The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire [1, 1 ed.]

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12. LUCRETIUS EPICTETUS MARCUS AURELIUS

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■ K )s irepoi o-rparuorcu. Herodian, 1. i. p. 31. It is doubtful whether he means the Praetorian infantry, or the cohortes urbanae, a body of six thousand men, but whose rank and discipline were not equal to their numbers. Neither Tillemont nor Wotton choose to decide this question. 26. Dion Cassius, 1. lxxii. p. 1215. Herodian, 1. i. p. 32. Hist. August, p. 48. 27. The African lions, when pressed by hunger, infested the open villages and cultivated country, and they infested them with impunity. The royal

Notes: Chapter iv beast was reserved for the pleasures of the emperor and the capital; and the unfortunate peasant, who killed one of them, though in his own defence, in¬ curred a very heavy penalty. This extraordinary game-law was mitigated by Honorius, and finally repealed by Justinian. Codex Theodos. tom. v. p. 92, et Comment Gothofred. 28. Spanheim de Numismat. Dissertat. xii. tom. ii. p. 493. 29. Dion, 1. lxxii. p. 1216. Hist. August, p. 49. 30. The ostrich’s neck is three feet long, and com¬ posed of seventeen vertebras. Buffon, Hist. Naturelle. 31. Commodus killed a Camelopardalis or giraffe (Dion, 1. lxxii. p. 1211), the tallest, the most gentle, and the most useless of the large quadru¬ peds. This singular animal, a native only of the interior parts of Africa, has not been seen in Europe since the revival of letters, and though M. de Buffon (Hist. Naturelle, tom. xiii.) has en¬ deavoured to describe, he has not ventured to delineate, the giraffe. 32. Herodian, 1. i. p. 37. Hist. August, p. 50. 33. The virtuous and even the wise princes for¬ bade the senators and knights to embrace this scandalous profession, under pain of infamy, or, what was more dreaded by those profligate wretches, of exile. The tyrants allured them to dishonour by threats and rewards. Nero once produced, in the arena, forty senators and sixty knights. Lipsius, Saturnalia, 1. ii. c. 2. He has happily corrected a passage of Suetonius, in Nerone, c. 12. 34. Lipsius, 1. ii. c. 7, 8. Juvenal, in the eighth satire, gives a picturesque description of this combat. 35. Hist. August, p. 50. Dion, 1. lxxii. p. 1220. He received for each time, decies about ^8000 sterling. 36. Victor tells us, that Commodus only allowed his antagonists a leaden weapon, dreading most probably the consequences of their despair. 37. They were obliged to repeat six hundred and twenty-six times, Paalusfirst of the Secutors, etc. 38. Dion, 1. lxxii. p. 1221. He speaks of his own baseness and danger. 39. He mixed, however, some prudence with his courage, and passed the greatest part of his time in a country retirement; alleging his ad¬ vanced age, and the weakness of his eyes. “I never saw him in the senate,” says Dion, “except during the short reign of Pertinax.” All his infirmities had suddenly left him, and they returned as suddenly upon the murder of that excellent prince. Dion, 1. lxxii. p. 1227. 40. The praefects were changed almost hourly or daily; and the caprice of Commodus was often fatal to his most favourite chamberlains. Hist. August, p. 46, 51. 41. Dion, 1. lxxii. p. 1222. Herodian, 1. i. p. 43. Hist. August, p. 52. 42. Pertinax was a native of Alba Pompeia, in Piedmont, and son of a timber-merchant.The order

683

of his employments (it is marked by Capitolinus) well deserves to be set down, as expressive of the form of government and manners of the age. 1. He was a centurion. 2. Praefect of a cohort in Syria, in the Parthian war, and in Britain. 3. He obtained an Ala, or squadron of horse, in Maesia. 4. He was commissary of provisions on the Tamilian way. 5. He commanded the fleet upon the Rhine. 6. He was procurator of Dacia, with a salary of about £1600 a year. 7. He commanded the Veterans of a legion. 8. He obtained the rank of senator. 9. Of praetor. 10. With the command of the first legion in Rhaetia and Noricum. 11. He was consul about the year 175. 12. He attended Marcus into the east. 13. He commanded an army on the Danube. 14. He was consular legate of Maesia. 15. Of Dacia. 16. Of Syria. 17. Of Britain. 18. He had the care of the public provisions at Rome. 19. He was proconsul of Africa. 20. Praefect of the city. Herodian (1. i. p. 48) does justice to his disinter¬ ested spirit; but Capitolinus, who collected every popular rumour, charges him with a great fortune acquired by bribery and corruption. 43. Julian in the Caesars taxes him with being accessory to the death of Commodus. 44. Capitolinus gives us the particulars of these tumultuary votes, which were moved by one senator, and repeated, or rather chanted, by the whole body. Hist. August, p. 52. 45. The senate condemned Nero to be put to death more majorum. Sueton. c. 49. 46. Dion (1. lxxiii. p. 1223) speaks of these entertainments, as a senator who had supped with the emperor; Capitolinus (Hist. August, p. 58), like a slave, who had received his intelligence from one of the scullions. 47. Decies. The blameless economy of Pius left his successors a treasure of vicies septies millies, above two and twenty millions sterling. Dion, 1. lxxiii. p. 1231. 48. Besides the design of converting these useless ornaments into money, Dion (1. lxxiii. p. 1229) assigns two secret motives of Pertinax. He wished to expose the vices of Commodus and to discover by the purchasers those who most resembled him. 49. Though Capitolinus has picked up many idle tales of the private life of Pertinax, he joins with Dion and Herodian in admiring his public conduct. 50. Leges, rem surdam, inexorabilem esse. T. Liv. ii. 3. 51. If we credit Capitolinus (which is rather difficult), Falco behaved with the most petulant indecency to Pertinax, on the day of his accession. The wise emperor only admonished him of his youth and inexperience. Hist. August, p. 55. 52. The modern bishopric of Liege. This soldier probably belonged to the Batavian horseguards, who were mostly raised in the duchy of Gueldres and the neighbourhood, and were distinguished by their valour, and by the boldness with which they

684

Notes: Chapter v

swam their horses across the broadest and most rapid rivers. Tacit. Hist. iv. 12. Dion, 1. lv. p. 797Lipsius de magnitudine Romana, 1. i. c. 4.

53. Dion, 1. lxxiii. p. 1232. Herodian, 1. ii. p. 60. Hist. August, p. 58. Victor in Epitom. and in Caesarib. Eutropius, viii. 16.

Chapter V 1. They were originally nine or ten thousand men (for Tacitus and Dion are not agreed upon the subject), divided into as many cohorts. Vitellius increased them to sixteen thousand, and as far as we can learn from inscriptions, they never after¬ wards sunk much below that number. Lipsius de magnitudine Romana, i. 4. 2. Sueton. in August, c. 49. 3. Tacit. Annal. iv. 2. Sueton. in Tiber, c. 37. Dion Cassius, 1. lvii. p. 867. 4. In the civil war between Vitellius and Ves¬ pasian, the Praetorian camp was attacked and defended with all the machines used in the siege of the best fortified cities. Tacit. Hist. iii. 84. 5. Close to the walls of the city, on the broad summit of the Quirinal and Viminal hills. Nardini Roma Antica, p. 174. Donatus de Roma Antiqua, p. 46. 6. Claudius, raised by the soldiers to the empire, was the first who gave a donative. He gave quina dena, £120 (Sueton. in Claud, c. 10): when Mar¬ cus, with his colleague Lucius Verus, took quiet possession of the throne, he gave vicena, £160 to each of the guards. Hist. August, p. 25. (Dion, 1. lxxiii. p. 1231.) We may form some idea of the amount of these sums, by Hadrian’s complaint, that the promotion of a Caesar had cost him ter mi/lies, two millions and a half sterling. 7. Cicero de Legibus, iii. 3. The first book of Livy, and the second of Dionysius of Halicarnas¬ sus, show the authority of the people, even in the election of the kings. 8. They were originally recruited in Latium, Etruria, and the old colonies (Tacit. Annal. iv. 5). The emperor Otho compliments their vanity, with the flattering titles of Italiae Alumni Romana vere juventus. Tacit. Hist. i. 84. 9. In the siege of Rome by the Gauls. See Livy, v. 48. Plutarch, in Camillus. 10. Dion, 1. lxxiii. p. 1234. Herodian, 1. ii. p. 63. Hist. August, p. 60. Though the three historians agree that it was in fact an auction, Herodian alone affirms that it was proclaimed as such by the soldiers. 11. Spartianus softens the most odius parts of the character and elevation of Julian. 12. Dion Cassius, at that time praetor, had been a personal enemy to Julian, 1. lxxiii. p. 1235. 13. Hist. August, p. 61. We learn from thence one curious circumstance, that the new emperor, whatever had been his birth, was immediately aggregated to the number of Patrician families. 14. Dion, 1. lxxiii. p. 1235. Hist. August, p. 61. I have endeavoured to blend into one consistent

story the seeming contradictions of the two writers. 15. Dion, 1. lxxiii. p. 1235. 16. The Postumian and the Cejonian; the former of whom was raised to the consulship in the fifth year after its institution. 17. Spartianus, in his undigested collections, mixes up all the virtues and all the vices that enter into the human composition, and bestows them on the same object. Such, indeed, are many of the characters in the Augustan History. 18. Hist. August, p. 80, 84. 19. Pertinax, who governed Britain a few years before, had been left for dead, in a mutiny of the soldiers. Hist. August, p. 54. Yet they loved and regretted him; admirantibus earn virtutem cui irascebantur. 20. Suetonius in. Galba, c. 10. 21. Hist. August, p. 76. 22. Herod. 1. ii. p. 68. The chronicle of John Malala, of Antioch, shows the zealous attachment of his countrymen to these festivals, which at once gratified their superstition and their love of pleasure. 23. A king of Thebes, in Egypt, is mentioned in the Augustan History, as an ally, and, indeed, as a personal friend of Niger. If Spartianus is not, as I strongly suspect, mistaken, he has brought to light a dynasty of tributary princes totally unknown to history. 24. Dion, 1. lxxiii. p. 1238. Herod. 1. ii. p. 67. A verse in every one’s mouth at that time seems to express the general opinion of the three rivals; Optimus est Niger, bonus Ajer, pessimus Albus. Hist. August, p. 75. 25. Herodian, 1. ii. p. 71. 26. See an account of that memorable war in Velleius Paterculus, ii. 110, etc., who served in the army of Tiberius. 27. Such is the reflection of Herodian, 1. ii. p. 74. Will the modern Austrians allow the influence? 28. In the letter to Albinus, already mentioned, Commodus accuses Severus, as one of the ambi¬ tious generals who censured his conduct, and wished to occupy his place. Hist. August, p. 80. 29. Pannonia was too poor to supply such a sum. It was probably promised in the camp, and paid at Rome, after the victory. In fixing the sum, I have adopted the conjecture of Casaubon. Hist. August, p. 66. Comment, p. 115. 30. Herodian, 1. ii. p. 78. Severus was declared emperor on the banks of the Danube, either at Carnuntum, according to Spartianus (Hist. Auggust. p. 65), or else at Sabaria, according to

Notes: Chapter v Victor. Mr. Hume, in supposing that the birth and dignity of Severus were too much inferior to the Imperial crown, and that he marched in Italy as general only, has not considered this transaction with his usual accuracy (Essay on the original contract). 31. Velleius Paterculus, 1. ii. c. 3. We must reckon the march from the nearest verge of Pannonia, and extend the sight of the city as far as two hundred miles. 32. This is not a puerile figure of rhetoric, but an allusion to a real fact recorded by Dion, 1. lxxi. p. 1181. It probably happened more than once. 33. Dion, 1. lxxiii. p. 1233. Herodian, 1. ii. p. 81. There is no surer proof of the military skill of the Romans, than their first surmounting the idle terror, and afterwards disdaining the dangerous use, of elephants in war. 34. Hist. August, p. 62, 63. 35. Victor and Eutropius, viii. 17, mention a combat near the Milvian bridge, the Ponte Molle, unknown to the better and more ancient writers. 36. Dion, 1. lxxiii. p. 1240. Herodian, 1. ii. p. 83. Hist. August, p. 63. 37. From these sixty-six days, we must first de¬ duct sixteen, as Pertinax was murdered on the 28th of March, and Severus most probably elected on the 13th of April (see Hist. August, p. 65, and Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 393, Note 7). We cannot allow less than ten days after his election, to put a numerous army in motion. Forty days remain for this rapid march, and as we may compute about eight hundred miles from Rome to the neighbourhood of Vienna, the army of Severus marched twenty miles every day, with¬ out halt or intermission. 38. Dion, 1. lxxiv. p. 1241. Herodian, 1. ii. p. 84. 39. Dion (1. lxxiv. p. 1244), who assisted at the ceremony as a senator, gives a most pompous de¬ scription of it. 40. Herodian, 1. iii. [c. 7] p. 112. 41. Though it is not, most assuredly, the inten¬ tion of Lucan, to exalt the character of Caesar, yet the idea he gives of that hero, in the tenth book of the Pharsalia, where he describes him, at the same time, making love to Cleopatra, sustaining a siege against the power of Egypt, and conversing with the sages of the country, is, in reality, the noblest panegyric. 42. Reckoning from his election, April 13, 193, to the death of Albinus, February 19, 197. Tillemont’s Chronology. 43. Herodian, 1. ii. [c. 13] p. 85. 44. Whilst Severus was very dangerously ill, it was industriously given out that he intended to appoint Niger and Albinus his successors. As he could not be sincere with respect to both, he might not be so with regard to either. Yet Severus earned his hypocrisy so far as to profess that in¬ tention in the memoirs of his own life. 45. Hist. August, p. 65. 46. This practice, invented by Commodus,

685

proved very useful to Severus. He found, at Rome, the children of many of the principal adherents of his rivals; and he employed them more than once to intimidate, or seduce, the parents. 47. Herodian, 1. iii. p. 96. Hist. August, p. 67,

68.

48. Hist. August, p. 84. Spartianus has inserted this curious letter at full length. 49. Consult the third book of Herodian, and the seventy-fourth book of Dion Cassius. 50. Dion, 1. lxxv. p. 1260. 51. Dion, 1. lxxv. [c. 6] p. 1261. Herodian, 1. iii. p. 11 o. Hist. August, p. 68. The battle was fought in the plain of Trevoux, three or four leagues from Lyons. Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 406, Note 18. 52. Montesquieu, Considerations sur la Gran¬ deur et la Decadence des Romains, c. xii. 53. Most of these, as may be supposed, were small open vessels; some, however, were galleys of two, and a few of three ranks of oars. 54. The engineer’s name was Priscus. His skill saved his life, and he was taken into the service of the conqueror. For the particular facts of the siege consult Dion Cassius (1. lxxv. [c. 10] p. 1251), and Herodian (1. iii. [c. 6] p. 95): for the theory of it, the fanciful chevalier de Folard may be looked into. Polybe, tom. i. p. 76. 55. Notwithstanding the authority of Sparti¬ anus and some modern Greeks, we may be assured from Dion and Herodian, that Byzantium, many years after the death of Severus, lay in ruins. 56. Dion, 1. lxxiv. p. 1250. 57. Dion (1. lxxv. p. 1264); only 29 senators are mentioned by him, but 41 are named in the Au¬ gustan History, p. 69, among whom were six of the name of Pescennius. Herodian (1. iii. p. 115) speaks in general of the cruelties of Severus. 58. Aurelius Victor. 59. Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1272. Hist. August, p. 67 [Spartian. Severus, c. 8]. Severus celebrated the secular games with extraordinary magnificence, and he left in the public granaries a provision of corn for seven years, at the rate of 75,000 modii, or about 2500 quarters per day. I am persuaded, that the granaries of Severus were supplied for a long term; but I am not less persuaded, that policy on one hand, and admiration on the other, magnified the hoard far beyond its true contents. [Hist. Aug. р. 73. Spar. Sev. c. 23.] 60. See Spanheim’s treatise of ancient medals, the inscriptions, and our learned travellers, Spon and Wheeler, Shaw, Pocock, etc., who, in Africa, Greece, and Asia, have found more monuments of Severus than of any other Roman emperor what¬ soever. 61. He carried his victorious arms to Seleucia and Ctesiphon, the capitals of the Parthian mon¬ archy. I shall have occasion to mention this war in its proper place. 62. Etiam in Britannis was his own just and em¬ phatic expression. Hist. August. 72 [Spart. Sev. с. 23].

686

Notes: Chapter vi

63. Herodian, 1. iii. p. 115. Hist. August, p. 68. 64. Upon the insolence and privileges of the soldiers, the 16th Satire, falsely ascribed to Juvenal, may be consulted; the style and circumstances of it would induce me to believe that it was composed under the reign of Severus, or that of his son. 65. Hist. August, p. 7566. Herodian, 1. iii. p. 131. 67. Dion, 1. lxxiv. p. 1243. 68. One of his most daring and wanton acts of power, was the castration of an hundred free Ro¬ mans, some of them married men, and even fathers of families; merely that his daughter, on her mar¬ riage with the young emperor, might be attended

by a train of eunuchs worthy of an eastern queen. Dion, lxxvi. p. 1271. 69. Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1274. Herodian, 1. iii. p. 122, 129. The grammarian of Alexandria seems, as it is not unusual, much better acquainted with this mysterious transaction, and more assured of the guilt of Plautianus, than the Roman senator ventures to be. 70. Appian in Proem [cap. 6], 71. Dion Cassius seems to have written with no other view, than to form these opinions into an historical system. The Pandects will show how as¬ siduously the lawyers, on their side, laboured in the cause of prerogative.

Chapter VI

6.

nian war, the son of Severus was known only by the appellation of Antoninus; and it may seem strange that the Highland bard should describe him by a nick-name, invented four years afterwards, scarce¬ ly used by the Romans till after the death of that emperor, and seldom employed by the most an¬ cient historians. Dion, 1. Ixxvii. p. 1317. Hist. August, p. 89. Aurel. Victor. Euseb. in Chron. ad ann. 214. 15. Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1282. Hist. August, p. 71. Aurel. Victor. 16. Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1283. Hist. August, p. 89. 17. Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1284. Herodian, 1. iii. p.

4. Hist. August, p. 65 [Spart. Sev. c. 3]. 5. Hist. August. [Spart. Carac. c. 10] p. 85. 6. Dion Cassius, 1. Ixxvii. [c. 18] p. 1304, 1314. 7. See a Dissertation of Menage, at the end of his edition of Diogenes Laertius, de Fceminis Philosophis. 8. Dion, 1. lxxvi. [c. 16] p. 1285. Aurelius Victor [De Caes. xx. 23]. 9. Bassianus was his first name, as it had been that of his maternal grandfather. During his reign he assumed the appellation of Antoninus, which is employed by lawyers and ancient historians. After his death, the public indignation loaded him with the nick-names of Tarantus and Caracalla. The first was borrowed from a celebrated gladi¬ ator, the second from a long Gallic gown which he distributed to the people of Rome. 10. The elevation of Caracalla is fixed by the accurate M. de Tillemont to the year 198: the association of Geta to the year 208. 11. Herodian, 1. iii. p. 130. The Lives of Cara¬ calla and Geta in the Augustan History. 12. Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1280, etc. Herodian, 1. iii. p. 132, etc. 13. Ossian’s Poems, vol. i. p. 175. 14. That the Caracul of Ossian is the Caracalla of the Roman History is, perhaps, the only point of British antiquity in which Mr. Macpherson and Mr. Whitaker are of the same opinion, and yet the opinion is not without difficulty. In the Caledo¬

•3518. Mr. Hume is justly surprised at a passage in Herodian (1. iv. p. 139), who, on this occasion, represents the Imperial palace as equal in extent to the rest of Rome. The whole region of the Pala¬ tine Mount on which it was built, occupied, at most, a circumference of eleven or twelve thou¬ sand feet (Notitia and Victor, in Nardini’s Roma Antica). But we should recollect that the opulent senators had almost surrounded the city with their extensive gardens and suburban palaces, the greatest part of which had been gradually confis¬ cated by the emperors. If Geta resided in the gar¬ dens that bore his name in the Janiculum; and if Caracalla inhabited the gardens of Maecenas on the Esquiline, the rival brothers were separated from each other by the distance of several miles; and yet the intermediate space was filled by the imperial gardens of Sallust, of Lucullus, of Agrippa, of Domitian, of Caius, etc., all skirting round the city, and all connected with each other, and with the palace, by bridges thrown over the Tiber and the streets. But this explanation of Herodian would require, though it ill deserves, a particular disser¬ tation, illustrated by a map of ancient Rome. 19. Herodian, 1. iv. p. 139. 20. Herodian, 1. iv. p. 144. 21. Caracalla consecrated, in the temple of Serapis, the sword with which, as he boasted, he had slain his brother Geta. Dion, 1. Ixxvii. p. 1307.

1. Hist. August, p. 71 [Spart. Sever, c. 18]. “Omnia fui et nihil expedit.” 2. Dion Cassius, 1. lxxvi. [c. 16] p. 1284. 3. About the year 186 M. de Tillemont is mis¬ erably embarrassed with a passage of Dion, in which the empress Faustina, who died in the year 175, is introduced as having contributed to the marriage of Severus and Julia (1. lxxiv. p. 1243). The learned compiler forgot, that Dion is relating, not a real fact, but a dream of Severus; and dreams are circumscribed to no limits of time or space. Hist, des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 389, Note

Notes: Chapter vi 22. Herodian, 1. iv. p. 147. In every Roman camp there was a small chapel near the head quar¬ ters, in which the statues of the tutelar deities were preserved and adored; and we may remark, that the eagles, and other military ensigns, were in the first rank of these deities: an excellent institution, which confirmed discipline by the sanction of re¬ ligion. Lipsius de Militia llomana, iv. 5, v. 2. 23. Herodian, 1. iv. p. 148. Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1289. 24. Geta was placed among the gods. Sit divus, dum non sit vivus, said his brother. Hist. August, p. 91. Some marks of Geta’s consecration are still found upon medals. 25. Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1301. 26. Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1290. Herodian, 1. iv. p. 150. Dion (p. 1298) says, that the comic poets no longer durst employ the name of Geta in their plays, and that the estates of those who mentioned it in their testaments, were confiscated. 27. Caracalla had assumed the names of sev¬ eral conquered nations; Pertinax observed that the name of Geticus (he had obtained some ad¬ vantage of the Goths or Geta;) would be a proper addition to Parthicus, Alemannicus, etc. Hist. August, p. 89. 28. Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1291. He was probably de¬ scended from Helvidius Priscus and Thrasea Paetus, those patriots whose firm, but useless and unseasonable, virtue has been immortalised by Tacitus. 29. It is said that Papinian was himself a re¬ lation of the empress Julia. 30. Tacit. Annal. xiv. ii. 31. Hist. August, p. 88. 32. With regard to Papinian, see Heineccius’s Historia Juris Romani, 1. 330, etc. 33. Tiberius and Domitian never moved from the neighbourhood of Rome. Nero made a short journey into Greece. “Et laudatorum Principum usus ex aequo quamvis procul agentibus. Saevi proximis ingruunt.” Tacit. Hist. iv. 75. 34. Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1294. 35. Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1307. Herodian, 1. iv. p. 158. The former represents it as a cruel massacre, the latter as a perfidious one too. It seems prob¬ able, that the Alexandrians had irritated the ty¬ rant by their railleries, and perhaps by their tumults. 36. Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1296. 37. Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1284. Mr. Wotton (Hist, of Rome, p. 330) suspects that this maxim was in¬ vented by Caracalla himself, and attributed to his father. 38. Dion (1. Ixxviii. p. 1343) informs us, that the extraordinary gifts of Caracalla to the army amounted annually to seventy millions of drach¬ mae (about two millions three hundred and fifty thousand pounds). There is another passage in Dion, concerning the military pay, infinitely curi¬ ous; were it not obscure, imperfect, and probably corrupt The best sense seems to be, that the Prae¬

687

torian guards received twelve hundred and fifty drachmae (forty pounds) a year (Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 13°7)- Under the reign of Augustus, they were paid at the rate of two drachmae, or denarii, per day, 720 a year (Tacit. Annal. i. 17). Domitian, who increased the soldiers’ pay one fourth, must have raised the Praetorians to 960 drachmae (G10novius de Pecunia Veteri, 1. iii. c. 2). These suc¬ cessive augmentations ruined the empire, for, with the soldiers’ pay, their numbers too were increased. We have seen the Praetorians alone increased from 10,000 to 50,000 men. 39. Dion, 1. Ixxviii. p. 1312. Herodian, 1. iv. p. 168. 40. The fondness of Caracalla for the name and ensigns of Alexander, is still preserved on the medals of that emperor. Spanheim, de Usu Numismatum, Dissertat. xii. Herodian (1. iv. p. 154) had seen very ridiculous pictures, in which a figure was drawn, with one side of the face like Alexander, and the other like Caracalla. 41. Herodian, 1. iv. p. 619. Hist. August, p. 94. 42. Dion, 1. lxxxviii. p. 1350. Elagabalus re¬ proached his predecessor, with daring to seat him¬ self on the throne; though, as Praetorian praefect, he could not have been admitted into the senate after the voice of the crier had cleared the house. The personal favour of Plautianus and Sejanus had broke through the established rule. They rose indeed from the equestrian order; but they pre¬ served the praefecture with the rank of senator, and even with the consulship. 43. He was a native of Caesarea, in Numidia, and began his fortune by serving in the household of Plautian, from whose ruin he narrowly escaped. His enemies asserted that he was born a slave, and had exercised, among other infamous professions, that of gladiator. The fashion of aspersing the birth and condition of an adversary, seems to have lasted from the time of the Greek orators to the learned grammarians of the last age. 44. Both Dion and Herodian speak of the vir¬ tues and vices of Macrinus, with candour and im¬ partiality; but the author of his Life, in the Au¬ gustan History, seems to have implicitly copied some of the venal writers, employed by Elagabalus, to blacken the memory of his predecessor. 45. Dion, 1. lxxxiii. p. 1336. The sense of the author is as clear as the intention of the emperor; but M. Wotton has mistaken both, by under¬ standing the distinction, not of veterans and re¬ cruits, but of old and new legions. History of Rome, p. 347. 46. Dion, 1. Ixxviii. p. 1330. The abridgment of Xiphilin, though less particular, is in this place clearer than the original. 47. According to Lampridius (Hist. August, p. 135), Alexander Severus lived twenty-nine years, three months, and seven days. As he was killed March 19, 235, he was born December 12, 205, and was consequently about this time thirteen years old, as his elder cousin might be about sev-

688

Notes: Chapter vi

enteen. This computation suits much better the history of the young princes, than that of Hcrodian (1. v. p. 181), who represents them as three years younger; whilst, by an opposite error of chronol¬ ogy, he lengthens the reign of Elagabalus two years beyond its real duration. For the particulars of the conspiracy, see Dion, 1. lxxviii. p. 1339Herodian, 1. v. p. 184. 48. By a most dangerous proclamation of the pretended Antoninus, every soldier who brought in his officer’s head, became entitled to his private estate, as well as to his military commission. 49. Dion, 1. lxxviii. p. 1345. Herodian, 1. v. p. 186. The battle was fought near the village of Immae, about two and twenty miles from Antioch. 50. Dion, 1. lxxix. [c. 4] p. 1353. 51. Dion, 1. lxxix. [c. 14] p. 1363. Herodian, 1. v. [c. 5] p. 189. 52. This name is derived by the learned from two Syriac words, Ela a God, and Gabal, to form, the forming or plastic God, a proper, and even happy epithet for the Sun. Wotton’s History of Rome, p. 378. 53. Herodian, 1. v. [c. 5] p. 190. 54. He broke into the sanctuary of Vesta, and carried away a statue, which he supposed to be the Palladium; but the vestals boasted, that, by a pious fraud, they had imposed a counterfeit image on the profane intruder. Hist. August, p. 103. 55. Dion, 1. lxxix. [c. 12] p. 1360. Plerodian, 1. v. [c. 6] p. 193. The subjects of the empire were obliged to make liberal presents to the new-married couple; and whatever they had promised during the life of Elagabalus, was carefully exacted under the administration of Mamaea. 56. The invention of a new sauce was liberally rewarded; but, if it was not relished, the inventor was confined to eat of nothing else, till he had dis¬ covered another more agreeable to the Imperial palate. Hist. August. [Lamprid. Heliog. c. 29], р. hi.

57. He never would eat sea-fish except at a great distance from the sea; he then would dis¬ tribute vast quantities of the rarest sorts, brought at an immense expense, to the peasants of the inland country. Hist. Aug. [Lamprid. Heliog. с. 23], p. 109. 58. Dion, 1. lxxix. p. 1358. Plerodian, 1. v. p. 192. 59. Hierocles enjoyed that honour. Dion, 1. lxxix. p. 1363, 1364. A dancer was made praefect of the city, a charioteer praefect of the watch, a barber praefect of the provisions. Hist. August, p. 105. 60. Even the credulous compiler of his Life, in the Augustan History (p. in), is inclined to sus¬ pect that his vices may have been exaggerated. 61. Dion, 1. lxxix. p. 1365. Herodian, 1. v. p. 195-201. Hist. August, p. 105. The last of the three historians seems to have followed the best authors in his account of the revolution. 62. The era of the death of Elagabalus, and of

the accession of Alexander, has employed the learning and ingenuity of Pagi, Tillemont, Valsecchi, Vignoli, and Torre bishop of Adria. The question is most assuredly intricate; but I still ad¬ here to the authority of Dion; the truth of whose calculations is undeniable, and the purity of whose text is justified by the agreement of Xiphilin, Zonaras, and Gedrenus. Elagabalus reigned three years, nine months, and four days, from his victory over Macrinus, and was killed March 10, 222. But what shall we reply to the medals, undoubtedly genuine, which reckon the fifth year of his tribunitian power? We shall reply, with the learned Valsecchi, that the usurpation of Macrinus was annihilated, and that the son of Caracalla dated his reign from his father’s death. After resolving this great difficulty, the smaller knots of this ques¬ tion may be easily untied, or cut asunder. 63. Hist. August, p. 114. By this unusual pre¬ cipitation, the senate meant to confound the hopes of pretenders, and prevent the factions of the armies. 64. Metellus Numidicus, the censor, acknowl¬ edged to the Roman people in a public oration that had kind Nature allowed us to exist without the help of women, we should be delivered from a very troublesome companion; and he could rec¬ ommend matrimony, only as the sacrifice of pri¬ vate pleasure to public duty. Aulus Gellius, i. 6. 65. Tacit. Annal. xiii. 5. 66. Hist. August, p. 102, 107 [Lamprid. Heliog. c. 4 and 18]. 67. Dion, 1. lxxx. [c. 2] p. 1369. Herodian, 1. vi. [c. 1] p. 206. Hist. August. [Lamprid. Alexander Sev. c. 49] p. 131. Herodian represents the Pa¬ trician as innocent. The Augustan History, on the authority of Dexippus, condemns him, as guilty of a conspiracy against the life of Alexander. It is impossible to pronounce between them: but Dion is an irreproachable witness of the jealousy and cruelty of Mamaea toward the young empress, whose hard fate Alexander lamented, but durst not oppose. 68. Herodian, 1. vi. p. 203. Hist. August, p. 119. The latter insinuates, that when any law was to be passed, the council was assisted by a number of able lawyers and experienced senators, whose opinions were separately given and taken down in writing. 69. See his Life in the Augustan History. The undistinguishing compiler has buried these inter¬ esting anecdotes under a load of trivial and un¬ meaning circumstances. 70. See the 13th Satire of Juvenal. 71. Hist. August, p. 119. 72. See in the Hist. August, p. 116, 117, the whole contest between Alexander and the senate, extracted from the journals of that assembly. It happened on the sixth of March, probably of the year 223, when the Romans had enjoyed, almost a twelvemonth, the blessings of his reign. Before the appellation of Antoninus was offered him as a

Notes: Chapter vi title of honour, the senate waited to see whether Alexander would not assume it, as a family name. 73. It was a favourite saying of the emperor’s, Se milites magis servare quam seipsum; quod salus publica in his esset. Hist. August, p. 130. 74. Though the author of the Life of Alexander (Hist. August, p. 132) mentions the sedition raised against Ulpian by the soldiers, he conceals the catastrophe, as it might discover a weakness in the administration of his hero. From this designed omission, we may judge of the weight and candour of that author. 75. For an account of Ulpian’s fate and his own danger, see the mutilated conclusion of Dion’s History, 1. lxxx, p. 1371. 76. Annot. Reimar. ad Dion Cassius, 1. lxxx. p. 1369. 77. Julius Caesar had appeased a sedition with the same word Quirites; which thus opposed to Soldiers, was used in a sense of contempt, and re¬ duced the offenders to the less honourable con¬ dition of mere citizens. Tacit. Annal. i. 42. 78. Hist. August, p. 132. 79. From the Metelli. Hist. August. [Lamprid. Alexander Sev. c. 44] p. 119. The choice was ju¬ dicious. In one short period of twelve years, the Metelli could reckon seven consulships and five triumphs. Velleius Paterculus, ii. 11, and the Fasti. 80. The Life of Alexander, in the Augustan His¬ tory, is the mere idea of a perfect prince, an awk¬ ward imitation of the Cyropaedia. The account of his reign, as given by Herodian, is rational and moderate, consistent with the general history of the age; and, in some of the most invidious par¬ ticulars, confirmed by the decisive fragments of Dion. Yet from a very paltry prejudice, the greater number of our modern writers abuse Herodian, and copy the Augustan History. Mess, de Tillemont and Wotton. From the opposite prejudice, the emperor Julian (in Caesarib. p. 315) dwells with a visible satisfaction on the effeminate weakness of the Syrian, and the ridiculous avarice of his mother. 81. According to the more accurate Dionysius, the city itself was only an hundred stadia, or twelve miles and a half, from Rome; though some outposts might be advanced farther on the side of Etruria. Nardini, in a professed treatise, has com¬ bated the popular opinion and the authority of two popes, and has removed Veii from Civita Castellana, to a little spot called Isola, in the midway between Rome and the lake Bracciano. 82. Cf. Livy, b. iv. c. 59 and b. v. c. 7. In the Roman Census, property, power, and taxation, were commensurate with each other. 83. Plin. Hist. Natur. 1. xxxiii. c. 3. Cicero de Olhc. ii. 22. Plutarch in ^.rnilius Paulus. 84. See a fine description of this accumulated wealth of ages, in Lucan’s Phars. 1. iii. v. 155. 85. Tacit, in Annal. i. 11. It seems to have ex¬ isted in the time of Appian.

689

86. Plutarch, in Pompey. 87. Strabo, 1. xvii. p. 798. 88. Velleius Paterculus, 1. ii. c. 39. He seems to give the preference to the revenue of Gaul. 89. The Euboic, the Phoenician, and the Alex¬ andrian talents were double in weight to the Attic. Hooper on ancient weights and measures, p. iv. c. 5. It is very probable, that the same talent was carried from Tyre to Carthage. 90. Polyb. 1. xv. c. 2. 91. Diodorus Siculus, 1. v. Cadiz was built by the Phoenicians a little more than a thousand years before Christ. Veil. Paterc. i. 2. 92. Appian in Punicis, p. 84. 93. Strabo, 1. iii. p. 148. 94. Plin. Hist. Natur. 1. xxxiii. c. 3. He mentions likewise a silver mine in Dalmatia, that yielded every day fifty pounds to the state. 95. Strabo, 1. x. p. 485. Tacit. Annal. iii. 69 and iv. 30. Tournefort (Voyages au Levant, Lettre viii.) gives a very lively picture of the actual misery of Gyarus. 96. Lipsius de magnitudine Romana (1. ii. c. 3) computes the revenue at one hundred and fifty millions of gold crowns; but his whole book, though learned and ingenious, betrays a very heated imagination. g7. Tacit. Annal. xiii. 31. 98. Pliny (Hist. Natur. 1. vi. c. 28 [s. 32]; 1. xii. c. 18). His observation, that the Indian commod¬ ities were sold at Rome at a hundred times their original price, may give us some notion of the prod¬ uce of the customs, since that original price amounted to more than eight hundred thousand pounds. 99. The ancients were unacquainted with the art of cutting diamonds. 100. M. Bouchaud, in his treatise de I’lmpot chez les Romains, has transcribed this catalogue from the Digest, and attempts to illustrate it by a very prolix commentary. 101. Tacit. Annal. i. 78. Two years afterwards, the reduction of the poor kingdom of Cappadocia gave Tiberius a pretence for diminishing the ex¬ cise to one half; but the relief was of very short duration. 102. Dion Cassius, 1. Iv. p. 794, 1. lvi. p. 825. 103. The sum is only fixed by conjecture. 104. As the Roman law subsisted for many ages, the Cognati, or relations on the mother’s side, were not called to the succession. This harsh institution was gradually undermined by humanity, and fi¬ nally abolished by Justinian. 105. Plin. Panegyric, c. 37. 106. Heineccius in the Antiquit. Juris Romani, 1. ii. 107. Horat. 1. ii. Sat. v. Petron. c. 116, etc. Plin. 1. ii. Epist. 20. 108. Cicero in Philipp, ii. c. 16. 109. See his Epistles. Every such will gave him an occasion of displaying his reverence to the dead, and his justice to the living. He reconciled both in

690

Notes: Chapter vn

his behaviour to a son who had been disinherited by his mother (v. 1). 110. Tacit. Annal. xiii. 50. The Spirit of Laws, xiii. 19111. Pliny’s Panegyric, the Augustan History, and Burman de Vectigal, passim. 112. The tributes (properly so called) were not farmed; since the good princes often remitted many millions of arrears. 113. The situation of the new citizens is minute¬ ly described by Pliny (Panegyric, c. 37, 38, 39).

Trajan published a law very much in their favour. 114. Dion, 1. lxxvii. p. 1295. 115. He who paid ten aurei, the usual tribute, was charged with no more than the third part of an aureus, and proportional pieces of gold were coined by Alexander’s order. Hist. August, p. 127, with the commentary of Salmasius. 116. See the Lives of Agricola, Vespasian, Trajan, Severus, and his three competitors; and indeed of all the eminent men of those times.

Chapter VII 1. There had been no example of three succes¬ sive generations on the throne; only three instances of sons who succeeded their fathers. The marriages of the Caesars (notwithstanding the permission, and the frequent practice, of divorces) were gener¬ ally unfruitful. 2. Hist. August, p. 138 [Capitol. Max. c. 1 seqq.]. 3. Hist. August, p. 140. Herodian, 1. vi. p. 223. Aurelius Victor. By comparing these authors, it should seem, that Maximin had the particular command of the Triballian horse, with the gen¬ eral commission of disciplining the recruits of the whole army. His biographer ought to have marked, with more care, his exploits, and the successive steps of his military promotions. 4. Original letter of Alexander Severus, Hist. August, p. 149. 5. Hist. August, p. 135. I have softened some of the most improbable circumstances of this wretched biographer. From this ill-worded narration, it should seem, that the prince’s buffoon having accidentally entered the tent, and awakened the slumbering monarch, the fear of punishment urged him to persuade the disaffected soldiers to commit the murder. 6. Herodian, 1. vi. p. 223-227. 7. Caligula, the eldest of the four, was only twenty-five years of age when he ascended the throne; Caracalla was twenty-three, Commodus nineteen, and Nero no more than seventeen. 8. It appears that he was totally ignorant of the Greek language: which, from its universal use in conversation and letters, was an essential part of every liberal education. g. Hist. August, p. 141. Herodian, 1. vii. p. 237. The latter of these historians has been most un¬ justly censured for sparing the vices of Maximin. 10. The wife of Maximin, by insinuating wise counsels with female gentleness, sometimes brought back the tyrant to the way of truth and humanity. See Ammianus Marcellinus, 1. xiv. c. 1, where he alludes to the fact which he had more fully related under the reign of the Gordians. We may collect from the medals, that Paullina was the name of this benevolent empress; and from the title of Diva,

that she died before Maximin. (Valesius ad loc. cit. Ammian.) Spanheim de U. et P. N. tom. ii. p. 300. 11. He was compared to Spartacus and Athenio. Hist. August, p. 141. 12. Herodian, 1. vii. [c. 3 and 4] p. 238. Zosim. 1. i. [c. 13 and 18] p. 15. 13. In the fertile territory of Byzacium, one hun¬ dred and fifty miles to the south of Carthage. This city was decorated, probably by the Gordians, with the title of colony, and with a fine amphi¬ theatre, which is still in a very perfect state. See Itinerar. Wesseling, p. 59, and Shaw’s Travels, p. 117. 14. Herodian, 1. vii. [c. 4 and 5] p. 239. Hist. August, p. 153 [Capitol. Gordiani, c. 7 seq.\. 15. Hist. August, p. 152. The celebrated house of Pompey in carinis, was usurped by Marc An¬ tony, and consequently became, after the Trium¬ vir’s death, a part of the Imperial domain. The emperor Trajan allowed and even encouraged the rich senators to purchase those magnificent and useless places (Plin. Panegyric, c. 50): and it may seem probable that, on this occasion, Pompey’s house came into the possession of Gordian’s great¬ grandfather. 16. The Claudian, the Numidian, the Carystian, and the Synnadian. The colours of Roman marbles have been faintly described and imper¬ fectly distinguished. It appears, however, that the Carystian was a sea-green, and that the marble of Synnada was white mixed with oval spots of pur¬ ple. Salmasius ad Hist. August, p. 164. 17. Hist. August, p. 151, 152. He sometimes gave five hundred pair of gladiators, never less than one hundred and fifty. He once gave for the use of the circus one hundred Sicilian, and as many Cappadocian horses. The animals designed for hunting were chiefly bears, boars, bulls, stags, elks, wild asses, etc. Elephants and lions seem to have been appropriated to Imperial magnificence. 18. See the original letter, in the Augustan His¬ tory, p. 152, which at once shows Alexander’s re¬ spect for the authority of the senate, and his esteem for the proconsul appointed by that assembly.

Notes: Chapter vh

691

19- By each of his concubines, the younger Gor¬

32. The carelessness of the writers of that age

dian left three or four children. His literary pro¬

leaves us in a singular perplexity. 1. We know that

ductions were by no means contemptible.

Maximus and Balbinus were killed during the

20. Herodian, 1. vii. p. 243. Hist. August, p. 144.

Capitoline games. Herodian, 1. viii. p. 285. The

21. Quod tamen patres dum periculosum existi-

authority of Censorinus (de Die Natali, c. 18) en¬

mant inermes armato resistere, approbaverunt. Aurelius Victor.

year 238, but leaves us in ignorance of the month

22. Even the servants of the house, the scribes,

or day. 2. The election of Gordian by the senate is

etc., were excluded, and their office was filled by

fixed, with equal certainty, to the 27th of May;

ables us to fix those games with certainty to the

the senators themselves. We are obliged to the Au¬

but we are at a loss to discover whether it was in

gustan History, p. 159, for preserving this curious

the same or the preceding year. Tillemont and

example of the old discipline of the commonwealth.

Muratori, who maintain the two opposite opin¬

23. This spirited speech, translated from the

ions, bring into the field a desultory troop of au¬

Augustan historian, p. 156, seems transcribed by

thorities, conjectures, and probabilities. The one

him from the original registers of the senate.

seems to draw out, the other to contract, the series

24. Herodian, 1. vii. p. 224. 25. Herodian, 1. vii. p. 247, 1. viii. p. 277. Hist. August, p. 156-158.

of events between those periods, more than can be well reconciled to reason and history. Yet it is necessary to choose between them.

26. Herodian, 1. vii. p. 254. Hist. August, p.

33. Velleius Paterculus, 1. ii. c. 24. The presi¬

150-160. We may observe, that one month and

dent de Montesquieu (in his dialogue between

six days, for the reign of Gordian, is a just correc¬

Sulla and Eucrates) expresses the sentiments of

tion of Casaubon and Panvinius, instead of the

the dictator, in a spirited and even a sublime

absurd reading of one year and six months. Com-

manner.

mentar. p. 193. Zosimus relates, 1. i. p. 1 7, that the

34. Muratori (Annali d’ltalia, tom. ii. p. 294)

two Gordians perished by a tempest in the midst

thinks the melting of the snows suits better with

of their navigation. A strange ignorance of his¬

the months of June or July, than with that of Feb¬

tory, or a strange abuse of metaphors!

ruary. The opinion of a man who passed his life

27. Augustan History, p. 166, from the registers

between the Alps and the Apennines, is undoubt¬

of the senate; the date is confessedly faulty, but the

edly of great weight; yet I observe, 1. That the

coincidence of the Apollinarian games enables us

long winter, of which Muratori takes advantage, is

to correct it.

to be found only in the Latin version, and not in

28. He was descended from Cornelius Balbus, a

the Greek text of Herodian. 2. That the vicissitude

noble Spaniard, and the adopted son of Theoph-

of suns and rains, to which the soldiers of Maxi¬

anes the Greek historian. Balbus obtained the

min were exposed (Herodian, 1. viii. p. 277) denotes

freedom of Rome by the favour of Pompey, and

the spring rather than the summer.

preserved it by the eloquence of Cicero (see Orat.

serve likewise, that these several streams, as they

We may ob¬

pro Cornel. Balbo). The friendship of Caesar (to

melted into one, composed the Timavus, so poeti¬

whom he rendered the most important secret ser¬

cally (in every sense of the word) described

vices in the civil war) raised him to the consulship

Virgil. They are about twelve miles to the east of

and the pontificate, honours never yet possessed

Aquileia. See Cluver. Italia Antiqua, tom. i. p.

by a stranger. The nephew of this Balbus triumphed

189, etc.

by

over the Garamantes. See Dictionnaire de Bayle,

35. Herodian, 1. viii. p. 272. The Celtic deity was

au mot Balbus,where he distinguishes the several

supposed to be Apollo, and received under that

persons of that name, and rectifies, with his usual

name the thanks of the senate. A temple was like¬

accuracy, the mistakes of former writers concern¬

wise built to Venus the bald, in honour of the

ing them.

women of Aquileia, who had given up their hair

29. Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 622. But little dependence

to make ropes for the military engines.

is to be had on the authority of a moderate Greek,

36. Herodian, 1. viii. p. 279. Hist. August, p.

so grossly ignorant of the history of the third cen¬

146. The duration of Maximin’s reign has not

tury, that he creates several imaginary emperors,

been defined with much accuracy, except by Eu-

and confounds those who really existed.

tropius, who allows him three years and a few

30. Herodian, 1. vii. p. 256, supposes that the

days (1. ix. 1); we may depend on the integrity of

senate was at first convoked in the Capitol, and is

the text, as the Latin original is checked by the

very eloquent on the occasion. The Augustan His¬

Greek version of Paeanius.

tory, p. 116, seems much more authentic.

37. Eight Roman feet and one third, which are

31. In Herodian, 1. vii. p. 249, and in the Au¬

equal to above eight English feet, as the two meas¬

gustan History, we have three several orations of

ures are to each other in the proportion of 967 to

Maximin to his army, on the rebellion of Africa

1000. See Graves’s discourse on the Roman foot.

and Rome: M. de Tillemont has very justly ob¬

We are told that Maximin could drink in a day an

served, that they neither agree with each other,

amphora (or about seven gallons of wine), and eat

nor with truth. Histoire des Empereurs, tom. iii.

thirty or forty pounds of meat. He could move a

P- 799-

loaded waggon, break a horse’s leg with his fist.

6q2

Notes: Chapter vm

crumble stones in his hand, and tear up small trees by the roots. See his Life in the Augustan History. 38. See the congratulatory letter of Claudius Julianus the consul, to the two emperors, in the Augustan History. 39. Hist. August, p. 171 [Capitol, c. 15]. 40. Herodian, 1. viii. [c. 12] p. 258. 41. Herodian, 1. viii. [c. 7] p. 213. 42. The observation had been made impru¬ dently enough in the acclamations of the senate, and with regard to the soldiers it carried the ap¬ pearance of a wanton insult. Hist. August p. 170. 43. Discordiae tacitae, et quae intelligerentur potius quam viderentur. Hist. August, p. 1 70. This well-chosen expression is probably stolen from some better writer. 44. Herodian, 1. viii. p. 287, 288. 45. Quia non alius erat in praesenti, is the ex¬ pression of the Augustan History. 46. Quintus Curtius (1. x. c. 9) pays an elegant compliment to the emperor of the day, for having, by his happy accession, extinguished so many fire¬ brands, sheathed so many swords, and put an end to the evils of a divided government. After weigh¬ ing with attention every word of the passage, I am of opinion that it suits better with the elevation of Gordian, than with any other period of the Ro¬ man history. In that case, it may serve to decide the age of Quintus Curtius. Those who place him under the first Caesars, argue from the purity of his style, but are embarrassed by the silence of Quintilian, in his accurate list of Roman historians. 47. Hist. August, p. 161. From some hints in the two letters, I should expect that the eunuchs were not expelled the palace without some degree of gentle violence, and that young Gordian rather approved of, than consented to, their disgrace. 48. Duxit uxorem filiam Misithei, quern causa eloquentiae dignum parentela sua putavit; et praefectum statim fecit; post quod, non puerile jam et contemptibile videbatur imperium. 49. Hist. August, p. 162. Aurelius Victor. Porphyrius in Vit. Plotin. ap. Fabricium Biblioth. Graec. 1. iv. c. 36. The philosopher Plotinus accom¬ panied the army, prompted by the love of knowl¬ edge, and by the hope of penetrating as far as India. 50. About twenty miles from the little town of Circesium, on the frontier of the two empires. 51. The inscription (which contained a very sin¬ gular pun) was erased by the order of Licinius,

who claimed some degree of relationship to Philip (Hist. August, p. 165); but the tumulus or mound of earth which formed the sepulchre, still subsisted in the time of Julian. Ammian. Marcellin. xxiii. 5. 52. Aurelius Victor. Eutrop. ix. 2. Orosius, vii. 20. Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 5. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 19. Philip, who was a native of Bostra, was about forty years of age. 53. Can the epithet of Aristocracy be applied with any propriety, to the government of Algiers? Every military government floats between the ex¬ tremes of absolute monarchy and wild democracy. 54. The military republic of the Mamalukes in Egypt, would have afforded M. de Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur et la Decadence des Romains, c. 16) a juster and more noble parallel. 55. The Augustan History (p. 163, 164) cannot, in this instance, be reconciled with itself or with probability. How could Philip condemn his prede¬ cessor, and yet consecrate his memory? How could he order his public execution, and yet, in his let¬ ters to the senate, exculpate himself from the guilt of his death? Philip, though an ambitious usurper, was by no means a mad tyrant. Some chronologi¬ cal difficulties have likewise been discovered by the nice eyes of Tillemont and Muratori, in this supposed association of Philip to the empire. 56. The account of the last supposed celebra¬ tion, though in an enlightened period of history, was so very doubtful and obscure, that the alterna¬ tive seems not doubtful. When the popish jubilees, the copy of the secular games, were invented by Boniface VIII., the crafty pope pretended that he only revived an ancient institution. M. de Chais Lettres sur les Jubiles. 57. Either of a hundred, or a hundred and ten years. Varro and Livy adopted the former opinion, but the infallible authority of the Sibyl conse¬ crated the latter (Gensorinus de Die Natal, c. 17). The emperors Claudius and Philip, however, did not treat the oracle with implicit respect. 58. The idea of the secular games is best under¬ stood from the poem of Horace, and the descrip¬ tion of Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 167, etc. 59. The received calculation of Varro assigns to the foundation of Rome an era that corresponds with the 754th year before Christ. But so little is the chronology of Rome to be depended on, in the more early ages, that Sir Isaac Newton has brought the same event as low as the year 627.

