to retire with disappointed rage.
+
+[Footnote 69a: Aliis per Arbor--quibusdam per Sedelaucum et Coram in
+debere firrantibus. Amm. Marc. xvi. 2. I do not know what place can be
+meant by the mutilated name Arbor. Sedelanus is Saulieu, a small town of
+the department of the Cote d'Or, six leagues from Autun. Cora answers
+to the village of Cure, on the river of the same name, between Autun
+and Nevera 4; Martin, ii. 162.--M. ----Note: At Brocomages, Brumat, near
+Strasburgh. St. Martin, ii. 184.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Ammianus (xvi. 2, 3) appears much better satisfied with
+the success of his first campaign than Julian himself; who very fairly
+owns that he did nothing of consequence, and that he fled before the
+enemy.]
+
+The conscious pride of Julian, who was indebted only to his sword for
+this signal deliverance, was imbittered by the reflection, that he was
+abandoned, betrayed, and perhaps devoted to destruction, by those who
+were bound to assist him, by every tie of honor and fidelity. Marcellus,
+master-general of the cavalry in Gaul, interpreting too strictly
+the jealous orders of the court, beheld with supine indifference the
+distress of Julian, and had restrained the troops under his command from
+marching to the relief of Sens. If the Caesar had dissembled in silence
+so dangerous an insult, his person and authority would have been exposed
+to the contempt of the world; and if an action so criminal had been
+suffered to pass with impunity, the emperor would have confirmed the
+suspicions, which received a very specious color from his past conduct
+towards the princes of the Flavian family. Marcellus was recalled, and
+gently dismissed from his office. [71] In his room Severus was appointed
+general of the cavalry; an experienced soldier, of approved courage and
+fidelity, who could advise with respect, and execute with zeal; and who
+submitted, without reluctance to the supreme command which Julian,
+by the inrerest of his patroness Eusebia, at length obtained over the
+armies of Gaul. [72] A very judicious plan of operations was adopted for
+the approaching campaign. Julian himself, at the head of the remains of
+the veteran bands, and of some new levies which he had been permitted to
+form, boldly penetrated into the centre of the German cantonments,
+and carefully reestablished the fortifications of Saverne, in an
+advantageous post, which would either check the incursions, or intercept
+the retreat, of the enemy. At the same time, Barbatio, general of the
+infantry, advanced from Milan with an army of thirty thousand men, and
+passing the mountains, prepared to throw a bridge over the Rhine, in the
+neighborhood of Basil. It was reasonable to expect that the Alemanni,
+pressed on either side by the Roman arms, would soon be forced to
+evacuate the provinces of Gaul, and to hasten to the defence of their
+native country. But the hopes of the campaign were defeated by the
+incapacity, or the envy, or the secret instructions, of Barbatio; who
+acted as if he had been the enemy of the Caesar, and the secret ally
+of the Barbarians. The negligence with which he permitted a troop of
+pillagers freely to pass, and to return almost before the gates of his
+camp, may be imputed to his want of abilities; but the treasonable act
+of burning a number of boats, and a superfluous stock of provisions,
+which would have been of the most essential service to the army of Gaul,
+was an evidence of his hostile and criminal intentions. The Germans
+despised an enemy who appeared destitute either of power or of
+inclination to offend them; and the ignominious retreat of Barbatio
+deprived Julian of the expected support; and left him to extricate
+himself from a hazardous situation, where he could neither remain with
+safety, nor retire with honor. [73]
+
+[Footnote 71: Ammian. xvi. 7. Libanius speaks rather more advantageously
+of the military talents of Marcellus, Orat. x. p. 272. And Julian
+insinuates, that he would not have been so easily recalled, unless he
+had given other reasons of offence to the court, p. 278.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Severus, non discors, non arrogans, sed longa militiae
+frugalitate compertus; et eum recta praeeuntem secuturus, ut duetorem
+morigeran miles. Ammian xvi. 11. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 140.]
+
+[Footnote 73: On the design and failure of the cooperation between
+Julian and Barbatio, see Ammianus (xvi. 11) and Libanius, (Orat. x. p.
+273.) Note: Barbatio seems to have allowed himself to be surprised and
+defeated--M.]
+
+As soon as they were delivered from the fears of invasion, the Alemanni
+prepared to chastise the Roman youth, who presumed to dispute the
+possession of that country, which they claimed as their own by the
+right of conquest and of treaties. They employed three days, and as many
+nights, in transporting over the Rhine their military powers. The fierce
+Chnodomar, shaking the ponderous javelin which he had victoriously
+wielded against the brother of Magnentius, led the van of the
+Barbarians, and moderated by his experience the martial ardor which
+his example inspired. [74] He was followed by six other kings, by ten
+princes of regal extraction, by a long train of high-spirited nobles,
+and by thirty-five thousand of the bravest warriors of the tribes of
+Germany. The confidence derived from the view of their own strength, was
+increased by the intelligence which they received from a deserter, that
+the Caesar, with a feeble army of thirteen thousand men, occupied a
+post about one-and-twenty miles from their camp of Strasburgh. With this
+inadequate force, Julian resolved to seek and to encounter the Barbarian
+host; and the chance of a general action was preferred to the tedious
+and uncertain operation of separately engaging the dispersed parties of
+the Alemanni. The Romans marched in close order, and in two columns; the
+cavalry on the right, the infantry on the left; and the day was so far
+spent when they appeared in sight of the enemy, that Julian was desirous
+of deferring the battle till the next morning, and of allowing his
+troops to recruit their exhausted strength by the necessary refreshments
+of sleep and food. Yielding, however, with some reluctance, to the
+clamors of the soldiers, and even to the opinion of his council, he
+exhorted them to justify by their valor the eager impatience, which,
+in case of a defeat, would be universally branded with the epithets of
+rashness and presumption. The trumpets sounded, the military shout was
+heard through the field, and the two armies rushed with equal fury to
+the charge. The Caesar, who conducted in person his right wing, depended
+on the dexterity of his archers, and the weight of his cuirassiers. But
+his ranks were instantly broken by an irregular mixture of light horse
+and of light infantry, and he had the mortification of beholding
+the flight of six hundred of his most renowned cuirassiers. [75] The
+fugitives were stopped and rallied by the presence and authority of
+Julian, who, careless of his own safety, threw himself before them,
+and urging every motive of shame and honor, led them back against the
+victorious enemy. The conflict between the two lines of infantry was
+obstinate and bloody. The Germans possessed the superiority of strength
+and stature, the Romans that of discipline and temper; and as the
+Barbarians, who served under the standard of the empire, united the
+respective advantages of both parties, their strenuous efforts, guided
+by a skilful leader, at length determined the event of the day. The
+Romans lost four tribunes, and two hundred and forty-three soldiers, in
+this memorable battle of Strasburgh, so glorious to the Caesar, [76]
+and so salutary to the afflicted provinces of Gaul. Six thousand of
+the Alemanni were slain in the field, without including those who were
+drowned in the Rhine, or transfixed with darts while they attempted to
+swim across the river. [77] Chnodomar himself was surrounded and taken
+prisoner, with three of his brave companions, who had devoted themselves
+to follow in life or death the fate of their chieftain. Julian received
+him with military pomp in the council of his officers; and expressing a
+generous pity for the fallen state, dissembled his inward contempt
+for the abject humiliation, of his captive. Instead of exhibiting the
+vanquished king of the Alemanni, as a grateful spectacle to the cities
+of Gaul, he respectfully laid at the feet of the emperor this splendid
+trophy of his victory. Chnodomar experienced an honorable treatment:
+but the impatient Barbarian could not long survive his defeat, his
+confinement, and his exile. [78]
+
+[Footnote 74: Ammianus (xvi. 12) describes with his inflated eloquence
+the figure and character of Chnodomar. Audax et fidens ingenti robore
+lacertorum, ubi ardor proelii sperabatur immanis, equo spumante
+sublimior, erectus in jaculum formidandae vastitatis, armorumque
+nitore conspicuus: antea strenuus et miles, et utilis praeter caeteros
+ductor... Decentium Caesarem superavit aequo marte congressus.]
+
+[Footnote 75: After the battle, Julian ventured to revive the rigor of
+ancient discipline, by exposing these fugitives in female apparel to
+the derision of the whole camp. In the next campaign, these troops nobly
+retrieved their honor. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 142.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Julian himself (ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 279) speaks of the
+battle of Strasburgh with the modesty of conscious merit; Zosimus
+compares it with the victory of Alexander over Darius; and yet we are at
+a loss to discover any of those strokes of military genius which fix the
+attention of ages on the conduct and success of a single day.]
+
+[Footnote 77: Ammianus, xvi. 12. Libanius adds 2000 more to the
+number of the slain, (Orat. x. p. 274.) But these trifling differences
+disappear before the 60,000 Barbarians, whom Zosimus has sacrificed
+to the glory of his hero, (l. iii. p. 141.) We might attribute this
+extravagant number to the carelessness of transcribers, if this
+credulous or partial historian had not swelled the army of 35,000
+Alemanni to an innumerable multitude of Barbarians,. It is our own fault
+if this detection does not inspire us with proper distrust on similar
+occasions.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Ammian. xvi. 12. Libanius, Orat. x. p. 276.]
+
+After Julian had repulsed the Alemanni from the provinces of the Upper
+Rhine, he turned his arms against the Franks, who were seated nearer
+to the ocean, on the confines of Gaul and Germany; and who, from
+their numbers, and still more from their intrepid valor, had ever been
+esteemed the most formidable of the Barbarians. [79] Although they
+were strongly actuated by the allurements of rapine, they professed a
+disinterested love of war; which they considered as the supreme honor
+and felicity of human nature; and their minds and bodies were so
+completely hardened by perpetual action, that, according to the lively
+expression of an orator, the snows of winter were as pleasant to them
+as the flowers of spring. In the month of December, which followed the
+battle of Strasburgh, Julian attacked a body of six hundred Franks, who
+had thrown themselves into two castles on the Meuse. [80] In the midst
+of that severe season they sustained, with inflexible constancy, a siege
+of fifty-four days; till at length, exhausted by hunger, and satisfied
+that the vigilance of the enemy, in breaking the ice of the river, left
+them no hopes of escape, the Franks consented, for the first time, to
+dispense with the ancient law which commanded them to conquer or to die.
+The Caesar immediately sent his captives to the court of Constantius,
+who, accepting them as a valuable present, [81] rejoiced in the
+opportunity of adding so many heroes to the choicest troops of his
+domestic guards. The obstinate resistance of this handful of Franks
+apprised Julian of the difficulties of the expedition which he meditated
+for the ensuing spring, against the whole body of the nation. His rapid
+diligence surprised and astonished the active Barbarians. Ordering his
+soldiers to provide themselves with biscuit for twenty days, he suddenly
+pitched his camp near Tongres, while the enemy still supposed him in his
+winter quarters of Paris, expecting the slow arrival of his convoys
+from Aquitain. Without allowing the Franks to unite or deliberate,
+he skilfully spread his legions from Cologne to the ocean; and by
+the terror, as well as by the success, of his arms, soon reduced the
+suppliant tribes to implore the clemency, and to obey the commands, of
+their conqueror. The Chamavians submissively retired to their former
+habitations beyond the Rhine; but the Salians were permitted to possess
+their new establishment of Toxandria, as the subjects and auxiliaries
+of the Roman empire. [82] The treaty was ratified by solemn oaths; and
+perpetual inspectors were appointed to reside among the Franks, with
+the authority of enforcing the strict observance of the conditions.
+An incident is related, interesting enough in itself, and by no means
+repugnant to the character of Julian, who ingeniously contrived both the
+plot and the catastrophe of the tragedy. When the Chamavians sued for
+peace, he required the son of their king, as the only hostage on whom
+he could rely. A mournful silence, interrupted by tears and groans,
+declared the sad perplexity of the Barbarians; and their aged chief
+lamented in pathetic language, that his private loss was now imbittered
+by a sense of public calamity. While the Chamavians lay prostrate at the
+foot of his throne, the royal captive, whom they believed to have been
+slain, unexpectedly appeared before their eyes; and as soon as the
+tumult of joy was hushed into attention, the Caesar addressed the
+assembly in the following terms: "Behold the son, the prince, whom you
+wept. You had lost him by your fault. God and the Romans have restored
+him to you. I shall still preserve and educate the youth, rather as a
+monument of my own virtue, than as a pledge of your sincerity. Should
+you presume to violate the faith which you have sworn, the arms of
+the republic will avenge the perfidy, not on the innocent, but on the
+guilty." The Barbarians withdrew from his presence, impressed with the
+warmest sentiments of gratitude and admiration. [83]
+
+[Footnote 79: Libanius (Orat. iii. p. 137) draws a very lively picture
+of the manners of the Franks.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Ammianus, xvii. 2. Libanius, Orat. x. p. 278. The Greek
+orator, by misapprehending a passage of Julian, has been induced to
+represent the Franks as consisting of a thousand men; and as his head
+was always full of the Peloponnesian war, he compares them to the
+Lacedaemonians, who were besieged and taken in the Island of Sphatoria.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Julian. ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 280. Libanius, Orat. x.
+p. 278. According to the expression of Libanius, the emperor, which La
+Bleterie understands (Vie de Julien, p. 118) as an honest confession,
+and Valesius (ad Ammian. xvii. 2) as a mean evasion, of the truth. Dom
+Bouquet, (Historiens de France, tom. i. p. 733,) by substituting
+another word, would suppress both the difficulty and the spirit of this
+passage.]
+
+[Footnote 82: Ammian. xvii. 8. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 146-150, (his
+narrative is darkened by a mixture of fable,) and Julian. ad S. P. Q.
+Athen. p. 280. His expression. This difference of treatment confirms the
+opinion that the Salian Franks were permitted to retain the settlements
+in Toxandria. Note: A newly discovered fragment of Eunapius, whom
+Zosimus probably transcribed, illustrates this transaction. "Julian
+commanded the Romans to abstain from all hostile measures against the
+Salians, neither to waste or ravage their own country, for he called
+every country their own which was surrendered without resistance or toil
+on the part of the conquerors." Mai, Script. Vez Nov. Collect. ii. 256,
+and Eunapius in Niebuhr, Byzant. Hist.]
+
+[Footnote 83: This interesting story, which Zosimus has abridged, is
+related by Eunapius, (in Excerpt. Legationum, p. 15, 16, 17,) with all
+the amplifications of Grecian rhetoric: but the silence of Libanius,
+of Ammianus, and of Julian himself, renders the truth of it extremely
+suspicious.]
+
+It was not enough for Julian to have delivered the provinces of Gaul
+from the Barbarians of Germany. He aspired to emulate the glory of the
+first and most illustrious of the emperors; after whose example,
+he composed his own commentaries of the Gallic war. [84] Caesar has
+related, with conscious pride, the manner in which he twice passed the
+Rhine. Julian could boast, that before he assumed the title of Augustus,
+he had carried the Roman eagles beyond that great river in three
+successful expeditions. [85] The consternation of the Germans, after
+the battle of Strasburgh, encouraged him to the first attempt; and the
+reluctance of the troops soon yielded to the persuasive eloquence of
+a leader, who shared the fatigues and dangers which he imposed on the
+meanest of the soldiers. The villages on either side of the Meyn, which
+were plentifully stored with corn and cattle, felt the ravages of an
+invading army. The principal houses, constructed with some imitation
+of Roman elegance, were consumed by the flames; and the Caesar boldly
+advanced about ten miles, till his progress was stopped by a dark
+and impenetrable forest, undermined by subterraneous passages, which
+threatened with secret snares and ambush every step of the assailants.
+The ground was already covered with snow; and Julian, after repairing an
+ancient castle which had been erected by Trajan, granted a truce of ten
+months to the submissive Barbarians. At the expiration of the truce,
+Julian undertook a second expedition beyond the Rhine, to humble the
+pride of Surmar and Hortaire, two of the kings of the Alemanni, who had
+been present at the battle of Strasburgh. They promised to restore
+all the Roman captives who yet remained alive; and as the Caesar had
+procured an exact account from the cities and villages of Gaul, of the
+inhabitants whom they had lost, he detected every attempt to deceive
+him, with a degree of readiness and accuracy, which almost established
+the belief of his supernatural knowledge. His third expedition was
+still more splendid and important than the two former. The Germans had
+collected their military powers, and moved along the opposite banks of
+the river, with a design of destroying the bridge, and of preventing
+the passage of the Romans. But this judicious plan of defence was
+disconcerted by a skilful diversion. Three hundred light-armed and
+active soldiers were detached in forty small boats, to fall down the
+stream in silence, and to land at some distance from the posts of the
+enemy. They executed their orders with so much boldness and celerity,
+that they had almost surprised the Barbarian chiefs, who returned in
+the fearless confidence of intoxication from one of their nocturnal
+festivals. Without repeating the uniform and disgusting tale of
+slaughter and devastation, it is sufficient to observe, that Julian
+dictated his own conditions of peace to six of the haughtiest kings of
+the Alemanni, three of whom were permitted to view the severe discipline
+and martial pomp of a Roman camp. Followed by twenty thousand captives,
+whom he had rescued from the chains of the Barbarians, the Caesar
+repassed the Rhine, after terminating a war, the success of which has
+been compared to the ancient glories of the Punic and Cimbric victories.
+
+[Footnote 84: Libanius, the friend of Julian, clearly insinuates
+(Orat. ix. p. 178) that his hero had composed the history of his
+Gallic campaigns But Zosimus (l. iii. p, 140) seems to have derived
+his information only from the Orations and the Epistles of Julian. The
+discourse which is addressed to the Athenians contains an accurate,
+though general, account of the war against the Germans.]
+
+[Footnote 85: See Ammian. xvii. 1, 10, xviii. 2, and Zosim. l. iii. p.
+144. Julian ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 280.]
+
+As soon as the valor and conduct of Julian had secured an interval of
+peace, he applied himself to a work more congenial to his humane and
+philosophic temper. The cities of Gaul, which had suffered from the
+inroads of the Barbarians, he diligently repaired; and seven important
+posts, between Mentz and the mouth of the Rhine, are particularly
+mentioned, as having been rebuilt and fortified by the order of Julian.
+[86] The vanquished Germans had submitted to the just but humiliating
+condition of preparing and conveying the necessary materials. The active
+zeal of Julian urged the prosecution of the work; and such was the
+spirit which he had diffused among the troops, that the auxiliaries
+themselves, waiving their exemption from any duties of fatigue,
+contended in the most servile labors with the diligence of the Roman
+soldiers. It was incumbent on the Caesar to provide for the subsistence,
+as well as for the safety, of the inhabitants and of the garrisons. The
+desertion of the former, and the mutiny of the latter, must have been
+the fatal and inevitable consequences of famine. The tillage of the
+provinces of Gaul had been interrupted by the calamities of war; but the
+scanty harvests of the continent were supplied, by his paternal care,
+from the plenty of the adjacent island. Six hundred large barks, framed
+in the forest of the Ardennes, made several voyages to the coast of
+Britain; and returning from thence, laden with corn, sailed up the
+Rhine, and distributed their cargoes to the several towns and fortresses
+along the banks of the river. [87] The arms of Julian had restored a
+free and secure navigation, which Constantinius had offered to purchase
+at the expense of his dignity, and of a tributary present of two
+thousand pounds of silver. The emperor parsimoniously refused to his
+soldiers the sums which he granted with a lavish and trembling hand to
+the Barbarians. The dexterity, as well as the firmness, of Julian was
+put to a severe trial, when he took the field with a discontented army,
+which had already served two campaigns, without receiving any regular
+pay or any extraordinary donative. [88]
+
+[Footnote 86: Ammian. xviii. 2. Libanius, Orat. x. p. 279, 280. Of these
+seven posts, four are at present towns of some consequence; Bingen,
+Andernach, Bonn, and Nuyss. The other three, Tricesimae, Quadriburgium,
+and Castra Herculis, or Heraclea, no longer subsist; but there is
+room to believe, that on the ground of Quadriburgium the Dutch have
+constructed the fort of Schenk, a name so offensive to the fastidious
+delicacy of Boileau. See D'Anville, Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 183.
+Boileau, Epitre iv. and the notes. Note: Tricesimae, Kellen, Mannert,
+quoted by Wagner. Heraclea, Erkeleus in the district of Juliers. St.
+Martin, ii. 311.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 87: We may credit Julian himself, (Orat. ad S. P. Q.
+Atheniensem, p. 280,) who gives a very particular account of the
+transaction. Zosimus adds two hundred vessels more, (l. iii. p. 145.) If
+we compute the 600 corn ships of Julian at only seventy tons each, they
+were capable of exporting 120,000 quarters, (see Arbuthnot's Weights
+and Measures, p. 237;) and the country which could bear so large
+an exportation, must already have attained an improved state of
+agriculture.]
+
+[Footnote 88: The troops once broke out into a mutiny, immediately
+before the second passage of the Rhine. Ammian. xvii. 9.]
+
+A tender regard for the peace and happiness of his subjects was the
+ruling principle which directed, or seemed to direct, the administration
+of Julian. [89] He devoted the leisure of his winter quarters to the
+offices of civil government; and affected to assume, with more pleasure,
+the character of a magistrate than that of a general. Before he took the
+field, he devolved on the provincial governors most of the public and
+private causes which had been referred to his tribunal; but, on his
+return, he carefully revised their proceedings, mitigated the rigor
+of the law, and pronounced a second judgment on the judges themselves.
+Superior to the last temptation of virtuous minds, an indiscreet and
+intemperate zeal for justice, he restrained, with calmness and dignity,
+the warmth of an advocate, who prosecuted, for extortion, the president
+of the Narbonnese province. "Who will ever be found guilty," exclaimed
+the vehement Delphidius, "if it be enough to deny?" "And who," replied
+Julian, "will ever be innocent, if it be sufficient to affirm?" In the
+general administration of peace and war, the interest of the sovereign
+is commonly the same as that of his people; but Constantius would have
+thought himself deeply injured, if the virtues of Julian had defrauded
+him of any part of the tribute which he extorted from an oppressed
+and exhausted country. The prince who was invested with the ensigns of
+royalty, might sometimes presume to correct the rapacious insolence of
+his inferior agents, to expose their corrupt arts, and to introduce an
+equal and easier mode of collection. But the management of the finances
+was more safely intrusted to Florentius, praetorian praefect of Gaul,
+an effeminate tyrant, incapable of pity or remorse: and the haughty
+minister complained of the most decent and gentle opposition, while
+Julian himself was rather inclined to censure the weakness of his own
+behavior. The Caesar had rejected, with abhorrence, a mandate for the
+levy of an extraordinary tax; a new superindiction, which the praefect
+had offered for his signature; and the faithful picture of the public
+misery, by which he had been obliged to justify his refusal, offended
+the court of Constantius. We may enjoy the pleasure of reading the
+sentiments of Julian, as he expresses them with warmth and freedom in
+a letter to one of his most intimate friends. After stating his own
+conduct, he proceeds in the following terms: "Was it possible for the
+disciple of Plato and Aristotle to act otherwise than I have done? Could
+I abandon the unhappy subjects intrusted to my care? Was I not called
+upon to defend them from the repeated injuries of these unfeeling
+robbers? A tribune who deserts his post is punished with death, and
+deprived of the honors of burial. With what justice could I pronounce
+his sentence, if, in the hour of danger, I myself neglected a duty far
+more sacred and far more important? God has placed me in this elevated
+post; his providence will guard and support me. Should I be condemned to
+suffer, I shall derive comfort from the testimony of a pure and upright
+conscience. Would to Heaven that I still possessed a counsellor like
+Sallust! If they think proper to send me a successor, I shall submit
+without reluctance; and had much rather improve the short opportunity
+of doing good, than enjoy a long and lasting impunity of evil." [90] The
+precarious and dependent situation of Julian displayed his virtues and
+concealed his defects. The young hero who supported, in Gaul, the throne
+of Constantius, was not permitted to reform the vices of the government;
+but he had courage to alleviate or to pity the distress of the people.
+Unless he had been able to revive the martial spirit of the Romans,
+or to introduce the arts of industry and refinement among their savage
+enemies, he could not entertain any rational hopes of securing the
+public tranquillity, either by the peace or conquest of Germany. Yet
+the victories of Julian suspended, for a short time, the inroads of the
+Barbarians, and delayed the ruin of the Western Empire.
+
+[Footnote 89: Ammian. xvi. 5, xviii. 1. Mamertinus in Panegyr. Vet. xi.
+4]
+
+[Footnote 90: Ammian. xvii. 3. Julian. Epistol. xv. edit. Spanheim. Such
+a conduct almost justifies the encomium of Mamertinus. Ita illi anni
+spatia divisa sunt, ut aut Barbaros domitet, aut civibus jura restituat,
+perpetuum professus, aut contra hostem, aut contra vitia, certamen.]
+
+His salutary influence restored the cities of Gaul, which had been so
+long exposed to the evils of civil discord, Barbarian war, and domestic
+tyranny; and the spirit of industry was revived with the hopes of
+enjoyment. Agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, again flourished
+under the protection of the laws; and the curioe, or civil corporations,
+were again filled with useful and respectable members: the youth were
+no longer apprehensive of marriage; and married persons were no longer
+apprehensive of posterity: the public and private festivals were
+celebrated with customary pomp; and the frequent and secure intercourse
+of the provinces displayed the image of national prosperity. [91] A mind
+like that of Julian must have felt the general happiness of which he was
+the author; but he viewed, with particular satisfaction and complacency,
+the city of Paris; the seat of his winter residence, and the object even
+of his partial affection. [92] That splendid capital, which now embraces
+an ample territory on either side of the Seine, was originally
+confined to the small island in the midst of the river, from whence the
+inhabitants derived a supply of pure and salubrious water. The river
+bathed the foot of the walls; and the town was accessible only by two
+wooden bridges. A forest overspread the northern side of the Seine, but
+on the south, the ground, which now bears the name of the University,
+was insensibly covered with houses, and adorned with a palace and
+amphitheatre, baths, an aqueduct, and a field of Mars for the exercise
+of the Roman troops. The severity of the climate was tempered by the
+neighborhood of the ocean; and with some precautions, which experience
+had taught, the vine and fig-tree were successfully cultivated. But in
+remarkable winters, the Seine was deeply frozen; and the huge pieces of
+ice that floated down the stream, might be compared, by an Asiatic, to
+the blocks of white marble which were extracted from the quarries of
+Phrygia. The licentiousness and corruption of Antioch recalled to the
+memory of Julian the severe and simple manners of his beloved Lutetia;
+[93] where the amusements of the theatre were unknown or despised. He
+indignantly contrasted the effeminate Syrians with the brave and honest
+simplicity of the Gauls, and almost forgave the intemperance, which was
+the only stain of the Celtic character. [94] If Julian could now revisit
+the capital of France, he might converse with men of science and genius,
+capable of understanding and of instructing a disciple of the Greeks; he
+might excuse the lively and graceful follies of a nation, whose martial
+spirit has never been enervated by the indulgence of luxury; and he
+must applaud the perfection of that inestimable art, which softens and
+refines and embellishes the intercourse of social life.
+
+[Footnote 91: Libanius, Orat. Parental. in Imp. Julian. c. 38, in
+Fabricius Bibliothec. Graec. tom. vii. p. 263, 264.]
+
+[Footnote 92: See Julian. in Misopogon, p. 340, 341. The primitive
+state of Paris is illustrated by Henry Valesius, (ad Ammian. xx. 4,)
+his brother Hadrian Valesius, or de Valois, and M. D'Anville, (in
+their respective Notitias of ancient Gaul,) the Abbe de Longuerue,
+(Description de la France, tom. i. p. 12, 13,) and M. Bonamy, (in the
+Mem. de l'Aca demie des Inscriptions, tom. xv. p. 656-691.)]
+
+[Footnote 93: Julian, in Misopogon, p. 340. Leuce tia, or Lutetia, was
+the ancient name of the city, which, according to the fashion of the
+fourth century, assumed the territorial appellation of Parisii.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Julian in Misopogon, p. 359, 360.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XX: Conversion Of Constantine.--Part I.
+
+    The Motives, Progress, And Effects Of The Conversion Of
+Constantine.--Legal Establishment And Constitution Of The Christian Or
+Catholic Church.
+
+The public establishment of Christianity may be considered as one of
+those important and domestic revolutions which excite the most lively
+curiosity, and afford the most valuable instruction. The victories and
+the civil policy of Constantine no longer influence the state of Europe;
+but a considerable portion of the globe still retains the impression
+which it received from the conversion of that monarch; and the
+ecclesiastical institutions of his reign are still connected, by an
+indissoluble chain, with the opinions, the passions, and the interests
+of the present generation. In the consideration of a subject which may
+be examined with impartiality, but cannot be viewed with indifference,
+a difficulty immediately arises of a very unexpected nature; that of
+ascertaining the real and precise date of the conversion of Constantine.
+The eloquent Lactantius, in the midst of his court, seems impatient [1]
+to proclaim to the world the glorious example of the sovereign of Gaul;
+who, in the first moments of his reign, acknowledged and adored the
+majesty of the true and only God. [2] The learned Eusebius has ascribed
+the faith of Constantine to the miraculous sign which was displayed in
+the heavens whilst he meditated and prepared the Italian expedition. [3]
+The historian Zosimus maliciously asserts, that the emperor had imbrued
+his hands in the blood of his eldest son, before he publicly renounced
+the gods of Rome and of his ancestors. [4] The perplexity produced by
+these discordant authorities is derived from the behavior of Constantine
+himself. According to the strictness of ecclesiastical language, the
+first of the Christian emperors was unworthy of that name, till the
+moment of his death; since it was only during his last illness that
+he received, as a catechumen, the imposition of hands, [5] and was
+afterwards admitted, by the initiatory rites of baptism, into the number
+of the faithful. [6] The Christianity of Constantine must be allowed
+in a much more vague and qualified sense; and the nicest accuracy is
+required in tracing the slow and almost imperceptible gradations by
+which the monarch declared himself the protector, and at length the
+proselyte, of the church. It was an arduous task to eradicate the habits
+and prejudices of his education, to acknowledge the divine power
+of Christ, and to understand that the truth of his revelation was
+incompatible with the worship of the gods. The obstacles which he had
+probably experienced in his own mind, instructed him to proceed
+with caution in the momentous change of a national religion; and he
+insensibly discovered his new opinions, as far as he could enforce them
+with safety and with effect. During the whole course of his reign, the
+stream of Christianity flowed with a gentle, though accelerated, motion:
+but its general direction was sometimes checked, and sometimes diverted,
+by the accidental circumstances of the times, and by the prudence, or
+possibly by the caprice, of the monarch. His ministers were permitted to
+signify the intentions of their master in the various language which
+was best adapted to their respective principles; [7] and he artfully
+balanced the hopes and fears of his subjects, by publishing in the same
+year two edicts; the first of which enjoined the solemn observance of
+Sunday, [8] and the second directed the regular consultation of the
+Aruspices. [9] While this important revolution yet remained in suspense,
+the Christians and the Pagans watched the conduct of their sovereign
+with the same anxiety, but with very opposite sentiments. The former
+were prompted by every motive of zeal, as well as vanity, to exaggerate
+the marks of his favor, and the evidences of his faith. The latter,
+till their just apprehensions were changed into despair and resentment,
+attempted to conceal from the world, and from themselves, that the
+gods of Rome could no longer reckon the emperor in the number of their
+votaries. The same passions and prejudices have engaged the partial
+writers of the times to connect the public profession of Christianity
+with the most glorious or the most ignominious aera of the reign of
+Constantine.
+
+[Footnote 1: The date of the Divine Institutions of Lactantius has
+been accurately discussed, difficulties have been started, solutions
+proposed, and an expedient imagined of two original editions; the former
+published during the persecution of Diocletian, the latter under that of
+Licinius. See Dufresnoy, Prefat. p. v. Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiast. tom.
+vi. p. 465-470. Lardner's Credibility, part ii. vol. vii. p. 78-86.
+For my own part, I am almost convinced that Lactantius dedicated his
+Institutions to the sovereign of Gaul, at a time when Galerius, Maximin,
+and even Licinius, persecuted the Christians; that is, between the years
+306 and 311.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Lactant. Divin. Instit. i. l. vii. 27. The first and
+most important of these passages is indeed wanting in twenty-eight
+manuscripts; but it is found in nineteen. If we weigh the comparative
+value of these manuscripts, one of 900 years old, in the king of
+France's library may be alleged in its favor; but the passage is omitted
+in the correct manuscript of Bologna, which the P. de Montfaucon
+ascribes to the sixth or seventh century (Diarium Italic. p. 489.) The
+taste of most of the editors (except Isaeus; see Lactant. edit.
+Dufresnoy, tom. i. p. 596) has felt the genuine style of Lactantius.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Euseb. in Vit. Constant. l. i. c. 27-32.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 104.]
+
+[Footnote 5: That rite was always used in making a catechumen, (see
+Bingham's Antiquities. l. x. c. i. p. 419. Dom Chardon, Hist. des
+Sacramens, tom. i. p. 62,) and Constantine received it for the first
+time (Euseb. in Vit Constant. l. iv. c. 61) immediately before his
+baptism and death. From the connection of these two facts, Valesius (ad
+loc. Euseb.) has drawn the conclusion which is reluctantly admitted
+by Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 628,) and opposed with
+feeble arguments by Mosheim, (p. 968.)]
+
+[Footnote 6: Euseb. in Vit. Constant. l. iv. c. 61, 62, 63. The legend
+of Constantine's baptism at Rome, thirteen years before his death, was
+invented in the eighth century, as a proper motive for his donation.
+Such has been the gradual progress of knowledge, that a story, of which
+Cardinal Baronius (Annual Ecclesiast. A. D. 324, No. 43-49) declared
+himself the unblushing advocate, is now feebly supported, even within
+the verge of the Vatican. See the Antiquitates Christianae, tom. ii. p.
+232; a work published with six approbations at Rome, in the year 1751 by
+Father Mamachi, a learned Dominican.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The quaestor, or secretary, who composed the law of the
+Theodosian Code, makes his master say with indifference, "hominibus
+supradictae religionis," (l. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 1.) The minister of
+ecclesiastical affairs was allowed a more devout and respectful style,
+the legal, most holy, and Catholic worship.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Cod. Theodos. l. ii. viii. tit. leg. 1. Cod. Justinian. l.
+iii. tit. xii. leg. 3. Constantine styles the Lord's day dies solis, a
+name which could not offend the ears of his pagan subjects.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. x. leg. l. Godefroy, in the
+character of a commentator, endeavors (tom. vi. p. 257) to excuse
+Constantine; but the more zealous Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 321,
+No. 17) censures his profane conduct with truth and asperity.]
+
+Whatever symptoms of Christian piety might transpire in the discourses
+or actions of Constantine, he persevered till he was near forty years
+of age in the practice of the established religion; [10] and the same
+conduct which in the court of Nicomedia might be imputed to his fear,
+could be ascribed only to the inclination or policy of the sovereign of
+Gaul. His liberality restored and enriched the temples of the gods;
+the medals which issued from his Imperial mint are impressed with the
+figures and attributes of Jupiter and Apollo, of Mars and Hercules;
+and his filial piety increased the council of Olympus by the solemn
+apotheosis of his father Constantius. [11] But the devotion of
+Constantine was more peculiarly directed to the genius of the Sun,
+the Apollo of Greek and Roman mythology; and he was pleased to be
+represented with the symbols of the God of Light and Poetry. The
+unerring shafts of that deity, the brightness of his eyes, his laurel
+wreath, immortal beauty, and elegant accomplishments, seem to point him
+out as the patron of a young hero. The altars of Apollo were crowned
+with the votive offerings of Constantine; and the credulous multitude
+were taught to believe, that the emperor was permitted to behold with
+mortal eyes the visible majesty of their tutelar deity; and that, either
+walking or in a vision, he was blessed with the auspicious omens of a
+long and victorious reign. The Sun was universally celebrated as the
+invincible guide and protector of Constantine; and the Pagans might
+reasonably expect that the insulted god would pursue with unrelenting
+vengeance the impiety of his ungrateful favorite. [12]
+
+[Footnote 10: Theodoret. (l. i. c. 18) seems to insinuate that Helena
+gave her son a Christian education; but we may be assured, from the
+superior authority of Eusebius, (in Vit. Constant. l. iii. c. 47,)
+that she herself was indebted to Constantine for the knowledge of
+Christianity.]
+
+[Footnote 11: See the medals of Constantine in Ducange and Banduri. As
+few cities had retained the privilege of coining, almost all the medals
+of that age issued from the mint under the sanction of the Imperial
+authority.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The panegyric of Eumenius, (vii. inter Panegyr. Vet.,)
+which was pronounced a few months before the Italian war, abounds
+with the most unexceptionable evidence of the Pagan superstition of
+Constantine, and of his particular veneration for Apollo, or the Sun; to
+which Julian alludes.]
+
+As long as Constantine exercised a limited sovereignty over the
+provinces of Gaul, his Christian subjects were protected by the
+authority, and perhaps by the laws, of a prince, who wisely left to
+the gods the care of vindicating their own honor. If we may credit the
+assertion of Constantine himself, he had been an indignant spectator
+of the savage cruelties which were inflicted, by the hands of Roman
+soldiers, on those citizens whose religion was their only crime. [13] In
+the East and in the West, he had seen the different effects of severity
+and indulgence; and as the former was rendered still more odious by the
+example of Galerius, his implacable enemy, the latter was recommended to
+his imitation by the authority and advice of a dying father. The son of
+Constantius immediately suspended or repealed the edicts of persecution,
+and granted the free exercise of their religious ceremonies to all those
+who had already professed themselves members of the church. They were
+soon encouraged to depend on the favor as well as on the justice of
+their sovereign, who had imbibed a secret and sincere reverence for the
+name of Christ, and for the God of the Christians. [14]
+
+[Footnote 13: Constantin. Orat. ad Sanctos, c. 25. But it might easily
+be shown, that the Greek translator has improved the sense of the
+Latin original; and the aged emperor might recollect the persecution of
+Diocletian with a more lively abhorrence than he had actually felt to
+the days of his youth and Paganism.]
+
+[Footnote 14: See Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. viii. 13, l. ix. 9, and in
+Vit. Const. l. i. c. 16, 17 Lactant. Divin. Institut. i. l. Caecilius de
+Mort. Persecut. c. 25.]
+
+About five months after the conquest of Italy, the emperor made a solemn
+and authentic declaration of his sentiments by the celebrated edict
+of Milan, which restored peace to the Catholic church. In the personal
+interview of the two western princes, Constantine, by the ascendant
+of genius and power, obtained the ready concurrence of his colleague,
+Licinius; the union of their names and authority disarmed the fury of
+Maximin; and after the death of the tyrant of the East, the edict of
+Milan was received as a general and fundamental law of the Roman world.
+[15]
+
+[Footnote 15: Caecilius (de Mort. Persecut. c. 48) has preserved the
+Latin original; and Eusebius (Hist. Eccles. l. x. c. 5) has given
+a Greek translation of this perpetual edict, which refers to some
+provisional regulations.]
+
+The wisdom of the emperors provided for the restitution of all the
+civil and religious rights of which the Christians had been so unjustly
+deprived. It was enacted that the places of worship, and public lands,
+which had been confiscated, should be restored to the church, without
+dispute, without delay, and without expense; and this severe injunction
+was accompanied with a gracious promise, that if any of the purchasers
+had paid a fair and adequate price, they should be indemnified from
+the Imperial treasury. The salutary regulations which guard the future
+tranquillity of the faithful are framed on the principles of enlarged
+and equal toleration; and such an equality must have been interpreted
+by a recent sect as an advantageous and honorable distinction. The
+two emperors proclaim to the world, that they have granted a free and
+absolute power to the Christians, and to all others, of following the
+religion which each individual thinks proper to prefer, to which he has
+addicted his mind, and which he may deem the best adapted to his
+own use. They carefully explain every ambiguous word, remove every
+exception, and exact from the governors of the provinces a strict
+obedience to the true and simple meaning of an edict, which was designed
+to establish and secure, without any limitation, the claims of religious
+liberty. They condescend to assign two weighty reasons which have
+induced them to allow this universal toleration: the humane intention of
+consulting the peace and happiness of their people; and the pious hope,
+that, by such a conduct, they shall appease and propitiate the Deity,
+whose seat is in heaven. They gratefully acknowledge the many signal
+proofs which they have received of the divine favor; and they trust that
+the same Providence will forever continue to protect the prosperity of
+the prince and people. From these vague and indefinite expressions of
+piety, three suppositions may be deduced, of a different, but not of an
+incompatible nature. The mind of Constantine might fluctuate between the
+Pagan and the Christian religions. According to the loose and complying
+notions of Polytheism, he might acknowledge the God of the Christians as
+one of the many deities who compose the hierarchy of heaven. Or
+perhaps he might embrace the philosophic and pleasing idea, that,
+notwithstanding the variety of names, of rites, and of opinions, all the
+sects, and all the nations of mankind, are united in the worship of the
+common Father and Creator of the universe. [16]
+
+[Footnote 16: A panegyric of Constantine, pronounced seven or eight
+months after the edict of Milan, (see Gothofred. Chronolog. Legum, p. 7,
+and Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 246,) uses the following
+remarkable expression: "Summe rerum sator, cujus tot nomina sant, quot
+linguas gentium esse voluisti, quem enim te ipse dici velin, scire non
+possumus." (Panegyr. Vet. ix. 26.) In explaining Constantine's progress
+in the faith, Mosheim (p. 971, &c.) is ingenious, subtle, prolix.]
+
+But the counsels of princes are more frequently influenced by views of
+temporal advantage, than by considerations of abstract and speculative
+truth. The partial and increasing favor of Constantine may naturally be
+referred to the esteem which he entertained for the moral character of
+the Christians; and to a persuasion, that the propagation of the gospel
+would inculcate the practice of private and public virtue. Whatever
+latitude an absolute monarch may assume in his own conduct, whatever
+indulgence he may claim for his own passions, it is undoubtedly his
+interest that all his subjects should respect the natural and civil
+obligations of society. But the operation of the wisest laws is
+imperfect and precarious. They seldom inspire virtue, they cannot always
+restrain vice. Their power is insufficient to prohibit all that they
+condemn, nor can they always punish the actions which they prohibit.
+The legislators of antiquity had summoned to their aid the powers of
+education and of opinion. But every principle which had once maintained
+the vigor and purity of Rome and Sparta, was long since extinguished
+in a declining and despotic empire. Philosophy still exercised her
+temperate sway over the human mind, but the cause of virtue derived very
+feeble support from the influence of the Pagan superstition. Under these
+discouraging circumstances, a prudent magistrate might observe with
+pleasure the progress of a religion which diffused among the people a
+pure, benevolent, and universal system of ethics, adapted to every duty
+and every condition of life; recommended as the will and reason of
+the supreme Deity, and enforced by the sanction of eternal rewards or
+punishments. The experience of Greek and Roman history could not inform
+the world how far the system of national manners might be reformed and
+improved by the precepts of a divine revelation; and Constantine might
+listen with some confidence to the flattering, and indeed reasonable,
+assurances of Lactantius. The eloquent apologist seemed firmly to
+expect, and almost ventured to promise, that the establishment of
+Christianity would restore the innocence and felicity of the primitive
+age; that the worship of the true God would extinguish war and
+dissension among those who mutually considered themselves as the
+children of a common parent; that every impure desire, every angry or
+selfish passion, would be restrained by the knowledge of the gospel; and
+that the magistrates might sheath the sword of justice among a people
+who would be universally actuated by the sentiments of truth and piety,
+of equity and moderation, of harmony and universal love. [17]
+
+[Footnote 17: See the elegant description of Lactantius, (Divin
+Institut. v. 8,) who is much more perspicuous and positive than becomes
+a discreet prophet.]
+
+The passive and unresisting obedience, which bows under the yoke of
+authority, or even of oppression, must have appeared, in the eyes of
+an absolute monarch, the most conspicuous and useful of the evangelic
+virtues. [18] The primitive Christians derived the institution of civil
+government, not from the consent of the people, but from the decrees
+of Heaven. The reigning emperor, though he had usurped the sceptre
+by treason and murder, immediately assumed the sacred character of
+vicegerent of the Deity. To the Deity alone he was accountable for the
+abuse of his power; and his subjects were indissolubly bound, by their
+oath of fidelity, to a tyrant, who had violated every law of nature and
+society. The humble Christians were sent into the world as sheep among
+wolves; and since they were not permitted to employ force even in the
+defence of their religion, they should be still more criminal if they
+were tempted to shed the blood of their fellow-creatures in disputing
+the vain privileges, or the sordid possessions, of this transitory life.
+Faithful to the doctrine of the apostle, who in the reign of Nero had
+preached the duty of unconditional submission, the Christians of the
+three first centuries preserved their conscience pure and innocent
+of the guilt of secret conspiracy, or open rebellion. While they
+experienced the rigor of persecution, they were never provoked either to
+meet their tyrants in the field, or indignantly to withdraw themselves
+into some remote and sequestered corner of the globe. [19] The
+Protestants of France, of Germany, and of Britain, who asserted with
+such intrepid courage their civil and religious freedom, have been
+insulted by the invidious comparison between the conduct of the
+primitive and of the reformed Christians. [20] Perhaps, instead of
+censure, some applause may be due to the superior sense and spirit of
+our ancestors, who had convinced themselves that religion cannot abolish
+the unalienable rights of human nature. [21] Perhaps the patience of
+the primitive church may be ascribed to its weakness, as well as to its
+virtue.
+
+A sect of unwarlike plebeians, without leaders, without arms, without
+fortifications, must have encountered inevitable destruction in a rash
+and fruitless resistance to the master of the Roman legions. But the
+Christians, when they deprecated the wrath of Diocletian, or solicited
+the favor of Constantine, could allege, with truth and confidence, that
+they held the principle of passive obedience, and that, in the space
+of three centuries, their conduct had always been conformable to their
+principles. They might add, that the throne of the emperors would be
+established on a fixed and permanent basis, if all their subjects,
+embracing the Christian doctrine, should learn to suffer and to obey.
+
+[Footnote 18: The political system of the Christians is explained by
+Grotius, de Jure Belli et Pacis, l. i. c. 3, 4. Grotius was a republican
+and an exile, but the mildness of his temper inclined him to support the
+established powers.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Tertullian. Apolog. c. 32, 34, 35, 36. Tamen nunquam
+Albiniani, nec Nigriani vel Cassiani inveniri potuerunt Christiani.
+Ad Scapulam, c. 2. If this assertion be strictly true, it excludes the
+Christians of that age from all civil and military employments, which
+would have compelled them to take an active part in the service of their
+respective governors. See Moyle's Works, vol. ii. p. 349.]
+
+[Footnote 20: See the artful Bossuet, (Hist. des Variations des Eglises
+Protestantes, tom. iii. p. 210-258.) and the malicious Bayle, (tom ii.
+p. 820.) I name Bayle, for he was certainly the author of the Avis aux
+Refugies; consult the Dictionnaire Critique de Chauffepie, tom. i. part
+ii. p. 145.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Buchanan is the earliest, or at least the most celebrated,
+of the reformers, who has justified the theory of resistance. See his
+Dialogue de Jure Regni apud Scotos, tom. ii. p. 28, 30, edit. fol.
+Rudiman.]
+
+In the general order of Providence, princes and tyrants are considered
+as the ministers of Heaven, appointed to rule or to chastise the nations
+of the earth. But sacred history affords many illustrious examples of
+the more immediate interposition of the Deity in the government of his
+chosen people. The sceptre and the sword were committed to the hands of
+Moses, of Joshua, of Gideon, of David, of the Maccabees; the virtues
+of those heroes were the motive or the effect of the divine favor, the
+success of their arms was destined to achieve the deliverance or the
+triumph of the church. If the judges of Israel were occasional and
+temporary magistrates, the kings of Judah derived from the royal unction
+of their great ancestor an hereditary and indefeasible right, which
+could not be forfeited by their own vices, nor recalled by the caprice
+of their subjects. The same extraordinary providence, which was no
+longer confined to the Jewish people, might elect Constantine and
+his family as the protectors of the Christian world; and the devout
+Lactantius announces, in a prophetic tone, the future glories of his
+long and universal reign. [22] Galerius and Maximin, Maxentius and
+Licinius, were the rivals who shared with the favorite of heaven the
+provinces of the empire. The tragic deaths of Galerius and Maximin soon
+gratified the resentment, and fulfilled the sanguine expectations,
+of the Christians. The success of Constantine against Maxentius and
+Licinius removed the two formidable competitors who still opposed the
+triumph of the second David, and his cause might seem to claim the
+peculiar interposition of Providence. The character of the Roman tyrant
+disgraced the purple and human nature; and though the Christians might
+enjoy his precarious favor, they were exposed, with the rest of his
+subjects, to the effects of his wanton and capricious cruelty. The
+conduct of Licinius soon betrayed the reluctance with which he had
+consented to the wise and humane regulations of the edict of Milan. The
+convocation of provincial synods was prohibited in his dominions; his
+Christian officers were ignominiously dismissed; and if he avoided
+the guilt, or rather danger, of a general persecution, his partial
+oppressions were rendered still more odious by the violation of a solemn
+and voluntary engagement. [23] While the East, according to the lively
+expression of Eusebius, was involved in the shades of infernal darkness,
+the auspicious rays of celestial light warmed and illuminated the
+provinces of the West. The piety of Constantine was admitted as an
+unexceptionable proof of the justice of his arms; and his use of victory
+confirmed the opinion of the Christians, that their hero was inspired,
+and conducted, by the Lord of Hosts. The conquest of Italy produced a
+general edict of toleration; and as soon as the defeat of Licinius
+had invested Constantine with the sole dominion of the Roman world, he
+immediately, by circular letters, exhorted all his subjects to imitate,
+without delay, the example of their sovereign, and to embrace the divine
+truth of Christianity. [24]
+
+[Footnote 22: Lactant Divin. Institut. i. l. Eusebius in the course of
+his history, his life, and his oration, repeatedly inculcates the divine
+right of Constantine to the empire.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Our imperfect knowledge of the persecution of Licinius
+is derived from Eusebius, (Hist. l. x. c. 8. Vit. Constantin. l. i. c.
+49-56, l. ii. c. 1, 2.) Aurelius Victor mentions his cruelty in general
+terms.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Euseb. in Vit. Constant. l. ii. c. 24-42 48-60.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XX: Conversion Of Constantine.--Part II.
+
+The assurance that the elevation of Constantine was intimately connected
+with the designs of Providence, instilled into the minds of the
+Christians two opinions, which, by very different means, assisted the
+accomplishment of the prophecy. Their warm and active loyalty exhausted
+in his favor every resource of human industry; and they confidently
+expected that their strenuous efforts would be seconded by some
+divine and miraculous aid. The enemies of Constantine have imputed to
+interested motives the alliance which he insensibly contracted with the
+Catholic church, and which apparently contributed to the success of his
+ambition. In the beginning of the fourth century, the Christians still
+bore a very inadequate proportion to the inhabitants of the empire; but
+among a degenerate people, who viewed the change of masters with the
+indifference of slaves, the spirit and union of a religious party
+might assist the popular leader, to whose service, from a principle of
+conscience, they had devoted their lives and fortunes. [25] The example
+of his father had instructed Constantine to esteem and to reward the
+merit of the Christians; and in the distribution of public offices,
+he had the advantage of strengthening his government, by the choice
+of ministers or generals, in whose fidelity he could repose a just and
+unreserved confidence. By the influence of these dignified missionaries,
+the proselytes of the new faith must have multiplied in the court and
+army; the Barbarians of Germany, who filled the ranks of the legions,
+were of a careless temper, which acquiesced without resistance in the
+religion of their commander; and when they passed the Alps, it may
+fairly be presumed, that a great number of the soldiers had already
+consecrated their swords to the service of Christ and of Constantine.
+[26] The habits of mankind and the interests of religion gradually
+abated the horror of war and bloodshed, which had so long prevailed
+among the Christians; and in the councils which were assembled under
+the gracious protection of Constantine, the authority of the bishops was
+seasonably employed to ratify the obligation of the military oath, and
+to inflict the penalty of excommunication on those soldiers who threw
+away their arms during the peace of the church. [27] While Constantine,
+in his own dominions, increased the number and zeal of his faithful
+adherents, he could depend on the support of a powerful faction in those
+provinces which were still possessed or usurped by his rivals. A secret
+disaffection was diffused among the Christian subjects of Maxentius
+and Licinius; and the resentment, which the latter did not attempt to
+conceal, served only to engage them still more deeply in the interest of
+his competitor. The regular correspondence which connected the bishops
+of the most distant provinces, enabled them freely to communicate their
+wishes and their designs, and to transmit without danger any useful
+intelligence, or any pious contributions, which might promote the
+service of Constantine, who publicly declared that he had taken up arms
+for the deliverance of the church. [28]
+
+[Footnote 25: In the beginning of the last century, the Papists of
+England were only a thirtieth, and the Protestants of France only a
+fifteenth, part of the respective nations, to whom their spirit and
+power were a constant object of apprehension. See the relations which
+Bentivoglio (who was then nuncio at Brussels, and afterwards cardinal)
+transmitted to the court of Rome, (Relazione, tom. ii. p. 211, 241.)
+Bentivoglio was curious, well informed, but somewhat partial.]
+
+[Footnote 26: This careless temper of the Germans appears almost
+uniformly on the history of the conversion of each of the tribes.
+The legions of Constantine were recruited with Germans, (Zosimus, l.
+ii. p. 86;) and the court even of his father had been filled with
+Christians. See the first book of the Life of Constantine, by Eusebius.]
+
+[Footnote 27: De his qui arma projiciunt in pace, placuit eos abstinere
+a communione. Council. Arelat. Canon. iii. The best critics apply these
+words to the peace of the church.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Eusebius always considers the second civil war against
+Licinius as a sort of religious crusade. At the invitation of the
+tyrant, some Christian officers had resumed their zones; or, in
+other words, had returned to the military service. Their conduct was
+afterwards censured by the twelfth canon of the Council of Nice; if this
+particular application may be received, instead of the lo se and general
+sense of the Greek interpreters, Balsamor Zonaras, and Alexis Aristenus.
+See Beveridge, Pandect. Eccles. Graec. tom. i. p. 72, tom. ii. p. 73
+Annotation.]
+
+The enthusiasm which inspired the troops, and perhaps the emperor
+himself, had sharpened their swords while it satisfied their conscience.
+They marched to battle with the full assurance, that the same God, who
+had formerly opened a passage to the Israelites through the waters of
+Jordan, and had thrown down the walls of Jericho at the sound of the
+trumpets of Joshua, would display his visible majesty and power in
+the victory of Constantine. The evidence of ecclesiastical history
+is prepared to affirm, that their expectations were justified by the
+conspicuous miracle to which the conversion of the first Christian
+emperor has been almost unanimously ascribed. The real or imaginary
+cause of so important an event, deserves and demands the attention of
+posterity; and I shall endeavor to form a just estimate of the famous
+vision of Constantine, by a distinct consideration of the standard,
+the dream, and the celestial sign; by separating the historical, the
+natural, and the marvellous parts of this extraordinary story, which, in
+the composition of a specious argument, have been artfully confounded in
+one splendid and brittle mass.
+
+I. An instrument of the tortures which were inflicted only on slaves and
+strangers, became on object of horror in the eyes of a Roman citizen;
+and the ideas of guilt, of pain, and of ignominy, were closely united
+with the idea of the cross. [29] The piety, rather than the humanity,
+of Constantine soon abolished in his dominions the punishment which the
+Savior of mankind had condescended to suffer; [30] but the emperor had
+already learned to despise the prejudices of his education, and of
+his people, before he could erect in the midst of Rome his own statue,
+bearing a cross in its right hand; with an inscription which referred
+the victory of his arms, and the deliverance of Rome, to the virtue of
+that salutary sign, the true symbol of force and courage. [31] The same
+symbol sanctified the arms of the soldiers of Constantine; the cross
+glittered on their helmet, was engraved on their shields, was interwoven
+into their banners; and the consecrated emblems which adorned the person
+of the emperor himself, were distinguished only by richer materials
+and more exquisite workmanship. [32] But the principal standard which
+displayed the triumph of the cross was styled the Labarum, [33] an
+obscure, though celebrated name, which has been vainly derived from
+almost all the languages of the world. It is described [34] as a long
+pike intersected by a transversal beam. The silken veil, which hung down
+from the beam, was curiously inwrought with the images of the reigning
+monarch and his children. The summit of the pike supported a crown of
+gold which enclosed the mysterious monogram, at once expressive of the
+figure of the cross, and the initial letters, of the name of Christ.
+[35] The safety of the labarum was intrusted to fifty guards, of
+approved valor and fidelity; their station was marked by honors and
+emoluments; and some fortunate accidents soon introduced an opinion,
+that as long as the guards of the labarum were engaged in the execution
+of their office, they were secure and invulnerable amidst the darts of
+the enemy. In the second civil war, Licinius felt and dreaded the power
+of this consecrated banner, the sight of which, in the distress
+of battle, animated the soldiers of Constantine with an invincible
+enthusiasm, and scattered terror and dismay through the ranks of the
+adverse legions. [36] The Christian emperors, who respected the example
+of Constantine, displayed in all their military expeditions the standard
+of the cross; but when the degenerate successors of Theodosius had
+ceased to appear in person at the head of their armies, the labarum
+was deposited as a venerable but useless relic in the palace of
+Constantinople. [37] Its honors are still preserved on the medals of
+the Flavian family. Their grateful devotion has placed the monogram
+of Christ in the midst of the ensigns of Rome. The solemn epithets
+of, safety of the republic, glory of the army, restoration of public
+happiness, are equally applied to the religious and military trophies;
+and there is still extant a medal of the emperor Constantius, where the
+standard of the labarum is accompanied with these memorable words, By
+This Sign Thou Shalt Conquer. [38]
+
+[Footnote 29: Nomen ipsum crucis absit non modo a corpore civium Romano
+rum, sed etiam a cogitatione, oculis, auribus. Cicero pro Raberio, c.
+5. The Christian writers, Justin, Minucius Felix, Tertullian, Jerom, and
+Maximus of Turin, have investigated with tolerable success the figure
+or likeness of a cross in almost every object of nature or art; in the
+intersection of the meridian and equator, the human face, a bird flying,
+a man swimming, a mast and yard, a plough, a standard, &c., &c., &c. See
+Lipsius de Cruce, l. i. c. 9.]
+
+[Footnote 30: See Aurelius Victor, who considers this law as one of the
+examples of Constantine's piety. An edict so honorable to Christianity
+deserved a place in the Theodosian Code, instead of the indirect mention
+of it, which seems to result from the comparison of the fifth and
+eighteenth titles of the ninth book.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Eusebius, in Vit. Constantin. l. i. c. 40. This statue,
+or at least the cross and inscription, may be ascribed with more
+probability to the second, or even third, visit of Constantine to Rome.
+Immediately after the defeat of Maxentius, the minds of the senate and
+people were scarcely ripe for this public monument.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Agnoscas, regina, libens mea signa necesse est; In
+quibus effigies crucis aut gemmata refulget Aut longis solido ex auro
+praefertur in hastis. Hoc signo invictus, transmissis Alpibus Ultor
+Servitium solvit miserabile Constantinus. Christus purpureum gemmanti
+textus in auro Signabat Labarum, clypeorum insignia Christus Scripserat;
+ardebat summis crux addita cristis. Prudent. in Symmachum, l. ii. 464,
+486.]
+
+[Footnote 33: The derivation and meaning of the word Labarum or Laborum,
+which is employed by Gregory Nazianzen, Ambrose, Prudentius, &c., still
+remain totally unknown, in spite of the efforts of the critics, who
+have ineffectually tortured the Latin, Greek, Spanish, Celtic, Teutonic,
+Illyric, Armenian, &c., in search of an etymology. See Ducange, in
+Gloss. Med. et infim. Latinitat. sub voce Labarum, and Godefroy, ad Cod.
+Theodos. tom. ii. p. 143.]
+
+[Footnote 34: Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. l. i. c. 30, 31. Baronius
+(Annal. Eccles. A. D. 312, No. 26) has engraved a representation of the
+Labarum.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Transversa X litera, summo capite circumflexo, Christum
+in scutis notat. Caecilius de M. P. c. 44, Cuper, (ad M. P. in edit.
+Lactant. tom. ii. p. 500,) and Baronius (A. D. 312, No. 25) have
+engraved from ancient monuments several specimens (as thus of these
+monograms) which became extremely fashionable in the Christian world.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. l. ii. c. 7, 8, 9. He
+introduces the Labarum before the Italian expedition; but his narrative
+seems to indicate that it was never shown at the head of an army till
+Constantine above ten years afterwards, declared himself the enemy of
+Licinius, and the deliverer of the church.]
+
+[Footnote 37: See Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. xxv. Sozomen, l. i. c. 2.
+Theophan. Chronograph. p. 11. Theophanes lived towards the end of the
+eighth century, almost five hundred years after Constantine. The modern
+Greeks were not inclined to display in the field the standard of
+the empire and of Christianity; and though they depended on every
+superstitious hope of defence, the promise of victory would have
+appeared too bold a fiction.]
+
+[Footnote 38: The Abbe du Voisin, p. 103, &c., alleges several of these
+medals, and quotes a particular dissertation of a Jesuit the Pere de
+Grainville, on this subject.]
+
+II. In all occasions of danger and distress, it was the practice of the
+primitive Christians to fortify their minds and bodies by the sign of
+the cross, which they used, in all their ecclesiastical rites, in all
+the daily occurrences of life, as an infallible preservative against
+every species of spiritual or temporal evil. [39] The authority of the
+church might alone have had sufficient weight to justify the devotion of
+Constantine, who in the same prudent and gradual progress acknowledged
+the truth, and assumed the symbol, of Christianity. But the testimony of
+a contemporary writer, who in a formal treatise has avenged the cause of
+religion, bestows on the piety of the emperor a more awful and sublime
+character. He affirms, with the most perfect confidence, that in the
+night which preceded the last battle against Maxentius, Constantine was
+admonished in a dream [39a] to inscribe the shields of his soldiers with
+the celestial sign of God, the sacred monogram of the name of Christ;
+that he executed the commands of Heaven, and that his valor and
+obedience were rewarded by the decisive victory of the Milvian Bridge.
+Some considerations might perhaps incline a sceptical mind to suspect
+the judgment or the veracity of the rhetorician, whose pen, either from
+zeal or interest, was devoted to the cause of the prevailing faction.
+[40] He appears to have published his deaths of the persecutors at
+Nicomedia about three years after the Roman victory; but the interval of
+a thousand miles, and a thousand days, will allow an ample latitude
+for the invention of declaimers, the credulity of party, and the tacit
+approbation of the emperor himself who might listen without indignation
+to a marvellous tale, which exalted his fame, and promoted his designs.
+In favor of Licinius, who still dissembled his animosity to the
+Christians, the same author has provided a similar vision, of a form of
+prayer, which was communicated by an angel, and repeated by the whole
+army before they engaged the legions of the tyrant Maximin. The frequent
+repetition of miracles serves to provoke, where it does not subdue, the
+reason of mankind; [41] but if the dream of Constantine is separately
+considered, it may be naturally explained either by the policy or the
+enthusiasm of the emperor. Whilst his anxiety for the approaching day,
+which must decide the fate of the empire, was suspended by a short and
+interrupted slumber, the venerable form of Christ, and the well-known
+symbol of his religion, might forcibly offer themselves to the active
+fancy of a prince who reverenced the name, and had perhaps secretly
+implored the power, of the God of the Christians. As readily might a
+consummate statesman indulge himself in the use of one of those military
+stratagems, one of those pious frauds, which Philip and Sertorius had
+employed with such art and effect. [42] The praeternatural origin of
+dreams was universally admitted by the nations of antiquity, and a
+considerable part of the Gallic army was already prepared to place their
+confidence in the salutary sign of the Christian religion. The secret
+vision of Constantine could be disproved only by the event; and the
+intrepid hero who had passed the Alps and the Apennine, might view with
+careless despair the consequences of a defeat under the walls of Rome.
+The senate and people, exulting in their own deliverance from an odious
+tyrant, acknowledged that the victory of Constantine surpassed the
+powers of man, without daring to insinuate that it had been obtained by
+the protection of the gods. The triumphal arch, which was erected about
+three years after the event, proclaims, in ambiguous language, that
+by the greatness of his own mind, and by an instinct or impulse of the
+Divinity, he had saved and avenged the Roman republic. [43] The Pagan
+orator, who had seized an earlier opportunity of celebrating the virtues
+of the conqueror, supposes that he alone enjoyed a secret and intimate
+commerce with the Supreme Being, who delegated the care of mortals to
+his subordinate deities; and thus assigns a very plausible reason
+why the subjects of Constantine should not presume to embrace the new
+religion of their sovereign. [44]
+
+[Footnote 39: Tertullian de Corona, c. 3. Athanasius, tom. i. p. 101.
+The learned Jesuit Petavius (Dogmata Theolog. l. xv. c. 9, 10) has
+collected many similar passages on the virtues of the cross, which in
+the last age embarrassed our Protestant disputants.]
+
+[Footnote 39a: Manso has observed, that Gibbon ought not to have
+separated the vision of Constantine from the wonderful apparition in the
+sky, as the two wonders are closely connected in Eusebius. Manso, Leben
+Constantine, p. 82--M.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Caecilius de M. P. c. 44. It is certain, that this
+historical declamation was composed and published while Licinius,
+sovereign of the East, still preserved the friendship of Constantine and
+of the Christians. Every reader of taste must perceive that the style
+is of a very different and inferior character to that of Lactantius;
+and such indeed is the judgment of Le Clerc and Lardner, (Bibliotheque
+Ancienne et Moderne, tom. iii. p. 438. Credibility of the Gospel, &c.,
+part ii. vol. vii. p. 94.) Three arguments from the title of the
+book, and from the names of Donatus and Caecilius, are produced by the
+advocates for Lactantius. (See the P. Lestocq, tom. ii. p. 46-60.) Each
+of these proofs is singly weak and defective; but their concurrence
+has great weight. I have often fluctuated, and shall tamely follow the
+Colbert Ms. in calling the author (whoever he was) Caecilius.]
+
+[Footnote 41: Caecilius de M. P. c. 46. There seems to be some reason
+in the observation of M. de Voltaire, (Euvres, tom. xiv. p. 307.) who
+ascribes to the success of Constantine the superior fame of his
+Labarum above the angel of Licinius. Yet even this angel is favorably
+entertained by Pagi, Tillemont, Fleury, &c., who are fond of increasing
+their stock of miracles.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Besides these well-known examples, Tollius (Preface to
+Boileau's translation of Longinus) has discovered a vision of Antigonus,
+who assured his troops that he had seen a pentagon (the symbol of
+safety) with these words, "In this conquer." But Tollius has most
+inexcusably omitted to produce his authority, and his own character,
+literary as well as moral, is not free from reproach. (See Chauffepie,
+Dictionnaire Critique, tom. iv. p. 460.) Without insisting on the
+silence of Diodorus Plutarch, Justin, &c., it may be observed that
+Polyaenus, who in a separate chapter (l. iv. c. 6) has collected
+nineteen military stratagems of Antigonus, is totally ignorant of this
+remarkable vision.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Instinctu Divinitatis, mentis magnitudine. The inscription
+on the triumphal arch of Constantine, which has been copied by Baronius,
+Gruter, &c., may still be perused by every curious traveller.]
+
+[Footnote 44: Habes profecto aliquid cum illa mente Divina secretum;
+qua delegata nostra Diis Minoribus cura uni se tibi dignatur ostendere
+Panegyr. Vet. ix. 2.]
+
+
+III. The philosopher, who with calm suspicion examines the dreams and
+omens, the miracles and prodigies, of profane or even of ecclesiastical
+history, will probably conclude, that if the eyes of the spectators have
+sometimes been deceived by fraud, the understanding of the readers
+has much more frequently been insulted by fiction. Every event, or
+appearance, or accident, which seems to deviate from the ordinary course
+of nature, has been rashly ascribed to the immediate action of the
+Deity; and the astonished fancy of the multitude has sometimes given
+shape and color, language and motion, to the fleeting but uncommon
+meteors of the air. [45] Nazarius and Eusebius are the two most
+celebrated orators, who, in studied panegyrics, have labored to exalt
+the glory of Constantine. Nine years after the Roman victory, Nazarius
+[46] describes an army of divine warriors, who seemed to fall from the
+sky: he marks their beauty, their spirit, their gigantic forms, the
+stream of light which beamed from their celestial armor, their patience
+in suffering themselves to be heard, as well as seen, by mortals; and
+their declaration that they were sent, that they flew, to the assistance
+of the great Constantine. For the truth of this prodigy, the Pagan
+orator appeals to the whole Gallic nation, in whose presence he was then
+speaking; and seems to hope that the ancient apparitions [47] would now
+obtain credit from this recent and public event. The Christian fable of
+Eusebius, which, in the space of twenty-six years, might arise from the
+original dream, is cast in a much more correct and elegant mould. In one
+of the marches of Constantine, he is reported to have seen with his own
+eyes the luminous trophy of the cross, placed above the meridian sun and
+inscribed with the following words: By This Conquer. This amazing object
+in the sky astonished the whole army, as well as the emperor himself,
+who was yet undetermined in the choice of a religion: but his
+astonishment was converted into faith by the vision of the ensuing
+night. Christ appeared before his eyes; and displaying the same
+celestial sign of the cross, he directed Constantine to frame a similar
+standard, and to march, with an assurance of victory, against Maxentius
+and all his enemies. [48] The learned bishop of Caesarea appears to be
+sensible, that the recent discovery of this marvellous anecdote would
+excite some surprise and distrust among the most pious of his readers.
+Yet, instead of ascertaining the precise circumstances of time and
+place, which always serve to detect falsehood or establish truth; [49]
+instead of collecting and recording the evidence of so many living
+witnesses who must have been spectators of this stupendous miracle; [50]
+Eusebius contents himself with alleging a very singular testimony; that
+of the deceased Constantine, who, many years after the event, in the
+freedom of conversation, had related to him this extraordinary incident
+of his own life, and had attested the truth of it by a solemn oath. The
+prudence and gratitude of the learned prelate forbade him to suspect the
+veracity of his victorious master; but he plainly intimates, that in a
+fact of such a nature, he should have refused his assent to any meaner
+authority. This motive of credibility could not survive the power of
+the Flavian family; and the celestial sign, which the Infidels might
+afterwards deride, [51] was disregarded by the Christians of the age
+which immediately followed the conversion of Constantine. [52] But the
+Catholic church, both of the East and of the West, has adopted a prodigy
+which favors, or seems to favor, the popular worship of the cross. The
+vision of Constantine maintained an honorable place in the legend of
+superstition, till the bold and sagacious spirit of criticism presumed
+to depreciate the triumph, and to arraign the truth, of the first
+Christian emperor. [53]
+
+[Footnote 45: M. Freret (Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom.
+iv. p. 411-437) explains, by physical causes, many of the prodigies of
+antiquity; and Fabricius, who is abused by both parties, vainly tries
+to introduce the celestial cross of Constantine among the solar halos.
+Bibliothec. Graec. tom. iv. p. 8-29. * Note: The great difficulty in
+resolving it into a natural phenomenon, arises from the inscription;
+even the most heated or awe-struck imagination would hardly discover
+distinct and legible letters in a solar halo. But the inscription may
+have been a later embellishment, or an interpretation of the meaning
+which the sign was construed to convey. Compare Heirichen, Excur in
+locum Eusebii, and the authors quoted.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Nazarius inter Panegyr. Vet. x. 14, 15. It is unnecessary
+to name the moderns, whose undistinguishing and ravenous appetite has
+swallowed even the Pagan bait of Nazarius.]
+
+[Footnote 47: The apparitions of Castor and Pollux, particularly to
+announce the Macedonian victory, are attested by historians and public
+monuments. See Cicero de Natura Deorum, ii. 2, iii. 5, 6. Florus, ii.
+12. Valerius Maximus, l. i. c. 8, No. 1. Yet the most recent of these
+miracles is omitted, and indirectly denied, by Livy, (xlv. i.)]
+
+[Footnote 48: Eusebius, l. i. c. 28, 29, 30. The silence of the same
+Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, is deeply felt by those
+advocates for the miracle who are not absolutely callous.]
+
+[Footnote 49: The narrative of Constantine seems to indicate, that he
+saw the cross in the sky before he passed the Alps against Maxentius.
+The scene has been fixed by provincial vanity at Treves, Besancon, &c.
+See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 573.]
+
+[Footnote 50: The pious Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1317)
+rejects with a sigh the useful Acts of Artemius, a veteran and a martyr,
+who attests as an eye-witness to the vision of Constantine.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Gelasius Cyzic. in Act. Concil. Nicen. l. i. c. 4.]
+
+[Footnote 52: The advocates for the vision are unable to produce a
+single testimony from the Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries,
+who, in their voluminous writings, repeatedly celebrate the triumph
+of the church and of Constantine. As these venerable men had not any
+dislike to a miracle, we may suspect, (and the suspicion is confirmed by
+the ignorance of Jerom,) that they were all unacquainted with the life
+of Constantine by Eusebius. This tract was recovered by the diligence
+of those who translated or continued his Ecclesiastical History, and who
+have represented in various colors the vision of the cross.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Godefroy was the first, who, in the year 1643, (Not ad
+Philostorgium, l. i. c. 6, p. 16,) expressed any doubt of a miracle
+which had been supported with equal zeal by Cardinal Baronius, and the
+Centuriators of Magdeburgh. Since that time, many of the Protestant
+critics have inclined towards doubt and disbelief. The objections are
+urged, with great force, by M. Chauffepie, (Dictionnaire Critique, tom.
+iv. p. 6--11;) and, in the year 1774, a doctor of Sorbonne, the Abbe du
+Veisin published an apology, which deserves the praise of learning
+and moderation. * Note: The first Excursus of Heinichen (in Vitam
+Constantini, p. 507) contains a full summary of the opinions and
+arguments of the later writers who have discussed this interminable
+subject. As to his conversion, where interest and inclination, state
+policy, and, if not a sincere conviction of its truth, at least a
+respect, an esteem, an awe of Christianity, thus coincided, Constantine
+himself would probably have been unable to trace the actual history of
+the workings of his own mind, or to assign its real influence to each
+concurrent motive.--M]
+
+The Protestant and philosophic readers of the present age will incline
+to believe, that in the account of his own conversion, Constantine
+attested a wilful falsehood by a solemn and deliberate perjury. They may
+not hesitate to pronounce, that in the choice of a religion, his mind
+was determined only by a sense of interest; and that (according to the
+expression of a profane poet) [54] he used the altars of the church as a
+convenient footstool to the throne of the empire. A conclusion so harsh
+and so absolute is not, however, warranted by our knowledge of human
+nature, of Constantine, or of Christianity. In an age of religious
+fervor, the most artful statesmen are observed to feel some part of the
+enthusiasm which they inspire, and the most orthodox saints assume
+the dangerous privilege of defending the cause of truth by the arms of
+deceit and falsehood.
+
+Personal interest is often the standard of our belief, as well as of
+our practice; and the same motives of temporal advantage which might
+influence the public conduct and professions of Constantine, would
+insensibly dispose his mind to embrace a religion so propitious to his
+fame and fortunes. His vanity was gratified by the flattering assurance,
+that he had been chosen by Heaven to reign over the earth; success had
+justified his divine title to the throne, and that title was founded
+on the truth of the Christian revelation. As real virtue is sometimes
+excited by undeserved applause, the specious piety of Constantine, if at
+first it was only specious, might gradually, by the influence of praise,
+of habit, and of example, be matured into serious faith and fervent
+devotion. The bishops and teachers of the new sect, whose dress and
+manners had not qualified them for the residence of a court, were
+admitted to the Imperial table; they accompanied the monarch in his
+expeditions; and the ascendant which one of them, an Egyptian or a
+Spaniard, [55] acquired over his mind, was imputed by the Pagans to the
+effect of magic. [56] Lactantius, who has adorned the precepts of
+the gospel with the eloquence of Cicero, [57] and Eusebius, who has
+consecrated the learning and philosophy of the Greeks to the service of
+religion, [58] were both received into the friendship and familiarity of
+their sovereign; and those able masters of controversy could patiently
+watch the soft and yielding moments of persuasion, and dexterously
+apply the arguments which were the best adapted to his character and
+understanding. Whatever advantages might be derived from the acquisition
+of an Imperial proselyte, he was distinguished by the splendor of his
+purple, rather than by the superiority of wisdom, or virtue, from
+the many thousands of his subjects who had embraced the doctrines of
+Christianity. Nor can it be deemed incredible, that the mind of an
+unlettered soldier should have yielded to the weight of evidence, which,
+in a more enlightened age, has satisfied or subdued the reason of a
+Grotius, a Pascal, or a Locke. In the midst of the incessant labors
+of his great office, this soldier employed, or affected to employ, the
+hours of the night in the diligent study of the Scriptures, and the
+composition of theological discourses; which he afterwards pronounced
+in the presence of a numerous and applauding audience. In a very long
+discourse, which is still extant, the royal preacher expatiates on
+the various proofs still extant, the royal preacher expatiates on the
+various proofs of religion; but he dwells with peculiar complacency on
+the Sibylline verses, [59] and the fourth eclogue of Virgil. [60] Forty
+years before the birth of Christ, the Mantuan bard, as if inspired
+by the celestial muse of Isaiah, had celebrated, with all the pomp of
+oriental metaphor, the return of the Virgin, the fall of the serpent,
+the approaching birth of a godlike child, the offspring of the great
+Jupiter, who should expiate the guilt of human kind, and govern
+the peaceful universe with the virtues of his father; the rise and
+appearance of a heavenly race, primitive nation throughout the world;
+and the gradual restoration of the innocence and felicity of the golden
+age. The poet was perhaps unconscious of the secret sense and object of
+these sublime predictions, which have been so unworthily applied to the
+infant son of a consul, or a triumvir; [61] but if a more splendid, and
+indeed specious interpretation of the fourth eclogue contributed to
+the conversion of the first Christian emperor, Virgil may deserve to be
+ranked among the most successful missionaries of the gospel. [62]
+
+[Footnote 54:
+
+     Lors Constantin dit ces propres paroles:
+     J'ai renverse le culte des idoles:
+     Sur les debris de leurs temples fumans
+     Au Dieu du Ciel j'ai prodigue l'encens.
+     Mais tous mes soins pour sa grandeur supreme
+          N'eurent jamais d'autre objet que moi-meme;
+
+     Les saints autels n'etoient a mes regards
+     Qu'un marchepie du trone des Cesars.
+     L'ambition, la fureur, les delices
+     Etoient mes Dieux, avoient mes sacrifices.
+     L'or des Chretiens, leur intrigues, leur sang
+         Ont cimente ma fortune et mon rang.
+
+The poem which contains these lines may be read with pleasure, but
+cannot be named with decency.]
+
+[Footnote 55: This favorite was probably the great Osius, bishop of
+Cordova, who preferred the pastoral care of the whole church to the
+government of a particular diocese. His character is magnificently,
+though concisely, expressed by Athanasius, (tom. i. p. 703.) See
+Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 524-561. Osius was accused, perhaps
+unjustly, of retiring from court with a very ample fortune.]
+
+[Footnote 56: See Eusebius (in Vit. Constant. passim) and Zosimus, l.
+ii. p. 104.]
+
+[Footnote 57: The Christianity of Lactantius was of a moral rather
+than of a mysterious cast. "Erat paene rudis (says the orthodox Bull)
+disciplinae Christianae, et in rhetorica melius quam in theologia
+versatus." Defensio Fidei Nicenae, sect. ii. c. 14.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Fabricius, with his usual diligence, has collected a list
+of between three and four hundred authors quoted in the Evangelical
+Preparation of Eusebius. See Bibl. Graec. l. v. c. 4, tom. vi. p.
+37-56.]
+
+[Footnote 59: See Constantin. Orat. ad Sanctos, c. 19 20. He chiefly
+depends on a mysterious acrostic, composed in the sixth age after the
+Deluge, by the Erythraean Sibyl, and translated by Cicero into Latin.
+The initial letters of the thirty-four Greek verses form this prophetic
+sentence: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior of the World.]
+
+[Footnote 60: In his paraphrase of Virgil, the emperor has frequently
+assisted and improved the literal sense of the Latin ext. See Blondel
+des Sibylles, l. i. c. 14, 15, 16.]
+
+[Footnote 61: The different claims of an elder and younger son of
+Pollio, of Julia, of Drusus, of Marcellus, are found to be incompatible
+with chronology, history, and the good sense of Virgil.]
+
+[Footnote 62: See Lowth de Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum Praelect. xxi. p. 289-
+293. In the examination of the fourth eclogue, the respectable bishop
+of London has displayed learning, taste, ingenuity, and a temperate
+enthusiasm, which exalts his fancy without degrading his judgment.]
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XX: Conversion Of Constantine.--Part III.
+
+The awful mysteries of the Christian faith and worship were concealed
+from the eyes of strangers, and even of catechu mens, with an affected
+secrecy, which served to excite their wonder and curiosity. [63] But
+the severe rules of discipline which the prudence of the bishops had
+instituted, were relaxed by the same prudence in favor of an Imperial
+proselyte, whom it was so important to allure, by every gentle
+condescension, into the pale of the church; and Constantine was
+permitted, at least by a tacit dispensation, to enjoy most of the
+privileges, before he had contracted any of the obligations, of a
+Christian. Instead of retiring from the congregation, when the voice of
+the deacon dismissed the profane multitude, he prayed with the faithful,
+disputed with the bishops, preached on the most sublime and intricate
+subjects of theology, celebrated with sacred rites the vigil of Easter,
+and publicly declared himself, not only a partaker, but, in some
+measure, a priest and hierophant of the Christian mysteries. [64] The
+pride of Constantine might assume, and his services had deserved, some
+extraordinary distinction: and ill-timed rigor might have blasted the
+unripened fruits of his conversion; and if the doors of the church had
+been strictly closed against a prince who had deserted the altars of
+the gods, the master of the empire would have been left destitute of
+any form of religious worship. In his last visit to Rome, he piously
+disclaimed and insulted the superstition of his ancestors, by refusing
+to lead the military procession of the equestrian order, and to offer
+the public vows to the Jupiter of the Capitoline Hill. [65] Many years
+before his baptism and death, Constantine had proclaimed to the world,
+that neither his person nor his image should ever more be seen within
+the walls of an idolatrous temple; while he distributed through the
+provinces a variety of medals and pictures, which represented the
+emperor in an humble and suppliant posture of Christian devotion. [66]
+
+[Footnote 63: The distinction between the public and the secret parts of
+divine service, the missa catechumenorum and the missa fidelium, and the
+mysterious veil which piety or policy had cast over the latter, are very
+judiciously explained by Thiers, Exposition du Saint Sacrament, l. i. c.
+8- 12, p. 59-91: but as, on this subject, the Papists may reasonably be
+suspected, a Protestant reader will depend with more confidence on the
+learned Bingham, Antiquities, l. x. c. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 64: See Eusebius in Vit. Const. l. iv. c. 15-32, and the whole
+tenor of Constantine's Sermon. The faith and devotion of the emperor
+has furnished Batonics with a specious argument in favor of his early
+baptism. Note: Compare Heinichen, Excursus iv. et v., where these
+questions are examined with candor and acuteness, and with constant
+reference to the opinions of more modern writers.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 65: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 105.]
+
+[Footnote 66: Eusebius in Vit. Constant. l. iv. c. 15, 16.]
+
+The pride of Constantine, who refused the privileges of a catechumen,
+cannot easily be explained or excused; but the delay of his baptism may
+be justified by the maxims and the practice of ecclesiastical antiquity.
+The sacrament of baptism [67] was regularly administered by the bishop
+himself, with his assistant clergy, in the cathedral church of the
+diocese, during the fifty days between the solemn festivals of Easter
+and Pentecost; and this holy term admitted a numerous band of infants
+and adult persons into the bosom of the church. The discretion of
+parents often suspended the baptism of their children till they could
+understand the obligations which they contracted: the severity of
+ancient bishops exacted from the new converts a novitiate of two or
+three years; and the catechumens themselves, from different motives of
+a temporal or a spiritual nature, were seldom impatient to assume the
+character of perfect and initiated Christians. The sacrament of baptism
+was supposed to contain a full and absolute expiation of sin; and the
+soul was instantly restored to its original purity, and entitled to
+the promise of eternal salvation. Among the proselytes of Christianity,
+there are many who judged it imprudent to precipitate a salutary rite,
+which could not be repeated; to throw away an inestimable privilege,
+which could never be recovered. By the delay of their baptism, they
+could venture freely to indulge their passions in the enjoyments of this
+world, while they still retained in their own hands the means of a sure
+and easy absolution. [68] The sublime theory of the gospel had made
+a much fainter impression on the heart than on the understanding of
+Constantine himself. He pursued the great object of his ambition through
+the dark and bloody paths of war and policy; and, after the victory,
+he abandoned himself, without moderation, to the abuse of his fortune.
+Instead of asserting his just superiority above the imperfect heroism
+and profane philosophy of Trajan and the Antonines, the mature age of
+Constantine forfeited the reputation which he had acquired in his youth.
+As he gradually advanced in the knowledge of truth, he proportionally
+declined in the practice of virtue; and the same year of his reign in
+which he convened the council of Nice, was polluted by the execution,
+or rather murder, of his eldest son. This date is alone sufficient
+to refute the ignorant and malicious suggestions of Zosimus, [69] who
+affirms, that, after the death of Crispus, the remorse of his father
+accepted from the ministers of christianity the expiation which he had
+vainly solicited from the Pagan pontiffs. At the time of the death
+of Crispus, the emperor could no longer hesitate in the choice of a
+religion; he could no longer be ignorant that the church was possessed
+of an infallible remedy, though he chose to defer the application of it
+till the approach of death had removed the temptation and danger of
+a relapse. The bishops whom he summoned, in his last illness, to the
+palace of Nicomedia, were edified by the fervor with which he requested
+and received the sacrament of baptism, by the solemn protestation that
+the remainder of his life should be worthy of a disciple of Christ,
+and by his humble refusal to wear the Imperial purple after he had been
+clothed in the white garment of a Neophyte. The example and reputation
+of Constantine seemed to countenance the delay of baptism. [70] Future
+tyrants were encouraged to believe, that the innocent blood which they
+might shed in a long reign would instantly be washed away in the waters
+of regeneration; and the abuse of religion dangerously undermined the
+foundations of moral virtue.
+
+[Footnote 67: The theory and practice of antiquity, with regard to the
+sacrament of baptism, have been copiously explained by Dom Chardon,
+Hist. des Sacremens, tom. i. p. 3-405; Dom Martenne de Ritibus Ecclesiae
+Antiquis, tom. i.; and by Bingham, in the tenth and eleventh books of
+his Christian Antiquities. One circumstance may be observed, in which
+the modern churches have materially departed from the ancient custom.
+The sacrament of baptism (even when it was administered to infants) was
+immediately followed by confirmation and the holy communion.]
+
+[Footnote 68: The Fathers, who censured this criminal delay, could not
+deny the certain and victorious efficacy even of a death-bed baptism.
+The ingenious rhetoric of Chrysostom could find only three arguments
+against these prudent Christians. 1. That we should love and pursue
+virtue for her own sake, and not merely for the reward. 2. That we
+may be surprised by death without an opportunity of baptism. 3. That
+although we shall be placed in heaven, we shall only twinkle like little
+stars, when compared to the suns of righteousness who have run their
+appointed course with labor, with success, and with glory. Chrysos tom
+in Epist. ad Hebraeos, Homil. xiii. apud Chardon, Hist. des Sacremens,
+tom. i. p. 49. I believe that this delay of baptism, though attended
+with the most pernicious consequences, was never condemned by any
+general or provincial council, or by any public act or declaration of
+the church. The zeal of the bishops was easily kindled on much slighter
+occasion. * Note: This passage of Chrysostom, though not in his more
+forcible manner, is not quite fairly represented. He is stronger in
+other places, in Act. Hom. xxiii.--and Hom. i. Compare, likewise, the
+sermon of Gregory of Nysea on this subject, and Gregory Nazianzen. After
+all, to those who believed in the efficacy of baptism, what argument
+could be more conclusive, than the danger of dying without it? Orat.
+xl.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 69: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 104. For this disingenuous falsehood
+he has deserved and experienced the harshest treatment from all the
+ecclesiastical writers, except Cardinal Baronius, (A. D. 324, No.
+15-28,) who had occasion to employ the infidel on a particular service
+against the Arian Eusebius. Note: Heyne, in a valuable note on this
+passage of Zosimus, has shown decisively that this malicious way of
+accounting for the conversion of Constantine was not an invention of
+Zosimus. It appears to have been the current calumny eagerly adopted and
+propagated by the exasperated Pagan party. Reitemeter, a later editor
+of Zosimus, whose notes are retained in the recent edition, in the
+collection of the Byzantine historians, has a disquisition on the
+passage, as candid, but not more conclusive than some which have
+preceded him--M.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Eusebius, l. iv. c. 61, 62, 63. The bishop of Caesarea
+supposes the salvation of Constantine with the most perfect confidence.]
+
+The gratitude of the church has exalted the virtues and excused the
+failings of a generous patron, who seated Christianity on the throne
+of the Roman world; and the Greeks, who celebrate the festival of the
+Imperial saint, seldom mention the name of Constantine without adding
+the title of equal to the Apostles. [71] Such a comparison, if it allude
+to the character of those divine missionaries, must be imputed to the
+extravagance of impious flattery. But if the parallel be confined to
+the extent and number of their evangelic victories the success of
+Constantine might perhaps equal that of the Apostles themselves. By the
+edicts of toleration, he removed the temporal disadvantages which had
+hitherto retarded the progress of Christianity; and its active and
+numerous ministers received a free permission, a liberal encouragement,
+to recommend the salutary truths of revelation by every argument which
+could affect the reason or piety of mankind. The exact balance of the
+two religions continued but a moment; and the piercing eye of ambition
+and avarice soon discovered, that the profession of Christianity might
+contribute to the interest of the present, as well as of a future life.
+[72] The hopes of wealth and honors, the example of an emperor, his
+exhortations, his irresistible smiles, diffused conviction among the
+venal and obsequious crowds which usually fill the apartments of a
+palace. The cities which signalized a forward zeal by the voluntary
+destruction of their temples, were distinguished by municipal
+privileges, and rewarded with popular donatives; and the new capital of
+the East gloried in the singular advantage that Constantinople was never
+profaned by the worship of idols. [73] As the lower ranks of society
+are governed by imitation, the conversion of those who possessed
+any eminence of birth, of power, or of riches, was soon followed by
+dependent multitudes. [74] The salvation of the common people was
+purchased at an easy rate, if it be true that, in one year, twelve
+thousand men were baptized at Rome, besides a proportionable number
+of women and children, and that a white garment, with twenty pieces
+of gold, had been promised by the emperor to every convert. [75] The
+powerful influence of Constantine was not circumscribed by the narrow
+limits of his life, or of his dominions. The education which he bestowed
+on his sons and nephews secured to the empire a race of princes, whose
+faith was still more lively and sincere, as they imbibed, in their
+earliest infancy, the spirit, or at least the doctrine, of Christianity.
+War and commerce had spread the knowledge of the gospel beyond the
+confines of the Roman provinces; and the Barbarians, who had disdained
+as humble and proscribed sect, soon learned to esteem a religion which
+had been so lately embraced by the greatest monarch, and the most
+civilized nation, of the globe. [76] The Goths and Germans, who enlisted
+under the standard of Rome, revered the cross which glittered at the
+head of the legions, and their fierce countrymen received at the same
+time the lessons of faith and of humanity. The kings of Iberia and
+Armenia [76a] worshipped the god of their protector; and their subjects,
+who have invariably preserved the name of Christians, soon formed
+a sacred and perpetual connection with their Roman brethren. The
+Christians of Persia were suspected, in time of war, of preferring their
+religion to their country; but as long as peace subsisted between
+the two empires, the persecuting spirit of the Magi was effectually
+restrained by the interposition of Constantine. [77] The rays of the
+gospel illuminated the coast of India. The colonies of Jews, who had
+penetrated into Arabia and Ethiopia, [78] opposed the progress of
+Christianity; but the labor of the missionaries was in some measure
+facilitated by a previous knowledge of the Mosaic revelation; and
+Abyssinia still reveres the memory of Frumentius, [78a] who, in the time
+of Constantine, devoted his life to the conversion of those sequestered
+regions. Under the reign of his son Constantius, Theophilus, [79] who
+was himself of Indian extraction, was invested with the double character
+of ambassador and bishop. He embarked on the Red Sea with two hundred
+horses of the purest breed of Cappadocia, which were sent by the emperor
+to the prince of the Sabaeans, or Homerites. Theophilus was intrusted
+with many other useful or curious presents, which might raise the
+admiration, and conciliate the friendship, of the Barbarians; and he
+successfully employed several years in a pastoral visit to the churches
+of the torrid zone. [80]
+
+[Footnote 71: See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 429. The
+Greeks, the Russians, and, in the darker ages, the Latins themselves,
+have been desirous of placing Constantine in the catalogue of saints.]
+
+[Footnote 72: See the third and fourth books of his life. He was
+accustomed to say, that whether Christ was preached in pretence, or in
+truth, he should still rejoice, (l. iii. c. 58.)]
+
+[Footnote 73: M. de Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 374,
+616) has defended, with strength and spirit, the virgin purity of
+Constantinople against some malevolent insinuations of the Pagan
+Zosimus.]
+
+[Footnote 74: The author of the Histoire Politique et Philosophique
+des deux Indes (tom. i. p. 9) condemns a law of Constantine, which gave
+freedom to all the slaves who should embrace Christianity. The emperor
+did indeed publish a law, which restrained the Jews from circumcising,
+perhaps from keeping, any Christian slave. (See Euseb. in Vit. Constant.
+l. iv. c. 27, and Cod. Theod. l. xvi. tit. ix., with Godefroy's
+Commentary, tom. vi. p. 247.) But this imperfect exception related only
+to the Jews, and the great body of slaves, who were the property of
+Christian or Pagan masters, could not improve their temporal condition
+by changing their religion. I am ignorant by what guides the Abbe Raynal
+was deceived; as the total absence of quotations is the unpardonable
+blemish of his entertaining history.]
+
+[Footnote 75: See Acta S Silvestri, and Hist. Eccles. Nicephor. Callist.
+l. vii. c. 34, ap. Baronium Annal. Eccles. A. D. 324, No. 67, 74.
+Such evidence is contemptible enough; but these circumstances are in
+themselves so probable, that the learned Dr. Howell (History of the
+World, vol. iii. p. 14) has not scrupled to adopt them.]
+
+[Footnote 76: The conversion of the Barbarians under the reign of
+Constantine is celebrated by the ecclesiastical historians. (See
+Sozomen, l. ii. c. 6, and Theodoret, l. i. c. 23, 24.) But Rufinus, the
+Latin translator of Eusebius, deserves to be considered as an original
+authority. His information was curiously collected from one of the
+companions of the Apostle of Aethiopia, and from Bacurius, an Iberian
+prince, who was count of the domestics. Father Mamachi has given an
+ample compilation on the progress of Christianity, in the first and
+second volumes of his great but imperfect work.]
+
+[Footnote 76a: According to the Georgian chronicles, Iberia (Georgia)
+was converted by the virgin Nino, who effected an extraordinary cure on
+the wife of the king Mihran. The temple of the god Aramazt, or Armaz,
+not far from the capital Mtskitha, was destroyed, and the cross erected
+in its place. Le Beau, i. 202, with St. Martin's Notes. ----St. Martin
+has likewise clearly shown (St. Martin, Add. to Le Beau, i. 291) Armenia
+was the first nation w hich embraced Christianity, (Addition to Le Beau,
+i. 76. and Memoire sur l'Armenie, i. 305.) Gibbon himself suspected this
+truth.--"Instead of maintaining that the conversion of Armenia was not
+attempted with any degree of success, till the sceptre was in the hands
+of an orthodox emperor," I ought to have said, that the seeds of the
+faith were deeply sown during the season of the last and greatest
+persecution, that many Roman exiles might assist the labors of Gregory,
+and that the renowned Tiridates, the hero of the East, may dispute with
+Constantine the honor of being the first sovereign who embraced the
+Christian religion Vindication]
+
+[Footnote 77: See, in Eusebius, (in Vit. l. iv. c. 9,) the pressing and
+pathetic epistle of Constantine in favor of his Christian brethren of
+Persia.]
+
+[Footnote 78: See Basnage, Hist. des Juifs, tom. vii. p. 182, tom. viii.
+p. 333, tom. ix. p. 810. The curious diligence of this writer pursues
+the Jewish exiles to the extremities of the globe.]
+
+[Footnote 78a: Abba Salama, or Fremonatus, is mentioned in the Tareek
+Negushti, chronicle of the kings of Abyssinia. Salt's Travels, vol. ii.
+p. 464.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Theophilus had been given in his infancy as a hostage by
+his countrymen of the Isle of Diva, and was educated by the Romans in
+learning and piety. The Maldives, of which Male, or Diva, may be the
+capital, are a cluster of 1900 or 2000 minute islands in the Indian
+Ocean. The ancients were imperfectly acquainted with the Maldives; but
+they are described in the two Mahometan travellers of the ninth century,
+published by Renaudot, Geograph. Nubiensis, p. 30, 31 D'Herbelot,
+Bibliotheque Orientale p. 704. Hist. Generale des Voy ages, tom. viii.
+----See the dissertation of M. Letronne on this question. He conceives
+that Theophilus was born in the island of Dahlak, in the Arabian Gulf.
+His embassy was to Abyssinia rather than to India. Letronne, Materiaux
+pour l'Hist. du Christianisme en Egypte Indie, et Abyssinie. Paris, 1832
+3d Dissert.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 4, 5, 6, with Godefroy's learned
+observations. The historical narrative is soon lost in an inquiry
+concerning the seat of Paradise, strange monsters, &c.]
+
+The irresistible power of the Roman emperors was displayed in the
+important and dangerous change of the national religion. The terrors
+of a military force silenced the faint and unsupported murmurs of the
+Pagans, and there was reason to expect, that the cheerful submission
+of the Christian clergy, as well as people, would be the result
+of conscience and gratitude. It was long since established, as a
+fundamental maxim of the Roman constitution, that every rank of citizens
+was alike subject to the laws, and that the care of religion was the
+right as well as duty of the civil magistrate. Constantine and his
+successors could not easily persuade themselves that they had forfeited,
+by their conversion, any branch of the Imperial prerogatives, or
+that they were incapable of giving laws to a religion which they had
+protected and embraced. The emperors still continued to exercise a
+supreme jurisdiction over the ecclesiastical order, and the sixteenth
+book of the Theodosian code represents, under a variety of titles, the
+authority which they assumed in the government of the Catholic church.
+But the distinction of the spiritual and temporal powers, [81] which had
+never been imposed on the free spirit of Greece and Rome, was introduced
+and confirmed by the legal establishment of Christianity. The office of
+supreme pontiff, which, from the time of Numa to that of Augustus, had
+always been exercised by one of the most eminent of the senators, was
+at length united to the Imperial dignity. The first magistrate of the
+state, as often as he was prompted by superstition or policy, performed
+with his own hands the sacerdotal functions; [82] nor was there any
+order of priests, either at Rome or in the provinces, who claimed a more
+sacred character among men, or a more intimate communication with the
+gods. But in the Christian church, which instrusts the service of the
+altar to a perpetual succession of consecrated ministers, the monarch,
+whose spiritual rank is less honorable than that of the meanest deacon,
+was seated below the rails of the sanctuary, and confounded with the
+rest of the faithful multitude. [83] The emperor might be saluted as
+the father of his people, but he owed a filial duty and reverence to the
+fathers of the church; and the same marks of respect, which Constantine
+had paid to the persons of saints and confessors, were soon exacted by
+the pride of the episcopal order. [84] A secret conflict between the
+civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions embarrassed the operation of
+the Roman government; and a pious emperor was alarmed by the guilt and
+danger of touching with a profane hand the ark of the covenant. The
+separation of men into the two orders of the clergy and of the laity
+was, indeed, familiar to many nations of antiquity; and the priests of
+India, of Persia, of Assyria, of Judea, of Aethiopia, of Egypt, and of
+Gaul, derived from a celestial origin the temporal power and possessions
+which they had acquired. These venerable institutions had gradually
+assimilated themselves to the manners and government of their respective
+countries; [85] but the opposition or contempt of the civil power served
+to cement the discipline of the primitive church. The Christians had
+been obliged to elect their own magistrates, to raise and distribute a
+peculiar revenue, and to regulate the internal policy of their republic
+by a code of laws, which were ratified by the consent of the people and
+the practice of three hundred years. When Constantine embraced the faith
+of the Christians, he seemed to contract a perpetual alliance with
+a distinct and independent society; and the privileges granted or
+confirmed by that emperor, or by his successors, were accepted, not
+as the precarious favors of the court, but as the just and inalienable
+rights of the ecclesiastical order.
+
+[Footnote 81: See the epistle of Osius, ap. Athanasium, vol. i. p. 840.
+The public remonstrance which Osius was forced to address to the son,
+contained the same principles of ecclesiastical and civil government
+which he had secretly instilled into the mind of the father.]
+
+[Footnote 82: M. de la Bastiel has evidently proved, that Augustus and
+his successors exercised in person all the sacred functions of pontifex
+maximus, of high priest, of the Roman empire.]
+
+[Footnote 83: Something of a contrary practice had insensibly prevailed
+in the church of Constantinople; but the rigid Ambrose commanded
+Theodosius to retire below the rails, and taught him to know the
+difference between a king and a priest. See Theodoret, l. v. c. 18.]
+
+[Footnote 84: At the table of the emperor Maximus, Martin, bishop of
+Tours, received the cup from an attendant, and gave it to the presbyter,
+his companion, before he allowed the emperor to drink; the empress
+waited on Martin at table. Sulpicius Severus, in Vit. S Martin, c. 23,
+and Dialogue ii. 7. Yet it may be doubted, whether these extraordinary
+compliments were paid to the bishop or the saint. The honors usually
+granted to the former character may be seen in Bingham's Antiquities,
+l. ii. c. 9, and Vales ad Theodoret, l. iv. c. 6. See the haughty
+ceremonial which Leontius, bishop of Tripoli, imposed on the empress.
+Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 754. (Patres Apostol. tom.
+ii. p. 179.)]
+
+[Footnote 85: Plutarch, in his treatise of Isis and Osiris, informs us
+that the kings of Egypt, who were not already priests, were initiated,
+after their election, into the sacerdotal order.]
+
+The Catholic church was administered by the spiritual and legal
+jurisdiction of eighteen hundred bishops; [86] of whom one thousand were
+seated in the Greek, and eight hundred in the Latin, provinces of the
+empire. The extent and boundaries of their respective dioceses had been
+variously and accidentally decided by the zeal and success of the first
+missionaries, by the wishes of the people, and by the propagation of the
+gospel. Episcopal churches were closely planted along the banks of the
+Nile, on the sea-coast of Africa, in the proconsular Asia, and through
+the southern provinces of Italy. The bishops of Gaul and Spain, of
+Thrace and Pontus, reigned over an ample territory, and delegated their
+rural suffragans to execute the subordinate duties of the pastoral
+office. [87] A Christian diocese might be spread over a province,
+or reduced to a village; but all the bishops possessed an equal and
+indelible character: they all derived the same powers and privileges
+from the apostles, from the people, and from the laws. While the civil
+and military professions were separated by the policy of Constantine, a
+new and perpetual order of ecclesiastical ministers, always respectable,
+sometimes dangerous, was established in the church and state. The
+important review of their station and attributes may be distributed
+under the following heads: I. Popular Election. II. Ordination of the
+Clergy. III. Property. IV. Civil Jurisdiction. V. Spiritual censures.
+VI. Exercise of public oratory. VII. Privilege of legislative
+assemblies.
+
+[Footnote 86: The numbers are not ascertained by any ancient writer or
+original catalogue; for the partial lists of the eastern churches are
+comparatively modern. The patient diligence of Charles a Sto Paolo, of
+Luke Holstentius, and of Bingham, has laboriously investigated all the
+episcopal sees of the Catholic church, which was almost commensurate
+with the Roman empire. The ninth book of the Christian antiquities is a
+very accurate map of ecclesiastical geography.]
+
+[Footnote 87: On the subject of rural bishops, or Chorepiscopi,
+who voted in tynods, and conferred the minor orders, See Thomassin,
+Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 447, &c., and Chardon, Hist. des
+Sacremens, tom. v. p. 395, &c. They do not appear till the fourth
+century; and this equivocal character, which had excited the jealousy
+of the prelates, was abolished before the end of the tenth, both in the
+East and the West.]
+
+I. The freedom of election subsisted long after the legal establishment
+of Christianity; [88] and the subjects of Rome enjoyed in the church
+the privilege which they had lost in the republic, of choosing the
+magistrates whom they were bound to obey. As soon as a bishop had closed
+his eyes, the metropolitan issued a commission to one of his suffragans
+to administer the vacant see, and prepare, within a limited time, the
+future election. The right of voting was vested in the inferior clergy,
+who were best qualified to judge of the merit of the candidates; in
+the senators or nobles of the city, all those who were distinguished
+by their rank or property; and finally in the whole body of the people,
+who, on the appointed day, flocked in multitudes from the most remote
+parts of the diocese, [89] and sometimes silenced by their tumultuous
+acclamations, the voice of reason and the laws of discipline. These
+acclamations might accidentally fix on the head of the most deserving
+competitor; of some ancient presbyter, some holy monk, or some layman,
+conspicuous for his zeal and piety. But the episcopal chair was
+solicited, especially in the great and opulent cities of the empire, as
+a temporal rather than as a spiritual dignity. The interested views, the
+selfish and angry passions, the arts of perfidy and dissimulation, the
+secret corruption, the open and even bloody violence which had formerly
+disgraced the freedom of election in the commonwealths of Greece and
+Rome, too often influenced the choice of the successors of the apostles.
+While one of the candidates boasted the honors of his family, a second
+allured his judges by the delicacies of a plentiful table, and a third,
+more guilty than his rivals, offered to share the plunder of the church
+among the accomplices of his sacrilegious hopes [90] The civil as well
+as ecclesiastical laws attempted to exclude the populace from this
+solemn and important transaction. The canons of ancient discipline,
+by requiring several episcopal qualifications, of age, station, &c.,
+restrained, in some measure, the indiscriminate caprice of the electors.
+The authority of the provincial bishops, who were assembled in the
+vacant church to consecrate the choice of the people, was interposed to
+moderate their passions and to correct their mistakes. The bishops
+could refuse to ordain an unworthy candidate, and the rage of contending
+factions sometimes accepted their impartial mediation. The submission,
+or the resistance, of the clergy and people, on various occasions,
+afforded different precedents, which were insensibly converted into
+positive laws and provincial customs; [91] but it was every where
+admitted, as a fundamental maxim of religious policy, that no bishop
+could be imposed on an orthodox church, without the consent of its
+members. The emperors, as the guardians of the public peace, and as the
+first citizens of Rome and Constantinople, might effectually declare
+their wishes in the choice of a primate; but those absolute monarchs
+respected the freedom of ecclesiastical elections; and while they
+distributed and resumed the honors of the state and army, they allowed
+eighteen hundred perpetual magistrates to receive their important
+offices from the free suffrages of the people. [92] It was agreeable
+to the dictates of justice, that these magistrates should not desert an
+honorable station from which they could not be removed; but the wisdom
+of councils endeavored, without much success, to enforce the residence,
+and to prevent the translation, of bishops. The discipline of the West
+was indeed less relaxed than that of the East; but the same passions
+which made those regulations necessary, rendered them ineffectual. The
+reproaches which angry prelates have so vehemently urged against
+each other, serve only to expose their common guilt, and their mutual
+indiscretion.
+
+[Footnote 88: Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom, ii. l. ii. c. 1-8,
+p. 673-721) has copiously treated of the election of bishops during the
+five first centuries, both in the East and in the West; but he shows a
+very partial bias in favor of the episcopal aristocracy. Bingham, (l.
+iv. c. 2) is moderate; and Chardon (Hist. des Sacremens tom. v. p.
+108-128) is very clear and concise. * Note: This freedom was extremely
+limited, and soon annihilated; already, from the third century, the
+deacons were no longer nominated by the members of the community, but by
+the bishops. Although it appears by the letters of Cyprian, that even
+in his time, no priest could be elected without the consent of the
+community. (Ep. 68,) that election was far from being altogether free.
+The bishop proposed to his parishioners the candidate whom he had
+chosen, and they were permitted to make such objections as might be
+suggested by his conduct and morals. (St. Cyprian, Ep. 33.) They lost
+this last right towards the middle of the fourth century.--G]
+
+[Footnote 89: Incredibilis multitudo, non solum ex eo oppido, (Tours,)
+sed etiam ex vicinis urbibus ad suffragia ferenda convenerat, &c.
+Sulpicius Severus, in Vit. Martin. c. 7. The council of Laodicea, (canon
+xiii.) prohibits mobs and tumults; and Justinian confines confined the
+right of election to the nobility. Novel. cxxiii. l.]
+
+[Footnote 90: The epistles of Sidonius Apollinaris (iv. 25, vii. 5, 9)
+exhibit some of the scandals of the Gallican church; and Gaul was less
+polished and less corrupt than the East.]
+
+[Footnote 91: A compromise was sometimes introduced by law or by
+consent; either the bishops or the people chose one of the three
+candidates who had been named by the other party.]
+
+[Footnote 92: All the examples quoted by Thomassin (Discipline de
+l'Eglise, tom. ii. l. iii. c. vi. p. 704-714) appear to be extraordinary
+acts of power, and even of oppression. The confirmation of the bishop of
+Alexandria is mentioned by Philostorgius as a more regular proceeding.
+(Hist Eccles. l. ii. ll.) * Note: The statement of Planck is more
+consistent with history: "From the middle of the fourth century, the
+bishops of some of the larger churches, particularly those of the
+Imperial residence, were almost always chosen under the influence of
+the court, and often directly and immediately nominated by the emperor."
+Planck, Geschichte der Christlich-kirchlichen Gesellschafteverfassung,
+verfassung, vol. i p 263.--M.]
+
+II. The bishops alone possessed the faculty of spiritual generation: and
+this extraordinary privilege might compensate, in some degree, for the
+painful celibacy [93] which was imposed as a virtue, as a duty, and
+at length as a positive obligation. The religions of antiquity, which
+established a separate order of priests, dedicated a holy race, a tribe
+or family, to the perpetual service of the gods. [94] Such institutions
+were founded for possession, rather than conquest. The children of
+the priests enjoyed, with proud and indolent security, their sacred
+inheritance; and the fiery spirit of enthusiasm was abated by the cares,
+the pleasures, and the endearments of domestic life. But the Christian
+sanctuary was open to every ambitious candidate, who aspired to its
+heavenly promises or temporal possessions. This office of priests, like
+that of soldiers or magistrates, was strenuously exercised by those
+men, whose temper and abilities had prompted them to embrace the
+ecclesiastical profession, or who had been selected by a discerning
+bishop, as the best qualified to promote the glory and interest of the
+church. The bishops [95] (till the abuse was restrained by the prudence
+of the laws) might constrain the reluctant, and protect the distressed;
+and the imposition of hands forever bestowed some of the most valuable
+privileges of civil society. The whole body of the Catholic clergy, more
+numerous perhaps than the legions, was exempted [95a] by the emperors
+from all service, private or public, all municipal offices, and all
+personal taxes and contributions, which pressed on their fellow-
+citizens with intolerable weight; and the duties of their holy
+profession were accepted as a full discharge of their obligations to the
+republic. [96] Each bishop acquired an absolute and indefeasible right
+to the perpetual obedience of the clerk whom he ordained: the clergy of
+each episcopal church, with its dependent parishes, formed a regular
+and permanent society; and the cathedrals of Constantinople [97] and
+Carthage [98] maintained their peculiar establishment of five hundred
+ecclesiastical ministers. Their ranks [99] and numbers were insensibly
+multiplied by the superstition of the times, which introduced into the
+church the splendid ceremonies of a Jewish or Pagan temple; and a long
+train of priests, deacons, sub-deacons, acolythes, exorcists, readers,
+singers, and doorkeepers, contributed, in their respective stations, to
+swell the pomp and harmony of religious worship. The clerical name
+and privileges were extended to many pious fraternities, who devoutly
+supported the ecclesiastical throne. [100] Six hundred parabolani, or
+adventurers, visited the sick at Alexandria; eleven hundred copiatoe,
+or grave-diggers, buried the dead at Constantinople; and the swarms of
+monks, who arose from the Nile, overspread and darkened the face of the
+Christian world.
+
+[Footnote 93: The celibacy of the clergy during the first five or six
+centuries, is a subject of discipline, and indeed of controversy,
+which has been very diligently examined. See in particular, Thomassin,
+Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. l. ii. c. lx. lxi. p. 886-902, and
+Bingham's Antiquities, l. iv. c. 5. By each of these learned but partial
+critics, one half of the truth is produced, and the other is concealed.
+----Note: Compare Planck, (vol. i. p. 348.) This century, the third,
+first brought forth the monks, or the spirit of monkery, the celibacy of
+the clergy. Planck likewise observes, that from the history of Eusebius
+alone, names of married bishops and presbyters may be adduced by
+dozens.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Diodorus Siculus attests and approves the hereditary
+succession of the priesthood among the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the
+Indians, (l. i. p. 84, l. ii. p. 142, 153, edit. Wesseling.) The magi
+are described by Ammianus as a very numerous family: "Per saecula multa
+ad praesens una eademque prosapia multitudo creata, Deorum cultibus
+dedicata." (xxiii. 6.) Ausonius celebrates the Stirps Druidarum, (De
+Professorib. Burdigal. iv.;) but we may infer from the remark of Caesar,
+(vi. 13,) that in the Celtic hierarchy, some room was left for choice
+and emulation.]
+
+[Footnote 95: The subject of the vocation, ordination, obedience, &c.,
+of the clergy, is laboriously discussed by Thomassin (Discipline
+de l'Eglise, tom. ii. p. 1-83) and Bingham, (in the 4th book of his
+Antiquities, more especially the 4th, 6th, and 7th chapters.) When
+the brother of St. Jerom was ordained in Cyprus, the deacons forcibly
+stopped his mouth, lest he should make a solemn protestation, which
+might invalidate the holy rites.]
+
+[Footnote 95a: This exemption was very much limited. The municipal
+offices were of two kinds; the one attached to the individual in his
+character of inhabitant, the other in that of proprietor. Constantine
+had exempted ecclesiastics from offices of the first description. (Cod.
+Theod. xvi. t. ii. leg. 1, 2 Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. l. x. c. vii.)
+They sought, also, to be exempted from those of the second, (munera
+patrimoniorum.) The rich, to obtain this privilege, obtained subordinate
+situations among the clergy. Constantine published in 320 an edict, by
+which he prohibited the more opulent citizens (decuriones and curiales)
+from embracing the ecclesiastical profession, and the bishops from
+admitting new ecclesiastics, before a place should be vacant by the
+death of the occupant, (Godefroy ad Cod. Theod.t. xii. t. i. de Decur.)
+Valentinian the First, by a rescript still more general enacted that
+no rich citizen should obtain a situation in the church, (De Episc 1.
+lxvii.) He also enacted that ecclesiastics, who wished to be exempt from
+offices which they were bound to discharge as proprietors, should be
+obliged to give up their property to their relations. Cod Theodos l. xii
+t. i. leb. 49--G.]
+
+[Footnote 96: The charter of immunities, which the clergy obtained from
+the Christian emperors, is contained in the 16th book of the Theodosian
+code; and is illustrated with tolerable candor by the learned Godefroy,
+whose mind was balanced by the opposite prejudices of a civilian and a
+Protestant.]
+
+[Footnote 97: Justinian. Novell. ciii. Sixty presbyters, or priests, one
+hundred deacons, forty deaconesses, ninety sub-deacons, one hundred and
+ten readers, twenty-five chanters, and one hundred door-keepers; in
+all, five hundred and twenty-five. This moderate number was fixed by the
+emperor to relieve the distress of the church, which had been involved
+in debt and usury by the expense of a much higher establishment.]
+
+[Footnote 98: Universus clerus ecclesiae Carthaginiensis.... fere
+quingenti vei amplius; inter quos quamplurima erant lectores infantuli.
+Victor Vitensis, de Persecut. Vandal. v. 9, p. 78, edit. Ruinart. This
+remnant of a more prosperous state still subsisted under the oppression
+of the Vandals.]
+
+[Footnote 99: The number of seven orders has been fixed in the Latin
+church, exclusive of the episcopal character. But the four inferior
+ranks, the minor orders, are now reduced to empty and useless titles.]
+
+[Footnote 100: See Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 42, 43.
+Godefroy's Commentary, and the Ecclesiastical History of Alexandria,
+show the danger of these pious institutions, which often disturbed the
+peace of that turbulent capital.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XX: Conversion Of Constantine.--Part IV.
+
+III. The edict of Milan secured the revenue as well as the peace of the
+church. [101] The Christians not only recovered the lands and houses of
+which they had been stripped by the persecuting laws of Diocletian,
+but they acquired a perfect title to all the possessions which they
+had hitherto enjoyed by the connivance of the magistrate. As soon as
+Christianity became the religion of the emperor and the empire, the
+national clergy might claim a decent and honorable maintenance; and the
+payment of an annual tax might have delivered the people from the more
+oppressive tribute, which superstition imposes on her votaries. But as
+the wants and expenses of the church increased with her prosperity, the
+ecclesiastical order was still supported and enriched by the voluntary
+oblations of the faithful. Eight years after the edict of Milan,
+Constantine granted to all his subjects the free and universal
+permission of bequeathing their fortunes to the holy Catholic church;
+[102] and their devout liberality, which during their lives was checked
+by luxury or avarice, flowed with a profuse stream at the hour of their
+death. The wealthy Christians were encouraged by the example of their
+sovereign. An absolute monarch, who is rich without patrimony, may be
+charitable without merit; and Constantine too easily believed that he
+should purchase the favor of Heaven, if he maintained the idle at the
+expense of the industrious; and distributed among the saints the wealth
+of the republic. The same messenger who carried over to Africa the head
+of Maxentius, might be intrusted with an epistle to Caecilian, bishop of
+Carthage. The emperor acquaints him, that the treasurers of the province
+are directed to pay into his hands the sum of three thousand folles, or
+eighteen thousand pounds sterling, and to obey his further requisitions
+for the relief of the churches of Africa, Numidia, and Mauritania. [103]
+The liberality of Constantine increased in a just proportion to his
+faith, and to his vices. He assigned in each city a regular allowance of
+corn, to supply the fund of ecclesiastical charity; and the persons of
+both sexes who embraced the monastic life became the peculiar favorites
+of their sovereign. The Christian temples of Antioch, Alexandria,
+Jerusalem, Constantinople &c., displayed the ostentatious piety of a
+prince, ambitious in a declining age to equal the perfect labors of
+antiquity. [104] The form of these religious edifices was simple and
+oblong; though they might sometimes swell into the shape of a dome, and
+sometimes branch into the figure of a cross. The timbers were framed
+for the most part of cedars of Libanus; the roof was covered with tiles,
+perhaps of gilt brass; and the walls, the columns, the pavement, were
+encrusted with variegated marbles. The most precious ornaments of gold
+and silver, of silk and gems, were profusely dedicated to the service of
+the altar; and this specious magnificence was supported on the solid and
+perpetual basis of landed property. In the space of two centuries, from
+the reign of Constantine to that of Justinian, the eighteen hundred
+churches of the empire were enriched by the frequent and unalienable
+gifts of the prince and people. An annual income of six hundred pounds
+sterling may be reasonably assigned to the bishops, who were placed at
+an equal distance between riches and poverty, [105] but the standard of
+their wealth insensibly rose with the dignity and opulence of the
+cities which they governed. An authentic but imperfect [106] rent-roll
+specifies some houses, shops, gardens, and farms, which belonged to the
+three Basilicoe of Rome, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John Lateran, in
+the provinces of Italy, Africa, and the East. They produce, besides
+a reserved rent of oil, linen, paper, aromatics, &c., a clear annual
+revenue of twenty-two thousand pieces of gold, or twelve thousand pounds
+sterling. In the age of Constantine and Justinian, the bishops no longer
+possessed, perhaps they no longer deserved, the unsuspecting confidence
+of their clergy and people. The ecclesiastical revenues of each diocese
+were divided into four parts for the respective uses of the bishop
+himself, of his inferior clergy, of the poor, and of the public worship;
+and the abuse of this sacred trust was strictly and repeatedly checked.
+[107] The patrimony of the church was still subject to all the public
+compositions of the state. [108] The clergy of Rome, Alexandria,
+Chessaionica, &c., might solicit and obtain some partial exemptions; but
+the premature attempt of the great council of Rimini, which aspired to
+universal freedom, was successfully resisted by the son of Constantine.
+[109]
+
+[Footnote 101: The edict of Milan (de M. P. c. 48) acknowledges, by
+reciting, that there existed a species of landed property, ad jus
+corporis eorum, id est, ecclesiarum non hominum singulorum pertinentia.
+Such a solemn declaration of the supreme magistrate must have been
+received in all the tribunals as a maxim of civil law.]
+
+[Footnote 102: Habeat unusquisque licentiam sanctissimo Catholicae
+(ecclesioe) venerabilique concilio, decedens bonorum quod optavit
+relinquere. Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 4. This law was
+published at Rome, A. D. 321, at a time when Constantine might foresee
+the probability of a rupture with the emperor of the East.]
+
+[Footnote 103: Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. l. x. 6; in Vit. Constantin. l.
+iv. c. 28. He repeatedly expatiates on the liberality of the Christian
+hero, which the bishop himself had an opportunity of knowing, and even
+of lasting.]
+
+[Footnote 104: Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. l. x. c. 2, 3, 4. The bishop of
+Caesarea who studied and gratified the taste of his master, pronounced
+in public an elaborate description of the church of Jerusalem, (in Vit
+Cons. l. vi. c. 46.) It no longer exists, but he has inserted in the
+life of Constantine (l. iii. c. 36) a short account of the architecture
+and ornaments. He likewise mentions the church of the Holy Apostles at
+Constantinople, (l. iv. c. 59.)]
+
+[Footnote 105: See Justinian. Novell. cxxiii. 3. The revenue of the
+patriarchs, and the most wealthy bishops, is not expressed: the highest
+annual valuation of a bishopric is stated at thirty, and the lowest at
+two, pounds of gold; the medium might be taken at sixteen, but these
+valuations are much below the real value.]
+
+[Footnote 106: See Baronius, (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 324, No. 58, 65, 70,
+71.) Every record which comes from the Vatican is justly suspected; yet
+these rent-rolls have an ancient and authentic color; and it is at least
+evident, that, if forged, they were forged in a period when farms not
+kingdoms, were the objects of papal avarice.]
+
+[Footnote 107: See Thomassin, Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. iii. l. ii.
+c. 13, 14, 15, p. 689-706. The legal division of the ecclesiastical
+revenue does not appear to have been established in the time of Ambrose
+and Chrysostom. Simplicius and Gelasius, who were bishops of Rome in the
+latter part of the fifth century, mention it in their pastoral letters
+as a general law, which was already confirmed by the custom of Italy.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Ambrose, the most strenuous assertor of ecclesiastical
+privileges, submits without a murmur to the payment of the land tax. "Si
+tri butum petit Imperator, non negamus; agri ecclesiae solvunt tributum
+solvimus quae sunt Caesaris Caesari, et quae sunt Dei Deo; tributum
+Caesaris est; non negatur." Baronius labors to interpret this tribute as
+an act of charity rather than of duty, (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 387;) but
+the words, if not the intentions of Ambrose are more candidly explained
+by Thomassin, Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. iii. l. i. c. 34. p. 668.]
+
+[Footnote 109: In Ariminense synodo super ecclesiarum et clericorum
+privilegiis tractatu habito, usque eo dispositio progressa est, ut juqa
+quae viderentur ad ecclesiam pertinere, a publica functione cessarent
+inquietudine desistente; quod nostra videtur dudum sanctio repulsisse.
+Cod. Theod. l. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 15. Had the synod of Rimini carried
+this point, such practical merit might have atoned for some speculative
+heresies.]
+
+IV. The Latin clergy, who erected their tribunal on the ruins of
+the civil and common law, have modestly accepted, as the gift of
+Constantine, [110] the independent jurisdiction, which was the fruit of
+time, of accident, and of their own industry. But the liberality of
+the Christian emperors had actually endowed them with some legal
+prerogatives, which secured and dignified the sacerdotal character.
+[111] 1. Under a despotic government, the bishops alone enjoyed and
+asserted the inestimable privilege of being tried only by their peers;
+and even in a capital accusation, a synod of their brethren were the
+sole judges of their guilt or innocence. Such a tribunal, unless it
+was inflamed by personal resentment or religious discord, might be
+favorable, or even partial, to the sacerdotal order: but Constantine
+was satisfied, [112] that secret impunity would be less pernicious
+than public scandal: and the Nicene council was edited by his public
+declaration, that if he surprised a bishop in the act of adultery,
+he should cast his Imperial mantle over the episcopal sinner. 2. The
+domestic jurisdiction of the bishops was at once a privilege and a
+restraint of the ecclesiastical order, whose civil causes were decently
+withdrawn from the cognizance of a secular judge. Their venial offences
+were not exposed to the shame of a public trial or punishment; and the
+gentle correction which the tenderness of youth may endure from its
+parents or instructors, was inflicted by the temperate severity of the
+bishops. But if the clergy were guilty of any crime which could not
+be sufficiently expiated by their degradation from an honorable and
+beneficial profession, the Roman magistrate drew the sword of justice,
+without any regard to ecclesiastical immunities. 3. The arbitration
+of the bishops was ratified by a positive law; and the judges were
+instructed to execute, without appeal or delay, the episcopal decrees,
+whose validity had hitherto depended on the consent of the parties. The
+conversion of the magistrates themselves, and of the whole empire, might
+gradually remove the fears and scruples of the Christians. But they
+still resorted to the tribunal of the bishops, whose abilities
+and integrity they esteemed; and the venerable Austin enjoyed
+the satisfaction of complaining that his spiritual functions were
+perpetually interrupted by the invidious labor of deciding the claim or
+the possession of silver and gold, of lands and cattle. 4. The ancient
+privilege of sanctuary was transferred to the Christian temples,
+and extended, by the liberal piety of the younger Theodosius, to the
+precincts of consecrated ground. [113] The fugitive, and even guilty
+suppliants,were permitted to implore either the justice, or the mercy,
+of the Deity and his ministers. The rash violence of despotism was
+suspended by the mild interposition of the church; and the lives
+or fortunes of the most eminent subjects might be protected by the
+mediation of the bishop.
+
+[Footnote 110: From Eusebius (in Vit. Constant. l. iv. c. 27) and
+Sozomen (l. i. c. 9) we are assured that the episcopal jurisdiction
+was extended and confirmed by Constantine; but the forgery of a famous
+edict, which was never fairly inserted in the Theodosian Code (see
+at the end, tom. vi. p. 303,) is demonstrated by Godefroy in the most
+satisfactory manner. It is strange that M. de Montesquieu, who was a
+lawyer as well as a philosopher, should allege this edict of Constantine
+(Esprit des Loix, l. xxix. c. 16) without intimating any suspicion.]
+
+[Footnote 111: The subject of ecclesiastical jurisdiction has been
+involved in a mist of passion, of prejudice, and of interest. Two of
+the fairest books which have fallen into my hands, are the Institutes
+of Canon Law, by the Abbe de Fleury, and the Civil History of Naples,
+by Giannone. Their moderation was the effect of situation as well as of
+temper. Fleury was a French ecclesiastic, who respected the authority of
+the parliaments; Giannone was an Italian lawyer, who dreaded the power
+of the church. And here let me observe, that as the general propositions
+which I advance are the result of many particular and imperfect facts, I
+must either refer the reader to those modern authors who have expressly
+treated the subject, or swell these notes disproportioned size.]
+
+[Footnote 112: Tillemont has collected from Rufinus, Theodoret, &c.,
+the sentiments and language of Constantine. Mem Eccles tom. iii p. 749,
+759.]
+
+[Footnote 113: See Cod. Theod. l. ix. tit. xlv. leg. 4. In the works of
+Fra Paolo. (tom. iv. p. 192, &c.,) there is an excellent discourse
+on the origin, claims, abuses, and limits of sanctuaries. He justly
+observes, that ancient Greece might perhaps contain fifteen or twenty
+axyla or sanctuaries; a number which at present may be found in Italy
+within the walls of a single city.]
+
+V. The bishop was the perpetual censor of the morals of his people
+The discipline of penance was digested into a system of canonical
+jurisprudence, [114] which accurately defined the duty of private or
+public confession, the rules of evidence, the degrees of guilt, and
+the measure of punishment. It was impossible to execute this spiritual
+censure, if the Christian pontiff, who punished the obscure sins of the
+multitude, respected the conspicuous vices and destructive crimes of
+the magistrate: but it was impossible to arraign the conduct of the
+magistrate, without, controlling the administration of civil government.
+Some considerations of religion, or loyalty, or fear, protected the
+sacred persons of the emperors from the zeal or resentment of the
+bishops; but they boldly censured and excommunicated the subordinate
+tyrants, who were not invested with the majesty of the purple. St.
+Athanasius excommunicated one of the ministers of Egypt; and the
+interdict which he pronounced, of fire and water, was solemnly
+transmitted to the churches of Cappadocia. [115] Under the reign of
+the younger Theodosius, the polite and eloquent Synesius, one of the
+descendants of Hercules, [116] filled the episcopal seat of Ptolemais,
+near the ruins of ancient Cyrene, [117] and the philosophic bishop
+supported with dignity the character which he had assumed with
+reluctance. [118] He vanquished the monster of Libya, the president
+Andronicus, who abused the authority of a venal office, invented new
+modes of rapine and torture, and aggravated the guilt of oppression
+by that of sacrilege. [119] After a fruitless attempt to reclaim the
+haughty magistrate by mild and religious admonition, Synesius proceeds
+to inflict the last sentence of ecclesiastical justice, [120] which
+devotes Andronicus, with his associates and their families, to the
+abhorrence of earth and heaven. The impenitent sinners, more cruel than
+Phalaris or Sennacherib, more destructive than war, pestilence, or a
+cloud of locusts, are deprived of the name and privileges of Christians,
+of the participation of the sacraments, and of the hope of Paradise. The
+bishop exhorts the clergy, the magistrates, and the people, to renounce
+all society with the enemies of Christ; to exclude them from their
+houses and tables; and to refuse them the common offices of life,
+and the decent rites of burial. The church of Ptolemais, obscure and
+contemptible as she may appear, addresses this declaration to all her
+sister churches of the world; and the profane who reject her decrees,
+will be involved in the guilt and punishment of Andronicus and his
+impious followers. These spiritual terrors were enforced by a dexterous
+application to the Byzantine court; the trembling president implored
+the mercy of the church; and the descendants of Hercules enjoyed the
+satisfaction of raising a prostrate tyrant from the ground. [121] Such
+principles and such examples insensibly prepared the triumph of the
+Roman pontiffs, who have trampled on the necks of kings.
+
+[Footnote 114: The penitential jurisprudence was continually improved
+by the canons of the councils. But as many cases were still left to
+the discretion of the bishops, they occasionally published, after
+the example of the Roman Praetor, the rules of discipline which they
+proposed to observe. Among the canonical epistles of the fourth century,
+those of Basil the Great were the most celebrated. They are inserted in
+the Pandects of Beveridge, (tom. ii. p. 47-151,) and are translated by
+Chardon, Hist. des Sacremens, tom. iv. p. 219-277.]
+
+[Footnote 115: Basil, Epistol. xlvii. in Baronius, (Annal. Eccles. A.
+D. 370. N. 91,) who declares that he purposely relates it, to convince
+govern that they were not exempt from a sentence of excommunication his
+opinion, even a royal head is not safe from the thunders of the Vatican;
+and the cardinal shows himself much more consistent than the lawyers and
+theologians of the Gallican church.]
+
+[Footnote 116: The long series of his ancestors, as high as Eurysthenes,
+the first Doric king of Sparta, and the fifth in lineal descent
+from Hercules, was inscribed in the public registers of Cyrene, a
+Lacedaemonian colony. (Synes. Epist. lvii. p. 197, edit. Petav.) Such a
+pure and illustrious pedigree of seventeen hundred years, without adding
+the royal ancestors of Hercules, cannot be equalled in the history of
+mankind.]
+
+[Footnote 117: Synesius (de Regno, p. 2) pathetically deplores the
+fallen and ruined state of Cyrene. Ptolemais, a new city, 82 miles
+to the westward of Cyrene, assumed the metropolitan honors of the
+Pentapolis, or Upper Libya, which were afterwards transferred to
+Sozusa.]
+
+[Footnote 118: Synesius had previously represented his own
+disqualifications. He loved profane studies and profane sports; he
+was incapable of supporting a life of celibacy; he disbelieved the
+resurrection; and he refused to preach fables to the people unless he
+might be permitted to philosophize at home. Theophilus primate of Egypt,
+who knew his merit, accepted this extraordinary compromise.]
+
+[Footnote 119: The promotion of Andronicus was illegal; since he was a
+native of Berenice, in the same province. The instruments of torture are
+curiously specified; the press that variously pressed on distended the
+fingers, the feet, the nose, the ears, and the lips of the victims.]
+
+[Footnote 120: The sentence of excommunication is expressed in a
+rhetorical style. (Synesius, Epist. lviii. p. 201-203.) The method of
+involving whole families, though somewhat unjust, was improved into
+national interdicts.]
+
+[Footnote 121: See Synesius, Epist. xlvii. p. 186, 187. Epist. lxxii. p.
+218, 219 Epist. lxxxix. p. 230, 231.]
+
+VI. Every popular government has experienced the effects of rude or
+artificial eloquence. The coldest nature is animated, the firmest reason
+is moved, by the rapid communication of the prevailing impulse; and each
+hearer is affected by his own passions, and by those of the surrounding
+multitude. The ruin of civil liberty had silenced the demagogues of
+Athens, and the tribunes of Rome; the custom of preaching which seems
+to constitute a considerable part of Christian devotion, had not been
+introduced into the temples of antiquity; and the ears of monarchs were
+never invaded by the harsh sound of popular eloquence, till the pulpits
+of the empire were filled with sacred orators, who possessed some
+advantages unknown to their profane predecessors. [122] The arguments
+and rhetoric of the tribune were instantly opposed with equal arms,
+by skilful and resolute antagonists; and the cause of truth and
+reason might derive an accidental support from the conflict of hostile
+passions. The bishop, or some distinguished presbyter, to whom he
+cautiously delegated the powers of preaching, harangued, without the
+danger of interruption or reply, a submissive multitude, whose minds had
+been prepared and subdued by the awful ceremonies of religion. Such was
+the strict subordination of the Catholic church, that the same concerted
+sounds might issue at once from a hundred pulpits of Italy or Egypt,
+if they were tuned [123] by the master hand of the Roman or Alexandrian
+primate. The design of this institution was laudable, but the fruits
+were not always salutary. The preachers recommended the practice of the
+social duties; but they exalted the perfection of monastic virtue, which
+is painful to the individual, and useless to mankind. Their charitable
+exhortations betrayed a secret wish that the clergy might be permitted
+to manage the wealth of the faithful, for the benefit of the poor. The
+most sublime representations of the attributes and laws of the Deity
+were sullied by an idle mixture of metaphysical subleties, puerile
+rites, and fictitious miracles: and they expatiated, with the most
+fervent zeal, on the religious merit of hating the adversaries,
+and obeying the ministers of the church. When the public peace was
+distracted by heresy and schism, the sacred orators sounded the trumpet
+of discord, and, perhaps, of sedition. The understandings of their
+congregations were perplexed by mystery, their passions were inflamed
+by invectives; and they rushed from the Christian temples of Antioch
+or Alexandria, prepared either to suffer or to inflict martyrdom. The
+corruption of taste and language is strongly marked in the vehement
+declamations of the Latin bishops; but the compositions of Gregory and
+Chrysostom have been compared with the most splendid models of Attic, or
+at least of Asiatic, eloquence. [124]
+
+[Footnote 122: See Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. ii. l. iii.
+c. 83, p. 1761-1770,) and Bingham, (Antiquities, vol. i. l. xiv. c. 4,
+p. 688- 717.) Preaching was considered as the most important office of
+the bishop but this function was sometimes intrusted to such presbyters
+as Chrysoetom and Augustin.]
+
+[Footnote 123: Queen Elizabeth used this expression, and practised this
+art whenever she wished to prepossess the minds of her people in favor
+of any extraordinary measure of government. The hostile effects of this
+music were apprehended by her successor, and severely felt by his son.
+"When pulpit, drum ecclesiastic," &c. See Heylin's Life of Archbishop
+Laud, p. 153.]
+
+[Footnote 124: Those modest orators acknowledged, that, as they were
+destitute of the gift of miracles, they endeavored to acquire the arts
+of eloquence.]
+
+VII. The representatives of the Christian republic were regularly
+assembled in the spring and autumn of each year; and these synods
+diffused the spirit of ecclesiastical discipline and legislation
+through the hundred and twenty provinces of the Roman world. [125] The
+archbishop or metropolitan was empowered, by the laws, to summon the
+suffragan bishops of his province; to revise their conduct, to vindicate
+their rights, to declare their faith, and to examine the merits of
+the candidates who were elected by the clergy and people to supply the
+vacancies of the episcopal college. The primates of Rome, Alexandria,
+Antioch, Carthage, and afterwards Constantinople, who exercised a more
+ample jurisdiction, convened the numerous assembly of their dependent
+bishops. But the convocation of great and extraordinary synods was the
+prerogative of the emperor alone. Whenever the emergencies of the church
+required this decisive measure, he despatched a peremptory summons to
+the bishops, or the deputies of each province, with an order for the
+use of post-horses, and a competent allowance for the expenses of their
+journey. At an early period, when Constantine was the protector, rather
+than the proselyte, of Christianity, he referred the African controversy
+to the council of Arles; in which the bishops of York of Treves, of
+Milan, and of Carthage, met as friends and brethren, to debate in their
+native tongue on the common interest of the Latin or Western church.
+[126] Eleven years afterwards, a more numerous and celebrated assembly
+was convened at Nice in Bithynia, to extinguish, by their final
+sentence, the subtle disputes which had arisen in Egypt on the subject
+of the Trinity. Three hundred and eighteen bishops obeyed the summons of
+their indulgent master; the ecclesiastics of every rank, and sect,
+and denomination, have been computed at two thousand and forty-eight
+persons; [127] the Greeks appeared in person; and the consent of the
+Latins was expressed by the legates of the Roman pontiff. The session,
+which lasted about two months, was frequently honored by the presence of
+the emperor. Leaving his guards at the door, he seated himself (with
+the permission of the council) on a low stool in the midst of the hall.
+Constantine listened with patience, and spoke with modesty: and while
+he influenced the debates, he humbly professed that he was the
+minister, not the judge, of the successors of the apostles, who had
+been established as priests and as gods upon earth. [128] Such profound
+reverence of an absolute monarch towards a feeble and unarmed assembly
+of his own subjects, can only be compared to the respect with which the
+senate had been treated by the Roman princes who adopted the policy of
+Augustus. Within the space of fifty years, a philosophic spectator of
+the vicissitudes of human affairs might have contemplated Tacitus in the
+senate of Rome, and Constantine in the council of Nice. The fathers
+of the Capitol and those of the church had alike degenerated from the
+virtues of their founders; but as the bishops were more deeply rooted in
+the public opinion, they sustained their dignity with more decent pride,
+and sometimes opposed with a manly spirit the wishes of their sovereign.
+The progress of time and superstition erased the memory of the weakness,
+the passion, the ignorance, which disgraced these ecclesiastical synods;
+and the Catholic world has unanimously submitted [129] to the infallible
+decrees of the general councils. [130]
+
+[Footnote 125: The council of Nice, in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and
+seventh canons, has made some fundamental regulations concerning synods,
+metropolitan, and primates. The Nicene canons have been variously
+tortured, abused, interpolated, or forged, according to the interest
+of the clergy. The Suburbicarian churches, assigned (by Rufinus) to the
+bishop of Rome, have been made the subject of vehement controversy (See
+Sirmond, Opera, tom. iv. p. 1-238.)]
+
+[Footnote 126: We have only thirty-three or forty-seven episcopal
+subscriptions: but Addo, a writer indeed of small account, reckons six
+hundred bishops in the council of Arles. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom.
+vi. p. 422.]
+
+[Footnote 127: See Tillemont, tom. vi. p. 915, and Beausobre, Hist.
+du Mani cheisme, tom i p. 529. The name of bishop, which is given by
+Eusychius to the 2048 ecclesiastics, (Annal. tom. i. p. 440, vers.
+Pocock,) must be extended far beyond the limits of an orthodox or even
+episcopal ordination.]
+
+[Footnote 128: See Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. l. iii. c. 6-21.
+Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiastiques, tom. vi. p. 669-759.]
+
+[Footnote 129: Sancimus igitur vicem legum obtinere, quae a quatuor
+Sanctis Coueiliis.... expositae sunt act firmatae. Praedictarum enim
+quat uor synodorum dogmata sicut sanctas Scripturas et regulas sicut
+leges observamus. Justinian. Novell. cxxxi. Beveridge (ad Pandect.
+proleg. p. 2) remarks, that the emperors never made new laws in
+ecclesiastical matters; and Giannone observes, in a very different
+spirit, that they gave a legal sanction to the canons of councils.
+Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. i. p. 136.]
+
+[Footnote 130: See the article Concile in the Eucyclopedie, tom. iii.
+p. 668-879, edition de Lucques. The author, M. de docteur Bouchaud,
+has discussed, according to the principles of the Gallican church,
+the principal questions which relate to the form and constitution of
+general, national, and provincial councils. The editors (see Preface, p.
+xvi.) have reason to be proud of this article. Those who consult their
+immense compilation, seldom depart so well satisfied.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.--Part I.
+
+Persecution Of Heresy.--The Schism Of The Donatists.--The Arian
+Controversy.--Athanasius.--Distracted State Of The Church And Empire
+Under Constantine And His Sons.--Toleration Of Paganism.
+
+The grateful applause of the clergy has consecrated the memory of
+a prince who indulged their passions and promoted their interest.
+Constantine gave them security, wealth, honors, and revenge; and the
+support of the orthodox faith was considered as the most sacred and
+important duty of the civil magistrate. The edict of Milan, the great
+charter of toleration, had confirmed to each individual of the Roman
+world the privilege of choosing and professing his own religion. But
+this inestimable privilege was soon violated; with the knowledge of
+truth, the emperor imbibed the maxims of persecution; and the sects
+which dissented from the Catholic church were afflicted and oppressed
+by the triumph of Christianity. Constantine easily believed that
+the Heretics, who presumed to dispute his opinions, or to oppose his
+commands, were guilty of the most absurd and criminal obstinacy; and
+that a seasonable application of moderate severities might save those
+unhappy men from the danger of an everlasting condemnation. Not a
+moment was lost in excluding the ministers and teachers of the separated
+congregations from any share of the rewards and immunities which the
+emperor had so liberally bestowed on the orthodox clergy. But as the
+sectaries might still exist under the cloud of royal disgrace, the
+conquest of the East was immediately followed by an edict which
+announced their total destruction. [1] After a preamble filled with
+passion and reproach, Constantine absolutely prohibits the assemblies of
+the Heretics, and confiscates their public property to the use either
+of the revenue or of the Catholic church. The sects against whom the
+Imperial severity was directed, appear to have been the adherents
+of Paul of Samosata; the Montanists of Phrygia, who maintained an
+enthusiastic succession of prophecy; the Novatians, who sternly rejected
+the temporal efficacy of repentance; the Marcionites and Valentinians,
+under whose leading banners the various Gnostics of Asia and Egypt
+had insensibly rallied; and perhaps the Manichaeans, who had recently
+imported from Persia a more artful composition of Oriental and Christian
+theology. [2] The design of extirpating the name, or at least of
+restraining the progress, of these odious Heretics, was prosecuted with
+vigor and effect. Some of the penal regulations were copied from the
+edicts of Diocletian; and this method of conversion was applauded by the
+same bishops who had felt the hand of oppression, and pleaded for the
+rights of humanity. Two immaterial circumstances may serve, however,
+to prove that the mind of Constantine was not entirely corrupted by
+the spirit of zeal and bigotry. Before he condemned the Manichaeans and
+their kindred sects, he resolved to make an accurate inquiry into
+the nature of their religious principles. As if he distrusted the
+impartiality of his ecclesiastical counsellors, this delicate commission
+was intrusted to a civil magistrate, whose learning and moderation he
+justly esteemed, and of whose venal character he was probably ignorant.
+[3] The emperor was soon convinced, that he had too hastily proscribed
+the orthodox faith and the exemplary morals of the Novatians, who had
+dissented from the church in some articles of discipline which were not
+perhaps essential to salvation. By a particular edict, he exempted
+them from the general penalties of the law; [4] allowed them to build
+a church at Constantinople, respected the miracles of their saints,
+invited their bishop Acesius to the council of Nice; and gently
+ridiculed the narrow tenets of his sect by a familiar jest; which, from
+the mouth of a sovereign, must have been received with applause and
+gratitude. [5]
+
+[Footnote 1: Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. iii. c. 63, 64, 65, 66.]
+
+[Footnote 2: After some examination of the various opinions of
+Tillemont, Beausobre, Lardner, &c., I am convinced that Manes did not
+propagate his sect, even in Persia, before the year 270. It is strange,
+that a philosophic and foreign heresy should have penetrated so rapidly
+into the African provinces; yet I cannot easily reject the edict of
+Diocletian against the Manichaeans, which may be found in Baronius.
+(Annal Eccl. A. D. 287.)]
+
+[Footnote 3: Constantinus enim, cum limatius superstitionum quaeroret
+sectas, Manichaeorum et similium, &c. Ammian. xv. 15. Strategius, who
+from this commission obtained the surname of Musonianus, was a Christian
+of the Arian sect. He acted as one of the counts at the council of
+Sardica. Libanius praises his mildness and prudence. Vales. ad locum
+Ammian.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Cod. Theod. l. xvi. tit. 5, leg. 2. As the general law is
+not inserted in the Theodosian Code, it probable that, in the year 438,
+the sects which it had condemned were already extinct.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Sozomen, l. i. c. 22. Socrates, l. i. c. 10. These
+historians have been suspected, but I think without reason, of an
+attachment to the Novatian doctrine. The emperor said to the bishop,
+"Acesius, take a ladder, and get up to heaven by yourself." Most of the
+Christian sects have, by turns, borrowed the ladder of Acesius.]
+
+The complaints and mutual accusations which assailed the throne of
+Constantine, as soon as the death of Maxentius had submitted Africa to
+his victorious arms, were ill adapted to edify an imperfect proselyte.
+He learned, with surprise, that the provinces of that great country,
+from the confines of Cyrene to the columns of Hercules, were distracted
+with religious discord. [6] The source of the division was derived from
+a double election in the church of Carthage; the second, in rank and
+opulence, of the ecclesiastical thrones of the West. Caecilian and
+Majorinus were the two rival prelates of Africa; and the death of the
+latter soon made room for Donatus, who, by his superior abilities and
+apparent virtues, was the firmest support of his party. The advantage
+which Caecilian might claim from the priority of his ordination, was
+destroyed by the illegal, or at least indecent, haste, with which it had
+been performed, without expecting the arrival of the bishops of Numidia.
+The authority of these bishops, who, to the number of seventy, condemned
+Caecilian, and consecrated Majorinus, is again weakened by the infamy
+of some of their personal characters; and by the female intrigues,
+sacrilegious bargains, and tumultuous proceedings, which are imputed
+to this Numidian council. [7] The bishops of the contending factions
+maintained, with equal ardor and obstinacy, that their adversaries were
+degraded, or at least dishonored, by the odious crime of delivering
+the Holy Scriptures to the officers of Diocletian. From their mutual
+reproaches, as well as from the story of this dark transaction, it may
+justly be inferred, that the late persecution had imbittered the zeal,
+without reforming the manners, of the African Christians. That
+divided church was incapable of affording an impartial judicature; the
+controversy was solemnly tried in five successive tribunals, which
+were appointed by the emperor; and the whole proceeding, from the
+first appeal to the final sentence, lasted above three years. A severe
+inquisition, which was taken by the Praetorian vicar, and the proconsul
+of Africa, the report of two episcopal visitors who had been sent to
+Carthage, the decrees of the councils of Rome and of Arles, and the
+supreme judgment of Constantine himself in his sacred consistory,
+were all favorable to the cause of Caecilian; and he was unanimously
+acknowledged by the civil and ecclesiastical powers, as the true and
+lawful primate of Africa. The honors and estates of the church were
+attributed to his suffragan bishops, and it was not without difficulty,
+that Constantine was satisfied with inflicting the punishment of exile
+on the principal leaders of the Donatist faction. As their cause was
+examined with attention, perhaps it was determined with justice. Perhaps
+their complaint was not without foundation, that the credulity of the
+emperor had been abused by the insidious arts of his favorite Osius. The
+influence of falsehood and corruption might procure the condemnation
+of the innocent, or aggravate the sentence of the guilty. Such an act,
+however, of injustice, if it concluded an importunate dispute, might be
+numbered among the transient evils of a despotic administration, which
+are neither felt nor remembered by posterity.
+
+[Footnote 6: The best materials for this part of ecclesiastical history
+may be found in the edition of Optatus Milevitanus, published (Paris,
+1700) by M. Dupin, who has enriched it with critical notes, geographical
+discussions, original records, and an accurate abridgment of the whole
+controversy. M. de Tillemont has bestowed on the Donatists the greatest
+part of a volume, (tom. vi. part i.;) and I am indebted to him for an
+ample collection of all the passages of his favorite St. Augustin, which
+relate to those heretics.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Schisma igitur illo tempore confusae mulieris iracundia
+peperit; ambitus nutrivit; avaritia roboravit. Optatus, l. i. c. 19. The
+language of Purpurius is that of a furious madman. Dicitur te necasse
+lilios sororis tuae duos. Purpurius respondit: Putas me terreri a te..
+occidi; et occido eos qui contra me faciunt. Acta Concil. Cirtenais,
+ad calc. Optat. p. 274. When Caecilian was invited to an assembly of
+bishops, Purpurius said to his brethren, or rather to his accomplices,
+"Let him come hither to receive our imposition of hands, and we will
+break his head by way of penance." Optat. l. i. c. 19.]
+
+But this incident, so inconsiderable that it scarcely deserves a place
+in history, was productive of a memorable schism which afflicted the
+provinces of Africa above three hundred years, and was extinguished only
+with Christianity itself. The inflexible zeal of freedom and fanaticism
+animated the Donatists to refuse obedience to the usurpers, whose
+election they disputed, and whose spiritual powers they denied.
+Excluded from the civil and religious communion of mankind, they boldly
+excommunicated the rest of mankind, who had embraced the impious party
+of Caecilian, and of the Traditors, from which he derived his pretended
+ordination. They asserted with confidence, and almost with exultation,
+that the Apostolical succession was interrupted; that all the bishops of
+Europe and Asia were infected by the contagion of guilt and schism; and
+that the prerogatives of the Catholic church were confined to the chosen
+portion of the African believers, who alone had preserved inviolate the
+integrity of their faith and discipline. This rigid theory was supported
+by the most uncharitable conduct. Whenever they acquired a proselyte,
+even from the distant provinces of the East, they carefully repeated
+the sacred rites of baptism [8] and ordination; as they rejected the
+validity of those which he had already received from the hands of
+heretics or schismatics. Bishops, virgins, and even spotless infants,
+were subjected to the disgrace of a public penance, before they could be
+admitted to the communion of the Donatists. If they obtained possession
+of a church which had been used by their Catholic adversaries, they
+purified the unhallowed building with the same zealous care which a
+temple of idols might have required. They washed the pavement, scraped
+the walls, burnt the altar, which was commonly of wood, melted the
+consecrated plate, and cast the Holy Eucharist to the dogs, with
+every circumstance of ignominy which could provoke and perpetuate the
+animosity of religious factions. [9] Notwithstanding this irreconcilable
+aversion, the two parties, who were mixed and separated in all the
+cities of Africa, had the same language and manners, the same zeal
+and learning, the same faith and worship. Proscribed by the civil and
+ecclesiastical powers of the empire, the Donatists still maintained in
+some provinces, particularly in Numidia, their superior numbers; and
+four hundred bishops acknowledged the jurisdiction of their primate. But
+the invincible spirit of the sect sometimes preyed on its own vitals:
+and the bosom of their schismatical church was torn by intestine
+divisions. A fourth part of the Donatist bishops followed the
+independent standard of the Maximianists. The narrow and solitary path
+which their first leaders had marked out, continued to deviate from the
+great society of mankind. Even the imperceptible sect of the Rogatians
+could affirm, without a blush, that when Christ should descend to judge
+the earth, he would find his true religion preserved only in a few
+nameless villages of the Caesarean Mauritania. [10]
+
+[Footnote 8: The councils of Arles, of Nice, and of Trent, confirmed
+the wise and moderate practice of the church of Rome. The Donatists,
+however, had the advantage of maintaining the sentiment of Cyprian, and
+of a considerable part of the primitive church. Vincentius Lirinesis (p.
+532, ap. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 138) has explained why the
+Donatists are eternally burning with the Devil, while St. Cyprian reigns
+in heaven with Jesus Christ.]
+
+[Footnote 9: See the sixth book of Optatus Milevitanus, p. 91-100.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiastiques, tom. vi. part i. p. 253.
+He laughs at their partial credulity. He revered Augustin, the great
+doctor of the system of predestination.]
+
+The schism of the Donatists was confined to Africa: the more diffusive
+mischief of the Trinitarian controversy successively penetrated into
+every part of the Christian world. The former was an accidental quarrel,
+occasioned by the abuse of freedom; the latter was a high and mysterious
+argument, derived from the abuse of philosophy. From the age of
+Constantine to that of Clovis and Theodoric, the temporal interests both
+of the Romans and Barbarians were deeply involved in the theological
+disputes of Arianism. The historian may therefore be permitted
+respectfully to withdraw the veil of the sanctuary; and to deduce the
+progress of reason and faith, of error and passion from the school of
+Plato, to the decline and fall of the empire.
+
+The genius of Plato, informed by his own meditation, or by the
+traditional knowledge of the priests of Egypt, [11] had ventured to
+explore the mysterious nature of the Deity. When he had elevated his
+mind to the sublime contemplation of the first self-existent, necessary
+cause of the universe, the Athenian sage was incapable of conceiving
+how the simple unity of his essence could admit the infinite variety
+of distinct and successive ideas which compose the model of the
+intellectual world; how a Being purely incorporeal could execute that
+perfect model, and mould with a plastic hand the rude and independent
+chaos. The vain hope of extricating himself from these difficulties,
+which must ever oppress the feeble powers of the human mind, might
+induce Plato to consider the divine nature under the threefold
+modification--of the first cause, the reason, or Logos, and the soul
+or spirit of the universe. His poetical imagination sometimes fixed and
+animated these metaphysical abstractions; the three archical on original
+principles were represented in the Platonic system as three Gods, united
+with each other by a mysterious and ineffable generation; and the Logos
+was particularly considered under the more accessible character of the
+Son of an Eternal Father, and the Creator and Governor of the world.
+Such appear to have been the secret doctrines which were cautiously
+whispered in the gardens of the academy; and which, according to the
+more recent disciples of Plato, [11a] could not be perfectly understood,
+till after an assiduous study of thirty years. [12]
+
+[Footnote 11: Plato Aegyptum peragravit ut a sacerdotibus Barbaris
+numeros et coelestia acciperet. Cicero de Finibus, v. 25. The Egyptians
+might still preserve the traditional creed of the Patriarchs. Josephus
+has persuaded many of the Christian fathers, that Plato derived a
+part of his knowledge from the Jews; but this vain opinion cannot be
+reconciled with the obscure state and unsocial manners of the Jewish
+people, whose scriptures were not accessible to Greek curiosity till
+more than one hundred years after the death of Plato. See Marsham Canon.
+Chron. p. 144 Le Clerc, Epistol. Critic. vii. p. 177-194.]
+
+[Footnote 11a: This exposition of the doctrine of Plato appears to me
+contrary to the true sense of that philosopher's writings. The brilliant
+imagination which he carried into metaphysical inquiries, his style,
+full of allegories and figures, have misled those interpreters who did
+not seek, from the whole tenor of his works and beyond the images which
+the writer employs, the system of this philosopher. In my opinion, there
+is no Trinity in Plato; he has established no mysterious generation
+between the three pretended principles which he is made to distinguish.
+Finally, he conceives only as attributes of the Deity, or of matter,
+those ideas, of which it is supposed that he made substances, real
+beings.----According to Plato, God and matter existed from all eternity.
+Before the creation of the world, matter had in itself a principle of
+motion, but without end or laws: it is this principle which Plato calls
+the irrational soul of the world, because, according to his doctrine,
+every spontaneous and original principle of motion is called soul. God
+wished to impress form upon matter, that is to say, 1. To mould matter,
+and make it into a body; 2. To regulate its motion, and subject it to
+some end and to certain laws. The Deity, in this operation, could not
+act but according to the ideas existing in his intelligence: their union
+filled this, and formed the ideal type of the world. It is this ideal
+world, this divine intelligence, existing with God from all eternity,
+and called by Plato which he is supposed to personify, to
+substantialize; while an attentive examination is sufficient to convince
+us that he has never assigned it an existence external to the Deity,
+(hors de la Divinite,) and that he considered the as the aggregate of
+the ideas of God, the divine understanding in its relation to the world.
+The contrary opinion is irreconcilable with all his philosophy: thus he
+says that to the idea of the Deity is essentially united that of
+intelligence, of a logos. He would thus have admitted a double logos;
+one inherent in the Deity as an attribute, the other independently
+existing as a substance. He affirms that the intelligence, the principle
+of order cannot exist but as an attribute of a soul, the principle of
+motion and of life, of which the nature is unknown to us. How, then,
+according to this, could he consider the logos as a substance endowed
+with an independent existence? In other places, he explains it by these
+two words, knowledge, science, which signify the attributes of the
+Deity. When Plato separates God, the ideal archetype of the world and
+matter, it is to explain how, according to his system, God has
+proceeded, at the creation, to unite the principle of order which he had
+within himself, his proper intelligence, the principle of motion, to the
+principle of motion, the irrational soul which was in matter. When he
+speaks of the place occupied by the ideal world, it is to designate the
+divine intelligence, which is its cause. Finally, in no part of his
+writings do we find a true personification of the pretended beings of
+which he is said to have formed a trinity: and if this personification
+existed, it would equally apply to many other notions, of which might be
+formed many different trinities. This error, into which many ancient as
+well as modern interpreters of Plato have fallen, was very natural.
+Besides the snares which were concealed in his figurative style; besides
+the necessity of comprehending as a whole the system of his ideas, and
+not to explain isolated passages, the nature of his doctrine itself
+would conduce to this error. When Plato appeared, the uncertainty of
+human knowledge, and the continual illusions of the senses, were
+acknowledged, and had given rise to a general scepticism. Socrates had
+aimed at raising morality above the influence of this scepticism: Plato
+endeavored to save metaphysics, by seeking in the human intellect a
+source of certainty which the senses could not furnish. He invented the
+system of innate ideas, of which the aggregate formed, according to him,
+the ideal world, and affirmed that these ideas were real attributes, not
+only attached to our conceptions of objects, but to the nature of the
+objects themselves; a nature of which from them we might obtain a
+knowledge. He gave, then, to these ideas a positive existence as
+attributes; his commentators could easily give them a real existence as
+substances; especially as the terms which he used to designate them,
+essential beauty, essential goodness, lent themselves to this
+substantialization, (hypostasis.)--G. ----We have retained this view of
+the original philosophy of Plato, in which there is probably much truth.
+The genius of Plato was rather metaphysical than impersonative: his
+poetry was in his language, rather than, like that of the Orientals, in
+his conceptions.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The modern guides who lead me to the knowledge of the
+Platonic system are Cudworth, Basnage, Le Clerc, and Brucker. As the
+learning of these writers was equal, and their intention different, an
+inquisitive observer may derive instruction from their disputes, and
+certainty from their agreement.]
+
+The arms of the Macedonians diffused over Asia and Egypt the language
+and learning of Greece; and the theological system of Plato was taught,
+with less reserve, and perhaps with some improvements, in the celebrated
+school of Alexandria. [13] A numerous colony of Jews had been invited,
+by the favor of the Ptolemies, to settle in their new capital. [14]
+While the bulk of the nation practised the legal ceremonies, and pursued
+the lucrative occupations of commerce, a few Hebrews, of a more
+liberal spirit, devoted their lives to religious and philosophical
+contemplation. [15] They cultivated with diligence, and embraced with
+ardor, the theological system of the Athenian sage. But their national
+pride would have been mortified by a fair confession of their former
+poverty: and they boldly marked, as the sacred inheritance of their
+ancestors, the gold and jewels which they had so lately stolen from
+their Egyptian masters. One hundred years before the birth of Christ,
+a philosophical treatise, which manifestly betrays the style and
+sentiments of the school of Plato, was produced by the Alexandrian Jews,
+and unanimously received as a genuine and valuable relic of the inspired
+Wisdom of Solomon. [16] A similar union of the Mosaic faith and the
+Grecian philosophy, distinguishes the works of Philo, which were
+composed, for the most part, under the reign of Augustus. [17] The
+material soul of the universe [18] might offend the piety of the
+Hebrews: but they applied the character of the Logos to the Jehovah of
+Moses and the patriarchs; and the Son of God was introduced upon earth
+under a visible, and even human appearance, to perform those familiar
+offices which seem incompatible with the nature and attributes of the
+Universal Cause. [19]
+
+[Footnote 13: Brucker, Hist. Philosoph. tom. i. p. 1349-1357. The
+Alexandrian school is celebrated by Strabo (l. xvii.) and Ammianus,
+(xxii. 6.) Note: The philosophy of Plato was not the only source of
+that professed in the school of Alexandria. That city, in which Greek,
+Jewish, and Egyptian men of letters were assembled, was the scene of a
+strange fusion of the system of these three people. The Greeks brought a
+Platonism, already much changed; the Jews, who had acquired at Babylon
+a great number of Oriental notions, and whose theological opinions had
+undergone great changes by this intercourse, endeavored to reconcile
+Platonism with their new doctrine, and disfigured it entirely: lastly,
+the Egyptians, who were not willing to abandon notions for which the
+Greeks themselves entertained respect, endeavored on their side
+to reconcile their own with those of their neighbors. It is in
+Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon that we trace the influence
+of Oriental philosophy rather than that of Platonism. We find in these
+books, and in those of the later prophets, as in Ezekiel, notions
+unknown to the Jews before the Babylonian captivity, of which we do not
+discover the germ in Plato, but which are manifestly derived from
+the Orientals. Thus God represented under the image of light, and the
+principle of evil under that of darkness; the history of the good and
+bad angels; paradise and hell, &c., are doctrines of which the origin,
+or at least the positive determination, can only be referred to the
+Oriental philosophy. Plato supposed matter eternal; the Orientals and
+the Jews considered it as a creation of God, who alone was eternal. It
+is impossible to explain the philosophy of the Alexandrian school solely
+by the blending of the Jewish theology with the Greek philosophy. The
+Oriental philosophy, however little it may be known, is recognized at
+every instant. Thus, according to the Zend Avesta, it is by the Word
+(honover) more ancient than the world, that Ormuzd created the universe.
+This word is the logos of Philo, consequently very different from that
+of Plato. I have shown that Plato never personified the logos as the
+ideal archetype of the world: Philo ventured this personification. The
+Deity, according to him, has a double logos; the first is the ideal
+archetype of the world, the ideal world, the first-born of the Deity;
+the second is the word itself of God, personified under the image of a
+being acting to create the sensible world, and to make it like to
+the ideal world: it is the second-born of God. Following out his
+imaginations, Philo went so far as to personify anew the ideal world,
+under the image of a celestial man, the primitive type of man, and the
+sensible world under the image of another man less perfect than the
+celestial man. Certain notions of the Oriental philosophy may have
+given rise to this strange abuse of allegory, which it is sufficient to
+relate, to show what alterations Platonism had already undergone, and
+what was their source. Philo, moreover, of all the Jews of Alexandria,
+is the one whose Platonism is the most pure. It is from this mixture of
+Orientalism, Platonism, and Judaism, that Gnosticism arose, which had
+produced so many theological and philosophical extravagancies, and in
+which Oriental notions evidently predominate.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Joseph. Antiquitat, l. xii. c. 1, 3. Basnage, Hist. des
+Juifs, l. vii. c. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 15: For the origin of the Jewish philosophy, see Eusebius,
+Praeparat. Evangel. viii. 9, 10. According to Philo, the Therapeutae
+studied philosophy; and Brucker has proved (Hist. Philosoph. tom. ii. p.
+787) that they gave the preference to that of Plato.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See Calmet, Dissertations sur la Bible, tom. ii. p. 277.
+The book of the Wisdom of Solomon was received by many of the fathers as
+the work of that monarch: and although rejected by the Protestants
+for want of a Hebrew original, it has obtained, with the rest of the
+Vulgate, the sanction of the council of Trent.]
+
+[Footnote 17: The Platonism of Philo, which was famous to a proverb,
+is proved beyond a doubt by Le Clerc, (Epist. Crit. viii. p. 211-228.)
+Basnage (Hist. des Juifs, l. iv. c. 5) has clearly ascertained, that
+the theological works of Philo were composed before the death, and most
+probably before the birth, of Christ. In such a time of darkness, the
+knowledge of Philo is more astonishing than his errors. Bull, Defens.
+Fid. Nicen. s. i. c. i. p. 12.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet. Besides
+this material soul, Cudworth has discovered (p. 562) in Amelius,
+Porphyry, Plotinus, and, as he thinks, in Plato himself, a superior,
+spiritual upercosmian soul of the universe. But this double soul is
+exploded by Brucker, Basnage, and Le Clerc, as an idle fancy of the
+latter Platonists.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Petav. Dogmata Theologica, tom. ii. l. viii. c. 2, p. 791.
+Bull, Defens. Fid. Nicen. s. i. c. l. p. 8, 13. This notion, till it
+was abused by the Arians, was freely adopted in the Christian theology.
+Tertullian (adv. Praxeam, c. 16) has a remarkable and dangerous passage.
+After contrasting, with indiscreet wit, the nature of God, and the
+actions of Jehovah, he concludes: Scilicet ut haec de filio Dei non
+credenda fuisse, si non scripta essent; fortasse non credenda de
+l'atre licet scripta. * Note: Tertullian is here arguing against the
+Patripassians; those who asserted that the Father was born of the
+Virgin, died and was buried.--M.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.--Part II.
+
+The eloquence of Plato, the name of Solomon, the authority of the school
+of Alexandria, and the consent of the Jews and Greeks, were insufficient
+to establish the truth of a mysterious doctrine, which might please, but
+could not satisfy, a rational mind. A prophet, or apostle, inspired
+by the Deity, can alone exercise a lawful dominion over the faith of
+mankind: and the theology of Plato might have been forever confounded
+with the philosophical visions of the Academy, the Porch, and the
+Lycaeum, if the name and divine attributes of the Logos had not been
+confirmed by the celestial pen of the last and most sublime of the
+Evangelists. [20] The Christian Revelation, which was consummated under
+the reign of Nerva, disclosed to the world the amazing secret, that the
+Logos, who was with God from the beginning, and was God, who had made
+all things, and for whom all things had been made, was incarnate in the
+person of Jesus of Nazareth; who had been born of a virgin, and suffered
+death on the cross. Besides the genera design of fixing on a perpetual
+basis the divine honors of Christ, the most ancient and respectable of
+the ecclesiastical writers have ascribed to the evangelic theologian a
+particular intention to confute two opposite heresies, which disturbed
+the peace of the primitive church. [21] I. The faith of the Ebionites,
+[22] perhaps of the Nazarenes, [23] was gross and imperfect. They
+revered Jesus as the greatest of the prophets, endowed with supernatural
+virtue and power. They ascribed to his person and to his future reign
+all the predictions of the Hebrew oracles which relate to the spiritual
+and everlasting kingdom of the promised Messiah. [24] Some of them might
+confess that he was born of a virgin; but they obstinately rejected the
+preceding existence and divine perfections of the Logos, or Son of God,
+which are so clearly defined in the Gospel of St. John. About fifty
+years afterwards, the Ebionites, whose errors are mentioned by Justin
+Martyr with less severity than they seem to deserve, [25] formed a very
+inconsiderable portion of the Christian name. II. The Gnostics, who
+were distinguished by the epithet of Docetes, deviated into the contrary
+extreme; and betrayed the human, while they asserted the divine, nature
+of Christ. Educated in the school of Plato, accustomed to the sublime
+idea of the Logos, they readily conceived that the brightest Aeon,
+or Emanation of the Deity, might assume the outward shape and visible
+appearances of a mortal; [26] but they vainly pretended, that the
+imperfections of matter are incompatible with the purity of a celestial
+substance.
+
+While the blood of Christ yet smoked on Mount Calvary, the Docetes
+invented the impious and extravagant hypothesis, that, instead of
+issuing from the womb of the Virgin, [27] he had descended on the banks
+of the Jordan in the form of perfect manhood; that he had imposed on the
+senses of his enemies, and of his disciples; and that the ministers of
+Pilate had wasted their impotent rage on an ury phantom, who seemed to
+expire on the cross, and, after three days, to rise from the dead. [28]
+
+[Footnote 20: The Platonists admired the beginning of the Gospel of St.
+John as containing an exact transcript of their own principles. Augustin
+de Civitat. Dei, x. 29. Amelius apud Cyril. advers. Julian. l. viii. p.
+283. But in the third and fourth centuries, the Platonists of Alexandria
+might improve their Trinity by the secret study of the Christian
+theology. Note: A short discussion on the sense in which St. John has
+used the word Logos, will prove that he has not borrowed it from the
+philosophy of Plato. The evangelist adopts this word without previous
+explanation, as a term with which his contemporaries were already
+familiar, and which they could at once comprehend. To know the sense
+which he gave to it, we must inquire that which it generally bore in his
+time. We find two: the one attached to the word logos by the Jews of
+Palestine, the other by the school of Alexandria, particularly by Philo.
+The Jews had feared at all times to pronounce the name of Jehovah; they
+had formed a habit of designating God by one of his attributes; they
+called him sometimes Wisdom, sometimes the Word. By the word of the Lord
+were the heavens made. (Psalm xxxiii. 6.) Accustomed to allegories, they
+often addressed themselves to this attribute of the Deity as a real
+being. Solomon makes Wisdom say "The Lord possessed me in the beginning
+of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from
+the beginning, or ever the earth was." (Prov. viii. 22, 23.) Their
+residence in Persia only increased this inclination to sustained
+allegories. In the Ecclesiasticus of the son of Sirach, and the Book of
+Wisdom, we find allegorical descriptions of Wisdom like the following:
+"I came out of the mouth of the Most High; I covered the earth as a
+cloud;... I alone compassed the circuit of heaven, and walked in the
+bottom of the deep... The Creator created me from the beginning, before
+the world, and I shall never fail." (Eccles. xxiv. 35- 39.) See also the
+Wisdom of Solomon, c. vii. v. 9. [The latter book is clearly
+Alexandrian.--M.] We see from this that the Jews understood from the
+Hebrew and Chaldaic words which signify Wisdom, the Word, and which were
+translated into Greek, a simple attribute of the Deity, allegorically
+personified, but of which they did not make a real particular being
+separate from the Deity. The school of Alexandria, on the contrary, and
+Philo among the rest, mingling Greek with Jewish and Oriental notions,
+and abandoning himself to his inclination to mysticism, personified the
+logos, and represented it a distinct being, created by God, and
+intermediate between God and man. This is the second logos of Philo,
+that which acts from the beginning of the world, alone in its kind,
+creator of the sensible world, formed by God according to the ideal
+world which he had in himself, and which was the first logos, the first-
+born of the Deity. The logos taken in this sense, then, was a created
+being, but, anterior to the creation of the world, near to God, and
+charged with his revelations to mankind.----Which of these two senses is
+that which St. John intended to assign to the word logos in the first
+chapter of his Gospel, and in all his writings? St. John was a Jew, born
+and educated in Palestine; he had no knowledge, at least very little, of
+the philosophy of the Greeks, and that of the Grecizing Jews: he would
+naturally, then, attach to the word logos the sense attached to it by
+the Jews of Palestine. If, in fact, we compare the attributes which he
+assigns to the logos with those which are assigned to it in Proverbs, in
+the Wisdom of Solomon, in Ecclesiasticus, we shall see that they are the
+same. The Word was in the world, and the world was made by him; in him
+was life, and the life was the light of men, (c. i. v. 10-14.) It is
+impossible not to trace in this chapter the ideas which the Jews had
+formed of the allegorized logos. The evangelist afterwards really
+personifies that which his predecessors have personified only
+poetically; for he affirms "that the Word became flesh," (v. 14.) It was
+to prove this that he wrote. Closely examined, the ideas which he gives
+of the logos cannot agree with those of Philo and the school of
+Alexandria; they correspond, on the contrary, with those of the Jews of
+Palestine. Perhaps St. John, employing a well-known term to explain a
+doctrine which was yet unknown, has slightly altered the sense; it is
+this alteration which we appear to discover on comparing different
+passages of his writings.----It is worthy of remark, that the Jews of
+Palestine, who did not perceive this alteration, could find nothing
+extraordinary in what St. John said of the Logos; at least they
+comprehended it without difficulty, while the Greeks and Grecizing Jews,
+on their part, brought to it prejudices and preconceptions easily
+reconciled with those of the evangelist, who did not expressly
+contradict them. This circumstance must have much favored the progress
+of Christianity. Thus the fathers of the church in the two first
+centuries and later, formed almost all in the school of Alexandria, gave
+to the Logos of St. John a sense nearly similar to that which it
+received from Philo. Their doctrine approached very near to that which
+in the fourth century the council of Nice condemned in the person of
+Arius.--G.----M. Guizot has forgotten the long residence of St. John at
+Ephesus, the centre of the mingling opinions of the East and West, which
+were gradually growing up into Gnosticism. (See Matter. Hist. du
+Gnosticisme, vol. i. p. 154.) St. John's sense of the Logos seems as far
+removed from the simple allegory ascribed to the Palestinian Jews as
+from the Oriental impersonation of the Alexandrian. The simple truth may
+be that St. John took the familiar term, and, as it were infused into it
+the peculiar and Christian sense in which it is used in his writings.
+--M.]
+
+[Footnote 21: See Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, tom. i. p.
+377. The Gospel according to St. John is supposed to have been published
+about seventy years after the death of Christ.]
+
+[Footnote 22: The sentiments of the Ebionites are fairly stated by
+Mosheim (p. 331) and Le Clerc, (Hist. Eccles. p. 535.) The Clementines,
+published among the apostolical fathers, are attributed by the critics
+to one of these sectaries.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Stanch polemics, like a Bull, (Judicium Eccles. Cathol.
+c. 2,) insist on the orthodoxy of the Nazarenes; which appears less pure
+and certain in the eyes of Mosheim, (p. 330.)]
+
+[Footnote 24: The humble condition and sufferings of Jesus have always
+been a stumbling-block to the Jews. "Deus... contrariis coloribus
+Messiam depinxerat: futurus erat Rex, Judex, Pastor," &c. See Limborch
+et Orobio Amica Collat. p. 8, 19, 53-76, 192-234. But this objection has
+obliged the believing Christians to lift up their eyes to a spiritual
+and everlasting kingdom.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Justin Martyr, Dialog. cum Tryphonte, p. 143, 144. See Le
+Clerc, Hist. Eccles. p. 615. Bull and his editor Grabe (Judicium Eccles.
+Cathol. c. 7, and Appendix) attempt to distort either the sentiments
+or the words of Justin; but their violent correction of the text is
+rejected even by the Benedictine editors.]
+
+[Footnote 26: The Arians reproached the orthodox party with borrowing
+their Trinity from the Valentinians and Marcionites. See Beausobre,
+Hist. de Manicheisme, l. iii. c. 5, 7.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Non dignum est ex utero credere Deum, et Deum Christum....
+non dignum est ut tanta majestas per sordes et squalores muli eris
+transire credatur. The Gnostics asserted the impurity of matter, and of
+marriage; and they were scandalized by the gross interpretations of the
+fathers, and even of Augustin himself. See Beausobre, tom. ii. p. 523,
+* Note: The greater part of the Docetae rejected the true divinity
+of Jesus Christ, as well as his human nature. They belonged to the
+Gnostics, whom some philosophers, in whose party Gibbon has enlisted,
+make to derive their opinions from those of Plato. These philosophers
+did not consider that Platonism had undergone continual alterations,
+and that those who gave it some analogy with the notions of the Gnostics
+were later in their origin than most of the sects comprehended under
+this name Mosheim has proved (in his Instit. Histor. Eccles. Major. s.
+i. p. 136, sqq and p. 339, sqq.) that the Oriental philosophy, combined
+with the cabalistical philosophy of the Jews, had given birth to
+Gnosticism. The relations which exist between this doctrine and the
+records which remain to us of that of the Orientals, the Chaldean and
+Persian, have been the source of the errors of the Gnostic Christians,
+who wished to reconcile their ancient notions with their new belief. It
+is on this account that, denying the human nature of Christ, they
+also denied his intimate union with God, and took him for one of the
+substances (aeons) created by God. As they believed in the eternity of
+matter, and considered it to be the principle of evil, in opposition to
+the Deity, the first cause and principle of good, they were unwilling to
+admit that one of the pure substances, one of the aeons which came forth
+from God, had, by partaking in the material nature, allied himself to
+the principle of evil; and this was their motive for rejecting the real
+humanity of Jesus Christ. See Ch. G. F. Walch, Hist. of Heresies in
+Germ. t. i. p. 217, sqq. Brucker, Hist. Crit. Phil. ii. p 639.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Apostolis adhuc in saeculo superstitibus apud Judaeam
+Christi sanguine recente, et phanlasma corpus Domini asserebatur.
+Cotelerius thinks (Patres Apostol. tom. ii. p. 24) that those who will
+not allow the Docetes to have arisen in the time of the Apostles, may
+with equal reason deny that the sun shines at noonday. These Docetes,
+who formed the most considerable party among the Gnostics, were so
+called, because they granted only a seeming body to Christ. * Note: The
+name of Docetae was given to these sectaries only in the course of the
+second century: this name did not designate a sect, properly so called;
+it applied to all the sects who taught the non- reality of the material
+body of Christ; of this number were the Valentinians, the Basilidians,
+the Ophites, the Marcionites, (against whom Tertullian wrote his book,
+De Carne Christi,) and other Gnostics. In truth, Clement of Alexandria
+(l. iii. Strom. c. 13, p. 552) makes express mention of a sect of
+Docetae, and even names as one of its heads a certain Cassianus;
+but every thing leads us to believe that it was not a distinct sect.
+Philastrius (de Haeres, c. 31) reproaches Saturninus with being a
+Docete. Irenaeus (adv. Haer. c. 23) makes the same reproach against
+Basilides. Epiphanius and Philastrius, who have treated in detail on
+each particular heresy, do not specially name that of the Docetae.
+Serapion, bishop of Antioch, (Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. vi. c. 12,) and
+Clement of Alexandria, (l. vii. Strom. p. 900,) appear to be the first
+who have used the generic name. It is not found in any earlier record,
+though the error which it points out existed even in the time of the
+Apostles. See Ch. G. F. Walch, Hist. of Her. v. i. p. 283. Tillemont,
+Mempour servir a la Hist Eccles. ii. p. 50. Buddaeus de Eccles. Apost.
+c. 5 & 7--G.]
+
+The divine sanction, which the Apostle had bestowed on the fundamental
+principle of the theology of Plato, encouraged the learned proselytes of
+the second and third centuries to admire and study the writings of the
+Athenian sage, who had thus marvellously anticipated one of the most
+surprising discoveries of the Christian revelation. The respectable name
+of Plato was used by the orthodox, [29] and abused by the heretics, [30]
+as the common support of truth and error: the authority of his skilful
+commentators, and the science of dialectics, were employed to justify
+the remote consequences of his opinions and to supply the discreet
+silence of the inspired writers. The same subtle and profound questions
+concerning the nature, the generation, the distinction, and the equality
+of the three divine persons of the mysterious Triad, or Trinity, [31]
+were agitated in the philosophical and in the Christian schools of
+Alexandria. An eager spirit of curiosity urged them to explore the
+secrets of the abyss; and the pride of the professors, and of their
+disciples, was satisfied with the sciences of words. But the most
+sagacious of the Christian theologians, the great Athanasius himself,
+has candidly confessed, [32] that whenever he forced his understanding
+to meditate on the divinity of the Logos, his toilsome and unavailing
+efforts recoiled on themselves; that the more he thought, the less
+he comprehended; and the more he wrote, the less capable was he of
+expressing his thoughts. In every step of the inquiry, we are compelled
+to feel and acknowledge the immeasurable disproportion between the
+size of the object and the capacity of the human mind. We may strive to
+abstract the notions of time, of space, and of matter, which so closely
+adhere to all the perceptions of our experimental knowledge. But as soon
+as we presume to reason of infinite substance, of spiritual generation;
+as often as we deduce any positive conclusions from a negative idea, we
+are involved in darkness, perplexity, and inevitable contradiction. As
+these difficulties arise from the nature of the subject, they oppress,
+with the same insuperable weight, the philosophic and the theological
+disputant; but we may observe two essential and peculiar circumstances,
+which discriminated the doctrines of the Catholic church from the
+opinions of the Platonic school.
+
+[Footnote 29: Some proofs of the respect which the Christians
+entertained for the person and doctrine of Plato may be found in De la
+Mothe le Vayer, tom. v. p. 135, &c., edit. 1757; and Basnage, Hist. des
+Juifs tom. iv. p. 29, 79, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Doleo bona fide, Platonem omnium heraeticorum
+condimentarium factum. Tertullian. de Anima, c. 23. Petavius (Dogm.
+Theolog. tom. iii. proleg. 2) shows that this was a general complaint.
+Beausobre (tom. i. l. iii. c. 9, 10) has deduced the Gnostic errors
+from Platonic principles; and as, in the school of Alexandria, those
+principles were blended with the Oriental philosophy, (Brucker, tom. i.
+p. 1356,) the sentiment of Beausobre may be reconciled with the opinion
+of Mosheim, (General History of the Church, vol. i. p. 37.)]
+
+[Footnote 31: If Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, (see Dupin, Bibliotheque
+Ecclesiastique, tom. i. p. 66,) was the first who employed the word
+Triad, Trinity, that abstract term, which was already familiar to the
+schools of philosophy, must have been introduced into the theology of
+the Christians after the middle of the second century.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Athanasius, tom. i. p. 808. His expressions have an
+uncommon energy; and as he was writing to monks, there could not be any
+occasion for him to affect a rational language.]
+
+I. A chosen society of philosophers, men of a liberal education and
+curious disposition, might silently meditate, and temperately discuss
+in the gardens of Athens or the library of Alexandria, the abstruse
+questions of metaphysical science. The lofty speculations, which
+neither convinced the understanding, nor agitated the passions, of the
+Platonists themselves, were carelessly overlooked by the idle, the busy,
+and even the studious part of mankind. [33] But after the Logos had been
+revealed as the sacred object of the faith, the hope, and the religious
+worship of the Christians, the mysterious system was embraced by a
+numerous and increasing multitude in every province of the Roman world.
+Those persons who, from their age, or sex, or occupations, were the
+least qualified to judge, who were the least exercised in the habits
+of abstract reasoning, aspired to contemplate the economy of the
+Divine Nature: and it is the boast of Tertullian, [34] that a Christian
+mechanic could readily answer such questions as had perplexed the wisest
+of the Grecian sages. Where the subject lies so far beyond our
+reach, the difference between the highest and the lowest of human
+understandings may indeed be calculated as infinitely small; yet the
+degree of weakness may perhaps be measured by the degree of obstinacy
+and dogmatic confidence. These speculations, instead of being treated as
+the amusement of a vacant hour, became the most serious business of the
+present, and the most useful preparation for a future, life. A theology,
+which it was incumbent to believe, which it was impious to doubt, and
+which it might be dangerous, and even fatal, to mistake, became the
+familiar topic of private meditation and popular discourse. The cold
+indifference of philosophy was inflamed by the fervent spirit of
+devotion; and even the metaphors of common language suggested the
+fallacious prejudices of sense and experience. The Christians, who
+abhorred the gross and impure generation of the Greek mythology, [35]
+were tempted to argue from the familiar analogy of the filial and
+paternal relations. The character of Son seemed to imply a perpetual
+subordination to the voluntary author of his existence; [36] but as the
+act of generation, in the most spiritual and abstracted sense, must be
+supposed to transmit the properties of a common nature, [37] they durst
+not presume to circumscribe the powers or the duration of the Son of
+an eternal and omnipotent Father. Fourscore years after the death of
+Christ, the Christians of Bithynia, declared before the tribunal of
+Pliny, that they invoked him as a god: and his divine honors have been
+perpetuated in every age and country, by the various sects who assume
+the name of his disciples. [38] Their tender reverence for the memory of
+Christ, and their horror for the profane worship of any created being,
+would have engaged them to assert the equal and absolute divinity of the
+Logos, if their rapid ascent towards the throne of heaven had not been
+imperceptibly checked by the apprehension of violating the unity and
+sole supremacy of the great Father of Christ and of the Universe. The
+suspense and fluctuation produced in the minds of the Christians by
+these opposite tendencies, may be observed in the writings of the
+theologians who flourished after the end of the apostolic age, and
+before the origin of the Arian controversy. Their suffrage is claimed,
+with equal confidence, by the orthodox and by the heretical parties; and
+the most inquisitive critics have fairly allowed, that if they had the
+good fortune of possessing the Catholic verity, they have delivered
+their conceptions in loose, inaccurate, and sometimes contradictory
+language. [39]
+
+[Footnote 33: In a treatise, which professed to explain the opinions
+of the ancient philosophers concerning the nature of the gods we might
+expect to discover the theological Trinity of Plato. But Cicero very
+honestly confessed, that although he had translated the Timaeus, he
+could never understand that mysterious dialogue. See Hieronym. praef. ad
+l. xii. in Isaiam, tom. v. p. 154.]
+
+[Footnote 34: Tertullian. in Apolog. c. 46. See Bayle, Dictionnaire, au
+mot Simonide. His remarks on the presumption of Tertullian are profound
+and interesting.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Lactantius, iv. 8. Yet the Probole, or Prolatio, which the
+most orthodox divines borrowed without scruple from the Valentinians,
+and illustrated by the comparisons of a fountain and stream, the sun and
+its rays, &c., either meant nothing, or favored a material idea of the
+divine generation. See Beausobre, tom. i. l. iii. c. 7, p. 548.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Many of the primitive writers have frankly confessed, that
+the Son owed his being to the will of the Father.----See Clarke's
+Scripture Trinity, p. 280-287. On the other hand, Athanasius and his
+followers seem unwilling to grant what they are afraid to deny. The
+schoolmen extricate themselves from this difficulty by the distinction
+of a preceding and a concomitant will. Petav. Dogm. Theolog. tom. ii. l.
+vi. c. 8, p. 587-603.]
+
+[Footnote 37: See Petav. Dogm. Theolog. tom. ii. l. ii. c. 10, p. 159.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem. Plin.
+Epist. x. 97. The sense of Deus, Elohim, in the ancient languages, is
+critically examined by Le Clerc, (Ars Critica, p. 150-156,) and the
+propriety of worshipping a very excellent creature is ably defended by
+the Socinian Emlyn, (Tracts, p. 29-36, 51-145.)]
+
+[Footnote 39: See Daille de Usu Patrum, and Le Clerc, Bibliotheque
+Universelle, tom. x. p. 409. To arraign the faith of the Ante-Nicene
+fathers, was the object, or at least has been the effect, of the
+stupendous work of Petavius on the Trinity, (Dogm. Theolog. tom. ii.;)
+nor has the deep impression been erased by the learned defence of Bishop
+Bull. Note: Dr. Burton's work on the doctrine of the Ante-Nicene fathers
+must be consulted by those who wish to obtain clear notions on this
+subject.--M.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.--Part III.
+
+II. The devotion of individuals was the first circumstance which
+distinguished the Christians from the Platonists: the second was the
+authority of the church. The disciples of philosophy asserted the rights
+of intellectual freedom, and their respect for the sentiments of their
+teachers was a liberal and voluntary tribute, which they offered to
+superior reason. But the Christians formed a numerous and disciplined
+society; and the jurisdiction of their laws and magistrates was strictly
+exercised over the minds of the faithful. The loose wanderings of the
+imagination were gradually confined by creeds and confessions; [40] the
+freedom of private judgment submitted to the public wisdom of synods;
+the authority of a theologian was determined by his ecclesiastical rank;
+and the episcopal successors of the apostles inflicted the censures of
+the church on those who deviated from the orthodox belief. But in an age
+of religious controversy, every act of oppression adds new force to
+the elastic vigor of the mind; and the zeal or obstinacy of a spiritual
+rebel was sometimes stimulated by secret motives of ambition or avarice.
+A metaphysical argument became the cause or pretence of political
+contests; the subtleties of the Platonic school were used as the badges
+of popular factions, and the distance which separated their respective
+tenets were enlarged or magnified by the acrimony of dispute. As long
+as the dark heresies of Praxeas and Sabellius labored to confound the
+Father with the Son, [41] the orthodox party might be excused if they
+adhered more strictly and more earnestly to the distinction, than to the
+equality, of the divine persons. But as soon as the heat of controversy
+had subsided, and the progress of the Sabellians was no longer an object
+of terror to the churches of Rome, of Africa, or of Egypt, the tide
+of theological opinion began to flow with a gentle but steady motion
+towards the contrary extreme; and the most orthodox doctors allowed
+themselves the use of the terms and definitions which had been censured
+in the mouth of the sectaries. [42] After the edict of toleration
+had restored peace and leisure to the Christians, the Trinitarian
+controversy was revived in the ancient seat of Platonism, the learned,
+the opulent, the tumultuous city of Alexandria; and the flame of
+religious discord was rapidly communicated from the schools to the
+clergy, the people, the province, and the East. The abstruse question of
+the eternity of the Logos was agitated in ecclesiastic conferences and
+popular sermons; and the heterodox opinions of Arius [43] were soon
+made public by his own zeal, and by that of his adversaries. His most
+implacable adversaries have acknowledged the learning and blameless life
+of that eminent presbyter, who, in a former election, had declared, and
+perhaps generously declined, his pretensions to the episcopal throne.
+[44] His competitor Alexander assumed the office of his judge. The
+important cause was argued before him; and if at first he seemed to
+hesitate, he at length pronounced his final sentence, as an absolute
+rule of faith. [45] The undaunted presbyter, who presumed to resist the
+authority of his angry bishop, was separated from the community of
+the church. But the pride of Arius was supported by the applause of a
+numerous party. He reckoned among his immediate followers two bishops
+of Egypt, seven presbyters, twelve deacons, and (what may appear almost
+incredible) seven hundred virgins. A large majority of the bishops of
+Asia appeared to support or favor his cause; and their measures were
+conducted by Eusebius of Caesarea, the most learned of the Christian
+prelates; and by Eusebius of Nicomedia, who had acquired the reputation
+of a statesman without forfeiting that of a saint. Synods in Palestine
+and Bithynia were opposed to the synods of Egypt. The attention of the
+prince and people was attracted by this theological dispute; and the
+decision, at the end of six years, [46] was referred to the supreme
+authority of the general council of Nice.
+
+[Footnote 40: The most ancient creeds were drawn up with the greatest
+latitude. See Bull, (Judicium Eccles. Cathol.,) who tries to prevent
+Episcopius from deriving any advantage from this observation.]
+
+[Footnote 41: The heresies of Praxeas, Sabellius, &c., are accurately
+explained by Mosheim (p. 425, 680-714.) Praxeas, who came to Rome about
+the end of the second century, deceived, for some time, the simplicity
+of the bishop, and was confuted by the pen of the angry Tertullian.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Socrates acknowledges, that the heresy of Arius proceeded
+from his strong desire to embrace an opinion the most diametrically
+opposite to that of Sabellius.]
+
+[Footnote 43: The figure and manners of Arius, the character and
+numbers of his first proselytes, are painted in very lively colors by
+Epiphanius, (tom. i. Haeres. lxix. 3, p. 729,) and we cannot but
+regret that he should soon forget the historian, to assume the task of
+controversy.]
+
+[Footnote 44: See Philostorgius (l. i. c. 3,) and Godefroy's ample
+Commentary. Yet the credibility of Philostorgius is lessened, in the
+eyes of the orthodox, by his Arianism; and in those of rational critics,
+by his passion, his prejudice, and his ignorance.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Sozomen (l. i. c. 15) represents Alexander as indifferent,
+and even ignorant, in the beginning of the controversy; while Socrates
+(l. i. c. 5) ascribes the origin of the dispute to the vain curiosity
+of his theological speculations. Dr. Jortin (Remarks on Ecclesiastical
+History, vol. ii. p. 178) has censured, with his usual freedom, the
+conduct of Alexander.]
+
+[Footnote 46: The flames of Arianism might burn for some time in secret;
+but there is reason to believe that they burst out with violence as
+early as the year 319. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 774-780.]
+
+    When the mysteries of the Christian faith were dangerously
+exposed to public debate, it might be observed, that the human
+understanding was capable of forming three district, though imperfect
+systems, concerning the nature of the Divine Trinity; and it was
+pronounced, that none of these systems, in a pure and absolute sense,
+were exempt from heresy and error. [47] I. According to the first
+hypothesis, which was maintained by Arius and his disciples, the Logos
+was a dependent and spontaneous production, created from nothing by the
+will of the father. The Son, by whom all things were made, [48] had been
+begotten before all worlds, and the longest of the astronomical periods
+could be compared only as a fleeting moment to the extent of his
+duration; yet this duration was not infinite, [49] and there had been
+a time which preceded the ineffable generation of the Logos. On this
+only-begotten Son, the Almighty Father had transfused his ample spirit,
+and impressed the effulgence of his glory. Visible image of invisible
+perfection, he saw, at an immeasurable distance beneath his feet, the
+thrones of the brightest archangels; yet he shone only with a reflected
+light, and, like the sons of the Romans emperors, who were invested
+with the titles of Caesar or Augustus, [50] he governed the universe
+in obedience to the will of his Father and Monarch. II. In the second
+hypothesis, the Logos possessed all the inherent, incommunicable
+perfections, which religion and philosophy appropriate to the Supreme
+God. Three distinct and infinite minds or substances, three coequal and
+coeternal beings, composed the Divine Essence; [51] and it would have
+implied contradiction, that any of them should not have existed, or that
+they should ever cease to exist. [52] The advocates of a system which
+seemed to establish three independent Deities, attempted to preserve the
+unity of the First Cause, so conspicuous in the design and order of
+the world, by the perpetual concord of their administration, and the
+essential agreement of their will. A faint resemblance of this unity of
+action may be discovered in the societies of men, and even of
+animals. The causes which disturb their harmony, proceed only from the
+imperfection and inequality of their faculties; but the omnipotence
+which is guided by infinite wisdom and goodness, cannot fail of choosing
+the same means for the accomplishment of the same ends. III. Three
+beings, who, by the self-derived necessity of their existence, possess
+all the divine attributes in the most perfect degree; who are eternal in
+duration, infinite in space, and intimately present to each other, and
+to the whole universe; irresistibly force themselves on the astonished
+mind, as one and the same being, [53] who, in the economy of grace, as
+well as in that of nature, may manifest himself under different forms,
+and be considered under different aspects. By this hypothesis, a real
+substantial trinity is refined into a trinity of names, and abstract
+modifications, that subsist only in the mind which conceives them.
+The Logos is no longer a person, but an attribute; and it is only in a
+figurative sense that the epithet of Son can be applied to the eternal
+reason, which was with God from the beginning, and by which, not by
+whom, all things were made. The incarnation of the Logos is reduced to
+a mere inspiration of the Divine Wisdom, which filled the soul, and
+directed all the actions, of the man Jesus. Thus, after revolving around
+the theological circle, we are surprised to find that the Sabellian
+ends where the Ebionite had begun; and that the incomprehensible mystery
+which excites our adoration, eludes our inquiry. [54]
+
+[Footnote 47: Quid credidit? Certe, aut tria nomina audiens tres Deos
+esse credidit, et idololatra effectus est; aut in tribus vocabulis
+trinominem credens Deum, in Sabellii haeresim incurrit; aut edoctus ab
+Arianis unum esse verum Deum Patrem, filium et spiritum sanctum credidit
+creaturas. Aut extra haec quid credere potuerit nescio. Hieronym adv.
+Luciferianos. Jerom reserves for the last the orthodox system, which is
+more complicated and difficult.]
+
+[Footnote 48: As the doctrine of absolute creation from nothing was
+gradually introduced among the Christians, (Beausobre, tom. ii. p. 165-
+215,) the dignity of the workman very naturally rose with that of the
+work.]
+
+[Footnote 49: The metaphysics of Dr. Clarke (Scripture Trinity, p.
+276-280) could digest an eternal generation from an infinite cause.]
+
+[Footnote 50: This profane and absurd simile is employed by several of
+the primitive fathers, particularly by Athenagoras, in his Apology to
+the emperor Marcus and his son; and it is alleged, without censure, by
+Bull himself. See Defens. Fid. Nicen. sect. iii. c. 5, No. 4.]
+
+[Footnote 51: See Cudworth's Intellectual System, p. 559, 579. This
+dangerous hypothesis was countenanced by the two Gregories, of Nyssa and
+Nazianzen, by Cyril of Alexandria, John of Damascus, &c. See Cudworth,
+p. 603. Le Clerc, Bibliotheque Universelle, tom xviii. p. 97-105.]
+
+[Footnote 52: Augustin seems to envy the freedom of the Philosophers.
+Liberis verbis loquuntur philosophi.... Nos autem non dicimus duo vel
+tria principia, duos vel tres Deos. De Civitat. Dei, x. 23.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Boetius, who was deeply versed in the philosophy of Plato
+and Aristotle, explains the unity of the Trinity by the indifference of
+the three persons. See the judicious remarks of Le Clerc, Bibliotheque
+Choisie, tom. xvi. p. 225, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 54: If the Sabellians were startled at this conclusion, they
+were driven another precipice into the confession, that the Father was
+born of a virgin, that he had suffered on the cross; and thus deserved
+the epithet of Patripassians, with which they were branded by their
+adversaries. See the invectives of Tertullian against Praxeas, and the
+temperate reflections of Mosheim, (p. 423, 681;) and Beausobre, tom. i.
+l. iii. c. 6, p. 533.]
+
+If the bishops of the council of Nice [55] had been permitted to follow
+the unbiased dictates of their conscience, Arius and his associates
+could scarcely have flattered themselves with the hopes of obtaining a
+majority of votes, in favor of an hypothesis so directly averse to
+the two most popular opinions of the Catholic world. The Arians soon
+perceived the danger of their situation, and prudently assumed those
+modest virtues, which, in the fury of civil and religious dissensions,
+are seldom practised, or even praised, except by the weaker party. They
+recommended the exercise of Christian charity and moderation; urged the
+incomprehensible nature of the controversy, disclaimed the use of any
+terms or definitions which could not be found in the Scriptures; and
+offered, by very liberal concessions, to satisfy their adversaries
+without renouncing the integrity of their own principles. The victorious
+faction received all their proposals with haughty suspicion; and
+anxiously sought for some irreconcilable mark of distinction,
+the rejection of which might involve the Arians in the guilt and
+consequences of heresy. A letter was publicly read, and ignominiously
+torn, in which their patron, Eusebius of Nicomedia, ingenuously
+confessed, that the admission of the Homoousion, or Consubstantial,
+a word already familiar to the Platonists, was incompatible with the
+principles of their theological system. The fortunate opportunity was
+eagerly embraced by the bishops, who governed the resolutions of the
+synod; and, according to the lively expression of Ambrose, [56] they
+used the sword, which heresy itself had drawn from the scabbard, to cut
+off the head of the hated monster. The consubstantiality of the Father
+and the Son was established by the council of Nice, and has been
+unanimously received as a fundamental article of the Christian faith,
+by the consent of the Greek, the Latin, the Oriental, and the Protestant
+churches. But if the same word had not served to stigmatize the
+heretics, and to unite the Catholics, it would have been inadequate to
+the purpose of the majority, by whom it was introduced into the orthodox
+creed. This majority was divided into two parties, distinguished by
+a contrary tendency to the sentiments of the Tritheists and of the
+Sabellians. But as those opposite extremes seemed to overthrow the
+foundations either of natural or revealed religion, they mutually agreed
+to qualify the rigor of their principles; and to disavow the just, but
+invidious, consequences, which might be urged by their antagonists. The
+interest of the common cause inclined them to join their numbers, and to
+conceal their differences; their animosity was softened by the healing
+counsels of toleration, and their disputes were suspended by the use
+of the mysterious Homoousion, which either party was free to interpret
+according to their peculiar tenets. The Sabellian sense, which, about
+fifty years before, had obliged the council of Antioch [57] to
+prohibit this celebrated term, had endeared it to those theologians who
+entertained a secret but partial affection for a nominal Trinity. But
+the more fashionable saints of the Arian times, the intrepid Athanasius,
+the learned Gregory Nazianzen, and the other pillars of the church,
+who supported with ability and success the Nicene doctrine, appeared to
+consider the expression of substance as if it had been synonymous
+with that of nature; and they ventured to illustrate their meaning, by
+affirming that three men, as they belong to the same common species, are
+consubstantial, or homoousian to each other. [58] This pure and distinct
+equality was tempered, on the one hand, by the internal connection, and
+spiritual penetration which indissolubly unites the divine persons;
+[59] and, on the other, by the preeminence of the Father, which was
+acknowledged as far as it is compatible with the independence of the
+Son. [60] Within these limits, the almost invisible and tremulous ball
+of orthodoxy was allowed securely to vibrate. On either side, beyond
+this consecrated ground, the heretics and the daemons lurked in ambush
+to surprise and devour the unhappy wanderer. But as the degrees of
+theological hatred depend on the spirit of the war, rather than on the
+importance of the controversy, the heretics who degraded, were treated
+with more severity than those who annihilated, the person of the Son.
+The life of Athanasius was consumed in irreconcilable opposition to the
+impious madness of the Arians; [61] but he defended above twenty
+years the Sabellianism of Marcellus of Ancyra; and when at last he
+was compelled to withdraw himself from his communion, he continued to
+mention, with an ambiguous smile, the venial errors of his respectable
+friend. [62]
+
+[Footnote 55: The transactions of the council of Nice are related by the
+ancients, not only in a partial, but in a very imperfect manner. Such a
+picture as Fra Paolo would have drawn, can never be recovered; but such
+rude sketches as have been traced by the pencil of bigotry, and that of
+reason, may be seen in Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. v. p. 669-759,) and
+in Le Clerc, (Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. x p. 435-454.)]
+
+[Footnote 56: We are indebted to Ambrose (De Fide, l. iii.) knowledge
+of this curious anecdote. Hoc verbum quod viderunt adversariis esse
+formidini; ut ipsis gladio, ipsum nefandae caput haereseos.]
+
+[Footnote 57: See Bull, Defens. Fid. Nicen. sect. ii. c. i. p. 25-36. He
+thinks it his duty to reconcile two orthodox synods.]
+
+[Footnote 58: According to Aristotle, the stars were homoousian to each
+other. "That Homoousios means of one substance in kind, hath been shown
+by Petavius, Curcellaeus, Cudworth, Le Clerc, &c., and to prove it would
+be actum agere." This is the just remark of Dr. Jortin, (vol. ii p.
+212,) who examines the Arian controversy with learning, candor, and
+ingenuity.]
+
+[Footnote 59: See Petavius, (Dogm. Theolog. tom. ii. l. iv. c. 16, p.
+453, &c.,) Cudworth, (p. 559,) Bull, (sect. iv. p. 285-290, edit.
+Grab.) The circumincessio, is perhaps the deepest and darkest he whole
+theological abyss.]
+
+[Footnote 60: The third section of Bull's Defence of the Nicene Faith,
+which some of his antagonists have called nonsense, and others heresy,
+is consecrated to the supremacy of the Father.]
+
+[Footnote 61: The ordinary appellation with which Athanasius and his
+followers chose to compliment the Arians, was that of Ariomanites.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Epiphanius, tom i. Haeres. lxxii. 4, p. 837. See the
+adventures of Marcellus, in Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. v. i. p. 880-
+899.) His work, in one book, of the unity of God, was answered in the
+three books, which are still extant, of Eusebius.----After a long and
+careful examination, Petavius (tom. ii. l. i. c. 14, p. 78) has
+reluctantly pronounced the condemnation of Marcellus.]
+
+The authority of a general council, to which the Arians themselves had
+been compelled to submit, inscribed on the banners of the orthodox party
+the mysterious characters of the word Homoousion, which essentially
+contributed, notwithstanding some obscure disputes, some nocturnal
+combats, to maintain and perpetuate the uniformity of faith, or at least
+of language. The consubstantialists, who by their success have deserved
+and obtained the title of Catholics, gloried in the simplicity and
+steadiness of their own creed, and insulted the repeated variations of
+their adversaries, who were destitute of any certain rule of faith. The
+sincerity or the cunning of the Arian chiefs, the fear of the laws or of
+the people, their reverence for Christ, their hatred of Athanasius, all
+the causes, human and divine, that influence and disturb the counsels
+of a theological faction, introduced among the sectaries a spirit of
+discord and inconstancy, which, in the course of a few years, erected
+eighteen different models of religion, [63] and avenged the violated
+dignity of the church. The zealous Hilary, [64] who, from the peculiar
+hardships of his situation, was inclined to extenuate rather than to
+aggravate the errors of the Oriental clergy, declares, that in the wide
+extent of the ten provinces of Asia, to which he had been banished,
+there could be found very few prelates who had preserved the knowledge
+of the true God. [65] The oppression which he had felt, the disorders
+of which he was the spectator and the victim, appeased, during a short
+interval, the angry passions of his soul; and in the following passage,
+of which I shall transcribe a few lines, the bishop of Poitiers unwarily
+deviates into the style of a Christian philosopher. "It is a thing,"
+says Hilary, "equally deplorable and dangerous, that there are as many
+creeds as opinions among men, as many doctrines as inclinations, and as
+many sources of blasphemy as there are faults among us; because we make
+creeds arbitrarily, and explain them as arbitrarily. The Homoousion is
+rejected, and received, and explained away by successive synods. The
+partial or total resemblance of the Father and of the Son is a subject
+of dispute for these unhappy times. Every year, nay, every moon, we make
+new creeds to describe invisible mysteries. We repent of what we
+have done, we defend those who repent, we anathematize those whom we
+defended. We condemn either the doctrine of others in ourselves, or our
+own in that of others; and reciprocally tearing one another to pieces,
+we have been the cause of each other's ruin." [66]
+
+[Footnote 63: Athanasius, in his epistle concerning the Synods of
+Seleucia and Rimini, (tom. i. p. 886-905,) has given an ample list of
+Arian creeds, which has been enlarged and improved by the labors of the
+indefatigable Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 477.)]
+
+[Footnote 64: Erasmus, with admirable sense and freedom, has delineated
+the just character of Hilary. To revise his text, to compose the annals
+of his life, and to justify his sentiments and conduct, is the province
+of the Benedictine editors.]
+
+[Footnote 65: Absque episcopo Eleusio et paucis cum eo, ex majore parte
+Asianae decem provinciae, inter quas consisto, vere Deum nesciunt. Atque
+utinam penitus nescirent! cum procliviore enim venia ignorarent quam
+obtrectarent. Hilar. de Synodis, sive de Fide Orientalium, c. 63, p.
+1186, edit. Benedict. In the celebrated parallel between atheism and
+superstition, the bishop of Poitiers would have been surprised in the
+philosophic society of Bayle and Plutarch.]
+
+[Footnote 66: Hilarius ad Constantium, l. i. c. 4, 5, p. 1227, 1228.
+This remarkable passage deserved the attention of Mr. Locke, who has
+transcribed it (vol. iii. p. 470) into the model of his new common-place
+book.]
+
+It will not be expected, it would not perhaps be endured, that I should
+swell this theological digression, by a minute examination of the
+eighteen creeds, the authors of which, for the most part, disclaimed the
+odious name of their parent Arius. It is amusing enough to delineate the
+form, and to trace the vegetation, of a singular plant; but the tedious
+detail of leaves without flowers, and of branches without fruit,
+would soon exhaust the patience, and disappoint the curiosity, of the
+laborious student. One question, which gradually arose from the Arian
+controversy, may, however, be noticed, as it served to produce and
+discriminate the three sects, who were united only by their common
+aversion to the Homoousion of the Nicene synod. 1. If they were asked
+whether the Son was like unto the Father, the question was resolutely
+answered in the negative, by the heretics who adhered to the principles
+of Arius, or indeed to those of philosophy; which seem to establish an
+infinite difference between the Creator and the most excellent of his
+creatures. This obvious consequence was maintained by Aetius, [67] on
+whom the zeal of his adversaries bestowed the surname of the Atheist.
+His restless and aspiring spirit urged him to try almost every
+profession of human life. He was successively a slave, or at least
+a husbandman, a travelling tinker, a goldsmith, a physician, a
+schoolmaster, a theologian, and at last the apostle of a new church,
+which was propagated by the abilities of his disciple Eunomius. [68]
+Armed with texts of Scripture, and with captious syllogisms from the
+logic of Aristotle, the subtle Aetius had acquired the fame of an
+invincible disputant, whom it was impossible either to silence or to
+convince. Such talents engaged the friendship of the Arian bishops, till
+they were forced to renounce, and even to persecute, a dangerous ally,
+who, by the accuracy of his reasoning, had prejudiced their cause in the
+popular opinion, and offended the piety of their most devoted followers.
+2. The omnipotence of the Creator suggested a specious and respectful
+solution of the likeness of the Father and the Son; and faith might
+humbly receive what reason could not presume to deny, that the Supreme
+God might communicate his infinite perfections, and create a being
+similar only to himself. [69] These Arians were powerfully supported
+by the weight and abilities of their leaders, who had succeeded to the
+management of the Eusebian interest, and who occupied the principal
+thrones of the East. They detested, perhaps with some affectation, the
+impiety of Aetius; they professed to believe, either without reserve, or
+according to the Scriptures, that the Son was different from all other
+creatures, and similar only to the Father. But they denied, the he
+was either of the same, or of a similar substance; sometimes boldly
+justifying their dissent, and sometimes objecting to the use of the word
+substance, which seems to imply an adequate, or at least, a distinct,
+notion of the nature of the Deity. 3. The sect which deserted the
+doctrine of a similar substance, was the most numerous, at least in the
+provinces of Asia; and when the leaders of both parties were assembled
+in the council of Seleucia, [70] their opinion would have prevailed by a
+majority of one hundred and five to forty-three bishops. The Greek word,
+which was chosen to express this mysterious resemblance, bears so close
+an affinity to the orthodox symbol, that the profane of every age have
+derided the furious contests which the difference of a single diphthong
+excited between the Homoousians and the Homoiousians. As it frequently
+happens, that the sounds and characters which approach the nearest
+to each other accidentally represent the most opposite ideas, the
+observation would be itself ridiculous, if it were possible to mark any
+real and sensible distinction between the doctrine of the Semi-Arians,
+as they were improperly styled, and that of the Catholics themselves.
+The bishop of Poitiers, who in his Phrygian exile very wisely aimed at
+a coalition of parties, endeavors to prove that by a pious and faithful
+interpretation, [71] the Homoiousion may be reduced to a consubstantial
+sense. Yet he confesses that the word has a dark and suspicious
+aspect; and, as if darkness were congenial to theological disputes, the
+Semi-Arians, who advanced to the doors of the church, assailed them with
+the most unrelenting fury.
+
+[Footnote 67: In Philostorgius (l. iii. c. 15) the character and
+adventures of Aetius appear singular enough, though they are carefully
+softened by the hand of a friend. The editor, Godefroy, (p. 153,) who
+was more attached to his principles than to his author, has collected
+the odious circumstances which his various adversaries have preserved or
+invented.]
+
+[Footnote 68: According to the judgment of a man who respected both
+these sectaries, Aetius had been endowed with a stronger understanding
+and Eunomius had acquired more art and learning. (Philostorgius l. viii.
+c. 18.) The confession and apology of Eunomius (Fabricius, Bibliot.
+Graec. tom. viii. p. 258-305) is one of the few heretical pieces which
+have escaped.]
+
+[Footnote 69: Yet, according to the opinion of Estius and Bull, (p.
+297,) there is one power--that of creation--which God cannot communicate
+to a creature. Estius, who so accurately defined the limits of
+Omnipotence was a Dutchman by birth, and by trade a scholastic divine.
+Dupin Bibliot. Eccles. tom. xvii. p. 45.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Sabinus ap. Socrat. (l. ii. c. 39) had copied the acts:
+Athanasius and Hilary have explained the divisions of this Arian synod;
+the other circumstances which are relative to it are carefully collected
+by Baro and Tillemont]
+
+[Footnote 71: Fideli et pia intelligentia... De Synod. c. 77, p. 1193.
+In his his short apologetical notes (first published by the Benedictines
+from a MS. of Chartres) he observes, that he used this cautious
+expression, qui intelligerum et impiam, p. 1206. See p. 1146.
+Philostorgius, who saw those objects through a different medium, is
+inclined to forget the difference of the important diphthong. See in
+particular viii. 17, and Godefroy, p. 352.]
+
+The provinces of Egypt and Asia, which cultivated the language and
+manners of the Greeks, had deeply imbibed the venom of the Arian
+controversy. The familiar study of the Platonic system, a vain and
+argumentative disposition, a copious and flexible idiom, supplied the
+clergy and people of the East with an inexhaustible flow of words and
+distinctions; and, in the midst of their fierce contentions, they easily
+forgot the doubt which is recommended by philosophy, and the submission
+which is enjoined by religion. The inhabitants of the West were of a
+less inquisitive spirit; their passions were not so forcibly moved by
+invisible objects, their minds were less frequently exercised by the
+habits of dispute; and such was the happy ignorance of the Gallican
+church, that Hilary himself, above thirty years after the first general
+council, was still a stranger to the Nicene creed. [72] The Latins had
+received the rays of divine knowledge through the dark and doubtful
+medium of a translation. The poverty and stubbornness of their native
+tongue was not always capable of affording just equivalents for the
+Greek terms, for the technical words of the Platonic philosophy, [73]
+which had been consecrated, by the gospel or by the church, to express
+the mysteries of the Christian faith; and a verbal defect might
+introduce into the Latin theology a long train of error or perplexity.
+[74] But as the western provincials had the good fortune of deriving
+their religion from an orthodox source, they preserved with steadiness
+the doctrine which they had accepted with docility; and when the Arian
+pestilence approached their frontiers, they were supplied with the
+seasonable preservative of the Homoousion, by the paternal care of the
+Roman pontiff. Their sentiments and their temper were displayed in the
+memorable synod of Rimini, which surpassed in numbers the council of
+Nice, since it was composed of above four hundred bishops of Italy,
+Africa, Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Illyricum. From the first debates it
+appeared, that only fourscore prelates adhered to the party, though
+they affected to anathematize the name and memory, of Arius. But this
+inferiority was compensated by the advantages of skill, of experience,
+and of discipline; and the minority was conducted by Valens and
+Ursacius, two bishops of Illyricum, who had spent their lives in the
+intrigues of courts and councils, and who had been trained under the
+Eusebian banner in the religious wars of the East. By their arguments
+and negotiations, they embarrassed, they confounded, they at last
+deceived, the honest simplicity of the Latin bishops; who suffered
+the palladium of the faith to be extorted from their hand by fraud and
+importunity, rather than by open violence. The council of Rimini was
+not allowed to separate, till the members had imprudently subscribed a
+captious creed, in which some expressions, susceptible of an heretical
+sense, were inserted in the room of the Homoousion. It was on this
+occasion, that, according to Jerom, the world was surprised to find
+itself Arian. [75] But the bishops of the Latin provinces had no sooner
+reached their respective dioceses, than they discovered their mistake,
+and repented of their weakness. The ignominious capitulation was
+rejected with disdain and abhorrence; and the Homoousian standard, which
+had been shaken but not overthrown, was more firmly replanted in all the
+churches of the West. [76]
+
+[Footnote 72: Testor Deumcoeli atque terrae me cum neutrum audissem,
+semper tamen utrumque sensisse.... Regeneratus pridem et in episcopatu
+aliquantisper manens fidem Nicenam nunquam nisi exsulaturus audivi.
+Hilar. de Synodis, c. xci. p. 1205. The Benedictines are persuaded that
+he governed the diocese of Poitiers several years before his exile.]
+
+[Footnote 73: Seneca (Epist. lviii.) complains that even the of the
+Platonists (the ens of the bolder schoolmen) could not be expressed by a
+Latin noun.]
+
+[Footnote 74: The preference which the fourth council of the Lateran
+at length gave to a numerical rather than a generical unity (See Petav.
+tom. ii. l. v. c. 13, p. 424) was favored by the Latin language: seems
+to excite the idea of substance, trinitas of qualities.]
+
+[Footnote 75: Ingemuit totus orbis, et Arianum se esse miratus est.
+Hieronym. adv. Lucifer. tom. i. p. 145.]
+
+[Footnote 76: The story of the council of Rimini is very elegantly told
+by Sulpicius Severus, (Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 419-430, edit. Lugd. Bat.
+1647,) and by Jerom, in his dialogue against the Luciferians. The design
+of the latter is to apologize for the conduct of the Latin bishops, who
+were deceived, and who repented.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.--Part IV.
+
+Such was the rise and progress, and such were the natural revolutions
+of those theological disputes, which disturbed the peace of Christianity
+under the reigns of Constantine and of his sons. But as those princes
+presumed to extend their despotism over the faith, as well as over the
+lives and fortunes, of their subjects, the weight of their suffrage
+sometimes inclined the ecclesiastical balance: and the prerogatives of
+the King of Heaven were settled, or changed, or modified, in the cabinet
+of an earthly monarch. The unhappy spirit of discord which pervaded the
+provinces of the East, interrupted the triumph of Constantine; but
+the emperor continued for some time to view, with cool and careless
+indifference, the object of the dispute. As he was yet ignorant of the
+difficulty of appeasing the quarrels of theologians, he addressed to
+the contending parties, to Alexander and to Arius, a moderating epistle;
+[77] which may be ascribed, with far greater reason, to the untutored
+sense of a soldier and statesman, than to the dictates of any of his
+episcopal counsellors. He attributes the origin of the whole controversy
+to a trifling and subtle question, concerning an incomprehensible
+point of law, which was foolishly asked by the bishop, and imprudently
+resolved by the presbyter. He laments that the Christian people, who had
+the same God, the same religion, and the same worship, should be divided
+by such inconsiderable distinctions; and he seriously recommend to the
+clergy of Alexandria the example of the Greek philosophers; who could
+maintain their arguments without losing their temper, and assert
+their freedom without violating their friendship. The indifference and
+contempt of the sovereign would have been, perhaps, the most effectual
+method of silencing the dispute, if the popular current had been less
+rapid and impetuous, and if Constantine himself, in the midst of faction
+and fanaticism, could have preserved the calm possession of his own
+mind. But his ecclesiastical ministers soon contrived to seduce the
+impartiality of the magistrate, and to awaken the zeal of the proselyte.
+He was provoked by the insults which had been offered to his statues;
+he was alarmed by the real, as well as the imaginary magnitude of
+the spreading mischief; and he extinguished the hope of peace and
+toleration, from the moment that he assembled three hundred bishops
+within the walls of the same palace. The presence of the monarch swelled
+the importance of the debate; his attention multiplied the arguments;
+and he exposed his person with a patient intrepidity, which animated
+the valor of the combatants. Notwithstanding the applause which has
+been bestowed on the eloquence and sagacity of Constantine, [78] a Roman
+general, whose religion might be still a subject of doubt, and whose
+mind had not been enlightened either by study or by inspiration,
+was indifferently qualified to discuss, in the Greek language, a
+metaphysical question, or an article of faith. But the credit of his
+favorite Osius, who appears to have presided in the council of Nice,
+might dispose the emperor in favor of the orthodox party; and a
+well-timed insinuation, that the same Eusebius of Nicomedia, who now
+protected the heretic, had lately assisted the tyrant, [79] might
+exasperate him against their adversaries. The Nicene creed was ratified
+by Constantine; and his firm declaration, that those who resisted the
+divine judgment of the synod, must prepare themselves for an immediate
+exile, annihilated the murmurs of a feeble opposition; which, from
+seventeen, was almost instantly reduced to two, protesting bishops.
+Eusebius of Caesarea yielded a reluctant and ambiguous consent to the
+Homoousion; [80] and the wavering conduct of the Nicomedian Eusebius
+served only to delay, about three months, his disgrace and exile. [81]
+The impious Arius was banished into one of the remote provinces of
+Illyricum; his person and disciples were branded by law with the odious
+name of Porphyrians; his writings were condemned to the flames, and a
+capital punishment was denounced against those in whose possession they
+should be found. The emperor had now imbibed the spirit of controversy,
+and the angry, sarcastic style of his edicts was designed to inspire his
+subjects with the hatred which he had conceived against the enemies of
+Christ. [82]
+
+[Footnote 77: Eusebius, in Vit. Constant. l. ii. c. 64-72. The
+principles of toleration and religious indifference, contained in this
+epistle, have given great offence to Baronius, Tillemont, &c., who
+suppose that the emperor had some evil counsellor, either Satan or
+Eusebius, at his elbow. See Cortin's Remarks, tom. ii. p. 183. * Note:
+Heinichen (Excursus xi.) quotes with approbation the term "golden
+words," applied by Ziegler to this moderate and tolerant letter of
+Constantine. May an English clergyman venture to express his regret that
+"the fine gold soon became dim" in the Christian church?--M.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. iii. c. 13.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Theodoret has preserved (l. i. c. 20) an epistle from
+Constantine to the people of Nicomedia, in which the monarch declares
+himself the public accuser of one of his subjects; he styles Eusebius
+and complains of his hostile behavior during the civil war.]
+
+[Footnote 80: See in Socrates, (l. i. c. 8,) or rather in Theodoret,
+(l. i. c. 12,) an original letter of Eusebius of Caesarea, in which he
+attempts to justify his subscribing the Homoousion. The character of
+Eusebius has always been a problem; but those who have read the second
+critical epistle of Le Clerc, (Ars Critica, tom. iii. p. 30-69,) must
+entertain a very unfavorable opinion of the orthodoxy and sincerity of
+the bishop of Caesarea.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Athanasius, tom. i. p. 727. Philostorgius, l. i. c. 10,
+and Godefroy's Commentary, p. 41.]
+
+[Footnote 82: Socrates, l. i. c. 9. In his circular letters, which
+were addressed to the several cities, Constantine employed against the
+heretics the arms of ridicule and comic raillery.]
+
+But, as if the conduct of the emperor had been guided by passion instead
+of principle, three years from the council of Nice were scarcely elapsed
+before he discovered some symptoms of mercy, and even of indulgence,
+towards the proscribed sect, which was secretly protected by his
+favorite sister. The exiles were recalled, and Eusebius, who gradually
+resumed his influence over the mind of Constantine, was restored to the
+episcopal throne, from which he had been ignominiously degraded. Arius
+himself was treated by the whole court with the respect which would have
+been due to an innocent and oppressed man. His faith was approved by
+the synod of Jerusalem; and the emperor seemed impatient to repair his
+injustice, by issuing an absolute command, that he should be solemnly
+admitted to the communion in the cathedral of Constantinople. On the
+same day, which had been fixed for the triumph of Arius, he expired;
+and the strange and horrid circumstances of his death might excite a
+suspicion, that the orthodox saints had contributed more efficaciously
+than by their prayers, to deliver the church from the most formidable
+of her enemies. [83] The three principal leaders of the Catholics,
+Athanasius of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, and Paul of
+Constantinople were deposed on various f accusations, by the sentence of
+numerous councils; and were afterwards banished into distant provinces
+by the first of the Christian emperors, who, in the last moments of his
+life, received the rites of baptism from the Arian bishop of Nicomedia.
+The ecclesiastical government of Constantine cannot be justified
+from the reproach of levity and weakness. But the credulous monarch,
+unskilled in the stratagems of theological warfare, might be deceived by
+the modest and specious professions of the heretics, whose sentiments he
+never perfectly understood; and while he protected Arius, and persecuted
+Athanasius, he still considered the council of Nice as the bulwark of
+the Christian faith, and the peculiar glory of his own reign. [84]
+
+[Footnote 83: We derive the original story from Athanasius, (tom. i.
+p. 670,) who expresses some reluctance to stigmatize the memory of the
+dead. He might exaggerate; but the perpetual commerce of Alexandria and
+Constantinople would have rendered it dangerous to invent. Those who
+press the literal narrative of the death of Arius (his bowels suddenly
+burst out in a privy) must make their option between poison and
+miracle.]
+
+[Footnote 84: The change in the sentiments, or at least in the conduct,
+of Constantine, may be traced in Eusebius, (in Vit. Constant. l. iii.
+c. 23, l. iv. c. 41,) Socrates, (l. i. c. 23-39,) Sozomen, (l. ii.
+c. 16-34,) Theodoret, (l. i. c. 14-34,) and Philostorgius, (l. ii. c.
+1-17.) But the first of these writers was too near the scene of action,
+and the others were too remote from it. It is singular enough, that the
+important task of continuing the history of the church should have been
+left for two laymen and a heretic.]
+
+The sons of Constantine must have been admitted from their childhood
+into the rank of catechumens; but they imitated, in the delay of
+their baptism, the example of their father. Like him they presumed to
+pronounce their judgment on mysteries into which they had never been
+regularly initiated; [85] and the fate of the Trinitarian controversy
+depended, in a great measure, on the sentiments of Constantius; who
+inherited the provinces of the East, and acquired the possession of the
+whole empire. The Arian presbyter or bishop, who had secreted for
+his use the testament of the deceased emperor, improved the fortunate
+occasion which had introduced him to the familiarity of a prince,
+whose public counsels were always swayed by his domestic favorites. The
+eunuchs and slaves diffused the spiritual poison through the palace, and
+the dangerous infection was communicated by the female attendants to
+the guards, and by the empress to her unsuspicious husband. [86] The
+partiality which Constantius always expressed towards the Eusebian
+faction, was insensibly fortified by the dexterous management of their
+leaders; and his victory over the tyrant Magnentius increased his
+inclination, as well as ability, to employ the arms of power in the
+cause of Arianism. While the two armies were engaged in the plains of
+Mursa, and the fate of the two rivals depended on the chance of war, the
+son of Constantine passed the anxious moments in a church of the martyrs
+under the walls of the city. His spiritual comforter, Valens, the Arian
+bishop of the diocese, employed the most artful precautions to obtain
+such early intelligence as might secure either his favor or his escape.
+A secret chain of swift and trusty messengers informed him of the
+vicissitudes of the battle; and while the courtiers stood trembling
+round their affrighted master, Valens assured him that the Gallic
+legions gave way; and insinuated with some presence of mind, that
+the glorious event had been revealed to him by an angel. The grateful
+emperor ascribed his success to the merits and intercession of the
+bishop of Mursa, whose faith had deserved the public and miraculous
+approbation of Heaven. [87] The Arians, who considered as their own the
+victory of Constantius, preferred his glory to that of his father. [88]
+Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, immediately composed the description of a
+celestial cross, encircled with a splendid rainbow; which during the
+festival of Pentecost, about the third hour of the day, had appeared
+over the Mount of Olives, to the edification of the devout pilgrims, and
+the people of the holy city. [89] The size of the meteor was gradually
+magnified; and the Arian historian has ventured to affirm, that it was
+conspicuous to the two armies in the plains of Pannonia; and that the
+tyrant, who is purposely represented as an idolater, fled before the
+auspicious sign of orthodox Christianity. [90]
+
+[Footnote 85: Quia etiam tum catechumenus sacramentum fidei merito
+videretiu potuisse nescire. Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 410.]
+
+[Footnote 86: Socrates, l. ii. c. 2. Sozomen, l. iii. c. 18. Athanas.
+tom. i. p. 813, 834. He observes that the eunuchs are the natural
+enemies of the Son. Compare Dr. Jortin's Remarks on Ecclesiastical
+History, vol. iv. p. 3 with a certain genealogy in Candide, (ch. iv.,)
+which ends with one of the first companions of Christopher Columbus.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Sulpicius Severus in Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 405, 406.]
+
+[Footnote 88: Cyril (apud Baron. A. D. 353, No. 26) expressly observes
+that in the reign of Constantine, the cross had been found in the bowels
+of the earth; but that it had appeared, in the reign of Constantius, in
+the midst of the heavens. This opposition evidently proves, that Cyril
+was ignorant of the stupendous miracle to which the conversion of
+Constantine is attributed; and this ignorance is the more surprising,
+since it was no more than twelve years after his death that Cyril was
+consecrated bishop of Jerusalem, by the immediate successor of Eusebius
+of Caesarea. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 715.]
+
+[Footnote 89: It is not easy to determine how far the ingenuity of Cyril
+might be assisted by some natural appearances of a solar halo.]
+
+[Footnote 90: Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 26. He is followed by the
+author of the Alexandrian Chronicle, by Cedrenus, and by Nicephorus. (See
+Gothofred. Dissert. p. 188.) They could not refuse a miracle, even from
+the hand of an enemy.]
+
+The sentiments of a judicious stranger, who has impartially considered
+the progress of civil or ecclesiastical discord, are always entitled to
+our notice; and a short passage of Ammianus, who served in the armies,
+and studied the character of Constantius, is perhaps of more value than
+many pages of theological invectives. "The Christian religion, which,
+in itself," says that moderate historian, "is plain and simple, he
+confounded by the dotage of superstition. Instead of reconciling the
+parties by the weight of his authority, he cherished and promulgated, by
+verbal disputes, the differences which his vain curiosity had excited.
+The highways were covered with troops of bishops galloping from every
+side to the assemblies, which they call synods; and while they labored
+to reduce the whole sect to their own particular opinions, the public
+establishment of the posts was almost ruined by their hasty and repeated
+journeys." [91] Our more intimate knowledge of the ecclesiastical
+transactions of the reign of Constantius would furnish an ample
+commentary on this remarkable passage, which justifies the rational
+apprehensions of Athanasius, that the restless activity of the clergy,
+who wandered round the empire in search of the true faith, would excite
+the contempt and laughter of the unbelieving world. [92] As soon as the
+emperor was relieved from the terrors of the civil war, he devoted
+the leisure of his winter quarters at Arles, Milan, Sirmium, and
+Constantinople, to the amusement or toils of controversy: the sword of
+the magistrate, and even of the tyrant, was unsheathed, to enforce the
+reasons of the theologian; and as he opposed the orthodox faith of Nice,
+it is readily confessed that his incapacity and ignorance were equal
+to his presumption. [93] The eunuchs, the women, and the bishops, who
+governed the vain and feeble mind of the emperor, had inspired him with
+an insuperable dislike to the Homoousion; but his timid conscience
+was alarmed by the impiety of Aetius. The guilt of that atheist was
+aggravated by the suspicious favor of the unfortunate Gallus; and even
+the death of the Imperial ministers, who had been massacred at Antioch,
+were imputed to the suggestions of that dangerous sophist. The mind of
+Constantius, which could neither be moderated by reason, nor fixed by
+faith, was blindly impelled to either side of the dark and empty abyss,
+by his horror of the opposite extreme; he alternately embraced and
+condemned the sentiments, he successively banished and recalled the
+leaders, of the Arian and Semi-Arian factions. [94] During the season of
+public business or festivity, he employed whole days, and even nights,
+in selecting the words, and weighing the syllables, which composed his
+fluctuating creeds. The subject of his meditations still pursued
+and occupied his slumbers: the incoherent dreams of the emperor were
+received as celestial visions, and he accepted with complacency the
+lofty title of bishop of bishops, from those ecclesiastics who forgot
+the interest of their order for the gratification of their passions. The
+design of establishing a uniformity of doctrine, which had engaged
+him to convene so many synods in Gaul, Italy, Illyricum, and Asia, was
+repeatedly baffled by his own levity, by the divisions of the Arians,
+and by the resistance of the Catholics; and he resolved, as the last
+and decisive effort, imperiously to dictate the decrees of a general
+council. The destructive earthquake of Nicomedia, the difficulty of
+finding a convenient place, and perhaps some secret motives of policy,
+produced an alteration in the summons. The bishops of the East were
+directed to meet at Seleucia, in Isauria; while those of the West
+held their deliberations at Rimini, on the coast of the Hadriatic; and
+instead of two or three deputies from each province, the whole episcopal
+body was ordered to march. The Eastern council, after consuming four
+days in fierce and unavailing debate, separated without any definitive
+conclusion. The council of the West was protracted till the seventh
+month. Taurus, the Praetorian praefect was instructed not to dismiss
+the prelates till they should all be united in the same opinion; and
+his efforts were supported by the power of banishing fifteen of the most
+refractory, and a promise of the consulship if he achieved so difficult
+an adventure. His prayers and threats, the authority of the sovereign,
+the sophistry of Valens and Ursacius, the distress of cold and hunger,
+and the tedious melancholy of a hopeless exile, at length extorted the
+reluctant consent of the bishops of Rimini. The deputies of the East and
+of the West attended the emperor in the palace of Constantinople, and he
+enjoyed the satisfaction of imposing on the world a profession of
+faith which established the likeness, without expressing the
+consubstantiality, of the Son of God. [95] But the triumph of Arianism
+had been preceded by the removal of the orthodox clergy, whom it
+was impossible either to intimidate or to corrupt; and the reign of
+Constantius was disgraced by the unjust and ineffectual persecution of
+the great Athanasius.
+
+[Footnote 91: So curious a passage well deserves to be transcribed.
+Christianam religionem absolutam et simplicem, anili superstitione
+confundens; in qua scrutanda perplexius, quam componenda gravius
+excitaret discidia plurima; quae progressa fusius aluit concertatione
+verborum, ut catervis antistium jumentis publicis ultro citroque
+discarrentibus, per synodos (quas appellant) dum ritum omnem ad suum
+sahere conantur (Valesius reads conatur) rei vehiculariae concideret
+servos. Ammianus, xxi. 16.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Athanas. tom. i. p. 870.]
+
+[Footnote 93: Socrates, l. ii. c. 35-47. Sozomen, l. iv. c. 12-30.
+Theodore li. c. 18-32. Philostorg. l. iv. c. 4--12, l. v. c. 1-4, l. vi.
+c. 1-5]
+
+[Footnote 94: Sozomen, l. iv. c. 23. Athanas. tom. i. p. 831. Tillemont
+(Mem Eccles. tom. vii. p. 947) has collected several instances of the
+haughty fanaticism of Constantius from the detached treatises of Lucifer
+of Cagliari. The very titles of these treaties inspire zeal and terror;
+"Moriendum pro Dei Filio." "De Regibus Apostaticis." "De non conveniendo
+cum Haeretico." "De non parcendo in Deum delinquentibus."]
+
+[Footnote 95: Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 418-430. The Greek
+historians were very ignorant of the affairs of the West.]
+
+We have seldom an opportunity of observing, either in active or
+speculative life, what effect may be produced, or what obstacles may be
+surmounted, by the force of a single mind, when it is inflexibly applied
+to the pursuit of a single object. The immortal name of Athanasius [96]
+will never be separated from the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity,
+to whose defence he consecrated every moment and every faculty of his
+being. Educated in the family of Alexander, he had vigorously opposed
+the early progress of the Arian heresy: he exercised the important
+functions of secretary under the aged prelate; and the fathers of the
+Nicene council beheld with surprise and respect the rising virtues of
+the young deacon. In a time of public danger, the dull claims of age
+and of rank are sometimes superseded; and within five months after his
+return from Nice, the deacon Athanasius was seated on the archiepiscopal
+throne of Egypt. He filled that eminent station above forty-six years,
+and his long administration was spent in a perpetual combat against the
+powers of Arianism. Five times was Athanasius expelled from his throne;
+twenty years he passed as an exile or a fugitive: and almost every
+province of the Roman empire was successively witness to his merit, and
+his sufferings in the cause of the Homoousion, which he considered as
+the sole pleasure and business, as the duty, and as the glory of his
+life. Amidst the storms of persecution, the archbishop of Alexandria was
+patient of labor, jealous of fame, careless of safety; and although his
+mind was tainted by the contagion of fanaticism, Athanasius displayed a
+superiority of character and abilities, which would have qualified him,
+far better than the degenerate sons of Constantine, for the government
+of a great monarchy. His learning was much less profound and extensive
+than that of Eusebius of Caesarea, and his rude eloquence could not be
+compared with the polished oratory of Gregory of Basil; but whenever
+the primate of Egypt was called upon to justify his sentiments, or his
+conduct, his unpremeditated style, either of speaking or writing, was
+clear, forcible, and persuasive. He has always been revered, in the
+orthodox school, as one of the most accurate masters of the Christian
+theology; and he was supposed to possess two profane sciences, less
+adapted to the episcopal character, the knowledge of jurisprudence,
+[97] and that of divination. [98] Some fortunate conjectures of future
+events, which impartial reasoners might ascribe to the experience and
+judgment of Athanasius, were attributed by his friends to heavenly
+inspiration, and imputed by his enemies to infernal magic.
+
+[Footnote 96: We may regret that Gregory Nazianzen composed a panegyric
+instead of a life of Athanasius; but we should enjoy and improve the
+advantage of drawing our most authentic materials from the rich fund
+of his own epistles and apologies, (tom. i. p. 670-951.) I shall not
+imitate the example of Socrates, (l. ii. c. l.) who published the first
+edition of the history, without giving himself the trouble to consult
+the writings of Athanasius. Yet even Socrates, the more curious Sozomen,
+and the learned Theodoret, connect the life of Athanasius with the
+series of ecclesiastical history. The diligence of Tillemont, (tom.
+viii,) and of the Benedictine editors, has collected every fact, and
+examined every difficulty]
+
+[Footnote 97: Sulpicius Severus (Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 396) calls him
+a lawyer, a jurisconsult. This character cannot now be discovered either
+in the life or writings of Athanasius.]
+
+[Footnote 98: Dicebatur enim fatidicarum sortium fidem, quaeve augurales
+portenderent alites scientissime callens aliquoties praedixisse futura.
+Ammianus, xv. 7. A prophecy, or rather a joke, is related by Sozomen,
+(l. iv c. 10,) which evidently proves (if the crows speak Latin) that
+Athanasius understood the language of the crows.]
+
+But as Athanasius was continually engaged with the prejudices and
+passions of every order of men, from the monk to the emperor, the
+knowledge of human nature was his first and most important science. He
+preserved a distinct and unbroken view of a scene which was incessantly
+shifting; and never failed to improve those decisive moments which
+are irrecoverably past before they are perceived by a common eye. The
+archbishop of Alexandria was capable of distinguishing how far he might
+boldly command, and where he must dexterously insinuate; how long he
+might contend with power, and when he must withdraw from persecution;
+and while he directed the thunders of the church against heresy and
+rebellion, he could assume, in the bosom of his own party, the flexible
+and indulgent temper of a prudent leader. The election of Athanasius has
+not escaped the reproach of irregularity and precipitation; [99] but the
+propriety of his behavior conciliated the affections both of the clergy
+and of the people. The Alexandrians were impatient to rise in arms for
+the defence of an eloquent and liberal pastor. In his distress he always
+derived support, or at least consolation, from the faithful attachment
+of his parochial clergy; and the hundred bishops of Egypt adhered, with
+unshaken zeal, to the cause of Athanasius. In the modest equipage which
+pride and policy would affect, he frequently performed the episcopal
+visitation of his provinces, from the mouth of the Nile to the confines
+of Aethiopia; familiarly conversing with the meanest of the populace,
+and humbly saluting the saints and hermits of the desert. [100] Nor
+was it only in ecclesiastical assemblies, among men whose education
+and manners were similar to his own, that Athanasius displayed the
+ascendancy of his genius. He appeared with easy and respectful firmness
+in the courts of princes; and in the various turns of his prosperous
+and adverse fortune he never lost the confidence of his friends, or the
+esteem of his enemies.
+
+[Footnote 99: The irregular ordination of Athanasius was slightly
+mentioned in the councils which were held against him. See Philostorg.
+l. ii. c. 11, and Godefroy, p. 71; but it can scarcely be supposed that
+the assembly of the bishops of Egypt would solemnly attest a public
+falsehood. Athanas. tom. i. p. 726.]
+
+[Footnote 100: See the history of the Fathers of the Desert, published
+by Rosweide; and Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii., in the lives of
+Antony, Pachomius, &c. Athanasius himself, who did not disdain to
+compose the life of his friend Antony, has carefully observed how often
+the holy monk deplored and prophesied the mischiefs of the Arian heresy
+Athanas. tom. ii. p. 492, 498, &c.]
+
+In his youth, the primate of Egypt resisted the great Constantine, who
+had repeatedly signified his will, that Arius should be restored to the
+Catholic communion. [101] The emperor respected, and might forgive,
+this inflexible resolution; and the faction who considered Athanasius as
+their most formidable enemy, was constrained to dissemble their hatred,
+and silently to prepare an indirect and distant assault. They scattered
+rumors and suspicions, represented the archbishop as a proud and
+oppressive tyrant, and boldly accused him of violating the treaty which
+had been ratified in the Nicene council, with the schismatic followers
+of Meletius. [102] Athanasius had openly disapproved that ignominious
+peace, and the emperor was disposed to believe that he had abused his
+ecclesiastical and civil power, to prosecute those odious sectaries:
+that he had sacrilegiously broken a chalice in one of their churches of
+Mareotis; that he had whipped or imprisoned six of their bishops; and
+that Arsenius, a seventh bishop of the same party, had been murdered,
+or at least mutilated, by the cruel hand of the primate. [103] These
+charges, which affected his honor and his life, were referred by
+Constantine to his brother Dalmatius the censor, who resided at Antioch;
+the synods of Caesarea and Tyre were successively convened; and the
+bishops of the East were instructed to judge the cause of Athanasius,
+before they proceeded to consecrate the new church of the Resurrection
+at Jerusalem. The primate might be conscious of his innocence; but he
+was sensible that the same implacable spirit which had dictated the
+accusation, would direct the proceeding, and pronounce the sentence. He
+prudently declined the tribunal of his enemies; despised the summons of
+the synod of Caesarea; and, after a long and artful delay, submitted
+to the peremptory commands of the emperor, who threatened to punish his
+criminal disobedience if he refused to appear in the council of Tyre.
+[104] Before Athanasius, at the head of fifty Egyptian prelates, sailed
+from Alexandria, he had wisely secured the alliance of the Meletians;
+and Arsenius himself, his imaginary victim, and his secret friend, was
+privately concealed in his train. The synod of Tyre was conducted by
+Eusebius of Caesarea, with more passion, and with less art, than his
+learning and experience might promise; his numerous faction repeated the
+names of homicide and tyrant; and their clamors were encouraged by the
+seeming patience of Athanasius, who expected the decisive moment to
+produce Arsenius alive and unhurt in the midst of the assembly. The
+nature of the other charges did not admit of such clear and satisfactory
+replies; yet the archbishop was able to prove, that in the village,
+where he was accused of breaking a consecrated chalice, neither church
+nor altar nor chalice could really exist.
+
+The Arians, who had secretly determined the guilt and condemnation of
+their enemy, attempted, however, to disguise their injustice by the
+imitation of judicial forms: the synod appointed an episcopal commission
+of six delegates to collect evidence on the spot; and this measure which
+was vigorously opposed by the Egyptian bishops, opened new scenes
+of violence and perjury. [105] After the return of the deputies from
+Alexandria, the majority of the council pronounced the final sentence
+of degradation and exile against the primate of Egypt. The decree,
+expressed in the fiercest language of malice and revenge, was
+communicated to the emperor and the Catholic church; and the bishops
+immediately resumed a mild and devout aspect, such as became their holy
+pilgrimage to the Sepulchre of Christ. [106]
+
+[Footnote 101: At first Constantine threatened in speaking, but
+requested in writing. His letters gradually assumed a menacing tone; by
+while he required that the entrance of the church should be open to
+all, he avoided the odious name of Arius. Athanasius, like a skilful
+politician, has accurately marked these distinctions, (tom. i. p. 788.)
+which allowed him some scope for excuse and delay]
+
+[Footnote 102: The Meletians in Egypt, like the Donatists in Africa,
+were produced by an episcopal quarrel which arose from the persecution.
+I have not leisure to pursue the obscure controversy, which seems
+to have been misrepresented by the partiality of Athanasius and the
+ignorance of Epiphanius. See Mosheim's General History of the Church,
+vol. i. p. 201.]
+
+[Footnote 103: The treatment of the six bishops is specified by Sozomen,
+(l. ii. c. 25;) but Athanasius himself, so copious on the subject of
+Arsenius and the chalice, leaves this grave accusation without a
+reply. Note: This grave charge, if made, (and it rests entirely on
+the authority of Soz omen,) seems to have been silently dropped by
+the parties themselves: it is never alluded to in the subsequent
+investigations. From Sozomen himself, who gives the unfavorable report
+of the commission of inquiry sent to Egypt concerning the cup. it does
+not appear that they noticed this accusation of personal violence.--M]
+
+[Footnote 104: Athanas, tom. i. p. 788. Socrates, l. i.c. 28. Sozomen,
+l. ii. c 25. The emperor, in his Epistle of Convocation, (Euseb. in Vit.
+Constant. l. iv. c. 42,) seems to prejudge some members of the
+clergy and it was more than probable that the synod would apply those
+reproaches to Athanasius.]
+
+[Footnote 105: See, in particular, the second Apology of Athanasius,
+(tom. i. p. 763-808,) and his Epistles to the Monks, (p. 808-866.)
+They are justified by original and authentic documents; but they would
+inspire more confidence if he appeared less innocent, and his enemies
+less absurd.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. iv. c. 41-47.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.--Part V.
+
+But the injustice of these ecclesiastical judges had not been
+countenanced by the submission, or even by the presence, of Athanasius.
+He resolved to make a bold and dangerous experiment, whether the throne
+was inaccessible to the voice of truth; and before the final sentence
+could be pronounced at Tyre, the intrepid primate threw himself into a
+bark which was ready to hoist sail for the Imperial city. The request
+of a formal audience might have been opposed or eluded; but Athanasius
+concealed his arrival, watched the moment of Constantine's return from
+an adjacent villa, and boldly encountered his angry sovereign as he
+passed on horseback through the principal street of Constantinople.
+So strange an apparition excited his surprise and indignation; and the
+guards were ordered to remove the importunate suitor; but his resentment
+was subdued by involuntary respect; and the haughty spirit of the
+emperor was awed by the courage and eloquence of a bishop, who implored
+his justice and awakened his conscience. [107] Constantine listened to
+the complaints of Athanasius with impartial and even gracious attention;
+the members of the synod of Tyre were summoned to justify their
+proceedings; and the arts of the Eusebian faction would have been
+confounded, if they had not aggravated the guilt of the primate, by the
+dexterous supposition of an unpardonable offence; a criminal design to
+intercept and detain the corn-fleet of Alexandria, which supplied the
+subsistence of the new capital. [108] The emperor was satisfied that the
+peace of Egypt would be secured by the absence of a popular leader; but
+he refused to fill the vacancy of the archiepiscopal throne; and the
+sentence, which, after long hesitation, he pronounced, was that of a
+jealous ostracism, rather than of an ignominious exile. In the remote
+province of Gaul, but in the hospitable court of Treves, Athanasius
+passed about twenty eight months. The death of the emperor changed the
+face of public affairs and, amidst the general indulgence of a young
+reign, the primate was restored to his country by an honorable edict of
+the younger Constantine, who expressed a deep sense of the innocence and
+merit of his venerable guest. [109]
+
+[Footnote 107: Athanas. tom. i. p. 804. In a church dedicated to St.
+Athanasius this situation would afford a better subject for a picture,
+than most of the stories of miracles and martyrdoms.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Athanas. tom. i. p. 729. Eunapius has related (in Vit.
+Sophist. p. 36, 37, edit. Commelin) a strange example of the cruelty and
+credulity of Constantine on a similar occasion. The eloquent Sopater, a
+Syrian philosopher, enjoyed his friendship, and provoked the resentment
+of Ablavius, his Praetorian praefect. The corn-fleet was detained for
+want of a south wind; the people of Constantinople were discontented;
+and Sopater was beheaded, on a charge that he had bound the winds by the
+power of magic. Suidas adds, that Constantine wished to prove, by this
+execution, that he had absolutely renounced the superstition of the
+Gentiles.]
+
+[Footnote 109: In his return he saw Constantius twice, at Viminiacum,
+and at Caesarea in Cappadocia, (Athanas. tom. i. p. 676.) Tillemont
+supposes that Constantine introduced him to the meeting of the three
+royal brothers in Pannonia, (Memoires Eccles. tom. viii. p. 69.)]
+
+The death of that prince exposed Athanasius to a second persecution;
+and the feeble Constantius, the sovereign of the East, soon became
+the secret accomplice of the Eusebians. Ninety bishops of that sect or
+faction assembled at Antioch, under the specious pretence of dedicating
+the cathedral. They composed an ambiguous creed, which is faintly tinged
+with the colors of Semi-Arianism, and twenty-five canons, which still
+regulate the discipline of the orthodox Greeks. [110] It was decided,
+with some appearance of equity, that a bishop, deprived by a synod,
+should not resume his episcopal functions till he had been absolved by
+the judgment of an equal synod; the law was immediately applied to
+the case of Athanasius; the council of Antioch pronounced, or rather
+confirmed, his degradation: a stranger, named Gregory, was seated on his
+throne; and Philagrius, [111] the praefect of Egypt, was instructed
+to support the new primate with the civil and military powers of
+the province. Oppressed by the conspiracy of the Asiatic prelates,
+Athanasius withdrew from Alexandria, and passed three years [112] as an
+exile and a suppliant on the holy threshold of the Vatican. [113] By
+the assiduous study of the Latin language, he soon qualified himself
+to negotiate with the western clergy; his decent flattery swayed and
+directed the haughty Julius; the Roman pontiff was persuaded to consider
+his appeal as the peculiar interest of the Apostolic see: and his
+innocence was unanimously declared in a council of fifty bishops of
+Italy. At the end of three years, the primate was summoned to the court
+of Milan by the emperor Constans, who, in the indulgence of unlawful
+pleasures, still professed a lively regard for the orthodox faith. The
+cause of truth and justice was promoted by the influence of gold, [114]
+and the ministers of Constans advised their sovereign to require the
+convocation of an ecclesiastical assembly, which might act as the
+representatives of the Catholic church. Ninety-four bishops of the West,
+seventy-six bishops of the East, encountered each other at Sardica, on
+the verge of the two empires, but in the dominions of the protector of
+Athanasius. Their debates soon degenerated into hostile altercations;
+the Asiatics, apprehensive for their personal safety, retired to
+Philippopolis in Thrace; and the rival synods reciprocally hurled their
+spiritual thunders against their enemies, whom they piously condemned as
+the enemies of the true God. Their decrees were published and ratified
+in their respective provinces: and Athanasius, who in the West was
+revered as a saint, was exposed as a criminal to the abhorrence of the
+East. [115] The council of Sardica reveals the first symptoms of discord
+and schism between the Greek and Latin churches which were separated
+by the accidental difference of faith, and the permanent distinction of
+language.
+
+[Footnote 110: See Beveridge, Pandect. tom. i. p. 429-452, and tom. ii.
+Annotation. p. 182. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 310-324. St.
+Hilary of Poitiers has mentioned this synod of Antioch with too much
+favor and respect. He reckons ninety-seven bishops.]
+
+[Footnote 111: This magistrate, so odious to Athanasius, is praised by
+Gregory Nazianzen, tom. i. Orat. xxi. p. 390, 391.
+
+Saepe premente Deo fert Deus alter opem.
+
+For the credit of human nature, I am always pleased to discover some
+good qualities in those men whom party has represented as tyrants and
+monsters.]
+
+[Footnote 112: The chronological difficulties which perplex the
+residence of Athanasius at Rome, are strenuously agitated by Valesius
+(Observat ad Calcem, tom. ii. Hist. Eccles. l. i. c. 1-5) and Tillemont,
+(Men: Eccles. tom. viii. p. 674, &c.) I have followed the simple
+hypothesis of Valesius, who allows only one journey, after the intrusion
+Gregory.]
+
+[Footnote 113: I cannot forbear transcribing a judicious observation of
+Wetstein, (Prolegomen. N.S. p. 19: ) Si tamen Historiam Ecclesiasticam
+velimus consulere, patebit jam inde a seculo quarto, cum, ortis
+controversiis, ecclesiae Graeciae doctores in duas partes scinderentur,
+ingenio, eloquentia, numero, tantum non aequales, eam partem quae
+vincere cupiebat Romam confugisse, majestatemque pontificis comiter
+coluisse, eoque pacto oppressis per pontificem et episcopos Latinos
+adversariis praevaluisse, atque orthodoxiam in conciliis stabilivisse.
+Eam ob causam Athanasius, non sine comitatu, Roman petiit, pluresque
+annos ibi haesit.]
+
+[Footnote 114: Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 12. If any corruption was used
+to promote the interest of religion, an advocate of Athanasius might
+justify or excuse this questionable conduct, by the example of Cato and
+Sidney; the former of whom is said to have given, and the latter to have
+received, a bribe in the cause of liberty.]
+
+[Footnote 115: The canon which allows appeals to the Roman pontiffs,
+has almost raised the council of Sardica to the dignity of a general
+council; and its acts have been ignorantly or artfully confounded with
+those of the Nicene synod. See Tillemont, tom. vii. p. 689, and Geddos's
+Tracts, vol. ii. p. 419-460.]