Chapter VIII 1. An ancient chronologist quoted by Velleius Paterculus (1. i. c. 6) observes, that the Assyrians, the Medes, the Persians, and the Macedonians, reigned over Asia one thousand nine hundred and ninety-five years, from the accession of Ninus to the defeat of Antiochus by the Romans. As the lat¬

ter of these great events happened 289 years before Christ, the former may be placed 2184 years be¬ fore the same era. The Astronomical Observations, found at Babylon by Alexander, went fifty years higher. 2. In the five hundred and thirty-eighth year of

Notes: Chapter vm the era of Seleucus. Agathias, 1. ii. p. 63. This great event (such is the carelessness of the Orientals) is placed by Eutychius as high as the tenth year of Commodus, and by Moses of Chorene as low as the reign of Philip. Ammianus Marcellinus has so servilely copied (xxiii. 6) his ancient materials, which are indeed very good, that he describes the family of the Arsacides as still seated on the Per¬ sian throne in the middle of the fourth century. 3. The tanner’s name was Babec; the soldier’s, Sassan: from the former Artaxerxes obtained the surname of Babegan: from the latter all his de¬ scendants have been styled Sassanides. 4. D’Herbelot. Bibliotheque Orientale. Ardshir. 5. Dion Cassius, 1. Ixxx. Herodian, 1. vi. p. 207. Abulpharagius Dynast, p. 80. 6. Moses Chorenensis, 1. ii. c. 65-71. 7. Hyde and Prideaux, working up the Persian legends and their own conjectures into a very agreeable story, represent Zoroaster as a contem¬ porary of Darius Hystaspes. But it is sufficient to observe, that the Greek writers, who lived almost in the age of Darius, agree in placing the era of Zoro¬ aster many hundred, or even thousand, years be¬ fore their own time. The judicious criticism of Mr. Moyle perceived, and maintained against his un¬ cle Dr. Prideaux, the antiquity of the Persian prophet. See his work, vol. ii. 8. That ancient idiom was called the £end. The language of the commentary, the Pehlvi, though much more modern, has ceased many ages ago to be a living tongue. This fact alone (if it is allowed as authentic) sufficiently warrants the antiquity of those writings, which M. d’Anquetil has brought into Europe, and translated into French. 9. Hyde de Religione veterum Pers. c. 21. 1 o. I have principally drawn this account from the Zendavesta of M. d’Anquetil, and the Sadder, subjoined to Dr. Hyde’s treatise. It must, however, be confessed, that the studied obscurity of a proph¬ et, the figurative style of the East, and the deceitful medium of a French or Latin version, may have betrayed us into error and heresy in this abridg¬ ment of Persian theology. 11. The modern Parsees (and in some degree the Sadder) exalt Ormusd into the first and omni¬ potent cause, whilst they degrade Ahriman into an inferior but rebellious spirit. Their desire of pleas¬ ing the Mahometans may have contributed to re¬ fine their theological system. 12. Herodotus, 1. i. c. 131. But Dr. Prideaux thinks, with reason, that the use of temples was afterwards permitted in the Magian religion. 13. Hyde de Relig. Pers. c. 8. Notwithstanding all their distinctions and protestations, which seem sincere enough, their tyrants, the Mahometans, have constantly stigmatised them as idolatrous worshippers of the Fire. 14. See the Sadder, the smallest part of which consists of moral precepts. The ceremonies enjoin¬ ed are infinite and trifling. Fifteen genuflexions, prayers, etc., were required whenever the devout

693

Persian cut his nails or made water; or as often as he put on the sacred girdle. Sadder, Art. 14, 50, 60. 15. Zendavesta, tom. i. p. 224, and Precis du Systeme de Zoroastre, tom. iii. 16. Hyde de Religione Persarum, c. 19. 17. Hyde de Religione Persarum, c. 28. Both Hyde and Prideaux affect to apply to the Magian the terms consecrated to the Christian hierarchy. 18. Ammian. Marcellin. xxiii. 6. He informs us (as far as we may credit him) of two curious par¬ ticulars; 1, that the Magi derived some of their most secret doctrines from the Indian Brachmans; and 2, that they were a tribe or family, as well as order. 19. The divine institution of tithes exhibits a sin¬ gular instance of conformity between the law of Zoroaster and that of Moses. Those who cannot otherwise account for it, may suppose, if they please, that the Magi of the latter times inserted so useful an interpolation into the writings of their prophet. 20. Sadder, Art. 8. 21. Plato in Alcibiad. 22. Pliny (Hist. Natur. 1. xxx. c. 1) observes, that magic held mankind by the triple chain of religion, of physic, and of astronomy. 23. Agathias, 1. iv. p. 134. 24. Mr. Hume, in the Natural History of Re¬ ligion, remarks that the most refined and philo¬ sophic sects are the most intolerant. 25. Cicero de Legibus, ii. 10. Xerxes, by the ad¬ vice of the Magi, destroyed the temples of Greece. 26. Hyde de Rel. Persar. c. 23, 24. D’Herbelot Bibliotheque Orientale ^ordusht. Life of Zoroaster in tom. ii. of the Zendavesta. 27. Compare Moses of Chorene, 1. ii. c. 74 with Ammian. Marcellin. xxiii. 6. Hereafter I shall make use of these passages. 28. Rabbi Abraham in the Tarikh Schickard, p. 108, 109. 29. Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, 1. viii. c. 3. Sozomen, 1. ii. c. 1. Manes, who suffered an ignomini¬ ous death, may be deemed a Magian as well as a Christian heretic. 30. Hyde de Religione Persar. c. 21. 31. These colonies were extremely numerous. Seleucus Nicator founded thirty-nine cities, all named from himself, or some of his relations (Appian in Syriac, p. 124). The aera of Seleucus (still in use among the Eastern Christians) appears as late as the year 508, of Christ 196, on the medals of the Greek cities within the Parthian empire. Moyle, vol. i. p. 273, etc., and M. Freret, Mem. de 1’Aca¬ demic, tom. xix. 32. The modern Persians distinguish that period as the dynasty of the kings of the nations. Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 25. 33. Eutychius (tom. i. p. 367, 371, 375) relates the siege of the island of Mesene in the Tigris, with some circumstances not unlike the story of Nisus and Scylla.

694

Notes: Chapter vm

34. Agathias, ii. 164. The princes of Segestan

45. Dion, 1. Ixxv. p. 1248, 1249, 1250. M. Bayer

defended their independence during many years.

has neglected to use this most important passage.

As romances generally transport to an ancient

46. This kingdom, from Osrhoes, who gave a

period the events of their own time, it is not impos¬

new name to the country, to the last Abgarus, had

sible that the fabulous exploits of Rustan prince of

lasted 353 years. See the learned work of M. Bayer,

Segestan may have been grafted on this real his¬

Historia Osrhoena et Edessena.

tory. 35. We can scarcely attribute to the Persian

47. Xenophon, in the preface of the Cyropaedia, gives a clear and magnificent idea of the extent of

monarchy the sea-coast of Gedrosia or Macran,

the empire of Cyrus. Herodotus (1. iii. c. 7-9, etc.)

which extends along the Indian Ocean from Cape

enters into a curious and particular description of

Jast (the promontory of Capella) to Cape Goadel.

the twenty great Satrapies into which the Persian

In the time of Alexander, and probably many ages

empire was divided by Darius Hystaspes.

afterwards, it was thinly inhabited by a savage

48. Herodian, vi. 209, 212.

people pf Icthyophagi, or Fishermen, who knew

49. There were two hundred scythed chariots

no arts, who acknowledged no master, and who

at the battle of Arbela, in the host of Darius. In the

were divided by inhospitable deserts from the rest

vast army of Tigranes, which was vanquished by

of the world. (Arrian de Reb. Indicis.) In the

Lucullus, seventeen thousand

twelfth century, the little town of Taiz (supposed

completely armed. Antiochus brought fifty-four

horse

only were

by jM. d’Anville to be the Tesa of Ptolemy) was

elephants into the field against the Romans: by his

peopled and enriched by the resort of the Arabian

frequent wars and negotiations with the princes of

merchants. (Geographic Nubiens, p. 58; d’Anville

India, he had once collected an hundred and fifty

Geographic Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 283.) In the last

of those great animals; but it may be questioned

age the whole country was divided between three

whether the most powerful monarch of Hindostan

princes, one Mahometan and two Idolaters, who

ever formed a line of battle of seven hundred ele¬

maintained their independence against the suc¬

phants. Instead of three or four thousand ele¬

cessors of Shaw Abbas. (Voyages de Tavernier, part. i. 1. v. p. 635.)

possess, Tavernier (Voyages, part ii. 1. i. p. 198)

36. Chardin, tom. iji. c. j, 2, 3.

phants, which the Great Mogul was supposed to discovered, by a more accurate inquiry, that he

37. Dion, 1. xxviii. p. 1335.

had only five hundred for his baggage, and eighty

38. For the precise situation of Babylon, Seleu-

or ninety for the service of war. The Greeks have

cia, Ctesiphon, Modain, and Bagdad, cities often

varied with regard to the number which Porus

confounded with each other, see an excellent Geo¬

brought into the field: but Quintus Curtius (viii.

graphical Tract of M. d’Anville, in Mem. de

13), in this instance judicious and moderate, is

1’Academie, tom. xxx. 30. Tacit. Annal. xi. 42. Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 26. 40. This may be inferred from Strabo, 1. xvi.

contented with eighty-five elephants, distinguished

P- 74341. That most curious traveller Bernier, who

by their size and strength. In Siam, where these animals are the most numerous and the most es¬ teemed, eighteen elephants are allowed as a suffi¬ cient proportion for each of the nine brigades into

followed the camp of Aurengzebe from Delhi to

which a just army is divided. The whole number,

Cashfnir, describes with great accuracy the im¬

of one hundred and sixty-two elephants of war,

mense moving city. The guard of cavalry con¬

may sometimes be doubled. Hist, des Voyages, tom. ix. p. 260.

sisted of 35,000 men, that of infantry of t 0,000. It was computed that the camp contained 150,000

50. Hist. August, p. 133.

horses, mules, and elephants; 50,000 camels, 50,-

51. M. de Tillemont has already observed, that

000 oxen, and between 300,000 and 400,000 per¬ sons. Almost all Delhi followed the court, whose magnificence supported its industry. 42. Dion, 1. lxxi. [c. 2] p. 1178. Hist. August.

Herodian’s geography is somewhat confused. 52. Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armen. 1. ii. c. 71) illustrates this invasion of Media, by asserting that Chosroes, king of Armenia, defeated Artaxerxes

[Capit, Verro], p. 38. Eutrop. viii. 10. Euseb. in

and pursued him to the confines of India. The ex¬

Chronic. Quadratus (quoted in the Augustan His¬

ploits of Chosroes have been magnified; and he

tory) attempted to vindicate the Romans, by al¬

acted as a dependent ally to the Romans.

leging that the citizens of Seleucia had first violated their faith.

vi. [cap. 5], p. 2og, 212. The old abbreviators and

43. Dion, 1. Ixxv. p. 1263. Herodian, 1. iii. p. 120. Hist. August. [Spart. Sever, c. 16], p. 70.

53. For the account of this war, see Herodian, 1. modern compilers Augustan History.

have

blindly

followed

the

44. The polished citizens of Antioch called those

54. Eutychius, tom. ii. p. 180, vers. Pocock. The

of Edessa mixed barbarians. It was, however, some

great Chosroes Noushirwan sent the Code of Arta¬

praise, that of the three dialects of the Syriac, the

xerxes to all his satraps, as the invariable rule of their conduct.

purest and most elegant (the Aramaean) was spok¬ en at JEdessa. This remark of M. Bayer (Hist.

55. D’Herfielot Bibliotheque Orientale, au mot

Edess. p. 5) has borrowed from George of Malatia, a Syrian writer.

Ardshir. We may observe, that after an ancient period of fables, and a long interval of darkness,

Notes: Chapter ix the modern histories of Persia begin to assume an air of truth with the dynasty of the Sassanides. 56. Herodian, 1. vi. p. 214. Ammianus Marcel-

695

57. The Persians are still the most skilful horse¬ men, and their horses the finest, in the East. 58. From

Herodotus,

Xenophon,

Herodian,

linus, 1. xxiii. c. 6. Some differences may be ob¬

Ammianus, Chardin, etc., I have extracted such

served between the two historians, the natural

probable accounts of the Persian nobility, as seem

effects of the changes produced by a century and a

either common to every age, or particular to that

half.

of the Sassanides.

Chapter IX 1. The modern philosophers of Sweden seem

12. Tacit. German, c. 3. The emigration of the

agreed that the waters of the Baltic gradually sink

Gauls followed the course of the Danube, and dis¬

in a regular proportion, which they have ventured

charged itself on Greece and Asia. Tacitus could

to estimate at half an inch every year. Twenty cen¬

discover only one inconsiderable tribe that re¬

turies ago, the flat country of Scandinavia must

tained any traces of a Gallic origin.

have been covered by the sea; while the high lands

13. His work, entitled Atlantica, is uncommonly

rose above the waters, as so many islands of vari¬

scarce. Bayle has given two most curious extracts

ous forms and dimensions. Such indeed is the no¬

from it. Republique des Lettres Janvier et Fevrier,

tion given us by Mela, Pliny, and Tacitus, of the

1685.

vast countries round the Baltic. See in the Biblio-

14. Tacit. Germ. ii. 19. Literarum secreta viri

large

pariter ac foeminae ignorant. We may rest content¬

abstract of Dalin’s History of Sweden, composed

ed with this decisive authority, without entering

in the Swedish language.

into the obscure disputes concerning the antiquity

theque

Raisonnee,

tom.

xl.

and

xlv.

a

2. In particular, Hume, the Abbe du Bos, and

of the Runic characters. The learned Celsius, a Swede, a scholar, and a philosopher, was of opin¬

M. Pelloutier, Hist, des Celtes, tom. i. 3. Diodorus Siculus, 1. v. p. 340, Edit. Wessel.

ion, that they were nothing more than the Roman

Herodian, 1. vi. p. 221. Jornandes, c. 55. On the

letters, with the curves changed into straight lines

banks of the Danube, the wine, when brought to

for the ease of engraving. See Pelloutier, Histoire

table, was frequently frozen into great lumps,

des Celtes, 1. ii. c. 11. Dictionnaire Diplomatique,

frusta vini. Ovid. Epist. ex Ponto, 1. iv. 7, 9, 10.

tom. i. p. 223. We may add, that the oldest Runic

Virgil. Georgic. 1. iii. 355. The fact is confirmed by

inscriptions are supposed to be of the third cen¬

a soldier and a philosopher, who had experienced

tury, and the most ancient writer who mentions

the intense cold of Thrace. Xenophon, Anabasis,

the

1. vii. p. 560. Edit. Hutchinson.

(Carm. vii. 18), who lived towards the end of the

4. Buffon Histoire Naturelle, tom. xii. p. 79, 116. 5. Caesar de Bell. Gallic, vi. 23, etc. The most

Runic characters is Venantius Fortunatus

sixth century— Barbara fraxineis pingatur Runa tabellis.

inquisitive of the Germans were ignorant of its ut¬

15. Recherches Philosophiques sur les Ameri-

most limits, although some of them had travelled

cains, tom. iii. p. 228. The author of that very

in it more than sixty days’ journey.

curious work is, if I am not misinformed, a Ger¬

6. Cluverius (Germania Antiqua, 1. iii. c. 47) investigates the small and scattered remains of the

cised by the accurate Cluverius.

Hercynian wood. 7. Charlevoix Histoire du Canada. 8. Olaus

Rudbeck

asserts

that

the

man by birth. 16. The Alexandrian Geographer is often criti¬ 1 7. See Caesar, and Whitaker’s History of Man¬

Swedish

women often bear ten or twelve children, and not uncommonly twenty or thirty; but the authority of Rudbeck is much to be suspected.

chester, vol. i. 18. Tacit. Germ. 15. 19. When the Germans commanded the Ubii of Cologne to cast off the Roman yoke, and with

9. In hos artus, in haec corpora, quae miramur,

their new freedom to resume their ancient man¬

excrescunt. Tacit. Germania, 3, 20. Cluver. 1. i.

ners, they insisted on the immediate demolition of

c. 15. 10. Plutarch, in Caius Marius. The Cimbri, by

ros colonise, munimenta servitii detrahatis; etiam

way of amusement, often slid down mountains of

fera animalia, si clausa teneas, virtutis obliviscun-

snow on their broad shields. 11. The Romans made war in all climates, and

tur.” Tacit. Hist. iv. 64. 20. The straggling villages of Silesia are several

by their excellent discipline were in a great mea¬

miles in length. Cluver. 1. i. c. 13. 21. One hundred and forty years after Tacitus,

sure preserved in health and vigour. It may be re¬

the walls of the colony. “Postulamus a vobis, mu-

marked, that man is the only animal which can live

a few more regular structures were erected near

and multiply in every country from the equator to

the Rhine and Danube. Herodian, 1. vii. p. 234.

the poles. The hog seems to approach the nearest

22. Tacit. Germ. 17.

to our species in that privilege.

23. Tacit. Germ. 5.

6g6

Notes: Chapter ix

24. Caesar de Bell. Gall. vi. 21.

46. Minuunt controversias is a very happy ex¬

26. Tacit. Germ. 6.

pression of Caesar’s. 47. Reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute su-

27. It is said that the Mexicans and Peruvians,

munt. Tacit. Germ. 7.

25. Tacit. Germ. 26. Caesar, vi. 22.

without the use of either money or iron, had made

48. Cluver. Germ. Ant. 1. i. c. 38.

a very great progress in the arts. Those arts, and

49. Caesar, vi. 22. Tacit. Germ. 26.

the monuments they produced, have been strange¬

50. Tacit. Germ. 7.

ly magnified. Recherches sur les Americains, tom.

51. Tacit. Germ. 13, 14. 52. The Spirit of Laws, xxx. 3. The brilliant

ii. p. 153, etc. 28. Tacit. Germ. 15.

imagination of Montesquieu is corrected, how¬

29. Tacit. Germ. 22, 23.

ever, by the dry cold reason of the Abbe de Mably.

30. Tacit. Germ. 24. The Germans might bor¬

Observations sur 1’Histoire de France, tom. i. p.

row the arts of play from the Romans, but the pas¬ sion is wonderfully inherent in the human species.

35653. Gaudent muneribus, sed nec data imputant,

31. Tacit. Germ. 14.

nec acceptis obligantur. Tacit. Germ. c. 21.

32. Plutarch, in Camillus. T. Liv. v. 33. 33. Dubos. Hist, de la Monar. Francp, i. p. 193.

village. Neither wealth nor beauty could inspire

34. The Helvetian nation, which issued from

compassion, or procure her a second husband.

the country called Switzerland, contained, of every

54. The adulteress was whipped through the

Germ. c. 18, 19.

age and sex 368,000 persons (Caesar de Bell. Gall,

55. Ovid considers the theatre as the best adapt¬

i. 29). At present, the number of people in the

ed to collect the beauties of Rome, and to melt

Pays de Vaud (a small district on the banks of the

them into tenderness and sensuality.

Leman Lake, much more distinguished for polite¬

56. Tacit. Hist. iv. 61, 65.

ness than for industry) amounts to 112,591. See an

57. The marriage present was yoke of oxen,

excellent tract of M. Muret, in the Memoires de la

horses, and arms. Germ. c. 18. Tacitus is some¬

Societe de Bern.

what too florid on the subject.

35. Paul Diaconus, c. 1, 2, 3. Machiavel, Da¬

58. The change of exigere into exugere is a most

vila, and the rest of Paul’s followers, represent

excellent correction. 59. Tacit. Germ. c. 7. Plutarch in Caius Marius.

these emigrations too much as regular and con¬ certed measures.

Before the wives of the Teutones destroyed them¬

36. Sir William Temple and Montesquieu have

selves and their children they had offered to sur¬

indulged, on this subject, the usual liveliness of

render on condition that they should be received

their fancy.

as the slaves of the vestal virgins.

37. Machiavel Hist, di Firenze, 1. i. Mariana Hist. Hispan. 1. v. c. 1.

60. Tacitus has employed 2 few lines, and Cluverius one hundred and twenty-four pages, on this

38. Robertson’s Charles V. Hume’s Political Essays.

obscure subject. The former discovers in Germany the gods of Greece and Rome. The latter is posi¬

39. Tacit. German. 44, 45. Frenshemius (who

tive, that under the emblems of the sun, the moon,

dedicated his supplement to Livy to Christina of

and the fire, his pious ancestors worshipped the

Sweden) thinks proper to be very angry with the

Trinity in unity.

Roman who expressed so very little reverence for Northern queens.

61. The sacred wood, described with such sub¬ lime horror by Lucan, was in the neighborhood of

40. May we not suspect that superstition was the parent of despotism? The descendants of Odin

Marseilles; but there were many of the same kind in Germany.

(whose race was not extinct till the year 1060) are

62. Tacit. Germania, c. 7.

said to have reigned in Sweden above a thousand

63. Tacit. Germania, c. 40.

years. The temple of Upsal was the ancient seat of

64. Robertson’s Hist, of Charles V. vol. i. note 1 o.

religion and empire. In the year 1153 I find a sin¬ gular law, prohibiting the use and profession of arms to any except the king’s guards. Is it not

65. Tacit. Germ. c. 7. These standards were only the heads of wild beasts. 66. Tacit. Annal. xiii. 57.

probable that it was coloured by the pretence of

67. Caesar, Diodorus, and Lucan seem to ascribe

reviving an old institution? Dalling’s History of

this doctrine to the Gauls, but M. Pelloutier (His-

Sweden in the Bibliotheque Raisonnee, xl. xlv.

toire des Geltes, 1. iii. c. 18) labours to reduce their

41. Tacit. Germ. c. 43.

expressions to a more orthodox sense.

42. Tacit. Germ. c. 11, 12, 13, etc. 43. Grotius changes an expression of Tacitus, pertractantur into pratractanlur. equally just and ingenious.

The correction is

44. Even in our ancient parliament, the barons

68. Concerning this gross but alluring doctrine of the Edda, see Fable xx. in the curious version of that book, published by M. Mallet, in his Intro¬ duction to the History of Denmark.

often carried a question, not so much by the num¬

69. Tacit. Germ. c. 3. Diodor. Sicul. 1. v. Strabo, 1. iv. p. 197. The classical reader may remember

ber of votes, as by that of their armed followers.

the rank of Demodocus in the Phaeacian court, and

45. Caesar de Bell. Gall. vi. 23.

the ardour infused by Tyrtasus into the fainting

Notes: Chapter x

697

Spartans. Yet there is little probability that the

78. Tacit. Germania, c. 33. The pious Abbe de

Greeks and the Germans were the same people.

la Bleterie is very angry with Tacitus, talks of the

Much learned trifling might be spared if our anti¬

devil who was a murderer from the beginning,

quarians would condescend to reflect, that similar

etc., etc.

manners will naturally be produced by similar situations.

79. Many traces of this policy may be discover¬ ed in Tacitus and Dion: and many more may be

70. Missilia spargunt, Tacit. Germ. c. 6. Either that historian used a vague expression, or he

inferred from the principles of human nature. 80. Hist. August, p. 31. Ammian. Marcellin.

1. xxxi. c. 5. Aurel. Victor. The emperor Marcus

meant that they were thrown at random. 71. It was their principal distinction from the Sarmatians, who generally fought on horseback.

was reduced to sell the rich furniture of the palace, and to enlist slaves and robbers.

72. The relation of this enterprise occupies a

81. The Marcomanni, a colony, who, from the

great part of the fourth and fifth books of the His¬

banks of the Rhine, occupied Bohemia and Mora¬

tory of Tacitus, and is more remarkable for its elo¬

via, had once erected a great and formidable

quence than perspicuity. Sir Henry Saville has

monarchy under their king Maroboduus. Strabo,

observed several inaccuracies.

1. vii. Veil. Pat. ii. 105. Tacit. Annal. ii. 63.

73. Tacit. Hist. iv. 13: like them he had lost an

82. Wotton (Hist, of Rome, p. 166) increases the prohibition to ten times the distance. His rea¬

eye. 74. It was contained between the two branches of the old Rhine, as they subsisted before the face of the country was changed by art and nature. Cluver. Germ. Antiq. 1. iii. c. 30, 37.

soning is specious, but not inclusive. Five miles were sufficient for a fortified barrier. 83. Dion, 1. lxxi. and Ixxii. 84. See an excellent dissertation on the origin

75. Caesar de Bell. Gall. 1. vi. 23.

and migrations of nations, in the Mem. de l’Acad.

76. They are mentioned however in the fourth

des Inscript, tom. xviii. p. 48-71. It is seldom that

and fifth centuries by Nazarius, Ammianus, Clau-

the antiquarian and the philosopher are so hap¬

dian, etc., as a tribe of Franks. Cluver. Germ.

pily blended. 85. Should we suspect that Athens contained

Antiq. 1. iii. c. xiii. 77. JJrgentibus is the common reading, but good

only 21,000 citizens, and Sparta no more than

sense, Lipsius, and some MSS. declare for Ver-

39,000? See Hume and Wallace on the number of

gentibus.

mankind in ancient and modern times.

Chapter X 1. The expression used by Zosimus and Zonaras

8. Voltaire, Hist, de Charles XII. 1. iii. When

may signify that Marinus commanded a centenary,

the Austrians desired the aid of the court of Rome

a cohort, or a legion. 2. His birth at Bubalia, a little village in Pan-

sented that conqueror as the lineal successor of

nonia (Eutrop. ix. Victor in Caesarib. et epitom.)

Alaric. Flarte’s Hist, of Gustavus, vol. ii. p. 123.

against Gustavus Adolphus, they always repre¬

seems to contradict, unless it was merely acci¬

9. Adam of Bremen in Grotii Prolegomenis, p.

dental, his supposed descent from the Decii. Six

104. The temple of Upsal was destroyed by Ingo

hundred years had bestowed nobility on the Decii;

king of Sweden, who began his reign in the year

but at the commencement of that period they were

1075,

only Plebeians of merit, and among the first who

Christian cathedral was erected on its ruins. Dalin’s

and

about fourscore

years afterwards a

shared the consulship with the haughty Patricians.

Hist, of Sweden, in Bibliotheque Raisonnee.

Plebeiae Deciorum animae, etc. Juvenal, Sat. viii.

10. Mallet, Introd. a l’Hist. du Dannemarc.

254. See the spirited speech of Decius, in Livy, x.

11. Mallet, c. iv. p. 55 has collected from Strabo,

9, 10. 3. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 22] p. 20. Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 624.

Pliny, Ptolemy, and Stephanus Byzantinus, the

4. Prefaces of Cassiodorus and Jornandes: it is

vestiges of such a city and people. 12. This wonderful expedition of Odin, which,

surprising that the latter should be omitted in the

by deducing the enmity of the Goths and Romans

excellent edition published by Grotius,

of the

from so memorable a cause, might supply the no¬

of Ablavius, Jornandes

received as authentic history. According to the ob¬

Gothic writers. 5. On the authority

ble groundwork of an epic poem, cannot safely be

quotes some old Gothic chronicles in verse. De Reb. Geticis, c. 4. 6. Jornandes c. 3. 7. The Prolegomena of Grotius has some large

vious sense of the Edda, and the interpretation of the most skilful critics, As-gard, instead of denot¬ ing a real city of the Asiatic Sarmatia, is the ficti¬ tious appellation of the mystic abode of the gods,

extracts from Adam of Bremen and Saxo Gram¬

the Olympus of Scandinavia: from whence the

maticus. The former wrote in the year 1077, the

prophet was supposed to descend when he an¬

latter flourished about the year 1200.

nounced his new religion to the Gothic nations.

698

Notes: Chapter x

who were already seated in the southern parts of

de Provinciis, and Wesseling ad locum, p. 636 Itinerar.). It is surprising how this palpable error

Sweden. 13. Tacit. Germ. c. 44.

of the scribe could escape the judicious correction

14. Tacit. Annal. ii. 62. If we could yield a firm assent to the navigations of Pytheas of Marseilles,

of Grotius. 30. The place is still called Nicop. The little

we must allow that the Goths had passed the Baltic

stream, on whose banks it stood, falls into the

at least three hundred years before Christ.

Danube. D’Anville, Geographic Ancienne, tom. i.

15. Ptolemy, 1. ii. 16. By the German colonies who followed the

P- 3°731. Stephan. Byzant. de Urbibus, p. 740- Wes¬

arms of the Teutonic knights. The conquest and

seling Itinerar. p. 136. Zonaras, by an odd mis¬

conversion of Prussia were completed by those ad¬

take, ascribes the foundation of Philippopolis to

venturers in the thirteenth century.

the immediate predecessor of Decius.

17. Pliny (Hist. Natur. iv. 14) and Procopius

32. Ammian. xxxi. 5.

(in Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 1) agree in this opinion.

33. Aurel. Victor [de Caesar], c. 29.

They lived in distant ages, and possessed different

34. Victoria Carpica, on some medals of Decius, insinuate these advantages.

means of investigating the truth. 18. The Ostro and Visi, the eastern and western

35. Claudius (who afterwards reigned with so

Goths, obtained those denominations from their

much glory) was posted in the pass of Thermopylae

original seats in Scandinavia. In all their future

with 200 Dardanians, 100 heavy and 160 light

marches and settlements they preserved, with their

horse, 60 Cretan archers, and 1000 well armed

names, the same relative situation. When they first

recruits. See an original letter from the emperor to

departed from Sweden, the infant colony was con¬

his officer, in the Augustan History, p. 200. [Tre-

tained in three vessels. The third being a heavy

bell. Pollio in Claud, c. 16.]

sailer lagged behind, and the crew, which after¬

36. Jornandes, c. 16-18. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 22] p.

wards swelled into a nation, received from that

22. In the general account of this war, it is easy to

circumstance the appellation of Gepidse or Loiter¬

discover the opposite prejudices of the Gothic and

ers. Jornandes, c. 17.

the Grecian writers. In carelessness alone they are

19. Fragment of Peter Patricius in the Excerpta

alike.

Legationum; and with regard to its probable date,

37. Montesquieu, Grandeur et Decadence des

Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 346.

Romains, c. viii. He illustrates the nature and use

20. Omnium harum gentium insigne, rotunda scuta, breves gladii, et erga reges obsequium. Tacit. Germania, c. 43. The Goths probably ac¬ quired their iron by the commerce of amber.

of the censorship with his usual ingenuity, and with uncommon precision. 38. Vespasian and Titus were the last censors (Pliny, Hist. Natur. vii. 49. Gensorinus de Die

21. Jornandes, c. 13, 14.

Natali). The modesty of Trajan refused an honour

22. The Heruli, and the Uregundi or Burgundi,

which he deserved, and his example became a

are particularly mentioned. Mascou’s History of

law to the Antonines.

the Germans, 1. v. A passage in the Augustan His¬

and 60.

Pliny’s Panegyric, c. 45

tory, p. 28, seems to allude to this great emigra¬

39. Yet in spite of this exemption Pompey ap¬

tion. The Marcomannic war was partly occasion¬

peared before that tribunal during his consulship.

ed by the pressure of barbarous tribes, who fled

The occasion indeed was equally singular and

before the arms of more northern barbarians.

honourable. Plutarch in Pompey.

23. D’Anville, Gcographie Ancienne, and the third part of his incomparable map of Europe. 24. Tacit. Germ. c. 46.

40. Original speech, in the Augustan Hist. p. 173, 174 [Treb. Poll. c. 2]. 41. This transaction might

deceive

Zonaras,

25. Cluver. Germ. Antiq. 1. iii. c. 43.

who supposes that Valerian was actually declared

26. The Venedi, the Slavi, and the Antes, were

the colleague of Decius, 1. xii. p. 625.

the three great tribes of the same people. Jornan¬ des, c. 24.

42. Hist. August, p. 174 [Treb. Poll. 1. c.] The emperor’s reply is omitted.

27. Tacitus most assuredly deserves that title, and even his cautious suspense is a proof of his diligent inquiries.

43. Such as the attempts of Augustus towards a reformation of manners. Tacit. Annal. iii. 24. 44. Tillemont, Histoire des Empereurs, tom. iii.

28. Genealogical History of the Tartars, p. 593.

p. 5g8. As Zosimus and some of his followers mis¬

Bell (vol. ii. p. 379) traversed the Ukraine in his

take the Danube for the Tanais, they place the

journey from Petersburgh to Constantinople. The

field of battle in the plains of Scythia.

modern face of the country is a just representation

45. Aurelius Victor allows two distinct actions

of the ancient, since, in the hands of the Cossacks,

for the deaths of the two Decii; but I have pre¬

it still remains in a state of nature.

ferred the account of Jornandes.

29. In the sixteenth chapter of Jornandes, in¬

46. I have ventured to copy from Tacitus (An¬

stead of secundo Maesiam, we may venture to sub¬

nal. i. 64) the picture of a similar engagement be¬

stitute

tween a Roman army and a German tribe.

secundam,

the

second

Maesia,

of which

Marcianopolis was certainly the capital (Hierocles

47. Jornandes, c. 18. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 23] p. 22.

Notes: Chapter x Zonaras, 1. xii. [c. 20] p. 627. Aurelius Victor. [Epitome c. 29]. 48. The Decii were killed before the end of the year two hundred and fifty-one, since the new princes took possession of the consulship on the ensuing calends of January. 49. Hist. August, p. 223 [Vopesc. Aur. c. 42] gives them a very honourable place among the small number of good emperors who reigned be¬ tween Augustus and Diocletian. 50. Hsec ubi Patres comperere . . . decernunt. Victor in Gaesaribus [c. 30].

699

from an accidental circumstance fully canvassed by Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 710, 1181. 71. Plin. Hist. Natur. xvi. 1. The panegyrists frequently allude to the morasses of the Franks. 72. Tacit. Germania, c. 30, 37. 73. In a subsequent period, most of those old names are occasionally mentioned. See Some ves¬ tiges of them in Cluver. Germ. Antiq;. 1. iii. 74. Simler

de

Republica

Helvet.

cum

notis

Fuselin. 75. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 27. 76. M. de Brequigny (Mem. de l’Acad. tom.

51. Zonaras, 1. xii. [c. 21] p. 628.

xxx.) has given us a very curious life of Posthumus.

52. A Sella, a Toga, and a golden Patera of five

A series of the Augustan History from Medals and

pounds weight, were accepted with joy and grati¬

Inscriptions has been more than once planned,

tude by the wealthy king of Egypt (Livy, xxvii. 4).

and is still much wanted.

Quint1 Millia ALris, a weight of copper in value

77. Aurel. Victor, c. 33, Instead of Pane direpto,

about eighteen pounds sterling, was the usual pres¬

both the sense and the expression require deleto;

ent made to foreign ambassadors (Livy, xxxi. 9;).

though, indeed, for different reasons, it is alike

53. See the firmness of a Roman general so late

difficult to correct the text of the best, and the

as the time of Alexander Severus, in the Excerpta Legationum, p. 25, edit. Louvre.

worst, writers. 78. In the time of Ausonius’ (the end of the

54. Jornandes, c. 19, and Victor in Cassaribus.

fourth century) Herda or Lerida was in a very

55. These improbable accusations are alleged

ruinous state, which probably was the consequence

by Zosimus, 1. i. p. 23, 24. 56. Jornandes, c. 19. The Gothic writer at least observed the peace which his victorious country¬ men had sworn to Gallus.

of this invasion. Aus. ep. 25, 8. 79. Valesius is therefore mistaken in supposing that the Franks had invaded Spain by the sea. 80. Aurel. Victor. Eutrop. bd 6.

57. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 25, 26.

81. Tacit. Germania, 38.

58. Victor in Caesaribus, [c. 30].

82. Cluver. Germ. Antiq. iii. 25.

59. Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 628. 60. Banduri Numismata, p. 94. 61. Eutropius, 1. ix. c. 6 says tertio mense. Euse¬ bius omits this emperor. 62. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 28. Eutropius and Victor station Valerian’s army in Rhaetia. 63. He was about seventy at the time of his ac¬ cession, or, as it is more probable, of his death. Hist. August, p.

173- Tillemont, Hist, des Em-

pereurs, tom. iii. p. 893, note 1. 64. Inimicus Tyrannorum. Hist. August, p. 173In the glorious struggle of the senate against Maximin, Valerian acted a very spirited part. Hist. August, p. 156. 65. According to the distinction of Victor, he seems to have received the title of Imperator from

83. Sic Suevi a cateri Germanus, sic suevorum ingenui, a Servis separantur—A proud separation. 84. Caesar in Bello Gallico, iv. 7. 85. Victor in Caracal, [c. 21J. Dion. Cassius, Ixvii. [c. 13] p. 1350. 86. This etymology

(far different from those

which amuse the fancy of the learned) is preserved by Asinius Quadratus, an original historian, quot¬ ed by Agathias, i. c. 5. 87. The Suevi engaged Caesar in this manner, and the manoeuvre deserved the approbation of the conqueror (Bell. Gall. i. 48.) 88. Hist. August, p. 215, 216. [Vopis. Aurel. c. 18, 21]. Dexippus in the Excerpta Legationum, p. 8. Hieronym. Chron. Orosius, vii. 22. 89. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 34.

the army, and that of Augustus from the senate.

90. Aurel. Victor, in Gallieno Ct Probo. His

66. From Victor and from the medals, Tille¬

complaints breathe an uncommon- spirit of free¬

mont (tom. iii. p. 710) very justly infers that Gallienus was associated to the empire about the month of August of the year 253. 67. Various systems have been formed to ex¬ plain a difficult passage in Gregory of Tours, 1. i.

dom. 91. Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 631. 92. One of the Victors calls him King of the Marcomanni; the other, of the Germans. 93. Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, torn. iii.

c. 9. 68. The Geographer of Ravenna, i. 11, by men¬

p. 398, etc.

tioning Mauringania on the confines of Denmark,

bus, in the Augustan History.

as the ancient seat of the Franks, gave birth to an ingenious system of Leibnitz.

94. See Lives of Claudius, Aurelian, and Pro¬ 95. It is about half a league in breadth. Genea¬ logical History of the Tartars, p. 598.

69. Cluver. Germania Antiqua, 1. iii. c. 20. M.

96. M. de Peyssonel, who had been French Con¬

Freret, in the Memoires des 1’Academic des In¬

sul at Caffa, in his Observations sub les Peuples

scriptions, tom. xviii. 70. Most probably under the reign of Gordian,

Barbares, qui ont habit£ les bords du Danube. 97. Euripides in Iphigenia Among the Tauri.

Notes: Chapter x

700 98. Strabo, 1. vii

p. 309. The first kings of Bos¬

His colleague was jealous of his fame. Hist. Au¬

100. It was reduced by the arms of Agrippa.

gust. p. 181. 126. Jornandes, c. 20. 127. Zosimus and the Greeks (as the author of

Orosius, vi. 21. Eutropius, vii. 9. The Romans

the Philopatris) give the name of Scythians to

phorus were the allies of Athens. 99. Appian in Mithridat.

once advanced within three days’ march of the

those whom Jornandes, and the Latin writers,

Tanais. Tacit. Annal. xii. 17.

constantly represent as Goths.

101. See the Toxaris of Lucian, if we credit the

128. Hist. August, p. 178. Jornandes, c. 20.

sincerity and the virtues of the Scythian, who re¬

129. Strabo, 1. xiv. p. 640. Vitruvius, 1. i. c. 1,

lates a great war of his nation against the kings of

prsefat. 1. vii. Tacit. Annal. iii. 61. Plin. Hist. Nat.

Bosphorus.

xxxvi. 14. 130. The length of St. Peter’s is 840 Roman

102. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 28. 103. Strabo, 1. xi. Tacit. Hist. iii. 47.—They were called Camara. 104. See a very natural picture of the Euxine navigation, in the sixteenth letter of Tournefort.

palms; each palm is very little short of nine Eng¬ lish inches. Greaves’s Miscellanies, vol. i. p. 233; On the Roman foot. 131. The policy, however, of the Romans in¬

105. Arrian places the frontier garrison at Dios-

duced them to abridge the extent of the sanctuary

curias, or Sebastopolis, forty-four miles to the east

or asylum, which by successive privileges had

of Pityus. The garrison of Phasis consisted in his

spread itself two stadia round the temple. Strabo,

time of only four hundred foot. Periplus of the

1. xiv. p. 641. Tacit. Annal. iii. 60, etc.

Euxine. 106. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 30. 107. Arrian (in Periplo Maris Euxin. p. 130) calls the distance 2610 stadia.

132. They offered no sacrifices to the Grecian gods. Epistol. Gregor. Thaumat. 133. Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 635. Such an anecdote was perfectly suited to the taste of Montaigne. He

108. Xenophon. Anabasis, 1. iv. [c. 8, 22] p. 348.

makes use of it in his agreeable Essay on Pedantry,

109. Arrian, p. 129. The general observation is

1. i. c. 24.

Eournefort’s. 11 o. Epistle of Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of Neo-Caesarea, quoted by Mascon, v. 37. hi. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 33] p. 32, 33.

134. Moses Chorenensis, 1. ii. c. ’ji, 73> 74- Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 628. The authentic relation of the Armenian historian serves to rectify the confused account of the Greek. The latter talks of the chil¬

112. Itiner. Hierosolym. p. 572. Wesseling.

dren of Tiridates, who at that time was himself an

113. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 35] p. 32, 33.

infant.

114. He besieged the place with 400 galleys,

135. Hist. August, p. 191. As Macrinus was an

150,000 foot, and a numerous cavalry. Plutarch in

enemy to the Christians, they charged him with

Lucul. [c. 9]. Appian in Mithridat. Cicero pro

being a magician.

Lege Manilia, c. 8. 115. Strabo, 1. xii. p. 573. 116. Pocock’s Description of the East, 1. ii. c.

23, 24. 117. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 35] p. 33. 118. Syncellus tells an unintelligible story of

136. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 33. Hist. August, p. 174137. Victor, in Caesar. Eutropius, ix. 7. 138. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 33. Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 630. Peter Patricius in the Excerpta Legat. p. 20. 139. Hist. August, p. 185. The reign of Cyriades appears in that collection prior to the death of

Prince Odenathus, who defeated the Goths, and

Valerian; but I have preferred a probable series of

who was killed by Prince Odenathus [p. 382, ed.

events to the doubtful chronology of a most inac¬

Paris]. 119. Voyages de Chardin, tom. i. p. 45. He sailed

curate writer.

with the Turks from Constantinople to Caffa.

historians, is assigned, by the decisive testimony of

120. Syncellus (p. 382) speaks of this expedition as undertaken by the Heruli. 121. Strabo, 1. xi. p. 495. 122. Plin. Hist. Natur. iii. 7.

140. The sack of Antioch, anticipated by some Ammianus Marcellinus, to the reign of Gallienus, xxiii. 5. 141. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 36] p. 35. 142. John Malala, tom. i. p. 391 [ed. Oxon.; p.

123. Hist. August, p. 181. Victor, c. 33. Orosius,

127, ed. Ven.; p. 296, ed. Bonn], He corrupts this

vii. 42. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 39] p. 35. Zonaras, 1. xii.

probable event by some fabulous circumstances.

[c. 26] 635. Syncellus, p. 382 [vol. i. p. 717, ed.

143. Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 630. Deep valleys were

Bonn]. It is not without some attention, that we

filled up with the slain. Crowds of prisoners were

can explain and conciliate their imperfect hints.

driven to water like beasts, and many perished for

We can still discover some traces of the partiality

want of food.

of Dexippus, in the relation of his own and his countrymen’s exploits. 124. Syncellus, p. 382. This body of Heruli was for a long time faithful and famous.

144. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 25, asserts that Sapor, had he not preferred spoil to conquest, might have re¬ mained master of Asia. 145. Peter Patricius in Excerpt. Leg. p. 29.

125. Claudius, who commanded on the Dan¬

146. Syrorum agrestium manu. Sextus Rufus,

ube, thought with propriety and acted with spirit.

c. 23. Rufus Victor, the Augustan History (p.

Notes: Chapter x :92)> an 4°61. Timolaus, Herennianus, and Vabalathus. It is supposed that the two former were already dead

was remarkable for his strength and appetite, his we may justly infer that Firmus was the last of the

Vopiscus. He relates the particulars with his usual minuteness; and on this occasion they happen to be

before the war. On the last, Aurelian bestowed a

interesting. Hist. August, p. 220. [Vopisc. Aurel.

small province of Armenia, with the title of King;

c. 33. •f*?-]

several of his medals are still extant. See Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 1190.

78. Among barbarous nations women have of¬ ten combated by the side of their husbands. But it

62. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 50] p. 44.

is almost impossible that a society of Amazons

63. Vopiscus (in Hist. August, p. 217 [Aurel. c.

should ever have existed either in the old or new

23, seq.~\) gives us an authentic letter, and a doubt¬

world.

ful vision, of Aurelian. Apollonius of Tyana was

79. The use of bracca, breeches, or trousers, was

born about the same time as Jesus Christ. His life

still considered in Italy as a Gallic and barbarian

(that of the former) is related in so fabulous a man¬

fashion. The Romans, however, had made great

ner by his disciples, that we are at a loss to discover

advances towards it. To encircle the legs and

whether he was a sage, an impostor, or a fanatic. 64. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 54] p. 46.

thighs with fascia, or bands, was understood, in the time of Pompey and Horace, to be a proof of

65. At a place called Immae. Eutropius, Sextus

ill health or effeminacy. In the age of Trajan the

Rufus, and Jerome mention only this first battle.

custom was confined to the rich and luxurious. It

66. Vopiscus, in Hist. August, p. 217 [Aurel. c.

gradually was adopted by the meanest of the

25], mentions only the second. 67. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 50, sqq.] p. 44-48. His ac¬

people. See a very curious note of Casaubon, ad. Sueton. in August, c. 82.

count of the two battles is clear and circumstantial.

80. Most probably the former; the latter, seen

68. It was five hundred and thirty-seven miles

on the medals of Aurelian, only denote (according

from Seleucia, and two hundred and three from

to the learned Cardinal Noris) an oriental victory.

the nearest coast of Syria, according to the reckon¬

81. The expression of Calpurnius (Eclog. i. 50),

ing of Pliny, who, in a few words (Hist. Natur. v.

Nullos ducet captiva triumphos, as applied to Rome,

25), gives an excellent description of Palmyra.

contains a very manifest allusion and censure.

69. Some English travellers from Aleppo discov¬

82. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 1 gg. [xxx. Ty¬

ered the ruins of Palmyra about the end of the last

ranni, Zenobia, c. 29.] Hieronym. in Chron. Pros¬

century. Our curiosity has since been gratified in a

per in Chron. Baronius supposes that Zenobius,

more splendid manner by Messieurs Wood and

bishop of Florence in the time of St. Ambrose, was

Dawkins. For the history of Palmyra we may con¬

of her family.

sult the masterly dissertation of Dr. Halley in the

83. Vopisc. in Hist. August, p. 222. [Aurel. c.

Philosophical Transactions: Lowthorp’s Abridg¬

39.] Eutropius, ix. 13 [9]. Victor Junior. But Pol¬

ment, vol. iii. p. 518. 70. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 218. [Aurel. c. 26.] 71. From a very doubtful chronology I have en¬ deavoured to extract the most probable date.

lio, in Hist. August, p.

196 [xxx. Tyranni, de

Tetrico, sen. c. 23], says that Tetricus was made corrector of all Italy. 84. Hist. August, p. 197. [Vopisc. xxx. Tyranni, de Tetrico jun. c. 24.]

Notes: Chapter xn

7°5

85. Vopiscus in Hist. August. 222. [Aurel. c.

91. It already raged before Aurelian’s return

39.] Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 61, p. 53] p. 56. He placed it

from Egypt. See Vopiscus, who quotes an origi¬

in the images of Belus and of the Sun, which he

nal letter. Hist. August, p. 244. [Vopisc. Firmus,

has brought from Palmyra. It was dedicated in the

c- 5-] 92. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 222. [Aurel. c.

fourth year of his reign (Euseb. in Chron. [an. CCLXXV.]), but was most assuredly begun im¬

39.] The two Victors. Eutropius, ix. 14 [g], Zosi¬

mediately on his accession.

mus (1. i. p. 43) mentions only three senators, and

86. See in the Augustan History, p. 210 [Vo-

places their death before the eastern war.

pisc. Aurel. c. 5], the omens of his fortune. His de¬

93. Nulla catenati feralis pompa senates

votion to the sun appears in his letters, on his

Carnificum

medals, and is mentioned in the Caesars of Julian.

lassabit

opus;

nec

carcere

pleno

Commentaire de Spanheim, p. 109.

Infelix raros numerabit curia Patres.

87. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 221 [Aurel. c.

Calpurn. Eclog. i. 60.

37-]

94. According to the younger Victor [Epitome,

88. Hist. August, p. 222. [Vopisc. Aurel. c. 38.] Aurelian calls these soldiers Hiberi, Riparienses, Castriani, and Dacisci. 89. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 61, p. 53] p. 56. Eutropius,

c. 35], he sometimes wore the diadem. Deus and Dominus appear on his medals. 95. It was the observation of Diocletian. See Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 224. [Aurel. c. 44.]

ix. 14 [9]. Aurel. Victor, [de Caesar. 35.]

96. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 221. [Aurel. c.

90. Hist. August, p. 222. [Vopisc. Aurel. c. 39.] Aurel. Victor, [de Caesar. 35.]

35, seq.] Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 62] p. 57. Eutrop. ix. 15 [9]. The two Victors.

Chapter XII 1. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 222. [Aurel. c.

and forty thousand Roman pounds of silver, each

41.] Aurelius Victor mentions a formal deputation

of the value of three pounds sterling. But in the

from the troops to the senate. 2. Vopiscus, our principal authority, wrote at

age of Tacitus the coin had lost much of its weight and purity.

Rome sixteen years only after the death of Aure¬

9. After his accession he gave orders that ten

lian; and, besides the recent notoriety of the facts,

copies of the historian should be annually tran¬

constantly draws his materials from the Journals

scribed and placed in the public libraries. The

of the Senate and the original papers of the Ulpian

Roman libraries have long since perished, and the

library. Zosimus and Zonaras appear as ignorant

most valuable part of Tacitus was preserved in a

of this transaction as they were in general of the

single MS., and discovered in a monastery of

Roman constitution.

Westphalia. See Bayle, Dictionnaire, Art. Tacite,

3. Liv. i. 17. Dionys. Halicarn, 1. ii. [c. 57] p.

and Lipsius ad Annal. ii. 9.

115. Plutarch in Numa Pompilius. The first of these writers relates the story like an orator, the

10. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 227. [Tacit, c.

4-1

second like a lawyer, and the third like a moralist,

11. Hist. August, p. 228 [ib. c. 7]. Tacitus ad¬

and none of them probably without some inter¬

dressed the Praetorians by the appellation of sanc-

mixture of fable.

tissimi milites, and the people by that of sacratissimi

4. Vopiscus (in Hist. August, p. 227 [Tacit, c. 4])

Quirites.

calls him “primae sententiae consularis;” and soon

12. In his manumissions he never exceeded the

afterwards Princeps senatus. It is natural to suppose

number of an hundred, as limited by the Caninian

that the monarchs of Rome, disdaining that hum¬

law, which was enacted under Augustus, and at

ble title, resigned it to the most ancient of the

length repealed by Justinian. See Casaubon ad

senators.

locum Vopisci.

5. The only objection to this genealogy is, that

13. See the Lives of Tacitus, Florianus, and

the historian was named Cornelius, the emperor

Probus, in the Augustan History; we may be well

Claudius. But under the Lower Empire surnames

assured that whatever the soldier gave the senator

were extremely various and uncertain.

had already given.

6. Zonaras, 1. xii. [c. 28] p. 637 [ed. Paris; p.

14. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 216. [Aurel. c.

608, ed. Bonn]. The Alexandrian Chronicle, by an

20.] The passage is perfectly clear, yet both Ca¬

obvious mistake, transfers that age to Aurelian.

saubon and Salmasius wish to correct it.

7. In the year 273 he was ordinary consul. But

15. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 230, 232, 233.

he must have been Suffectus many years before,

[Florian. c. 5 and 6.] The senators celebrated the

and most probably under Valerian. 8. Bis millies octingenties. Vopiscus in Hist. Au¬

happy restoration with hecatombs and public re¬ joicings.

gust. p. 229. [Tacit, c. 10.] This sum, according to

16. Hist. August, p. 228. [Vopisc. Tacit, c. 8.]

the old standard, was equivalent to eight hundred

17. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 230. [Tacit, c.

Notes: Chapter xii

706

13.] Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 63] p. 57. Zonaras, 1. xii. [c.

very long and trifling story of Lydius the Isaurian

28] p. 637 [ed. Paris; p. 608, ed. Bonn]. Two pas¬

robber. 32. Zosim. 1. i. [c. 7] p. 65. Vopiscus in Hist.

sages in the Life of Probus (p. 236, 238 [Vopisc. 12]) convince me that these

August, p. 239, 240. [Prob. c. 17.] But it seems in¬

Scythian invaders of Pontus were Alani. If we may

credible that the defeat of the savages of /Ethiopia

believe Zosimus (1. i. [c. 64] p. 58), Florianus pur¬

could affect the Persian monarch.

Probus, c. 8 and

sued them as far as the Cimmerian Bosphorus. But he had scarcely time for so long and difficult an expedition. 18. Eutropius [9, c. 10] and Aurelius Victor [c.

33. Besides

these

well-known

chiefs,

several

others are named by Vopiscus (Hist. August, p. 241 [Prob. c. 22]), whose actions have not reached our knowledge.

36] only say that he died; Victor Junior adds, that

34. See the Caesars of Julian [p. 314], and Hist.

it was of a fever. Zosimus [i. 63, p. 55] and Zo¬

August, p. 238, 240, 241. Vopisc. Prob. c. 13, c. 18,

naras [xii. c. 28] affirm that he was killed by the

sqq. 35. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 68] p. 62. Hist. August, p.

soldiers. Vopiscus [Tacit, c. 13] mentions both ac¬ counts, and seems to hesitate. Yet surely these

238. [Vopisc. Probus, c. 13, 14.] But the latter sup¬

jarring opinions are easily reconciled.

poses the punishment inflicted with the consent of

19. According to the two Victors, he reigned exactly two hundred days. 20. Hist. August, p. 231. [Vopiscus, Florian. c.

their kings: if so, it was partial, like the offence. 36. See Cluver, Germania Antiqua, 1. iii. Ptol¬ emy places in their country the city of Calisia,

1.] Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 64, p. 56] p. 58, 59. Zonaras, 1. xii. [c. 29, p. 609] p. 637. Aurelius Victor [de

probably Calish in Silesia.

Caesar, c. 37] says that Probus assumed the empire

is surely a very bold one.

in Illyricum; an opinion which (though adopted

37. Feralis umbra is the expression of Tacitus: it 38. Tacit. Germania (c. 43).

by a very learned man) would throw that period

39. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 238 [Prob. c. 14.]

of history into inextricable confusion.

40. Hist. August, p. 238, 239. [Vopisc. Probus,

21. Flist. August, p. 229. [Vopisc. Tacit, c. 10.]

c. 14, sqq.] Vopiscus quotes a letter [c. 15] from the

22. He was to send judges to the Parthians, Per¬

emperor to the senate, in which he mentions his

sians, and Sarmatians, a president to Taprobana, and a proconsul to the Roman island (supposed by

design of reducing Germany into a province. 41. Strabo, 1. vii. [p. 290]. According to Velleius

Casaubon and Salmasius to mean Britain). Such a

Paterculus

history as mine (says Vopiscus with proper mod¬

Marcomanni into Bohemia: Cluverius (German.

esty) will not subsist a thousand years to expose or

Antiq. iii. 8) proves that it was from Swabia.

justify the prediction. 23. For the private life of Probus, see Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 234-237. [Probus, c. 3, sqq.] 24. According to the Alexandrian chronicle, he was fifty at the time of his death. 25. The letter was addressed to the Praetorian prmfect, whom (on condition of his good behav¬

(ii.