+
+During his second exile in the West, Athanasius was frequently admitted
+to the Imperial presence; at Capua, Lodi, Milan, Verona, Padua,
+Aquileia, and Treves. The bishop of the diocese usually assisted at
+these interviews; the master of the offices stood before the veil or
+curtain of the sacred apartment; and the uniform moderation of the
+primate might be attested by these respectable witnesses, to whose
+evidence he solemnly appeals. [116] Prudence would undoubtedly suggest
+the mild and respectful tone that became a subject and a bishop. In
+these familiar conferences with the sovereign of the West, Athanasius
+might lament the error of Constantius, but he boldly arraigned the guilt
+of his eunuchs and his Arian prelates; deplored the distress and danger
+of the Catholic church; and excited Constans to emulate the zeal and
+glory of his father. The emperor declared his resolution of employing
+the troops and treasures of Europe in the orthodox cause; and signified,
+by a concise and peremptory epistle to his brother Constantius, that
+unless he consented to the immediate restoration of Athanasius, he
+himself, with a fleet and army, would seat the archbishop on the throne
+of Alexandria. [117] But this religious war, so horrible to nature, was
+prevented by the timely compliance of Constantius; and the emperor of
+the East condescended to solicit a reconciliation with a subject whom he
+had injured. Athanasius waited with decent pride, till he had received
+three successive epistles full of the strongest assurances of the
+protection, the favor, and the esteem of his sovereign; who invited him
+to resume his episcopal seat, and who added the humiliating precaution
+of engaging his principal ministers to attest the sincerity of his
+intentions. They were manifested in a still more public manner, by the
+strict orders which were despatched into Egypt to recall the adherents
+of Athanasius, to restore their privileges, to proclaim their innocence,
+and to erase from the public registers the illegal proceedings which had
+been obtained during the prevalence of the Eusebian faction. After every
+satisfaction and security had been given, which justice or even delicacy
+could require, the primate proceeded, by slow journeys, through the
+provinces of Thrace, Asia, and Syria; and his progress was marked by the
+abject homage of the Oriental bishops, who excited his contempt
+without deceiving his penetration. [118] At Antioch he saw the
+emperor Constantius; sustained, with modest firmness, the embraces and
+protestations of his master, and eluded the proposal of allowing the
+Arians a single church at Alexandria, by claiming, in the other cities
+of the empire, a similar toleration for his own party; a reply which
+might have appeared just and moderate in the mouth of an independent
+prince. The entrance of the archbishop into his capital was a
+triumphal procession; absence and persecution had endeared him to the
+Alexandrians; his authority, which he exercised with rigor, was more
+firmly established; and his fame was diffused from Aethiopia to Britain,
+over the whole extent of the Christian world. [119]
+
+[Footnote 116: As Athanasius dispersed secret invectives against
+Constantius, (see the Epistle to the Monks,) at the same time that he
+assured him of his profound respect, we might distrust the professions
+of the archbishop. Tom. i. p. 677.]
+
+[Footnote 117: Notwithstanding the discreet silence of Athanasius, and
+the manifest forgery of a letter inserted by Socrates, these menaces are
+proved by the unquestionable evidence of Lucifer of Cagliari, and even
+of Constantius himself. See Tillemont, tom. viii. p. 693]
+
+[Footnote 118: I have always entertained some doubts concerning the
+retraction of Ursacius and Valens, (Athanas. tom. i. p. 776.) Their
+epistles to Julius, bishop of Rome, and to Athanasius himself, are of so
+different a cast from each other, that they cannot both be genuine. The
+one speaks the language of criminals who confess their guilt and
+infamy; the other of enemies, who solicit on equal terms an honorable
+reconciliation. * Note: I cannot quite comprehend the ground of Gibbon's
+doubts. Athanasius distinctly asserts the fact of their retractation.
+(Athan. Op. i. p. 124, edit. Benedict.) The epistles are apparently
+translations from the Latin, if, in fact, more than the substance of the
+epistles. That to Athanasius is brief, almost abrupt. Their retractation
+is likewise mentioned in the address of the orthodox bishops of Rimini
+to Constantius. Athan. de Synodis, Op t. i. p 723-M.]
+
+[Footnote 119: The circumstances of his second return may be collected
+from Athanasius himself, tom. i. p. 769, and 822, 843. Socrates, l.
+ii. c. 18, Sozomen, l. iii. c. 19. Theodoret, l. ii. c. 11, 12.
+Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 12.]
+
+But the subject who has reduced his prince to the necessity of
+dissembling, can never expect a sincere and lasting forgiveness; and
+the tragic fate of Constans soon deprived Athanasius of a powerful and
+generous protector. The civil war between the assassin and the only
+surviving brother of Constans, which afflicted the empire above three
+years, secured an interval of repose to the Catholic church; and the
+two contending parties were desirous to conciliate the friendship of a
+bishop, who, by the weight of his personal authority, might determine
+the fluctuating resolutions of an important province. He gave audience
+to the ambassadors of the tyrant, with whom he was afterwards accused
+of holding a secret correspondence; [120] and the emperor Constantius
+repeatedly assured his dearest father, the most reverend Athanasius,
+that, notwithstanding the malicious rumors which were circulated by
+their common enemies, he had inherited the sentiments, as well as the
+throne, of his deceased brother. [121] Gratitude and humanity would have
+disposed the primate of Egypt to deplore the untimely fate of Constans,
+and to abhor the guilt of Magnentius; but as he clearly understood that
+the apprehensions of Constantius were his only safeguard, the fervor
+of his prayers for the success of the righteous cause might perhaps be
+somewhat abated. The ruin of Athanasius was no longer contrived by
+the obscure malice of a few bigoted or angry bishops, who abused
+the authority of a credulous monarch. The monarch himself avowed the
+resolution, which he had so long suppressed, of avenging his private
+injuries; [122] and the first winter after his victory, which he passed
+at Arles, was employed against an enemy more odious to him than the
+vanquished tyrant of Gaul.
+
+[Footnote 120: Athanasius (tom. i. p. 677, 678) defends his innocence
+by pathetic complaints, solemn assertions, and specious arguments. He
+admits that letters had been forged in his name, but he requests that
+his own secretaries and those of the tyrant might be examined, whether
+those letters had been written by the former, or received by the
+latter.]
+
+[Footnote 121: Athanas. tom. i. p. 825-844.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Athanas. tom. i. p. 861. Theodoret, l. ii. c. 16.
+The emperor declared that he was more desirous to subdue Athanasius,
+than he had been to vanquish Magnentius or Sylvanus.]
+
+If the emperor had capriciously decreed the death of the most eminent
+and virtuous citizen of the republic, the cruel order would have been
+executed without hesitation, by the ministers of open violence or of
+specious injustice. The caution, the delay, the difficulty with which
+he proceeded in the condemnation and punishment of a popular bishop,
+discovered to the world that the privileges of the church had already
+revived a sense of order and freedom in the Roman government. The
+sentence which was pronounced in the synod of Tyre, and subscribed by
+a large majority of the Eastern bishops, had never been expressly
+repealed; and as Athanasius had been once degraded from his episcopal
+dignity by the judgment of his brethren, every subsequent act might be
+considered as irregular, and even criminal. But the memory of the firm
+and effectual support which the primate of Egypt had derived from the
+attachment of the Western church, engaged Constantius to suspend the
+execution of the sentence till he had obtained the concurrence of the
+Latin bishops. Two years were consumed in ecclesiastical negotiations;
+and the important cause between the emperor and one of his subjects was
+solemnly debated, first in the synod of Arles, and afterwards in the
+great council of Milan, [123] which consisted of above three hundred
+bishops. Their integrity was gradually undermined by the arguments of
+the Arians, the dexterity of the eunuchs, and the pressing solicitations
+of a prince who gratified his revenge at the expense of his dignity,
+and exposed his own passions, whilst he influenced those of the clergy.
+Corruption, the most infallible symptom of constitutional liberty, was
+successfully practised; honors, gifts, and immunities were offered and
+accepted as the price of an episcopal vote; [124] and the condemnation
+of the Alexandrian primate was artfully represented as the only measure
+which could restore the peace and union of the Catholic church. The
+friends of Athanasius were not, however, wanting to their leader, or to
+their cause. With a manly spirit, which the sanctity of their character
+rendered less dangerous, they maintained, in public debate, and in
+private conference with the emperor, the eternal obligation of religion
+and justice. They declared, that neither the hope of his favor, nor
+the fear of his displeasure, should prevail on them to join in the
+condemnation of an absent, an innocent, a respectable brother. [125]
+They affirmed, with apparent reason, that the illegal and obsolete
+decrees of the council of Tyre had long since been tacitly abolished by
+the Imperial edicts, the honorable reestablishment of the archbishop
+of Alexandria, and the silence or recantation of his most clamorous
+adversaries. They alleged, that his innocence had been attested by the
+unanimous bishops of Egypt, and had been acknowledged in the councils of
+Rome and Sardica, [126] by the impartial judgment of the Latin church.
+They deplored the hard condition of Athanasius, who, after enjoying so
+many years his seat, his reputation, and the seeming confidence of his
+sovereign, was again called upon to confute the most groundless and
+extravagant accusations. Their language was specious; their conduct was
+honorable: but in this long and obstinate contest, which fixed the eyes
+of the whole empire on a single bishop, the ecclesiastical factions were
+prepared to sacrifice truth and justice to the more interesting object
+of defending or removing the intrepid champion of the Nicene faith.
+The Arians still thought it prudent to disguise, in ambiguous language,
+their real sentiments and designs; but the orthodox bishops, armed with
+the favor of the people, and the decrees of a general council, insisted
+on every occasion, and particularly at Milan, that their adversaries
+should purge themselves from the suspicion of heresy, before they
+presumed to arraign the conduct of the great Athanasius. [127]
+
+[Footnote 123: The affairs of the council of Milan are so imperfectly
+and erroneously related by the Greek writers, that we must rejoice in
+the supply of some letters of Eusebius, extracted by Baronius from the
+archives of the church of Vercellae, and of an old life of Dionysius of
+Milan, published by Bollandus. See Baronius, A.D. 355, and Tillemont,
+tom. vii. p. 1415.]
+
+[Footnote 124: The honors, presents, feasts, which seduced so many
+bishops, are mentioned with indignation by those who were too pure or
+too proud to accept them. "We combat (says Hilary of Poitiers) against
+Constantius the Antichrist; who strokes the belly instead of scourging
+the back;" qui non dorsa caedit; sed ventrem palpat. Hilarius contra
+Constant c. 5, p. 1240.]
+
+[Footnote 125: Something of this opposition is mentioned by Ammianus
+(x. 7,) who had a very dark and superficial knowledge of ecclesiastical
+history. Liberius... perseveranter renitebatur, nec visum hominem,
+nec auditum damnare, nefas ultimum saepe exclamans; aperte scilicet
+recalcitrans Imperatoris arbitrio. Id enim ille Athanasio semper
+infestus, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 126: More properly by the orthodox part of the council of
+Sardica. If the bishops of both parties had fairly voted, the division
+would have been 94 to 76. M. de Tillemont (see tom. viii. p. 1147-1158)
+is justly surprised that so small a majority should have proceeded
+as vigorously against their adversaries, the principal of whom they
+immediately deposed.]
+
+[Footnote 127: Sulp. Severus in Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 412.]
+
+But the voice of reason (if reason was indeed on the side of Athanasius)
+was silenced by the clamors of a factious or venal majority; and the
+councils of Arles and Milan were not dissolved, till the archbishop of
+Alexandria had been solemnly condemned and deposed by the judgment of
+the Western, as well as of the Eastern, church. The bishops who had
+opposed, were required to subscribe, the sentence, and to unite in
+religious communion with the suspected leaders of the adverse party. A
+formulary of consent was transmitted by the messengers of state to
+the absent bishops: and all those who refused to submit their private
+opinion to the public and inspired wisdom of the councils of Arles and
+Milan, were immediately banished by the emperor, who affected to execute
+the decrees of the Catholic church. Among those prelates who led the
+honorable band of confessors and exiles, Liberius of Rome, Osius of
+Cordova, Paulinus of Treves, Dionysius of Milan, Eusebius of Vercellae,
+Lucifer of Cagliari and Hilary of Poitiers, may deserve to be
+particularly distinguished. The eminent station of Liberius, who
+governed the capital of the empire; the personal merit and long
+experience of the venerable Osius, who was revered as the favorite of
+the great Constantine, and the father of the Nicene faith, placed those
+prelates at the head of the Latin church: and their example, either of
+submission or resistance, would probable be imitated by the episcopal
+crowd. But the repeated attempts of the emperor to seduce or to
+intimidate the bishops of Rome and Cordova, were for some time
+ineffectual. The Spaniard declared himself ready to suffer under
+Constantius, as he had suffered threescore years before under his
+grandfather Maximian. The Roman, in the presence of his sovereign,
+asserted the innocence of Athanasius and his own freedom. When he was
+banished to Beraea in Thrace, he sent back a large sum which had been
+offered for the accommodation of his journey; and insulted the court of
+Milan by the haughty remark, that the emperor and his eunuchs might want
+that gold to pay their soldiers and their bishops. [128] The resolution
+of Liberius and Osius was at length subdued by the hardships of exile
+and confinement. The Roman pontiff purchased his return by some
+criminal compliances; and afterwards expiated his guilt by a seasonable
+repentance. Persuasion and violence were employed to extort the
+reluctant signature of the decrepit bishop of Cordova, whose strength
+was broken, and whose faculties were perhaps impaired by the weight of
+a hundred years; and the insolent triumph of the Arians provoked some
+of the orthodox party to treat with inhuman severity the character, or
+rather the memory, of an unfortunate old man, to whose former services
+Christianity itself was so deeply indebted. [129]
+
+[Footnote 128: The exile of Liberius is mentioned by Ammianus, xv.
+7. See Theodoret, l. ii. c. 16. Athanas. tom. i. p. 834-837. Hilar.
+Fragment l.]
+
+[Footnote 129: The life of Osius is collected by Tillemont, (tom. vii.
+p. 524-561,) who in the most extravagant terms first admires, and then
+reprobates, the bishop of Cordova. In the midst of their lamentations on
+his fall, the prudence of Athanasius may be distinguished from the blind
+and intemperate zeal of Hilary.]
+
+The fall of Liberius and Osius reflected a brighter lustre on the
+firmness of those bishops who still adhered, with unshaken fidelity,
+to the cause of Athanasius and religious truth. The ingenious malice
+of their enemies had deprived them of the benefit of mutual comfort and
+advice, separated those illustrious exiles into distant provinces, and
+carefully selected the most inhospitable spots of a great empire.
+[130] Yet they soon experienced that the deserts of Libya, and the
+most barbarous tracts of Cappadocia, were less inhospitable than the
+residence of those cities in which an Arian bishop could satiate,
+without restraint, the exquisite rancor of theological hatred. [131]
+Their consolation was derived from the consciousness of rectitude
+and independence, from the applause, the visits, the letters, and the
+liberal alms of their adherents, [132] and from the satisfaction
+which they soon enjoyed of observing the intestine divisions of the
+adversaries of the Nicene faith. Such was the nice and capricious
+taste of the emperor Constantius; and so easily was he offended by the
+slightest deviation from his imaginary standard of Christian truth,
+that he persecuted, with equal zeal, those who defended the
+consubstantiality, those who asserted the similar substance, and those
+who denied the likeness of the Son of God. Three bishops, degraded and
+banished for those adverse opinions, might possibly meet in the same
+place of exile; and, according to the difference of their temper, might
+either pity or insult the blind enthusiasm of their antagonists, whose
+present sufferings would never be compensated by future happiness.
+
+[Footnote 130: The confessors of the West were successively banished to
+the deserts of Arabia or Thebais, the lonely places of Mount Taurus, the
+wildest parts of Phrygia, which were in the possession of the impious
+Montanists, &c. When the heretic Aetius was too favorably entertained at
+Mopsuestia in Cilicia, the place of his exile was changed, by the advice
+of Acacius, to Amblada, a district inhabited by savages and infested by
+war and pestilence. Philostorg. l. v. c. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 131: See the cruel treatment and strange obstinacy of
+Eusebius, in his own letters, published by Baronius, A.D. 356, No.
+92-102.]
+
+[Footnote 132: Caeterum exules satis constat, totius orbis studiis
+celebratos pecuniasque eis in sumptum affatim congestas, legationibus
+quoque plebis Catholicae ex omnibus fere provinciis frequentatos. Sulp.
+Sever Hist. Sacra, p. 414. Athanas. tom. i. p. 836, 840.]
+
+The disgrace and exile of the orthodox bishops of the West were designed
+as so many preparatory steps to the ruin of Athanasius himself. [133]
+Six-and-twenty months had elapsed, during which the Imperial court
+secretly labored, by the most insidious arts, to remove him from
+Alexandria, and to withdraw the allowance which supplied his popular
+liberality. But when the primate of Egypt, deserted and proscribed by
+the Latin church, was left destitute of any foreign support, Constantius
+despatched two of his secretaries with a verbal commission to announce
+and execute the order of his banishment. As the justice of the sentence
+was publicly avowed by the whole party, the only motive which could
+restrain Constantius from giving his messengers the sanction of a
+written mandate, must be imputed to his doubt of the event; and to a
+sense of the danger to which he might expose the second city, and the
+most fertile province, of the empire, if the people should persist in
+the resolution of defending, by force of arms, the innocence of their
+spiritual father. Such extreme caution afforded Athanasius a specious
+pretence respectfully to dispute the truth of an order, which he could
+not reconcile, either with the equity, or with the former declarations,
+of his gracious master. The civil powers of Egypt found themselves
+inadequate to the task of persuading or compelling the primate to
+abdicate his episcopal throne; and they were obliged to conclude
+a treaty with the popular leaders of Alexandria, by which it was
+stipulated, that all proceedings and all hostilities should be suspended
+till the emperor's pleasure had been more distinctly ascertained. By
+this seeming moderation, the Catholics were deceived into a false and
+fatal security; while the legions of the Upper Egypt, and of Libya,
+advanced, by secret orders and hasty marches, to besiege, or rather to
+surprise, a capital habituated to sedition, and inflamed by religious
+zeal. [134] The position of Alexandria, between the sea and the Lake
+Mareotis, facilitated the approach and landing of the troops; who were
+introduced into the heart of the city, before any effectual measures
+could be taken either to shut the gates or to occupy the important
+posts of defence. At the hour of midnight, twenty-three days after the
+signature of the treaty, Syrianus, duke of Egypt, at the head of five
+thousand soldiers, armed and prepared for an assault, unexpectedly
+invested the church of St. Theonas, where the archbishop, with a part of
+his clergy and people, performed their nocturnal devotions. The doors of
+the sacred edifice yielded to the impetuosity of the attack, which was
+accompanied with every horrid circumstance of tumult and bloodshed;
+but, as the bodies of the slain, and the fragments of military weapons,
+remained the next day an unexceptionable evidence in the possession
+of the Catholics, the enterprise of Syrianus may be considered as a
+successful irruption rather than as an absolute conquest. The other
+churches of the city were profaned by similar outrages; and, during at
+least four months, Alexandria was exposed to the insults of a licentious
+army, stimulated by the ecclesiastics of a hostile faction. Many of
+the faithful were killed; who may deserve the name of martyrs, if their
+deaths were neither provoked nor revenged; bishops and presbyters were
+treated with cruel ignominy; consecrated virgins were stripped naked,
+scourged and violated; the houses of wealthy citizens were plundered;
+and, under the mask of religious zeal, lust, avarice, and private
+resentment were gratified with impunity, and even with applause. The
+Pagans of Alexandria, who still formed a numerous and discontented
+party, were easily persuaded to desert a bishop whom they feared and
+esteemed. The hopes of some peculiar favors, and the apprehension of
+being involved in the general penalties of rebellion, engaged them
+to promise their support to the destined successor of Athanasius,
+the famous George of Cappadocia. The usurper, after receiving the
+consecration of an Arian synod, was placed on the episcopal throne by
+the arms of Sebastian, who had been appointed Count of Egypt for the
+execution of that important design. In the use, as well as in the
+acquisition, of power, the tyrant, George disregarded the laws of
+religion, of justice, and of humanity; and the same scenes of violence
+and scandal which had been exhibited in the capital, were repeated
+in more than ninety episcopal cities of Egypt. Encouraged by success,
+Constantius ventured to approve the conduct of his minister. By a public
+and passionate epistle, the emperor congratulates the deliverance of
+Alexandria from a popular tyrant, who deluded his blind votaries by the
+magic of his eloquence; expatiates on the virtues and piety of the most
+reverend George, the elected bishop; and aspires, as the patron and
+benefactor of the city to surpass the fame of Alexander himself. But
+he solemnly declares his unalterable resolution to pursue with fire and
+sword the seditious adherents of the wicked Athanasius, who, by flying
+from justice, has confessed his guilt, and escaped the ignominious death
+which he had so often deserved. [135]
+
+[Footnote 133: Ample materials for the history of this third persecution
+of Athanasius may be found in his own works. See particularly his very
+able Apology to Constantius, (tom. i. p. 673,) his first Apology for his
+flight (p. 701,) his prolix Epistle to the Solitaries, (p. 808,) and
+the original protest of the people of Alexandria against the violences
+committed by Syrianus, (p. 866.) Sozomen (l. iv. c. 9) has thrown into
+the narrative two or three luminous and important circumstances.]
+
+[Footnote 134: Athanasius had lately sent for Antony, and some of his
+chosen monks. They descended from their mountains, announced to the
+Alexandrians the sanctity of Athanasius, and were honorably conducted by
+the archbishop as far as the gates of the city. Athanas tom. ii. p. 491,
+492. See likewise Rufinus, iii. 164, in Vit. Patr. p. 524.]
+
+[Footnote 135: Athanas. tom. i. p. 694. The emperor, or his Arian
+secretaries while they express their resentment, betray their fears and
+esteem of Athanasius.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.--Part VI.
+
+Athanasius had indeed escaped from the most imminent dangers; and the
+adventures of that extraordinary man deserve and fix our attention. On
+the memorable night when the church of St. Theonas was invested by the
+troops of Syrianus, the archbishop, seated on his throne, expected,
+with calm and intrepid dignity, the approach of death. While the public
+devotion was interrupted by shouts of rage and cries of terror,
+he animated his trembling congregation to express their religious
+confidence, by chanting one of the psalms of David which celebrates
+the triumph of the God of Israel over the haughty and impious tyrant
+of Egypt. The doors were at length burst open: a cloud of arrows was
+discharged among the people; the soldiers, with drawn swords, rushed
+forwards into the sanctuary; and the dreadful gleam of their arms was
+reflected by the holy luminaries which burnt round the altar. [136]
+Athanasius still rejected the pious importunity of the monks and
+presbyters, who were attached to his person; and nobly refused to desert
+his episcopal station, till he had dismissed in safety the last of the
+congregation. The darkness and tumult of the night favored the retreat
+of the archbishop; and though he was oppressed by the waves of an
+agitated multitude, though he was thrown to the ground, and left without
+sense or motion, he still recovered his undaunted courage, and eluded
+the eager search of the soldiers, who were instructed by their Arian
+guides, that the head of Athanasius would be the most acceptable present
+to the emperor. From that moment the primate of Egypt disappeared from
+the eyes of his enemies, and remained above six years concealed in
+impenetrable obscurity. [137]
+
+[Footnote 136: These minute circumstances are curious, as they are
+literally transcribed from the protest, which was publicly presented
+three days afterwards by the Catholics of Alexandria. See Athanas. tom.
+l. n. 867]
+
+[Footnote 137: The Jansenists have often compared Athanasius and
+Arnauld, and have expatiated with pleasure on the faith and zeal, the
+merit and exile, of those celebrated doctors. This concealed parallel is
+very dexterously managed by the Abbe de la Bleterie, Vie de Jovien, tom.
+i. p. 130.]
+
+The despotic power of his implacable enemy filled the whole extent of
+the Roman world; and the exasperated monarch had endeavored, by a very
+pressing epistle to the Christian princes of Ethiopia, [137a] to exclude
+Athanasius from the most remote and sequestered regions of the earth.
+Counts, praefects, tribunes, whole armies, were successively employed to
+pursue a bishop and a fugitive; the vigilance of the civil and military
+powers was excited by the Imperial edicts; liberal rewards were promised
+to the man who should produce Athanasius, either alive or dead; and the
+most severe penalties were denounced against those who should dare to
+protect the public enemy. [138] But the deserts of Thebais were now
+peopled by a race of wild, yet submissive fanatics, who preferred the
+commands of their abbot to the laws of their sovereign. The numerous
+disciples of Antony and Pachonnus received the fugitive primate as their
+father, admired the patience and humility with which he conformed to
+their strictest institutions, collected every word which dropped from
+his lips as the genuine effusions of inspired wisdom; and persuaded
+themselves that their prayers, their fasts, and their vigils, were less
+meritorious than the zeal which they expressed, and the dangers
+which they braved, in the defence of truth and innocence. [139] The
+monasteries of Egypt were seated in lonely and desolate places, on the
+summit of mountains, or in the islands of the Nile; and the sacred horn
+or trumpet of Tabenne was the well-known signal which assembled several
+thousand robust and determined monks, who, for the most part, had been
+the peasants of the adjacent country. When their dark retreats were
+invaded by a military force, which it was impossible to resist, they
+silently stretched out their necks to the executioner; and supported
+their national character, that tortures could never wrest from an
+Egyptian the confession of a secret which he was resolved not to
+disclose. [140] The archbishop of Alexandria, for whose safety
+they eagerly devoted their lives, was lost among a uniform and
+well-disciplined multitude; and on the nearer approach of danger, he was
+swiftly removed, by their officious hands, from one place of concealment
+to another, till he reached the formidable deserts, which the gloomy
+and credulous temper of superstition had peopled with daemons and savage
+monsters. The retirement of Athanasius, which ended only with the life
+of Constantius, was spent, for the most part, in the society of the
+monks, who faithfully served him as guards, as secretaries, and as
+messengers; but the importance of maintaining a more intimate connection
+with the Catholic party tempted him, whenever the diligence of the
+pursuit was abated, to emerge from the desert, to introduce himself into
+Alexandria, and to trust his person to the discretion of his friends and
+adherents. His various adventures might have furnished the subject of a
+very entertaining romance. He was once secreted in a dry cistern, which
+he had scarcely left before he was betrayed by the treachery of a female
+slave; [141] and he was once concealed in a still more extraordinary
+asylum, the house of a virgin, only twenty years of age, and who was
+celebrated in the whole city for her exquisite beauty. At the hour
+of midnight, as she related the story many years afterwards, she was
+surprised by the appearance of the archbishop in a loose undress, who,
+advancing with hasty steps, conjured her to afford him the protection
+which he had been directed by a celestial vision to seek under her
+hospitable roof. The pious maid accepted and preserved the sacred pledge
+which was intrusted to her prudence and courage. Without imparting the
+secret to any one, she instantly conducted Athanasius into her most
+secret chamber, and watched over his safety with the tenderness of a
+friend and the assiduity of a servant. As long as the danger continued,
+she regularly supplied him with books and provisions, washed his feet,
+managed his correspondence, and dexterously concealed from the eye of
+suspicion this familiar and solitary intercourse between a saint whose
+character required the most unblemished chastity, and a female whose
+charms might excite the most dangerous emotions. [142] During the six
+years of persecution and exile, Athanasius repeated his visits to his
+fair and faithful companion; and the formal declaration, that he saw the
+councils of Rimini and Seleucia, [143] forces us to believe that he
+was secretly present at the time and place of their convocation. The
+advantage of personally negotiating with his friends, and of observing
+and improving the divisions of his enemies, might justify, in a prudent
+statesman, so bold and dangerous an enterprise: and Alexandria
+was connected by trade and navigation with every seaport of the
+Mediterranean. From the depth of his inaccessible retreat the intrepid
+primate waged an incessant and offensive war against the protector
+of the Arians; and his seasonable writings, which were diligently
+circulated and eagerly perused, contributed to unite and animate the
+orthodox party. In his public apologies, which he addressed to the
+emperor himself, he sometimes affected the praise of moderation;
+whilst at the same time, in secret and vehement invectives, he exposed
+Constantius as a weak and wicked prince, the executioner of his family,
+the tyrant of the republic, and the Antichrist of the church. In the
+height of his prosperity, the victorious monarch, who had chastised the
+rashness of Gallus, and suppressed the revolt of Sylvanus, who had taken
+the diadem from the head of Vetranio, and vanquished in the field the
+legions of Magnentius, received from an invisible hand a wound, which he
+could neither heal nor revenge; and the son of Constantine was the
+first of the Christian princes who experienced the strength of those
+principles, which, in the cause of religion, could resist the most
+violent exertions [144] of the civil power.
+
+[Footnote 137a: These princes were called Aeizanas and Saiazanas.
+Athanasius calls them the kings of Axum. In the superscription of his
+letter, Constantius gives them no title. Mr. Salt, during his first
+journey in Ethiopia, (in 1806,) discovered, in the ruins of Axum, a
+long and very interesting inscription relating to these princes. It was
+erected to commemorate the victory of Aeizanas over the Bougaitae,
+(St. Martin considers them the Blemmyes, whose true name is Bedjah or
+Bodjah.) Aeizanas is styled king of the Axumites, the Homerites, of
+Raeidan, of the Ethiopians, of the Sabsuites, of Silea, of Tiamo, of
+the Bougaites. and of Kaei. It appears that at this time the king of the
+Ethiopians ruled over the Homerites, the inhabitants of Yemen. He was
+not yet a Christian, as he calls himself son of the invincible Mars.
+Another brother besides Saiazanas, named Adephas, is mentioned, though
+Aeizanas seems to have been sole king. See St. Martin, note on Le Beau,
+ii. 151. Salt's Travels. De Sacy, note in Annales des Voyages, xii. p.
+53.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 138: Hinc jam toto orbe profugus Athanasius, nec ullus
+ci tutus ad latendum supererat locus. Tribuni, Praefecti, Comites,
+exercitus quoque ad pervestigandum cum moventur edictis Imperialibus;
+praemia dela toribus proponuntur, si quis eum vivum, si id minus, caput
+certe Atha casii detulisset. Rufin. l. i. c. 16.]
+
+[Footnote 139: Gregor. Nazianzen. tom. i. Orat. xxi. p. 384, 385. See
+Tillemont Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 176-410, 820-830.]
+
+[Footnote 140: Et nulla tormentorum vis inveneri, adhuc potuit, quae
+obdurato illius tractus latroni invito elicere potuit, ut nomen proprium
+dicat Ammian. xxii. 16, and Valesius ad locum.]
+
+[Footnote 141: Rufin. l. i. c. 18. Sozomen, l. iv. c. 10. This and
+the following story will be rendered impossible, if we suppose that
+Athanasius always inhabited the asylum which he accidentally or
+occasionally had used.]
+
+[Footnote 142: Paladius, (Hist. Lausiac. c. 136, in Vit. Patrum, p.
+776,) the original author of this anecdote, had conversed with the
+damsel, who in her old age still remembered with pleasure so pious
+and honorable a connection. I cannot indulge the delicacy of Baronius,
+Valesius, Tillemont, &c., who almost reject a story so unworthy, as they
+deem it, of the gravity of ecclesiastical history.]
+
+[Footnote 143: Athanas. tom. i. p. 869. I agree with Tillemont, (tom.
+iii. p. 1197,) that his expressions imply a personal, though perhaps
+secret visit to the synods.]
+
+[Footnote 144: The epistle of Athanasius to the monks is filled with
+reproaches, which the public must feel to be true, (vol. i. p.
+834, 856;) and, in compliment to his readers, he has introduced the
+comparisons of Pharaoh, Ahab, Belshazzar, &c. The boldness of Hilary was
+attended with less danger, if he published his invective in Gaul after
+the revolt of Julian; but Lucifer sent his libels to Constantius, and
+almost challenged the reward of martyrdom. See Tillemont, tom. vii. p.
+905.]
+
+    The persecution of Athanasius, and of so many respectable
+bishops, who suffered for the truth of their opinions, or at least for
+the integrity of their conscience, was a just subject of indignation and
+discontent to all Christians, except those who were blindly devoted
+to the Arian faction. The people regretted the loss of their faithful
+pastors, whose banishment was usually followed by the intrusion of a
+stranger [145] into the episcopal chair; and loudly complained, that the
+right of election was violated, and that they were condemned to obey a
+mercenary usurper, whose person was unknown, and whose principles were
+suspected. The Catholics might prove to the world, that they were not
+involved in the guilt and heresy of their ecclesiastical governor, by
+publicly testifying their dissent, or by totally separating themselves
+from his communion. The first of these methods was invented at Antioch,
+and practised with such success, that it was soon diffused over the
+Christian world. The doxology or sacred hymn, which celebrates the glory
+of the Trinity, is susceptible of very nice, but material, inflections;
+and the substance of an orthodox, or an heretical, creed, may be
+expressed by the difference of a disjunctive, or a copulative, particle.
+Alternate responses, and a more regular psalmody, [146] were introduced
+into the public service by Flavianus and Diodorus, two devout and active
+laymen, who were attached to the Nicene faith. Under their conduct
+a swarm of monks issued from the adjacent desert, bands of
+well-disciplined singers were stationed in the cathedral of Antioch,
+the Glory to the Father, And the Son, And the Holy Ghost, [147] was
+triumphantly chanted by a full chorus of voices; and the Catholics
+insulted, by the purity of their doctrine, the Arian prelate, who had
+usurped the throne of the venerable Eustathius. The same zeal which
+inspired their songs prompted the more scrupulous members of the
+orthodox party to form separate assemblies, which were governed by the
+presbyters, till the death of their exiled bishop allowed the election
+and consecration of a new episcopal pastor. [148] The revolutions of the
+court multiplied the number of pretenders; and the same city was often
+disputed, under the reign of Constantius, by two, or three, or even
+four, bishops, who exercised their spiritual jurisdiction over their
+respective followers, and alternately lost and regained the temporal
+possessions of the church. The abuse of Christianity introduced into the
+Roman government new causes of tyranny and sedition; the bands of civil
+society were torn asunder by the fury of religious factions; and the
+obscure citizen, who might calmly have surveyed the elevation and fall
+of successive emperors, imagined and experienced, that his own life and
+fortune were connected with the interests of a popular ecclesiastic.
+The example of the two capitals, Rome and Constantinople, may serve to
+represent the state of the empire, and the temper of mankind, under the
+reign of the sons of Constantine.
+
+[Footnote 145: Athanasius (tom. i. p. 811) complains in general of this
+practice, which he afterwards exemplifies (p. 861) in the pretended
+election of Faelix. Three eunuchs represented the Roman people, and
+three prelates, who followed the court, assumed the functions of the
+bishops of the Suburbicarian provinces.]
+
+[Footnote 146: Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. l. ii. c. 72,
+73, p. 966-984) has collected many curious facts concerning the origin
+and progress of church singing, both in the East and West. * Note: Arius
+appears to have been the first who availed himself of this means of
+impressing his doctrines on the popular ear: he composed songs
+for sailors, millers, and travellers, and set them to common airs;
+"beguiling the ignorant, by the sweetness of his music, into the impiety
+of his doctrines." Philostorgius, ii. 2. Arian singers used to parade
+the streets of Constantinople by night, till Chrysostom arrayed against
+them a band of orthodox choristers. Sozomen, viii. 8.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 147: Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 13. Godefroy has examined this
+subject with singular accuracy, (p. 147, &c.) There were three heterodox
+forms: "To the Father by the Son, and in the Holy Ghost." "To the
+Father, and the Son in the Holy Ghost;" and "To the Father in the Son
+and the Holy Ghost."]
+
+[Footnote 148: After the exile of Eustathius, under the reign of
+Constantine, the rigid party of the orthodox formed a separation which
+afterwards degenerated into a schism, and lasted about fourscore years.
+See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 35-54, 1137-1158, tom. viii.
+p. 537-632, 1314-1332. In many churches, the Arians and Homoousians, who
+had renounced each other's communion, continued for some time to join in
+prayer. Philostorgius, l. iii. c. 14.]
+
+I. The Roman pontiff, as long as he maintained his station and his
+principles, was guarded by the warm attachment of a great people; and
+could reject with scorn the prayers, the menaces, and the oblations of
+an heretical prince. When the eunuchs had secretly pronounced the exile
+of Liberius, the well-grounded apprehension of a tumult engaged them to
+use the utmost precautions in the execution of the sentence. The capital
+was invested on every side, and the praefect was commanded to seize the
+person of the bishop, either by stratagem or by open force. The order
+was obeyed, and Liberius, with the greatest difficulty, at the hour of
+midnight, was swiftly conveyed beyond the reach of the Roman people,
+before their consternation was turned into rage. As soon as they were
+informed of his banishment into Thrace, a general assembly was convened,
+and the clergy of Rome bound themselves, by a public and solemn oath,
+never to desert their bishop, never to acknowledge the usurper Faelix;
+who, by the influence of the eunuchs, had been irregularly chosen and
+consecrated within the walls of a profane palace. At the end of two
+years, their pious obstinacy subsisted entire and unshaken; and
+when Constantius visited Rome, he was assailed by the importunate
+solicitations of a people, who had preserved, as the last remnant
+of their ancient freedom, the right of treating their sovereign with
+familiar insolence. The wives of many of the senators and most honorable
+citizens, after pressing their husbands to intercede in favor of
+Liberius, were advised to undertake a commission, which in their hands
+would be less dangerous, and might prove more successful. The emperor
+received with politeness these female deputies, whose wealth and dignity
+were displayed in the magnificence of their dress and ornaments: he
+admired their inflexible resolution of following their beloved pastor
+to the most distant regions of the earth; and consented that the two
+bishops, Liberius and Faelix, should govern in peace their respective
+congregations. But the ideas of toleration were so repugnant to the
+practice, and even to the sentiments, of those times, that when the
+answer of Constantius was publicly read in the Circus of Rome, so
+reasonable a project of accommodation was rejected with contempt and
+ridicule. The eager vehemence which animated the spectators in the
+decisive moment of a horse-race, was now directed towards a different
+object; and the Circus resounded with the shout of thousands, who
+repeatedly exclaimed, "One God, One Christ, One Bishop!" The zeal of the
+Roman people in the cause of Liberius was not confined to words alone;
+and the dangerous and bloody sedition which they excited soon after the
+departure of Constantius determined that prince to accept the submission
+of the exiled prelate, and to restore him to the undivided dominion of
+the capital. After some ineffectual resistance, his rival was expelled
+from the city by the permission of the emperor and the power of the
+opposite faction; the adherents of Faelix were inhumanly murdered in the
+streets, in the public places, in the baths, and even in the churches;
+and the face of Rome, upon the return of a Christian bishop, renewed the
+horrid image of the massacres of Marius, and the proscriptions of Sylla.
+[149]
+
+[Footnote 149: See, on this ecclesiastical revolution of Rome, Ammianus,
+xv. 7 Athanas. tom. i. p. 834, 861. Sozomen, l. iv. c. 15. Theodoret,
+l. ii c. 17. Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 413. Hieronym. Chron.
+Marcellin. et Faustin. Libell. p. 3, 4. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi.
+p.]
+
+II. Notwithstanding the rapid increase of Christians under the reign of
+the Flavian family, Rome, Alexandria, and the other great cities of the
+empire, still contained a strong and powerful faction of Infidels, who
+envied the prosperity, and who ridiculed, even in their theatres, the
+theological disputes of the church. Constantinople alone enjoyed the
+advantage of being born and educated in the bosom of the faith. The
+capital of the East had never been polluted by the worship of idols;
+and the whole body of the people had deeply imbibed the opinions, the
+virtues, and the passions, which distinguished the Christians of
+that age from the rest of mankind. After the death of Alexander, the
+episcopal throne was disputed by Paul and Macedonius. By their zeal and
+abilities they both deserved the eminent station to which they aspired;
+and if the moral character of Macedonius was less exceptionable, his
+competitor had the advantage of a prior election and a more orthodox
+doctrine. His firm attachment to the Nicene creed, which has given Paul
+a place in the calendar among saints and martyrs, exposed him to the
+resentment of the Arians. In the space of fourteen years he was five
+times driven from his throne; to which he was more frequently restored
+by the violence of the people, than by the permission of the prince; and
+the power of Macedonius could be secured only by the death of his rival.
+The unfortunate Paul was dragged in chains from the sandy deserts of
+Mesopotamia to the most desolate places of Mount Taurus, [150] confined
+in a dark and narrow dungeon, left six days without food, and at length
+strangled, by the order of Philip, one of the principal ministers of the
+emperor Constantius. [151] The first blood which stained the new capital
+was spilt in this ecclesiastical contest; and many persons were slain
+on both sides, in the furious and obstinate seditions of the people. The
+commission of enforcing a sentence of banishment against Paul had been
+intrusted to Hermogenes, the master-general of the cavalry; but the
+execution of it was fatal to himself. The Catholics rose in the defence
+of their bishop; the palace of Hermogenes was consumed; the first
+military officer of the empire was dragged by the heels through the
+streets of Constantinople, and, after he expired, his lifeless corpse
+was exposed to their wanton insults. [152] The fate of Hermogenes
+instructed Philip, the Praetorian praefect, to act with more precaution
+on a similar occasion. In the most gentle and honorable terms, he
+required the attendance of Paul in the baths of Xeuxippus, which had a
+private communication with the palace and the sea. A vessel, which lay
+ready at the garden stairs, immediately hoisted sail; and, while the
+people were still ignorant of the meditated sacrilege, their bishop was
+already embarked on his voyage to Thessalonica. They soon beheld, with
+surprise and indignation, the gates of the palace thrown open, and
+the usurper Macedonius seated by the side of the praefect on a lofty
+chariot, which was surrounded by troops of guards with drawn swords. The
+military procession advanced towards the cathedral; the Arians and
+the Catholics eagerly rushed to occupy that important post; and three
+thousand one hundred and fifty persons lost their lives in the confusion
+of the tumult. Macedonius, who was supported by a regular force,
+obtained a decisive victory; but his reign was disturbed by clamor and
+sedition; and the causes which appeared the least connected with the
+subject of dispute, were sufficient to nourish and to kindle the
+flame of civil discord. As the chapel in which the body of the great
+Constantine had been deposited was in a ruinous condition, the bishop
+transported those venerable remains into the church of St. Acacius. This
+prudent and even pious measure was represented as a wicked profanation
+by the whole party which adhered to the Homoousian doctrine. The
+factions immediately flew to arms, the consecrated ground was used as
+their field of battle; and one of the ecclesiastical historians has
+observed, as a real fact, not as a figure of rhetoric, that the well
+before the church overflowed with a stream of blood, which filled the
+porticos and the adjacent courts. The writer who should impute these
+tumults solely to a religious principle, would betray a very imperfect
+knowledge of human nature; yet it must be confessed that the motive
+which misled the sincerity of zeal, and the pretence which disguised
+the licentiousness of passion, suppressed the remorse which, in
+another cause, would have succeeded to the rage of the Christians at
+Constantinople. [153]
+
+[Footnote 150: Cucusus was the last stage of his life and sufferings.
+The situation of that lonely town, on the confines of Cappadocia,
+Cilicia, and the Lesser Armenia, has occasioned some geographical
+perplexity; but we are directed to the true spot by the course of the
+Roman road from Caesarea to Anazarbus. See Cellarii Geograph. tom. ii.
+p. 213. Wesseling ad Itinerar. p. 179, 703.]
+
+[Footnote 151: Athanasius (tom. i. p. 703, 813, 814) affirms, in the
+most positive terms, that Paul was murdered; and appeals, not only to
+common fame, but even to the unsuspicious testimony of Philagrius,
+one of the Arian persecutors. Yet he acknowledges that the heretics
+attributed to disease the death of the bishop of Constantinople.
+Athanasius is servilely copied by Socrates, (l. ii. c. 26;) but Sozomen,
+who discovers a more liberal temper. presumes (l. iv. c. 2) to insinuate
+a prudent doubt.]
+
+[Footnote 152: Ammianus (xiv. 10) refers to his own account of this
+tragic event. But we no longer possess that part of his history. Note:
+The murder of Hermogenes took place at the first expulsion of Paul from
+the see of Constantinople.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 153: See Socrates, l. ii. c. 6, 7, 12, 13, 15, 16, 26, 27, 38,
+and Sozomen, l. iii. 3, 4, 7, 9, l. iv. c. ii. 21. The acts of St.
+Paul of Constantinople, of which Photius has made an abstract, (Phot.
+Bibliot. p. 1419-1430,) are an indifferent copy of these historians;
+but a modern Greek, who could write the life of a saint without adding
+fables and miracles, is entitled to some commendation.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.--Part VII.
+
+The cruel and arbitrary disposition of Constantius, which did not always
+require the provocations of guilt and resistance, was justly exasperated
+by the tumults of his capital, and the criminal behavior of a faction,
+which opposed the authority and religion of their sovereign. The
+ordinary punishments of death, exile, and confiscation, were inflicted
+with partial vigor; and the Greeks still revere the holy memory of two
+clerks, a reader, and a sub-deacon, who were accused of the murder of
+Hermogenes, and beheaded at the gates of Constantinople. By an edict of
+Constantius against the Catholics which has not been judged worthy of a
+place in the Theodosian code, those who refused to communicate with the
+Arian bishops, and particularly with Macedonius, were deprived of the
+immunities of ecclesiastics, and of the rights of Christians; they
+were compelled to relinquish the possession of the churches; and were
+strictly prohibited from holding their assemblies within the walls of
+the city. The execution of this unjust law, in the provinces of Thrace
+and Asia Minor, was committed to the zeal of Macedonius; the civil and
+military powers were directed to obey his commands; and the cruelties
+exercised by this Semi- Arian tyrant in the support of the Homoiousion,
+exceeded the commission, and disgraced the reign, of Constantius. The
+sacraments of the church were administered to the reluctant victims,
+who denied the vocation, and abhorred the principles, of Macedonius.
+The rites of baptism were conferred on women and children, who, for that
+purpose, had been torn from the arms of their friends and parents; the
+mouths of the communicants were held open by a wooden engine, while the
+consecrated bread was forced down their throat; the breasts of tender
+virgins were either burnt with red-hot egg-shells, or inhumanly
+compressed betweens harp and heavy boards. [154] The Novatians of
+Constantinople and the adjacent country, by their firm attachment to
+the Homoousian standard, deserved to be confounded with the Catholics
+themselves. Macedonius was informed, that a large district of
+Paphlagonia [155] was almost entirely inhabited by those sectaries. He
+resolved either to convert or to extirpate them; and as he distrusted,
+on this occasion, the efficacy of an ecclesiastical mission, he
+commanded a body of four thousand legionaries to march against the
+rebels, and to reduce the territory of Mantinium under his spiritual
+dominion. The Novatian peasants, animated by despair and religious fury,
+boldly encountered the invaders of their country; and though many of
+the Paphlagonians were slain, the Roman legions were vanquished by an
+irregular multitude, armed only with scythes and axes; and, except a few
+who escaped by an ignominious flight, four thousand soldiers were left
+dead on the field of battle. The successor of Constantius has expressed,
+in a concise but lively manner, some of the theological calamities which
+afflicted the empire, and more especially the East, in the reign of
+a prince who was the slave of his own passions, and of those of his
+eunuchs: "Many were imprisoned, and persecuted, and driven into
+exile. Whole troops of those who are styled heretics, were massacred,
+particularly at Cyzicus, and at Samosata. In Paphlagonia, Bithynia,
+Galatia, and in many other provinces, towns and villages were laid
+waste, and utterly destroyed." [156]
+
+[Footnote 154: Socrates, l. ii. c. 27, 38. Sozomen, l. iv. c. 21. The
+principal assistants of Macedonius, in the work of persecution, were
+the two bishops of Nicomedia and Cyzicus, who were esteemed for their
+virtues, and especially for their charity. I cannot forbear reminding
+the reader, that the difference between the Homoousion and Homoiousion,
+is almost invisible to the nicest theological eye.]
+
+[Footnote 155: We are ignorant of the precise situation of Mantinium. In
+speaking of these four bands of legionaries, Socrates, Sozomen, and
+the author of the acts of St. Paul, use the indefinite terms of, which
+Nicephorus very properly translates thousands. Vales. ad Socrat. l. ii.
+c. 38.]
+
+[Footnote 156: Julian. Epist. lii. p. 436, edit. Spanheim.]
+
+While the flames of the Arian controversy consumed the vitals of the
+empire, the African provinces were infested by their peculiar enemies,
+the savage fanatics, who, under the name of Circumcellions, formed the
+strength and scandal of the Donatist party. [157] The severe execution
+of the laws of Constantine had excited a spirit of discontent and
+resistance, the strenuous efforts of his son Constans, to restore the
+unity of the church, exasperated the sentiments of mutual hatred,
+which had first occasioned the separation; and the methods of force
+and corruption employed by the two Imperial commissioners, Paul and
+Macarius, furnished the schismatics with a specious contrast between the
+maxims of the apostles and the conduct of their pretended successors.
+[158] The peasants who inhabited the villages of Numidia and Mauritania,
+were a ferocious race, who had been imperfectly reduced under the
+authority of the Roman laws; who were imperfectly converted to the
+Christian faith; but who were actuated by a blind and furious enthusiasm
+in the cause of their Donatist teachers. They indignantly supported
+the exile of their bishops, the demolition of their churches, and the
+interruption of their secret assemblies. The violence of the officers of
+justice, who were usually sustained by a military guard, was
+sometimes repelled with equal violence; and the blood of some popular
+ecclesiastics, which had been shed in the quarrel, inflamed their rude
+followers with an eager desire of revenging the death of these holy
+martyrs. By their own cruelty and rashness, the ministers of persecution
+sometimes provoked their fate; and the guilt of an accidental tumult
+precipitated the criminals into despair and rebellion. Driven from their
+native villages, the Donatist peasants assembled in formidable gangs
+on the edge of the Getulian desert; and readily exchanged the habits of
+labor for a life of idleness and rapine, which was consecrated by the
+name of religion, and faintly condemned by the doctors of the sect.
+The leaders of the Circumcellions assumed the title of captains of the
+saints; their principal weapon, as they were indifferently provided with
+swords and spears, was a huge and weighty club, which they termed an
+Israelite; and the well-known sound of "Praise be to God," which they
+used as their cry of war, diffused consternation over the unarmed
+provinces of Africa. At first their depredations were colored by the
+plea of necessity; but they soon exceeded the measure of subsistence,
+indulged without control their intemperance and avarice, burnt the
+villages which they had pillaged, and reigned the licentious tyrants of
+the open country. The occupations of husbandry, and the administration
+of justice, were interrupted; and as the Circumcellions pretended to
+restore the primitive equality of mankind, and to reform the abuses of
+civil society, they opened a secure asylum for the slaves and debtors,
+who flocked in crowds to their holy standard. When they were not
+resisted, they usually contented themselves with plunder, but the
+slightest opposition provoked them to acts of violence and murder; and
+some Catholic priests, who had imprudently signalized their zeal, were
+tortured by the fanatics with the most refined and wanton barbarity.
+The spirit of the Circumcellions was not always exerted against their
+defenceless enemies; they engaged, and sometimes defeated, the troops
+of the province; and in the bloody action of Bagai, they attacked in
+the open field, but with unsuccessful valor, an advanced guard of the
+Imperial cavalry. The Donatists who were taken in arms, received, and
+they soon deserved, the same treatment which might have been shown to
+the wild beasts of the desert. The captives died, without a murmur,
+either by the sword, the axe, or the fire; and the measures of
+retaliation were multiplied in a rapid proportion, which aggravated the
+horrors of rebellion, and excluded the hope of mutual forgiveness. In
+the beginning of the present century, the example of the Circumcellions
+has been renewed in the persecution, the boldness, the crimes, and the
+enthusiasm of the Camisards; and if the fanatics of Languedoc surpassed
+those of Numidia, by their military achievements, the Africans
+maintained their fierce independence with more resolution and
+perseverance. [159]
+
+[Footnote 157: See Optatus Milevitanus, (particularly iii. 4,) with the
+Donatis history, by M. Dupin, and the original pieces at the end of his
+edition. The numerous circumstances which Augustin has mentioned, of the
+fury of the Circumcellions against others, and against themselves,
+have been laboriously collected by Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p.
+147-165; and he has often, though without design, exposed injuries which
+had provoked those fanatics.]
+
+[Footnote 158: It is amusing enough to observe the language of opposite
+parties, when they speak of the same men and things. Gratus, bishop of
+Carthage, begins the acclamations of an orthodox synod, "Gratias Deo
+omnipotenti et Christu Jesu... qui imperavit religiosissimo Constanti
+Imperatori, ut votum gereret unitatis, et mitteret ministros sancti
+operis famulos Dei Paulum et Macarium." Monument. Vet. ad Calcem Optati,
+p. 313. "Ecce subito," (says the Donatist author of the Passion of
+Marculus), "de Constantis regif tyrannica domo.. pollutum Macarianae
+persecutionis murmur increpuit, et duabus bestiis ad Africam missis,
+eodem scilicet Macario et Paulo, execrandum prorsus ac dirum
+ecclesiae certamen indictum est; ut populus Christianus ad unionem cum
+traditoribus faciendam, nudatis militum gladiis et draconum praesentibus
+signis, et tubarum vocibus cogeretur." Monument. p. 304.]
+
+[Footnote 159: The Histoire des Camisards, in 3 vols. 12mo.
+Villefranche, 1760 may be recommended as accurate and impartial. It
+requires some attention to discover the religion of the author.]
+
+Such disorders are the natural effects of religious tyranny, but the
+rage of the Donatists was inflamed by a frenzy of a very extraordinary
+kind; and which, if it really prevailed among them in so extravagant a
+degree, cannot surely be paralleled in any country or in any age. Many
+of these fanatics were possessed with the horror of life, and the desire
+of martyrdom; and they deemed it of little moment by what means, or
+by what hands, they perished, if their conduct was sanctified by the
+intention of devoting themselves to the glory of the true faith, and
+the hope of eternal happiness. [160] Sometimes they rudely disturbed
+the festivals, and profaned the temples of Paganism, with the design of
+exciting the most zealous of the idolaters to revenge the insulted
+honor of their gods. They sometimes forced their way into the courts
+of justice, and compelled the affrighted judge to give orders for their
+immediate execution. They frequently stopped travellers on the public
+highways, and obliged them to inflict the stroke of martyrdom, by the
+promise of a reward, if they consented, and by the threat of instant
+death, if they refused to grant so very singular a favor. When they were
+disappointed of every other resource, they announced the day on
+which, in the presence of their friends and brethren, they should east
+themselves headlong from some lofty rock; and many precipices were
+shown, which had acquired fame by the number of religious suicides.
+In the actions of these desperate enthusiasts, who were admired by one
+party as the martyrs of God, and abhorred by the other as the victims of
+Satan, an impartial philosopher may discover the influence and the last
+abuse of that inflexible spirit which was originally derived from the
+character and principles of the Jewish nation.
+
+[Footnote 160: The Donatist suicides alleged in their justification the
+example of Razias, which is related in the 14th chapter of the second
+book of the Maccabees.]
+
+The simple narrative of the intestine divisions, which distracted the
+peace, and dishonored the triumph, of the church, will confirm the
+remark of a Pagan historian, and justify the complaint of a venerable
+bishop. The experience of Ammianus had convinced him, that the enmity of
+the Christians towards each other, surpassed the fury of savage beasts
+against man; [161] and Gregory Nazianzen most pathetically laments,
+that the kingdom of heaven was converted, by discord, into the image of
+chaos, of a nocturnal tempest, and of hell itself. [162] The fierce and
+partial writers of the times, ascribing all virtue to themselves, and
+imputing all guilt to their adversaries, have painted the battle of the
+angels and daemons. Our calmer reason will reject such pure and perfect
+monsters of vice or sanctity, and will impute an equal, or at least an
+indiscriminate, measure of good and evil to the hostile sectaries, who
+assumed and bestowed the appellations of orthodox and heretics. They
+had been educated in the same religion and the same civil society. Their
+hopes and fears in the present, or in a future life, were balanced in
+the same proportion. On either side, the error might be innocent, the
+faith sincere, the practice meritorious or corrupt. Their passions were
+excited by similar objects; and they might alternately abuse the
+favor of the court, or of the people. The metaphysical opinions of the
+Athanasians and the Arians could not influence their moral character;
+and they were alike actuated by the intolerant spirit which has been
+extracted from the pure and simple maxims of the gospel.
+
+[Footnote 161: Nullus infestas hominibus bestias, ut sunt sibi ferales
+plerique Christianorum, expertus. Ammian. xxii. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 162: Gregor, Nazianzen, Orav. i. p. 33. See Tillemont, tom vi.
+p. 501, qua to edit.]
+
+A modern writer, who, with a just confidence, has prefixed to his own
+history the honorable epithets of political and philosophical, [163]
+accuses the timid prudence of Montesquieu, for neglecting to enumerate,
+among the causes of the decline of the empire, a law of Constantine, by
+which the exercise of the Pagan worship was absolutely suppressed, and
+a considerable part of his subjects was left destitute of priests,
+of temples, and of any public religion. The zeal of the philosophic
+historian for the rights of mankind, has induced him to acquiesce in
+the ambiguous testimony of those ecclesiastics, who have too lightly
+ascribed to their favorite hero the merit of a general persecution.
+[164] Instead of alleging this imaginary law, which would have blazed
+in the front of the Imperial codes, we may safely appeal to the original
+epistle, which Constantine addressed to the followers of the ancient
+religion; at a time when he no longer disguised his conversion, nor
+dreaded the rivals of his throne. He invites and exhorts, in the most
+pressing terms, the subjects of the Roman empire to imitate the example
+of their master; but he declares, that those who still refuse to open
+their eyes to the celestial light, may freely enjoy their temples and
+their fancied gods. A report, that the ceremonies of paganism were
+suppressed, is formally contradicted by the emperor himself, who wisely
+assigns, as the principle of his moderation, the invincible force of
+habit, of prejudice, and of superstition. [165] Without violating the
+sanctity of his promise, without alarming the fears of the Pagans, the
+artful monarch advanced, by slow and cautious steps, to undermine the
+irregular and decayed fabric of polytheism. The partial acts of severity
+which he occasionally exercised, though they were secretly promoted by a
+Christian zeal, were colored by the fairest pretences of justice and the
+public good; and while Constantine designed to ruin the foundations, he
+seemed to reform the abuses, of the ancient religion. After the example
+of the wisest of his predecessors, he condemned, under the most rigorous
+penalties, the occult and impious arts of divination; which excited
+the vain hopes, and sometimes the criminal attempts, of those who were
+discontented with their present condition. An ignominious silence was
+imposed on the oracles, which had been publicly convicted of fraud
+and falsehood; the effeminate priests of the Nile were abolished; and
+Constantine discharged the duties of a Roman censor, when he gave orders
+for the demolition of several temples of Phoenicia; in which every mode
+of prostitution was devoutly practised in the face of day, and to the
+honor of Venus. [166] The Imperial city of Constantinople was, in some
+measure, raised at the expense, and was adorned with the spoils, of the
+opulent temples of Greece and Asia; the sacred property was confiscated;
+the statues of gods and heroes were transported, with rude familiarity,
+among a people who considered them as objects, not of adoration, but
+of curiosity; the gold and silver were restored to circulation; and
+the magistrates, the bishops, and the eunuchs, improved the fortunate
+occasion of gratifying, at once, their zeal, their avarice, and their
+resentment. But these depredations were confined to a small part of the
+Roman world; and the provinces had been long since accustomed to
+endure the same sacrilegious rapine, from the tyranny of princes and
+proconsuls, who could not be suspected of any design to subvert the
+established religion. [167]
+
+[Footnote 163: Histoire Politique et Philosophique des Etablissemens des
+Europeens dans les deux Indes, tom. i. p. 9.]
+
+[Footnote 164: According to Eusebius, (in Vit. Constantin. l. ii. c.
+45,) the emperor prohibited, both in cities and in the country, the
+abominable acts or parts of idolatry. l Socrates (l. i. c. 17) and
+Sozomen (l. ii. c. 4, 5) have represented the conduct of Constantine
+with a just regard to truth and history; which has been neglected by
+Theodoret (l. v. c. 21) and Orosius, (vii. 28.) Tum deinde (says the
+latter) primus Constantinus justo ordine et pio vicem vertit edicto;
+siquidem statuit citra ullam hominum caedem, paganorum templa claudi.]
+
+[Footnote 165: See Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. ii. c. 56, 60.
+In the sermon to the assembly of saints, which the emperor pronounced
+when he was mature in years and piety, he declares to the idolaters (c.
+xii.) that they are permitted to offer sacrifices, and to exercise every
+part of their religious worship.]
+
+[Footnote 166: See Eusebius, in Vit. Constantin. l. iii. c. 54-58,
+and l. iv. c. 23, 25. These acts of authority may be compared with the
+suppression of the Bacchanals, and the demolition of the temple of Isis,
+by the magistrates of Pagan Rome.]
+
+[Footnote 167: Eusebius (in Vit. Constan. l. iii. c. 54-58) and Libanius
+(Orat. pro Templis, p. 9, 10, edit. Gothofred) both mention the pious
+sacrilege of Constantine, which they viewed in very different lights.
+The latter expressly declares, that "he made use of the sacred money,
+but made no alteration in the legal worship; the temples indeed were
+impoverished, but the sacred rites were performed there." Lardner's
+Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 140.]
+
+The sons of Constantine trod in the footsteps of their father, with more
+zeal, and with less discretion. The pretences of rapine and oppression
+were insensibly multiplied; [168] every indulgence was shown to the
+illegal behavior of the Christians; every doubt was explained to
+the disadvantage of Paganism; and the demolition of the temples was
+celebrated as one of the auspicious events of the reign of Constans and
+Constantius. [169] The name of Constantius is prefixed to a concise law,
+which might have superseded the necessity of any future prohibitions.
+"It is our pleasure, that in all places, and in all cities, the temples
+be immediately shut, and carefully guarded, that none may have the power
+of offending. It is likewise our pleasure, that all our subjects should
+abstain from sacrifices. If any one should be guilty of such an act,
+let him feel the sword of vengeance, and after his execution, let
+his property be confiscated to the public use. We denounce the same
+penalties against the governors of the provinces, if they neglect
+to punish the criminals." [170] But there is the strongest reason to
+believe, that this formidable edict was either composed without being
+published, or was published without being executed. The evidence of
+facts, and the monuments which are still extant of brass and marble,
+continue to prove the public exercise of the Pagan worship during the
+whole reign of the sons of Constantine. In the East, as well as in the
+West, in cities, as well as in the country, a great number of temples
+were respected, or at least were spared; and the devout multitude still
+enjoyed the luxury of sacrifices, of festivals, and of processions, by
+the permission, or by the connivance, of the civil government. About
+four years after the supposed date of this bloody edict, Constantius
+visited the temples of Rome; and the decency of his behavior is
+recommended by a pagan orator as an example worthy of the imitation
+of succeeding princes. "That emperor," says Symmachus, "suffered the
+privileges of the vestal virgins to remain inviolate; he bestowed
+the sacerdotal dignities on the nobles of Rome, granted the customary
+allowance to defray the expenses of the public rites and sacrifices;
+and, though he had embraced a different religion, he never attempted to
+deprive the empire of the sacred worship of antiquity." [171] The senate
+still presumed to consecrate, by solemn decrees, the divine memory of
+their sovereigns; and Constantine himself was associated, after his
+death, to those gods whom he had renounced and insulted during his life.
+The title, the ensigns, the prerogatives, of sovereign pontiff, which
+had been instituted by Numa, and assumed by Augustus, were accepted,
+without hesitation, by seven Christian emperors; who were invested with
+a more absolute authority over the religion which they had deserted,
+than over that which they professed. [172]
+
+[Footnote 168: Ammianus (xxii. 4) speaks of some court eunuchs who were
+spoliis templorum pasti. Libanius says (Orat. pro Templ. p. 23) that the
+emperor often gave away a temple, like a dog, or a horse, or a slave, or
+a gold cup; but the devout philosopher takes care to observe that these
+sacrilegious favorites very seldom prospered.]
+
+[Footnote 169: See Gothofred. Cod. Theodos. tom. vi. p. 262. Liban.
+Orat. Parental c. x. in Fabric. Bibl. Graec. tom. vii. p. 235.]
+
+[Footnote 170: Placuit omnibus locis atque urbibus universis claudi
+protinus empla, et accessu vetitis omnibus licentiam delinquendi
+perditis abnegari. Volumus etiam cunctos a sacrificiis abstinere.
+Quod siquis aliquid forte hujusmodi perpetraverit, gladio sternatur:
+facultates etiam perempti fisco decernimus vindicari: et similiter
+adfligi rectores provinciarum si facinora vindicare neglexerint.
+Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 4. Chronology has discovered some
+contradiction in the date of this extravagant law; the only one,
+perhaps, by which the negligence of magistrates is punished by death
+and confiscation. M. de la Bastie (Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xv. p.
+98) conjectures, with a show of reason, that this was no more than the
+minutes of a law, the heads of an intended bill, which were found
+in Scriniis Memoriae among the papers of Constantius, and afterwards
+inserted, as a worthy model, in the Theodosian Code.]
+
+[Footnote 171: Symmach. Epistol. x. 54.]
+
+[Footnote 172: The fourth Dissertation of M. de la Bastie, sur le
+Souverain Pontificat des Empereurs Romains, (in the Mem. de l'Acad.
+tom. xv. p. 75- 144,) is a very learned and judicious performance,
+which explains the state, and prove the toleration, of Paganism from
+Constantino to Gratian. The assertion of Zosimus, that Gratian was the
+first who refused the pontifical robe, is confirmed beyond a doubt; and
+the murmurs of bigotry on that subject are almost silenced.]
+
+The divisions of Christianity suspended the ruin of Paganism; [173]
+and the holy war against the infidels was less vigorously prosecuted by
+princes and bishops, who were more immediately alarmed by the guilt and
+danger of domestic rebellion. The extirpation of idolatry [174] might
+have been justified by the established principles of intolerance: but
+the hostile sects, which alternately reigned in the Imperial court were
+mutually apprehensive of alienating, and perhaps exasperating, the minds
+of a powerful, though declining faction. Every motive of authority
+and fashion, of interest and reason, now militated on the side of
+Christianity; but two or three generations elapsed, before their
+victorious influence was universally felt. The religion which had
+so long and so lately been established in the Roman empire was still
+revered by a numerous people, less attached indeed to speculative
+opinion, than to ancient custom. The honors of the state and army
+were indifferently bestowed on all the subjects of Constantine and
+Constantius; and a considerable portion of knowledge and wealth and
+valor was still engaged in the service of polytheism. The superstition
+of the senator and of the peasant, of the poet and the philosopher, was
+derived from very different causes, but they met with equal devotion
+in the temples of the gods. Their zeal was insensibly provoked by the
+insulting triumph of a proscribed sect; and their hopes were revived by
+the well-grounded confidence, that the presumptive heir of the empire,
+a young and valiant hero, who had delivered Gaul from the arms of the
+Barbarians, had secretly embraced the religion of his ancestors.
+
+[Footnote 173: As I have freely anticipated the use of pagans and
+paganism, I shall now trace the singular revolutions of those celebrated
+words. 1. in the Doric dialect, so familiar to the Italians, signifies
+a fountain; and the rural neighborhood, which frequented the same
+fountain, derived the common appellation of pagus and pagans. (Festus
+sub voce, and Servius ad Virgil. Georgic. ii. 382.) 2. By an easy
+extension of the word, pagan and rural became almost synonymous, (Plin.
+Hist. Natur. xxviii. 5;) and the meaner rustics acquired that name,
+which has been corrupted into peasants in the modern languages of
+Europe. 3. The amazing increase of the military order introduced the
+necessity of a correlative term, (Hume's Essays, vol. i. p. 555;) and
+all the people who were not enlisted in the service of the prince were
+branded with the contemptuous epithets of pagans. (Tacit. Hist. iii.
+24, 43, 77. Juvenal. Satir. 16. Tertullian de Pallio, c. 4.) 4. The
+Christians were the soldiers of Christ; their adversaries, who
+refused his sacrament, or military oath of baptism might deserve the
+metaphorical name of pagans; and this popular reproach was introduced as
+early as the reign of Valentinian (A. D. 365) into Imperial laws
+(Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 18) and theological writings.
+5. Christianity gradually filled the cities of the empire: the old
+religion, in the time of Prudentius (advers. Symmachum, l. i. ad fin.)
+and Orosius, (in Praefat. Hist.,) retired and languished in obscure
+villages; and the word pagans, with its new signification, reverted to
+its primitive origin. 6. Since the worship of Jupiter and his family has
+expired, the vacant title of pagans has been successively applied to
+all the idolaters and polytheists of the old and new world. 7. The Latin
+Christians bestowed it, without scruple, on their mortal enemies, the
+Mahometans; and the purest Unitarians were branded with the unjust
+reproach of idolatry and paganism. See Gerard Vossius, Etymologicon
+Linguae Latinae, in his works, tom. i. p. 420; Godefroy's Commentary
+on the Theodosian Code, tom. vi. p. 250; and Ducange, Mediae et Infimae
+Latinitat. Glossar.]
+
+[Footnote 174: In the pure language of Ionia and Athens were ancient and
+familiar words. The former expressed a likeness, an apparition (Homer.
+Odys. xi. 601,) a representation, an image, created either by fancy
+or art. The latter denoted any sort of service or slavery. The Jews of
+Egypt, who translated the Hebrew Scriptures, restrained the use of
+these words (Exod. xx. 4, 5) to the religious worship of an image. The
+peculiar idiom of the Hellenists, or Grecian Jews, has been adopted by
+the sacred and ecclesiastical writers and the reproach of idolatry has
+stigmatized that visible and abject mode of superstition, which some
+sects of Christianity should not hastily impute to the polytheists of
+Greece and Rome.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.--Part I
+
+Julian Is Declared Emperor By The Legions Of Gaul.--His March And
+Success.--The Death Of Constantius.--Civil Administration Of Julian.
+While the Romans languished under the ignominious tyranny of eunuchs
+and bishops, the praises of Julian were repeated with transport in every
+part of the empire, except in the palace of Constantius. The barbarians
+of Germany had felt, and still dreaded, the arms of the young
+Caesar; his soldiers were the companions of his victory; the grateful
+provincials enjoyed the blessings of his reign; but the favorites, who
+had opposed his elevation, were offended by his virtues; and they justly
+considered the friend of the people as the enemy of the court. As long
+as the fame of Julian was doubtful, the buffoons of the palace, who
+were skilled in the language of satire, tried the efficacy of those arts
+which they had so often practised with success. They easily discovered,
+that his simplicity was not exempt from affectation: the ridiculous
+epithets of a hairy savage, of an ape invested with the purple, were
+applied to the dress and person of the philosophic warrior; and his
+modest despatches were stigmatized as the vain and elaborate fictions
+of a loquacious Greek, a speculative soldier, who had studied the art of
+war amidst the groves of the academy. [1] The voice of malicious folly
+was at length silenced by the shouts of victory; the conqueror of the
+Franks and Alemanni could no longer be painted as an object of contempt;
+and the monarch himself was meanly ambitious of stealing from his
+lieutenant the honorable reward of his labors. In the letters crowned
+with laurel, which, according to ancient custom, were addressed to the
+provinces, the name of Julian was omitted. "Constantius had made his
+dispositions in person; he had signalized his valor in the foremost
+ranks; his military conduct had secured the victory; and the captive
+king of the barbarians was presented to him on the field of battle,"
+from which he was at that time distant about forty days' journey. [2]
+So extravagant a fable was incapable, however, of deceiving the public
+credulity, or even of satisfying the pride of the emperor himself.
+Secretly conscious that the applause and favor of the Romans accompanied
+the rising fortunes of Julian, his discontented mind was prepared to
+receive the subtle poison of those artful sycophants, who colored their
+mischievous designs with the fairest appearances of truth and candor.
+[3] Instead of depreciating the merits of Julian, they acknowledged,
+and even exaggerated, his popular fame, superior talents, and important
+services. But they darkly insinuated, that the virtues of the Caesar
+might instantly be converted into the most dangerous crimes, if the
+inconstant multitude should prefer their inclinations to their duty;
+or if the general of a victorious army should be tempted from his
+allegiance by the hopes of revenge and independent greatness. The
+personal fears of Constantius were interpreted by his council as a
+laudable anxiety for the public safety; whilst in private, and perhaps
+in his own breast, he disguised, under the less odious appellation of
+fear, the sentiments of hatred and envy, which he had secretly conceived
+for the inimitable virtues of Julian.
+
+[Footnote 1: Omnes qui plus poterant in palatio, adulandi professores
+jam docti, recte consulta, prospereque completa vertebant in
+deridiculum: talia sine modo strepentes insulse; in odium venit cum
+victoriis suis; capella, non homo; ut hirsutum Julianum carpentes,
+appellantesque loquacem talpam, et purpuratam simiam, et litterionem
+Graecum: et his congruentia plurima atque vernacula principi
+resonantes, audire haec taliaque gestienti, virtutes ejus obruere verbis
+impudentibus conabantur, et segnem incessentes et timidum et umbratilem,
+gestaque secus verbis comptioribus exornantem. Ammianus, s. xvii. 11.
+* Note: The philosophers retaliated on the courtiers. Marius (says
+Eunapius in a newly-discovered fragment) was wont to call his antagonist
+Sylla a beast half lion and half fox. Constantius had nothing of the
+lion, but was surrounded by a whole litter of foxes. Mai. Script. Byz.
+Nov. Col. ii. 238. Niebuhr. Byzant. Hist. 66.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Ammian. xvi. 12. The orator Themistius (iv. p. 56, 57)
+believed whatever was contained in the Imperial letters, which were
+addressed to the senate of Constantinople Aurelius Victor, who published
+his Abridgment in the last year of Constantius, ascribes the German
+victories to the wisdom of the emperor, and the fortune of the Caesar.
+Yet the historian, soon afterwards, was indebted to the favor or esteem
+of Julian for the honor of a brass statue, and the important offices of
+consular of the second Pannonia, and praefect of the city, Ammian. xxi.
+10.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Callido nocendi artificio, accusatoriam diritatem laudum
+titulis peragebant. .. Hae voces fuerunt ad inflammanda odia probria
+omnibus potentiores. See Mamertin, in Actione Gratiarum in Vet Panegyr.
+xi. 5, 6.]
+
+The apparent tranquillity of Gaul, and the imminent danger of the
+eastern provinces, offered a specious pretence for the design which was
+artfully concerted by the Imperial ministers. They resolved to disarm
+the Caesar; to recall those faithful troops who guarded his person and
+dignity; and to employ, in a distant war against the Persian monarch,
+the hardy veterans who had vanquished, on the banks of the Rhine, the
+fiercest nations of Germany. While Julian used the laborious hours of
+his winter quarters at Paris in the administration of power, which, in
+his hands, was the exercise of virtue, he was surprised by the hasty
+arrival of a tribune and a notary, with positive orders, from the
+emperor, which they were directed to execute, and he was commanded not
+to oppose. Constantius signified his pleasure, that four entire legions,
+the Celtae, and Petulants, the Heruli, and the Batavians, should be
+separated from the standard of Julian, under which they had acquired
+their fame and discipline; that in each of the remaining bands three
+hundred of the bravest youths should be selected; and that this numerous
+detachment, the strength of the Gallic army, should instantly begin
+their march, and exert their utmost diligence to arrive, before the
+opening of the campaign, on the frontiers of Persia. [4] The Caesar
+foresaw and lamented the consequences of this fatal mandate. Most of the
+auxiliaries, who engaged their voluntary service, had stipulated, that
+they should never be obliged to pass the Alps. The public faith of Rome,
+and the personal honor of Julian, had been pledged for the observance
+of this condition. Such an act of treachery and oppression would destroy
+the confidence, and excite the resentment, of the independent warriors
+of Germany, who considered truth as the noblest of their virtues, and
+freedom as the most valuable of their possessions. The legionaries,
+who enjoyed the title and privileges of Romans, were enlisted for the
+general defence of the republic; but those mercenary troops heard with
+cold indifference the antiquated names of the republic and of Rome.
+Attached, either from birth or long habit, to the climate and manners of
+Gaul, they loved and admired Julian; they despised, and perhaps hated,
+the emperor; they dreaded the laborious march, the Persian arrows, and
+the burning deserts of Asia. They claimed as their own the country which
+they had saved; and excused their want of spirit, by pleading the sacred
+and more immediate duty of protecting their families and friends.
+
+The apprehensions of the Gauls were derived from the knowledge of the
+impending and inevitable danger. As soon as the provinces were exhausted
+of their military strength, the Germans would violate a treaty which had
+been imposed on their fears; and notwithstanding the abilities and valor
+of Julian, the general of a nominal army, to whom the public calamities
+would be imputed, must find himself, after a vain resistance, either a
+prisoner in the camp of the barbarians, or a criminal in the palace of
+Constantius. If Julian complied with the orders which he had received,
+he subscribed his own destruction, and that of a people who deserved
+his affection. But a positive refusal was an act of rebellion, and
+a declaration of war. The inexorable jealousy of the emperor, the
+peremptory, and perhaps insidious, nature of his commands, left not any
+room for a fair apology, or candid interpretation; and the dependent
+station of the Caesar scarcely allowed him to pause or to deliberate.
+Solitude increased the perplexity of Julian; he could no longer apply to
+the faithful counsels of Sallust, who had been removed from his office
+by the judicious malice of the eunuchs: he could not even enforce his
+representations by the concurrence of the ministers, who would have
+been afraid or ashamed to approve the ruin of Gaul. The moment had been
+chosen, when Lupicinus, [5] the general of the cavalry, was despatched
+into Britain, to repulse the inroads of the Scots and Picts; and
+Florentius was occupied at Vienna by the assessment of the tribute.
+The latter, a crafty and corrupt statesman, declining to assume a
+responsible part on this dangerous occasion, eluded the pressing and
+repeated invitations of Julian, who represented to him, that in every
+important measure, the presence of the praefect was indispensable in the
+council of the prince. In the mean while the Caesar was oppressed by
+the rude and importunate solicitations of the Imperial messengers, who
+presumed to suggest, that if he expected the return of his ministers, he
+would charge himself with the guilt of the delay, and reserve for them
+the merit of the execution. Unable to resist, unwilling to comply,
+Julian expressed, in the most serious terms, his wish, and even his
+intention, of resigning the purple, which he could not preserve with
+honor, but which he could not abdicate with safety.
+
+[Footnote 4: The minute interval, which may be interposed, between the
+hyeme adulta and the primo vere of Ammianus, (xx. l. 4,) instead of
+allowing a sufficient space for a march of three thousand miles, would
+render the orders of Constantius as extravagant as they were unjust. The
+troops of Gaul could not have reached Syria till the end of autumn.
+The memory of Ammianus must have been inaccurate, and his language
+incorrect. * Note: The late editor of Ammianus attempts to vindicate
+his author from the charge of inaccuracy. "It is clear, from the whole
+course of the narrative, that Constantius entertained this design of
+demanding his troops from Julian, immediately after the taking of Amida,
+in the autumn of the preceding year, and had transmitted his orders into
+Gaul, before it was known that Lupicinus had gone into Britain with the
+Herulians and Batavians." Wagner, note to Amm. xx. 4. But it seems
+also clear that the troops were in winter quarters (hiemabant) when the
+orders arrived. Ammianus can scarcely be acquitted of incorrectness in
+his language at least.--M]
+
+[Footnote 5: Ammianus, xx. l. The valor of Lupicinus, and his military
+skill, are acknowledged by the historian, who, in his affected language,
+accuses the general of exalting the horns of his pride, bellowing in
+a tragic tone, and exciting a doubt whether he was more cruel or
+avaricious. The danger from the Scots and Picts was so serious that
+Julian himself had some thoughts of passing over into the island.]
+
+After a painful conflict, Julian was compelled to acknowledge, that
+obedience was the virtue of the most eminent subject, and that the
+sovereign alone was entitled to judge of the public welfare. He issued
+the necessary orders for carrying into execution the commands of
+Constantius; a part of the troops began their march for the Alps;
+and the detachments from the several garrisons moved towards their
+respective places of assembly. They advanced with difficulty through the
+trembling and affrighted crowds of provincials, who attempted to excite
+their pity by silent despair, or loud lamentations, while the wives of
+the soldiers, holding their infants in their arms, accused the desertion
+of their husbands, in the mixed language of grief, of tenderness, and
+of indignation. This scene of general distress afflicted the humanity of
+the Caesar; he granted a sufficient number of post-wagons to transport
+the wives and families of the soldiers, [6] endeavored to alleviate the
+hardships which he was constrained to inflict, and increased, by the
+most laudable arts, his own popularity, and the discontent of the exiled
+troops. The grief of an armed multitude is soon converted into rage;
+their licentious murmurs, which every hour were communicated from tent
+to tent with more boldness and effect, prepared their minds for the
+most daring acts of sedition; and by the connivance of their tribunes, a
+seasonable libel was secretly dispersed, which painted in lively colors
+the disgrace of the Caesar, the oppression of the Gallic army, and the
+feeble vices of the tyrant of Asia. The servants of Constantius were
+astonished and alarmed by the progress of this dangerous spirit. They
+pressed the Caesar to hasten the departure of the troops; but they
+imprudently rejected the honest and judicious advice of Julian; who
+proposed that they should not march through Paris, and suggested the
+danger and temptation of a last interview.
+
+[Footnote 6: He granted them the permission of the cursus clavularis, or
+clabularis. These post-wagons are often mentioned in the Code, and were
+supposed to carry fifteen hundred pounds weight. See Vales. ad Ammian.
+xx. 4.]
+
+As soon as the approach of the troops was announced, the Caesar went
+out to meet them, and ascended his tribunal, which had been erected in
+a plain before the gates of the city. After distinguishing the officers
+and soldiers, who by their rank or merit deserved a peculiar attention,
+Julian addressed himself in a studied oration to the surrounding
+multitude: he celebrated their exploits with grateful applause;
+encouraged them to accept, with alacrity, the honor of serving under
+the eye of a powerful and liberal monarch; and admonished them, that
+the commands of Augustus required an instant and cheerful obedience.
+The soldiers, who were apprehensive of offending their general by an
+indecent clamor, or of belying their sentiments by false and venal
+acclamations, maintained an obstinate silence; and after a short
+pause, were dismissed to their quarters. The principal officers were
+entertained by the Caesar, who professed, in the warmest language of
+friendship, his desire and his inability to reward, according to their
+deserts, the brave companions of his victories. They retired from the
+feast, full of grief and perplexity; and lamented the hardship of
+their fate, which tore them from their beloved general and their native
+country. The only expedient which could prevent their separation was
+boldly agitated and approved the popular resentment was insensibly
+moulded into a regular conspiracy; their just reasons of complaint were
+heightened by passion, and their passions were inflamed by wine; as,
+on the eve of their departure, the troops were indulged in licentious
+festivity. At the hour of midnight, the impetuous multitude, with
+swords, and bows, and torches in their hands, rushed into the suburbs;
+encompassed the palace; [7] and, careless of future dangers, pronounced
+the fatal and irrevocable words, Julian Augustus! The prince, whose
+anxious suspense was interrupted by their disorderly acclamations,
+secured the doors against their intrusion; and as long as it was in his
+power, secluded his person and dignity from the accidents of a nocturnal
+tumult. At the dawn of day, the soldiers, whose zeal was irritated
+by opposition, forcibly entered the palace, seized, with respectful
+violence, the object of their choice, guarded Julian with drawn swords
+through the streets of Paris, placed him on the tribunal, and with
+repeated shouts saluted him as their emperor. Prudence, as well as
+loyalty, inculcated the propriety of resisting their treasonable
+designs; and of preparing, for his oppressed virtue, the excuse
+of violence. Addressing himself by turns to the multitude and to
+individuals, he sometimes implored their mercy, and sometimes expressed
+his indignation; conjured them not to sully the fame of their immortal
+victories; and ventured to promise, that if they would immediately
+return to their allegiance, he would undertake to obtain from the
+emperor not only a free and gracious pardon, but even the revocation
+of the orders which had excited their resentment. But the soldiers, who
+were conscious of their guilt, chose rather to depend on the gratitude
+of Julian, than on the clemency of the emperor. Their zeal was
+insensibly turned into impatience, and their impatience into rage.
+The inflexible Caesar sustained, till the third hour of the day, their
+prayers, their reproaches, and their menaces; nor did he yield, till he
+had been repeatedly assured, that if he wished to live, he must consent
+to reign. He was exalted on a shield in the presence, and amidst the
+unanimous acclamations, of the troops; a rich military collar, which was
+offered by chance, supplied the want of a diadem; [8] the ceremony was
+concluded by the promise of a moderate donative; and the new emperor,
+overwhelmed with real or affected grief retired into the most secret
+recesses of his apartment. [10]
+
+[Footnote 7: Most probably the palace of the baths, (Thermarum,) of
+which a solid and lofty hall still subsists in the Rue de la Harpe.
+The buildings covered a considerable space of the modern quarter of the
+university; and the gardens, under the Merovingian kings, communicated
+with the abbey of St. Germain des Prez. By the injuries of time and the
+Normans, this ancient palace was reduced, in the twelfth century, to a
+maze of ruins, whose dark recesses were the scene of licentious love.
+
+     Explicat aula sinus montemque amplectitur alis;
+     Multiplici latebra scelerum tersura ruborem.
+     .... pereuntis saepe pudoris Celatura nefas,
+     Venerisque accommoda furtis.
+
+(These lines are quoted from the Architrenius, l. iv. c. 8, a poetical
+work of John de Hauteville, or Hanville, a monk of St. Alban's, about
+the year 1190. See Warton's History of English Poetry, vol. i. dissert.
+ii.) Yet such thefts might be less pernicious to mankind than the
+theological disputes of the Sorbonne, which have been since agitated on
+the same ground. Bonamy, Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xv. p. 678-632]
+
+[Footnote 8: Even in this tumultuous moment, Julian attended to
+the forms of superstitious ceremony, and obstinately refused the
+inauspicious use of a female necklace, or a horse collar, which the
+impatient soldiers would have employed in the room of a diadem.]
+
+[Footnote 9: An equal proportion of gold and silver, five pieces of the
+former one pound of the latter; the whole amounting to about five pounds
+ten shillings of our money.]
+
+[Footnote 10: For the whole narrative of this revolt, we may appeal
+to authentic and original materials; Julian himself, (ad S. P. Q.
+Atheniensem, p. 282, 283, 284,) Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c. 44-48, in
+Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p. 269-273,) Ammianus, (xx. 4,)
+and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 151, 152, 153.) who, in the reign of Julian,
+appears to follow the more respectable authority of Eunapius. With such
+guides we might neglect the abbreviators and ecclesiastical historians.]
+
+The grief of Julian could proceed only from his innocence; out his
+innocence must appear extremely doubtful [11] in the eyes of those who
+have learned to suspect the motives and the professions of princes. His
+lively and active mind was susceptible of the various impressions of
+hope and fear, of gratitude and revenge, of duty and of ambition, of the
+love of fame, and of the fear of reproach. But it is impossible for us
+to calculate the respective weight and operation of these sentiments;
+or to ascertain the principles of action which might escape the
+observation, while they guided, or rather impelled, the steps of Julian
+himself. The discontent of the troops was produced by the malice of his
+enemies; their tumult was the natural effect of interest and of passion;
+and if Julian had tried to conceal a deep design under the appearances
+of chance, he must have employed the most consummate artifice without
+necessity, and probably without success. He solemnly declares, in the
+presence of Jupiter, of the Sun, of Mars, of Minerva, and of all the
+other deities, that till the close of the evening which preceded his
+elevation, he was utterly ignorant of the designs of the soldiers; [12]
+and it may seem ungenerous to distrust the honor of a hero and the truth
+of a philosopher. Yet the superstitious confidence that Constantius
+was the enemy, and that he himself was the favorite, of the gods, might
+prompt him to desire, to solicit, and even to hasten the auspicious
+moment of his reign, which was predestined to restore the ancient
+religion of mankind. When Julian had received the intelligence of the
+conspiracy, he resigned himself to a short slumber; and afterwards
+related to his friends that he had seen the genius of the empire
+waiting with some impatience at his door, pressing for admittance,
+and reproaching his want of spirit and ambition. [13] Astonished
+and perplexed, he addressed his prayers to the great Jupiter, who
+immediately signified, by a clear and manifest omen, that he should
+submit to the will of heaven and of the army. The conduct which
+disclaims the ordinary maxims of reason, excites our suspicion and
+eludes our inquiry. Whenever the spirit of fanaticism, at once so
+credulous and so crafty, has insinuated itself into a noble mind, it
+insensibly corrodes the vital principles of virtue and veracity.
+
+[Footnote 11: Eutropius, a respectable witness, uses a doubtful
+expression, "consensu militum." (x. 15.) Gregory Nazianzen, whose
+ignorance night excuse his fanaticism, directly charges the apostate
+with presumption, madness, and impious rebellion, Orat. iii. p. 67.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Julian. ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 284. The devout Abbe de
+la Bleterie (Vie de Julien, p. 159) is almost inclined to respect the
+devout protestations of a Pagan.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Ammian. xx. 5, with the note of Lindenbrogius on the
+Genius of the empire. Julian himself, in a confidential letter to his
+friend and physician, Oribasius, (Epist. xvii. p. 384,) mentions another
+dream, to which, before the event, he gave credit; of a stately tree
+thrown to the ground, of a small plant striking a deep root into the
+earth. Even in his sleep, the mind of the Caesar must have been agitated
+by the hopes and fears of his fortune. Zosimus (l. iii. p. 155) relates
+a subsequent dream.]
+
+To moderate the zeal of his party, to protect the persons of his
+enemies, [14] to defeat and to despise the secret enterprises which were
+formed against his life and dignity, were the cares which employed
+the first days of the reign of the new emperor. Although he was firmly
+resolved to maintain the station which he had assumed, he was still
+desirous of saving his country from the calamities of civil war, of
+declining a contest with the superior forces of Constantius, and
+of preserving his own character from the reproach of perfidy and
+ingratitude. Adorned with the ensigns of military and imperial pomp,
+Julian showed himself in the field of Mars to the soldiers, who glowed
+with ardent enthusiasm in the cause of their pupil, their leader,
+and their friend. He recapitulated their victories, lamented their
+sufferings, applauded their resolution, animated their hopes, and
+checked their impetuosity; nor did he dismiss the assembly, till he had
+obtained a solemn promise from the troops, that if the emperor of the
+East would subscribe an equitable treaty, they would renounce any views
+of conquest, and satisfy themselves with the tranquil possession of the
+Gallic provinces. On this foundation he composed, in his own name, and
+in that of the army, a specious and moderate epistle, [15] which
+was delivered to Pentadius, his master of the offices, and to his
+chamberlain Eutherius; two ambassadors whom he appointed to receive the
+answer, and observe the dispositions of Constantius. This epistle is
+inscribed with the modest appellation of Caesar; but Julian solicits in
+a peremptory, though respectful, manner, the confirmation of the title
+of Augustus. He acknowledges the irregularity of his own election, while
+he justifies, in some measure, the resentment and violence of the troops
+which had extorted his reluctant consent. He allows the supremacy of
+his brother Constantius; and engages to send him an annual present of
+Spanish horses, to recruit his army with a select number of barbarian
+youths, and to accept from his choice a Praetorian praefect of approved
+discretion and fidelity. But he reserves for himself the nomination of
+his other civil and military officers, with the troops, the revenue,
+and the sovereignty of the provinces beyond the Alps. He admonishes
+the emperor to consult the dictates of justice; to distrust the arts of
+those venal flatterers, who subsist only by the discord of princes;
+and to embrace the offer of a fair and honorable treaty, equally
+advantageous to the republic and to the house of Constantine. In this
+negotiation Julian claimed no more than he already possessed. The
+delegated authority which he had long exercised over the provinces of
+Gaul, Spain, and Britain, was still obeyed under a name more independent
+and august. The soldiers and the people rejoiced in a revolution which
+was not stained even with the blood of the guilty. Florentius was a
+fugitive; Lupicinus a prisoner. The persons who were disaffected to the
+new government were disarmed and secured; and the vacant offices were
+distributed, according to the recommendation of merit, by a prince who
+despised the intrigues of the palace, and the clamors of the soldiers.
+[16]
+
+[Footnote 14: The difficult situation of the prince of a rebellious army
+is finely described by Tacitus, (Hist. 1, 80-85.) But Otho had much more
+guilt, and much less abilities, than Julian.]
+
+[Footnote 15: To this ostensible epistle he added, says Ammianus,
+private letters, objurgatorias et mordaces, which the historian had not
+seen, and would not have published. Perhaps they never existed.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See the first transactions of his reign, in Julian. ad S.
+P. Q. Athen. p. 285, 286. Ammianus, xx. 5, 8. Liban. Orat. Parent. c.
+49, 50, p. 273-275.]
+
+The negotiations of peace were accompanied and supported by the most
+vigorous preparations for war. The army, which Julian held in readiness
+for immediate action, was recruited and augmented by the disorders
+of the times. The cruel persecutions of the faction of Magnentius had
+filled Gaul with numerous bands of outlaws and robbers. They cheerfully
+accepted the offer of a general pardon from a prince whom they could
+trust, submitted to the restraints of military discipline, and
+retained only their implacable hatred to the person and government of
+Constantius. [17] As soon as the season of the year permitted Julian to
+take the field, he appeared at the head of his legions; threw a bridge
+over the Rhine in the neighborhood of Cleves; and prepared to chastise
+the perfidy of the Attuarii, a tribe of Franks, who presumed that they
+might ravage, with impunity, the frontiers of a divided empire. The
+difficulty, as well as glory, of this enterprise, consisted in a
+laborious march; and Julian had conquered, as soon as he could penetrate
+into a country, which former princes had considered as inaccessible.
+After he had given peace to the Barbarians, the emperor carefully
+visited the fortifications along the Qhine from Cleves to Basil;
+surveyed, with peculiar attention, the territories which he had
+recovered from the hands of the Alemanni, passed through Besancon, [18]
+which had severely suffered from their fury, and fixed his headquarters
+at Vienna for the ensuing winter. The barrier of Gaul was improved and
+strengthened with additional fortifications; and Julian entertained some
+hopes that the Germans, whom he had so often vanquished, might, in his
+absence, be restrained by the terror of his name. Vadomair [19] was the
+only prince of the Alemanni whom he esteemed or feared and while the
+subtle Barbarian affected to observe the faith of treaties, the progress
+of his arms threatened the state with an unseasonable and dangerous war.
+The policy of Julian condescended to surprise the prince of the Alemanni
+by his own arts: and Vadomair, who, in the character of a friend, had
+incautiously accepted an invitation from the Roman governors, was seized
+in the midst of the entertainment, and sent away prisoner into the heart
+of Spain. Before the Barbarians were recovered from their amazement,
+the emperor appeared in arms on the banks of the Rhine, and, once more
+crossing the river, renewed the deep impressions of terror and respect
+which had been already made by four preceding expeditions. [20]
+
+[Footnote 17: Liban. Orat. Parent. c. 50, p. 275, 276. A strange
+disorder, since it continued above seven years. In the factions of the
+Greek republics, the exiles amounted to 20,000 persons; and Isocrates
+assures Philip, that it would be easier to raise an army from the
+vagabonds than from the cities. See Hume's Essays, tom. i. p. 426, 427.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Julian (Epist. xxxviii. p. 414) gives a short description
+of Vesontio, or Besancon; a rocky peninsula almost encircled by the
+River Doux; once a magnificent city, filled with temples, &c., now
+reduced to a small town, emerging, however, from its ruins.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Vadomair entered into the Roman service, and was promoted
+from a barbarian kingdom to the military rank of duke of Phoenicia. He
+still retained the same artful character, (Ammian. xxi. 4;) but under
+the reign of Valens, he signalized his valor in the Armenian war, (xxix.
+1.)]
+
+[Footnote 20: Ammian. xx. 10, xxi. 3, 4. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 155.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.--Part II.
+
+The ambassadors of Julian had been instructed to execute, with the
+utmost diligence, their important commission. But, in their passage
+through Italy and Illyricum, they were detained by the tedious and
+affected delays of the provincial governors; they were conducted by
+slow journeys from Constantinople to Caesarea in Cappadocia; and when
+at length they were admitted to the presence of Constantius, they found
+that he had already conceived, from the despatches of his own officers,
+the most unfavorable opinion of the conduct of Julian, and of the Gallic
+army. The letters were heard with impatience; the trembling messengers
+were dismissed with indignation and contempt; and the looks, gestures,
+the furious language of the monarch, expressed the disorder of his soul.
+The domestic connection, which might have reconciled the brother and the
+husband of Helena, was recently dissolved by the death of that princess,
+whose pregnancy had been several times fruitless, and was at last fatal
+to herself. [21] The empress Eusebia had preserved, to the last moment
+of her life, the warm, and even jealous, affection which she had
+conceived for Julian; and her mild influence might have moderated the
+resentment of a prince, who, since her death, was abandoned to his own
+passions, and to the arts of his eunuchs. But the terror of a foreign
+invasion obliged him to suspend the punishment of a private enemy:
+he continued his march towards the confines of Persia, and thought it
+sufficient to signify the conditions which might entitle Julian and
+his guilty followers to the clemency of their offended sovereign. He
+required, that the presumptuous Caesar should expressly renounce the
+appellation and rank of Augustus, which he had accepted from the rebels;
+that he should descend to his former station of a limited and dependent
+minister; that he should vest the powers of the state and army in the
+hands of those officers who were appointed by the Imperial court; and
+that he should trust his safety to the assurances of pardon, which were
+announced by Epictetus, a Gallic bishop, and one of the Arian favorites
+of Constantius. Several months were ineffectually consumed in a treaty
+which was negotiated at the distance of three thousand miles between
+Paris and Antioch; and, as soon as Julian perceived that his modest and
+respectful behavior served only to irritate the pride of an implacable
+adversary, he boldly resolved to commit his life and fortune to the
+chance of a civil war. He gave a public and military audience to the
+quaestor Leonas: the haughty epistle of Constantius was read to the
+attentive multitude; and Julian protested, with the most flattering
+deference, that he was ready to resign the title of Augustus, if he
+could obtain the consent of those whom he acknowledged as the authors
+of his elevation. The faint proposal was impetuously silenced; and the
+acclamations of "Julian Augustus, continue to reign, by the authority
+of the army, of the people, of the republic which you have saved,"
+thundered at once from every part of the field, and terrified the pale
+ambassador of Constantius. A part of the letter was afterwards read,
+in which the emperor arraigned the ingratitude of Julian, whom he had
+invested with the honors of the purple; whom he had educated with so
+much care and tenderness; whom he had preserved in his infancy, when he
+was left a helpless orphan.
+
+"An orphan!" interrupted Julian, who justified his cause by indulging
+his passions: "does the assassin of my family reproach me that I was
+left an orphan? He urges me to revenge those injuries which I have long
+studied to forget." The assembly was dismissed; and Leonas, who, with
+some difficulty, had been protected from the popular fury, was sent back
+to his master with an epistle, in which Julian expressed, in a strain of
+the most vehement eloquence, the sentiments of contempt, of hatred,
+and of resentment, which had been suppressed and imbittered by the
+dissimulation of twenty years. After this message, which might be
+considered as a signal of irreconcilable war, Julian, who, some weeks
+before, had celebrated the Christian festival of the Epiphany, [22] made
+a public declaration that he committed the care of his safety to the
+Immortal Gods; and thus publicly renounced the religion as well as the
+friendship of Constantius. [23]
+
+[Footnote 21: Her remains were sent to Rome, and interred near those of
+her sister Constantina, in the suburb of the Via Nomentana. Ammian. xxi.
+1. Libanius has composed a very weak apology, to justify his hero from
+a very absurd charge of poisoning his wife, and rewarding her physician
+with his mother's jewels. (See the seventh of seventeen new orations,
+published at Venice, 1754, from a MS. in St. Mark's Library, p.
+117-127.) Elpidius, the Praetorian praefect of the East, to whose
+evidence the accuser of Julian appeals, is arraigned by Libanius, as
+effeminate and ungrateful; yet the religion of Elpidius is praised by
+Jerom, (tom. i. p. 243,) and his Ammianus (xxi. 6.)]
+
+[Footnote 22: Feriarum die quem celebrantes mense Januario, Christiani
+Epiphania dictitant, progressus in eorum ecclesiam, solemniter numine
+orato discessit. Ammian. xxi. 2. Zonaras observes, that it was on
+Christmas day, and his assertion is not inconsistent; since the churches
+of Egypt, Asia, and perhaps Gaul, celebrated on the same day (the sixth
+of January) the nativity and the baptism of their Savior. The Romans,
+as ignorant as their brethren of the real date of his birth, fixed
+the solemn festival to the 25th of December, the Brumalia, or winter
+solstice, when the Pagans annually celebrated the birth of the sun.
+See Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, l. xx. c. 4, and
+Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheismo tom. ii. p. 690-700.]
+
+[Footnote 23: The public and secret negotiations between Constantius and
+Julian must be extracted, with some caution, from Julian himself. (Orat.
+ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286.) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 51, p. 276,)
+Ammianus, (xx. 9,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 154,) and even Zonaras, (tom.
+ii. l. xiii. p. 20, 21, 22,) who, on this occasion, appears to have
+possessed and used some valuable materials.]
+
+The situation of Julian required a vigorous and immediate resolution.
+He had discovered, from intercepted letters, that his adversary,
+sacrificing the interest of the state to that of the monarch, had again
+excited the Barbarians to invade the provinces of the West. The position
+of two magazines, one of them collected on the banks of the Lake of
+Constance, the other formed at the foot of the Cottian Alps, seemed to
+indicate the march of two armies; and the size of those magazines, each
+of which consisted of six hundred thousand quarters of wheat, or rather
+flour, [24] was a threatening evidence of the strength and numbers of
+the enemy who prepared to surround him. But the Imperial legions were
+still in their distant quarters of Asia; the Danube was feebly guarded;
+and if Julian could occupy, by a sudden incursion, the important
+provinces of Illyricum, he might expect that a people of soldiers would
+resort to his standard, and that the rich mines of gold and silver
+would contribute to the expenses of the civil war. He proposed this bold
+enterprise to the assembly of the soldiers; inspired them with a just
+confidence in their general, and in themselves; and exhorted them to
+maintain their reputation of being terrible to the enemy, moderate to
+their fellow-citizens, and obedient to their officers. His spirited
+discourse was received with the loudest acclamations, and the same
+troops which had taken up arms against Constantius, when he summoned
+them to leave Gaul, now declared with alacrity, that they would follow
+Julian to the farthest extremities of Europe or Asia. The oath of
+fidelity was administered; and the soldiers, clashing their shields, and
+pointing their drawn swords to their throats, devoted themselves, with
+horrid imprecations, to the service of a leader whom they celebrated as
+the deliverer of Gaul and the conqueror of the Germans. [25] This solemn
+engagement, which seemed to be dictated by affection rather than by
+duty, was singly opposed by Nebridius, who had been admitted to the
+office of Praetorian praefect. That faithful minister, alone and
+unassisted, asserted the rights of Constantius, in the midst of an armed
+and angry multitude, to whose fury he had almost fallen an honorable,
+but useless sacrifice. After losing one of his hands by the stroke of a
+sword, he embraced the knees of the prince whom he had offended. Julian
+covered the praefect with his Imperial mantle, and, protecting him from
+the zeal of his followers, dismissed him to his own house, with less
+respect than was perhaps due to the virtue of an enemy. [26] The high
+office of Nebridius was bestowed on Sallust; and the provinces of Gaul,
+which were now delivered from the intolerable oppression of taxes,
+enjoyed the mild and equitable administration of the friend of Julian,
+who was permitted to practise those virtues which he had instilled into
+the mind of his pupil. [27]
+
+[Footnote 24: Three hundred myriads, or three millions of medimni, a
+corn measure familiar to the Athenians, and which contained six Roman
+modii. Julian explains, like a soldier and a statesman, the danger of
+his situation, and the necessity and advantages of an offensive war, (ad
+S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286, 287.)]
+
+[Footnote 25: See his oration, and the behavior of the troops, in
+Ammian. xxi. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 26: He sternly refused his hand to the suppliant praefect,
+whom he sent into Tuscany. (Ammian. xxi. 5.) Libanius, with savage
+fury, insults Nebridius, applauds the soldiers, and almost censures the
+humanity of Julian. (Orat. Parent. c. 53, p. 278.)]
+
+[Footnote 27: Ammian. xxi. 8. In this promotion, Julian obeyed the law
+which he publicly imposed on himself. Neque civilis quisquam judex nec
+militaris rector, alio quodam praeter merita suffragante, ad potiorem
+veniat gradum. (Ammian. xx. 5.) Absence did not weaken his regard for
+Sallust, with whose name (A. D. 363) he honored the consulship.]
+
+The hopes of Julian depended much less on the number of his troops, than
+on the celerity of his motions. In the execution of a daring enterprise,
+he availed himself of every precaution, as far as prudence could
+suggest; and where prudence could no longer accompany his steps, he
+trusted the event to valor and to fortune. In the neighborhood of Basil
+he assembled and divided his army. [28] One body, which consisted of ten
+thousand men, was directed under the command of Nevitta, general of the
+cavalry, to advance through the midland parts of Rhaetia and Noricum.
+A similar division of troops, under the orders of Jovius and Jovinus,
+prepared to follow the oblique course of the highways, through the Alps,
+and the northern confines of Italy. The instructions to the generals
+were conceived with energy and precision: to hasten their march in close
+and compact columns, which, according to the disposition of the ground,
+might readily be changed into any order of battle; to secure themselves
+against the surprises of the night by strong posts and vigilant guards;
+to prevent resistance by their unexpected arrival; to elude examination
+by their sudden departure; to spread the opinion of their strength, and
+the terror of his name; and to join their sovereign under the walls
+of Sirmium. For himself Julian had reserved a more difficult and
+extraordinary part. He selected three thousand brave and active
+volunteers, resolved, like their leader, to cast behind them every hope
+of a retreat; at the head of this faithful band, he fearlessly plunged
+into the recesses of the Marcian, or Black Forest, which conceals the
+sources of the Danube; [29] and, for many days, the fate of Julian
+was unknown to the world. The secrecy of his march, his diligence, and
+vigor, surmounted every obstacle; he forced his way over mountains and
+morasses, occupied the bridges or swam the rivers, pursued his direct
+course, [30] without reflecting whether he traversed the territory of
+the Romans or of the Barbarians, and at length emerged, between Ratisbon
+and Vienna, at the place where he designed to embark his troops on
+the Danube. By a well-concerted stratagem, he seized a fleet of light
+brigantines, [31] as it lay at anchor; secured a apply of coarse
+provisions sufficient to satisfy the indelicate, and voracious, appetite
+of a Gallic army; and boldly committed himself to the stream of the
+Danube. The labors of the mariners, who plied their oars with incessant
+diligence, and the steady continuance of a favorable wind, carried his
+fleet above seven hundred miles in eleven days; [32] and he had already
+disembarked his troops at Bononia, [32a] only nineteen miles from
+Sirmium, before his enemies could receive any certain intelligence that
+he had left the banks of the Rhine. In the course of this long and
+rapid navigation, the mind of Julian was fixed on the object of his
+enterprise; and though he accepted the deputations of some cities, which
+hastened to claim the merit of an early submission, he passed before the
+hostile stations, which were placed along the river, without indulging
+the temptation of signalizing a useless and ill-timed valor. The banks
+of the Danube were crowded on either side with spectators, who gazed on
+the military pomp, anticipated the importance of the event, and diffused
+through the adjacent country the fame of a young hero, who advanced
+with more than mortal speed at the head of the innumerable forces of the
+West. Lucilian, who, with the rank of general of the cavalry, commanded
+the military powers of Illyricum, was alarmed and perplexed by the
+doubtful reports, which he could neither reject nor believe. He had
+taken some slow and irresolute measures for the purpose of collecting
+his troops, when he was surprised by Dagalaiphus, an active officer,
+whom Julian, as soon as he landed at Bononia, had pushed forwards with
+some light infantry. The captive general, uncertain of his life or
+death, was hastily thrown upon a horse, and conducted to the presence of
+Julian; who kindly raised him from the ground, and dispelled the terror
+and amazement which seemed to stupefy his faculties. But Lucilian had no
+sooner recovered his spirits, than he betrayed his want of discretion,
+by presuming to admonish his conqueror that he had rashly ventured,
+with a handful of men, to expose his person in the midst of his enemies.
+"Reserve for your master Constantius these timid remonstrances," replied
+Julian, with a smile of contempt: "when I gave you my purple to kiss,
+I received you not as a counsellor, but as a suppliant." Conscious that
+success alone could justify his attempt, and that boldness only could
+command success, he instantly advanced, at the head of three thousand
+soldiers, to attack the strongest and most populous city of the Illyrian
+provinces. As he entered the long suburb of Sirmium, he was received
+by the joyful acclamations of the army and people; who, crowned with
+flowers, and holding lighted tapers in their hands, conducted their
+acknowledged sovereign to his Imperial residence. Two days were devoted
+to the public joy, which was celebrated by the games of the circus;
+but, early on the morning of the third day, Julian marched to occupy the
+narrow pass of Succi, in the defiles of Mount Haemus; which, almost in
+the midway between Sirmium and Constantinople, separates the provinces
+of Thrace and Dacia, by an abrupt descent towards the former, and a
+gentle declivity on the side of the latter. [33] The defence of this
+important post was intrusted to the brave Nevitta; who, as well as the
+generals of the Italian division, successfully executed the plan of the
+march and junction which their master had so ably conceived. [34]
+
+[Footnote 28: Ammianus (xxi. 8) ascribes the same practice, and the same
+motive, to Alexander the Great and other skilful generals.]
+
+[Footnote 29: This wood was a part of the great Hercynian forest, which,
+is the time of Caesar, stretched away from the country of the Rauraci
+(Basil) into the boundless regions of the north. See Cluver, Germania
+Antiqua. l. iii. c. 47.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Compare Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 53, p. 278, 279, with
+Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 68. Even the saint admires the speed
+and secrecy of this march. A modern divine might apply to the progress
+of Julian the lines which were originally designed for another
+apostate:--
+
+     --So eagerly the fiend,
+     O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare,
+      With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way,
+     And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies.]
+
+[Footnote 31: In that interval the Notitia places two or three fleets,
+the Lauriacensis, (at Lauriacum, or Lorch,) the Arlapensis, the
+Maginensis; and mentions five legions, or cohorts, of Libernarii, who
+should be a sort of marines. Sect. lviii. edit. Labb.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Zosimus alone (l. iii. p. 156) has specified this
+interesting circumstance. Mamertinus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xi. 6, 7, 8,)
+who accompanied Julian, as count of the sacred largesses, describes this
+voyage in a florid and picturesque manner, challenges Triptolemus and
+the Argonauts of Greece, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 32a: Banostar. Mannert.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 33: The description of Ammianus, which might be supported by
+collateral evidence, ascertains the precise situation of the Angustine
+Succorum, or passes of Succi. M. d'Anville, from the trifling
+resemblance of names, has placed them between Sardica and Naissus. For
+my own justification I am obliged to mention the only error which I have
+discovered in the maps or writings of that admirable geographer.]
+
+[Footnote 34: Whatever circumstances we may borrow elsewhere, Ammianus
+(xx. 8, 9, 10) still supplies the series of the narrative.]
+
+The homage which Julian obtained, from the fears or the inclination of
+the people, extended far beyond the immediate effect of his arms. [35]
+The praefectures of Italy and Illyricum were administered by Taurus and
+Florentius, who united that important office with the vain honors of the
+consulship; and as those magistrates had retired with precipitation to
+the court of Asia, Julian, who could not always restrain the levity of
+his temper, stigmatized their flight by adding, in all the Acts of
+the Year, the epithet of fugitive to the names of the two consuls.
+The provinces which had been deserted by their first magistrates
+acknowledged the authority of an emperor, who, conciliating the
+qualities of a soldier with those of a philosopher, was equally admired
+in the camps of the Danube and in the cities of Greece. From his palace,
+or, more properly, from his head-quarters of Sirmium and Naissus, he
+distributed to the principal cities of the empire, a labored apology
+for his own conduct; published the secret despatches of Constantius; and
+solicited the judgment of mankind between two competitors, the one
+of whom had expelled, and the other had invited, the Barbarians. [36]
+Julian, whose mind was deeply wounded by the reproach of ingratitude,
+aspired to maintain, by argument as well as by arms, the superior merits
+of his cause; and to excel, not only in the arts of war, but in those of
+composition. His epistle to the senate and people of Athens [37] seems
+to have been dictated by an elegant enthusiasm; which prompted him to
+submit his actions and his motives to the degenerate Athenians of his
+own times, with the same humble deference as if he had been pleading,
+in the days of Aristides, before the tribunal of the Areopagus. His
+application to the senate of Rome, which was still permitted to bestow
+the titles of Imperial power, was agreeable to the forms of the expiring
+republic. An assembly was summoned by Tertullus, praefect of the city;
+the epistle of Julian was read; and, as he appeared to be master of
+Italy his claims were admitted without a dissenting voice. His oblique
+censure of the innovations of Constantine, and his passionate invective
+against the vices of Constantius, were heard with less satisfaction;
+and the senate, as if Julian had been present, unanimously exclaimed,
+"Respect, we beseech you, the author of your own fortune." [38] An
+artful expression, which, according to the chance of war, might be
+differently explained; as a manly reproof of the ingratitude of the
+usurper, or as a flattering confession, that a single act of such
+benefit to the state ought to atone for all the failings of Constantius.
+
+[Footnote 35: Ammian. xxi. 9, 10. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 54, p. 279,
+280. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 156, 157.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Julian (ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286) positively asserts,
+that he intercepted the letters of Constantius to the Barbarians; and
+Libanius as positively affirms, that he read them on his march to the
+troops and the cities. Yet Ammianus (xxi. 4) expresses himself with
+cool and candid hesitation, si famoe solius admittenda est fides. He
+specifies, however, an intercepted letter from Vadomair to Constantius,
+which supposes an intimate correspondence between them. "disciplinam non
+habet."]
+
+[Footnote 37: Zosimus mentions his epistles to the Athenians, the
+Corinthians, and the Lacedaemonians. The substance was probably the
+same, though the address was properly varied. The epistle to the
+Athenians is still extant, (p. 268-287,) and has afforded much valuable
+information. It deserves the praises of the Abbe de la Bleterie, (Pref.
+a l'Histoire de Jovien, p. 24, 25,) and is one of the best manifestoes
+to be found in any language.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Auctori tuo reverentiam rogamus. Ammian. xxi. 10. It is
+amusing enough to observe the secret conflicts of the senate between
+flattery and fear. See Tacit. Hist. i. 85.]
+
+The intelligence of the march and rapid progress of Julian was speedily
+transmitted to his rival, who, by the retreat of Sapor, had obtained
+some respite from the Persian war. Disguising the anguish of his soul
+under the semblance of contempt, Constantius professed his intention of
+returning into Europe, and of giving chase to Julian; for he never spoke
+of his military expedition in any other light than that of a hunting
+party. [39] In the camp of Hierapolis, in Syria, he communicated this
+design to his army; slightly mentioned the guilt and rashness of the
+Caesar; and ventured to assure them, that if the mutineers of Gaul
+presumed to meet them in the field, they would be unable to sustain the
+fire of their eyes, and the irresistible weight of their shout of onset.
+The speech of the emperor was received with military applause, and
+Theodotus, the president of the council of Hierapolis, requested, with
+tears of adulation, that his city might be adorned with the head of
+the vanquished rebel. [40] A chosen detachment was despatched away in
+post-wagons, to secure, if it were yet possible, the pass of Succi;
+the recruits, the horses, the arms, and the magazines, which had been
+prepared against Sapor, were appropriated to the service of the civil
+war; and the domestic victories of Constantius inspired his partisans
+with the most sanguine assurances of success. The notary Gaudentius had
+occupied in his name the provinces of Africa; the subsistence of
+Rome was intercepted; and the distress of Julian was increased by
+an unexpected event, which might have been productive of fatal
+consequences. Julian had received the submission of two legions and a
+cohort of archers, who were stationed at Sirmium; but he suspected, with
+reason, the fidelity of those troops which had been distinguished by the
+emperor; and it was thought expedient, under the pretence of the exposed
+state of the Gallic frontier, to dismiss them from the most important
+scene of action. They advanced, with reluctance, as far as the confines
+of Italy; but as they dreaded the length of the way, and the savage
+fierceness of the Germans, they resolved, by the instigation of one
+of their tribunes, to halt at Aquileia, and to erect the banners of
+Constantius on the walls of that impregnable city. The vigilance of
+Julian perceived at once the extent of the mischief, and the necessity
+of applying an immediate remedy. By his order, Jovinus led back a
+part of the army into Italy; and the siege of Aquileia was formed with
+diligence, and prosecuted with vigor. But the legionaries, who seemed to
+have rejected the yoke of discipline, conducted the defence of the place
+with skill and perseverance; vited the rest of Italy to imitate the
+example of their courage and loyalty; and threatened the retreat of
+Julian, if he should be forced to yield to the superior numbers of the
+armies of the East. [41]
+
+[Footnote 39: Tanquam venaticiam praedam caperet: hoc enim ad Jeniendum
+suorum metum subinde praedicabat. Ammian. xxii. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 40: See the speech and preparations in Ammianus, xxi. 13.
+The vile Theodotus afterwards implored and obtained his pardon from the
+merciful conqueror, who signified his wish of diminishing his enemies
+and increasing the numbers of his friends, (xxii. 14.)]
+
+[Footnote 41: Ammian. xxi. 7, 11, 12. He seems to describe, with
+superfluous labor, the operations of the siege of Aquileia, which, on
+this occasion, maintained its impregnable fame. Gregory Nazianzen
+(Orat. iii. p. 68) ascribes this accidental revolt to the wisdom of
+Constantius, whose assured victory he announces with some appearance of
+truth. Constantio quem credebat procul dubio fore victorem; nemo enim
+omnium tunc ab hac constanti sententia discrepebat. Ammian. xxi. 7.]
+
+But the humanity of Julian was preserved from the cruel alternative
+which he pathetically laments, of destroying or of being himself
+destroyed: and the seasonable death of Constantius delivered the Roman
+empire from the calamities of civil war. The approach of winter could
+not detain the monarch at Antioch; and his favorites durst not oppose
+his impatient desire of revenge. A slight fever, which was perhaps
+occasioned by the agitation of his spirits, was increased by the
+fatigues of the journey; and Constantius was obliged to halt at the
+little town of Mopsucrene, twelve miles beyond Tarsus, where he expired,
+after a short illness, in the forty-fifth year of his age, and the
+twenty-fourth of his reign. [42] His genuine character, which was
+composed of pride and weakness, of superstition and cruelty, has been
+fully displayed in the preceding narrative of civil and ecclesiastical
+events. The long abuse of power rendered him a considerable object in
+the eyes of his contemporaries; but as personal merit can alone deserve
+the notice of posterity, the last of the sons of Constantine may
+be dismissed from the world, with the remark, that he inherited the
+defects, without the abilities, of his father. Before Constantius
+expired, he is said to have named Julian for his successor; nor does it
+seem improbable, that his anxious concern for the fate of a young and
+tender wife, whom he left with child, may have prevailed, in his last
+moments, over the harsher passions of hatred and revenge. Eusebius, and
+his guilty associates, made a faint attempt to prolong the reign of the
+eunuchs, by the election of another emperor; but their intrigues were
+rejected with disdain, by an army which now abhorred the thought of
+civil discord; and two officers of rank were instantly despatched, to
+assure Julian, that every sword in the empire would be drawn for his
+service. The military designs of that prince, who had formed three
+different attacks against Thrace, were prevented by this fortunate
+event. Without shedding the blood of his fellow-citizens, he escaped
+the dangers of a doubtful conflict, and acquired the advantages of a
+complete victory. Impatient to visit the place of his birth, and the new
+capital of the empire, he advanced from Naissus through the mountains
+of Haemus, and the cities of Thrace. When he reached Heraclea, at the
+distance of sixty miles, all Constantinople was poured forth to receive
+him; and he made his triumphal entry amidst the dutiful acclamations
+of the soldiers, the people, and the senate. At innumerable multitude
+pressed around him with eager respect and were perhaps disappointed
+when they beheld the small stature and simple garb of a hero, whose
+unexperienced youth had vanquished the Barbarians of Germany, and
+who had now traversed, in a successful career, the whole continent of
+Europe, from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Bosphorus. [43]
+A few days afterwards, when the remains of the deceased emperor were
+landed in the harbor, the subjects of Julian applauded the real or
+affected humanity of their sovereign. On foot, without his diadem, and
+clothed in a mourning habit, he accompanied the funeral as far as the
+church of the Holy Apostles, where the body was deposited: and if these
+marks of respect may be interpreted as a selfish tribute to the birth
+and dignity of his Imperial kinsman, the tears of Julian professed
+to the world that he had forgot the injuries, and remembered only the
+obligations, which he had received from Constantius. [44] As soon as
+the legions of Aquileia were assured of the death of the emperor, they
+opened the gates of the city, and, by the sacrifice of their guilty
+leaders, obtained an easy pardon from the prudence or lenity of Julian;
+who, in the thirty-second year of his age, acquired the undisputed
+possession of the Roman empire. [45]
+
+[Footnote 42: His death and character are faithfully delineated by
+Ammianus, (xxi. 14, 15, 16;) and we are authorized to despise and detest
+the foolish calumny of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 68,) who accuses Julian
+of contriving the death of his benefactor. The private repentance of the
+emperor, that he had spared and promoted Julian, (p. 69, and Orat. xxi.
+p. 389,) is not improbable in itself, nor incompatible with the public
+verbal testament which prudential considerations might dictate in the
+last moments of his life. Note: Wagner thinks this sudden change of
+sentiment altogether a fiction of the attendant courtiers and chiefs of
+the army. who up to this time had been hostile to Julian. Note in loco
+Ammian.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 43: In describing the triumph of Julian, Ammianus (xxii. l,
+2) assumes the lofty tone of an orator or poet; while Libanius (Orat.
+Parent, c. 56, p. 281) sinks to the grave simplicity of an historian.]
+
+[Footnote 44: The funeral of Constantius is described by Ammianus, (xxi.
+16.) Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 119,) Mamertinus, in (Panegyr.
+Vet. xi. 27,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. lvi. p. 283,) and
+Philostorgius, (l. vi. c. 6, with Godefroy's Dissertations, p. 265.)
+These writers, and their followers, Pagans, Catholics, Arians, beheld
+with very different eyes both the dead and the living emperor.]
+
+[Footnote 45: The day and year of the birth of Julian are not perfectly
+ascertained. The day is probably the sixth of November, and the year
+must be either 331 or 332. Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p.
+693. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 50. I have preferred the earlier date.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.--Part III.
+
+Philosophy had instructed Julian to compare the advantages of action
+and retirement; but the elevation of his birth, and the accidents of
+his life, never allowed him the freedom of choice. He might perhaps
+sincerely have preferred the groves of the academy, and the society of
+Athens; but he was constrained, at first by the will, and afterwards
+by the injustice, of Constantius, to expose his person and fame to the
+dangers of Imperial greatness; and to make himself accountable to the
+world, and to posterity, for the happiness of millions. [46] Julian
+recollected with terror the observation of his master Plato, [47] that
+the government of our flocks and herds is always committed to beings
+of a superior species; and that the conduct of nations requires and
+deserves the celestial powers of the gods or of the genii. From this
+principle he justly concluded, that the man who presumes to reign,
+should aspire to the perfection of the divine nature; that he should
+purify his soul from her mortal and terrestrial part; that he should
+extinguish his appetites, enlighten his understanding, regulate his
+passions, and subdue the wild beast, which, according to the lively
+metaphor of Aristotle, [48] seldom fails to ascend the throne of a
+despot. The throne of Julian, which the death of Constantius fixed on
+an independent basis, was the seat of reason, of virtue, and perhaps of
+vanity. He despised the honors, renounced the pleasures, and discharged
+with incessant diligence the duties, of his exalted station; and there
+were few among his subjects who would have consented to relieve him from
+the weight of the diadem, had they been obliged to submit their time
+and their actions to the rigorous laws which that philosophic emperor
+imposed on himself. One of his most intimate friends, [49] who had often
+shared the frugal simplicity of his table, has remarked, that his light
+and sparing diet (which was usually of the vegetable kind) left his mind
+and body always free and active, for the various and important business
+of an author, a pontiff, a magistrate, a general, and a prince. In one
+and the same day, he gave audience to several ambassadors, and wrote,
+or dictated, a great number of letters to his generals, his civil
+magistrates, his private friends, and the different cities of his
+dominions. He listened to the memorials which had been received,
+considered the subject of the petitions, and signified his intentions
+more rapidly than they could be taken in short-hand by the diligence
+of his secretaries. He possessed such flexibility of thought, and such
+firmness of attention, that he could employ his hand to write, his ear
+to listen, and his voice to dictate; and pursue at once three several
+trains of ideas without hesitation, and without error. While his
+ministers reposed, the prince flew with agility from one labor to
+another, and, after a hasty dinner, retired into his library, till the
+public business, which he had appointed for the evening, summoned him to
+interrupt the prosecution of his studies. The supper of the emperor was
+still less substantial than the former meal; his sleep was never clouded
+by the fumes of indigestion; and except in the short interval of a
+marriage, which was the effect of policy rather than love, the chaste
+Julian never shared his bed with a female companion. [50] He was
+soon awakened by the entrance of fresh secretaries, who had slept the
+preceding day; and his servants were obliged to wait alternately
+while their indefatigable master allowed himself scarcely any other
+refreshment than the change of occupation. The predecessors of Julian,
+his uncle, his brother, and his cousin, indulged their puerile taste for
+the games of the Circus, under the specious pretence of complying
+with the inclinations of the people; and they frequently remained
+the greatest part of the day as idle spectators, and as a part of the
+splendid spectacle, till the ordinary round of twenty-four races [51]
+was completely finished. On solemn festivals, Julian, who felt and
+professed an unfashionable dislike to these frivolous amusements,
+condescended to appear in the Circus; and after bestowing a careless
+glance at five or six of the races, he hastily withdrew with the
+impatience of a philosopher, who considered every moment as lost that
+was not devoted to the advantage of the public or the improvement of his
+own mind. [52] By this avarice of time, he seemed to protract the short
+duration of his reign; and if the dates were less securely ascertained,
+we should refuse to believe, that only sixteen months elapsed between
+the death of Constantius and the departure of his successor for the
+Persian war. The actions of Julian can only be preserved by the care
+of the historian; but the portion of his voluminous writings, which is
+still extant, remains as a monument of the application, as well as of
+the genius, of the emperor. The Misopogon, the Caesars, several of his
+orations, and his elaborate work against the Christian religion, were
+composed in the long nights of the two winters, the former of which he
+passed at Constantinople, and the latter at Antioch.
+
+[Footnote 46: Julian himself (p. 253-267) has expressed these
+philosophical ideas with much eloquence and some affectation, in a very
+elaborate epistle to Themistius. The Abbe de la Bleterie, (tom. ii. p.
+146-193,) who has given an elegant translation, is inclined to believe
+that it was the celebrated Themistius, whose orations are still extant.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Julian. ad Themist. p. 258. Petavius (not. p. 95) observes
+that this passage is taken from the fourth book De Legibus; but either
+Julian quoted from memory, or his MSS. were different from ours Xenophon
+opens the Cyropaedia with a similar reflection.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Aristot. ap. Julian. p. 261. The MS. of Vossius,
+unsatisfied with the single beast, affords the stronger reading of which
+the experience of despotism may warrant.]