108,

109), Maroboduus led his

42. These settlers, from the payment of tithes, were denominated Decimates. Tacit. Germania, c. *943. See notes de 1’Abbe de la Bleterie a la Germanie de Tacite, p. 183. His account of the wall is chiefly borrowed (as he says himself) from the Alsatia lllustrata of Schoepflin.

iour) he promised to continue in his great office.

44. See Recherches sur les Chinois et les Egyp-

See Hist. August, p. 237. [Vopisc. Probus, c. 10.]

tiens, tom. ii. p. 81-102. The anonymous author is

26. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 237 [in Probo,

well acquainted with the globe in general, and

c. 11]. The date of the letter is assuredly faulty. In¬

with Germany in particular: with regard to the

stead of Non. Februar. we may read Non. August.

latter, he quotes a work of M. Hanselman; but he

27. Hist. August, p. 238. [Vopisc. ib. c. 12.] It is

seems to confound the wall of Probus, designed

odd that the senate should treat Probus less fa¬

against the Alemanni, with the fortification of the

vourably than Marcus Antoninus. That prince had

Mattiaci, constructed in the neighbourhood of

received, even before the death of Pius, Jus quinta

Frankfort against the Catti.

relationis. See Capitolin. in Hist. August, p. 24 [in M. Anton, c. 6]. 28. See the dutiful letter of Probus to the senate after his German victories. Hist. August, p. 239. [Vopisc. Prob. c. 15.] 29. The date and duration of the reign of Pro¬

45. He distributed about fifty or sixty barba¬ rians to a Numerus, as it was then called, a corps with whose established number we are not exactly acquainted. 46. Camden’s Britannia, Introduction, p. 136; but he speaks from a very doubtful conjecture.

bus are very correctly ascertained by Cardinal

47; Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 68] p. 62. According to Vo¬

Noris in his learned work, De Epochis Syro-Mace-

piscus, another body of Vandals was less faithful.

donum, p. 96-105. A passage of Eusebius connects

48. Hist. August, p. 240. [Vopisc. Probus, c. 18.]

the second year of Probus with the eras of several

They were probably expelled by the Goths. Zosim.

of the Syrian cities.

1. i. [c. 71] p. 66.

30. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 239. [Prob. c. 16.] 31. Zosimus (1. i. [c. 69, sqq.] p. 62-65) tells us a

49. Hist. August, p. 240. [Vopisc. 1. c.] 50. Panegvr. Vet. v. 18. Zosimus, 1. i. [c. 71] p.

66.

Notes: Chapter xn 51. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 245, 246 [in Saturnino, c.

10]. The unfortunate orator had

707

emperor Carus and both his sons from the banquet of the Caesars.

studied rhetoric at Carthage; and was therefore

67. John Malala, tom. i. p. 401 [ed. Oxon.; p.

more probably a Moor (Zosim. 1. i. [c. 66] p. 60)

I29> ec*. Ven.; p. 303, ed. Bonn], But the authority

than a Gaul, as Vopiscus calls him.

of that ignorant Greek is very slight. He ridicu¬

52. Zonaras, 1. xii. [c. 29] p. 638 [ed. Par.; p. 609, ed. Bonn.]

lously derives from Carus the city of Carrhae and

53. A very surprising instance is recorded of the

the province of Caria, the latter of which is men¬ tioned by Homer.

prowess ol Proculus. He had taken one hundred

68. Hist. August, p. 249. [Vopisc. Carus, c. 5.]

Sarmatian virgins. The rest of the story he must relate in his own language: Ex his una nocte decern

Carus congratulated the senate that one of their own order was made emperor.

inivi; omnes tamen, quod in me erat, mulieres

69. Hist. August, p. 242. [Vopisc. Probus, c. 24.]

intra dies quindecim reddidi. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 246 [in Proculo, 12]. 54. Proculus, who was a native of Albengue on the Genoese coast, armed two thousand of his own slaves. His riches were great, but they were ac¬

70. See the first eclogue of Calphurnius. The de¬ sign of it is preferred by Fontenelle to that of Vir¬ gil’s Poliio. See tom. iii. p. 148. 71. Hist. August, p. 250. [Vopisc. Carus, c. 7.] Eutropius, ix. 18 [12]. Pagi, Annal.

quired by robbery. It was afterwards a saying of

72. Agathias, 1. iv. p. 135 [ed. Paris; p. 94, ed.

his family, sibi non placere esse vel principes vel

Ven.; c. 24, p. 261, ed. Bonn]. We find one of his

latrones. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 247 [in Pro¬ culo, 13].

sayings in the Bibliotheque Orientale of M. d’Her-

55. Hist. August, p. 240. [Vopisc. in Probo, c. 19.]

other virtues.” [Bahram did not succeed Arta-

56. Zosim. 1. i. [c. 71] p. 66.

belot. “The definition of humanity includes all xerxes. Three monarchs intervened.] 73. Synesius tells this story of Carinus; and it is

57. Hist. August, p. 236. [Vopisc. in Probo, c. 9.]

much more

58. Aurel. Victor, in Prob. [De Caesar, c. 37.]

than (as Petavius and Tillemont choose to do) of Probus.

But the policy of Hannibal, unnoticed by any

natural to understand it of Carus

more ancient writer, is irreconcilable with the his¬

74. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 250. [Vopisc.

tory of his life. He left Africa when he was nine

Carus, c. 8.] Eutropius, ix. 18 [12]. The two Victors.

years old, returned to it when he was forty-five,

75. To the Persian victory of Carus, I refer the

and immediately lost his army in the decisive bat¬

dialogue of the Philopatris, which has so long been

tle of Zama. Livius, xxx. 35.

an object of dispute among the learned. But to ex¬

59. Hist. August, p. 240. [Vopisc. Probus, c. 18.] Eutrop. ix. 17 [7]. Aurel. Victor, in Prob. Victor

plain and justify my opinion would require a dis¬ sertation.

Junior. He revoked the prohibition of Domitian,

76. Hist. August, p. 250. [Vopisc. Carus, c. 8.]

and granted a general permission of planting vines

Yet Eutropius, Festus Rufus, the two Victors, Je¬

to the Gauls, the Britons, and the Pannonians.

rome, Sidonius, Apollinaris, Syncellus, and Zo-

60. Julian [Cassares, p. 314] bestows a severe,

naras, all ascribe the death of Carus to lightning.

and indeed excessive, censure on the rigour of

77. See Nemesian. Cynegeticon, v. 71, etc.

Probus, who, as he thinks, almost deserved his fate.

78. See Festus and his commentators, on the

61. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 241 [in Probo,

word Scribonianum. Places struck by lightning were

c. 20]. He lavishes on this idle hope a large stock of

surrounded with a wall; things were buried with

very foolish eloquence.

mysterious ceremony.

62. Turris ferrata. It seems to have been a mov¬ able tower, and cased with iron. 63. [Hie] Probus, et vere probus situs est; Victor omnium gentium Barbararum: victor etiam tyrannorum. [Vopisc. Prob. c. 21]

79. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 250. [Carus, c. 9] Aurelius Victor seems to believe the prediction, and to approve the retreat. 80. Nemesian. Cynegeticon, v. 69. He was a contemporary, but a poet.

64. Yet all this may be conciliated. He was born

81. Cancellarius. This word, so humble in its ori¬

at Narbonne in Illyricum, confounded by Eutro-

gin, has by a singular fortune risen into the title of

pius with the more famous city of that name in

the first great office of state in the monarchies of

Gaul. His father might be an African, and his

Europe. See Casaubon and Salmasius, ad Hist.

mother a noble Roman. Carus himself was edu¬

August, p. 253. [Vopisc. Carinus, c. 15.]

cated in the capital. See Scaliger, Animadversion, ad Euseb. Chron. p. 241.

82. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 253, 254 [id. ib. c. 15, 16]. Eutropius, ix. 19 [13]. Victor Junior.

65. Probus had requested of the senate an eques¬

The reign of Diocletian indeed was so long and

trian statue and a marble palace, at the public ex¬

prosperous, that it must have been very unfavour¬

pense, as a just recompense of the singular merit of

able to the reputation of Carinus.

Carus. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 249 [in Caro, c. 6].

83. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 255 [in Carino, 19]. He calls him Carus, but the sense is sufficient¬

66. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 242, 249 [in

ly obvious, and the words were often confounded.

Probo, c. 24; in Caro, c. 3]. Julian excludes the

84. See Calphurnius, Eclog. vii. 43. We may ob-

708

Notes: Chapter xm

serve that the spectacles of Probus were still recent,

97.

85. The philosopher Montaigne (Essays, iii. 6) gives a very just and lively view of Roman magnif¬

Balteus en gemmis, en inlita porticus auro Certatim radiant, etc. Calphurn. vii. [v.

and that the poet is seconded by the historian.

47-] 98. Et Martis vultus et Apollinis esse putavi, says Calphurnius [Eel. vii. 83]; but John Malala, who

icence in these spectacles. 86. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 240. [Probus,

had perhaps seen pictures of Carinus, describes

c. 19.] 87. They are called Onagri; but the number is

him as thick, short, and white, tom. i. p. 403.

too inconsiderable for mere wild asses. Cuper (de

games were celebrated, Scaliger, Salmasius, and

99. With regard to the time when these Roman

Elephantis Exercitat. ii. 7) has proved from Op-

Cuper have given themselves a great deal of trouble

pian, Dion, and an anonymous Greek, that zebras

to perplex a very clear subject.

had been seen at Rome. They were brought from some island of the ocean, perhaps Madagascar.

100. Nemesianus (in the Cynegeticon [v. 80, sqq.j) seems to anticipate in his fancy that aus¬

phurn. Eclog. vii. 66). In the latter spectacles I do

picious day. 101. He won all the crowns from Nemesianus,

not recollect any crocodiles, of which Augustus

with whom he vied in didactic poetry. The senate

once exhibited thirty-six. Dion Cassius, 1. lv. [c.

erected a statue to the son of Carus, with a very

88. Carinus gave an hippopotamus (see Cal-

ambiguous inscription, “To the most powerful of

10] p. 781. 89. Gapitolin. in Hist. August, p.

164,

165.

[Gordian. III. c. 33.] We are not acquainted with

orators.” See Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 251 [Numerian. c. 11.]

the animals which he calls archeleontes; some read

102. A more natural cause, at least, than that

argoleontes, others agrioleontes: both corrections are

assigned by Vopiscus (Hist. August, p. 251 [Nu¬

very nugatory.

merian, c. 12]), incessantly weeping for his father’s

90. Plin. Hist. Natur. viii. 6, from the annals of

death. 103. In the Persian war Aper was suspected of a

Piso. 91. See Maffei, Verona Illustrata, p. iv. 1. i. c. 2.

design to betray Carus. Hist. August, p. 250. [Vo¬

92. Maffei, 1. ii. c. 2. The height was very much

piscus, Carus, c. 8.]

exaggerated by the ancients. It reached almost to

104. We are obliged to the Alexandrian Chron¬

the heavens, according to Calphurnius (Eclog. vii.

icle, p. 274, for the knowledge of the time and

23); and surpassed the ken of human sight, accord¬

place where Diocletian was elected emperor.

ing to Ammianus Marcellinus (xvi. 10). Yet how trifling to

the great pyramid of Egypt, which

105. Hist. August, p. 251. [Vopisc. Numer. c. 12.] Eutrop. ix. 88 [c. 12]. Hieronym. in Chron.

rises 500 feet perpendicular! [The height was 157

According to these judicious writers, the death of

feet.]

Numerian was discovered by the stench of his dead

93. According to different copies of Victor, we read 77,000 or 87,000 spectators; but Maffei (1. ii. c. 12) finds room on the open seats for no more than 34,000. The remainder were contained in the upper covered galleries.

body. Could no aromatics be found in the Imperial household? 106. Aurel. Victor. [De Caesar, c. 39.] Eutropius, ix. 20 [c. 13]. Hieronym. in Chron. 107. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 252. [Numer.

94. See Maffei, 1. ii. c. 5-12. He treats the very

c. 13.] The reason why Diocletian killed Aper (a

difficult subject with all possible clearness, and

wild boar) was founded on a prophecy and a pun,

like an architect as well as an antiquarian.

as foolish as they are well known. [Vopisc. 1. c.]

95. Calphurn. Eclog. vii. 64-73. These lines are

108. Eutropius [lib. ix. c. 13] marks its situation

curious, and the whole eclogue has been of infinite

very accurately; it was between the Mons Aureus

use to Maffei. Calphurnius, as well as Martial (see

and Viminiacum. M. d’Anville (Geographic An-

his first book), was a poet; but when they described

cienne, tom. i. p. 304) places Margus at Kastolatz

the amphitheatre, they both wrote from their own

in Servia, a little below Belgrade and Semendria.

senses, and to those of the Romans.

109. Hist. August, p. 254. [Vopisc. Carin. c. 17.]

96. Consult Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 16, xxxvii. 11.

Eutropius, ix. 20 [13]. Aurelius Victor. Victor in Epitome.

Chapter XIII 1. Eutrop. ix. 19 [13]. Victor in Epitome [c. 39].

esty of Diocletianus. He likewise assumed the Pa¬

The town seems to have been properly called

trician name of Valerius, and it is usually given him by Aurelius Victor.

Doclia, from a small tribe of Illyrians (see Cellarius, Geograph. Antiqua, tom. i. p. 393); and the

2. See Dacier on the sixth satire of the second

original name of the fortunate slave was probably Docles; he first lengthened it to the Grecian har¬

book of Horace. Cornel. Nepos, in Vit. Eumen. c. 1.

mony of Diodes, and at length to the Roman maj¬

3. Lactantius (or whoever was the author of the

Notes: Chapter xra

709

little treatise De Mortibus Persecutorum) accuses

16. The general name of Bagauda (in the signifi¬

Diocletian of timidity in two places, c. 7, 8. In chap.

cation of Rebels) continued till the fifth century in

9 he says of him, “erat in omni tumultu meticulosus et animi disjectus.” 4. In this enconium Aurelius Victor seems to

Gaul. Some critics derive it from a Celtic word, Bagad, a tumultuous assembly. Scaliger ad Euseb. Du Cange Glossar.

convey a just, though indirect, censure of the cruel¬

17. Chronique de Froissart, vol. i. c. 182, ii. 73,

ty of Constantius. It appears from the Fasti that

79. The naivete of his story is lost in our best mod¬ ern writers.

Aristobolus remained praefect of the city, and that he ended with Diocletian the consulship which he had commenced with Carinus. 5. Aurelius Victor styles Diocletian “Parentem potius quam Dominum.”

[De Caesar.

18. Caesar de Bell. Gallic, vi. 13. Orgetorix, the Helvetian, could arm for his defence a body of ten thousand slaves.

39.] See

19. Their oppression and misery are acknowl¬

Hist. August, p. 30. [Capitol. M. Anton. Phil. c.

edged by Eumenius (Panegyr. vi. 8), Gallias efferatas injuriis.

!9-] 6. The question of the time when Maximian re¬ ceived the honours of Cassar and Augustus has di¬

20. Panegyr. Vet. Caesar, c. 39].

ii.

4.

Aurelius Victor

[de

vided modern critics and given occasion to a great

21. Tilianus and Amandus. We have medals

deal of learned wrangling. I have followed M. de

coined by them. Goltzius in Thes. R. A. p. 117, 121.

Tillemont (Histoire des Empereurs, tom. iv. p.

22. Levibus proeliis domuit. Eutrop. ix. qo [13].

500—505), who has weighed the several reasons and difficulties with his scrupulous accuracy. 7. In an oration delivered before him (Panegyr. Vet. i. 8) Mamertinus expresses a doubt whether

23. The fact rests indeed on very slight authority, a Life of St. Babolinus, which is probably of the seventh century. See Duchesne Scriptores Rer. Francicar. tom. i. p. 662.

his hero, in imitating the conduct of Hannibal and

24. Aurelius Victor [de Caesar, c. 39] calls them

Scipio, had ever heard of their names. From thence

Germans. Eutropius (ix. 21 [13]) gives them the

we may fairly infer that Maximian was more de¬

name of Saxons. But Eutropius lived in the ensu¬

sirous of being considered as a soldier than as a

ing century, and seems to use the language of his

man of letters: and it is in this manner that we can

own times.

often translate the language of flattery into that of truth. 8. Lactantius de M. P. c. 8. Aurelius Victor [de

25. The three expressions of Eutropius [ix. 13], Aurelius Victor [de Caesar. 39], and Eumenius, “vilissime natus,” “Bataviae alumnus,” and “Me-

Cassar. c. 39]. As among the Panegyrics we find

napiae civis,” gives us a very doubtful account of

orations pronounced in praise of Maximian, and

the birth of Carausius. Dr. Stukely however (Hist,

others which flatter his adversaries at his expense,

of Carausius, p. 62), chooses to make him a native

we derive some knowledge from the contrast. 9. See the second and third Panegyrics, partic¬ ularly iii. [ii.] 3, 10, 14; but it would be tedious to copy the diffuse and affected expressions of their false eloquence. With regard to the titles, consult Aurel. Victor, Lactantius de M. P. c. 52. Spanheim de Usu Numismatum, etc. Dissertat. xii. 8.

of St. David’s and a prince of the blood royal of Britain. The former idea he had found in Richard of Cirencester, p. 44. 26. Panegyr. v. 12. Britain at this time was se¬ cure, and slightly guarded. 27. Panegyr. Vet. v. 11, vii. 9. The orator Eu¬ menius wished to exalt the glory of the hero (Con¬

10. Aurelius Victor. Victor in Epitome. Eutrop.

stantius) with the importance of the conquest.

ix. 22 [14]. Lactant. de M. P. c. 7. Hieronym. in

Notwithstanding our laudable partiality for our

Chron.

native country, it is difficult to conceive that, in

11. It is only among the modern Greeks that

the beginning of the fourth century, England de¬

Tillemont can discover his appellation of Chlorus.

served all these commendations. A century and a

Any remarkable degree of paleness seems incon¬

half before it hardly paid its own establishment.

sistent with the rubor mentioned in Panegyric v. 19.

See Appian in Prooem.

12. Julian, the grandson of Constantius, boasts

28. As a great number of medals of Carausius

that his family was derived from the warlike Mae-

are still preserved, he is become a very favourite

sians. Misopogon, p. 348. The Dardanians dwelt

object of antiquarian curiosity, and every circum¬

on the edge of Maesia.

stance of his life and actions has been investigated

13. Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of

with sagacious accuracy. Dr. Stukely in particular

Diocletian; if we speak with strictness, Theodora,

has devoted a large volume to the British emperor.

the wife of Constantius, was daughter only to the

I have used his materials, and rejected most of his

wife of Maximian. Spanheim, Dissertat. xi. 2.

fanciful conjectures.

14. This division agrees with that of the four

29. When Mamertinus pronounced his first pan¬

prefectures; yet there is some reason to doubt

egyric the naval preparations of Maximian were

whether Spain was not a province of Maximian.

completed; and the orator presaged an assured

See Tillemont, tom. iv. p. 517.

victory. His silence in the second panegyric might

15. Julian in Caesarib. p. 315. Spanheim’s notes to the French translation, p. 122.

alone inform us that the expedition had not suc¬ ceeded.

7io

Notes: Chapter xm

30. Aurelius Victor, Eutropius, and the medals

assures us that Egypt was pacified by the clemency

(Pax Augg.), inform us of this temporary recon¬ ciliation; though I will not presume (as Dr. Stuke-

of Diocletian. 45. Eusebius (in Chron. [An. CCXCIII.]) places

ly has done, Medallic History of Carausius, p. 86,

their destruction several years sooner, and at a

etc.) to insert the identical articles of the treaty.

time when Egypt itself was in a state of rebellion

obtain a few hints from Aurelius Victor and Eu¬

against the Romans. 46. Strabo, 1. xvii. p. 819. Pomponius Mela, 1. i.

tropius.

c. 4. His words are curious: “Intra, si credere libet,

31. With regard to the recovery of Britain, we

32. John Malala, in Chron. Antiochen. tom. i.

vix

homines

magisque

р. 408, 409 [ed. Oxon.; p. 132, ed. Ven.; p. 308,

Blemmyes, et ‘Satyri.’ ”

ed. Bonn], 33. Zosim. 1. i. p. 3 [1. ii. c. 34]. That partial his¬

arna Romana.

torian seems to celebrate the vigilance of Diocle¬

semiferi;

/Egipanes,

et

47. Ausus sese inserere fortunae et provocare 48. See Procopius de Bell. Persic. 1. i. c. 19.

tian, with a design of exposing the negligence of

49. He fixed the public allowance of corn for the

Constantine; we may, however, listen to an orator:

people of Alexandria at two millions of medimni;

“Nam quid ego alarum et cohortium castra per-

about four hundred thousand quarters. Chron.

censeam, toto Rhcni et Istri et Euphratis limite

Paschal, p. 276. Procop. Hist. Arcan. c. 26. 50. John Antioch, in Excerp. Valesian, p. 834.

restituta.” Panegyr. Vet. iv. 18. 34. Ruunt omnes in sanguinem suum populi,

Suidas in Diocletian.

quibus non contigit esse Romanis, obstinataeque

51. See a short history and confutation of Al-

feritatis pcenas nunc sponte persolvunt. Panegyr.

chymy, in the works of that philosophical com¬

Vet. iii. 16. Mamertinus illustrates the fact by the

piler, La Mothe le Vayer, tom. i. p. 327-353.

example of almost all the nations of the world.

52. See the education and strength of Tiridates

35. He complained, though not with the strict¬

in the Armenian history of Moses of Chorene, 1. ii.

est truth, “Jam fluxisse annos quindecim in qui¬

c. 76. He could seize two wild bulls by the horns

bus, in Illyrico, ad ripam Danubii relegatus cum

and break them off with his hands.

gentibus barbaris luctaret.” Lactant. de M. P.

с. 18.

53. If we give credit to the younger Victor [Epit. 41], who supposes that in the year 323 Licinius

36. In the Greek text of Eusebius we read six

was only sixty years of age, he could scarcely be

thousand, a number which I have preferred to the

the same person as the patron of Tiridates; but we

sixty thousand of Jerome, Orosius, Eutropius, and

know from much better authority (Euseb. Hist.

his Greek translator Paeanius.

Ecclesiast. 1. x. c. 8) that Licinius was at that time

37. Panegyr. Vet. vii. 21.

in the last period of old age: sixteen years before,

38. There was a settlement of the Sarmatians in

he is represented with grey hairs and as the con¬

the neighbourhood of Treves, which seems to have

temporary of Galerius. See Lactant. c. 32. Lucin-

been deserted by those lazy barbarians; Ausonius

ius was probably born about the year 250.

speaks of them in his Mosella [v. 5, sqq.\:— Unde iter ingrediens nemorosa per avia

54. See the sixty-second and sixty-third books of Dion Cassius [1. lxiii. c. 5]. 55. Moses of Chorene, Hist. Armen. 1. ii. c. 74.

solum, Et nulla humani spectans vestigia cultus;

The statues had been erected by Valarsaces, who reigned in Armenia about 130 years before Christ,

Arvaque Sauromatum nuper metata colonis.

and was the first king of the family of Arsaces (see

There was a town of the Carpi in the Lower Maesia.

Moses, Hist. Armen. 1. ii. 2, 3). The deification of

39. See the rhetorical exultation of Eumenius.

the Arsacides is mentioned by Justin (xli. 5) and

Panegyr. vii. 9.

by Ammianus Marcellinus (xxiii. 6).

40. Scaliger (Animadvers. ad Euseb. p. 243) de¬

56. The Armenian nobility was numerous and

cides, in his usual manner, that the Quinquegen-

powerful. Moses mentions many families which

tiani, or five African nations, were the five great

were distinguished under the reign of Valarsaces

cities, the Pentapolis of the inoffensive province of

(1. ii. 7), and which still subsisted in his own time,

Cyrene. 41. After his defeat Julian stabbed himself with

about the middle of the fifth century. See the preface of his editors.

a dagger, and immediately leaped into the flames. Victor in Epitome [c. 39].

the os patulum like other women. (Hist. Armen. 1.

42. Tu ferocissimos Mauritaniae populos inaccessis montium jugis et naturali munitione fidentes, expugnasti,

recepisti, transtulisti.

57. She was named Chosroiduchta, and had not ii. c. 79.) I do not understand the expression. 58. In the Armenian History (1. ii. 78), as well

Panegyr.

as in the Geography (p. 367), China is called Ze-

43. See the description of Alexandria in Hirtius

tion of silk, by the opulence of the natives, and by

Vet. vi. 8. de Bell. Alexandrin, c. 5. 44. Eutrop. ix. 24 [15]. Orosius, vii. 25. John

nia, or Zenastan. It is characterised by the produc¬ their love of peace, above all the other nations of the earth.

Malala in Chron. Antioch, p. 409, 410 [ed. Oxon.;

59. Vou-ti, the first emperor of the seventh dy¬

p. 132, ed. Ven.; p. 309, ed. Bonn]. Yet Eumenius

nasty, who then reigned in China, had political

Notes: Chapter

xiii

711

transactions with Fergana, a province of Sogdi-

ity in morals as well as in arms. Eutrop. ix. 24. But

ana, and is said to have received a Roman embassy

this respect and gratitude of enemies is very seldom

(Histoire des Huns, tom. i. p. 38). In those ages

to be found in their own accounts.

the Chinese kept a garrison at Kashgar, and one of

74. The account of the negotiation is taken from

their generals, about the time of Trajan, marched

the fragments of Peter the Patrician, in the Ex-

as far as the Caspian Sea. With regard to the inter¬

cerpta Legationum published in the Byzantine

course between China and the western countries, a

Collection.

curious memoir of M. de Guignes may be con¬

very evident, by the nature of his materials, that

sulted, in the Academie des Inscriptions, tom.

they are drawn from the most authentic and re¬

x*ii- P- 35560. See Hist. Armen. 1. ii. c. 81.

spectable writers.

Peter lived under Justinian; but it is

75. Adeo Victor (says Aurelius [de Caesar, c. 39])

61. Ipsos Persas ipsumque Regem ascitis Sacis,

ut ni Valerius, cujus nutu omnia gerebantur, ab-

et Rufiis, et Gellis, petit frater Ormies. Panegyric.

nuisset, Romani fasces in provinciam novam fer-

Vet. iii. [ii.] 17. The Sacae were a nation of wan¬

rentur. Verum pars terrarum tamen nobis utilior

dering

quaesita.

Scythians,

who

encamped

towards

the

sources of the Oxus and the Jaxartes. The Gelli

76. He had been governor of Sumium (Pet. Pa-

were the inhabitants of Ghilan, along the Caspian

tricius in Excerpt. Legat. p. 30) [ed. Paris; p. 21,

Sea, and who so long, under the name of Dilemites,

ed. Ven.; p. 135, ed. Bonn]. This province seems

infested the Persian monarchy. See D’Herbelot,

to be mentioned by Moses of Chorene (Geograph,

Bibliotheque Orientale.

p. 360), and lay to the east of Mount Ararat.

62. Moses of Chorene takes no notice of this

77. By an error of the geographer Ptolemy, the

second revolution, which I have been obliged to

position of Singara is removed from the Aboras to

collect from a passage of Ammianus Marcellinus

the Tigris, which may have produced the mistake

(1. xxiii. c. 5). Lactantius speaks of the ambition of

of Peter in assigning the latter river for the boun¬

Narses: “Concitatus domesticis exemplis avi sui

dary instead of the former. The line of the Roman

Saporis ad occupandum orientem magnis copiis

frontier traversed, but never followed, the course

inhiabat.” De Mort. Persecut. c. 9.

of the Tigris.

63. We may readily believe that Lactantius as¬

78. Procopius de zEdificiis, 1. ii. c. 6.

cribes to cowardice the conduct of Diocletian. Ju¬

79. Three of the provinces, Zabdicene, Arza-

lian, in his oration, says that he remained with ail

nene, and Carduene, are allowed on all sides. But

the forces of the empire; a very hyperbolical ex¬

instead of the other two, Peter (in Excerpt Leg. p.

pression.

30) inserts Rehimene and Sophene. I have pre¬

64. Our five abbreviators, Eutropius, Festus, the

ferred Ammianus (1. xxv. 7), because it might be

two Victors, and Orosius, all relate the last and

proved that Sophene was never in the hands of the

great battle; but Orosius is the only one who

Persians, either before the reign of Diocletian or

speaks of the two former.

after that of Jovian. For want of correct maps, like

65. The nature of the country is finely described

those of M. d’Anviile, almost all the moderns,

by Plutarch, in the Life of Crassus; and by Xeno¬

with Tillemont and Valesius at their head, have

phon, in the first book of the Anabasis. 66. See Foster’s Dissertation in the second vol¬ ume of the translation of the Anabasis by Spelman; which I will venture to recommend as one of the best versions extant.

imagined that it was in respect to Persia, and not to Rome, that the five provinces were situate be¬ yond the Tigris. 80. Xenophon’s Anabasis,

1.

iv.

[c.

3

init.]

Their bows were three cubits in length, their ar¬

67. Hist. Armen. 1. ii. c. 76. I have transferred

rows two; they rolled down stones that were each a

this exploit of Tiridates from an imaginary defeat

waggonload. The Greeks found a great many vil¬

to the real one of Galerius.

lages in that rude country.

68. Ammian. Marcellin. 1. xiv. [c. 11.] The mile,

81. According to Eutropius (vi. g, as the text is

in the hands of Eutropius (ix. 24 [15]), of Festus

represented by the best MSS.), the city of Tigra-

(c. 25), and of Orosius (vii. 25), easily increased to

nocerta was in Arzanene. The names and situation

several miles. 6g. Aurelius Victor. Jornandes de Rebus Geti-

of the other three may be faintly traced.

cis, c. 21. 70. Aurelius Victor [de Caesar, c. 39] says, “Per

Chorenens. Hist. Armen. 1. ii. c. 84, and the map

Armenian in hostes contendit, quae ferme sola,

82. Compare Herodotus, 1. i. c. 98, with Moses of Armenia given by his editors. 83. Hiberi, locorum potentes, Caspia via Sar-

seu facilior vincendi via est.” He followed the con¬

matam

duct of Trajan and the idea of Julius Caesar.

Annal. vi. 33. See Strabon. Geograph. 1. xi. p.

in

Armenios raptim effundunt. Tacit.

that reason the Persian cavalry encamped sixty

500. 84. Peter Patricius (in Excerpt. Leg. p. 30 [ed.

stadia from the enemy. 72. The story is told by Ammianus, 1. xxii. In¬

writer who mentions the Iberian article of the

71. Xenophon’s Anabasis, 1. iii. [c. 4, § 35.] For

stead of saccwn some read scutum. 73. The Persians confessed the Roman superior¬

Paris; p. 21, ed. Ven; p. 135, ed. Bonn]) is the only treaty. 85. Euseb. in Chron. Pagi ad annum. Till the

712

Notes: Chapter xm

discovery of the treatise De Mortibus Persecutorum, it was not certain that the triumph and the Vicennalia were celebrated at the same time.

96. See the Theodosian Code, 1. vi. tit. ii. with Godefroy’s commentary. 97. See the 12th dissertation in Spanheim’s ex¬

86. At the time of the Vicennalia, Galerius

cellent work de Usu Numismatum. From medals,

seems to have kept his station on the Danube. See

inscriptions, and historians, he examines every

Lactant. de M. P. c. 38. 87. Eutropius (ix. 27 [16]) mentions them as a

title separately, and traces it from Augustus to the moment of its disappearing.

part of the triumph. As the persons had been re¬

98. Pliny (in Panegyr. c. 3, 55, etc.) speaks of

stored to Narses, nothing more than their images

Dominus with execration, as synonymous to Ty¬

could be exhibited.

rant, and opposite to Prince. And the same Pliny

88. Livy gives us a speech of Camillus on that

regularly gives that title (in the tenth book of the

subject (v. 51-54), full of eloquence and sensibility,

epistles) to his friend rather than master, the virtu¬

in opposition to a design of removing the seat of

ous Trajan. This strange contradiction puzzles the

government from Rome to the neighbouring city

commentators who think, and the translators who

of Veii.

can write.

89. Julius Caesar was reproached with the inten¬

99. Synesius de Regno, edit. Petav. p. 15. I am

tion of removing the empire to Ilium or Alexan¬

indebted for this quotation to the Abbe de la

dria. See Sueton. in Caesar, c. 79. According to the

Bleterie.

ingenious conjecture of Le Fevre and Dacier, the

100. See Van Dale de Consecratione, p. 354, etc.

third ode of the third book of Horace was intended

It was customary for the emperors to mention (in

to divert Augustus from the execution of a similar

the preamble of laws) their numen, sacred majesty,

design.

divine oracles, etc. According to Tillemont, Gregory

90. See Aurelius Victor [de Cassar. c. 39], who

Nazianzen complains most bitterly of the profana¬

likewise mentions the buildings erected by Maxi-

tion, especially when it was practised by an Arian

mian at Carthage, probably during the Moorish

emperor.

war. We shall insert some verses of Ausonius de Clar. Urb. v.:— Et Mediolani mira omnia: copia rerum;

101. See Spanheim de Usu Numismat. Dissert, xii. 102. Aurelius Victor. Eutropius, ix. 26 [16]. It

Innumerae cultaeque domus; facunda virorum

appears by the Panegyrists that the Romans were

Ingenia, et mores laeti: turn duplice muro

soon reconciled to the name and ceremony of

Amplificata loci species; populique voluptas

adoration.

Circus; et inclusi moles cuneata Theatri;

103. The innovations introduced by Diocletian

Templa, Palatinaeque arces, opulensque Moneta,

are chiefly deduced, 1st, from some very strong

Et regio Herculei Celebris sub honore lavacri.

passages in Lactantius; and, secondly, from the

Conctaque marmoreis ornata Peristyla signis;

new and various offices which, in the Theodosian

Moeniaque in valli formam circumdata labro,

code, appear already established in the beginning of

Omnia quae magnis operum velut asmula formis

the reign of Constantine.

Excellunt: nec juncta premit vicinia Romae. 91. Lactant. de M. P. c. 17. Libanius, Orat. vi. p. 203 [ed. Morell. Paris, 1627].

104. Lactant. de M. P. c. 7. 105. Indicta lex nova quae sane illorum temporum modestia tolerabilis, in perniciem processit.

92. Lactant. de M. P. c. 17. On a similar occa¬

Aurel. Victor [de Caesar, c. 39]; who has treated

sion, Ammianus mentions the dicacitasplebis as not

the character of Diocletian with good sense, though

very agreeable to an Imperial ear. (See 1. xvi. c.

in bad Latin.

10.) [Ammianus just says the opposite: “dicacitate plebis oblectabatur” (about Constantius)]. 93. Lactantius accuses Maximian of destroying fictis criminationibus lumina senatus (de M. P. c. 8). Aurelius Victor speaks very doubtfully of the faith of Diocletian towards his friends. 94. Truncatse vires urbis, imminuto praetoriarum cohortium atque in armis vulgi numero. Au¬

106. Solus omnium, post conditum Romanum Imperium, qui ex tanto fastigio sponte ad privatae vitae statum civilitatemque remearet. Eutrop. ix. 28 [16]. 107. The particulars of the journey and illness are taken from Lactantius (c. 17), who may some¬ times be admitted as an evidence of public facts, though very seldom of private anecdotes.

relius Victor [de Caesar, c. 39]. Lactantius attrib¬

108. Aurelius Victor [de Caesar, c. 3g] ascribes

utes to Galerius the prosecution of the same plan

the abdication, which had been so variously ac¬

(c. 26).

counted for, to two causes; first, Diocletian’s con¬

95. They were old corps stationed in Illyricum;

tempt of ambition; and secondly, his apprehen¬

and, according to the ancient establishment, they

sion of impending troubles. One of the

each consisted of six thousand men. They had ac¬

gyrists (vi. [v.] 9) mentions the age and infirmities

quired much reputation by the use of the plum-

of Diocletian as a very natural reason for his re¬

batae, or darts loaded with lead. Each soldier car¬

tirement.

pane¬

ried five of these, which he darted from a consider¬

109. The difficulties as well as mistakes attend¬

able distance with great strength and dexterity.

ing the dates both of the year and of the day of

See Vegetius, i. 17.

Diocletian’s abdication are perfectly cleared up by

Notes: Chapter xiv

713

Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 525,

at Spalatro; and that an experimental farm has

note 19, and by Pagi ad annum.

lately been established near the city by a society

110. See Panegyr. Veter, vi. [v.] 9. The oration was pronounced after Maximian had reassumed the purple.

of gentlemen. 118. Constantin. Orat. ad Coetum Sanct. c. 25. In this sermon, the emperor, or the bishop who

in. Eumenius pays him a very fine compli¬ ment: “At enim divinum ilium virum, qui primus imperium et participavit et posuit, consilii et facti sui non poenitet; nec amisisse se putat quod sponte transcripsit. Felix beatusque vere quem vestra, tantorum principum, colunt obsequia privatum.” Pa¬ negyr. Vet. vii. [vi.] 15.

composed it for him, affects to relate the miserable end of all the persecutors of the church. 119. Constantin. Porphyr. de Statu Imper. p. 86 [ed. Paris; vol. iii. p. 125, ed. Bonn], 120. D’Anville, Geographic Ancienne, tom. i. p. 162. 121. Messieurs Adam and Clerisseau, attended

112. We are obliged to the younger Victor [Epit.

by two draughtsmen, visited Spalatro in the month

c. 39] for this celebrated bon mot. Eutropius [1. ix.

of July, 1757. The magnificent work which their

c. 16] mentions the thing in a more general manner.

journey produced was published in London seven

113. Hist. August, p. 223, 224. [Vopisc. Aurel. c. 43.] Vopiscus had learned this conversation from his father.

years afterwards. 122. I shall quote the words of the Abate Fortis. “E’bastevolmente nota agli amatori dell’ Archi-

114. The younger Victor [Epit. c. 39] slightly

tettura,

e

dell’

Antichita,

l’opera

del

Signor

mentions the report. But as Diocletian had dis¬

Adams, che a donato molto a que’ superbi vestigi

obliged a powerful and successful party, his mem¬

coll’ abituale eleganza del suo toccalapis e del

ory has been loaded with every crime and misfor¬

bulino. In generale la rozzezza del scalpello, e’l

tune. It has been affirmed that he died raving

cattivo gusto del secolo vi gareggiano colla magni-

mad, that he was condemned as a criminal by the

ficenza del fabricato.” See Viaggio in Dalmazia,

Roman senate, etc.

p. 40.

115. See the Itiner. p. 269, 272, edit. Wessel.

123. The orator Eumenius was secretary to the

116. The Abate Fortis, in his Viaggio in Del-

emperors Maximian and Constantius, and Profes¬

mazia, p. 43 (printed at Venice in the year 1774,

sor of Rhetoric in the college of Autun. His salary

in two small volumes in quarto), quotes a MS. ac¬

was six hundred thousand sesterces, which, ac¬

count of the antiquities of Salona, composed by

cording to the lowest computation of that age,

Giambattista Giustiniani about the middle of the

must have exceeded three thousand pounds a year. He generously requested the permission of employ¬

sixteenth century. 117. Adam’s Antiquities of Diocletian’s Palace

ing it in rebuilding the college. See his Oration De

at Spalatro, p. 6. We may add a circumstance or

Restaurandis Scholis [c. 11 ]; which, though not

two from the Abate Fortis: the little stream of the

exempt from vanity, may atone for his panegyrics.

Hyader, mentioned by Lucan, produces most ex¬

124. Porphyry died about the time of Diocle¬

quisite trout, which a sagacious writer, perhaps a

tian’s abdication. The life of his master Plotinus,

monk, supposes to have been one of the principal

which he composed, will give us the most complete

reasons that determined Diocletian in the choice of

idea of the genius of the sect and the manners of its

his retirement. Fortis, p. 45. The same author (p.

professors. This very curious piece is inserted in

38) observes that a taste for agriculture is reviving

Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, tom. iv. p. 88-148.

Chapter XIV 1. M. de Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur et la Decadence des Romains, c. 17)

ever he gave an entertainment, he was obliged to borrow a service of plate.

supposes, on the authority of Orosius and Euse¬

4. Lactantius de Mort. Persecutor, c. 18. Were

bius, that, on this occasion, the empire, for the

the particulars of this conference more consistent

first time, was really divided into two parts. It is

with truth and decency, we might still ask how

difficult, however, to discover in what respect the

they came to the knowledge of an obscure rhetori¬

plan of Galerius differed from that of Diocletian.

cian? But there are many historians who put us in

2. Hie non modo amabilis, sed etiam venerabilis

mind of the admirable saying of the great Conde

Gallis fuit; prascipue quod Diocletiani suspectam

to Cardinal de Retz: “Ces coquins nous font parler

prudentiam, et M^aximiani sanguinariam violen-

et agir comme ils auroient fait eux-memes a norte

tiam imperio ejus evaserant. Eutrop. Breviar. x. i. 3. Divitiis Provincialium (mel. provinciarum) ac

place.” 5. Sublatus nuper a pecoribus et silvis (says Lac¬

privatorum studens, fisci commoda non admodum

tantius de M. P. c. 19) statim Scutarius, continuo

affectans; ducensque melius publicas opes a priva-

Protector,

tis haberi, quam intra unum claustrum reservari.

cepit Orientem. Aurelius Victor is too liberal in

mox Tribunus,

postridie

Caesar, ac-

Id. ibid. He carried this maxim so far, that, when¬

giving him the whole portion of Diocletian.

714

Notes: Chapter xiv

6. His diligence and fidelity are acknowledged even by Lactantius, de M. P. c. 18. 7. These schemes, however, rest only on the

13. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 8] p. 78, 79. Lactantius de M. P. c. 24. The former tells a very foolish story, that Constantine caused all the post-horses which

very doubtful authority of Lactantius de M. P. c. 20.

he had used to be hamstrung. Such a bloody exe¬

8. This tradition, unknown to the contempora¬

cution, without preventing a pursuit, would have

ries of Constantine, was invented in the darkness of

scattered suspicions, and might have stopped his

monasteries, was embellished by Jeffrey of Mon¬ mouth and the writers of the twelfth century, has

journey. 14. Anonym, p.

been defended by our antiquarians of the last age,

But Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 9] p. 79, Eusebius de Vit.

710.

Panegyr. Veter, vii.

7.

and is seriously related in the ponderous History

Constant. 1. i. c. 21, and Lactantius de M. P. c. 24,

of England compiled by Mr. Carte (vol. i. p. 147).

suppose, with less accuracy, that he found his

He transports, however, the kingdom of Coil, the

father on his death-bed.

imaginary father of Helena, from Essex to the wall of Antoninus.

15. Cunctis qui aderant annitentibus, sed praecipue Croco (alii Eroco)

[Erich?] Alemannorum

9. Eutropius (x. 2) expresses, in a few words, the

Rege, auxilii gratia Constantium comitato, impe-

real truth, and the occasion of the error, “ex obscu-

rium capit. Victor Junior, c. 41. This is perhaps

riori matrimonio ejus filius.” Zosmius (1. ii. [c. 8] p.

the first instance of a barbarian king who assisted

78) eagerly seized the most unfavourable report,

the Roman arms with an independent body of his

and is followed by Orosius (vii. 25), whose author¬

own subjects. The practice grew familiar, and at

ity is oddly enough overlooked by the indefatigable

last became fatal.

but partial Tillemont. By insisting on the divorce

16. His panegyrist Eumenius (vii. 8) ventures to

of Helena, Diocletian acknowledged her marriage.

affirm, in the presence of Constantine, that he put

1 o. There are three opinions with regard to the

spurs to his horse, and tried, but in vain, to escape

place of Constantine’s birth. 1. Our English anti¬ quarians were used to dwell with rapture on the words of his panegyrist, “Britannias illic oriendo

from the hands of his soldiers. 17. Lactantius de M. P. c. 25. Eumenius (vii. 8) gives a rhetorical turn to the whole transaction.

nobiles fecisti.” But this celebrated passage may be

18. The choice of Constantine by his dying fath¬

referred with as much propriety to the accession as

er, which is warranted by reason, and insinuated

to the nativity of Constantine. 2. Some of the mod¬

by Eumenius, seems to be confirmed by the most

ern Greeks have ascribed the honour of his birth to

unexceptionable authority, the concurring evi¬

Drepanum, a town on the gulf of Nicomedia (Cel-

dence of Lactantius (de M. P. c. 24) and of Liba-

larius, tom. ii. p. 1 74), which Constantine dignified

nius (Oratio i.), of Eusebius (in Vit. Constantin. 1.

with the name of Helenopolis, and Justianian

i. c. 21) and of Julian (Oratio i. [p. 7]).

adorned with many splendid buildings (Procop. de

19. Of the three sisters of Constantine, Constan-

Edificiis, v. 2). It is indeed probable enough that

tia married the emperor Licinius, Anastasia the

Helena’s father kept an inn at Drepanum, and

Caesar Bassianus, and Eutropia the consul Nepo-

that Constantius might lodge there when he re¬

tianus. The three brothers were, Dalmatius, Julius

turned from a Persian embassy in the reign of

Constantius, and Annibalianus, of whom we shall

Aurelian. But in the wandering life of a soldier, the

have occasion to speak hereafter.

place of his marriage, and the places where his

20. See Gruter Inscrip, p. 178. The six princes

children are born, have very little connection with

are all mentioned, Diocletian and Maximian as

each other. 3. The claim of Naissus is supported by

the senior Augusti, and fathers of the emperors.

the anonymous writer, published at the end of

They jointly dedicate, for the use of their own Ro¬

Ammianus, p. 710 [vol. ii. p. 295, ed. Bip.], and

mans, this magnificent edifice. The architects have

who in general copied very good materials: and it

delineated the ruins of these Thermoe; and the anti¬

is confirmed by Julius Firmicus (de Astrologia, 1. i.

quarians, particularly Donatus and Nardini, have

c. 4), who flourished under the reign of Constan¬

ascertained the ground which they covered. One

tine himself. Some objections have been raised

of the great rooms is now the Carthusian church;

against the integrity of the text, and the applica¬

and even one of the porter’s lodges is sufficient to

tion of the passage, of Firmicus; but the former is

form

established by the best MSS., and the latter is very

Feuillans.

another

church,

which

belongs

to

the

ably defended by Lipsius de Magnitudine Ro-

21. See Lactantius de M. P. c. 26, 31.

mana, 1. iv. c. 11, et Supplement.

22. The sixth Panegyric represents the conduct

11. Literis minus instructus. Anonym, ad Ammian. p. 710. 12. Galerius, or perhaps his own courage, ex¬

of Maximian in the most favourable light; and the ambiguous expression of Aurelius Victor [de Cae¬ sar. c. 40], “retractante diu,” may signify either

posed him to single combat with a Sarmatian

that he contrived, or that he opposed, the con¬

(Anonym, p. 710), and with a monstrous lion. See

spiracy. See Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 9] p. 79, and Lactan¬

Praxagoras apud Photium, p. 63. Praxagoras, an

tius de M. P. c. 26.

Athenian philosopher, had written a life of Con¬

23. The circumstances of this war,

and the

stantine in two books, which are now lost. He was

death of Severus, are very doubtfully and variously

a contemporary.

told in our ancient fragments (see Tillemont, Hist.

Notes: Chapter xiv

715

des Empereurs, tom. iv. part. i. p. 555). I have en¬

nation of the purple, Constantine still continued

deavoured to extract from them a consistent and

to Maximian the pomp and honours of the Impe¬

probable narration.

rial dignity; and on all public occasions gave the

24. The sixth Panegyric was pronounced to cele¬ brate the elevation of Constantine; but the pru¬

right-hand place to his father-in-law. Panegyr. Vet. viii. 15.

dent orator avoids the mention either of Galerius

35. Zosim. 1. ii. [c. 11 ] p. 82. Eumenius in Panegyr.

or of Maxentius. He introduces only one slight

Vet. vii. 16-21. The latter of these has undoubted¬

allusion to the actual troubles, and to the majesty of Rome.

ly represented the whole affair in the most favour¬ able light for his sovereign. Yet even from this par¬

25. With regard to this negotiation, see the frag¬

tial narrative we may conclude that the repeated

ments of an anonymous historian, published by

clemency of Constantine, and the reiterated trea¬

Valesius at the end of his edition of Ammianus

sons of Maximian, as they are described by Lac¬

Marcellinus, p. 711. These fragments have fur¬

tantius (de M. P. c. 29, 30), and copied by the mod¬

nished us with several curious, and, as it should

erns, are destitute of any historical foundation.

seem, authentic anecdotes.

36. Aurelius Victor, c. 40. But that lake was situ¬

26. Lactantius de M. P. c. 27. The former of these

reasons

is

probably

taken

from

Virgil’s

ated on the upper Pannonia, near the borders of Noricum; and the province of Valeria (a name

Shepherd: “Illam . . . ego huic nostrae similem,

which the wife of Galerius gave to the drained

Melibcee, putavi, etc.” Lactantius delights in these

country) undoubtedly lay between the Drave and

poetical allusions.

the Danube (Sextus Rufus, c. 8). I should there¬

27. Castra super Tusci si ponere Tybridis undas (jubeas)

fore suspect that Victor has confounded the lake Pelso with the Volocean marshes, or, as they are

Hesperios audax veniam metator in agros. Tu quoscunque voles in planum effundere muros.

now called, the lake Sabaton. It is placed in the heart of Valeria, and its present extent is not less than twelve Hungarian miles (about seventy Eng¬

His aries actus disperget saxa lacertis;

lish) in length, and two in breadth. See Severini

Ilia licet penitus tolli quam jusseris urbem

Pannonia, 1. i. c. 9.

Lucan. Pharsal. i. 381.

37. Lactantius (de M. P. c. 33) and Eusebius (1.

28. Lactantius de M. P. c. 27. Zosim. 1. ii. [c. 10]

viii. c. 16) describe the symptoms and progress of

p. 82. The latter insinuates that Constantine, in

his disorder with singular accuracy and apparent

his interview with Maximian, had promised to de¬

pleasure.

Roma sit.

clare war against Galerius.

38. If any (like the late Dr. Jortin, Remarks on

29. M. de Tillemont (Hist, des Empereurs, tom.

Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 307-356) still de¬

iv. part. i. p. 559) has proved that Licinius, with¬

light in recording the wonderful deaths of the per¬

out

secutors, I would recommend to their perusal an

passing through the

intermediate rank of

Caesar, was declared Augustus, the nth of No¬

admirable passage of Grotius (Hist. 1. vii. p. 332)

vember, a.d. 307, after the return of Galerius from

concerning the last illness of Philip II. of Spain. 39. See Eusebius, 1. ix. 6, 10. Lactantius de M.

Italy. 30. Lactantius de M. P. c. 32. When Galerius declared Licinius Augustus with himself, he tried

P. c. 36. Zosimus is less exact, and evidently con¬ founds Maximian with Maximin.

to satisfy his younger associates, by inventing for

40. See the eighth Panegyr, in which Eumenius

Constantine and Maximin (not Maxentius, see Ba-

displays, in the presence of Constantine, the mis¬

luze, p. 81) the new title of sons of the Augusti. But

ery and the gratitude of the city of Autun.

when Maximin acquainted him that he had been

41. Eutropius, x. 2. Panegyr. Veter, vii. 10, 11,

saluted Augustus by the army, Galerius was ob¬

12. A great number of the French youth were like¬

liged to acknowledge him, as well as Constantine,

wise exposed to the same cruel and ignominious

as equal associates in the Imperial dignity.

death.

31. See Panegyr. Vet. vi. [v.] 9. Audi doloris

42. Julian excludes Maxentius from the banquet

nostri liberam vocem, etc. The whole passage is

of the Caesars with abhorrence and contempt; and

imagined with artful flattery, and expressed with

Zosimus (1. ii. [c. 14] p. 85) accuses him of every

an easy flow of eloquence.

kind of cruelty and profligacy.

32. Lactantius de M. P. c. 28. Zosim. 1. ii. [c. 11] p. 82. A report was spread that Maxentius was the

43. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 14] p. 83-85. Aurelius Vic¬ tor. [Caesar. 40.]

son of some obscure Syrian, and had been substi¬

44. The passage of Aurelius Victor (1. c.] should

tuted by the wife of Maximian as her own child.

be read in the following manner: Primus instituto

See Aurelius Victor [Epit. 40], Anonym. Valesian.

pessimo, munerum specie, Patres Oratoresque pecu-

[§12], and Panegyr. Vet. ix. 3, 4.

niam conferre prodigenti sibi cogeret.

pulsum, ab Italia fugatum, ab

45. Panegyr. Vet. ix. 3. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. viii.

Illyrico repudiatum, tuis provinciis, tuis copiis,

14, et in Vit. Constant, i. 33, 34. Rufinus, c. 17.

tuo palatio recepisti. Eumen. in Panegyr. Vet. vii.

The virtuous matron, who stabbed herself to es¬

[vi.] 14. 34. Lactantius de M. P. c. 29. Yet after the resig¬

cape the violence of Maxentius, was a Christian,

33. Ab urbe

wife to the praefect of the city, and her name was

716

Notes: Chapter xiv

Sophronia. It still remains a question among the

vincing manner, by M. Grosley, Observations sur

casuists, Whether, on such occasions, suicide is

l’ltalie, tom. i. p. 40, etc. 54. La Brunette

justifiable? 46. Praetorianis caedem vulgi quondam annuerit, is the vague expression of Aurelius Victor. [Caesar.

near Suse, Demont,

Exiles,

Fenestrelles, Coni, etc. 55. See Ammian, Marcellin. xv.

10. His de¬

40]. See more particular, though somewhat dif¬

scription of the roads over the Alps is clear, lively,

ferent, accounts of a tumult and massacre which

and accurate.

happened at Rome, in Eusebius (1. viii. c. 14), and 47. See in the Panegyrics (ix. 14) a lively de¬ scription

of the

indolence

56. Zosimus as well as Eusebius hasten from the passage of the Alps to the decisive action near

in Zosimus (1. ii. [c. 13] p. 84). and

vain

pride

of

Rome. We must apply to the two Panegyrics for the intermediate actions of Constantine.

Maxentius. In another place [ib. c. 3] the orator

57. The Marquis Maffei has examined the siege

observes that the riches which Rome had accumu¬

and battle of Verona with that degree of attention

lated in a period of 1060 years were lavished by the

and accuracy which was due to a memorable ac¬

tyrant on his mercenary bands; redemptis ad

tion that happened in his native country. The for¬

civile latrocinium manibus ingesserat.

tifications of that city, constructed by Gallienus,

48. After the victory of Constantine it was uni¬

were less extensive than the modern walls, and the

versally allowed that the motive of delivering the

amphitheatre was not included within their cir¬

republic from a detested tyrant would, at any

cumference. See Verona Illustrata, part. i. p. 142,

time,

Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. 1. i. c. 26. Panegyr. Vet.

15a 58. They wanted chains for so great a multitude

ix. 2.

of captives; and the whole council was at a loss;

have justified

his expedition

into

Italy.

49. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 14] p. 84, 85. Nazarius in

but the sagacious conqueror imagined the happy expedient of converting into fetters the swords of

Panegyr. x. 7-13. 50. See Panegyr. Vet. ix. [viii.] 2. Omnibus fere

the vanquished. Panegyr. Vet. ix. 9.

tuis Comitibus et Ducibus non solum tacite mus-

59. Panegyr. Vet. ix.

santibus, sed etiam aperte timentibus; contra con-

60. Literas calamitatum suarum indices suppri-

silia hominum, contra Haruspicum monita, ipse

10.

mebat. Panegyr. Vet. ix. 15.

per temet liberandae urbis tempus venisse sentires.

61. Remedia malorum potius quam mala diffe-

The embassy of the Romans is mentioned only by

rebat, is the fine censure which Tacitus passes on

Zonaras (1. xiii. [c. r.]), and by Cedrenus (in Com-

the supine indolence of Vitellius.

pend. Hist. p. 270 [ed. Paris; vol. i. p. 474, ed.

62. The Marquis Maffei has made it extremely

Bonn]); but those modern Greeks had the oppor¬

probable that Constantine was still at Verona, the

tunity of consulting many writers which have

1st of September, a.d. 312, and that the memora¬

since been lost, among which we may reckon the

ble era of the Indictions was dated from his con¬

Life

quest of the Cisalpine Gaul.

of

Constantine

by

Praxagoras.

Photius

(p. 63) has made a short extract from that histor¬ ical work.

63. See Panegyr. Vet. xi. 16 [ix. 14?]. Lactantius de M. P. c. 44.

51. Zosimus (1. ii. [c. 15] p. 86) has given us this

64. Illo die hostem Romanorum esse periturum.

curious account of the forces on both sides. He

[Lact. 1. c.] The vanquished prince became of

makes

course the enemy of Rome.

no

mention

of any

naval

armaments,

though we are assured (Panegyr. Vet. ix. 25) that

65. See Panegyr. Vet. ix. 16, x. 27. The former

the war was carried on by sea as well as by land;

of these orators magnifies the hoards of corn which

and that the fleet of Constantine took possession of

Maxentius had collected from Africa and the

Sardinia, Corsica, and the ports of Italy.

islands. And yet, if there is any truth in the scarcity

52. Panegyr. Vet. ix. 3. It is not surprising that the

orator should diminish the

numbers with

which his sovereign achieved the conquest of Italy;

mentioned by Eusebius (in Vit. Constantin. 1. i. c. 36), the Imperial granaries must have been open only to the soldiers.

but it appears somewhat singular that he should

66. Maxentius . . . tandem urbe in Saxa Rubra,

esteem the tyrant’s army at no more than 100,000

millia ferme novem asgerrime progressus. Aurelius

men.

Victor, [de Caesar. 40]. See Cellarius Geograph.

53. The three principal passages of the Alps be¬

Antiq. tom. i. p. 463. Saxa Rubra was in the

tween Gaul and Italy are those of Mount St. Ber¬

neighborhood of the Cremera, a trifling rivulet,

nard, Mount Cenis, and Mount Genevre. Tradi¬

illustrated by the valour and glorious death of the

tion, and a resemblance of names (Alpes Penning),

three hundred Fabii.

had assigned the first of these for the march of

67. The post which Maxentius had taken, with

Hannibal (see Simler de Alpibus). The Chevalier

the Tiber in his rear, is very clearly described by

de Folard (Polyb. tom. iv.) and M. d’Anville have

the two Panegyrists, ix. 16, x. 28.

led him over Mount Genevre. But notwithstand¬

68. Exceptis latrocinii illius primis auctoribus,

ing the authority of an experienced officer and a

qui desperata venia, locum quem pugnae sumpse-

learned geographer,

rant texere corporibus. Panegyr. Vet. ix. 17.

the pretensions of Mount

Cenis are supported in a specious, not to say a con¬

69. A very idle rumour soon prevailed, that

Notes: Chapter xiv Maxentius, who had not taken any precaution for

717

before the war the sister of Constantine had been

his own retreat, had contrived a very artful snare

betrothed to Licinius. According to the younger

to destroy the army of the pursuers; but that the

Victor [Epit. c. 39], Diocletian was invited to the

wooden bridge, which was to have been loosened

nuptials; but having ventured to plead his age and

on the approach of Constantine, unluckily broke

infirmities, he received a second letter filled with

down under the weight of the flying Italians. M. de

reproaches for his supposed partiality to the cause

Tillemont (Hist, des Empereurs, tom. iv. part i. p.

of Maxentius and Maximin.

576) very seriously examines whether, in contradic¬

79. Zosimus mentions the defeat and death of

tion to common sense, the testimony of Eusebius

Maximin as ordinary events; but Lactantius ex¬

and Zosimus ought to prevail over the silence of

patiates on them (de M. P. c. 45-50), ascribing

Lactantius, Nazarius, and the anonymous but con¬

them to the miraculous interposition of Heaven.

temporary orator who composed the ninth Pane¬ gyric.

Licinius at that time was one of the protectors of the church.

70. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 15, sqi\ p. 86-88, and the

80. Lactantius de M. P. c. 50. Aurelius Victor

two Panegyrics, the former of which was pro¬

touches on the different conduct of Licinius, and of

nounced a few months afterwards, afford the clear¬

Constantine, in the use of victory.

est notion of this great battle.

Lactantius, Euse¬

81. The sensual appetites of Maximin were grat¬

bius, and even the Epitomes, supply several useful hints.

ified at the expense of his subjects. His eunuchs,

71. Zosimus, the enemy of Constantine, allows

their naked charms with anxious curiosity, lest any

(1. ii. [c. 1 7] p. 88) that only a few of the friends of

part of their body should be found unworthy of the

who forced away wives and virgins, examined

Maxentius were put to death; but we may remark

royal embraces. Coyness and disdain were consid¬

the expressive passage of Nazarius (Panegyr. Vet.

ered as treason, and the obstinate fair one was

x. 6): Omnibus qui labefactari statum ejus poter-

condemned to be drowned. A custom was gradu¬

ant cum stirpe deletis. The other orator (Panegyr.

ally introduced that no person should marry a

Vet. ix. 20, qi) contents himself with observing

wife without the permission of the emperor, “ut

that Constantine, when he entered Rome, did not

ipse in omnibus nuptis praegustator esset”. Lac¬ tantius de M. P. c. 38.

imitate the cruel massacres of Cinna, of Marius, or of Sylla.

82. Lactantius de M. P. c. 39.

72. See the two Panegyrics, and the laws of this and the ensuing year, in the Theodosian Code. 73. Panegyr. Vet. ix. 20. Lactantius de M. P. c. 44.

Maximin,

who was confessedly the

83. Diocletian

at

last

sent cognatum

suum,

quendam militarem ac potentem virum, to inter¬ cede in favour of his daughter (Lactantius de M.

eldest

P. c. 41). We are not sufficiently acquainted with

Caesar, claimed, with some show of reason, the

the history of these times to point out the person

first rank among the Augusti.

who was employed.

74. Adhuc cuncta opera quae magnifice construxerat, meritis

urbis fanum,

patres

atque

sacravere.

basilicam,

Aurelius

Flavii

Victor,

84. Valeria quoque per varias provincias quindecim mensibus plebeio cultu pervagata. Lactan¬

[de

tius de M. P. c. 51. There is some doubt whether

Caesar. 40.] With regard to the theft of Trajan’s

we should compute the fifteen months from the

trophies, consult Flaminius Vacca, apud Mont-

moment of her exile, or from that of her escape.

faucon, Diarium Italicum, p. 250, and l’Antiquite

The expression of pervagata seems to denote the

Expliquee of the latter, tom. iv. p. 1 71.

latter; but in that case we must suppose that the

75. Praetoriae legiones ac subsidia factionibus

treatise of Lactantius was written after the first

aptiora quam urbi Romae, sublata penitus; simul

civil war between Licinius and Constantine. See

arma atque

Victor. [1. c.] Zosimus (1. ii. [c. 1 7] p. 89) mentions

Cuper, P- 25485. Ita illis pudicitia et conditio exitio fuit. Lac¬

this fact as an historian, and it is very pompously

tantius de M. P. c. 51. He relates the misfortunes

usus indumenti militaris.

Aurelius

celebrated in the ninth Panegyric. 76. Ex omnibus provinciis optimates viros Cu¬

of the innocent wife and daughter of Diocletian with a very natural mixture of pity and exultation.

riae tuae pigneraveris; ut Senatus dignitas ... ex

86. The curious reader who consults the Vale-

totius Orbis flore consisterat. Nazarius in Panegyr.

sian Fragment, p. 713, will probably accuse me of

Vet. x. [ix.] 35. The word pigneraveris might almost

giving a bold and licentious paraphrase; but if he

seem maliciously chosen. Concerning the sena¬

considers it with attention, he will acknowledge

torial tax, see Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 38] p. 115; the sec¬

that my interpretation is probable and consistent.

ond title of the sixth book of the Theodosian Code,

87. The situation of zEmona, or, as it is now

with Godefroy’s Commentary; and Memoires de

called,

l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 726.

graphic Ancienne, tom. i. p. 187), may suggest a

Laybach,

in

Carniola

(d’Anville,

Geo¬

77. From the Theodosian Code we may now

conjecture. As it lay to the north-east of the Julian

begin to trace the motions of the emperors; but the

Alps, that important territory became a natural

dates both of time and place have frequently been

object of dispute between the sovereigns of Italy

altered by the carelessness of transcribers.

and of Illyricum.

78. Zosimus (1. ii. [c. 17] p. 89) observes, that

88. Cibalis or Cibalae (whose name is still pre-

718

Notes: Chapter xrv

served in the obscure ruins of Swilei) was situated about fifty miles from Sirmium, the capital of Illyricum, and about one hundred from Taurunum, or Belgrade, and the conflux of the Danube and the Save. The Roman garrisons and cities on those rivers are finely illustrated by M. d’Anville, in a memoir inserted in 1’Academie des Inscrip¬ tions, tom. xxviii. 89. Zosimus (1. ii. [c. 18] p. 90, 91) gives a very particular account of this battle; but the descrip¬ tions of Zosimus are rhetorical rather than mili¬ tary. 90. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 19] p. 92, 93. Anonym. Valesian. p. 713. The Epitomes furnish some cir¬ cumstances; but they frequently confound the two wars between Licinius and Constantine. 91. Petrus Patricius in Excerpt. Legat. p. 27 [ed. Paris; p. 19, ed. Ven.; p. 129, ed. Bonn]. If it should be thought that yapPpos signifies more properly a son-in-law, we might conjecture that Constantine, assuming the name as well as the duties of a father, had adopted his younger broth¬ ers and sisters, the children of Theodora. But in the best authors yapPpos sometimes signifies a hus¬ band, sometimes a father-in-law, and sometimes a kinsman in general. See Spanheim Observat. ad Julian. Orat. i. p. 72. 92. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 20] p. 93. Anonym. Vale¬ sian, p. 713. Eutropius, x. 4. Aurelius Victor, Euseb. in Chron. [An. CCCXVIII.] Sozomen, 1. i. c. 2. Four of these writers affirm that the promotion of the Caesars was an article of the treaty. It is how¬ ever certain that the younger Constantine and Licinius were not yet born; and it is highly prob¬ able that the promotion was made the 1st of March, a.d. 317. The treaty had probably stipu¬ lated that the two Caesars might be created by the western, and one only by the eastern emperor; but each of them reserved to himself the choice of the persons. 93. Codex Theodosian, 1. xi. tit. 27, tom. iv. p. 188, with Godefroy’s observations. See likewise, 1. v. tit. 7, 8. 94. Omnia foris placida domi prospera, annonae ubertate, fructuum copia, etc. Panegyr. Vet. x. 38. This oration of Nazarius was pronounced on the day of the Quinquennalia of the Caesars, the 1st of March, a.d. 321, 95. See the edict of Constantine, addressed to the Roman people, in the Theodosian Code, 1. ix. tit. 24, tom. iii. p. 189. 96. His son very fairly assigns the true reason of the repeal. “Ne sub specie atrocioris judicii aliqua in ulciscendo crimine dilatio nasceretur.” Cod. Theod. tom. iii. p. 193. 97. Eusebius (in Vita Constant. 1. iii. c. 1) chooses to affirm that in the reign of this hero the sword of justice hung idle in the hands of the mag¬ istrates. Eusebius himself (1. iv. c. 29, 54) and the Theodosian Code will inform us that this excessive lenity was not owing to the want either of atrocious criminals or of penal laws.

98. Nazarius in Panegyr. Vet. x. [36]. The vic¬ tory of Crispus over the Alemanni is expressed on some medals. 99. See Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 21] p. 93, 94; though the narrative of that historian is neither clear nor consistent. The Panegyric of Optatianus (c. 32) mentions the alliance of the Sarmatians with the Carpi and Getae, and points out the several fields of battle. It is supposed that the Sarmatian games, celebrated in the month of November, derived their origin from the success of this war. 100. In the Caesars of Julian (p. 329. Commentaire de Spanheim, p. 252). Constantine boasts that he had recovered the province (Dacia) which Trajan had subdued. But it is insinuated by Silenus that the conquests of Constantine were like the gardens of Adonis, which fade and wither al¬ most the moment they appear. 101. Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 21. I know not whether we may entirely depend on his au¬ thority. Such an alliance has a very recent air, and scarcely is suited to the maxims of the beginning of the fourth century. 102. Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. 1. i. c. 8. This passage, however, is taken from a general decla¬ mation on the greatness of Constantine, and not from any particular account of the Gothic war. 103. Constantinus tamen, vir ingens, et omnia efficere nitens quae animo praeparasset, simul principatum totius orbis affectans, Licinio bellum intulit. Eutropius, x. 5 [4]. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 18] p. 89. The reasons which they have assigned for the first civil war may, with more propriety, be ap¬ plied to the second. 104. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 22] p. 94, 95. 105. Constantine was very attentive to the privi¬ leges and comforts of his fellow-veterans (Conveterani), as he now began to style them. See the Theodosian Code, 1. vii. tit. 10, tom. ii. p. 419, 429. 106. Whilst the Athenians maintained the em¬ pire of the sea, their fleet consisted of three, and afterwards of four, hundred galleys of three ranks of oars, all completely equipped and ready for immediate service. The arsenal in the port of Piraeus had cost the republic a thousand talents, about two hundred and sixteen thousand pounds. See Thucydides de Bel. Pelopon. 1. ii. c. 13; and Meursius de Fortuna Attica, c. 19. 107. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 22] p. 95, 96. This great battle is described in the Valesian fragment (p. 714) [ad fin. Amm. Marcell. vol. ii. p. 300, ed. Bip.] in a clear though concise manner. “Licinius vero circum Hadrianopolin maximo exercitu latera ardui montis impleverat; illuc toto agmine Con¬ stantinus inflexit. Cum bellum terra marique traheretur, quamvis per arduum suis nitentibus, attamen disciplina militari et felicitate, Constantinus Licinii confusum et sine ordine agentem vicit exercitum; leviter femore sauciatus.” 108. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 24] p. 97, 98. The current always sets out of the Hellespont; and when it is assisted by a north wind, no vessel can attempt the

Notes: Chapter xv passage. A south wind renders the force of the cur¬ rent almost imperceptible. See Tournefort’s Voy¬ age au Levant. Let. xi. 109. Aurelius Victor, [de Cassar. c. 41.] Zosimus,

1.

ii. [c. 25] p. 93. According to the latter,

719

hi. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 28] p. 102. Victor Junior in Epitome, [c. 41.] Anonym. Valesian, p. 714. 112. Contra religionem sacramenti Thessalonicx privatus occisus est. Eutropius, x. 6 [4]; and his evidence is confirmed by Jerome (in Chronic.),

Martinianus was Magister Officiorum (he uses the

as well as by Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 28] p. 102. The Vale¬

Latin appellation in Greek). Some medals seem to

sian writer is the only one who mentions the sol¬

intimate that during his short reign he received the title of Augustus.

diers, and it is Zonaras alone who calls in the assis¬

110. Eusebius (in Vita Constantin.

1.

ii. c. 16,

tance of the senate. Eusebius prudently slides over this delicate transaction. But Sozomen, a century

1 7) ascribes this decisive victory to the pious pray¬

afterwards,

ers of the emperor.

practices of Licinius.

714)

[Amm.

mentions

a

The Valesian fragment (p.

Marcell. vol.

ii. p. 301, ed. Bip.]

ventures

to

assert

the

113. See the Theodosian Code,

treasonable

1.

xv. tit. 15,

body of Gothic auxiliaries, under

tom. v. p. 404, 405. These edicts of Constantine

their chief Aliquaca, who adhered to the party of Licinius.

betray a degree of passion and precipitancy very unbecoming the character of a lawgiver.

Chapter XV 1. Dum Assyrios penes, Medosque, et Persas

a very rhetorical, account of this transaction,

Oriens fuit, despectissima pars servientium. Tacit.

which

Hist. v. 8. Herodotus, who visited Asia whilst it

Syria. At the first mention of this idolatrous pro¬

exceedingly

perplexed

the

governor

of

obeyed the last of those empires, slightly mentions

posal king Agrippa fainted away, and did not re¬

the Syrians of Palestine, who, according to their

cover his senses until the third day.

own confession, had received from Egypt the rite of circumcision. See

1.

9. For the enumeration of the Syrian and Ara¬

ii. c. 104.

bian deities, it may be observed that Milton has

1.

xl. [Eclog. 1, vol. ii. p.

comprised in one hundred and thirty very beauti¬

542, ed. Wesseling.] Dion Cassius, 1. xxxvii. [c. 16]

ful lines the two large and learned syntagmas

2. Diodorus Siculus,

р. 121. Tacit. Hist. v. 1-9. Justin, xxxvi, 2, 3. 3. Tradidit arcano quaecunque volumine Moses:

which Selden had composed on that abstruse subject.

Non monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti,

10. “How long will this people provoke me?

Quaesitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos.

and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all

[Juvenal, Sat. xiv. 102.] The letter of this law is not to be found in the pres¬

the signs which

I have shown among them?”

(Numbers xiv. 11.) It would be easy, but it would

ent volume of Moses. But the wise, the humane

be unbecoming, to justify the complaint of the

Maimonides openly teaches that, if an idolater fall

Deity from the whole tenor of the Mosaic history.

into the water, a Jew ought not to save him from

11. All that relates to the Jewish proselytes has

instant death. See Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, 1. vi.

been very ably treated by Basnage, Hist, des Juifs,

с. 28 [1. v. c. 24].

1. v. c. 6, 7.

4. A Jewish sect, which indulged themselves in a

12. See Exod. xxxiv, 23, Deut. xvi. 16, the com¬

sort of occasional conformity, derived from Herod,

mentators, and a very sensible note in the Uni¬

by whose example and authority they had been

versal History, vol. i. p. 603, edit. fol.

seduced, the name of Herodians. But their num¬

13. When Pompey, using or abusing the right of

bers were so inconsiderable, and their duration so

conquest, entered into the Holy of Holies, it was

short, that Josephus has not thought them worthy

observed with amazement, “Nulla intus Deum

of his notice. See Prideaux’s Connection, vol. ii.

effigie, vacuam sedem et inania arcana.” Tacit.

p. 285.

Hist. v. 9. It was a popular saying, with regard to

5. Cicero pro Flacco, c. 28. 6. Philo de Legatione. Augustus left a founda¬

the Jews, Nil praeter nubes et cceli numen adorant.

tion for a perpetual sacrifice. Yet he approved of

14. A second kind of circumcision was inflicted

the neglect which his grandson Caius expressed

on a Samaritan or Egyptian proselyte. The sullen

towards the temple of Jerusalem. See Sueton. in

indifference of the Talmudists, with respect to the

August,

conversion of strangers, may be seen in Basnage,

c

93,

and

Casaubon’s

notes

on

that

passage. 7. See in particular, Joseph. Antiquit. xvii. 6,

Histoire des Juifes, 1. v. c. 6.

xviii. 3; and De Bell. Judaic, i. 33, and ii. 9, edit.

genuity by the Jew Orobio, and refuted with equal

Havercamp.

ingenuity and candour by the Christian Limborch.

8. Jussi a Caio Cesare, effigiem ejus in templo

15. These arguments were urged with great in¬

See the Arnica Collatio

(it well deserves that

locare, arma potius sumpsere. Tacit. Hist. v. 9.

name), or account of the dispute between them.

Philo and Josephus give a very circumstantial, but

16. Jesus . . . circumcisus erat; cibis utebatur

720

Notes: Chapter xv

Judaicis; vestitu simili; purgatos scabie mittebat

pia, and Dissertations de La Grand sur la Relation

ad sacerdotes; Paschata et alios dies fcstos religiosS

du P. Lobo). The eunuch of the queen Candace

observabat:

ostendit

might suggest some suspicions; but as we are

non tantum ex lege, sed et ex receptis sententis,

assured (Socrates, i. 19; Sozomen, ii. 24; Ludol-

talia opera sabbatho non interdicta. Grotius de

phus, p. 281) that the ^Ethiopians were not con¬

Veritate Religionis Christianae, 1. v. c. 7. A little

verted till the fourth century, it is more reasonable

afterwards (c. 12) he expatiates on the condescen¬

to believe that they respected the sabbath, and

sion of the apostles.

distinguished the forbidden meats, in imitation of

si quos sanavit sabbatho,

17. Paene omnes Christum Deum sub legis observatione credebant.

Sulpicius Severus, ii. 31.

See Eusebius, Hist. Ecclesiast, 1. iv. c. 5.

the Jews, who, in a very early period, were seated on both sides of the Red Sea. Circumcision had been practised by the most ancient ^Ethiopians,

18. Mosheim de Rebus Christianis ante Con-

from motives of health and cleanliness, which

stantinum Magnum, p. 153. In this masterly per¬

seem to be explained in the Recherches Philoso-

formance, which I shall often have occasion to

phiques sur les Americains, tom. ii. p. 11 7.

quote, he enters much more fully into the state of

26. Beausobre, Histoire du Manicheisme, 1. i. c.

the primitive church than he has an opportunity

3, has stated their objections, particularly those of

of doing in his General History.

Faustus, the adversary of Augustin, with the most

19. Eusebius, 1. iii. c. 5. Le Clerc, Hist. Eccle¬

learned impartiality. 27. Apud ipsos fides obstinata, misericordia in

siast. p. 605. During this occasional absence, the bishop and church of Pella still retained the title of

promptu:

Jerusalem. In the same manner, the Roman pon¬

Tacit. Hist. v. 5. Surely Tacitus had seen the Jews

tiffs resided seventy years at Avignon; and the pa¬

with too favourable an eye. The perusal of Jose¬

triarchs of Alexandria have long since transferred

phus must have destroyed the antithesis.

Jewish nation from Jerusalem is attested by Aristo

odium.

28. Dr. Burnet (Archseologia, 1. ii. c. 7) has dis¬

their episcopal seat to Cairo. 20. Dion Cassius, 1. lxix. [c. 12]. The exile of the

adversus omnes alios hostile

cussed the first chapters of Genesis with too much wit and freedom.

of Pella (apud Euseb. 1. iv. c. 6), and is mentioned

29. The milder Gnostics considered Jehovah,

by several ecclesiastical writers; though some of

the Creator, as a Being of a mixed nature between

them too hastily extend this interdiction to the

God and the Daemon. Others confounded him

whole country of Palestine.

with the evil principle. Consult the second century

21. Eusebius, 1. iv. c. 6. Sulpicius Severus, ii. 31.

of the general history of Mosheim, which gives a

By comparing their unsatisfactory accounts, Mos¬

very distinct, though concise, account of their

heim (p. 327, etc.) has drawn out a very distinct

strange opinions on this subject. 30. See Beausobre, Hist, du Manicheisme, 1. i. c.

representation of the circumstances and motives of this revolution.

Augustin were

among the

to have collected from Eusebius, Jerome, Epipha-

31. Hegesippus, ap. Euseb. 1. iii.

32; iv. 22.

nius, and other writers, all the principal circum¬

Clemens Alexandrin. Stromat. vii. 17.

22. Le Clerc (Hist. Ecclesiast. p. 477, 535) seems

4.

Origen and St.

allegorists.

stances that relate to the Nazarenes or Ebionites.

32. In the account of the Gnostics of the second

The nature of their opinions soon divided them

and third centuries, Mosheim is ingenious and

into a stricter and a milder sect; and there is some

candid; Le Clerc dull, but exact; Beausobre almost

reason to conjecture that the family of Jesus Christ

always an apologist; and it is much to be feared

remained members, at least, of the latter and more

that the

moderate party.

calumniators.

primitive

fathers are

very frequently

23. Some writers have been pleased to create an

33. See the catalogues of Irenaeus and Epipha¬

Ebion, the imaginary author of their sect and

nius. It must indeed be allowed that those writers

name. But we can more safely rely on the learned

were inclined to multiply the number of sects

Eusebius than on the vehement Tertullian, or the

which opposed the unity of the church.

credulous Epiphanius. According to Le Clerc, the

34. Eusebius, 1. iv. c. 15. Sozomen, 1. ii. c. 32.

Hebrew word Ebjonim may be translated into

See in Bayle, in the article of Marcion, a curious de¬

Latin by that of Pauperes. See Hist. Ecclesiast. p.

tail of a dispute on that subject. It should seem

477-

that some of the Gnostics (the Basilidians) declined,

24. See the very curious Dialogue of Justin

and even refused, the honour of martyrdom. Their

Martyr with the Jew Tryphon. The conference be¬

reasons were singular and abstruse. See Mosheim,

tween them was held at Ephesus, in the reign of

P- 53935. See a very remarkable passage of Origen

Antoninus Pius, and about twenty years after the return of the church of Pella to Jerusalem. For this

(Proem, ad Lucam.). That indefatigable writer,

date consult the accurate note of Tillemont, Me-

who had consumed his life in the study of the

moires Ecclesiastiques, tom. ii. p. 511.

Scriptures, relies for their authenticity on the in¬

25. Of all the systems of Christianity, that of

spired authority of the church. It was impossible

Abyssinia is the only one which still adheres to the

that the Gnostics could receive our present Gos¬

Mosaic rites (Geddes’s Church History of ./Ethio¬

pels, many parts of which (particularly in the

Notes: Chapter xv

721

resurrection of Christ) are directly, and as it might

were frequently of an idolatrous nature. Here, in¬

seem designedly, pointed against their favourite

deed, the scruples of the Christian were suspended

tenets.

by a stronger passion.

It

is therefore

somewhat

singular that

Ignatius (Epist. ad Smyrn. Patr. Apostol. tom. ii. р.

48. Tertullian de Idololatria, c. 20, 21, 22. If a

34) should choose to employ a vague and

Pagan friend (on the occasion perhaps of sneez¬

doubtful tradition, instead of quoting the certain

ing) used the familiar expression of “Jupiter bless

testimony of the evangelists.

you,” the Christian was obliged to protest against

36. Faciunt favos et vespae; faciunt ecclesias et

the divinity of Jupiter.

Marcionitae, is the strong expression of Tertullian,

49. Consult the most laboured work of Ovid, his

which I am obliged to quote from memory. [Adv.

imperfect Fasti. He finished no more than the first

Marcion, iv. 5] In the time of Epiphanius (advers.

six months of the year. The compilation of Macro-

Haereses, p. 302 [ed. Paris, 1622]) the Marcionites

bius is called the Saturnalia, but it is only a small

were very numerous in Italy, Syria, Egypt, Arabia, and Persia.

part of the first book that bears any relation to the title.

37. Augustin is a memorable instance of this

50. Tertullian has composed a defence, or rather

gradual progress from reason to faith. He was, du¬

panegyric, of the rash action of a Christian soldier,

ring several years, engaged in the Manichaean

who, by throwing away his crown of laurel, had

sect.

exposed himself and his brethren to the most im¬

38. The unanimous sentiment of the primitive

minent danger. By the mention of the emperors

church is very clearly explained by Justin Martyr,

(Severus and Caracalla) it is evident, notwith¬

Apolog.

59, ed. Bened.]; by

standing the wishes of M. de Tillemont, that Ter¬

Athenagoras, Legat. c. 22, etc.; and by Lactan-

tullian composed his treatise De Coroni long be¬

tius, Institut. Divin. ii. 14-19.

fore he was engaged in the errors of the Montan-

Major

[c.

25, p.

39. Tertullian (Apolog. c. 23) alleges the con¬ fession of the daemons themselves as often as they were tormented by the Christian exorcists.

ists. See Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. iii. p. 384. 51. In particular, the first book of the Tusculan Questions, and the treatise De Senectute, and the

40. Tertullian has written a most severe treatise

Somnium Scipionis, contain, in the most beautiful

against idolatry, to caution his brethren against the

language, everything that Grecian philosophy or

hourly danger of incurring that guilt. Recogita sil-

Roman good sense could possibly suggest on this

vam, et quantae latitant spinas. De Corona Militis.

dark but important object.

с. 10.

52. The pre-existence of human souls, so far at

41. The Roman senate was always held in a

least as that doctrine is compatible with religion,

temple or consecrated place (Aulus Gellius, xiv. 7).

was adopted by many of the Greek and Latin

Before they entered on business, every senator

fathers. See Beausobre, Hist, du Manicheisme, 1.

dropped some wine and frankincense on the altar.

vi. c. 4. 53. See Cicero pro Cluent. c. 61. Caesar ap. Sal¬

Sueton. in August, c. 35. 42. See Tertullian, De Spectaculis. This severe

lust. de Bell. Catilin. c. 51. Juvenal. Satir. ii. 149.

reformer shows no more indulgence to a tragedy

Esse aliquid manes, et subterranea regna,

of Euripides than to a combat of gladiators. The dress of the actors particularly offends him. By the use of the lofty buskin they impiously strive to add a cubit to their stature: c. 23.

Nec pueri credunt, nisi qui nondum aere lavantur. 54. The eleventh book of the Odyssey gives a

43. The ancient practice of concluding the en¬

very dreary and incoherent account of the infernal

tertainment with libations may be found in every

shades. Pindar and Virgil have embellished the

Socrates and Seneca, in their last mo¬

picture; but even those poets, though more correct

ments, made a noble application of this custom.

than their great model, are guilty of very strange

classic.

Postremo stagnum calidae aquae introiit, respergens

inconsistencies. See Bayle, Responses aux Ques¬

proximos servorum, addita voce, libare se liquo-

tions d’un Provincial, part iii. c. 22.

rem ilium Jovi Liberatori. Tacit. Annal. xv. 64. 44. See

the elegant but

idolatrous hymn of

55. See the sixteenth epistle of the first book of Horace, the thirteenth Satire of Juvenal, and the

Catullus on the nuptials of Manlius and Julia. O

second Satire of Persius: these popular discourses

Hymen, Hymenaee 16! Quis huic Deo compararier

express the sentiment and language of the multi¬

ausit? 45. The ancient funerals (in those of Misenus

tude. 56. If we confine ourselves to the Gauls, we may

and Pallas) are no less accurately described by

observe that they intrusted not only their lives, but

Virgil than they are illustrated by his commenta¬

even their money, to the security of another world.

tor Servius. The pile itself was an altar, the flames

Vetus file mos Gallorum occurrit (says Valerius

were fed with the blood of victims, and all the

Maximus, 1. ii. c. 6, § 10) quos, memoria proditum

assistants were sprinkled with lustral water.

est, pecunias mutuas, quae his apud inferos red-

46. Tertullian de Idololatria, c. 11.

derentur, dare solitos. The same custom is more

47. See every part of Montfaucon’s Antiquities.

darkly insinuated by Mela, 1. iii. c. 2. It is almost

Even the reverses of the Greek and Roman coins

needless to add that the profits of trade hold a just

722

Notes: Chapter xv

proportion to the credit of the merchant, and that

this important passage there is anything like an in¬

the Druids derived from their holy profession a

consistency, we may impute it, as we think proper,

character of responsibility which could scarcely be

either to the author or to his transcribers. 66. Dupin, Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom. i.

claimed by any other order of men. 57. The right reverend author of the Divine Le¬

p. 223, tom. ii. p. 366, and Mosheim, p. 720;

gation of Moses assigns a very curious reason for

though the latter of these learned divines is not al¬

the omission, and most ingeniously retorts it on

together candid on this occasion.

the unbelievers.

67. In the council of Laodicea (about the year

58. See Le Clerc (Prolegomena ad Hist. Eccle-

360) the Apocalypse was tacitly excluded from the

siast. sect. 1, c. 8). His authority seems to carry the

sacred canon by the same churches of Asia to

greater weight, as he has written a learned and ju¬

which it is addressed; and we may learn from the

dicious commentary on the books of the Old Test¬

complaint of Sulpicius Severus that their sentence

ament.

had been ratified by the greater number of Chris¬

59. Joseph. Antiquitat. 1. xiii. c. 10 [§ 5, sq.]\ De

tians of his time. From what causes then is the

Bell. Jud. ii. 8 [§ 2]. According to the most natural

Apocalypse at present so generally received by the

interpretation of his words, the Sadducees admit¬

Greek, the Roman, and the Protestant churches?

ted only the Pentateuch; but it has pleased some

The following ones may be assigned: — 1. The

modern critics to add the Prophets to their creed,

Greeks were subdued by the authority of an im¬

and to suppose that they contented themselves

postor, who, in the sixth century, assumed the

with rejecting the traditions of the Pharisees. Dr.

character of Dionysius the Areopagite. 2. A just

Jortin has argued that point in his Remarks on

apprehension that the grammarians might become

Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 103.

more important than the theologians engaged the

60. This expectation was countenanced by the

council of Trent to fix the seal of their infallibility

twenty-fourth chapter of St. Matthew, and by the

on all the books of Scripture contained in the Latin

first epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians. Eras¬

Vulgate, in the number of which the Apocalypse

mus removes the difficulty by the help of allegory

was fortunately included (Fr. Paolo, Istoria del

and metaphor; and the learned Grotius ventures

Concilio Tridentino, 1. ii.). 3. The advantage of

to insinuate, that, for wise purposes, the pious de¬

turning those mysterious prophecies against the

ception was permitted to take place.

See of Rome inspired the Protestants with uncom¬

61. See Burnet’s Sacred Theory, part iii. c. 5.

mon veneration for so useful an ally. See the in¬

This tradition may be traced as high as the author

genious and elegant discourses of the present bishop

of the Epistle of Barnabas, who wrote in the first

of Lichfield on that unpromising subject.

century, and who seems to have been half a Jew.

68. Lactantius (Institut. Divin. vii. 15, etc.) re¬

62. The primitive church of Antioch computed

lates the dismal tale of futurity with great spirit

almost 6000 years from the creation of the world to

and eloquence.

the birth of Christ. Africanus, Lactantius, and the

69. On this subject every reader of taste will be

Greek church have reduced that number to 5500,

entertained with the third part of Burnet’s Sacred

and Eusebius has contented himself with 5200

Theory. He blends philosophy, Scripture, and tra¬

years. These calculations were formed on the Sep-

dition, into one magnificent system; in the descrip¬

tuagint, which was universally received during the

tion of which he displays a strength of fancy not

six first centuries. The authority of the Vulgate

inferior to that of Milton himself.

and of the Hebrew text has determined the mod¬

70. And yet, whatever may be the language of

erns, Protestants as well as Catholics, to prefer a

individuals, it is still the public doctrine of all the

period of about 4000 years; though, in the study of

Christian churches; nor can even our own refuse

profane antiquity, they often find themselves strait¬

to admit the conclusions which must be drawn

ened by those narrow limits.

from the eighth and the eighteenth of her Articles.

63. Most of these pictures were borrowed from a

The Jansenists, who have so diligently studied the

misrepresentation of Isaiah, Daniel, and the Apoc¬

works of the fathers, maintain this sentiment with

alypse. One of the grossest images may be found in

distinguished zeal; and the learned M. de Tille-

Irenaeus (1. v. [c. 23] p. 455 [ed. Oxon. 1702]), the

mont never dismisses a virtuous emperor without

disciple of Papias, who had seen the apostle St.

pronouncing his damnation. Zuinglius is perhaps

John.

the only leader of a party who has ever adopted

64. See the second dialogue of Justin with Try-

the milder sentiment, and he gave no less offence

phon, and the seventh book of Lactantius. It is un¬

to the Lutherans than to the Catholics. See Bos-

necessary to allege all the intermediate fathers, as

suet, Histoire des Variations des Eglises Protes-

the fact is not disputed. Yet the curious reader may

tantes, 1. ii. c. 19-22.

consult Daill£ de Usu Patrum, 1. ii. c. 4.

71. Justin and Clemens of Alexandria allow

65. The testimony of Justin of his own faith and

that some of the philosophers were instructed by

that of his orthodox brethren, in the doctrine of a

the Logos; confounding its double signification of

Millennium, is delivered in the clearest and most

the human reason and of the Divine Word.

solemn manner (Dialog, cum Tryphonte Jud. p.

72. Tertullian, de Spectaculis, c. 30. In order to

177, 178, edit. Benedictin.). If in the beginning of

ascertain the degree of authority which the zealous

Notes: Chapter xv

723

African had acquired, it may be sufficient to allege

86. The philosopher Peregrinus (of whose life

the testimony of Cyprian, the doctor and guide of

and death Lucian has left us so entertaining an ac¬

all the western churches (see Prudent. Hym. xiii.

count) imposed, for a long time, on the credulous

100). As often as he applied himself to his daily

simplicity of the Christians of Asia.

study of the writings of Tertullian, he was accus¬ tomed to say “Da mihi magistrum; Give me my master.” (Hieronym. de Viris Illustribus, tom. i. p. 284 [c. 53, tom. ii. p. 878, ed. Vallars.]). 73. Notwithstanding the evasions of Dr. Mid¬

87. See a very judicious treatise of Barbeyrac sur la Morale des Ptires. 88. Lactant. Institut. Divin. 1. vi. c. 20, 21, 22. 89. Consult a work of Clemens of Alexandria, entitled The Paedagogue, which contains the rudi¬

dleton, it is impossible to overlook the clear traces

ments of ethics, as they were taught in the most

of visions and inspiration which may be found in

celebrated of the Christian schools.

the apostolic fathers. 74. Irenaeus adv. Haeres. Proem, p. 3. Dr. Mid¬

90. Tertullian, de Spectaculis, c. 23. Clemens Alexandrin, Paedagog. 1. iii. c. 8.

dleton (Free Inquiry, p. 96, etc.) observes that, as

91. Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheisme,

this pretension of all others was the most difficult

1. vii. c. 3. Justin, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustin, etc.,

to support by art, it was the soonest given up. The

strongly inclined to this opinion.

observation suits his hypothesis. 75. Athenagoras in Legatione. Justin Martyr, Cohort, ad Gentes. Tertullian advers. Marcionem,

1. iv. These descriptions are not very unlike the prophetic fury for which Cicero (de Divinat. ii. 54) expresses so little reverence. 76. Tertullian (Apolog. c. 23) throws out a bold

92. Some of the Gnostic heretics were more con¬ sistent; they rejected the use of marriage. 93. See a chain of tradition, from Justin Martyr to Jerome, in the Morale des Peres, c. iv. 6-26. 94. See a very curious Dissertation on the Ves¬ tals, in the Memoires de l’Academie des Inscrip¬ tions, tom. iv. p. 161-227. Notwithstanding the

defiance to the Pagan magistrates. Of the primi¬

honours and rewards which were bestowed on

tive miracles, the power of exorcising is the only

those virgins, it was difficult to procure a sufficient

one which has been assumed by Protestants. 77. Irenaeus adv. Haereses, 1. ii. c. 56, 57, 1. v. c.

number; nor could the dread of the most horrible death always restrain their incontinence.

6. Mr. Dodwell (Dissertat. ad Irenaeum, ii. 42)

95. Cupiditatem procreandi aut unam scimus

concludes that the second century was still more

aut nullam. Minucius Felix, c. 31. Justin. Apolog.

fertile in miracles than the first. 78. Theophilus ad Autolycum, 1. i. p. 345, edit. Benedictin. Paris, 1742 [p. 35, ed. Oxon. 1684]. 79. Dr. Middleton sent out his Introduction in

Major. Anthenagoras in Legat. c. 28. Tertullian de Cultu Femin. 1. ii. 96. Eusebius, 1. vi. 8. Before the fame of Origen had excited envy and persecution, this extraordi¬

the year 1747, published his Free Inquiry in 1749,

nary action was rather admired than censured. As

and before his death, which happened in 1750, he

it was his general practice to allegorise Scripture,

had prepared a vindication of it against his numer¬

it seems unfortunate that, in this instance only, he

ous adversaries.

should have adopted the literal sense.

80. The university of Oxford conferred degrees

97. Cyprian. Epist. 4, and Dodwell, Dissertat.

on his opponents. From the indignation of Mos-

Cyprianic. iii. Something like this rash attempt

heim (p. 221) we may discover the sentiments of

was long afterwards imputed to the founder of the

the Lutheran divines.

order of Fontevrault. Bayle has amused himself

81. It may seem somewhat remarkable that Ber¬

and his readers on that very delicate subject.

nard of Clairvaux, who records so many miracles

98. Dupin (Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom. i.

of his friend St. Malachi, never takes any notice of

р. 195) gives a particular account of the dialogue

his own, which, in their turn, however, are care¬

of the ten virgins, as it was composed by Metho¬

fully related by his companions and disciples. In

dius, bishop of Tyre. The praises of virginity are

the long series of ecclesiastical history, does there

excessive.

exist a single instance of a saint asserting that he himself possessed the gift of miracles? 82. The conversion of Constantine is the era which is most usually fixed by Protestants. The

99. The Ascetics (as early as the second century) made a public profession of mortifying their bod¬ ies, and of abstaining from the use of flesh and wine. Mosheim, p. 310.

more rational divines are unwilling to admit the

100. See the Morale des P£res. The same pa¬

miracles of the fourth, whilst the more credulous

tient principles have been revived since the Ref¬

are unwilling to reject those of the fifth century.

ormation by the Socinians, the modern Anabap¬

83. The imputations of Celsus and Julian, with

tists, and the Quakers. Barclay, the Apologist of

the defence of the fathers, are very fairly stated by

the Quakers, has protected his brethren by the

Spanheim, Commentaire sur les Cesars de Julian,

authority of the primitive Christians; p. 542-549.

p. 468. 84. Plin. Epist. x. 97. 85. Tertullian, Apolog. c. 44. He adds, however,

с. 17, 18. Origen contra Celsum, 1. v. p. 253 [c. 33,

with some degree of hesitation, “Aut si [et] aliud,

712], 1. viii. p. 423-428 [c. 68 sq. p. 793 sq.].

jam non Cliristianus.”

101. Tertullian, Apolog. c. 21; De Idololatria, tom. i. p. 602, ed. Bened.], 1. vii. p. 349 [c. 26, p. 102. Tertullian (de Corona Militis, c. 11) sug-

724

Notes: Chapter xv

gested to them the expedient of deserting; a coun¬

eighty-seven bishops from the provinces of Mauri¬

sel which, if it had been generally known, was not

tania, Numidia, and Africa; some presbyters and

very proper to conciliate the favour of the emper¬

deacons assisted at the assembly; praesente plebis

ors towards the Christian sect.

maxima parte. 116. Aguntur praeterea per Graecias illas, certis

103. As well as we can judge from the mutilated representation of Origen (1. viii. p. 423 [c. 73, tom.

in locis concilia, etc. Tertullian de Jejuniis, c. 13.

i. p. 796, ed. Bened.]), his adversary, Celsus, had

The African mentions it as a recent and foreign

urged his objection with great force and candour.

institution. The coalition of the Christian churches

104. The aristocratical party in France, as well as in England, has strenuously maintained the di¬ vine origin of bishops. But the Calvinistical pres¬

is very ably explained by Mosheim, p. 164-170. 11 7. Cyprian, in his admired treatise De Unitate Ecclesias, p. 75-86 [p. 108, ed. Oxon.].

and the

118. We may appeal to the whole tenor of Cy¬

Roman Pontiff refused to acknowledge an equal.

prian’s conduct, of his doctrine, and of his epistles.

See Fra Paolo.

Le Clerc, in a short Life of Cyprian (Bibliotheque

byters were

impatient of a

superior;

105. In the history of the Christian hierarchy, I have, for the most part, followed the learned and

Universelle, tom. xii. p. 207-378), has laid him open with great freedom and accuracy. 11 g. If Novatus, Felicissimus, etc., whom the

candid Mosheim. 106. For the prophets of the primitive church,

bishop of Carthage expelled from his church, and

see Mosheim, Dissertationes ad Hist. Eccles. per-

from Africa, were not the most detestable monsters

tinentes, tom. ii. p. 132-208.

of wickedness, the zeal of Cyprian must occasion¬

107. See the epistles of St. Paul, and of Clemens, 108. Hooker’s Ecclesiastical Polity, 1. vii. 109. See Jerome ad Titum, c. i. and Epistol. 85 (in the Benedictine edition,

ally have prevailed over his veracity. For a very just account of these obscure quarrels, see Mos¬

to the Corinthians.

101)

[Ep. 146, ed.

heim, p. 497-512. 120. Mosheim, p. 269, 574. Dupin, Antiquae Eccles. Disciplin. p. 19, 20.

Vallars. tom. i. p. 1074], and the elaborate apol¬

121. Tertullian, in a distinct treatise, has pleaded

ogy of Blondel, pro sententia Hieronymi. The an¬

against the heretics the right of prescription, as it

cient state, as it is described by Jerome, of the

was held by the apostolic churches.

bishop and presbyters of Alexandria, receives a

122. The journey of St. Peter to Rome is men¬

remarkable confirmation from the patriarch Eu-

tioned by most of the ancients (see Eusebius, ii 25),

tychius (Annal. tom. i. p. 330, Vers. Pocock);

maintained by all the Catholics, allowed by some

whose testimony I know not how to reject, in spite

Protestants (see Pearson and Dodwell de Success.

of all the objections of the learned Pearson in his

Episcop. Roman.), but has been vigorously at¬

Vindiciae Ignatianae, part i. c. 11.

tacked by Spanheim (Miscellanea Sacra, iii. 3).

no. See the introduction to the Apocalypse.

According to father Hardouin, the monks of the

Bishops, under the name of angels, were already

thirteenth century, who composed the ^Eneid,

instituted in the seven cities of Asia. And yet the

represented St. Peter under the allegorical char¬

epistle of Clemens (which is probably of as ancient

acter of the Trojan hero.

a date) does not lead us to discover any traces of episcopacy either at Corinth or Rome. in. Nulla Ecclesia sine Episcopo, has been a

123. It is in French only that the famous allu¬ sion to St. Peter’s name is exact. Tu es Pierre, et sur cette pierre.—The same is imperfect in Greek,

fact as well as a maxim since the time of Tertullian

Latin, Italian, etc., and totally unintelligible in

and Irenaeus.

our Teutonic languages.

112. After we have passed the difficulties of the

124. Irenaeus adv. Haereses, iii. 3; Tertullian de

first century, we find the episcopal government

Prtescription, c. 36; and Cyprian Epistol. 27, 55,

universally established, till it was interrupted by

71, 75. Le Clerc (Hist. Eccles. p. 764) and Mos¬

the republican genius of the Swiss and German

heim (p. 258, 578) labour in the interpretation of

reformers.

these passages. But the loose and rhetorical style

113. See Mosheim in the first and second cen¬ turies. Ignatius (ad Smyrnaeos, c. 8, etc.) is fond of

of the fathers often appears favourable to the pre¬ tensions of Rome.

exalting the episcopal dignity. Le Clerc (Hist. Ec¬

125. See the sharp epistle from Firmilianus,

cles. p. 569) very bluntly censures his conduct.

bishop of Caesarea, to Stephen, bishop of Rome,

Mosheim, with a more critical judgment (p. 161),

ap. Cyprian. Epistol. 75.

suspects the purity even of the smaller epistles. 114. Nonne et Laici sacerdotes sumus? Tertul¬ lian, Exhort, ad Castitat. c. 7. As the human heart

126. Concerning this dispute of the re-baptism of heretics, see the epistles of Cyprian, and the sev¬ enth book of Eusebius.

is still the same, several of the observations which

127. For the origin of these words, see Mosheim,

Mr. Hume has made on Enthusiasm (Essays, vol.

p. 141. Spanheim, Hist. Ecclesiast. p. 633. The dis¬

i. p. 76, quarto edit.) may be applied even to real

tinction of Clerus and Laicus was established before the time of Tertullian.

inspiration. 115. Acta Concil. Carthag. apud and Cyprian,

128. The community instituted by Plato is more

edit. Fell, p. 158. This council was composed of

.oerfect than that which Sir Thomas More had

Notes: Chapter xv imagined for his Utopia. The community of wom¬

725

140. Cyprian

de

Lapsis,

p.

89

[p.

126,

ed.

en, and that of temporal goods, may be consid¬

Oxon.]. Epistol. 65. The charge is confirmed by

ered as inseparable parts of the same system.

the 19th and 20th canon of the council of Illiberis.

129. Joseph Antiquitat. xviii. 2 [c. 1, § 5, ed. Oxon. 1720]. Philo, de Vit. Contemplativ. 130. See the Acts of the Apostles, c. 2, 4, 5, with Grotius’s Commentary. Mosheim, in a particular dissertation, attacks the common opinion with very inconclusive arguments.

142. The wealth and liberality of the Romans to their most distant brethren is gratefully celebrated by Dionysius of Corinth, ap. Euseb. 1. iv. c. 23. 143. See Lucian in Peregrin, (Epist.

131. Justin Martyr, Apolog. Major, c. 8g. Tertullian, Apolog. c. 39.

49)

[c.

13.] Julian

seems mortified that the

Christian

charity maintains not only their own, but likewise the heathen poor.

132. Irenseus ad Haeres. 1. iv. c. 26, 34. Origen in Num. Horn.

141. See the apologies of Justin, Tertullian, etc.

144. Such, at least, has been the laudable con¬

11. Cyprian de Unitat. Eccles.

duct of more modern missionaries, under the same

Constitut. Apostol. 1. ii. c. 34, 35, with the notes of

circumstances. Above three thousand new-born

Cotelerius. The Constitutions introduce this divine

infants are annually exposed in the streets of Pekin.

precept by declaring that priests are as much

See Le Comte, Memoires sur la Chine, and the

above kings as the soul is above the body. Among

Recherches sur les Chinois et les Egyptiens, tom.

the tithable articles, they enumerate corn, wine,

i. p. 61.

oil, and wool. On this interesting subject, consult

145. The Montanists and the Novatians, who

Prideaux’s History of Tithes, and Fra Paolo delle

adhered to this opinion with the greatest rigour

Materie Beneficiarie; two writers of a very differ¬

and obstinacy, found themselves at last in the num¬

ent character.

ber of excommunicated heretics. See the learned

133. The same opinion, which prevailed about the year one thousand, was productive of the same effects. Most of the donations express their motive, “appropinquante

mundi fine.” See

Mosheim’s

General History of the Church, vol. i. p. 457. 134.

Turn summa cura est fratribus

and copious Mosheim, Secul. ii. and iii. 146. Dionysius ap. Euseb. iv. 23. Cyprian, de Lapsis. 147. Cave’s Primitive Christianity, part iii. c. 5. The admirers of antiquity regret the loss of this public penance. 148. See in Dupin, Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique,

(Ut sermo testatur loquax) Offerre fundis venditis,

tom. ii. p. 304-313, a short but rational exposition

Sestertiorum millia.

of the canons of those councils which were assem¬

Addicta avorum praedia

bled in the first moments of tranquillity after the

Foedis sub auctionibus,

persecution of Diocletian. This persecution had

Successor exheres gemit,

been much less severely felt in Spain than in Ga¬

Sanctis egens parentibus.

latia; a difference which may, in some measure,

Haec occuluntur abditis

account for the contrast of their regulations. 149. Cyprian Epist. 69 [59].

Ecclesiarum in angulis.

150. The arts, the manners, and the vices of the

Et summa pietas creditur

priests of the Syrian goddess are very humorously

Nudare dulces liberos. Prudent, wept v ere). See Com-

Aurelius Victor mentions his cruelty in general

mentaire de Spanheim sur les Cesars, p. 317.

terms.