+
+[Footnote 49: Libanius (Orat. Parentalis, c. lxxxiv. lxxxv. p. 310, 311,
+312) has given this interesting detail of the private life of Julian. He
+himself (in Misopogon, p. 350) mentions his vegetable diet, and upbraids
+the gross and sensual appetite of the people of Antioch.]
+
+[Footnote 50: Lectulus... Vestalium toris purior, is the praise which
+Mamertinus (Panegyr. Vet. xi. 13) addresses to Julian himself. Libanius
+affirms, in sober peremptory language, that Julian never knew a woman
+before his marriage, or after the death of his wife, (Orat. Parent. c.
+lxxxviii. p. 313.) The chastity of Julian is confirmed by the impartial
+testimony of Ammianus, (xxv. 4,) and the partial silence of the
+Christians. Yet Julian ironically urges the reproach of the people of
+Antioch, that he almost always (in Misopogon, p. 345) lay alone. This
+suspicious expression is explained by the Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de
+Jovien, tom. ii. p. 103-109) with candor and ingenuity.]
+
+[Footnote 51: See Salmasius ad Sueton in Claud. c. xxi. A twenty-fifth
+race, or missus, was added, to complete the number of one hundred
+chariots, four of which, the four colors, started each heat.
+
+Centum quadrijugos agitabo ad flumina currus.
+
+It appears, that they ran five or seven times round the Mota (Sueton in
+Domitian. c. 4;) and (from the measure of the Circus Maximus at Rome,
+the Hippodrome at Constantinople, &c.) it might be about a four mile
+course.]
+
+[Footnote 52: Julian. in Misopogon, p. 340. Julius Caesar had offended
+the Roman people by reading his despatches during the actual race.
+Augustus indulged their taste, or his own, by his constant attention to
+the important business of the Circus, for which he professed the warmest
+inclination. Sueton. in August. c. xlv.]
+
+The reformation of the Imperial court was one of the first and most
+necessary acts of the government of Julian. [53] Soon after his entrance
+into the palace of Constantinople, he had occasion for the service of
+a barber. An officer, magnificently dressed, immediately presented
+himself. "It is a barber," exclaimed the prince, with affected surprise,
+"that I want, and not a receiver-general of the finances." [54] He
+questioned the man concerning the profits of his employment and was
+informed, that besides a large salary, and some valuable perquisites,
+he enjoyed a daily allowance for twenty servants, and as many horses.
+A thousand barbers, a thousand cup-bearers, a thousand cooks, were
+distributed in the several offices of luxury; and the number of eunuchs
+could be compared only with the insects of a summer's day. The monarch
+who resigned to his subjects the superiority of merit and virtue, was
+distinguished by the oppressive magnificence of his dress, his table,
+his buildings, and his train. The stately palaces erected by Constantine
+and his sons, were decorated with many colored marbles, and ornaments of
+massy gold. The most exquisite dainties were procured, to gratify their
+pride, rather than their taste; birds of the most distant climates, fish
+from the most remote seas, fruits out of their natural season, winter
+roses, and summer snows. [56] The domestic crowd of the palace surpassed
+the expense of the legions; yet the smallest part of this costly
+multitude was subservient to the use, or even to the splendor, of the
+throne. The monarch was disgraced, and the people was injured, by the
+creation and sale of an infinite number of obscure, and even titular
+employments; and the most worthless of mankind might purchase the
+privilege of being maintained, without the necessity of labor, from the
+public revenue. The waste of an enormous household, the increase of
+fees and perquisites, which were soon claimed as a lawful debt, and
+the bribes which they extorted from those who feared their enmity, or
+solicited their favor, suddenly enriched these haughty menials. They
+abused their fortune, without considering their past, or their future,
+condition; and their rapine and venality could be equalled only by the
+extravagance of their dissipations. Their silken robes were embroidered
+with gold, their tables were served with delicacy and profusion; the
+houses which they built for their own use, would have covered the farm
+of an ancient consul; and the most honorable citizens were obliged to
+dismount from their horses, and respectfully to salute a eunuch whom
+they met on the public highway. The luxury of the palace excited the
+contempt and indignation of Julian, who usually slept on the ground, who
+yielded with reluctance to the indispensable calls of nature; and who
+placed his vanity, not in emulating, but in despising, the pomp of
+royalty.
+
+[Footnote 53: The reformation of the palace is described by Ammianus,
+(xxii. 4,) Libanius, Orat. (Parent. c. lxii. p. 288, &c.,) Mamertinus,
+in Panegyr. (Vet. xi. 11,) Socrates, (l. iii. c. l.,) and Zonaras, (tom.
+ii. l. xiii. p. 24.)]
+
+[Footnote 54: Ego non rationalem jussi sed tonsorem acciri. Zonaras uses
+the less natural image of a senator. Yet an officer of the finances,
+who was satisfied with wealth, might desire and obtain the honors of the
+senate.]
+
+[Footnote 56: The expressions of Mamertinus are lively and forcible.
+Quis etiam prandiorum et caenarum laboratas magnitudines Romanus
+populus sensit; cum quaesitissimae dapes non gustu sed difficultatibus
+aestimarentur; miracula avium, longinqui maris pisces, aheni temporis
+poma, aestivae nives, hybernae rosae]
+
+By the total extirpation of a mischief which was magnified even beyond
+its real extent, he was impatient to relieve the distress, and to
+appease the murmurs of the people; who support with less uneasiness the
+weight of taxes, if they are convinced that the fruits of their industry
+are appropriated to the service of the state. But in the execution of
+this salutary work, Julian is accused of proceeding with too much haste
+and inconsiderate severity. By a single edict, he reduced the palace
+of Constantinople to an immense desert, and dismissed with ignominy the
+whole train of slaves and dependants, [57] without providing any just,
+or at least benevolent, exceptions, for the age, the services, or the
+poverty, of the faithful domestics of the Imperial family. Such indeed
+was the temper of Julian, who seldom recollected the fundamental maxim
+of Aristotle, that true virtue is placed at an equal distance between
+the opposite vices.
+
+The splendid and effeminate dress of the Asiatics, the curls and paint,
+the collars and bracelets, which had appeared so ridiculous in the
+person of Constantine, were consistently rejected by his philosophic
+successor. But with the fopperies, Julian affected to renounce the
+decencies of dress; and seemed to value himself for his neglect of the
+laws of cleanliness. In a satirical performance, which was designed for
+the public eye, the emperor descants with pleasure, and even with
+pride, on the length of his nails, and the inky blackness of his hands;
+protests, that although the greatest part of his body was covered
+with hair, the use of the razor was confined to his head alone; and
+celebrates, with visible complacency, the shaggy and populous [58]
+beard, which he fondly cherished, after the example of the philosophers
+of Greece. Had Julian consulted the simple dictates of reason, the first
+magistrate of the Romans would have scorned the affectation of Diogenes,
+as well as that of Darius.
+
+[Footnote 57: Yet Julian himself was accused of bestowing whole towns
+on the eunuchs, (Orat. vii. against Polyclet. p. 117-127.) Libanius
+contents himself with a cold but positive denial of the fact, which
+seems indeed to belong more properly to Constantius. This charge,
+however, may allude to some unknown circumstance.]
+
+[Footnote 58: In the Misopogon (p. 338, 339) he draws a very
+singular picture of himself, and the following words are strangely
+characteristic. The friends of the Abbe de la Bleterie adjured him,
+in the name of the French nation, not to translate this passage, so
+offensive to their delicacy, (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 94.) Like
+him, I have contented myself with a transient allusion; but the little
+animal which Julian names, is a beast familiar to man, and signifies
+love.]
+
+But the work of public reformation would have remained imperfect, if
+Julian had only corrected the abuses, without punishing the crimes, of
+his predecessor's reign. "We are now delivered," says he, in a familiar
+letter to one of his intimate friends, "we are now surprisingly
+delivered from the voracious jaws of the Hydra. [59] I do not mean to
+apply the epithet to my brother Constantius. He is no more; may the
+earth lie light on his head! But his artful and cruel favorites studied
+to deceive and exasperate a prince, whose natural mildness cannot
+be praised without some efforts of adulation. It is not, however, my
+intention, that even those men should be oppressed: they are accused,
+and they shall enjoy the benefit of a fair and impartial trial." To
+conduct this inquiry, Julian named six judges of the highest rank in the
+state and army; and as he wished to escape the reproach of condemning
+his personal enemies, he fixed this extraordinary tribunal at
+Chalcedon, on the Asiatic side of the Bosphorus; and transferred to the
+commissioners an absolute power to pronounce and execute their final
+sentence, without delay, and without appeal. The office of president was
+exercised by the venerable praefect of the East, a second Sallust, [60]
+whose virtues conciliated the esteem of Greek sophists, and of Christian
+bishops. He was assisted by the eloquent Mamertinus, [61] one of the
+consuls elect, whose merit is loudly celebrated by the doubtful evidence
+of his own applause. But the civil wisdom of two magistrates was
+overbalanced by the ferocious violence of four generals, Nevitta, Agilo,
+Jovinus, and Arbetio. Arbetio, whom the public would have seen with
+less surprise at the bar than on the bench, was supposed to possess the
+secret of the commission; the armed and angry leaders of the Jovian
+and Herculian bands encompassed the tribunal; and the judges were
+alternately swayed by the laws of justice, and by the clamors of
+faction. [62]
+
+[Footnote 59: Julian, epist. xxiii. p. 389. He uses the words in writing
+to his friend Hermogenes, who, like himself, was conversant with the
+Greek poets.]
+
+[Footnote 60: The two Sallusts, the praefect of Gaul, and the praefect
+of the East, must be carefully distinguished, (Hist. des Empereurs,
+tom. iv. p. 696.) I have used the surname of Secundus, as a convenient
+epithet. The second Sallust extorted the esteem of the Christians
+themselves; and Gregory Nazianzen, who condemned his religion, has
+celebrated his virtues, (Orat. iii. p. 90.) See a curious note of the
+Abbe de la Bleterie, Vie de Julien, p. 363. Note: Gibbonus secundum
+habet pro numero, quod tamen est viri agnomen Wagner, nota in loc. Amm.
+It is not a mistake; it is rather an error in taste. Wagner inclines to
+transfer the chief guilt to Arbetio.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 61: Mamertinus praises the emperor (xi. l.) for bestowing
+the offices of Treasurer and Praefect on a man of wisdom, firmness,
+integrity, &c., like himself. Yet Ammianus ranks him (xxi. l.) among the
+ministers of Julian, quorum merita norat et fidem.]
+
+[Footnote 62: The proceedings of this chamber of justice are related by
+Ammianus, (xxii. 3,) and praised by Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 74, p.
+299, 300.)]
+
+The chamberlain Eusebius, who had so long abused the favor of
+Constantius, expiated, by an ignominious death, the insolence, the
+corruption, and cruelty of his servile reign. The executions of Paul
+and Apodemius (the former of whom was burnt alive) were accepted as
+an inadequate atonement by the widows and orphans of so many hundred
+Romans, whom those legal tyrants had betrayed and murdered. But justice
+herself (if we may use the pathetic expression of Ammianus) [63] appeared
+to weep over the fate of Ursulus, the treasurer of the empire; and
+his blood accused the ingratitude of Julian, whose distress had been
+seasonably relieved by the intrepid liberality of that honest minister.
+The rage of the soldiers, whom he had provoked by his indiscretion, was
+the cause and the excuse of his death; and the emperor, deeply wounded
+by his own reproaches and those of the public, offered some consolation
+to the family of Ursulus, by the restitution of his confiscated
+fortunes. Before the end of the year in which they had been adorned with
+the ensigns of the prefecture and consulship, [64] Taurus and Florentius
+were reduced to implore the clemency of the inexorable tribunal of
+Chalcedon. The former was banished to Vercellae in Italy, and a sentence
+of death was pronounced against the latter. A wise prince should have
+rewarded the crime of Taurus: the faithful minister, when he was no
+longer able to oppose the progress of a rebel, had taken refuge in
+the court of his benefactor and his lawful sovereign. But the guilt of
+Florentius justified the severity of the judges; and his escape served
+to display the magnanimity of Julian, who nobly checked the interested
+diligence of an informer, and refused to learn what place concealed the
+wretched fugitive from his just resentment. [65] Some months after the
+tribunal of Chalcedon had been dissolved, the praetorian vicegerent of
+Africa, the notary Gaudentius, and Artemius [66] duke of Egypt, were
+executed at Antioch. Artemius had reigned the cruel and corrupt tyrant
+of a great province; Gaudentius had long practised the arts of calumny
+against the innocent, the virtuous, and even the person of Julian
+himself. Yet the circumstances of their trial and condemnation were
+so unskillfully managed, that these wicked men obtained, in the public
+opinion, the glory of suffering for the obstinate loyalty with which
+they had supported the cause of Constantius. The rest of his servants
+were protected by a general act of oblivion; and they were left to enjoy
+with impunity the bribes which they had accepted, either to defend the
+oppressed, or to oppress the friendless. This measure, which, on the
+soundest principles of policy, may deserve our approbation, was executed
+in a manner which seemed to degrade the majesty of the throne. Julian
+was tormented by the importunities of a multitude, particularly of
+Egyptians, who loudly redemanded the gifts which they had imprudently
+or illegally bestowed; he foresaw the endless prosecution of vexatious
+suits; and he engaged a promise, which ought always to have been sacred,
+that if they would repair to Chalcedon, he would meet them in person, to
+hear and determine their complaints. But as soon as they were landed,
+he issued an absolute order, which prohibited the watermen from
+transporting any Egyptian to Constantinople; and thus detained his
+disappointed clients on the Asiatic shore till, their patience and money
+being utterly exhausted, they were obliged to return with indignant
+murmurs to their native country. [67]
+
+[Footnote 63: Ursuli vero necem ipsa mihi videtur flesse justitia.
+Libanius, who imputes his death to the soldiers, attempts to criminate
+the court of the largesses.]
+
+[Footnote 64: Such respect was still entertained for the venerable names
+of the commonwealth, that the public was surprised and scandalized to
+hear Taurus summoned as a criminal under the consulship of Taurus.
+The summons of his colleague Florentius was probably delayed till the
+commencement of the ensuing year.]
+
+[Footnote 65: Ammian. xx. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 66: For the guilt and punishment of Artemius, see Julian
+(Epist. x. p. 379) and Ammianus, (xxii. 6, and Vales, ad hoc.) The
+merit of Artemius, who demolished temples, and was put to death by an
+apostate, has tempted the Greek and Latin churches to honor him as a
+martyr. But as ecclesiastical history attests that he was not only
+a tyrant, but an Arian, it is not altogether easy to justify this
+indiscreet promotion. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1319.]
+
+[Footnote 67: See Ammian. xxii. 6, and Vales, ad locum; and the Codex
+Theodosianus, l. ii. tit. xxxix. leg. i.; and Godefroy's Commentary,
+tom. i. p. 218, ad locum.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXII: Julian Declared Emperor.--Part IV.
+
+The numerous army of spies, of agents, and informers enlisted by
+Constantius to secure the repose of one man, and to interrupt that of
+millions, was immediately disbanded by his generous successor. Julian
+was slow in his suspicions, and gentle in his punishments; and his
+contempt of treason was the result of judgment, of vanity, and of
+courage. Conscious of superior merit, he was persuaded that few among
+his subjects would dare to meet him in the field, to attempt his life,
+or even to seat themselves on his vacant throne. The philosopher could
+excuse the hasty sallies of discontent; and the hero could despise the
+ambitious projects which surpassed the fortune or the abilities of the
+rash conspirators. A citizen of Ancyra had prepared for his own use a
+purple garment; and this indiscreet action, which, under the reign of
+Constantius, would have been considered as a capital offence, [68] was
+reported to Julian by the officious importunity of a private enemy. The
+monarch, after making some inquiry into the rank and character of
+his rival, despatched the informer with a present of a pair of purple
+slippers, to complete the magnificence of his Imperial habit. A more
+dangerous conspiracy was formed by ten of the domestic guards, who had
+resolved to assassinate Julian in the field of exercise near Antioch.
+Their intemperance revealed their guilt; and they were conducted in
+chains to the presence of their injured sovereign, who, after a lively
+representation of the wickedness and folly of their enterprise, instead
+of a death of torture, which they deserved and expected, pronounced a
+sentence of exile against the two principal offenders. The only instance
+in which Julian seemed to depart from his accustomed clemency, was the
+execution of a rash youth, who, with a feeble hand, had aspired to
+seize the reins of empire. But that youth was the son of Marcellus, the
+general of cavalry, who, in the first campaign of the Gallic war, had
+deserted the standard of the Caesar and the republic. Without appearing
+to indulge his personal resentment, Julian might easily confound
+the crime of the son and of the father; but he was reconciled by the
+distress of Marcellus, and the liberality of the emperor endeavored to
+heal the wound which had been inflicted by the hand of justice. [69]
+
+[Footnote 68: The president Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur,
+&c., des Romains, c. xiv. in his works, tom. iii. p. 448, 449,) excuses
+this minute and absurd tyranny, by supposing that actions the most
+indifferent in our eyes might excite, in a Roman mind, the idea of
+guilt and danger. This strange apology is supported by a strange
+misapprehension of the English laws, "chez une nation.... ou il est
+defendu da boire a la sante d'une certaine personne."]
+
+[Footnote 69: The clemency of Julian, and the conspiracy which was
+formed against his life at Antioch, are described by Ammianus (xxii. 9,
+10, and Vales, ad loc.) and Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 99, p. 323.)]
+
+Julian was not insensible of the advantages of freedom. [70] From his
+studies he had imbibed the spirit of ancient sages and heroes; his
+life and fortunes had depended on the caprice of a tyrant; and when
+he ascended the throne, his pride was sometimes mortified by the
+reflection, that the slaves who would not dare to censure his defects
+were not worthy to applaud his virtues. [71] He sincerely abhorred the
+system of Oriental despotism, which Diocletian, Constantine, and the
+patient habits of fourscore years, had established in the empire. A
+motive of superstition prevented the execution of the design, which
+Julian had frequently meditated, of relieving his head from the weight
+of a costly diadem; [72] but he absolutely refused the title of Dominus,
+or Lord, [73] a word which was grown so familiar to the ears of the
+Romans, that they no longer remembered its servile and humiliating
+origin. The office, or rather the name, of consul, was cherished by a
+prince who contemplated with reverence the ruins of the republic; and
+the same behavior which had been assumed by the prudence of Augustus
+was adopted by Julian from choice and inclination. On the calends of
+January, at break of day, the new consuls, Mamertinus and Nevitta,
+hastened to the palace to salute the emperor. As soon as he was informed
+of their approach, he leaped from his throne, eagerly advanced to
+meet them, and compelled the blushing magistrates to receive the
+demonstrations of his affected humility. From the palace they proceeded
+to the senate. The emperor, on foot, marched before their litters; and
+the gazing multitude admired the image of ancient times, or secretly
+blamed a conduct, which, in their eyes, degraded the majesty of the
+purple. [74] But the behavior of Julian was uniformly supported. During
+the games of the Circus, he had, imprudently or designedly, performed
+the manumission of a slave in the presence of the consul. The moment
+he was reminded that he had trespassed on the jurisdiction of another
+magistrate, he condemned himself to pay a fine of ten pounds of gold;
+and embraced this public occasion of declaring to the world, that he
+was subject, like the rest of his fellow-citizens, to the laws, [75] and
+even to the forms, of the republic. The spirit of his administration,
+and his regard for the place of his nativity, induced Julian to confer
+on the senate of Constantinople the same honors, privileges, and
+authority, which were still enjoyed by the senate of ancient Rome. [76]
+A legal fiction was introduced, and gradually established, that one half
+of the national council had migrated into the East; and the despotic
+successors of Julian, accepting the title of Senators, acknowledged
+themselves the members of a respectable body, which was permitted
+to represent the majesty of the Roman name. From Constantinople, the
+attention of the monarch was extended to the municipal senates of the
+provinces. He abolished, by repeated edicts, the unjust and pernicious
+exemptions which had withdrawn so many idle citizens from the services
+of their country; and by imposing an equal distribution of public
+duties, he restored the strength, the splendor, or, according to the
+glowing expression of Libanius, [77] the soul of the expiring cities
+of his empire. The venerable age of Greece excited the most tender
+compassion in the mind of Julian, which kindled into rapture when he
+recollected the gods, the heroes, and the men superior to heroes and to
+gods, who have bequeathed to the latest posterity the monuments of their
+genius, or the example of their virtues. He relieved the distress, and
+restored the beauty, of the cities of Epirus and Peloponnesus. [78]
+Athens acknowledged him for her benefactor; Argos, for her deliverer.
+The pride of Corinth, again rising from her ruins with the honors of
+a Roman colony, exacted a tribute from the adjacent republics, for the
+purpose of defraying the games of the Isthmus, which were celebrated
+in the amphitheatre with the hunting of bears and panthers. From this
+tribute the cities of Elis, of Delphi, and of Argos, which had inherited
+from their remote ancestors the sacred office of perpetuating the
+Olympic, the Pythian, and the Nemean games, claimed a just exemption.
+The immunity of Elis and Delphi was respected by the Corinthians; but
+the poverty of Argos tempted the insolence of oppression; and the feeble
+complaints of its deputies were silenced by the decree of a provincial
+magistrate, who seems to have consulted only the interest of the capital
+in which he resided. Seven years after this sentence, Julian [79]
+allowed the cause to be referred to a superior tribunal; and his
+eloquence was interposed, most probably with success, in the defence of
+a city, which had been the royal seat of Agamemnon, [80] and had given
+to Macedonia a race of kings and conquerors. [81]
+
+[Footnote 70: According to some, says Aristotle, (as he is quoted by
+Julian ad Themist. p. 261,) the form of absolute government is contrary
+to nature. Both the prince and the philosopher choose, how ever to
+involve this eternal truth in artful and labored obscurity.]
+
+[Footnote 71: That sentiment is expressed almost in the words of Julian
+himself. Ammian. xxii. 10.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 95, p. 320,) who mentions the
+wish and design of Julian, insinuates, in mysterious language that the
+emperor was restrained by some particular revelation.]
+
+[Footnote 73: Julian in Misopogon, p. 343. As he never abolished, by any
+public law, the proud appellations of Despot, or Dominus, they are
+still extant on his medals, (Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 38, 39;) and the
+private displeasure which he affected to express, only gave a different
+tone to the servility of the court. The Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de
+Jovien, tom. ii. p. 99-102) has curiously traced the origin and progress
+of the word Dominus under the Imperial government.]
+
+[Footnote 74: Ammian. xxii. 7. The consul Mamertinus (in Panegyr. Vet.
+xi. 28, 29, 30) celebrates the auspicious day, like an elegant slave,
+astonished and intoxicated by the condescension of his master.]
+
+[Footnote 75: Personal satire was condemned by the laws of the
+twelve tables: Si male condiderit in quem quis carmina, jus est
+Judiciumque--Horat. Sat. ii. 1. 82. -----Julian (in Misopogon, p. 337)
+owns himself subject to the law; and the Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist. de
+Jovien, tom. ii. p. 92) has eagerly embraced a declaration so agreeable
+to his own system, and, indeed, to the true spirit of the Imperial
+constitution.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Zosimus, l. iii. p. 158.]
+
+[Footnote 77: See Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 71, p. 296,) Ammianus,
+(xxii. 9,) and the Theodosian Code (l. xii. tit. i. leg. 50-55.) with
+Godefroy's Commentary, (tom. iv. p. 390-402.) Yet the whole subject of
+the Curia, notwithstanding very ample materials, still remains the most
+obscure in the legal history of the empire.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Quae paulo ante arida et siti anhelantia visebantur, ea
+nunc perlui, mundari, madere; Fora, Deambulacra, Gymnasia, laetis et
+gaudentibus populis frequentari; dies festos, et celebrari veteres,
+et novos in honorem principis consecrari, (Mamertin. xi. 9.) He
+particularly restored the city of Nicopolis and the Actiac games, which
+had been instituted by Augustus.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Julian. Epist. xxxv. p. 407-411. This epistle, which
+illustrates the declining age of Greece, is omitted by the Abbe de la
+Bleterie, and strangely disfigured by the Latin translator, who, by
+rendering tributum, and populus, directly contradicts the sense of the
+original.]
+
+[Footnote 80: He reigned in Mycenae at the distance of fifty stadia, or
+six miles from Argos: but these cities, which alternately flourished,
+are confounded by the Greek poets. Strabo, l. viii. p. 579, edit.
+Amstel. 1707.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Marsham, Canon. Chron. p. 421. This pedigree from Temenus
+and Hercules may be suspicious; yet it was allowed, after a strict
+inquiry, by the judges of the Olympic games, (Herodot. l. v. c. 22,) at
+a time when the Macedonian kings were obscure and unpopular in Greece.
+When the Achaean league declared against Philip, it was thought decent
+that the deputies of Argos should retire, (T. Liv. xxxii. 22.)]
+
+The laborious administration of military and civil affairs, which were
+multiplied in proportion to the extent of the empire, exercised the
+abilities of Julian; but he frequently assumed the two characters of
+Orator [82] and of Judge, [83] which are almost unknown to the modern
+sovereigns of Europe. The arts of persuasion, so diligently cultivated
+by the first Caesars, were neglected by the military ignorance and
+Asiatic pride of their successors; and if they condescended to harangue
+the soldiers, whom they feared, they treated with silent disdain the
+senators, whom they despised. The assemblies of the senate, which
+Constantius had avoided, were considered by Julian as the place where he
+could exhibit, with the most propriety, the maxims of a republican, and
+the talents of a rhetorician. He alternately practised, as in a school
+of declamation, the several modes of praise, of censure, of exhortation;
+and his friend Libanius has remarked, that the study of Homer taught
+him to imitate the simple, concise style of Menelaus, the copiousness of
+Nestor, whose words descended like the flakes of a winter's snow, or the
+pathetic and forcible eloquence of Ulysses. The functions of a judge,
+which are sometimes incompatible with those of a prince, were exercised
+by Julian, not only as a duty, but as an amusement; and although he
+might have trusted the integrity and discernment of his Praetorian
+praefects, he often placed himself by their side on the seat of
+judgment. The acute penetration of his mind was agreeably occupied in
+detecting and defeating the chicanery of the advocates, who labored to
+disguise the truths of facts, and to pervert the sense of the laws.
+He sometimes forgot the gravity of his station, asked indiscreet or
+unseasonable questions, and betrayed, by the loudness of his voice,
+and the agitation of his body, the earnest vehemence with which he
+maintained his opinion against the judges, the advocates, and their
+clients. But his knowledge of his own temper prompted him to encourage,
+and even to solicit, the reproof of his friends and ministers; and
+whenever they ventured to oppose the irregular sallies of his passions,
+the spectators could observe the shame, as well as the gratitude, of
+their monarch. The decrees of Julian were almost always founded on the
+principles of justice; and he had the firmness to resist the two most
+dangerous temptations, which assault the tribunal of a sovereign, under
+the specious forms of compassion and equity. He decided the merits of
+the cause without weighing the circumstances of the parties; and the
+poor, whom he wished to relieve, were condemned to satisfy the just
+demands of a wealthy and noble adversary. He carefully distinguished
+the judge from the legislator; [84] and though he meditated a necessary
+reformation of the Roman jurisprudence, he pronounced sentence according
+to the strict and literal interpretation of those laws, which the
+magistrates were bound to execute, and the subjects to obey.
+
+[Footnote 82: His eloquence is celebrated by Libanius, (Orat. Parent.
+c. 75, 76, p. 300, 301,) who distinctly mentions the orators of Homer.
+Socrates (l. iii. c. 1) has rashly asserted that Julian was the
+only prince, since Julius Caesar, who harangued the senate. All
+the predecessors of Nero, (Tacit. Annal. xiii. 3,) and many of his
+successors, possessed the faculty of speaking in public; and it might
+be proved by various examples, that they frequently exercised it in the
+senate.]
+
+[Footnote 83: Ammianus (xxi. 10) has impartially stated the merits and
+defects of his judicial proceedings. Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 90,
+91, p. 315, &c.) has seen only the fair side, and his picture, if
+it flatters the person, expresses at least the duties, of the judge.
+Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 120,) who suppresses the virtues, and
+exaggerates even the venial faults of the Apostate, triumphantly
+asks, whether such a judge was fit to be seated between Minos and
+Rhadamanthus, in the Elysian Fields.]
+
+[Footnote 84: Of the laws which Julian enacted in a reign of sixteen
+months, fifty-four have been admitted into the codes of Theodosius and
+Justinian. (Gothofred. Chron. Legum, p. 64-67.) The Abbe de la Bleterie
+(tom. ii. p. 329-336) has chosen one of these laws to give an idea of
+Julian's Latin style, which is forcible and elaborate, but less pure
+than his Greek.]
+
+The generality of princes, if they were stripped of their purple, and
+cast naked into the world, would immediately sink to the lowest rank
+of society, without a hope of emerging from their obscurity. But the
+personal merit of Julian was, in some measure, independent of his
+fortune. Whatever had been his choice of life, by the force of intrepid
+courage, lively wit, and intense application, he would have obtained, or
+at least he would have deserved, the highest honors of his profession;
+and Julian might have raised himself to the rank of minister, or
+general, of the state in which he was born a private citizen. If the
+jealous caprice of power had disappointed his expectations, if he had
+prudently declined the paths of greatness, the employment of the same
+talents in studious solitude would have placed beyond the reach of
+kings his present happiness and his immortal fame. When we inspect,
+with minute, or perhaps malevolent attention, the portrait of Julian,
+something seems wanting to the grace and perfection of the whole figure.
+His genius was less powerful and sublime than that of Caesar; nor did
+he possess the consummate prudence of Augustus. The virtues of Trajan
+appear more steady and natural, and the philosophy of Marcus is more
+simple and consistent. Yet Julian sustained adversity with firmness, and
+prosperity with moderation. After an interval of one hundred and twenty
+years from the death of Alexander Severus, the Romans beheld an emperor
+who made no distinction between his duties and his pleasures; who
+labored to relieve the distress, and to revive the spirit, of his
+subjects; and who endeavored always to connect authority with merit,
+and happiness with virtue. Even faction, and religious faction, was
+constrained to acknowledge the superiority of his genius, in peace as
+well as in war, and to confess, with a sigh, that the apostate Julian
+was a lover of his country, and that he deserved the empire of the
+world. [85]
+
+[Footnote 85:
+
+     ... Ductor fortissimus armis;
+     Conditor et legum celeberrimus; ore manuque
+     Consultor patriae; sed non consultor habendae
+     Religionis; amans tercentum millia Divum.
+     Pertidus ille Deo, sed non et perfidus orbi.
+     Prudent. Apotheosis, 450, &c.
+
+The consciousness of a generous sentiment seems to have raised the
+Christian post above his usual mediocrity.]
+
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.--Part I.
+
+The Religion Of Julian.--Universal Toleration.--He Attempts To Restore
+And Reform The Pagan Worship--To Rebuild The Temple Of Jerusalem--His
+Artful Persecution Of The Christians.--Mutual Zeal And Injustice. The
+character of Apostate has injured the reputation of Julian; and the
+enthusiasm which clouded his virtues has exaggerated the real and
+apparent magnitude of his faults. Our partial ignorance may represent
+him as a philosophic monarch, who studied to protect, with an equal
+hand, the religious factions of the empire; and to allay the theological
+fever which had inflamed the minds of the people, from the edicts of
+Diocletian to the exile of Athanasius. A more accurate view of the
+character and conduct of Julian will remove this favorable prepossession
+for a prince who did not escape the general contagion of the times. We
+enjoy the singular advantage of comparing the pictures which have been
+delineated by his fondest admirers and his implacable enemies. The
+actions of Julian are faithfully related by a judicious and candid
+historian, the impartial spectator of his life and death. The unanimous
+evidence of his contemporaries is confirmed by the public and private
+declarations of the emperor himself; and his various writings express
+the uniform tenor of his religious sentiments, which policy would have
+prompted him to dissemble rather than to affect. A devout and sincere
+attachment for the gods of Athens and Rome constituted the ruling
+passion of Julian; [1] the powers of an enlightened understanding were
+betrayed and corrupted by the influence of superstitious prejudice; and
+the phantoms which existed only in the mind of the emperor had a real
+and pernicious effect on the government of the empire. The vehement zeal
+of the Christians, who despised the worship, and overturned the
+altars of those fabulous deities, engaged their votary in a state of
+irreconcilable hostility with a very numerous party of his subjects;
+and he was sometimes tempted by the desire of victory, or the shame of
+a repulse, to violate the laws of prudence, and even of justice. The
+triumph of the party, which he deserted and opposed, has fixed a stain
+of infamy on the name of Julian; and the unsuccessful apostate has been
+overwhelmed with a torrent of pious invectives, of which the signal
+was given by the sonorous trumpet [2] of Gregory Nazianzen. [3] The
+interesting nature of the events which were crowded into the short reign
+of this active emperor, deserve a just and circumstantial narrative.
+His motives, his counsels, and his actions, as far as they are connected
+with the history of religion, will be the subject of the present
+chapter.
+
+[Footnote 1: I shall transcribe some of his own expressions from a short
+religious discourse which the Imperial pontiff composed to censure the
+bold impiety of a Cynic. Orat. vii. p. 212. The variety and copiousness
+of the Greek tongue seem inadequate to the fervor of his devotion.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The orator, with some eloquence, much enthusiasm, and more
+vanity, addresses his discourse to heaven and earth, to men and angels,
+to the living and the dead; and above all, to the great Constantius, an
+odd Pagan expression. He concludes with a bold assurance, that he has
+erected a monument not less durable, and much more portable, than the
+columns of Hercules. See Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 50, iv. p. 134.]
+
+[Footnote 3: See this long invective, which has been injudiciously
+divided into two orations in Gregory's works, tom. i. p. 49-134, Paris,
+1630. It was published by Gregory and his friend Basil, (iv. p. 133,)
+about six months after the death of Julian, when his remains had been
+carried to Tarsus, (iv. p. 120;) but while Jovian was still on the
+throne, (iii. p. 54, iv. p. 117) I have derived much assistance from a
+French version and remarks, printed at Lyons, 1735.]
+
+The cause of his strange and fatal apostasy may be derived from the
+early period of his life, when he was left an orphan in the hands of
+the murderers of his family. The names of Christ and of Constantius,
+the ideas of slavery and of religion, were soon associated in a youthful
+imagination, which was susceptible of the most lively impressions. The
+care of his infancy was intrusted to Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia,
+[4] who was related to him on the side of his mother; and till Julian
+reached the twentieth year of his age, he received from his Christian
+preceptors the education, not of a hero, but of a saint. The emperor,
+less jealous of a heavenly than of an earthly crown, contented himself
+with the imperfect character of a catechumen, while he bestowed the
+advantages of baptism [5] on the nephews of Constantine. [6] They were
+even admitted to the inferior offices of the ecclesiastical order; and
+Julian publicly read the Holy Scriptures in the church of Nicomedia.
+The study of religion, which they assiduously cultivated, appeared to
+produce the fairest fruits of faith and devotion. [7] They prayed, they
+fasted, they distributed alms to the poor, gifts to the clergy, and
+oblations to the tombs of the martyrs; and the splendid monument of
+St. Mamas, at Caesarea, was erected, or at least was undertaken, by the
+joint labor of Gallus and Julian. [8] They respectfully conversed with
+the bishops, who were eminent for superior sanctity, and solicited the
+benediction of the monks and hermits, who had introduced into Cappadocia
+the voluntary hardships of the ascetic life. [9] As the two princes
+advanced towards the years of manhood, they discovered, in their
+religious sentiments, the difference of their characters. The dull and
+obstinate understanding of Gallus embraced, with implicit zeal, the
+doctrines of Christianity; which never influenced his conduct, or
+moderated his passions. The mild disposition of the younger brother was
+less repugnant to the precepts of the gospel; and his active curiosity
+might have been gratified by a theological system, which explains the
+mysterious essence of the Deity, and opens the boundless prospect
+of invisible and future worlds. But the independent spirit of Julian
+refused to yield the passive and unresisting obedience which was
+required, in the name of religion, by the haughty ministers of the
+church. Their speculative opinions were imposed as positive laws, and
+guarded by the terrors of eternal punishments; but while they prescribed
+the rigid formulary of the thoughts, the words, and the actions of the
+young prince; whilst they silenced his objections, and severely checked
+the freedom of his inquiries, they secretly provoked his impatient
+genius to disclaim the authority of his ecclesiastical guides. He
+was educated in the Lesser Asia, amidst the scandals of the Arian
+controversy. [10] The fierce contests of the Eastern bishops, the
+incessant alterations of their creeds, and the profane motives which
+appeared to actuate their conduct, insensibly strengthened the prejudice
+of Julian, that they neither understood nor believed the religion for
+which they so fiercely contended. Instead of listening to the proofs of
+Christianity with that favorable attention which adds weight to the
+most respectable evidence, he heard with suspicion, and disputed with
+obstinacy and acuteness, the doctrines for which he already entertained
+an invincible aversion. Whenever the young princes were directed to
+compose declamations on the subject of the prevailing controversies,
+Julian always declared himself the advocate of Paganism; under the
+specious excuse that, in the defence of the weaker cause, his learning
+and ingenuity might be more advantageously exercised and displayed.
+
+[Footnote 4: Nicomediae ab Eusebio educatus Episcopo, quem genere
+longius contingebat, (Ammian. xxii. 9.) Julian never expresses any
+gratitude towards that Arian prelate; but he celebrates his preceptor,
+the eunuch Mardonius, and describes his mode of education, which
+inspired his pupil with a passionate admiration for the genius, and
+perhaps the religion of Homer. Misopogon, p. 351, 352.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Greg. Naz. iii. p. 70. He labored to effect that holy mark
+in the blood, perhaps of a Taurobolium. Baron. Annal. Eccles. A. D. 361,
+No. 3, 4.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Julian himself (Epist. li. p. 454) assures the Alexandrians
+that he had been a Christian (he must mean a sincere one) till the
+twentieth year of his age.]
+
+[Footnote 7: See his Christian, and even ecclesiastical education, in
+Gregory, (iii. p. 58,) Socrates, (l. iii. c. 1,) and Sozomen, (l. v. c.
+2.) He escaped very narrowly from being a bishop, and perhaps a saint.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The share of the work which had been allotted to Gallus,
+was prosecuted with vigor and success; but the earth obstinately
+rejected and subverted the structures which were imposed by the
+sacrilegious hand of Julian. Greg. iii. p. 59, 60, 61. Such a partial
+earthquake, attested by many living spectators, would form one of the
+clearest miracles in ecclesiastical story.]
+
+[Footnote 9: The philosopher (Fragment, p. 288,) ridicules the iron
+chains, &c, of these solitary fanatics, (see Tillemont, Mem. Eccles.
+tom. ix. p. 661, 632,) who had forgot that man is by nature a gentle and
+social animal. The Pagan supposes, that because they had renounced the
+gods, they were possessed and tormented by evil daemons.]
+
+[Footnote 10: See Julian apud Cyril, l. vi. p. 206, l. viii. p. 253,
+262. "You persecute," says he, "those heretics who do not mourn the
+dead man precisely in the way which you approve." He shows himself a
+tolerable theologian; but he maintains that the Christian Trinity is not
+derived from the doctrine of Paul, of Jesus, or of Moses.]
+
+As soon as Gallus was invested with the honors of the purple, Julian was
+permitted to breathe the air of freedom, of literature, and of Paganism.
+[11] The crowd of sophists, who were attracted by the taste and
+liberality of their royal pupil, had formed a strict alliance between
+the learning and the religion of Greece; and the poems of Homer, instead
+of being admired as the original productions of human genius, were
+seriously ascribed to the heavenly inspiration of Apollo and the muses.
+The deities of Olympus, as they are painted by the immortal bard,
+imprint themselves on the minds which are the least addicted to
+superstitious credulity. Our familiar knowledge of their names and
+characters, their forms and attributes, seems to bestow on those airy
+beings a real and substantial existence; and the pleasing enchantment
+produces an imperfect and momentary assent of the imagination to those
+fables, which are the most repugnant to our reason and experience. In
+the age of Julian, every circumstance contributed to prolong and fortify
+the illusion; the magnificent temples of Greece and Asia; the works of
+those artists who had expressed, in painting or in sculpture, the divine
+conceptions of the poet; the pomp of festivals and sacrifices; the
+successful arts of divination; the popular traditions of oracles and
+prodigies; and the ancient practice of two thousand years. The weakness
+of polytheism was, in some measure, excused by the moderation of its
+claims; and the devotion of the Pagans was not incompatible with the
+most licentious scepticism. [12] Instead of an indivisible and regular
+system, which occupies the whole extent of the believing mind, the
+mythology of the Greeks was composed of a thousand loose and flexible
+parts, and the servant of the gods was at liberty to define the degree
+and measure of his religious faith. The creed which Julian adopted
+for his own use was of the largest dimensions; and, by strange
+contradiction, he disdained the salutary yoke of the gospel, whilst he
+made a voluntary offering of his reason on the altars of Jupiter and
+Apollo. One of the orations of Julian is consecrated to the honor of
+Cybele, the mother of the gods, who required from her effeminate priests
+the bloody sacrifice, so rashly performed by the madness of the Phrygian
+boy. The pious emperor condescends to relate, without a blush, and
+without a smile, the voyage of the goddess from the shores of Pergamus
+to the mouth of the Tyber, and the stupendous miracle, which convinced
+the senate and people of Rome that the lump of clay, which their
+ambassadors had transported over the seas, was endowed with life, and
+sentiment, and divine power. [13] For the truth of this prodigy he
+appeals to the public monuments of the city; and censures, with some
+acrimony, the sickly and affected taste of those men, who impertinently
+derided the sacred traditions of their ancestors. [14]
+
+[Footnote 11: Libanius, Orat. Parentalis, c. 9, 10, p. 232, &c. Greg.
+Nazianzen. Orat. iii. p 61. Eunap. Vit. Sophist. in Maximo, p. 68, 69,
+70, edit Commelin.]
+
+[Footnote 12: A modern philosopher has ingeniously compared the
+different operation of theism and polytheism, with regard to the doubt
+or conviction which they produce in the human mind. See Hume's Essays
+vol. ii. p. 444- 457, in 8vo. edit. 1777.]
+
+[Footnote 13: The Idaean mother landed in Italy about the end of the
+second Punic war. The miracle of Claudia, either virgin or matron, who
+cleared her fame by disgracing the graver modesty of the Roman Indies,
+is attested by a cloud of witnesses. Their evidence is collected by
+Drakenborch, (ad Silium Italicum, xvii. 33;) but we may observe that
+Livy (xxix. 14) slides over the transaction with discreet ambiguity.]
+
+[Footnote 14: I cannot refrain from transcribing the emphatical words of
+Julian: Orat. v. p. 161. Julian likewise declares his firm belief in
+the ancilia, the holy shields, which dropped from heaven on the Quirinal
+hill; and pities the strange blindness of the Christians, who preferred
+the cross to these celestial trophies. Apud Cyril. l. vi. p. 194.]
+
+But the devout philosopher, who sincerely embraced, and warmly
+encouraged, the superstition of the people, reserved for himself the
+privilege of a liberal interpretation; and silently withdrew from the
+foot of the altars into the sanctuary of the temple. The extravagance of
+the Grecian mythology proclaimed, with a clear and audible voice, that
+the pious inquirer, instead of being scandalized or satisfied with the
+literal sense, should diligently explore the occult wisdom, which had
+been disguised, by the prudence of antiquity, under the mask of folly
+and of fable. [15] The philosophers of the Platonic school, [16]
+Plotinus, Porphyry, and the divine Iamblichus, were admired as the most
+skilful masters of this allegorical science, which labored to soften
+and harmonize the deformed features of Paganism. Julian himself, who was
+directed in the mysterious pursuit by Aedesius, the venerable successor
+of Iamblichus, aspired to the possession of a treasure, which he
+esteemed, if we may credit his solemn asseverations, far above the
+empire of the world. [17] It was indeed a treasure, which derived its
+value only from opinion; and every artist who flattered himself that he
+had extracted the precious ore from the surrounding dross, claimed an
+equal right of stamping the name and figure the most agreeable to his
+peculiar fancy. The fable of Atys and Cybele had been already explained
+by Porphyry; but his labors served only to animate the pious industry of
+Julian, who invented and published his own allegory of that ancient and
+mystic tale. This freedom of interpretation, which might gratify the
+pride of the Platonists, exposed the vanity of their art. Without a
+tedious detail, the modern reader could not form a just idea of the
+strange allusions, the forced etymologies, the solemn trifling, and
+the impenetrable obscurity of these sages, who professed to reveal
+the system of the universe. As the traditions of Pagan mythology were
+variously related, the sacred interpreters were at liberty to select
+the most convenient circumstances; and as they translated an arbitrary
+cipher, they could extract from any fable any sense which was adapted to
+their favorite system of religion and philosophy. The lascivious form of
+a naked Venus was tortured into the discovery of some moral precept, or
+some physical truth; and the castration of Atys explained the revolution
+of the sun between the tropics, or the separation of the human soul from
+vice and error. [18]
+
+[Footnote 15: See the principles of allegory, in Julian, (Orat. vii.
+p. 216, 222.) His reasoning is less absurd than that of some modern
+theologians, who assert that an extravagant or contradictory doctrine
+must be divine; since no man alive could have thought of inventing it.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Eunapius has made these sophists the subject of a partial
+and fanatical history; and the learned Brucker (Hist. Philosoph. tom.
+ii. p. 217-303) has employed much labor to illustrate their obscure
+lives and incomprehensible doctrines.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Julian, Orat. vii p 222. He swears with the most fervent
+and enthusiastic devotion; and trembles, lest he should betray too much
+of these holy mysteries, which the profane might deride with an impious
+Sardonic laugh.]
+
+[Footnote 18: See the fifth oration of Julian. But all the allegories
+which ever issued from the Platonic school are not worth the short poem
+of Catullus on the same extraordinary subject. The transition of Atys,
+from the wildest enthusiasm to sober, pathetic complaint, for his
+irretrievable loss, must inspire a man with pity, a eunuch with
+despair.]
+
+The theological system of Julian appears to have contained the sublime
+and important principles of natural religion. But as the faith, which is
+not founded on revelation, must remain destitute of any firm assurance,
+the disciple of Plato imprudently relapsed into the habits of vulgar
+superstition; and the popular and philosophic notion of the Deity seems
+to have been confounded in the practice, the writings, and even in
+the mind of Julian. [19] The pious emperor acknowledged and adored the
+Eternal Cause of the universe, to whom he ascribed all the perfections
+of an infinite nature, invisible to the eyes and inaccessible to the
+understanding, of feeble mortals. The Supreme God had created, or
+rather, in the Platonic language, had generated, the gradual succession
+of dependent spirits, of gods, of daemons, of heroes, and of men; and
+every being which derived its existence immediately from the First
+Cause, received the inherent gift of immortality. That so precious
+an advantage might be lavished upon unworthy objects, the Creator had
+intrusted to the skill and power of the inferior gods the office of
+forming the human body, and of arranging the beautiful harmony of the
+animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms. To the conduct of these
+divine ministers he delegated the temporal government of this lower
+world; but their imperfect administration is not exempt from discord
+or error. The earth and its inhabitants are divided among them, and the
+characters of Mars or Minerva, of Mercury or Venus, may be distinctly
+traced in the laws and manners of their peculiar votaries. As long as
+our immortal souls are confined in a mortal prison, it is our interest,
+as well as our duty, to solicit the favor, and to deprecate the wrath,
+of the powers of heaven; whose pride is gratified by the devotion
+of mankind; and whose grosser parts may be supposed to derive some
+nourishment from the fumes of sacrifice. [20] The inferior gods might
+sometimes condescend to animate the statues, and to inhabit the temples,
+which were dedicated to their honor. They might occasionally visit the
+earth, but the heavens were the proper throne and symbol of their glory.
+The invariable order of the sun, moon, and stars, was hastily admitted
+by Julian, as a proof of their eternal duration; and their eternity was
+a sufficient evidence that they were the workmanship, not of an inferior
+deity, but of the Omnipotent King. In the system of Platonists, the
+visible was a type of the invisible world. The celestial bodies, as they
+were informed by a divine spirit, might be considered as the objects
+the most worthy of religious worship. The Sun, whose genial influence
+pervades and sustains the universe, justly claimed the adoration of
+mankind, as the bright representative of the Logos, the lively, the
+rational, the beneficent image of the intellectual Father. [21]
+
+[Footnote 19: The true religion of Julian may be deduced from the
+Caesars, p. 308, with Spanheim's notes and illustrations, from
+the fragments in Cyril, l. ii. p. 57, 58, and especially from the
+theological oration in Solem Regem, p. 130-158, addressed in the
+confidence of friendship, to the praefect Sallust.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Julian adopts this gross conception by ascribing to his
+favorite Marcus Antoninus, (Caesares, p. 333.) The Stoics and Platonists
+hesitated between the analogy of bodies and the purity of spirits; yet
+the gravest philosophers inclined to the whimsical fancy of Aristophanes
+and Lucian, that an unbelieving age might starve the immortal gods. See
+Observations de Spanheim, p. 284, 444, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Julian. Epist. li. In another place, (apud Cyril. l. ii.
+p. 69,) he calls the Sun God, and the throne of God. Julian believed
+the Platonician Trinity; and only blames the Christians for preferring a
+mortal to an immortal Logos.]
+
+In every age, the absence of genuine inspiration is supplied by the
+strong illusions of enthusiasm, and the mimic arts of imposture. If,
+in the time of Julian, these arts had been practised only by the pagan
+priests, for the support of an expiring cause, some indulgence might
+perhaps be allowed to the interest and habits of the sacerdotal
+character. But it may appear a subject of surprise and scandal, that
+the philosophers themselves should have contributed to abuse the
+superstitious credulity of mankind, [22] and that the Grecian mysteries
+should have been supported by the magic or theurgy of the modern
+Platonists. They arrogantly pretended to control the order of nature, to
+explore the secrets of futurity, to command the service of the inferior
+daemons, to enjoy the view and conversation of the superior gods, and by
+disengaging the soul from her material bands, to reunite that immortal
+particle with the Infinite and Divine Spirit.
+
+[Footnote 22: The sophists of Eunapias perform as many miracles as the
+saints of the desert; and the only circumstance in their favor is, that
+they are of a less gloomy complexion. Instead of devils with horns and
+tails, Iamblichus evoked the genii of love, Eros and Anteros, from two
+adjacent fountains. Two beautiful boys issued from the water, fondly
+embraced him as their father, and retired at his command, p. 26, 27.]
+
+The devout and fearless curiosity of Julian tempted the philosophers
+with the hopes of an easy conquest; which, from the situation of their
+young proselyte, might be productive of the most important consequences.
+[23] Julian imbibed the first rudiments of the Platonic doctrines from
+the mouth of Aedesius, who had fixed at Pergamus his wandering and
+persecuted school. But as the declining strength of that venerable sage
+was unequal to the ardor, the diligence, the rapid conception of his
+pupil, two of his most learned disciples, Chrysanthes and Eusebius,
+supplied, at his own desire, the place of their aged master. These
+philosophers seem to have prepared and distributed their respective
+parts; and they artfully contrived, by dark hints and affected disputes,
+to excite the impatient hopes of the aspirant, till they delivered him
+into the hands of their associate, Maximus, the boldest and most skilful
+master of the Theurgic science. By his hands, Julian was secretly
+initiated at Ephesus, in the twentieth year of his age. His residence at
+Athens confirmed this unnatural alliance of philosophy and superstition.
+
+He obtained the privilege of a solemn initiation into the mysteries of
+Eleusis, which, amidst the general decay of the Grecian worship, still
+retained some vestiges of their primaeval sanctity; and such was the
+zeal of Julian, that he afterwards invited the Eleusinian pontiff to the
+court of Gaul, for the sole purpose of consummating, by mystic rites and
+sacrifices, the great work of his sanctification. As these ceremonies
+were performed in the depth of caverns, and in the silence of the night,
+and as the inviolable secret of the mysteries was preserved by the
+discretion of the initiated, I shall not presume to describe the horrid
+sounds, and fiery apparitions, which were presented to the senses, or
+the imagination, of the credulous aspirant, [24] till the visions of
+comfort and knowledge broke upon him in a blaze of celestial light. [25]
+In the caverns of Ephesus and Eleusis, the mind of Julian was penetrated
+with sincere, deep, and unalterable enthusiasm; though he might
+sometimes exhibit the vicissitudes of pious fraud and hypocrisy, which
+may be observed, or at least suspected, in the characters of the most
+conscientious fanatics. From that moment he consecrated his life to the
+service of the gods; and while the occupations of war, of government,
+and of study, seemed to claim the whole measure of his time, a stated
+portion of the hours of the night was invariably reserved for the
+exercise of private devotion. The temperance which adorned the severe
+manners of the soldier and the philosopher was connected with some
+strict and frivolous rules of religious abstinence; and it was in honor
+of Pan or Mercury, of Hecate or Isis, that Julian, on particular days,
+denied himself the use of some particular food, which might have been
+offensive to his tutelar deities. By these voluntary fasts, he prepared
+his senses and his understanding for the frequent and familiar visits
+with which he was honored by the celestial powers. Notwithstanding the
+modest silence of Julian himself, we may learn from his faithful friend,
+the orator Libanius, that he lived in a perpetual intercourse with
+the gods and goddesses; that they descended upon earth to enjoy the
+conversation of their favorite hero; that they gently interrupted his
+slumbers by touching his hand or his hair; that they warned him of every
+impending danger, and conducted him, by their infallible wisdom, in
+every action of his life; and that he had acquired such an intimate
+knowledge of his heavenly guests, as readily to distinguish the voice of
+Jupiter from that of Minerva, and the form of Apollo from the figure of
+Hercules. [26] These sleeping or waking visions, the ordinary effects of
+abstinence and fanaticism, would almost degrade the emperor to the level
+of an Egyptian monk. But the useless lives of Antony or Pachomius were
+consumed in these vain occupations. Julian could break from the dream
+of superstition to arm himself for battle; and after vanquishing in the
+field the enemies of Rome, he calmly retired into his tent, to dictate
+the wise and salutary laws of an empire, or to indulge his genius in the
+elegant pursuits of literature and philosophy.
+
+[Footnote 23: The dexterous management of these sophists, who played
+their credulous pupil into each other's hands, is fairly told by
+Eunapius (p. 69- 79) with unsuspecting simplicity. The Abbe de la
+Bleterie understands, and neatly describes, the whole comedy, (Vie de
+Julian, p. 61-67.)]
+
+[Footnote 24: When Julian, in a momentary panic, made the sign of the
+cross the daemons instantly disappeared, (Greg. Naz. Orat. iii. p. 71.)
+Gregory supposes that they were frightened, but the priests declared
+that they were indignant. The reader, according to the measure of his
+faith, will determine this profound question.]
+
+[Footnote 25: A dark and distant view of the terrors and joys of
+initiation is shown by Dion Chrysostom, Themistius, Proclus, and
+Stobaeus. The learned author of the Divine Legation has exhibited their
+words, (vol. i. p. 239, 247, 248, 280, edit. 1765,) which he dexterously
+or forcibly applies to his own hypothesis.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Julian's modesty confined him to obscure and occasional
+hints: but Libanius expiates with pleasure on the facts and visions of
+the religious hero. (Legat. ad Julian. p. 157, and Orat. Parental. c.
+lxxxiii. p. 309, 310.)]
+
+The important secret of the apostasy of Julian was intrusted to the
+fidelity of the initiated, with whom he was united by the sacred ties
+of friendship and religion. [27] The pleasing rumor was cautiously
+circulated among the adherents of the ancient worship; and his
+future greatness became the object of the hopes, the prayers, and the
+predictions of the Pagans, in every province of the empire. From the
+zeal and virtues of their royal proselyte, they fondly expected the cure
+of every evil, and the restoration of every blessing; and instead of
+disapproving of the ardor of their pious wishes, Julian ingenuously
+confessed, that he was ambitious to attain a situation in which he might
+be useful to his country and to his religion. But this religion was
+viewed with a hostile eye by the successor of Constantine, whose
+capricious passions altercately saved and threatened the life of Julian.
+The arts of magic and divination were strictly prohibited under a
+despotic government, which condescended to fear them; and if the Pagans
+were reluctantly indulged in the exercise of their superstition, the
+rank of Julian would have excepted him from the general toleration. The
+apostate soon became the presumptive heir of the monarchy, and his death
+could alone have appeased the just apprehensions of the Christians. [28]
+But the young prince, who aspired to the glory of a hero rather than of
+a martyr, consulted his safety by dissembling his religion; and the easy
+temper of polytheism permitted him to join in the public worship of a
+sect which he inwardly despised. Libanius has considered the hypocrisy
+of his friend as a subject, not of censure, but of praise. "As the
+statues of the gods," says that orator, "which have been defiled with
+filth, are again placed in a magnificent temple, so the beauty of truth
+was seated in the mind of Julian, after it had been purified from the
+errors and follies of his education. His sentiments were changed; but as
+it would have been dangerous to have avowed his sentiments, his conduct
+still continued the same. Very different from the ass in Aesop, who
+disguised himself with a lion's hide, our lion was obliged to conceal
+himself under the skin of an ass; and, while he embraced the dictates
+of reason, to obey the laws of prudence and necessity." [29] The
+dissimulation of Julian lasted about ten years, from his secret
+initiation at Ephesus to the beginning of the civil war; when he
+declared himself at once the implacable enemy of Christ and of
+Constantius. This state of constraint might contribute to strengthen his
+devotion; and as soon as he had satisfied the obligation of assisting,
+on solemn festivals, at the assemblies of the Christians, Julian
+returned, with the impatience of a lover, to burn his free and voluntary
+incense on the domestic chapels of Jupiter and Mercury. But as every act
+of dissimulation must be painful to an ingenuous spirit, the profession
+of Christianity increased the aversion of Julian for a religion which
+oppressed the freedom of his mind, and compelled him to hold a conduct
+repugnant to the noblest attributes of human nature, sincerity and
+courage.
+
+[Footnote 27: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. x. p. 233, 234. Gallus had some
+reason to suspect the secret apostasy of his brother; and in a letter,
+which may be received as genuine, he exhorts Julian to adhere to the
+religion of their ancestors; an argument which, as it should seem, was
+not yet perfectly ripe. See Julian, Op. p. 454, and Hist. de Jovien tom
+ii. p. 141.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Gregory, (iii. p. 50,) with inhuman zeal, censures
+Constantius for paring the infant apostate. His French translator (p.
+265) cautiously observes, that such expressions must not be prises a la
+lettre.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Libanius, Orat. Parental. c ix. p. 233.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.--Part II.
+
+The inclination of Julian might prefer the gods of Homer, and of the
+Scipios, to the new faith, which his uncle had established in the Roman
+empire; and in which he himself had been sanctified by the sacrament of
+baptism. But, as a philosopher, it was incumbent on him to justify his
+dissent from Christianity, which was supported by the number of its
+converts, by the chain of prophecy, the splendor of or miracles, and the
+weight of evidence. The elaborate work, [30] which he composed amidst
+the preparations of the Persian war, contained the substance of those
+arguments which he had long revolved in his mind. Some fragments have
+been transcribed and preserved, by his adversary, the vehement Cyril
+of Alexandria; [31] and they exhibit a very singular mixture of wit and
+learning, of sophistry and fanaticism. The elegance of the style and the
+rank of the author, recommended his writings to the public attention;
+[32] and in the impious list of the enemies of Christianity, the
+celebrated name of Porphyry was effaced by the superior merit or
+reputation of Julian. The minds of the faithful were either seduced,
+or scandalized, or alarmed; and the pagans, who sometimes presumed to
+engage in the unequal dispute, derived, from the popular work of their
+Imperial missionary, an inexhaustible supply of fallacious objections.
+But in the assiduous prosecution of these theological studies, the
+emperor of the Romans imbibed the illiberal prejudices and passions of a
+polemic divine. He contracted an irrevocable obligation to maintain and
+propagate his religious opinions; and whilst he secretly applauded the
+strength and dexterity with which he wielded the weapons of
+controversy, he was tempted to distrust the sincerity, or to despise
+the understandings, of his antagonists, who could obstinately resist the
+force of reason and eloquence.
+
+[Footnote 30: Fabricius (Biblioth. Graec. l. v. c. viii, p. 88-90)
+and Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 44-47) have accurately
+compiled all that can now be discovered of Julian's work against the
+Christians.]
+
+[Footnote 31: About seventy years after the death of Julian, he executed
+a task which had been feebly attempted by Philip of Side, a prolix and
+contemptible writer. Even the work of Cyril has not entirely satisfied
+the most favorable judges; and the Abbe de la Bleterie (Preface a
+l'Hist. de Jovien, p. 30, 32) wishes that some theologien philosophe (a
+strange centaur) would undertake the refutation of Julian.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c. lxxxvii. p. 313,) who has
+been suspected of assisting his friend, prefers this divine vindication
+(Orat. ix in necem Julian. p. 255, edit. Morel.) to the writings of
+Porphyry. His judgment may be arraigned, (Socrates, l. iii. c. 23,) but
+Libanius cannot be accused of flattery to a dead prince.]
+
+The Christians, who beheld with horror and indignation the apostasy of
+Julian, had much more to fear from his power than from his arguments.
+The pagans, who were conscious of his fervent zeal, expected, perhaps
+with impatience, that the flames of persecution should be immediately
+kindled against the enemies of the gods; and that the ingenious malice
+of Julian would invent some cruel refinements of death and torture which
+had been unknown to the rude and inexperienced fury of his predecessors.
+But the hopes, as well as the fears, of the religious factions were
+apparently disappointed, by the prudent humanity of a prince, [33] who
+was careful of his own fame, of the public peace, and of the rights of
+mankind. Instructed by history and reflection, Julian was persuaded,
+that if the diseases of the body may sometimes be cured by salutary
+violence, neither steel nor fire can eradicate the erroneous opinions of
+the mind. The reluctant victim may be dragged to the foot of the altar;
+but the heart still abhors and disclaims the sacrilegious act of the
+hand. Religious obstinacy is hardened and exasperated by oppression;
+and, as soon as the persecution subsides, those who have yielded are
+restored as penitents, and those who have resisted are honored as saints
+and martyrs. If Julian adopted the unsuccessful cruelty of Diocletian
+and his colleagues, he was sensible that he should stain his memory with
+the name of a tyrant, and add new glories to the Catholic church,
+which had derived strength and increase from the severity of the pagan
+magistrates. Actuated by these motives, and apprehensive of disturbing
+the repose of an unsettled reign, Julian surprised the world by an
+edict, which was not unworthy of a statesman, or a philosopher. He
+extended to all the inhabitants of the Roman world the benefits of a
+free and equal toleration; and the only hardship which he inflicted on
+the Christians, was to deprive them of the power of tormenting their
+fellow-subjects, whom they stigmatized with the odious titles of
+idolaters and heretics. The pagans received a gracious permission, or
+rather an express order, to open All their temples; [34] and they were
+at once delivered from the oppressive laws, and arbitrary vexations,
+which they had sustained under the reign of Constantine, and of his
+sons. At the same time the bishops and clergy, who had been banished
+by the Arian monarch, were recalled from exile, and restored to their
+respective churches; the Donatists, the Novatians, the Macedonians, the
+Eunomians, and those who, with a more prosperous fortune, adhered to
+the doctrine of the Council of Nice. Julian, who understood and derided
+their theological disputes, invited to the palace the leaders of the
+hostile sects, that he might enjoy the agreeable spectacle of their
+furious encounters. The clamor of controversy sometimes provoked
+the emperor to exclaim, "Hear me! the Franks have heard me, and the
+Alemanni;" but he soon discovered that he was now engaged with more
+obstinate and implacable enemies; and though he exerted the powers of
+oratory to persuade them to live in concord, or at least in peace, he
+was perfectly satisfied, before he dismissed them from his presence,
+that he had nothing to dread from the union of the Christians. The
+impartial Ammianus has ascribed this affected clemency to the desire
+of fomenting the intestine divisions of the church, and the insidious
+design of undermining the foundations of Christianity, was inseparably
+connected with the zeal which Julian professed, to restore the ancient
+religion of the empire. [35]
+
+[Footnote 33: Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. lviii. p. 283, 284) has
+eloquently explained the tolerating principles and conduct of his
+Imperial friend. In a very remarkable epistle to the people of Bostra,
+Julian himself (Epist. lii.) professes his moderation, and betrays his
+zeal, which is acknowledged by Ammianus, and exposed by Gregory (Orat.
+iii. p.72)]
+
+[Footnote 34: In Greece the temples of Minerva were opened by his
+express command, before the death of Constantius, (Liban. Orat. Parent.
+c. 55, p. 280;) and Julian declares himself a Pagan in his public
+manifesto to the Athenians. This unquestionable evidence may correct the
+hasty assertion of Ammianus, who seems to suppose Constantinople to be
+the place where he discovered his attachment to the gods]
+
+[Footnote 35: Ammianus, xxii. 5. Sozomen, l. v. c. 5. Bestia moritur,
+tranquillitas redit.... omnes episcopi qui de propriis sedibus fuerant
+exterminati per indulgentiam novi principis ad acclesias redeunt. Jerom.
+adversus Luciferianos, tom. ii. p. 143. Optatus accuses the Donatists
+for owing their safety to an apostate, (l. ii. c. 16, p. 36, 37, edit.
+Dupin.)]
+
+As soon as he ascended the throne, he assumed, according to the custom
+of his predecessors, the character of supreme pontiff; not only as
+the most honorable title of Imperial greatness, but as a sacred and
+important office; the duties of which he was resolved to execute with
+pious diligence. As the business of the state prevented the emperor from
+joining every day in the public devotion of his subjects, he dedicated
+a domestic chapel to his tutelar deity the Sun; his gardens were filled
+with statues and altars of the gods; and each apartment of the palace
+displaced the appearance of a magnificent temple. Every morning he
+saluted the parent of light with a sacrifice; the blood of another
+victim was shed at the moment when the Sun sunk below the horizon;
+and the Moon, the Stars, and the Genii of the night received their
+respective and seasonable honors from the indefatigable devotion of
+Julian. On solemn festivals, he regularly visited the temple of the god
+or goddess to whom the day was peculiarly consecrated, and endeavored to
+excite the religion of the magistrates and people by the example of
+his own zeal. Instead of maintaining the lofty state of a monarch,
+distinguished by the splendor of his purple, and encompassed by
+the golden shields of his guards, Julian solicited, with respectful
+eagerness, the meanest offices which contributed to the worship of the
+gods. Amidst the sacred but licentious crowd of priests, of inferior
+ministers, and of female dancers, who were dedicated to the service of
+the temple, it was the business of the emperor to bring the wood,
+to blow the fire, to handle the knife, to slaughter the victim, and,
+thrusting his bloody hands into the bowels of the expiring animal, to
+draw forth the heart or liver, and to read, with the consummate skill of
+an haruspex, imaginary signs of future events. The wisest of the Pagans
+censured this extravagant superstition, which affected to despise the
+restraints of prudence and decency. Under the reign of a prince, who
+practised the rigid maxims of economy, the expense of religious worship
+consumed a very large portion of the revenue a constant supply of the
+scarcest and most beautiful birds was transported from distant climates,
+to bleed on the altars of the gods; a hundred oxen were frequently
+sacrificed by Julian on one and the same day; and it soon became a
+popular jest, that if he should return with conquest from the Persian
+war, the breed of horned cattle must infallibly be extinguished. Yet
+this expense may appear inconsiderable, when it is compared with the
+splendid presents which were offered either by the hand, or by order,
+of the emperor, to all the celebrated places of devotion in the Roman
+world; and with the sums allotted to repair and decorate the ancient
+temples, which had suffered the silent decay of time, or the
+recent injuries of Christian rapine. Encouraged by the example, the
+exhortations, the liberality, of their pious sovereign, the cities and
+families resumed the practice of their neglected ceremonies. "Every part
+of the world," exclaims Libanius, with devout transport, "displayed
+the triumph of religion; and the grateful prospect of flaming altars,
+bleeding victims, the smoke of incense, and a solemn train of priests
+and prophets, without fear and without danger. The sound of prayer and
+of music was heard on the tops of the highest mountains; and the same
+ox afforded a sacrifice for the gods, and a supper for their joyous
+votaries." [36]
+
+[Footnote 36: The restoration of the Pagan worship is described by
+Julian, (Misopogon, p. 346,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 60, p.
+286, 287, and Orat. Consular. ad Julian. p. 245, 246, edit. Morel.,)
+Ammianus, (xxii. 12,) and Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 121.)
+These writers agree in the essential, and even minute, facts; but the
+different lights in which they view the extreme devotion of Julian, are
+expressive of the gradations of self-applause, passionate admiration,
+mild reproof, and partial invective.]
+
+But the genius and power of Julian were unequal to the enterprise of
+restoring a religion which was destitute of theological principles, of
+moral precepts, and of ecclesiastical discipline; which rapidly hastened
+to decay and dissolution, and was not susceptible of any solid or
+consistent reformation. The jurisdiction of the supreme pontiff, more
+especially after that office had been united with the Imperial dignity,
+comprehended the whole extent of the Roman empire. Julian named for his
+vicars, in the several provinces, the priests and philosophers whom he
+esteemed the best qualified to cooperate in the execution of his great
+design; and his pastoral letters, [37] if we may use that name, still
+represent a very curious sketch of his wishes and intentions. He
+directs, that in every city the sacerdotal order should be composed,
+without any distinction of birth and fortune, of those persons who were
+the most conspicuous for the love of the gods, and of men. "If they
+are guilty," continues he, "of any scandalous offence, they should be
+censured or degraded by the superior pontiff; but as long as they retain
+their rank, they are entitled to the respect of the magistrates and
+people. Their humility may be shown in the plainness of their domestic
+garb; their dignity, in the pomp of holy vestments. When they are
+summoned in their turn to officiate before the altar, they ought not,
+during the appointed number of days, to depart from the precincts of
+the temple; nor should a single day be suffered to elapse, without
+the prayers and the sacrifice, which they are obliged to offer for
+the prosperity of the state, and of individuals. The exercise of their
+sacred functions requires an immaculate purity, both of mind and body;
+and even when they are dismissed from the temple to the occupations of
+common life, it is incumbent on them to excel in decency and virtue the
+rest of their fellow-citizens. The priest of the gods should never be
+seen in theatres or taverns. His conversation should be chaste, his
+diet temperate, his friends of honorable reputation; and if he sometimes
+visits the Forum or the Palace, he should appear only as the advocate
+of those who have vainly solicited either justice or mercy. His studies
+should be suited to the sanctity of his profession. Licentious tales,
+or comedies, or satires, must be banished from his library, which ought
+solely to consist of historical or philosophical writings; of history,
+which is founded in truth, and of philosophy, which is connected with
+religion. The impious opinions of the Epicureans and sceptics deserve
+his abhorrence and contempt; [38] but he should diligently study the
+systems of Pythagoras, of Plato, and of the Stoics, which unanimously
+teach that there are gods; that the world is governed by their
+providence; that their goodness is the source of every temporal
+blessing; and that they have prepared for the human soul a future state
+of reward or punishment." The Imperial pontiff inculcates, in the most
+persuasive language, the duties of benevolence and hospitality; exhorts
+his inferior clergy to recommend the universal practice of those
+virtues; promises to assist their indigence from the public treasury;
+and declares his resolution of establishing hospitals in every city,
+where the poor should be received without any invidious distinction
+of country or of religion. Julian beheld with envy the wise and humane
+regulations of the church; and he very frankly confesses his intention
+to deprive the Christians of the applause, as well as advantage, which
+they had acquired by the exclusive practice of charity and beneficence.
+[39] The same spirit of imitation might dispose the emperor to adopt
+several ecclesiastical institutions, the use and importance of which
+were approved by the success of his enemies. But if these imaginary
+plans of reformation had been realized, the forced and imperfect
+copy would have been less beneficial to Paganism, than honorable to
+Christianity. [40] The Gentiles, who peaceably followed the customs
+of their ancestors, were rather surprised than pleased with the
+introduction of foreign manners; and in the short period of his reign,
+Julian had frequent occasions to complain of the want of fervor of his
+own party. [41]
+
+[Footnote 37: See Julian. Epistol. xlix. lxii. lxiii., and a long and
+curious fragment, without beginning or end, (p. 288-305.) The supreme
+pontiff derides the Mosaic history and the Christian discipline, prefers
+the Greek poets to the Hebrew prophets, and palliates, with the skill of
+a Jesuit the relative worship of images.]
+
+[Footnote 38: The exultation of Julian (p. 301) that these impious sects
+and even their writings, are extinguished, may be consistent enough with
+the sacerdotal character; but it is unworthy of a philosopher to wish
+that any opinions and arguments the most repugnant to his own should be
+concealed from the knowledge of mankind.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Yet he insinuates, that the Christians, under the pretence
+of charity, inveigled children from their religion and parents, conveyed
+them on shipboard, and devoted those victims to a life of poverty or
+pervitude in a remote country, (p. 305.) Had the charge been proved it
+was his duty, not to complain, but to punish.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Gregory Nazianzen is facetious, ingenious, and
+argumentative, (Orat. iii. p. 101, 102, &c.) He ridicules the folly of
+such vain imitation; and amuses himself with inquiring, what lessons,
+moral or theological, could be extracted from the Grecian fables.]
+
+[Footnote 41: He accuses one of his pontiffs of a secret confederacy
+with the Christian bishops and presbyters, (Epist. lxii.) &c. Epist.
+lxiii.]
+
+The enthusiasm of Julian prompted him to embrace the friends of Jupiter
+as his personal friends and brethren; and though he partially overlooked
+the merit of Christian constancy, he admired and rewarded the noble
+perseverance of those Gentiles who had preferred the favor of the gods
+to that of the emperor. [42] If they cultivated the literature, as well
+as the religion, of the Greeks, they acquired an additional claim to the
+friendship of Julian, who ranked the Muses in the number of his tutelar
+deities. In the religion which he had adopted, piety and learning were
+almost synonymous; [43] and a crowd of poets, of rhetoricians, and
+of philosophers, hastened to the Imperial court, to occupy the vacant
+places of the bishops, who had seduced the credulity of Constantius. His
+successor esteemed the ties of common initiation as far more sacred than
+those of consanguinity; he chose his favorites among the sages, who were
+deeply skilled in the occult sciences of magic and divination; and every
+impostor, who pretended to reveal the secrets of futurity, was assured
+of enjoying the present hour in honor and affluence. [44] Among the
+philosophers, Maximus obtained the most eminent rank in the friendship
+of his royal disciple, who communicated, with unreserved confidence, his
+actions, his sentiments, and his religious designs, during the anxious
+suspense of the civil war. [45] As soon as Julian had taken possession
+of the palace of Constantinople, he despatched an honorable and pressing
+invitation to Maximus, who then resided at Sardes in Lydia, with
+Chrysanthius, the associate of his art and studies. The prudent and
+superstitious Chrysanthius refused to undertake a journey which showed
+itself, according to the rules of divination, with the most threatening
+and malignant aspect: but his companion, whose fanaticism was of a
+bolder cast, persisted in his interrogations, till he had extorted from
+the gods a seeming consent to his own wishes, and those of the emperor.
+The journey of Maximus through the cities of Asia displayed the triumph
+of philosophic vanity; and the magistrates vied with each other in
+the honorable reception which they prepared for the friend of their
+sovereign. Julian was pronouncing an oration before the senate, when
+he was informed of the arrival of Maximus. The emperor immediately
+interrupted his discourse, advanced to meet him, and after a tender
+embrace, conducted him by the hand into the midst of the assembly; where
+he publicly acknowledged the benefits which he had derived from the
+instructions of the philosopher. Maximus, [46] who soon acquired the
+confidence, and influenced the councils of Julian, was insensibly
+corrupted by the temptations of a court. His dress became more splendid,
+his demeanor more lofty, and he was exposed, under a succeeding reign,
+to a disgraceful inquiry into the means by which the disciple of Plato
+had accumulated, in the short duration of his favor, a very scandalous
+proportion of wealth. Of the other philosophers and sophists, who were
+invited to the Imperial residence by the choice of Julian, or by the
+success of Maximus, few were able to preserve their innocence or
+their reputation. The liberal gifts of money, lands, and houses, were
+insufficient to satiate their rapacious avarice; and the indignation of
+the people was justly excited by the remembrance of their abject poverty
+and disinterested professions. The penetration of Julian could not
+always be deceived: but he was unwilling to despise the characters of
+those men whose talents deserved his esteem: he desired to escape the
+double reproach of imprudence and inconstancy; and he was apprehensive
+of degrading, in the eyes of the profane, the honor of letters and of
+religion. [48]
+
+[Footnote 42: He praises the fidelity of Callixene, priestess of Ceres,
+who had been twice as constant as Penelope, and rewards her with the
+priesthood of the Phrygian goddess at Pessinus, (Julian. Epist. xxi.) He
+applauds the firmness of Sopater of Hierapolis, who had been repeatedly
+pressed by Constantius and Gallus to apostatize, (Epist. xxvii p. 401.)]
+
+[Footnote 43: Orat. Parent. c. 77, p. 202. The same sentiment is
+frequently inculcated by Julian, Libanius, and the rest of their party.]
+
+[Footnote 44: The curiosity and credulity of the emperor, who tried
+every mode of divination, are fairly exposed by Ammianus, xxii. 12.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Julian. Epist. xxxviii. Three other epistles, (xv. xvi.
+xxxix.,) in the same style of friendship and confidence, are addressed
+to the philosopher Maximus.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Eunapius (in Maximo, p. 77, 78, 79, and in Chrysanthio, p.
+147, 148) has minutely related these anecdotes, which he conceives to
+be the most important events of the age. Yet he fairly confesses the
+frailty of Maximus. His reception at Constantinople is described by
+Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 86, p. 301) and Ammianus, (xxii. 7.) * Note:
+Eunapius wrote a continuation of the History of Dexippus. Some valuable
+fragments of this work have been recovered by M. Mai, and reprinted in
+Niebuhr's edition of the Byzantine Historians.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Chrysanthius, who had refused to quit Lydia, was created
+high priest of the province. His cautious and temperate use of power
+secured him after the revolution; and he lived in peace, while Maximus,
+Priscus, &c., were persecuted by the Christian ministers. See the
+adventures of those fanatic sophists, collected by Brucker, tom ii. p.
+281-293.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Sec Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 101, 102, p. 324, 325,
+326) and Eunapius, (Vit. Sophist. in Proaeresio, p. 126.) Some students,
+whose expectations perhaps were groundless, or extravagant, retired in
+disgust, (Greg. Naz. Orat. iv. p. 120.) It is strange that we should not
+be able to contradict the title of one of Tillemont's chapters, (Hist.
+des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 960,) "La Cour de Julien est pleine de
+philosphes et de gens perdus."]
+
+The favor of Julian was almost equally divided between the Pagans,
+who had firmly adhered to the worship of their ancestors, and the
+Christians, who prudently embraced the religion of their sovereign. The
+acquisition of new proselytes [49] gratified the ruling passions of his
+soul, superstition and vanity; and he was heard to declare, with the
+enthusiasm of a missionary, that if he could render each individual
+richer than Midas, and every city greater than Babylon, he should not
+esteem himself the benefactor of mankind, unless, at the same time,
+he could reclaim his subjects from their impious revolt against the
+immortal gods. [50] A prince who had studied human nature, and who
+possessed the treasures of the Roman empire, could adapt his arguments,
+his promises, and his rewards, to every order of Christians; [51] and
+the merit of a seasonable conversion was allowed to supply the defects
+of a candidate, or even to expiate the guilt of a criminal. As the army
+is the most forcible engine of absolute power, Julian applied himself,
+with peculiar diligence, to corrupt the religion of his troops,
+without whose hearty concurrence every measure must be dangerous and
+unsuccessful; and the natural temper of soldiers made this conquest as
+easy as it was important. The legions of Gaul devoted themselves to the
+faith, as well as to the fortunes, of their victorious leader; and even
+before the death of Constantius, he had the satisfaction of announcing
+to his friends, that they assisted with fervent devotion, and voracious
+appetite, at the sacrifices, which were repeatedly offered in his camp,
+of whole hecatombs of fat oxen. [52] The armies of the East, which
+had been trained under the standard of the cross, and of Constantius,
+required a more artful and expensive mode of persuasion. On the days
+of solemn and public festivals, the emperor received the homage, and
+rewarded the merit, of the troops. His throne of state was encircled
+with the military ensigns of Rome and the republic; the holy name of
+Christ was erased from the Labarum; and the symbols of war, of majesty,
+and of pagan superstition, were so dexterously blended, that the
+faithful subject incurred the guilt of idolatry, when he respectfully
+saluted the person or image of his sovereign. The soldiers passed
+successively in review; and each of them, before he received from
+the hand of Julian a liberal donative, proportioned to his rank and
+services, was required to cast a few grains of incense into the flame
+which burnt upon the altar. Some Christian confessors might resist, and
+others might repent; but the far greater number, allured by the prospect
+of gold, and awed by the presence of the emperor, contracted the
+criminal engagement; and their future perseverance in the worship of the
+gods was enforced by every consideration of duty and of interest.
+
+By the frequent repetition of these arts, and at the expense of sums
+which would have purchased the service of half the nations of Scythia,
+Julian gradually acquired for his troops the imaginary protection of
+the gods, and for himself the firm and effectual support of the Roman
+legions. [53] It is indeed more than probable, that the restoration and
+encouragement of Paganism revealed a multitude of pretended Christians,
+who, from motives of temporal advantage, had acquiesced in the religion
+of the former reign; and who afterwards returned, with the same
+flexibility of conscience, to the faith which was professed by the
+successors of Julian.
+
+[Footnote 49: Under the reign of Lewis XIV. his subjects of every rank
+aspired to the glorious title of Convertisseur, expressive of their
+zea and success in making proselytes. The word and the idea are growing
+obsolete in France may they never be introduced into England.]
+
+[Footnote 50: See the strong expressions of Libanius, which were
+probably those of Julian himself, (Orat. Parent. c. 59, p. 285.)]
+
+[Footnote 51: When Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. x. p. 167) is desirous to
+magnify the Christian firmness of his brother Caesarius, physician to
+the Imperial court, he owns that Caesarius disputed with a formidable
+adversary. In his invectives he scarcely allows any share of wit or
+courage to the apostate.]
+
+[Footnote 52: Julian, Epist. xxxviii. Ammianus, xxii. 12. Adeo ut
+in dies paene singulos milites carnis distentiore sagina victitantes
+incultius, potusque aviditate correpti, humeris impositi transeuntium
+per plateas, ex publicis aedibus..... ad sua diversoria portarentur. The
+devout prince and the indignant historian describe the same scene;
+and in Illyricum or Antioch, similar causes must have produced similar
+effects.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 74, 75, 83-86) and Libanius, (Orat.
+Parent. c. lxxxi. lxxxii. p. 307, 308,). The sophist owns and justifies
+the expense of these military conversions.]
+
+While the devout monarch incessantly labored to restore and propagate
+the religion of his ancestors, he embraced the extraordinary design
+of rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem. In a public epistle [54] to the
+nation or community of the Jews, dispersed through the provinces, he
+pities their misfortunes, condemns their oppressors, praises their
+constancy, declares himself their gracious protector, and expresses
+a pious hope, that after his return from the Persian war, he may be
+permitted to pay his grateful vows to the Almighty in his holy city
+of Jerusalem. The blind superstition, and abject slavery, of those
+unfortunate exiles, must excite the contempt of a philosophic emperor;
+but they deserved the friendship of Julian, by their implacable hatred
+of the Christian name. The barren synagogue abhorred and envied the
+fecundity of the rebellious church; the power of the Jews was not equal
+to their malice; but their gravest rabbis approved the private murder
+of an apostate; [55] and their seditious clamors had often awakened the
+indolence of the Pagan magistrates. Under the reign of Constantine,
+the Jews became the subjects of their revolted children nor was it long
+before they experienced the bitterness of domestic tyranny. The civil
+immunities which had been granted, or confirmed, by Severus, were
+gradually repealed by the Christian princes; and a rash tumult, excited
+by the Jews of Palestine, [56] seemed to justify the lucrative modes of
+oppression which were invented by the bishops and eunuchs of the
+court of Constantius. The Jewish patriarch, who was still permitted to
+exercise a precarious jurisdiction, held his residence at Tiberias; [57]
+and the neighboring cities of Palestine were filled with the remains
+of a people who fondly adhered to the promised land. But the edict of
+Hadrian was renewed and enforced; and they viewed from afar the walls of
+the holy city, which were profaned in their eyes by the triumph of the
+cross and the devotion of the Christians. [58]
+
+[Footnote 54: Julian's epistle (xxv.) is addressed to the community of
+the Jews. Aldus (Venet. 1499) has branded it with an; but this stigma
+is justly removed by the subsequent editors, Petavius and Spanheim. This
+epistle is mentioned by Sozomen, (l. v. c. 22,) and the purport of it
+is confirmed by Gregory, (Orat. iv. p. 111.) and by Julian himself
+(Fragment. p. 295.)]
+
+[Footnote 55: The Misnah denounced death against those who abandoned the
+foundation. The judgment of zeal is explained by Marsham (Canon. Chron.
+p. 161, 162, edit. fol. London, 1672) and Basnage, (Hist. des Juifs,
+tom. viii. p. 120.) Constantine made a law to protect Christian converts
+from Judaism. Cod. Theod. l. xvi. tit. viii. leg. 1. Godefroy, tom. vi.
+p. 215.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Et interea (during the civil war of Magnentius) Judaeorum
+seditio, qui Patricium, nefarie in regni speciem sustulerunt, oppressa.
+Aurelius Victor, in Constantio, c. xlii. See Tillemont, Hist. des
+Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 379, in 4to.]
+
+[Footnote 57: The city and synagogue of Tiberias are curiously described
+by Reland. Palestin. tom. ii. p. 1036-1042.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Basnage has fully illustrated the state of the Jews under
+Constantine and his successors, (tom. viii. c. iv. p. 111-153.)]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.--Part III.
+
+In the midst of a rocky and barren country, the walls of Jerusalem [59]
+enclosed the two mountains of Sion and Acra, within an oval figure of
+about three English miles. [60] Towards the south, the upper town, and
+the fortress of David, were erected on the lofty ascent of Mount Sion:
+on the north side, the buildings of the lower town covered the spacious
+summit of Mount Acra; and a part of the hill, distinguished by the name
+of Moriah, and levelled by human industry, was crowned with the stately
+temple of the Jewish nation. After the final destruction of the temple
+by the arms of Titus and Hadrian, a ploughshare was drawn over the
+consecrated ground, as a sign of perpetual interdiction. Sion was
+deserted; and the vacant space of the lower city was filled with
+the public and private edifices of the Aelian colony, which spread
+themselves over the adjacent hill of Calvary. The holy places were
+polluted with mountains of idolatry; and, either from design or
+accident, a chapel was dedicated to Venus, on the spot which had been
+sanctified by the death and resurrection of Christ. [61] [61a] Almost
+three hundred years after those stupendous events, the profane chapel of
+Venus was demolished by the order of Constantine; and the removal of the
+earth and stones revealed the holy sepulchre to the eyes of mankind.
+A magnificent church was erected on that mystic ground, by the first
+Christian emperor; and the effects of his pious munificence were
+extended to every spot which had been consecrated by the footstep of
+patriarchs, of prophets, and of the Son of God. [62]
+
+[Footnote 59: Reland (Palestin. l. i. p. 309, 390, l. iii. p. 838)
+describes, with learning and perspicuity, Jerusalem, and the face of the
+adjacent country.]
+
+[Footnote 60: I have consulted a rare and curious treatise of M.
+D'Anville, (sur l'Ancienne Jerusalem, Paris, 1747, p. 75.) The
+circumference of the ancient city (Euseb. Preparat. Evangel. l. ix. c.
+36) was 27 stadia, or 2550 toises. A plan, taken on the spot, assigns
+no more than 1980 for the modern town. The circuit is defined by natural
+landmarks, which cannot be mistaken or removed.]
+
+[Footnote 61: See two curious passages in Jerom, (tom. i. p. 102, tom.
+vi. p. 315,) and the ample details of Tillemont, (Hist, des Empereurs,
+tom. i. p. 569. tom. ii. p. 289, 294, 4to edition.)]
+
+[Footnote 61a: On the site of the Holy Sepulchre, compare the chapter
+in Professor Robinson's Travels in Palestine, which has renewed the old
+controversy with great vigor. To me, this temple of Venus, said to
+have been erected by Hadrian to insult the Christians, is not the least
+suspicious part of the whole legend.-M. 1845.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. iii. c. 25-47, 51-53. The
+emperor likewise built churches at Bethlem, the Mount of Olives, and the
+oa of Mambre. The holy sepulchre is described by Sandys, (Travels, p.
+125-133,) and curiously delineated by Le Bruyn, (Voyage au Levant, p.
+28-296.)]
+
+The passionate desire of contemplating the original monuments of their
+redemption attracted to Jerusalem a successive crowd of pilgrims, from
+the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and the most distant countries of the
+East; [63] and their piety was authorized by the example of the empress
+Helena, who appears to have united the credulity of age with the warm
+feelings of a recent conversion. Sages and heroes, who have visited
+the memorable scenes of ancient wisdom or glory, have confessed the
+inspiration of the genius of the place; [64] and the Christian who knelt
+before the holy sepulchre, ascribed his lively faith, and his fervent
+devotion, to the more immediate influence of the Divine Spirit. The
+zeal, perhaps the avarice, of the clergy of Jerusalem, cherished and
+multiplied these beneficial visits. They fixed, by unquestionable
+tradition, the scene of each memorable event. They exhibited the
+instruments which had been used in the passion of Christ; the nails and
+the lance that had pierced his hands, his feet, and his side; the crown
+of thorns that was planted on his head; the pillar at which he was
+scourged; and, above all, they showed the cross on which he suffered,
+and which was dug out of the earth in the reign of those princes, who
+inserted the symbol of Christianity in the banners of the Roman legions.
+[65] Such miracles as seemed necessary to account for its extraordinary
+preservation, and seasonable discovery, were gradually propagated
+without opposition. The custody of the true cross, which on Easter
+Sunday was solemnly exposed to the people, was intrusted to the bishop
+of Jerusalem; and he alone might gratify the curious devotion of the
+pilgrims, by the gift of small pieces, which they encased in gold or
+gems, and carried away in triumph to their respective countries. But as
+this gainful branch of commerce must soon have been annihilated, it was
+found convenient to suppose, that the marvelous wood possessed a
+secret power of vegetation; and that its substance, though continually
+diminished, still remained entire and unimpaired. [66] It might perhaps
+have been expected, that the influence of the place and the belief of
+a perpetual miracle, should have produced some salutary effects on the
+morals, as well as on the faith, of the people. Yet the most respectable
+of the ecclesiastical writers have been obliged to confess, not only
+that the streets of Jerusalem were filled with the incessant tumult of
+business and pleasure, [67] but that every species of vice--adultery,
+theft, idolatry, poisoning, murder--was familiar to the inhabitants
+of the holy city. [68] The wealth and preeminence of the church
+of Jerusalem excited the ambition of Arian, as well as orthodox,
+candidates; and the virtues of Cyril, who, since his death, has been
+honored with the title of Saint, were displayed in the exercise, rather
+than in the acquisition, of his episcopal dignity. [69]
+
+[Footnote 63: The Itinerary from Bourdeaux to Jerusalem was composed in
+the year 333, for the use of pilgrims; among whom Jerom (tom. i. p. 126)
+mentions the Britons and the Indians. The causes of this superstitious
+fashion are discussed in the learned and judicious preface of Wesseling.
+(Itinarar. p. 537-545.) ----Much curious information on this subject is
+collected in the first chapter of Wilken, Geschichte der Kreuzzuge.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 64: Cicero (de Finibus, v. 1) has beautifully expressed the
+common sense of mankind.]
+
+[Footnote 65: Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 326, No. 42-50) and
+Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 8-16) are the historians and
+champions of the miraculous invention of the cross, under the reign of
+Constantine. Their oldest witnesses are Paulinus, Sulpicius Severus,
+Rufinus, Ambrose, and perhaps Cyril of Jerusalem. The silence of
+Eusebius, and the Bourdeaux pilgrim, which satisfies those who think
+perplexes those who believe. See Jortin's sensible remarks, vol. ii. p
+238-248.]
+
+[Footnote 66: This multiplication is asserted by Paulinus, (Epist.
+xxxvi. See Dupin. Bibliot. Eccles. tom. iii. p. 149,) who seems to
+have improved a rhetorical flourish of Cyril into a real fact. The same
+supernatural privilege must have been communicated to the Virgin's
+milk, (Erasmi Opera, tom. i. p. 778, Lugd. Batav. 1703, in Colloq. de
+Peregrinat. Religionis ergo,) saints' heads, &c. and other relics, which
+are repeated in so many different churches. * Note: Lord Mahon, in a
+memoir read before the Society of Antiquaries, (Feb. 1831,) has traced
+in a brief but interesting manner, the singular adventures of the "true"
+cross. It is curious to inquire, what authority we have, except of
+late tradition, for the Hill of Calvary. There is none in the sacred
+writings; the uniform use of the common word, instead of any word
+expressing assent or acclivity, is against the notion.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Jerom, (tom. i. p. 103,) who resided in the neighboring
+village of Bethlem, describes the vices of Jerusalem from his personal
+experience.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Gregor. Nyssen, apud Wesseling, p. 539. The whole epistle,
+which condemns either the use or the abuse of religious pilgrimage, is
+painful to the Catholic divines, while it is dear and familiar to our
+Protestant polemics.]
+
+[Footnote 69: He renounced his orthodox ordination, officiated as
+a deacon, and was re-ordained by the hands of the Arians. But Cyril
+afterwards changed with the times, and prudently conformed to the Nicene
+faith. Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. viii.,) who treats his memory with
+tenderness and respect, has thrown his virtues into the text, and his
+faults into the notes, in decent obscurity, at the end of the volume.]
+
+The vain and ambitious mind of Julian might aspire to restore the
+ancient glory of the temple of Jerusalem. [70] As the Christians were
+firmly persuaded that a sentence of everlasting destruction had been
+pronounced against the whole fabric of the Mosaic law, the Imperial
+sophist would have converted the success of his undertaking into a
+specious argument against the faith of prophecy, and the truth of
+revelation. [71] He was displeased with the spiritual worship of the
+synagogue; but he approved the institutions of Moses, who had not
+disdained to adopt many of the rites and ceremonies of Egypt. [72]
+The local and national deity of the Jews was sincerely adored by a
+polytheist, who desired only to multiply the number of the gods; [73]
+and such was the appetite of Julian for bloody sacrifice, that his
+emulation might be excited by the piety of Solomon, who had offered, at
+the feast of the dedication, twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred
+and twenty thousand sheep. [74] These considerations might influence his
+designs; but the prospect of an immediate and important advantage would
+not suffer the impatient monarch to expect the remote and uncertain
+event of the Persian war. He resolved to erect, without delay, on the
+commanding eminence of Moriah, a stately temple, which might eclipse
+the splendor of the church of the resurrection on the adjacent hill of
+Calvary; to establish an order of priests, whose interested zeal would
+detect the arts, and resist the ambition, of their Christian rivals;
+and to invite a numerous colony of Jews, whose stern fanaticism would be
+always prepared to second, and even to anticipate, the hostile measures
+of the Pagan government. Among the friends of the emperor (if the names
+of emperor, and of friend, are not incompatible) the first place was
+assigned, by Julian himself, to the virtuous and learned Alypius.
+[75] The humanity of Alypius was tempered by severe justice and
+manly fortitude; and while he exercised his abilities in the civil
+administration of Britain, he imitated, in his poetical compositions,
+the harmony and softness of the odes of Sappho. This minister, to whom
+Julian communicated, without reserve, his most careless levities, and
+his most serious counsels, received an extraordinary commission to
+restore, in its pristine beauty, the temple of Jerusalem; and the
+diligence of Alypius required and obtained the strenuous support of the
+governor of Palestine. At the call of their great deliverer, the Jews,
+from all the provinces of the empire, assembled on the holy mountain of
+their fathers; and their insolent triumph alarmed and exasperated the
+Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem. The desire of rebuilding the temple
+has in every age been the ruling passion of the children of Israel. In
+this propitious moment the men forgot their avarice, and the women their
+delicacy; spades and pickaxes of silver were provided by the vanity of
+the rich, and the rubbish was transported in mantles of silk and purple.
+Every purse was opened in liberal contributions, every hand claimed
+a share in the pious labor, and the commands of a great monarch were
+executed by the enthusiasm of a whole people. [76]
+
+[Footnote 70: Imperii sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens propagare
+Ammian. xxiii. 1. The temple of Jerusalem had been famous even among the
+Gentiles. They had many temples in each city, (at Sichem five, at
+Gaza eight, at Rome four hundred and twenty-four;) but the wealth and
+religion of the Jewish nation was centred in one spot.]
+
+[Footnote 71: The secret intentions of Julian are revealed by the late
+bishop of Gloucester, the learned and dogmatic Warburton; who, with the
+authority of a theologian, prescribes the motives and conduct of the
+Supreme Being. The discourse entitled Julian (2d edition, London, 1751)
+is strongly marked with all the peculiarities which are imputed to the
+Warburtonian school.]
+
+[Footnote 72: I shelter myself behind Maimonides, Marsham, Spencer, Le
+Clerc, Warburton, &c., who have fairly derided the fears, the folly, and
+the falsehood of some superstitious divines. See Divine Legation, vol.
+iv. p. 25, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 73: Julian (Fragment. p. 295) respectfully styles him, and
+mentions him elsewhere (Epist. lxiii.) with still higher reverence. He
+doubly condemns the Christians for believing, and for renouncing, the
+religion of the Jews. Their Deity was a true, but not the only, God Apul
+Cyril. l. ix. p. 305, 306.]
+
+[Footnote 74: 1 Kings, viii. 63. 2 Chronicles, vii. 5. Joseph.
+Antiquitat. Judaic. l. viii. c. 4, p. 431, edit. Havercamp. As the blood
+and smoke of so many hecatombs might be inconvenient, Lightfoot, the
+Christian Rabbi, removes them by a miracle. Le Clerc (ad loca) is bold
+enough to suspect to fidelity of the numbers. * Note: According to the
+historian Kotobeddym, quoted by Burckhardt, (Travels in Arabia, p. 276,)
+the Khalif Mokteder sacrificed, during his pilgrimage to Mecca, in
+the year of the Hejira 350, forty thousand camels and cows, and fifty
+thousand sheep. Barthema describes thirty thousand oxen slain, and their
+carcasses given to the poor. Quarterly Review, xiii.p.39--M.]
+
+[Footnote 75: Julian, epist. xxix. xxx. La Bleterie has neglected to
+translate the second of these epistles.]
+
+[Footnote 76: See the zeal and impatience of the Jews in Gregory
+Nazianzen (Orat. iv. p. 111) and Theodoret. (l. iii. c. 20.)]
+
+Yet, on this occasion, the joint efforts of power and enthusiasm were
+unsuccessful; and the ground of the Jewish temple, which is now covered
+by a Mahometan mosque, [77] still continued to exhibit the same edifying
+spectacle of ruin and desolation. Perhaps the absence and death of the
+emperor, and the new maxims of a Christian reign, might explain the
+interruption of an arduous work, which was attempted only in the last
+six months of the life of Julian. [78] But the Christians entertained
+a natural and pious expectation, that, in this memorable contest,
+the honor of religion would be vindicated by some signal miracle. An
+earthquake, a whirlwind, and a fiery eruption, which overturned and
+scattered the new foundations of the temple, are attested, with some
+variations, by contemporary and respectable evidence. [79] This public
+event is described by Ambrose, [80] bishop of Milan, in an epistle to
+the emperor Theodosius, which must provoke the severe animadversion
+of the Jews; by the eloquent Chrysostom, [81] who might appeal to the
+memory of the elder part of his congregation at Antioch; and by Gregory
+Nazianzen, [82] who published his account of the miracle before the
+expiration of the same year. The last of these writers has boldly
+declared, that this preternatural event was not disputed by the
+infidels; and his assertion, strange as it may seem is confirmed by the
+unexceptionable testimony of Ammianus Marcellinus. [83] The philosophic
+soldier, who loved the virtues, without adopting the prejudices, of his
+master, has recorded, in his judicious and candid history of his own
+times, the extraordinary obstacles which interrupted the restoration of
+the temple of Jerusalem. "Whilst Alypius, assisted by the governor of
+the province, urged, with vigor and diligence, the execution of the
+work, horrible balls of fire breaking out near the foundations, with
+frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the place, from time to time,
+inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen; and the victorious
+element continuing in this manner obstinately and resolutely bent, as it
+were, to drive them to a distance, the undertaking was abandoned."
+[83a] Such authority should satisfy a believing, and must astonish an
+incredulous, mind. Yet a philosopher may still require the original
+evidence of impartial and intelligent spectators. At this important
+crisis, any singular accident of nature would assume the appearance, and
+produce the effects of a real prodigy. This glorious deliverance would
+be speedily improved and magnified by the pious art of the clergy of
+Jerusalem, and the active credulity of the Christian world and, at the
+distance of twenty years, a Roman historian, care less of theological
+disputes, might adorn his work with the specious and splendid miracle.
+[84]
+
+[Footnote 77: Built by Omar, the second Khalif, who died A. D. 644. This
+great mosque covers the whole consecrated ground of the Jewish temple,
+and constitutes almost a square of 760 toises, or one Roman mile in
+circumference. See D'Anville, Jerusalem, p. 45.]
+
+[Footnote 78: Ammianus records the consults of the year 363, before
+he proceeds to mention the thoughts of Julian. Templum. ... instaurare
+sumptibus cogitabat immodicis. Warburton has a secret wish to anticipate
+the design; but he must have understood, from former examples, that the
+execution of such a work would have demanded many years.]
+
+[Footnote 79: The subsequent witnesses, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret,
+Philostorgius, &c., add contradictions rather than authority. Compare
+the objections of Basnage (Hist. des Juifs, tom. viii. p. 156-168) with
+Warburton's answers, (Julian, p. 174-258.) The bishop has ingeniously
+explained the miraculous crosses which appeared on the garments of the
+spectators by a similar instance, and the natural effects of lightning.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Ambros. tom. ii. epist. xl. p. 946, edit. Benedictin. He
+composed this fanatic epistle (A. D. 388) to justify a bishop who had
+been condemned by the civil magistrate for burning a synagogue.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 580, advers. Judaeos et Gentes,
+tom. ii. p. 574, de Sto Babyla, edit. Montfaucon. I have followed the
+common and natural supposition; but the learned Benedictine, who dates
+the composition of these sermons in the year 383, is confident they were
+never pronounced from the pulpit.]
+
+[Footnote 82: Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iv. p. 110-113.]
+
+[Footnote 83: Ammian. xxiii. 1. Cum itaque rei fortiter instaret
+Alypius, juvaretque provinciae rector, metuendi globi flammarum prope
+fundamenta crebris assultibus erumpentes fecere locum exustis aliquoties
+operantibus inaccessum; hocque modo elemento destinatius repellente,
+cessavit inceptum. Warburton labors (p. 60-90) to extort a confession
+of the miracle from the mouths of Julian and Libanius, and to employ the
+evidence of a rabbi who lived in the fifteenth century. Such witnesses
+can only be received by a very favorable judge.]
+
+[Footnote 83a: Michaelis has given an ingenious and sufficiently
+probable explanation of this remarkable incident, which the positive
+testimony of Ammianus, a contemporary and a pagan, will not permit us
+to call in question. It was suggested by a passage in Tacitus. That
+historian, speaking of Jerusalem, says, [I omit the first part of the
+quotation adduced by M. Guizot, which only by a most extraordinary
+mistranslation of muri introrsus sinuati by "enfoncemens" could be made
+to bear on the question.--M.] The Temple itself was a kind of citadel,
+which had its own walls, superior in their workmanship and construction
+to those of the city. The porticos themselves, which surrounded the
+temple, were an excellent fortification. There was a fountain of
+constantly running water; subterranean excavations under the mountain;
+reservoirs and cisterns to collect the rain-water. Tac. Hist. v. ii.
+12. These excavations and reservoirs must have been very considerable.
+The latter furnished water during the whole siege of Jerusalem to
+1,100,000 inhabitants, for whom the fountain of Siloe could not have
+sufficed, and who had no fresh rain-water, the siege having taken place
+from the month of April to the month of August, a period of the year
+during which it rarely rains in Jerusalem. As to the excavations, they
+served after, and even before, the return of the Jews from Babylon,
+to contain not only magazines of oil, wine, and corn, but also the
+treasures which were laid up in the Temple. Josephus has related several
+incidents which show their extent. When Jerusalem was on the point of
+being taken by Titus, the rebel chiefs, placing their last hopes
+in these vast subterranean cavities, formed a design of concealing
+themselves there, and remaining during the conflagration of the city,
+and until the Romans had retired to a distance. The greater part had not
+time to execute their design; but one of them, Simon, the Son of Gioras,
+having provided himself with food, and tools to excavate the earth
+descended into this retreat with some companions: he remained there till
+Titus had set out for Rome: under the pressure of famine he issued forth
+on a sudden in the very place where the Temple had stood, and appeared
+in the midst of the Roman guard. He was seized and carried to Rome for
+the triumph. His appearance made it be suspected that other Jews
+might have chosen the same asylum; search was made, and a great number
+discovered. Joseph. de Bell. Jud. l. vii. c. 2. It is probable that
+the greater part of these excavations were the remains of the time of
+Solomon, when it was the custom to work to a great extent under ground:
+no other date can be assigned to them. The Jews, on their return from
+the captivity, were too poor to undertake such works; and, although
+Herod, on rebuilding the Temple, made some excavations, (Joseph. Ant.
+Jud. xv. 11, vii.,) the haste with which that building was completed
+will not allow us to suppose that they belonged to that period. Some
+were used for sewers and drains, others served to conceal the immense
+treasures of which Crassus, a hundred and twenty years before, plundered
+the Jews, and which doubtless had been since replaced. The Temple was
+destroyed A. C. 70; the attempt of Julian to rebuild it, and the fact
+related by Ammianus, coincide with the year 363. There had then elapsed
+between these two epochs an interval of near 300 years, during which the
+excavations, choked up with ruins, must have become full of inflammable
+air. The workmen employed by Julian as they were digging, arrived at
+the excavations of the Temple; they would take torches to explore them;
+sudden flames repelled those who approached; explosions were heard, and
+these phenomena were renewed every time that they penetrated into new
+subterranean passages. This explanation is confirmed by the relation
+of an event nearly similar, by Josephus. King Herod having heard that
+immense treasures had been concealed in the sepulchre of David, he
+descended into it with a few confidential persons; he found in the first
+subterranean chamber only jewels and precious stuffs: but having wished
+to penetrate into a second chamber, which had been long closed, he
+was repelled, when he opened it, by flames which killed those who
+accompanied him. (Ant. Jud. xvi. 7, i.) As here there is no room for
+miracle, this fact may be considered as a new proof of the veracity of
+that related by Ammianus and the contemporary writers.--G. ----To the
+illustrations of the extent of the subterranean chambers adduced by
+Michaelis, may be added, that when John of Gischala, during the siege,
+surprised the Temple, the party of Eleazar took refuge within them.
+Bell. Jud. vi. 3, i. The sudden sinking of the hill of Sion when
+Jerusalem was occupied by Barchocab, may have been connected with
+similar excavations. Hist. of Jews, vol. iii. 122 and 186.--M. ----It is
+a fact now popularly known, that when mines which have been long closed
+are opened, one of two things takes place; either the torches are
+extinguished and the men fall first into a swoor and soon die; or, if
+the air is inflammable, a little flame is seen to flicker round the
+lamp, which spreads and multiplies till the conflagration becomes
+general, is followed by an explosion, and kill all who are in the
+way.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 84: Dr. Lardner, perhaps alone of the Christian critics,
+presumes to doubt the truth of this famous miracle. (Jewish and Heathen
+Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 47-71.)]
+
+The silence of Jerom would lead to a suspicion that the same story which
+was celebrated at a distance, might be despised on the spot. * Note:
+Gibbon has forgotten Basnage, to whom Warburton replied.--M.
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.--Part IV.
+
+The restoration of the Jewish temple was secretly connected with the
+ruin of the Christian church. Julian still continued to maintain the
+freedom of religious worship, without distinguishing whether this
+universal toleration proceeded from his justice or his clemency. He
+affected to pity the unhappy Christians, who were mistaken in the most
+important object of their lives; but his pity was degraded by contempt,
+his contempt was embittered by hatred; and the sentiments of Julian were
+expressed in a style of sarcastic wit, which inflicts a deep and deadly
+wound, whenever it issues from the mouth of a sovereign. As he was
+sensible that the Christians gloried in the name of their Redeemer,
+he countenanced, and perhaps enjoined, the use of the less honorable
+appellation of Galilaeans. [85] He declared, that by the folly of the
+Galilaeans, whom he describes as a sect of fanatics, contemptible to
+men, and odious to the gods, the empire had been reduced to the brink of
+destruction; and he insinuates in a public edict, that a frantic patient
+might sometimes be cured by salutary violence. [86] An ungenerous
+distinction was admitted into the mind and counsels of Julian, that,
+according to the difference of their religious sentiments, one part
+of his subjects deserved his favor and friendship, while the other was
+entitled only to the common benefits that his justice could not refuse
+to an obedient people. According to a principle, pregnant with mischief
+and oppression, the emperor transferred to the pontiffs of his own
+religion the management of the liberal allowances for the public
+revenue, which had been granted to the church by the piety of
+Constantine and his sons. The proud system of clerical honors and
+immunities, which had been constructed with so much art and labor,
+was levelled to the ground; the hopes of testamentary donations were
+intercepted by the rigor of the laws; and the priests of the Christian
+sect were confounded with the last and most ignominious class of the
+people. Such of these regulations as appeared necessary to check the
+ambition and avarice of the ecclesiastics, were soon afterwards imitated
+by the wisdom of an orthodox prince. The peculiar distinctions which
+policy has bestowed, or superstition has lavished, on the sacerdotal
+order, must be confined to those priests who profess the religion of the
+state. But the will of the legislator was not exempt from prejudice and
+passion; and it was the object of the insidious policy of Julian, to
+deprive the Christians of all the temporal honors and advantages which
+rendered them respectable in the eyes of the world. [88]
+
+[Footnote 85: Greg. Naz. Orat. iii. p. 81. And this law was confirmed by
+the invariable practice of Julian himself. Warburton has justly observed
+(p. 35,) that the Platonists believed in the mysterious virtue of
+words and Julian's dislike for the name of Christ might proceed from
+superstition, as well as from contempt.]
+
+[Footnote 86: Fragment. Julian. p. 288. He derides the (Epist. vii.,)
+and so far loses sight of the principles of toleration, as to wish
+(Epist. xlii.).]
+
+[Footnote 88: These laws, which affected the clergy, may be found in the
+slight hints of Julian himself, (Epist. lii.) in the vague declamations
+of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 86, 87,) and in the positive assertions of
+Sozomen, (l. v. c. 5.)]
+
+A just and severe censure has been inflicted on the law which prohibited
+the Christians from teaching the arts of grammar and rhetoric. [89] The
+motives alleged by the emperor to justify this partial and oppressive
+measure, might command, during his lifetime, the silence of slaves and
+the applause of Gatterers. Julian abuses the ambiguous meaning of a word
+which might be indifferently applied to the language and the religion of
+the Greeks: he contemptuously observes, that the men who exalt the
+merit of implicit faith are unfit to claim or to enjoy the advantages of
+science; and he vainly contends, that if they refuse to adore the
+gods of Homer and Demosthenes, they ought to content themselves with
+expounding Luke and Matthew in the church of the Galilaeans. [90] In all
+the cities of the Roman world, the education of the youth was intrusted
+to masters of grammar and rhetoric; who were elected by the magistrates,
+maintained at the public expense, and distinguished by many lucrative
+and honorable privileges. The edict of Julian appears to have included
+the physicians, and professors of all the liberal arts; and the
+emperor, who reserved to himself the approbation of the candidates, was
+authorized by the laws to corrupt, or to punish, the religious constancy
+of the most learned of the Christians. [91] As soon as the resignation
+of the more obstinate [92] teachers had established the unrivalled
+dominion of the Pagan sophists, Julian invited the rising generation to
+resort with freedom to the public schools, in a just confidence, that
+their tender minds would receive the impressions of literature and
+idolatry. If the greatest part of the Christian youth should be deterred
+by their own scruples, or by those of their parents, from accepting this
+dangerous mode of instruction, they must, at the same time, relinquish
+the benefits of a liberal education. Julian had reason to expect that,
+in the space of a few years, the church would relapse into its primaeval
+simplicity, and that the theologians, who possessed an adequate share
+of the learning and eloquence of the age, would be succeeded by a
+generation of blind and ignorant fanatics, incapable of defending the
+truth of their own principles, or of exposing the various follies of
+Polytheism. [93]
+
+[Footnote 89: Inclemens.... perenni obruendum silentio. Ammian. xxii.
+10, ixv. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 90: The edict itself, which is still extant among the epistles
+of Julian, (xlii.,) may be compared with the loose invectives of Gregory
+(Orat. iii. p. 96.) Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1291-1294) has
+collected the seeming differences of ancients and moderns. They may be
+easily reconciled. The Christians were directly forbid to teach, they
+were indirectly forbid to learn; since they would not frequent the
+schools of the Pagans.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Codex Theodos. l. xiii. tit. iii. de medicis et
+professoribus, leg. 5, (published the 17th of June, received, at Spoleto
+in Italy, the 29th of July, A. D. 363,) with Godefroy's Illustrations,
+tom. v. p. 31.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Orosius celebrates their disinterested resolution, Sicut a
+majori bus nostris compertum habemus, omnes ubique propemodum...
+officium quam fidem deserere maluerunt, vii. 30. Proaeresius, a
+Christian sophist, refused to accept the partial favor of the emperor
+Hieronym. in Chron. p. 185, edit. Scaliger. Eunapius in Proaeresio p.
+126.]
+
+[Footnote 93: They had recourse to the expedient of composing books
+for their own schools. Within a few months Apollinaris produced his
+Christian imitations of Homer, (a sacred history in twenty-four books,)
+Pindar, Euripides, and Menander; and Sozomen is satisfied, that they
+equalled, or excelled, the originals. * Note: Socrates, however, implies
+that, on the death of Julian, they were contemptuously thrown aside by
+the Christians. Socr. Hist. iii.16.--M.]
+
+It was undoubtedly the wish and design of Julian to deprive the
+Christians of the advantages of wealth, of knowledge, and of power; but
+the injustice of excluding them from all offices of trust and profit
+seems to have been the result of his general policy, rather than the
+immediate consequence of any positive law. [94] Superior merit might
+deserve and obtain, some extraordinary exceptions; but the greater part
+of the Christian officers were gradually removed from their employments
+in the state, the army, and the provinces. The hopes of future
+candidates were extinguished by the declared partiality of a prince, who
+maliciously reminded them, that it was unlawful for a Christian to use
+the sword, either of justice, or of war; and who studiously guarded
+the camp and the tribunals with the ensigns of idolatry. The powers of
+government were intrusted to the pagans, who professed an ardent zeal
+for the religion of their ancestors; and as the choice of the emperor
+was often directed by the rules of divination, the favorites whom he
+preferred as the most agreeable to the gods, did not always obtain the
+approbation of mankind. [95] Under the administration of their enemies,
+the Christians had much to suffer, and more to apprehend. The temper of
+Julian was averse to cruelty; and the care of his reputation, which was
+exposed to the eyes of the universe, restrained the philosophic monarch
+from violating the laws of justice and toleration, which he himself had
+so recently established. But the provincial ministers of his authority
+were placed in a less conspicuous station. In the exercise of arbitrary
+power, they consulted the wishes, rather than the commands, of their
+sovereign; and ventured to exercise a secret and vexatious tyranny
+against the sectaries, on whom they were not permitted to confer the
+honors of martyrdom. The emperor, who dissembled as long as possible his
+knowledge of the injustice that was exercised in his name, expressed
+his real sense of the conduct of his officers, by gentle reproofs and
+substantial rewards. [96]
+
+[Footnote 94: It was the instruction of Julian to his magistrates,
+(Epist. vii.,). Sozomen (l. v. c. 18) and Socrates (l. iii. c. 13) must
+be reduced to the standard of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 95,) not less
+prone to exaggeration, but more restrained by the actual knowledge of
+his contemporary readers.]
+
+[Footnote 95: Libanius, Orat. Parent. 88, p. 814.]
+
+[Footnote 96: Greg. Naz. Orat. iii. p. 74, 91, 92. Socrates, l. iii. c.
+14. The doret, l. iii. c. 6. Some drawback may, however, be allowed for
+the violence of their zeal, not less partial than the zeal of Julian]
+
+The most effectual instrument of oppression, with which they were
+armed, was the law that obliged the Christians to make full and
+ample satisfaction for the temples which they had destroyed under
+the preceding reign. The zeal of the triumphant church had not always
+expected the sanction of the public authority; and the bishops, who were
+secure of impunity, had often marched at the head of their congregation,
+to attack and demolish the fortresses of the prince of darkness. The
+consecrated lands, which had increased the patrimony of the sovereign or
+of the clergy, were clearly defined, and easily restored. But on these
+lands, and on the ruins of Pagan superstition, the Christians had
+frequently erected their own religious edifices: and as it was necessary
+to remove the church before the temple could be rebuilt, the justice
+and piety of the emperor were applauded by one party, while the other
+deplored and execrated his sacrilegious violence. [97] After the ground
+was cleared, the restitution of those stately structures which had been
+levelled with the dust, and of the precious ornaments which had been
+converted to Christian uses, swelled into a very large account of
+damages and debt. The authors of the injury had neither the ability nor
+the inclination to discharge this accumulated demand: and the impartial
+wisdom of a legislator would have been displayed in balancing
+the adverse claims and complaints, by an equitable and temperate
+arbitration.
+
+But the whole empire, and particularly the East, was thrown into
+confusion by the rash edicts of Julian; and the Pagan magistrates,
+inflamed by zeal and revenge, abused the rigorous privilege of the Roman
+law, which substitutes, in the place of his inadequate property, the
+person of the insolvent debtor. Under the preceding reign, Mark, bishop
+of Arethusa, [98] had labored in the conversion of his people with arms
+more effectual than those of persuasion. [99] The magistrates required
+the full value of a temple which had been destroyed by his intolerant
+zeal: but as they were satisfied of his poverty, they desired only to
+bend his inflexible spirit to the promise of the slightest compensation.
+They apprehended the aged prelate, they inhumanly scourged him, they
+tore his beard; and his naked body, annointed with honey, was suspended,
+in a net, between heaven and earth, and exposed to the stings of insects
+and the rays of a Syrian sun. [100] From this lofty station, Mark still
+persisted to glory in his crime, and to insult the impotent rage of his
+persecutors. He was at length rescued from their hands, and dismissed to
+enjoy the honor of his divine triumph. The Arians celebrated the
+virtue of their pious confessor; the Catholics ambitiously claimed his
+alliance; [101] and the Pagans, who might be susceptible of shame or
+remorse, were deterred from the repetition of such unavailing cruelty.
+[102] Julian spared his life: but if the bishop of Arethusa had saved
+the infancy of Julian, [103] posterity will condemn the ingratitude,
+instead of praising the clemency, of the emperor.
+
+[Footnote 97: If we compare the gentle language of Libanius (Orat.
+Parent c. 60. p. 286) with the passionate exclamations of Gregory,
+(Orat. iii. p. 86, 87,) we may find it difficult to persuade ourselves
+that the two orators are really describing the same events.]
+
+[Footnote 98: Restan, or Arethusa, at the equal distance of sixteen
+miles between Emesa (Hems) and Epiphania, (Hamath,) was founded, or at
+least named, by Seleucus Nicator. Its peculiar aera dates from the year
+of Rome 685, according to the medals of the city. In the decline of the
+Seleucides, Emesa and Arethusa were usurped by the Arab Sampsiceramus,
+whose posterity, the vassals of Rome, were not extinguished in the reign
+of Vespasian.----See D'Anville's Maps and Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii.
+p. 134. Wesseling, Itineraria, p. 188, and Noris. Epoch Syro-Macedon, p.
+80, 481, 482.]
+
+[Footnote 99: Sozomen, l. v. c. 10. It is surprising, that Gregory and
+Theodoret should suppress a circumstance, which, in their eyes, must
+have enhanced the religious merit of the confessor.]
+
+[Footnote 100: The sufferings and constancy of Mark, which Gregory
+has so tragically painted, (Orat. iii. p. 88-91,) are confirmed by the
+unexceptionable and reluctant evidence of Libanius. Epist. 730, p. 350,
+351. Edit. Wolf. Amstel. 1738.]
+
+[Footnote 101: Certatim eum sibi (Christiani) vindicant. It is thus that
+La Croze and Wolfius (ad loc.) have explained a Greek word, whose true
+signification had been mistaken by former interpreters, and even by
+Le Clerc, (Bibliotheque Ancienne et Moderne, tom. iii. p. 371.) Yet
+Tillemont is strangely puzzled to understand (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p.
+1390) how Gregory and Theodoret could mistake a Semi-Arian bishop for a
+saint.]
+
+[Footnote 102: See the probable advice of Sallust, (Greg. Nazianzen,
+Orat. iii. p. 90, 91.) Libanius intercedes for a similar offender, lest
+they should find many Marks; yet he allows, that if Orion had secreted
+the consecrated wealth, he deserved to suffer the punishment of Marsyas;
+to be flayed alive, (Epist. 730, p. 349-351.)]
+
+[Footnote 103: Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 90) is satisfied that, by saving
+the apostate, Mark had deserved still more than he had suffered.]
+
+At the distance of five miles from Antioch, the Macedonian kings of
+Syria had consecrated to Apollo one of the most elegant places of
+devotion in the Pagan world. [104] A magnificent temple rose in honor
+of the god of light; and his colossal figure [105] almost filled the
+capacious sanctuary, which was enriched with gold and gems, and adorned
+by the skill of the Grecian artists. The deity was represented in a
+bending attitude, with a golden cup in his hand, pouring out a libation
+on the earth; as if he supplicated the venerable mother to give to
+his arms the cold and beauteous Daphne: for the spot was ennobled by
+fiction; and the fancy of the Syrian poets had transported the amorous
+tale from the banks of the Peneus to those of the Orontes. The ancient
+rites of Greece were imitated by the royal colony of Antioch. A stream
+of prophecy, which rivalled the truth and reputation of the Delphic
+oracle, flowed from the Castalian fountain of Daphne. [106] In the
+adjacent fields a stadium was built by a special privilege, [107] which
+had been purchased from Elis; the Olympic games were celebrated at the
+expense of the city; and a revenue of thirty thousand pounds sterling
+was annually applied to the public pleasures. [108] The perpetual resort
+of pilgrims and spectators insensibly formed, in the neighborhood of the
+temple, the stately and populous village of Daphne, which emulated the
+splendor, without acquiring the title, of a provincial city. The temple
+and the village were deeply bosomed in a thick grove of laurels and
+cypresses, which reached as far as a circumference of ten miles, and
+formed in the most sultry summers a cool and impenetrable shade. A
+thousand streams of the purest water, issuing from every hill, preserved
+the verdure of the earth, and the temperature of the air; the senses
+were gratified with harmonious sounds and aromatic odors; and the
+peaceful grove was consecrated to health and joy, to luxury and love.
+The vigorous youth pursued, like Apollo, the object of his desires; and
+the blushing maid was warned, by the fate of Daphne, to shun the folly
+of unseasonable coyness. The soldier and the philosopher wisely avoided
+the temptation of this sensual paradise: [109] where pleasure, assuming
+the character of religion, imperceptibly dissolved the firmness of manly
+virtue. But the groves of Daphne continued for many ages to enjoy the
+veneration of natives and strangers; the privileges of the holy ground
+were enlarged by the munificence of succeeding emperors; and every
+generation added new ornaments to the splendor of the temple. [110]
+
+[Footnote 104: The grove and temple of Daphne are described by Strabo,
+(l. xvi. p. 1089, 1090, edit. Amstel. 1707,) Libanius, (Naenia, p.
+185-188. Antiochic. Orat. xi. p. 380, 381,) and Sozomen, (l. v. c.
+19.) Wesseling (Itinerar. p. 581) and Casaubon (ad Hist. August. p. 64)
+illustrate this curious subject.]
+
+[Footnote 105: Simulacrum in eo Olympiaci Jovis imitamenti aequiparans
+magnitudinem. Ammian. xxii. 13. The Olympic Jupiter was sixty feet high,
+and his bulk was consequently equal to that of a thousand men. See a
+curious Memoire of the Abbe Gedoyn, (Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ix.
+p. 198.)]
+
+[Footnote 106: Hadrian read the history of his future fortunes on a
+leaf dipped in the Castalian stream; a trick which, according to the
+physician Vandale, (de Oraculis, p. 281, 282,) might be easily performed
+by chemical preparations. The emperor stopped the source of such
+dangerous knowledge; which was again opened by the devout curiosity of
+Julian.]
+
+[Footnote 107: It was purchased, A. D. 44, in the year 92 of the aera of
+Antioch, (Noris. Epoch. Syro-Maced. p. 139-174,) for the term of
+ninety Olympiads. But the Olympic games of Antioch were not regularly
+celebrated till the reign of Commodus. See the curious details in the
+Chronicle of John Malala, (tom. i. p. 290, 320, 372-381,) a writer whose
+merit and authority are confined within the limits of his native city.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Fifteen talents of gold, bequeathed by Sosibius, who died
+in the reign of Augustus. The theatrical merits of the Syrian cities in
+the reign of Constantine, are computed in the Expositio totius Murd, p.
+8, (Hudson, Geograph. Minor tom. iii.)]
+
+[Footnote 109: Avidio Cassio Syriacas legiones dedi luxuria diffluentes
+et Daphnicis moribus. These are the words of the emperor Marcus
+Antoninus in an original letter preserved by his biographer in Hist.
+August. p. 41. Cassius dismissed or punished every soldier who was seen
+at Daphne.]
+
+[Footnote 110: Aliquantum agrorum Daphnensibus dedit, (Pompey,) quo
+lucus ibi spatiosior fieret; delectatus amoenitate loci et aquarum
+abundantiz, Eutropius, vi. 14. Sextus Rufus, de Provinciis, c. 16.]
+
+When Julian, on the day of the annual festival, hastened to adore
+the Apollo of Daphne, his devotion was raised to the highest pitch
+of eagerness and impatience. His lively imagination anticipated the
+grateful pomp of victims, of libations and of incense; a long procession
+of youths and virgins, clothed in white robes, the symbol of their
+innocence; and the tumultuous concourse of an innumerable people. But
+the zeal of Antioch was diverted, since the reign of Christianity, into
+a different channel. Instead of hecatombs of fat oxen sacrificed by the
+tribes of a wealthy city to their tutelar deity the emperor complains
+that he found only a single goose, provided at the expense of a priest,
+the pale and solitary in habitant of this decayed temple. [111] The
+altar was deserted, the oracle had been reduced to silence, and the holy
+ground was profaned by the introduction of Christian and funereal rites.
+After Babylas [112] (a bishop of Antioch, who died in prison in the
+persecution of Decius) had rested near a century in his grave, his body,
+by the order of Caesar Gallus, was transported into the midst of the
+grove of Daphne. A magnificent church was erected over his remains;
+a portion of the sacred lands was usurped for the maintenance of the
+clergy, and for the burial of the Christians at Antioch, who were
+ambitious of lying at the feet of their bishop; and the priests of
+Apollo retired, with their affrighted and indignant votaries. As soon as
+another revolution seemed to restore the fortune of Paganism, the church
+of St. Babylas was demolished, and new buildings were added to the
+mouldering edifice which had been raised by the piety of Syrian kings.
+But the first and most serious care of Julian was to deliver his
+oppressed deity from the odious presence of the dead and living
+Christians, who had so effectually suppressed the voice of fraud or
+enthusiasm. [113] The scene of infection was purified, according to
+the forms of ancient rituals; the bodies were decently removed; and
+the ministers of the church were permitted to convey the remains of
+St. Babylas to their former habitation within the walls of Antioch.
+The modest behavior which might have assuaged the jealousy of a
+hostile government was neglected, on this occasion, by the zeal of the
+Christians. The lofty car, that transported the relics of Babylas, was
+followed, and accompanied, and received, by an innumerable multitude;
+who chanted, with thundering acclamations, the Psalms of David the most
+expressive of their contempt for idols and idolaters. The return of the
+saint was a triumph; and the triumph was an insult on the religion of
+the emperor, who exerted his pride to dissemble his resentment. During
+the night which terminated this indiscreet procession, the temple of
+Daphne was in flames; the statue of Apollo was consumed; and the
+walls of the edifice were left a naked and awful monument of ruin. The
+Christians of Antioch asserted, with religious confidence, that the
+powerful intercession of St. Babylas had pointed the lightnings of
+heaven against the devoted roof: but as Julian was reduced to the
+alternative of believing either a crime or a miracle, he chose, without
+hesitation, without evidence, but with some color of probability, to
+impute the fire of Daphne to the revenge of the Galilaeans. [114] Their
+offence, had it been sufficiently proved, might have justified the
+retaliation, which was immediately executed by the order of Julian, of
+shutting the doors, and confiscating the wealth, of the cathedral of
+Antioch. To discover the criminals who were guilty of the tumult, of
+the fire, or of secreting the riches of the church, several of the
+ecclesiastics were tortured; [115] and a Presbyter, of the name of
+Theodoret, was beheaded by the sentence of the Count of the East. But
+this hasty act was blamed by the emperor; who lamented, with real or
+affected concern, that the imprudent zeal of his ministers would tarnish
+his reign with the disgrace of persecution. [116]
+
+[Footnote 111: Julian (Misopogon, p. 367, 362) discovers his own
+character with naivete, that unconscious simplicity which always
+constitutes genuine humor.]
+
+[Footnote 112: Babylas is named by Eusebius in the succession of the
+bishops of Antioch, (Hist. Eccles. l. vi. c. 29, 39.) His triumph over
+two emperors (the first fabulous, the second historical) is diffusely
+celebrated by Chrysostom, (tom. ii. p. 536-579, edit. Montfaucon.)
+Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. iii. part ii. p. 287-302, 459-465) becomes
+almost a sceptic.]
+
+[Footnote 113: Ecclesiastical critics, particularly those who love
+relics, exult in the confession of Julian (Misopogon, p. 361) and
+Libanius, (Laenia, p. 185,) that Apollo was disturbed by the vicinity
+of one dead man. Yet Ammianus (xxii. 12) clears and purifies the whole
+ground, according to the rites which the Athenians formerly practised in
+the Isle of Delos.]
+
+[Footnote 114: Julian (in Misopogon, p. 361) rather insinuates, than
+affirms, their guilt. Ammianus (xxii. 13) treats the imputation as
+levissimus rumor, and relates the story with extraordinary candor.]
+
+[Footnote 115: Quo tam atroci casu repente consumpto, ad id usque
+e imperatoris ira provexit, ut quaestiones agitare juberet solito
+acriores, (yet Julian blames the lenity of the magistrates of Antioch,)
+et majorem ecclesiam Antiochiae claudi. This interdiction was performed
+with some circumstances of indignity and profanation; and the seasonable
+death of the principal actor, Julian's uncle, is related with much
+superstitious complacency by the Abbe de la Bleterie. Vie de Julien, p.
+362-369.]
+
+[Footnote 116: Besides the ecclesiastical historians, who are more or
+less to be suspected, we may allege the passion of St. Theodore, in the
+Acta Sincera of Ruinart, p. 591. The complaint of Julian gives it an
+original and authentic air.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.--Part V.
+
+The zeal of the ministers of Julian was instantly checked by the frown
+of their sovereign; but when the father of his country declares himself
+the leader of a faction, the license of popular fury cannot easily be
+restrained, nor consistently punished. Julian, in a public composition,
+applauds the devotion and loyalty of the holy cities of Syria, whose
+pious inhabitants had destroyed, at the first signal, the sepulchres
+of the Galilaeans; and faintly complains, that they had revenged
+the injuries of the gods with less moderation than he should have
+recommended. [117] This imperfect and reluctant confession may appear
+to confirm the ecclesiastical narratives; that in the cities of Gaza,
+Ascalon, Caesarea, Heliopolis, &c., the Pagans abused, without prudence
+or remorse, the moment of their prosperity. That the unhappy objects
+of their cruelty were released from torture only by death; and as their
+mangled bodies were dragged through the streets, they were pierced
+(such was the universal rage) by the spits of cooks, and the distaffs of
+enraged women; and that the entrails of Christian priests and virgins,
+after they had been tasted by those bloody fanatics, were mixed with
+barley, and contemptuously thrown to the unclean animals of the city.
+[118] Such scenes of religious madness exhibit the most contemptible and
+odious picture of human nature; but the massacre of Alexandria attracts
+still more attention, from the certainty of the fact, the rank of the
+victims, and the splendor of the capital of Egypt.
+
+[Footnote 117: Julian. Misopogon, p. 361.]
+
+[Footnote 118: See Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iii. p. 87.) Sozomen (l. v.
+c. 9) may be considered as an original, though not impartial, witness.
+He was a native of Gaza, and had conversed with the confessor Zeno, who,
+as bishop of Maiuma, lived to the age of a hundred, (l. vii. c. 28.)
+Philostorgius (l. vii. c. 4, with Godefroy's Dissertations, p. 284) adds
+some tragic circumstances, of Christians who were literally sacrificed
+at the altars of the gods, &c.]
+
+George, [119] from his parents or his education, surnamed the
+Cappadocian, was born at Epiphania in Cilicia, in a fuller's shop. From
+this obscure and servile origin he raised himself by the talents of a
+parasite; and the patrons, whom he assiduously flattered, procured for
+their worthless dependent a lucrative commission, or contract, to supply
+the army with bacon. His employment was mean; he rendered it infamous.
+He accumulated wealth by the basest arts of fraud and corruption; but
+his malversations were so notorious, that George was compelled to escape
+from the pursuits of justice. After this disgrace, in which he appears
+to have saved his fortune at the expense of his honor, he embraced, with
+real or affected zeal, the profession of Arianism. From the love, or
+the ostentation, of learning, he collected a valuable library of
+history rhetoric, philosophy, and theology, [120] and the choice of
+the prevailing faction promoted George of Cappadocia to the throne of
+Athanasius. The entrance of the new archbishop was that of a Barbarian
+conqueror; and each moment of his reign was polluted by cruelty and
+avarice. The Catholics of Alexandria and Egypt were abandoned to a
+tyrant, qualified, by nature and education, to exercise the office
+of persecution; but he oppressed with an impartial hand the various
+inhabitants of his extensive diocese. The primate of Egypt assumed the
+pomp and insolence of his lofty station; but he still betrayed the vices
+of his base and servile extraction. The merchants of Alexandria were
+impoverished by the unjust, and almost universal, monopoly, which he
+acquired, of nitre, salt, paper, funerals, &c.: and the spiritual father
+of a great people condescended to practise the vile and pernicious arts
+of an informer. The Alexandrians could never forget, nor forgive,
+the tax, which he suggested, on all the houses of the city; under an
+obsolete claim, that the royal founder had conveyed to his successors,
+the Ptolemies and the Caesars, the perpetual property of the soil. The
+Pagans, who had been flattered with the hopes of freedom and toleration,
+excited his devout avarice; and the rich temples of Alexandria were
+either pillaged or insulted by the haughty prince, who exclaimed, in a
+loud and threatening tone, "How long will these sepulchres be permitted
+to stand?" Under the reign of Constantius, he was expelled by the
+fury, or rather by the justice, of the people; and it was not without a
+violent struggle, that the civil and military powers of the state
+could restore his authority, and gratify his revenge. The messenger who
+proclaimed at Alexandria the accession of Julian, announced the downfall
+of the archbishop. George, with two of his obsequious ministers, Count
+Diodorus, and Dracontius, master of the mint were ignominiously dragged
+in chains to the public prison. At the end of twenty-four days, the
+prison was forced open by the rage of a superstitious multitude,
+impatient of the tedious forms of judicial proceedings. The enemies of
+gods and men expired under their cruel insults; the lifeless bodies of
+the archbishop and his associates were carried in triumph through
+the streets on the back of a camel; [120] and the inactivity of the
+Athanasian party [121] was esteemed a shining example of evangelical
+patience. The remains of these guilty wretches were thrown into the
+sea; and the popular leaders of the tumult declared their resolution to
+disappoint the devotion of the Christians, and to intercept the future
+honors of these martyrs, who had been punished, like their predecessors,
+by the enemies of their religion. [122] The fears of the Pagans were
+just, and their precautions ineffectual. The meritorious death of the
+archbishop obliterated the memory of his life. The rival of Athanasius
+was dear and sacred to the Arians, and the seeming conversion of those
+sectaries introduced his worship into the bosom of the Catholic church.
+[123] The odious stranger, disguising every circumstance of time and
+place, assumed the mask of a martyr, a saint, and a Christian hero;
+[124] and the infamous George of Cappadocia has been transformed
+[125] into the renowned St. George of England, the patron of arms, of
+chivalry, and of the garter. [126]
+
+[Footnote 119: The life and death of George of Cappadocia are described
+by Ammianus, (xxii. 11,) Gregory of Nazianzen, (Orat. xxi. p. 382, 385,
+389, 390,) and Epiphanius, (Haeres. lxxvi.) The invectives of the two
+saints might not deserve much credit, unless they were confirmed by the
+testimony of the cool and impartial infidel.]
+
+[Footnote 120: After the massacre of George, the emperor Julian
+repeatedly sent orders to preserve the library for his own use, and to
+torture the slaves who might be suspected of secreting any books. He
+praises the merit of the collection, from whence he had borrowed
+and transcribed several manuscripts while he pursued his studies in
+Cappadocia. He could wish, indeed, that the works of the Galiaeans
+might perish but he requires an exact account even of those theological
+volumes lest other treatises more valuable should be confounded in their
+less Julian. Epist. ix. xxxvi.]
+
+[Footnote 120a: Julian himself says, that they tore him to pieces like
+dogs, Epist. x.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 121: Philostorgius, with cautious malice, insinuates their
+guilt, l. vii. c. ii. Godefroy p. 267.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Cineres projecit in mare, id metuens ut clamabat, ne,
+collectis supremis, aedes illis exstruerentur ut reliquis, qui deviare
+a religione compulsi, pertulere, cruciabiles poenas, adusque gloriosam
+mortem intemerata fide progressi, et nunc Martyres appellantur. Ammian.
+xxii. 11. Epiphanius proves to the Arians, that George was not a
+martyr.]
+
+[Footnote 123: Some Donatists (Optatus Milev. p. 60, 303, edit.
+Dupin; and Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 713, in 4to.) and
+Priscillianists (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 517, in 4to.)
+have in like manner usurped the honors of the Catholic saints and
+martyrs.]
+
+[Footnote 124: The saints of Cappadocia, Basil, and the Gregories, were
+ignorant of their holy companion. Pope Gelasius, (A. D. 494,) the first
+Catholic who acknowledges St. George, places him among the martyrs
+"qui Deo magis quam hominibus noti sunt." He rejects his Acts as the
+composition of heretics. Some, perhaps, not the oldest, of the spurious
+Acts, are still extant; and, through a cloud of fiction, we may yet
+distinguish the combat which St. George of Cappadocia sustained, in the
+presence of Queen Alexandria, against the magician Afhanasius.]
+
+[Footnote 125: This transformation is not given as absolutely certain,
+but as extremely probable. See the Longueruana, tom. i. p. 194.
+----Note: The late Dr. Milner (the Roman Catholic bishop) wrote a tract
+to vindicate the existence and the orthodoxy of the tutelar saint of
+England. He succeeds, I think, in tracing the worship of St. George up
+to a period which makes it improbable that so notorious an Arian could
+be palmed upon the Catholic church as a saint and a martyr. The Acts
+rejected by Gelasius may have been of Arian origin, and designed to
+ingraft the story of their hero on the obscure adventures of some
+earlier saint. See an Historical and Critical Inquiry into the Existence
+and Character of Saint George, in a letter to the Earl of Leicester, by
+the Rev. J. Milner. F. S. A. London 1792.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 126: A curious history of the worship of St. George, from the
+sixth century, (when he was already revered in Palestine, in Armenia
+at Rome, and at Treves in Gaul,) might be extracted from Dr. Heylin
+(History of St. George, 2d edition, London, 1633, in 4to. p. 429) and
+the Bollandists, (Act. Ss. Mens. April. tom. iii. p. 100-163.) His fame
+and popularity in Europe, and especially in England, proceeded from the
+Crusades.]
+
+About the same time that Julian was informed of the tumult of
+Alexandria, he received intelligence from Edessa, that the proud
+and wealthy faction of the Arians had insulted the weakness of the
+Valentinians, and committed such disorders as ought not to be suffered
+with impunity in a well-regulated state. Without expecting the slow
+forms of justice, the exasperated prince directed his mandate to the
+magistrates of Edessa, [127] by which he confiscated the whole property
+of the church: the money was distributed among the soldiers; the lands
+were added to the domain; and this act of oppression was aggravated
+by the most ungenerous irony. "I show myself," says Julian, "the true
+friend of the Galilaeans. Their admirable law has promised the kingdom
+of heaven to the poor; and they will advance with more diligence in the
+paths of virtue and salvation, when they are relieved by my assistance
+from the load of temporal possessions. Take care," pursued the monarch,
+in a more serious tone, "take care how you provoke my patience and
+humanity. If these disorders continue, I will revenge on the magistrates
+the crimes of the people; and you will have reason to dread, not
+only confiscation and exile, but fire and the sword." The tumults of
+Alexandria were doubtless of a more bloody and dangerous nature: but a
+Christian bishop had fallen by the hands of the Pagans; and the public
+epistle of Julian affords a very lively proof of the partial spirit of
+his administration. His reproaches to the citizens of Alexandria are
+mingled with expressions of esteem and tenderness; and he laments, that,
+on this occasion, they should have departed from the gentle and generous
+manners which attested their Grecian extraction. He gravely censures
+the offence which they had committed against the laws of justice
+and humanity; but he recapitulates, with visible complacency, the
+intolerable provocations which they had so long endured from the impious
+tyranny of George of Cappadocia. Julian admits the principle, that
+a wise and vigorous government should chastise the insolence of the
+people; yet, in consideration of their founder Alexander, and of Serapis
+their tutelar deity, he grants a free and gracious pardon to the guilty
+city, for which he again feels the affection of a brother. [128]
+
+[Footnote 127: Julian. Epist. xliii.]
+
+[Footnote 128: Julian. Epist. x. He allowed his friends to assuage his
+anger Ammian. xxii. 11.]
+
+After the tumult of Alexandria had subsided, Athanasius, amidst the
+public acclamations, seated himself on the throne from whence his
+unworthy competitor had been precipitated: and as the zeal of the
+archbishop was tempered with discretion, the exercise of his authority
+tended not to inflame, but to reconcile, the minds of the people. His
+pastoral labors were not confined to the narrow limits of Egypt. The
+state of the Christian world was present to his active and capacious
+mind; and the age, the merit, the reputation of Athanasius, enabled him
+to assume, in a moment of danger, the office of Ecclesiastical Dictator.
+[129] Three years were not yet elapsed since the majority of the bishops
+of the West had ignorantly, or reluctantly, subscribed the Confession of
+Rimini. They repented, they believed, but they dreaded the unseasonable
+rigor of their orthodox brethren; and if their pride was stronger than
+their faith, they might throw themselves into the arms of the Arians, to
+escape the indignity of a public penance, which must degrade them to the
+condition of obscure laymen. At the same time the domestic differences
+concerning the union and distinction of the divine persons, were
+agitated with some heat among the Catholic doctors; and the progress of
+this metaphysical controversy seemed to threaten a public and lasting
+division of the Greek and Latin churches. By the wisdom of a select
+synod, to which the name and presence of Athanasius gave the authority
+of a general council, the bishops, who had unwarily deviated into error,
+were admitted to the communion of the church, on the easy condition of
+subscribing the Nicene Creed; without any formal acknowledgment of their
+past fault, or any minute definition of their scholastic opinions. The
+advice of the primate of Egypt had already prepared the clergy of Gaul
+and Spain, of Italy and Greece, for the reception of this salutary
+measure; and, notwithstanding the opposition of some ardent spirits,
+[130] the fear of the common enemy promoted the peace and harmony of the
+Christians. [131]
+
+[Footnote 129: See Athanas. ad Rufin. tom. ii. p. 40, 41, and Greg.
+Nazianzen Orat. iii. p. 395, 396; who justly states the temperate zeal
+of the primate, as much more meritorious than his prayers, his fasts,
+his persecutions, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 130: I have not leisure to follow the blind obstinacy of
+Lucifer of Cagliari. See his adventures in Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom.
+vii. p. 900-926;) and observe how the color of the narrative insensibly
+changes, as the confessor becomes a schismatic.]
+
+[Footnote 131: Assensus est huic sententiae Occidens, et, per tam
+necessarium conilium, Satanae faucibus mundus ereptus. The lively and
+artful dialogue of Jerom against the Luciferians (tom. ii. p. 135-155)
+exhibits an original picture of the ecclesiastical policy of the times.]
+
+The skill and diligence of the primate of Egypt had improved the season
+of tranquillity, before it was interrupted by the hostile edicts of the
+emperor. [132] Julian, who despised the Christians, honored Athanasius
+with his sincere and peculiar hatred. For his sake alone, he introduced
+an arbitrary distinction, repugnant at least to the spirit of his former
+declarations. He maintained, that the Galilaeans, whom he had recalled
+from exile, were not restored, by that general indulgence, to
+the possession of their respective churches; and he expressed his
+astonishment, that a criminal, who had been repeatedly condemned by the
+judgment of the emperors, should dare to insult the majesty of the laws,
+and insolently usurp the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria, without
+expecting the orders of his sovereign. As a punishment for the imaginary
+offence, he again banished Athanasius from the city; and he was pleased
+to suppose, that this act of justice would be highly agreeable to his
+pious subjects. The pressing solicitations of the people soon convinced
+him, that the majority of the Alexandrians were Christians; and that
+the greatest part of the Christians were firmly attached to the cause of
+their oppressed primate. But the knowledge of their sentiments, instead
+of persuading him to recall his decree, provoked him to extend to all
+Egypt the term of the exile of Athanasius. The zeal of the multitude
+rendered Julian still more inexorable: he was alarmed by the danger of
+leaving at the head of a tumultuous city, a daring and popular leader;
+and the language of his resentment discovers the opinion which he
+entertained of the courage and abilities of Athanasius. The execution
+of the sentence was still delayed, by the caution or negligence of
+Ecdicius, praefect of Egypt, who was at length awakened from his
+lethargy by a severe reprimand. "Though you neglect," says Julian, "to
+write to me on any other subject, at least it is your duty to inform me
+of your conduct towards Athanasius, the enemy of the gods. My intentions
+have been long since communicated to you. I swear by the great Serapis,
+that unless, on the calends of December, Athanasius has departed from
+Alexandria, nay, from Egypt, the officers of your government shall pay
+a fine of one hundred pounds of gold. You know my temper: I am slow to
+condemn, but I am still slower to forgive." This epistle was enforced by
+a short postscript, written with the emperor's own hand. "The contempt
+that is shown for all the gods fills me with grief and indignation.
+There is nothing that I should see, nothing that I should hear, with
+more pleasure, than the expulsion of Athanasius from all Egypt. The
+abominable wretch! Under my reign, the baptism of several Grecian ladies
+of the highest rank has been the effect of his persecutions." [133] The
+death of Athanasius was not expressly commanded; but the praefect of
+Egypt understood that it was safer for him to exceed, than to neglect,
+the orders of an irritated master. The archbishop prudently retired to
+the monasteries of the Desert; eluded, with his usual dexterity, the
+snares of the enemy; and lived to triumph over the ashes of a prince,
+who, in words of formidable import, had declared his wish that the whole
+venom of the Galilaean school were contained in the single person of
+Athanasius. [134] [134a]
+
+[Footnote 132: Tillemont, who supposes that George was massacred in
+August crowds the actions of Athanasius into a narrow space, (Mem.
+Eccles. tom. viii. p. 360.) An original fragment, published by the
+Marquis Maffei, from the old Chapter library of Verona, (Osservazioni
+Letterarie, tom. iii. p. 60-92,) affords many important dates, which are
+authenticated by the computation of Egyptian months.]
+
+[Footnote 133: I have preserved the ambiguous sense of the last word,
+the ambiguity of a tyrant who wished to find, or to create, guilt.]
+
+[Footnote 134: The three epistles of Julian, which explain his
+intentions and conduct with regard to Athanasius, should be disposed in
+the following chronological order, xxvi. x. vi. * See likewise, Greg.
+Nazianzen xxi. p. 393. Sozomen, l. v. c. 15. Socrates, l. iii. c.
+14. Theodoret, l iii. c. 9, and Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p.
+361-368, who has used some materials prepared by the Bollandists.]
+
+[Footnote 134a: The sentence in the text is from Epist. li. addressed to
+the people of Alexandria.--M.]
+
+I have endeavored faithfully to represent the artful system by which
+Julian proposed to obtain the effects, without incurring the guilt,
+or reproach, of persecution. But if the deadly spirit of fanaticism
+perverted the heart and understanding of a virtuous prince, it must, at
+the same time, be confessed that the real sufferings of the Christians
+were inflamed and magnified by human passions and religious enthusiasm.
+The meekness and resignation which had distinguished the primitive
+disciples of the gospel, was the object of the applause, rather than of
+the imitation of their successors. The Christians, who had now possessed
+above forty years the civil and ecclesiastical government of the empire,
+had contracted the insolent vices of prosperity, [135] and the habit of
+believing that the saints alone were entitled to reign over the earth.
+As soon as the enmity of Julian deprived the clergy of the privileges
+which had been conferred by the favor of Constantine, they complained
+of the most cruel oppression; and the free toleration of idolaters and
+heretics was a subject of grief and scandal to the orthodox party.
+[136] The acts of violence, which were no longer countenanced by
+the magistrates, were still committed by the zeal of the people. At
+Pessinus, the altar of Cybele was overturned almost in the presence of
+the emperor; and in the city of Caesarea in Cappadocia, the temple of
+Fortune, the sole place of worship which had been left to the Pagans,
+was destroyed by the rage of a popular tumult. On these occasions,
+a prince, who felt for the honor of the gods, was not disposed to
+interrupt the course of justice; and his mind was still more deeply
+exasperated, when he found that the fanatics, who had deserved and
+suffered the punishment of incendiaries, were rewarded with the honors
+of martyrdom. [137] The Christian subjects of Julian were assured of the
+hostile designs of their sovereign; and, to their jealous apprehension,
+every circumstance of his government might afford some grounds of
+discontent and suspicion. In the ordinary administration of the
+laws, the Christians, who formed so large a part of the people, must
+frequently be condemned: but their indulgent brethren, without examining
+the merits of the cause, presumed their innocence, allowed their
+claims, and imputed the severity of their judge to the partial malice
+of religious persecution. [138] These present hardships, intolerable as
+they might appear, were represented as a slight prelude of the impending
+calamities. The Christians considered Julian as a cruel and crafty
+tyrant; who suspended the execution of his revenge till he should return
+victorious from the Persian war. They expected, that as soon as he
+had triumphed over the foreign enemies of Rome, he would lay aside the
+irksome mask of dissimulation; that the amphitheatre would stream with
+the blood of hermits and bishops; and that the Christians who still
+persevered in the profession of the faith, would be deprived of the
+common benefits of nature and society. [139] Every calumny [140] that
+could wound the reputation of the Apostate, was credulously embraced by
+the fears and hatred of his adversaries; and their indiscreet clamors
+provoked the temper of a sovereign, whom it was their duty to respect,
+and their interest to flatter.
+
+They still protested, that prayers and tears were their only weapons
+against the impious tyrant, whose head they devoted to the justice of
+offended Heaven. But they insinuated, with sullen resolution, that
+their submission was no longer the effect of weakness; and that, in
+the imperfect state of human virtue, the patience, which is founded
+on principle, may be exhausted by persecution. It is impossible to
+determine how far the zeal of Julian would have prevailed over his good
+sense and humanity; but if we seriously reflect on the strength and
+spirit of the church, we shall be convinced, that before the emperor
+could have extinguished the religion of Christ, he must have involved
+his country in the horrors of a civil war. [141]
+
+[Footnote 135: See the fair confession of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 61,
+62.)]
+
+[Footnote 136: Hear the furious and absurd complaint of Optatus, (de
+Schismat Denatist. l. ii. c. 16, 17.)]
+
+[Footnote 137: Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 91, iv. p. 133. He praises
+the rioters of Caesarea. See Sozomen, l. v. 4, 11. Tillemont (Mem.
+Eccles. tom. vii. p. 649, 650) owns, that their behavior was not dans
+l'ordre commun: but he is perfectly satisfied, as the great St. Basil
+always celebrated the festival of these blessed martyrs.]
+
+[Footnote 138: Julian determined a lawsuit against the new Christian
+city at Maiuma, the port of Gaza; and his sentence, though it might be
+imputed to bigotry, was never reversed by his successors. Sozomen, l. v.
+c. 3. Reland, Palestin. tom. ii. p. 791.]
+
+[Footnote 139: Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 93, 94, 95. Orat. iv. p. 114)
+pretends to speak from the information of Julian's confidants, whom
+Orosius (vii. 30) could not have seen.]
+
+[Footnote 140: Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 91) charges the Apostate with
+secret sacrifices of boys and girls; and positively affirms, that the
+dead bodies were thrown into the Orontes. See Theodoret, l. iii. c. 26,
+27; and the equivocal candor of the Abbe de la Bleterie, Vie de Julien,
+p. 351, 352. Yet contemporary malice could not impute to Julian the
+troops of martyrs, more especially in the West, which Baronius so
+greedily swallows, and Tillemont so faintly rejects, (Mem. Eccles. tom.
+vii. p. 1295-1315.)]
+
+[Footnote 141: The resignation of Gregory is truly edifying, (Orat.
+iv. p. 123, 124.) Yet, when an officer of Julian attempted to seize the
+church of Nazianzus, he would have lost his life, if he had not yielded
+to the zeal of the bishop and people, (Orat. xix. p. 308.) See the
+reflections of Chrysostom, as they are alleged by Tillemont, (Mem.
+Eccles. tom. vii. p. 575.)]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV: The Retreat And Death Of Julian.--Part I.
+
+Residence Of Julian At Antioch.--His Successful Expedition Against
+The Persians.--Passage Of The Tigris--The Retreat And Death Of
+Julian.--Election Of Jovian.--He Saves The Roman Army By A Disgraceful
+Treaty. The philosophical fable which Julian composed under the name
+of the Caesars, [1] is one of the most agreeable and instructive
+productions of ancient wit. [2] During the freedom and equality of the
+days of the Saturnalia, Romulus prepared a feast for the deities of
+Olympus, who had adopted him as a worthy associate, and for the Roman
+princes, who had reigned over his martial people, and the vanquished
+nations of the earth. The immortals were placed in just order on their
+thrones of state, and the table of the Caesars was spread below the Moon
+in the upper region of the air. The tyrants, who would have disgraced
+the society of gods and men, were thrown headlong, by the inexorable
+Nemesis, into the Tartarean abyss. The rest of the Caesars successively
+advanced to their seats; and as they passed, the vices, the defects, the
+blemishes of their respective characters, were maliciously noticed
+by old Silenus, a laughing moralist, who disguised the wisdom of a
+philosopher under the mask of a Bacchanal. [3] As soon as the feast
+was ended, the voice of Mercury proclaimed the will of Jupiter, that a
+celestial crown should be the reward of superior merit. Julius Caesar,
+Augustus, Trajan, and Marcus Antoninus, were selected as the most
+illustrious candidates; the effeminate Constantine [4] was not excluded
+from this honorable competition, and the great Alexander was invited to
+dispute the prize of glory with the Roman heroes. Each of the candidates
+was allowed to display the merit of his own exploits; but, in the
+judgment of the gods, the modest silence of Marcus pleaded more
+powerfully than the elaborate orations of his haughty rivals. When the
+judges of this awful contest proceeded to examine the heart, and to
+scrutinize the springs of action, the superiority of the Imperial Stoic
+appeared still more decisive and conspicuous. [5] Alexander and Caesar,
+Augustus, Trajan, and Constantine, acknowledged, with a blush, that
+fame, or power, or pleasure had been the important object of their
+labors: but the gods themselves beheld, with reverence and love,
+a virtuous mortal, who had practised on the throne the lessons of
+philosophy; and who, in a state of human imperfection, had aspired to
+imitate the moral attributes of the Deity. The value of this agreeable
+composition (the Caesars of Julian) is enhanced by the rank of the
+author. A prince, who delineates, with freedom, the vices and virtues of
+his predecessors, subscribes, in every line, the censure or approbation
+of his own conduct.
+
+[Footnote 1: See this fable or satire, p. 306-336 of the Leipsig edition
+of Julian's works. The French version of the learned Ezekiel Spanheim
+(Paris, 1683) is coarse, languid, and correct; and his notes, proofs,
+illustrations, &c., are piled on each other till they form a mass of
+557 close-printed quarto pages. The Abbe' de la Bleterie (Vie de Jovien,
+tom. i. p. 241-393) has more happily expressed the spirit, as well as
+the sense, of the original, which he illustrates with some concise and
+curious notes.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Spanheim (in his preface) has most learnedly discussed the
+etymology, origin, resemblance, and disagreement of the Greek satyrs,
+a dramatic piece, which was acted after the tragedy; and the Latin
+satires, (from Satura,) a miscellaneous composition, either in prose or
+verse. But the Caesars of Julian are of such an original cast, that the
+critic is perplexed to which class he should ascribe them. * Note: See
+also Casaubon de Satira, with Rambach's observations.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 3: This mixed character of Silenus is finely painted in the
+sixth eclogue of Virgil.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Every impartial reader must perceive and condemn the
+partiality of Julian against his uncle Constantine, and the Christian
+religion. On this occasion, the interpreters are compelled, by a most
+sacred interest, to renounce their allegiance, and to desert the cause
+of their author.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Julian was secretly inclined to prefer a Greek to a
+Roman. But when he seriously compared a hero with a philosopher, he was
+sensible that mankind had much greater obligations to Socrates than to
+Alexander, (Orat. ad Themistium, p. 264.)]
+
+In the cool moments of reflection, Julian preferred the useful and
+benevolent virtues of Antoninus; but his ambitious spirit was inflamed
+by the glory of Alexander; and he solicited, with equal ardor, the
+esteem of the wise, and the applause of the multitude. In the season of
+life when the powers of the mind and body enjoy the most active vigor,
+the emperor who was instructed by the experience, and animated by the
+success, of the German war, resolved to signalize his reign by some more
+splendid and memorable achievement. The ambassadors of the East, from
+the continent of India, and the Isle of Ceylon, [6] had respectfully
+saluted the Roman purple. [7] The nations of the West esteemed and
+dreaded the personal virtues of Julian, both in peace and war. He
+despised the trophies of a Gothic victory, and was satisfied that the
+rapacious Barbarians of the Danube would be restrained from any future
+violation of the faith of treaties by the terror of his name, and the
+additional fortifications with which he strengthened the Thracian and
+Illyrian frontiers. The successor of Cyrus and Artaxerxes was the only
+rival whom he deemed worthy of his arms; and he resolved, by the final
+conquest of Persia, to chastise the naughty nation which had so long
+resisted and insulted the majesty of Rome. [9] As soon as the Persian
+monarch was informed that the throne of Constantius was filed by a
+prince of a very different character, he condescended to make some
+artful, or perhaps sincere, overtures towards a negotiation of peace.
+But the pride of Sapor was astonished by the firmness of Julian;
+who sternly declared, that he would never consent to hold a peaceful
+conference among the flames and ruins of the cities of Mesopotamia; and
+who added, with a smile of contempt, that it was needless to treat by
+ambassadors, as he himself had determined to visit speedily the court
+of Persia. The impatience of the emperor urged the diligence of the
+military preparations. The generals were named; and Julian, marching
+from Constantinople through the provinces of Asia Minor, arrived at
+Antioch about eight months after the death of his predecessor. His
+ardent desire to march into the heart of Persia, was checked by the
+indispensable duty of regulating the state of the empire; by his zeal to
+revive the worship of the gods; and by the advice of his wisest friends;
+who represented the necessity of allowing the salutary interval of
+winter quarters, to restore the exhausted strength of the legions of
+Gaul, and the discipline and spirit of the Eastern troops. Julian was
+persuaded to fix, till the ensuing spring, his residence at Antioch,
+among a people maliciously disposed to deride the haste, and to censure
+the delays, of their sovereign. [10]
+
+[Footnote 6: Inde nationibus Indicis certatim cum aonis optimates
+mittentibus.... ab usque Divis et Serendivis. Ammian. xx. 7.
+This island, to which the names of Taprobana, Serendib, and Ceylon, have
+been successively applied, manifests how imperfectly the seas and lands
+to the east of Cape Comorin were known to the Romans. 1. Under the reign
+of Claudius, a freedman, who farmed the customs of the Red Sea, was
+accidentally driven by the winds upon this strange and undiscovered
+coast: he conversed six months with the natives; and the king of Ceylon,
+who heard, for the first time, of the power and justice of Rome, was
+persuaded to send an embassy to the emperor. (Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 24.)
+2. The geographers (and even Ptolemy) have magnified, above fifteen
+times, the real size of this new world, which they extended as far as
+the equator, and the neighborhood of China. * Note: The name of Diva
+gens or Divorum regio, according to the probable conjecture of M.
+Letronne, (Trois Mem. Acad. p. 127,) was applied by the ancients to the
+whole eastern coast of the Indian Peninsula, from Ceylon to the Canges.
+The name may be traced in Devipatnam, Devidan, Devicotta, Divinelly, the
+point of Divy.----M. Letronne, p.121, considers the freedman with his
+embassy from Ceylon to have been an impostor.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 7: These embassies had been sent to Constantius. Ammianus, who
+unwarily deviates into gross flattery, must have forgotten the length of
+the way, and the short duration of the reign of Julian.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Gothos saepe fallaces et perfidos; hostes quaerere se
+meliores aiebat: illis enim sufficere mercators Galatas per quos ubique
+sine conditionis discrimine venumdantur. (Ammian. xxii. 7.) Within less
+than fifteen years, these Gothic slaves threatened and subdued their
+masters.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Alexander reminds his rival Caesar, who depreciated the
+fame and merit of an Asiatic victory, that Crassus and Antony had felt
+the Persian arrows; and that the Romans, in a war of three hundred
+years, had not yet subdued the single province of Mesopotamia or
+Assyria, (Caesares, p. 324.)]
+
+[Footnote 10: The design of the Persian war is declared by Ammianus,
+(xxii. 7, 12,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 79, 80, p. 305, 306,)
+Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 158,) and Socrates, (l. iii. c. 19.)]
+
+If Julian had flattered himself, that his personal connection with the
+capital of the East would be productive of mutual satisfaction to the
+prince and people, he made a very false estimate of his own character,
+and of the manners of Antioch. [11] The warmth of the climate disposed
+the natives to the most intemperate enjoyment of tranquillity and
+opulence; and the lively licentiousness of the Greeks was blended
+with the hereditary softness of the Syrians. Fashion was the only law,
+pleasure the only pursuit, and the splendor of dress and furniture was
+the only distinction of the citizens of Antioch. The arts of luxury were
+honored; the serious and manly virtues were the subject of ridicule; and
+the contempt for female modesty and reverent age announced the universal
+corruption of the capital of the East. The love of spectacles was the
+taste, or rather passion, of the Syrians; the most skilful artists were
+procured from the adjacent cities; [12] a considerable share of the
+revenue was devoted to the public amusements; and the magnificence of
+the games of the theatre and circus was considered as the happiness and
+as the glory of Antioch. The rustic manners of a prince who disdained
+such glory, and was insensible of such happiness, soon disgusted the
+delicacy of his subjects; and the effeminate Orientals could neither
+imitate, nor admire, the severe simplicity which Julian always
+maintained, and sometimes affected. The days of festivity, consecrated,
+by ancient custom, to the honor of the gods, were the only occasions in
+which Julian relaxed his philosophic severity; and those festivals
+were the only days in which the Syrians of Antioch could reject the
+allurements of pleasure. The majority of the people supported the glory
+of the Christian name, which had been first invented by their ancestors:
+[13] they contended themselves with disobeying the moral precepts, but
+they were scrupulously attached to the speculative doctrines of their
+religion. The church of Antioch was distracted by heresy and schism; but
+the Arians and the Athanasians, the followers of Meletius and those of
+Paulinus, [14] were actuated by the same pious hatred of their common
+adversary.
+
+[Footnote 11: The Satire of Julian, and the Homilies of St. Chrysostom,
+exhibit the same picture of Antioch. The miniature which the Abbe de la
+Bleterie has copied from thence, (Vie de Julian, p. 332,) is elegant and
+correct.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Laodicea furnished charioteers; Tyre and Berytus,
+comedians; Caesarea, pantomimes; Heliopolis, singers; Gaza, gladiators,
+Ascalon, wrestlers; and Castabala, rope-dancers. See the Expositio
+totius Mundi, p. 6, in the third tome of Hudson's Minor Geographers.]
+
+[Footnote 13: The people of Antioch ingenuously professed their
+attachment to the Chi, (Christ,) and the Kappa, (Constantius.) Julian in
+Misopogon, p. 357.]
+
+[Footnote 14: The schism of Antioch, which lasted eighty-five years,
+(A. D. 330-415,) was inflamed, while Julian resided in that city, by the
+indiscreet ordination of Paulinus. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. iii.
+p. 803 of the quarto edition, (Paris, 1701, &c,) which henceforward I
+shall quote.]
+
+The strongest prejudice was entertained against the character of an
+apostate, the enemy and successor of a prince who had engaged the
+affections of a very numerous sect; and the removal of St. Babylas
+excited an implacable opposition to the person of Julian. His subjects
+complained, with superstitious indignation, that famine had pursued the
+emperor's steps from Constantinople to Antioch; and the discontent of
+a hungry people was exasperated by the injudicious attempt to relieve
+their distress. The inclemency of the season had affected the harvests
+of Syria; and the price of bread, [15] in the markets of Antioch, had
+naturally risen in proportion to the scarcity of corn. But the fair
+and reasonable proportion was soon violated by the rapacious arts of
+monopoly. In this unequal contest, in which the produce of the land is
+claimed by one party as his exclusive property, is used by another as a
+lucrative object of trade, and is required by a third for the daily and
+necessary support of life, all the profits of the intermediate agents
+are accumulated on the head of the defenceless customers. The hardships
+of their situation were exaggerated and increased by their own
+impatience and anxiety; and the apprehension of a scarcity gradually
+produced the appearances of a famine. When the luxurious citizens
+of Antioch complained of the high price of poultry and fish, Julian
+publicly declared, that a frugal city ought to be satisfied with a
+regular supply of wine, oil, and bread; but he acknowledged, that it was
+the duty of a sovereign to provide for the subsistence of his people.
+With this salutary view, the emperor ventured on a very dangerous and
+doubtful step, of fixing, by legal authority, the value of corn. He
+enacted, that, in a time of scarcity, it should be sold at a price which
+had seldom been known in the most plentiful years; and that his own
+example might strengthen his laws, he sent into the market four hundred
+and twenty-two thousand modii, or measures, which were drawn by his
+order from the granaries of Hierapolis, of Chalcis, and even of Egypt.
+The consequences might have been foreseen, and were soon felt. The
+Imperial wheat was purchased by the rich merchants; the proprietors of
+land, or of corn, withheld from the city the accustomed supply; and the
+small quantities that appeared in the market were secretly sold at an
+advanced and illegal price. Julian still continued to applaud his own
+policy, treated the complaints of the people as a vain and ungrateful
+murmur, and convinced Antioch that he had inherited the obstinacy,
+though not the cruelty, of his brother Gallus. [16] The remonstrances of
+the municipal senate served only to exasperate his inflexible mind.
+He was persuaded, perhaps with truth, that the senators of Antioch who
+possessed lands, or were concerned in trade, had themselves contributed
+to the calamities of their country; and he imputed the disrespectful
+boldness which they assumed, to the sense, not of public duty, but of
+private interest. The whole body, consisting of two hundred of the most
+noble and wealthy citizens, were sent, under a guard, from the palace to
+the prison; and though they were permitted, before the close of evening,
+to return to their respective houses, [17] the emperor himself could
+not obtain the forgiveness which he had so easily granted. The same
+grievances were still the subject of the same complaints, which were
+industriously circulated by the wit and levity of the Syrian Greeks.
+During the licentious days of the Saturnalia, the streets of the city
+resounded with insolent songs, which derided the laws, the religion,
+the personal conduct, and even the beard, of the emperor; the spirit
+of Antioch was manifested by the connivance of the magistrates, and the
+applause of the multitude. [18] The disciple of Socrates was too deeply
+affected by these popular insults; but the monarch, endowed with a quick
+sensibility, and possessed of absolute power, refused his passions
+the gratification of revenge. A tyrant might have proscribed, without
+distinction, the lives and fortunes of the citizens of Antioch; and
+the unwarlike Syrians must have patiently submitted to the lust, the
+rapaciousness and the cruelty, of the faithful legions of Gaul. A milder
+sentence might have deprived the capital of the East of its honors and
+privileges; and the courtiers, perhaps the subjects, of Julian, would
+have applauded an act of justice, which asserted the dignity of the
+supreme magistrate of the republic. [19] But instead of abusing, or
+exerting, the authority of the state, to revenge his personal injuries,
+Julian contented himself with an inoffensive mode of retaliation, which
+it would be in the power of few princes to employ. He had been insulted
+by satires and libels; in his turn, he composed, under the title of
+the Enemy of the Beard, an ironical confession of his own faults, and a
+severe satire on the licentious and effeminate manners of Antioch. This
+Imperial reply was publicly exposed before the gates of the palace; and
+the Misopogon [20] still remains a singular monument of the resentment,
+the wit, the humanity, and the indiscretion of Julian. Though he
+affected to laugh, he could not forgive. [21] His contempt was
+expressed, and his revenge might be gratified, by the nomination of a
+governor [22] worthy only of such subjects; and the emperor, forever
+renouncing the ungrateful city, proclaimed his resolution to pass the
+ensuing winter at Tarsus in Cilicia. [23]
+
+[Footnote 15: Julian states three different proportions, of five,
+ten, or fifteen medii of wheat for one piece of gold, according to the
+degrees of plenty and scarcity, (in Misopogon, p. 369.) From this fact,
+and from some collateral examples, I conclude, that under the successors
+of Constantine, the moderate price of wheat was about thirty-two
+shillings the English quarter, which is equal to the average price
+of the sixty-four first years of the present century. See Arbuthnot's
+Tables of Coins, Weights, and Measures, p. 88, 89. Plin. Hist. Natur.
+xviii. 12. Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 718-721.
+Smith's Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations,
+vol. i. p 246. This last I am proud to quote as the work of a sage and a
+friend.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Nunquam a proposito declinabat, Galli similis fratris,
+licet incruentus. Ammian. xxii. 14. The ignorance of the most
+enlightened princes may claim some excuse; but we cannot be satisfied
+with Julian's own defence, (in Misopogon, p. 363, 369,) or the elaborate
+apology of Libanius, (Orat. Parental c. xcvii. p. 321.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: Their short and easy confinement is gently touched by
+Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c. xcviii. p. 322, 323.)]
+
+[Footnote 18: Libanius, (ad Antiochenos de Imperatoris ira, c. 17, 18,
+19, in Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p. 221-223,) like a skilful
+advocate, severely censures the folly of the people, who suffered for
+the crime of a few obscure and drunken wretches.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Libanius (ad Antiochen. c. vii. p. 213) reminds Antioch of
+the recent chastisement of Caesarea; and even Julian (in Misopogon, p.
+355) insinuates how severely Tarentum had expiated the insult to the
+Roman ambassadors.]
+
+[Footnote 20: On the subject of the Misopogon, see Ammianus, (xxii. 14,)
+Libanius, (Orat. Parentalis, c. xcix. p. 323,) Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat.
+iv. p. 133) and the Chronicle of Antioch, by John Malala, (tom. ii. p.
+15, 16.) I have essential obligations to the translation and notes of
+the Abbe de la Bleterie, (Vie de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 1-138.)]
+
+[Footnote 21: Ammianus very justly remarks, Coactus dissimulare pro
+tempore ira sufflabatur interna. The elaborate irony of Julian at length
+bursts forth into serious and direct invective.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Ipse autem Antiochiam egressurus, Heliopoliten quendam
+Alexandrum Syriacae jurisdictioni praefecit, turbulentum et
+saevum; dicebatque non illum meruisse, sed Antiochensibus avaris et
+contumeliosis hujusmodi judicem convenire. Ammian. xxiii. 2. Libanius,
+(Epist. 722, p. 346, 347,) who confesses to Julian himself, that he had
+shared the general discontent, pretends that Alexander was a useful,
+though harsh, reformer of the manners and religion of Antioch.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Julian, in Misopogon, p. 364. Ammian. xxiii. 2, and
+Valesius, ad loc. Libanius, in a professed oration, invites him to
+return to his loyal and penitent city of Antioch.]
+
+Yet Antioch possessed one citizen, whose genius and virtues might atone,
+in the opinion of Julian, for the vice and folly of his country. The
+sophist Libanius was born in the capital of the East; he publicly
+professed the arts of rhetoric and declamation at Nice, Nicomedia,
+Constantinople, Athens, and, during the remainder of his life, at
+Antioch. His school was assiduously frequented by the Grecian youth; his
+disciples, who sometimes exceeded the number of eighty, celebrated their
+incomparable master; and the jealousy of his rivals, who persecuted him
+from one city to another, confirmed the favorable opinion which Libanius
+ostentatiously displayed of his superior merit. The preceptors of Julian
+had extorted a rash but solemn assurance, that he would never attend
+the lectures of their adversary: the curiosity of the royal youth
+was checked and inflamed: he secretly procured the writings of this
+dangerous sophist, and gradually surpassed, in the perfect imitation of
+his style, the most laborious of his domestic pupils. [24] When Julian
+ascended the throne, he declared his impatience to embrace and reward
+the Syrian sophist, who had preserved, in a degenerate age, the
+Grecian purity of taste, of manners, and of religion. The emperor's
+prepossession was increased and justified by the discreet pride of his
+favorite. Instead of pressing, with the foremost of the crowd, into
+the palace of Constantinople, Libanius calmly expected his arrival
+at Antioch; withdrew from court on the first symptoms of coldness and
+indifference; required a formal invitation for each visit; and taught
+his sovereign an important lesson, that he might command the obedience
+of a subject, but that he must deserve the attachment of a friend.
+The sophists of every age, despising, or affecting to despise, the
+accidental distinctions of birth and fortune, [25] reserve their esteem
+for the superior qualities of the mind, with which they themselves are
+so plentifully endowed. Julian might disdain the acclamations of a venal
+court, who adored the Imperial purple; but he was deeply flattered by
+the praise, the admonition, the freedom, and the envy of an independent
+philosopher, who refused his favors, loved his person, celebrated his
+fame, and protected his memory. The voluminous writings of Libanius
+still exist; for the most part, they are the vain and idle compositions
+of an orator, who cultivated the science of words; the productions of
+a recluse student, whose mind, regardless of his contemporaries, was
+incessantly fixed on the Trojan war and the Athenian commonwealth.
+Yet the sophist of Antioch sometimes descended from this imaginary
+elevation; he entertained a various and elaborate correspondence; [26]
+he praised the virtues of his own times; he boldly arraigned the abuse
+of public and private life; and he eloquently pleaded the cause of
+Antioch against the just resentment of Julian and Theodosius. It is the
+common calamity of old age, [27] to lose whatever might have rendered it
+desirable; but Libanius experienced the peculiar misfortune of surviving
+the religion and the sciences, to which he had consecrated his genius.
+The friend of Julian was an indignant spectator of the triumph of
+Christianity; and his bigotry, which darkened the prospect of the
+visible world, did not inspire Libanius with any lively hopes of
+celestial glory and happiness. [28]
+
+[Footnote 24: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. vii. p. 230, 231.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Eunapius reports, that Libanius refused the honorary rank
+of Praetorian praefect, as less illustrious than the title of Sophist,
+(in Vit. Sophist. p. 135.) The critics have observed a similar sentiment
+in one of the epistles (xviii. edit. Wolf) of Libanius himself.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Near two thousand of his letters--a mode of composition
+in which Libanius was thought to excel--are still extant, and already
+published. The critics may praise their subtle and elegant brevity; yet
+Dr. Bentley (Dissertation upon Phalaris, p. 48) might justly, though
+quaintly observe, that "you feel, by the emptiness and deadness of
+them, that you converse with some dreaming pedant, with his elbow on his
+desk."]
+
+[Footnote 27: His birth is assigned to the year 314. He mentions the
+seventy-sixth year of his age, (A. D. 390,) and seems to allude to some
+events of a still later date.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Libanius has composed the vain, prolix, but curious
+narrative of his own life, (tom. ii. p. 1-84, edit. Morell,) of which
+Eunapius (p. 130-135) has left a concise and unfavorable account. Among
+the moderns, Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 571-576,)
+Fabricius, (Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p. 376-414,) and Lardner, (Heathen
+Testimonies, tom. iv. p. 127-163,) have illustrated the character and
+writings of this famous sophist.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV: The Retreat And Death Of Julian.--Part II.
+
+The martial impatience of Julian urged him to take the field in the
+beginning of the spring; and he dismissed, with contempt and reproach,
+the senate of Antioch, who accompanied the emperor beyond the limits of
+their own territory, to which he was resolved never to return. After a
+laborious march of two days, [29] he halted on the third at Beraea,
+or Aleppo, where he had the mortification of finding a senate almost
+entirely Christian; who received with cold and formal demonstrations of
+respect the eloquent sermon of the apostle of paganism. The son of one
+of the most illustrious citizens of Beraea, who had embraced,
+either from interest or conscience, the religion of the emperor, was
+disinherited by his angry parent. The father and the son were invited
+to the Imperial table. Julian, placing himself between them, attempted,
+without success, to inculcate the lesson and example of toleration;
+supported, with affected calmness, the indiscreet zeal of the aged
+Christian, who seemed to forget the sentiments of nature, and the duty
+of a subject; and at length, turning towards the afflicted youth, "Since
+you have lost a father," said he, "for my sake, it is incumbent on me to
+supply his place." [30] The emperor was received in a manner much more
+agreeable to his wishes at Batnae, [30a] a small town pleasantly seated
+in a grove of cypresses, about twenty miles from the city of Hierapolis.
+The solemn rites of sacrifice were decently prepared by the inhabitants
+of Batnae, who seemed attached to the worship of their tutelar deities,
+Apollo and Jupiter; but the serious piety of Julian was offended by the
+tumult of their applause; and he too clearly discerned, that the smoke
+which arose from their altars was the incense of flattery, rather than
+of devotion. The ancient and magnificent temple which had sanctified,
+for so many ages, the city of Hierapolis, [31] no longer subsisted; and
+the consecrated wealth, which afforded a liberal maintenance to more
+than three hundred priests, might hasten its downfall. Yet Julian
+enjoyed the satisfaction of embracing a philosopher and a friend, whose
+religious firmness had withstood the pressing and repeated solicitations
+of Constantius and Gallus, as often as those princes lodged at his
+house, in their passage through Hierapolis. In the hurry of military
+preparation, and the careless confidence of a familiar correspondence,
+the zeal of Julian appears to have been lively and uniform. He had now
+undertaken an important and difficult war; and the anxiety of the event
+rendered him still more attentive to observe and register the most
+trifling presages, from which, according to the rules of divination, any
+knowledge of futurity could be derived. [32] He informed Libanius of
+his progress as far as Hierapolis, by an elegant epistle, [33] which
+displays the facility of his genius, and his tender friendship for the
+sophist of Antioch.
+
+[Footnote 29: From Antioch to Litarbe, on the territory of Chalcis, the
+road, over hills and through morasses, was extremely bad; and the loose
+stones were cemented only with sand, (Julian. epist. xxvii.) It
+is singular enough that the Romans should have neglected the great
+communication between Antioch and the Euphrates. See Wesseling Itinerar.
+p. 190 Bergier, Hist des Grands Chemins, tom. ii. p. 100]
+
+[Footnote 30: Julian alludes to this incident, (epist. xxvii.,) which
+is more distinctly related by Theodoret, (l. iii. c. 22.) The intolerant
+spirit of the father is applauded by Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs,
+tom. iv. p. 534.) and even by La Bleterie, (Vie de Julien, p. 413.)]
+
+[Footnote 30a: This name, of Syriac origin, is found in the Arabic, and
+means a place in a valley where waters meet. Julian says, the name of
+the city is Barbaric, the situation Greek. The geographer Abulfeda (tab.
+Syriac. p. 129, edit. Koehler) speaks of it in a manner to justify the
+praises of Julian.--St. Martin. Notes to Le Beau, iii. 56.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 31: See the curious treatise de Dea Syria, inserted among
+the works of Lucian, (tom. iii. p. 451-490, edit. Reitz.) The singular
+appellation of Ninus vetus (Ammian. xiv. 8) might induce a suspicion,
+that Heirapolis had been the royal seat of the Assyrians.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Julian (epist. xxviii.) kept a regular account of all
+the fortunate omens; but he suppresses the inauspicious signs, which
+Ammianus (xxiii. 2) has carefully recorded.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Julian. epist. xxvii. p. 399-402.]
+
+Hierapolis, [33a] situate almost on the banks of the Euphrates, [34]
+had been appointed for the general rendezvous of the Roman troops,
+who immediately passed the great river on a bridge of boats, which was
+previously constructed. [35] If the inclinations of Julian had been
+similar to those of his predecessor, he might have wasted the active
+and important season of the year in the circus of Samosata or in the
+churches of Edessa. But as the warlike emperor, instead of Constantius,
+had chosen Alexander for his model, he advanced without delay to
+Carrhae, [36] a very ancient city of Mesopotamia, at the distance of
+fourscore miles from Hierapolis. The temple of the Moon attracted the
+devotion of Julian; but the halt of a few days was principally employed
+in completing the immense preparations of the Persian war. The secret of
+the expedition had hitherto remained in his own breast; but as Carrhae
+is the point of separation of the two great roads, he could no longer
+conceal whether it was his design to attack the dominions of Sapor
+on the side of the Tigris, or on that of the Euphrates. The emperor
+detached an army of thirty thousand men, under the command of his
+kinsman Procopius, and of Sebastian, who had been duke of Egypt. They
+were ordered to direct their march towards Nisibis, and to secure
+the frontier from the desultory incursions of the enemy, before they
+attempted the passage of the Tigris. Their subsequent operations were
+left to the discretion of the generals; but Julian expected, that after
+wasting with fire and sword the fertile districts of Media and Adiabene,
+they might arrive under the walls of Ctesiphon at the same time that he
+himself, advancing with equal steps along the banks of the Euphrates,
+should besiege the capital of the Persian monarchy. The success of this
+well-concerted plan depended, in a great measure, on the powerful and
+ready assistance of the king of Armenia, who, without exposing the
+safety of his own dominions, might detach an army of four thousand
+horse, and twenty thousand foot, to the assistance of the Romans. [37]
+But the feeble Arsaces Tiranus, [38] king of Armenia, had degenerated
+still more shamefully than his father Chosroes, from the manly virtues
+of the great Tiridates; and as the pusillanimous monarch was averse
+to any enterprise of danger and glory, he could disguise his timid
+indolence by the more decent excuses of religion and gratitude. He
+expressed a pious attachment to the memory of Constantius, from whose
+hands he had received in marriage Olympias, the daughter of the praefect
+Ablavius; and the alliance of a female, who had been educated as
+the destined wife of the emperor Constans, exalted the dignity of
+a Barbarian king. [39] Tiranus professed the Christian religion; he
+reigned over a nation of Christians; and he was restrained, by every
+principle of conscience and interest, from contributing to the victory,
+which would consummate the ruin of the church. The alienated mind of
+Tiranus was exasperated by the indiscretion of Julian, who treated the
+king of Armenia as his slave, and as the enemy of the gods. The haughty
+and threatening style of the Imperial mandates [40] awakened the secret
+indignation of a prince, who, in the humiliating state of dependence,
+was still conscious of his royal descent from the Arsacides, the lords
+of the East, and the rivals of the Roman power. [40a]
+
+[Footnote 33a: Or Bambyce, now Bambouch; Manbedj Arab., or Maboug, Syr.
+It was twenty-four Roman miles from the Euphrates.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 34: I take the earliest opportunity of acknowledging my
+obligations to M. d'Anville, for his recent geography of the Euphrates
+and Tigris, (Paris, 1780, in 4to.,) which particularly illustrates the
+expedition of Julian.]
+
+[Footnote 35: There are three passages within a few miles of each
+other; 1. Zeugma, celebrated by the ancients; 2. Bir, frequented by the
+moderns; and, 3. The bridge of Menbigz, or Hierapolis, at the distance
+of four parasangs from the city. ----- Djisr Manbedj is the same with
+the ancient Zeugma. St. Martin, iii. 58--M.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Haran, or Carrhae, was the ancient residence of the
+Sabaeans, and of Abraham. See the Index Geographicus of Schultens, (ad
+calcem Vit. Saladin.,) a work from which I have obtained much Oriental
+knowledge concerning the ancient and modern geography of Syria and the
+adjacent countries. ----On an inedited medal in the collection of the
+late M. Tochon. of the Academy of Inscriptions, it is read Xappan. St.
+Martin. iii 60--M.]
+
+[Footnote 37: See Xenophon. Cyropaed. l. iii. p. 189, edit. Hutchinson.
+Artavasdes might have supplied Marc Antony with 16,000 horse, armed and
+disciplined after the Parthian manner, (Plutarch, in M. Antonio. tom. v.
+p. 117.)]
+
+[Footnote 38: Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armeniac. l. iii. c. 11, p.
+242) fixes his accession (A. D. 354) to the 17th year of Constantius.
+----Arsaces Tiranus, or Diran, had ceased to reign twenty-five years
+before, in 337. The intermediate changes in Armenia, and the character
+of this Arsaces, the son of Diran, are traced by M. St. Martin, at
+considerable length, in his supplement to Le Beau, ii. 208-242. As long
+as his Grecian queen Olympias maintained her influence, Arsaces was
+faithful to the Roman and Christian alliance. On the accession of
+Julian, the same influence made his fidelity to waver; but Olympias
+having been poisoned in the sacramental bread by the agency of
+Pharandcem, the former wife of Arsaces, another change took place in
+Armenian politics unfavorable to the Christian interest. The patriarch
+Narses retired from the impious court to a safe seclusion. Yet
+Pharandsem was equally hostile to the Persian influence, and Arsaces
+began to support with vigor the cause of Julian. He made an inroad into
+the Persian dominions with a body of Rans and Alans as auxiliaries;
+wasted Aderbidgan and Sapor, who had been defeated near Tauriz, was
+engaged in making head against his troops in Persarmenia, at the time of
+the death of Julian. Such is M. St. Martin's view, (ii. 276, et sqq.,)
+which rests on the Armenian historians, Faustos of Byzantium, and Mezrob
+the biographer of the Partriarch Narses. In the history of Armenia
+by Father Chamitch, and translated by Avdall, Tiran is still king of
+Armenia, at the time of Julian's death. F. Chamitch follows Moses of
+Chorene, The authority of Gibbon.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Ammian. xx. 11. Athanasius (tom. i. p. 856) says,
+in general terms, that Constantius gave to his brother's widow, an
+expression more suitable to a Roman than a Christian.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Ammianus (xxiii. 2) uses a word much too soft for the
+occasion, monuerat. Muratori (Fabricius, Bibliothec. Graec. tom. vii. p.
+86) has published an epistle from Julian to the satrap Arsaces; fierce,
+vulgar, and (though it might deceive Sozomen, l. vi. c. 5) most probably
+spurious. La Bleterie (Hist. de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 339) translates and
+rejects it. Note: St. Martin considers it genuine: the Armenian writers
+mention such a letter, iii. 37.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 40a: Arsaces did not abandon the Roman alliance, but gave it
+only feeble support. St. Martin, iii. 41--M.]
+
+The military dispositions of Julian were skilfully contrived to deceive
+the spies and to divert the attention of Sapor. The legions appeared
+to direct their march towards Nisibis and the Tigris. On a sudden they
+wheeled to the right; traversed the level and naked plain of Carrhae;
+and reached, on the third day, the banks of the Euphrates, where the
+strong town of Nicephorium, or Callinicum, had been founded by the
+Macedonian kings. From thence the emperor pursued his march, above
+ninety miles, along the winding stream of the Euphrates, till, at
+length, about one month after his departure from Antioch, he discovered
+the towers of Circesium, [40b] the extreme limit of the Roman dominions.
+The army of Julian, the most numerous that any of the Caesars had ever
+led against Persia, consisted of sixty-five thousand effective and
+well-disciplined soldiers. The veteran bands of cavalry and infantry, of
+Romans and Barbarians, had been selected from the different provinces;
+and a just preeminence of loyalty and valor was claimed by the hardy
+Gauls, who guarded the throne and person of their beloved prince.
+A formidable body of Scythian auxiliaries had been transported from
+another climate, and almost from another world, to invade a distant
+country, of whose name and situation they were ignorant. The love
+of rapine and war allured to the Imperial standard several tribes of
+Saracens, or roving Arabs, whose service Julian had commanded, while
+he sternly refuse the payment of the accustomed subsidies. The broad
+channel of the Euphrates [41] was crowded by a fleet of eleven hundred
+ships, destined to attend the motions, and to satisfy the wants, of the
+Roman army. The military strength of the fleet was composed of fifty
+armed galleys; and these were accompanied by an equal number of
+flat-bottomed boats, which might occasionally be connected into the
+form of temporary bridges. The rest of the ships, partly constructed
+of timber, and partly covered with raw hides, were laden with an almost
+inexhaustible supply of arms and engines, of utensils and provisions.
+The vigilant humanity of Julian had embarked a very large magazine of
+vinegar and biscuit for the use of the soldiers, but he prohibited the
+indulgence of wine; and rigorously stopped a long string of superfluous
+camels that attempted to follow the rear of the army. The River Chaboras
+falls into the Euphrates at Circesium; [42] and as soon as the trumpet
+gave the signal of march, the Romans passed the little stream which
+separated two mighty and hostile empires. The custom of ancient
+discipline required a military oration; and Julian embraced every
+opportunity of displaying his eloquence. He animated the impatient and
+attentive legions by the example of the inflexible courage and glorious
+triumphs of their ancestors. He excited their resentment by a lively
+picture of the insolence of the Persians; and he exhorted them to
+imitate his firm resolution, either to extirpate that perfidious nation,
+or to devote his life in the cause of the republic. The eloquence of
+Julian was enforced by a donative of one hundred and thirty pieces of
+silver to every soldier; and the bridge of the Chaboras was instantly
+cut away, to convince the troops that they must place their hopes of
+safety in the success of their arms. Yet the prudence of the emperor
+induced him to secure a remote frontier, perpetually exposed to the
+inroads of the hostile Arabs. A detachment of four thousand men was
+left at Circesium, which completed, to the number of ten thousand, the
+regular garrison of that important fortress. [43]
+
+[Footnote 40b: Kirkesia the Carchemish of the Scriptures.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 41: Latissimum flumen Euphraten artabat. Ammian. xxiii. 3
+Somewhat higher, at the fords of Thapsacus, the river is four stadia or
+800 yards, almost half an English mile, broad. (Xenophon, Anabasis, l.
+i. p. 41, edit. Hutchinson, with Foster's Observations, p. 29, &c., in
+the 2d volume of Spelman's translation.) If the breadth of the Euphrates
+at Bir and Zeugma is no more than 130 yards, (Voyages de Niebuhr, tom.
+ii. p. 335,) the enormous difference must chiefly arise from the depth
+of the channel.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Munimentum tutissimum et fabre politum, Abora (the
+Orientals aspirate Chaboras or Chabour) et Euphrates ambiunt flumina,
+velut spatium insulare fingentes. Ammian. xxiii. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 43: The enterprise and armament of Julian are described
+by himself, (Epist. xxvii.,) Ammianus Marcellinus, (xxiii. 3, 4, 5,)
+Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 108, 109, p. 332, 333,) Zosimus, (l. iii.
+p. 160, 161, 162) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. l,) and John Malala, (tom. ii. p.
+17.)]
+
+From the moment that the Romans entered the enemy's country, [44] the
+country of an active and artful enemy, the order of march was disposed
+in three columns. [45] The strength of the infantry, and consequently of
+the whole army was placed in the centre, under the peculiar command
+of their master-general Victor. On the right, the brave Nevitta led a
+column of several legions along the banks of the Euphrates, and almost
+always in sight of the fleet. The left flank of the army was protected
+by the column of cavalry. Hormisdas and Arinthaeus were appointed
+generals of the horse; and the singular adventures of Hormisdas [46]
+are not undeserving of our notice. He was a Persian prince, of the royal
+race of the Sassanides, who, in the troubles of the minority of
+Sapor, had escaped from prison to the hospitable court of the great
+Constantine. Hormisdas at first excited the compassion, and at length
+acquired the esteem, of his new masters; his valor and fidelity raised
+him to the military honors of the Roman service; and though a Christian,
+he might indulge the secret satisfaction of convincing his ungrateful
+country, than at oppressed subject may prove the most dangerous enemy.
+Such was the disposition of the three principal columns. The front and
+flanks of the army were covered by Lucilianus with a flying detachment
+of fifteen hundred light-armed soldiers, whose active vigilance observed
+the most distant signs, and conveyed the earliest notice, of any hostile
+approach. Dagalaiphus, and Secundinus duke of Osrhoene, conducted
+the troops of the rear-guard; the baggage securely proceeded in the
+intervals of the columns; and the ranks, from a motive either of use
+or ostentation, were formed in such open order, that the whole line of
+march extended almost ten miles. The ordinary post of Julian was at the
+head of the centre column; but as he preferred the duties of a general
+to the state of a monarch, he rapidly moved, with a small escort of
+light cavalry, to the front, the rear, the flanks, wherever his presence
+could animate or protect the march of the Roman army. The country which
+they traversed from the Chaboras, to the cultivated lands of Assyria,
+may be considered as a part of the desert of Arabia, a dry and barren
+waste, which could never be improved by the most powerful arts of human
+industry. Julian marched over the same ground which had been trod above
+seven hundred years before by the footsteps of the younger Cyrus, and
+which is described by one of the companions of his expedition, the sage
+and heroic Xenophon. [47] "The country was a plain throughout, as even
+as the sea, and full of wormwood; and if any other kind of shrubs or
+reeds grew there, they had all an aromatic smell, but no trees could be
+seen. Bustards and ostriches, antelopes and wild asses, [48] appeared
+to be the only inhabitants of the desert; and the fatigues of the march
+were alleviated by the amusements of the chase." The loose sand of the
+desert was frequently raised by the wind into clouds of dust; and a
+great number of the soldiers of Julian, with their tents, were suddenly
+thrown to the ground by the violence of an unexpected hurricane.
+
+[Footnote 44: Before he enters Persia, Ammianus copiously describes
+(xxiii. p. 396-419, edit. Gronov. in 4to.) the eighteen great provinces,
+(as far as the Seric, or Chinese frontiers,) which were subject to the
+Sassanides.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Ammianus (xxiv. 1) and Zosimus (l. iii. p. 162, 163)
+rately expressed the order of march.]
+
+[Footnote 46: The adventures of Hormisdas are related with some mixture
+of fable, (Zosimus, l. ii. p. 100-102; Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs
+tom. iv. p. 198.) It is almost impossible that he should be the brother
+(frater germanus) of an eldest and posthumous child: nor do I recollect
+that Ammianus ever gives him that title. * Note: St. Martin conceives
+that he was an elder brother by another mother who had several children,
+ii. 24--M.]
+
+[Footnote 47: See the first book of the Anabasis, p. 45, 46. This
+pleasing work is original and authentic. Yet Xenophon's memory, perhaps
+many years after the expedition, has sometimes betrayed him; and the
+distances which he marks are often larger than either a soldier or a
+geographer will allow.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Mr. Spelman, the English translator of the Anabasis, (vol.
+i. p. 51,) confounds the antelope with the roebuck, and the wild ass
+with the zebra.]
+
+The sandy plains of Mesopotamia were abandoned to the antelopes and wild
+asses of the desert; but a variety of populous towns and villages were
+pleasantly situated on the banks of the Euphrates, and in the islands
+which are occasionally formed by that river. The city of Annah, or
+Anatho, [49] the actual residence of an Arabian emir, is composed of
+two long streets, which enclose, within a natural fortification, a
+small island in the midst, and two fruitful spots on either side, of
+the Euphrates. The warlike inhabitants of Anatho showed a disposition
+to stop the march of a Roman emperor; till they were diverted from such
+fatal presumption by the mild exhortations of Prince Hormisdas, and
+the approaching terrors of the fleet and army. They implored, and
+experienced, the clemency of Julian, who transplanted the people to an
+advantageous settlement, near Chalcis in Syria, and admitted Pusaeus,
+the governor, to an honorable rank in his service and friendship. But
+the impregnable fortress of Thilutha could scorn the menace of a
+siege; and the emperor was obliged to content himself with an insulting
+promise, that, when he had subdued the interior provinces of Persia,
+Thilutha would no longer refuse to grace the triumph of the emperor. The
+inhabitants of the open towns, unable to resist, and unwilling to
+yield, fled with precipitation; and their houses, filled with spoil
+and provisions, were occupied by the soldiers of Julian, who massacred,
+without remorse and without punishment, some defenceless women. During
+the march, the Surenas, [49a] or Persian general, and Malek Rodosaces,
+the renowned emir of the tribe of Gassan, [50] incessantly hovered
+round the army; every straggler was intercepted; every detachment was
+attacked; and the valiant Hormisdas escaped with some difficulty from
+their hands. But the Barbarians were finally repulsed; the country
+became every day less favorable to the operations of cavalry; and when
+the Romans arrived at Macepracta, they perceived the ruins of the wall,
+which had been constructed by the ancient kings of Assyria, to secure
+their dominions from the incursions of the Medes. These preliminaries of
+the expedition of Julian appear to have employed about fifteen days; and
+we may compute near three hundred miles from the fortress of Circesium
+to the wall of Macepracta. [1]
+
+[Footnote 49: See Voyages de Tavernier, part i. l. iii. p. 316, and more
+especially Viaggi di Pietro della Valle, tom. i. lett. xvii. p. 671,
+&c. He was ignorant of the old name and condition of Annah. Our blind
+travellers seldom possess any previous knowledge of the countries which
+they visit. Shaw and Tournefort deserve an honorable exception.]
+
+[Footnote 49a: This is not a title, but the name of a great Persian
+family. St. Martin, iii. 79.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 50: Famosi nominis latro, says Ammianus; a high encomium
+for an Arab. The tribe of Gassan had settled on the edge of Syria, and
+reigned some time in Damascus, under a dynasty of thirty-one kings, or
+emirs, from the time of Pompey to that of the Khalif Omar. D'Herbelot,
+Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 360. Pococke, Specimen Hist. Arabicae,
+p. 75-78. The name of Rodosaces does not appear in the list. * Note:
+Rodosaces-malek is king. St. Martin considers that Gibbon has fallen
+into an error in bringing the tribe of Gassan to the Euphrates. In
+Ammianus it is Assan. M. St. Martin would read Massanitarum, the same
+with the Mauzanitae of Malala.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 51: See Ammianus, (xxiv. 1, 2,) Libanius, (Orat. Parental. c.
+110, 111, p. 334,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 164-168.) * Note: This Syriac or
+Chaldaic has relation to its position; it easily bears the signification
+of the division of the waters. M. St. M. considers it the Missice of
+Pliny, v. 26. St. Martin, iii. 83.--M.]
+
+The fertile province of Assyria, [52] which stretched beyond the Tigris,
+as far as the mountains of Media, [53] extended about four hundred miles
+from the ancient wall of Macepracta, to the territory of Basra, where
+the united streams of the Euphrates and Tigris discharge themselves into
+the Persian Gulf. [54] The whole country might have claimed the peculiar
+name of Mesopotamia; as the two rivers, which are never more distant
+than fifty, approach, between Bagdad and Babylon, within twenty-five
+miles, of each other. A multitude of artificial canals, dug without much
+labor in a soft and yielding soil connected the rivers, and intersected
+the plain of Assyria. The uses of these artificial canals were various
+and important. They served to discharge the superfluous waters from one
+river into the other, at the season of their respective inundations.
+Subdividing themselves into smaller and smaller branches, they refreshed
+the dry lands, and supplied the deficiency of rain. They facilitated the
+intercourse of peace and commerce; and, as the dams could be speedily
+broke down, they armed the despair of the Assyrians with the means of
+opposing a sudden deluge to the progress of an invading army. To the
+soil and climate of Assyria, nature had denied some of her choicest
+gifts, the vine, the olive, and the fig-tree; [54a] but the food which
+supports the life of man, and particularly wheat and barley, were
+produced with inexhaustible fertility; and the husbandman, who committed
+his seed to the earth, was frequently rewarded with an increase of two,
+or even of three, hundred. The face of the country was interspersed
+with groves of innumerable palm-trees; [55] and the diligent natives
+celebrated, either in verse or prose, the three hundred and sixty uses
+to which the trunk, the branches, the leaves, the juice, and the fruit,
+were skilfully applied. Several manufactures, especially those of
+leather and linen, employed the industry of a numerous people, and
+afforded valuable materials for foreign trade; which appears, however,
+to have been conducted by the hands of strangers. Babylon had been
+converted into a royal park; but near the ruins of the ancient capital,
+new cities had successively arisen, and the populousness of the country
+was displayed in the multitude of towns and villages, which were built
+of bricks dried in the sun, and strongly cemented with bitumen; the
+natural and peculiar production of the Babylonian soil. While the
+successors of Cyrus reigned over Asia, the province of Syria alone
+maintained, during a third part of the year, the luxurious plenty of the
+table and household of the Great King. Four considerable villages
+were assigned for the subsistence of his Indian dogs; eight hundred
+stallions, and sixteen thousand mares, were constantly kept, at the
+expense of the country, for the royal stables; and as the daily tribute,
+which was paid to the satrap, amounted to one English bushe of silver,
+we may compute the annual revenue of Assyria at more than twelve hundred
+thousand pounds sterling. [56]
+
+[Footnote 52: The description of Assyria, is furnished by Herodotus, (l.
+i. c. 192, &c.,) who sometimes writes for children, and sometimes
+for philosophers; by Strabo, (l. xvi. p. 1070-1082,) and by Ammianus,
+(l.xxiii. c. 6.) The most useful of the modern travellers are Tavernier,
+(part i. l. ii. p. 226-258,) Otter, (tom. ii. p. 35-69, and 189-224,)
+and Niebuhr, (tom. ii. p. 172-288.) Yet I much regret that the Irak
+Arabi of Abulfeda has not been translated.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Ammianus remarks, that the primitive Assyria, which
+comprehended Ninus, (Nineveh,) and Arbela, had assumed the more recent
+and peculiar appellation of Adiabene; and he seems to fix Teredon,
+Vologesia, and Apollonia, as the extreme cities of the actual province
+of Assyria.]
+
+[Footnote 54: The two rivers unite at Apamea, or Corna, (one hundred
+miles from the Persian Gulf,) into the broad stream of the Pasitigris,
+or Shutul-Arab. The Euphrates formerly reached the sea by a separate
+channel, which was obstructed and diverted by the citizens of Orchoe,
+about twenty miles to the south-east of modern Basra. (D'Anville, in the
+Memoires de l'Acad. des Inscriptions, tom.xxx. p. 171-191.)]
+
+[Footnote 54a: We are informed by Mr. Gibbon, that nature has denied to
+the soil an climate of Assyria some of her choicest gifts, the vine,
+the olive, and the fig-tree. This might have been the case ir the age of
+Ammianus Marcellinus, but it is not so at the present day; and it is a
+curious fact that the grape, the olive, and the fig, are the most common
+fruits in the province, and may be seen in every garden. Macdonald
+Kinneir, Geogr. Mem. on Persia 239--M.]
+
+[Footnote 55: The learned Kaempfer, as a botanist, an antiquary, and a
+traveller, has exhausted (Amoenitat. Exoticae, Fasicul. iv. p. 660-764)
+the whole subject of palm-trees.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Assyria yielded to the Persian satrap an Artaba of silver
+each day. The well-known proportion of weights and measures (see Bishop
+Hooper's elaborate Inquiry,) the specific gravity of water and silver,
+and the value of that metal, will afford, after a short process, the
+annual revenue which I have stated. Yet the Great King received no
+more than 1000 Euboic, or Tyrian, talents (252,000l.) from Assyria.
+The comparison of two passages in Herodotus, (l. i. c. 192, l. iii. c.
+89-96) reveals an important difference between the gross, and the net,
+revenue of Persia; the sums paid by the province, and the gold or silver
+deposited in the royal treasure. The monarch might annually save three
+millions six hundred thousand pounds, of the seventeen or eighteen
+millions raised upon the people.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV: The Retreat And Death Of Julian.--Part III.
+
+The fields of Assyria were devoted by Julian to the calamities of war;
+and the philosopher retaliated on a guiltless people the acts of rapine
+and cruelty which had been committed by their haughty master in the
+Roman provinces. The trembling Assyrians summoned the rivers to their
+assistance; and completed, with their own hands, the ruin of their
+country. The roads were rendered impracticable; a flood of waters was
+poured into the camp; and, during several days, the troops of Julian
+were obliged to contend with the most discouraging hardships. But every
+obstacle was surmounted by the perseverance of the legionaries, who were
+inured to toil as well as to danger, and who felt themselves animated
+by the spirit of their leader. The damage was gradually repaired;
+the waters were restored to their proper channels; whole groves of
+palm-trees were cut down, and placed along the broken parts of the road;
+and the army passed over the broad and deeper canals, on bridges of
+floating rafts, which were supported by the help of bladders. Two cities
+of Assyria presumed to resist the arms of a Roman emperor: and they
+both paid the severe penalty of their rashness. At the distance of fifty
+miles from the royal residence of Ctesiphon, Perisabor, [57a] or Anbar,
+held the second rank in the province; a city, large, populous, and well
+fortified, surrounded with a double wall, almost encompassed by a branch
+of the Euphrates, and defended by the valor of a numerous garrison. The
+exhortations of Hormisdas were repulsed with contempt; and the ears of
+the Persian prince were wounded by a just reproach, that, unmindful of
+his royal birth, he conducted an army of strangers against his king and
+country. The Assyrians maintained their loyalty by a skilful, as well
+as vigorous, defence; till the lucky stroke of a battering-ram, having
+opened a large breach, by shattering one of the angles of the wall, they
+hastily retired into the fortifications of the interior citadel. The
+soldiers of Julian rushed impetuously into the town, and after the
+full gratification of every military appetite, Perisabor was reduced to
+ashes; and the engines which assaulted the citadel were planted on the
+ruins of the smoking houses. The contest was continued by an incessant
+and mutual discharge of missile weapons; and the superiority which the
+Romans might derive from the mechanical powers of their balistae and
+catapultae was counterbalanced by the advantage of the ground on the
+side of the besieged. But as soon as an Helepolis had been constructed,
+which could engage on equal terms with the loftiest ramparts, the
+tremendous aspect of a moving turret, that would leave no hope of
+resistance or mercy, terrified the defenders of the citadel into an
+humble submission; and the place was surrendered only two days after
+Julian first appeared under the walls of Perisabor. Two thousand five
+hundred persons, of both sexes, the feeble remnant of a flourishing
+people, were permitted to retire; the plentiful magazines of corn,
+of arms, and of splendid furniture, were partly distributed among the
+troops, and partly reserved for the public service; the useless stores
+were destroyed by fire or thrown into the stream of the Euphrates; and
+the fate of Amida was revenged by the total ruin of Perisabor.
+
+[Footnote 57a: Libanius says that it was a great city of Assyria,
+called after the name of the reigning king. The orator of Antioch is not
+mistaken. The Persians and Syrians called it Fyrouz Schapour or Fyrouz
+Schahbour; in Persian, the victory of Schahpour. It owed that name to
+Sapor the First. It was before called Anbar St. Martin, iii. 85.--M.]
+
+The city or rather fortress, of Maogamalcha, which was defended by
+sixteen large towers, a deep ditch, and two strong and solid walls of
+brick and bitumen, appears to have been constructed at the distance of
+eleven miles, as the safeguard of the capital of Persia. The emperor,
+apprehensive of leaving such an important fortress in his rear,
+immediately formed the siege of Maogamalcha; and the Roman army was
+distributed, for that purpose, into three divisions. Victor, at the head
+of the cavalry, and of a detachment of heavy-armed foot, was ordered to
+clear the country, as far as the banks of the Tigris, and the suburbs of
+Ctesiphon. The conduct of the attack was assumed by Julian himself, who
+seemed to place his whole dependence in the military engines which
+he erected against the walls; while he secretly contrived a more
+efficacious method of introducing his troops into the heart of the city
+Under the direction of Nevitta and Dagalaiphus, the trenches were opened
+at a considerable distance, and gradually prolonged as far as the edge
+of the ditch. The ditch was speedily filled with earth; and, by the
+incessant labor of the troops, a mine was carried under the foundations
+of the walls, and sustained, at sufficient intervals, by props of
+timber. Three chosen cohorts, advancing in a single file, silently
+explored the dark and dangerous passage; till their intrepid leader
+whispered back the intelligence, that he was ready to issue from his
+confinement into the streets of the hostile city. Julian checked their
+ardor, that he might insure their success; and immediately diverted
+the attention of the garrison, by the tumult and clamor of a general
+assault. The Persians, who, from their walls, contemptuously beheld the
+progress of an impotent attack, celebrated with songs of triumph the
+glory of Sapor; and ventured to assure the emperor, that he might
+ascend the starry mansion of Ormusd, before he could hope to take the
+impregnable city of Maogamalcha. The city was already taken. History has
+recorded the name of a private soldier the first who ascended from the
+mine into a deserted tower. The passage was widened by his companions,
+who pressed forwards with impatient valor. Fifteen hundred enemies were
+already in the midst of the city. The astonished garrison abandoned the
+walls, and their only hope of safety; the gates were instantly burst
+open; and the revenge of the soldier, unless it were suspended by lust
+or avarice, was satiated by an undistinguishing massacre. The governor,
+who had yielded on a promise of mercy, was burnt alive, a few days
+afterwards, on a charge of having uttered some disrespectful words
+against the honor of Prince Hormisdas. The fortifications were razed to
+the ground; and not a vestige was left, that the city of Maogamalcha had
+ever existed. The neighborhood of the capital of Persia was adorned with
+three stately palaces, laboriously enriched with every production that
+could gratify the luxury and pride of an Eastern monarch. The pleasant
+situation of the gardens along the banks of the Tigris, was improved,
+according to the Persian taste, by the symmetry of flowers, fountains,
+and shady walks: and spacious parks were enclosed for the reception
+of the bears, lions, and wild boars, which were maintained at a
+considerable expense for the pleasure of the royal chase. The park walls
+were broken down, the savage game was abandoned to the darts of the
+soldiers, and the palaces of Sapor were reduced to ashes, by the command
+of the Roman emperor. Julian, on this occasion, showed himself ignorant,
+or careless, of the laws of civility, which the prudence and refinement
+of polished ages have established between hostile princes. Yet these
+wanton ravages need not excite in our breasts any vehement emotions of
+pity or resentment. A simple, naked statue, finished by the hand of a
+Grecian artist, is of more genuine value than all these rude and costly
+monuments of Barbaric labor; and, if we are more deeply affected by the
+ruin of a palace than by the conflagration of a cottage, our humanity
+must have formed a very erroneous estimate of the miseries of human
+life. [57]
+
+[Footnote 57a: And as guilty of a double treachery, having first engaged
+to surrender the city, and afterwards valiantly defended it. Gibbon,
+perhaps, should have noticed this charge, though he may have rejected it
+as improbable Compare Zosimus. iii. 23.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 57: The operations of the Assyrian war are circumstantially
+related by Ammianus, (xxiv. 2, 3, 4, 5,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent.
+c. 112-123, p. 335-347,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 168-180,) and Gregory
+Nazianzen, (Orat iv. p. 113, 144.) The military criticisms of the saint
+are devoutly copied by Tillemont, his faithful slave.]
+
+Julian was an object of hatred and terror to the Persian and the
+painters of that nation represented the invader of their country under
+the emblem of a furious lion, who vomited from his mouth a consuming
+fire. [58] To his friends and soldiers the philosophic hero appeared
+in a more amiable light; and his virtues were never more conspicuously
+displayed, than in the last and most active period of his life. He
+practised, without effort, and almost without merit, the habitual
+qualities of temperance and sobriety. According to the dictates of that
+artificial wisdom, which assumes an absolute dominion over the mind
+and body, he sternly refused himself the indulgence of the most natural
+appetites. [59] In the warm climate of Assyria, which solicited a
+luxurious people to the gratification of every sensual desire, [60] a
+youthful conqueror preserved his chastity pure and inviolate; nor was
+Julian ever tempted, even by a motive of curiosity, to visit his female
+captives of exquisite beauty, [61] who, instead of resisting his power,
+would have disputed with each other the honor of his embraces. With the
+same firmness that he resisted the allurements of love, he sustained the
+hardships of war. When the Romans marched through the flat and flooded
+country, their sovereign, on foot, at the head of his legions, shared
+their fatigues and animated their diligence. In every useful labor, the
+hand of Julian was prompt and strenuous; and the Imperial purple was wet
+and dirty as the coarse garment of the meanest soldier. The two sieges
+allowed him some remarkable opportunities of signalizing his personal
+valor, which, in the improved state of the military art, can seldom
+be exerted by a prudent general. The emperor stood before the citadel
+before the citadel of Perisabor, insensible of his extreme danger,
+and encouraged his troops to burst open the gates of iron, till he was
+almost overwhelmed under a cloud of missile weapons and huge stones,
+that were directed against his person. As he examined the exterior
+fortifications of Maogamalcha, two Persians, devoting themselves for
+their country, suddenly rushed upon him with drawn cimeters: the emperor
+dexterously received their blows on his uplifted shield; and, with a
+steady and well-aimed thrust, laid one of his adversaries dead at
+his feet. The esteem of a prince who possesses the virtues which he
+approves, is the noblest recompense of a deserving subject; and the
+authority which Julian derived from his personal merit, enabled him to
+revive and enforce the rigor of ancient discipline. He punished with
+death or ignominy the misbehavior of three troops of horse, who, in
+a skirmish with the Surenas, had lost their honor and one of their
+standards: and he distinguished with obsidional [62] crowns the valor of
+the foremost soldiers, who had ascended into the city of Maogamalcha.
+
+After the siege of Perisabor, the firmness of the emperor was exercised
+by the insolent avarice of the army, who loudly complained, that their
+services were rewarded by a trifling donative of one hundred pieces
+of silver. His just indignation was expressed in the grave and manly
+language of a Roman. "Riches are the object of your desires; those
+riches are in the hands of the Persians; and the spoils of this fruitful
+country are proposed as the prize of your valor and discipline. Believe
+me," added Julian, "the Roman republic, which formerly possessed such
+immense treasures, is now reduced to want and wretchedness once our
+princes have been persuaded, by weak and interested ministers, to
+purchase with gold the tranquillity of the Barbarians. The revenue is
+exhausted; the cities are ruined; the provinces are dispeopled.
+For myself, the only inheritance that I have received from my royal
+ancestors is a soul incapable of fear; and as long as I am convinced
+that every real advantage is seated in the mind, I shall not blush to
+acknowledge an honorable poverty, which, in the days of ancient virtue,
+was considered as the glory of Fabricius. That glory, and that virtue,
+may be your own, if you will listen to the voice of Heaven and of your
+leader. But if you will rashly persist, if you are determined to renew
+the shameful and mischievous examples of old seditions, proceed. As
+it becomes an emperor who has filled the first rank among men, I am
+prepared to die, standing; and to despise a precarious life, which,
+every hour, may depend on an accidental fever. If I have been found
+unworthy of the command, there are now among you, (I speak it with pride
+and pleasure,) there are many chiefs whose merit and experience are
+equal to the conduct of the most important war. Such has been the
+temper of my reign, that I can retire, without regret, and without
+apprehension, to the obscurity of a private station" [63] The modest
+resolution of Julian was answered by the unanimous applause and cheerful
+obedience of the Romans, who declared their confidence of victory, while
+they fought under the banners of their heroic prince. Their courage was
+kindled by his frequent and familiar asseverations, (for such wishes
+were the oaths of Julian,) "So may I reduce the Persians under the
+yoke!" "Thus may I restore the strength and splendor of the republic!"
+The love of fame was the ardent passion of his soul: but it was not
+before he trampled on the ruins of Maogamalcha, that he allowed
+himself to say, "We have now provided some materials for the sophist of
+Antioch." [64]
+
+[Footnote 58: Libanius de ulciscenda Juliani nece, c. 13, p. 162.]
+
+[Footnote 59: The famous examples of Cyrus, Alexander, and Scipio, were
+acts of justice. Julian's chastity was voluntary, and, in his opinion,
+meritorious.]
+
+[Footnote 60: Sallust (ap. Vet. Scholiast. Juvenal. Satir. i. 104)
+observes, that nihil corruptius moribus. The matrons and virgins of
+Babylon freely mingled with the men in licentious banquets; and as
+they felt the intoxication of wine and love, they gradually, and
+almost completely, threw aside the encumbrance of dress; ad ultimum ima
+corporum velamenta projiciunt. Q. Curtius, v. 1.]
+
+[Footnote 61: Ex virginibus autem quae speciosae sunt captae, et in
+Perside, ubi faeminarum pulchritudo excellit, nec contrectare aliquam
+votuit nec videre. Ammian. xxiv. 4. The native race of Persians is
+small and ugly; but it has been improved by the perpetual mixture of
+Circassian blood, (Herodot. l. iii. c. 97. Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom.
+iii. p. 420.)]
+
+[Footnote 62: Obsidionalibus coronis donati. Ammian. xxiv. 4. Either
+Julian or his historian were unskillful antiquaries. He should have
+given mural crowns. The obsidional were the reward of a general who had
+delivered a besieged city, (Aulus Gellius, Noct. Attic. v. 6.)]
+
+[Footnote 63: I give this speech as original and genuine. Ammianus might
+hear, could transcribe, and was incapable of inventing, it. I have used
+some slight freedoms, and conclude with the most forcibic sentence.]
+
+[Footnote 64: Ammian. xxiv. 3. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 122, p. 346.]
+
+The successful valor of Julian had triumphed over all the obstacles that
+opposed his march to the gates of Ctesiphon. But the reduction, or even
+the siege, of the capital of Persia, was still at a distance: nor can
+the military conduct of the emperor be clearly apprehended, without a
+knowledge of the country which was the theatre of his bold and skilful
+operations. [65] Twenty miles to the south of Bagdad, and on the eastern
+bank of the Tigris, the curiosity of travellers has observed some ruins
+of the palaces of Ctesiphon, which, in the time of Julian, was a great
+and populous city. The name and glory of the adjacent Seleucia were
+forever extinguished; and the only remaining quarter of that Greek
+colony had resumed, with the Assyrian language and manners, the
+primitive appellation of Coche. Coche was situate on the western side
+of the Tigris; but it was naturally considered as a suburb of Ctesiphon,
+with which we may suppose it to have been connected by a permanent
+bridge of boats.
+
+The united parts contribute to form the common epithet of Al Modain, the
+cities, which the Orientals have bestowed on the winter residence of
+the Sassinadees; and the whole circumference of the Persian capital was
+strongly fortified by the waters of the river, by lofty walls, and by
+impracticable morasses. Near the ruins of Seleucia, the camp of Julian
+was fixed, and secured, by a ditch and rampart, against the sallies of
+the numerous and enterprising garrison of Coche. In this fruitful and
+pleasant country, the Romans were plentifully supplied with water and
+forage: and several forts, which might have embarrassed the motions
+of the army, submitted, after some resistance, to the efforts of their
+valor. The fleet passed from the Euphrates into an artificial derivation
+of that river, which pours a copious and navigable stream into the
+Tigris, at a small distance below the great city. If they had followed
+this royal canal, which bore the name of Nahar-Malcha, [66] the
+intermediate situation of Coche would have separated the fleet and army
+of Julian; and the rash attempt of steering against the current of the
+Tigris, and forcing their way through the midst of a hostile capital,
+must have been attended with the total destruction of the Roman navy.
+The prudence of the emperor foresaw the danger, and provided the remedy.
+As he had minutely studied the operations of Trajan in the same country,
+he soon recollected that his warlike predecessor had dug a new and
+navigable canal, which, leaving Coche on the right hand, conveyed the
+waters of the Nahar-Malcha into the river Tigris, at some distance above
+the cities. From the information of the peasants, Julian ascertained the
+vestiges of this ancient work, which were almost obliterated by design
+or accident. By the indefatigable labor of the soldiers, a broad and
+deep channel was speedily prepared for the reception of the Euphrates.
+A strong dike was constructed to interrupt the ordinary current of the
+Nahar-Malcha: a flood of waters rushed impetuously into their new bed;
+and the Roman fleet, steering their triumphant course into the Tigris,
+derided the vain and ineffectual barriers which the Persians of
+Ctesiphon had erected to oppose their passage.
+
+[Footnote 65: M. d'Anville, (Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom.
+xxxviii p. 246-259) has ascertained the true position and distance of
+Babylon, Seleucia, Ctesiphon, Bagdad, &c. The Roman traveller, Pietro
+della Valle, (tom. i. lett. xvii. p. 650-780,) seems to be the most
+intelligent spectator of that famous province. He is a gentleman and a
+scholar, but intolerably vain and prolix.]
+
+[Footnote 66: The Royal Canal (Nahar-Malcha) might be successively
+restored, altered, divided, &c., (Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom.
+ii. p. 453;) and these changes may serve to explain the seeming
+contradictions of antiquity. In the time of Julian, it must have fallen
+into the Euphrates below Ctesiphon.]
+
+As it became necessary to transport the Roman army over the Tigris,
+another labor presented itself, of less toil, but of more danger, than
+the preceding expedition. The stream was broad and rapid; the ascent
+steep and difficult; and the intrenchments which had been formed on the
+ridge of the opposite bank, were lined with a numerous army of heavy
+cuirrasiers, dexterous archers, and huge elephants; who (according to
+the extravagant hyperbole of Libanius) could trample with the same ease
+a field of corn, or a legion of Romans. [67] In the presence of such an
+enemy, the construction of a bridge was impracticable; and the intrepid
+prince, who instantly seized the only possible expedient, concealed
+his design, till the moment of execution, from the knowledge of the
+Barbarians, of his own troops, and even of his generals themselves.
+Under the specious pretence of examining the state of the magazines,
+fourscore vessels [67a] were gradually unladen; and a select detachment,
+apparently destined for some secret expedition, was ordered to stand to
+their arms on the first signal. Julian disguised the silent anxiety of
+his own mind with smiles of confidence and joy; and amused the hostile
+nations with the spectacle of military games, which he insultingly
+celebrated under the walls of Coche. The day was consecrated to
+pleasure; but, as soon as the hour of supper was passed, the emperor
+summoned the generals to his tent, and acquainted them that he had
+fixed that night for the passage of the Tigris. They stood in silent
+and respectful astonishment; but, when the venerable Sallust assumed the
+privilege of his age and experience, the rest of the chiefs supported
+with freedom the weight of his prudent remonstrances. [68] Julian
+contented himself with observing, that conquest and safety depended on
+the attempt; that instead of diminishing, the number of their enemies
+would be increased, by successive reenforcements; and that a longer
+delay would neither contract the breadth of the stream, nor level the
+height of the bank. The signal was instantly given, and obeyed; the most
+impatient of the legionaries leaped into five vessels that lay nearest
+to the bank; and as they plied their oars with intrepid diligence, they
+were lost, after a few moments, in the darkness of the night. A flame
+arose on the opposite side; and Julian, who too clearly understood
+that his foremost vessels, in attempting to land, had been fired by
+the enemy, dexterously converted their extreme danger into a presage
+of victory. "Our fellow-soldiers," he eagerly exclaimed, "are already
+masters of the bank; see--they make the appointed signal; let us hasten
+to emulate and assist their courage." The united and rapid motion of
+a great fleet broke the violence of the current, and they reached the
+eastern shore of the Tigris with sufficient speed to extinguish the
+flames, and rescue their adventurous companions. The difficulties of a
+steep and lofty ascent were increased by the weight of armor, and
+the darkness of the night. A shower of stones, darts, and fire, was
+incessantly discharged on the heads of the assailants; who, after
+an arduous struggle, climbed the bank and stood victorious upon the
+rampart. As soon as they possessed a more equal field, Julian, who, with
+his light infantry, had led the attack, [69] darted through the ranks
+a skilful and experienced eye: his bravest soldiers, according to the
+precepts of Homer, [70] were distributed in the front and rear: and all
+the trumpets of the Imperial army sounded to battle. The Romans, after
+sending up a military shout, advanced in measured steps to the animating
+notes of martial music; launched their formidable javelins; and rushed
+forwards with drawn swords, to deprive the Barbarians, by a closer
+onset, of the advantage of their missile weapons. The whole engagement
+lasted above twelve hours; till the gradual retreat of the Persians
+was changed into a disorderly flight, of which the shameful example
+was given by the principal leader, and the Surenas himself. They were
+pursued to the gates of Ctesiphon; and the conquerors might have entered
+the dismayed city, [71] if their general, Victor, who was dangerously
+wounded with an arrow, had not conjured them to desist from a rash
+attempt, which must be fatal, if it were not successful. On their side,
+the Romans acknowledged the loss of only seventy-five men; while they
+affirmed, that the Barbarians had left on the field of battle two
+thousand five hundred, or even six thousand, of their bravest soldiers.
+The spoil was such as might be expected from the riches and luxury of
+an Oriental camp; large quantities of silver and gold, splendid arms
+and trappings, and beds and tables of massy silver. [71a] The victorious
+emperor distributed, as the rewards of valor, some honorable gifts,
+civic, and mural, and naval crowns; which he, and perhaps he alone,
+esteemed more precious than the wealth of Asia. A solemn sacrifice was
+offered to the god of war, but the appearances of the victims threatened
+the most inauspicious events; and Julian soon discovered, by less
+ambiguous signs, that he had now reached the term of his prosperity.
+[72]
+
+[Footnote 67: Rien n'est beau que le vrai; a maxim which should be
+inscribed on the desk of every rhetorician.]
+
+[Footnote 67a: This is a mistake; each vessel (according to Zosimus
+two, according to Ammianus five) had eighty men. Amm. xxiv. 6, with
+Wagner's note. Gibbon must have read octogenas for octogenis. The five
+vessels selected for this service were remarkably large and strong
+provision transports. The strength of the fleet remained with Julian to
+carry over the army--M.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Libanius alludes to the most powerful of the generals. I
+have ventured to name Sallust. Ammianus says, of all the leaders, quod
+acri metu territ acrimetu territi duces concordi precatu precaut fieri
+prohibere tentarent. * Note: It is evident that Gibbon has mistaken
+the sense of Libanius; his words can only apply to a commander of a
+detachment, not to so eminent a person as the Praefect of the East. St.
+Martin, iii. 313.---M.]
+
+[Footnote 69: Hinc Imperator.... (says Ammianus) ipse cum levis
+armaturae auxiliis per prima postremaque discurrens, &c. Yet Zosimus,
+his friend, does not allow him to pass the river till two days after the
+battle.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Secundum Homericam dispositionem. A similar disposition is
+ascribed to the wise Nestor, in the fourth book of the Iliad; and Homer
+was never absent from the mind of Julian.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Persas terrore subito miscuerunt, versisque agminibus
+totius gentis, apertas Ctesiphontis portas victor miles intrasset, ni
+major praedarum occasio fuisset, quam cura victoriae, (Sextus Rufus de
+Provinciis c. 28.) Their avarice might dispose them to hear the advice
+of Victor.]
+
+[Footnote 71a: The suburbs of Ctesiphon, according to a new fragment of
+Eunapius, were so full of provisions, that the soldiers were in danger
+of suffering from excess. Mai, p. 260. Eunapius in Niebuhr. Nov. Byz.
+Coll. 68. Julian exhibited warlike dances and games in his camp to
+recreate the soldiers Ibid.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 72: The labor of the canal, the passage of the Tigris, and
+the victory, are described by Ammianus, (xxiv. 5, 6,) Libanius, (Orat.
+Parent. c. 124-128, p. 347-353,) Greg. Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 115,)
+Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 181-183,) and Sextus Rufus, (de Provinciis, c.
+28.)]
+
+On the second day after the battle, the domestic guards, the Jovians and
+Herculians, and the remaining troops, which composed near two thirds
+of the whole army, were securely wafted over the Tigris. [73] While
+the Persians beheld from the walls of Ctesiphon the desolation of the
+adjacent country, Julian cast many an anxious look towards the North, in
+full expectation, that as he himself had victoriously penetrated to the
+capital of Sapor, the march and junction of his lieutenants, Sebastian
+and Procopius, would be executed with the same courage and diligence.
+His expectations were disappointed by the treachery of the Armenian
+king, who permitted, and most probably directed, the desertion of
+his auxiliary troops from the camp of the Romans; [74] and by the
+dissensions of the two generals, who were incapable of forming or
+executing any plan for the public service. When the emperor had
+relinquished the hope of this important reenforcement, he condescended
+to hold a council of war, and approved, after a full debate, the
+sentiment of those generals, who dissuaded the siege of Ctesiphon, as a
+fruitless and pernicious undertaking. It is not easy for us to conceive,
+by what arts of fortification a city thrice besieged and taken by the
+predecessors of Julian could be rendered impregnable against an army of
+sixty thousand Romans, commanded by a brave and experienced general,
+and abundantly supplied with ships, provisions, battering engines, and
+military stores. But we may rest assured, from the love of glory, and
+contempt of danger, which formed the character of Julian, that he was
+not discouraged by any trivial or imaginary obstacles. [75] At the
+very time when he declined the siege of Ctesiphon, he rejected, with
+obstinacy and disdain, the most flattering offers of a negotiation of
+peace. Sapor, who had been so long accustomed to the tardy ostentation
+of Constantius, was surprised by the intrepid diligence of his
+successor. As far as the confines of India and Scythia, the satraps
+of the distant provinces were ordered to assemble their troops, and
+to march, without delay, to the assistance of their monarch. But their
+preparations were dilatory, their motions slow; and before Sapor could
+lead an army into the field, he received the melancholy intelligence of
+the devastation of Assyria, the ruin of his palaces, and the slaughter
+of his bravest troops, who defended the passage of the Tigris. The pride
+of royalty was humbled in the dust; he took his repasts on the ground;
+and the disorder of his hair expressed the grief and anxiety of his
+mind. Perhaps he would not have refused to purchase, with one half
+of his kingdom, the safety of the remainder; and he would have gladly
+subscribed himself, in a treaty of peace, the faithful and dependent
+ally of the Roman conqueror. Under the pretence of private business, a
+minister of rank and confidence was secretly despatched to embrace the
+knees of Hormisdas, and to request, in the language of a suppliant, that
+he might be introduced into the presence of the emperor. The Sassanian
+prince, whether he listened to the voice of pride or humanity,
+whether he consulted the sentiments of his birth, or the duties of his
+situation, was equally inclined to promote a salutary measure, which
+would terminate the calamities of Persia, and secure the triumph of
+Rome. He was astonished by the inflexible firmness of a hero, who
+remembered, most unfortunately for himself and for his country, that
+Alexander had uniformly rejected the propositions of Darius. But as
+Julian was sensible, that the hope of a safe and honorable peace might
+cool the ardor of his troops, he earnestly requested that Hormisdas
+would privately dismiss the minister of Sapor, and conceal this
+dangerous temptation from the knowledge of the camp. [76]
+
+[Footnote 73: The fleet and army were formed in three divisions, of
+which the first only had passed during the night.]
+
+[Footnote 74: Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armen. l. iii. c. 15, p. 246)
+supplies us with a national tradition, and a spurious letter. I have
+borrowed only the leading circumstance, which is consistent with truth,
+probability, and Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 131, p. 355.)]
+
+[Footnote 75: Civitas inexpugnabilis, facinus audax et importunum.
+Ammianus, xxiv. 7. His fellow-soldier, Eutropius, turns aside from the
+difficulty, Assyriamque populatus, castra apud Ctesiphontem stativa
+aliquandiu habuit: remeansbue victor, &c. x. 16. Zosimus is artful or
+ignorant, and Socrates inaccurate.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 130, p. 354, c. 139, p. 361.
+Socrates, l. iii. c. 21. The ecclesiastical historian imputes the
+refusal of peace to the advice of Maximus. Such advice was unworthy of a
+philosopher; but the philosopher was likewise a magician, who flattered
+the hopes and passions of his master.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV: The Retreat And Death Of Julian.--Part IV.
+
+The honor, as well as interest, of Julian, forbade him to consume his
+time under the impregnable walls of Ctesiphon and as often as he defied
+the Barbarians, who defended the city, to meet him on the open plain,
+they prudently replied, that if he desired to exercise his valor,
+he might seek the army of the Great King. He felt the insult, and he
+accepted the advice. Instead of confining his servile march to the banks
+of the Euphrates and Tigris, he resolved to imitate the adventurous
+spirit of Alexander, and boldly to advance into the inland provinces,
+till he forced his rival to contend with him, perhaps in the plains of
+Arbela, for the empire of Asia. The magnanimity of Julian was applauded
+and betrayed, by the arts of a noble Persian, who, in the cause of
+his country, had generously submitted to act a part full of danger, of
+falsehood, and of shame. [77] With a train of faithful followers, he
+deserted to the Imperial camp; exposed, in a specious tale, the injuries
+which he had sustained; exaggerated the cruelty of Sapor, the discontent
+of the people, and the weakness of the monarchy; and confidently offered
+himself as the hostage and guide of the Roman march. The most rational
+grounds of suspicion were urged, without effect, by the wisdom and
+experience of Hormisdas; and the credulous Julian, receiving the traitor
+into his bosom, was persuaded to issue a hasty order, which, in the
+opinion of mankind, appeared to arraign his prudence, and to endanger
+his safety. He destroyed, in a single hour, the whole navy, which had
+been transported above five hundred miles, at so great an expense of
+toil, of treasure, and of blood. Twelve, or, at the most, twenty-two
+small vessels were saved, to accompany, on carriages, the march of the
+army, and to form occasional bridges for the passage of the rivers.
+A supply of twenty days' provisions was reserved for the use of the
+soldiers; and the rest of the magazines, with a fleet of eleven hundred
+vessels, which rode at anchor in the Tigris, were abandoned to the
+flames, by the absolute command of the emperor. The Christian bishops,
+Gregory and Augustin, insult the madness of the Apostate, who executed,
+with his own hands, the sentence of divine justice. Their authority, of
+less weight, perhaps, in a military question, is confirmed by the cool
+judgment of an experienced soldier, who was himself spectator of the
+conflagration, and who could not disapprove the reluctant murmurs of the
+troops. [78] Yet there are not wanting some specious, and perhaps solid,
+reasons, which might justify the resolution of Julian. The navigation of
+the Euphrates never ascended above Babylon, nor that of the Tigris above
+Opis. [79] The distance of the last-mentioned city from the Roman camp
+was not very considerable: and Julian must soon have renounced the vain
+and impracticable attempt of forcing upwards a great fleet against the
+stream of a rapid river, [80] which in several places was embarrassed
+by natural or artificial cataracts. [81] The power of sails and oars was
+insufficient; it became necessary to tow the ships against the current
+of the river; the strength of twenty thousand soldiers was exhausted
+in this tedious and servile labor, and if the Romans continued to march
+along the banks of the Tigris, they could only expect to return home
+without achieving any enterprise worthy of the genius or fortune of
+their leader. If, on the contrary, it was advisable to advance into the
+inland country, the destruction of the fleet and magazines was the
+only measure which could save that valuable prize from the hands of the
+numerous and active troops which might suddenly be poured from the gates
+of Ctesiphon. Had the arms of Julian been victorious, we should now
+admire the conduct, as well as the courage, of a hero, who, by depriving
+his soldiers of the hopes of a retreat, left them only the alternative
+of death or conquest. [82]
+
+[Footnote 77: The arts of this new Zopyrus (Greg. Nazianzen, Orat.
+iv. p. 115, 116) may derive some credit from the testimony of two
+abbreviators, (Sextus Rufus and Victor,) and the casual hints of
+Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 134, p. 357) and Ammianus, (xxiv. 7.) The
+course of genuine history is interrupted by a most unseasonable chasm in
+the text of Ammianus.]
+
+[Footnote 78: See Ammianus, (xxiv. 7,) Libanius, (Orat. Parentalis, c.
+132, 133, p. 356, 357,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 183,) Zonaras, (tom. ii.
+l. xiii. p. 26) Gregory, (Orat. iv. p. 116,) and Augustin, (de Civitate
+Dei, l. iv. c. 29, l. v. c. 21.) Of these Libanius alone attempts a
+faint apology for his hero; who, according to Ammianus, pronounced his
+own condemnation by a tardy and ineffectual attempt to extinguish the
+flames.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Consult Herodotus, (l. i. c. 194,) Strabo, (l. xvi. p.
+1074,) and Tavernier, (part i. l. ii. p. 152.)]
+
+[Footnote 80: A celeritate Tigris incipit vocari, ita appellant Medi
+sagittam. Plin. Hist. Natur. vi. 31.]
+
+[Footnote 81: One of these dikes, which produces an artificial cascade
+or cataract, is described by Tavernier (part i. l. ii. p. 226) and
+Thevenot, (part ii. l. i. p. 193.) The Persians, or Assyrians, labored
+to interrupt the navigation of the river, (Strabo, l. xv. p. 1075.
+D'Anville, l'Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 98, 99.)]
+
+[Footnote 82: Recollect the successful and applauded rashness of
+Agathocles and Cortez, who burnt their ships on the coast of Africa and
+Mexico.]
+
+The cumbersome train of artillery and wagons, which retards the
+operations of a modern army, were in a great measure unknown in the
+camps of the Romans. [83] Yet, in every age, the subsistence of sixty
+thousand men must have been one of the most important cares of a prudent
+general; and that subsistence could only be drawn from his own or from
+the enemy's country. Had it been possible for Julian to maintain a
+bridge of communication on the Tigris, and to preserve the conquered
+places of Assyria, a desolated province could not afford any large or
+regular supplies, in a season of the year when the lands were covered
+by the inundation of the Euphrates, [84] and the unwholesome air was
+darkened with swarms of innumerable insects. [85] The appearance of the
+hostile country was far more inviting. The extensive region that lies
+between the River Tigris and the mountains of Media, was filled with
+villages and towns; and the fertile soil, for the most part, was in
+a very improved state of cultivation. Julian might expect, that a
+conqueror, who possessed the two forcible instruments of persuasion,
+steel and gold, would easily procure a plentiful subsistence from the
+fears or avarice of the natives. But, on the approach of the Romans, the
+rich and smiling prospect was instantly blasted. Wherever they moved,
+the inhabitants deserted the open villages, and took shelter in the
+fortified towns; the cattle was driven away; the grass and ripe corn
+were consumed with fire; and, as soon as the flames had subsided which
+interrupted the march of Julian, he beheld the melancholy face of a
+smoking and naked desert. This desperate but effectual method of defence
+can only be executed by the enthusiasm of a people who prefer their
+independence to their property; or by the rigor of an arbitrary
+government, which consults the public safety without submitting to their
+inclinations the liberty of choice. On the present occasion the zeal
+and obedience of the Persians seconded the commands of Sapor; and
+the emperor was soon reduced to the scanty stock of provisions, which
+continually wasted in his hands. Before they were entirely consumed, he
+might still have reached the wealthy and unwarlike cities of Ecbatana or
+Susa, by the effort of a rapid and well-directed march; [86] but he was
+deprived of this last resource by his ignorance of the roads, and by the
+perfidy of his guides. The Romans wandered several days in the country
+to the eastward of Bagdad; the Persian deserter, who had artfully led
+them into the spare, escaped from their resentment; and his followers,
+as soon as they were put to the torture, confessed the secret of the
+conspiracy. The visionary conquests of Hyrcania and India, which had so
+long amused, now tormented, the mind of Julian. Conscious that his own
+imprudence was the cause of the public distress, he anxiously balanced
+the hopes of safety or success, without obtaining a satisfactory answer,
+either from gods or men. At length, as the only practicable measure, he
+embraced the resolution of directing his steps towards the banks of
+the Tigris, with the design of saving the army by a hasty march to
+the confines of Corduene; a fertile and friendly province, which
+acknowledged the sovereignty of Rome. The desponding troops obeyed
+the signal of the retreat, only seventy days after they had passed the
+Chaboras, with the sanguine expectation of subverting the throne of
+Persia. [87]
+
+[Footnote 83: See the judicious reflections of the author of the Essai
+sur la Tactique, tom. ii. p. 287-353, and the learned remarks of M.
+Guichardt Nouveaux Memoires Militaires, tom. i. p. 351-382, on the
+baggage and subsistence of the Roman armies.]
+
+[Footnote 84: The Tigris rises to the south, the Euphrates to the north,
+of the Armenian mountains. The former overflows in March, the latter
+in July. These circumstances are well explained in the Geographical
+Dissertation of Foster, inserted in Spelman's Expedition of Cyras, vol.
+ii. p. 26.]
+
+[Footnote 85: Ammianus (xxiv. 8) describes, as he had felt, the
+inconveniency of the flood, the heat, and the insects. The lands of
+Assyria, oppressed by the Turks, and ravaged by the Curds or Arabs,
+yield an increase of ten, fifteen, and twenty fold, for the seed which
+is cast into the ground by the wretched and unskillful husbandmen.
+Voyage de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 279, 285.]
+
+[Footnote 86: Isidore of Charax (Mansion. Parthic. p. 5, 6, in Hudson,
+Geograph. Minor. tom. ii.) reckons 129 schaeni from Seleucia, and
+Thevenot, (part i. l. i. ii. p. 209-245,) 128 hours of march from
+Bagdad to Ecbatana, or Hamadan. These measures cannot exceed an ordinary
+parasang, or three Roman miles.]
+
+[Footnote 87: The march of Julian from Ctesiphon is circumstantially,
+but not clearly, described by Ammianus, (xxiv. 7, 8,) Libanius, (Orat.
+Parent. c. 134, p. 357,) and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 183.) The two last
+seem ignorant that their conqueror was retreating; and Libanius absurdly
+confines him to the banks of the Tigris.]
+
+As long as the Romans seemed to advance into the country, their march
+was observed and insulted from a distance, by several bodies of Persian
+cavalry; who, showing themselves sometimes in loose, and sometimes
+in close order, faintly skirmished with the advanced guards. These
+detachments were, however, supported by a much greater force; and the
+heads of the columns were no sooner pointed towards the Tigris than a
+cloud of dust arose on the plain. The Romans, who now aspired only to
+the permission of a safe and speedy retreat, endeavored to persuade
+themselves, that this formidable appearance was occasioned by a troop
+of wild asses, or perhaps by the approach of some friendly Arabs. They
+halted, pitched their tents, fortified their camp, passed the whole
+night in continual alarms; and discovered at the dawn of day, that
+they were surrounded by an army of Persians. This army, which might be
+considered only as the van of the Barbarians, was soon followed by the
+main body of cuirassiers, archers, and elephants, commanded by Meranes,
+a general of rank and reputation. He was accompanied by two of the
+king's sons, and many of the principal satraps; and fame and expectation
+exaggerated the strength of the remaining powers, which slowly advanced
+under the conduct of Sapor himself. As the Romans continued their march,
+their long array, which was forced to bend or divide, according to the
+varieties of the ground, afforded frequent and favorable opportunities
+to their vigilant enemies. The Persians repeatedly charged with fury;
+they were repeatedly repulsed with firmness; and the action at Maronga,
+which almost deserved the name of a battle, was marked by a considerable
+loss of satraps and elephants, perhaps of equal value in the eyes of
+their monarch. These splendid advantages were not obtained without
+an adequate slaughter on the side of the Romans: several officers of
+distinction were either killed or wounded; and the emperor himself, who,
+on all occasions of danger, inspired and guided the valor of his troops,
+was obliged to expose his person, and exert his abilities. The weight of
+offensive and defensive arms, which still constituted the strength and
+safety of the Romans, disabled them from making any long or effectual
+pursuit; and as the horsemen of the East were trained to dart their
+javelins, and shoot their arrows, at full speed, and in every possible
+direction, [88] the cavalry of Persia was never more formidable than in
+the moment of a rapid and disorderly flight. But the most certain and
+irreparable loss of the Romans was that of time. The hardy veterans,
+accustomed to the cold climate of Gaul and Germany, fainted under the
+sultry heat of an Assyrian summer; their vigor was exhausted by the
+incessant repetition of march and combat; and the progress of the army
+was suspended by the precautions of a slow and dangerous retreat, in
+the presence of an active enemy. Every day, every hour, as the supply
+diminished, the value and price of subsistence increased in the Roman
+camp. [89] Julian, who always contented himself with such food as a
+hungry soldier would have disdained, distributed, for the use of the
+troops, the provisions of the Imperial household, and whatever could be
+spared, from the sumpter-horses, of the tribunes and generals. But this
+feeble relief served only to aggravate the sense of the public distress;
+and the Romans began to entertain the most gloomy apprehensions that,
+before they could reach the frontiers of the empire, they should all
+perish, either by famine, or by the sword of the Barbarians. [90]
+
+[Footnote 88: Chardin, the most judicious of modern travellers,
+describes (tom. ii. p. 57, 58, &c., edit. in 4to.) the education and
+dexterity of the Persian horsemen. Brissonius (de Regno Persico, p. 650
+651, &c.,) has collected the testimonies of antiquity.]
+
+[Footnote 89: In Mark Antony's retreat, an attic choenix sold for fifty
+drachmae, or, in other words, a pound of flour for twelve or fourteen
+shillings barley bread was sold for its weight in silver. It is
+impossible to peruse the interesting narrative of Plutarch, (tom. v. p.
+102-116,) without perceiving that Mark Antony and Julian were pursued by
+the same enemies, and involved in the same distress.]
+
+[Footnote 90: Ammian. xxiv. 8, xxv. 1. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 184, 185,
+186. Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 134, 135, p. 357, 358, 359. The sophist
+of Antioch appears ignorant that the troops were hungry.]
+
+While Julian struggled with the almost insuperable difficulties of his
+situation, the silent hours of the night were still devoted to study
+and contemplation. Whenever he closed his eyes in short and interrupted
+slumbers, his mind was agitated with painful anxiety; nor can it be
+thought surprising, that the Genius of the empire should once more
+appear before him, covering with a funeral veil his head, and his horn
+of abundance, and slowly retiring from the Imperial tent. The monarch
+started from his couch, and stepping forth to refresh his wearied
+spirits with the coolness of the midnight air, he beheld a fiery meteor,
+which shot athwart the sky, and suddenly vanished. Julian was convinced
+that he had seen the menacing countenance of the god of war; [91]
+the council which he summoned, of Tuscan Haruspices, [92] unanimously
+pronounced that he should abstain from action; but on this occasion,
+necessity and reason were more prevalent than superstition; and the
+trumpets sounded at the break of day. The army marched through a hilly
+country; and the hills had been secretly occupied by the Persians.
+Julian led the van with the skill and attention of a consummate general;
+he was alarmed by the intelligence that his rear was suddenly attacked.
+The heat of the weather had tempted him to lay aside his cuirass; but
+he snatched a shield from one of his attendants, and hastened, with a
+sufficient reenforcement, to the relief of the rear-guard. A similar
+danger recalled the intrepid prince to the defence of the front; and,
+as he galloped through the columns, the centre of the left was attacked,
+and almost overpowered by the furious charge of the Persian cavalry and
+elephants. This huge body was soon defeated, by the well-timed evolution
+of the light infantry, who aimed their weapons, with dexterity
+and effect, against the backs of the horsemen, and the legs of the
+elephants. The Barbarians fled; and Julian, who was foremost in every
+danger, animated the pursuit with his voice and gestures. His trembling
+guards, scattered and oppressed by the disorderly throng of friends and
+enemies, reminded their fearless sovereign that he was without armor;
+and conjured him to decline the fall of the impending ruin. As they
+exclaimed, [93] a cloud of darts and arrows was discharged from the
+flying squadrons; and a javelin, after razing the skin of his arm,
+transpierced the ribs, and fixed in the inferior part of the liver.
+Julian attempted to draw the deadly weapon from his side; but his
+fingers were cut by the sharpness of the steel, and he fell senseless
+from his horse. His guards flew to his relief; and the wounded emperor
+was gently raised from the ground, and conveyed out of the tumult of the
+battle into an adjacent tent. The report of the melancholy event passed
+from rank to rank; but the grief of the Romans inspired them with
+invincible valor, and the desire of revenge. The bloody and obstinate
+conflict was maintained by the two armies, till they were separated by
+the total darkness of the night. The Persians derived some honor
+from the advantage which they obtained against the left wing, where
+Anatolius, master of the offices, was slain, and the praefect Sallust
+very narrowly escaped. But the event of the day was adverse to the
+Barbarians. They abandoned the field; their two generals, Meranes and
+Nohordates, [94] fifty nobles or satraps, and a multitude of their
+bravest soldiers; and the success of the Romans, if Julian had survived,
+might have been improved into a decisive and useful victory.
+
+[Footnote 91: Ammian. xxv. 2. Julian had sworn in a passion, nunquam
+se Marti sacra facturum, (xxiv. 6.) Such whimsical quarrels were not
+uncommon between the gods and their insolent votaries; and even the
+prudent Augustus, after his fleet had been twice shipwrecked, excluded
+Neptune from the honors of public processions. See Hume's Philosophical
+Reflections. Essays, vol. ii. p. 418.]
+
+[Footnote 92: They still retained the monopoly of the vain but lucrative
+science, which had been invented in Hetruria; and professed to derive
+their knowledge of signs and omens from the ancient books of Tarquitius,
+a Tuscan sage.]
+
+[Footnote 93: Clambant hinc inde candidati (see the note of Valesius)
+quos terror, ut fugientium molem tanquam ruinam male compositi culminis
+declinaret. Ammian. xxv 3.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Sapor himself declared to the Romans, that it was his
+practice to comfort the families of his deceased satraps, by sending
+them, as a present, the heads of the guards and officers who had not
+fallen by their master's side. Libanius, de nece Julian. ulcis. c. xiii.
+p. 163.]
+
+The first words that Julian uttered, after his recovery from the
+fainting fit into which he had been thrown by loss of blood, were
+expressive of his martial spirit. He called for his horse and arms,
+and was impatient to rush into the battle. His remaining strength was
+exhausted by the painful effort; and the surgeons, who examined his
+wound, discovered the symptoms of approaching death. He employed
+the awful moments with the firm temper of a hero and a sage; the
+philosophers who had accompanied him in this fatal expedition, compared
+the tent of Julian with the prison of Socrates; and the spectators,
+whom duty, or friendship, or curiosity, had assembled round his couch,
+listened with respectful grief to the funeral oration of their dying
+emperor. [95] "Friends and fellow-soldiers, the seasonable period of my
+departure is now arrived, and I discharge, with the cheerfulness of a
+ready debtor, the demands of nature. I have learned from philosophy, how
+much the soul is more excellent than the body; and that the separation
+of the nobler substance should be the subject of joy, rather than of
+affliction. I have learned from religion, that an early death has often
+been the reward of piety; [96] and I accept, as a favor of the gods, the
+mortal stroke that secures me from the danger of disgracing a character,
+which has hitherto been supported by virtue and fortitude. I die without
+remorse, as I have lived without guilt. I am pleased to reflect on the
+innocence of my private life; and I can affirm with confidence, that
+the supreme authority, that emanation of the Divine Power, has been
+preserved in my hands pure and immaculate. Detesting the corrupt and
+destructive maxims of despotism, I have considered the happiness of the
+people as the end of government. Submitting my actions to the laws of
+prudence, of justice, and of moderation, I have trusted the event to
+the care of Providence. Peace was the object of my counsels, as long
+as peace was consistent with the public welfare; but when the imperious
+voice of my country summoned me to arms, I exposed my person to the
+dangers of war, with the clear foreknowledge (which I had acquired from
+the art of divination) that I was destined to fall by the sword. I now
+offer my tribute of gratitude to the Eternal Being, who has not suffered
+me to perish by the cruelty of a tyrant, by the secret dagger of
+conspiracy, or by the slow tortures of lingering disease. He has
+given me, in the midst of an honorable career, a splendid and glorious
+departure from this world; and I hold it equally absurd, equally
+base, to solicit, or to decline, the stroke of fate. This much I have
+attempted to say; but my strength fails me, and I feel the approach
+of death. I shall cautiously refrain from any word that may tend to
+influence your suffrages in the election of an emperor. My choice might
+be imprudent or injudicious; and if it should not be ratified by the
+consent of the army, it might be fatal to the person whom I should
+recommend. I shall only, as a good citizen, express my hopes, that the
+Romans may be blessed with the government of a virtuous sovereign."
+After this discourse, which Julian pronounced in a firm and gentle tone
+of voice, he distributed, by a military testament, [97] the remains
+of his private fortune; and making some inquiry why Anatolius was not
+present, he understood, from the answer of Sallust, that Anatolius
+was killed; and bewailed, with amiable inconsistency, the loss of
+his friend. At the same time he reproved the immoderate grief of the
+spectators; and conjured them not to disgrace, by unmanly tears, the
+fate of a prince, who in a few moments would be united with heaven, and
+with the stars. [98] The spectators were silent; and Julian entered into
+a metaphysical argument with the philosophers Priscus and Maximus, on
+the nature of the soul. The efforts which he made, of mind as well as
+body, most probably hastened his death. His wound began to bleed with
+fresh violence; his respiration was embarrassed by the swelling of the
+veins; he called for a draught of cold water, and, as soon as he had
+drank it, expired without pain, about the hour of midnight. Such was
+the end of that extraordinary man, in the thirty-second year of his
+age, after a reign of one year and about eight months, from the death
+of Constantius. In his last moments he displayed, perhaps with some
+ostentation, the love of virtue and of fame, which had been the ruling
+passions of his life. [99]
+
+[Footnote 95: The character and situation of Julian might countenance
+the suspicion that he had previously composed the elaborate oration,
+which Ammianus heard, and has transcribed. The version of the Abbe de la
+Bleterie is faithful and elegant. I have followed him in expressing
+the Platonic idea of emanations, which is darkly insinuated in the
+original.]