760

Notes: Chapter xx

24. Euseb.

in Vit. Constant.

In

1. ii. c. 24-42,

quibus effigies

crucis aut

gemmata

48-60. 25. In the beginning of the last century the pap¬

refulget Aut longis solido ex auro praefertur in

ists of England were only a thirtieth, and the prot-

hastis. Hoc signo invictus, transmissis Alpibus

estants of France only a fifteenth, part of the re¬

ultor Servitium solvit miserabile Constantinus.

spective 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

Christuspurpureum gemmanti textus in auro

to the court of Rome (Relazione, tom. ii. p. 211,

Signabat

241). Bentivoglio was curious, well-informed, but

Christus Scripserat; ardebat summis crux addita

somewhat partial. 26. This careless temper of the Germans appears

Labarum,

clipeorum

cristis. Prudent, in Symmachum, 1. i.

almost uniformly in the history of the conversion

464, 486.

of each of the tribes. The legions of Constantine were recruited with Germans (Zosimus, 1. ii. [c.

insignia

33. The derivation and meaning of the word La¬

15] p. 86); and the court even of his father had

barum or Laborum, which is employed by Gregory

been filled with Christians. See the first book of the

Nazianzen, Ambrose, Prudentius, etc., still remain

Life of Constantine, by Eusebius.

totally unknown, in spite of the efforts of the critics,

27. De his qui arma projiciunt in pace, placuit

who have ineffectually tortured the Latin, Greek,

eos abstinere a communione. Concil. Arelat. Can¬

Spanish, Celtic, Teutonic, Illyric, Armenian, etc.,

on iii. The best critics apply these words to the

in search of an etymology. See Ducange, in Gloss.

peace of the church.

Med. and infim. Latinitat. sub voce Labarum, and

28. Eusebius always considers the second civil

Godefroy, ad Cod. Theodos. tom. ii. p. 143.

war against Licinius as a sort of religious crusade.

34. Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. 1. i. c. 30, 31.

At the invitation of the tyrant, some Christian

Baronius (Annal. Eccles. a.d. 312, No. 26) has en¬

officers had resumed their zones; or, in other words,

graved a representation of the Labarum.

had returned to the military service. Their conduct

35. Transversa X litera, summo capite circum-

was afterwards censured by the twelfth canon of

flexo, Christum in scutis notat. Caecilius de M. P.

the Council of Nice; if this particular application

c. 44. Cuper (ad M. P. in edit. Lactant. tom. ii. p.

may be received, instead of the loose and general

500) and Baronius (a.d. 312, No. 25) have en¬

sense of the Greek interpreters, Balsamon, Zo-

graved from ancient monuments several specimens

naras, and Alexis Aristenus. See Beveridge, Pan¬

—as thus, -f- or %—of these monograms, which

dect. Eccles, Graec, tom. i. p. 72, tom. ii. p. 78.

became extremely fashionable in the Christian

Annotation.

world.

29. Nomen ipsum crucis absit non modo a cor-

36. Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. 1. ii. c. 7, 8, 9. He

pore civium Romanorum, sed etiam a cogitatione,

introduces the Labarum before the Italian expe¬

oculis, auribus. Cicero pro Rabirio, c. 5. The

dition; but his narrative seems to indicate that it

Christian writers, Justin, Minucius Felix, Tertul-

was never shown at the head of an army, till Con¬

lian, Jerom, and Maximus of Turin, have investi¬

stantine,

gated with tolerable success the figure or likeness

himself the enemy of Licinius and the deliverer of

of a cross in almost every object of nature or art;

the church.

above ten years afterwards,

declared

in the intersection of the meridian and equator,

37. See Cod. Theod. 1. vi. tit. xxv. Sozomen, 1. i.

the human face, a bird flying, a man swimming, a

c. 2 [c. 4]. Theophan. Chronograph, p. 11. The-

mast and yard, a plough, a standard, etc., etc., etc.

ophanes lived towards the end of the eighth cen¬

See Lipsius de Cruce, 1. i. c. 9.

tury, almost five hundred years after Constantine.

30. See Aurelius Victor [de Caesar, c. 41], who

The modern Greeks were not inclined to display

considers this law as one of the examples of Con¬

in the field the standard of the empire and of Chris¬

stantine’s piety. An edict so honourable to Chris¬

tianity; and though they depended on every super¬

tianity deserved a place in the Theodosian Code,

stitious hope of defence, the promise of victory would

instead of the indirect mention of it which seems to

have appeared too bold a fiction.

result from the comparison of the fifth and eight¬ eenth titles of the ninth book. 31. Eusebius, in Vit. Constantin. 1. i. c. 40. This statue, or at least the cross and inscription, may be ascribed with more probability to the second, or

38. The Abbe du Voisin, p. 103, etc., alleges several of these medals, and quotes a particular dissertation of a Jesuit, the Pere de Grainville, on this subject. 39. Tertullian, de Corona, c.

3. Athanasius,

even the third, visit of Constantine to Rome. Im¬

tom. i. p. 101 [p. 89, ed. Bened. 1698; de Incarn.

mediately after the defeat of Maxentius, the minds

Verbi Dei, c. 48]. The learned Jesuit Petavius

of the senate and people were scarcely ripe for this

(Dogmata Theolog. 1. xv. c. 9, 10) has collected

public monument.

many similar passages on the virtues of the cross,

32.

Agnoscas, regina, libens mea signa necesse est;

which in the last age embarrassed our pxotestant disputants.

Notes: Chapter xx 40. Caecilius, de M. P. c. 44. It is certain that this historical declamation was composed

761

ticularly to announce the Macedonian victory, are

and

attested by historians and public monuments. See

published while Licinius, sovereign of the East,

Cicero de Natura Deorum, ii. 2, iii. 5, 6. Florus, ii.

still preserved the friendship of Constantine and of

12. Valerius Maximus, 1. i. c. 8, No. 1. Yet the

the Christians. Every reader of taste must perceive

most recent of these miracles is omitted, and in¬

that the style is of a very different and inferior

directly denied, by Livy (xlv. 1).

character to that of Lactantius; and such indeed is

48. Eusebius [Vi't. Constant.], 1. i. c. 28, 29, 30.

the judgment of Le Clerc and Lardner (Biblio-

The silence of the same Eusebius, in his Ecclesi¬

theque Ancienne et Moderne, tom. iii. p. 438;

astical History, is deeply felt by those advocates

Credibility of the Gospel, etc., part ii. vol. vii. p.

for the miracle who are not absolutely callous.

94). Three arguments from the title of the book,

49. The narrative of Constantine seems to indi¬

and from the names of Donatus and Caecilius, are

cate that he saw the cross in the sky before he

produced by the advocates for Lactantius (see the

passed the Alps against Maxentius. The scene has

P. Lestocq, tom. ii. p. 46-60). Each of these proofs

been fixed by provincial vanity at Treves, Besan-

is singly weak and defective; but their concurrence

jon, etc. See Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom.

has great weight. I have often fluctuated, and

iv. p. 573

shall tamely follow the Colbert MS. in calling the author (whoever he was) Caecilius.

50. The pious Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1317) rejects with a sigh the useful Acts of

41. Caecilius, de M. P. c. 46. There seems to be some reason in the observation of M. de Voltaire (CEuvres, tom. xiv. p. 307), who ascribes to the success of Constantine the superior fame of his

Artemius, a veteran and a martyr, who attests as an eye-witness the vision of Constantine. 51. Gelasius Cyzic. in Act. Concil. Nicen. 1. i. c. 4.

Labarum above the angel of Licinius. Yet even

52. The advocates for the vision are unable to

this angel is favourably entertained by Pagi, Tille-

produce a single testimony from the Fathers of the

mont, Fleury, etc., who are fond of increasing

fourth and fifth centuries, who in their voluminous

their stock of miracles.

writings repeatedly celebrate the triumph of the

42. Besides these well-known examples, Tollius

church and of Constantine. As these venerable

(Preface to Boileau’s translation of Longinus) has

men had not any dislike to a miracle, we may sus¬

discovered a vision of Antigonus, who assured his

pect (and the suspicion is confirmed by the igno¬

troops that he had seen a pentagon (the symbol of

rance of Jerom) that they were all unacquainted

safety) with these words, “In this conquer.” But

with the Life of Constantine by Eusebius. This

Tollius has most inexcusably omitted to produce

tract was recovered by the diligence of those who

his authority; and his own character, literary as

translated or continued his Ecclesiastical History,

well as moral, is not free from reproach

(see

Chauffepie, Dictionnaire Critique, tom. iv. p. 460).

and who have represented in various colours the vision of the cross.

Without insisting on the silence of Diodorus, Plu¬

53. Godefroy was the first who, in the year 1643

tarch, Justin, etc., it may be observed that Poly-

(Not. ad Philostorgium, 1. i. c. 6, p. 16), expressed

aenus, who in a separate chapter (1. iv. c. 6) has

any doubt of a miracle which had been supported

collected nineteen military stratagems of Antig¬

with equal zeal by Cardinal Baronius and the

onus,

is

totally

ignorant

of this

remarkable

Centuriators of Magdeburg. Since that time many of the protestant critics have inclined towards

vision. 43. Instinctu Divinitatis, mentis magnitudine.

doubt and disbelief. The objections are urged with

The inscription on the triumphal arch of Con¬

great force by M. Chauffepie (Dictionnaire Cri¬

stantine, which has been copied by Baronius, Gru-

tique, tom. iv. p. 6-11); and in the year 1774 a

ter, etc., may still be perused by every curious

doctor of Sorbonne, the Abbe du Voisin, published

traveller.

an apology, which deserves the praise of learning

vina secretum; quae delegata nostra Diis Minori-

and moderation. 54. Lors Constantin dit ces propres paroles:

bus cura uni se tibi dignatur ostendere. Panegyr.

J’ai renverse le culte des idoles:

44. Habes profecto aliquid cum ilia mente Di-

Sur les debris de leurs temples fumants

Vet. ix. [viii.] 2. 45. M. Freret

(Memoires de l’Academie des

Au Dieu du Ciel j’ai prodigue l’encens.

Inscriptions, tom. iv. p. 411-437) explains, by

Mais tous mes soins pour sa grandeur

physical causes, many of the prodigies of antiquity;

supreme N’eurent jamais d’autre objet que moi-

and Fabricius, who is abused by both parties, vainly tries to introduce the celestial cross of Con¬

mSme;

stantine among the solar halos. Bibliothec. Graec.

Les saints autels n’etoient a mes regards

tom. vi. p. 8-29. 46. Nazarius inter Panegyr. Vet. x. [ix.] 14, 15.

Qu’un marchepie du trone des Cesars. L’ambition, la fureur, les delices

It is unnecessary to name the moderns, whose un¬

Etoient mes dieux, avoient mes sacrifices.

distinguishing and ravenous appetite has swal¬

L’or des Chretiens, leurs intrigues, leur

lowed even the Pagan bait of Nazarius. 47. The apparitions of Castor and Pollux, par¬

sang Ont cimente ma fortune et mon rang.

762

Notes: Chapter xx

The poem which contains these lines may be read

67. The theory and practice of antiquity, with re¬

with pleasure, but cannot be named with decency.

gard to the sacrament of baptism, have been copi¬

55. This favourite was probably the great Osius,

ously explained by Dom Chardon, Hist, des Sacre-

bishop of of Cordova, who preferred the pastoral

mens, tom. p. i. 3-405; Dom Martenne, de Ritibus

care of the whole church to the government of a

Ecclesise Antiquis, tom. i.; and by Bingham, in the

particular diocese. His character is magnificently

tenth and eleventh books of his Christian Antiq¬

though concisely expressed by Athanasius (tom. i.

uities.

p. 703 [tom. ii. p. 535, ed. Bened. 1 777]). See Tille-

which the modern churches have materially de¬

mont. M6m. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 524-561. Osius

parted from the ancient custom. The sacrament of

was accused, perhaps unjustly, of retiring from

baptism (even when it was administered to infants)

court with a very ample fortune. 56. See Eusebius (in Vit. Constant, passim), and Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 19] p. 104.

One

circumstance

may be

observed in

was immediately followed by confirmation and the holy communion. 68. The Fathers, who censured this criminal de¬

57. The Christianity of Lactantius was of a

lay, could not deny the certain and victorious effi¬

moral rather than of a mysterious cast. “Erat

cacy even of a death-bed baptism. The ingenious

paene rudis (says the orthodox Bull) disciplinae

rhetoric of the Chrysostom could find only three

Christianae, et in rhetorici melius quam in theo-

arguments against these prudent Christians.

logia versatus.” Defensio Fidei Nicenae, sect. ii. c.

That we should love and pursue virtue for her own

4-

*

58. Fabricius, with his usual diligence, has col¬

1.

sake, and not merely for the reward. 2. That we may be surprised by death without an opportunity

lected a list of between three and four hundred

of baptism. 3. That, although we shall be placed in

authors quoted in the Evangelical Preparation of

heaven, we shall only twinkle like little stars, when

Eusebius. See Bibl. Graec. 1. v. c. 4, tom. vi. p.

compared to the suns of righteousness who have

37-56-

run their appointed course with labour, with suc¬

59. See Constantin. Orat ad Sanctos, c. 19, qo.

cess, and with glory. Chrysostom, in Epist. ad He-

He chiefly depends on a mysterious acrostic, com¬

braeos, Homil. xiii. apud. Chardon, Hist, des Sac-

posed in the sixth age after the Deluge by the

remens, tom. i. p. 49. I believe that this delay of

Erythraean Sibyl, and translated by Cicero into

baptism, though attended with the most pernicious

Latin. The initial letters of the thirty-four Greek

consequences, was never condemned by any gen¬

verses form this prophetic sentence:—Jesus Christ,

eral or provincial council, or by any public act or

Son of God, Saviour of the World.

60. In his paraphrase of Virgil the emperor has

declaration of the church. The zeal of the bishops was easily kindled on much slighter occasions.

frequently assisted and improved the literal sense

69. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 29] p. 104. For this disin¬

of the Latin text. See Blondel, des Sibylles, 1. i. c.

genuous falsehood he has deserved and experienced

14, 15, 16.

the harshest treatment from all the ecclesiastical

61. The different claims of an elder and younger

writers, except Cardinal Baronius (a.d. 324, No.

son of Pollio, of Julia, of Drusus, of Marcellus, are

15-28,) who had occasion to employ the infidel on

found to be incompatible with chronology, history,

a particular service against the Arian Eusebius.

and the good sense of Virgil. 62. See Lowth, de Sacra Poesi Hebraeorum Praslect. xxi. p. 289-293. In the examination of the

70. Eusebius [Vit. Constant.], 1. iv. c. 61, 62, 63. The bishop of Caesarea supposes the salvation of Constantine with the most perfect confidence.

fourth eclogue, the respectable bishop of London

71. See Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. iv.

has displayed learning, taste, ingenuity, and a tem¬

p. 429. The Greeks, the Russians, and, in the dark¬

perate enthusiasm, which exalts his fancy without

er ages, the Latins themselves, have been desirous

degrading his judgment.

of placing Constantine in the catalogue of saints.

63. The distinction between the public and the

72. See the third and fourth books of his Life.

secret parts of divine service, the miss a catechume-

He was accustomed to say that, whether Christ

norum and the missafidelium, and the mysterious veil

was preached in pretence or in truth, he should still rejoice (1. iii. c. 58).

which piety or policy had cast over the latter, are very judiciously explained by Thiers, Exposition

73. M. de Tillemont (Hist, des Empereurs, tom.

du Saint Sacrement, 1. i. c. 8-12, p. 59-91; but as

iv. p. 374, 616) has defended with strength and

on this subject the papists may reasonably be sus¬

spirit the virgin purity of Constantinople against

pected, a Protestant reader will depend with more

some malevolent insinuations of the Pagan Zosimus.

confidence on the learned Bingham, Antiquities, 1. x. c. 5.

losophique des deux Indes (tom. i. p. 9) condemns

74. The author of the Histoire Politique et Phi-

64. See Eusebius in Vit. Const. 1. iv. c. 15-32,

a law of Constantine which gave freedom to all the

and the whole tenor of Constantine’s sermon. The

slaves who should embrace Christianity. The em¬

faith and devotion of the emperor has furnished

peror did indeed publish a law which restrained

Baronius with a specious argument in favour of his early baptism.

the Jews from circumcising, perhaps from keeping, any Christian slaves (see Euseb. in Vit. Constant.

65. Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 29] p. 105.

1. iv. c. 27, and Cod. Theod. 1. xvi. tit. ix., with

66. Eusebius in Vit. Constant. 1. iv. c. 15, 16.

Godefroy’s Commentary, tom. vi. p. 247). But

Notes: Chapter xx this imperfect exception related only to the Jews;

763

sibly prevailed in the church of Constantinople;

and the great body of slaves, who were the prop¬

but the rigid Ambrose commanded Theodosius to

erty of Christian or Pagan masters, could not im¬

retire below the rails, and taught him to know the

prove their temporal condition by changing their

difference between a king and a priest. See The-

religion. I am ignorant by what guides the Abb6

odoret, 1. v. c. 18.

Raynal was deceived, as the total absence of quo¬

84. At the table of the emperor Maximus, Mar¬

tations is the unpardonable blemish of his enter¬ taining history.

tin, bishop of Tours, received the cup from an at¬

75- See Acta Sti. Silvestri, and Hist. Eccles. Ni-

panion, before he allowed the emperor to drink;

cephor. Callist. L vii. c. 34, ap. Baronium Annal.

the empress waited on Martin at table. Sulpicius

Eccles. a.d. 324, No. 67, 74. Such evidence is con¬

Severus, in Vit. Sti. Martin, c. 23, and Dialogue ii.

tendant, and gave it to the presbyter his com¬

temptible enough; but these circumstances are in

7. Yet it may be doubted whether these extraordi¬

themselves so probable, that the learned Dr. How¬

nary compliments were paid to the bishop or the

ell (History of the World, vol. iii. p. 14) has not

saint. The honours usually granted to the former

scrupled to adopt them.

character may be seen in Bingham’s Antiquities,

76. The conversion of the barbarians under the

1. ii. c. 9, and Vales, ad Theodoret, 1. iv. c. 6. See

reign of Constantine is celebrated by the ecclesi¬

the haughty ceremonial which Leontius, bishop of

astical historians (see Sozomen, 1. ii. c. 6, and The-

Tripoli, imposed on the empress. Tillemont, Hist,

odoret, 1. i. c. 23, 24). But Rufinus, the Latin

des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 754. (Patres Apostol.

translator of Eusebius, deserves to be considered as

tom. ii. p. 179.)

an original authority. His information was curi¬

85. Plutarch, in his treatise of Isis and Osiris,

ously collected from one of the companions of the

informs us that the kings of Egypt, who were not

Apostle of Ethiopia, and from Bacurius, an Iber¬

already priests, were initiated, after their election,

ian prince, who was count of the domestics. Father

into the sacerdotal order.

Mamachi has given an ample compilation on the

86. The numbers are not ascertained by any

progress of Christianity, in the first and second

ancient writer or original catalogue; for the par¬

volumes of his great but imperfect work.

tial lists of the eastern churches are comparatively

77. See in Eusebius (in Vit. Constant. 1. iv. c. 9,

modern. The patient diligence of Charles a Sto.

sqq.) the pressing and pathetic epistle of Constan¬

Paolo, of Luke Holstenius, and of Bingham, has

tine in favour of his Christian brethren of Persia.

laboriously investigated all the episcopal sees of

78. See Basnage, Hist, des Juifs, tom. vii. p. 182,

the Catholic church, which was almost commen¬

tom. viii. p. 333, tom. ix. p. 810. The curious dil¬

surate with the Roman empire. The ninth book of

igence of this writer pursues the Jewish exiles to

the Christian Antiquities is a very accurate map of

the extremities of the globe.

ecclesiastical geography.

79. Theophilus had been given in his infancy as

87. On the subject of the rural bishops, or Chor-

a hostage by his countrymen of the isle of Diva,

episcopi, who voted in synods, and conferred the

and was educated by the Romans in learning and

minor orders, see Thomassin, Discipline de l’Eglise,

piety. The Maldives, of which Male, or Diva, may

tom. i. p. 447, etc. and Chardon, Hist, des Sacra-

be the capital, are a cluster of 1 goo or 2000 minute

mens, tom. v. p. 395, etc. They do not appear till

islands in the Indian Ocean. The ancients were

the fourth century; and this equivocal character,

imperfectly acquainted with the Maldives, but

which had excited the jealousy of the prelates, was

they are described in the two Mahometan travel¬

abolished before the end of the tenth, both in the

lers of the ninth century, published by Renaudot.

East and the West.

Geograph. Nubiensis, p. 30, 31. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque

Orientale, p.

704.

Hist.

Generale des

Voyages, tom. viii.

88. Thomassin (Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. ii. 1. ii. c. 1-8, p. 673-721) has copiously treated of the election of bishops during the five first centuries,

80. Philostorgius, 1. iii. c. 4, 5, 6, with Godefroy’s

both in the East and in the West; but he shows a

learned observations. The historical narrative is

very partial bias in favour of the episcopal aristoc¬

soon lost in an inquiry concerning the seat of Para¬

racy. Bingham (1. iv. c. 2) is moderate; and Char¬

dise, strange monsters, etc.

don (Hist, des Sacramens, tom. v. p. 106-128) is

81. See the epistle of Osius, ap. Athanasium,

very clear and concise.

vol. i. p. 840. The public remonstrance which

89. Incredibilis multitudo, non solum ex eo op-

Osius was forced to address to the son contained

pido {Tours), sed etiam ex vicinis urbibus ad suf-

the same principles of ecclesiastical and civil gov¬

fragia ferenda convenerat, etc. Sulpicius Severus,

ernment which he had secretly instilled into the

in Vit. Martin, c. 7. The council of Laodicea

mind of the father. 82. M. de la Bastie (Memoires de l’Acad6mie

tinian confines the right of election to the nobility.

des Inscriptions, tom. xv. p. 38-61) has evidently proved that Augustus and his successors exercised

(canon xiii.) prohibits mobs and tumults; and Jus¬ Novell, cxxiii. 1. 90. The epistles of Sidonius Apollinaris (iv. 25,

in person all the sacred functions of pontifex max-

vii. 5, 9) exhibit some of the scandals of the Galli-

imus, or high priest, of the Roman empire.

can church; and Gaul was less polished and less

83. Something of a contrary practice had insen¬

corrupt than the East.

764

Notes: Chapter xx

91. A compromise was sometimes introduced

the Latin church, exclusive of the episcopal char¬

by law or by consent; either the bishops or the

acter. But the four inferior ranks, the minor orders,

people chose one of the three candidates who had

are now reduced to empty and useless tithes. 100. See Cod. Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 42, 43.

been named by the other party 92. All the examples quoted by Thomassin (Dis¬

Godefroy’s Commentary, and the Ecclesiastical

cipline de l’Eglise, tom. ii. 1. ii. c. vi. p. 704-714)

History of Alexandria, show the danger of these

appear to be extraordinary acts of power, and even

pious institutions, which often disturbed the peace

of oppression. The confirmation of the bishop of

of that turbulent capital.

Alexandria is mentioned by Philostorgius as a more regular proceeding (Hist. Eccles. 1. ii. 11).

101. The edict of Milan (de M. P. c. 48) ac¬ knowledges, by reciting, that there existed a species

93. The celibacy of the clergy during the first

of landed property, ad jus corporis eorum, id est,

five or six centuries is a subject of discipline, and

ecclesiarum nonhominum singulorum pertinentia.

indeed of controversy, which has been very dili¬

Such a solemn declaration of the supreme magis¬

gently examined.

trate must have been received in all the tribunals

See in particular Thomassin

Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. i. 1. ii. c. lx. Ixi. p. 886-

as a maxim of civil law.

902; and Bingham’s Antiquities, 1. iv. c. 5. By each

102. Habeat unusquisque licentiam sanctissimo

of these learned but partial critics one half of the

Catholicae (ecclesite) venerabilique concilio, dece-

truth is produced, and the other is concealed.

dens bonorum quod optavit relinquere. Cod. The¬

94. Diodorus Siculus attests and approves the

odos. 1. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 4. This law was published at

hereditary succession of the priesthood among the

Rome, a.d. 321, at a time when Constantine might

Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Indians (1. i.

foresee the probability of a rupture with the em¬

[c. 73] p. 84, 1. ii. [c. 29 and 40] p. 142, 153, edit.

peror of the East.

Wesseling). The Magi are described by Ammianus

103. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. 1. x. 6, in Vit. Con¬

as a very numerous family: “Per saecula multa ad

stantin. 1. iv. c. 28. He repeatedly expatiates on the

prassens una eademque prosapia multitudo creata,

liberality of the Christian hero, which the bishop

Deorum cultibus dedicatur” (xxiii. 6). Ausonius

himself had an opportunity of knowing, and even

celebrates the Stirps Druidarum (De Professorib.

of tasting.

Burdigal. iv. [7]); but we may infer from the re¬

104. Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. 1. x. c. 2, 3, 4. The

mark of Cassar (Bell. Gall. vi. 13), that in the Cel¬

bishop of Caesarea, who studied and gratified the

tic hierarchy some room was left for choice and

taste of his master, pronounced in public an elab¬

emulation.

orate description of the church of Jerusalem (in

95. The subject of the vocation, ordination, obe¬

Vit. Const. 1. iv. c. 46). It no longer exists, but he

dience, etc., of the clergy, is laboriously discussed

has inserted in the Life of Constantine (1. iii. c. 36)

by Thomassin (Discipline de PEglise, tom. ii. p.

a short account of the architecture and ornaments.

1-83) and Bingham (in the 4th book of his Antiq¬

He likewise mentions the church of the Holy

uities, more especially the 4th, 6th, and 7th chap¬

Apostles at Constantinople (1. iv. c. 58).

ters). When the brother of St. Jerom was ordained

105. See Justinian, Novell, cxxiii. 3. The rev¬

in Cyprus, the deacons forcibly stopped his mouth,

enue of the patriarchs, and the most wealthy

lest he should make a solemn protestation which

bishops, is not expressed: the highest annual val¬

might invalidate the holy rites.

uation of a bishopric is stated at thirty, and the

96. The charter of immunities, which the clergy

lowest at two, pounds of gold; the medium might

obtained from the Christian emperors, is obtained

be taken at sixteen, but these valuations are much

in the 16th book of the Theodosian code; and is

below the real value.

illustrated with tolerable candour by the learned

106. See Baronius (Annal. Eccles. a.d. 324, No.

Godefroy, whose mind was balanced by the oppo¬

58, 65, 70, 71). Every record which comes from the

site prejudices of a civilian and a Protestant.

Vatican is justly suspected; yet these rent-rolls

97. Justinian. Novell, ciii. Sixty presbyters or

have an ancient and authentic colour; and it is at

priests, one hundred deacons, forty deaconesses,

least evident that, if forged, they were forged in a

ninety sub-deacons, one hundred and ten readers,

period when farms, not kingdoms, were the objects

twenty-five chanters, and one hundred doorkeep¬

of papal avarice.

ers; in all, five hundred and twenty-five. This mod¬

107. See Thomassin, Discipline de l’Eglise, tom.

erate number was fixed by the emperor to relieve

iii. 1. ii. c. 13, 14, 15, p. 689-706. The legal division

the distress of the church, which had been involved

of the ecclesiastical revenue does not appear to

in debt and usury by the expense of a much higher

have been established in the time of Ambrose and

establishment. 98. Universus clerus ecclesiae

Chrysostom. Simplicius and Gelasius, who were Carthaginiensis

bishops of Rome in the latter part of the fifth cen¬

. . . fere quingenti vel amplius; inter quos quamplu-

tury, mention it in their pastoral letters as a gen¬

rimi erant lectores infantuli. Victor Vitensis, de

eral law, which was already confirmed by the cus¬ tom of Italy.

Persecut. Vandal, v. 9, p. 78, edit. Ruinart. This remnant of a more prosperous state still subsisted under the oppression of the Vandals. 99. The number of seven orders has been fixed in

108. Ambrose, the most strenuous asserter of ec¬ clesiastical privileges, submits without a murmur to the payment of the land-tax. “Si tributum petit

Notes: Chapter xx

765

Imperator, non negamus; agri ecclesiae solvunt

nonical epistles of the fourth century, those of Basil

tributum; solvimus quae sunt Caesaris Ctesari, and

the Great were the most celebrated. They are in¬

quae sunt Dei Deo; tributum Caesaris est; non neg-

serted in the Pandects of Beveridge (tom. ii. p. 47-

atur.” Baronius labours to interpret this tribute as

151), and are translated by Chardon, Hist, des

an act of charity rather than of duty (Annal. Ec-

Sacremens, tom. iv. p. 219-277.

cles. a.d. 387); but the words, if not the intentions of Ambrose,

are

more

candidly explained

115. Basil. Epistol. xlvii. in Baronius (Annal.

by

Eccles. a.d. 370, No. 91), who declares that he

Thomassin, Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. iii. 1. i. c.

purposely relates it to convince governors that they

34, p. 268.

were not exempt from a sentence of excommunica¬

log. In Ariminensi synodo super ecclesiarum et

tion. In his opinion, even a royal head is not safe

clericorum privilegiis tractatu habito, usque eo

from the thunders of the Vatican; and the cardinal

dispositio progressa est, ut juga quae viderentur ad

shows himself much more consistent than the law¬

ecclesiam pertinere, a publica functione cessarent

yers and theologians of the Gallican church.

inquietudine desistente; quod nostra videtur du-

116. The long series of his ancestors, as high as

dum sanctio repulsisse. Cod. Theod. 1. xvi. tit. ii.

Eurysthenes, the first Doric king of Sparta, and

leg.

15. Had the synod of Rimini carried this

the fifth in lineal descent from Hercules, was in¬

point, such practical merit might have atoned for

scribed in the public registers of Cyrene, a Lace¬

some speculative heresies.

daemonian colony, (synes. Epist. lvii. p. 197, edit.

110. From Eusebius (in Vit. Constant. 1. iv. c.

Petav.) Such a pure and illustrious pedigree of sev¬

27) and Sozomen (1. i. c. 9) we are assured that the

enteen hundred years, without adding the royal

episcopal jurisdiction was extended and confirmed

ancestors of Hercules, cannot be equalled in the

by Constantine; but the forgery of a famous edict,

history of mankind.

which was never fairly inserted in the Theodosian

117. Synesius (de Regno, p. 2 [ed. Par. 1612])

Code (see at the end, tom. vi. p. 303), is demon¬

pathetically deplores the fallen and ruined state of

strated by Godefroy in the most satisfactory man¬

Cyrene, 7roXis 'EAAijWs, iraXcudv ovopa Kal atpvbv, Kal

ner. It is strange that M. de Montesquieu, who

ev d)5y pvpig. t&v iraXcu aopSiv, vxiv irkvqs Kal KaTqpqs,

was a lawyer as well as a philosopher, should allege

Kal

this edict of Constantine (The Spirit of Laws,

miles to the westward of Cyrene, assumed the

xxiii. 21) without intimating any suspicion.

metropolitan honours of the Pentapolis, or Upper

pkya

kptlmov.

Ptolemais,

a

new

city,

82

111. The subject of ecclesiastical jurisdiction has

Libya, which were afterwards transferred to So-

been involved in a mist of passion, of prejudice,

zusa. See Wesseling, Itinerar. p. 67, 68, 732. Cel-

and of interest. Two of the fairest books which

larius Geograph, tom. ii. part ii. p. 72, 74. Carolus

have fallen into my hands are the Institutes of

a Sto. Paulo, Geograph. Sacra, p. 273. D’Anville,

Canon Law, by the Abbe de Fleury, and the Civil

Geographic Ancienne, tom. iii. p. 43, 44. Memoires

History of Naples, by Giannone. Their modera¬

de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. xxxvii. p. 363-391.

tion was the effect of situation as well as of temper.

118. Synesius had previously represented his

Fleury was a French ecclesiastic, who respected

own disqualifications (Epist. cv. p. 246-250). He

the authority of the parliaments; Giannone was an

loved profane studies and profane sports; he was

Italian lawyer, who dreaded the power of the

incapable of supporting a life of celibacy; he dis¬

church. And here let me observe that, as the gen¬

believed the resurrection; and he refused to preach

eral propositions which I advance are the result of

fables to the people, unless he might be permitted

many particular and imperfect facts, I must either

to philosophise at home. Theophiius, primate of

refer the reader to those modern authors who have

Egypt, who knew his merit, accepted this extra¬

expressly treated the subject, or swell these notes

ordinary compromise. See the Life of Synesius in

to a disagreeable and disproportionate size.

Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 499-554.

112. Tillemont has collected from Rufinus, The-

119. See the invective of Synesius, Epist. lvii. p.

odoret, etc. the sentiments and language of Con¬

191-201. The promotion of Andronicus was il¬

stantine. Mem. Eccles. tom. iii. p. 749, 750.

legal, since he was a native of Berenice, in the same

113. See Cod. Theod. 1. ix. tit. xlv. leg. 4. In the

province. The instruments of tortures are curiously

works of Fra Paolo (tom. iv. p. 192, etc.) there is

specified—the Tnearripi-ov, or press, the 5aKrv\qdpa,

an excellent discourse on the origin, claims, abuses,

the TroSoaTpafiri, the pivoXa/Sis, the cpraypa, and the

and limits of sanctuaries. He justly observes that

xeiXoarpopiov, that variously pressed or distended

ancient Greece might perhaps contain fifteen or

the fingers, the feet, the nose, the ears, and the lips

twenty asyla or sanctuaries; a number which at

of the victims.

present may be found in Italy within the walls of

120. The sentence of excommunication is ex¬

a single city. 114. The penitential jurisprudence was contin¬

pressed in a rhetorical style. (Synesius, Epist. lviii. p. 201-203.) The method of involving whole fam¬

ually improved by the canons of the councils. But

ilies, though somewhat unjust, was improved into

as many cases were still left to the discretion of the

national interdicts.

bishops, they occasionally published, after the ex¬

121. See

Synesius,

Epist.

xlvii.

p.

186,

187;

ample of the Roman praetor, the rules of discipline

Epist. lxxii. p. 218, 219; Epist. Ixxxix, p. 230, 231.

which they proposed to observe. Among the ca¬

122. See Thomassin (Discipline de I’Eglise, tom.

766

Notes: Chapter xxi

ii. 1. iii. c. 83, p. 1761-1770) and Bingham (An¬

the council of Arles. Tillemont, M6m. Eccles. tom.

tiquities, vol. i. 1. xiv. c. 4, p. 688-717). Preach¬

vi. p. 422.

ing was considered as the most important office

127. See Tillemont, tom. vi. p. 915, and Beau-

of the bishop; but this function was sometimes

sobre, Hist, du Manicheisme, tom. i. p. 529. The

intrusted to such presbyters as Chrysostom and

name of bishop, which is given by Eutychius to the 2048 ecclesiastics (Annal. tom. i. p. 440, vers. Po-

Augustin. 123. Queen Elizabeth used this expression and practised this art whenever she wished to prepos¬

cock), must be extended far beyond the limits of an orthodox or even episcopal ordination.

sess the minds of her people in favour of any extra¬

128. See Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. 1. iii. c. 6—21.

ordinary measure of government. The hostile ef¬

Tillemont. Mem. Ecclesiastiques, tom. vi. p. 669-

fects of this music were apprehended by her suc¬

759-

cessor, and severely felt by his son. “When pulpits

129. Sancimus

igitur

vicem

legum

obtinere,

drum ecclesiastic,” etc. See Haylin’s Life of Arch¬

quae a quatuor Sanctis Conciliis . . . expositae sunt

bishop Laud, p. 153.

aut firmatae. Praedictarum enim quatuor synodor-

124. Those modest orators acknowledged that,

um dogmata sicut sanctas Scripturas et regulas

as they were destitute of the gift of miracles,

sicut leges observamus. Justinian, Novell, cxxxi.

they endeavoured

to acquire

the

arts of elo¬

Beveridge (ad Pandect, proleg. p. 2) remarks that the emperors never made new laws in ecclesiastical

quence. 125. The council of Nice, in the fourth, fifth,

matters; and Giannone observes, in a very different

sixth, and seventh canons, has made some funda¬

spirit, that they gave a legal sanction to the canons

mental regulations concerning synods, metropol¬

of councils. Istoria Civile di Napoli, tom. i. p. 136.

itans, and primates. The Nicene canons have been

130. See the article Concile in the Encyclope¬

variously tortured, abused, interpolated, or forged,

dic, tom. iii. p. 668-679, edition de Lucques. The

according to the interest of the clergy. The Suburbi-

author, M. le docteur Bouchaud, has discussed,

carian

churches,

assigned

(by Rufinus)

to the

according to the principles of the Gallican church,

bishop of Rome, have been made the subject of

the principal questions which relate to the form

vehement controversy. (See Sirmond, Opera, tom.

and constitution of general, national, and pro¬

iv. p. 1-238.)

vincial councils. The editors (see Preface, p. xvi.)

126. We have only thirty-three or forty-seven

have reason to be proud of this article. Those who

episcopal subscriptions; but Ado, a writer indeed

consult their immense compilation seldom depart

of small account, reckons six hundred bishops in

so well satisfied.

Chapter XXI 1. Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. 1. iii. c. 63, 64, 65, 66. 2. After some examination of the various opin¬ ions of Tillemont, Beausobre, Lardner, etc., I am

trine. 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, bor¬ rowed the ladder of Acesius.

convinced that Manes did not propagate his sect,

6. The best materials for this part of ecclesiasti¬

even in Persia, before the year 270. It is strange

cal history may be found in the edition of Optatus

that a philosophic and foreign heresy should have

Milevitanus, published (Paris, 1700) by M. Du-

penetrated so rapidly into the African provinces;

pin, who has enriched it with critical notes, geo¬

yet I cannot easily reject the edict of Diocletian

graphical discussions, original records, and an ac¬

against the Manichaeans, which may be found in

curate abridgment of the whole controversy. M.

Baronius. (Annal. Eccl. a.d. 287.) 3. Gonstantinus enim, cum limatius supersti-

de Tillemont has bestowed on the Donatists the greatest part of a volume (tom. vi. part i.): and I

tionum quaeerret sectas, Mannichaeorum et simi-

am indebted to him for an ample collection of all

lium, etc., Ammian. xv. 13. Strategius, who from

the passages of his favourite St. Augustin which relate to those heretics.

this commission obtained the surname of Masonianus, was a Christian of the Arian sect. He acted as

7. Schisma igitur illo tempore confusas mulieris

one of the counts at the council of Sardica. Liban-

iracundia peperit; ambitus nutrivit; avaritia robo-

ius praises his mildness and prudence. Vales, ad locum Ammian.

ravit. Optatus, 1. i. c. 19. The language of Purpur-

4. God. Theod. 1. xvi. tit. v. leg. 2. As the gen¬

filios sororis tuae duos. Purpurius respondit: Putas

eral law is not inserted in the Theodosian Code, it

me terreri a te . . . occidi; et occido eos qui contra

is probable that, in the year 438, the sects which

me faciunt. Acta Goncil. Cirtensis, ad calc. Optat.

it had condemned were already extinct. 5. Sozomen, 1. i. c. 22. Socrates, 1. i. c. 10. These

ius is that of a furious madman. Dicitur te necasse

p. 274. When Gaecilian was invited to an assembly of bishops,

Purpurius said to his brethren, or

historians have been suspected, but I think with¬

rather to his accomplices, “Let him come hither

out reason, of an attachment to the Novatian doc¬

to receive our imposition of hands, and we will

Notes: Chapter xxi

767

break his head by way of penance.” Optat. 1. i. c. 19.

des Juifs, 1. iv. c. 5) has clearly ascertained that the

8. The councils of Arles, of Nice, and of Trent,

the death, and most probably before the birth, of

confirmed the wise and moderate practice of the

Christ. In such a time of darkness the knowledge of

theological works of Philo were composed before

church of Rome. The Donatists, however, had the

Philo is more astonishing than his errors. Bull, De¬

advantage of maintaining the sentiment of Cyp¬

fens. Fid. Nicen. s. i. c. i. p. 12.

rian, and of a considerable part of the primitive

18. Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore

church. Vincentius Lirinensis (p. 332, ap. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 138) has explained

miscet. Besides this material soul, Cudworth has discovered

why the Donatists are eternally burning with the

(p. 562) in Amelius, Porphyry, Plotinus, and, as he

Devil, while St. Cyprian reigns in heaven with

thinks, in Plato himself, a superior spiritual hyper-

Jesus Christ.

cosmian soul of the universe. But this double soul is

9. See the sixth book of Optatus Milevitanus, p. 91-100.

exploded by Brucker, Basnage, and Le Clerc, as an idle fancy of the latter Platonists.

1 o. Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiastiques, tom. vi.

19. Petav. Dogmata Theologica, tom. ii. 1. viii.

part i. p. 253. He laughs at their partial credulity.

c. 2. 791. Bull, Defens. Fid. Nicen. s. i. c. 1, p. 8,

He revered Augustin, the great doctor of the sys¬

13. This notion, till it was abused by the Arians,

tem of predestination.

was freely adopted in the Christian theology. Ter-

11. Plato Higyptum peregravit ut a sacerdotibus

tullian (adv. Praxeam, c. 16) has a remarkable

barbaris numeros et caslestia acciperet. Cicero de

and dangerous passage. After contrasting, with in¬

Finibus, v. 29. The Egyptians might still preserve

discreet wit, the nature of God and the actions of

the traditional creed of the patriarchs. Josephus

Jehovah, he concludes: Scilicet ut haec de filio Dei

has persuaded many of the Christian fathers that

non credenda fuisse, si non scripta essent; fortasse

Plato derived a part of his knowledge from the

non credenda de Patre licet scripta.

Jews; but this vain opinion cannot be reconciled

20. The Platonists admired the beginning of the

with the obscure state and unsocial manners of the

Gospel of St. John, as containing an exact tran¬ script of their own principles. Augustine, The City of

Jewish people, whose scriptures were not accessible to Greek curiosity till more than one hundred

God, x. 29. Amelius apud Cyril, advers Julian 1.

years

Marsham,

viii. p. 283. But in the third and fourth centuries

Canon. Chron. p. 144. Le Clerc, Epistol. Critic,

the Platonists of Alexandria might improve their

vii. p. 1 77-194. 12. The modern guides who lead me to the

Trinity by the secret study of the Christian the¬

after the death of Plato. See

ology.

knowledge of the Platonic system are Cudworth

21. See Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Maniche-

(Intellectual System, p. 568-620), Basnage (Hist,

isme, tom. i. p. 377. The Gospel according to St.

des Juifs, 1. iv. c. 4, p. 53-86), Le Clerc (Epist.

John is supposed to have been published about

Crit. vii. p. 194-209), and Brucker (Hist. Philo-

seventy years after the death of Christ.

soph. tom. i. p. 675-706). As the learning of these

22. The sentiments of the Ebionites are fairly

writers was equal, and their intention different, an

stated by Mosheim (p. 331) and Le Clerc (Hist.

inquisitive observer may derive instruction from

Eccles. p. 535). The Clementines, published among

their disputes, and certainty from their agreement.

the apostolical Fathers, are attributed by the crit¬

13. Brucker, Hist. Philosoph. tom. i. p. 1349-

ics to one of these sectaries.

1357. The Alexandrian school is celebrated by

23. Staunch polemics, like Bull (Judicium Ec¬

Strabo (1. xvii. [p. 794, ed. Casaub.]) and Ammi-

cles. Cathol. c. 2), insist on the orthodoxy of the

anus (xxii. 16).

Nazarenes; which appears less pure and certain in

14. Joseph Antiquitat. 1. xii. c. 1, 3. Basnage, Hist, des Juits, 1. vii. c. 7.

the eyes of Mosheim (p. 330). 24. The

humble condition and sufferings of

15. For the origin of the Jewish philosophy, see

Jesus have always been a stumbling-block to the

Eusebius, Praeparat. Evangel, viii. 9, 1 o. Accord¬

Jews. “Deus . . . contrariis coloribus Messiam de-

ing to Philo, the Therapeutae studied philosophy;

pinxerat; futurus erat Rex, Judex, Pastor,” etc.

and Brucker has proved (Hist. Philosoph. tom. ii.

See Limborch et Orobio Arnica Collat. p. 8, 19,

p. 787) that they gave the preference to that of

53-76, 192-234. But this objection has obliged the

Plato. 16. See Calmet, Dissertations sur la Bible, tom.

tual and everlasting kingdom.

believing Christians to lift up their eyes to a spiri¬

ii. p. 277. The book of the Wisdom of Solomon was

25. Justin Martyr. Dialog, cum Tryphonte, p.

received by many of the fathers as the work of that

143, 144. See Le Clerc, Hist. Eccles. p. 615. Bull,

monarch; and although rejected by the Protes¬

and his editor Grabe (Judicium Eccles. Cathol. c.

tants for want of a Hebrew original, it has ob¬

7, and Appendix), attempt to distort either the

tained, with the rest of the Vulgate, the sanction

sentiments or the words of Justin; but their violent

of the council of Trent. 17. The Platonism of Philo, which was famous

correction of the text is rejected even by the Bene¬ dictine editors.

to a proverb, is proved beyond a doubt by Le

26. The Arians reproached the orthodox party

Clerc (Epist. Crit. viii. p. 211-228). Basnage (Hist.

with borrowing their Trinity from the Valentin-

768

Notes: Chapter xxi

ians and Marcionites. See Beausobre, Hist, du Manicheisme, 1. iii. c. 5, 7. 27. Non dignum est ex utero credere Deum, et Deum Christum . . . non dignum est ut tanta majestas per sordes et squalores mulieris transire credatur. The Gnostics asserted the impurity of mat¬ ter and of marriage; and they were scandalised by the gross interpretations of the fathers, and even of Augustin himself. See Beausobre, tom. ii. p. 523. 28. Apostolis adhuc in saeculo superstitibus apud Judseam Christi sanguine recente, et phantasma corpus Domini asserebatur. Cotelerius thinks (Patres Apostoi. 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. 29. Some proofs of the respect which the Chris¬ tians entertained for the person and doctrine of Plato may be found in De la Mothe le Vayer, tom. v. p. 135, etc., edit. 1757; and Basnage, Hist, des Juifs, tom. iv. p. 29, 79, etc. 30. Doleo bona fide, Platonem omnium haereticorum condimentarium factum. Tertuliian. de Anima, c. 23. Petavius (Dogm. Theolog. tom. iii. pro¬ leg. 2) shows that this was a general complaint. Beausobre (tom. i. 1. iii. c. g, 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 (Gen¬ eral History of the Church, vol. i. p. 37). 31. If Theophilus, bishop of Antioch (see Dupin, Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom. i. p. 66), was the first who employed the word Triad, Trin¬ ity, that abstract term, which was already familiar to the schools of philosophy, must have been intro¬ duced into the theology of the Christians after the middle of the second century. 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. 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, though he had translated the Timseus, he could never understand that mys¬ terious dialogue. See Hieronym. prasf. ad 1. xii. in Isaiam, tom. v. p. 154 [tom. iv. p. 494, ed. Vallars.]. 34. Tertuliian. in Apolog. c. 46. See Bayle, Dictionnaire, au mot Simonide. His remarks on the pre¬ sumption of Tertuliian are profound and interesting. 35. Lactantius, iv. 8. Yet the Probole, or Prolatio, which the most orthodox divines borrowed with¬ out scruple from the Valentinians, and illustrated by the comparisons of a fountain and stream, the sun and its rays, etc., either meant nothing, or

favoured a material idea of the divine generation. See Beausobre, tom. i. 1. iii c. 7, p. 548. 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 them¬ selves from this difficulty by the distinction of a preceding and a concomitant will. Petav. Dogm. The¬ olog. tom. ii. 1. vi. c. 8, p. 587—603. 37. See Petav. Dogm. Theolog. tom. ii. 1. ii. c. 10, p. 159. 38. Carmenque Christo quasi Deo dicere secum invicem. Plin. Epist. x. 97. The sense of Deus, Beds Elohim, in the ancient languages, is critically ex¬ amined by Le Clerc (Ars Critica, p. 150-156), and the propriety of worshipping a very excellent crea¬ ture is ably defended by the Socinian Emlyn (Tracts, p. 29-36, 51-145). 39. See Daille, de Usu Patrum, and Le Clerc, Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. x. p. 409. To ar¬ raign the faith of the Ante-Nicene fathers was the object, or at least has been the effect, of the stu¬ pendous work of Petavius on the Trinity (Dogm. Theolog. tom. ii.); nor has the deep impression been erased by the learned defence of Bishop Bull. 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. 41. The heresies of Praxeas, Sabellius, etc., are accurately explained by Mosheim (p. 425, 680714). 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 Tertuliian. 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. 43. The figure and manners of Arius, the char¬ acter and numbers of his first proselytes, are painted in very lively colours by Epiphanius (tom. i. Haeres. lxix. 3, p. 729 [ed. Paris, 1622]), and we cannot but regret that he should soon forget the historian, to assume the task of controversy. 44. See Philostorgius (1. i. c. 3) ,and Godefroy’s ample Commentary. Yet the credibility of Philo¬ storgius 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. 45. Sozomen (1. i. c. 15) represents Alexander as indifferent, and even ignorant, in the beginning of the controversy; while Socrates (1. 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; irpos

opyr^v

k^airreTai . . . opo'uos

ppovtiv

tKthtvat.

46. The flames of Arianism might burn for some time in secret; but there is reason to believe that

Notes: Chapter xxi

769

they burst out with violence as early as the year

runt adversariis esse formidini; ut tanquam evagi-

3!9- Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 774-780. 47- Quid credidit? Certe, aut tria nomina au-

nato ab ipsis gladio, ipsum nefandae caput haereseos amputarent.

diens tres Deos esse credidit, et idololatra effectus est; aut in tribus vocabulis trinominem credens Deum, in Sabellii haeresim incurrit; awtedoctus ab

57.

See Bull. Defens. Fid. Nicen. sect. ii. c.

i.

p.

25-36. He thinks it his duty to reconcile two ortho¬ dox synods.

Arianis unum esse verum Deum Patrem, filium et

58. According to Aristotle, the stars were homo-

spiritum sanctum credidit creaturas. Aut extra haec

ousian to each other. “That Homoousius means of

quid credere portuerit nescio. Hieronym. adv. Lu-

one substance in kind, hath been shown by Peta-

ciferianos [tom. ii. p. 184, ed. Vallars.]. Jerom re¬

vius, Curcellaeus, Cudworth, Le Clerc, etc., and to

serves for the last the orthodox system, which is

prove it would be actum agereP This is the just re¬

more complicated and difficult.

mark of Dr. Jortin (vol. ii. p. 212), who examines

48. As the doctrine of absolute creation from nothing

was

gradually

introduced

among the

the Arian controversy with learning, candour, and ingenuity.

Christians (Beausobre, tom. ii. p. 165-215), the

59. See Petavius (Dogm. Theolog. tom. ii. 1. iv.

dignity of the workman very naturally rose with that of the work.

c. 16, p. 453, etc.), Cudworth (p. 559), Bull (sect,

49. The metaphysics of Dr. Clarke (Scripture

circumincessio, is perhaps the deepest and darkest

Trinity, p. 276-280) could digest an eternal gen¬ eration from an infinite cause.

iv. p. 285—290, edit. Grab.). The Trepix^P^o’ts, or corner of the whole theological abyss. 60. The third section of Bull’s Defence of the

50. This profane and absurd simile is employed

Nicene Faith, which some of his antagonists have

by several of the primitive fathers, particularly by

called nonsense, and others heresy, is consecrated

Athenagoras, in his Apology to the emperor Mar¬

to the supremacy of the Father.

cus and his son; and it is alleged, without censure,

61. The ordinary appellation with which Atha¬

by Bull himself. See Defens. Fid. Nicen. sect. iii.

nasius and his followers chose to compliment the

c. 5, No. 4.

Arians was that of Ariomanites.

51. See Cudworth’s Intellectual System, p. 559,

62. Epiphanius, tom. i. Haeres. lxxii. 4, p. 837.

579. This dangerous hypothesis was countenanced

See the adventures of Marcellus, in Tillemont

by the two Gregories, of Nyssa and Nazianzen, by

(Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 88o-8gg). His work, in

Cyril of Alexandria, John of Damascus, etc. See

one book, of the Unity of God, was answered in the

Cudworth, p. 603. Le Clerc, Bibliotheque Univer-

three books, which are still extant, of Eusebius.

selle, tom. xviii. p. 97-105.

After a long and careful examination, Petavius

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. The City of God, x. 23-24.

(tom. ii. 1. i. c. 14, p. 78) has reluctantly pro¬ nounced the condemnation of Marcellus. 63. Athanasius, in his epistle concerning the syn¬ ods of Seleucia and Rimini (tom. i. p. 886-905 [p.

53. Boethius, who was deeply versed in the phil¬

735 seqq., ed. Bened.]), has given an ample list of

osophy of Plato and Aristotle, explains the unity of

Arian creeds, which has been enlarged and im¬

the Trinity by the indifference of the three persons.

proved by the labours of the indefatigable Tille¬

See the judicious remarks of Le Clerc, Bibliotheque

mont. (Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 477).