+
+[Footnote 96: Herodotus (l. i. c. 31,) has displayed that doctrine in
+an agreeable tale. Yet the Jupiter, (in the 16th book of the Iliad,) who
+laments with tears of blood the death of Sarpedon his son, had a very
+imperfect notion of happiness or glory beyond the grave.]
+
+[Footnote 97: The soldiers who made their verbal or nuncupatory
+testaments, upon actual service, (in procinctu,) were exempted from the
+formalities of the Roman law. See Heineccius, (Antiquit. Jur. Roman.
+tom. i. p. 504,) and Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxvii.)]
+
+[Footnote 98: This union of the human soul with the divine aethereal
+substance of the universe, is the ancient doctrine of Pythagoras and
+Plato: but it seems to exclude any personal or conscious immortality.
+See Warburton's learned and rational observations. Divine Legation, vol
+ii. p. 199-216.]
+
+[Footnote 99: The whole relation of the death of Julian is given by
+Ammianus, (xxv. 3,) an intelligent spectator. Libanius, who turns with
+horror from the scene, has supplied some circumstances, (Orat. Parental.
+c 136-140, p. 359-362.) The calumnies of Gregory, and the legends
+of more recent saints, may now be silently despised. * Note: A very
+remarkable fragment of Eunapius describes, not without spirit, the
+struggle between the terror of the army on account of their perilous
+situation, and their grief for the death of Julian. "Even the vulgar
+felt that they would soon provide a general, but such a general
+as Julian they would never find, even though a god in the form of
+man--Julian, who, with a mind equal to the divinity, triumphed over
+the evil propensities of human nature,--* * who held commerce with
+immaterial beings while yet in the material body--who condescended to
+rule because a ruler was necessary to the welfare of mankind." Mai, Nov.
+Coll. ii. 261. Eunapius in Niebuhr, 69.]
+
+The triumph of Christianity, and the calamities of the empire, may, in
+some measure, be ascribed to Julian himself, who had neglected to
+secure the future execution of his designs, by the timely and judicious
+nomination of an associate and successor. But the royal race of
+Constantius Chlorus was reduced to his own person; and if he entertained
+any serious thoughts of investing with the purple the most worthy among
+the Romans, he was diverted from his resolution by the difficulty of the
+choice, the jealousy of power, the fear of ingratitude, and the natural
+presumption of health, of youth, and of prosperity. His unexpected death
+left the empire without a master, and without an heir, in a state of
+perplexity and danger, which, in the space of fourscore years, had never
+been experienced, since the election of Diocletian. In a government
+which had almost forgotten the distinction of pure and noble blood, the
+superiority of birth was of little moment; the claims of official rank
+were accidental and precarious; and the candidates, who might aspire to
+ascend the vacant throne could be supported only by the consciousness of
+personal merit, or by the hopes of popular favor. But the situation of
+a famished army, encompassed on all sides by a host of Barbarians,
+shortened the moments of grief and deliberation. In this scene of terror
+and distress, the body of the deceased prince, according to his own
+directions, was decently embalmed; and, at the dawn of day, the generals
+convened a military senate, at which the commanders of the legions, and
+the officers both of cavalry and infantry, were invited to assist.
+Three or four hours of the night had not passed away without some secret
+cabals; and when the election of an emperor was proposed, the spirit of
+faction began to agitate the assembly. Victor and Arinthaeus collected
+the remains of the court of Constantius; the friends of Julian attached
+themselves to the Gallic chiefs, Dagalaiphus and Nevitta; and the
+most fatal consequences might be apprehended from the discord of two
+factions, so opposite in their character and interest, in their maxims
+of government, and perhaps in their religious principles. The superior
+virtues of Sallust could alone reconcile their divisions, and unite
+their suffrages; and the venerable praefect would immediately have been
+declared the successor of Julian, if he himself, with sincere and modest
+firmness, had not alleged his age and infirmities, so unequal to the
+weight of the diadem. The generals, who were surprised and perplexed by
+his refusal, showed some disposition to adopt the salutary advice of an
+inferior officer, [100] that they should act as they would have acted
+in the absence of the emperor; that they should exert their abilities
+to extricate the army from the present distress; and, if they were
+fortunate enough to reach the confines of Mesopotamia, they should
+proceed with united and deliberate counsels in the election of a lawful
+sovereign. While they debated, a few voices saluted Jovian, who was no
+more than first [101] of the domestics, with the names of Emperor and
+Augustus. The tumultuary acclamation [101a] was instantly repeated by
+the guards who surrounded the tent, and passed, in a few minutes, to the
+extremities of the line. The new prince, astonished with his own fortune
+was hastily invested with the Imperial ornaments, and received an oath
+of fidelity from the generals, whose favor and protection he so lately
+solicited. The strongest recommendation of Jovian was the merit of his
+father, Count Varronian, who enjoyed, in honorable retirement, the fruit
+of his long services. In the obscure freedom of a private station,
+the son indulged his taste for wine and women; yet he supported, with
+credit, the character of a Christian [102] and a soldier. Without being
+conspicuous for any of the ambitious qualifications which excite
+the admiration and envy of mankind, the comely person of Jovian, his
+cheerful temper, and familiar wit, had gained the affection of his
+fellow-soldiers; and the generals of both parties acquiesced in a
+popular election, which had not been conducted by the arts of their
+enemies. The pride of this unexpected elevation was moderated by the
+just apprehension, that the same day might terminate the life and reign
+of the new emperor. The pressing voice of necessity was obeyed without
+delay; and the first orders issued by Jovian, a few hours after his
+predecessor had expired, were to prosecute a march, which could alone
+extricate the Romans from their actual distress. [103]
+
+[Footnote 100: Honoratior aliquis miles; perhaps Ammianus himself. The
+modest and judicious historian describes the scene of the election, at
+which he was undoubtedly present, (xxv. 5.)]
+
+[Footnote 101: The primus or primicerius enjoyed the dignity of a
+senator, and though only a tribune, he ranked with the military dukes.
+Cod. Theodosian. l. vi. tit. xxiv. These privileges are perhaps more
+recent than the time of Jovian.]
+
+[Footnote 101a: The soldiers supposed that the acclamations proclaimed
+the name of Julian, restored, as they fondly thought, to health, not
+that of Jovian. loc.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 102: The ecclesiastical historians, Socrates, (l. iii. c. 22,)
+Sozomen, (l. vi. c. 3,) and Theodoret, (l. iv. c. 1,) ascribe to Jovian
+the merit of a confessor under the preceding reign; and piously suppose
+that he refused the purple, till the whole army unanimously exclaimed
+that they were Christians. Ammianus, calmly pursuing his narrative,
+overthrows the legend by a single sentence. Hostiis pro Joviano extisque
+inspectis, pronuntiatum est, &c., xxv. 6.]
+
+[Footnote 103: Ammianus (xxv. 10) has drawn from the life an impartial
+portrait of Jovian; to which the younger Victor has added some
+remarkable strokes. The Abbe de la Bleterie (Histoire de Jovien, tom. i.
+p. 1-238) has composed an elaborate history of his short reign; a work
+remarkably distinguished by elegance of style, critical disquisition,
+and religious prejudice.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXIV: The Retreat And Death Of Julian.--Part V.
+
+The esteem of an enemy is most sincerely expressed by his fears; and
+the degree of fear may be accurately measured by the joy with which he
+celebrates his deliverance. The welcome news of the death of Julian,
+which a deserter revealed to the camp of Sapor, inspired the desponding
+monarch with a sudden confidence of victory. He immediately detached the
+royal cavalry, perhaps the ten thousand Immortals, [104] to second
+and support the pursuit; and discharged the whole weight of his united
+forces on the rear-guard of the Romans. The rear-guard was thrown
+into disorder; the renowned legions, which derived their titles from
+Diocletian, and his warlike colleague, were broke and trampled down by
+the elephants; and three tribunes lost their lives in attempting to stop
+the flight of their soldiers. The battle was at length restored by the
+persevering valor of the Romans; the Persians were repulsed with a
+great slaughter of men and elephants; and the army, after marching and
+fighting a long summer's day, arrived, in the evening, at Samara, on the
+banks of the Tigris, about one hundred miles above Ctesiphon. [105]
+On the ensuing day, the Barbarians, instead of harassing the march,
+attacked the camp, of Jovian; which had been seated in a deep and
+sequestered valley. From the hills, the archers of Persia insulted
+and annoyed the wearied legionaries; and a body of cavalry, which had
+penetrated with desperate courage through the Praetorian gate, was cut
+in pieces, after a doubtful conflict, near the Imperial tent. In the
+succeeding night, the camp of Carche was protected by the lofty dikes
+of the river; and the Roman army, though incessantly exposed to the
+vexatious pursuit of the Saracens, pitched their tents near the city of
+Dura, [106] four days after the death of Julian. The Tigris was still
+on their left; their hopes and provisions were almost consumed; and
+the impatient soldiers, who had fondly persuaded themselves that the
+frontiers of the empire were not far distant, requested their new
+sovereign, that they might be permitted to hazard the passage of the
+river. With the assistance of his wisest officers, Jovian endeavored to
+check their rashness; by representing, that if they possessed sufficient
+skill and vigor to stem the torrent of a deep and rapid stream, they
+would only deliver themselves naked and defenceless to the Barbarians,
+who had occupied the opposite banks, Yielding at length to their
+clamorous importunities, he consented, with reluctance, that five
+hundred Gauls and Germans, accustomed from their infancy to the waters
+of the Rhine and Danube, should attempt the bold adventure, which might
+serve either as an encouragement, or as a warning, for the rest of the
+army. In the silence of the night, they swam the Tigris, surprised an
+unguarded post of the enemy, and displayed at the dawn of day the signal
+of their resolution and fortune. The success of this trial disposed
+the emperor to listen to the promises of his architects, who propose to
+construct a floating bridge of the inflated skins of sheep, oxen, and
+goats, covered with a floor of earth and fascines. [107] Two important
+days were spent in the ineffectual labor; and the Romans, who already
+endured the miseries of famine, cast a look of despair on the Tigris,
+and upon the Barbarians; whose numbers and obstinacy increased with the
+distress of the Imperial army. [108]
+
+[Footnote 104: Regius equitatus. It appears, from Irocopius, that the
+Immortals, so famous under Cyrus and his successors, were revived, if we
+may use that improper word, by the Sassanides. Brisson de Regno Persico,
+p. 268, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 105: The obscure villages of the inland country are
+irrecoverably lost; nor can we name the field of battle where Julian
+fell: but M. D'Anville has demonstrated the precise situation of Sumere,
+Carche, and Dura, along the banks of the Tigris, (Geographie Ancienne,
+tom. ii. p. 248 L'Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 95, 97.) In the ninth
+century, Sumere, or Samara, became, with a slight change of name, the
+royal residence of the khalifs of the house of Abbas. * Note: Sormanray,
+called by the Arabs Samira, where D'Anville placed Samara, is too
+much to the south; and is a modern town built by Caliph Morasen.
+Serra-man-rai means, in Arabic, it rejoices every one who sees it. St.
+Martin, iii. 133.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Dura was a fortified place in the wars of Antiochus
+against the rebels of Media and Persia, (Polybius, l. v. c. 48, 52, p.
+548, 552 edit. Casaubon, in 8vo.)]
+
+[Footnote 107: A similar expedient was proposed to the leaders of the
+ten thousand, and wisely rejected. Xenophon, Anabasis, l. iii. p. 255,
+256, 257. It appears, from our modern travellers, that rafts floating on
+bladders perform the trade and navigation of the Tigris.]
+
+[Footnote 108: The first military acts of the reign of Jovian are
+related by Ammianus, (xxv. 6,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 146, p. 364,)
+and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 189, 190, 191.) Though we may distrust the
+fairness of Libanius, the ocular testimony of Eutropius (uno a Persis
+atque altero proelio victus, x. 17) must incline us to suspect that
+Ammianus had been too jealous of the honor of the Roman arms.]
+
+In this hopeless condition, the fainting spirits of the Romans were
+revived by the sound of peace. The transient presumption of Sapor had
+vanished: he observed, with serious concern, that, in the repetition of
+doubtful combats, he had lost his most faithful and intrepid nobles, his
+bravest troops, and the greatest part of his train of elephants: and
+the experienced monarch feared to provoke the resistance of despair, the
+vicissitudes of fortune, and the unexhausted powers of the Roman empire;
+which might soon advance to elieve, or to revenge, the successor of
+Julian. The Surenas himself, accompanied by another satrap, appeared
+in the camp of Jovian; [109] and declared, that the clemency of his
+sovereign was not averse to signify the conditions on which he would
+consent to spare and to dismiss the Caesar with the relics of his
+captive army. [109a] The hopes of safety subdued the firmness of the
+Romans; the emperor was compelled, by the advice of his council, and
+the cries of his soldiers, to embrace the offer of peace; [109b] and the
+praefect Sallust was immediately sent, with the general Arinthaeus, to
+understand the pleasure of the Great King. The crafty Persian delayed,
+under various pretenses, the conclusion of the agreement; started
+difficulties, required explanations, suggested expedients, receded from
+his concessions, increased his demands, and wasted four days in the arts
+of negotiation, till he had consumed the stock of provisions which yet
+remained in the camp of the Romans. Had Jovian been capable of executing
+a bold and prudent measure, he would have continued his march, with
+unremitting diligence; the progress of the treaty would have suspended
+the attacks of the Barbarians; and, before the expiration of the fourth
+day, he might have safely reached the fruitful province of Corduene, at
+the distance only of one hundred miles. [110] The irresolute emperor,
+instead of breaking through the toils of the enemy, expected his fate
+with patient resignation; and accepted the humiliating conditions of
+peace, which it was no longer in his power to refuse. The five provinces
+beyond the Tigris, which had been ceded by the grandfather of Sapor,
+were restored to the Persian monarchy. He acquired, by a single
+article, the impregnable city of Nisibis; which had sustained, in three
+successive sieges, the effort of his arms. Singara, and the castle of
+the Moors, one of the strongest places of Mesopotamia, were likewise
+dismembered from the empire. It was considered as an indulgence, that
+the inhabitants of those fortresses were permitted to retire with their
+effects; but the conqueror rigorously insisted, that the Romans should
+forever abandon the king and kingdom of Armenia. [110a] A peace, or
+rather a long truce, of thirty years, was stipulated between the hostile
+nations; the faith of the treaty was ratified by solemn oaths
+and religious ceremonies; and hostages of distinguished rank were
+reciprocally delivered to secure the performance of the conditions.
+[111]
+
+[Footnote 109: Sextus Rufus (de Provinciis, c. 29) embraces a poor
+subterfuge of national vanity. Tanta reverentia nominis Romani fuit, ut
+a Persis primus de pace sermo haberetur. ---He is called Junius by John
+Malala; the same, M. St. Martin conjectures, with a satrap of Gordyene
+named Jovianus, or Jovinianus; mentioned in Ammianus Marcellinus, xviii.
+6.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 109a: The Persian historians couch the message of Shah-pour
+in these Oriental terms: "I have reassembled my numerous army. I am
+resolved to revenge my subjects, who have been plundered, made captives,
+and slain. It is for this that I have bared my arm, and girded my loins.
+If you consent to pay the price of the blood which has been shed, to
+deliver up the booty which has been plundered, and to restore the city
+of Nisibis, which is in Irak, and belongs to our empire, though now in
+your possession, I will sheathe the sword of war; but should you refuse
+these terms, the hoofs of my horse, which are hard as steel, shall
+efface the name of the Romans from the earth; and my glorious cimeter,
+that destroys like fire, shall exterminate the people of your empire."
+These authorities do not mention the death of Julian. Malcolm's Persia,
+i. 87.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 109b: The Paschal chronicle, not, as M. St. Martin says,
+supported by John Malala, places the mission of this ambassador before
+the death of Julian. The king of Persia was then in Persarmenia,
+ignorant of the death of Julian; he only arrived at the army subsequent
+to that event. St. Martin adopts this view, and finds or extorts support
+for it, from Libanius and Ammianus, iii. 158.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 110: It is presumptuous to controvert the opinion of Ammianus,
+a soldier and a spectator. Yet it is difficult to understand how the
+mountains of Corduene could extend over the plains of Assyria, as low
+as the conflux of the Tigris and the great Zab; or how an army of sixty
+thousand men could march one hundred miles in four days. Note: *
+Yet this appears to be the case (in modern maps: ) the march is the
+difficulty.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 110a: Sapor availed himself, a few years after, of the
+dissolution of the alliance between the Romans and the Armenians. See
+St. M. iii. 163.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 111: The treaty of Dura is recorded with grief or indignation
+by Ammianus, (xxv. 7,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 142, p. 364,)
+Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 190, 191,) Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iv. p. 117,
+118, who imputes the distress to Julian, the deliverance to Jovian,)
+and Eutropius, (x. 17.) The last-mentioned writer, who was present in
+military station, styles this peace necessarium quidem sed ignoblem.]
+
+The sophist of Antioch, who saw with indignation the sceptre of his hero
+in the feeble hand of a Christian successor, professes to admire the
+moderation of Sapor, in contenting himself with so small a portion of
+the Roman empire. If he had stretched as far as the Euphrates the
+claims of his ambition, he might have been secure, says Libanius, of not
+meeting with a refusal. If he had fixed, as the boundary of Persia,
+the Orontes, the Cydnus, the Sangarius, or even the Thracian Bosphorus,
+flatterers would not have been wanting in the court of Jovian to
+convince the timid monarch, that his remaining provinces would still
+afford the most ample gratifications of power and luxury. [112]
+Without adopting in its full force this malicious insinuation, we
+must acknowledge, that the conclusion of so ignominious a treaty was
+facilitated by the private ambition of Jovian. The obscure domestic,
+exalted to the throne by fortune, rather than by merit, was impatient to
+escape from the hands of the Persians, that he might prevent the designs
+of Procopius, who commanded the army of Mesopotamia, and establish his
+doubtful reign over the legions and provinces which were still ignorant
+of the hasty and tumultuous choice of the camp beyond the Tigris. [113]
+In the neighborhood of the same river, at no very considerable distance
+from the fatal station of Dura, [114] the ten thousand Greeks, without
+generals, or guides, or provisions, were abandoned, above twelve hundred
+miles from their native country, to the resentment of a victorious
+monarch. The difference of their conduct and success depended much more
+on their character than on their situation. Instead of tamely resigning
+themselves to the secret deliberations and private views of a single
+person, the united councils of the Greeks were inspired by the generous
+enthusiasm of a popular assembly; where the mind of each citizen is
+filled with the love of glory, the pride of freedom, and the contempt
+of death. Conscious of their superiority over the Barbarians in arms and
+discipline, they disdained to yield, they refused to capitulate: every
+obstacle was surmounted by their patience, courage, and military skill;
+and the memorable retreat of the ten thousand exposed and insulted the
+weakness of the Persian monarchy. [115]
+
+[Footnote 112: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 143, p. 364, 365.]
+
+[Footnote 113: Conditionibus..... dispendiosis Romanae reipublicae
+impositis.... quibus cupidior regni quam gloriae Jovianus, imperio
+rudis, adquievit. Sextus Rufus de Provinciis, c. 29. La Bleterie has
+expressed, in a long, direct oration, these specious considerations of
+public and private interest, (Hist. de Jovien, tom. i. p. 39, &c.)]
+
+[Footnote 114: The generals were murdered on the bauks of the Zabatus,
+(Ana basis, l. ii. p. 156, l. iii. p. 226,) or great Zab, a river of
+Assyria, 400 feet broad, which falls into the Tigris fourteen hours
+below Mosul. The error of the Greeks bestowed on the greater and lesser
+Zab the names of the Walf, (Lycus,) and the Goat, (Capros.) They created
+these animals to attend the Tiger of the East.]
+
+[Footnote 115: The Cyropoedia is vague and languid; the Anabasis
+circumstance and animated. Such is the eternal difference between
+fiction and truth.]
+
+As the price of his disgraceful concessions, the emperor might
+perhaps have stipulated, that the camp of the hungry Romans should be
+plentifully supplied; [116] and that they should be permitted to pass
+the Tigris on the bridge which was constructed by the hands of the
+Persians. But, if Jovian presumed to solicit those equitable terms, they
+were sternly refused by the haughty tyrant of the East, whose clemency
+had pardoned the invaders of his country. The Saracens sometimes
+intercepted the stragglers of the march; but the generals and troops
+of Sapor respected the cessation of arms; and Jovian was suffered to
+explore the most convenient place for the passage of the river. The
+small vessels, which had been saved from the conflagration of the fleet,
+performed the most essential service. They first conveyed the emperor
+and his favorites; and afterwards transported, in many successive
+voyages, a great part of the army. But, as every man was anxious for his
+personal safety, and apprehensive of being left on the hostile shore,
+the soldiers, who were too impatient to wait the slow returns of the
+boats, boldly ventured themselves on light hurdles, or inflated skins;
+and, drawing after them their horses, attempted, with various success,
+to swim across the river. Many of these daring adventurers were
+swallowed by the waves; many others, who were carried along by the
+violence of the stream, fell an easy prey to the avarice or cruelty of
+the wild Arabs: and the loss which the army sustained in the passage of
+the Tigris, was not inferior to the carnage of a day of battle. As soon
+as the Romans were landed on the western bank, they were delivered from
+the hostile pursuit of the Barbarians; but, in a laborious march of
+two hundred miles over the plains of Mesopotamia, they endured the last
+extremities of thirst and hunger. They were obliged to traverse the
+sandy desert, which, in the extent of seventy miles, did not afford a
+single blade of sweet grass, nor a single spring of fresh water; and
+the rest of the inhospitable waste was untrod by the footsteps either
+of friends or enemies. Whenever a small measure of flour could be
+discovered in the camp, twenty pounds weight were greedily purchased
+with ten pieces of gold: [117] the beasts of burden were slaughtered and
+devoured; and the desert was strewed with the arms and baggage of
+the Roman soldiers, whose tattered garments and meagre countenances
+displayed their past sufferings and actual misery. A small convoy of
+provisions advanced to meet the army as far as the castle of Ur; and
+the supply was the more grateful, since it declared the fidelity
+of Sebastian and Procopius. At Thilsaphata, [118] the emperor most
+graciously received the generals of Mesopotamia; and the remains of a
+once flourishing army at length reposed themselves under the walls
+of Nisibis. The messengers of Jovian had already proclaimed, in the
+language of flattery, his election, his treaty, and his return; and
+the new prince had taken the most effectual measures to secure the
+allegiance of the armies and provinces of Europe, by placing the
+military command in the hands of those officers, who, from motives
+of interest, or inclination, would firmly support the cause of their
+benefactor. [119]
+
+[Footnote 116: According to Rufinus, an immediate supply of provisions
+was stipulated by the treaty, and Theodoret affirms, that the obligation
+was faithfully discharged by the Persians. Such a fact is probable but
+undoubtedly false. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 702.]
+
+[Footnote 117: We may recollect some lines of Lucan, (Pharsal. iv. 95,)
+who describes a similar distress of Caesar's army in Spain:-- ----Saeva
+fames aderat--Miles eget: toto censu non prodigus emit Exiguam Cererem.
+Proh lucri pallida tabes! Non deest prolato jejunus venditor auro.
+See Guichardt (Nouveaux Memoires Militaires, tom. i. p. 370-382.)
+His analysis of the two campaigns in Spain and Africa is the noblest
+monument that has ever been raised to the fame of Caesar.]
+
+[Footnote 118: M. d'Anville (see his Maps, and l'Euphrate et le Tigre,
+p. 92, 93) traces their march, and assigns the true position of Hatra,
+Ur, and Thilsaphata, which Ammianus has mentioned. ----He does not
+complain of the Samiel, the deadly hot wind, which Thevenot (Voyages,
+part ii. l. i. p. 192) so much dreaded. ----Hatra, now Kadhr. Ur, Kasr
+or Skervidgi. Thilsaphata is unknown--M.]
+
+[Footnote 119: The retreat of Jovian is described by Ammianus, (xxv.
+9,) Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 143, p. 365,) and Zosimus, (l. iii. p.
+194.)]
+
+The friends of Julian had confidently announced the success of his
+expedition. They entertained a fond persuasion that the temples of the
+gods would be enriched with the spoils of the East; that Persia would
+be reduced to the humble state of a tributary province, governed by the
+laws and magistrates of Rome; that the Barbarians would adopt the dress,
+and manners, and language of their conquerors; and that the youth of
+Ecbatana and Susa would study the art of rhetoric under Grecian masters.
+[120] The progress of the arms of Julian interrupted his communication
+with the empire; and, from the moment that he passed the Tigris, his
+affectionate subjects were ignorant of the fate and fortunes of their
+prince. Their contemplation of fancied triumphs was disturbed by the
+melancholy rumor of his death; and they persisted to doubt, after
+they could no longer deny, the truth of that fatal event. [121] The
+messengers of Jovian promulgated the specious tale of a prudent and
+necessary peace; the voice of fame, louder and more sincere, revealed
+the disgrace of the emperor, and the conditions of the ignominious
+treaty. The minds of the people were filled with astonishment and grief,
+with indignation and terror, when they were informed, that the unworthy
+successor of Julian relinquished the five provinces which had been
+acquired by the victory of Galerius; and that he shamefully surrendered
+to the Barbarians the important city of Nisibis, the firmest bulwark of
+the provinces of the East. [122] The deep and dangerous question, how
+far the public faith should be observed, when it becomes incompatible
+with the public safety, was freely agitated in popular conversation;
+and some hopes were entertained that the emperor would redeem his
+pusillanimous behavior by a splendid act of patriotic perfidy. The
+inflexible spirit of the Roman senate had always disclaimed the unequal
+conditions which were extorted from the distress of their captive
+armies; and, if it were necessary to satisfy the national honor, by
+delivering the guilty general into the hands of the Barbarians, the
+greatest part of the subjects of Jovian would have cheerfully acquiesced
+in the precedent of ancient times. [123]
+
+[Footnote 120: Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 145, p. 366.) Such were the
+natural hopes and wishes of a rhetorician.]
+
+[Footnote 121: The people of Carrhae, a city devoted to Paganism, buried
+the inauspicious messenger under a pile of stones, (Zosimus, l. iii. p.
+196.) Libanius, when he received the fatal intelligence, cast his eye on
+his sword; but he recollected that Plato had condemned suicide, and that
+he must live to compose the Panegyric of Julian, (Libanius de Vita sua,
+tom. ii. p. 45, 46.)]
+
+[Footnote 122: Ammianus and Eutropius may be admitted as fair and
+credible witnesses of the public language and opinions. The people
+of Antioch reviled an ignominious peace, which exposed them to the
+Persians, on a naked and defenceless frontier, (Excerpt. Valesiana, p.
+845, ex Johanne Antiocheno.)]
+
+[Footnote 123: The Abbe de la Bleterie, (Hist. de Jovien, tom. i. p.
+212-227.) though a severe casuist, has pronounced that Jovian was not
+bound to execute his promise; since he could not dismember the empire,
+nor alienate, without their consent, the allegiance of his people.
+I have never found much delight or instruction in such political
+metaphysics.]
+
+But the emperor, whatever might be the limits of his constitutional
+authority, was the absolute master of the laws and arms of the state;
+and the same motives which had forced him to subscribe, now pressed him
+to execute, the treaty of peace. He was impatient to secure an empire
+at the expense of a few provinces; and the respectable names of
+religion and honor concealed the personal fears and ambition of Jovian.
+Notwithstanding the dutiful solicitations of the inhabitants, decency,
+as well as prudence, forbade the emperor to lodge in the palace of
+Nisibis; but the next morning after his arrival. Bineses, the ambassador
+of Persia, entered the place, displayed from the citadel the standard
+of the Great King, and proclaimed, in his name, the cruel alternative
+of exile or servitude. The principal citizens of Nisibis, who, till that
+fatal moment, had confided in the protection of their sovereign, threw
+themselves at his feet. They conjured him not to abandon, or, at least,
+not to deliver, a faithful colony to the rage of a Barbarian tyrant,
+exasperated by the three successive defeats which he had experienced
+under the walls of Nisibis. They still possessed arms and courage to
+repel the invaders of their country: they requested only the permission
+of using them in their own defence; and, as soon as they had asserted
+their independence, they should implore the favor of being again
+admitted into the ranks of his subjects. Their arguments, their
+eloquence, their tears, were ineffectual. Jovian alleged, with some
+confusion, the sanctity of oaths; and, as the reluctance with which he
+accepted the present of a crown of gold, convinced the citizens of their
+hopeless condition, the advocate Sylvanus was provoked to exclaim, "O
+emperor! may you thus be crowned by all the cities of your dominions!"
+Jovian, who in a few weeks had assumed the habits of a prince, [124] was
+displeased with freedom, and offended with truth: and as he reasonably
+supposed, that the discontent of the people might incline them to submit
+to the Persian government, he published an edict, under pain of death,
+that they should leave the city within the term of three days. Ammianus
+has delineated in lively colors the scene of universal despair, which he
+seems to have viewed with an eye of compassion. [125] The martial youth
+deserted, with indignant grief, the walls which they had so gloriously
+defended: the disconsolate mourner dropped a last tear over the tomb
+of a son or husband, which must soon be profaned by the rude hand of a
+Barbarian master; and the aged citizen kissed the threshold, and clung
+to the doors, of the house where he had passed the cheerful and careless
+hours of infancy. The highways were crowded with a trembling multitude:
+the distinctions of rank, and sex, and age, were lost in the general
+calamity. Every one strove to bear away some fragment from the wreck of
+his fortunes; and as they could not command the immediate service of an
+adequate number of horses or wagons, they were obliged to leave
+behind them the greatest part of their valuable effects. The savage
+insensibility of Jovian appears to have aggravated the hardships of
+these unhappy fugitives. They were seated, however, in a new-built
+quarter of Amida; and that rising city, with the reenforcement of a very
+considerable colony, soon recovered its former splendor, and became
+the capital of Mesopotamia. [126] Similar orders were despatched by the
+emperor for the evacuation of Singara and the castle of the Moors;
+and for the restitution of the five provinces beyond the Tigris. Sapor
+enjoyed the glory and the fruits of his victory; and this ignominious
+peace has justly been considered as a memorable aera in the decline
+and fall of the Roman empire. The predecessors of Jovian had sometimes
+relinquished the dominion of distant and unprofitable provinces; but,
+since the foundation of the city, the genius of Rome, the god Terminus,
+who guarded the boundaries of the republic, had never retired before the
+sword of a victorious enemy. [127]
+
+[Footnote 124: At Nisibis he performed a royal act. A brave officer, his
+namesake, who had been thought worthy of the purple, was dragged from
+supper, thrown into a well, and stoned to death without any form of
+trial or evidence of guilt. Anomian. xxv. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 125: See xxv. 9, and Zosimus, l. iii. p. 194, 195.]
+
+[Footnote 126: Chron. Paschal. p. 300. The ecclesiastical Notitie may be
+consulted.]
+
+[Footnote 127: Zosimus, l. iii. p. 192, 193. Sextus Rufus de Provinciis,
+c. 29. Augustin de Civitat. Dei, l. iv. c. 29. This general position
+must be applied and interpreted with some caution.]
+
+After Jovian had performed those engagements which the voice of his
+people might have tempted him to violate, he hastened away from the
+scene of his disgrace, and proceeded with his whole court to enjoy the
+luxury of Antioch. [128] Without consulting the dictates of religious
+zeal, he was prompted, by humanity and gratitude, to bestow the last
+honors on the remains of his deceased sovereign: [129] and Procopius,
+who sincerely bewailed the loss of his kinsman, was removed from
+the command of the army, under the decent pretence of conducting the
+funeral. The corpse of Julian was transported from Nisibis to Tarsus,
+in a slow march of fifteen days; and, as it passed through the cities
+of the East, was saluted by the hostile factions, with mournful
+lamentations and clamorous insults. The Pagans already placed their
+beloved hero in the rank of those gods whose worship he had restored;
+while the invectives of the Christians pursued the soul of the Apostate
+to hell, and his body to the grave. [130] One party lamented the
+approaching ruin of their altars; the other celebrated the marvellous
+deliverance of their church. The Christians applauded, in lofty and
+ambiguous strains, the stroke of divine vengeance, which had been so
+long suspended over the guilty head of Julian. They acknowledge, that
+the death of the tyrant, at the instant he expired beyond the Tigris,
+was revealed to the saints of Egypt, Syria, and Cappadocia; [131]
+and instead of suffering him to fall by the Persian darts, their
+indiscretion ascribed the heroic deed to the obscure hand of some mortal
+or immortal champion of the faith. [132] Such imprudent declarations
+were eagerly adopted by the malice, or credulity, of their adversaries;
+[133] who darkly insinuated, or confidently asserted, that the governors
+of the church had instigated and directed the fanaticism of a domestic
+assassin. [134] Above sixteen years after the death of Julian, the
+charge was solemnly and vehemently urged, in a public oration, addressed
+by Libanius to the emperor Theodosius. His suspicions are unsupported
+by fact or argument; and we can only esteem the generous zeal of the
+sophist of Antioch for the cold and neglected ashes of his friend. [135]
+
+[Footnote 128: Ammianus, xxv. 9. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 196. He might be
+edax, vino Venerique indulgens. But I agree with La Bleterie (tom. i.
+p. 148-154) in rejecting the foolish report of a Bacchanalian riot (ap.
+Suidam) celebrated at Antioch, by the emperor, his wife, and a troop of
+concubines.]
+
+[Footnote 129: The Abbe de la Bleterie (tom. i. p. 156-209) handsomely
+exposes the brutal bigotry of Baronius, who would have thrown Julian to
+the dogs, ne cespititia quidem sepultura dignus.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Compare the sophist and the saint, (Libanius, Monod.
+tom. ii. p. 251, and Orat. Parent. c. 145, p. 367, c. 156, p. 377, with
+Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. iv. p. 125-132.) The Christian orator faintly
+mutters some exhortations to modesty and forgiveness; but he is well
+satisfied, that the real sufferings of Julian will far exceed the
+fabulous torments of Ixion or Tantalus.]
+
+[Footnote 131: Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 549) has
+collected these visions. Some saint or angel was observed to be absent
+in the night, on a secret expedition, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 132: Sozomen (l. vi. 2) applauds the Greek doctrine
+of tyrannicide; but the whole passage, which a Jesuit might have
+translated, is prudently suppressed by the president Cousin.]
+
+[Footnote 133: Immediately after the death of Julian, an uncertain rumor
+was scattered, telo cecidisse Romano. It was carried, by some deserters
+to the Persian camp; and the Romans were reproached as the assassins
+of the emperor by Sapor and his subjects, (Ammian. xxv. 6. Libanius
+de ulciscenda Juliani nece, c. xiii. p. 162, 163.) It was urged, as
+a decisive proof, that no Persian had appeared to claim the promised
+reward, (Liban. Orat. Parent. c. 141, p. 363.) But the flying horseman,
+who darted the fatal javelin, might be ignorant of its effect; or he
+might be slain in the same action. Ammianus neither feels nor inspires a
+suspicion.]
+
+[Footnote 134: This dark and ambiguous expression may point to
+Athanasius, the first, without a rival, of the Christian clergy,
+(Libanius de ulcis. Jul. nece, c. 5, p. 149. La Bleterie, Hist. de
+Jovien, tom. i. p. 179.)]
+
+[Footnote 135: The orator (Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. vii. p.
+145-179) scatters suspicions, demands an inquiry, and insinuates, that
+proofs might still be obtained. He ascribes the success of the Huns to
+the criminal neglect of revenging Julian's death.]
+
+It was an ancient custom in the funerals, as well as in the triumphs,
+of the Romans, that the voice of praise should be corrected by that of
+satire and ridicule; and that, in the midst of the splendid pageants,
+which displayed the glory of the living or of the dead, their
+imperfections should not be concealed from the eyes of the world. [136]
+This custom was practised in the funeral of Julian. The comedians, who
+resented his contempt and aversion for the theatre, exhibited, with
+the applause of a Christian audience, the lively and exaggerated
+representation of the faults and follies of the deceased emperor. His
+various character and singular manners afforded an ample scope for
+pleasantry and ridicule. [137] In the exercise of his uncommon talents,
+he often descended below the majesty of his rank. Alexander was
+transformed into Diogenes; the philosopher was degraded into a
+priest. The purity of his virtue was sullied by excessive vanity; his
+superstition disturbed the peace, and endangered the safety, of a mighty
+empire; and his irregular sallies were the less entitled to indulgence,
+as they appeared to be the laborious efforts of art, or even of
+affectation. The remains of Julian were interred at Tarsus in Cilicia;
+but his stately tomb, which arose in that city, on the banks of the cold
+and limpid Cydnus, [138] was displeasing to the faithful friends, who
+loved and revered the memory of that extraordinary man. The philosopher
+expressed a very reasonable wish, that the disciple of Plato might
+have reposed amidst the groves of the academy; [139] while the soldier
+exclaimed, in bolder accents, that the ashes of Julian should have
+been mingled with those of Caesar, in the field of Mars, and among the
+ancient monuments of Roman virtue. [140] The history of princes does not
+very frequently renew the examples of a similar competition.
+
+[Footnote 136: At the funeral of Vespasian, the comedian who personated
+that frugal emperor, anxiously inquired how much it cost. Fourscore
+thousand pounds, (centies.) Give me the tenth part of the sum, and throw
+my body into the Tiber. Sueton, in Vespasian, c. 19, with the notes of
+Casaubon and Gronovius.]
+
+[Footnote 137: Gregory (Orat. iv. p. 119, 120) compares this supposed
+ignominy and ridicule to the funeral honors of Constantius, whose body
+was chanted over Mount Taurus by a choir of angels.]
+
+[Footnote 138: Quintus Curtius, l. iii. c. 4. The luxuriancy of his
+descriptions has been often censured. Yet it was almost the duty of the
+historian to describe a river, whose waters had nearly proved fatal to
+Alexander.]
+
+[Footnote 139: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. 156, p. 377. Yet he
+acknowledges with gratitude the liberality of the two royal brothers in
+decorating the tomb of Julian, (de ulcis. Jul. nece, c. 7, p. 152.)]
+
+[Footnote 140: Cujus suprema et cineres, si qui tunc juste consuleret,
+non Cydnus videre deberet, quamvis gratissimus amnis et liquidus: sed ad
+perpetuandam gloriam recte factorum praeterlambere Tiberis, intersecans
+urbem aeternam, divorumque veterum monumenta praestringens Ammian. xxv.
+10.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
+Empire.--Part I.
+
+The Government And Death Of Jovian.--Election Of Valentinian, Who
+Associates His Brother Valens, And Makes The Final Division Of
+The Eastern And Western Empires.--Revolt Of Procopius.--Civil And
+Ecclesiastical Administration.--Germany. --Britain.--Africa.--The
+East.--The Danube.--Death Of Valentinian.--His Two Sons, Gratian And
+Valentinian II., Succeed To The Western Empire.
+
+The death of Julian had left the public affairs of the empire in a
+very doubtful and dangerous situation. The Roman army was saved by an
+inglorious, perhaps a necessary treaty; [1] and the first moments of
+peace were consecrated by the pious Jovian to restore the domestic
+tranquility of the church and state. The indiscretion of his
+predecessor, instead of reconciling, had artfully fomented the religious
+war: and the balance which he affected to preserve between the hostile
+factions, served only to perpetuate the contest, by the vicissitudes
+of hope and fear, by the rival claims of ancient possession and actual
+favor. The Christians had forgotten the spirit of the gospel; and the
+Pagans had imbibed the spirit of the church. In private families, the
+sentiments of nature were extinguished by the blind fury of zeal and
+revenge: the majesty of the laws was violated or abused; the cities of
+the East were stained with blood; and the most implacable enemies of the
+Romans were in the bosom of their country. Jovian was educated in the
+profession of Christianity; and as he marched from Nisibis to Antioch,
+the banner of the Cross, the Labarum of Constantine, which was again
+displayed at the head of the legions, announced to the people the faith
+of their new emperor. As soon as he ascended the throne, he transmitted
+a circular epistle to all the governors of provinces; in which he
+confessed the divine truth, and secured the legal establishment, of the
+Christian religion. The insidious edicts of Julian were abolished;
+the ecclesiastical immunities were restored and enlarged; and Jovian
+condescended to lament, that the distress of the times obliged him to
+diminish the measure of charitable distributions. [2] The Christians
+were unanimous in the loud and sincere applause which they bestowed on
+the pious successor of Julian. But they were still ignorant what creed,
+or what synod, he would choose for the standard of orthodoxy; and the
+peace of the church immediately revived those eager disputes which had
+been suspended during the season of persecution. The episcopal leaders
+of the contending sects, convinced, from experience, how much their fate
+would depend on the earliest impressions that were made on the mind of
+an untutored soldier, hastened to the court of Edessa, or Antioch.
+The highways of the East were crowded with Homoousian, and Arian, and
+Semi-Arian, and Eunomian bishops, who struggled to outstrip each other
+in the holy race: the apartments of the palace resounded with their
+clamors; and the ears of the prince were assaulted, and perhaps
+astonished, by the singular mixture of metaphysical argument and
+passionate invective. [3] The moderation of Jovian, who recommended
+concord and charity, and referred the disputants to the sentence of a
+future council, was interpreted as a symptom of indifference: but his
+attachment to the Nicene creed was at length discovered and declared,
+by the reverence which he expressed for the celestial [4] virtues of
+the great Athanasius. The intrepid veteran of the faith, at the age of
+seventy, had issued from his retreat on the first intelligence of the
+tyrant's death. The acclamations of the people seated him once more on
+the archiepiscopal throne; and he wisely accepted, or anticipated,
+the invitation of Jovian. The venerable figure of Athanasius, his calm
+courage, and insinuating eloquence, sustained the reputation which he
+had already acquired in the courts of four successive princes. [5] As
+soon as he had gained the confidence, and secured the faith, of the
+Christian emperor, he returned in triumph to his diocese, and continued,
+with mature counsels and undiminished vigor, to direct, ten years
+longer, [6] the ecclesiastical government of Alexandria, Egypt, and the
+Catholic church. Before his departure from Antioch, he assured Jovian
+that his orthodox devotion would be rewarded with a long and peaceful
+reign. Athanasius, had reason to hope, that he should be allowed either
+the merit of a successful prediction, or the excuse of a grateful though
+ineffectual prayer. [7]
+
+[Footnote 1: The medals of Jovian adorn him with victories, laurel
+crowns, and prostrate captives. Ducange, Famil. Byzantin. p. 52.
+Flattery is a foolish suicide; she destroys herself with her own hands.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Jovian restored to the church a forcible and comprehensive
+expression, (Philostorgius, l. viii. c. 5, with Godefroy's
+Dissertations, p. 329. Sozomen, l. vi. c. 3.) The new law which
+condemned the rape or marriage of nuns (Cod. Theod. l. ix. tit. xxv.
+leg. 2) is exaggerated by Sozomen; who supposes, that an amorous glance,
+the adultery of the heart, was punished with death by the evangelic
+legislator.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Compare Socrates, l. iii. c. 25, and Philostorgius, l.
+viii. c. 6, with Godefroy's Dissertations, p. 330.]
+
+[Footnote 4: The word celestial faintly expresses the impious and
+extravagant flattery of the emperor to the archbishop. (See the original
+epistle in Athanasius, tom. ii. p. 33.) Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. xxi. p.
+392) celebrates the friendship of Jovian and Athanasius. The primate's
+journey was advised by the Egyptian monks, (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom.
+viii. p. 221.)]
+
+[Footnote 5: Athanasius, at the court of Antioch, is agreeably
+represented by La Bleterie, (Hist. de Jovien, tom. i. p. 121-148;) he
+translates the singular and original conferences of the emperor, the
+primate of Egypt, and the Arian deputies. The Abbe is not satisfied
+with the coarse pleasantry of Jovian; but his partiality for Athanasius
+assumes, in his eyes, the character of justice.]
+
+[Footnote 6: The true area of his death is perplexed with some
+difficulties, (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 719-723.) But the
+date (A. D. 373, May 2) which seems the most consistent with history
+and reason, is ratified by his authentic life, (Maffei Osservazioni
+Letterarie, tom. iii. p. 81.)]
+
+[Footnote 7: See the observations of Valesius and Jortin (Remarks
+on Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv. p. 38) on the original letter of
+Athanasius; which is preserved by Theodoret, (l. iv. c. 3.) In some Mss.
+this indiscreet promise is omitted; perhaps by the Catholics, jealous of
+the prophetic fame of their leader.]
+
+The slightest force, when it is applied to assist and guide the natural
+descent of its object, operates with irresistible weight; and Jovian had
+the good fortune to embrace the religious opinions which were supported
+by the spirit of the times, and the zeal and numbers of the most
+powerful sect. [8] Under his reign, Christianity obtained an easy
+and lasting victory; and as soon as the smile of royal patronage was
+withdrawn, the genius of Paganism, which had been fondly raised and
+cherished by the arts of Julian, sunk irrecoverably in the. In many
+cities, the temples were shut or deserted: the philosophers who had
+abused their transient favor, thought it prudent to shave their beards,
+and disguise their profession; and the Christians rejoiced, that they
+were now in a condition to forgive, or to revenge, the injuries which
+they had suffered under the preceding reign. [9] The consternation
+of the Pagan world was dispelled by a wise and gracious edict of
+toleration; in which Jovian explicitly declared, that although he should
+severely punish the sacrilegious rites of magic, his subjects might
+exercise, with freedom and safety, the ceremonies of the ancient
+worship. The memory of this law has been preserved by the orator
+Themistius, who was deputed by the senate of Constantinople to express
+their royal devotion for the new emperor. Themistius expatiates on the
+clemency of the Divine Nature, the facility of human error, the
+rights of conscience, and the independence of the mind; and, with some
+eloquence, inculcates the principles of philosophical toleration; whose
+aid Superstition herself, in the hour of her distress, is not ashamed to
+implore. He justly observes, that in the recent changes, both religions
+had been alternately disgraced by the seeming acquisition of worthless
+proselytes, of those votaries of the reigning purple, who could pass,
+without a reason, and without a blush, from the church to the temple,
+and from the altars of Jupiter to the sacred table of the Christians.
+[10]
+
+[Footnote 8: Athanasius (apud Theodoret, l. iv. c. 3) magnifies the
+number of the orthodox, who composed the whole world. This assertion was
+verified in the space of thirty and forty years.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Socrates, l. iii. c. 24. Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iv.
+p. 131) and Libanius (Orat. Parentalis, c. 148, p. 369) expresses the
+living sentiments of their respective factions.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Themistius, Orat. v. p. 63-71, edit. Harduin, Paris, 1684.
+The Abbe de la Bleterie judiciously remarks, (Hist. de Jovien, tom. i.
+p. 199,) that Sozomen has forgot the general toleration; and Themistius
+the establishment of the Catholic religion. Each of them turned away
+from the object which he disliked, and wished to suppress the part of
+the edict the least honorable, in his opinion, to the emperor.]
+
+In the space of seven months, the Roman troops, who were now returned to
+Antioch, had performed a march of fifteen hundred miles; in which
+they had endured all the hardships of war, of famine, and of climate.
+Notwithstanding their services, their fatigues, and the approach of
+winter, the timid and impatient Jovian allowed only, to the men and
+horses, a respite of six weeks. The emperor could not sustain the
+indiscreet and malicious raillery of the people of Antioch. [11] He was
+impatient to possess the palace of Constantinople; and to prevent the
+ambition of some competitor, who might occupy the vacant allegiance
+of Europe. But he soon received the grateful intelligence, that his
+authority was acknowledged from the Thracian Bosphorus to the Atlantic
+Ocean. By the first letters which he despatched from the camp of
+Mesopotamia, he had delegated the military command of Gaul and Illyricum
+to Malarich, a brave and faithful officer of the nation of the
+Franks; and to his father-in-law, Count Lucillian, who had formerly
+distinguished his courage and conduct in the defence of Nisibis.
+Malarich had declined an office to which he thought himself unequal;
+and Lucillian was massacred at Rheims, in an accidental mutiny of the
+Batavian cohorts. [12] But the moderation of Jovinus, master-general of
+the cavalry, who forgave the intention of his disgrace, soon appeased
+the tumult, and confirmed the uncertain minds of the soldiers. The oath
+of fidelity was administered and taken, with loyal acclamations; and the
+deputies of the Western armies [13] saluted their new sovereign as he
+descended from Mount Taurus to the city of Tyana in Cappadocia. From
+Tyana he continued his hasty march to Ancyra, capital of the province of
+Galatia; where Jovian assumed, with his infant son, the name and ensigns
+of the consulship. [14] Dadastana, [15] an obscure town, almost at an
+equal distance between Ancyra and Nice, was marked for the fatal term of
+his journey and life. After indulging himself with a plentiful, perhaps
+an intemperate, supper, he retired to rest; and the next morning the
+emperor Jovian was found dead in his bed. The cause of this sudden death
+was variously understood. By some it was ascribed to the consequences
+of an indigestion, occasioned either by the quantity of the wine, or
+the quality of the mushrooms, which he had swallowed in the evening.
+According to others, he was suffocated in his sleep by the vapor
+of charcoal, which extracted from the walls of the apartment the
+unwholesome moisture of the fresh plaster. [16] But the want of a
+regular inquiry into the death of a prince, whose reign and person
+were soon forgotten, appears to have been the only circumstance which
+countenanced the malicious whispers of poison and domestic guilt. [17]
+The body of Jovian was sent to Constantinople, to be interred with his
+predecessors, and the sad procession was met on the road by his wife
+Charito, the daughter of Count Lucillian; who still wept the recent
+death of her father, and was hastening to dry her tears in the embraces
+of an Imperial husband. Her disappointment and grief were imbittered
+by the anxiety of maternal tenderness. Six weeks before the death of
+Jovian, his infant son had been placed in the curule chair, adorned
+with the title of Nobilissimus, and the vain ensigns of the consulship.
+Unconscious of his fortune, the royal youth, who, from his grandfather,
+assumed the name of Varronian, was reminded only by the jealousy of the
+government, that he was the son of an emperor. Sixteen years afterwards
+he was still alive, but he had already been deprived of an eye; and his
+afflicted mother expected every hour, that the innocent victim would be
+torn from her arms, to appease, with his blood, the suspicions of the
+reigning prince. [18]
+
+[Footnote 11: Johan. Antiochen. in Excerpt. Valesian. p. 845. The libels
+of Antioch may be admitted on very slight evidence.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Compare Ammianus, (xxv. 10,) who omits the name of the
+Batarians, with Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 197,) who removes the scene of
+action from Rheims to Sirmium.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Quos capita scholarum ordo castrensis appellat. Ammian.
+xxv. 10, and Vales. ad locum.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Cugus vagitus, pertinaciter reluctantis, ne in curuli
+sella veheretur ex more, id quod mox accidit protendebat. Augustus and
+his successors respectfully solicited a dispensation of age for the sons
+or nephews whom they raised to the consulship. But the curule chair of
+the first Brutus had never been dishonored by an infant.]
+
+[Footnote 15: The Itinerary of Antoninus fixes Dadastana 125 Roman miles
+from Nice; 117 from Ancyra, (Wesseling, Itinerar. p. 142.) The pilgrim
+of Bourdeaux, by omitting some stages, reduces the whole space from 242
+to 181 miles. Wesseling, p. 574. * Note: Dadastana is supposed to be
+Castabat.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 16: See Ammianus, (xxv. 10,) Eutropius, (x. 18.) who might
+likewise be present, Jerom, (tom. i. p. 26, ad Heliodorum.) Orosius,
+(vii. 31,) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. 6,) Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 197, 198,)
+and Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 28, 29.) We cannot expect a perfect
+agreement, and we shall not discuss minute differences.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Ammianus, unmindful of his usual candor and good sense,
+compares the death of the harmless Jovian to that of the second
+Africanus, who had excited the fears and resentment of the popular
+faction.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 336, 344, edit. Montfaucon.
+The Christian orator attempts to comfort a widow by the examples of
+illustrious misfortunes; and observes, that of nine emperors (including
+the Caesar Gallus) who had reigned in his time, only two (Constantine
+and Constantius) died a natural death. Such vague consolations have
+never wiped away a single tear.]
+
+After the death of Jovian, the throne of the Roman world remained ten
+days, [19] without a master. The ministers and generals still continued
+to meet in council; to exercise their respective functions; to maintain
+the public order; and peaceably to conduct the army to the city of Nice
+in Bithynia, which was chosen for the place of the election. [20] In
+a solemn assembly of the civil and military powers of the empire, the
+diadem was again unanimously offered to the praefect Sallust. He enjoyed
+the glory of a second refusal: and when the virtues of the father
+were alleged in favor of his son, the praefect, with the firmness of a
+disinterested patriot, declared to the electors, that the feeble age
+of the one, and the unexperienced youth of the other, were equally
+incapable of the laborious duties of government. Several candidates were
+proposed; and, after weighing the objections of character or situation,
+they were successively rejected; but, as soon as the name of Valentinian
+was pronounced, the merit of that officer united the suffrages of the
+whole assembly, and obtained the sincere approbation of Sallust himself.
+Valentinian [21] was the son of Count Gratian, a native of Cibalis, in
+Pannonia, who from an obscure condition had raised himself, by matchless
+strength and dexterity, to the military commands of Africa and Britain;
+from which he retired with an ample fortune and suspicious integrity.
+The rank and services of Gratian contributed, however, to smooth the
+first steps of the promotion of his son; and afforded him an early
+opportunity of displaying those solid and useful qualifications, which
+raised his character above the ordinary level of his fellow-soldiers.
+The person of Valentinian was tall, graceful, and majestic. His manly
+countenance, deeply marked with the impression of sense and spirit,
+inspired his friends with awe, and his enemies with fear; and to second
+the efforts of his undaunted courage, the son of Gratian had inherited
+the advantages of a strong and healthy constitution. By the habits of
+chastity and temperance, which restrain the appetites and invigorate
+the faculties, Valentinian preserved his own and the public esteem. The
+avocations of a military life had diverted his youth from the elegant
+pursuits of literature; [21a] he was ignorant of the Greek language,
+and the arts of rhetoric; but as the mind of the orator was never
+disconcerted by timid perplexity, he was able, as often as the occasion
+prompted him, to deliver his decided sentiments with bold and ready
+elocution. The laws of martial discipline were the only laws that he had
+studied; and he was soon distinguished by the laborious diligence, and
+inflexible severity, with which he discharged and enforced the duties of
+the camp. In the time of Julian he provoked the danger of disgrace, by
+the contempt which he publicly expressed for the reigning religion; [22]
+and it should seem, from his subsequent conduct, that the indiscreet and
+unseasonable freedom of Valentinian was the effect of military spirit,
+rather than of Christian zeal. He was pardoned, however, and still
+employed by a prince who esteemed his merit; [23] and in the various
+events of the Persian war, he improved the reputation which he had
+already acquired on the banks of the Rhine. The celerity and success
+with which he executed an important commission, recommended him to the
+favor of Jovian; and to the honorable command of the second school,
+or company, of Targetiers, of the domestic guards. In the march from
+Antioch, he had reached his quarters at Ancyra, when he was unexpectedly
+summoned, without guilt and without intrigue, to assume, in the
+forty-third year of his age, the absolute government of the Roman
+empire.
+
+[Footnote 19: Ten days appear scarcely sufficient for the march and
+election. But it may be observed, 1. That the generals might command the
+expeditious use of the public posts for themselves, their attendants,
+and messengers. 2. That the troops, for the ease of the cities, marched
+in many divisions; and that the head of the column might arrive at Nice,
+when the rear halted at Ancyra.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Ammianus, xxvi. 1. Zosimus, l. iii. p. 198. Philostorgius,
+l. viii. c. 8, and Godefroy, Dissertat. p. 334. Philostorgius, who
+appears to have obtained some curious and authentic intelligence,
+ascribes the choice of Valentinian to the praefect Sallust, the
+master-general Arintheus, Dagalaiphus count of the domestics, and the
+patrician Datianus, whose pressing recommendations from Ancyra had a
+weighty influence in the election.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Ammianus (xxx. 7, 9) and the younger Victor have furnished
+the portrait of Valentinian, which naturally precedes and illustrates
+the history of his reign. * Note: Symmachus, in a fragment of an oration
+published by M. Mai, describes Valentinian as born among the snows of
+Illyria, and habituated to military labor amid the heat and dust of
+Libya: genitus in frigoribus, educatus is solibus Sym. Orat. Frag. edit.
+Niebuhr, p. 5.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 21a: According to Ammianus, he wrote elegantly, and was
+skilled in painting and modelling. Scribens decore, venusteque pingens
+et fingens. xxx. 7.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 22: At Antioch, where he was obliged to attend the emperor
+to the table, he struck a priest, who had presumed to purify him with
+lustral water, (Sozomen, l. vi. c. 6. Theodoret, l. iii. c. 15.) Such
+public defiance might become Valentinian; but it could leave no room for
+the unworthy delation of the philosopher Maximus, which supposes some
+more private offence, (Zosimus, l. iv. p. 200, 201.)]
+
+[Footnote 23: Socrates, l. iv. A previous exile to Melitene, or Thebais
+(the first might be possible,) is interposed by Sozomen (l. vi. c. 6)
+and Philostorgius, (l. vii. c. 7, with Godefroy's Dissertations, p.
+293.)]
+
+The invitation of the ministers and generals at Nice was of little
+moment, unless it were confirmed by the voice of the army.
+
+The aged Sallust, who had long observed the irregular fluctuations of
+popular assemblies, proposed, under pain of death, that none of those
+persons, whose rank in the service might excite a party in their favor,
+should appear in public on the day of the inauguration. Yet such was
+the prevalence of ancient superstition, that a whole day was voluntarily
+added to this dangerous interval, because it happened to be the
+intercalation of the Bissextile. [24] At length, when the hour was
+supposed to be propitious, Valentinian showed himself from a lofty
+tribunal; the judicious choice was applauded; and the new prince was
+solemnly invested with the diadem and the purple, amidst the acclamation
+of the troops, who were disposed in martial order round the tribunal.
+But when he stretched forth his hand to address the armed multitude,
+a busy whisper was accidentally started in the ranks, and insensibly
+swelled into a loud and imperious clamor, that he should name, without
+delay, a colleague in the empire. The intrepid calmness of Valentinian
+obtained silence, and commanded respect; and he thus addressed the
+assembly: "A few minutes since it was in your power, fellow-soldiers,
+to have left me in the obscurity of a private station. Judging, from the
+testimony of my past life, that I deserved to reign, you have placed me
+on the throne. It is now my duty to consult the safety and interest of
+the republic. The weight of the universe is undoubtedly too great
+for the hands of a feeble mortal. I am conscious of the limits of my
+abilities, and the uncertainty of my life; and far from declining, I
+am anxious to solicit, the assistance of a worthy colleague. But, where
+discord may be fatal, the choice of a faithful friend requires mature
+and serious deliberation. That deliberation shall be my care. Let your
+conduct be dutiful and consistent. Retire to your quarters; refresh your
+minds and bodies; and expect the accustomed donative on the accession of
+a new emperor." [25] The astonished troops, with a mixture of pride, of
+satisfaction, and of terror, confessed the voice of their master.
+
+Their angry clamors subsided into silent reverence; and Valentinian,
+encompassed with the eagles of the legions, and the various banners of
+the cavalry and infantry, was conducted, in warlike pomp, to the palace
+of Nice. As he was sensible, however, of the importance of preventing
+some rash declaration of the soldiers, he consulted the assembly of
+the chiefs; and their real sentiments were concisely expressed by the
+generous freedom of Dagalaiphus. "Most excellent prince," said that
+officer, "if you consider only your family, you have a brother; if you
+love the republic, look round for the most deserving of the Romans."
+[26] The emperor, who suppressed his displeasure, without altering his
+intention, slowly proceeded from Nice to Nicomedia and Constantinople.
+In one of the suburbs of that capital, [27] thirty days after his own
+elevation, he bestowed the title of Augustus on his brother Valens;
+[27a] and as the boldest patriots were convinced, that their opposition,
+without being serviceable to their country, would be fatal to
+themselves, the declaration of his absolute will was received with
+silent submission. Valens was now in the thirty-sixth year of his age;
+but his abilities had never been exercised in any employment, military
+or civil; and his character had not inspired the world with any sanguine
+expectations. He possessed, however, one quality, which recommended him
+to Valentinian, and preserved the domestic peace of the empire; devout
+and grateful attachment to his benefactor, whose superiority of genius,
+as well as of authority, Valens humbly and cheerfully acknowledged in
+every action of his life. [28]
+
+[Footnote 24: Ammianus, in a long, because unseasonable, digression,
+(xxvi. l, and Valesius, ad locum,) rashly supposes that he understands
+an astronomical question, of which his readers are ignorant. It is
+treated with more judgment and propriety by Censorinus (de Die Natali,
+c. 20) and Macrobius, (Saturnal. i. c. 12-16.) The appellation of
+Bissextile, which marks the inauspicious year, (Augustin. ad Januarium,
+Epist. 119,) is derived from the repetition of the sixth day of the
+calends of March.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Valentinian's first speech is in Ammianus, (xxvi. 2;)
+concise and sententious in Philostorgius, (l. viii. c. 8.)]
+
+[Footnote 26: Si tuos amas, Imperator optime, habes fratrem; si
+Rempublicam quaere quem vestias. Ammian. xxvi. 4. In the division of
+the empire, Valentinian retained that sincere counsellor for himself,
+(c.6.)]
+
+[Footnote 27: In suburbano, Ammian. xxvi. 4. The famous Hebdomon, or
+field of Mars, was distant from Constantinople either seven stadia, or
+seven miles. See Valesius, and his brother, ad loc., and Ducange, Const.
+l. ii. p. 140, 141, 172, 173.]
+
+[Footnote 27a: Symmachus praises the liberality of Valentinian in
+raising his brother at once to the rank of Augustus, not training him
+through the slow and probationary degree of Caesar. Exigui animi vices
+munerum partiuntur, liberalitas desideriis nihil reliquit. Symm. Orat.
+p. 7. edit. Niebuhr, 1816, reprinted from Mai.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Participem quidem legitimum potestatis; sed in modum
+apparitoris morigerum, ut progrediens aperiet textus. Ammian. xxvi. 4.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
+Empire.--Part II.
+
+Before Valentinian divided the provinces, he reformed the administration
+of the empire. All ranks of subjects, who had been injured or oppressed
+under the reign of Julian, were invited to support their public
+accusations. The silence of mankind attested the spotless integrity of
+the praefect Sallust; [29] and his own pressing solicitations, that
+he might be permitted to retire from the business of the state,
+were rejected by Valentinian with the most honorable expressions of
+friendship and esteem. But among the favorites of the late emperor,
+there were many who had abused his credulity or superstition; and who
+could no longer hope to be protected either by favor or justice. [30]
+The greater part of the ministers of the palace, and the governors of
+the provinces, were removed from their respective stations; yet the
+eminent merit of some officers was distinguished from the obnoxious
+crowd; and, notwithstanding the opposite clamors of zeal and resentment,
+the whole proceedings of this delicate inquiry appear to have been
+conducted with a reasonable share of wisdom and moderation. [31] The
+festivity of a new reign received a short and suspicious interruption
+from the sudden illness of the two princes; but as soon as their health
+was restored, they left Constantinople in the beginning of the spring.
+In the castle, or palace, of Mediana, only three miles from Naissus,
+they executed the solemn and final division of the Roman empire. [32]
+Valentinian bestowed on his brother the rich praefecture of the East,
+from the Lower Danube to the confines of Persia; whilst he reserved for
+his immediate government the warlike [3a] praefectures of Illyricum,
+Italy, and Gaul, from the extremity of Greece to the Caledonian rampart,
+and from the rampart of Caledonia to the foot of Mount Atlas. The
+provincial administration remained on its former basis; but a double
+supply of generals and magistrates was required for two councils, and
+two courts: the division was made with a just regard to their peculiar
+merit and situation, and seven master-generals were soon created,
+either of the cavalry or infantry. When this important business had been
+amicably transacted, Valentinian and Valens embraced for the last time.
+The emperor of the West established his temporary residence at Milan;
+and the emperor of the East returned to Constantinople, to assume the
+dominion of fifty provinces, of whose language he was totally ignorant.
+[33]
+
+[Footnote 29: Notwithstanding the evidence of Zonaras, Suidas, and the
+Paschal Chronicle, M. de Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 671)
+wishes to disbelieve those stories, si avantageuses a un payen.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Eunapius celebrates and exaggerates the sufferings of
+Maximus. (p. 82, 83;) yet he allows that the sophist or magician, the
+guilty favorite of Julian, and the personal enemy of Valentinian, was
+dismissed on the payment of a small fine.]
+
+[Footnote 31: The loose assertions of a general disgrace (Zosimus, l.
+iv. p. 201), are detected and refuted by Tillemont, (tom. v. p. 21.)]
+
+[Footnote 32: Ammianus, xxvi. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 32a: Ipae supra impacati Rhen semibarbaras ripas raptim
+vexilla constituens * * Princeps creatus ad difficilem militiam
+revertisti. Symm. Orat. 81.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Ammianus says, in general terms, subagrestis ingenii, nec
+bellicis nec liberalibus studiis eruditus. Ammian. xxxi. 14. The orator
+Themistius, with the genuine impertinence of a Greek, wishes for the
+first time to speak the Latin language, the dialect of his sovereign.
+Orat. vi. p. 71.]
+
+The tranquility of the East was soon disturbed by rebellion; and the
+throne of Valens was threatened by the daring attempts of a rival whose
+affinity to the emperor Julian [34] was his sole merit, and had been his
+only crime. Procopius had been hastily promoted from the obscure
+station of a tribune, and a notary, to the joint command of the army of
+Mesopotamia; the public opinion already named him as the successor of
+a prince who was destitute of natural heirs; and a vain rumor was
+propagated by his friends, or his enemies, that Julian, before the
+altar of the Moon at Carrhae, had privately invested Procopius with
+the Imperial purple. [35] He endeavored, by his dutiful and submissive
+behavior, to disarm the jealousy of Jovian; resigned, without a
+contest, his military command; and retired, with his wife and family,
+to cultivate the ample patrimony which he possessed in the province of
+Cappadocia. These useful and innocent occupations were interrupted by
+the appearance of an officer with a band of soldiers, who, in the name
+of his new sovereigns, Valentinian and Valens, was despatched to conduct
+the unfortunate Procopius either to a perpetual prison or an ignominious
+death. His presence of mind procured him a longer respite, and a more
+splendid fate. Without presuming to dispute the royal mandate, he
+requested the indulgence of a few moments to embrace his weeping
+family; and while the vigilance of his guards was relaxed by a plentiful
+entertainment, he dexterously escaped to the sea-coast of the Euxine,
+from whence he passed over to the country of Bosphorus. In that
+sequestered region he remained many months, exposed to the hardships of
+exile, of solitude, and of want; his melancholy temper brooding over his
+misfortunes, and his mind agitated by the just apprehension, that, if
+any accident should discover his name, the faithless Barbarians would
+violate, without much scruple, the laws of hospitality. In a moment of
+impatience and despair, Procopius embarked in a merchant vessel, which
+made sail for Constantinople; and boldly aspired to the rank of a
+sovereign, because he was not allowed to enjoy the security of a
+subject. At first he lurked in the villages of Bithynia, continually
+changing his habitation and his disguise. [36] By degrees he ventured
+into the capital, trusted his life and fortune to the fidelity of two
+friends, a senator and a eunuch, and conceived some hopes of success,
+from the intelligence which he obtained of the actual state of
+public affairs. The body of the people was infected with a spirit of
+discontent: they regretted the justice and the abilities of Sallust, who
+had been imprudently dismissed from the praefecture of the East. They
+despised the character of Valens, which was rude without vigor,
+and feeble without mildness. They dreaded the influence of his
+father-in-law, the patrician Petronius, a cruel and rapacious minister,
+who rigorously exacted all the arrears of tribute that might remain
+unpaid since the reign of the emperor Aurelian. The circumstances were
+propitious to the designs of a usurper. The hostile measures of the
+Persians required the presence of Valens in Syria: from the Danube
+to the Euphrates the troops were in motion; and the capital was
+occasionally filled with the soldiers who passed or repassed the
+Thracian Bosphorus. Two cohorts of Gaul were persuaded to listen to
+the secret proposals of the conspirators; which were recommended by the
+promise of a liberal donative; and, as they still revered the memory
+of Julian, they easily consented to support the hereditary claim of his
+proscribed kinsman. At the dawn of day they were drawn up near the baths
+of Anastasia; and Procopius, clothed in a purple garment, more suitable
+to a player than to a monarch, appeared, as if he rose from the dead,
+in the midst of Constantinople. The soldiers, who were prepared for his
+reception, saluted their trembling prince with shouts of joy and vows
+of fidelity. Their numbers were soon increased by a band of sturdy
+peasants, collected from the adjacent country; and Procopius, shielded
+by the arms of his adherents, was successively conducted to the
+tribunal, the senate, and the palace. During the first moments of his
+tumultuous reign, he was astonished and terrified by the gloomy silence
+of the people; who were either ignorant of the cause, or apprehensive
+of the event. But his military strength was superior to any actual
+resistance: the malecontents flocked to the standard of rebellion; the
+poor were excited by the hopes, and the rich were intimidated by the
+fear, of a general pillage; and the obstinate credulity of the multitude
+was once more deceived by the promised advantages of a revolution. The
+magistrates were seized; the prisons and arsenals broke open; the gates,
+and the entrance of the harbor, were diligently occupied; and, in a few
+hours, Procopius became the absolute, though precarious, master of the
+Imperial city. [36a] The usurper improved this unexpected success with
+some degree of courage and dexterity. He artfully propagated the rumors
+and opinions the most favorable to his interest; while he deluded the
+populace by giving audience to the frequent, but imaginary, ambassadors
+of distant nations. The large bodies of troops stationed in the cities
+of Thrace and the fortresses of the Lower Danube, were gradually
+involved in the guilt of rebellion: and the Gothic princes consented to
+supply the sovereign of Constantinople with the formidable strength of
+several thousand auxiliaries. His generals passed the Bosphorus, and
+subdued, without an effort, the unarmed, but wealthy provinces of
+Bithynia and Asia. After an honorable defence, the city and island of
+Cyzicus yielded to his power; the renowned legions of the Jovians and
+Herculeans embraced the cause of the usurper, whom they were ordered to
+crush; and, as the veterans were continually augmented with new levies,
+he soon appeared at the head of an army, whose valor, as well as
+numbers, were not unequal to the greatness of the contest. The son of
+Hormisdas, [37] a youth of spirit and ability, condescended to draw his
+sword against the lawful emperor of the East; and the Persian prince
+was immediately invested with the ancient and extraordinary powers of
+a Roman Proconsul. The alliance of Faustina, the widow of the emperor
+Constantius, who intrusted herself and her daughter to the hands of
+the usurper, added dignity and reputation to his cause. The princess
+Constantia, who was then about five years of age, accompanied, in a
+litter, the march of the army. She was shown to the multitude in the
+arms of her adopted father; and, as often as she passed through the
+ranks, the tenderness of the soldiers was inflamed into martial fury:
+[38] they recollected the glories of the house of Constantine, and they
+declared, with loyal acclamation, that they would shed the last drop of
+their blood in the defence of the royal infant. [39]
+
+[Footnote 34: The uncertain degree of alliance, or consanguinity, is
+expressed by the words, cognatus, consobrinus, (see Valesius ad Ammian.
+xxiii. 3.) The mother of Procopius might be a sister of Basilina and
+Count Julian, the mother and uncle of the Apostate. Ducange, Fam.
+Byzantin. p. 49.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Ammian. xxiii. 3, xxvi. 6. He mentions the report with
+much hesitation: susurravit obscurior fama; nemo enim dicti auctor
+exstitit verus. It serves, however, to remark, that Procopius was a
+Pagan. Yet his religion does not appear to have promoted, or obstructed,
+his pretensions.]
+
+[Footnote 36: One of his retreats was a country-house of Eunomius, the
+heretic. The master was absent, innocent, ignorant; yet he narrowly
+escaped a sentence of death, and was banished into the remote parts
+of Mauritania, (Philostorg. l. ix. c. 5, 8, and Godefroy's Dissert. p.
+369-378.)]
+
+[Footnote 36a: It may be suspected, from a fragment of Eunapius, that
+the heathen and philosophic party espoused the cause of Procopius.
+Heraclius, the Cynic, a man who had been honored by a philosophic
+controversy with Julian, striking the ground with his staff, incited him
+to courage with the line of Homer Eunapius. Mai, p. 207 or in Niebuhr's
+edition, p. 73.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 37: Hormisdae maturo juveni Hormisdae regalis illius filio,
+potestatem Proconsulis detulit; et civilia, more veterum, et bella,
+recturo. Ammian. xxvi. 8. The Persian prince escaped with honor
+and safety, and was afterwards (A. D. 380) restored to the same
+extraordinary office of proconsul of Bithynia, (Tillemont, Hist. des
+Empereurs, tom. v. p. 204) I am ignorant whether the race of Sassan was
+propagated. I find (A. D. 514) a pope Hormisdas; but he was a native of
+Frusino, in Italy, (Pagi Brev. Pontific. tom. i. p. 247)]
+
+[Footnote 38: The infant rebel was afterwards the wife of the emperor
+Gratian but she died young, and childless. See Ducange, Fam. Byzantin.
+p. 48, 59.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Sequimini culminis summi prosapiam, was the language of
+Procopius, who affected to despise the obscure birth, and fortuitous
+election of the upstart Pannonian. Ammian. xxvi. 7.]
+
+In the mean while Valentinian was alarmed and perplexed by the doubtful
+intelligence of the revolt of the East. [39a] The difficulties of a
+German was forced him to confine his immediate care to the safety of
+his own dominions; and, as every channel of communication was stopped or
+corrupted, he listened, with doubtful anxiety, to the rumors which
+were industriously spread, that the defeat and death of Valens had left
+Procopius sole master of the Eastern provinces. Valens was not dead: but
+on the news of the rebellion, which he received at Caesarea, he basely
+despaired of his life and fortune; proposed to negotiate with the
+usurper, and discovered his secret inclination to abdicate the Imperial
+purple. The timid monarch was saved from disgrace and ruin by the
+firmness of his ministers, and their abilities soon decided in his favor
+the event of the civil war. In a season of tranquillity, Sallust
+had resigned without a murmur; but as soon as the public safety was
+attacked, he ambitiously solicited the preeminence of toil and danger;
+and the restoration of that virtuous minister to the praefecture of the
+East, was the first step which indicated the repentance of Valens, and
+satisfied the minds of the people. The reign of Procopius was apparently
+supported by powerful armies and obedient provinces. But many of the
+principal officers, military as well as civil, had been urged, either
+by motives of duty or interest, to withdraw themselves from the guilty
+scene; or to watch the moment of betraying, and deserting, the cause of
+the usurper. Lupicinus advanced by hasty marches, to bring the legions
+of Syria to the aid of Valens. Arintheus, who, in strength, beauty, and
+valor, excelled all the heroes of the age, attacked with a small troop
+a superior body of the rebels. When he beheld the faces of the soldiers
+who had served under his banner, he commanded them, with a loud voice,
+to seize and deliver up their pretended leader; and such was the
+ascendant of his genius, that this extraordinary order was instantly
+obeyed. [40] Arbetio, a respectable veteran of the great Constantine,
+who had been distinguished by the honors of the consulship, was
+persuaded to leave his retirement, and once more to conduct an army
+into the field. In the heat of action, calmly taking off his helmet, he
+showed his gray hairs and venerable countenance: saluted the soldiers
+of Procopius by the endearing names of children and companions, and
+exhorted them no longer to support the desperate cause of a contemptible
+tyrant; but to follow their old commander, who had so often led them to
+honor and victory. In the two engagements of Thyatira [41] and Nacolia,
+the unfortunate Procopius was deserted by his troops, who were seduced
+by the instructions and example of their perfidious officers. After
+wandering some time among the woods and mountains of Phyrgia, he was
+betrayed by his desponding followers, conducted to the Imperial
+camp, and immediately beheaded. He suffered the ordinary fate of an
+unsuccessful usurper; but the acts of cruelty which were exercised by
+the conqueror, under the forms of legal justice, excited the pity and
+indignation of mankind. [42]
+
+[Footnote 39a: Symmachus describes his embarrassment. "The Germans
+are the common enemies of the state, Procopius the private foe of the
+Emperor; his first care must be victory, his second revenge." Symm.
+Orat. p. 11.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Et dedignatus hominem superare certamine despicabilem,
+auctoritatis et celsi fiducia corporis ipsis hostibus jussit, suum
+vincire rectorem: atque ita turmarum, antesignanus umbratilis comprensus
+suorum manibus. The strength and beauty of Arintheus, the new Hercules,
+are celebrated by St. Basil, who supposed that God had created him as an
+inimitable model of the human species. The painters and sculptors could
+not express his figure: the historians appeared fabulous when they
+related his exploits, (Ammian. xxvi. and Vales. ad loc.)]
+
+[Footnote 41: The same field of battle is placed by Ammianus in Lycia,
+and by Zosimus at Thyatira, which are at the distance of 150 miles
+from each other. But Thyatira alluitur Lyco, (Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 31,
+Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 79;) and the transcribers might
+easily convert an obscure river into a well-known province. * Note:
+Ammianus and Zosimus place the last battle at Nacolia in Phrygia;
+Ammianus altogether omits the former battle near Thyatira. Procopius
+was on his march (iter tendebat) towards Lycia. See Wagner's note, in
+c.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 42: The adventures, usurpation, and fall of Procopius, are
+related, in a regular series, by Ammianus, (xxvi. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,)
+and Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 203-210.) They often illustrate, and seldom
+contradict, each other. Themistius (Orat. vii. p. 91, 92) adds some
+base panegyric; and Euna pius (p. 83, 84) some malicious satire.
+----Symmachus joins with Themistius in praising the clemency of Valens
+dic victoriae moderatus est, quasi contra se nemo pugnavit. Symm. Orat.
+p. 12.--M.]
+
+Such indeed are the common and natural fruits of despotism and
+rebellion. But the inquisition into the crime of magic, [42a] which,
+under the reign of the two brothers, was so rigorously prosecuted both
+at Rome and Antioch, was interpreted as the fatal symptom, either of the
+displeasure of Heaven, or of the depravity of mankind. [43] Let us
+not hesitate to indulge a liberal pride, that, in the present age,
+the enlightened part of Europe has abolished [44] a cruel and odious
+prejudice, which reigned in every climate of the globe, and adhered to
+every system of religious opinions. [45] The nations, and the sects, of
+the Roman world, admitted with equal credulity, and similar abhorrence,
+the reality of that infernal art, [46] which was able to control the
+eternal order of the planets, and the voluntary operations of the human
+mind. They dreaded the mysterious power of spells and incantations,
+of potent herbs, and execrable rites; which could extinguish or recall
+life, inflame the passions of the soul, blast the works of creation,
+and extort from the reluctant daemons the secrets of futurity. They
+believed, with the wildest inconsistency, that this preternatural
+dominion of the air, of earth, and of hell, was exercised, from the
+vilest motives of malice or gain, by some wrinkled hags and itinerant
+sorcerers, who passed their obscure lives in penury and contempt. [47]
+The arts of magic were equally condemned by the public opinion, and
+by the laws of Rome; but as they tended to gratify the most imperious
+passions of the heart of man, they were continually proscribed, and
+continually practised. [48] An imaginary cause as capable of producing
+the most serious and mischievous effects. The dark predictions of the
+death of an emperor, or the success of a conspiracy, were calculated
+only to stimulate the hopes of ambition, and to dissolve the ties of
+fidelity; and the intentional guilt of magic was aggravated by the
+actual crimes of treason and sacrilege. [49] Such vain terrors disturbed
+the peace of society, and the happiness of individuals; and the harmless
+flame which insensibly melted a waxen image, might derive a powerful and
+pernicious energy from the affrighted fancy of the person whom it was
+maliciously designed to represent. [50] From the infusion of those
+herbs, which were supposed to possess a supernatural influence, it was
+an easy step to the use of more substantial poison; and the folly of
+mankind sometimes became the instrument, and the mask, of the most
+atrocious crimes. As soon as the zeal of informers was encouraged by the
+ministers of Valens and Valentinian, they could not refuse to listen to
+another charge, too frequently mingled in the scenes of domestic guilt;
+a charge of a softer and less malignant nature, for which the pious,
+though excessive, rigor of Constantine had recently decreed the
+punishment of death. [51] This deadly and incoherent mixture of treason
+and magic, of poison and adultery, afforded infinite gradations of guilt
+and innocence, of excuse and aggravation, which in these proceedings
+appear to have been confounded by the angry or corrupt passions of the
+judges. They easily discovered that the degree of their industry and
+discernment was estimated, by the Imperial court, according to the
+number of executions that were furnished from the respective tribunals.
+It was not without extreme reluctance that they pronounced a sentence of
+acquittal; but they eagerly admitted such evidence as was stained with
+perjury, or procured by torture, to prove the most improbable charges
+against the most respectable characters. The progress of the inquiry
+continually opened new subjects of criminal prosecution; the audacious
+informer, whose falsehood was detected, retired with impunity; but the
+wretched victim, who discovered his real or pretended accomplices, were
+seldom permitted to receive the price of his infamy. From the extremity
+of Italy and Asia, the young, and the aged, were dragged in chains to
+the tribunals of Rome and Antioch. Senators, matrons, and philosophers,
+expired in ignominious and cruel tortures. The soldiers, who were
+appointed to guard the prisons, declared, with a murmur of pity and
+indignation, that their numbers were insufficient to oppose the flight,
+or resistance, of the multitude of captives. The wealthiest families
+were ruined by fines and confiscations; the most innocent citizens
+trembled for their safety; and we may form some notion of the magnitude
+of the evil, from the extravagant assertion of an ancient writer,
+that, in the obnoxious provinces, the prisoners, the exiles, and the
+fugitives, formed the greatest part of the inhabitants. [52]
+
+[Footnote 42a: This infamous inquisition into sorcery and witchcraft
+has been of greater influence on human affairs than is commonly
+supposed. The persecutions against philosophers and their libraries was
+carried on with so much fury, that from this time (A. D. 374) the names
+of the Gentile philosophers became almost extinct; and the Christian
+philosophy and religion, particularly in the East, established their
+ascendency. I am surprised that Gibbon has not made this observation.
+Heyne, Note on Zosimus, l. iv. 14, p. 637. Besides vast heaps of
+manuscripts publicly destroyed throughout the East, men of letters
+burned their whole libraries, lest some fatal volume should expose them
+to the malice of the informers and the extreme penalty of the law. Amm.
+Marc. xxix. 11.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Libanius de ulciscend. Julian. nece, c. ix. p. 158, 159.
+The sophist deplores the public frenzy, but he does not (after their
+deaths) impeach the justice of the emperors.]
+
+[Footnote 44: The French and English lawyers, of the present age, allow
+the theory, and deny the practice, of witchcraft, (Denisart, Recueil
+de Decisions de Jurisprudence, au mot Sorciers, tom. iv. p. 553.
+Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. iv. p. 60.) As private reason always
+prevents, or outstrips, public wisdom, the president Montesquieu (Esprit
+des Loix, l. xii. c. 5, 6) rejects the existence of magic.]
+
+[Footnote 45: See Oeuvres de Bayle, tom. iii. p. 567-589. The sceptic of
+Rotterdam exhibits, according to his custom, a strange medley of loose
+knowledge and lively wit.]
+
+[Footnote 46: The Pagans distinguished between good and bad magic, the
+Theurgic and the Goetic, (Hist. de l'Academie, &c., tom. vii. p. 25.)
+But they could not have defended this obscure distinction against the
+acute logic of Bayle. In the Jewish and Christian system, all daemons
+are infernal spirits; and all commerce with them is idolatry, apostasy
+&c., which deserves death and damnation.]
+
+[Footnote 47: The Canidia of Horace (Carm. l. v. Od. 5, with Dacier's
+and Sanadon's illustrations) is a vulgar witch. The Erictho of Lucan
+(Pharsal. vi. 430-830) is tedious, disgusting, but sometimes sublime.
+She chides the delay of the Furies, and threatens, with tremendous
+obscurity, to pronounce their real names; to reveal the true infernal
+countenance of Hecate; to invoke the secret powers that lie below hell,
+&c.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Genus hominum potentibus infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod
+in civitate nostra et vetabitur semper et retinebitur. Tacit. Hist. i.
+22. See Augustin. de Civitate Dei, l. viii. c. 19, and the Theodosian
+Code l. ix. tit. xvi., with Godefroy's Commentary.]
+
+[Footnote 49: The persecution of Antioch was occasioned by a criminal
+consultation. The twenty-four letters of the alphabet were arranged
+round a magic tripod: and a dancing ring, which had been placed in the
+centre, pointed to the four first letters in the name of the future
+emperor, O. E. O Triangle. Theodorus (perhaps with many others, who
+owned the fatal syllables) was executed. Theodosius succeeded. Lardner
+(Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 353-372) has copiously and fairly
+examined this dark transaction of the reign of Valens.]
+
+[Footnote 50: Limus ut hic durescit, et haec ut cera liquescit
+
+  Uno eodemque igni--Virgil. Bucolic. viii. 80.
+
+  Devovet absentes, simulacraque cerea figit.
+  --Ovid. in Epist. Hypsil. ad Jason 91.
+
+Such vain incantations could affect the mind, and increase the disease
+of Germanicus. Tacit. Annal. ii. 69.]
+
+[Footnote 51: See Heineccius, Antiquitat. Juris Roman. tom. ii. p. 353,
+&c. Cod. Theodosian. l. ix. tit. 7, with Godefroy's Commentary.]
+
+[Footnote 52: The cruel persecution of Rome and Antioch is described,
+and most probably exaggerated, by Ammianus (xxvii. 1. xxix. 1, 2)
+and Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 216-218.) The philosopher Maximus, with some
+justice, was involved in the charge of magic, (Eunapius in Vit. Sophist.
+p. 88, 89;) and young Chrysostom, who had accidentally found one of
+the proscribed books, gave himself up for lost, (Tillemont, Hist. des
+Empereurs, tom. v. p. 340.)]
+
+When Tacitus describes the deaths of the innocent and illustrious
+Romans, who were sacrificed to the cruelty of the first Caesars, the art
+of the historian, or the merit of the sufferers, excites in our breast
+the most lively sensations of terror, of admiration, and of pity. The
+coarse and undistinguishing pencil of Ammianus has delineated his bloody
+figures with tedious and disgusting accuracy. But as our attention is
+no longer engaged by the contrast of freedom and servitude, of recent
+greatness and of actual misery, we should turn with horror from the
+frequent executions, which disgraced, both at Rome and Antioch,
+the reign of the two brothers. [53] Valens was of a timid, [54] and
+Valentinian of a choleric, disposition. [55] An anxious regard to
+his personal safety was the ruling principle of the administration of
+Valens. In the condition of a subject, he had kissed, with trembling
+awe, the hand of the oppressor; and when he ascended the throne, he
+reasonably expected, that the same fears, which had subdued his own
+mind, would secure the patient submission of his people. The favorites
+of Valens obtained, by the privilege of rapine and confiscation, the
+wealth which his economy would have refused. [56] They urged, with
+persuasive eloquence, that, in all cases of treason, suspicion is
+equivalent to proof; that the power supposes the intention, of mischief;
+that the intention is not less criminal than the act; and that a subject
+no longer deserves to live, if his life may threaten the safety, or
+disturb the repose, of his sovereign. The judgment of Valentinian
+was sometimes deceived, and his confidence abused; but he would have
+silenced the informers with a contemptuous smile, had they presumed to
+alarm his fortitude by the sound of danger. They praised his inflexible
+love of justice; and, in the pursuit of justice, the emperor was easily
+tempted to consider clemency as a weakness, and passion as a virtue.
+As long as he wrestled with his equals, in the bold competition of an
+active and ambitious life, Valentinian was seldom injured, and never
+insulted, with impunity: if his prudence was arraigned, his spirit was
+applauded; and the proudest and most powerful generals were apprehensive
+of provoking the resentment of a fearless soldier. After he became
+master of the world, he unfortunately forgot, that where no resistance
+can be made, no courage can be exerted; and instead of consulting the
+dictates of reason and magnanimity, he indulged the furious emotions of
+his temper, at a time when they were disgraceful to himself, and fatal
+to the defenceless objects of his displeasure. In the government of
+his household, or of his empire, slight, or even imaginary, offences--a
+hasty word, a casual omission, an involuntary delay--were chastised by
+a sentence of immediate death. The expressions which issued the most
+readily from the mouth of the emperor of the West were, "Strike off his
+head;" "Burn him alive;" "Let him be beaten with clubs till he expires;"
+[57] and his most favored ministers soon understood, that, by a
+rash attempt to dispute, or suspend, the execution of his sanguinary
+commands, they might involve themselves in the guilt and punishment of
+disobedience. The repeated gratification of this savage justice hardened
+the mind of Valentinian against pity and remorse; and the sallies of
+passion were confirmed by the habits of cruelty. [58] He could behold
+with calm satisfaction the convulsive agonies of torture and death; he
+reserved his friendship for those faithful servants whose temper was the
+most congenial to his own. The merit of Maximin, who had slaughtered the
+noblest families of Rome, was rewarded with the royal approbation, and
+the praefecture of Gaul.
+
+Two fierce and enormous bears, distinguished by the appellations of
+Innocence, and Mica Aurea, could alone deserve to share the favor of
+Maximin. The cages of those trusty guards were always placed near the
+bed-chamber of Valentinian, who frequently amused his eyes with the
+grateful spectacle of seeing them tear and devour the bleeding limbs
+of the malefactors who were abandoned to their rage. Their diet and
+exercises were carefully inspected by the Roman emperor; and when
+Innocence had earned her discharge, by a long course of meritorious
+service, the faithful animal was again restored to the freedom of her
+native woods. [59]
+
+[Footnote 53: Consult the six last books of Ammianus, and more
+particularly the portraits of the two royal brothers, (xxx. 8, 9, xxxi.
+14.) Tillemont has collected (tom. v. p. 12-18, p. 127-133) from all
+antiquity their virtues and vices.]
+
+[Footnote 54: The younger Victor asserts, that he was valde timidus: yet
+he behaved, as almost every man would do, with decent resolution at the
+head of an army. The same historian attempts to prove that his anger was
+harmless. Ammianus observes, with more candor and judgment, incidentia
+crimina ad contemptam vel laesam principis amplitudinem trahens, in
+sanguinem saeviebat.]
+
+[Footnote 55: Cum esset ad acerbitatem naturae calore propensior. ..
+poenas perignes augebat et gladios. Ammian. xxx. 8. See xxvii. 7]
+
+[Footnote 56: I have transferred the reproach of avarice from Valens to
+his servant. Avarice more properly belongs to ministers than to kings;
+in whom that passion is commonly extinguished by absolute possession.]
+
+[Footnote 57: He sometimes expressed a sentence of death with a tone of
+pleasantry: "Abi, Comes, et muta ei caput, qui sibi mutari provinciam
+cupit." A boy, who had slipped too hastily a Spartan bound; an
+armorer, who had made a polished cuirass that wanted some grains of the
+legitimate weight, &c., were the victims of his fury.]
+
+[Footnote 58: The innocents of Milan were an agent and three apparitors,
+whom Valentinian condemned for signifying a legal summons. Ammianus
+(xxvii. 7) strangely supposes, that all who had been unjustly executed
+were worshipped as martyrs by the Christians. His impartial silence does
+not allow us to believe, that the great chamberlain Rhodanus was burnt
+alive for an act of oppression, (Chron. Paschal. p. 392.) * Note:
+Ammianus does not say that they were worshipped as martyrs. Onorum
+memoriam apud Mediolanum colentes nunc usque Christiani loculos ubi
+sepulti sunt, ad innocentes appellant. Wagner's note in loco. Yet if
+the next paragraph refers to that transaction, which is not quite clear.
+Gibbon is right.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 59: Ut bene meritam in sylvas jussit abire Innoxiam. Ammian.
+xxix. and Valesius ad locum.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
+Empire.--Part III.
+
+But in the calmer moments of reflection, when the mind of Valens was not
+agitated by fear, or that of Valentinian by rage, the tyrant resumed the
+sentiments, or at least the conduct, of the father of his country. The
+dispassionate judgment of the Western emperor could clearly perceive,
+and accurately pursue, his own and the public interest; and the
+sovereign of the East, who imitated with equal docility the various
+examples which he received from his elder brother, was sometimes
+guided by the wisdom and virtue of the praefect Sallust. Both princes
+invariably retained, in the purple, the chaste and temperate simplicity
+which had adorned their private life; and, under their reign, the
+pleasures of the court never cost the people a blush or a sigh. They
+gradually reformed many of the abuses of the times of Constantius;
+judiciously adopted and improved the designs of Julian and his
+successor; and displayed a style and spirit of legislation which might
+inspire posterity with the most favorable opinion of their character
+and government. It is not from the master of Innocence, that we should
+expect the tender regard for the welfare of his subjects, which prompted
+Valentinian to condemn the exposition of new-born infants; [60] and to
+establish fourteen skilful physicians, with stipends and privileges, in
+the fourteen quarters of Rome. The good sense of an illiterate soldier
+founded a useful and liberal institution for the education of youth, and
+the support of declining science. [61] It was his intention, that the
+arts of rhetoric and grammar should be taught in the Greek and Latin
+languages, in the metropolis of every province; and as the size and
+dignity of the school was usually proportioned to the importance of
+the city, the academies of Rome and Constantinople claimed a just
+and singular preeminence. The fragments of the literary edicts of
+Valentinian imperfectly represent the school of Constantinople, which
+was gradually improved by subsequent regulations. That school consisted
+of thirty-one professors in different branches of learning. One
+philosopher, and two lawyers; five sophists, and ten grammarians for
+the Greek, and three orators, and ten grammarians for the Latin tongue;
+besides seven scribes, or, as they were then styled, antiquarians, whose
+laborious pens supplied the public library with fair and correct copies
+of the classic writers. The rule of conduct, which was prescribed to the
+students, is the more curious, as it affords the first outlines of the
+form and discipline of a modern university. It was required, that they
+should bring proper certificates from the magistrates of their native
+province. Their names, professions, and places of abode, were regularly
+entered in a public register.
+
+The studious youth were severely prohibited from wasting their time in
+feasts, or in the theatre; and the term of their education was limited
+to the age of twenty. The praefect of the city was empowered to chastise
+the idle and refractory by stripes or expulsion; and he was directed to
+make an annual report to the master of the offices, that the knowledge
+and abilities of the scholars might be usefully applied to the public
+service. The institutions of Valentinian contributed to secure the
+benefits of peace and plenty; and the cities were guarded by the
+establishment of the Defensors; [62] freely elected as the tribunes and
+advocates of the people, to support their rights, and to expose their
+grievances, before the tribunals of the civil magistrates, or even
+at the foot of the Imperial throne. The finances were diligently
+administered by two princes, who had been so long accustomed to the
+rigid economy of a private fortune; but in the receipt and application
+of the revenue, a discerning eye might observe some difference between
+the government of the East and of the West. Valens was persuaded, that
+royal liberality can be supplied only by public oppression, and his
+ambition never aspired to secure, by their actual distress, the future
+strength and prosperity of his people. Instead of increasing the
+weight of taxes, which, in the space of forty years, had been gradually
+doubled, he reduced, in the first years of his reign, one fourth of
+the tribute of the East. [63] Valentinian appears to have been less
+attentive and less anxious to relieve the burdens of his people. He
+might reform the abuses of the fiscal administration; but he exacted,
+without scruple, a very large share of the private property; as he was
+convinced, that the revenues, which supported the luxury of individuals,
+would be much more advantageously employed for the defence and
+improvement of the state. The subjects of the East, who enjoyed the
+present benefit, applauded the indulgence of their prince. The solid
+but less splendid, merit of Valentinian was felt and acknowledged by the
+subsequent generation. [64]
+
+[Footnote 60: See the Code of Justinian, l. viii. tit. lii. leg.
+2. Unusquisque sabolem suam nutriat. Quod si exponendam putaverit
+animadversioni quae constituta est subjacebit. For the present I shall
+not interfere in the dispute between Noodt and Binkershoek; how far, or
+how long this unnatural practice had been condemned or abolished by law
+philosophy, and the more civilized state of society.]
+
+[Footnote 61: These salutary institutions are explained in the
+Theodosian Code, l. xiii. tit. iii. De Professoribus et Medicis, and
+l. xiv. tit. ix. De Studiis liberalibus Urbis Romoe. Besides our usual
+guide, (Godefroy,) we may consult Giannone, (Istoria di Napoli, tom. i.
+p. 105-111,) who has treated the interesting subject with the zeal and
+curiosity of a man of latters who studies his domestic history.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Cod. Theodos. l. i. tit. xi. with Godefroy's Paratitlon,
+which diligently gleans from the rest of the code.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Three lines of Ammianus (xxxi. 14) countenance a whole
+oration of Themistius, (viii. p. 101-120,) full of adulation, pedantry,
+and common-place morality. The eloquent M. Thomas (tom. i. p.
+366-396) has amused himself with celebrating the virtues and genius of
+Themistius, who was not unworthy of the age in which he lived.]
+
+[Footnote 64: Zosimus, l. iv. p. 202. Ammian. xxx. 9. His reformation
+of costly abuses might entitle him to the praise of, in provinciales
+admodum parcus, tributorum ubique molliens sarcinas. By some his
+frugality was styled avarice, (Jerom. Chron. p. 186)]
+
+But the most honorable circumstance of the character of Valentinian, is
+the firm and temperate impartiality which he uniformly preserved in
+an age of religious contention. His strong sense, unenlightened, but
+uncorrupted, by study, declined, with respectful indifference, the
+subtle questions of theological debate. The government of the Earth
+claimed his vigilance, and satisfied his ambition; and while he
+remembered that he was the disciple of the church, he never forgot that
+he was the sovereign of the clergy. Under the reign of an apostate, he
+had signalized his zeal for the honor of Christianity: he allowed to his
+subjects the privilege which he had assumed for himself; and they might
+accept, with gratitude and confidence, the general toleration which was
+granted by a prince addicted to passion, but incapable of fear or of
+disguise. [65] The Pagans, the Jews, and all the various sects which
+acknowledged the divine authority of Christ, were protected by the laws
+from arbitrary power or popular insult; nor was any mode of worship
+prohibited by Valentinian, except those secret and criminal practices,
+which abused the name of religion for the dark purposes of vice and
+disorder. The art of magic, as it was more cruelly punished, was more
+strictly proscribed: but the emperor admitted a formal distinction to
+protect the ancient methods of divination, which were approved by the
+senate, and exercised by the Tuscan haruspices. He had condemned,
+with the consent of the most rational Pagans, the license of nocturnal
+sacrifices; but he immediately admitted the petition of Praetextatus,
+proconsul of Achaia, who represented, that the life of the Greeks would
+become dreary and comfortless, if they were deprived of the invaluable
+blessing of the Eleusinian mysteries. Philosophy alone can boast, (and
+perhaps it is no more than the boast of philosophy,) that her gentle
+hand is able to eradicate from the human mind the latent and deadly
+principle of fanaticism. But this truce of twelve years, which was
+enforced by the wise and vigorous government of Valentinian, by
+suspending the repetition of mutual injuries, contributed to soften the
+manners, and abate the prejudices, of the religious factions.
+
+[Footnote 65: Testes sunt leges a me in exordio Imperii mei datae;
+quibus unicuique quod animo imbibisset colendi libera facultas tributa
+est. Cod. Theodos. l. ix. tit. xvi. leg. 9. To this declaration of
+Valentinian, we may add the various testimonies of Ammianus, (xxx. 9,)
+Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 204,) and Sozomen, (l. vi. c. 7, 21.) Baronius would
+naturally blame such rational toleration, (Annal. Eccles A. D. 370, No.
+129-132, A. D. 376, No. 3, 4.) ----Comme il s'etait prescrit pour regle
+de ne point se meler de disputes de religion, son histoire est presque
+entierement degagee des affaires ecclesiastiques. Le Beau. iii.
+214.--M.]
+
+The friend of toleration was unfortunately placed at a distance from the
+scene of the fiercest controversies. As soon as the Christians of the
+West had extricated themselves from the snares of the creed of Rimini,
+they happily relapsed into the slumber of orthodoxy; and the small
+remains of the Arian party, that still subsisted at Sirmium or Milan,
+might be considered rather as objects of contempt than of resentment.
+But in the provinces of the East, from the Euxine to the extremity of
+Thebais, the strength and numbers of the hostile factions were more
+equally balanced; and this equality, instead of recommending the
+counsels of peace, served only to perpetuate the horrors of religious
+war. The monks and bishops supported their arguments by invectives;
+and their invectives were sometimes followed by blows. Athanasius still
+reigned at Alexandria; the thrones of Constantinople and Antioch were
+occupied by Arian prelates, and every episcopal vacancy was the
+occasion of a popular tumult. The Homoousians were fortified by the
+reconciliation of fifty-nine Macelonian, or Semi-Arian, bishops; but
+their secret reluctance to embrace the divinity of the Holy Ghost,
+clouded the splendor of the triumph; and the declaration of Valens, who,
+in the first years of his reign, had imitated the impartial conduct of
+his brother, was an important victory on the side of Arianism. The two
+brothers had passed their private life in the condition of catechumens;
+but the piety of Valens prompted him to solicit the sacrament of
+baptism, before he exposed his person to the dangers of a Gothic war.
+He naturally addressed himself to Eudoxus, [66] [66a] bishop of the
+Imperial city; and if the ignorant monarch was instructed by that Arian
+pastor in the principles of heterodox theology, his misfortune, rather
+than his guilt, was the inevitable consequence of his erroneous choice.
+Whatever had been the determination of the emperor, he must have
+offended a numerous party of his Christian subjects; as the leaders both
+of the Homoousians and of the Arians believed, that, if they were not
+suffered to reign, they were most cruelly injured and oppressed. After
+he had taken this decisive step, it was extremely difficult for him to
+preserve either the virtue, or the reputation of impartiality. He never
+aspired, like Constantius, to the fame of a profound theologian; but
+as he had received with simplicity and respect the tenets of Euxodus,
+Valens resigned his conscience to the direction of his ecclesiastical
+guides, and promoted, by the influence of his authority, the reunion of
+the Athanasian heretics to the body of the Catholic church. At first, he
+pitied their blindness; by degrees he was provoked at their obstinacy;
+and he insensibly hated those sectaries to whom he was an object of
+hatred. [67] The feeble mind of Valens was always swayed by the persons
+with whom he familiarly conversed; and the exile or imprisonment of a
+private citizen are the favors the most readily granted in a despotic
+court. Such punishments were frequently inflicted on the leaders of
+the Homoousian party; and the misfortune of fourscore ecclesiastics of
+Constantinople, who, perhaps accidentally, were burned on shipboard,
+was imputed to the cruel and premeditated malice of the emperor, and his
+Arian ministers. In every contest, the Catholics (if we may anticipate
+that name) were obliged to pay the penalty of their own faults, and of
+those of their adversaries. In every election, the claims of the Arian
+candidate obtained the preference; and if they were opposed by the
+majority of the people, he was usually supported by the authority of
+the civil magistrate, or even by the terrors of a military force.
+The enemies of Athanasius attempted to disturb the last years of his
+venerable age; and his temporary retreat to his father's sepulchre has
+been celebrated as a fifth exile. But the zeal of a great people, who
+instantly flew to arms, intimidated the praefect: and the archbishop
+was permitted to end his life in peace and in glory, after a reign
+of forty-seven years. The death of Athanasius was the signal of the
+persecution of Egypt; and the Pagan minister of Valens, who forcibly
+seated the worthless Lucius on the archiepiscopal throne, purchased
+the favor of the reigning party, by the blood and sufferings of their
+Christian brethren. The free toleration of the heathen and Jewish
+worship was bitterly lamented, as a circumstance which aggravated the
+misery of the Catholics, and the guilt of the impious tyrant of the
+East. [68]
+
+[Footnote 66: Eudoxus was of a mild and timid disposition. When he
+baptized Valens, (A. D. 367,) he must have been extremely old; since he
+had studied theology fifty-five years before, under Lucian, a learned
+and pious martyr. Philostorg. l. ii. c. 14-16, l. iv. c. 4, with
+Godefroy, p 82, 206, and Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. v. p. 471-480,
+&c.]
+
+[Footnote 66a: Through the influence of his wife say the ecclesiastical
+writers.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. xxv. p. 432) insults the
+persecuting spirit of the Arians, as an infallible symptom of error and
+heresy.]
+
+[Footnote 68: This sketch of the ecclesiastical government of Valens is
+drawn from Socrates, (l. iv.,) Sozomen, (l. vi.,) Theodoret, (l. iv.,)
+and the immense compilations of Tillemont, (particularly tom. vi. viii.
+and ix.)]
+
+The triumph of the orthodox party has left a deep stain of persecution
+on the memory of Valens; and the character of a prince who derived
+his virtues, as well as his vices, from a feeble understanding and a
+pusillanimous temper, scarcely deserves the labor of an apology. Yet
+candor may discover some reasons to suspect that the ecclesiastical
+ministers of Valens often exceeded the orders, or even the intentions,
+of their master; and that the real measure of facts has been very
+liberally magnified by the vehement declamation and easy credulity
+of his antagonists. [69] 1. The silence of Valentinian may suggest a
+probable argument that the partial severities, which were exercised in
+the name and provinces of his colleague, amounted only to some obscure
+and inconsiderable deviations from the established system of religious
+toleration: and the judicious historian, who has praised the equal
+temper of the elder brother, has not thought himself obliged to contrast
+the tranquillity of the West with the cruel persecution of the East.
+[70] 2. Whatever credit may be allowed to vague and distant reports, the
+character, or at least the behavior, of Valens, may be most distinctly
+seen in his personal transactions with the eloquent Basil, archbishop
+of Caesarea, who had succeeded Athanasius in the management of the
+Trinitarian cause. [71] The circumstantial narrative has been composed
+by the friends and admirers of Basil; and as soon as we have stripped
+away a thick coat of rhetoric and miracle, we shall be astonished by the
+unexpected mildness of the Arian tyrant, who admired the firmness of his
+character, or was apprehensive, if he employed violence, of a general
+revolt in the province of Cappadocia. The archbishop, who asserted, with
+inflexible pride, [72] the truth of his opinions, and the dignity of his
+rank, was left in the free possession of his conscience and his throne.
+The emperor devoutly assisted at the solemn service of the cathedral;
+and, instead of a sentence of banishment, subscribed the donation of
+a valuable estate for the use of a hospital, which Basil had lately
+founded in the neighborhood of Caesarea. [73] 3. I am not able to
+discover, that any law (such as Theodosius afterwards enacted against
+the Arians) was published by Valens against the Athanasian sectaries;
+and the edict which excited the most violent clamors, may not appear so
+extremely reprehensible. The emperor had observed, that several of
+his subjects, gratifying their lazy disposition under the pretence of
+religion, had associated themselves with the monks of Egypt; and he
+directed the count of the East to drag them from their solitude; and
+to compel these deserters of society to accept the fair alternative
+of renouncing their temporal possessions, or of discharging the public
+duties of men and citizens. [74] The ministers of Valens seem to have
+extended the sense of this penal statute, since they claimed a right
+of enlisting the young and ablebodied monks in the Imperial armies. A
+detachment of cavalry and infantry, consisting of three thousand men,
+marched from Alexandria into the adjacent desert of Nitria, [75] which
+was peopled by five thousand monks. The soldiers were conducted by Arian
+priests; and it is reported, that a considerable slaughter was made in
+the monasteries which disobeyed the commands of their sovereign. [76]
+
+[Footnote 69: Dr. Jortin (Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv. p.
+78) has already conceived and intimated the same suspicion.]
+
+[Footnote 70: This reflection is so obvious and forcible, that Orosius
+(l. vii. c. 32, 33,) delays the persecution till after the death of
+Valentinian. Socrates, on the other hand, supposes, (l. iii. c. 32,)
+that it was appeased by a philosophical oration, which Themistius
+pronounced in the year 374, (Orat. xii. p. 154, in Latin only.) Such
+contradictions diminish the evidence, and reduce the term, of the
+persecution of Valens.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Tillemont, whom I follow and abridge, has extracted (Mem.
+Eccles. tom. viii. p. 153-167) the most authentic circumstances from the
+Panegyrics of the two Gregories; the brother, and the friend, of Basil.
+The letters of Basil himself (Dupin, Bibliotheque, Ecclesiastique, tom.
+ii. p. 155-180) do not present the image of a very lively persecution.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Basilius Caesariensis episcopus Cappadociae clarus
+habetur... qui multa continentiae et ingenii bona uno superbiae
+malo perdidit. This irreverent passage is perfectly in the style and
+character of St. Jerom. It does not appear in Scaliger's edition of his
+Chronicle; but Isaac Vossius found it in some old Mss. which had not
+been reformed by the monks.]
+
+[Footnote 73: This noble and charitable foundation (almost a new city)
+surpassed in merit, if not in greatness, the pyramids, or the walls of
+Babylon. It was principally intended for the reception of lepers, (Greg.
+Nazianzen, Orat. xx. p. 439.)]
+
+[Footnote 74: Cod. Theodos. l. xii. tit. i. leg. 63. Godefroy (tom. iv.
+p. 409-413) performs the duty of a commentator and advocate. Tillemont
+(Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 808) supposes a second law to excuse his
+orthodox friends, who had misrepresented the edict of Valens, and
+suppressed the liberty of choice.]
+
+[Footnote 75: See D'Anville, Description de l'Egypte, p. 74. Hereafter I
+shall consider the monastic institutions.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Socrates, l. iv. c. 24, 25. Orosius, l. vii. c. 33. Jerom.
+in Chron. p. 189, and tom. ii. p. 212. The monks of Egypt performed
+many miracles, which prove the truth of their faith. Right, says Jortin,
+(Remarks, vol iv. p. 79,) but what proves the truth of those miracles.]
+
+The strict regulations which have been framed by the wisdom of modern
+legislators to restrain the wealth and avarice of the clergy, may be
+originally deduced from the example of the emperor Valentinian. His
+edict, [77] addressed to Damasus, bishop of Rome, was publicly read in
+the churches of the city. He admonished the ecclesiastics and monks
+not to frequent the houses of widows and virgins; and menaced their
+disobedience with the animadversion of the civil judge. The director was
+no longer permitted to receive any gift, or legacy, or inheritance, from
+the liberality of his spiritual-daughter: every testament contrary to
+this edict was declared null and void; and the illegal donation was
+confiscated for the use of the treasury. By a subsequent regulation, it
+should seem, that the same provisions were extended to nuns and bishops;
+and that all persons of the ecclesiastical order were rendered incapable
+of receiving any testamentary gifts, and strictly confined to the
+natural and legal rights of inheritance. As the guardian of domestic
+happiness and virtue, Valentinian applied this severe remedy to the
+growing evil. In the capital of the empire, the females of noble and
+opulent houses possessed a very ample share of independent property: and
+many of those devout females had embraced the doctrines of Christianity,
+not only with the cold assent of the understanding, but with the warmth
+of affection, and perhaps with the eagerness of fashion. They sacrificed
+the pleasures of dress and luxury; and renounced, for the praise of
+chastity, the soft endearments of conjugal society. Some ecclesiastic,
+of real or apparent sanctity, was chosen to direct their timorous
+conscience, and to amuse the vacant tenderness of their heart: and the
+unbounded confidence, which they hastily bestowed, was often abused by
+knaves and enthusiasts; who hastened from the extremities of the
+East, to enjoy, on a splendid theatre, the privileges of the monastic
+profession. By their contempt of the world, they insensibly acquired its
+most desirable advantages; the lively attachment, perhaps of a young and
+beautiful woman, the delicate plenty of an opulent household, and the
+respectful homage of the slaves, the freedmen, and the clients of
+a senatorial family. The immense fortunes of the Roman ladies were
+gradually consumed in lavish alms and expensive pilgrimages; and the
+artful monk, who had assigned himself the first, or possibly the sole
+place, in the testament of his spiritual daughter, still presumed
+to declare, with the smooth face of hypocrisy, that he was only the
+instrument of charity, and the steward of the poor. The lucrative, but
+disgraceful, trade, [78] which was exercised by the clergy to defraud
+the expectations of the natural heirs, had provoked the indignation of a
+superstitious age: and two of the most respectable of the Latin fathers
+very honestly confess, that the ignominious edict of Valentinian was
+just and necessary; and that the Christian priests had deserved to lose
+a privilege, which was still enjoyed by comedians, charioteers, and the
+ministers of idols. But the wisdom and authority of the legislator are
+seldom victorious in a contest with the vigilant dexterity of private
+interest; and Jerom, or Ambrose, might patiently acquiesce in the
+justice of an ineffectual or salutary law. If the ecclesiastics were
+checked in the pursuit of personal emolument, they would exert a more
+laudable industry to increase the wealth of the church; and dignify
+their covetousness with the specious names of piety and patriotism. [79]
+
+[Footnote 77: Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 20. Godefroy, (tom.
+vi. p. 49,) after the example of Baronius, impartially collects all that
+the fathers have said on the subject of this important law; whose spirit
+was long afterwards revived by the emperor Frederic II., Edward I.
+of England, and other Christian princes who reigned after the twelfth
+century.]
+
+[Footnote 78: The expressions which I have used are temperate and
+feeble, if compared with the vehement invectives of Jerom, (tom. i. p.
+13, 45, 144, &c.) In his turn he was reproached with the guilt which he
+imputed to his brother monks; and the Sceleratus, the Versipellis, was
+publicly accused as the lover of the widow Paula, (tom. ii. p. 363.)
+He undoubtedly possessed the affection, both of the mother and the
+daughter; but he declares that he never abused his influence to any
+selfish or sensual purpose.]
+
+[Footnote 79: Pudet dicere, sacerdotes idolorum, mimi et aurigae,
+et scorta, haereditates capiunt: solis clericis ac monachis hac lege
+prohibetur. Et non prohibetur a persecutoribus, sed a principibus
+Christianis. Nec de lege queror; sed doleo cur meruerimus hanc legem.
+Jerom (tom. i. p. 13) discreetly insinuates the secret policy of his
+patron Damasus.]
+
+    Damasus, bishop of Rome, who was constrained to stigmatize
+the avarice of his clergy by the publication of the law of Valentinian,
+had the good sense, or the good fortune, to engage in his service the
+zeal and abilities of the learned Jerom; and the grateful saint has
+celebrated the merit and purity of a very ambiguous character. [80] But
+the splendid vices of the church of Rome, under the reign of Valentinian
+and Damasus, have been curiously observed by the historian Ammianus, who
+delivers his impartial sense in these expressive words: "The praefecture
+of Juventius was accompanied with peace and plenty, but the tranquillity
+of his government was soon disturbed by a bloody sedition of the
+distracted people. 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 praefect, 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
+[81] were found in the Basilica of Sicininus, [82] where the Christians
+hold 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 secure, that he
+will be enriched by the offerings of matrons; [83] that, as soon as his
+dress is composed with becoming care and elegance, he may proceed,
+in his chariot, through the streets of Rome; [84] and that the
+sumptuousness of the Imperial table will not equal the profuse and
+delicate entertainments provided by the taste, and at the expense,
+of the Roman pontiffs. How much more rationally (continues the honest
+Pagan) would those pontiffs consult their true happiness, if, instead of
+alleging the greatness of the city as an excuse for their manners,
+they would imitate the exemplary life of some provincial bishops,
+whose temperance and sobriety, whose mean apparel and downcast looks,
+recommend their pure and modest virtue to the Deity and his true
+worshippers!" [85] The schism of Damasus and Ursinus was extinguished
+by the exile of the latter; and the wisdom of the praefect Praetextatus
+[86] restored the tranquillity of the city. Praetextatus was a
+philosophic Pagan, a man of learning, of taste, and politeness; who
+disguised a reproach in the form of a jest, when he assured Damasus,
+that if he could obtain the bishopric of Rome, he himself would
+immediately embrace the Christian religion. [87] This lively picture
+of the wealth and luxury of the popes in the fourth century becomes
+the more curious, as it represents the intermediate degree between the
+humble poverty of the apostolic fishermen, and the royal state of a
+temporal prince, whose dominions extend from the confines of Naples to
+the banks of the Po.
+
+[Footnote 80: Three words of Jerom, sanctoe memorioe Damasus (tom.
+ii. p. 109,) wash away all his stains, and blind the devout eyes of
+Tillemont. (Mem Eccles. tom. viii. p. 386-424.)]
+
+[Footnote 81: Jerom himself is forced to allow, crudelissimae
+interfectiones diversi sexus perpetratae, (in Chron. p. 186.) But an
+original libel, or petition of two presbyters of the adverse party, has
+unaccountably escaped. They affirm that the doors of the Basilica were
+burnt, and that the roof was untiled; that Damasus marched at the head
+of his own clergy, grave-diggers, charioteers, and hired gladiators;
+that none of his party were killed, but that one hundred and sixty dead
+bodies were found. This petition is published by the P. Sirmond, in the
+first volume of his work.]
+
+[Footnote 82: The Basilica of Sicininus, or Liberius, is probably the
+church of Sancta Maria Maggiore, on the Esquiline hill. Baronius, A. D.
+367 No. 3; and Donatus, Roma Antiqua et Nova, l. iv. c. 3, p. 462.]
+
+[Footnote 83: The enemies of Damasus styled him Auriscalpius Matronarum
+the ladies' ear-scratcher.]
+
+[Footnote 84: Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. xxxii. p. 526) describes the
+pride and luxury of the prelates who reigned in the Imperial cities;
+their gilt car, fiery steeds, numerous train, &c. The crowd gave way as
+to a wild beast.]
+
+[Footnote 85: Ammian. xxvii. 3. Perpetuo Numini, verisque ejus
+cultoribus. The incomparable pliancy of a polytheist!]
+
+[Footnote 86: Ammianus, who makes a fair report of his praefecture
+(xxvii. 9) styles him praeclarae indolis, gravitatisque senator, (xxii.
+7, and Vales. ad loc.) A curious inscription (Grutor MCII. No. 2)
+records, in two columns, his religious and civil honors. In one line he
+was Pontiff of the Sun, and of Vesta, Augur, Quindecemvir, Hierophant,
+&c., &c. In the other, 1. Quaestor candidatus, more probably titular. 2.
+Praetor. 3. Corrector of Tuscany and Umbria. 4. Consular of Lusitania.
+5. Proconsul of Achaia. 6. Praefect of Rome. 7. Praetorian praefect
+of Italy. 8. Of Illyricum. 9. Consul elect; but he died before the
+beginning of the year 385. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom v. p.
+241, 736.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Facite me Romanae urbis episcopum; et ero protinus
+Christianus (Jerom, tom. ii. p. 165.) It is more than probable that
+Damasus would not have purchased his conversion at such a price.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
+Empire.--Part IV.
+
+When the suffrage of the generals and of the army committed the sceptre
+of the Roman empire to the hands of Valentinian, his reputation in
+arms, his military skill and experience, and his rigid attachment to
+the forms, as well as spirit, of ancient discipline, were the principal
+motives of their judicious choice.
+
+The eagerness of the troops, who pressed him to nominate his colleague,
+was justified by the dangerous situation of public affairs; and
+Valentinian himself was conscious, that the abilities of the most active
+mind were unequal to the defence of the distant frontiers of an invaded
+monarchy. As soon as the death of Julian had relieved the Barbarians
+from the terror of his name, the most sanguine hopes of rapine and
+conquest excited the nations of the East, of the North, and of the
+South. Their inroads were often vexatious, and sometimes formidable;
+but, during the twelve years of the reign of Valentinian, his firmness
+and vigilance protected his own dominions; and his powerful genius
+seemed to inspire and direct the feeble counsels of his brother. Perhaps
+the method of annals would more forcibly express the urgent and divided
+cares of the two emperors; but the attention of the reader, likewise,
+would be distracted by a tedious and desultory narrative. A separate
+view of the five great theatres of war; I. Germany; II. Britain; III.
+Africa; IV. The East; and, V. The Danube; will impress a more
+distinct image of the military state of the empire under the reigns of
+Valentinian and Valens.
+
+I. The ambassadors of the Alemanni had been offended by the harsh and
+haughty behavior of Ursacius, master of the offices; [88] who by an
+act of unseasonable parsimony, had diminished the value, as well as
+the quantity, of the presents to which they were entitled, either from
+custom or treaty, on the accession of a new emperor. They expressed,
+and they communicated to their countrymen, their strong sense of the
+national affront. The irascible minds of the chiefs were exasperated
+by the suspicion of contempt; and the martial youth crowded to their
+standard. Before Valentinian could pass the Alps, the villages of Gaul
+were in flames; before his general Degalaiphus could encounter the
+Alemanni, they had secured the captives and the spoil in the forests of
+Germany. In the beginning of the ensuing year, the military force of the
+whole nation, in deep and solid columns, broke through the barrier of
+the Rhine, during the severity of a northern winter. Two Roman counts
+were defeated and mortally wounded; and the standard of the Heruli and
+Batavians fell into the hands of the Heruli and Batavians fell into
+the hands of the conquerors, who displayed, with insulting shouts and
+menaces, the trophy of their victory. The standard was recovered; but
+the Batavians had not redeemed the shame of their disgrace and flight in
+the eyes of their severe judge. It was the opinion of Valentinian, that
+his soldiers must learn to fear their commander, before they could cease
+to fear the enemy. The troops were solemnly assembled; and the trembling
+Batavians were enclosed within the circle of the Imperial army.
+Valentinian then ascended his tribunal; and, as if he disdained to
+punish cowardice with death, he inflicted a stain of indelible ignominy
+on the officers, whose misconduct and pusillanimity were found to be
+the first occasion of the defeat. The Batavians were degraded from their
+rank, stripped of their arms, and condemned to be sold for slaves to the
+highest bidder. At this tremendous sentence, the troops fell prostrate
+on the ground, deprecated the indignation of their sovereign, and
+protested, that, if he would indulge them in another trial, they would
+approve themselves not unworthy of the name of Romans, and of his
+soldiers. Valentinian, with affected reluctance, yielded to their
+entreaties; the Batavians resumed their arms, and with their arms, the
+invincible resolution of wiping away their disgrace in the blood of the
+Alemanni. [89] The principal command was declined by Dagalaiphus; and
+that experienced general, who had represented, perhaps with too
+much prudence, the extreme difficulties of the undertaking, had the
+mortification, before the end of the campaign, of seeing his rival
+Jovinus convert those difficulties into a decisive advantage over the
+scattered forces of the Barbarians. At the head of a well-disciplined
+army of cavalry, infantry, and light troops, Jovinus advanced, with
+cautious and rapid steps, to Scarponna, [90] [90a] in the territory of
+Metz, where he surprised a large division of the Alemanni, before
+they had time to run to their arms; and flushed his soldiers with the
+confidence of an easy and bloodless victory. Another division, or
+rather army, of the enemy, after the cruel and wanton devastation of the
+adjacent country, reposed themselves on the shady banks of the Moselle.
+Jovinus, who had viewed the ground with the eye of a general, made a
+silent approach through a deep and woody vale, till he could distinctly
+perceive the indolent security of the Germans. Some were bathing their
+huge limbs in the river; others were combing their long and flaxen hair;
+others again were swallowing large draughts of rich and delicious wine.
+On a sudden they heard the sound of the Roman trumpet; they saw the
+enemy in their camp. Astonishment produced disorder; disorder was
+followed by flight and dismay; and the confused multitude of the bravest
+warriors was pierced by the swords and javelins of the legionaries and
+auxiliaries. The fugitives escaped to the third, and most considerable,
+camp, in the Catalonian plains, near Chalons in Champagne: the
+straggling detachments were hastily recalled to their standard; and
+the Barbarian chiefs, alarmed and admonished by the fate of their
+companions, prepared to encounter, in a decisive battle, the victorious
+forces of the lieutenant of Valentinian. The bloody and obstinate
+conflict lasted a whole summer's day, with equal valor, and with
+alternate success. The Romans at length prevailed, with the loss of
+about twelve hundred men. Six thousand of the Alemanni were slain, four
+thousand were wounded; and the brave Jovinus, after chasing the flying
+remnant of their host as far as the banks of the Rhine, returned to
+Paris, to receive the applause of his sovereign, and the ensigns of
+the consulship for the ensuing year. [91] The triumph of the Romans was
+indeed sullied by their treatment of the captive king, whom they hung
+on a gibbet, without the knowledge of their indignant general. This
+disgraceful act of cruelty, which might be imputed to the fury of the
+troops, was followed by the deliberate murder of Withicab, the son of
+Vadomair; a German prince, of a weak and sickly constitution, but of a
+daring and formidable spirit. The domestic assassin was instigated and
+protected by the Romans; [92] and the violation of the laws of humanity
+and justice betrayed their secret apprehension of the weakness of the
+declining empire. The use of the dagger is seldom adopted in public
+councils, as long as they retain any confidence in the power of the
+sword.
+
+[Footnote 88: Ammian, xxvi. 5. Valesius adds a long and good note on the
+master of the offices.]
+
+[Footnote 89: Ammian. xxvii. 1. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 208. The disgrace of
+the Batavians is suppressed by the contemporary soldier, from a regard
+for military honor, which could not affect a Greek rhetorician of the
+succeeding age.]
+
+[Footnote 90: See D'Anville, Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 587. The
+name of the Moselle, which is not specified by Ammianus, is clearly
+understood by Mascou, (Hist. of the Ancient Germans, vii. 2)]
+
+[Footnote 90a: Charpeigne on the Moselle. Mannert--M.]
+
+[Footnote 91: The battles are described by Ammianus, (xxvii. 2,) and
+by Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 209,) who supposes Valentinian to have been
+present.]
+
+[Footnote 92: Studio solicitante nostrorum, occubuit. Ammian xxvii. 10.]
+
+While the Alemanni appeared to be humbled by their recent calamities,
+the pride of Valentinian was mortified by the unexpected surprisal of
+Moguntiacum, or Mentz, the principal city of the Upper Germany. In the
+unsuspicious moment of a Christian festival, [92a] Rando, a bold and
+artful chieftain, who had long meditated his attempt, suddenly passed
+the Rhine; entered the defenceless town, and retired with a multitude of
+captives of either sex. Valentinian resolved to execute severe vengeance
+on the whole body of the nation. Count Sebastian, with the bands of
+Italy and Illyricum, was ordered to invade their country, most probably
+on the side of Rhaetia. The emperor in person, accompanied by his son
+Gratian, passed the Rhine at the head of a formidable army, which was
+supported on both flanks by Jovinus and Severus, the two masters-general
+of the cavalry and infantry of the West. The Alemanni, unable to prevent
+the devastation of their villages, fixed their camp on a lofty, and
+almost inaccessible, mountain, in the modern duchy of Wirtemberg, and
+resolutely expected the approach of the Romans. The life of Valentinian
+was exposed to imminent danger by the intrepid curiosity with which
+he persisted to explore some secret and unguarded path. A troop of
+Barbarians suddenly rose from their ambuscade: and the emperor, who
+vigorously spurred his horse down a steep and slippery descent,
+was obliged to leave behind him his armor-bearer, and his helmet,
+magnificently enriched with gold and precious stones. At the signal
+of the general assault, the Roman troops encompassed and ascended the
+mountain of Solicinium on three different sides. [92b] Every step which
+they gained, increased their ardor, and abated the resistance of the
+enemy: and after their united forces had occupied the summit of the
+hill, they impetuously urged the Barbarians down the northern descent,
+where Count Sebastian was posted to intercept their retreat. After this
+signal victory, Valentinian returned to his winter quarters at Treves;
+where he indulged the public joy by the exhibition of splendid and
+triumphal games. [93] But the wise monarch, instead of aspiring to
+the conquest of Germany, confined his attention to the important
+and laborious defence of the Gallic frontier, against an enemy whose
+strength was renewed by a stream of daring volunteers, which incessantly
+flowed from the most distant tribes of the North. [94] The banks of the
+Rhine [94a] from its source to the straits of the ocean, were closely
+planted with strong castles and convenient towers; new works, and new
+arms, were invented by the ingenuity of a prince who was skilled in the
+mechanical arts; and his numerous levies of Roman and Barbarian youth
+were severely trained in all the exercises of war. The progress of
+the work, which was sometimes opposed by modest representations, and
+sometimes by hostile attempts, secured the tranquillity of Gaul during
+the nine subsequent years of the administration of Valentinian. [95]
+
+[Footnote 92a: Probably Easter. Wagner.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 92b: Mannert is unable to fix the position of Solicinium.
+Haefelin (in Comm Acad Elect. Palat. v. 14) conjectures Schwetzingen,
+near Heidelberg. See Wagner's note. St. Martin, Sultz in Wirtemberg,
+near the sources of the Neckar St. Martin, iii. 339.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 93: The expedition of Valentinian is related by Ammianus,
+(xxvii. 10;) and celebrated by Ausonius, (Mosell. 421, &c.,) who
+foolishly supposes, that the Romans were ignorant of the sources of the
+Danube.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Immanis enim natio, jam inde ab incunabulis primis
+varietate casuum imminuta; ita saepius adolescit, ut fuisse longis
+saeculis aestimetur intacta. Ammianus, xxviii. 5. The Count de Buat
+(Hist. des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vi. p. 370) ascribes the fecundity
+of the Alemanni to their easy adoption of strangers. ----Note: "This
+explanation," says Mr. Malthus, "only removes the difficulty a little
+farther off. It makes the earth rest upon the tortoise, but does not
+tell us on what the tortoise rests. We may still ask what northern
+reservoir supplied this incessant stream of daring adventurers.
+Montesquieu's solution of the problem will, I think, hardly be admitted,
+(Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, c. 16, p. 187.) * * * The whole
+difficulty, however, is at once removed, if we apply to the German
+nations, at that time, a fact which is so generally known to have
+occurred in America, and suppose that, when not checked by wars and
+famine, they increased at a rate that would double their numbers in
+twenty-five or thirty years. The propriety, and even the necessity, of
+applying this rate of increase to the inhabitants of ancient Germany,
+will strikingly appear from that most valuable picture of their manners
+which has been left us by Tacitus, (Tac. de Mor. Germ. 16 to 20.) * *
+* With these manners, and a habit of enterprise and emigration, which
+would naturally remove all fears about providing for a family, it is
+difficult to conceive a society with a stronger principle of increase
+in it, and we see at once that prolific source of armies and colonies
+against which the force of the Roman empire so long struggled with
+difficulty, and under which it ultimately sunk. It is not probable that,
+for two periods together, or even for one, the population within the
+confines of Germany ever doubled itself in twenty-five years. Their
+perpetual wars, the rude state of agriculture, and particularly the very
+strange custom adopted by most of the tribes of marking their barriers
+by extensive deserts, would prevent any very great actual increase of
+numbers. At no one period could the country be called well peopled,
+though it was often redundant in population. * * * Instead of clearing
+their forests, draining their swamps, and rendering their soil fit to
+support an extended population, they found it more congenial to their
+martial habits and impatient dispositions to go in quest of food, of
+plunder, or of glory, into other countries." Malthus on Population, i.
+p. 128.--G.]
+
+[Footnote 94a: The course of the Neckar was likewise strongly guarded.
+The hyperbolical eulogy of Symmachus asserts that the Neckar first
+became known to the Romans by the conquests and fortifications of
+Valentinian. Nunc primum victoriis tuis externus fluvius publicatur.
+Gaudeat servitute, captivus innotuit. Symm. Orat. p. 22.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 95: Ammian. xxviii. 2. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 214. The younger
+Victor mentions the mechanical genius of Valentinian, nova arma meditari
+fingere terra seu limo simulacra.]
+
+That prudent emperor, who diligently practised the wise maxims of
+Diocletian, was studious to foment and excite the intestine divisions
+of the tribes of Germany. About the middle of the fourth century, the
+countries, perhaps of Lusace and Thuringia, on either side of the Elbe,
+were occupied by the vague dominion of the Burgundians; a warlike and
+numerous people, [95a] of the Vandal race, [96] whose obscure name
+insensibly swelled into a powerful kingdom, and has finally settled on
+a flourishing province. The most remarkable circumstance in the ancient
+manners of the Burgundians appears to have been the difference of their
+civil and ecclesiastical constitution. The appellation of Hendinos was
+given to the king or general, and the title of Sinistus to the high
+priest, of the nation. The person of the priest was sacred, and his
+dignity perpetual; but the temporal government was held by a very
+precarious tenure. If the events of war accuses the courage or conduct
+of the king, he was immediately deposed; and the injustice of his
+subjects made him responsible for the fertility of the earth, and the
+regularity of the seasons, which seemed to fall more properly within the
+sacerdotal department. [97] The disputed possession of some salt-pits
+[98] engaged the Alemanni and the Burgundians in frequent contests:
+the latter were easily tempted, by the secret solicitations and liberal
+offers of the emperor; and their fabulous descent from the Roman
+soldiers, who had formerly been left to garrison the fortresses of
+Drusus, was admitted with mutual credulity, as it was conducive to
+mutual interest. [99] An army of fourscore thousand Burgundians soon
+appeared on the banks of the Rhine; and impatiently required the support
+and subsidies which Valentinian had promised: but they were amused with
+excuses and delays, till at length, after a fruitless expectation, they
+were compelled to retire. The arms and fortifications of the Gallic
+frontier checked the fury of their just resentment; and their
+massacre of the captives served to imbitter the hereditary feud of the
+Burgundians and the Alemanni. The inconstancy of a wise prince may,
+perhaps, be explained by some alteration of circumstances; and perhaps
+it was the original design of Valentinian to intimidate, rather than to
+destroy; as the balance of power would have been equally overturned by
+the extirpation of either of the German nations. Among the princes of
+the Alemanni, Macrianus, who, with a Roman name, had assumed the arts of
+a soldier and a statesman, deserved his hatred and esteem. The emperor
+himself, with a light and unencumbered band, condescended to pass the
+Rhine, marched fifty miles into the country, and would infallibly have
+seized the object of his pursuit, if his judicious measures had not
+been defeated by the impatience of the troops. Macrianus was afterwards
+admitted to the honor of a personal conference with the emperor; and
+the favors which he received, fixed him, till the hour of his death, a
+steady and sincere friend of the republic. [100]
+
+[Footnote 95a: According to the general opinion, the Burgundians formed
+a Gothic o Vandalic tribe, who, from the banks of the Lower Vistula,
+made incursions, on one side towards Transylvania, on the other towards
+the centre of Germany. All that remains of the Burgundian language is
+Gothic. * * * Nothing in their customs indicates a different origin.
+Malte Brun, Geog. tom. i. p. 396. (edit. 1831.)--M.]
+
+[Footnote 96: Bellicosos et pubis immensae viribus affluentes; et ideo
+metuendos finitimis universis. Ammian. xxviii. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 97: I am always apt to suspect historians and travellers of
+improving extraordinary facts into general laws. Ammianus ascribes a
+similar custom to Egypt; and the Chinese have imputed it to the Ta-tsin,
+or Roman empire, (De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. part. 79.)]
+
+[Footnote 98: Salinarum finiumque causa Alemannis saepe jurgabant.
+Ammian xxviii. 5. Possibly they disputed the possession of the Sala,
+a river which produced salt, and which had been the object of ancient
+contention. Tacit. Annal. xiii. 57, and Lipsius ad loc.]
+
+[Footnote 99: Jam inde temporibus priscis sobolem se esse Romanam
+Burgundii sciunt: and the vague tradition gradually assumed a more
+regular form, (Oros. l. vii. c. 32.) It is annihilated by the decisive
+authority of Pliny, who composed the History of Drusus, and served in
+Germany, (Plin. Secund. Epist. iii. 5,) within sixty years after the
+death of that hero. Germanorum genera quinque; Vindili, quorum pars
+Burgundiones, &c., (Hist. Natur. iv. 28.)]
+
+[Footnote 100: The wars and negotiations relative to the Burgundians and
+Alemanni, are distinctly related by Ammianus Marcellinus, (xxviii. 5,
+xxix 4, xxx. 3.) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 32,) and the Chronicles of Jerom
+and Cassiodorus, fix some dates, and add some circumstances.]
+
+The land was covered by the fortifications of Valentinian; but the
+sea-coast of Gaul and Britain was exposed to the depredations of the
+Saxons. That celebrated name, in which we have a dear and domestic
+interest, escaped the notice of Tacitus; and in the maps of Ptolemy, it
+faintly marks the narrow neck of the Cimbric peninsula, and three small
+islands towards the mouth of the Elbe. [101] This contracted territory,
+the present duchy of Sleswig, or perhaps of Holstein, was incapable of
+pouring forth the inexhaustible swarms of Saxons who reigned over the
+ocean, who filled the British island with their language, their laws,
+and their colonies; and who so long defended the liberty of the North
+against the arms of Charlemagne. [102] The solution of this difficulty
+is easily derived from the similar manners, and loose constitution,
+of the tribes of Germany; which were blended with each other by the
+slightest accidents of war or friendship. The situation of the native
+Saxons disposed them to embrace the hazardous professions of fishermen
+and pirates; and the success of their first adventures would naturally
+excite the emulation of their bravest countrymen, who were impatient of
+the gloomy solitude of their woods and mountains. Every tide might float
+down the Elbe whole fleets of canoes, filled with hardy and intrepid
+associates, who aspired to behold the unbounded prospect of the ocean,
+and to taste the wealth and luxury of unknown worlds. It should seem
+probable, however, that the most numerous auxiliaries of the Saxons were
+furnished by the nations who dwelt along the shores of the Baltic. They
+possessed arms and ships, the art of navigation, and the habits of
+naval war; but the difficulty of issuing through the northern columns of
+Hercules [103] (which, during several months of the year, are obstructed
+with ice) confined their skill and courage within the limits of a
+spacious lake. The rumor of the successful armaments which sailed from
+the mouth of the Elbe, would soon provoke them to cross the narrow
+isthmus of Sleswig, and to launch their vessels on the great sea. The
+various troops of pirates and adventurers, who fought under the same
+standard, were insensibly united in a permanent society, at first of
+rapine, and afterwards of government. A military confederation was
+gradually moulded into a national body, by the gentle operation of
+marriage and consanguinity; and the adjacent tribes, who solicited the
+alliance, accepted the name and laws, of the Saxons. If the fact were
+not established by the most unquestionable evidence, we should appear to
+abuse the credulity of our readers, by the description of the vessels
+in which the Saxon pirates ventured to sport in the waves of the German
+Ocean, the British Channel, and the Bay of Biscay. The keel of their
+large flat-bottomed boats were framed of light timber, but the sides and
+upper works consisted only of wicker, with a covering of strong hides.
+[104] In the course of their slow and distant navigations, they must
+always have been exposed to the danger, and very frequently to the
+misfortune, of shipwreck; and the naval annals of the Saxons were
+undoubtedly filled with the accounts of the losses which they sustained
+on the coasts of Britain and Gaul. But the daring spirit of the pirates
+braved the perils both of the sea and of the shore: their skill was
+confirmed by the habits of enterprise; the meanest of their mariners was
+alike capable of handling an oar, of rearing a sail, or of conducting
+a vessel, and the Saxons rejoiced in the appearance of a tempest, which
+concealed their design, and dispersed the fleets of the enemy. [105]
+After they had acquired an accurate knowledge of the maritime provinces
+of the West, they extended the scene of their depredations, and the most
+sequestered places had no reason to presume on their security. The Saxon
+boats drew so little water that they could easily proceed fourscore or
+a hundred miles up the great rivers; their weight was so inconsiderable,
+that they were transported on wagons from one river to another; and the
+pirates who had entered the mouth of the Seine, or of the Rhine, might
+descend, with the rapid stream of the Rhone, into the Mediterranean.
+Under the reign of Valentinian, the maritime provinces of Gaul were
+afflicted by the Saxons: a military count was stationed for the defence
+of the sea-coast, or Armorican limit; and that officer, who found his
+strength, or his abilities, unequal to the task, implored the assistance
+of Severus, master-general of the infantry. The Saxons, surrounded
+and outnumbered, were forced to relinquish their spoil, and to yield
+a select band of their tall and robust youth to serve in the Imperial
+armies. They stipulated only a safe and honorable retreat; and the
+condition was readily granted by the Roman general, who meditated an act
+of perfidy, [106] imprudent as it was inhuman, while a Saxon remained
+alive, and in arms, to revenge the fate of their countrymen. The
+premature eagerness of the infantry, who were secretly posted in a deep
+valley, betrayed the ambuscade; and they would perhaps have fallen the
+victims of their own treachery, if a large body of cuirassiers, alarmed
+by the noise of the combat, had not hastily advanced to extricate their
+companions, and to overwhelm the undaunted valor of the Saxons. Some of
+the prisoners were saved from the edge of the sword, to shed their
+blood in the amphitheatre; and the orator Symmachus complains, that
+twenty-nine of those desperate savages, by strangling themselves with
+their own hands, had disappointed the amusement of the public. Yet the
+polite and philosophic citizens of Rome were impressed with the deepest
+horror, when they were informed, that the Saxons consecrated to the gods
+the tithe of their human spoil; and that they ascertained by lot the
+objects of the barbarous sacrifice. [107]
+
+[Footnote 101: At the northern extremity of the peninsula, (the Cimbric
+promontory of Pliny, iv. 27,) Ptolemy fixes the remnant of the Cimbri.
+He fills the interval between the Saxons and the Cimbri with six obscure
+tribes, who were united, as early as the sixth century, under the
+national appellation of Danes. See Cluver. German. Antiq. l. iii. c. 21,
+22, 23.]
+
+[Footnote 102: M. D'Anville (Establissement des Etats de l'Europe, &c.,
+p. 19-26) has marked the extensive limits of the Saxony of Charlemagne.]
+
+[Footnote 103: The fleet of Drusus had failed in their attempt to pass,
+or even to approach, the Sound, (styled, from an obvious resemblance,
+the columns of Hercules,) and the naval enterprise was never resumed,
+(Tacit. de Moribus German. c. 34.) The knowledge which the Romans
+acquired of the naval powers of the Baltic, (c. 44, 45) was obtained by
+their land journeys in search of amber.]
+
+[Footnote 104:
+
+     Quin et Aremoricus piratam Saxona tractus
+     Sperabat; cui pelle salum sulcare Britannum
+     Ludus; et assuto glaucum mare findere lembo
+     Sidon. in Panegyr. Avit. 369.
+
+The genius of Caesar imitated, for a particular service, these rude,
+but light vessels, which were likewise used by the natives of Britain.
+(Comment. de Bell. Civil. i. 51, and Guichardt, Nouveaux Memoires
+Militaires, tom. ii. p. 41, 42.) The British vessels would now astonish
+the genius of Caesar.]
+
+[Footnote 105: The best original account of the Saxon pirates may
+be found in Sidonius Apollinaris, (l. viii. epist. 6, p. 223, edit.
+Sirmond,) and the best commentary in the Abbe du Bos, (Hist. Critique
+de la Monarchie Francoise, &c. tom. i. l. i. c. 16, p. 148-155. See
+likewise p. 77, 78.)]
+
+[Footnote 106: Ammian. (xxviii. 5) justifies this breach of faith to
+pirates and robbers; and Orosius (l. vii. c. 32) more clearly expresses
+their real guilt; virtute atque agilitate terribeles.]
+
+[Footnote 107: Symmachus (l. ii. epist. 46) still presumes to mention
+the sacred name of Socrates and philosophy. Sidonius, bishop of
+Clermont, might condemn, (l. viii. epist. 6,) with less inconsistency,
+the human sacrifices of the Saxons.]
+
+II. The fabulous colonies of Egyptians and Trojans, of Scandinavians and
+Spaniards, which flattered the pride, and amused the credulity, of our
+rude ancestors, have insensibly vanished in the light of science and
+philosophy. [108] The present age is satisfied with the simple and
+rational opinion, that the islands of Great Britain and Ireland were
+gradually peopled from the adjacent continent of Gaul. From the coast of
+Kent, to the extremity of Caithness and Ulster, the memory of a Celtic
+origin was distinctly preserved, in the perpetual resemblance of
+language, of religion, and of manners; and the peculiar characters
+of the British tribes might be naturally ascribed to the influence of
+accidental and local circumstances. [109] The Roman Province was reduced
+to the state of civilized and peaceful servitude; the rights of
+savage freedom were contracted to the narrow limits of Caledonia. The
+inhabitants of that northern region were divided, as early as the reign
+of Constantine, between the two great tribes of the Scots and of the
+Picts, [110] who have since experienced a very different fortune. The
+power, and almost the memory, of the Picts have been extinguished by
+their successful rivals; and the Scots, after maintaining for ages the
+dignity of an independent kingdom, have multiplied, by an equal and
+voluntary union, the honors of the English name. The hand of nature had
+contributed to mark the ancient distinctions of the Scots and Picts. The
+former were the men of the hills, and the latter those of the plain.
+The eastern coast of Caledonia may be considered as a level and
+fertile country, which, even in a rude state of tillage, was capable of
+producing a considerable quantity of corn; and the epithet of cruitnich,
+or wheat-eaters, expressed the contempt or envy of the carnivorous
+highlander. The cultivation of the earth might introduce a more accurate
+separation of property, and the habits of a sedentary life; but the love
+of arms and rapine was still the ruling passion of the Picts; and
+their warriors, who stripped themselves for a day of battle, were
+distinguished, in the eyes of the Romans, by the strange fashion of
+painting their naked bodies with gaudy colors and fantastic figures. The
+western part of Caledonia irregularly rises into wild and barren hills,
+which scarcely repay the toil of the husbandman, and are most profitably
+used for the pasture of cattle. The highlanders were condemned to the
+occupations of shepherds and hunters; and, as they seldom were fixed to
+any permanent habitation, they acquired the expressive name of Scots,
+which, in the Celtic tongue, is said to be equivalent to that of
+wanderers, or vagrants. The inhabitants of a barren land were urged to
+seek a fresh supply of food in the waters. The deep lakes and bays which
+intersect their country, are plentifully supplied with fish; and they
+gradually ventured to cast their nets in the waves of the ocean. The
+vicinity of the Hebrides, so profusely scattered along the western coast
+of Scotland, tempted their curiosity, and improved their skill; and they
+acquired, by slow degrees, the art, or rather the habit, of managing
+their boats in a tempestuous sea, and of steering their nocturnal
+course by the light of the well-known stars. The two bold headlands of
+Caledonia almost touch the shores of a spacious island, which obtained,
+from its luxuriant vegetation, the epithet of Green; and has preserved,
+with a slight alteration, the name of Erin, or Ierne, or Ireland. It is
+probable, that in some remote period of antiquity, the fertile plains of
+Ulster received a colony of hungry Scots; and that the strangers of the
+North, who had dared to encounter the arms of the legions, spread their
+conquests over the savage and unwarlike natives of a solitary island. It
+is certain, that, in the declining age of the Roman empire, Caledonia,
+Ireland, and the Isle of Man, were inhabited by the Scots, and that the
+kindred tribes, who were often associated in military enterprise, were
+deeply affected by the various accidents of their mutual fortunes. They
+long cherished the lively tradition of their common name and origin;
+and the missionaries of the Isle of Saints, who diffused the light of
+Christianity over North Britain, established the vain opinion, that
+their Irish countrymen were the natural, as well as spiritual, fathers
+of the Scottish race. The loose and obscure tradition has been preserved
+by the venerable Bede, who scattered some rays of light over the
+darkness of the eighth century. On this slight foundation, a huge
+superstructure of fable was gradually reared, by the bards and the
+monks; two orders of men, who equally abused the privilege of fiction.
+The Scottish nation, with mistaken pride, adopted their Irish genealogy;
+and the annals of a long line of imaginary kings have been adorned by
+the fancy of Boethius, and the classic elegance of Buchanan. [111]
+
+[Footnote 108: In the beginning of the last century, the learned Camden
+was obliged to undermine, with respectful scepticism, the romance of
+Brutus, the Trojan; who is now buried in silent oblivion with Scota the
+daughter of Pharaoh, and her numerous progeny. Yet I am informed, that
+some champions of the Milesian colony may still be found among the
+original natives of Ireland. A people dissatisfied with their present
+condition, grasp at any visions of their past or future glory.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Tacitus, or rather his father-in-law, Agricola, might
+remark the German or Spanish complexion of some British tribes. But
+it was their sober, deliberate opinion: "In universum tamen
+aestimanti Gallos cicinum solum occupasse credibile est. Eorum sacra
+deprehendas.... ermo haud multum diversus," (in Vit. Agricol. c. xi.)
+Caesar had observed their common religion, (Comment. de Bello Gallico,
+vi. 13;) and in his time the emigration from the Belgic Gaul was a
+recent, or at least an historical event, (v. 10.) Camden, the British
+Strabo, has modestly ascertained our genuine antiquities, (Britannia,
+vol. i. Introduction, p. ii.--xxxi.)]
+
+[Footnote 110: In the dark and doubtful paths of Caledonian antiquity,
+I have chosen for my guides two learned and ingenious Highlanders, whom
+their birth and education had peculiarly qualified for that office.
+See Critical Dissertations on the Origin and Antiquities, &c., of
+the Caledonians, by Dr. John Macpherson, London 1768, in 4to.; and
+Introduction to the History of Great Britain and Ireland, by James
+Macpherson, Esq., London 1773, in 4to., third edit. Dr. Macpherson was a
+minister in the Isle of Sky: and it is a circumstance honorable for the
+present age, that a work, replete with erudition and criticism, should
+have been composed in the most remote of the Hebrides.]
+
+[Footnote 111: The Irish descent of the Scots has been revived in the
+last moments of its decay, and strenuously supported, by the Rev. Mr.
+Whitaker, (Hist. of Manchester, vol. i. p. 430, 431; and Genuine History
+of the Britons asserted, &c., p. 154-293) Yet he acknowledges, 1. That
+the Scots of Ammianus Marcellinus (A.D. 340) were already settled in
+Caledonia; and that the Roman authors do not afford any hints of their
+emigration from another country. 2. That all the accounts of such
+emigrations, which have been asserted or received, by Irish bards,
+Scotch historians, or English antiquaries, (Buchanan, Camden, Usher,
+Stillingfleet, &c.,) are totally fabulous. 3. That three of the Irish
+tribes, which are mentioned by Ptolemy, (A.D. 150,) were of Caledonian
+extraction. 4. That a younger branch of Caledonian princes, of the house
+of Fingal, acquired and possessed the monarchy of Ireland. After these
+concessions, the remaining difference between Mr. Whitaker and his
+adversaries is minute and obscure. The genuine history, which he
+produces, of a Fergus, the cousin of Ossian, who was transplanted (A.D.
+320) from Ireland to Caledonia, is built on a conjectural supplement to
+the Erse poetry, and the feeble evidence of Richard of Cirencester, a
+monk of the fourteenth century. The lively spirit of the learned
+and ingenious antiquarian has tempted him to forget the nature of a
+question, which he so vehemently debates, and so absolutely decides. *
+Note: This controversy has not slumbered since the days of Gibbon. We
+have strenuous advocates of the Phoenician origin of the Irish, and each
+of the old theories, with several new ones, maintains its partisans. It
+would require several pages fairly to bring down the dispute to our own
+days, and perhaps we should be no nearer to any satisfactory theory than
+Gibbon was.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
+Empire.--Part V.
+
+Six years after the death of Constantine, the destructive inroads of the
+Scots and Picts required the presence of his youngest son, who reigned
+in the Western empire. Constans visited his British dominions: but we
+may form some estimate of the importance of his achievements, by the
+language of panegyric, which celebrates only his triumph over the
+elements or, in other words, the good fortune of a safe and easy
+passage from the port of Boulogne to the harbor of Sandwich. [112] The
+calamities which the afflicted provincials continued to experience,
+from foreign war and domestic tyranny, were aggravated by the feeble and
+corrupt administration of the eunuchs of Constantius; and the transient
+relief which they might obtain from the virtues of Julian, was soon
+lost by the absence and death of their benefactor. The sums of gold and
+silver, which had been painfully collected, or liberally transmitted,
+for the payment of the troops, were intercepted by the avarice of the
+commanders; discharges, or, at least, exemptions, from the military
+service, were publicly sold; the distress of the soldiers, who were
+injuriously deprived of their legal and scanty subsistence, provoked
+them to frequent desertion; the nerves of discipline were relaxed, and
+the highways were infested with robbers. [113] The oppression of the
+good, and the impunity of the wicked, equally contributed to diffuse
+through the island a spirit of discontent and revolt; and every
+ambitious subject, every desperate exile, might entertain a reasonable
+hope of subverting the weak and distracted government of Britain. The
+hostile tribes of the North, who detested the pride and power of the
+King of the World, suspended their domestic feuds; and the Barbarians
+of the land and sea, the Scots, the Picts, and the Saxons, spread
+themselves with rapid and irresistible fury, from the wall of Antoninus
+to the shores of Kent. Every production of art and nature, every object
+of convenience and luxury, which they were incapable of creating by
+labor or procuring by trade, was accumulated in the rich and fruitful
+province of Britain. [114] A philosopher may deplore the eternal
+discords of the human race, but he will confess, that the desire of
+spoil is a more rational provocation than the vanity of conquest.
+From the age of Constantine to the Plantagenets, this rapacious spirit
+continued to instigate the poor and hardy Caledonians; but the same
+people, whose generous humanity seems to inspire the songs of Ossian,
+was disgraced by a savage ignorance of the virtues of peace, and of
+the laws of war. Their southern neighbors have felt, and perhaps
+exaggerated, the cruel depredations of the Scots and Picts; [115] and
+a valiant tribe of Caledonia, the Attacotti, [116] the enemies, and
+afterwards the soldiers, of Valentinian, are accused, by an eye-witness,
+of delighting in the taste of human flesh. When they hunted the woods
+for prey, it is said, that they attacked the shepherd rather than his
+flock; and that they curiously selected the most delicate and brawny
+parts, both of males and females, which they prepared for their horrid
+repasts. [117] If, in the neighborhood of the commercial and literary
+town of Glasgow, a race of cannibals has really existed, we may
+contemplate, in the period of the Scottish history, the opposite
+extremes of savage and civilized life. Such reflections tend to enlarge
+the circle of our ideas; and to encourage the pleasing hope, that
+New Zealand may produce, in some future age, the Hume of the Southern
+Hemisphere.
+
+[Footnote 112: Hyeme tumentes ac saevientes undas calcastis Oceani
+sub remis vestris;... insperatam imperatoris faciem Britannus expavit.
+Julius Fermicus Maternus de Errore Profan. Relig. p. 464. edit. Gronov.
+ad calcem Minuc. Fael. See Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p.
+336.)]
+
+[Footnote 113: Libanius, Orat. Parent. c. xxxix. p. 264. This curious
+passage has escaped the diligence of our British antiquaries.]
+
+[Footnote 114: The Caledonians praised and coveted the gold, the steeds,
+the lights, &c., of the stranger. See Dr. Blair's Dissertation on
+Ossian, vol ii. p. 343; and Mr. Macpherson's Introduction, p. 242-286.]
+
+[Footnote 115: Lord Lyttelton has circumstantially related, (History
+of Henry II. vol. i. p. 182,) and Sir David Dalrymple has slightly
+mentioned, (Annals of Scotland, vol. i. p. 69,) a barbarous inroad of
+the Scots, at a time (A.D. 1137) when law, religion, and society must
+have softened their primitive manners.]
+
+[Footnote 116: Attacotti bellicosa hominum natio. Ammian. xxvii. 8.
+Camden (Introduct. p. clii.) has restored their true name in the text
+of Jerom. The bands of Attacotti, which Jerom had seen in Gaul, were
+afterwards stationed in Italy and Illyricum, (Notitia, S. viii. xxxix.
+xl.)]
+
+[Footnote 117: Cum ipse adolescentulus in Gallia viderim Attacottos (or
+Scotos) gentem Britannicam humanis vesci carnibus; et cum per silvas
+porcorum greges, et armentorum percudumque reperiant, pastorum nates
+et feminarum papillas solere abscindere; et has solas ciborum delicias
+arbitrari. Such is the evidence of Jerom, (tom. ii. p. 75,) whose
+veracity I find no reason to question. * Note: See Dr. Parr's works,
+iii. 93, where he questions the propriety of Gibbon's translation of
+this passage. The learned doctor approves of the version proposed by
+a Mr. Gaches, who would make out that it was the delicate parts of the
+swine and the cattle, which were eaten by these ancestors of the Scotch
+nation. I confess that even to acquit them of this charge. I cannot
+agree to the new version, which, in my opinion, is directly contrary
+both to the meaning of the words, and the general sense of the passage.
+But I would suggest, did Jerom, as a boy, accompany these savages in
+any of their hunting expeditions? If he did not, how could he be an
+eye-witness of this practice? The Attacotti in Gaul must have been
+in the service of Rome. Were they permitted to indulge these cannibal
+propensities at the expense, not of the flocks, but of the shepherds of
+the provinces? These sanguinary trophies of plunder would scarce'y have
+been publicly exhibited in a Roman city or a Roman camp. I must leave
+the hereditary pride of our northern neighbors at issue with the
+veracity of St. Jerom.]
+
+Every messenger who escaped across the British Channel, conveyed the
+most melancholy and alarming tidings to the ears of Valentinian; and
+the emperor was soon informed that the two military commanders of the
+province had been surprised and cut off by the Barbarians. Severus,
+count of the domestics, was hastily despatched, and as suddenly
+recalled, by the court of Treves. The representations of Jovinus served
+only to indicate the greatness of the evil; and, after a long and
+serious consultation, the defence, or rather the recovery, of Britain
+was intrusted to the abilities of the brave Theodosius. The exploits of
+that general, the father of a line of emperors, have been celebrated,
+with peculiar complacency, by the writers of the age: but his real merit
+deserved their applause; and his nomination was received, by the army
+and province, as a sure presage of approaching victory. He seized the
+favorable moment of navigation, and securely landed the numerous and
+veteran bands of the Heruli and Batavians, the Jovians and the Victors.
+In his march from Sandwich to London, Theodosius defeated several
+parties of the Barbarians, released a multitude of captives, and, after
+distributing to his soldiers a small portion of the spoil, established
+the fame of disinterested justice, by the restitution of the remainder
+to the rightful proprietors. The citizens of London, who had almost
+despaired of their safety, threw open their gates; and as soon as
+Theodosius had obtained from the court of Treves the important aid of a
+military lieutenant, and a civil governor, he executed, with wisdom and
+vigor, the laborious task of the deliverance of Britain. The vagrant
+soldiers were recalled to their standard; an edict of amnesty dispelled
+the public apprehensions; and his cheerful example alleviated the
+rigor of martial discipline. The scattered and desultory warfare of the
+Barbarians, who infested the land and sea, deprived him of the glory
+of a signal victory; but the prudent spirit, and consummate art, of the
+Roman general, were displayed in the operations of two campaigns, which
+successively rescued every part of the province from the hands of a
+cruel and rapacious enemy. The splendor of the cities, and the security
+of the fortifications, were diligently restored, by the paternal care of
+Theodosius; who with a strong hand confined the trembling Caledonians
+to the northern angle of the island; and perpetuated, by the name and
+settlement of the new province of Valentia, the glories of the reign of
+Valentinian. [118] The voice of poetry and panegyric may add, perhaps
+with some degree of truth, that the unknown regions of Thule were
+stained with the blood of the Picts; that the oars of Theodosius dashed
+the waves of the Hyperborean ocean; and that the distant Orkneys were
+the scene of his naval victory over the Saxon pirates. [119] He left
+the province with a fair, as well as splendid, reputation; and was
+immediately promoted to the rank of master-general of the cavalry, by
+a prince who could applaud, without envy, the merit of his servants.
+In the important station of the Upper Danube, the conqueror of Britain
+checked and defeated the armies of the Alemanni, before he was chosen to
+suppress the revolt of Africa.
+
+[Footnote 118: Ammianus has concisely represented (xx. l. xxvi. 4,
+xxvii. 8 xxviii. 3) the whole series of the British war.]
+
+[Footnote 119: Horrescit.... ratibus.... impervia Thule. Ille.... nec
+falso nomine Pictos Edomuit. Scotumque vago mucrone secutus, Fregit
+Hyperboreas remis audacibus undas. Claudian, in iii. Cons. Honorii, ver.
+53, &c--Madurunt Saxone fuso Orcades: incaluit Pictorum sanguine Thule,
+Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis Ierne. In iv. Cons. Hon. ver. 31, &c.
+-----See likewise Pacatus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 5.) But it is not easy
+to appreciate the intrinsic value of flattery and metaphor. Compare
+the British victories of Bolanus (Statius, Silv. v. 2) with his real
+character, (Tacit. in Vit. Agricol. c. 16.)]
+
+III. The prince who refuses to be the judge, instructs the people to
+consider him as the accomplice, of his ministers. The military command
+of Africa had been long exercised by Count Romanus, and his abilities
+were not inadequate to his station; but, as sordid interest was the sole
+motive of his conduct, he acted, on most occasions, as if he had been
+the enemy of the province, and the friend of the Barbarians of the
+desert. The three flourishing cities of Oea, Leptis, and Sobrata, which,
+under the name of Tripoli, had long constituted a federal union, [120]
+were obliged, for the first time, to shut their gates against a hostile
+invasion; several of their most honorable citizens were surprised and
+massacred; the villages, and even the suburbs, were pillaged; and the
+vines and fruit trees of that rich territory were extirpated by the
+malicious savages of Getulia. The unhappy provincials implored the
+protection of Romanus; but they soon found that their military governor
+was not less cruel and rapacious than the Barbarians. As they were
+incapable of furnishing the four thousand camels, and the exorbitant
+present, which he required, before he would march to the assistance of
+Tripoli; his demand was equivalent to a refusal, and he might justly be
+accused as the author of the public calamity. In the annual assembly
+of the three cities, they nominated two deputies, to lay at the feet of
+Valentinian the customary offering of a gold victory; and to accompany
+this tribute of duty, rather than of gratitude, with their humble
+complaint, that they were ruined by the enemy, and betrayed by their
+governor. If the severity of Valentinian had been rightly directed, it
+would have fallen on the guilty head of Romanus. But the count, long
+exercised in the arts of corruption, had despatched a swift and trusty
+messenger to secure the venal friendship of Remigius, master of the
+offices. The wisdom of the Imperial council was deceived by artifice;
+and their honest indignation was cooled by delay. At length, when the
+repetition of complaint had been justified by the repetition of public
+misfortunes, the notary Palladius was sent from the court of Treves,
+to examine the state of Africa, and the conduct of Romanus. The rigid
+impartiality of Palladius was easily disarmed: he was tempted to reserve
+for himself a part of the public treasure, which he brought with him for
+the payment of the troops; and from the moment that he was conscious
+of his own guilt, he could no longer refuse to attest the innocence and
+merit of the count. The charge of the Tripolitans was declared to be
+false and frivolous; and Palladius himself was sent back from Treves to
+Africa, with a special commission to discover and prosecute the authors
+of this impious conspiracy against the representatives of the sovereign.
+His inquiries were managed with so much dexterity and success, that he
+compelled the citizens of Leptis, who had sustained a recent siege of
+eight days, to contradict the truth of their own decrees, and to censure
+the behavior of their own deputies. A bloody sentence was pronounced,
+without hesitation, by the rash and headstrong cruelty of Valentinian.
+The president of Tripoli, who had presumed to pity the distress of the
+province, was publicly executed at Utica; four distinguished citizens
+were put to death, as the accomplices of the imaginary fraud; and the
+tongues of two others were cut out, by the express order of the emperor.
+Romanus, elated by impunity, and irritated by resistance, was still
+continued in the military command; till the Africans were provoked, by
+his avarice, to join the rebellious standard of Firmus, the Moor. [121]
+
+[Footnote 120: Ammianus frequently mentions their concilium annuum,
+legitimum, &c. Leptis and Sabrata are long since ruined; but the city
+of Oea, the native country of Apuleius, still flourishes under the
+provincial denomination of Tripoli. See Cellarius (Geograph. Antiqua,
+tom. ii. part ii. p. 81,) D'Anville, (Geographie Ancienne, tom. iii. p.
+71, 72,) and Marmol, (Arrique, tom. ii. p. 562.)]
+
+[Footnote 121: Ammian. xviii. 6. Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v.
+p 25, 676) has discussed the chronological difficulties of the history
+of Count Romanus.]
+
+His father Nabal was one of the richest and most powerful of the Moorish
+princes, who acknowledged the supremacy of Rome. But as he left, either
+by his wives or concubines, a very numerous posterity, the wealthy
+inheritance was eagerly disputed; and Zamma, one of his sons, was slain
+in a domestic quarrel by his brother Firmus. The implacable zeal, with
+which Romanus prosecuted the legal revenge of this murder, could be
+ascribed only to a motive of avarice, or personal hatred; but, on this
+occasion, his claims were just; his influence was weighty; and Firmus
+clearly understood, that he must either present his neck to the
+executioner, or appeal from the sentence of the Imperial consistory, to
+his sword, and to the people. [122] He was received as the deliverer
+of his country; and, as soon as it appeared that Romanus was formidable
+only to a submissive province, the tyrant of Africa became the object of
+universal contempt. The ruin of Caesarea, which was plundered and burnt
+by the licentious Barbarians, convinced the refractory cities of the
+danger of resistance; the power of Firmus was established, at least in
+the provinces of Mauritania and Numidia; and it seemed to be his only
+doubt whether he should assume the diadem of a Moorish king, or the
+purple of a Roman emperor. But the imprudent and unhappy Africans soon
+discovered, that, in this rash insurrection, they had not sufficiently
+consulted their own strength, or the abilities of their leader. Before
+he could procure any certain intelligence, that the emperor of the West
+had fixed the choice of a general, or that a fleet of transports was
+collected at the mouth of the Rhone, he was suddenly informed that
+the great Theodosius, with a small band of veterans, had landed near
+Igilgilis, or Gigeri, on the African coast; and the timid usurper
+sunk under the ascendant of virtue and military genius. Though Firmus
+possessed arms and treasures, his despair of victory immediately reduced
+him to the use of those arts, which, in the same country, and in a
+similar situation, had formerly been practised by the crafty Jugurtha.
+He attempted to deceive, by an apparent submission, the vigilance of the
+Roman general; to seduce the fidelity of his troops; and to protract the
+duration of the war, by successively engaging the independent tribes
+of Africa to espouse his quarrel, or to protect his flight. Theodosius
+imitated the example, and obtained the success, of his predecessor
+Metellus. When Firmus, in the character of a suppliant, accused his
+own rashness, and humbly solicited the clemency of the emperor, the
+lieutenant of Valentinian received and dismissed him with a friendly
+embrace: but he diligently required the useful and substantial pledges
+of a sincere repentance; nor could he be persuaded, by the assurances
+of peace, to suspend, for an instant, the operations of an active war.
+A dark conspiracy was detected by the penetration of Theodosius; and he
+satisfied, without much reluctance, the public indignation, which he
+had secretly excited. Several of the guilty accomplices of Firmus were
+abandoned, according to ancient custom, to the tumult of a military
+execution; many more, by the amputation of both their hands, continued
+to exhibit an instructive spectacle of horror; the hatred of the rebels
+was accompanied with fear; and the fear of the Roman soldiers was
+mingled with respectful admiration. Amidst the boundless plains of
+Getulia, and the innumerable valleys of Mount Atlas, it was impossible
+to prevent the escape of Firmus; and if the usurper could have tired
+the patience of his antagonist, he would have secured his person in
+the depth of some remote solitude, and expected the hopes of a future
+revolution. He was subdued by the perseverance of Theodosius; who had
+formed an inflexible determination, that the war should end only by the
+death of the tyrant; and that every nation of Africa, which presumed
+to support his cause, should be involved in his ruin. At the head of a
+small body of troops, which seldom exceeded three thousand five hundred
+men, the Roman general advanced, with a steady prudence, devoid of
+rashness or of fear, into the heart of a country, where he was sometimes
+attacked by armies of twenty thousand Moors. The boldness of his
+charge dismayed the irregular Barbarians; they were disconcerted by his
+seasonable and orderly retreats; they were continually baffled by the
+unknown resources of the military art; and they felt and confessed the
+just superiority which was assumed by the leader of a civilized nation.
+When Theodosius entered the extensive dominions of Igmazen, king of the
+Isaflenses, the haughty savage required, in words of defiance, his
+name, and the object of his expedition. "I am," replied the stern and
+disdainful count, "I am the general of Valentinian, the lord of the
+world; who has sent me hither to pursue and punish a desperate robber.
+Deliver him instantly into my hands; and be assured, that if thou dost
+not obey the commands of my invincible sovereign, thou, and the people
+over whom thou reignest, shall be utterly extirpated." [122a] As soon
+as Igmazen was satisfied, that his enemy had strength and resolution to
+execute the fatal menace, he consented to purchase a necessary peace
+by the sacrifice of a guilty fugitive. The guards that were placed to
+secure the person of Firmus deprived him of the hopes of escape; and
+the Moorish tyrant, after wine had extinguished the sense of danger,
+disappointed the insulting triumph of the Romans, by strangling himself
+in the night. His dead body, the only present which Igmazen could offer
+to the conqueror, was carelessly thrown upon a camel; and Theodosius,
+leading back his victorious troops to Sitifi, was saluted by the warmest
+acclamations of joy and loyalty. [123]
+
+[Footnote 122: The Chronology of Ammianus is loose and obscure; and
+Orosius (i. vii. c. 33, p. 551, edit. Havercamp) seems to place the
+revolt of Firmus after the deaths of Valentinian and Valens. Tillemont
+(Hist. des. Emp. tom. v. p. 691) endeavors to pick his way. The patient
+and sure-foot mule of the Alps may be trusted in the most slippery
+paths.]
+
+[Footnote 122a: The war was longer protracted than this sentence would
+lead us to suppose: it was not till defeated more than once that Igmazen
+yielded Amm. xxix. 5.--M]
+
+[Footnote 123: Ammian xxix. 5. The text of this long chapter (fifteen
+quarto pages) is broken and corrupted; and the narrative is perplexed by
+the want of chronological and geographical landmarks.]
+
+Africa had been lost by the vices of Romanus; it was restored by the
+virtues of Theodosius; and our curiosity may be usefully directed to the
+inquiry of the respective treatment which the two generals received from
+the Imperial court. The authority of Count Romanus had been suspended
+by the master-general of the cavalry; and he was committed to safe and
+honorable custody till the end of the war. His crimes were proved by the
+most authentic evidence; and the public expected, with some impatience,
+the decree of severe justice. But the partial and powerful favor of
+Mellobaudes encouraged him to challenge his legal judges, to obtain
+repeated delays for the purpose of procuring a crowd of friendly
+witnesses, and, finally, to cover his guilty conduct, by the additional
+guilt of fraud and forgery. About the same time, the restorer of
+Britain and Africa, on a vague suspicion that his name and services
+were superior to the rank of a subject, was ignominiously beheaded at
+Carthage. Valentinian no longer reigned; and the death of Theodosius,
+as well as the impunity of Romanus, may justly be imputed to the arts of
+the ministers, who abused the confidence, and deceived the inexperienced
+youth, of his sons. [124]
+
+[Footnote 124: Ammian xxviii. 4. Orosius, l. vii. c. 33, p. 551, 552.
+Jerom. in Chron. p. 187.]
+
+If the geographical accuracy of Ammianus had been fortunately bestowed
+on the British exploits of Theodosius, we should have traced, with eager
+curiosity, the distinct and domestic footsteps of his march. But the
+tedious enumeration of the unknown and uninteresting tribes of Africa
+may be reduced to the general remark, that they were all of the swarthy
+race of the Moors; that they inhabited the back settlements of the
+Mauritanian and Numidian province, the country, as they have since been
+termed by the Arabs, of dates and of locusts; [125] and that, as the
+Roman power declined in Africa, the boundary of civilized manners and
+cultivated land was insensibly contracted. Beyond the utmost limits of
+the Moors, the vast and inhospitable desert of the South extends above
+a thousand miles to the banks of the Niger. The ancients, who had a very
+faint and imperfect knowledge of the great peninsula of Africa, were
+sometimes tempted to believe, that the torrid zone must ever remain
+destitute of inhabitants; [126] and they sometimes amused their fancy
+by filling the vacant space with headless men, or rather monsters; [127]
+with horned and cloven-footed satyrs; [128] with fabulous centaurs;
+[129] and with human pygmies, who waged a bold and doubtful warfare
+against the cranes. [130] Carthage would have trembled at the strange
+intelligence that the countries on either side of the equator were
+filled with innumerable nations, who differed only in their color from
+the ordinary appearance of the human species: and the subjects of
+the Roman empire might have anxiously expected, that the swarms of
+Barbarians, which issued from the North, would soon be encountered
+from the South by new swarms of Barbarians, equally fierce and equally
+formidable. These gloomy terrors would indeed have been dispelled by a
+more intimate acquaintance with the character of their African enemies.
+The inaction of the negroes does not seem to be the effect either of
+their virtue or of their pusillanimity. They indulge, like the rest
+of mankind, their passions and appetites; and the adjacent tribes are
+engaged in frequent acts of hostility. [131] But their rude ignorance
+has never invented any effectual weapons of defence, or of destruction;
+they appear incapable of forming any extensive plans of government, or
+conquest; and the obvious inferiority of their mental faculties has
+been discovered and abused by the nations of the temperate zone. Sixty
+thousand blacks are annually embarked from the coast of Guinea, never to
+return to their native country; but they are embarked in chains; [132]
+and this constant emigration, which, in the space of two centuries,
+might have furnished armies to overrun the globe, accuses the guilt of
+Europe, and the weakness of Africa.
+
+[Footnote 125: Leo Africanus (in the Viaggi di Ramusio, tom. i. fol.
+78-83) has traced a curious picture of the people and the country;
+which are more minutely described in the Afrique de Marmol, tom. iii. p.
+1-54.]
+
+[Footnote 126: This uninhabitable zone was gradually reduced by the
+improvements of ancient geography, from forty-five to twenty-four, or
+even sixteen degrees of latitude. See a learned and judicious note of
+Dr. Robertson, Hist. of America, vol. i. p. 426.]
+
+[Footnote 127: Intra, si credere libet, vix jam homines et magis
+semiferi... Blemmyes, Satyri, &c. Pomponius Mela, i. 4, p. 26, edit.
+Voss. in 8vo. Pliny philosophically explains (vi. 35) the irregularities
+of nature, which he had credulously admitted, (v. 8.)]
+
+[Footnote 128: If the satyr was the Orang-outang, the great human ape,
+(Buffon, Hist. Nat. tom. xiv. p. 43, &c.,) one of that species might
+actually be shown alive at Alexandria, in the reign of Constantine.
+Yet some difficulty will still remain about the conversation which St.
+Anthony held with one of these pious savages, in the desert of Thebais.
+(Jerom. in Vit. Paul. Eremit. tom. i. p. 238.)]
+
+[Footnote 129: St. Anthony likewise met one of these monsters; whose
+existence was seriously asserted by the emperor Claudius. The public
+laughed; but his praefect of Egypt had the address to send an artful
+preparation, the embalmed corpse of a Hippocentaur, which was preserved
+almost a century afterwards in the Imperial palace. See Pliny, (Hist.
+Natur. vii. 3,) and the judicious observations of Freret. (Memoires de
+l'Acad. tom. vii. p. 321, &c.)]
+
+[Footnote 130: The fable of the pygmies is as old as Homer, (Iliad. iii.
+6) The pygmies of India and Aethiopia were (trispithami) twenty-seven
+inches high. Every spring their cavalry (mounted on rams and goats)
+marched, in battle array, to destroy the cranes' eggs, aliter (says
+Pliny) futuris gregibus non resisti. Their houses were built of mud,
+feathers, and egg-shells. See Pliny, (vi. 35, vii. 2,) and Strabo, (l.
+ii. p. 121.)]
+
+[Footnote 131: The third and fourth volumes of the valuable Histoire des
+Voyages describe the present state of the Negroes. The nations of the
+sea-coast have been polished by European commerce; and those of the
+inland country have been improved by Moorish colonies. * Note: The
+martial tribes in chain armor, discovered by Denham, are Mahometan; the
+great question of the inferiority of the African tribes in their mental
+faculties will probably be experimentally resolved before the close of
+the century; but the Slave Trade still continues, and will, it is to be
+feared, till the spirit of gain is subdued by the spirit of Christian
+humanity.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 132: Histoire Philosophique et Politique, &c., tom. iv. p.
+192.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
+Empire.--Part VI.
+
+IV. The ignominious treaty, which saved the army of Jovian, had been
+faithfully executed on the side of the Romans; and as they had solemnly
+renounced the sovereignty and alliance of Armenia and Iberia, those
+tributary kingdoms were exposed, without protection, to the arms of the
+Persian monarch. [133] Sapor entered the Armenian territories at the
+head of a formidable host of cuirassiers, of archers, and of mercenary
+foot; but it was the invariable practice of Sapor to mix war and
+negotiation, and to consider falsehood and perjury as the most powerful
+instruments of regal policy. He affected to praise the prudent and
+moderate conduct of the king of Armenia; and the unsuspicious Tiranus
+was persuaded, by the repeated assurances of insidious friendship, to
+deliver his person into the hands of a faithless and cruel enemy. In the
+midst of a splendid entertainment, he was bound in chains of silver,
+as an honor due to the blood of the Arsacides; and, after a short
+confinement in the Tower of Oblivion at Ecbatana, he was released
+from the miseries of life, either by his own dagger, or by that of an
+assassin. [133a] The kingdom of Armenia was reduced to the state of a
+Persian province; the administration was shared between a distinguished
+satrap and a favorite eunuch; and Sapor marched, without delay, to
+subdue the martial spirit of the Iberians. Sauromaces, who reigned
+in that country by the permission of the emperors, was expelled by a
+superior force; and, as an insult on the majesty of Rome, the king of
+kings placed a diadem on the head of his abject vassal Aspacuras. The
+city of Artogerassa [134] was the only place of Armenia [134a] which
+presumed to resist the efforts of his arms. The treasure deposited in
+that strong fortress tempted the avarice of Sapor; but the danger of
+Olympias, the wife or widow of the Armenian king, excited the public
+compassion, and animated the desperate valor of her subjects and
+soldiers. [134b] The Persians were surprised and repulsed under
+the walls of Artogerassa, by a bold and well-concerted sally of
+the besieged. But the forces of Sapor were continually renewed and
+increased; the hopeless courage of the garrison was exhausted; the
+strength of the walls yielded to the assault; and the proud conqueror,
+after wasting the rebellious city with fire and sword, led away captive
+an unfortunate queen; who, in a more auspicious hour, had been the
+destined bride of the son of Constantine. [135] Yet if Sapor already
+triumphed in the easy conquest of two dependent kingdoms, he soon felt,
+that a country is unsubdued as long as the minds of the people are
+actuated by a hostile and contumacious spirit. The satraps, whom he
+was obliged to trust, embraced the first opportunity of regaining the
+affection of their countrymen, and of signalizing their immortal hatred
+to the Persian name. Since the conversion of the Armenians and Iberians,
+these nations considered the Christians as the favorites, and the
+Magians as the adversaries, of the Supreme Being: the influence of the
+clergy, over a superstitious people was uniformly exerted in the cause
+of Rome; and as long as the successors of Constantine disputed with
+those of Artaxerxes the sovereignty of the intermediate provinces, the
+religious connection always threw a decisive advantage into the scale
+of the empire. A numerous and active party acknowledged Para, the son of
+Tiranus, as the lawful sovereign of Armenia, and his title to the throne
+was deeply rooted in the hereditary succession of five hundred years. By
+the unanimous consent of the Iberians, the country was equally divided
+between the rival princes; and Aspacuras, who owed his diadem to
+the choice of Sapor, was obliged to declare, that his regard for his
+children, who were detained as hostages by the tyrant, was the only
+consideration which prevented him from openly renouncing the alliance of
+Persia. The emperor Valens, who respected the obligations of the treaty,
+and who was apprehensive of involving the East in a dangerous war,
+ventured, with slow and cautious measures, to support the Roman party
+in the kingdoms of Iberia and Armenia. [135a] Twelve legions established
+the authority of Sauromaces on the banks of the Cyrus. The Euphrates was
+protected by the valor of Arintheus. A powerful army, under the command
+of Count Trajan, and of Vadomair, king of the Alemanni, fixed their
+camp on the confines of Armenia. But they were strictly enjoined not to
+commit the first hostilities, which might be understood as a breach of
+the treaty: and such was the implicit obedience of the Roman general,
+that they retreated, with exemplary patience, under a shower of Persian
+arrows till they had clearly acquired a just title to an honorable and
+legitimate victory. Yet these appearances of war insensibly subsided in
+a vain and tedious negotiation. The contending parties supported their
+claims by mutual reproaches of perfidy and ambition; and it should seem,
+that the original treaty was expressed in very obscure terms, since they
+were reduced to the necessity of making their inconclusive appeal to the
+partial testimony of the generals of the two nations, who had assisted
+at the negotiations. [136] The invasion of the Goths and Huns which
+soon afterwards shook the foundations of the Roman empire, exposed
+the provinces of Asia to the arms of Sapor. But the declining age,
+and perhaps the infirmities, of the monarch suggested new maxims of
+tranquillity and moderation. His death, which happened in the full
+maturity of a reign of seventy years, changed in a moment the court and
+councils of Persia; and their attention was most probably engaged by
+domestic troubles, and the distant efforts of a Carmanian war. [137] The
+remembrance of ancient injuries was lost in the enjoyment of peace.
+The kingdoms of Armenia and Iberia were permitted, by the mutual,though
+tacit consent of both empires, to resume their doubtful neutrality. In
+the first years of the reign of Theodosius, a Persian embassy arrived
+at Constantinople, to excuse the unjustifiable measures of the former
+reign; and to offer, as the tribute of friendship, or even of respect, a
+splendid present of gems, of silk, and of Indian elephants. [138]
+
+[Footnote 133: The evidence of Ammianus is original and decisive,
+(xxvii. 12.) Moses of Chorene, (l. iii. c. 17, p. 249, and c. 34,
+p. 269,) and Procopius, (de Bell. Persico, l. i. c. 5, p. 17, edit.
+Louvre,) have been consulted: but those historians who confound distinct
+facts, repeat the same events, and introduce strange stories, must be
+used with diffidence and caution. Note: The statement of Ammianus
+is more brief and succinct, but harmonizes with the more complicated
+history developed by M. St. Martin from the Armenian writers, and from
+Procopius, who wrote, as he states from Armenian authorities.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 133a: According to M. St. Martin, Sapor, though supported by
+the two apostate Armenian princes, Meroujan the Ardzronnian and Vahan
+the Mamigonian, was gallantly resisted by Arsaces, and his brave though
+impious wife Pharandsem. His troops were defeated by Vasag, the high
+constable of the kingdom. (See M. St. Martin.) But after four years'
+courageous defence of his kingdom, Arsaces was abandoned by his nobles,
+and obliged to accept the perfidious hospitality of Sapor. He was
+blinded and imprisoned in the "Castle of Oblivion;" his brave general
+Vasag was flayed alive; his skin stuffed and placed near the king in
+his lonely prison. It was not till many years after (A.D. 371) that
+he stabbed himself, according to the romantic story, (St. M. iii. 387,
+389,) in a paroxysm of excitement at his restoration to royal honors.
+St. Martin, Additions to Le Beau, iii. 283, 296.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 134: Perhaps Artagera, or Ardis; under whose walls Caius,
+the grandson of Augustus, was wounded. This fortress was situate above
+Amida, near one of the sources of the Tigris. See D'Anville, Geographie
+Ancienue, tom. ii. p. 106. * Note: St. Martin agrees with Gibbon, that
+it was the same fortress with Ardis Note, p. 373.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 134a: Artaxata, Vagharschabad, or Edchmiadzin, Erovantaschad,
+and many other cities, in all of which there was a considerable Jewish
+population were taken and destroyed.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 134b: Pharandsem, not Olympias, refusing the orders of her
+captive husband to surrender herself to Sapor, threw herself into
+Artogerassa St. Martin, iii. 293, 302. She defended herself for fourteen
+months, till famine and disease had left few survivors out of 11,000
+soldiers and 6000 women who had taken refuge in the fortress. She then
+threw open the gates with her own hand. M. St. Martin adds, what even
+the horrors of Oriental warfare will scarcely permit us to credit, that
+she was exposed by Sapor on a public scaffold to the brutal lusts of his
+soldiery, and afterwards empaled, iii. 373, &c.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 135: Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 701) proves,
+from chronology, that Olympias must have been the mother of Para. Note
+*: An error according to St. M. 273.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 135a: According to Themistius, quoted by St. Martin, he once
+advanced to the Tigris, iii. 436.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 136: Ammianus (xxvii. 12, xix. 1. xxx. 1, 2) has described the
+events, without the dates, of the Persian war. Moses of Chorene (Hist.
+Armen. l. iii. c. 28, p. 261, c. 31, p. 266, c. 35, p. 271) affords some
+additional facts; but it is extremely difficult to separate truth from
+fable.]
+
+[Footnote 137: Artaxerxes was the successor and brother (the
+cousin-german) of the great Sapor; and the guardian of his son, Sapor
+III. (Agathias, l. iv. p. 136, edit. Louvre.) See the Universal History,
+vol. xi. p. 86, 161. The authors of that unequal work have compiled the
+Sassanian dynasty with erudition and diligence; but it is a preposterous
+arrangement to divide the Roman and Oriental accounts into two distinct
+histories. * Note: On the war of Sapor with the Bactrians, which
+diverted from Armenia, see St. M. iii. 387.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 138: Pacatus in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 22, and Orosius, l. vii.
+c. 34. Ictumque tum foedus est, quo universus Oriens usque ad num (A. D.
+416) tranquillissime fruitur.]
+
+In the general picture of the affairs of the East under the reign
+of Valens, the adventures of Para form one of the most striking and
+singular objects. The noble youth, by the persuasion of his mother
+Olympias, had escaped through the Persian host that besieged
+Artogerassa, and implored the protection of the emperor of the East. By
+his timid councils, Para was alternately supported, and recalled, and
+restored, and betrayed. The hopes of the Armenians were sometimes raised
+by the presence of their natural sovereign, [138a] and the ministers of
+Valens were satisfied, that they preserved the integrity of the public
+faith, if their vassal was not suffered to assume the diadem and
+title of King. But they soon repented of their own rashness. They were
+confounded by the reproaches and threats of the Persian monarch.
+They found reason to distrust the cruel and inconstant temper of Para
+himself; who sacrificed, to the slightest suspicions, the lives of his
+most faithful servants, and held a secret and disgraceful correspondence
+with the assassin of his father and the enemy of his country. Under the
+specious pretence of consulting with the emperor on the subject of their
+common interest, Para was persuaded to descend from the mountains of
+Armenia, where his party was in arms, and to trust his independence and
+safety to the discretion of a perfidious court. The king of Armenia,
+for such he appeared in his own eyes and in those of his nation, was
+received with due honors by the governors of the provinces through which
+he passed; but when he arrived at Tarsus in Cilicia, his progress
+was stopped under various pretences; his motions were watched with
+respectful vigilance, and he gradually discovered, that he was a
+prisoner in the hands of the Romans. Para suppressed his indignation,
+dissembled his fears, and after secretly preparing his escape, mounted
+on horseback with three hundred of his faithful followers. The officer
+stationed at the door of his apartment immediately communicated his
+flight to the consular of Cilicia, who overtook him in the suburbs, and
+endeavored without success, to dissuade him from prosecuting his rash
+and dangerous design. A legion was ordered to pursue the royal fugitive;
+but the pursuit of infantry could not be very alarming to a body of
+light cavalry; and upon the first cloud of arrows that was discharged
+into the air, they retreated with precipitation to the gates of Tarsus.
+After an incessant march of two days and two nights, Para and his
+Armenians reached the banks of the Euphrates; but the passage of the
+river which they were obliged to swim, [138b] was attended with some
+delay and some loss. The country was alarmed; and the two roads, which
+were only separated by an interval of three miles had been occupied by
+a thousand archers on horseback, under the command of a count and a
+tribune. Para must have yielded to superior force, if the accidental
+arrival of a friendly traveller had not revealed the danger and the
+means of escape. A dark and almost impervious path securely conveyed
+the Armenian troop through the thicket; and Para had left behind him the
+count and the tribune, while they patiently expected his approach along
+the public highways. They returned to the Imperial court to excuse their
+want of diligence or success; and seriously alleged, that the king of
+Armenia, who was a skilful magician, had transformed himself and his
+followers, and passed before their eyes under a borrowed shape. [138c]
+After his return to his native kingdom, Para still continued to profess
+himself the friend and ally of the Romans: but the Romans had injured
+him too deeply ever to forgive, and the secret sentence of his death was
+signed in the council of Valens. The execution of the bloody deed was
+committed to the subtle prudence of Count Trajan; and he had the merit
+of insinuating himself into the confidence of the credulous prince,
+that he might find an opportunity of stabbing him to the heart Para was
+invited to a Roman banquet, which had been prepared with all the pomp
+and sensuality of the East; the hall resounded with cheerful music, and
+the company was already heated with wine; when the count retired for an
+instant, drew his sword, and gave the signal of the murder. A robust and
+desperate Barbarian instantly rushed on the king of Armenia; and though
+he bravely defended his life with the first weapon that chance offered
+to his hand, the table of the Imperial general was stained with the
+royal blood of a guest, and an ally. Such were the weak and wicked
+maxims of the Roman administration, that, to attain a doubtful object
+of political interest the laws of nations, and the sacred rights of
+hospitality were inhumanly violated in the face of the world. [139]
+
+[Footnote 138a: On the reconquest of Armenia by Para, or rather by
+Mouschegh, the Mamigonian see St. M. iii. 375, 383.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 138b: On planks floated by bladders.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 138c: It is curious enough that the Armenian historian,
+Faustus of Byzandum, represents Para as a magician. His impious mother
+Pharandac had devoted him to the demons on his birth. St. M. iv.
+23.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 139: See in Ammianus (xxx. 1) the adventures of Para. Moses of
+Chorene calls him Tiridates; and tells a long, and not improbable story
+of his son Gnelus, who afterwards made himself popular in Armenia, and
+provoked the jealousy of the reigning king, (l. iii. c 21, &c., p. 253,
+&c.) * Note: This note is a tissue of mistakes. Tiridates and Para are
+two totally different persons. Tiridates was the father of Gnel first
+husband of Pharandsem, the mother of Para. St. Martin, iv. 27--M.]
+
+V. During a peaceful interval of thirty years, the Romans secured their
+frontiers, and the Goths extended their dominions. The victories of the
+great Hermanric, [140] king of the Ostrogoths, and the most noble of
+the race of the Amali, have been compared, by the enthusiasm of his
+countrymen, to the exploits of Alexander; with this singular, and almost
+incredible, difference, that the martial spirit of the Gothic hero,
+instead of being supported by the vigor of youth, was displayed with
+glory and success in the extreme period of human life, between the age
+of fourscore and one hundred and ten years. The independent tribes were
+persuaded, or compelled, to acknowledge the king of the Ostrogoths as
+the sovereign of the Gothic nation: the chiefs of the Visigoths, or
+Thervingi, renounced the royal title, and assumed the more humble
+appellation of Judges; and, among those judges, Athanaric, Fritigern,
+and Alavivus, were the most illustrious, by their personal merit,
+as well as by their vicinity to the Roman provinces. These domestic
+conquests, which increased the military power of Hermanric, enlarged his
+ambitious designs. He invaded the adjacent countries of the North; and
+twelve considerable nations, whose names and limits cannot be accurately
+defined, successively yielded to the superiority of the Gothic arms
+[141] The Heruli, who inhabited the marshy lands near the lake Maeotis,
+were renowned for their strength and agility; and the assistance of
+their light infantry was eagerly solicited, and highly esteemed, in
+all the wars of the Barbarians. But the active spirit of the Heruli was
+subdued by the slow and steady perseverance of the Goths; and, after a
+bloody action, in which the king was slain, the remains of that warlike
+tribe became a useful accession to the camp of Hermanric.
+
+He then marched against the Venedi; unskilled in the use of arms, and
+formidable only by their numbers, which filled the wide extent of the
+plains of modern Poland. The victorious Goths, who were not inferior
+in numbers, prevailed in the contest, by the decisive advantages
+of exercise and discipline. After the submission of the Venedi, the
+conqueror advanced, without resistance, as far as the confines of the
+Aestii; [142] an ancient people, whose name is still preserved in the
+province of Esthonia. Those distant inhabitants of the Baltic coast were
+supported by the labors of agriculture, enriched by the trade of amber,
+and consecrated by the peculiar worship of the Mother of the Gods. But
+the scarcity of iron obliged the Aestian warriors to content themselves
+with wooden clubs; and the reduction of that wealthy country is ascribed
+to the prudence, rather than to the arms, of Hermanric. His dominions,
+which extended from the Danube to the Baltic, included the native seats,
+and the recent acquisitions, of the Goths; and he reigned over the
+greatest part of Germany and Scythia with the authority of a conqueror,
+and sometimes with the cruelty of a tyrant. But he reigned over a part
+of the globe incapable of perpetuating and adorning the glory of its
+heroes. The name of Hermanric is almost buried in oblivion; his exploits
+are imperfectly known; and the Romans themselves appeared unconscious
+of the progress of an aspiring power which threatened the liberty of the
+North, and the peace of the empire. [143]
+
+[Footnote 140: The concise account of the reign and conquests of
+Hermanric seems to be one of the valuable fragments which Jornandes (c
+28) borrowed from the Gothic histories of Ablavius, or Cassiodorus.]
+
+[Footnote 141: M. d. Buat. (Hist. des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vi.
+p. 311-329) investigates, with more industry than success, the nations
+subdued by the arms of Hermanric. He denies the existence of the
+Vasinobroncoe, on account of the immoderate length of their name.
+Yet the French envoy to Ratisbon, or Dresden, must have traversed the
+country of the Mediomatrici.]
+
+[Footnote 142: The edition of Grotius (Jornandes, p. 642) exhibits
+the name of Aestri. But reason and the Ambrosian MS. have restored
+the Aestii, whose manners and situation are expressed by the pencil of
+Tacitus, (Germania, c. 45.)]
+
+[Footnote 143: Ammianus (xxxi. 3) observes, in general terms,
+Ermenrichi.... nobilissimi Regis, et per multa variaque fortiter facta,
+vicinigentibus formidati, &c.]
+
+The Goths had contracted an hereditary attachment for the Imperial house
+of Constantine, of whose power and liberality they had received so many
+signal proofs. They respected the public peace; and if a hostile band
+sometimes presumed to pass the Roman limit, their irregular conduct was
+candidly ascribed to the ungovernable spirit of the Barbarian youth.
+Their contempt for two new and obscure princes, who had been raised to
+the throne by a popular election, inspired the Goths with bolder hopes;
+and, while they agitated some design of marching their confederate force
+under the national standard, [144] they were easily tempted to embrace
+the party of Procopius; and to foment, by their dangerous aid, the civil
+discord of the Romans. The public treaty might stipulate no more than
+ten thousand auxiliaries; but the design was so zealously adopted by the
+chiefs of the Visigoths, that the army which passed the Danube amounted
+to the number of thirty thousand men. [145] They marched with the proud
+confidence, that their invincible valor would decide the fate of the
+Roman empire; and the provinces of Thrace groaned under the weight
+of the Barbarians, who displayed the insolence of masters and the
+licentiousness of enemies. But the intemperance which gratified their
+appetites, retarded their progress; and before the Goths could receive
+any certain intelligence of the defeat and death of Procopius, they
+perceived, by the hostile state of the country, that the civil and
+military powers were resumed by his successful rival. A chain of posts
+and fortifications, skilfully disposed by Valens, or the generals of
+Valens, resisted their march, prevented their retreat, and intercepted
+their subsistence. The fierceness of the Barbarians was tamed and
+suspended by hunger; they indignantly threw down their arms at the
+feet of the conqueror, who offered them food and chains: the numerous
+captives were distributed in all the cities of the East; and the
+provincials, who were soon familiarized with their savage appearance,
+ventured, by degrees, to measure their own strength with these
+formidable adversaries, whose name had so long been the object of their
+terror. The king of Scythia (and Hermanric alone could deserve so lofty
+a title) was grieved and exasperated by this national calamity. His
+ambassadors loudly complained, at the court of Valens, of the infraction
+of the ancient and solemn alliance, which had so long subsisted between
+the Romans and the Goths. They alleged, that they had fulfilled the duty
+of allies, by assisting the kinsman and successor of the emperor Julian;
+they required the immediate restitution of the noble captives; and they
+urged a very singular claim, that the Gothic generals marching in
+arms, and in hostile array, were entitled to the sacred character and
+privileges of ambassadors. The decent, but peremptory, refusal of
+these extravagant demands, was signified to the Barbarians by Victor,
+master-general of the cavalry; who expressed, with force and dignity,
+the just complaints of the emperor of the East. [146] The negotiation
+was interrupted; and the manly exhortations of Valentinian encouraged
+his timid brother to vindicate the insulted majesty of the empire. [147]
+
+[Footnote 144: Valens. ... docetur relationibus Ducum, gentem Gothorum,
+ea tempestate intactam ideoque saevissimam, conspirantem in unum, ad
+pervadenda parari collimitia Thraciarum. Ammian. xxi. 6.]
+
+[Footnote 145: M. de Buat (Hist. des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vi. p.
+332) has curiously ascertained the real number of these auxiliaries.
+The 3000 of Ammianus, and the 10,000 of Zosimus, were only the first
+divisions of the Gothic army. * Note: M. St. Martin (iii. 246) denies
+that there is any authority for these numbers.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 146: The march, and subsequent negotiation, are described in
+the Fragments of Eunapius, (Excerpt. Legat. p. 18, edit. Louvre.) The
+provincials who afterwards became familiar with the Barbarians, found
+that their strength was more apparent than real. They were tall of
+stature; but their legs were clumsy, and their shoulders were narrow.]
+
+[Footnote 147: Valens enim, ut consulto placuerat fratri, cujus
+regebatur arbitrio, arma concussit in Gothos ratione justa permotus.
+Ammianus (xxvii. 4) then proceeds to describe, not the country of the
+Goths, but the peaceful and obedient province of Thrace, which was not
+affected by the war.]
+
+The splendor and magnitude of this Gothic war are celebrated by a
+contemporary historian: [148] but the events scarcely deserve the
+attention of posterity, except as the preliminary steps of the
+approaching decline and fall of the empire. Instead of leading the
+nations of Germany and Scythia to the banks of the Danube, or even to
+the gates of Constantinople, the aged monarch of the Goths resigned to
+the brave Athanaric the danger and glory of a defensive war, against an
+enemy, who wielded with a feeble hand the powers of a mighty state. A
+bridge of boats was established upon the Danube; the presence of Valens
+animated his troops; and his ignorance of the art of war was compensated
+by personal bravery, and a wise deference to the advice of Victor
+and Arintheus, his masters-general of the cavalry and infantry. The
+operations of the campaign were conducted by their skill and experience;
+but they found it impossible to drive the Visigoths from their strong
+posts in the mountains; and the devastation of the plains obliged the
+Romans themselves to repass the Danube on the approach of winter. The
+incessant rains, which swelled the waters of the river, produced a tacit
+suspension of arms, and confined the emperor Valens, during the whole
+course of the ensuing summer, to his camp of Marcianopolis. The third
+year of the war was more favorable to the Romans, and more pernicious
+to the Goths. The interruption of trade deprived the Barbarians of the
+objects of luxury, which they already confounded with the necessaries of
+life; and the desolation of a very extensive tract of country threatened
+them with the horrors of famine. Athanaric was provoked, or compelled,
+to risk a battle, which he lost, in the plains; and the pursuit was
+rendered more bloody by the cruel precaution of the victorious generals,
+who had promised a large reward for the head of every Goth that was
+brought into the Imperial camp. The submission of the Barbarians
+appeased the resentment of Valens and his council: the emperor listened
+with satisfaction to the flattering and eloquent remonstrance of the
+senate of Constantinople, which assumed, for the first time, a share in
+the public deliberations; and the same generals, Victor and Arintheus,
+who had successfully directed the conduct of the war, were empowered to
+regulate the conditions of peace. The freedom of trade, which the Goths
+had hitherto enjoyed, was restricted to two cities on the Danube; the
+rashness of their leaders was severely punished by the suppression of
+their pensions and subsidies; and the exception, which was stipulated
+in favor of Athanaric alone, was more advantageous than honorable to
+the Judge of the Visigoths. Athanaric, who, on this occasion, appears to
+have consulted his private interest, without expecting the orders of
+his sovereign, supported his own dignity, and that of his tribe, in the
+personal interview which was proposed by the ministers of Valens. He
+persisted in his declaration, that it was impossible for him, without
+incurring the guilt of perjury, ever to set his foot on the territory
+of the empire; and it is more than probable, that his regard for the
+sanctity of an oath was confirmed by the recent and fatal examples of
+Roman treachery. The Danube, which separated the dominions of the two
+independent nations, was chosen for the scene of the conference. The
+emperor of the East, and the Judge of the Visigoths, accompanied by an
+equal number of armed followers, advanced in their respective barges to
+the middle of the stream. After the ratification of the treaty, and the
+delivery of hostages, Valens returned in triumph to Constantinople; and
+the Goths remained in a state of tranquillity about six years; till they
+were violently impelled against the Roman empire by an innumerable
+host of Scythians, who appeared to issue from the frozen regions of the
+North. [149]
+
+[Footnote 148: Eunapius, in Excerpt. Legat. p. 18, 19. The Greek sophist
+must have considered as one and the same war, the whole series of Gothic
+history till the victories and peace of Theodosius.]
+
+[Footnote 149: The Gothic war is described by Ammianus, (xxvii. 6,)
+Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 211-214,) and Themistius, (Orat. x. p. 129-141.)
+The orator Themistius was sent from the senate of Constantinople to
+congratulate the victorious emperor; and his servile eloquence compares
+Valens on the Danube to Achilles in the Scamander. Jornandes forgets
+a war peculiar to the Visi-Goths, and inglorious to the Gothic name,
+(Mascon's Hist. of the Germans, vii. 3.)]
+
+The emperor of the West, who had resigned to his brother the command
+of the Lower Danube, reserved for his immediate care the defence of
+the Rhaetian and Illyrian provinces, which spread so many hundred
+miles along the greatest of the European rivers. The active policy of
+Valentinian was continually employed in adding new fortifications to the
+security of the frontier: but the abuse of this policy provoked the just
+resentment of the Barbarians. The Quadi complained, that the ground for
+an intended fortress had been marked out on their territories; and their
+complaints were urged with so much reason and moderation, that Equitius,
+master-general of Illyricum, consented to suspend the prosecution of
+the work, till he should be more clearly informed of the will of his
+sovereign. This fair occasion of injuring a rival, and of advancing the
+fortune of his son, was eagerly embraced by the inhuman Maximin, the
+praefect, or rather tyrant, of Gaul. The passions of Valentinian were
+impatient of control; and he credulously listened to the assurances of
+his favorite, that if the government of Valeria, and the direction of
+the work, were intrusted to the zeal of his son Marcellinus, the emperor
+should no longer be importuned with the audacious remonstrances of
+the Barbarians. The subjects of Rome, and the natives of Germany,
+were insulted by the arrogance of a young and worthless minister, who
+considered his rapid elevation as the proof and reward of his superior
+merit. He affected, however, to receive the modest application of
+Gabinius, king of the Quadi, with some attention and regard: but this
+artful civility concealed a dark and bloody design, and the credulous
+prince was persuaded to accept the pressing invitation of Marcellinus.
+I am at a loss how to vary the narrative of similar crimes; or how to
+relate, that, in the course of the same year, but in remote parts of the
+empire, the inhospitable table of two Imperial generals was stained with
+the royal blood of two guests and allies, inhumanly murdered by their
+order, and in their presence. The fate of Gabinius, and of Para, was
+the same: but the cruel death of their sovereign was resented in a very
+different manner by the servile temper of the Armenians, and the free
+and daring spirit of the Germans. The Quadi were much declined from that
+formidable power, which, in the time of Marcus Antoninus, had spread
+terror to the gates of Rome. But they still possessed arms and courage;
+their courage was animated by despair, and they obtained the usual
+reenforcement of the cavalry of their Sarmatian allies. So improvident
+was the assassin Marcellinus, that he chose the moment when the bravest
+veterans had been drawn away, to suppress the revolt of Firmus; and the
+whole province was exposed, with a very feeble defence, to the rage
+of the exasperated Barbarians. They invaded Pannonia in the season of
+harvest; unmercifully destroyed every object of plunder which they could
+not easily transport; and either disregarded, or demolished, the empty
+fortifications. The princess Constantia, the daughter of the emperor
+Constantius, and the granddaughter of the great Constantine, very
+narrowly escaped. That royal maid, who had innocently supported the
+revolt of Procopius, was now the destined wife of the heir of the
+Western empire. She traversed the peaceful province with a splendid and
+unarmed train. Her person was saved from danger, and the republic from
+disgrace, by the active zeal of Messala, governor of the provinces.
+As soon as he was informed that the village, where she stopped only to
+dine, was almost encompassed by the Barbarians, he hastily placed her
+in his own chariot, and drove full speed till he reached the gates
+of Sirmium, which were at the distance of six-and-twenty miles. Even
+Sirmium might not have been secure, if the Quadi and Sarmatians had
+diligently advanced during the general consternation of the magistrates
+and people. Their delay allowed Probus, the Praetorian praefect,
+sufficient time to recover his own spirits, and to revive the courage
+of the citizens. He skilfully directed their strenuous efforts to repair
+and strengthen the decayed fortifications; and procured the seasonable
+and effectual assistance of a company of archers, to protect the capital
+of the Illyrian provinces. Disappointed in their attempts against the
+walls of Sirmium, the indignant Barbarians turned their arms against
+the master general of the frontier, to whom they unjustly attributed the
+murder of their king. Equitius could bring into the field no more than
+two legions; but they contained the veteran strength of the Maesian and
+Pannonian bands. The obstinacy with which they disputed the vain honors
+of rank and precedency, was the cause of their destruction; and
+while they acted with separate forces and divided councils, they were
+surprised and slaughtered by the active vigor of the Sarmatian horse.
+The success of this invasion provoked the emulation of the bordering
+tribes; and the province of Maesia would infallibly have been lost, if
+young Theodosius, the duke, or military commander, of the frontier, had
+not signalized, in the defeat of the public enemy, an intrepid genius,
+worthy of his illustrious father, and of his future greatness. [150]
+
+[Footnote 150: Ammianus (xxix. 6) and Zosimus (I. iv. p. 219, 220)
+carefully mark the origin and progress of the Quadic and Sarmatian war.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
+Empire.--Part VII.
+
+The mind of Valentinian, who then resided at Treves, was deeply affected
+by the calamities of Illyricum; but the lateness of the season suspended
+the execution of his designs till the ensuing spring. He marched in
+person, with a considerable part of the forces of Gaul, from the banks
+of the Moselle: and to the suppliant ambassadors of the Sarmatians, who
+met him on the way, he returned a doubtful answer, that, as soon as he
+reached the scene of action, he should examine, and pronounce. When he
+arrived at Sirmium, he gave audience to the deputies of the Illyrian
+provinces; who loudly congratulated their own felicity under the
+auspicious government of Probus, his Praetorian praefect. [151]
+Valentinian, who was flattered by these demonstrations of their
+loyalty and gratitude, imprudently asked the deputy of Epirus, a Cynic
+philosopher of intrepid sincerity, [152] whether he was freely sent by
+the wishes of the province. "With tears and groans am I sent," replied
+Iphicles, "by a reluctant people." The emperor paused: but the impunity
+of his ministers established the pernicious maxim, that they might
+oppress his subjects, without injuring his service. A strict inquiry
+into their conduct would have relieved the public discontent. The severe
+condemnation of the murder of Gabinius, was the only measure which could
+restore the confidence of the Germans, and vindicate the honor of the
+Roman name. But the haughty monarch was incapable of the magnanimity
+which dares to acknowledge a fault. He forgot the provocation,
+remembered only the injury, and advanced into the country of the Quadi
+with an insatiate thirst of blood and revenge. The extreme devastation,
+and promiscuous massacre, of a savage war, were justified, in the eyes
+of the emperor, and perhaps in those of the world, by the cruel equity
+of retaliation: [153] and such was the discipline of the Romans, and the
+consternation of the enemy, that Valentinian repassed the Danube without
+the loss of a single man. As he had resolved to complete the destruction
+of the Quadi by a second campaign, he fixed his winter quarters at
+Bregetio, on the Danube, near the Hungarian city of Presburg. While the
+operations of war were suspended by the severity of the weather, the
+Quadi made an humble attempt to deprecate the wrath of their conqueror;
+and, at the earnest persuasion of Equitius, their ambassadors were
+introduced into the Imperial council. They approached the throne with
+bended bodies and dejected countenances; and without daring to complain
+of the murder of their king, they affirmed, with solemn oaths, that the
+late invasion was the crime of some irregular robbers, which the public
+council of the nation condemned and abhorred. The answer of the emperor
+left them but little to hope from his clemency or compassion. He
+reviled, in the most intemperate language, their baseness, their
+ingratitude, their insolence. His eyes, his voice, his color, his
+gestures, expressed the violence of his ungoverned fury; and while his
+whole frame was agitated with convulsive passion, a large blood vessel
+suddenly burst in his body; and Valentinian fell speechless into the
+arms of his attendants. Their pious care immediately concealed his
+situation from the crowd; but, in a few minutes, the emperor of the West
+expired in an agony of pain, retaining his senses till the last; and
+struggling, without success, to declare his intentions to the generals
+and ministers, who surrounded the royal couch. Valentinian was about
+fifty-four years of age; and he wanted only one hundred days to
+accomplish the twelve years of his reign. [154]
+
+[Footnote 151: Ammianus, (xxx. 5,) who acknowledges the merit, has
+censured, with becoming asperity, the oppressive administration of
+Petronius Probus. When Jerom translated and continued the Chronicle of
+Eusebius, (A. D. 380; see Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 53, 626,)
+he expressed the truth, or at least the public opinion of his country,
+in the following words: "Probus P. P. Illyrici inquissimus tributorum
+exactionibus, ante provincias quas regebat, quam a Barbaris vastarentur,
+erasit." (Chron. edit. Scaliger, p. 187. Animadvers p. 259.) The Saint
+afterwards formed an intimate and tender friendship with the widow of
+Probus; and the name of Count Equitius with less propriety, but without
+much injustice, has been substituted in the text.]
+
+[Footnote 152: Julian (Orat. vi. p. 198) represents his friend Iphicles,
+as a man of virtue and merit, who had made himself ridiculous and
+unhappy by adopting the extravagant dress and manners of the Cynics.]
+
+[Footnote 153: Ammian. xxx. v. Jerom, who exaggerates the misfortune of
+Valentinian, refuses him even this last consolation of revenge. Genitali
+vastato solo et inultam patriam derelinquens, (tom. i. p. 26.)]
+
+[Footnote 154: See, on the death of Valentinian, Ammianus, (xxx. 6,)
+Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 221,) Victor, (in Epitom.,) Socrates, (l. iv. c.
+31,) and Jerom, (in Chron. p. 187, and tom. i. p. 26, ad Heliodor.)
+There is much variety of circumstances among them; and Ammianus is so
+eloquent, that he writes nonsense.]
+
+The polygamy of Valentinian is seriously attested by an ecclesiastical
+historian. [155] "The empress Severa (I relate the fable) admitted into
+her familiar society the lovely Justina, the daughter of an Italian
+governor: her admiration of those naked charms, which she had often seen
+in the bath, was expressed with such lavish and imprudent praise, that
+the emperor was tempted to introduce a second wife into his bed; and
+his public edict extended to all the subjects of the empire the same
+domestic privilege which he had assumed for himself." But we may be
+assured, from the evidence of reason as well as history, that the
+two marriages of Valentinian, with Severa, and with Justina, were
+successively contracted; and that he used the ancient permission of
+divorce, which was still allowed by the laws, though it was condemned by
+the church Severa was the mother of Gratian, who seemed to unite every
+claim which could entitle him to the undoubted succession of the Western
+empire. He was the eldest son of a monarch whose glorious reign had
+confirmed the free and honorable choice of his fellow-soldiers. Before
+he had attained the ninth year of his age, the royal youth received from
+the hands of his indulgent father the purple robe and diadem, with the
+title of Augustus; the election was solemnly ratified by the consent and
+applause of the armies of Gaul; [156] and the name of Gratian was added
+to the names of Valentinian and Valens, in all the legal transactions
+of the Roman government. By his marriage with the granddaughter of
+Constantine, the son of Valentinian acquired all the hereditary rights
+of the Flavian family; which, in a series of three Imperial generations,
+were sanctified by time, religion, and the reverence of the people. At
+the death of his father, the royal youth was in the seventeenth year of
+his age; and his virtues already justified the favorable opinion of the
+army and the people. But Gratian resided, without apprehension, in
+the palace of Treves; whilst, at the distance of many hundred miles,
+Valentinian suddenly expired in the camp of Bregetio. The passions,
+which had been so long suppressed by the presence of a master,
+immediately revived in the Imperial council; and the ambitious design of
+reigning in the name of an infant, was artfully executed by Mellobaudes
+and Equitius, who commanded the attachment of the Illyrian and Italian
+bands. They contrived the most honorable pretences to remove the popular
+leaders, and the troops of Gaul, who might have asserted the claims of
+the lawful successor; they suggested the necessity of extinguishing the
+hopes of foreign and domestic enemies, by a bold and decisive measure.
+The empress Justina, who had been left in a palace about one hundred
+miles from Bregetio, was respectively invited to appear in the camp,
+with the son of the deceased emperor. On the sixth day after the death
+of Valentinian, the infant prince of the same name, who was only four
+years old, was shown, in the arms of his mother, to the legions; and
+solemnly invested, by military acclamation, with the titles and ensigns
+of supreme power. The impending dangers of a civil war were seasonably
+prevented by the wise and moderate conduct of the emperor Gratian. He
+cheerfully accepted the choice of the army; declared that he should
+always consider the son of Justina as a brother, not as a rival; and
+advised the empress, with her son Valentinian to fix their residence at
+Milan, in the fair and peaceful province of Italy; while he assumed
+the more arduous command of the countries beyond the Alps. Gratian
+dissembled his resentment till he could safely punish, or disgrace,
+the authors of the conspiracy; and though he uniformly behaved with
+tenderness and regard to his infant colleague, he gradually confounded,
+in the administration of the Western empire, the office of a guardian
+with the authority of a sovereign. The government of the Roman world
+was exercised in the united names of Valens and his two nephews; but
+the feeble emperor of the East, who succeeded to the rank of his elder
+brother, never obtained any weight or influence in the councils of the
+West. [157]
+
+[Footnote 155: Socrates (l. iv. c. 31) is the only original witness of
+this foolish story, so repugnant to the laws and manners of the Romans,
+that it scarcely deserved the formal and elaborate dissertation of M.
+Bonamy, (Mem. de l'Academie, tom. xxx. p. 394-405.) Yet I would preserve
+the natural circumstance of the bath; instead of following Zosimus who
+represents Justina as an old woman, the widow of Magnentius.]
+
+[Footnote 156: Ammianus (xxvii. 6) describes the form of this military
+election, and august investiture. Valentinian does not appear to have
+consulted, or even informed, the senate of Rome.]
+
+[Footnote 157: Ammianus, xxx. 10. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 222, 223. Tillemont
+has proved (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 707-709) that Gratian
+reignea in Italy, Africa, and Illyricum. I have endeavored to express
+his authority over his brother's dominions, as he used it, in an
+ambiguous style.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI: Progress of The Huns.--Part I.
+
+Manners Of The Pastoral Nations.--Progress Of The Huns, From China
+To Europe.--Flight Of The Goths.--They Pass The Danube.--Gothic
+War.--Defeat And Death Of Valens.--Gratian Invests Theodosius With The
+Eastern Empire.--His Character And Success.--Peace And Settlement Of The
+Goths.
+
+In the second year of the reign of Valentinian and Valens, on the
+morning of the twenty-first day of July, the greatest part of the Roman
+world was shaken by a violent and destructive earthquake. The impression
+was communicated to the waters; the shores of the Mediterranean were
+left dry, by the sudden retreat of the sea; great quantities of fish
+were caught with the hand; large vessels were stranded on the mud; and
+a curious spectator [1] amused his eye, or rather his fancy, by
+contemplating the various appearance of valleys and mountains, which had
+never, since the formation of the globe, been exposed to the sun. But
+the tide soon returned, with the weight of an immense and irresistible
+deluge, which was severely felt on the coasts of Sicily, of Dalmatia,
+of Greece, and of Egypt: large boats were transported, and lodged on
+the roofs of houses, or at the distance of two miles from the shore; the
+people, with their habitations, were swept away by the waters; and the
+city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty
+thousand persons had lost their lives in the inundation. This calamity,
+the report of which was magnified from one province to another,
+astonished and terrified the subjects of Rome; and their affrighted
+imagination enlarged the real extent of a momentary evil. They
+recollected the preceding earthquakes, which had subverted the cities
+of Palestine and Bithynia: they considered these alarming strokes as the
+prelude only of still more dreadful calamities, and their fearful
+vanity was disposed to confound the symptoms of a declining empire and
+a sinking world. [2] It was the fashion of the times to attribute every
+remarkable event to the particular will of the Deity; the alterations
+of nature were connected, by an invisible chain, with the moral and
+metaphysical opinions of the human mind; and the most sagacious
+divines could distinguish, according to the color of their respective
+prejudices, that the establishment of heresy tended to produce an
+earthquake; or that a deluge was the inevitable consequence of the
+progress of sin and error. Without presuming to discuss the truth or
+propriety of these lofty speculations, the historian may content himself
+with an observation, which seems to be justified by experience, that man
+has much more to fear from the passions of his fellow-creatures, than
+from the convulsions of the elements. [3] The mischievous effects of an
+earthquake, or deluge, a hurricane, or the eruption of a volcano, bear
+a very inconsiderable portion to the ordinary calamities of war, as they
+are now moderated by the prudence or humanity of the princes of Europe,
+who amuse their own leisure, and exercise the courage of their subjects,
+in the practice of the military art. But the laws and manners of modern
+nations protect the safety and freedom of the vanquished soldier; and
+the peaceful citizen has seldom reason to complain, that his life,
+or even his fortune, is exposed to the rage of war. In the disastrous
+period of the fall of the Roman empire, which may justly be dated from
+the reign of Valens, the happiness and security of each individual were
+personally attacked; and the arts and labors of ages were rudely defaced
+by the Barbarians of Scythia and Germany. The invasion of the Huns
+precipitated on the provinces of the West the Gothic nation, which
+advanced, in less than forty years, from the Danube to the Atlantic, and
+opened a way, by the success of their arms, to the inroads of so many
+hostile tribes, more savage than themselves. The original principle
+of motion was concealed in the remote countries of the North; and
+the curious observation of the pastoral life of the Scythians, [4]
+or Tartars, [5] will illustrate the latent cause of these destructive
+emigrations.
+
+[Footnote 1: Such is the bad taste of Ammianus, (xxvi. 10,) that it is
+not easy to distinguish his facts from his metaphors. Yet he positively
+affirms, that he saw the rotten carcass of a ship, ad Modon, in
+Peloponnesus.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The earthquakes and inundations are variously described by
+Libanius, (Orat. de ulciscenda Juliani nece, c. x., in Fabricius, Bibl.
+Graec. tom. vii. p. 158, with a learned note of Olearius,) Zosimus, (l.
+iv. p. 221,) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. 2,) Cedrenus, (p. 310, 314,) and Jerom,
+(in Chron. p. 186, and tom. i. p. 250, in Vit. Hilarion.) Epidaurus must
+have been overwhelmed, had not the prudent citizens placed St. Hilarion,
+an Egyptian monk, on the beach. He made the sign of the Cross; the
+mountain-wave stopped, bowed, and returned.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Dicaearchus, the Peripatetic, composed a formal treatise,
+to prove this obvious truth; which is not the most honorable to the
+human species. (Cicero, de Officiis, ii. 5.)]
+
+[Footnote 4: The original Scythians of Herodotus (l. iv. c. 47--57,
+99--101) were confined, by the Danube and the Palus Maeotis, within
+a square of 4000 stadia, (400 Roman miles.) See D'Anville (Mem. de
+l'Academie, tom. xxxv. p. 573--591.) Diodorus Siculus (tom. i. l. ii.
+p. 155, edit. Wesseling) has marked the gradual progress of the name and
+nation.]
+
+[Footnote 5: The Tatars, or Tartars, were a primitive tribe, the rivals,
+and at length the subjects, of the Moguls. In the victorious armies of
+Zingis Khan, and his successors, the Tartars formed the vanguard; and
+the name, which first reached the ears of foreigners, was applied to the
+whole nation, (Freret, in the Hist. de l'Academie, tom. xviii. p. 60.)
+In speaking of all, or any of the northern shepherds of Europe, or Asia,
+I indifferently use the appellations of Scythians or Tartars. * Note:
+The Moguls, (Mongols,) according to M. Klaproth, are a tribe of the
+Tartar nation. Tableaux Hist. de l'Asie, p. 154.--M.]
+
+The different characters that mark the civilized nations of the globe,
+may be ascribed to the use, and the abuse, of reason; which so variously
+shapes, and so artificially composes, the manners and opinions of a
+European, or a Chinese. But the operation of instinct is more sure and
+simple than that of reason: it is much easier to ascertain the appetites
+of a quadruped than the speculations of a philosopher; and the savage
+tribes of mankind, as they approach nearer to the condition of animals,
+preserve a stronger resemblance to themselves and to each other. The
+uniform stability of their manners is the natural consequence of the
+imperfection of their faculties. Reduced to a similar situation, their
+wants, their desires, their enjoyments, still continue the same: and
+the influence of food or climate, which, in a more improved state
+of society, is suspended, or subdued, by so many moral causes, most
+powerfully contributes to form, and to maintain, the national character
+of Barbarians. In every age, the immense plains of Scythia, or Tartary,
+have been inhabited by vagrant tribes of hunters and shepherds, whose
+indolence refuses to cultivate the earth, and whose restless spirit
+disdains the confinement of a sedentary life. In every age, the
+Scythians, and Tartars, have been renowned for their invincible courage
+and rapid conquests. The thrones of Asia have been repeatedly overturned
+by the shepherds of the North; and their arms have spread terror and
+devastation over the most fertile and warlike countries of Europe. [6]
+On this occasion, as well as on many others, the sober historian is
+forcibly awakened from a pleasing vision; and is compelled, with some
+reluctance, to confess, that the pastoral manners, which have been
+adorned with the fairest attributes of peace and innocence, are much
+better adapted to the fierce and cruel habits of a military life. To
+illustrate this observation, I shall now proceed to consider a nation of
+shepherds and of warriors, in the three important articles of, I. Their
+diet; II. Their habitations; and, III. Their exercises. The narratives
+of antiquity are justified by the experience of modern times; [7] and
+the banks of the Borysthenes, of the Volga, or of the Selinga, will
+indifferently present the same uniform spectacle of similar and native
+manners. [8]
+
+[Footnote 6: Imperium Asiae ter quaesivere: ipsi perpetuo ab alieno
+imperio, aut intacti aut invicti, mansere. Since the time of Justin,
+(ii. 2,) they have multiplied this account. Voltaire, in a few words,
+(tom. x. p. 64, Hist. Generale, c. 156,) has abridged the Tartar
+conquests. Oft o'er the trembling nations from afar, Has Scythia
+breathed the living cloud of war. Note *: Gray.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The fourth book of Herodotus affords a curious though
+imperfect, portrait of the Scythians. Among the moderns, who describe
+the uniform scene, the Khan of Khowaresm, Abulghazi Bahadur, expresses
+his native feelings; and his genealogical history of the Tartars has
+been copiously illustrated by the French and English editors. Carpin,
+Ascelin, and Rubruquis (in the Hist. des Voyages, tom. vii.) represent
+the Moguls of the fourteenth century. To these guides I have added
+Gerbillon, and the other Jesuits, (Description de la China par du Halde,
+tom. iv.,) who accurately surveyed the Chinese Tartary; and that honest
+and intelligent traveller, Bell, of Antermony, (two volumes in 4to.
+Glasgow, 1763.) * Note: Of the various works published since the time of
+Gibbon, which throw fight on the nomadic population of Central Asia, may
+be particularly remarked the Travels and Dissertations of Pallas; and
+above all, the very curious work of Bergman, Nomadische Streifereyen.
+Riga, 1805.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The Uzbecks are the most altered from their primitive
+manners; 1. By the profession of the Mahometan religion; and 2. By the
+possession of the cities and harvests of the great Bucharia.]
+
+I. The corn, or even the rice, which constitutes the ordinary and
+wholesome food of a civilized people, can be obtained only by the
+patient toil of the husbandman. Some of the happy savages, who dwell
+between the tropics, are plentifully nourished by the liberality of
+nature; but in the climates of the North, a nation of shepherds is
+reduced to their flocks and herds. The skilful practitioners of the
+medical art will determine (if they are able to determine) how far the
+temper of the human mind may be affected by the use of animal, or of
+vegetable, food; and whether the common association of carniverous
+and cruel deserves to be considered in any other light than that of an
+innocent, perhaps a salutary, prejudice of humanity. [9] Yet, if it be
+true, that the sentiment of compassion is imperceptibly weakened by the
+sight and practice of domestic cruelty, we may observe, that the horrid
+objects which are disguised by the arts of European refinement, are
+exhibited in their naked and most disgusting simplicity in the tent of
+a Tartarian shepherd. The ox, or the sheep, are slaughtered by the same
+hand from which they were accustomed to receive their daily food; and
+the bleeding limbs are served, with very little preparation, on the
+table of their unfeeling murderer. In the military profession, and
+especially in the conduct of a numerous army, the exclusive use of
+animal food appears to be productive of the most solid advantages. Corn
+is a bulky and perishable commodity; and the large magazines, which
+are indispensably necessary for the subsistence of our troops, must be
+slowly transported by the labor of men or horses. But the flocks and
+herds, which accompany the march of the Tartars, afford a sure and
+increasing supply of flesh and milk: in the far greater part of the
+uncultivated waste, the vegetation of the grass is quick and luxuriant;
+and there are few places so extremely barren, that the hardy cattle of
+the North cannot find some tolerable pasture.
+
+The supply is multiplied and prolonged by the undistinguishing appetite,
+and patient abstinence, of the Tartars. They indifferently feed on the
+flesh of those animals that have been killed for the table, or have
+died of disease. Horseflesh, which in every age and country has been
+proscribed by the civilized nations of Europe and Asia, they devour with
+peculiar greediness; and this singular taste facilitates the success
+of their military operations. The active cavalry of Scythia is always
+followed, in their most distant and rapid incursions, by an adequate
+number of spare horses, who may be occasionally used, either to redouble
+the speed, or to satisfy the hunger, of the Barbarians. Many are the
+resources of courage and poverty. When the forage round a camp of
+Tartars is almost consumed, they slaughter the greatest part of their
+cattle, and preserve the flesh, either smoked, or dried in the sun. On
+the sudden emergency of a hasty march, they provide themselves with a
+sufficient quantity of little balls of cheese, or rather of hard curd,
+which they occasionally dissolve in water; and this unsubstantial diet
+will support, for many days, the life, and even the spirits, of the
+patient warrior. But this extraordinary abstinence, which the Stoic
+would approve, and the hermit might envy, is commonly succeeded by the
+most voracious indulgence of appetite. The wines of a happier climate
+are the most grateful present, or the most valuable commodity, that can
+be offered to the Tartars; and the only example of their industry seems
+to consist in the art of extracting from mare's milk a fermented liquor,
+which possesses a very strong power of intoxication. Like the animals
+of prey, the savages, both of the old and new world, experience the
+alternate vicissitudes of famine and plenty; and their stomach is inured
+to sustain, without much inconvenience, the opposite extremes of hunger
+and of intemperance.
+
+[Footnote 9: Il est certain que les grands mangeurs de viande sont en
+general cruels et feroces plus que les autres hommes. Cette observation
+est de tous les lieux, et de tous les temps: la barbarie Angloise est
+connue, &c. Emile de Rousseau, tom. i. p. 274. Whatever we may think
+of the general observation, we shall not easily allow the truth of
+his example. The good-natured complaints of Plutarch, and the pathetic
+lamentations of Ovid, seduce our reason, by exciting our sensibility.]
+
+II. In the ages of rustic and martial simplicity, a people of soldiers
+and husbandmen are dispersed over the face of an extensive and
+cultivated country; and some time must elapse before the warlike youth
+of Greece or Italy could be assembled under the same standard, either to
+defend their own confines, or to invade the territories of the adjacent
+tribes. The progress of manufactures and commerce insensibly collects
+a large multitude within the walls of a city: but these citizens are no
+longer soldiers; and the arts which adorn and improve the state of civil
+society, corrupt the habits of the military life. The pastoral manners
+of the Scythians seem to unite the different advantages of simplicity
+and refinement. The individuals of the same tribe are constantly
+assembled, but they are assembled in a camp; and the native spirit of
+these dauntless shepherds is animated by mutual support and emulation.
+The houses of the Tartars are no more than small tents, of an oval form,
+which afford a cold and dirty habitation, for the promiscuous youth of
+both sexes. The palaces of the rich consist of wooden huts, of such a
+size that they may be conveniently fixed on large wagons, and drawn by
+a team perhaps of twenty or thirty oxen. The flocks and herds, after
+grazing all day in the adjacent pastures, retire, on the approach of
+night, within the protection of the camp. The necessity of preventing
+the most mischievous confusion, in such a perpetual concourse of men and
+animals, must gradually introduce, in the distribution, the order, and
+the guard, of the encampment, the rudiments of the military art. As soon
+as the forage of a certain district is consumed, the tribe, or rather
+army, of shepherds, makes a regular march to some fresh pastures; and
+thus acquires, in the ordinary occupations of the pastoral life,
+the practical knowledge of one of the most important and difficult
+operations of war. The choice of stations is regulated by the difference
+of the seasons: in the summer, the Tartars advance towards the North,
+and pitch their tents on the banks of a river, or, at least, in the
+neighborhood of a running stream. But in the winter, they return to the
+South, and shelter their camp, behind some convenient eminence, against
+the winds, which are chilled in their passage over the bleak and icy
+regions of Siberia. These manners are admirably adapted to diffuse,
+among the wandering tribes, the spirit of emigration and conquest.
+The connection between the people and their territory is of so frail a
+texture, that it may be broken by the slightest accident. The camp, and
+not the soil, is the native country of the genuine Tartar. Within the
+precincts of that camp, his family, his companions, his property,
+are always included; and, in the most distant marches, he is still
+surrounded by the objects which are dear, or valuable, or familiar in
+his eyes. The thirst of rapine, the fear, or the resentment of injury,
+the impatience of servitude, have, in every age, been sufficient causes
+to urge the tribes of Scythia boldly to advance into some unknown
+countries, where they might hope to find a more plentiful subsistence
+or a less formidable enemy. The revolutions of the North have frequently
+determined the fate of the South; and in the conflict of hostile
+nations, the victor and the vanquished have alternately drove, and been
+driven, from the confines of China to those of Germany. [10] These great
+emigrations, which have been sometimes executed with almost incredible
+diligence, were rendered more easy by the peculiar nature of the
+climate. It is well known that the cold of Tartary is much more severe
+than in the midst of the temperate zone might reasonably be expected;
+this uncommon rigor is attributed to the height of the plains, which
+rise, especially towards the East, more than half a mile above the level
+of the sea; and to the quantity of saltpetre with which the soil is
+deeply impregnated. [11] In the winter season, the broad and rapid
+rivers, that discharge their waters into the Euxine, the Caspian, or the
+Icy Sea, are strongly frozen; the fields are covered with a bed of snow;
+and the fugitive, or victorious, tribes may securely traverse, with
+their families, their wagons, and their cattle, the smooth and hard
+surface of an immense plain.
+
+[Footnote 10: These Tartar emigrations have been discovered by M.
+de Guignes (Histoire des Huns, tom. i. ii.) a skilful and laborious
+interpreter of the Chinese language; who has thus laid open new and
+important scenes in the history of mankind.]
+
+[Footnote 11: A plain in the Chinese Tartary, only eighty leagues from
+the great wall, was found by the missionaries to be three thousand
+geometrical paces above the level of the sea. Montesquieu, who has used,
+and abused, the relations of travellers, deduces the revolutions of
+Asia from this important circumstance, that heat and cold, weakness and
+strength, touch each other without any temperate zone, (Esprit des Loix,
+l. xvii. c. 3.)]
+
+III. The pastoral life, compared with the labors of agriculture and
+manufactures, is undoubtedly a life of idleness; and as the most
+honorable shepherds of the Tartar race devolve on their captives the
+domestic management of the cattle, their own leisure is seldom disturbed
+by any servile and assiduous cares. But this leisure, instead of being
+devoted to the soft enjoyments of love and harmony, is use fully spent
+in the violent and sanguinary exercise of the chase. The plains of
+Tartary are filled with a strong and serviceable breed of horses, which
+are easily trained for the purposes of war and hunting. The Scythians of
+every age have been celebrated as bold and skilful riders; and constant
+practice had seated them so firmly on horseback, that they were supposed
+by strangers to perform the ordinary duties of civil life, to eat, to
+drink, and even to sleep, without dismounting from their steeds. They
+excel in the dexterous management of the lance; the long Tartar bow
+is drawn with a nervous arm; and the weighty arrow is directed to its
+object with unerring aim and irresistible force. These arrows are often
+pointed against the harmless animals of the desert, which increase and
+multiply in the absence of their most formidable enemy; the hare, the
+goat, the roebuck, the fallow-deer, the stag, the elk, and the antelope.
+The vigor and patience, both of the men and horses, are continually
+exercised by the fatigues of the chase; and the plentiful supply of game
+contributes to the subsistence, and even luxury, of a Tartar camp.
+But the exploits of the hunters of Scythia are not confined to the
+destruction of timid or innoxious beasts; they boldly encounter the
+angry wild boar, when he turns against his pursuers, excite the sluggish
+courage of the bear, and provoke the fury of the tiger, as he slumbers
+in the thicket. Where there is danger, there may be glory; and the mode
+of hunting, which opens the fairest field to the exertions of valor,
+may justly be considered as the image, and as the school, of war. The
+general hunting matches, the pride and delight of the Tartar princes,
+compose an instructive exercise for their numerous cavalry. A circle
+is drawn, of many miles in circumference, to encompass the game of
+an extensive district; and the troops that form the circle regularly
+advance towards a common centre; where the captive animals, surrounded
+on every side, are abandoned to the darts of the hunters. In this march,
+which frequently continues many days, the cavalry are obliged to climb
+the hills, to swim the rivers, and to wind through the valleys, without
+interrupting the prescribed order of their gradual progress. They
+acquire the habit of directing their eye, and their steps, to a remote
+object; of preserving their intervals of suspending or accelerating
+their pace, according to the motions of the troops on their right and
+left; and of watching and repeating the signals of their leaders. Their
+leaders study, in this practical school, the most important lesson
+of the military art; the prompt and accurate judgment of ground, of
+distance, and of time. To employ against a human enemy the same patience
+and valor, the same skill and discipline, is the only alteration which
+is required in real war; and the amusements of the chase serve as a
+prelude to the conquest of an empire. [12]
+
+[Footnote 12: Petit de la Croix (Vie de Gengiscan, l. iii. c. 6)
+represents the full glory and extent of the Mogul chase. The Jesuits
+Gerbillon and Verbiest followed the emperor Khamhi when he hunted in
+Tartary, Duhalde, (Description de la Chine, tom. iv. p. 81, 290, &c.,
+folio edit.) His grandson, Kienlong, who unites the Tartar discipline
+with the laws and learning of China, describes (Eloge de Moukden,
+p. 273--285) as a poet the pleasures which he had often enjoyed as a
+sportsman.]
+
+The political society of the ancient Germans has the appearance of
+a voluntary alliance of independent warriors. The tribes of Scythia,
+distinguished by the modern appellation of Hords, assume the form of
+a numerous and increasing family; which, in the course of successive
+generations, has been propagated from the same original stock. The
+meanest, and most ignorant, of the Tartars, preserve, with conscious
+pride, the inestimable treasure of their genealogy; and whatever
+distinctions of rank may have been introduced, by the unequal
+distribution of pastoral wealth, they mutually respect themselves, and
+each other, as the descendants of the first founder of the tribe. The
+custom, which still prevails, of adopting the bravest and most faithful
+of the captives, may countenance the very probable suspicion, that this
+extensive consanguinity is, in a great measure, legal and fictitious.
+But the useful prejudice, which has obtained the sanction of time and
+opinion, produces the effects of truth; the haughty Barbarians yield a
+cheerful and voluntary obedience to the head of their blood; and their
+chief, or mursa, as the representative of their great father, exercises
+the authority of a judge in peace, and of a leader in war. In the
+original state of the pastoral world, each of the mursas (if we may
+continue to use a modern appellation) acted as the independent chief
+of a large and separate family; and the limits of their peculiar
+territories were gradually fixed by superior force, or mutual consent.
+But the constant operation of various and permanent causes contributed
+to unite the vagrant Hords into national communities, under the command
+of a supreme head. The weak were desirous of support, and the strong
+were ambitious of dominion; the power, which is the result of union,
+oppressed and collected the divided force of the adjacent tribes;
+and, as the vanquished were freely admitted to share the advantages of
+victory, the most valiant chiefs hastened to range themselves and their
+followers under the formidable standard of a confederate nation. The
+most successful of the Tartar princes assumed the military command, to
+which he was entitled by the superiority, either of merit or of power.
+He was raised to the throne by the acclamations of his equals; and the
+title of Khan expresses, in the language of the North of Asia, the full
+extent of the regal dignity. The right of hereditary succession was long
+confined to the blood of the founder of the monarchy; and at this moment
+all the Khans, who reign from Crimea to the wall of China, are the
+lineal descendants of the renowned Zingis. [13] But, as it is the
+indispensable duty of a Tartar sovereign to lead his warlike subjects
+into the field, the claims of an infant are often disregarded; and some
+royal kinsman, distinguished by his age and valor, is intrusted with the
+sword and sceptre of his predecessor. Two distinct and regular taxes are
+levied on the tribes, to support the dignity of the national monarch,
+and of their peculiar chief; and each of those contributions amounts
+to the tithe, both of their property, and of their spoil. A Tartar
+sovereign enjoys the tenth part of the wealth of his people; and as
+his own domestic riches of flocks and herds increase in a much larger
+proportion, he is able plentifully to maintain the rustic splendor of
+his court, to reward the most deserving, or the most favored of his
+followers, and to obtain, from the gentle influence of corruption, the
+obedience which might be sometimes refused to the stern mandates of
+authority. The manners of his subjects, accustomed, like himself, to
+blood and rapine, might excuse, in their eyes, such partial acts of
+tyranny, as would excite the horror of a civilized people; but the power
+of a despot has never been acknowledged in the deserts of Scythia. The
+immediate jurisdiction of the khan is confined within the limits of his
+own tribe; and the exercise of his royal prerogative has been moderated
+by the ancient institution of a national council. The Coroulai, [14] or
+Diet, of the Tartars, was regularly held in the spring and autumn, in
+the midst of a plain; where the princes of the reigning family, and the
+mursas of the respective tribes, may conveniently assemble on horseback,
+with their martial and numerous trains; and the ambitious monarch, who
+reviewed the strength, must consult the inclination of an armed
+people. The rudiments of a feudal government may be discovered in
+the constitution of the Scythian or Tartar nations; but the perpetual
+conflict of those hostile nations has sometimes terminated in the
+establishment of a powerful and despotic empire. The victor, enriched
+by the tribute, and fortified by the arms of dependent kings, has spread
+his conquests over Europe or Asia: the successful shepherds of the North
+have submitted to the confinement of arts, of laws, and of cities; and
+the introduction of luxury, after destroying the freedom of the people,
+has undermined the foundations of the throne. [15]
+
+[Footnote 13: See the second volume of the Genealogical History of the
+Tartars; and the list of the Khans, at the end of the life of Geng's, or
+Zingis. Under the reign of Timur, or Tamerlane, one of his subjects, a
+descendant of Zingis, still bore the regal appellation of Khan and the
+conqueror of Asia contented himself with the title of Emir or Sultan.
+Abulghazi, part v. c. 4. D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orien tale, p. 878.]
+
+[Footnote 14: See the Diets of the ancient Huns, (De Guignes, tom. ii.
+p. 26,) and a curious description of those of Zingis, (Vie de Gengiscan,
+l. i. c. 6, l. iv. c. 11.) Such assemblies are frequently mentioned in
+the Persian history of Timur; though they served only to countenance the
+resolutions of their master.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Montesquieu labors to explain a difference, which has not
+existed, between the liberty of the Arabs, and the perpetual slavery of
+the Tartars. (Esprit des Loix, l. xvii. c. 5, l. xviii. c. 19, &c.)]
+
+The memory of past events cannot long be preserved in the frequent and
+remote emigrations of illiterate Barbarians. The modern Tartars are
+ignorant of the conquests of their ancestors; [16] and our knowledge of
+the history of the Scythians is derived from their intercourse with the
+learned and civilized nations of the South, the Greeks, the Persians,
+and the Chinese. The Greeks, who navigated the Euxine, and planted their
+colonies along the sea-coast, made the gradual and imperfect discovery
+of Scythia; from the Danube, and the confines of Thrace, as far as the
+frozen Maeotis, the seat of eternal winter, and Mount Caucasus, which,
+in the language of poetry, was described as the utmost boundary of
+the earth. They celebrated, with simple credulity, the virtues of the
+pastoral life: [17] they entertained a more rational apprehension of the
+strength and numbers of the warlike Barbarians, [18] who contemptuously
+baffled the immense armament of Darius, the son of Hystaspes. [19] The
+Persian monarchs had extended their western conquests to the banks of
+the Danube, and the limits of European Scythia. The eastern provinces of
+their empire were exposed to the Scythians of Asia; the wild inhabitants
+of the plains beyond the Oxus and the Jaxartes, two mighty rivers, which
+direct their course towards the Caspian Sea. The long and memorable
+quarrel of Iran and Touran is still the theme of history or romance: the
+famous, perhaps the fabulous, valor of the Persian heroes, Rustan and
+Asfendiar, was signalized, in the defence of their country, against
+the Afrasiabs of the North; [20] and the invincible spirit of the same
+Barbarians resisted, on the same ground, the victorious arms of Cyrus
+and Alexander. [21] In the eyes of the Greeks and Persians, the real
+geography of Scythia was bounded, on the East, by the mountains
+of Imaus, or Caf; and their distant prospect of the extreme and
+inaccessible parts of Asia was clouded by ignorance, or perplexed by
+fiction. But those inaccessible regions are the ancient residence of
+a powerful and civilized nation, [22] which ascends, by a probable
+tradition, above forty centuries; [23] and which is able to verify
+a series of near two thousand years, by the perpetual testimony of
+accurate and contemporary historians. [24] The annals of China [25]
+illustrate the state and revolutions of the pastoral tribes, which
+may still be distinguished by the vague appellation of Scythians, or
+Tartars; the vassals, the enemies, and sometimes the conquerors, of a
+great empire; whose policy has uniformly opposed the blind and impetuous
+valor of the Barbarians of the North. From the mouth of the Danube to
+the Sea of Japan, the whole longitude of Scythia is about one hundred
+and ten degrees, which, in that parallel, are equal to more than five
+thousand miles. The latitude of these extensive deserts cannot be so
+easily, or so accurately, measured; but, from the fortieth degree, which
+touches the wall of China, we may securely advance above a thousand
+miles to the northward, till our progress is stopped by the excessive
+cold of Siberia. In that dreary climate, instead of the animated picture
+of a Tartar camp, the smoke that issues from the earth, or rather from
+the snow, betrays the subterraneous dwellings of the Tongouses, and the
+Samoides: the want of horses and oxen is imperfectly supplied by the
+use of reindeer, and of large dogs; and the conquerors of the earth
+insensibly degenerate into a race of deformed and diminutive savages,
+who tremble at the sound of arms. [26]
+
+[Footnote 16: Abulghasi Khan, in the two first parts of his Genealogical
+History, relates the miserable tales and traditions of the Uzbek Tartars
+concerning the times which preceded the reign of Zingis. * Note: The
+differences between the various pastoral tribes and nations comprehended
+by the ancients under the vague name of Scythians, and by Gibbon under
+inst of Tartars, have received some, and still, perhaps, may receive
+more, light from the comparisons of their dialects and languages by
+modern scholars.--M]
+
+[Footnote 17: In the thirteenth book of the Iliad, Jupiter turns away
+his eyes from the bloody fields of Troy, to the plains of Thrace and
+Scythia. He would not, by changing the prospect, behold a more peaceful
+or innocent scene.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Thucydides, l. ii. c. 97.]
+
+[Footnote 19: See the fourth book of Herodotus. When Darius advanced
+into the Moldavian desert, between the Danube and the Niester, the king
+of the Scythians sent him a mouse, a frog, a bird, and five arrows; a
+tremendous allegory!]
+
+[Footnote 20: These wars and heroes may be found under their respective
+titles, in the Bibliotheque Orientale of D'Herbelot. They have been
+celebrated in an epic poem of sixty thousand rhymed couplets, by
+Ferdusi, the Homer of Persia. See the history of Nadir Shah, p. 145,
+165. The public must lament that Mr. Jones has suspended the pursuit of
+Oriental learning. Note: Ferdusi is yet imperfectly known to European
+readers. An abstract of the whole poem has been published by Goerres
+in German, under the title "das Heldenbuch des Iran." In English, an
+abstract with poetical translations, by Mr. Atkinson, has appeared,
+under the auspices of the Oriental Fund. But to translate a poet a man
+must be a poet. The best account of the poem is in an article by Von
+Hammer in the Vienna Jahrbucher, 1820: or perhaps in a masterly article
+in Cochrane's Foreign Quarterly Review, No. 1, 1835. A splendid and
+critical edition of the whole work has been published by a very learned
+English Orientalist, Captain Macan, at the expense of the king of Oude.
+As to the number of 60,000 couplets, Captain Macan (Preface, p. 39)
+states that he never saw a MS. containing more than 56,685, including
+doubtful and spurious passages and episodes.--M. * Note: The later
+studies of Sir W. Jones were more in unison with the wishes of the
+public, thus expressed by Gibbon.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 21: The Caspian Sea, with its rivers and adjacent tribes,
+are laboriously illustrated in the Examen Critique des Historiens
+d'Alexandre, which compares the true geography, and the errors produced
+by the vanity or ignorance of the Greeks.]
+
+[Footnote 22: The original seat of the nation appears to have been in
+the Northwest of China, in the provinces of Chensi and Chansi. Under the
+two first dynasties, the principal town was still a movable camp; the
+villages were thinly scattered; more land was employed in pasture than
+in tillage; the exercise of hunting was ordained to clear the country
+from wild beasts; Petcheli (where Pekin stands) was a desert, and the
+Southern provinces were peopled with Indian savages. The dynasty of the
+Han (before Christ 206) gave the empire its actual form and extent.]
+
+[Footnote 23: The aera of the Chinese monarchy has been variously fixed
+from 2952 to 2132 years before Christ; and the year 2637 has been chosen
+for the lawful epoch, by the authority of the present emperor.
+The difference arises from the uncertain duration of the two first
+dynasties; and the vacant space that lies beyond them, as far as the
+real, or fabulous, times of Fohi, or Hoangti. Sematsien dates his
+authentic chronology from the year 841; the thirty-six eclipses of
+Confucius (thirty-one of which have been verified) were observed between
+the years 722 and 480 before Christ. The historical period of China does
+not ascend above the Greek Olympiads.]
+
+[Footnote 24: After several ages of anarchy and despotism, the dynasty
+of the Han (before Christ 206) was the aera of the revival of learning.
+The fragments of ancient literature were restored; the characters were
+improved and fixed; and the future preservation of books was secured
+by the useful inventions of ink, paper, and the art of printing.
+Ninety-seven years before Christ, Sematsien published the first history
+of China. His labors were illustrated, and continued, by a series of
+one hundred and eighty historians. The substance of their works is still
+extant; and the most considerable of them are now deposited in the king
+of France's library.]
+
+[Footnote 25: China has been illustrated by the labors of the French; of
+the missionaries at Pekin, and Messrs. Freret and De Guignes at Paris.
+The substance of the three preceding notes is extracted from the
+Chou-king, with the preface and notes of M. de Guignes, Paris, 1770. The
+Tong-Kien-Kang-Mou, translated by P. de Mailla, under the name of Hist.
+Generale de la Chine, tom. i. p. xlix.--cc.; the Memoires sur la Chine,
+Paris, 1776, &c., tom. i. p. 1--323; tom. ii. p. 5--364; the Histoire
+des Huns, tom. i. p. 4--131, tom. v. p. 345--362; and the Memoires de
+l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. x. p. 377--402; tom. xv. p. 495--564;
+tom. xviii. p. 178--295; xxxvi. p. 164--238.]
+
+[Footnote 26: See the Histoire Generale des Voyages, tom. xviii., and
+the Genealogical History, vol. ii. p. 620--664.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI: Progress of The Huns.--Part II.
+
+The Huns, who under the reign of Valens threatened the empire of Rome,
+had been formidable, in a much earlier period, to the empire of China.
+[27] Their ancient, perhaps their original, seat was an extensive,
+though dry and barren, tract of country, immediately on the north side
+of the great wall. Their place is at present occupied by the forty-nine
+Hords or Banners of the Mongous, a pastoral nation, which consists of
+about two hundred thousand families. [28] But the valor of the Huns had
+extended the narrow limits of their dominions; and their rustic chiefs,
+who assumed the appellation of Tanjou, gradually became the conquerors,
+and the sovereigns of a formidable empire. Towards the East, their
+victorious arms were stopped only by the ocean; and the tribes, which
+are thinly scattered between the Amoor and the extreme peninsula of
+Corea, adhered, with reluctance, to the standard of the Huns. On the
+West, near the head of the Irtish, in the valleys of Imaus, they found
+a more ample space, and more numerous enemies. One of the lieutenants
+of the Tanjou subdued, in a single expedition, twenty-six nations; the
+Igours, [29] distinguished above the Tartar race by the use of letters,
+were in the number of his vassals; and, by the strange connection of
+human events, the flight of one of those vagrant tribes recalled the
+victorious Parthians from the invasion of Syria. [30] On the side of
+the North, the ocean was assigned as the limit of the power of the Huns.
+Without enemies to resist their progress, or witnesses to contradict
+their vanity, they might securely achieve a real, or imaginary, conquest
+of the frozen regions of Siberia. The Northren Sea was fixed as the
+remote boundary of their empire. But the name of that sea, on whose
+shores the patriot Sovou embraced the life of a shepherd and an exile,
+[31] may be transferred, with much more probability, to the Baikal, a
+capacious basin, above three hundred miles in length, which disdains the
+modest appellation of a lake [32] and which actually communicates with
+the seas of the North, by the long course of the Angara, the Tongusha,
+and the Jenissea. The submission of so many distant nations might
+flatter the pride of the Tanjou; but the valor of the Huns could be
+rewarded only by the enjoyment of the wealth and luxury of the empire of
+the South. In the third century [32a] before the Christian aera, a
+wall of fifteen hundred miles in length was constructed, to defend
+the frontiers of China against the inroads of the Huns; [33] but this
+stupendous work, which holds a conspicuous place in the map of the
+world, has never contributed to the safety of an unwarlike people.