Choisie, tom. xvi. p. 225, etc. 54. If the Sabellians were startled at this conclu¬

64. Erasmus, with admirable sense and freedom, has delineated the just character of Hilary. To re¬

sion, they were driven down another precipice into

vise his text, to compose the annals of his life, and

the confession that the Father was born of a virgin,

to justify his sentiments and conduct, is the prov¬

that he had suffered on the cross; and this deserved

ince of the Benedictine editors.

the odious epithet of Patripassians, with which they

65. Absque episcopo Eleusio et paucis cum eo,

were branded by their adversaries. See the invec¬

ex majore parte Asianae decern provincial, inter

tives of Tertullian against Praxeas, and the tem¬

quas consisto, vere Deum nesciunt. Atque utinam

perate reflections of Mosheim (p. 423, 681); and

penitus nescirent! cum procliviore enim venia ig-

Beausobre, tom. i. 1. iii. c. 6, p. 533.

norarent quam obtrectarent. Hilar, de Synodis,

55. The transactions of the council of Nice are

sive de Fide Orientalium, c. 63, p. 1186, edit. Ben¬

related by the ancients, not only in a partial, but

edict. In the celebrated parallel between atheism

in a very imperfect manner. Such a picture as Fra

and superstition, the bishop of Poitiers would have

Paolo would have drawn can never be recovered;

been surprised in the philosophic society of Bayle

but such rude sketches as have been traced by the

and Plutarch.

pencil of bigotry, and that of reason, may be seen

66. Hilarius ad Constantium, 1. i. c. 4, 5, p.

in Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 669-759),

1227, 1228. This remarkable passage deserved the

and in Le Clerc (Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. x.

attention of Mr. Locke, who has transcribed it

P- 435-454)56. We are indebted to Ambrose (De Fide, 1. iii.

monplace book.

(vol. iii. p. 470) into the model of his new com¬

cap. ult.) for the knowledge of this curious anec¬

67. In Philostorgius (1. iii. c. 15) the character

dote. Hoc verbum posuerunt Patres, quod vide-

and adventures of Aetius appear singular enough.

77o

Notes: Chapter xxi

though they are carefully softened by the hand of a

The principles of toleration and religious indiffer¬

friend. The editor Godefroy (p. 153), who was more

ence contained in this epistle have given great of¬

attached to his principles than to his author, has

fence to Baronius, Tillemont, etc., who suppose

collected the odious circumstances which his vari¬

that the emperor had some evil counsellor, either

ous adversaries have preserved or invented. 68. According to the judgment of a man who respected both those sectaries, Aetius had been en¬

Satan or Eusebius, at his elbow. See Jortin’s Re¬ marks, tom. ii. p. 183. 78. Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. 1. iii. c. 13.

dowed with a stronger understanding, and Euno-

79. Theodoret has preserved (1. i. c. 20) an epis¬

mius had acquired more art and learning (Philos-

tle from Constantine to the people of Nicomedia,

torgius, 1. viii. c. 18). The confession and apology

in which the monarch declares himself the public

of Eunomius (Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. viii.

accuser of one of his subjects; he styles Eusebius 6

p. 258-305) is one of the few heretical pieces which

rrjv TvpavviKT)^ orp.oTr]Tos cniju/iwrrrjs ; and complains

have escaped.

of his hostile behavior during the civil war.

6g. Yet, according to the opinion of Estius and

80. See in Socrates (1. i. c. 8), or rather in Theo¬

Bull (p. 297), there is one power, that of creation,

doret (1. i. c. 12), an original letter of Eusebius of

which God cannot communicate to a creature. Es¬

Caesarea, in which he attempts to justify his sub¬

tius, who so accurately defined the limits of Omni¬

scribing the Homoousion. The character of Euse¬

potence, was a Dutchman by birth, and by trade a

bius has always been a problem; but those who

scholastic divine. Dupin, Bibliot. Eccles. tom. xvii.

have read the second critical epistle of Le Clerc

P- 4570. Sabinus (ap. Socrat. 1. ii. c. 39) had copied

very unfavourable opinion of the orthodoxy and

the acts; Athanasius and Hilary have explained the

sincerity of the bishop of Caesarea.

(Ars Critica, tom. iii. p. 30-69) must entertain a

divisions of this Arian synod; the other circum¬

81. Athanasius, tom. i. p. 727 [tom. i. p. 247, ed.

stances which are relative to it are carefully col¬

Bened.); Philostorgius, 1. i. c. 10; and Godefroy’s

lected by Baronius and Tillemont.

Commentary, p. 41.

71. Fideli et pia intelligentia . . . De Synod, c.

82. Socrates, 1. i. c. 9. In his circular letters,

77, p. 1193. In his short apologetical notes (first

which were addressed to the several cities, Con¬

published by the Benedictines from a MS. of Char¬

stantine employed against the heretics the arms of

tres) he observes that he used this cautious expres¬

ridicule and comic raillery.

sion, quia intelligerem et impiam, p. 1206. See p.

83. We derive the original story from Athanasius

1146. Philostorgius, who saw those objects through

(tom. i. p. 670), who expresses some reluctance to

a different medium, is inclined to forget the differ¬

stigmatise the memory of the dead. He might ex¬

ence of the important diphthong. See in particular

aggerate; but the perpetual commerce of Alexan¬

viii. 17, and Godefroy, p. 352.

dria and Constantinople would have rendered it

72. Testor Deum coeli atque terrae me cum

dangerous to invent. Those who press the literal

neutrum audissem, semper tamen utrumque sen-

narrative of the death ofArius (his bowels suddenly

sisse. . . . Regeneratus pridem et in episcopatu

burst out in a privy) must make their option be¬

aliquantisper manens fidem Nicenam nunquam

tween poison and miracle.

nisi exsulaturus audivi. Hilar, de Synodis, c. xci.

84. The change in the sentiments, or at least in

p. 1205. The Benedictines are persuaded that he

the conduct of Constantine, may be traced in Eu¬

governed the diocese of Poitiers several years be¬

sebius (in Vit. Constant. 1. iii. c. 23, 1. iv. c. 41),

fore his exile.

Socrates (1. i. c. 23-39), Sozomen (l.ii. c. 16-34),

73. Seneca (Epist. lviii.) complains that even the

Theodoret (1. i. c. 14-34), and Philostorgius (l.ii.

to ov of the Platonists (the ens of the bolder school¬

c. 1 —17). But the first of these writers was too near

men) could not be expressed by a Latin noun.

the scene of action, and the others were too remote

74. The preference which the fourth council of

from it. It is singular enough that the important

the Lateran at length gave to a numerical rather

task of continuing the history of the church should

than a generical unity (see Petav. tom. ii. 1. iv. c. 13,

have been left for two laymen and a heretic.

p. 424) was favoured by the Latin language: rpias

85. Quia etiam turn catechumenus sacramen-

seems to excite the idea of substance, trinitas of

tum fidei merito videretur potuisse nescire. Sulp.

qualities.

Sever. Hist. Sacra, 1. ii. p. 410.

75. Ingemuit totus orbis, et Arianum se esse mi-

86. Socrates, 1. ii. c. 2. Sozomen, 1. iii. c. 18.

ratus est. Hieronym, adv. Lucifer, tom. i. p. 145.

Athanas. tom. i. p. 813, 834 [tom. i. p. 289, ed.

[Tom. ii. p. 191, ed. Vallars.]

Bened. Patav. 17771- He observes that the eunuchs

76. The story of the council of Rimini is very

are the natural enemies of the Son. Compare Dr.

elegantly told by Sulpicius Severus (Hist. Sacra. 1.

Jortin’s Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv.

ii. p. 419-430. edit. Lugd. Bat. 1647), and by Je-

p. 3, with a certain genealogy in Candide (ch. iv.),

rom, in his dialogue against the Luciferians. The

which ends with one of the first companions of Christopher Columbus.

design of the latter is to apologise for the conduct of the Latin bishops, who were deceived, and who repented. 77. Eusebius, in Vit. Constant. 1. ii. c. 64-72.

87. Sulpicius Severus in Hist. Sacra. 1. ii. p. 405, 406. 88. Cyril (apud Baron, a.d. 353, No. 26) ex-

Notes: Chapter xxi

771

pressly observes that in the reign of Constantine

97. Sulpicius Severus (Hist. Sacra. 1. ii. p. 396)

the cross had been found in the bowels of the

calls him a lawyer, a jurisconsult. This character

earth; but that it had appeared, in the reign of

cannot now be discovered either in the life or writ¬

Constantius, in the midst of the heavens. This op¬

ings of Athanasius.

position evidently proves that Cyril was ignorant

98. Dicebatur enim fatidicarum sortium fidem,

of the stupendous miracle to which the conversion

quaeve augurales portenderent alites scientissime

of Constantine is attributed; and this ignorance is

callens aliquoties praeedixisse futura. Ammianus,

the more surprising, since it was no more than

xv. 7. A prophecy, or rather a joke, is related by

twelve years after his death that Cyril was conse¬

Sozomen (1. iv. c. 10), which evidently proves (if

crated bishop of Jerusalem by the immediate suc¬

the crows speak Latin) that Athanasius understood

cessor of Eusebius of Caesarea. See Tillemont,

the language of the crows.

Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 715.

99. The irregular ordination of Athanasius was

89. It is not easy to determine how far the in¬

slightly mentioned in the councils which were held

genuity of Cyril might be assisted by some natural

against him (see Philostorg. 1. ii. c. 11, and Gode-

appearances of a solar halo.

froy, p. 71); but it can scarcely be supposed that

90. Philostorgius, 1. iii. c. 26. He is followed by

the assembly of the bishops of Egypt would solemn¬

the author of the Alexandrian Chronicle, by Ced-

ly attest a public falsehood. Athanas. tom. i. p. 726.

renus, and by Nicephorus (see Gothofred. Dissert,

too. See the History of the Fathers of the Des¬

p. 188). They could not refuse a miracle, even from

ert, published by Rosweide; and Tillemont, Mem.

the hand of an enemy.

Eccles. tom. vii., in the Lives of Antony Pachomius,

91. So curious a passage well deserves to be

etc. Athanasius himself, who did not disdain to

transcribed. Christianam religionem absolutam et

compose the life of his friend Antony, has carefully

simplicem, anili superstitione confundens; in quS.

observed how often the holy monk deplored and

scrutanda perplexius, quam componenda gravius

prophesied the mischiefs of the Arian heresy. Atha¬

excitaret discidia plurima; quae progressa fusius

nas. tom. ii. p. 492, 498, etc. [tom. i. p. 677, ed.

aluit concertatione verborum, ut catervis antisti-

Bened.]

tum jumentis publicis ultro citroque discurrenti-

101. At first Constantine threatened in speaking,

bus, per synodos (quas appellant) dum ritum om-

but requested in writing, Kal aypaus piv riweiXet,

nem ad suum trahere conantur (Valesius reads co-

ypauv 5e i]^Lov. His letters gradually assumed a

natur) rei vehiculariae concideret nervos. Ammia-

menacing tone; but while he required that the en¬

nus, xxi. 16.

trance of the church should be open to all, he

92. Athanas, tom. i. p. 870.

avoided the odious name of Arius. Athanasius, like

93. Socrates, 1. ii. c. 35-47. Sozomen, 1. iv. c. 12-

a skilful politician, has accurately marked these

30. Theodoret, 1. ii. c. 18-32. Philostorg. 1. iv. c. 4-

distinctions

12, 1. v. c. 1-4, 1. vi. c. 1-5.

Bened.]), which allowed him some scope for ex¬

94. Sozomen, 1. iv. c. 23. Athanas. tom. i. p. 831

(tom. i. p. 788 [tom. i. p.

140, ed.

cuse and delay.

[tom. i. p. 281, ed. Ben.]. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles.

102. The Meletians in Egypt, like the Donatists

tom. vii. p. 947) has collected several instances of

in Africa, were produced by an episcopal quarrel

the haughty fanaticism of Constantius from the de¬

which arose from the persecution. I have not leisure

tached treatises of Lucifer of Cagliari. The very

to pursue the obscure controversy, which seems to

titles of these treatises inspire zeal and terror: —

have been misrepresented by the partiality of Ath¬

“Moriendum pro Dei Filio.” “De Regibus Apos-

anasius and the ignorance of Epiphanius. See Mos-

taticis.” “De non conveniendo cum Haeretico.”

heim’s General History of the Church, vol. i. p.

“De non parcendo in Deum delinquentibus.”

201. 103. The treatment of the six bishops is specified

95. Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacra. 1. ii. p. 418-430. The Greek historians were very ignorant of the af¬

by Sozomen (1. ii. c. 25); but Athanasius himself,

fairs of the West. 96. We may regret that Gregory Nazianzen

so copious on the subject of Arsenius and the chal¬ ice, leaves this grave accusation without a reply.

composed a panegyric instead of a life of Athana¬

104. Athanas. tom. i. p. 788 [tom. i. p. 147, ed.

sius, but we should enjoy and improve the advan¬

Bened.]. Socrates, 1. i. c. 28. Sozomen, 1. ii. c. 25.

tage of drawing our most authentic materials from

The emperor, in his Epistle of Convocation (Eu-

the rich fund of his own epistles and apologies

seb. in Vit. Constant. 1. iv. c. 42), seems to pre¬

(tom. i. p. 670-951). I shall not imitate the exam¬

judge some members of the clergy, and it was more

ple of Socrates (1. ii. c. 1), who published the first

than probable that the synod would apply those

edition of his history without giving himself the

reproaches to Athanasius.

trouble to consult the writings of Athanasius. Yet

105. See, in particular, the second Apology of

even Socrates, the more curious Sozomen, and the

Athanasius (tom. i. p. 763-808), and his Epistles to

learned Theodoret, connect the life of Athanasius

the Monks (p. 808-866) [tom. i. p. 271 sqq. ed.

with the series of ecclesiastical history. The dili¬

Bened.]). They are justified by original and au¬

gence of Tillemont (tom. viii.) and of the Benedic¬

thentic documents; but they would inspire more

tine editors has collected every fact and examined

confidence if he appeared less innocent, and his

every difficulty.

enemies less absurd.

772

Notes: Chapter xxi

106. Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. 1. iv. c. 41-47.

vocate of Athanasius might justify or excuse this

107. Athanas. tom. i. p. 804 [tom. i. p. 159, ed.

questionable conduct by the example of Cato and

Bened. 1777]. In a church dedicated to St. Atha¬

Sidney, the former of whom is said to have given,

nasius, this situation would afford a better subject

and the latter to have received, a bribe in the cause

for a picture than most of the stories of miracles

of liberty. 115. The canon which allows appeals to the

and martyrdoms. 108. Athanas. tom. i. p. 729 [tom. i. p. 104, ed.

Roman pontiffs has almost raised the council of

Bened.]. Eunapius has related (in Vit. Sophist, p.

Sardica to the dignity of a general council, and its

36, 37 [in ^Tdesio], edit. Commelin) a strange ex¬

acts have been ignorantly or artfully confounded

ample of the cruelty and credulity of Constantine

with those of the Nicene synod. See Tillemont,

on a similar occasion. The eloquent Sopater, a Syr¬

tom. viii. p. 689; and Geddes’s Tracts, vol. ii. p.

ian philosopher, enjoyed his friendship, and pro¬ voked the resentment of Ablavius, his Praetorian

419-460. 116. As Athanasius dispersed secret invectives

praefect. The corn-fleet was detained for want of a

against Constantius (see the Epistle to the Monks)

south wind; the people of Constantinople were dis¬

at the same time that he assured him of his pro¬

contented; and Sopater was beheaded, on a charge

found respect, we might distrust the professions of

that he had bound the winds by the power of magic.

the archbishop. Tom. i. p. 677.

Suidas adds, that Constantine wished to prove, by

117. Notwithstanding the discreet silence of Ath¬

this execution, that he had absolutely renounced

anasius and the manifest forgery of a letter inserted

the superstition of the Gentiles.

by Socrates, these menaces are proved by the un¬

109. In his return he saw Constantius twice—at

questionable evidence of Lucifer of Cagliari, and

Viminiacum, and at Caesarea in Cappadocia (Ath¬

even of Constantius himself. See Tillemont, tom.

anas. tom. i. p. 676 [tom. i. p. 236, ed. Bened.]).

viii. p. 693.

Tillemont supposes that Constantine introduced

118. I have always entertained some doubts con¬

him to the meeting of the three royal brothers in

cerning the retractation of Ursacius and Valens

Pannonia. (Memoires Eccles. tom. viii. p. 69.)

(Athanas. tom. i. p. 776 [tom. i. p. 139, ed, Bened.

110. See Beveridge, Pandect, tom. i. p. 429-452,

1777]). Their epistles to Julius bishop of Rome,

and tom. ii. Annotation, p. 182; Tillemont, Mem.

and to Athanasius himself, are of so different a cast

Eccles. tom. vi. p. 310-324. St. Hilary of Poitiers

from each other, that they cannot both be genuine:

has mentioned this synod of Antioch with too much

the one speaks the language of criminals who con¬

favour and respect. He reckons ninety-seven bish¬

fess their guilt and infamy, the other of enemies,

ops. hi. This magistrate, so odious to Athanasius, is praised by Gregory Nazianzen, tom. i. Orat. xxi.

who solicit on equal terms an honourable recon¬ ciliation. 119. The circumstances of his second return may

P- 39°, 391 [ed- Par- 1630]. Saepe premente Deo fert Deus alter opem.

be collected from Athanasius himself, tom. i. p.

For the credit of human nature, I am always pleased

rates, 1. ii. c. 15. Sozomen, 1. iii. c. 19. Theodoret,

to discover some good qualities in those men whom

1. ii. c. 11, 12. Philostorgius, 1. iii. c. 12.

party has represented as tyrants and monsters.

76g, and 822, 843 [tom. i. p. 283, ed. Bened.]. Soc¬

120. Athanasius (tom. i. p. 677, 678 [tom. i. p.

112. The chronological difficulties which per¬

239, ed. Bened.]) defends his innocence by pathetic

plex the residence of Athanasius at Rome are stren¬

complaints, solemn assertions, and specious argu¬

uously agitated by Valesius (Observat. ad Calcem,

ments. He admits that letters had been forged in

tom. ii.; Hist. Eccles. 1. i. c. x —5) and Tillemont

his name, but he requests that his own secretaries

(Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 674, etc.). I have fol¬

and those of the tyrant may be examined, whether

lowed the simple hypothesis of Valesius, who al¬

those letters had been written by the former or re¬ ceived by the latter.

lows only one journey after the intrusion of Greg¬ ory.

121. Athanas. tom. i. p. 825-844.

113. I cannot forbear transcribing a judicious

122. Athanas. tom. i. p. 861. Theodoret, 1. ii. c.

observation of Wetstein (Prolegomen. N. T. p. ig):

16. The emperor declared that he was more desir¬

—Si tamen Historiam Ecclesiasticam velimus con-

ous to subdue Athanasius than he had been to van¬

sulere, patebit jam inde a seculo quarto, cum, ortis

quish Magnentius or Sylvanus.

controversiis, ecclesiae Graeciae doctores in duas

123. The affairs of the council of Milan are so

partes scinderentur, ingenio, eloquentia, numero,

imperfectly and erroneously related by the Greek

tantum non aequales, earn partem quae vincere cu-

writers, that we must rejoice in the supply of some

piebat Romam confugisse, majestatemque pontifi-

letters of Eusebius, extracted by Baronius from the

cis comiter coluisse, eoque pacto oppressis per pon-

archives of the church of Vercellas, and of an old

tificem et episcopos Latinos adversariis praevaluis-

Life of Dionysius of Milan, published by Bollan-

se, atque orthodoxiam in conciliis stabilivisse. Earn

dus. See Baronius, a.d. 355, and Tillemont, tom. vii. p. 1415.

ob causam Athanasius, non sine comitatu Romam petiit, pluresque annos ibi haesit.

124. The honours, presents, feasts, which seduced

114. Philostorgius, 1. iii. c. 1 2. If any corruption

so many bishops, are mentioned with indignation

was used to promote the interest of religion, an ad¬

by those who were too pure or too proud to accept

Notes: Chapter xxi them. “ We combat ”

(says Hilary of Poitiers )

“against Constantius the Antichrist, who strokes

773

rative two or three luminous and important cir¬ cumstances.

the belly instead of scourging the back;” qui non

134. Athanasius had lately sent for Antony and

dorsa caedit, sed ventrem palpat. Hilarius contra

some of his chosen monks. They descended from

Constant, c. 5, p. 1240.

their mountain, announced to the Alexandrians

125. Something of this opposition is mentioned

the sanctity of Athanasius, and were honourably

by Ammianus (xv. 7), who had a very dark and

conducted by the archbishop as far as the gates of

superficial knowledge of ecclesiastical history. Li-

the city. Athanas. tom. ii. p. 491, 492 [tom. i. p.

berius . . . perseveranter renitebatur, nec visum

677 sq. ed. Bened. 1777]. See likewise Rufinus, iii.

hominem, nec auditum damnare, nefas ultimum

164, in Vit. Patr. p. 524.

saepe exclamans; aperte scilicet recalcitrans Impe-

135. Athanas. tom. i p. 694 [tom. i. p. 249, ed.

ratoris arbitrio. Id enim ille Athanasio semper in-

Bened.]. The emperor, or his Arian secretaries,

festus, etc. 1 26. More properly by the orthodox part of the

while they express their resentment, betray their fears and esteem of Athanasius.

council of Sardica. If the bishops of both parties

136. These minute circumstances are curious, as

had fairly voted, the division would have been 94

they are literally transcribed from the protest

to 76. M. de Tillemont (see tom. viii. p. 1147-

which was publicly presented three days after¬

1158) is justly surprised that so small a majority

wards by the catholics of Alexandria. See Athanas.

should have proceeded so vigorously against their

tom. i. p. 867 [tom. i. p. 311, ed. Bened. 1777].

adversaries, the principal of whom they immedi¬ ately deposed.

137. The Jansenists have often compared Athan¬ asius and Arnauld, and have expatiated with plea¬

127. Sulp. Severus, in Hist. Sacra, 1. ii. p. 412.

sure on the faith and zeal, the merit and exile, of

128. The exile of Liberius is mentioned by Am¬

those celebrated doctors. This concealed parallel is

mianus, xv. 7. See Theodoret, 1. ii. c. 16. Athanas.

very dexterously managed by the Abbe de la Ble-

tom. i. p. 834-837 [tom. i. p. 161, ed. Bened.].

terie, Vie de Jovien, tom. i. p. 130.

Hilar. Fragment, i.

138. Hinc jam toto orbe profugus [agitur] Ath¬

129. The life of Osius is collected by Tillemont

anasius, nec ullus ei tutus ad latendum supererat

(tom. vii. p. 524-561), who, in the most extrava¬

locus. Tribuni, Praefecti, Gomites, exercitus quo¬

gant terms, first admires and then reprobates the

que, ad pervestigandum eum moventur edictis

bishop of Cordova. In the midst of their lamenta¬

Imperialibus; praemia delatoribus proponuntur,

tions on his fall, the prudence of Athanasius may

si quis eum vivum, si id minus, caput certe Atha-

be distinguished from the blind and intemperate

nasii detulisset. Rufin. 1. i. c. 18.

zeal of Hilary. 130. The confessors of the West were successive¬

384, 385. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p.

ly banished to the deserts of Arabia or Thebals, the lonely places of Mount Taurus, the wildest parts

139. Gregor. Nazianzen. tom. i. Orat. xxi. p. 176-410, 820-880. 140. Et nulla tormentorum vis inveniri adhuc

of Phrygia, which were in the possession of the im¬

potuit, quae obdurato illius tractfis latroni invito

pious Montanists, etc. When the heretic Aetius was

elicere potuit, ut nomen proprium dicat. Ammian.

too favorably entertained at Mopsuestia in Cilicia,

xxii. 16, and Valesius ad locum.

the place of his exile was changed, by the advice of

141. Rufin. 1. i. c. 18. Sozomen, 1. iv. c. 10. This

Acacius, to Amblada, a district inhabited by sav¬

and the following story will be rendered impossible

ages, and infested by war and pestilence. Philo-

if we suppose that Athanasius always inhabited the

storg. 1. v. c. 2. 131. See the cruel treatment and strange obsti¬ nacy of Eusebius, in his own' letters, published by

asylum which he accidentally or occasionally had used. 142. Palladius (Hist. Lausiac. c. 136 in Vit. Pa-

Baronius, a.d. 356, No. 92-102. 132. Caeterum exules satis constat, totius orbis

trum, p. 776 [p. 230, ed. Paris, Pallad. 1555]), the

studiis celebratos, pecuniasque eis in sumptum af-

with the damsel, who in her old age still remem¬

original author of this anecdote, had conversed

fatim congestas, legationibus quoque eos plebis ca-

bered with pleasure so pious and honourable a

tholicae ex omnibus fere provinciis frequentatos.

connection. I cannot indulge the delicacy of Ba¬

Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacra, p. 414. Athanas. tom. i.

ronius, Valesius, Tillemont, etc., who almost re¬

p. 836, 840. 133. Ample materials for the history of this third

ject a story so unworthy, as they deem it, of the gravity of ecclesiastical history.

persecution of Athanasius may be found in his

143. Athanas. tom. i. p. 869 [tom. i. p. 572, ed.

own works. See particularly his very able Apology

Bened. 1777]. I agree with Tillemont (tom. viii. p.

to Constantius (tom. i. p. 673 [tom. i. p. 233 sqq.

1197), that his expressions imply a personal, though

ed. Bened.]), his first Apology for his flight (p. 701

perhaps secret, visit to the synods.

[tom. i. p. 253 sqq. ed. Bened.]), his prolix Epistle

144. The epistle of Athanasius to the monks is

to the Solitaries (p. 808), and the original Protest

filled with reproaches, which the public must feel

of the People of Alexandria against the violences

to be true (vol. i. p. 834, 856 [tom. i. p. 304, ed.

committed by Syrianus (p. 866 [p. 311, ed. Ben¬

Bened.]); and, in compliment to his readers, he

ed.]). Sozomen (1. iv. c. 9) has thrown into the nar¬

has introduced the comparisons of Pharaoh, Ahab,

774

Notes: Chapter xxi

Belshazzar, etc. The boldness of Hilary was at¬

153. See Socrates, 1. ii. c. 6, 7, 12, 13, 15, 16, 26,

tended with less danger, if he published his invec¬

27, 38; and Sozomen, 1. iii. 3, 4, 7, 9, 1. iv. c. 2, 21.

tive in Gaul after the revolt of Julian; but Lucifer

The acts of St. Paul of Constantinople, of which

sent his libels to Constantius, and almost chal¬

Photius has made an abstract (Phot. Biblioth. p.

lenged the reward of martyrdom. See Tillemont,

1419-1430), are an indifferent copy of these his¬

tom. vii. p. 905.

torians; but a modern Greek, who could write the

145. Athanasius (tom. i. p. 811) complains in general of this practice, which he afterwards ex¬

Life of a saint without adding fables and miracles, is entitled to some commendation.

emplifies (p. 861 [tom. i. p. 307, ed. Bened.]) in

154. Socrates, 1. ii. c. 27, 38. Sozomen, 1. iv. c.

the pretended election of Felix. Three eunuchs

21. The principal assistants of Macedonius, in the

represented the Roman people, and three prelates,

work of persecution, were the two bishops of Nico-

who followed the court, assumed the functions of

media and Gyzicus, who were esteemed for their

the bishops of the Suburbicarian provinces. 146. Thomassin (Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. i.

virtues, and especially for their charity. I cannot forbear reminding the reader that the difference

1. ii. c. 72, 73, p. 966-984) has collected many cur¬

between the Homoousion and Homoiousion is almost

ious facts concerning the origin and progress of

invisible to the nicest theological eye.

church-singing, both in the East and West.

155. We are ignorant of the precise situation of

147. Philostorgius, 1. iii. c. 13. Godefroy has ex¬

Mantinium. In speaking of these four bands of le¬

amined this subject with singular accuracy (p.

gionaries, Socrates, Sozomen, and the author of the

147, etc.). There were three heterodox forms: “To

Acts of St. Paul, use the indefinite terms of apidpoi,

the Father by the Son, and in the Holy Ghost;”

4>a\ayyts, ray para, which Nicephorus very properly

“To the Father and the Son, in the Holy Ghost;”

translates thousands. Vales, ad. Socrat. 1. ii. c. 38.

and “To the Father in the Son and the Holy Ghost.”

156. Julian. Epistol. Iii. p. 436, edit. Spanheim.

148. After the exile of Eustathius, under the

157. See Optatus Milevitanus (particularly iii.

reign of Constantine, the rigid party of the ortho¬

4), with the Donatist history by M. Dupin, and

dox formed a separation which afterwards degen¬

the original pieces at the end of his edition. The

erated into a schism, and lasted above fourscore

numerous circumstances which Augustin has men¬

years. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p.

tioned, of the fury of the Circuincellions against

35-54, 1137~I !585 tom> viii. P- 573-632,

others and against themselves, have been labori¬

1332. In many churches the Arians and Homo-

ously collected by Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom.

ousians, who had renounced each other’s commun¬

vi. p. 147-165; and he has often though without

ion, continued for some time to join in prayer.

design, exposed the injuries which had provoked

Philostorgius, 1. iii. c. 14.

those fanatics.

on this ecclesiastical revolution of

158. It is amusing enough to observe the lan¬

Rome, Ammianus, xv. 7. Athanas. tom. i. p. 834,

149. See,

guage of opposite parties when they speak of the

861 [tom. i. p. 307, ed. Bened.]. Sozomen, 1. iv. c.

same men and things. Gratus, bishop of Carthage,

15. Theodoret, 1. ii. c. 17. Sulp. Sever. Hist. Sacra,

begins the acclamations of an orthodox synod,

1. ii. p. 413. Hieronym. Ghron. Marcellin. et Faus-

“Gratias Deo omnipotenti et Christo Jesu . . . qui

tin. Libell. p. 3, 4. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom.

imperavit religiosissimo Constanti Imperatori, ut

vi. p. 336.

votum gereret unitatis, et mitteret ministros sancti

150. Cucusus was the last stage of his life and

operis famulos Dei Paulum et Macarium.” Monu¬

sufferings. The situation of that lonely town, on

ment. Vet. ad Calcem Optati, p. 313. “Ecce su-

the confines of Cappadocia, Cilicia, and the Lesser

bito,” (says the Donatist author of the Passion of

Armenia, has occasioned some geographical per¬

Marculus) “de Constantis regis tyrannica domo

plexity; but we are directed to the true spot by the

. . . pollutum Macarianae persecutionis murmur

course of the Roman road from Caesarea to Ana-

increpuit, et duabus bestiis ad Africam missis, eodem

zarbus. See Cellarii Geograph, tom. ii. p. 213;

scilicet Macario et Paulo, execrandum prorsus ac

Wesseling, ad Itinerar. p. 1 79, 703.

dirum ecclesias certamen indictum est; ut populus

151. Athanasius (tom. i. p. 703, 813, 814 [tom.

Christianus ad unionem cum traditoribus facien-

i. p. 275, ed. Bened.]) affirms, in the most positive

dam, nudatis militum gladiis et draconum prae-

terms, that Paul was murdered; and appeals, not

sentibus signis, et tubarum vocibus cogeretur.” Monument, p. 304.

only to common fame, but even to the unsuspicious testimony of Philagrius, one of the Arian perse¬ cutors. Yet he acknowledges that the heretics at¬

159. The Histoire des Camisards, in 3

vols.

i2mo., Villefranche, 1760, may be recommended

tributed to disease the death of the bishop of Con¬

as accurate and impartial. It requires some atten¬

stantinople. Athanasius is servilely copied by Soc¬

tion to discover the religion of the author.

rates (1. ii. c. 26); but Sozomen, who discovers a

160. The Donatist suicides alleged in their justifi¬

more liberal temper, presumes (1. iv. c. 2) to insin¬ uate a prudent doubt.

cation the example of Razias, which is related in the 14th chapter of the second book of the Maccabee s.

152. Ammianus (xiv. 10) refers to his own ac¬

161. Nullas infestas hominibus bestias, ut sunt

count of this tragic event. But we no longer possess

sibi ferales plerique Christianorum, expertus. Ammian. xxii. 5.

that part of his history.

Notes: Chapter xxi 162. Gregor.

Nazianzen, Orat. i. p.

33. See

Tillemont, tom. vi. p. 501, quarto edit. 163. Histoire

Politique et

775

jectures, with a show of reason, that this was no more than the minutes of a law, the heads of an in¬

Philosophique

des

tended bill, which were found in Scriniis Memoriae,

Etablissemens des Europeens dans les deux Indes, tom. i. p. 9.

among the papers of Constantius, and afterwards

164. According to Eusebius (in Vit. Constantin. 1. ii. c. 45) the emperor prohibited, both in cities and in the country, rd pvaapd. . . . rijs elScoXoXa-

inserted, as a worthy model, in the Theodosian Code. 1 71. Symmach. Epistol. x. 54 [p. 289, ed. Paris, 1604].

rpeias ; the abominable acts or parts of idolatry.

172. The fourth Dissertation of M. de la Bastie,

Socrates (1. i. c. 18) and Sozomen (1. ii. c. 4, 5)

sur le Souverain Pontificat des Empereurs Romains

have represented the conduct of Constantine with

(in the Mem. de l’Acad. tom. xv. 75-144), is a

a just regard to truth and history, which has been

very learned and judicious performance, which

neglected by Theodoret (1. v. c. 21) and Orosius

explains the state, and proves the toleration, of

(vii. 28). Turn deinde

(says the latter) primus

Paganism from Constantine to Gratian. The as¬

Constantinus justo ordine et jbio vicem vertit edicto;

sertion of Zosimus [iv. 36], that Gratian was the

siquidem statuit citra ullam hominum caedem,

first who refused the pontifical robe, is confirmed

paganorum templa claudi.

beyond a doubt; and the murmurs of bigotry on

165. See Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. 1. ii. c. 56,

that subject are almost silenced.

60. In the sermon to the assembly of saints which

173. As I have freely anticipated the use of pa¬

the emperor pronounced when he was mature in

gans and paganism, I shall now trace the singular

years and piety, he declares to the idolaters (c. xi.)

revolutions of those celebrated words. 1. 111x717, in

that they are permitted to offer sacrifices and to

the Doric dialect, so familiar to the Italians, sig¬

exercise every part of their religious worship.

nifies a fountain; and the rural neighbourhood

166. See Eusebius, in Vit. Constantin. 1. iii. c.

which frequented the same fountain derived the

54-58, and 1. iv. c. 23, 25. These acts of authority

common appellation of pagus and pagans (Festus

may be compared with the suppression of the

sub voce, and Servius ad Virgil. Georgic. ii. 382).

Bacchanals, and the demolition of the temple of

2. By an easy extension of the ■word, pagan and rural

Isis, by the magistrates of Pagan Rome.

became almost synonymous (Plin. Hist. Natur.

167. Eusebius (in Vit. Constant. 1. iii. c. 54) and

xxviii. 5); and the meaner rustics acquired that

Libanius (Orat. pro Templis, p. 9, 10, edit. Gotho-

name, which has been corrupted into peasants in

fred.) both mention the pious sacrilege of Constan¬

the modern languages of Europe. 3. The amazing

tine, which they viewed in very different lights.

increase of the military order introduced the ne¬

The latter expressly declares that “he made use of

cessity of a correlative term (Hume’s Essays, vol. i.

the sacred money, but made no alteration in the

p. 555); and all the people who were not enlisted in

legal worship; the temples indeed were impover¬

the service of the prince were branded with the

ished, but the sacred rites were performed there.”

contemptuous epithet of pagans (Tacit. Hist. iii.

Lardner’s Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol.

24, 43, 77. Juvenal. Satir. 16 [v. 32]. Tertullian de Pallio, c. 4). 4. The Christians were the soldiers of

iv. p. 140. 168. Ammianus (xxii. 4) speaks of some court

Christ; their adversaries who refused his sacrament,

eunuchs who were spoliis templorum pasti. Liban¬

or military oath of baptism, might deserve the

ius says (Orat. pro Tempi, p. 23) that the emperor

metaphorical name of pagans; and this popular

often gave away a temple, like a dog, or a horse, or

reproach was introduced as early as the reign of

a slave, or a gold cup: but the devout philosopher

Valentinian (a.d. 365) into Imperial laws (Cod.

takes care to observe that these sacrilegious favour¬

Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 18) and theological

ites very seldom prospered.

writings. 5. Christianity gradually filled the cities

169. See Gothofred. Cod. Theodos. tom. vi. p.

of the empire: the old religion, in the time of Pru-

262. Liban. Orat. Parental, c. x. in Fabric. Bibl.

dentius (advers. Symmachum, 1. i. [v. 575 sqq.~\ ad

Graec. tom. vii. p. 235 [ed. Hamb. 1715].

fin.) and Orosius (in Praefat. Hist.), retired and

170. Placuit omnibus locis atque urbibus uni-

languished in obscure villages; and the word pa¬

versis claudi protinus templa, et accessu vetitis

gans, with its new signification, reverted to its

omnibus licentiam delinquendi perditis abnegari.

primitive origin. 6. Since the worship of Jupiter

abstinere.

and his family has expired, the vacant title of Pa¬

Quod siquis aliquid forte hujusmodi perpetraverit,

gans has been successively applied to all the idola¬

gladio [ultore] sternatur: facultitates etiam per-

ters and polytheists of the old and new world. 7.

empti fisco decernimus vindicari: et similiter ad-

The Latin Christians bestowed it, without scruple,

Volumus etiam cunctos

a sacrificiis

fligi rectores provinciarum si facinora vindicare

on their mortal enemies the Mahometans; and the

neglexerint. Cod. Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. x. leg. 4.

purest Unitarians were branded with the unjust re¬

Chronology has discovered some contradiction in

proach of idolatry and paganism. See Gerard Vos-

the date of this extravagant law; the only one, per¬

sius, Etymologicon Linguae Latinae, in his works,

haps, by which the negligence of magistrates is

tom. i. p. 420; Godefroy’s Commentary on the

punished by death and confiscation. M. de la

Theodosian Code, tom. vi. p. 250; and Ducange

Bastie (Mem. de l’Aced6mie, tom. xv. p. 98) con¬

mediae et infimae Latinitat. Glossar.

776

Notes: Chapter xxii

174. In the pure language of Ionia and Athens,

the religious worship of an image. The peculiar

EKcoXo;' and Aarpda were ancient and familiar

idiom of the Hellenists, or Grecian Jews, has been

words. The former expressed a likeness, an appa¬

adopted by the sacred and ecclesiastical writers;

rition (Homer. Odys. xi. 602), a representation,

and the reproach of idolatry (F,iSw\o\arpda) has

an image, created either by fancy or art. The latter

stigmatised that visible and abject mode of super¬

denoted any sort of service or slavery. The Jews of

stition which some sects of Christianity should not

Egypt, who translated the Hebrew Scriptures, re¬

hastily impute to the polytheists of Greece and

strained the use of these words (Exod. xx. 4, 5) to

Rome.

Chapter XXII 1. Omnes qui plus poterant in palatio, adulandi

clavularis, or clabularis. These post-waggons are

professores jam docti, recte consulta, prospereque

often mentioned in the Code, and were supposed

completa vertebant in deridiculum: talia sine modo

to carry fifteen hundred pounds weight. See Vales,

strepentes insulse; in odium venit cum victoriis

ad Ammian. xx. 4.

suis; capella, non homo; ut hirsutum Julianum

7. Most probably the palace of the baths ( Ther-

carpentes, appellantesque loquacem talpam, et

marum), of which a solid and lofty hall still subsists

purpuratam simiam, et litterionem Graecum: et

in the Rue de la Harpe. The buildings covered a

his congruentia plurima atque vernacula principi

considerable space of the modern quarter of the

resonantes, audire haec taliaque gestienti, virtutes

university; and the gardens, under the Merovin¬

ejus obruere verbis impudentibus conabantur, ut

gian kings, communicated with the abbey of St.

segnem incessentes et timidum et umbratilem,

Germain des Prez. By the injuries of time and the

gestaque secus verbis comptioribus exornantem.

Normans this ancient palace was reduced in the

Ammianus, xvii. 11. 2. Ammian. xvi. 12 [fin.]. The orator Themistius (iv. p. 56, 57) believed whatever was contained in

twelfth century to a maze of ruins, whose dark re¬ cesses were the scene of licentious love.

the Imperial letters, which were addressed to the

Explicat aula sinus montemque amplectitur alis;

senate of Constantinople. Aurelius Victor, who

Multiplici latebra scelerum tersura rubo-

published his Abridgment in the last year of Constantius, ascribes the German victories to the wis¬ dom of the emperor and the fortune of the Caesar.

rem.pereuntis saspe pudoris Celatura nefas,

Venerisque

accommoda

furtis.

Yet the historian, soon afterwards, was indebted

(These lines are quoted from the Architrenius, 1.

to the favour or esteem of Julian for the honour of

iv. c. 8, a poetical work of John de Hauteville, or

a brass statue, and the important offices of con¬

Hanville, a monk of St. Alban’s, about the year

sular of the second Pannonia and praefect of the

1190. See Warton’s History of English Poetry, vol.

city. Ammian. xxi. 10.

i. dissert, ii.) Yet such thefts might be less perni¬

3. Callido nocendi artificio, accusatoriam diri-

cious to mankind than the theological disputes of

tatem laudum titulis peragebant. . . . Hae voces

the Sorbonne, which have been since agitated on

fuerunt ad inflammanda odia probris omnibus po-

the same ground. Bonamy, Mem. de l’Academie, tom. xv. p. 678-682.

tentiores. See Mamertin. in Actione Gratiarum in Vet. Panegyr. xi. 4, 5.

8. Even in this tumultuous moment Julian at¬

4. The minute interval which may be interposed

tended to the forms of superstitious ceremony, and

between the hieme adulta and the primo vere of Am¬

obstinately refused the inauspicious use of a female

mianus (xx. 1,4), instead of allowing a sufficient

necklace, or a horse-collar, which the impatient

space for a march of three thousand miles, would

soldiers would have employed in the room of a diadem.

render the orders of Constantius as extravagant as they were unjust. The troops of Gaul could not

9. An equal proportion of gold and silver, five

have reached Syria till the end of autumn. The

pieces of the former, one pound of the latter; the

memory of Ammianus must have been inaccurate,

whole amounting to about five pounds ten shil¬ lings of our money.

and his language incorrect. 5. Ammianus, xx. 1. The valour of Lupicinus

10. For the whole narrative of this revolt we

and his military skill are acknowledged by the his¬

may appeal to authentic and original materials;

torian, who, in his affected language, accuses the

Julian himself (ad S. P. Q. Atheniensem, p. 282,

general of exalting the horns of his pride, bellowing

283, 284), Libanius (Orat. Parental, c. 44-48, in

in a tragic tone, and exciting a doubt whether he

Fabricius Biblioth. Grasc. tom, vii. p. 269-273),

was more cruel or avaricious. The danger from the

Ammianus (xx. 4), and Zosimus (1. iii. [c. 9], p.

Scots and Piets was so serious, that Julian him¬ self had some thoughts of passing over into the

J51) 152> I53)>who, in the reign of Julian, appears to follow the more respectable authority of Eu-

island.

napius. With such guides we might neglect the ab-

6. He granted them the permission of the cursus

breviators and ecclesiastical historians.

Notes: Chapter xxn 11. Eutropius,

a

respectable

witness,

uses

777

a

torian praefect of the East, to whose evidence the

15

accuser of Julian appeals, is arraigned by Libanius

[7]). Gregory Nazianzen, whose ignorance might

as effeminate and ungrateful; yet the religion of El¬

excuse his fanaticism, directly charges the apostate

pidius is praised by Jerom (tom. i. p. 243), and his

with presumption, madness, and impious rebellion,

humanity by Ammianus (xxi. 6).

doubtful expression, “consensu militum” (x.

avdadeia, airovoLa ; acre/3tia. Orat. iii. p. 67.

22. Feriarum die, quern celebrantes mense Jan-

12. Julian, ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 284. The devout

uario, Christiani Epiphania dictitant, progressus, in

Abbe de la Bleterie (Vie dejulien, p. 159) is almost

eorumecclesiam, solemniter numine orato discessit.

inclined to respect the devout protestations of a

Ammian. xxi. 2. Zonaras observes that it was on

Pagan. 13. Ammian. xx. 5, with the note of Lindenbro-

Christmas Day, and his assertion is not inconsis¬ tent; since the churches of Egypt, Asia, and per¬

gius on the Genius of the empire. Julian himself,

haps Gaul, celebrated on the same day (the 6th of

in a confidential letter to his friend and physician

January) the nativity and the baptism of their

Oribasius (Epist. xvii. p. 384), mentions another

Saviour. The Romans, as ignorant as their breth¬

dream, to which, before the event, he gave credit;

ren of the real date of his birth, fixed the solemn

of a stately tree thrown to the ground, of a small

festival to the 25th of December, the Brurnalia, or

plant striking a deep root into the earth. Even in

winter solstice, when the Pagans annually cele¬

his sleep the mind of the Caesar must have been

brated the birth of the sun. See Bingham’s An¬

agitated by the hopes and fears of his fortune. Zo-

tiquities of the Christian Church, 1. xx. c. 4; and

simus (1. iii. [c. 9] p. 155) relates a subsequent

Beausobre, Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, tom.

dream.

ii. p. 690-700.

14. The difficult situation of the prince of a re¬

23. The public and secret negotiations between

bellious army is finely described by Tacitus (Hist,

Constantius and Julian must be extracted, with

i. 80-85). But Chho had much more guilt and much less abilities than Julian.

some caution, from Julian himself (Orat. ad S.

15. To this ostensible epistle he added, says Am-

c. 51, p. 276), Ammianus (xx. 9), Zosimus (1. iii.

mianus, private letters, objurgatorias et mordaces,

[c. 9] p. 154), and even Zonaras (tom. ii. 1. xiii.

P. Q. Athen. p. 286), Libanius (Orat. Parent,

which the historian had not seen, and would not

[c. 10] p. 20, 21, 22), who, on this occasion, ap¬

have published. Perhaps they never existed.

pears to have possessed and used some valuable

16. See the first transactions of his reign, in Ju¬ lian ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 285, 286. Ammianus, xx. 5, 8. Liban. Orat. Parent, c. 49, 50, p. 273-275. 17. Liban. Orat. Parent, c. 50, p. 275, 276. A

materials. 24. Three hundred myriads, or three millions, of medimni, a corn-measure familiar to the Athe¬ nians, and which contained six Roman modii. Ju¬

strange disorder, since it continued above seven

lian explains, like a soldier and a statesman, the

years. In the factions of the Greek republics the

danger of his situation, and the necessity and ad¬

exiles amounted to 20,000 persons; and Isocrates

vantages of an offensive war (ad S. P. Q. Athen. p.

assures Philip that it would be easier to raise an army from the vagabonds than from the cities. See

286, 287). 25. See his oration, and the behaviour of the

Hume’s Essays, tom. i. p. 426, 427.

troops, in Ammian. xxi. 5.

18. Julian (Epist. xxxviii. p. 414) gives a short

26. He sternly refused his hand to the suppliant

description of Vesontio, or Besantjon; a rocky pen¬

praefect, whom he sent into Tuscany (Ammian.

insula almost encircled by the river Doubs; once a

xxi. 5). Libanius, with savage fury, insults Nebrid-

magnificent city, filled with temples, etc., now re¬

ius, applauds the soldiers, and almost censures the

duced to a small town, emerging however from

humanity of Julian (Orat. Parent, c. 53, p. 278).

its ruins. 19. Vadomair entered into the Roman service,

obeyed the law which he publicly imposed on him¬

and was promoted from a barbarian kingdom to

self. Neque civilis quisquam judex nec militaris

27. Ammian. xxi. 8. In this promotion Julian

the military rank of duke of Phoenicia. He still re¬

[militiae] rector, alio quodam praeter merita suffra-

tained the same artful character (Ammian. xxi. 3);

gante, ad potiorem veniat gradum. (Ammian. xx.

but, under the reign of Valens, he signalised his

5.) Absence did not weaken his regard for Sallust,

valour in the Armenian war (xxix. 1). 20. Ammian. xx. 10, xxi. 3, 4. Zosimus, 1. iii. [c. 10] p. 155. 21. Her remains were sent to Rome, and in¬ terred near those of her sister Constantina, in the

with whose name (a.d. 363) he honoured the con¬ sulship. 28. Ammianus (xxi. 8) ascribes the same prac¬ tice and the same motive to Alexander the Great and other skilful generals.

suburb of the Via Nomentana. Ammian. xxi. 1. Li-

29. This wood was a part of the great Hercynian

banius has composed a very weak apology, to jus¬

forest, which, in the time of Caesar, stretched away

tify his hero from a very absurd charge of poison¬

from the country of the Rauraci (Basel) into the

ing his wife, and rewarding her physician with his

boundless regions of the North. See Culver. Ger¬

mother’s jewels. (See the seventh of seventeen new

mania Antiqua, 1. iii. c. 47.

orations, published at Venice 1754, from a MS. in

30. Compare Libanius, Orat. Parent, c. 53, p.

St. Mark’s library, p. 11 7-127.) Elpidius, the Prae¬

278, 279, with Gregory Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 68.

778

Notes: Chapter xxn

Even the saint admires the speed and secrecy of

enim ad leniendum suorum metum subinde prae-

this march. A modern divine might apply to the

dicabat. Ammian. xxi. 7.

progress of Julian the lines which were originally

40. See the speech and preparations in Ammi¬ anus, xxi. 13. The vile Theodotus afterwards im¬

designed for another apostate: — -So eagerly the fiend,

plored and obtained his pardon from the merciful

O’er bog, or steep, through strait, rough,

conqueror, who signified his wish of diminishing his enemies and increasing the number of his

dense, or rare, With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps,

friends (xxii. 14). 41. Ammian. xxi. 7,11, 12. He seems to describe, with superfluous labour, the operations of the siege of Aquileia, which on this occasion main¬

or flies. 31. In that interval the Notitia places two or

tained its impregnable fame. Gregory Nazianzen

three fleets, the Lauriacensis (at Lauriacum, or

(Orat. iii. p. 68) ascribes this accidental revolt to

Lorch), the Arlapensis, the Maginensis; and men¬

the wisdom of Constantius, whose assured victory

tions five legions, or cohorts, of Liburnarii, who

he announces with some appearance of truth. Con-

should be a sort

stantio, quem credebat proculdubio fore victorem:

of marines.

Sect,

lviii. edit.

Labb. 32. Zosimus alone (1. iii. [c. 10] p. 156) has spec¬

nemo enim omnium tunc ab hac constanti sententia discrepabat. Ammian. xxi. 7.

ified this interesting circumstance. Mamertinus

42. His death and character are faithfully de¬

(in Panegyr. Vet. xi. [x.] 6, 7, 8), who accompanied

lineated by Ammianus (xxi. 14, 15, 16); and we

Julian, as count of the sacred largesses, describes

are authorised to despise and detest the foolish

this voyage in a florid and picturesque manner,

calumny of Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 68), who accuses

challenges

of

Julian of contriving the death of his benefactor.

Greece, etc. 33. The description of Ammianus, which might

The private repentance of the emperor, that he

be supported by collateral evidence, ascertains the

xxi. p. 389), is not improbable in itself, nor incom¬

precise situation of the Augustia Succorum, or passes

patible with the public verbal testament which

Triptolemus

and

the

Argonauts

had spared and promoted Julian (p. 69, and Orat.

of Sued. M. d’Anville, from the trifling resemblance

prudential considerations might dictate in the last

of names, has placed them between Sardica and

moments of his life.

Naissus. For my own justification, I am obliged to

43. In describing the triumph of Julian, Ammi¬

mention the only error which I have discovered in

anus (xxii. 1,2) assumes the lofty tone of an orator

the maps or writings of that admirable geographer.

or poet; while Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 56, p.

34. Whatever circumstances we may borrow

281) sinks to the grave simplicity of an historian.

elsewhere, Ammianus (xxi. 8, 9, 1 o) still supplies the series of the narrative. 35. Ammian. xxi. g, 1 o. Libanius, Orat. Parent,

44. The funeral of Constantius is described by Ammianus (xxi. 16), Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iv. p. 119), Mamertinus (in Panegyr. Vet. xi. 27),

c. 54, p. 279, 280. Zosimus, 1. iii. [c. 10] p. 156, 157.

Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. lvii. p. 283), and Phi-

36. Julian (ad S. P. Q. Athen. p. 286) positively

lostorgius (1. vi. c. 6, with Godefroy’s Disserta¬

asserts that he intercepted the letters of Constan-

tions, p. 265). These writers, and their followers,

tius to the barbarians; and Libanius as positively

Pagans, Catholics, Arians, beheld with very dif¬

affirms that he read them on his march to the

ferent eyes both the dead and the living emperor.

troops and the cities. Yet Ammianus (xxi. 3) ex¬

45. The day and year of the birth of Julian are

presses himself with cool and candid hesitation, si

not perfectly ascertained. The day is probably the

Jama solius admittenda est fides. He specifies, how¬

sixth of November, and the year must be either

ever, an intercepted letter from Vadomair to Con-

331 or 332. Tiliemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom.

stantius, which supposes an intimate correspond¬

iv. p. 693. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 50. I have

ence between them: “Caesar tuus disciplinam non

preferred the earlier date.

habet.” 37. Zosimus mentions his epistles to the Athe¬

these philosophical ideas with much eloquence

46. Julian himself (p. 253-267) has expressed

nians, the Corinthians, and the Lacedaemonians.

and some affectation, in a very elaborate epistle to

The substance was probably the same, though the

Themistius. The Abbe de la Bleterie (tom. ii. p.

address was properly varied. The epistle to the

146-193), who has given an elegant translation, is

Athenians is still extant (p. 268-287), and has af¬

inclined to believe that it was the celebrated The¬

forded much valuable information. It deserves the

mistius, whose orations are still extant.

praises of the Abb6 de la Bleterie (Pref. k l’Histoire

47. Julian ad Themist. p. 258. Petavius (not. p.

de Jovien, p. 24, 25), and is one of the best mani¬

95) observes that this passage is taken from the

festoes to be found in any language. 38. Auctori tuo reverentium rogamus. Ammian. xxi. It is amusing enough to observe the secret conflicts of the senate between flattery and fear. See Tacit. Hist. i. 85. 39. Tanquam venaticiam praedam caperet: hoc

fourth book of De Legibus; but either Julian quoted from memory, or his MSS. were different from ours. Xenophon opens the similar reflection. 48.