+The cavalry of the Tanjou frequently consisted of two or three hundred
+thousand men, formidable by the matchless dexterity with which they
+managed their bows and their horses: by their hardy patience in
+supporting the inclemency of the weather; and by the incredible speed of
+their march, which was seldom checked by torrents, or precipices, by the
+deepest rivers, or by the most lofty mountains. They spread themselves
+at once over the face of the country; and their rapid impetuosity
+surprised, astonished, and disconcerted the grave and elaborate tactics
+of a Chinese army. The emperor Kaoti, [34] a soldier of fortune, whose
+personal merit had raised him to the throne, marched against the Huns
+with those veteran troops which had been trained in the civil wars of
+China. But he was soon surrounded by the Barbarians; and, after a siege
+of seven days, the monarch, hopeless of relief, was reduced to purchase
+his deliverance by an ignominious capitulation. The successors of Kaoti,
+whose lives were dedicated to the arts of peace, or the luxury of
+the palace, submitted to a more permanent disgrace. They too hastily
+confessed the insufficiency of arms and fortifications. They were too
+easily convinced, that while the blazing signals announced on every side
+the approach of the Huns, the Chinese troops, who slept with the helmet
+on their head, and the cuirass on their back, were destroyed by the
+incessant labor of ineffectual marches. [35] A regular payment of money,
+and silk, was stipulated as the condition of a temporary and precarious
+peace; and the wretched expedient of disguising a real tribute, under
+the names of a gift or subsidy, was practised by the emperors of China
+as well as by those of Rome. But there still remained a more disgraceful
+article of tribute, which violated the sacred feelings of humanity and
+nature. The hardships of the savage life, which destroy in their infancy
+the children who are born with a less healthy and robust constitution,
+introduced a remarkable disproportion between the numbers of the two
+sexes. The Tartars are an ugly and even deformed race; and while they
+consider their own women as the instruments of domestic labor, their
+desires, or rather their appetites, are directed to the enjoyment of
+more elegant beauty. A select band of the fairest maidens of China was
+annually devoted to the rude embraces of the Huns; [36] and the alliance
+of the haughty Tanjous was secured by their marriage with the genuine,
+or adopted, daughters of the Imperial family, which vainly attempted
+to escape the sacrilegious pollution. The situation of these unhappy
+victims is described in the verses of a Chinese princess, who laments
+that she had been condemned by her parents to a distant exile, under a
+Barbarian husband; who complains that sour milk was her only drink, raw
+flesh her only food, a tent her only palace; and who expresses, in
+a strain of pathetic simplicity, the natural wish, that she were
+transformed into a bird, to fly back to her dear country; the object of
+her tender and perpetual regret. [37]
+
+[Footnote 27: M. de Guignes (tom. ii. p. 1--124) has given the original
+history of the ancient Hiong-nou, or Huns. The Chinese geography of
+their country (tom. i. part. p. lv.--lxiii.) seems to comprise a part of
+their conquests. * Note: The theory of De Guignes on the early history
+of the Huns is, in general, rejected by modern writers. De Guignes
+advanced no valid proof of the identity of the Hioung-nou of the
+Chinese writers with the Huns, except the similarity of name. Schlozer,
+(Allgemeine Nordische Geschichte, p. 252,) Klaproth, (Tableaux
+Historiques de l'Asie, p. 246,) St. Martin, iv. 61, and A. Remusat,
+(Recherches sur les Langues Tartares, D. P. xlvi, and p. 328; though in
+the latter passage he considers the theory of De Guignes not absolutely
+disproved,) concur in considering the Huns as belonging to the Finnish
+stock, distinct from the Moguls the Mandscheus, and the Turks. The
+Hiong-nou, according to Klaproth, were Turks. The names of the Hunnish
+chiefs could not be pronounced by a Turk; and, according to the same
+author, the Hioung-nou, which is explained in Chinese as detestable
+slaves, as early as the year 91 J. C., were dispersed by the Chinese,
+and assumed the name of Yue-po or Yue-pan. M. St. Martin does not
+consider it impossible that the appellation of Hioung-nou may have
+belonged to the Huns. But all agree in considering the Madjar or Magyar
+of modern Hungary the descendants of the Huns. Their language (compare
+Gibbon, c. lv. n. 22) is nearly related to the Lapponian and Vogoul. The
+noble forms of the modern Hungarians, so strongly contrasted with the
+hideous pictures which the fears and the hatred of the Romans give
+of the Huns, M. Klaproth accounts for by the intermingling with other
+races, Turkish and Slavonian. The present state of the question is
+thus stated in the last edition of Malte Brun, and a new and ingenious
+hypothesis suggested to resolve all the difficulties of the question.
+Were the Huns Finns? This obscure question has not been debated till
+very recently, and is yet very far from being decided. We are of opinion
+that it will be so hereafter in the same manner as that with regard to
+the Scythians. We shall trace in the portrait of Attila a dominant tribe
+or Mongols, or Kalmucks, with all the hereditary ugliness of that race;
+but in the mass of the Hunnish army and nation will be recognized the
+Chuni and the Ounni of the Greek Geography. the Kuns of the Hungarians,
+the European Huns, and a race in close relationship with the Flemish
+stock. Malte Brun, vi. p. 94. This theory is more fully and ably
+developed, p. 743. Whoever has seen the emperor of Austria's Hungarian
+guard, will not readily admit their descent from the Huns described by
+Sidonius Appolinaris.--M]
+
+[Footnote 28: See in Duhalde (tom. iv. p. 18--65) a circumstantial
+description, with a correct map, of the country of the Mongous.]
+
+[Footnote 29: The Igours, or Vigours, were divided into three branches;
+hunters, shepherds, and husbandmen; and the last class was despised by
+the two former. See Abulghazi, part ii. c. 7. * Note: On the Ouigour
+or Igour characters, see the work of M. A. Remusat, Sur les Langues
+Tartares. He conceives the Ouigour alphabet of sixteen letters to
+have been formed from the Syriac, and introduced by the Nestorian
+Christians.--Ch. ii. M.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxv. p.
+17--33. The comprehensive view of M. de Guignes has compared these
+distant events.]
+
+[Footnote 31: The fame of Sovou, or So-ou, his merit, and his singular
+adventurers, are still celebrated in China. See the Eloge de Moukden,
+p. 20, and notes, p. 241--247; and Memoires sur la Chine, tom. iii. p.
+317--360.]
+
+[Footnote 32: See Isbrand Ives in Harris's Collection, vol. ii. p. 931;
+Bell's Travels, vol. i. p. 247--254; and Gmelin, in the Hist. Generale
+des Voyages, tom. xviii. 283--329. They all remark the vulgar opinion
+that the holy sea grows angry and tempestuous if any one presumes to
+call it a lake. This grammatical nicety often excites a dispute between
+the absurd superstition of the mariners and the absurd obstinacy of
+travellers.]
+
+[Footnote 32a: 224 years before Christ. It was built by Chi-hoang-ti
+of the Dynasty Thsin. It is from twenty to twenty-five feet high.
+Ce monument, aussi gigantesque qu'impuissant, arreterait bien les
+incursions de quelques Nomades; mais il n'a jamais empeche les invasions
+des Turcs, des Mongols, et des Mandchous. Abe Remusat Rech. Asiat. 2d
+ser. vol. i. p. 58--M.]
+
+[Footnote 33: The construction of the wall of China is mentioned by
+Duhalde (tom. ii. p. 45) and De Guignes, (tom. ii. p. 59.)]
+
+[Footnote 34: See the life of Lieoupang, or Kaoti, in the Hist, de la
+Chine, published at Paris, 1777, &c., tom. i. p. 442--522. This
+voluminous work is the translation (by the P. de Mailla) of the Tong-
+Kien-Kang-Mou, the celebrated abridgment of the great History of
+Semakouang (A.D. 1084) and his continuators.]
+
+[Footnote 35: See a free and ample memorial, presented by a Mandarin to
+the emperor Venti, (before Christ 180--157,) in Duhalde, (tom. ii. p.
+412--426,) from a collection of State papers marked with the red pencil
+by Kamhi himself, (p. 354--612.) Another memorial from the minister of
+war (Kang-Mou, tom. ii. p 555) supplies some curious circumstances of
+the manners of the Huns.]
+
+[Footnote 36: A supply of women is mentioned as a customary article of
+treaty and tribute, (Hist. de la Conquete de la Chine, par les Tartares
+Mantcheoux, tom. i. p. 186, 187, with the note of the editor.)]
+
+[Footnote 37: De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 62.]
+
+The conquest of China has been twice achieved by the pastoral tribes of
+the North: the forces of the Huns were not inferior to those of the
+Moguls, or of the Mantcheoux; and their ambition might entertain the
+most sanguine hopes of success. But their pride was humbled, and their
+progress was checked, by the arms and policy of Vouti, [38] the fifth
+emperor of the powerful dynasty of the Han. In his long reign of fifty-
+four years, the Barbarians of the southern provinces submitted to the
+laws and manners of China; and the ancient limits of the monarchy were
+enlarged, from the great river of Kiang, to the port of Canton. Instead
+of confining himself to the timid operations of a defensive war, his
+lieutenants penetrated many hundred miles into the country of the Huns.
+In those boundless deserts, where it is impossible to form magazines,
+and difficult to transport a sufficient supply of provisions, the armies
+of Vouti were repeatedly exposed to intolerable hardships: and, of one
+hundred and forty thousand soldiers, who marched against the Barbarians,
+thirty thousand only returned in safety to the feet of their master.
+These losses, however, were compensated by splendid and decisive
+success. The Chinese generals improved the superiority which they
+derived from the temper of their arms, their chariots of war, and the
+service of their Tartar auxiliaries. The camp of the Tanjou was
+surprised in the midst of sleep and intemperance; and, though the
+monarch of the Huns bravely cut his way through the ranks of the enemy,
+he left above fifteen thousand of his subjects on the field of battle.
+Yet this signal victory, which was preceded and followed by many bloody
+engagements, contributed much less to the destruction of the power of
+the Huns than the effectual policy which was employed to detach the
+tributary nations from their obedience. Intimidated by the arms, or
+allured by the promises, of Vouti and his successors, the most
+considerable tribes, both of the East and of the West, disclaimed the
+authority of the Tanjou. While some acknowledged themselves the allies
+or vassals of the empire, they all became the implacable enemies of the
+Huns; and the numbers of that haughty people, as soon as they were
+reduced to their native strength, might, perhaps, have been contained
+within the walls of one of the great and populous cities of China. [39]
+The desertion of his subjects, and the perplexity of a civil war, at
+length compelled the Tanjou himself to renounce the dignity of an
+independent sovereign, and the freedom of a warlike and high-spirited
+nation. He was received at Sigan, the capital of the monarchy, by the
+troops, the mandarins, and the emperor himself, with all the honors that
+could adorn and disguise the triumph of Chinese vanity. [40] A
+magnificent palace was prepared for his reception; his place was
+assigned above all the princes of the royal family; and the patience of
+the Barbarian king was exhausted by the ceremonies of a banquet, which
+consisted of eight courses of meat, and of nine solemn pieces of music.
+But he performed, on his knees, the duty of a respectful homage to the
+emperor of China; pronounced, in his own name, and in the name of his
+successors, a perpetual oath of fidelity; and gratefully accepted a
+seal, which was bestowed as the emblem of his regal dependence. After
+this humiliating submission, the Tanjous sometimes departed from their
+allegiance and seized the favorable moments of war and rapine; but the
+monarchy of the Huns gradually declined, till it was broken, by civil
+dissension, into two hostile and separate kingdoms. One of the princes
+of the nation was urged, by fear and ambition, to retire towards the
+South with eight hords, which composed between forty and fifty thousand
+families. He obtained, with the title of Tanjou, a convenient territory
+on the verge of the Chinese provinces; and his constant attachment to
+the service of the empire was secured by weakness, and the desire of
+revenge. From the time of this fatal schism, the Huns of the North
+continued to languish about fifty years; till they were oppressed on
+every side by their foreign and domestic enemies. The proud inscription
+[41] of a column, erected on a lofty mountain, announced to posterity,
+that a Chinese army had marched seven hundred miles into the heart of
+their country. The Sienpi, [42] a tribe of Oriental Tartars, retaliated
+the injuries which they had formerly sustained; and the power of the
+Tanjous, after a reign of thirteen hundred years, was utterly destroyed
+before the end of the first century of the Christian aera. [43]
+
+[Footnote 38: See the reign of the emperor Vouti, in the Kang-Mou,
+tom. iii. p. 1--98. His various and inconsistent character seems to be
+impartially drawn.]
+
+[Footnote 39: This expression is used in the memorial to the emperor
+Venti, (Duhalde, tom. ii. p. 411.) Without adopting the exaggerations
+of Marco Polo and Isaac Vossius, we may rationally allow for Pekin two
+millions of inhabitants. The cities of the South, which contain the
+manufactures of China, are still more populous.]
+
+[Footnote 40: See the Kang-Mou, tom. iii. p. 150, and the subsequent
+events under the proper years. This memorable festival is celebrated in
+the Eloge de Moukden, and explained in a note by the P. Gaubil, p. 89,
+90.]
+
+[Footnote 41: This inscription was composed on the spot by Parkou,
+President of the Tribunal of History (Kang-Mou, tom. iii. p. 392.)
+Similar monuments have been discovered in many parts of Tartary,
+(Histoire des Huns, tom. ii. p. 122.)]
+
+[Footnote 42: M. de Guignes (tom. i. p. 189) has inserted a short
+account of the Sienpi.]
+
+[Footnote 43: The aera of the Huns is placed, by the Chinese, 1210 years
+before Christ. But the series of their kings does not commence till the
+year 230, (Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 21, 123.)]
+
+The fate of the vanquished Huns was diversified by the various influence
+of character and situation. [44] Above one hundred thousand persons,
+the poorest, indeed, and the most pusillanimous of the people, were
+contented to remain in their native country, to renounce their peculiar
+name and origin, and to mingle with the victorious nation of the Sienpi.
+Fifty-eight hords, about two hundred thousand men, ambitious of a more
+honorable servitude, retired towards the South; implored the protection
+of the emperors of China; and were permitted to inhabit, and to guard,
+the extreme frontiers of the province of Chansi and the territory of
+Ortous. But the most warlike and powerful tribes of the Huns maintained,
+in their adverse fortune, the undaunted spirit of their ancestors. The
+Western world was open to their valor; and they resolved, under the
+conduct of their hereditary chieftains, to conquer and subdue some
+remote country, which was still inaccessible to the arms of the Sienpi,
+and to the laws of China. [45] The course of their emigration soon
+carried them beyond the mountains of Imaus, and the limits of the
+Chinese geography; but we are able to distinguish the two great
+divisions of these formidable exiles, which directed their march towards
+the Oxus, and towards the Volga. The first of these colonies established
+their dominion in the fruitful and extensive plains of Sogdiana, on the
+eastern side of the Caspian; where they preserved the name of Huns,
+with the epithet of Euthalites, or Nepthalites. [45a] Their manners
+were softened, and even their features were insensibly improved, by
+the mildness of the climate, and their long residence in a flourishing
+province, [46] which might still retain a faint impression of the arts
+of Greece. [47] The white Huns, a name which they derived from the
+change of their complexions, soon abandoned the pastoral life of
+Scythia. Gorgo, which, under the appellation of Carizme, has since
+enjoyed a temporary splendor, was the residence of the king, who
+exercised a legal authority over an obedient people. Their luxury was
+maintained by the labor of the Sogdians; and the only vestige of their
+ancient barbarism, was the custom which obliged all the companions,
+perhaps to the number of twenty, who had shared the liberality of a
+wealthy lord, to be buried alive in the same grave. [48] The vicinity
+of the Huns to the provinces of Persia, involved them in frequent and
+bloody contests with the power of that monarchy. But they respected,
+in peace, the faith of treaties; in war, she dictates of humanity;
+and their memorable victory over Peroses, or Firuz, displayed the
+moderation, as well as the valor, of the Barbarians. The second division
+of their countrymen, the Huns, who gradually advanced towards the
+North-west, were exercised by the hardships of a colder climate, and a
+more laborious march. Necessity compelled them to exchange the silks of
+China for the furs of Siberia; the imperfect rudiments of civilized life
+were obliterated; and the native fierceness of the Huns was exasperated
+by their intercourse with the savage tribes, who were compared, with
+some propriety, to the wild beasts of the desert. Their independent
+spirit soon rejected the hereditary succession of the Tanjous; and while
+each horde was governed by its peculiar mursa, their tumultuary council
+directed the public measures of the whole nation. As late as the
+thirteenth century, their transient residence on the eastern banks of
+the Volga was attested by the name of Great Hungary. [49] In the winter,
+they descended with their flocks and herds towards the mouth of that
+mighty river; and their summer excursions reached as high as the
+latitude of Saratoff, or perhaps the conflux of the Kama. Such at least
+were the recent limits of the black Calmucks, [50] who remained about a
+century under the protection of Russia; and who have since returned to
+their native seats on the frontiers of the Chinese empire. The march,
+and the return, of those wandering Tartars, whose united camp consists
+of fifty thousand tents or families, illustrate the distant emigrations
+of the ancient Huns. [51]
+
+[Footnote 44: The various accidents, the downfall, and the flight of the
+Huns, are related in the Kang-Mou, tom. iii. p. 88, 91, 95, 139, &c. The
+small numbers of each horde may be due to their losses and divisions.]
+
+[Footnote 45: M. de Guignes has skilfully traced the footsteps of the
+Huns through the vast deserts of Tartary, (tom. ii. p. 123, 277, &c.,
+325, &c.)]
+
+[Footnote 45a: The Armenian authors often mention this people under the
+name of Hepthal. St. Martin considers that the name of Nepthalites is an
+error of a copyist. St. Martin, iv. 254.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Mohammed, sultan of Carizme, reigned in Sogdiana when
+it was invaded (A.D. 1218) by Zingis and his moguls. The Oriental
+historians (see D'Herbelot, Petit de la Croix, &c.,) celebrate the
+populous cities which he ruined, and the fruitful country which he
+desolated. In the next century, the same provinces of Chorasmia and
+Nawaralnahr were described by Abulfeda, (Hudson, Geograph. Minor. tom.
+iii.) Their actual misery may be seen in the Genealogical History of the
+Tartars, p. 423--469.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Justin (xli. 6) has left a short abridgment of the Greek
+kings of Bactriana. To their industry I should ascribe the new and
+extraordinary trade, which transported the merchandises of India into
+Europe, by the Oxus, the Caspian, the Cyrus, the Phasis, and the
+Euxine. The other ways, both of the land and sea, were possessed by the
+Seleucides and the Ptolemies. (See l'Esprit des Loix, l. xxi.)]
+
+[Footnote 48: Procopius de Bell. Persico, l. i. c. 3, p. 9.]
+
+[Footnote 49: In the thirteenth century, the monk Rubruquis (who
+traversed the immense plain of Kipzak, in his journey to the court of
+the Great Khan) observed the remarkable name of Hungary, with the traces
+of a common language and origin, (Hist. des Voyages, tom. vii. p. 269.)]
+
+[Footnote 50: Bell, (vol. i. p. 29--34,) and the editors of the
+Genealogical History, (p. 539,) have described the Calmucks of the Volga
+in the beginning of the present century.]
+
+[Footnote 51: This great transmigration of 300,000 Calmucks, or
+Torgouts, happened in the year 1771. The original narrative of
+Kien-long, the reigning emperor of China, which was intended for the
+inscription of a column, has been translated by the missionaries of
+Pekin, (Memoires sur la Chine, tom. i. p. 401--418.) The emperor affects
+the smooth and specious language of the Son of Heaven, and the Father of
+his People.]
+
+It is impossible to fill the dark interval of time, which elapsed, after
+the Huns of the Volga were lost in the eyes of the Chinese, and before
+they showed themselves to those of the Romans. There is some reason,
+however, to apprehend, that the same force which had driven them from
+their native seats, still continued to impel their march towards the
+frontiers of Europe. The power of the Sienpi, their implacable enemies,
+which extended above three thousand miles from East to West, [52] must
+have gradually oppressed them by the weight and terror of a formidable
+neighborhood; and the flight of the tribes of Scythia would inevitably
+tend to increase the strength or to contract the territories, of the
+Huns. The harsh and obscure appellations of those tribes would offend
+the ear, without informing the understanding, of the reader; but I
+cannot suppress the very natural suspicion, that the Huns of the North
+derived a considerable reenforcement from the ruin of the dynasty of
+the South, which, in the course of the third century, submitted to the
+dominion of China; that the bravest warriors marched away in search
+of their free and adventurous countrymen; and that, as they had been
+divided by prosperity, they were easily reunited by the common hardships
+of their adverse fortune. [53] The Huns, with their flocks and herds,
+their wives and children, their dependents and allies, were transported
+to the west of the Volga, and they boldly advanced to invade the country
+of the Alani, a pastoral people, who occupied, or wasted, an extensive
+tract of the deserts of Scythia. The plains between the Volga and the
+Tanais were covered with the tents of the Alani, but their name and
+manners were diffused over the wide extent of their conquests; and the
+painted tribes of the Agathyrsi and Geloni were confounded among their
+vassals. Towards the North, they penetrated into the frozen regions of
+Siberia, among the savages who were accustomed, in their rage or hunger,
+to the taste of human flesh; and their Southern inroads were pushed as
+far as the confines of Persia and India. The mixture of Samartic and
+German blood had contributed to improve the features of the Alani, [53a]
+to whiten their swarthy complexions, and to tinge their hair with a
+yellowish cast, which is seldom found in the Tartar race. They were less
+deformed in their persons, less brutish in their manners, than the Huns;
+but they did not yield to those formidable Barbarians in their martial
+and independent spirit; in the love of freedom, which rejected even the
+use of domestic slaves; and in the love of arms, which considered war
+and rapine as the pleasure and the glory of mankind. A naked cimeter,
+fixed in the ground, was the only object of their religious worship; the
+scalps of their enemies formed the costly trappings of their horses;
+and they viewed, with pity and contempt, the pusillanimous warriors, who
+patiently expected the infirmities of age, and the tortures of lingering
+disease. [54] On the banks of the Tanais, the military power of the Huns
+and the Alani encountered each other with equal valor, but with unequal
+success. The Huns prevailed in the bloody contest; the king of the Alani
+was slain; and the remains of the vanquished nation were dispersed
+by the ordinary alternative of flight or submission. [55] A colony of
+exiles found a secure refuge in the mountains of Caucasus, between the
+Euxine and the Caspian, where they still preserve their name and their
+independence. Another colony advanced, with more intrepid courage,
+towards the shores of the Baltic; associated themselves with the
+Northern tribes of Germany; and shared the spoil of the Roman provinces
+of Gaul and Spain. But the greatest part of the nation of the Alani
+embraced the offers of an honorable and advantageous union; and the
+Huns, who esteemed the valor of their less fortunate enemies, proceeded,
+with an increase of numbers and confidence, to invade the limits of the
+Gothic empire.
+
+[Footnote 52: The Khan-Mou (tom. iii. p. 447) ascribes to their
+conquests a space of 14,000 lis. According to the present standard, 200
+lis (or more accurately 193) are equal to one degree of latitude; and
+one English mile consequently exceeds three miles of China. But there
+are strong reasons to believe that the ancient li scarcely equalled
+one half of the modern. See the elaborate researches of M. D'Anville,
+a geographer who is not a stranger in any age or climate of the globe.
+(Memoires de l'Acad. tom. ii. p. 125-502. Itineraires, p. 154-167.)]
+
+[Footnote 53: See Histoire des Huns, tom. ii. p. 125--144. The
+subsequent history (p. 145--277) of three or four Hunnic dynasties
+evidently proves that their martial spirit was not impaired by a long
+residence in China.]
+
+[Footnote 53a: Compare M. Klaproth's curious speculations on the Alani.
+He supposes them to have been the people, known by the Chinese, at the
+time of their first expeditions to the West, under the name of Yath-sai
+or A-lanna, the Alanan of Persian tradition, as preserved in Ferdusi;
+the same, according to Ammianus, with the Massagetae, and with the
+Albani. The remains of the nation still exist in the Ossetae of Mount
+Caucasus. Klaproth, Tableaux Historiques de l'Asie, p. 174.--M. Compare
+Shafarik Slawische alterthumer, i. p. 350.--M. 1845.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Utque hominibus quietis et placidis otium est voluptabile,
+ita illos pericula juvent et bella. Judicatur ibi beatus qui in proelio
+profuderit animam: senescentes etiam et fortuitis mortibus mundo
+digressos, ut degeneres et ignavos, conviciis atrocibus insectantur.
+[Ammian. xxxi. 11.] We must think highly of the conquerors of such men.]
+
+[Footnote 55: On the subject of the Alani, see Ammianus, (xxxi. 2,)
+Jornandes, (de Rebus Geticis, c. 24,) M. de Guignes, (Hist. des Huns,
+tom. ii. p. 279,) and the Genealogical History of the Tartars, (tom. ii.
+p. 617.)]
+
+The great Hermanric, whose dominions extended from the Baltic to the
+Euxine, enjoyed, in the full maturity of age and reputation, the fruit
+of his victories, when he was alarmed by the formidable approach of
+a host of unknown enemies, [56] on whom his barbarous subjects might,
+without injustice, bestow the epithet of Barbarians. The numbers, the
+strength, the rapid motions, and the implacable cruelty of the Huns,
+were felt, and dreaded, and magnified, by the astonished Goths; who
+beheld their fields and villages consumed with flames, and deluged with
+indiscriminate slaughter. To these real terrors they added the surprise
+and abhorrence which were excited by the shrill voice, the uncouth
+gestures, and the strange deformity of the Huns. [56a] These savages
+of Scythia were compared (and the picture had some resemblance) to
+the animals who walk very awkwardly on two legs and to the misshapen
+figures, the Termini, which were often placed on the bridges of
+antiquity. They were distinguished from the rest of the human species by
+their broad shoulders, flat noses, and small black eyes, deeply buried
+in the head; and as they were almost destitute of beards, they never
+enjoyed either the manly grace of youth, or the venerable aspect of age.
+[57] A fabulous origin was assigned, worthy of their form and manners;
+that the witches of Scythia, who, for their foul and deadly practices,
+had been driven from society, had copulated in the desert with infernal
+spirits; and that the Huns were the offspring of this execrable
+conjunction. [58] The tale, so full of horror and absurdity, was
+greedily embraced by the credulous hatred of the Goths; but, while it
+gratified their hatred, it increased their fear, since the posterity
+of daemons and witches might be supposed to inherit some share of the
+praeternatural powers, as well as of the malignant temper, of their
+parents. Against these enemies, Hermanric prepared to exert the united
+forces of the Gothic state; but he soon discovered that his vassal
+tribes, provoked by oppression, were much more inclined to second, than
+to repel, the invasion of the Huns. One of the chiefs of the Roxolani
+[59] had formerly deserted the standard of Hermanric, and the cruel
+tyrant had condemned the innocent wife of the traitor to be torn asunder
+by wild horses. The brothers of that unfortunate woman seized the
+favorable moment of revenge.
+
+The aged king of the Goths languished some time after the dangerous
+wound which he received from their daggers; but the conduct of the war
+was retarded by his infirmities; and the public councils of the nation
+were distracted by a spirit of jealousy and discord. His death, which
+has been imputed to his own despair, left the reins of government in
+the hands of Withimer, who, with the doubtful aid of some Scythian
+mercenaries, maintained the unequal contest against the arms of the Huns
+and the Alani, till he was defeated and slain in a decisive battle. The
+Ostrogoths submitted to their fate; and the royal race of the Amali will
+hereafter be found among the subjects of the haughty Attila. But the
+person of Witheric, the infant king, was saved by the diligence of
+Alatheus and Saphrax; two warriors of approved valor and fiedlity, who,
+by cautious marches, conducted the independent remains of the nation of
+the Ostrogoths towards the Danastus, or Niester; a considerable river,
+which now separates the Turkish dominions from the empire of Russia. On
+the banks of the Niester, the prudent Athanaric, more attentive to his
+own than to the general safety, had fixed the camp of the Visigoths;
+with the firm resolution of opposing the victorious Barbarians, whom he
+thought it less advisable to provoke. The ordinary speed of the Huns was
+checked by the weight of baggage, and the encumbrance of captives;
+but their military skill deceived, and almost destroyed, the army of
+Athanaric. While the Judge of the Visigoths defended the banks of the
+Niester, he was encompassed and attacked by a numerous detachment
+of cavalry, who, by the light of the moon, had passed the river in a
+fordable place; and it was not without the utmost efforts of courage
+and conduct, that he was able to effect his retreat towards the hilly
+country. The undaunted general had already formed a new and judicious
+plan of defensive war; and the strong lines, which he was preparing to
+construct between the mountains, the Pruth, and the Danube, would have
+secured the extensive and fertile territory that bears the modern name
+of Walachia, from the destructive inroads of the Huns. [60] But the
+hopes and measures of the Judge of the Visigoths was soon disappointed,
+by the trembling impatience of his dismayed countrymen; who were
+persuaded by their fears, that the interposition of the Danube was the
+only barrier that could save them from the rapid pursuit, and invincible
+valor, of the Barbarians of Scythia. Under the command of Fritigern and
+Alavivus, [61] the body of the nation hastily advanced to the banks of
+the great river, and implored the protection of the Roman emperor of the
+East. Athanaric himself, still anxious to avoid the guilt of perjury,
+retired, with a band of faithful followers, into the mountainous country
+of Caucaland; which appears to have been guarded, and almost concealed,
+by the impenetrable forests of Transylvania. [62] [62a]
+
+[Footnote 56: As we are possessed of the authentic history of the
+Huns, it would be impertinent to repeat, or to refute, the fables which
+misrepresent their origin and progress, their passage of the mud or
+water of the Maeotis, in pursuit of an ox or stag, les Indes qu'ils
+avoient decouvertes, &c., (Zosimus, l. iv. p. 224. Sozomen, l. vi.
+c. 37. Procopius, Hist. Miscell. c. 5. Jornandes, c. 24. Grandeur et
+Decadence, &c., des Romains, c. 17.)]
+
+[Footnote 56a: Art added to their native ugliness; in fact, it is
+difficult to ascribe the proper share in the features of this hideous
+picture to nature, to the barbarous skill with which they were
+self-disfigured, or to the terror and hatred of the Romans. Their noses
+were flattened by their nurses, their cheeks were gashed by an iron
+instrument, that the scars might look more fearful, and prevent the
+growth of the beard. Jornandes and Sidonius Apollinaris:--
+
+     Obtundit teneras circumdata fascia nares,
+     Ut galeis cedant.
+
+Yet he adds that their forms were robust and manly, their height of a
+middle size, but, from the habit of riding, disproportioned.
+
+     Stant pectora vasta,
+     Insignes humer, succincta sub ilibus alvus.
+     Forma quidem pediti media est, procera sed extat
+     Si cernas equites, sic longi saepe putantur
+     Si sedeant.]
+
+[Footnote 57: Prodigiosae formae, et pandi; ut bipedes existimes
+bestias; vel quales in commarginandis pontibus, effigiati stipites
+dolantur incompte. Ammian. xxxi. i. Jornandes (c. 24) draws a strong
+caricature of a Calmuck face. Species pavenda nigredine... quaedam
+deformis offa, non fecies; habensque magis puncta quam lumina. See
+Buffon. Hist. Naturelle, tom. iii. 380.]
+
+[Footnote 58: This execrable origin, which Jornandes (c. 24) describes
+with the rancor of a Goth, might be originally derived from a more
+pleasing fable of the Greeks. (Herodot. l. iv. c. 9, &c.)]
+
+[Footnote 59: The Roxolani may be the fathers of the the Russians,
+(D'Anville, Empire de Russie, p. 1--10,) whose residence (A.D. 862)
+about Novogrod Veliki cannot be very remote from that which the
+Geographer of Ravenna (i. 12, iv. 4, 46, v. 28, 30) assigns to the
+Roxolani, (A.D. 886.) * Note: See, on the origin of the Russ, Schlozer,
+Nordische Geschichte, p. 78--M.]
+
+[Footnote 60: The text of Ammianus seems to be imperfect or corrupt;
+but the nature of the ground explains, and almost defines, the Gothic
+rampart. Memoires de l'Academie, &c., tom. xxviii. p. 444--462.]
+
+[Footnote 61: M. de Buat (Hist. des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vi. p.
+407) has conceived a strange idea, that Alavivus was the same person
+as Ulphilas, the Gothic bishop; and that Ulphilas, the grandson of a
+Cappadocian captive, became a temporal prince of the Goths.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Ammianus (xxxi. 3) and Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 24)
+describe the subversion of the Gothic empire by the Huns.]
+
+[Footnote 62a: The most probable opinion as to the position of this
+land is that of M. Malte-Brun. He thinks that Caucaland is the
+territory of the Cacoenses, placed by Ptolemy (l. iii. c. 8) towards
+the Carpathian Mountains, on the side of the present Transylvania, and
+therefore the canton of Cacava, to the south of Hermanstadt, the capital
+of the principality. Caucaland it is evident, is the Gothic form of
+these different names. St. Martin, iv 103.--M.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI: Progress of The Huns.--Part III.
+
+After Valens had terminated the Gothic war with some appearance of glory
+and success, he made a progress through his dominions of Asia, and at
+length fixed his residence in the capital of Syria. The five years [63]
+which he spent at Antioch was employed to watch, from a secure distance,
+the hostile designs of the Persian monarch; to check the depredations of
+the Saracens and Isaurians; [64] to enforce, by arguments more prevalent
+than those of reason and eloquence, the belief of the Arian theology;
+and to satisfy his anxious suspicions by the promiscuous execution of
+the innocent and the guilty. But the attention of the emperor was most
+seriously engaged, by the important intelligence which he received from
+the civil and military officers who were intrusted with the defence of
+the Danube. He was informed, that the North was agitated by a furious
+tempest; that the irruption of the Huns, an unknown and monstrous race
+of savages, had subverted the power of the Goths; and that the suppliant
+multitudes of that warlike nation, whose pride was now humbled in the
+dust, covered a space of many miles along the banks of the river. With
+outstretched arms, and pathetic lamentations, they loudly deplored their
+past misfortunes and their present danger; acknowledged that their only
+hope of safety was in the clemency of the Roman government; and most
+solemnly protested, that if the gracious liberality of the emperor would
+permit them to cultivate the waste lands of Thrace, they should
+ever hold themselves bound, by the strongest obligations of duty and
+gratitude, to obey the laws, and to guard the limits, of the republic.
+These assurances were confirmed by the ambassadors of the Goths, [64a]
+who impatiently expected from the mouth of Valens an answer that must
+finally determine the fate of their unhappy countrymen. The emperor of
+the East was no longer guided by the wisdom and authority of his elder
+brother, whose death happened towards the end of the preceding year;
+and as the distressful situation of the Goths required an instant and
+peremptory decision, he was deprived of the favorite resources of feeble
+and timid minds, who consider the use of dilatory and ambiguous measures
+as the most admirable efforts of consummate prudence. As long as the
+same passions and interests subsist among mankind, the questions of war
+and peace, of justice and policy, which were debated in the councils of
+antiquity, will frequently present themselves as the subject of modern
+deliberation. But the most experienced statesman of Europe has never
+been summoned to consider the propriety, or the danger, of admitting,
+or rejecting, an innumerable multitude of Barbarians, who are driven
+by despair and hunger to solicit a settlement on the territories of
+a civilized nation. When that important proposition, so essentially
+connected with the public safety, was referred to the ministers of
+Valens, they were perplexed and divided; but they soon acquiesced in the
+flattering sentiment which seemed the most favorable to the pride, the
+indolence, and the avarice of their sovereign. The slaves, who were
+decorated with the titles of praefects and generals, dissembled or
+disregarded the terrors of this national emigration; so extremely
+different from the partial and accidental colonies, which had been
+received on the extreme limits of the empire. But they applauded the
+liberality of fortune, which had conducted, from the most distant
+countries of the globe, a numerous and invincible army of strangers, to
+defend the throne of Valens; who might now add to the royal treasures
+the immense sums of gold supplied by the provincials to compensate their
+annual proportion of recruits. The prayers of the Goths were granted,
+and their service was accepted by the Imperial court: and orders were
+immediately despatched to the civil and military governors of the
+Thracian diocese, to make the necessary preparations for the passage and
+subsistence of a great people, till a proper and sufficient territory
+could be allotted for their future residence. The liberality of
+the emperor was accompanied, however, with two harsh and rigorous
+conditions, which prudence might justify on the side of the Romans; but
+which distress alone could extort from the indignant Goths. Before they
+passed the Danube, they were required to deliver their arms: and it was
+insisted, that their children should be taken from them, and dispersed
+through the provinces of Asia; where they might be civilized by the
+arts of education, and serve as hostages to secure the fidelity of their
+parents.
+
+[Footnote 63: The Chronology of Ammianus is obscure and imperfect.
+Tillemont has labored to clear and settle the annals of Valens.]
+
+[Footnote 64: Zosimus, l. iv. p. 223. Sozomen, l. vi. c. 38. The
+Isaurians, each winter, infested the roads of Asia Minor, as far as the
+neighborhood of Constantinople. Basil, Epist. cel. apud Tillemont, Hist.
+des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 106.]
+
+[Footnote 64a: Sozomen and Philostorgius say that the bishop Ulphilas
+was one of these ambassadors.--M.]
+
+During the suspense of a doubtful and distant negotiation, the impatient
+Goths made some rash attempts to pass the Danube, without the permission
+of the government, whose protection they had implored. Their motions
+were strictly observed by the vigilance of the troops which were
+stationed along the river and their foremost detachments were defeated
+with considerable slaughter; yet such were the timid councils of the
+reign of Valens, that the brave officers who had served their country
+in the execution of their duty, were punished by the loss of their
+employments, and narrowly escaped the loss of their heads. The Imperial
+mandate was at length received for transporting over the Danube the
+whole body of the Gothic nation; [65] but the execution of this order
+was a task of labor and difficulty. The stream of the Danube, which in
+those parts is above a mile broad, [66] had been swelled by incessant
+rains; and in this tumultuous passage, many were swept away, and
+drowned, by the rapid violence of the current. A large fleet of vessels,
+of boats, and of canoes, was provided; many days and nights they passed
+and repassed with indefatigable toil; and the most strenuous diligence
+was exerted by the officers of Valens, that not a single Barbarian, of
+those who were reserved to subvert the foundations of Rome, should be
+left on the opposite shore. It was thought expedient that an accurate
+account should be taken of their numbers; but the persons who were
+employed soon desisted, with amazement and dismay, from the prosecution
+of the endless and impracticable task: [67] and the principal historian
+of the age most seriously affirms, that the prodigious armies of Darius
+and Xerxes, which had so long been considered as the fables of vain and
+credulous antiquity, were now justified, in the eyes of mankind, by
+the evidence of fact and experience. A probable testimony has fixed the
+number of the Gothic warriors at two hundred thousand men: and if we can
+venture to add the just proportion of women, of children, and of slaves,
+the whole mass of people which composed this formidable emigration, must
+have amounted to near a million of persons, of both sexes, and of all
+ages. The children of the Goths, those at least of a distinguished rank,
+were separated from the multitude. They were conducted, without delay,
+to the distant seats assigned for their residence and education; and as
+the numerous train of hostages or captives passed through the cities,
+their gay and splendid apparel, their robust and martial figure, excited
+the surprise and envy of the Provincials. [67a] But the stipulation, the
+most offensive to the Goths, and the most important to the Romans, was
+shamefully eluded. The Barbarians, who considered their arms as the
+ensigns of honor and the pledges of safety, were disposed to offer a
+price, which the lust or avarice of the Imperial officers was easily
+tempted to accept. To preserve their arms, the haughty warriors
+consented, with some reluctance, to prostitute their wives or their
+daughters; the charms of a beauteous maid, or a comely boy, secured the
+connivance of the inspectors; who sometimes cast an eye of covetousness
+on the fringed carpets and linen garments of their new allies, [68] or
+who sacrificed their duty to the mean consideration of filling their
+farms with cattle, and their houses with slaves. The Goths, with arms in
+their hands, were permitted to enter the boats; and when their strength
+was collected on the other side of the river, the immense camp which
+was spread over the plains and the hills of the Lower Maesia, assumed
+a threatening and even hostile aspect. The leaders of the Ostrogoths,
+Alatheus and Saphrax, the guardians of their infant king, appeared
+soon afterwards on the Northern banks of the Danube; and immediately
+despatched their ambassadors to the court of Antioch, to solicit, with
+the same professions of allegiance and gratitude, the same favor which
+had been granted to the suppliant Visigoths. The absolute refusal of
+Valens suspended their progress, and discovered the repentance, the
+suspicions, and the fears, of the Imperial council.
+
+[Footnote 65: The passage of the Danube is exposed by Ammianus, (xxxi.
+3, 4,) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 223, 224,) Eunapius in Excerpt. Legat. (p.
+19, 20,) and Jornandes, (c. 25, 26.) Ammianus declares (c. 5) that he
+means only, ispas rerum digerere summitates. But he often takes a
+false measure of their importance; and his superfluous prolixity is
+disagreeably balanced by his unseasonable brevity.]
+
+[Footnote 66: Chishull, a curious traveller, has remarked the breadth of
+the Danube, which he passed to the south of Bucharest near the conflux
+of the Argish, (p. 77.) He admires the beauty and spontaneous plenty of
+Maesia, or Bulgaria.]
+
+[Footnote 67:
+
+     Quem sci scire velit, Libyci velit aequoris idem
+     Discere quam multae Zephyro turbentur harenae.
+
+Ammianus has inserted, in his prose, these lines of Virgil, (Georgia l.
+ii. 105,) originally designed by the poet to express the impossibility
+of numbering the different sorts of vines. See Plin. Hist. Natur l.
+xiv.]
+
+[Footnote 67a: A very curious, but obscure, passage of Eunapius,
+appears to me to have been misunderstood by M. Mai, to whom we owe its
+discovery. The substance is as follows: "The Goths transported over
+the river their native deities, with their priests of both sexes; but
+concerning their rites they maintained a deep and 'adamantine silence.'
+To the Romans they pretended to be generally Christians, and placed
+certain persons to represent bishops in a conspicuous manner on their
+wagons. There was even among them a sort of what are called monks,
+persons whom it was not difficult to mimic; it was enough to wear
+black raiment, to be wicked, and held in respect." (Eunapius hated the
+"black-robed monks," as appears in another passage, with the cordial
+detestation of a heathen philosopher.) "Thus, while they faithfully but
+secretly adhered to their own religion, the Romans were weak enough to
+suppose them perfect Christians." Mai, 277. Eunapius in Niebuhr, 82.--M]
+
+[Footnote 68: Eunapius and Zosimus curiously specify these articles of
+Gothic wealth and luxury. Yet it must be presumed, that they were the
+manufactures of the provinces; which the Barbarians had acquired as the
+spoils of war; or as the gifts, or merchandise, of peace.]
+
+An undisciplined and unsettled nation of Barbarians required the firmest
+temper, and the most dexterous management. The daily subsistence of near
+a million of extraordinary subjects could be supplied only by constant
+and skilful diligence, and might continually be interrupted by mistake
+or accident. The insolence, or the indignation, of the Goths, if they
+conceived themselves to be the objects either of fear or of contempt,
+might urge them to the most desperate extremities; and the fortune of
+the state seemed to depend on the prudence, as well as the integrity,
+of the generals of Valens. At this important crisis, the military
+government of Thrace was exercised by Lupicinus and Maximus, in whose
+venal minds the slightest hope of private emolument outweighed every
+consideration of public advantage; and whose guilt was only alleviated
+by their incapacity of discerning the pernicious effects of their rash
+and criminal administration.
+
+Instead of obeying the orders of their sovereign, and satisfying, with
+decent liberality, the demands of the Goths, they levied an ungenerous
+and oppressive tax on the wants of the hungry Barbarians. The vilest
+food was sold at an extravagant price; and, in the room of wholesome and
+substantial provisions, the markets were filled with the flesh of dogs,
+and of unclean animals, who had died of disease. To obtain the valuable
+acquisition of a pound of bread, the Goths resigned the possession of an
+expensive, though serviceable, slave; and a small quantity of meat was
+greedily purchased with ten pounds of a precious, but useless metal,
+[69] when their property was exhausted, they continued this necessary
+traffic by the sale of their sons and daughters; and notwithstanding the
+love of freedom, which animated every Gothic breast, they submitted
+to the humiliating maxim, that it was better for their children to be
+maintained in a servile condition, than to perish in a state of wretched
+and helpless independence. The most lively resentment is excited by
+the tyranny of pretended benefactors, who sternly exact the debt of
+gratitude which they have cancelled by subsequent injuries: a spirit of
+discontent insensibly arose in the camp of the Barbarians, who pleaded,
+without success, the merit of their patient and dutiful behavior; and
+loudly complained of the inhospitable treatment which they had received
+from their new allies. They beheld around them the wealth and plenty of
+a fertile province, in the midst of which they suffered the intolerable
+hardships of artificial famine. But the means of relief, and even of
+revenge, were in their hands; since the rapaciousness of their tyrants
+had left to an injured people the possession and the use of arms. The
+clamors of a multitude, untaught to disguise their sentiments, announced
+the first symptoms of resistance, and alarmed the timid and guilty minds
+of Lupicinus and Maximus. Those crafty ministers, who substituted the
+cunning of temporary expedients to the wise and salutary counsels of
+general policy, attempted to remove the Goths from their dangerous
+station on the frontiers of the empire; and to disperse them, in
+separate quarters of cantonment, through the interior provinces. As they
+were conscious how ill they had deserved the respect, or confidence, of
+the Barbarians, they diligently collected, from every side, a military
+force, that might urge the tardy and reluctant march of a people, who
+had not yet renounced the title, or the duties, of Roman subjects. But
+the generals of Valens, while their attention was solely directed to
+the discontented Visigoths, imprudently disarmed the ships and the
+fortifications which constituted the defence of the Danube. The fatal
+oversight was observed, and improved, by Alatheus and Saphrax, who
+anxiously watched the favorable moment of escaping from the pursuit
+of the Huns. By the help of such rafts and vessels as could be hastily
+procured, the leaders of the Ostrogoths transported, without opposition,
+their king and their army; and boldly fixed a hostile and independent
+camp on the territories of the empire. [70]
+
+[Footnote 69: Decem libras; the word silver must be understood.
+Jornandes betrays the passions and prejudices of a Goth. The servile
+Geeks, Eunapius and Zosimus, disguise the Roman oppression, and execrate
+the perfidy of the Barbarians. Ammianus, a patriot historian, slightly,
+and reluctantly, touches on the odious subject. Jerom, who wrote almost
+on the spot, is fair, though concise. Per avaritaim aximi ducis, ad
+rebellionem fame coacti sunt, (in Chron.) * Note: A new passage from
+the history of Eunapius is nearer to the truth. 'It appeared to our
+commanders a legitimate source of gain to be bribed by the Barbarians:
+Edit. Niebuhr, p. 82.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Ammianus, xxxi. 4, 5.]
+
+Under the name of Judges, Alavivus and Fritigern were the leaders of the
+Visigoths in peace and war; and the authority which they derived from
+their birth was ratified by the free consent of the nation. In a season
+of tranquility, their power might have been equal, as well as their
+rank; but, as soon as their countrymen were exasperated by hunger and
+oppression, the superior abilities of Fritigern assumed the military
+command, which he was qualified to exercise for the public welfare. He
+restrained the impatient spirit of the Visigoths till the injuries and
+the insults of their tyrants should justify their resistance in the
+opinion of mankind: but he was not disposed to sacrifice any solid
+advantages for the empty praise of justice and moderation. Sensible
+of the benefits which would result from the union of the Gothic powers
+under the same standard, he secretly cultivated the friendship of the
+Ostrogoths; and while he professed an implicit obedience to the
+orders of the Roman generals, he proceeded by slow marches towards
+Marcianopolis, the capital of the Lower Maesia, about seventy miles from
+the banks of the Danube. On that fatal spot, the flames of discord and
+mutual hatred burst forth into a dreadful conflagration. Lupicinus had
+invited the Gothic chiefs to a splendid entertainment; and their martial
+train remained under arms at the entrance of the palace. But the gates
+of the city were strictly guarded, and the Barbarians were sternly
+excluded from the use of a plentiful market, to which they asserted
+their equal claim of subjects and allies. Their humble prayers were
+rejected with insolence and derision; and as their patience was now
+exhausted, the townsmen, the soldiers, and the Goths, were soon involved
+in a conflict of passionate altercation and angry reproaches. A blow was
+imprudently given; a sword was hastily drawn; and the first blood that
+was spilt in this accidental quarrel, became the signal of a long
+and destructive war. In the midst of noise and brutal intemperance,
+Lupicinus was informed, by a secret messenger, that many of his soldiers
+were slain, and despoiled of their arms; and as he was already inflamed
+by wine, and oppressed by sleep he issued a rash command, that their
+death should be revenged by the massacre of the guards of Fritigern and
+Alavivus.
+
+The clamorous shouts and dying groans apprised Fritigern of his extreme
+danger; and, as he possessed the calm and intrepid spirit of a hero, he
+saw that he was lost if he allowed a moment of deliberation to the man
+who had so deeply injured him. "A trifling dispute," said the Gothic
+leader, with a firm but gentle tone of voice, "appears to have arisen
+between the two nations; but it may be productive of the most dangerous
+consequences, unless the tumult is immediately pacified by the assurance
+of our safety, and the authority of our presence." At these words,
+Fritigern and his companions drew their swords, opened their passage
+through the unresisting crowd, which filled the palace, the streets,
+and the gates, of Marcianopolis, and, mounting their horses, hastily
+vanished from the eyes of the astonished Romans. The generals of the
+Goths were saluted by the fierce and joyful acclamations of the camp;
+war was instantly resolved, and the resolution was executed without
+delay: the banners of the nation were displayed according to the custom
+of their ancestors; and the air resounded with the harsh and mournful
+music of the Barbarian trumpet. [71] The weak and guilty Lupicinus,
+who had dared to provoke, who had neglected to destroy, and who still
+presumed to despise, his formidable enemy, marched against the Goths, at
+the head of such a military force as could be collected on this sudden
+emergency. The Barbarians expected his approach about nine miles from
+Marcianopolis; and on this occasion the talents of the general were
+found to be of more prevailing efficacy than the weapons and discipline
+of the troops. The valor of the Goths was so ably directed by the genius
+of Fritigern, that they broke, by a close and vigorous attack, the
+ranks of the Roman legions. Lupicinus left his arms and standards, his
+tribunes and his bravest soldiers, on the field of battle; and their
+useless courage served only to protect the ignominious flight of
+their leader. "That successful day put an end to the distress of the
+Barbarians, and the security of the Romans: from that day, the Goths,
+renouncing the precarious condition of strangers and exiles, assumed the
+character of citizens and masters, claimed an absolute dominion over the
+possessors of land, and held, in their own right, the northern provinces
+of the empire, which are bounded by the Danube." Such are the words
+of the Gothic historian, [72] who celebrates, with rude eloquence,
+the glory of his countrymen. But the dominion of the Barbarians was
+exercised only for the purposes of rapine and destruction. As they had
+been deprived, by the ministers of the emperor, of the common benefits
+of nature, and the fair intercourse of social life, they retaliated the
+injustice on the subjects of the empire; and the crimes of Lupicinus
+were expiated by the ruin of the peaceful husbandmen of Thrace, the
+conflagration of their villages, and the massacre, or captivity, of
+their innocent families. The report of the Gothic victory was soon
+diffused over the adjacent country; and while it filled the minds of the
+Romans with terror and dismay, their own hasty imprudence contributed
+to increase the forces of Fritigern, and the calamities of the province.
+Some time before the great emigration, a numerous body of Goths, under
+the command of Suerid and Colias, had been received into the protection
+and service of the empire. [73] They were encamped under the walls of
+Hadrianople; but the ministers of Valens were anxious to remove them
+beyond the Hellespont, at a distance from the dangerous temptation which
+might so easily be communicated by the neighborhood, and the success, of
+their countrymen. The respectful submission with which they yielded
+to the order of their march, might be considered as a proof of their
+fidelity; and their moderate request of a sufficient allowance of
+provisions, and of a delay of only two days was expressed in the most
+dutiful terms. But the first magistrate of Hadrianople, incensed by some
+disorders which had been committed at his country-house, refused this
+indulgence; and arming against them the inhabitants and manufacturers
+of a populous city, he urged, with hostile threats, their instant
+departure. The Barbarians stood silent and amazed, till they were
+exasperated by the insulting clamors, and missile weapons, of the
+populace: but when patience or contempt was fatigued, they crushed the
+undisciplined multitude, inflicted many a shameful wound on the backs
+of their flying enemies, and despoiled them of the splendid armor, [74]
+which they were unworthy to bear. The resemblance of their sufferings
+and their actions soon united this victorious detachment to the nation
+of the Visigoths; the troops of Colias and Suerid expected the approach
+of the great Fritigern, ranged themselves under his standard, and
+signalized their ardor in the siege of Hadrianople. But the resistance
+of the garrison informed the Barbarians, that in the attack of regular
+fortifications, the efforts of unskillful courage are seldom effectual.
+Their general acknowledged his error, raised the siege, declared that
+"he was at peace with stone walls," [75] and revenged his disappointment
+on the adjacent country. He accepted, with pleasure, the useful
+reenforcement of hardy workmen, who labored in the gold mines of Thrace,
+[76] for the emolument, and under the lash, of an unfeeling master: [77]
+and these new associates conducted the Barbarians, through the secret
+paths, to the most sequestered places, which had been chosen to secure
+the inhabitants, the cattle, and the magazines of corn. With the
+assistance of such guides, nothing could remain impervious or
+inaccessible; resistance was fatal; flight was impracticable; and the
+patient submission of helpless innocence seldom found mercy from the
+Barbarian conqueror. In the course of these depredations, a great number
+of the children of the Goths, who had been sold into captivity, were
+restored to the embraces of their afflicted parents; but these tender
+interviews, which might have revived and cherished in their minds some
+sentiments of humanity, tended only to stimulate their native fierceness
+by the desire of revenge. They listened, with eager attention, to the
+complaints of their captive children, who had suffered the most cruel
+indignities from the lustful or angry passions of their masters, and the
+same cruelties, the same indignities, were severely retaliated on the
+sons and daughters of the Romans. [78]
+
+[Footnote 71: Vexillis de more sublatis, auditisque trisie sonantibus
+classicis. Ammian. xxxi. 5. These are the rauca cornua of Claudian, (in
+Rufin. ii. 57,) the large horns of the Uri, or wild bull; such as have
+been more recently used by the Swiss Cantons of Uri and Underwald.
+(Simler de Republica Helvet, l. ii. p. 201, edit. Fuselin. Tigur 1734.)
+Their military horn is finely, though perhaps casually, introduced in
+an original narrative of the battle of Nancy, (A.D. 1477.) "Attendant le
+combat le dit cor fut corne par trois fois, tant que le vent du souffler
+pouvoit durer: ce qui esbahit fort Monsieur de Bourgoigne; car deja a
+Morat l'avoit ouy." (See the Pieces Justificatives in the 4to. edition
+of Philippe de Comines, tom. iii. p. 493.)]
+
+[Footnote 72: Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 26, p. 648, edit. Grot.
+These splendidi panm (they are comparatively such) are undoubtedly
+transcribed from the larger histories of Priscus, Ablavius, or
+Cassiodorus.]
+
+[Footnote 73: Cum populis suis longe ante suscepti. We are ignorant of
+the precise date and circumstances of their transmigration.]
+
+[Footnote 74: An Imperial manufacture of shields, &c., was established
+at Hadrianople; and the populace were headed by the Fabricenses, or
+workmen. (Vales. ad Ammian. xxxi. 6.)]
+
+[Footnote 75: Pacem sibi esse cum parietibus memorans. Ammian. xxxi. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 76: These mines were in the country of the Bessi, in the ridge
+of mountains, the Rhodope, that runs between Philippi and Philippopolis;
+two Macedonian cities, which derived their name and origin from the
+father of Alexander. From the mines of Thrace he annually received the
+value, not the weight, of a thousand talents, (200,000l.,) a revenue
+which paid the phalanx, and corrupted the orators of Greece. See Diodor.
+Siculus, tom. ii. l. xvi. p. 88, edit. Wesseling. Godefroy's Commentary
+on the Theodosian Code, tom. iii. p. 496. Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq.
+tom. i. p. 676, 857. D Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 336.]
+
+[Footnote 77: As those unhappy workmen often ran away, Valens had
+enacted severe laws to drag them from their hiding-places. Cod.
+Theodosian, l. x. tit xix leg. 5, 7.]
+
+[Footnote 78: See Ammianus, xxxi. 5, 6. The historian of the Gothic war
+loses time and space, by an unseasonable recapitulation of the ancient
+inroads of the Barbarians.]
+
+The imprudence of Valens and his ministers had introduced into the heart
+of the empire a nation of enemies; but the Visigoths might even yet have
+been reconciled, by the manly confession of past errors, and the sincere
+performance of former engagements. These healing and temperate measures
+seemed to concur with the timorous disposition of the sovereign of
+the East: but, on this occasion alone, Valens was brave; and his
+unseasonable bravery was fatal to himself and to his subjects. He
+declared his intention of marching from Antioch to Constantinople, to
+subdue this dangerous rebellion; and, as he was not ignorant of the
+difficulties of the enterprise, he solicited the assistance of his
+nephew, the emperor Gratian, who commanded all the forces of the West.
+The veteran troops were hastily recalled from the defence of Armenia;
+that important frontier was abandoned to the discretion of Sapor;
+and the immediate conduct of the Gothic war was intrusted, during
+the absence of Valens, to his lieutenants Trajan and Profuturus, two
+generals who indulged themselves in a very false and favorable opinion
+of their own abilities. On their arrival in Thrace, they were joined by
+Richomer, count of the domestics; and the auxiliaries of the West, that
+marched under his banner, were composed of the Gallic legions, reduced
+indeed, by a spirit of desertion, to the vain appearances of strength
+and numbers. In a council of war, which was influenced by pride,
+rather than by reason, it was resolved to seek, and to encounter, the
+Barbarians, who lay encamped in the spacious and fertile meadows, near
+the most southern of the six mouths of the Danube. [79] Their camp
+was surrounded by the usual fortification of wagons; [80] and the
+Barbarians, secure within the vast circle of the enclosure, enjoyed the
+fruits of their valor, and the spoils of the province. In the midst of
+riotous intemperance, the watchful Fritigern observed the motions, and
+penetrated the designs, of the Romans. He perceived, that the numbers
+of the enemy were continually increasing: and, as he understood their
+intention of attacking his rear, as soon as the scarcity of forage
+should oblige him to remove his camp, he recalled to their standard his
+predatory detachments, which covered the adjacent country. As soon as
+they descried the flaming beacons, [81] they obeyed, with incredible
+speed, the signal of their leader: the camp was filled with the martial
+crowd of Barbarians; their impatient clamors demanded the battle, and
+their tumultuous zeal was approved and animated by the spirit of
+their chiefs. The evening was already far advanced; and the two armies
+prepared themselves for the approaching combat, which was deferred only
+till the dawn of day.
+
+While the trumpets sounded to arms, the undaunted courage of the Goths
+was confirmed by the mutual obligation of a solemn oath; and as they
+advanced to meet the enemy, the rude songs, which celebrated the glory
+of their forefathers, were mingled with their fierce and dissonant
+outcries, and opposed to the artificial harmony of the Roman shout. Some
+military skill was displayed by Fritigern to gain the advantage of a
+commanding eminence; but the bloody conflict, which began and ended with
+the light, was maintained on either side, by the personal and obstinate
+efforts of strength, valor, and agility. The legions of Armenia
+supported their fame in arms; but they were oppressed by the
+irresistible weight of the hostile multitude the left wing of the Romans
+was thrown into disorder and the field was strewed with their mangled
+carcasses. This partial defeat was balanced, however, by partial
+success; and when the two armies, at a late hour of the evening,
+retreated to their respective camps, neither of them could claim the
+honors, or the effects, of a decisive victory. The real loss was more
+severely felt by the Romans, in proportion to the smallness of their
+numbers; but the Goths were so deeply confounded and dismayed by this
+vigorous, and perhaps unexpected, resistance, that they remained seven
+days within the circle of their fortifications. Such funeral rites, as
+the circumstances of time and place would admit, were piously discharged
+to some officers of distinguished rank; but the indiscriminate vulgar
+was left unburied on the plain. Their flesh was greedily devoured by
+the birds of prey, who in that age enjoyed very frequent and delicious
+feasts; and several years afterwards the white and naked bones, which
+covered the wide extent of the fields, presented to the eyes of Ammianus
+a dreadful monument of the battle of Salices. [82]
+
+[Footnote 79: The Itinerary of Antoninus (p. 226, 227, edit. Wesseling)
+marks the situation of this place about sixty miles north of Tomi,
+Ovid's exile; and the name of Salices (the willows) expresses the nature
+of the soil.]
+
+[Footnote 80: This circle of wagons, the Carrago, was the usual
+fortification of the Barbarians. (Vegetius de Re Militari, l. iii.
+c. 10. Valesius ad Ammian. xxxi. 7.) The practice and the name were
+preserved by their descendants as late as the fifteenth century. The
+Charroy, which surrounded the Ost, is a word familiar to the readers of
+Froissard, or Comines.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Statim ut accensi malleoli. I have used the literal sense
+of real torches or beacons; but I almost suspect, that it is only one
+of those turgid metaphors, those false ornaments, that perpetually
+disfigure to style of Ammianus.]
+
+[Footnote 82: Indicant nunc usque albentes ossibus campi. Ammian. xxxi.
+7. The historian might have viewed these plains, either as a soldier, or
+as a traveller. But his modesty has suppressed the adventures of his own
+life subsequent to the Persian wars of Constantius and Julian. We are
+ignorant of the time when he quitted the service, and retired to Rome,
+where he appears to have composed his History of his Own Times.]
+
+The progress of the Goths had been checked by the doubtful event of
+that bloody day; and the Imperial generals, whose army would have been
+consumed by the repetition of such a contest, embraced the more rational
+plan of destroying the Barbarians by the wants and pressure of their own
+multitudes. They prepared to confine the Visigoths in the narrow angle
+of land between the Danube, the desert of Scythia, and the mountains of
+Haemus, till their strength and spirit should be insensibly wasted by
+the inevitable operation of famine. The design was prosecuted with
+some conduct and success: the Barbarians had almost exhausted their
+own magazines, and the harvests of the country; and the diligence of
+Saturninus, the master-general of the cavalry, was employed to improve
+the strength, and to contract the extent, of the Roman fortifications.
+His labors were interrupted by the alarming intelligence, that new
+swarms of Barbarians had passed the unguarded Danube, either to
+support the cause, or to imitate the example, of Fritigern. The just
+apprehension, that he himself might be surrounded, and overwhelmed,
+by the arms of hostile and unknown nations, compelled Saturninus to
+relinquish the siege of the Gothic camp; and the indignant Visigoths,
+breaking from their confinement, satiated their hunger and revenge by
+the repeated devastation of the fruitful country, which extends above
+three hundred miles from the banks of the Danube to the straits of the
+Hellespont. [83] The sagacious Fritigern had successfully appealed to
+the passions, as well as to the interest, of his Barbarian allies; and
+the love of rapine, and the hatred of Rome, seconded, or even prevented,
+the eloquence of his ambassadors. He cemented a strict and useful
+alliance with the great body of his countrymen, who obeyed Alatheus and
+Saphrax as the guardians of their infant king: the long animosity of
+rival tribes was suspended by the sense of their common interest; the
+independent part of the nation was associated under one standard; and
+the chiefs of the Ostrogoths appear to have yielded to the superior
+genius of the general of the Visigoths. He obtained the formidable aid
+of the Taifalae, [83a] whose military renown was disgraced and polluted
+by the public infamy of their domestic manners. Every youth, on his
+entrance into the world, was united by the ties of honorable friendship,
+and brutal love, to some warrior of the tribe; nor could he hope to
+be released from this unnatural connection, till he had approved his
+manhood by slaying, in single combat, a huge bear, or a wild boar of the
+forest. [84] But the most powerful auxiliaries of the Goths were drawn
+from the camp of those enemies who had expelled them from their native
+seats. The loose subordination, and extensive possessions, of the Huns
+and the Alani, delayed the conquests, and distracted the councils, of
+that victorious people. Several of the hords were allured by the liberal
+promises of Fritigern; and the rapid cavalry of Scythia added weight and
+energy to the steady and strenuous efforts of the Gothic infantry.
+The Sarmatians, who could never forgive the successor of Valentinian,
+enjoyed and increased the general confusion; and a seasonable irruption
+of the Alemanni, into the provinces of Gaul, engaged the attention, and
+diverted the forces, of the emperor of the West. [85]
+
+[Footnote 83: Ammian. xxxi. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 83a: The Taifalae, who at this period inhabited the country
+which now forms the principality of Wallachia, were, in my opinion, the
+last remains of the great and powerful nation of the Dacians, (Daci or
+Dahae.) which has given its name to these regions, over which they had
+ruled so long. The Taifalae passed with the Goths into the territory of
+the empire. A great number of them entered the Roman service, and were
+quartered in different provinces. They are mentioned in the Notitia
+Imperii. There was a considerable body in the country of the Pictavi,
+now Poithou. They long retained their manners and language, and caused
+the name of the Theofalgicus pagus to be given to the district they
+inhabited. Two places in the department of La Vendee, Tiffanges and La
+Tiffardiere, still preserve evident traces of this denomination. St.
+Martin, iv. 118.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 84: Hanc Taifalorum gentem turpem, et obscenae vitae flagitiis
+ita accipimus mersam; ut apud eos nefandi concubitus foedere copulentur
+mares puberes, aetatis viriditatem in eorum pollutis usibus consumpturi.
+Porro, siqui jam adultus aprum exceperit solus, vel interemit ursum
+immanem, colluvione liberatur incesti. Ammian. xxxi. 9. ----Among the
+Greeks, likewise, more especially among the Cretans, the holy bands of
+friendship were confirmed, and sullied, by unnatural love.]
+
+[Footnote 85: Ammian. xxxi. 8, 9. Jerom (tom. i. p. 26) enumerates the
+nations and marks a calamitous period of twenty years. This epistle to
+Heliodorus was composed in the year 397, (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles tom
+xii. p. 645.)]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI: Progress of The Huns.--Part IV.
+
+One of the most dangerous inconveniences of the introduction of the
+Barbarians into the army and the palace, was sensibly felt in their
+correspondence with their hostile countrymen; to whom they imprudently,
+or maliciously, revealed the weakness of the Roman empire. A soldier, of
+the lifeguards of Gratian, was of the nation of the Alemanni, and of the
+tribe of the Lentienses, who dwelt beyond the Lake of Constance. Some
+domestic business obliged him to request a leave of absence. In a
+short visit to his family and friends, he was exposed to their curious
+inquiries: and the vanity of the loquacious soldier tempted him to
+display his intimate acquaintance with the secrets of the state, and the
+designs of his master. The intelligence, that Gratian was preparing to
+lead the military force of Gaul, and of the West, to the assistance of
+his uncle Valens, pointed out to the restless spirit of the Alemanni the
+moment, and the mode, of a successful invasion. The enterprise of some
+light detachments, who, in the month of February, passed the Rhine upon
+the ice, was the prelude of a more important war. The boldest hopes
+of rapine, perhaps of conquest, outweighed the considerations of timid
+prudence, or national faith. Every forest, and every village, poured
+forth a band of hardy adventurers; and the great army of the Alemanni,
+which, on their approach, was estimated at forty thousand men by the
+fears of the people, was afterwards magnified to the number of seventy
+thousand by the vain and credulous flattery of the Imperial court. The
+legions, which had been ordered to march into Pannonia, were immediately
+recalled, or detained, for the defence of Gaul; the military command
+was divided between Nanienus and Mellobaudes; and the youthful emperor,
+though he respected the long experience and sober wisdom of the former,
+was much more inclined to admire, and to follow, the martial ardor of
+his colleague; who was allowed to unite the incompatible characters of
+count of the domestics, and of king of the Franks. His rival Priarius,
+king of the Alemanni, was guided, or rather impelled, by the same
+headstrong valor; and as their troops were animated by the spirit of
+their leaders, they met, they saw, they encountered each other, near the
+town of Argentaria, or Colmar, [86] in the plains of Alsace. The
+glory of the day was justly ascribed to the missile weapons, and
+well-practised evolutions, of the Roman soldiers; the Alemanni, who long
+maintained their ground, were slaughtered with unrelenting fury; five
+thousand only of the Barbarians escaped to the woods and mountains; and
+the glorious death of their king on the field of battle saved him from
+the reproaches of the people, who are always disposed to accuse the
+justice, or policy, of an unsuccessful war. After this signal victory,
+which secured the peace of Gaul, and asserted the honor of the Roman
+arms, the emperor Gratian appeared to proceed without delay on his
+Eastern expedition; but as he approached the confines of the Alemanni,
+he suddenly inclined to the left, surprised them by his unexpected
+passage of the Rhine, and boldly advanced into the heart of their
+country. The Barbarians opposed to his progress the obstacles of
+nature and of courage; and still continued to retreat, from one hill to
+another, till they were satisfied, by repeated trials, of the power and
+perseverance of their enemies. Their submission was accepted as a proof,
+not indeed of their sincere repentance, but of their actual distress;
+and a select number of their brave and robust youth was exacted from
+the faithless nation, as the most substantial pledge of their future
+moderation. The subjects of the empire, who had so often experienced
+that the Alemanni could neither be subdued by arms, nor restrained
+by treaties, might not promise themselves any solid or lasting
+tranquillity: but they discovered, in the virtues of their young
+sovereign, the prospect of a long and auspicious reign. When the legions
+climbed the mountains, and scaled the fortifications of the Barbarians,
+the valor of Gratian was distinguished in the foremost ranks; and the
+gilt and variegated armor of his guards was pierced and shattered by the
+blows which they had received in their constant attachment to the person
+of their sovereign. At the age of nineteen, the son of Valentinian
+seemed to possess the talents of peace and war; and his personal success
+against the Alemanni was interpreted as a sure presage of his Gothic
+triumphs. [87]
+
+[Footnote 86: The field of battle, Argentaria or Argentovaria, is
+accurately fixed by M. D'Anville (Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 96--99)
+at twenty-three Gallic leagues, or thirty-four and a half Roman miles to
+the south of Strasburg. From its ruins the adjacent town of Colmar has
+arisen. Note: It is rather Horburg, on the right bank of the River Ill,
+opposite to Colmar. From Schoepflin, Alsatia Illustrata. St. Martin, iv.
+121.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 87: The full and impartial narrative of Ammianus (xxxi.
+10) may derive some additional light from the Epitome of Victor, the
+Chronicle of Jerom, and the History of Orosius, (l. vii. c. 33, p. 552,
+edit. Havercamp.)]
+
+While Gratian deserved and enjoyed the applause of his subjects, the
+emperor Valens, who, at length, had removed his court and army from
+Antioch, was received by the people of Constantinople as the author
+of the public calamity. Before he had reposed himself ten days in the
+capital, he was urged by the licentious clamors of the Hippodrome to
+march against the Barbarians, whom he had invited into his dominions;
+and the citizens, who are always brave at a distance from any real
+danger, declared, with confidence, that, if they were supplied with
+arms, they alone would undertake to deliver the province from the
+ravages of an insulting foe. [88] The vain reproaches of an ignorant
+multitude hastened the downfall of the Roman empire; they provoked the
+desperate rashness of Valens; who did not find, either in his reputation
+or in his mind, any motives to support with firmness the public
+contempt. He was soon persuaded, by the successful achievements of his
+lieutenants, to despise the power of the Goths, who, by the diligence
+of Fritigern, were now collected in the neighborhood of Hadrianople. The
+march of the Taifalae had been intercepted by the valiant Frigeric:
+the king of those licentious Barbarians was slain in battle; and the
+suppliant captives were sent into distant exile to cultivate the
+lands of Italy, which were assigned for their settlement in the vacant
+territories of Modena and Parma. [89] The exploits of Sebastian, [90]
+who was recently engaged in the service of Valens, and promoted to the
+rank of master-general of the infantry, were still more honorable to
+himself, and useful to the republic. He obtained the permission of
+selecting three hundred soldiers from each of the legions; and this
+separate detachment soon acquired the spirit of discipline, and the
+exercise of arms, which were almost forgotten under the reign of Valens.
+By the vigor and conduct of Sebastian, a large body of the Goths were
+surprised in their camp; and the immense spoil, which was recovered from
+their hands, filled the city of Hadrianople, and the adjacent plain. The
+splendid narratives, which the general transmitted of his own exploits,
+alarmed the Imperial court by the appearance of superior merit; and
+though he cautiously insisted on the difficulties of the Gothic war,
+his valor was praised, his advice was rejected; and Valens, who listened
+with pride and pleasure to the flattering suggestions of the eunuchs
+of the palace, was impatient to seize the glory of an easy and assured
+conquest. His army was strengthened by a numerous reenforcement of
+veterans; and his march from Constantinople to Hadrianople was conducted
+with so much military skill, that he prevented the activity of the
+Barbarians, who designed to occupy the intermediate defiles, and to
+intercept either the troops themselves, or their convoys of provisions.
+The camp of Valens, which he pitched under the walls of Hadrianople,
+was fortified, according to the practice of the Romans, with a ditch and
+rampart; and a most important council was summoned, to decide the fate
+of the emperor and of the empire. The party of reason and of delay was
+strenuously maintained by Victor, who had corrected, by the lessons
+of experience, the native fierceness of the Sarmatian character; while
+Sebastian, with the flexible and obsequious eloquence of a courtier,
+represented every precaution, and every measure, that implied a doubt
+of immediate victory, as unworthy of the courage and majesty of their
+invincible monarch. The ruin of Valens was precipitated by the deceitful
+arts of Fritigern, and the prudent admonitions of the emperor of the
+West. The advantages of negotiating in the midst of war were
+perfectly understood by the general of the Barbarians; and a Christian
+ecclesiastic was despatched, as the holy minister of peace, to
+penetrate, and to perplex, the councils of the enemy. The misfortunes,
+as well as the provocations, of the Gothic nation, were forcibly and
+truly described by their ambassador; who protested, in the name of
+Fritigern, that he was still disposed to lay down his arms, or to employ
+them only in the defence of the empire; if he could secure for his
+wandering countrymen a tranquil settlement on the waste lands of Thrace,
+and a sufficient allowance of corn and cattle. But he added, in a
+whisper of confidential friendship, that the exasperated Barbarians were
+averse to these reasonable conditions; and that Fritigern was doubtful
+whether he could accomplish the conclusion of the treaty, unless he
+found himself supported by the presence and terrors of an Imperial army.
+About the same time, Count Richomer returned from the West to announce
+the defeat and submission of the Alemanni, to inform Valens that
+his nephew advanced by rapid marches at the head of the veteran and
+victorious legions of Gaul, and to request, in the name of Gratian and
+of the republic, that every dangerous and decisive measure might be
+suspended, till the junction of the two emperors should insure the
+success of the Gothic war. But the feeble sovereign of the East was
+actuated only by the fatal illusions of pride and jealousy. He disdained
+the importunate advice; he rejected the humiliating aid; he secretly
+compared the ignominious, at least the inglorious, period of his own
+reign, with the fame of a beardless youth; and Valens rushed into
+the field, to erect his imaginary trophy, before the diligence of his
+colleague could usurp any share of the triumphs of the day.
+
+[Footnote 88: Moratus paucissimos dies, seditione popularium levium
+pulsus Ammian. xxxi. 11. Socrates (l. iv. c. 38) supplies the dates and
+some circumstances. * Note: Compare fragment of Eunapius. Mai, 272, in
+Niebuhr, p. 77.--M]
+
+[Footnote 89: Vivosque omnes circa Mutinam, Regiumque, et Parmam,
+Italica oppida, rura culturos exterminavit. Ammianus, xxxi. 9. Those
+cities and districts, about ten years after the colony of the Taifalae,
+appear in a very desolate state. See Muratori, Dissertazioni sopra le
+Antichita Italiane, tom. i. Dissertat. xxi. p. 354.]
+
+[Footnote 90: Ammian. xxxi. 11. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 228--230. The latter
+expatiates on the desultory exploits of Sebastian, and despatches, in
+a few lines, the important battle of Hadrianople. According to the
+ecclesiastical critics, who hate Sebastian, the praise of Zosimus
+is disgrace, (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 121.) His
+prejudice and ignorance undoubtedly render him a very questionable judge
+of merit.]
+
+On the ninth of August, a day which has deserved to be marked among
+the most inauspicious of the Roman Calendar, [91] the emperor Valens,
+leaving, under a strong guard, his baggage and military treasure,
+marched from Hadrianople to attack the Goths, who were encamped about
+twelve miles from the city. [92] By some mistake of the orders, or some
+ignorance of the ground, the right wing, or column of cavalry arrived
+in sight of the enemy, whilst the left was still at a considerable
+distance; the soldiers were compelled, in the sultry heat of summer, to
+precipitate their pace; and the line of battle was formed with tedious
+confusion and irregular delay. The Gothic cavalry had been detached
+to forage in the adjacent country; and Fritigern still continued to
+practise his customary arts. He despatched messengers of peace, made
+proposals, required hostages, and wasted the hours, till the Romans,
+exposed without shelter to the burning rays of the sun, were exhausted
+by thirst, hunger, and intolerable fatigue. The emperor was persuaded to
+send an ambassador to the Gothic camp; the zeal of Richomer, who alone
+had courage to accept the dangerous commission, was applauded; and
+the count of the domestics, adorned with the splendid ensigns of his
+dignity, had proceeded some way in the space between the two armies,
+when he was suddenly recalled by the alarm of battle. The hasty and
+imprudent attack was made by Bacurius the Iberian, who commanded a body
+of archers and targeteers; and as they advanced with rashness, they
+retreated with loss and disgrace. In the same moment, the flying
+squadrons of Alatheus and Saphrax, whose return was anxiously expected
+by the general of the Goths, descended like a whirlwind from the hills,
+swept across the plain, and added new terrors to the tumultuous, but
+irresistible charge of the Barbarian host. The event of the battle of
+Hadrianople, so fatal to Valens and to the empire, may be described in
+a few words: the Roman cavalry fled; the infantry was abandoned,
+surrounded, and cut in pieces. The most skilful evolutions, the
+firmest courage, are scarcely sufficient to extricate a body of foot,
+encompassed, on an open plain, by superior numbers of horse; but the
+troops of Valens, oppressed by the weight of the enemy and their own
+fears, were crowded into a narrow space, where it was impossible for
+them to extend their ranks, or even to use, with effect, their swords
+and javelins. In the midst of tumult, of slaughter, and of dismay, the
+emperor, deserted by his guards and wounded, as it was supposed, with
+an arrow, sought protection among the Lancearii and the Mattiarii,
+who still maintained their ground with some appearance of order and
+firmness. His faithful generals, Trajan and Victor, who perceived his
+danger, loudly exclaimed that all was lost, unless the person of the
+emperor could be saved. Some troops, animated by their exhortation,
+advanced to his relief: they found only a bloody spot, covered with a
+heap of broken arms and mangled bodies, without being able to discover
+their unfortunate prince, either among the living or the dead. Their
+search could not indeed be successful, if there is any truth in the
+circumstances with which some historians have related the death of the
+emperor.
+
+By the care of his attendants, Valens was removed from the field of
+battle to a neighboring cottage, where they attempted to dress his
+wound, and to provide for his future safety. But this humble retreat was
+instantly surrounded by the enemy: they tried to force the door, they
+were provoked by a discharge of arrows from the roof, till at length,
+impatient of delay, they set fire to a pile of dry magots, and consumed
+the cottage with the Roman emperor and his train. Valens perished in
+the flames; and a youth, who dropped from the window, alone escaped, to
+attest the melancholy tale, and to inform the Goths of the inestimable
+prize which they had lost by their own rashness. A great number of brave
+and distinguished officers perished in the battle of Hadrianople,
+which equalled in the actual loss, and far surpassed in the fatal
+consequences, the misfortune which Rome had formerly sustained in the
+fields of Cannae. [93] Two master-generals of the cavalry and infantry,
+two great officers of the palace, and thirty-five tribunes, were found
+among the slain; and the death of Sebastian might satisfy the world,
+that he was the victim, as well as the author, of the public calamity.
+Above two thirds of the Roman army were destroyed: and the darkness of
+the night was esteemed a very favorable circumstance, as it served to
+conceal the flight of the multitude, and to protect the more orderly
+retreat of Victor and Richomer, who alone, amidst the general
+consternation, maintained the advantage of calm courage and regular
+discipline. [94]
+
+[Footnote 91: Ammianus (xxxi. 12, 13) almost alone describes the
+councils and actions which were terminated by the fatal battle of
+Hadrianople. We might censure the vices of his style, the disorder
+and perplexity of his narrative: but we must now take leave of this
+impartial historian; and reproach is silenced by our regret for such an
+irreparable loss.]
+
+[Footnote 92: The difference of the eight miles of Ammianus, and the
+twelve of Idatius, can only embarrass those critics (Valesius ad loc.,)
+who suppose a great army to be a mathematical point, without space or
+dimensions.]
+
+[Footnote 93: Nec ulla annalibus, praeter Cannensem pugnam, ita ad
+internecionem res legitur gesta. Ammian. xxxi. 13. According to the
+grave Polybius, no more than 370 horse, and 3,000 foot, escaped from the
+field of Cannae: 10,000 were made prisoners; and the number of the slain
+amounted to 5,630 horse, and 70,000 foot, (Polyb. l. iii. p 371, edit.
+Casaubon, 8vo.) Livy (xxii. 49) is somewhat less bloody: he slaughters
+only 2,700 horse, and 40,000 foot. The Roman army was supposed to
+consist of 87,200 effective men, (xxii. 36.)]
+
+[Footnote 94: We have gained some faint light from Jerom, (tom. i. p. 26
+and in Chron. p. 188,) Victor, (in Epitome,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 33, p.
+554,) Jornandes, (c. 27,) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 230,) Socrates, (l. iv.
+c. 38,) Sozomen, (l. vi. c. 40,) Idatius, (in Chron.) But their
+united evidence, if weighed against Ammianus alone, is light and
+unsubstantial.]
+
+While the impressions of grief and terror were still recent in the minds
+of men, the most celebrated rhetorician of the age composed the funeral
+oration of a vanquished army, and of an unpopular prince, whose throne
+was already occupied by a stranger. "There are not wanting," says the
+candid Libanius, "those who arraign the prudence of the emperor, or who
+impute the public misfortune to the want of courage and discipline in
+the troops. For my own part, I reverence the memory of their former
+exploits: I reverence the glorious death, which they bravely received,
+standing, and fighting in their ranks: I reverence the field of battle,
+stained with their blood, and the blood of the Barbarians. Those
+honorable marks have been already washed away by the rains; but the
+lofty monuments of their bones, the bones of generals, of centurions,
+and of valiant warriors, claim a longer period of duration. The king
+himself fought and fell in the foremost ranks of the battle. His
+attendants presented him with the fleetest horses of the Imperial
+stable, that would soon have carried him beyond the pursuit of the
+enemy. They vainly pressed him to reserve his important life for the
+future service of the republic. He still declared that he was unworthy
+to survive so many of the bravest and most faithful of his subjects; and
+the monarch was nobly buried under a mountain of the slain. Let none,
+therefore, presume to ascribe the victory of the Barbarians to the fear,
+the weakness, or the imprudence, of the Roman troops. The chiefs and
+the soldiers were animated by the virtue of their ancestors, whom they
+equalled in discipline and the arts of war. Their generous emulation was
+supported by the love of glory, which prompted them to contend at the
+same time with heat and thirst, with fire and the sword; and cheerfully
+to embrace an honorable death, as their refuge against flight and
+infamy. The indignation of the gods has been the only cause of the
+success of our enemies." The truth of history may disclaim some parts of
+this panegyric, which cannot strictly be reconciled with the character
+of Valens, or the circumstances of the battle: but the fairest
+commendation is due to the eloquence, and still more to the generosity,
+of the sophist of Antioch. [95]
+
+[Footnote 95: Libanius de ulciscend. Julian. nece, c. 3, in Fabricius,
+Bibliot Graec. tom. vii. p. 146--148.]
+
+The pride of the Goths was elated by this memorable victory; but their
+avarice was disappointed by the mortifying discovery, that the richest
+part of the Imperial spoil had been within the walls of Hadrianople.
+They hastened to possess the reward of their valor; but they were
+encountered by the remains of a vanquished army, with an intrepid
+resolution, which was the effect of their despair, and the only hope of
+their safety. The walls of the city, and the ramparts of the adjacent
+camp, were lined with military engines, that threw stones of an enormous
+weight; and astonished the ignorant Barbarians by the noise, and
+velocity, still more than by the real effects, of the discharge. The
+soldiers, the citizens, the provincials, the domestics of the palace,
+were united in the danger, and in the defence: the furious assault of
+the Goths was repulsed; their secret arts of treachery and treason were
+discovered; and, after an obstinate conflict of many hours, they retired
+to their tents; convinced, by experience, that it would be far more
+advisable to observe the treaty, which their sagacious leader had
+tacitly stipulated with the fortifications of great and populous cities.
+After the hasty and impolitic massacre of three hundred deserters, an
+act of justice extremely useful to the discipline of the Roman armies,
+the Goths indignantly raised the siege of Hadrianople. The scene of war
+and tumult was instantly converted into a silent solitude: the multitude
+suddenly disappeared; the secret paths of the woods and mountains were
+marked with the footsteps of the trembling fugitives, who sought
+a refuge in the distant cities of Illyricum and Macedonia; and the
+faithful officers of the household, and the treasury, cautiously
+proceeded in search of the emperor, of whose death they were still
+ignorant. The tide of the Gothic inundation rolled from the walls
+of Hadrianople to the suburbs of Constantinople. The Barbarians were
+surprised with the splendid appearance of the capital of the East, the
+height and extent of the walls, the myriads of wealthy and affrighted
+citizens who crowded the ramparts, and the various prospect of the sea
+and land. While they gazed with hopeless desire on the inaccessible
+beauties of Constantinople, a sally was made from one of the gates by a
+party of Saracens, [96] who had been fortunately engaged in the service
+of Valens. The cavalry of Scythia was forced to yield to the admirable
+swiftness and spirit of the Arabian horses: their riders were skilled
+in the evolutions of irregular war; and the Northern Barbarians were
+astonished and dismayed, by the inhuman ferocity of the Barbarians of
+the South.
+
+A Gothic soldier was slain by the dagger of an Arab; and the hairy,
+naked savage, applying his lips to the wound, expressed a horrid
+delight, while he sucked the blood of his vanquished enemy. [97] The
+army of the Goths, laden with the spoils of the wealthy suburbs and the
+adjacent territory, slowly moved, from the Bosphorus, to the mountains
+which form the western boundary of Thrace. The important pass of
+Succi was betrayed by the fear, or the misconduct, of Maurus; and the
+Barbarians, who no longer had any resistance to apprehend from the
+scattered and vanquished troops of the East, spread themselves over
+the face of a fertile and cultivated country, as far as the confines of
+Italy and the Hadriatic Sea. [98]
+
+[Footnote 96: Valens had gained, or rather purchased, the friendship
+of the Saracens, whose vexatious inroads were felt on the borders of
+Phoenicia, Palestine, and Egypt. The Christian faith had been lately
+introduced among a people, reserved, in a future age, to propagate
+another religion, (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 104, 106,
+141. Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 593.)]
+
+[Footnote 97: Crinitus quidam, nudus omnia praeter pubem, subraunum et
+ugubre strepens. Ammian. xxxi. 16, and Vales. ad loc. The Arabs often
+fought naked; a custom which may be ascribed to their sultry climate,
+and ostentatious bravery. The description of this unknown savage is the
+lively portrait of Derar, a name so dreadful to the Christians of Syria.
+See Ockley's Hist. of the Saracens, vol. i. p. 72, 84, 87.]
+
+[Footnote 98: The series of events may still be traced in the last pages
+of Ammianus, (xxxi. 15, 16.) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 227, 231,) whom we
+are now reduced to cherish, misplaces the sally of the Arabs before
+the death of Valens. Eunapius (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 20) praises the
+fertility of Thrace, Macedonia, &c.]
+
+The Romans, who so coolly, and so concisely, mention the acts of justice
+which were exercised by the legions, [99] reserve their compassion,
+and their eloquence, for their own sufferings, when the provinces were
+invaded, and desolated, by the arms of the successful Barbarians. The
+simple circumstantial narrative (did such a narrative exist) of the ruin
+of a single town, of the misfortunes of a single family, [100] might
+exhibit an interesting and instructive picture of human manners: but the
+tedious repetition of vague and declamatory complaints would fatigue the
+attention of the most patient reader. The same censure may be applied,
+though not perhaps in an equal degree, to the profane, and the
+ecclesiastical, writers of this unhappy period; that their minds were
+inflamed by popular and religious animosity; and that the true size and
+color of every object is falsified by the exaggerations of their corrupt
+eloquence. The vehement Jerom [101] might justly deplore the calamities
+inflicted by the Goths, and their barbarous allies, on his native
+country of Pannonia, and the wide extent of the provinces, from the
+walls of Constantinople to the foot of the Julian Alps; the rapes, the
+massacres, the conflagrations; and, above all, the profanation of the
+churches, that were turned into stables, and the contemptuous treatment
+of the relics of holy martyrs. But the Saint is surely transported
+beyond the limits of nature and history, when he affirms, "that, in
+those desert countries, nothing was left except the sky and the earth;
+that, after the destruction of the cities, and the extirpation of the
+human race, the land was overgrown with thick forests and inextricable
+brambles; and that the universal desolation, announced by the prophet
+Zephaniah, was accomplished, in the scarcity of the beasts, the birds,
+and even of the fish." These complaints were pronounced about twenty
+years after the death of Valens; and the Illyrian provinces, which were
+constantly exposed to the invasion and passage of the Barbarians, still
+continued, after a calamitous period of ten centuries, to supply new
+materials for rapine and destruction. Could it even be supposed, that
+a large tract of country had been left without cultivation and without
+inhabitants, the consequences might not have been so fatal to the
+inferior productions of animated nature. The useful and feeble animals,
+which are nourished by the hand of man, might suffer and perish, if
+they were deprived of his protection; but the beasts of the forest,
+his enemies or his victims, would multiply in the free and undisturbed
+possession of their solitary domain. The various tribes that people the
+air, or the waters, are still less connected with the fate of the human
+species; and it is highly probable that the fish of the Danube would
+have felt more terror and distress, from the approach of a voracious
+pike, than from the hostile inroad of a Gothic army.
+
+[Footnote 99: Observe with how much indifference Caesar relates, in the
+Commentaries of the Gallic war, that he put to death the whole senate of
+the Veneti, who had yielded to his mercy, (iii. 16;) that he labored
+to extirpate the whole nation of the Eburones, (vi. 31;) that forty
+thousand persons were massacred at Bourges by the just revenge of his
+soldiers, who spared neither age nor sex, (vii. 27,) &c.]
+
+[Footnote 100: Such are the accounts of the sack of Magdeburgh, by the
+ecclesiastic and the fisherman, which Mr. Harte has transcribed, (Hist.
+of Gustavus Adolphus, vol. i. p. 313--320,) with some apprehension of
+violating the dignity of history.]
+
+[Footnote 101: Et vastatis urbibus, hominibusque interfectis,
+solitudinem et raritatem bestiarum quoque fieri, et volatilium,
+pisciumque: testis Illyricum est, testis Thracia, testis in quo ortus
+sum solum, (Pannonia;) ubi praeter coelum et terram, et crescentes
+vepres, et condensa sylvarum cuncta perierunt. Tom. vii. p. 250, l, Cap.
+Sophonias and tom. i. p. 26.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XXVI: Progress of The Huns.--Part V.
+
+Whatever may have been the just measure of the calamities of Europe,
+there was reason to fear that the same calamities would soon extend
+to the peaceful countries of Asia. The sons of the Goths had been
+judiciously distributed through the cities of the East; and the arts of
+education were employed to polish, and subdue, the native fierceness
+of their temper. In the space of about twelve years, their numbers had
+continually increased; and the children, who, in the first emigration,
+were sent over the Hellespont, had attained, with rapid growth, the
+strength and spirit of perfect manhood. [102] It was impossible to
+conceal from their knowledge the events of the Gothic war; and, as
+those daring youths had not studied the language of dissimulation, they
+betrayed their wish, their desire, perhaps their intention, to emulate
+the glorious example of their fathers The danger of the times seemed to
+justify the jealous suspicions of the provincials; and these suspicions
+were admitted as unquestionable evidence, that the Goths of Asia had
+formed a secret and dangerous conspiracy against the public safety. The
+death of Valens had left the East without a sovereign; and Julius, who
+filled the important station of master-general of the troops, with a
+high reputation of diligence and ability, thought it his duty to consult
+the senate of Constantinople; which he considered, during the vacancy of
+the throne, as the representative council of the nation. As soon as he
+had obtained the discretionary power of acting as he should judge most
+expedient for the good of the republic, he assembled the principal
+officers, and privately concerted effectual measures for the execution
+of his bloody design. An order was immediately promulgated, that, on a
+stated day, the Gothic youth should assemble in the capital cities
+of their respective provinces; and, as a report was industriously
+circulated, that they were summoned to receive a liberal gift of lands
+and money, the pleasing hope allayed the fury of their resentment, and,
+perhaps, suspended the motions of the conspiracy. On the appointed day,
+the unarmed crowd of the Gothic youth was carefully collected in the
+square or Forum; the streets and avenues were occupied by the Roman
+troops, and the roofs of the houses were covered with archers and
+slingers. At the same hour, in all the cities of the East, the signal
+was given of indiscriminate slaughter; and the provinces of Asia were
+delivered by the cruel prudence of Julius, from a domestic enemy, who,
+in a few months, might have carried fire and sword from the Hellespont
+to the Euphrates. [103] The urgent consideration of the public safety
+may undoubtedly authorize the violation of every positive law. How far
+that, or any other, consideration may operate to dissolve the natural
+obligations of humanity and justice, is a doctrine of which I still
+desire to remain ignorant.
+
+[Footnote 102: Eunapius (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 20) foolishly supposes a
+praeternatural growth of the young Goths, that he may introduce Cadmus's
+armed men, who sprang from the dragon's teeth, &c. Such was the Greek
+eloquence of the times.]
+
+[Footnote 103: Ammianus evidently approves this execution, efficacia
+velox et salutaris, which concludes his work, (xxxi. 16.) Zosimus, who
+is curious and copious, (l. iv. p. 233--236,) mistakes the date, and
+labors to find the reason, why Julius did not consult the emperor
+Theodosius who had not yet ascended the throne of the East.]
+
+The emperor Gratian was far advanced on his march towards the plains
+of Hadrianople, when he was informed, at first by the confused voice
+of fame, and afterwards by the more accurate reports of Victor and
+Richomer, that his impatient colleague had been slain in battle, and
+that two thirds of the Roman army were exterminated by the sword of the
+victorious Goths. Whatever resentment the rash and jealous vanity of his
+uncle might deserve, the resentment of a generous mind is easily subdued
+by the softer emotions of grief and compassion; and even the sense of
+pity was soon lost in the serious and alarming consideration of the
+state of the republic. Gratian was too late to assist, he was too weak
+to revenge, his unfortunate colleague; and the valiant and modest youth
+felt himself unequal to the support of a sinking world. A formidable
+tempest of the Barbarians of Germany seemed ready to burst over the
+provinces of Gaul; and the mind of Gratian was oppressed and distracted
+by the administration of the Western empire. In this important crisis,
+the government of the East, and the conduct of the Gothic war, required
+the undivided attention of a hero and a statesman. A subject invested
+with such ample command would not long have preserved his fidelity to a
+distant benefactor; and the Imperial council embraced the wise and manly
+resolution of conferring an obligation, rather than of yielding to an
+insult. It was the wish of Gratian to bestow the purple as the reward
+of virtue; but, at the age of nineteen, it is not easy for a prince,
+educated in the supreme rank, to understand the true characters of his
+ministers and generals. He attempted to weigh, with an impartial hand,
+their various merits and defects; and, whilst he checked the rash
+confidence of ambition, he distrusted the cautious wisdom which
+despaired of the republic. As each moment of delay diminished something
+of the power and resources of the future sovereign of the East, the
+situation of the times would not allow a tedious debate. The choice of
+Gratian was soon declared in favor of an exile, whose father, only three
+years before, had suffered, under the sanction of his authority, an
+unjust and ignominious death. The great Theodosius, a name celebrated
+in history, and dear to the Catholic church, [104] was summoned to
+the Imperial court, which had gradually retreated from the confines
+of Thrace to the more secure station of Sirmium. Five months after
+the death of Valens, the emperor Gratian produced before the assembled
+troops his colleague and their master; who, after a modest, perhaps
+a sincere, resistance, was compelled to accept, amidst the general
+acclamations, the diadem, the purple, and the equal title of Augustus.
+[105] The provinces of Thrace, Asia, and Egypt, over which Valens had
+reigned, were resigned to the administration of the new emperor; but,
+as he was specially intrusted with the conduct of the Gothic war, the
+Illyrian praefecture was dismembered; and the two great dioceses of
+Dacia and Macedonia were added to the dominions of the Eastern empire.
+[106]
+
+[Footnote 104: A life of Theodosius the Great was composed in the last
+century, (Paris, 1679, in 4to-1680, 12mo.,) to inflame the mind of
+the young Dauphin with Catholic zeal. The author, Flechier, afterwards
+bishop of Nismes, was a celebrated preacher; and his history is adorned,
+or tainted, with pulpit eloquence; but he takes his learning from
+Baronius, and his principles from St. Ambrose and St Augustin.]
+
+[Footnote 105: The birth, character, and elevation of Theodosius are
+marked in Pacatus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 10, 11, 12,) Themistius,
+(Orat. xiv. p. 182,) (Zosimus, l. iv. p. 231,) Augustin. (de Civitat.
+Dei. v. 25,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 34,) Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 2,)
+Socrates, (l. v. c. 2,) Theodoret, (l. v. c. 5,) Philostorgius, (l. ix.
+c. 17, with Godefroy, p. 393,) the Epitome of Victor, and the Chronicles
+of Prosper, Idatius, and Marcellinus, in the Thesaurus Temporum of
+Scaliger. * Note: Add a hostile fragment of Eunapius. Mai, p. 273, in
+Niebuhr, p 178--M.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 716, &c.]
+
+The same province, and perhaps the same city, [107] which had given to
+the throne the virtues of Trajan, and the talents of Hadrian, was the
+orignal seat of another family of Spaniards, who, in a less fortunate
+age, possessed, near fourscore years, the declining empire of Rome.
+[108] They emerged from the obscurity of municipal honors by the active
+spirit of the elder Theodosius, a general whose exploits in Britain
+and Africa have formed one of the most splendid parts of the annals
+of Valentinian. The son of that general, who likewise bore the name of
+Theodosius, was educated, by skilful preceptors, in the liberal studies
+of youth; but he was instructed in the art of war by the tender care
+and severe discipline of his father. [109] Under the standard of such a
+leader, young Theodosius sought glory and knowledge, in the most distant
+scenes of military action; inured his constitution to the difference
+of seasons and climates; distinguished his valor by sea and land; and
+observed the various warfare of the Scots, the Saxons, and the Moors.
+His own merit, and the recommendation of the conqueror of Africa, soon
+raised him to a separate command; and, in the station of Duke of Misaea,
+he vanquished an army of Sarmatians; saved the province; deserved the
+love of the soldiers; and provoked the envy of the court. [110] His
+rising fortunes were soon blasted by the disgrace and execution of his
+illustrious father; and Theodosius obtained, as a favor, the permission
+of retiring to a private life in his native province of Spain. He
+displayed a firm and temperate character in the ease with which he
+adapted himself to this new situation. His time was almost equally
+divided between the town and country; the spirit, which had animated his
+public conduct, was shown in the active and affectionate performance
+of every social duty; and the diligence of the soldier was profitably
+converted to the improvement of his ample patrimony, [111] which lay
+between Valladolid and Segovia, in the midst of a fruitful district,
+still famous for a most exquisite breed of sheep. [112] From the
+innocent, but humble labors of his farm, Theodosius was transported,
+in less than four months, to the throne of the Eastern empire; and
+the whole period of the history of the world will not perhaps afford
+a similar example, of an elevation at the same time so pure and so
+honorable. The princes who peaceably inherit the sceptre of their
+fathers, claim and enjoy a legal right, the more secure as it is
+absolutely distinct from the merits of their personal characters. The
+subjects, who, in a monarchy, or a popular state, acquire the possession
+of supreme power, may have raised themselves, by the superiority either
+of genius or virtue, above the heads of their equals; but their
+virtue is seldom exempt from ambition; and the cause of the successful
+candidate is frequently stained by the guilt of conspiracy, or civil
+war. Even in those governments which allow the reigning monarch to
+declare a colleague or a successor, his partial choice, which may be
+influenced by the blindest passions, is often directed to an unworthy
+object But the most suspicious malignity cannot ascribe to Theodosius,
+in his obscure solitude of Caucha, the arts, the desires, or even the
+hopes, of an ambitious statesman; and the name of the Exile would long
+since have been forgotten, if his genuine and distinguished virtues had
+not left a deep impression in the Imperial court. During the season
+of prosperity, he had been neglected; but, in the public distress, his
+superior merit was universally felt and acknowledged. What confidence
+must have been reposed in his integrity, since Gratian could trust, that
+a pious son would forgive, for the sake of the republic, the murder of
+his father! What expectations must have been formed of his abilities
+to encourage the hope, that a single man could save, and restore, the
+empire of the East! Theodosius was invested with the purple in the
+thirty-third year of his age. The vulgar gazed with admiration on the
+manly beauty of his face, and the graceful majesty of his person, which
+they were pleased to compare with the pictures and medals of the emperor
+Trajan; whilst intelligent observers discovered, in the qualities of his
+heart and understanding, a more important resemblance to the best and
+greatest of the Roman princes.
+
+[Footnote 107: Italica, founded by Scipio Africanus for his wounded
+veterans of Italy. The ruins still appear, about a league above Seville,
+but on the opposite bank of the river. See the Hispania Illustrata of
+Nonius, a short though valuable treatise, c. xvii. p. 64--67.]
+
+[Footnote 108: I agree with Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p.
+726) in suspecting the royal pedigree, which remained a secret till the
+promotion of Theodosius. Even after that event, the silence of Pacatus
+outweighs the venal evidence of Themistius, Victor, and Claudian, who
+connect the family of Theodosius with the blood of Trajan and Hadrian.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Pacatas compares, and consequently prefers, the youth
+of Theodosius to the military education of Alexander, Hannibal, and the
+second Africanus; who, like him, had served under their fathers, (xii.
+8.)]
+
+[Footnote 110: Ammianus (xxix. 6) mentions this victory of Theodosius
+Junior Dux Maesiae, prima etiam tum lanugine juvenis, princeps postea
+perspectissimus. The same fact is attested by Themistius and Zosimus but
+Theodoret, (l. v. c. 5,) who adds some curious circumstances, strangely
+applies it to the time of the interregnum.]
+
+[Footnote 111: Pacatus (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 9) prefers the rustic life
+of Theodosius to that of Cincinnatus; the one was the effect of choice,
+the other of poverty.]
+
+[Footnote 112: M. D'Anville (Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 25) has
+fixed the situation of Caucha, or Coca, in the old province of Gallicia,
+where Zosimus and Idatius have placed the birth, or patrimony, of
+Theodosius.]
+
+It is not without the most sincere regret, that I must now take leave of
+an accurate and faithful guide, who has composed the history of his
+own times, without indulging the prejudices and passions, which usually
+affect the mind of a contemporary. Ammianus Marcellinus, who terminates
+his useful work with the defeat and death of Valens, recommends the
+more glorious subject of the ensuing reign to the youthful vigor and
+eloquence of the rising generation. [113] The rising generation was not
+disposed to accept his advice or to imitate his example; [114] and, in
+the study of the reign of Theodosius, we are reduced to illustrate the
+partial narrative of Zosimus, by the obscure hints of fragments and
+chronicles, by the figurative style of poetry or panegyric, and by the
+precarious assistance of the ecclesiastical writers, who, in the heat of
+religious faction, are apt to despise the profane virtues of sincerity
+and moderation. Conscious of these disadvantages, which will continue
+to involve a considerable portion of the decline and fall of the Roman
+empire, I shall proceed with doubtful and timorous steps. Yet I may
+boldly pronounce, that the battle of Hadrianople was never revenged by
+any signal or decisive victory of Theodosius over the Barbarians: and
+the expressive silence of his venal orators may be confirmed by the
+observation of the condition and circumstances of the times. The fabric
+of a mighty state, which has been reared by the labors of successive
+ages, could not be overturned by the misfortune of a single day, if the
+fatal power of the imagination did not exaggerate the real measure of
+the calamity. The loss of forty thousand Romans, who fell in the plains
+of Hadrianople, might have been soon recruited in the populous provinces
+of the East, which contained so many millions of inhabitants. The
+courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest, and most common,
+quality of human nature; and sufficient skill to encounter an
+undisciplined foe might have been speedily taught by the care of the
+surviving centurions. If the Barbarians were mounted on the horses, and
+equipped with the armor, of their vanquished enemies, the numerous studs
+of Cappadocia and Spain would have supplied new squadrons of cavalry;
+the thirty-four arsenals of the empire were plentifully stored with
+magazines of offensive and defensive arms: and the wealth of Asia might
+still have yielded an ample fund for the expenses of the war. But the
+effects which were produced by the battle of Hadrianople on the minds
+of the Barbarians and of the Romans, extended the victory of the former,
+and the defeat of the latter, far beyond the limits of a single day. A
+Gothic chief was heard to declare, with insolent moderation, that, for
+his own part, he was fatigued with slaughter: but that he was astonished
+how a people, who fled before him like a flock of sheep, could still
+presume to dispute the possession of their treasures and provinces.
+[115] The same terrors which the name of the Huns had spread among the
+Gothic tribes, were inspired, by the formidable name of the Goths, among
+the subjects and soldiers of the Roman empire. [116] If Theodosius,
+hastily collecting his scattered forces, had led them into the field
+to encounter a victorious enemy, his army would have been vanquished
+by their own fears; and his rashness could not have been excused by
+the chance of success. But the great Theodosius, an epithet which he
+honorably deserved on this momentous occasion, conducted himself as the
+firm and faithful guardian of the republic. He fixed his head-quarters
+at Thessalonica, the capital of the Macedonian diocese; [117] from
+whence he could watch the irregular motions of the Barbarians,
+and direct the operations of his lieutenants, from the gates of
+Constantinople to the shores of the Hadriatic. The fortifications and
+garrisons of the cities were strengthened; and the troops, among whom a
+sense of order and discipline was revived, were insensibly emboldened
+by the confidence of their own safety. From these secure stations, they
+were encouraged to make frequent sallies on the Barbarians, who infested
+the adjacent country; and, as they were seldom allowed to engage,
+without some decisive superiority, either of ground or of numbers, their
+enterprises were, for the most part, successful; and they were soon
+convinced, by their own experience, of the possibility of vanquishing
+their invincible enemies. The detachments of these separate garrisons
+were generally united into small armies; the same cautious measures
+were pursued, according to an extensive and well-concerted plan of
+operations; the events of each day added strength and spirit to the
+Roman arms; and the artful diligence of the emperor, who circulated the
+most favorable reports of the success of the war, contributed to subdue
+the pride of the Barbarians, and to animate the hopes and courage of
+his subjects. If, instead of this faint and imperfect outline, we could
+accurately represent the counsels and actions of Theodosius, in four
+successive campaigns, there is reason to believe, that his consummate
+skill would deserve the applause of every military reader. The republic
+had formerly been saved by the delays of Fabius; and, while the splendid
+trophies of Scipio, in the field of Zama, attract the eyes of posterity,
+the camps and marches of the dictator among the hills of the Campania,
+may claim a juster proportion of the solid and independent fame, which
+the general is not compelled to share, either with fortune or with his
+troops. Such was likewise the merit of Theodosius; and the infirmities
+of his body, which most unseasonably languished under a long and
+dangerous disease, could not oppress the vigor of his mind, or divert
+his attention from the public service. [118]
+
+[Footnote 113: Let us hear Ammianus himself. Haec, ut miles quondam et
+Graecus, a principatu Cassaris Nervae exorsus, adusque Valentis inter,
+pro virium explicavi mensura: opus veritatem professum nun quam, ut
+arbitror, sciens, silentio ausus corrumpere vel mendacio. Scribant
+reliqua potiores aetate, doctrinisque florentes. Quos id, si libuerit,
+aggressuros, procudere linguas ad majores moneo stilos. Ammian. xxxi.
+16. The first thirteen books, a superficial epitome of two hundred and
+fifty-seven years, are now lost: the last eighteen, which contain no
+more than twenty-five years, still preserve the copious and authentic
+history of his own times.]
+
+[Footnote 114: Ammianus was the last subject of Rome who composed a
+profane history in the Latin language. The East, in the next century,
+produced some rhetorical historians, Zosimus, Olympiedorus, Malchus,
+Candidus &c. See Vossius de Historicis Graecis, l. ii. c. 18, de
+Historicis Latinis l. ii. c. 10, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 115: Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 344, edit. Montfaucon. I have
+verified and examined this passage: but I should never, without the
+aid of Tillemont, (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 152,) have detected
+an historical anecdote, in a strange medley of moral and mystic
+exhortations, addressed, by the preacher of Antioch, to a young widow.]
+
+[Footnote 116: Eunapius, in Excerpt. Legation. p. 21.]
+
+[Footnote 117: See Godefroy's Chronology of the Laws. Codex Theodos tom.
+l. Prolegomen. p. xcix.--civ.]
+
+[Footnote 118: Most writers insist on the illness, and long repose, of
+Theodosius, at Thessalonica: Zosimus, to diminish his glory; Jornandes,
+to favor the Goths; and the ecclesiastical writers, to introduce his
+baptism.]
+
+The deliverance and peace of the Roman provinces [119] was the work of
+prudence, rather than of valor: the prudence of Theodosius was seconded
+by fortune: and the emperor never failed to seize, and to improve, every
+favorable circumstance. As long as the superior genius of Fritigern
+preserved the union, and directed the motions of the Barbarians, their
+power was not inadequate to the conquest of a great empire. The death of
+that hero, the predecessor and master of the renowned Alaric, relieved
+an impatient multitude from the intolerable yoke of discipline and
+discretion. The Barbarians, who had been restrained by his authority,
+abandoned themselves to the dictates of their passions; and their
+passions were seldom uniform or consistent. An army of conquerors was
+broken into many disorderly bands of savage robbers; and their blind
+and irregular fury was not less pernicious to themselves, than to their
+enemies. Their mischievous disposition was shown in the destruction of
+every object which they wanted strength to remove, or taste to enjoy;
+and they often consumed, with improvident rage, the harvests, or
+the granaries, which soon afterwards became necessary for their own
+subsistence. A spirit of discord arose among the independent tribes
+and nations, which had been united only by the bands of a loose and
+voluntary alliance. The troops of the Huns and the Alani would naturally
+upbraid the flight of the Goths; who were not disposed to use with
+moderation the advantages of their fortune; the ancient jealousy of
+the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths could not long be suspended; and the
+haughty chiefs still remembered the insults and injuries, which they had
+reciprocally offered, or sustained, while the nation was seated in the
+countries beyond the Danube. The progress of domestic faction abated
+the more diffusive sentiment of national animosity; and the officers of
+Theodosius were instructed to purchase, with liberal gifts and promises,
+the retreat or service of the discontented party. The acquisition
+of Modar, a prince of the royal blood of the Amali, gave a bold and
+faithful champion to the cause of Rome. The illustrious deserter
+soon obtained the rank of master-general, with an important command;
+surprised an army of his countrymen, who were immersed in wine and
+sleep; and, after a cruel slaughter of the astonished Goths, returned
+with an immense spoil, and four thousand wagons, to the Imperial camp.
+[120] In the hands of a skilful politician, the most different means may
+be successfully applied to the same ends; and the peace of the empire,
+which had been forwarded by the divisions, was accomplished by the
+reunion, of the Gothic nation. Athanaric, who had been a patient
+spectator of these extraordinary events, was at length driven, by the
+chance of arms, from the dark recesses of the woods of Caucaland. He no
+longer hesitated to pass the Danube; and a very considerable part of the
+subjects of Fritigern, who already felt the inconveniences of anarchy,
+were easily persuaded to acknowledge for their king a Gothic Judge,
+whose birth they respected, and whose abilities they had frequently
+experienced. But age had chilled the daring spirit of Athanaric; and,
+instead of leading his people to the field of battle and victory, he
+wisely listened to the fair proposal of an honorable and advantageous
+treaty. Theodosius, who was acquainted with the merit and power of his
+new ally, condescended to meet him at the distance of several miles
+from Constantinople; and entertained him in the Imperial city, with
+the confidence of a friend, and the magnificence of a monarch. "The
+Barbarian prince observed, with curious attention, the variety of
+objects which attracted his notice, and at last broke out into a sincere
+and passionate exclamation of wonder. I now behold (said he) what I
+never could believe, the glories of this stupendous capital! And as
+he cast his eyes around, he viewed, and he admired, the commanding
+situation of the city, the strength and beauty of the walls and public
+edifices, the capacious harbor, crowded with innumerable vessels, the
+perpetual concourse of distant nations, and the arms and discipline of
+the troops. Indeed, (continued Athanaric,) the emperor of the Romans is
+a god upon earth; and the presumptuous man, who dares to lift his hand
+against him, is guilty of his own blood." [121] The Gothic king did not
+long enjoy this splendid and honorable reception; and, as temperance
+was not the virtue of his nation, it may justly be suspected, that
+his mortal disease was contracted amidst the pleasures of the Imperial
+banquets. But the policy of Theodosius derived more solid benefit from
+the death, than he could have expected from the most faithful services,
+of his ally. The funeral of Athanaric was performed with solemn rites in
+the capital of the East; a stately monument was erected to his memory;
+and his whole army, won by the liberal courtesy, and decent grief, of
+Theodosius, enlisted under the standard of the Roman empire. [122] The
+submission of so great a body of the Visigoths was productive of the
+most salutary consequences; and the mixed influence of force, of reason,
+and of corruption, became every day more powerful, and more extensive.
+Each independent chieftain hastened to obtain a separate treaty, from
+the apprehension that an obstinate delay might expose him, alone and
+unprotected, to the revenge, or justice, of the conqueror. The general,
+or rather the final, capitulation of the Goths, may be dated four years,
+one month, and twenty-five days, after the defeat and death of the
+emperor Valens. [123]
+
+[Footnote 119: Compare Themistius (Orat, xiv. p. 181) with Zosimus (l.
+iv. p. 232,) Jornandes, (c. xxvii. p. 649,) and the prolix Commentary
+of M. de Buat, (Hist. de Peuples, &c., tom. vi. p. 477--552.) The
+Chronicles of Idatius and Marcellinus allude, in general terms, to
+magna certamina, magna multaque praelia. The two epithets are not easily
+reconciled.]
+
+[Footnote 120: Zosimus (l. iv. p. 232) styles him a Scythian, a name
+which the more recent Greeks seem to have appropriated to the Goths.]
+
+[Footnote 121: The reader will not be displeased to see the original
+words of Jornandes, or the author whom he transcribed. Regiam urbem
+ingressus est, miransque, En, inquit, cerno quod saepe incredulus
+audiebam, famam videlicet tantae urbis. Et huc illuc oculos volvens,
+nunc situm urbis, commeatumque navium, nunc moenia clara pro spectans,
+miratur; populosque diversarum gentium, quasi fonte in uno e diversis
+partibus scaturiente unda, sic quoque militem ordinatum aspiciens; Deus,
+inquit, sine dubio est terrenus Imperator, et quisquis adversus eum
+manum moverit, ipse sui sanguinis reus existit Jornandes (c. xxviii. p.
+650) proceeds to mention his death and funeral.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Jornandes, c. xxviii. p. 650. Even Zosimus (l. v. p. 246)
+is compelled to approve the generosity of Theodosius, so honorable to
+himself, and so beneficial to the public.]
+
+[Footnote 123: The short, but authentic, hints in the Fasti of Idatius
+(Chron. Scaliger. p. 52) are stained with contemporary passion. The
+fourteenth oration of Themistius is a compliment to Peace, and the
+consul Saturninus, (A.D. 383.)]
+
+The provinces of the Danube had been already relieved from the
+oppressive weight of the Gruthungi, or Ostrogoths, by the voluntary
+retreat of Alatheus and Saphrax, whose restless spirit had prompted them
+to seek new scenes of rapine and glory. Their destructive course was
+pointed towards the West; but we must be satisfied with a very obscure
+and imperfect knowledge of their various adventures. The Ostrogoths
+impelled several of the German tribes on the provinces of Gaul;
+concluded, and soon violated, a treaty with the emperor Gratian;
+advanced into the unknown countries of the North; and, after an interval
+of more than four years, returned, with accumulated force, to the banks
+of the Lower Danube. Their troops were recruited with the fiercest
+warriors of Germany and Scythia; and the soldiers, or at least
+the historians, of the empire, no longer recognized the name and
+countenances of their former enemies. [124] The general who commanded
+the military and naval powers of the Thracian frontier, soon perceived
+that his superiority would be disadvantageous to the public service;
+and that the Barbarians, awed by the presence of his fleet and legions,
+would probably defer the passage of the river till the approaching
+winter. The dexterity of the spies, whom he sent into the Gothic camp,
+allured the Barbarians into a fatal snare. They were persuaded that, by
+a bold attempt, they might surprise, in the silence and darkness of
+the night, the sleeping army of the Romans; and the whole multitude was
+hastily embarked in a fleet of three thousand canoes. [125] The bravest
+of the Ostrogoths led the van; the main body consisted of the remainder
+of their subjects and soldiers; and the women and children securely
+followed in the rear. One of the nights without a moon had been selected
+for the execution of their design; and they had almost reached the
+southern bank of the Danube, in the firm confidence that they should
+find an easy landing and an unguarded camp. But the progress of the
+Barbarians was suddenly stopped by an unexpected obstacle a triple line
+of vessels, strongly connected with each other, and which formed an
+impenetrable chain of two miles and a half along the river. While they
+struggled to force their way in the unequal conflict, their right flank
+was overwhelmed by the irresistible attack of a fleet of galleys, which
+were urged down the stream by the united impulse of oars and of the
+tide. The weight and velocity of those ships of war broke, and sunk, and
+dispersed, the rude and feeble canoes of the Barbarians; their valor
+was ineffectual; and Alatheus, the king, or general, of the Ostrogoths,
+perished with his bravest troops, either by the sword of the Romans, or
+in the waves of the Danube. The last division of this unfortunate fleet
+might regain the opposite shore; but the distress and disorder of the
+multitude rendered them alike incapable, either of action or counsel;
+and they soon implored the clemency of the victorious enemy. On this
+occasion, as well as on many others, it is a difficult task to reconcile
+the passions and prejudices of the writers of the age of Theodosius. The
+partial and malignant historian, who misrepresents every action of his
+reign, affirms, that the emperor did not appear in the field of battle
+till the Barbarians had been vanquished by the valor and conduct of his
+lieutenant Promotus. [126] The flattering poet, who celebrated, in the
+court of Honorius, the glory of the father and of the son, ascribes the
+victory to the personal prowess of Theodosius; and almost insinuates,
+that the king of the Ostrogoths was slain by the hand of the emperor.
+[127] The truth of history might perhaps be found in a just medium
+between these extreme and contradictory assertions.
+
+[Footnote 124: Zosimus, l. iv. p. 252.]
+
+[Footnote 125: I am justified, by reason and example, in applying this
+Indian name to the the Barbarians, the single trees hollowed into the
+shape of a boat. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 253. Ausi Danubium quondam tranare
+Gruthungi In lintres fregere nemus: ter mille ruebant Per fluvium plenae
+cuneis immanibus alni. Claudian, in iv. Cols. Hon. 623.]
+
+[Footnote 126: Zosimus, l. iv. p. 252--255. He too frequently betrays
+his poverty of judgment by disgracing the most serious narratives with
+trifling and incredible circumstances.]
+
+[Footnote 127:--Odothaei Regis opima  Retulit--Ver. 632. The opima were
+the spoils which a Roman general could only win from the king, or
+general, of the enemy, whom he had slain with his own hands: and no more
+than three such examples are celebrated in the victorious ages of Rome.]
+
+The original treaty which fixed the settlement of the Goths, ascertained
+their privileges, and stipulated their obligations, would illustrate the
+history of Theodosius and his successors. The series of their history
+has imperfectly preserved the spirit and substance of this single
+agreement. [128] The ravages of war and tyranny had provided many large
+tracts of fertile but uncultivated land for the use of those Barbarians
+who might not disdain the practice of agriculture. A numerous colony of
+the Visigoths was seated in Thrace; the remains of the Ostrogoths were
+planted in Phrygia and Lydia; their immediate wants were supplied by
+a distribution of corn and cattle; and their future industry was
+encouraged by an exemption from tribute, during a certain term of years.
+The Barbarians would have deserved to feel the cruel and perfidious
+policy of the Imperial court, if they had suffered themselves to be
+dispersed through the provinces. They required, and they obtained,
+the sole possession of the villages and districts assigned for their
+residence; they still cherished and propagated their native manners
+and language; asserted, in the bosom of despotism, the freedom of their
+domestic government; and acknowledged the sovereignty of the emperor,
+without submitting to the inferior jurisdiction of the laws and
+magistrates of Rome. The hereditary chiefs of the tribes and families
+were still permitted to command their followers in peace and war; but
+the royal dignity was abolished; and the generals of the Goths were
+appointed and removed at the pleasure of the emperor. An army of forty
+thousand Goths was maintained for the perpetual service of the empire of
+the East; and those haughty troops, who assumed the title of Foederati,
+or allies, were distinguished by their gold collars, liberal pay, and
+licentious privileges. Their native courage was improved by the use
+of arms and the knowledge of discipline; and, while the republic was
+guarded, or threatened, by the doubtful sword of the Barbarians, the
+last sparks of the military flame were finally extinguished in the minds
+of the Romans. [129] Theodosius had the address to persuade his allies,
+that the conditions of peace, which had been extorted from him by
+prudence and necessity, were the voluntary expressions of his sincere
+friendship for the Gothic nation. [130] A different mode of vindication
+or apology was opposed to the complaints of the people; who loudly
+censured these shameful and dangerous concessions. [131] The calamities
+of the war were painted in the most lively colors; and the first
+symptoms of the return of order, of plenty, and security, were
+diligently exaggerated. The advocates of Theodosius could affirm, with
+some appearance of truth and reason, that it was impossible to extirpate
+so many warlike tribes, who were rendered desperate by the loss of their
+native country; and that the exhausted provinces would be revived by a
+fresh supply of soldiers and husbandmen. The Barbarians still wore
+an angry and hostile aspect; but the experience of past times might
+encourage the hope, that they would acquire the habits of industry and
+obedience; that their manners would be polished by time, education, and
+the influence of Christianity; and that their posterity would insensibly
+blend with the great body of the Roman people. [132]
+
+[Footnote 128: See Themistius, Orat. xvi. p. 211. Claudian (in Eutrop.
+l. ii. 112) mentions the Phrygian colony:----Ostrogothis colitur
+mistisque Gruthungis Phyrx ager----and then proceeds to name the rivers
+of Lydia, the Pactolus, and Herreus.]
+
+[Footnote 129: Compare Jornandes, (c. xx. 27,) who marks the condition
+and number of the Gothic Foederati, with Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 258,) who
+mentions their golden collars; and Pacatus, (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 37,)
+who applauds, with false or foolish joy, their bravery and discipline.]
+
+[Footnote 130: Amator pacis generisque Gothorum, is the praise bestowed
+by the Gothic historian, (c. xxix.,) who represents his nation as
+innocent, peaceable men, slow to anger, and patient of injuries.
+According to Livy, the Romans conquered the world in their own defence.]
+
+[Footnote 131: Besides the partial invectives of Zosimus, (always
+discontented with the Christian reigns,) see the grave representations
+which Synesius addresses to the emperor Arcadius, (de Regno, p. 25, 26,
+edit. Petav.) The philosophic bishop of Cyrene was near enough to
+judge; and he was sufficiently removed from the temptation of fear or
+flattery.]
+
+[Footnote 132: Themistius (Orat. xvi. p. 211, 212) composes an elaborate
+and rational apology, which is not, however, exempt from the puerilities
+of Greek rhetoric. Orpheus could only charm the wild beasts of Thrace;
+but Theodosius enchanted the men and women, whose predecessors in the
+same country had torn Orpheus in pieces, &c.]
+
+Notwithstanding these specious arguments, and these sanguine
+expectations, it was apparent to every discerning eye, that the Goths
+would long remain the enemies, and might soon become the conquerors
+of the Roman empire. Their rude and insolent behavior expressed their
+contempt of the citizens and provincials, whom they insulted with
+impunity. [133] To the zeal and valor of the Barbarians Theodosius
+was indebted for the success of his arms: but their assistance was
+precarious; and they were sometimes seduced, by a treacherous and
+inconstant disposition, to abandon his standard, at the moment when
+their service was the most essential. During the civil war against
+Maximus, a great number of Gothic deserters retired into the morasses
+of Macedonia, wasted the adjacent provinces, and obliged the intrepid
+monarch to expose his person, and exert his power, to suppress the
+rising flame of rebellion. [134] The public apprehensions were fortified
+by the strong suspicion, that these tumults were not the effect of
+accidental passion, but the result of deep and premeditated design. It
+was generally believed, that the Goths had signed the treaty of
+peace with a hostile and insidious spirit; and that their chiefs had
+previously bound themselves, by a solemn and secret oath, never to
+keep faith with the Romans; to maintain the fairest show of loyalty and
+friendship, and to watch the favorable moment of rapine, of conquest,
+and of revenge. But as the minds of the Barbarians were not insensible
+to the power of gratitude, several of the Gothic leaders sincerely
+devoted themselves to the service of the empire, or, at least, of the
+emperor; the whole nation was insensibly divided into two opposite
+factions, and much sophistry was employed in conversation and dispute,
+to compare the obligations of their first, and second, engagements. The
+Goths, who considered themselves as the friends of peace, of justice,
+and of Rome, were directed by the authority of Fravitta, a valiant and
+honorable youth, distinguished above the rest of his countrymen by the
+politeness of his manners, the liberality of his sentiments, and the
+mild virtues of social life. But the more numerous faction adhered to
+the fierce and faithless Priulf, [134a] who inflamed the passions,
+and asserted the independence, of his warlike followers. On one of the
+solemn festivals, when the chiefs of both parties were invited to the
+Imperial table, they were insensibly heated by wine, till they forgot
+the usual restraints of discretion and respect, and betrayed, in the
+presence of Theodosius, the fatal secret of their domestic disputes.
+The emperor, who had been the reluctant witness of this extraordinary
+controversy, dissembled his fears and resentment, and soon dismissed the
+tumultuous assembly. Fravitta, alarmed and exasperated by the insolence
+of his rival, whose departure from the palace might have been the signal
+of a civil war, boldly followed him; and, drawing his sword, laid
+Priulf dead at his feet. Their companions flew to arms; and the faithful
+champion of Rome would have been oppressed by superior numbers, if he
+had not been protected by the seasonable interposition of the Imperial
+guards. [135] Such were the scenes of Barbaric rage, which disgraced the
+palace and table of the Roman emperor; and, as the impatient Goths could
+only be restrained by the firm and temperate character of Theodosius,
+the public safety seemed to depend on the life and abilities of a single
+man. [136]
+
+[Footnote 133: Constantinople was deprived half a day of the public
+allowance of bread, to expiate the murder of a Gothic soldier: was the
+guilt of the people. Libanius, Orat. xii. p. 394, edit. Morel.]
+
+[Footnote 134: Zosimus, l. iv. p. 267-271. He tells a long and
+ridiculous story of the adventurous prince, who roved the country with
+only five horsemen, of a spy whom they detected, whipped, and killed in
+an old woman's cottage, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 134a: Eunapius.--M.]
+
+[Footnote 135: Compare Eunapius (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 21, 22) with
+Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 279.) The difference of circumstances and names must
+undoubtedly be applied to the same story. Fravitta, or Travitta, was
+afterwards consul, (A.D. 401.) and still continued his faithful services
+to the eldest son of Theodosius. (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom.
+v. p. 467.)]
+
+[Footnote 136: Les Goths ravagerent tout depuis le Danube jusqu'au
+Bosphore; exterminerent Valens et son armee; et ne repasserent le
+Danube, que pour abandonner l'affreuse solitude qu'ils avoient faite,
+(Oeuvres de Montesquieu, tom. iii. p. 479. Considerations sur les Causes
+de la Grandeur et de la Decadence des Romains, c. xvii.) The president
+Montesquieu seems ignorant that the Goths, after the defeat of Valens,
+never abandoned the Roman territory. It is now thirty years, says
+Claudian, (de Bello Getico, 166, &c., A.D. 404,) Ex quo jam patrios
+gens haec oblita Triones, Atque Istrum transvecta semel, vestigia fixit
+Threicio funesta solo--the error is inexcusable; since it disguises
+the principal and immediate cause of the fall of the Western empire of
+Rome.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of The Decline and Fall of
+the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon
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