Cyropaedia with

a

'O it avdpLCTOi’ KcXeucov apxtii1, irpoorWriaL koX

dripiov. Aristot. ap. Julian, [in Epist. ad Themis-

Notes: Chapter xxn

779

tium] p. 261. The MS. of Vossius, unsatisfied with

difficultatibus aestimarentur; miracula avium, lon-

the single beast, affords the stronger reading of

ginqui maris pisces, alieni temporis poma, asstivae

Gripia, which the experience

nives, hibernae rosae.

of despotism may

warrant.

57. Yet Julian himself was accused of bestowing

49. Libanius (Orat. Parentalis, c. Ixxxiv. Ixxxv.

whole towns on the eunuchs (Orat. vii. against

p. 310, 311, 312) has given this interesting detail of

Polyclet. p. 117-127). Libanius contents himself

the private life of Julian. He himself (in Misop-

with a cold but positive denial of the fact, which

ogon, p. 350) mentions his vegetable diet, and up¬

seems indeed to belong more properly to Con-

braids the gross and sensual appetite of the people

stantius. This charge, however, may allude to some

of Antioch.

unknown circumstance.

50. Lectulus . . . Vestalium toris purior, is the

58. In the Misopogon (p. 338, 339) he draws a

praise which Mamertinus (Panegyr. Vet. xi. [x.]

very singular picture of himself, and the following

13) addresses to Julian himself. Libanius affirms,

words are strangely characteristic:

in sober peremptory language, that Julian never

deiKa tov 0a.9vv rovrovi xcoyatra. . . raura rot SraOeov-

arris irpoae-

knew a woman before his marriage, or after the

tcov ivixopcu tGjv dtipG)v Sxmrep ev \oxpfi twv dnpiaiv.

death of his wife (Orat. Parent, c. lxxxviii. p. 313).

The friends of the Abb6 de la Bleterie adjured him,

The chastity of Julian is confirmed by the impar¬

in the name of the French nation, not to translate

tial testimony of Ammianus (xxv. 4), and the par¬

this passage, so offensive to their delicacy (Hist, de

tial silence of the Christians. Yet Julian ironically

Jovien, tom. ii. p. 94). Like him, I have contented

urges the reproach of the people of Antioch, that

myself with a transient allusion; but the little ani¬

he almost always (cbs eirnrav, in Misopogon, p. 345)

mal which Julian names, is a beast familiar to man,

lay alone. This suspicious expression is explained

and signifies love.

by the Abbe de la Bleterie (Hist, de Jovien, tom. ii. р. 103. 109) with candour and ingenuity. 51. See Salmasius ad Sueton. in Claud, c. xxi. A twenty-fifth race, or missus, was added, to com¬ plete the number of one hundred chariots, four of which, the four colours, started each heat. Centum quadrijugos agitabo ad flumina currus.

59. Julian, Epist. xxiii. p. 389. He uses the words iro\vK€(t>a\ov iibpav, in writing to his friend Hermogenes, who, like himself, was conversant with the Greek poets. 60. The two Sallusts, the prasfect of Gaul and the praefect of the East, must be carefully distin¬ guished (Hist, des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 696). I have used the surname of Secundus as a convenient

It appears that they ran five or seven times round

epithet. The second Sallust extorted the esteem of

the Meta (Sueton, in Domitian. c. 4); and (from

the Christians themselves; and Gregory Nazianzen,

the measure of the Circus Maximus at Rome, the

who condemned his religion, has celebrated his

Hippodrome at Constantinople, etc.) it might be

virtues (Orat. iii. p. 90). See a curious note of the

about a four-mile course.

Abbe de la Bleterie, Vie de Julien, p. 363.

52. Julian, in Misopogon, p. 340. Julius Caesar

61. Mamertinus praises the emperor (xi. [x.] 1)

had offended the Roman people by reading his

for bestowing the offices of treasurer and prasfect

despatches during the actual race. Augustus in¬

on a man of wisdom, firmness, integrity, etc., like

dulged their taste, or his own, by his constant at¬

himself. Yet Ammianus ranks him (xxi. 1) among

tention to the important business of the Circus, for

the ministers of Julian, quorum merita norat et

which he professed the warmest inclination. Sue¬

fidem.

ton. in August, c. xlv. 53. The reformation of the palace is described by Ammianus (xxii. 4), Libanius (Orat. Parent.

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).

с. Ixii. p. 288, etc.), Mamertinus (in Panegyr. Vet.

63. Ursuli vero necem ipsa mihi videtur flesse

xi. [x.] 11), Socrates (1. iii. c. 1), and Zonaras (tom.

Justitia [Amm. 1. c], Libanius, who imputes his

ii. 1. xiii. [c. 12] p. 24). 54. Ego non rationalem jussi sed tonsorem acciri.

count of the largesses.

death to the soldiers, attempts to criminate the

Zonaras uses the less natural image of a senator. Yet

64. Such respect was still entertained for the

an officer of the finances, who was satiated with

venerable names of the commonwealth, that the

wealth, might desire and obtain the honours of

public was surprised and scandalised to hear Tau¬

the senate. 55. Mayetpous per xAtors, Kovpeas be ovk eXarrous,

rus summoned as a criminal under the consulship

oivoxoovs

Si ir\eiovs, in 8vo. edit.

quem genere longius contingebat (Ammian. xxii. 9). Julian never expresses any gratitude towards

1777. 13. The Idaean mother landed in Italy about

that Arian prelate; but he celebrates his preceptor

the end of the second Punic war. The miracle of

the eunuch Mardonius, and describes his mode of

Claudia, either virgin or matron, who cleared her

education, which inspired his pupil with a passion¬

fame by disgracing the graver modesty of the Ro¬

ate admiration for the genius, and perhaps the

man ladies, is attested by a cloud of witnesses.

religion, of Homer. Misopogon, p. 351, 352.

Their evidence is collected by Drakenborch (ad

5. Greg. Naz. iii. p. 70. He laboured to efface

Silium Italicum, xvii. 33); but we may observe

that holy mark in the blood, perhaps, of a Tauro-

that Livy (xxix. 14) slides over the transaction

bolium. Baron. Annal. Eccles. a.d. 361, No. 3, 4.

with discreet ambiguity.

6. Julian himself (Epist. li. p. 434) assures the

14. I cannot refrain from transcribing the em-

Alexandrians that he had been a Christian (he

phatical words of Julian: kpoi Si Soeei rats iroXeai

must mean a sincere one) till the twentieth year of

iriOTtvtLv pciXXov ra TOLavra, fj rovroiai rois Koppols,

his age. 7. See his Christian, and even ecclesiastical ed¬

Srv to pvxhpiov Spipi) piv, iyris Si ouSi tv /JXeiret.

ucation, in Gregory (iii. p. 58), Socrates (1. iii. c.

belief in the arwilia, the holy shields, which dropped

Orat. v. p. 161. Julian likewise declares his firm

1), and Sozomen (1. v. c. 2). He escaped very nar¬

from heaven on the Quirinal hill; and pities the

rowly from being a bishop, and perhaps a saint.

strange blindness of the Christians, who preferred

8. The share of the work which had been allotted to Gallus was prosecuted with vigour and success;

the cross to these celestial trophies. Apud Cyril. 1. vi. p. 194.

782

Notes: Chapter

xxiii

15. See the principles of allegory, in Julian

the sign of the cross, the demons instantly disap¬

(Orat. vii. p. 216, 222). His reasoning is less ab¬

peared (Greg. Naz. Orat. iii. p. 71). Gregory sup¬

surd than that of some modern theologians, who

poses that they were frightened, but the priests

assert that an extravagant or contradictory doc¬

declared that they were indignant. The reader,

trine must be divine, since no man alive could have

according to the measure of his faith, will deter¬

thought of inventing it.

mine this profound question.

16. Eunapius has made these sophists the sub¬

25. A dark and distant view of the terrors and

ject of a partial and fanatical history; and the

joys of initiation is shown by Dion Chrysostom,

learned Brucker (Hist. Philosoph. tom. ii. p. 217-

Themistius, Proclus, and Stobseus. The learned

303) has employed much labour to illustrate their

author of the Divine Legation has exhibited their

obscure lives and incomprehensible doctrines.

words (vol. i. p. 239, 247, 248, 280, edit. 1765),

17. Julian, Orat. vii. p. 222. He swears with the most fervent and enthusiastic devotion; and trem¬

which he dexterously or forcibly applies to his own hypothesis.

bles lest he should betray too much of these holy

26. Julian’s modesty confined him to obscure

mysteries, which the profane might deride with an

and occasional hints: but Libanius expatiates with

impious Sardonic laugh.

pleasure on the fasts and visions of the religious

18. See the fifth oration of Julian. But all the allegories which ever issued from the Platonic

hero. (Legat. ad. Julian, p. 157, and Orat. Par¬ ental. c. lxxxiii. p. 309, 310.)

school are not worth the short poem of Catullus on

27. Libanius, Orat. Parent, c. x. p. 233, 234.

the same extraordinary subject. The transition of

Gallus had some reason to suspect the secret apos¬

Atys from the wildest enthusiasm to sober pathetic

tasy of his brother; and in a letter, which may be

complaint for his irretrievable loss, must inspire a

received as geniune, he exhorts Julian to adhere to

man with pity, an eunuch with despair.

the religion of their ancestors; an argument which,

19. The true religion of Julian may be deduced

as it should seem, was not yet perfectly ripe. See

from the Caesars, p. 308, with Spanheim’s notes

Julian. Op. p. 454 [ed. Spanheim, Lips. 1696],

and illustrations; from the fragments in Cyril, 1. ii.

and Hist, de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 141.

p. 57, 58; and especially from the theological ora¬

28. Gregory (iii. p. 50), with inhuman zeal,

tion in Solem Regem, p. 130-158, addressed, in

censures Constantius for sparing the infant apos¬

the confidence of friendship, to the praefect Sallust.

tate {kolkcos aioOevra). His French translator (p. 265)

20. Julian adopts this gross conception by ascrib¬

cautiously observes that such expressions must not

ing it to his favourite Marcus Antoninus (Caesares, p. 333). The Stoics and Platonists hesitated be¬

be prises a la lettre. 29. Libanius, Orat. Parental, c. ix. p. 233.

tween the analogy of bodies and the purity of

30. Fabricius (Biblioth. Grace. 1. v. c. viii. p.

spirits; yet the gravest philosophers inclined to the

88-go) and Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, vol.

whimsical fancy of Aristophanes and Lucian, that

iv. p. 44-47) have accurately compiled all that

an unbelieving age might starve the immortal

can now be discovered of Julian’s work against the

gods. See Observations de Spanheim, p. 284, 444,

Christians.

etc.

31. About seventy years after the death of Julian

.

21

"HXioi' \eyos, to £wv aya\pa Kal eppvxov, Kal

he executed a task which had been feebly attempt¬

irarpos. Julian,

ed by Philip of Side, a prolix and contemptible

Epist. Ii. [p. 434]. In another place (apud Cyril. 1.

writer. Even the work of Cyril has not entirely sat¬

ii. p. 69) he calls the sun God, and the throne of

isfied the most favourable judges: and the Abbe de

God. Julian believed the Platonician Trinity; and

la Bleterie (Preface a l’Hist. de Jovien, p. 30, 32)

evvovv,

Kal

iyadoepyov

tov vorjTou

only blames the Christians for preferring a mortal

wishes that some theologien philosophe (a strange

to an immortal Logos.

centaur) would undertake the refutation of Julian.

22. The sophists of Eunapius perform as many

32. Libanius (Orat. Parental, c. lxxxvii. p. 313),

miracles as the saints of the desert; and the only

who has been suspected of assisting his friend, pre¬

circumstance in their favour is, that they are of a

fers this divine vindication (Orat. ix. in necem

less gloomy complexion. Instead of devils with

Julian, p. 257, edit. Morel.) to the writings of Por¬

horns and tails, Iamblichus evoked the genii of

phyry. His judgment may be arraigned (Socrates,

love, Eros and Anteros, from two adjacent foun¬

1. iii. c. 23), but Libanius cannot be accused of flat¬ tery to a dead prince.

tains. Two beautiful boys issued from the water, fondly embraced him as their father, and retired at his command. P. 26, 27.

33. Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. Iviii. p. 283, 284) has eloquently explained the tolerating principles

23. The dexterous management of these soph¬

and conduct of his Imperial friend. In a very re¬

ists, who played their credulous pupil into each

markable epistle to the people of Bostra, Julian

other’s hands, is fairly told by Eunapius [in Max¬

himself (Epist. Iii. [p. 436]) professes his modera¬

imo, p. 85 seqq., ed. Commel.] with unsuspecting

tion, and betrays his zeal, which is acknowledged

simplicity. The Abbe de la Bleterie understands,

by Ammianus and exposed by Gregory. (Orat. iii. p. 72.)

and neatly describes, the whole comedy. (Vie de Julian, p. 61-67.) 24. When Julian, in a momentary panic, made

34. In Greece the temples of Minerva were opened by his express command, before the death

Notes: Chapter

xxiii

783

of Constantius (Liban. Orat. Parent, c. 55, p.

[p- 389])- He applauds the firmness of Sopater of

280); and Julian declares himself a Pagan in his

Hierapolis, who had been repeatedly pressed by

public manifesto to the Athenians. This unques¬

Constantius and Gallus to apostatise (Epist. xxvii. p. 401).

tionable evidence may correct the hasty assertion of Ammianus, who seems to suppose Constanti¬ nople to be the place where he discovered his at¬ tachment to the gods. 35. Ammianus, xxii. 5. Sozomen, 1. v. c. 5. Bes-

43- 0

vopi^uv abtXpa \byovs re Kal dewv lepa.

Orat. Parent, c. 77, p. 302. The same sentiment is frequently inculcated by Julian, Libanius, and the rest of their party.

tia moritur, tranquillitas redit . . . omnes episcopi

44. The curiosity and credulity of the emperor,

qui de propriis sedibus fuerant exterminati per in-

who tried every mode of divination, are fairly ex¬

dulgentiam novi principis ad ecclesias redeunt.

posed by Ammianus, xxii. 12.

Jerom. adversus Luciferianos, tom. ii. p. 143 [tom.

45. Julian. Epist. xxxviii. Three other epistles

ii. p. 191, ed. Vallars.]. Optatus accuses the Dona-

(xv. xvi. xxxix.), in the same style of friendship

tists for owing their safety to an apostate (1. ii. c.

and confidence, are addressed to the philosopher Maximus.

16, p. 36, 37, edit. Dupin). 36. The restoration of the Pagan worship is de¬

46. Eunapius (in Maximo, p. 77, 78, 79, and in

scribed by Julian (Misopogon, p. 346), Libanius

Chrysanthio, p. 147, 148 [p. 94 sqq. and 191 sqq.,

(Orat. Parent, c. 60, p. 286, 287, and Orat. Con¬

ed. Comm.]) has minutely related these anecdotes,

sular. ad Julian, p. 245, 246, edit. Morel.), Ammi¬

which he conceives to be the most important

anus (xxii. 12), and Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iv.

events of the age. Yet he fairly confesses the frailty

p. 121). These writers agree in the essential, and

of Maximus. His reception at Constantinople is

even minute, facts;

described by Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 76, p. 301)

but the different lights in

which they view the extreme devotion of Julian

and Ammianus (xxii. 7).

are expressive of the gradations of self-applause,

47. Chrysanthius, who had refused to quit Lydia,

passionate admiration, mild reproof, and partial

was created high-priest of the province. His cau¬

invective.

tious and temperate use of power secured him

37. See Julian. Epistol. xlix. lxii. lxiii., and a

after the revolution: and he lived in peace; while

long and curious fragment, without beginning or

Maximus, Priscus, etc., were persecuted by the

end (p. 288-305). The supreme pontiff derides the

Christian ministers. See the adventures of those

Mosaic history and the Christian discipline, pre¬

fanatic sophists, collected by Brucker, tom. ii. p.

fers the Greek poets to the Hebrew prophets, and

281-293.

palliates, with the skill of a Jesuit, the relative wor¬ ship of images.

48. See Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 100, 101, p. 324, 325, 326) and Eunapius (Vit. Sophist, in Pro-

38. The exultation of Julian (p. 301) that these

aeresio, p. 126 [p. 160, ed. Comm.]). Some stu¬

impious sects, and even their writings, are extin¬

dents, whose expectations perhaps were groundless

guished, may be consistent enough with the sacer¬

or extravagant, retired in disgust

dotal character; but it is unworthy of a philosopher

Orat. iv. p. 120). It is strange that we should not

(Greg. Naz.

to wish that any opinions and arguments the most

be able to contradict the title of one of Tillemont’s

repugnant to his own should be concealed from

chapters (Hist, des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 960),

the knowledge of mankind.

“La Cour de Julien est pleine de philosophes et de

3g. Yet he insinuates that the Christians, under

gens perdus.”

the pretence of charity, inveigled children from

49. Under the reign of Louis XIV. his subjects

their religion and parents, conveyed them on ship¬

of every rank aspired to the glorious title of Con-

board, and devoted those victims to a life of pov¬

vertisseur, expressive of their zeal and success in

erty or servitude in a remote country (p. 305).

making proselytes. The word and the idea are

Had the charge been proved, it was his duty not to

growing obsolete in France; may they never be

complain but to punish.

introduced into England!

40. Gregory Nazianzen is facetious, ingenious,

50. See the strong expressions of Libanius, which

and argumentative (Orat. iii. p. 101, 102, etc.).

were probably those of Julian himself (Orat. Pa¬

He ridicules the folly of such vain imitation; and

rent. c. 59, p. 285).

amuses himself with inquiring what lessons, moral

51. When Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. x. p. 167)

or theological, could be extracted from the Gre¬

is desirous to magnify the Christian firmness of his

cian fables. 41. He accuses one of his pontiffs of a secret con¬

brother Caesarius, physician to the Imperial court,

federacy with the Christian bishops and presby¬

adversary, irb\vv kv birXots,

ters (Epist. lxii.). Opuv ovv TroWr/v pkv b\t.ywplav

rqTL. In his invectives he scarcely allows any share

obaav rjpiv irpos tovs 6eovs; and again, rjpas Si ovtu

of wit or courage to the apostate.

pa.9vp.us, etc. Epist. lxiii.

42. He praises the fidelity of Callixene, priestess

he owns that Caesarius disputed with a formidable Kal

p'tyav kv 'Kbyuv SeLvo-

52. Julian. Epist. xxxviii. [p. 415]. Ammianus, xxii. 12. Adeo ut in dies paene singulos milites car-

of Ceres, who had been twice as constant as Pen¬

nis distentiore sagina victitantes incultius, potus-

elope, and rewards her with the priesthood of the

que aviditate correpti, humeris impositi transeun-

Phrygian goddess at Pessinus (Julian. Epist. xxi.

tium per plateas, ex publicis aedibus ... ad sua di-

784

Notes: Chapter

xxiii

versoria portarentur. The devout prince and the

learned and judicious preface of Wesseling (Itin-

indignant historian describe the same scene; and in Illyricum or Antioch similar causes must have

erar. p. 537-545). 64. Cicero (de Finibus. v. 1) has beautifully ex¬

produced similar effects.

pressed the common sense of mankind.

53. Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 74, 75, 83-86) and

65. Baronius (Annal. Eccles. a.d. 326, No. 42-

Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. lxxxi. lxxxii. p. 307,

50) and Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 8-

308), Trtpl to.vtt\v tt]v o-wovSrjv, OVK. apVOVfJ. 3°C 74- 1 Kings viii. 63. 2 Chronicles vii. 5. Joseph. Antiquitat. Judaic. 1. viii. c. 4 [§5], p. 431, edit.

critics, presumes to doubt the truth of this famous

Havercamp. As the blood and smoke of so many

suspicion that the same story which was celebrated

hecatombs might be inconvenient, Lightfoot, the

at a distance might be despised on the spot.

miracle (Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 47-71). The silence of Jerom would lead to a

Christian Rabbi, removes them by a miracle. Le

85. Greg. Naz. Orat. iii. p. 81. And this law was

Clerc (ad loca) is bold enough to suspect the fidel¬ ity of the numbers.

confirmed by the invariable practice of Julian

75. Julian, Epist. xxix. xxx. [p. 402, sqq.] La

that the Platonists believed in the mysterious vir¬

Bleterie has neglected to translate the second of

tue of words; and Julian’s dislike for the name of

these epistles.

himself. Warburton has justly observed (p. 35)

Christ might proceed from superstition as well as

76. See the zeal and impatience of the Jews in

from contempt.

Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iv. p. in) and Theodoret (1. iii. c. 20).

pupla Ta\c\aiwv (Epist. vii.) and so far loses sight

77. Built by Omar, the second khalif, who died

of the principles of toleration as to wish (Epist.

a.d. 644. This great mosque covers the whole con¬

secrated ground of the Jewish temple, and con¬ stitutes almost a square of 760 toises, or one Roman

86. Fragment. Julian, p. 288. He derides the

xlii. [p. 424]) OLKOvras iacrBcu. 87. 06 yap /not 8tp.cs earl K.opi£eptv 17 eXealpecv Avtpas, ol Kt BtoZtnv airtxdaivT’ aBavaroicnv.

mile, in circumference. See d’Anviile, Jerusalem,

These two lines, which Julian has changed and

P- 4578. Ammianus records the consuls of the year

perverted in the true spirit of a bigot (Epist. xlix.

363, before he proceeds to mention the thoughts of

he refuses to grant Ulysses a fresh supply of winds

[p. 432]), are taken from the speech of Aldus, when

Julian. Templum . . . instaurare -sumptibus cogita-

(Odyss. x. 73). Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. lix. p.

bat immodicis. Warburton has a secret wish to an¬

286) attempts to justify this partial behaviour by

ticipate the design; but he must have understood,

an apology, in which persecution peeps through

from former examples, that the execution of such a

the mask of candour.

work would have demanded many years.

88. These laws, which affected the clergy, may

79. The subsequent witnesses, Socrates, Sozo-

be found in the slight hints of Julian himself (Epist.

men, Theodoret, Philostorgius, etc., add contra¬

Iii. [p. 433, sqq.]), in the vague declamations of

dictions rather than authority. Compare the ob¬

Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 86, 87), and in the positive

jections of Basnage (Hist, des Juifs, tom. viii. p.

assertions of Sozomen (1. v. c. 5).

157—168) with Warburton’s answers (Julian, p.

89. Inclemens . . . perenni obruendum silentio.

174-258). The bishop has ingeniously explained

Ammian. xxii. 10, xxv. 5. 90. The edict itself, which is still extant among

the miraculous crosses which appeared on the gar¬ ments of the spectators by a similar instance and

the epistles of Julian (xlii. [p. 422]), may be com¬

the natural effects of lightning.

pared with the loose invectives of Gregory (Orat.

80. Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xl. p. 946, edit. Ben-

iii. p. 96). Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p.

edictin. He composed this fanatic epistle (a.d. 388)

1291-1294) has collected the seeming differences

to justify a bishop who had been condemned by

of ancients and moderns. They may be easily rec¬

the civil magistrate for burning a synagogue.

onciled.

The

Christians were directly forbid to

81. Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 580, advers. Judasos

teach, they were indirectly forbid to learn; since

et Gentes [c. 16], tom. ii. p. 574, de Sto. Babyla [c.

they would not frequent the schools of the Pagans.

22], edit. Montfaucon. I have followed the com¬

91. Codex Theodos. 1. xiii. tit. iii. de medicis et

but the learned

professoribus, leg. 5 (published the 17th of June,

Benedictine, who dates the composition of these

received, at Spoleto in Italy, the 29th of July, a.d.

sermons in the year 383, is confident they were

363) with Godefroy’s Illustrations, tom. v. p. 31.

mon and natural supposition;

never pronounced from the pulpit.

92. Orosius celebrates their disinterested resolu¬

82. Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iv. p. 110-113. To

tion: Sicut a majoribus nostris compertum habe-

fie ovv 7TtpifioriTov iraac Badp.o. Kai ofifie rots adeois avrots

mus, omnes ubique propemodum . . . officium

a.Tnr]pi btiv. Sozomen (1. v. c. 18) and Soc¬

scribed by Strabo (1. xvi. p. 1089, 1090, edit. Am¬

rates (1. iii. c. 13) must be reduced to the standard

stel. 1707 [p. 750, ed. Casaub.]), Libanius (Naenia,

of Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 95), not less prone to ex¬

р. 185-188; Antiochic. Orat. xi. p. 380, 381 [ed.

aggeration, but more restrained by the actual

Morell. 1627]), and Sozomen (1. v. c. 19). Wes¬

knowledge of his contemporary readers.

seling (Itinerar. p. 581) and Casaubon (ad Hist.

95. StojcpSi deSiv Kai 8i,86vs Kai pi] diSovs. Libanius,

August p. 64) illustrate this curious subject. 105. Simulacrum in to Olympiaci Jovis imita-

Orat. Parent, c. 88, p. 314. 96. Greg. Naz. Orat. iii. p. 74, 91, 92. Socrates,

menti aequiparans magnitudinem. Ammian. xxii.

1. iii. c. 14. Theodoret, L iii. c. 6. Some drawback

13. The Olympic Jupiter was sixty feet high, and

may however be allowed for the violence of their

his bulk was consequently equal to that of a thou¬

zeal, not less partial than the zeal of Julian.

sand men. See a curious Memoire of the Abbe Ge-

97. If we compare the gentle language of Li¬

doyn (Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ix. p. 198.)

banius (Orat. Parent, c. 60, p. 286) with the pas¬

106. Hadrian read the history of his future for¬

sionate exclamations of Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 86,

tunes on a leaf dipped in the Castalian stream; a

87), we may find it difficult to persuade ourselves

trick which, according to the physician Vandale

that the two orators are really describing the same

(de Oraculis, p. 281, 282), might be easily per¬

events. 98. Restan, or Arethusa, at the equal distance of

formed by chemical preparations. The emperor stopped the source of such dangerous knowledge,

sixteen miles between Emesa (Hems) and Epiphania

which was again opened by the devout curiosity

(Hamath), was founded, or at least named, by SeIts peculiar era dates from the

of Julian. 107. It was purchased, a.d. 44, in the year 92 of

year of Rome 685, according to the medals of

the era of Antioch (Noris. Epoch. Syro-Maced. p.

the city. In the decline of the Seleucides, Emesa and Arethusa were usurped by the Arab Samp-

I39_I74) f°r the term of ninety Olympiads. But the Olympic games of Antioch were not regularly

siceramus, whose posterity, the vassals of Rome,

celebrated till the reign of Commodus. See the

were not extinguished in the reign of Vespasian.

curious details in the Chronicle of John Malala

leucus Nicator.

See d’Anville’s Maps and Geographic Ancienne,

(tom. i. p. 291, 320, 372-381 [ed. Oxon.; p. 225,

tom.

i88j

248, and 283 sqq., ed. Bonn.]), a writer whose

Epoch. Syro-Macedon., p. 80, 481,

merit and authority are confined within the limits

ii.

p. 134; Wesseling,

and Noris.

Itineraria, p.

482.

of his native city.

99. Sozomen, 1. v. c. 10. It is surprising that

108. Fifteen talents of gold, bequeathed by So-

Gregory and Theodoret should suppress a circum¬

sibius, who died in the reign of Augustus. The the¬

stance which, in their eyes, must have enhanced

atrical merits of the Syrian cities, in the age of

the religious merit of the confessor. 100. The sufferings and constancy of Mark,

Constantine, are compared in the Expositio totius Mundi, p. 6 (Hudson, Geograph. Minor, tom. iii.).

which Gregory has so tragically painted (Orat. iii.

109. Avidio Cassio Syriacas legiones dedi lux-

p. 88-91), are confirmed by the unexceptionable

uria diffluentes et Daphnicis moribus. These are the

and reluctant evidence of Libanius. Mapxos tKeivas

words of the emperor Marcus Antoninus, in an

Kpepapevos, Kai paGTiyovp.tvos, ical toD ircoycovos avrQ

original letter preserved by his biographer in Hist.

TiWopevov, rravTa iveyKibv hvSpeiws, vvv laodeos fern

August, p. 41 [Vulcat. Gallic, in Vita Avid. Cass.

rats n/rats, Kav 4>avfj ttov, irepcpaxyTos tvdvs. Epist.

с. 6]. Cassius dismissed or punished every soldier

730, p. 350, 351. Edit. Wolf. Amstel. 1738.

who was seen at Daphne.

101. Ilepipaxirros, certatim eum sibi (Christiani)

11 o. Aliquantum agrorum Daphnensibus dedit

vindicant. It is thus that La Croze and Wolfius (ad

(Pompey), quo lucus ibi spatiosior fieret; delectatus

loc.) have explained a Greek word whose true sig¬

amcenitate lociet aquarum abundantia. Eutropius,

nification had been mistaken by former inter¬

vi. 14 [ 11 ]. Sextus Rufus, de Provinciis, c. 16.

preters, and even by Le Clerc (Bibliotheique An¬

111. Julian (Misopogon, p. 361, 362) discovers

cienne et Moderne, tom. iii. p. 371). Yet Tillemont

his own character with that naivete, that uncon¬

is strangely puzzled to understand (Mem. Eccles.

scious simplicity, which always constitutes genuine humour.

tom. vii. p. 1309) how Gregory and Theodoret could mistake a Semi-Arian bishop for a saint.

112. Babylas is named by Eusebius in the suc¬

102. See the probable advice of Sallust (Greg.

cession of the bishops of Antioch (Hist. Eccles. 1.

Nazianzen, Orat. iii. 90, 91). Libanius intercedes

vi. c. 29, 39). His triumph over two emperors (the

for a similar offender, lest they should find many

first fabulous, the second historical) is diffusely

Marks; yet he allows that, if Orion had secreted

celebrated by Chrysostom (tom. ii. p. 536-577,

the consecrated wealth, he deserved to suffer the

edit. Montfaucon). Tillemont (Mem. Eccl6s. tom.

Notes: Chapter xxm iii. part ii. p. 287-302, 459~4-65) becomes almost a sceptic. 113. Ecclesiastical critics, particularly those who

787

122. Cineres projecit in mare, id metuens ut clamabat, ne, collectis supremis, aedes illis exstruerentur ut reliquis, qui deviare a religione com-

love relics, exult in the confession of Julian (Mis-

pulsi, pertulere cruciabiles poenas, adusque glori-

opogon, p. 361) and Libanius (Narnia, p.

osam mortem intemerata fide progressi, et nunc

185)

that Apollo was disturbed by the vicinity of one

Martyres appellantur.

dead man. Yet Ammianus (xxii. 12) clears and

phanius proves to the Arians that George was not a martyr.

purifies the whole ground, according to the rites which the Athenians formerly practised in the isle of Delos.

123. Some Donatists

Ammian. xxii. 11. Epi¬

(Optatus Milev.

p.

60,

303, edit. Dupin; and Tillemont, Mem. Eccles.

114. Julian (in Misopogon, p. 361) rather in¬

tom. vi. p. 713, in 4to.) and Priscillianists (Tiile-

sinuates than affirms their guilt. Ammianus (xxii.

mont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 517, in 4to.) have

13) treats the imputation as levissimus rumor, and relates the story with extraordinary candour.

in like manner usurped the honours of catholic saints and martyrs.

115- Quo tam atroci casu repente consumpto,

124. The saints of Cappadocia, Basil and the

ad id usque imperatoris ira provexit, ut quaes-

Gregories, were ignorant of their holy companion.

tiones agitari juberet solito acriores (yet Julian

Pope Gelasius (a.d. 494), the first catholic who ac¬

blames the lenity of the magistrates of Antioch),

knowledges St. George, places him among the

et majorem ecclesiam Antiochiae claudi. [Amm. 1.

martyrs “qui Deo magis quam hominibus noti

c.] This interdiction was performed with some cir¬

sunt.” He rejects his Acts as the composition of

cumstances of indignity and profanation: and the

heretics. Some, perhaps not the oldest, of the spu¬

seasonable death of the principal actor, Julian’s

rious Acts are still extant; and, through a cloud of

uncle, is related with much superstitious compla¬

fiction, we may yet distinguish the combat which

cency by the Abb6 de la Bleterie, Vie de Julien, p. 362-369.

ence

116. Besides the ecclesiastical historians, who

St. George of Cappadocia sustained, in the pres¬ of Queen Alexandra,

against the magician

Athanasius.

are more or less to be suspected, we may allege the

125. This transformation is not given as abso¬

passion of St. Theodore, in the Acta Sincera of

lutely certain, but as extremely probable. See the

Ruinart, p. 591. The complaint of Julian gives it

Longueruana, tom. i. p. 194.

an original and authentic air.

126. A curious history of the worship of St.

117. Julian. Misopogon, p. 361.

George, from the sixth century (when he was al¬

118. See Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iii. p. 87).

ready revered in Palestine, in Armenia, at Rome,

Sozomen (1. v. c. 9) may be considered as an orig¬

and at Treves in Gaul), might be extracted from

inal, though not impartial, witness.

He was a

Dr. Heylin (History of St. George, and edition,

native of Gaza, and had conversed with the con¬

London, 1633, in 4to. p. 429) and the Bollandists

fessor Zeno, who, as bishop of Maiuma, lived to

(Act SS. Mens. April, tom. iii. p. 100-163). His

the age of an hundred (1. vii. c. 28). Philostorgius

fame and popularity in Europe, and especially in

(1. vii. c. 4, with Godefroy’s Dissertations, p. 284)

England, proceeded from the Crusades.

adds some tragic circumstances of Christians who were literally sacrificed at the altars of the gods, etc. 119. The life and death of George of Cappa¬

127. Julian. Epist. xliii. [p. 424.] 128. Julian. Epist. x. [p. 378.] He allowed his friends to assuage his anger. Ammian. xxii. 11.

docia are described by Ammianus (xxii. 11), Greg¬

129. See Athanas. ad Rufin. tom. ii. p. 40, 41;

ory Nazianzen (Orat. xxi. p. 382, 385, 389, 390),

and Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. xxi. p. 395, 396; who

and Epiphanius (Haeres. lxxvi. [p. 912, ed. Paris,

justly states the temperate zeal of the primate as

1622]). The invectives of the two saints might not

much more meritorious than his prayers, his fasts,

deserve much credit, unless they were confirmed

his persecutions, etc.

by the testimony of the cool and impartial infidel.

130. I have not leisure to follow the blind ob¬

120. After the massacre of George, the emperor

stinacy of Lucifer of Cagliari. See his adventures in

Julian repeatedly sent orders to preserve the library

Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 900-926);

for his own use, and to torture the slaves who

and observe how the colour of the narrative insen¬

might be suspected of secreting any books. He

sibly changes, as the confessor becomes a schismatic.

praises the merit of the collection, from whence he

131. Assensus est huic sententiae Occidens, et,

had borrowed and transcribed several manuscripts

per tam necessarium concilium, Satanae faucibus

while he pursued his studies in Cappadocia. He

mundus ereptus. The lively and artful dialogue of

could wish indeed that the works of the Galilaeans

Jerom against the Luciferians (tom. ii. p. 135—155

might perish; but he requires an exact account

[tom. ii. p. 193, ed. Vallars.]) exhibits an original

even of those theological volumes, lest other trea¬

picture of the ecclesiastical policy of the times.

tises more valuable should be confounded in their loss. Julian. Epist. ix. xxxvi. [p. 377, 411 ].

132. Tillemont, who supposes that George was massacred in August, crowds the actions of Atha¬

121. Philostorgius, with cautious malice, insin¬

nasius into a narrow space (M£m. Eccles. tom. viii.

uates their guilt, /cat rr/v ' KQavaaiov yvwp.r\v OTparr]-

p. 360). An original fragment, published by the

yrjoai rrjs 7rpa£eco5, 1. vii. c. 2. Godefroy, p. 267.

Marquis Maffei, from the old Chapter Library

788

Notes: Chapter xxiv

of Verona (Osservazioni Letterarie, tom. iii. p.

138. Julian determined a lawsuit against the

60-92), affords many important dates, which are

new Christian city at Maiuma, the port of Gaza;

authenticated by the computation of Egyptian

and his sentence, though it might be imputed

months. 133. Tor piapov, os eroA/uijcrer 'EXAijHSa;, eir’ kpov,

to bigotry, was never reversed by his successors.

yvvqiKas tSiv kmo-rjpwv fiairTioai, Stwiitadcu. [Julian.

P- 79i 139. Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 93, 94, 95; Orat. iv.

Ep. vi. p. 376.] I have preserved the ambiguous

Sozomen, 1.

v. c.

3. Reland, Palestin. tom. ii.

sense of the last word, the ambiguity of a tyrant

p. 114) pretends to speak from the information of

who wished to find or to create guilt.

Julian’s confidants, whom Orosius (vii. 30) could

his intentions and conduct with regard to Atha¬

not have seen. 140. Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 91) charges the Apos¬

nasius should be disposed in the following chrono¬

tate with secret sacrifices of boys and girls; and

logical order, xxvi. x. vi. See likewise Greg. Nazi-

positively affirms that the dead bodies were thrown

134. The three epistles of Julian which explain

anzen, xxi. p. 393; Sozomen, 1. v. c. 15; Socrates,

into the Orontes. See Theodoret, 1. iii. c. 26, 27;

1. iii. c. 14; Theodoret, 1. iii. c. 9; and Tillemont,

and the equivocal candour of the Abbe de la Ble-

Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 361-368, who has used

terie, Vie de Julien, p. 351, 352. Yet contemporary

some materials prepared by the Bollandists.

malice could not impute to Julian the troops of

135. See the fair confession of Gregory (Orat.

martyrs, more especially in the West, which Ba-

iii. p. 61, 62). 136. Hear the furious and absurd complaint of

ronius so greedily swallows, and Tillemont so

Optatus (de Schismat. Donatist, 1. ii. c. 16, 17).

1315)141. The resignation of Gregory is truly edifying

137. Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 91, iv. p. 133. He praises the rioters of Caesarea, tCiv peyakotpv&v Kai 9eppGn> els eucre/Selcn'.

faintly rejects (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1295—

5k

(Orat. iv. p. 123, 124). Yet, when an officer of

See Sozo¬

Julian attempted to seize the church of Nazianzus,

tovtoov

men, 1. v. 4, 11. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii.

he would have lost his life if he had not yielded to

p. 649, 650) owns that their behaviour was not

the zeal of the bishop and people (Orat. xix. p.

dans l’ordre commun; but he is perfectly satisfied,

308). See the reflections of Chrysostom, as they are

as the great St. Basil always celebrated the festival

alleged by Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p.

of these blessed martyrs.

575)-

Chapter XXIV 1. See this fable or satire, p. 306-336 of the

hero with a philosopher, he was sensible that man¬

Leipzig edition of Julian’s works. The French ver¬

kind had much greater obligations to Socrates

sion of the learned Ezekiel Spanheim (Paris, 1683)

than to Alexander (Orat. ad Themistium, p. 264).

is coarse, languid, and correct; and his notes,

6. Inde nationibus Indicis certatim cum donis

proofs, illustrations, etc., are piled on each other

optimates mittentibus . . . ab usque Divis et Seren-

till they form a mass of 557 close-printed quarto

divis. Ammian. xxii. 7. This island, to which the

pages. The Abbe de la Bleterie (Vie de Jovien,

names of Taprobana, Serendib, and Ceylon, have

tom. i. p. 241-393) has more happily expressed

been successively applied, manifests how imper¬

the spirit, as well as the sense, of the original, which

fectly the seas and lands to the east of Cape Co¬

he illustrates with some concise and curious notes.

morin were known to the Romans. 1. Linder the

2. Spanheim (in his preface) has most learnedly

reign of Claudius, a freedman, who farmed the

discussed the etymology, origin, resemblance, and

customs of the Red Sea, was accidentally driven

disagreement of the Greek satyrs, a dramatic piece,

by the winds upon this strange and undiscovered

which was acted after the tragedy; and the Latin

coast: he conversed six months with the natives:

satires (from Satura), a miscellaneous composition,

and the king of Ceylon, who heard for the first

either in prose or verse. But the Caesars of Julian

time of the power and justice of Rome, was per¬

are of such an original cast, that the critic is per¬

suaded to send an embassy to the emperor (Plin.

plexed to which class he should ascribe them.

Hist. Nat. vi. 24). 2. The geographers (and even

3. This mixed character of Silenus is finely painted in the sixth eclogue of Virgil. 4. Every impartial reader must perceive and condemn the partiality of Julian against his uncle

Ptolemy) have magnified above fifteen times the real size of this new world, which they extended as far as the equator, and the neighbourhood of China.

Constantine and the Christian religion. On this

7. These embassies had been sent to Constantius.

occasion the interpreters are compelled, by a more

Ammianus, who unwarily deviates into gross flat¬

sacred interest, to renounce their allegiance, and

tery, must have forgotten the length of the way,

to desert the cause of their author.

and the short duration of the reign of Julian.

5. Julian was secretly inclined to prefer a Greek

8. Gothos saepe fallaces et perfidos; hostes quae-

to a Roman. But when he seriously compared a

rere se meliores aiebat: illis enim sufficere merca-

Notes: Chapter xxiv

789

tores Galatas per quos ubique sine conditionis dis-

18. Libanius (ad Antiochenos de Imperatoris

crimine venumdantur. [Ammian. xxii. 7.] Within

ira, c. 17, 18, 19, in Fabricius, Biblioth. Graec. tom.

less than fifteen years these Gothic slaves threat¬

vii. p. 221-223), like a skilful advocate, severely

ened and subdued their masters.

censures the folly of the people, who suffered for

9. Alexander reminds his rival Caesar, who de¬

the crime of a few obscure and drunken wretches.

preciated the fame and merit of an Asiatic victory,

19. Libanius (ad Antiochen. c. vii. p. 213) re¬

that Crassus and Antony had felt the Persian ar¬

minds Antioch of the recent chastisement of Caesa¬

rows; and that the Romans, in a war of three hun¬

rea; and even Julian (in Misopogon, p. 355) in¬

dred years, had not yet subdued the single prov¬

sinuates how severely Tarentum had expiated the

ince of Mesopotamia or Assyria (Caesares, p. 324).

insult to the Roman ambassadors.

10. The design of the Persian war is declared by

20. On the subject of the Misopogon, see Am¬

Ammianus (xxii. 7, 12), Libanius (Orat. Parent,

mianus (xxii. 14), Libanius (Orat. Parentalis, c.

c. 79, 80, p. 305, 306 [Fabric. Bibl. Graec. ed.

xcix. p. 323), Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iv. p. 133

Hamb. 1715]), Zosimus (1. iii. [c. 11] p. 158), and Socrates (1. iii. c. 19).

by John Malala (tom. ii. p. 15, 16 [ed. Ox.; p. 328,

11. The Satire of Julian and the Homilies of St.

ed. Bonn]). I have essential obligations to the trans¬

[ed. Paris, 1609]), and the Chronicle of Antioch,

Chrysostom exhibit the same picture of Antioch.

lation and notes of the Abbe de la Bleterie (Vie de

The miniature which the Abbe de la Bleterie has

Jovien, tom. ii. p. 1:138).

copied from thence (Vie de Julian, p. 332) is ele¬ gant and correct.

tus dissimulare pro tempore ira sufflabatur interna.

12. Laodicea furnished charioteers; Tyre and

The elaborate irony of Julian at length bursts

Berytus, comedians; Caesarea, pantomimes; Heli¬

21. Ammianus [1. c.] very justly remarks, Coac-

forth into serious and direct invective.

opolis, singers; Gaza, gladiators; Ascalon, wrest¬

22. Ipse autem Antiochiam egressurus, Helio-

lers; and Castabala, rope-dancers. See the Expo-

politen quendam Alexandrum Syracae jurisdiction!

sitio totius Mundi, p. 6, in the third tome of Hud¬

praefecit, turbulentum et saevum; dicebatque non

son’s Minor Geographers. 13. XpuTTov de aycLir&VTes

ilium meruisse, sed Antiochensibus avaris et conexere

iroAtoOx01'

dvrl

tumeliosis hujusmodi judicem convenire. Ammi¬

Ai.os. The people of Antioch ingeniously pro¬

an. xxiii. 2. Libanius (Epist. 722, p. 346, 347 [ed.

fessed their attachment to the Chi (Christ), and the Kappa (Constantius). Julian in Misopogon, p. 357.

Wolf. Amst. 1738])) who confesses to Julian him¬ self that he had shared the general discontent, pre¬

14. The schism of Antioch, which lasted eighty-

tends that Alexander was an useful, though harsh,

five years (a.d. 330-415), was inflamed, while Ju¬

reformer of the manners and religion of Antioch.

tou

lian resided in that city, by the indiscreet ordina¬

23. Julian,

in Misopogon,

p.

364.

Ammian.

tion of Paulinus. See Tillemont. Mem. Eccles. tom.

xxiii. 2, and Valesius ad loc. Libanius, in a pro¬

vii. p. 803 of the quarto edition (Paris, 1701,etc.),

fessed oration, invites him to return to his loyal

which henceforward I shall quote.

and penitent city of Antioch.

15. Julian states three different proportions, of

24. Libanius, Orat. Parent, c. vii. p. 230, 231.

five, ten, or fifteen modii of wheat, for one piece of

25. Eunapius reports that Libanius refused the

gold, according to the degrees of plenty and scar¬

honorary rank of Praetorian praefect, as less illus¬

city (in Misopogon, p. 369). From this fact, and

trious than the title of Sophist (in Vit. Sophist, p.

from some collateral examples, I conclude that, under the successors of Constantine, the moderate

135 [P- 175) ed- Comm.]). The critics have ob¬ served a similar sentiment in one of the epistles

price of wheat was about thirty-two shillings the

(xviii. [p. 7] ed. Wolf.) of Libanius himself.

English quarter, which is equal to the average

26. Near two thousand of his letters—a mode of

price of the sixty-four first years of the present cen¬

composition in which Libanius was thought to ex¬

tury. See Arbuthnot’s Tables of Coins, Weights,

cel—are still extant, and already published. The

and Measures, p. 88, 89. Plin. Hist. Natur. xviii.

critics may praise their subtle and elegant brevity;

12. Mem. de I’Academie aes Inscriptions, tom.

yet Dr. Bentley (Dissertation upon Phalaris, p.

xxviii. p. 718-721. Smith’s Inquiry into the Nature

487) might justly though quaintly observe that

and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Bk. I, ch. 11.

“you feel, by the emptiness and deadness of them,

This last I am proud to quote, as the work of a

that you converse with some dreaming pedant,

sage and a friend.

with his elbow on his desk.”

16. Nunquam a proposito declinabat, Galli sim-

27. His birth is assigned to the year 314. He

ilis fratris, licet incruentus. Ammian. xxii. 14. The

mentions [Ep. 866] the seventy-sixth year of his

Ignorance of the most enlightened princes may

age (a.d. 390), and seems to allude to some events

claim some excuse; but we cannot be satisfied with

of a still later date.

Julian’s own defence (in Misopogon, p. 368, 369),

28. Libanius has composed the vain, prolix, but

or the elaborate apology of Libanius (Orat. Pa¬

curious narrative of his own life (tom. ii. p. 1-84,

rental. c. xcvii. p. 321).

edit. Morell.), of which Eunapius (p. 130-135) has

17. Their short and easy confinement is gently

left a concise and unfavourable account. Among

touched by Libanius (Orat. Parental, c. xcviii. p.

the moderns, Tillemont

322> 323)-

tom. iv. p. 571-576), Fabricius (Biblioth. Graec.

(Hist, des Empereurs,

790

Notes: Chapter xxiv (Heathen

epistle from Julian to the satrap Arsaces; fierce,

Testimonies, tom. iv. p. 127-163) have illustrated

vulgar, and (though it might deceive Sozomen, 1.

the character and writings of this famous sophist.

vi. c. 5 [c. 1]), most probably spurious. La Bleterie

tom. vii. p.

376-414), and Lardner

29. From Antioch to Litarbe, on the territory of

(Hist, de Jovien, tom. ii. p. 339) translates and re¬

Chalcis, the road, over hills and through morasses,

jects it. 41. Latissimum flumen Euphraten artabat. Am¬

was extremely bad; and the loose stones were ce¬ mented only with sand (Julian. Epist. xxvii.). It is

mian. xxiii. 3. Somewhat higher, at the fords of

singular enough that the Romans should have

Thapsacus, the river is four stadia, or 800 yards,

neglected the great communication between An¬

almost half an English mile, broad (Xenophon,

tioch and the Euphrates. See Wesseling, Itinerar.

Anabasis, 1. i. [c. 4, § 11 ] p. 41, edit. Hutchinson,

p. 190. Bergier, Hist, des Grands Ghemins, tom.

with Foster’s Observations, p. 29, etc., in the second

ii. p. 100. 30. Julian alludes to this incident (Epist. xxvii.),

volume of Spelman’s translation). If the breadth

which is more distinctly related by Theodoret (1.

than 130 yards (Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p.

of the Euphrates at Bir and Zeugma is no more

iii. c. 22). The intolerant spirit of the father is ap¬

335), the enormous difference must chiefly arise

plauded by Tillemont (Hist, des Empereurs, tom.

from the depth of the channel.

iv. p. 534), and even by la Bleterie (Vie de Julien,

42. Munimentum tutissimum et fabre politum,

P- 4i3)31. See the curious treatise de Dea Syria, in¬

cujus mcenia Abora (the Orientals aspirate Cha-

serted among the works of Lucian (tom. iii. p. 451 —

velut spatium insulare fingentes. Ammian. xxiii. 5.

490, edit. Reitz.). The singular appellation of Ni-

boras or Chabour) et Euphrates ambiunt flumina, 43. The enterprise and armament of Julian are

nus veins (Ammian. xiv. 8) might induce a suspi¬

described

cion that Hierapolis had been the royal seat of the

Marcellinus (xxiii. 3, 4, 5), Libanius (Orat. Parent,

Assyrians.

c. 108, 109, p. 332, 333), Zosimus (1. iii. [c. 11] p.

32. Julian (Epist. xxviii. [xxvii.]) kept a regular account of all the fortunate omens; but he sup¬ presses the inauspicious signs, which Ammianus (xxiii. 2) has carefully recorded.

by himself (Epist. xxvii.), Ammianus

160, 161, 162), Sozomen (1. vi. c. 1), and John Malala (tom. ii. p. 17 [ed. Ox.; p. 328, ed. Bonn]). 44. Before he enters Persia, Ammianus copiously describes (xxiii. 6, p. 396-419, edit. Gronov. in

33. Julian, Epist. xxvii. p. 399-402.

4to) the eighteen great satrapies or provinces (as

34. I take the earliest opportunity of acknowl¬

far as the Seric or Chinese frontiers) which were

edging my obligations to M. d’Anville for his re¬

subject to the Sassanides.

cent geography of the Euphrates and Tigris (Paris,

45. Ammianus (xxiv. 1) and Zosimus (1. iii. [c.

1780, in 4to.), which particularly illustrates the ex¬

14] p. 162, 163) have accurately expressed the or¬

pedition of Julian. [Hierapolis was about twenty-

der of march.

two miles from the Euphrates.]

46. The adventures of Hormisdas are related

35. There are three passages within a few miles

with some mixture of fable (Zosimus, 1. ii. [c. 27]

of each other: 1. Zeugma, celebrated by the an¬

p. 100-102; Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom.

cients; 2. Bir, frequented by the moderns; and, 3.

iv. p. 198). It is almost impossible that he should

The bridge of Menbigz [Manbedj] or Hierapolis,

be the brother (frater germanus) of an eldest and

at the distance of four parasangs from the city.

posthumous child; nor do I recollect that Ammianus

36. Haran, or Carrhae, was the ancient residence

ever gives him that title.

of the Sabaeans and of Abraham. See the Index

47. See the first book of the Anabasis [c. 5], p.

Geographicus of Schultens (ad calcem Vit. Sala-

45, 46. This pleasing work is original and authen¬

din.), a work from which I have obtained much

tic. Yet Xenophon’s memory, perhaps many years

Oriental knowledge concerning the ancient and

after the expedition, has sometimes betrayed him;

modern geography of Syria and the

adjacent

countries.

and the distances which he marks are often larger than either a soldier or a geographer will allow.

37. See Xenophon, Cyropaed, 1. iii. [c. 1, § 34]

48. Mr. Spelman, the English translator of the

p. 189, edit. Hutchinson. Artavasdes might have

Anabasis (vol. i. p. 51), confounds the antelope

supplied Marc Antony with 16,000 horse, armed

with the roebuck, and the wild ass with the zebra.

and disciplined after the Parthian manner (Plu¬ tarch, in M. Antonio [c. 50], tom. v. p. 11 7).

49. See Voyages de Tavernier, part. i. 1. iii. p. 316, and more especially Viaggi di Pietro della

38. Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armeniac. 1. iii. c.

Valle, tom. i. lett. xvii. p. 671, etc. He was igno¬

11, p. 241 [ed. Whiston, Lond. 1736]) fixes his ac¬

rant of the old name and condition of Anah. Our

cession (a.d. 354) to the 17th year of Constantius.

blind travellers seldom possess any previous knowl¬

39. Ammian. xx. 11. Athanasius (tom. i. p. 856)

edge of the countries which they visit. Shaw and

says, in general terms, that Constantius gave his brother’s widow rots /3ap/3apois, an expression more suitable to a Roman than a Christian.

Tournefort deserve an honourable exception. 50. Famosi nominis latro, says Ammianus—a high encomium for an Arab. The tribe of Gassan

40. Ammianus (xxiii. 2) uses a word much too

had settled on the edge of Syria, and reigned some

soft for the occasion, monuerat. Muratori (Fabricius,

time in Damascus, under a dynasty of thirty-one

Bibliothec. Graec. tom. vii. p. 86) has published an

kings or emirs, from the time of Pompey to that of

Notes: Chapter xxiv

791

the Khalif Omar. D’Herbelot, Biblioth^que Orien-

and Scipio, were acts of justice. Julian’s chastity

tale, p. 360. Pococke, Specimen Hist. Arabicae, p.

was voluntary, and, in his opinion, meritorious.

75-78. The name of Rodosaces does not appear in the list.

60. Sallust (ap. Vet. Scholiast. Juvenal. Satir. i. 104) observes, that nihil corruptius moribus. The

51. See Ammianus (xxiv. 1, 2), Libanius (Orat.

matrons and virgins of Babylon freely mingled with

Parental, c. 110, 111, p. 334), Zosimus (1. iii. [c. 15]

the men in licentious banquets: and as they felt the

p. 164-168).

intoxication of wine and love, they gradually, and

52. The description of Assyria is furnished by

almost completely, threw aside the incumbrance

Herodotus (1. i. c. 192, etc.), who sometimes writes

of dress; ad ultimum ima corporum velamenta

for children, and sometimes for philosophers; by

projiciunt. Q. Curtius. v. 1.

Strabo (1. xvi. p. 1070-1082 [p. 736-746, ed. Ca-

61. Ex virginibus autem, quae speciosae sunt cap-

saub.]); and by Ammianus (1. xxiii. c. 6). The most

tae, ut in Perside, ubi feminarum pulchritudo ex-

useful of the modern travellers are Tavernier (part,

cellit, nec contrectare aliquam voluit nec videre.

i. 1. ii. p. 226-258), Otter (tom. ii. p. 35-69, and

Ammian. xxiv. 4. The native race of Persians is

189-224), and Niebuhr (tom. ii. p. 172-288). Yet

small and ugly; but it has been improved by the

I much regret that the Irak Arabi of Abulfeda has

perpetual mixture of Circassian blood (Herodot. 1.

not been translated.

iii. c. 97. Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 420).

53. Ammianus remarks that the primitive As¬ syria, which comprehended Ninus (Nineveh) and

62. Obsidionalibus

coronis

donati.

Ammian.

xxiv. 4. Either Julian or his historian were unskil¬

Arbela, had assumed the more recent and peculiar

ful antiquaries. He should have given mural crowns.

appellation of Adiabene; and he seems to fix Tere-

The obsidional were the reward of a general who

don, Vologesia, and Apollonia, as the extreme cities

had delivered a besieged city (Aulus Gellius, Noct.

of the actual province of Assyria.

Attic, v. 6).

54. The two great rivers unite at Apamea, or

63. I give this speech as original and genuine

Corna (one hundred miles from the Persian Gulf),

Ammianus might hear, could transcribe, and was

into the broad stream of the Pasitigris, or Shat-ul-

incapable of inventing, it. I have used some slight

Arab. The Euphrates formerly reached the sea by

freedoms, and conclude with the most forcible

a separate channel, which was obstructed and di¬

sentence.

verted 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. 1 70-1 91). 55. The learned Kaempfer, as a botanist, an an¬

64. Ammian. xxiv. 3. Libanius, Orat. Parent, c. 122, p. 346. 65. M. d’Anville (Mem. de 1’Academic des In¬ scriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 246-259) has ascertained the true position and distance of Babylon, Seleucia,

tiquary, and a traveller, has exhausted (Amoenitat.

Ctesiphon, Bagdad, etc. The Roman traveller, Pie¬

Exoticae, Fascicul. iv. p. 660-764) the whole sub¬

tro della Valle (tom. i. lett. xvii. p. 650-780), seems

ject of palm-trees.

to be the most intelligent spectator of that famous

56. Assyria yielded to the Persian satrap an artaba of silver each day. The well-known proportion

province. He is a gentleman and a scholar, but intolerably vain and prolix.

of weights and measures (see Bishop Hooper’s elab¬

66. The Royal Canal (Nahar-Malcha) might be

orate Inquiry), the specific gravity of water and

successively restored, altered, divided, etc. (Cella-

silver, and the value of that metal, will afford, after

rius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 453): and these

a short process, the annual revenue which I have

changes may serve to explain the seeming contra¬

stated. Yet the Great King received no more than

dictions of antiquity. In the time of Julian it must

1000 Euboic, or Tyrian, talents (£252,000) from

have fallen into the Euphrates below Ctesiphon.

Assyria. The comparison of two passages in Herod¬

67 Kat ptytOtcnv tKt4>avTwv, ols low tpyov bia.

otus (1. i. c. 192, 1. iii. c. 89-96) reveals an impor¬

uTaxborv IXOeiv nai a\ayyos. [Or. Parent, c. 125.]

tant difference between the gross and the net reve¬

Rien n’est beau que le vrai; a maxim which should

nue of Persia; the sums paid by the province, and

be inscribed on the desk of every rhetorician.

the gold or silver deposited in the royal treasure.

68. Libanius alludes to the most powerful of the

The monarch might annually save three millions

generals. I have ventured to name Sallust. Am¬

six hundred thousand pounds, of the seventeen or

mianus [xxiv. 6] says, of all the leaders, qubd acri

eighteen millions raised upon the people.

metu territi duces concordi precatu fieri prohibere

cumstantially related by Ammianus (xxiv. 2, 3, 4,

tentarent. 69. Hinc Imperator . . . (says Ammianus) ipse

5), Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 112-123, p. 335-

cum levis armature auxiliis per prima postre-

347), Zosimus (1. iii. [c, 18] p. 168-180), and Greg¬

maque discurrens, etc. Yet Zosimus, his friend,

ory Nazianzen (Orat. iv. p. 113, 144). The military

does not allow him to pass the river till two days

criticisms of the saint are devoutly copied by Tille-

after the battle. 70. Secundum

57. The operations of the Assyrian war are cir¬

mont, his faithful slave. 58. Libanius de ulciscenda Juliani nece, c. 13, p. 162 [in Fabric. Bibl. Grsec. vol. vii.] 59. The famous examples of Cyrus, Alexander,

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.

792

Notes: Chapter xxiv

71. Persas terrore subito miscuerunt, versisque

ficial cascade or cataract, is described by Tavernier

agminibus totius gentis, apertas Ctesiphontis por-

(part i. 1. ii. p. 226) and Thevenot (part ii. 1. i. p.

tas victor miles intrasset, ni major prasdaram oc-

193). The Persians, or Assyrians, laboured to in¬

casio fuisset, quam cura victoriae (Sextus Rufus de

terrupt the navigation of the river (Strabo, 1. xvi.

Provinciis, c. 28). Their avarice might dispose

p. 1075 [p. 740]. D’Anville, l’Euphrate et le Tigre,

them to hear the advice of Victor.

P- 98, 99)82. Recollect the successful and applauded rash¬

72. The labour of the canal, the passage of the Tigris, and the victory, are described by Ammia-

ness of Agathocles and Cortez, who burnt their

nus (xxiv. 5, 6), Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 124-

ships on the coast of Africa and Mexico.

128, p. 347-353), Greg. Nazianzen (Orat. iv. p.

83. See the judicious reflections of the author of

115), Zosimus (1. iii. [c. 24, p. 159 sqq.] p. 181 —

the Essai sur la Tactique, tom. ii. p. 287-353, and

183), and Sextus Rufus (de Provinciis, c. 28).

the learned remarks of M. Guichardt, Nouveaux

73. The fleet and army were formed in three di¬ visions, of which the first only had passed during

Memoires Militaires, tom. i. p. 351-382, on the baggage and subsistence of the Roman armies.

the night (Ammian. xxiv. 6). The natra 8opvopia,

84. The Tigris rises to the south, the Euphrates

whom Zosimus transports on the third day (1. iii.

to the north, of the Armenian mountains. The

[c. 26] p. 183), might consist of the protectors,

former overflows in March, the latter in July. These

among whom the historian Ammianus, and the fu¬

circumstances are well explained in the Geograph¬

ture emperor Jovian, actually served; some schools

ical Dissertation of Foster, inserted in Spelman’s

of the domestics; and perhaps the Jovians and Her-

Expedition of Cyrus, vol. ii. p. 26.

culians, who often did duty as guards.

85. Ammianus (xxiv. 8) describes, as he had

74. Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armen. 1. iii. c. 15,

felt, the inconveniency of the flood, the heat, and

p. 246) supplies us with a national tradition and a

the insects. The lands of Assyria, oppressed by the

spurious letter. I have borrowed only the leading

Turks, and ravaged by the Curds or Arabs, yield

circumstance, which is consistent with truth, prob¬

an increase of ten, fifteen, and twenty fold, for the

ability, and Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 131, p. 355).

seed which is cast into the ground by the wretched

75. Civitas inexpugnabilis, facinus audax et importunum. Ammianus, xxiv. 7. His fellow-soldier,

and unskilful husbandmen. Voyages de Niebuhr, tom. ii. p. 279, 285.

Eutropius, turns aside from the difficulty: Assy-

86. Isidore of Charax (Mansion, Parthic. p. 5,

riamque populatus, castra apud Gtesiphontem sta-

6, in Hudson, Geograph. Minor, tom. ii.) reckons

tiva aliquandiu habuit: remeansque victor, etc., x.

129 schceni from Seleucia, and Thevenot (part i. 1.

16 [8], Zosimus is artful or ignorant, and Socrates

i. ii. p. 209-245) 128 hours of march from Bagdad

inaccurate.

to Ecbatana, or Hamadan. These measures can¬

76. Libanius, Orat. Parent, c. 130, p. 354, c. 139, p. 361. Socrates, 1. iii. c. 21. The ecclesiastical his¬

not exceed an ordinary parasang, or three Roman miles.

torian imputes the refusal of peace to the advice of

87. The march of Julian from Ctesiphon is cir¬

Maximus. Such advice was unworthy of a philoso¬

cumstantially, but not clearly, described by Am¬

pher; but the philosopher was likewise a magician,

mianus (xxiv. 7, 8), Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 134,

who flattered the hopes and passions of his master.

p. 357), and Zosimus (1. iii. [c. 26] p. 183). The

77. The arts of this new Zopyrus (Greg. Nazian¬

two last seem ignorant that their conqueror was

zen, Orat. iv. p. 115, 116 [ed. Par. 1609]) may de¬

retreating; and Libanius absurdly confines him to

rive some credit from the testimony of two abbre-

the banks of the Tigris.

viators (Sextus Rufus and Victor), and the casual

88. Chardin, the most judicious of modern trav¬

hints of Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 134, p. 357) and

ellers, describes (tom. iii. p. 57, 58, etc., edit, in

Ammianus (xxiv. 7). The course of genuine history

4to.) the education and dexterity of the Persian

is interrupted by a most unseasonable chasm in the

horsemen. Brissonius (de Regno Persico, p. 650,

text of Ammianus.

661, etc.) has collected the testimonies of antiquity.

78. See Ammianus (xxiv. 7), Libanius, (Orat.

89. In Mark Antony’s retreat, an attic chcenix

Parentalis, c. 132, 133, p. 356, 357), Zosimus (1. iii.

sold for fifty drachmae, or, in other words, a pound

[c. 26] p. 183), Zonaras (tom. ii. 1. xiii. [c. 13] p.

of flour for twelve or fourteen shillings; barley

26), Gregory (Orat. iv. p. 116), and Augustine

bread was sold for its weight in silver. It is impos¬

(The City of God, 1. iv. c. 29, 1. v. c. 21). Of these

sible to peruse the interesting narrative of Plutarch (Life of Antony) without perceiving that Mark

Libanius alone attempts a faint apology for his hero; who, according to Ammianus, pronounced

Antony and Julian were pursued by the same

his own condemnation by a tardy and ineffectual

enemies and involved in the same distress.

attempt to extinguish the flames.

90. Ammian. xxiv. 8, xxv. 1. Zosimus, 1. iii. [c.

79. Consult Herodotus (1. i. c. 194), Strabo (1.

27, seq.~\ p. 184, 185, 186. Libanius, Orat. Parent,

xvi. p. 1074 [p. 739, ed. Casaub.]), and Tavernier

c- 134. !35> P- 357, 358, 359- The sophist of Anti¬ och appears ignorant that the troops were hungry.

(part i. 1. ii. p. 152). 80. A celeritate Tigris incipit vocari, ita appel¬ lant Medi sagittam. Plin. Hist. Natur. vi. 31. 81. One of these dykes, which produces an arti¬

91. Ammian. xxv. 2. Julian had sworn in a pas¬ sion, numquam se Marti sacra facturum (xxiv. 6). Such whimsical quarrels were not uncommon be-

Notes: Chapter xxiv tween the gods and their insolent votaries; and even the prudent Augustus, after his fleet had been twice shipwrecked, excluded Neptune from the honours of public processions. See Hume’s Philo¬ sophical Reflections. Essays, vol. ii. p. 418. 92. They still retained the monopoly of the vain but lucrative science, which had been invented in Etruria; and professed to derive their knowledge of signs and omens from the ancient books of Tarquitius, a Tuscan sage. 93. Clamabant hinc inde candidati (see the note of Valesius) quos disjecerat terror, ut fugientium molem tanquam ruinam male compositi culminis declinaret. Ammian. xxv. 3. 94. Sapor himself declared to the Romans that it was his practice to comfort the families of his de¬ ceased 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. 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 ema¬ nations, which is darkly insinuated in the original. 96. Herodotus (1. i. c. 31) has displayed that doc¬ trine 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. 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. Ro¬ man. tom. i. p. 504) and Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, 1. xxvii.). 98. This union of the human soul with the di¬ vine etherial substance of the universe is the an¬ cient doctrine of Pythagoras and Plato, but it seems to exclude any personal or conscious immortality. See Warburton’s learned and rational observa¬ tions. Divine Legation, vol. ii. p. 199-216. 99. The whole relation of the death of Julian is given by Ammianus (xxv. 3), an intelligent spec¬ tator. 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. 100. Honoratior aliquis miles; perhaps Ammia¬ nus himself. The modest and judicious historian describes the scene of the election, at which he was undoubtedly present (xxv. 5). 101. The primus or primicerius enjoyed the dignity of a senator; and, though only a tribune, he ranked with the military dukes. Cod. Theodosian. 1. vi. tit. xxiv. [leg. 11]. These privileges are perhaps more recent than the time of Jovian. 102. The ecclesiastical historians, Socrates (1. iii.

793

c. 22), Sozomen (1. vi. c. 3), and Theodoret (1. iv. c. 1), ascribe to Jovian the merit of a confessor un¬ der the preceding reign, and piously suppose that he refused the purple till the whole army unani¬ mously exclaimed that they were Christians. Am¬ mianus, calmly pursuing his narrative, overthrows the legend by a single sentence. Hostiis pro Joviano extisque inspectis, pronuntiatum est, etc. (xxv. 6). 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 re¬ ligious prejudice. 104. Regius equitatus. It appears from Proco¬ pius 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, etc. 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 dem¬ onstrated the precise situation of Sumere, Carche, and Dura, along the banks of the Tigris (Geogra¬ phic 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. 106. Dura was a fortified place in the wars of Antiochus against the rebels of Media and Persia (Polybius, 1. v. c. 48, 52, p. 548, 552, edit. Casaubon, in 8vo.) 107. A similar expedient was proposed to the leaders of the ten thousand, and wisely rejected. Xenophon, Anabasis, 1. iii. [c. v. §§ 9-11] p. 255, 256, 257. It appears from our modern travellers that rafts floating on bladders perform the trade and navigation of the Tigris. 108. The first military acts of the reign of Jovian are related by Ammianus (xxv. 6), Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 143, p. 364), and Zosimus (1. iii. [c. 30] p. 189, 190, 191). Though we may distrust the fair¬ ness of Libanius, the ocular testimony of Eutropius (uno a Persis atque altero proelio victus, x. 17 [9]) must incline us to suspect that Ammianus has been too jealous of the honour of the Roman arms. 109. Sextus Rufus (de Provinciis, c. 29) em¬ braces a poor subterfuge of national vanity. Tanta reverentia nominis Romani fuit, ut a Persis primus de pace sermo haberetur. 11 o. It is presumptuous to controvert the opin¬ ion of Ammianus, a soldier and a spectator. Yet it is difficult to understand how the mountains of Corduene could extend over the plain 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. iii. The treaty of Dura is recorded with grief or indignation by Ammianus (xxv. 7), Libanius

794

Notes: Chapter xxiv

(Orat. Parent, c. 142, p. 364), Zosimus (1. iii. [c. 31] p. 190, 191), Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iv. p. 117, 118, who imputes the distress to Julian, the deliv¬ erance to Jovian), and Eutropius (x. 17 [9]). The last-mentioned writer, who was present in a mili¬ tary station, styles this peace necessariam quidem sed ignobilem. 112. Libanius, Orat. Parent, c. 143, p. 364, 365. 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, etc.). 114. The generals were murdered on the banks of the Zabatus (Anabasis, 1. ii. [c. v. § 1] p. 156, 1. iii. [c. iii. § 6] p. 226), or Great Zab, a river of As¬ syria, 400 feet broad, which falls into the Tigris fourteen hours below Mosul. The error of the Greeks bestowed on the Great and Lesser Zab the names of the Wolf (Lycus) and the Goat (Capros). They created these animals to attend the Tiger of the East. 115. The Cyroptedia is vague and languid; the Anabasis circumstantial and animated. Such is the eternal difference between fiction and truth. 116. According to Rufinus, an immediate sup¬ ply of provisions was stipulated by the treaty, and Theodoret affirms that the obligation was faith¬ fully discharged by the Persians. Such a fact is probable, but undoubtedly false. See Tillemont, Hist. des. Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 702. 117. We may recollect some lines of Lucan (Pharsal. iv. 95), who describes a similar distress of Caesar’s army in Spain: — Saeva fames aderatMiles eget: toto censu non prodigus emit Exiguam Gererem. Proh lucri pallida tabes! Non deest prolato jejunus venditor auro. See Guichardt (Nouveaux Memoires Militaries, tom. i. p. 379-382). His analysis of the two cam¬ paigns in Spain and Africa is the noblest monument that has ever been raised to the fame of Caesar. 118. M. d’Anville (see his Maps, and l’Euphrate et le Tigre, p. 92, 93) traces their march, and as¬ signs 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. 1. i. p. 192) so much dreaded. 119. The retreat of Jovian is described by Am¬ mianus (xxv. 9), Libanius (Orat. Parent c. 143, p. 365), and Zosimus (1. iii. [c. 33] p. 194). 120. Libanius (Orat. Parent, c. 145, p. 366). Such were the natural hopes and wishes of a rheto¬ rician. 121. The people of Carrhas, a city devoted to Paganism, buried the inauspicious messenger un¬ der a pile of stones (Zosimus, 1. iii. [c. 34] 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 [ed. Morell. Paris. >627]). 122. Ammianus and Eutropius may be admitted as fair and credible witnesses of the public lan¬ guage and opinions. The people of Antioch reviled an ignominious peace which exposed them to the Persians on a naked and defenceless frontier (Ex¬ cerpt. Valesiana, p. 845, ex Johanne Antiocheno.). 123. The Abb6 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 em¬ pire, nor alienate, without their consent, the alle¬ giance of his people. I have never found much de¬ light or instruction in such political metaphysics. 124. At Nisibis he performed a royal act. A brave officer, his namesake, who had been thought wor¬ thy of the purple, was dragged from supper, thrown into a well, and stoned to death without any form of trial or evidence of guilt. Ammian. xxv. 8. 125. See xxv. 9, and Zosimus, 1. iii. [c. 33] p. 194,

195126. Chron. Paschal, p. 300 [tom. i. p. 554, ed Bonn]. The ecclesiastical Notitiae may be con¬ sulted. 127. Zosimus, 1. iii. [c. 32] p. 192, 193. Sextus Rufus de Provinciis, c. 29. Augustine, The City of God, 1. iv. c. 29. This general position must be applied and interpreted with some caution. 128. Ammianus, xxv. 10. Zosimus, 1. iii. [c. 34] p. 196. He might be edax, et vino Venerique indulgens. But I agree with La Bleterie (tom. i. p. 148-154) in rejecting the foolish report of a Bac¬ chanalian riot (ap. Suidam) celebrated at Antioch by the emperor, his wife, and a troop of concubines. 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. 130. Compare the sophist and the saint (Liba¬ nius, Monod. tom. ii. p. 251, and Orat. Parent, c. 145, p. 367, c. 156, p. 377, with Gregory Nazian¬ zen, 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. 131. Tillemont (Hist, des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 549) has collected these visions. Some saint or an¬ gel was observed to be absent in the night on a secret expedition, etc. 132. Sozomen (1. vi. 2) applauds the Greek doc¬ trine of tyrannicide: but the whole passage, which a Jesuit might have translated, is prudently sup¬ pressed by the president Cousin. 133. Immediately after the death of Julian an uncertain rumour was scattered, telo cecidisse Ro¬ mano. It was carried by some deserters to the Per¬ sian camp; and the Romans were reproached as the assassins of the emperor by Sapor and his sub-

Notes: Chapter xxv jects (Ammian. xxv. 6; Libanius de ulciscenda Juliani nece, c. xiii. p. 162, 163). It was urged, as a

795

in Vespasian, c. ig, with the notes of Casaubon and Gronovius.

decisive proof, that no Persian had appeared to

137. Gregory (Orat. iv. p. 119, 120 [ed. Paris,

claim the promised reward (Liban. Orat. Parent,

1609; Orat. v. c. 16, 18, p. 157, seqq. ed. Bened.

c. I4i,p. 363). But the flying horseman who darted

1778]) compares this supposed ignominy and ridi¬ cule to the funeral honours of Constantius, whose

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. 134* flirts kvTo\rjv tv\t)p&v tQ

body was chaunted over Mount Taurus by a choir of angels.

clvt&v apxovTi.

138. Quintus Curtius, I. iii. c. 4. The luxuriancy

This dark and ambiguous expression may point to

of his descriptions has been often censured. Yet it

Athanasius, the first without a rival of the Chris¬

was almost the duty of the historian to describe a

tian clergy (Libanius de ulcis. Jul. nece, c. 5, p.

river whose waters had nearly proved fatal to Alex¬ ander.

149. La Bleterie, Hist, de Jovien, tom. i. p. 179). 135. The orator (Fabricius, Biblioth. GrEec. tom.

139. Libanius, Orat. Parent, c. 156, p. 377. Yet

vii. p. 145-179) scatters suspicions, demands an

he acknowledges with gratitude the liberality of

inquiry, and insinuates that proofs might still be

the two royal brothers in decorating the tomb of

obtained. He ascribes the success of the Huns to

Julian (de ulcis. Jul. nece, c. 7, p. 152).

the criminal neglect of revenging Julian’s death.

140. Cujus suprema et cineres, si qui tunc juste

136. At the funeral of Vespasian, the comedian

consuleret, non Cydnus videre deberet, quamvis

who personated that frugal emperor anxiously in¬

gratissimus amnis et liquidus: sed ad perpetuan-

quired how much it cost?—Fourscore thousand

dam gloriam recte factorum prasterlambere Tibe-

pounds (centies).—Give me the tenth part of the

ris, intersecans urbem asternam, divorumque vete-

sum, and throw my body into the Tiber. Sueton.

rum monumenta praestringens. Ammian. xxv. 10.

Chapter XXV 1. The medals of Jovian adorn him with victo¬

some difficulties (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom

ries, laurel crowns, and prostrate captives. Du-

viii. p. 719-723). But the date (a.d. 373, May 2)

cange, Famil. Byzantin. p. 52. Flattery is a foolish

which seems the most consistent with history and

suicide; she destroys herself with her own hands.

reason is ratified by his authentic Life (Maffei,

2. Jovian restored to the church tov apxo-lov k6apov;

a forcible

Osservazioni Letterarie, tom. iii. p. 81).

and comprehensive expression

7. See the observations of Valesius and Jortin

(Philostorgius, 1. viii. c. 5, with Godefroy’s Disser¬

(Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv. p. 38)

tations, p. 329. Sozomen, 1. vi. c. 3). The new law

on the original letter of Athanasius, which is pre¬

which condemned the rape or marriage of nuns

served by Theodoret (1. iv. c. 3). In some MSS.

(Cod. Theod. 1. ix. tit. xxv. leg. 2) is exaggerated

this indiscreet promise is omitted; perhaps by the

by Sozomen, who supposes that an amorous glance,

Catholics, jealous of the prophetic fame of their

the adultery of the heart, was punished with death

leader.

by the evangelic legislator.

8. Athanasius (apud Theodoret, 1. iv. c. 3) mag¬

3. Compare Socrates, 1. iii. c. 25, and Philostor¬

nifies the number of the orthodox, who composed

gius, 1. viii. c. 6, with Godefroy’s Dissertations, p.

the whole world, irapej dXlycov tCiv to. ’Apeiov po-

33°4. The word celestial faintly expresses the impious and extravagant flattery of the emperor to the

vovvtwv.

This assertion was verified in the space

of thirty or forty years. 9. Socrates,

1.

iii. c.

24.

Gregory Nazianzen

archbishop, xi)s xpo; tov Otov tS>v oXcok opouotreojs

(Orat. iv. p. 131) and Libanius (Orat. Parentalis,

(See the original epistle in Athanasius, tom. ii. p.

c. 148, p. 369) express the living sentiments of their

33.) Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. xxi. p. 392) cele¬

respective factions.

brates the friendship of Jovian and Athanasius.

10. Themistius, Orat. v. p. 63-71, edit. Har-

The primate’s journey was advised by the Egyp¬

duin, Paris, 1684. The Abbe de la Bleterie judi¬

tian monks (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p.

ciously remarks (Hist, de Jovien, tom. i. p. 199)

221). 5. Athanasius, at the court of Antioch, is agree¬

that Sozomen has forgot the general toleration;

ably represented by La Bleterie (Hist, de Jovien,

religion. Each of them turned away from the ob¬

tom. i. p. 121-148): he translates the singular and

ject which he disliked, and wished to suppress the

original conferences of the emperor, the primate of

part of the edict the least honourable, in his opin¬

Egypt, and the Arian deputies. The Abbe is not

ion, to the emperor Jovian.

satisfied with the coarse pleasantry of Jovian; but

and Themistius the establishment of the Catholic

11.

01

’kvTioxeZs oOx ijSkus Ste/ceu'xo xpds ovtov

his partiality for Athanasius assumes, in his eyes,

6.XX’

the character of justice.

KaXovptvois tpapwooois (famosis libellis). Johan. An-

6. The true era of his death is perplexed with

kTTtffKWKTOv avrbv cZScus

Kal irapoiSlais Kal rots

tiochen. in Excerpt. Valesian. p. 845. The libels of

796

Notes: Chapter xxv

Antioch may be admitted on very slight evidence.

had presumed to purify him with lustral water

12. Compare Ammianus (xxv. to), who omits

(Sozomen, 1. vi. c. 6. Theodoret, 1. iii. c. 16). Such

the name of the Batavians, with Zosimus (1. iii. [c.

public defiance might become Valentinian; but it

35] p. 197), who removes the scene of action from

could leave no room for the unworthy delation of

Rheims to Sirmium.

the philosopher Maximus, which supposes some

13. Quos capita scholarum ordo castrensis ap-

more private offence (Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 2] p. 200,

14. Cujus vagitus, pertinaciter reluctantis, ne in

201.) 23. Socrates, 1. iv. A previous exile to Melitene,

curuli sella veheretur ex more, id quod mox accidit

or Thebais (the first might be possible), is inter¬

pellat. Ammian. xxv. 10, and Vales, ad locum.

portendebat. [Amm.

1.

c.] Augustus and his suc¬

cessors respectfully solicited a dispensation of age

posed by Sozomen (1. vi. c. 6) and Philostorgius (1. vii. c. 7, with Godefroy’s Dissertations, p. 293).

for the sons or nephews whom they raised to the

24. Ammianus, in a long, because unseasonable,

consulship. But the curule chair of the first Brutus

digression (xxvi. 1, and Valesius ad locum), rashly

had never been dishonoured by an infant.

supposes that he understands an astronomical

15. The Itinerary of Antoninus fixes Dadastana

question, of which his readers are ignorant. It is

125 Roman miles from Nice, 117 from Ancyra

treated with more judgment and propriety by Cen-

(Wesseling, Itinerar. p. 142). The pilgrim of Bor¬

sorinus (de Die Natali, c. 20), and Macrobius

deaux, by omitting some stages, reduces the whole

(Saturnal. 1. i. c. 12-16). The appellation of Bissex¬

space from 242 to 181 miles. Wesseling, p. 574.

tile, which marks the inauspicious year (Augustin,

16. See Ammianus (xxv. 10), Eutropius (x. 18

ad Januarium, Epist. 119), is derived from the

(9]), who might likewise be present; Jerom (tom. i.

repetition of the sixth days of the calends of March.

p. 26 [tom. i. p. 341 ed. Vallars.] ad Heliodorum),

25. Valentinian’s first speech is full in Ammia¬

Orosius (vii. 31), Sozomen (1. vi. c. 6), Zosimus (1.

nus (xxvi. 2); concise and sententious in Philostor¬

iii. [c. 35] p. 197, 198), and Zonaras (tom. ii. 1. xiii.

gius (1. viii. c. 8).

[c. 14] p. 28, 29). We cannot expect a perfect agree¬

26. Si tuos amas, Imperator optime, habes fra-

ment, and we shall not discuss minute differences.

trem; si Rempublicam, quaere quem vestias. Am¬

17. Ammianus, unmindful of his usual candour

mian. xxvi. 4. In the division of the empire, Valen¬

and good sense, compares the death of the harm¬

tinian retained that sincere counsellor for himself

less Jovian to that of the second Africanus, who

(c. 6).

had excited the fears and resentment of the popu¬ lar faction.

27. In suburbano, Ammian. xxvi. 4. The famous Hebdomon, or field of Mars, was distant from Con¬

18. Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 336-349, edit. Mont-

stantinople either seven stadia or seven miles. See

faucon. The Christian orator attempts to comfort

Valesius and his brother, ad loc.; and Ducange,

a widow by the examples of illustrious misfortunes;

Const. 1. ii. p. 140, 141, 172, 173.

and observes, that, of nine emperors (including the

28. Participem quidem legitimum potestatis; sed

Caesar Gallus) who had reigned in his time, only

in modum apparitoris morigerum, ut progrediens

two (Constantine and Constantius) died a natural

aperiet textus. Ammian. xxvi. 4.

death. Such vague consolations have never wiped away a single tear.

29. Notwithstanding the evidence of Zonaras, Suidas, and the Paschal Chronicle, M. de Tille-

ig. Ten days appear scarcely sufficient for the

mont (Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 671) wishes

march and election. But it may be observed—1.

to disbelieve these stories si advantageuses a un

That the generals might command the expeditious

payen.

use of the public posts for themselves, their atten¬

30. Eunapius celebrates and exaggerates the suf¬

dants, and messengers. 2. That the troops, for the

ferings of Maximus (p. 82,83 tp- i02,ed. Comm.]);

ease of the cities, marched in many divisions; and

yet he allows that this sophist or magician, the

that the head of the column might arrive at Nice

guilty favourite of Julian, and the personal enemy

when the rear halted at Ancyra.

of Valentinian, was dismissed on the payment of a small fine.

20. Ammianus, xxvi. 1; Zosimus, 1. iii. [c. 36] p. 198; Philostorgius, 1. viii. c. 8; and Godefroy, Dis-

31. The loose assertions of a general disgrace

sertat. p. 334. Philostorgius, who appears to have

(Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 2] p. 201) are detected and re¬

obtained some curious and authentic intelligence,

futed by Tillemont (tom. v. p. 21).

ascribes the choice of Valentinian to the prasfect

32. Ammianus, xxvi. 5.

Sallust, the master-general Arintheus, Dagalaiphus

33. Ammianus says, in general terms, subagres-

count of the domestics, and the patrician Datianus,

tis ingenii, nec bellicis nec liberalibus studiis eru-

whose pressing recommendations from Ancyra had

ditus. Ammian. xxxi. 14. The orator Themistius,

a weighty influence in the election.

with the genuine impertinence of a Greek, wished

21. Ammianus (xxx.

7>

9) and the younger Vic¬

for the first time to speak the Latin language, the

tor [Epit. c. 45] have furnished the portrait of Val¬

dialect of his sovereign, t$)v diaXenrov Kparovcrav Orat. vi. p. 71.

entinian, which naturally precedes and illustrates the history of his reign.

34. The uncertain degree of alliance or consan¬

22. At Antioch, where he was obliged to attend

guinity, is expressed by the words avkpios, cogna-

the emperor to the temple, he struck a priest who

tus, consobrinus (see Valesius ad Ammian, xxiii.

Notes: Chapter xxv 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. 4g. 35. Ammian. xxiii. 3, xxvi. 6. He mentions the

797

justice of the emperors. 44. The French and English lawyers of the pres¬ ent age allow the theory, and deny the practice, of witchcraft (Denisart, Recueil de Decisions de Juris¬

report with much hesitation: susurravit obscurior

prudence, au mot Sorciers, tom. iv. p. 553. Black-

fama; nemo enim dicti auctor exstitit verus. It

stone’s Commentaries, vol. iv. p. 60). As private

serves, however, to mark that Procopius was a

reason always prevents, or outstrips, public wis¬

Pagan. Yet his religion does not appear to have

dom, the president Montesquieu (The Spirit of

promoted, or obstructed, his pretensions.

Laws, 1. xii. c. 5, 6) rejects the existence of magic.

36. One of his retreats was a country-house of

45. See GSuvres de Bayle, tom. iii. p. 567-589.

Eunomius, the heretic. The master was absent, in¬

The sceptic of Rotterdam exhibits, according to

nocent, ignorant; yet he narrowly escaped a sen¬

his custom, a strange medley of loose knowledge

tence of death, and was banished into the remote

and lively wit.

parts of Mauritania (Philostorg. 1. ix. c. 5, 8, and Godefroy’s Dissert, p. 369-378).

46. The Pagans distinguished between good and bad magic, the Theurgic and the Goetic (Hist, de

37. Hormisdae maturo juveni Hormisdae regalis

l’Academie, etc., tom. vii. p. 25). But they could

illius filio, potestatem Proconsulis detulit; et civi-

not have defended this obscure distinction against

lia, more veterum, et bella, recturo. Ammian. xxvi.

the acute logic of Bayle. In the Jewish and Chris¬

8. The Persian prince escaped with honour and

tian system, all demons are infernal spirits; and all

safety, and was afterwards (a.d. 380) restored to

commerce with them is idolatry, apostasy, etc.,

the same extraordinary office of proconsul of Bi-

which deserves death and damnation.

thynia (Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p.

47. The Canidia of Horace (Carm. 1. v. Od. 5

204). I am ignorant whether the race of Sassan was

[Epod. 5], with Dacier’s and Sanadon’s illustra¬

propagated. I find (a.d. 514) a pope Hormisdas;

tions) is a vulgar witch. The Erichtho of Lucan

but he was a native of Frusino, in Italy (Pagi.

(Pharsal. vi. 430-827) is tedious, disgusting, but

Brev. Pontific. tom. i. p. 247).

sometimes sublime. She chides the delay of the

38. The infant rebel was afterwards the wife of

Furies; and threatens, with tremendous obscurity,

the emperor Gratian, but she died young and

to pronounce their real names; to reveal the true

childless. See Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 48, 59. 39. Sequimini culminis summi prosapiam, was

infernal countenance of Hecate; to invoke the se¬ cret powers that lie below hell, etc.

the language of Procopius, who affected to despise

48. Genus hominum potentibus infidum, spe-

the obscure birth and fortuitous election of the

rantibus fallax, quod in civitate nostra et vetabitur

upstart Pannonian. Ammian. xxvi. 7.

semper et retinebitur. Tacit. Hist. i. 22. See Au¬

40. Et dedignatus hominem superare certamine

gustine, The City of God, 1. viii. c. 19, and the

despicabilem, auctoritatis et celsi fiducia corporis,

Theodosian Code, 1. ix. tit. xvi. with Godefroy’s

ipsis hostibus jussit, suum vincire rectorem: atque

Commentary. 49. The persecution of Antioch was occasioned

ita turmarum antesignanus umbratilis comprensus suorum manibus. The strength and beauty of Arin-

by a criminal consultation. The twenty-four letters

theus, the new Hercules, are celebrated by St.

of the alphabet were arranged round a magic tri¬

Basil, who supposes that God had created him as

pod: and a dancing ring, which had been placed

an inimitable model of the human species. The

in the centre, pointed to the four first letters in the

painters and sculptors could not express his figure:

name of the future emperor, 0. e. o. A. Theodorus

the historians appeared fabulous when they related

(perhaps with many others, who owned the fatal

his exploits (Ammian. xxvi. [c. 8] and Vales, ad

syllables)

loc.). 41. The same field of battle is placed by Ammia-

Lardner (Heathen Testimonie, vol. iv. p. 353-372)

nus in Lycia, and by Zosimus at Thyatira, which

action of the reign of Valens.

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.

was executed.

Theodosius succeeded.

has copiously and fairly examined this dark trans¬ 50. Limus ut hie durescit, et haec ut cera liquescit Uno eodemque igniVirgil. Bucolic, viii. 80. Devovet absentes, simulacraque cerea figit. Ovid, in Epist. Hypsil. ad Jason. 91 [Ep. vi.].

42. The adventures, usurpation, and fall of Pro¬

Such vain incantations could affect the mind, and

copius, are related, in a regular series, by Ammia-

increase the disease, of Germanicus. Tacit. Annal.

nus (xxvi. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) and Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 4 seq.] p. 203-210). They often illustrate, and seldom

ii. 69. 51. See Heineccius Antiquitat. Juris Roman,

contradict, each other. Themistius (Orat. vii. p.

tom. ii. p. 353, etc. God. Theodosian. 1. ix. tit. 7,

91,92) adds some base panegyric; and Eunapius (p.

with Godefroy’s Commentary.

83, 84 [p. 104, ed. Comm.]) some malicious satire.

32. The cruel persecution of Rome and Antioch

43. Libanius de ulciscend. Julian, nece, c. ix. [x.]

is described, and most probably exaggerated, by

p. 158, 159. The sophist deplores the public frenzy,

Ammianus (xxviii. 1, xxix, 1, 2) and Zosimus (1. iv.

but he does not (after their deaths) impeach the

[c. 13] p. 216-218). The philosopher Maximus,

Notes: Chapter xxv

798

with some justice, was involved in the charge of

62. Cod. Theodos. 1. i. tit. xi. with Godcfroy’s

magic (Eunapius in Vit. Sophist, p. 88, 89, [p. 110,

Pnratitlon, which diligently gleans from the rest of

ed. Comm.]); and young Chrysostom, who had accidentally found one of the proscribed books,

the code, 63. Three lines of Ammianus (xxxi. 14) counte¬

gave himself for lost. (Tillemont, Hist, des Empe-

nance a whole oration of Themistius (viii. p. 101120), full of adulation, pedantry, and common¬

reurs, tom. v. p. 340). 53. Consult the six last books of Ammianus, and

place morality. The eloquent M. Thomas (tom. i.

more particularly the portraits of the two royal

p. 366-396) has amused himself with celebrating

brothers (xxx. 8, 9, xxxi. 14). Tillemont has col¬

the virtues and genius of Themistius, who was not

lected (tom. v. p. 12-18, p. 127-133) from all an¬

unworthy of the age in which he lived.

tiquity their virtues and vices. 54. The younger Victor asserts that he was

64. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 3] p. 202. Ammian. xxx. 9. His reformation of costly abuses might entitle him

valde timidus [Epit. c. 46]; yet he behaved, as al¬

to the praise of, in provinciales admodum parcus,

most every man would do, with decent resolution

tributorum ubique molliens sarcinas. By some his

at the head of an army. The same historian attempts

frugality was styled avarice (Jerom. Chron. p. 186

to prove that his anger was harmless. Ammianus

[tom. viii. p. 8og, ed. Vallars.]).

observes, with more candour and judgment, inci-

65. Testes sunt leges a me in exordio Imperii

dentia crimina ad contemptam vel lassam principis

mei datae; quibus unicuique quod animo imbibis-

amplitudinem

sanguinem saeviebat

set colendi libera facultas tributa est. Cod. The¬

[xxxi. 14]. 55. Cum esset in acerbitatem naturae calore pro-

odos. 1. ix. tit. xvi. leg. 9. To this declaration of

pensior . . . poenas per ignes augebat et gladios.

of Ammianus (xxx. 9), Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 3] p. 204),

Ammian. xxx. 8. See xxvii. 7.

and Sozomen (1. vi. c. 7, 21). Baronius would nat¬

trahens,

in

56. I have transferred the reproach of avarice from Valens to his servants. Avarice more properly

Valentinian we may add the various testimonies

urally

blame

such

rational

toleration

(Annal.

Eccles. a.d. 370, No. 129-132, a.d. 376, No. 3, 4).

belongs to ministers than to kings, in whom that

66. Eudoxus was of a mild and timid disposition.

passion is commonly extinguished by absolute pos¬

When he baptised Valens (a.d. 367) he must have

session. 57. He sometimes expressed a sentence of death

been extremely old, since he had studied theology

with a tone of pleasantry: “Abi, Comes, et muta ei

pious martyr. Philostorg. 1. ii. c. 14-16, 1. iv. c. 4

caput, qui sibi mutari provinciam cupit.” A boy,

with Godefroy, p. 82, 206, and Tillemont, Mem

who had slipped too hastily a Spartan hound; an

Eccles. tom. v. p. 474-480, etc.

fifty-five years before, under Lucian, a learned and

armourer, who had made a polished cuirass that

67. Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. xxv. p. 432) in¬

wanted some grains of the legitimate weight, etc.,

sults the persecuting spirit of the Arians, as an in¬

were the victims of his fury.

fallible symptom of error and heresy.

58. The innocents of Milan were an agent and

68. This sketch of the ecclesiastical government

three apparitors, whom Valentinian condemned

of Valens is drawn from Socrates (1. iv.), Sozomen

for signifying a legal summons. Ammianus (xxvii.

(1. vi.), Theodoret (1. iv.), and the immense com¬

7) strangely supposes that all who had been un¬

pilations of Tillemont (particularly tom. vi. viii.

justly executed were worshipped as martyrs by the

and ix.).

Christians. His impartial silence does not allow us

69. Dr. Jortin (Remarks on Ecclesiastical His¬

to believe that the great chamberlain Rhodanus

tory, vol. iv. p. 78) has already conceived and in¬

was burnt alive for an act of oppression (Chron.

timated the same suspicion.

Paschal, p. 302 [tom. i. p. 558, ed. Bonn]). 5g. Ut bene meritam in silvas jussit abire Innoxiam. Ammian. xxix. 3, and Valesius ad locum. 60. See the Code of Justinian, 1. viii. tit. lii. leg.

70. This reflection is so obvious and forcible, that Orosius (1. vii. c. 32, 33) delays the persecu¬ tion till after the death of Valentinian. Socrates, on the other hand, supposes (1. iii. [iv.] c. 32) that

2. Unusquisque sobolem suam nutriat. Quod si

it was appeased by a philosophical oration which

exponendam putaverit animadversioni quae con-

Themistius pronounced in the year 374 (Orat. xii.

stituta est subjacebit. For the present I shall not

p. 154, in Latin only). Such contradictions dimin¬

interfere in the dispute between Noodt and Bin-

ish the evidence and reduce the term of the perse¬

kershoek, how far or how long this unnatural prac¬

cution of Valens.

tice had been condemned or abolished by law,

71. Tillemont, whom I follow and abridge, has

philosophy, and the more civilised state of society.

extracted (M6m. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 153-167) the

61. These salutary institutions are explained in

most authentic circumstances from the Panegyrics

the Theodosian Code, 1. xiii. tit. iii. De Professoribus

of the two Gregories; the brother and the friend of

et Medicis; and 1. xiv. tit. ix. De Studiis Liberalibus

Basil. The letters of Basil himself (Dupin, Biblio-

Urbis Roma. Besides our usual guide (Godefroy),

thdque Ecclesiastique, tom. ii. p. 155-180) do not

we may consult Giannone (Istoria di Napoli, tom.

present the image of a very lively persecution.

i. p. 105-111), who has treated the interesting sub¬

72. Basilius Caesariensis episcopus Cappadociae

ject with the zeal and curiosity of a man of letters

clarus habetur . . . qui multa continentiae et in¬

who studies his domestic history.

genii bona uno superbiae malo perdidit [Chron

Notes: Chapter xxv Ann. 2392, tom. viii.

p.

799

816, ed. Vallars.]. This ir¬

adverse party has unaccountably escaped. They

reverent passage is perfectly in the style and char¬

affirm that the doors of the basilica were burnt,

acter of St. Jerom. It does not appear in Scaliger’s

and that the roof was untiled;

edition of his Chronicle; but Isaac Vossius found

marched at the head of his own clergy, gravedig¬

it in some old MSS. which had not been reformed by the monks.

gers, charioteers, and hired gladiators; that none

73. This noble and charitable foundation (al¬

sixty dead bodies were found. This petition is pub¬

most a new city) surpassed in merit, if not in

lished by the P. Sirmond, in the first volume of his works.

greatness, the pyramids, or the walls of Babylon. It was principally intended for the reception of lepers (Greg. Nazianzen. Orat. xx. p. 43q).

that Damasus

of his party were killed, but that one hundred and

82. The Basilica of Sicininus, or Liberius, is probably the church of Sancta Maria Maggiore,

74. Cod. Theodos. 1. xii. tit. i. leg. 63. Godefroy

on the Esquiline hill. Baronius, a.d. 367, No. 3;

(tom. iv. p. 409-413) performs the duty of a com¬

and Donatus, Roma Antiqua et Nova, 1. iv. c. 3, p. 462.

mentator and advocate. Tillemont (Mem. EccRs. tom. viii. p. 808) supposes a second law to excuse

83. The enemies of Damasus styled him Auris-

his orthodox friends, who had misrepresented the

calpius Matronarum, the ladies’ ear-scratcher.

edict of Valens, and suppressed the liberty of choice.

describes the pride and luxury of the prelates who

75. See D’Anville, Description de l’Egypte, p.

reigned in the Imperial cities; their gilt car, fiery

74.

Hereafter I shall consider the monastic insti¬ tutions.

84. Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. xxxii. p. 526)

steeds, numerous train, etc. The crowd gave way as to a wild beast.

76. Socrates, 1. iv. c. 24, 25. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 33.

85. Ammian. xxvii. 3. Perpetuo Numini, verisque

Jerom. in Chron. p. 189 [tom. viii. p. 816, ed.

ejus cultoribus. The incomparable pliancy of a polytheist!

Vallars.], and tom. ii. p. 212. The monks of Egypt performed many miracles, which prove the truth

86. Ammianus, who makes a fair report of his

of their faith. Right, says Jortin (Remarks, vol. iv.

praefecture (xxvii. 9), styles him praeclarae indolis,

p. 79), but what proves the truth of those miracles?

gravitatisque, senator (xxii. 7, and Vales, ad loc.).

77. Cod. Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 20. Godefroy

A curious inscription (Gruter MCII. No. 2) re¬

(tom. vi. p. 49), after the example of Baronius,

cords, in two columns, his religious and civil hon¬

impartially collects all that the fathers have said

ours. In one line he was Pontiff of the Sun and of

on the subject of this important law; whose spirit

Vesta, Augur, Quindecemvir, Plierophant, etc.,

was long afterwards revived by the emperor Fred¬

etc. In the other, 1. Quaestor candidatus, more

eric II., Edward I. of England, and other Chris¬

probably titular. 2. Praetor. 3. Corrector of Tus¬

tian princes who reigned after the twelfth century.

cany and Umbria. 4. Consular of Lusitania. 5. Pro-

78. The expressions which I have used are tem¬

consul of Achaia. 6. Praefect of Rome. 7. Praetorian

perate and feeble, if compared with the vehement

praefect of Italy. 8. Of Illyricum. 9. Consul, elect;

invectives ofjerom (tom. i. p. 13, 45, 144, etc. [tom.

but he died before the beginning of the year 385.

i. p. 259, etc., ed. Vallars.]). In his turn he was re¬

See Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p.

proached with the guilt which he imputed to his

241, 736.

brother monks: and the Sceleratus, the Versipellis, was

87. Facite me Romanae urbis episcopum, et ero

publicly accused as the lover of the widow Paula

protinus Christianus (Jerom, tom. ii. p. 165 [con¬

(tom. ii. p. 363). He undoubtedly possessed the af¬

tra Joann. Ierosol. tom. ii. p. 415, ed. Vallars.]). It

fections both of the mother and the daughter; but

is more than probable that Damasus would not

he declares that he never abused his influence

have purchased his conversion at such a price. 88. Ammian. xxvi. 5. Valesius adds a long and

to any selfish or sensual purpose. 79. Pudet dicere, sacerdotes idolorum, mimi et

good note on the master of the offices.

aurigae, et scorta, haereditates capiunt: solis clericis

89. Ammian. xxvii. 1. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 9] p.

ac monachis hac [hoc] lege prohibetur. Et non pro-

208. The disgrace of the Batavians is suppressed

hibetur a persecutoribus, sed a principibus Chris-

by the contemporary soldier, from a regard for

tianis. Nec de lege queror; sed doleo cur merueri-

military honour, which could not affect a Greek

mus hanc legem. Jerom (tom. i. p. 13 [tom. i. p.

rhetorician of the succeeding age.

258, ed. Vallars.]) discreetly insinuates the secret

90. See D’Anville, Notice de l’Ancienne Gaule, p. 587. The name of the Moselle, which is not

policy of his patron Damasus. 80. Three words of Jerom, sancta memories Da¬ masus (tom. ii. p. 109 [Ep. ad Pammachium. tom. i. p. 228, ed. Vallars.]), wash away all his stains,

specified by Ammianus, is clearly understood by Mascou (Hist, of the Ancient Germans, vii. 2). 91. The

battles are described by Ammianus

and blind the devout eyes of Tillemont (M6m.

(xxvii. 2) and by Zosimus (I. iv. [c. 9] p. 209), who

Eccles. tom. viii. p. 386-424). 81. Jerom himself is forced to allow, crudelissi-

supposes Valentinian to have been present.

mae interfectiones diversi sexus perpetratas

mian. xxvii. 1 o.

(in

92. Studio solicitante nostrorum, occubuit. Am¬

Chron. p. 186 [tom. viii. p. 809, ed. Vallars.]). But

93. The expedition of Valentinian is related by

an original libel or petition of two presbyters of the

Ammianus (xxvii. 10); and celebrated by Auson-

Notes: Chapter xxv

8oo

ius (Mosell. 421, etc.), who foolishly supposes that

naval powers of the Baltic (c. 44, 45) was obtained

the Romans were ignorant of the sources of the

by their land journeys in search of amber. 104.

Danube. 94. Immanis enim natio, jam inde ab incunabulis primis varietate casuum imminuta; ita saepius adolescit, ut fuisse longis saeculis aestimetur intacta.

Quin

et

Aremoricus

piratem

Saxona

tractus Sperabat; cui pelle salum sulcare Britannum

Ammian. xxviii. 5. The Count de Buat (Hist, des

Ludus; et assuto glaucum mare findere

Peuples de 1’Europe, tom. vi. p. 370), ascribes the

lembo. Sidon. in Panegyr. Avit. 369.

fecundity of the Alemanni to their easy adoption

The genius of Caesar imitated, for a particular ser¬

of strangers. 95. Ammian. xxviii. 2. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 16] p.

vice, these rude, but light vessels, which were like¬

214. The younger Victor mentions the mechanical

wise used by the natives of Britain (Comment, de

genius of Valentinian: nova arma meditari; fin-

Bell. Civil, i. 54, and Guichardt, Nouveaux Me-

gere terra seu limo simulacra. [Epit. c. 45.]

moires Militaires, tom. ii. p. 41, 42). The British

96. Bellicosos et pubis immensae viribus affiuentes; et ideo metuendos finitimis universis. Am¬

vessels would now astonish the genius of Caesar. 105. The best original account of the Saxon pi¬ rates may be found in Sidonius Apollinaris (1. viii.

mian. xxviii. 5. 97. I am always apt to suspect historians and

Epist. 6, p. 223, edit. Sirmond), and the best com¬

travellers of improving extraordinary facts into

mentary in the Abbe du Bos (Hist. Critique de la

general laws. Ammianus ascribes a similar custom

Monarchic Frangoise, etc., tom. i. 1. i. c. 16, p.

to Egypt; and the Chinese have imputed it to the

148-155. See likewise p. 77, 78).

Ta-tsin, or Roman empire (De Guignes, Hist, des

106. Ammian. (xxviii. 5) justifies this breach of faith to pirates and robbers; and Orosius (1. vii. c.

Huns, tom. ii. part i. p. 79). 98. Salinarum finiumque causa Alemannis saepe jurgabant. Ammian. xxviii. 5. Possibly they dis¬

32) more clearly expresses their real guilt; virtute atque agilitate terribiles.

puted the possession of the Sala, a river which pro¬

107. Symmachus (1. ii. Epist. 46) still presumes

duced salt, and which had been the object of an¬

to mention the sacred names of Socrates and phi¬

cient contention. Tacit. Annal. xiii. 57, and Lip-

losophy. Sidonius, bishop of Clermont, might con¬

sius ad loc. 99. Jam inde temporibus priscis sobolem se esse

demn (1. viii. Epist. 6), with less inconsistency, the human sacrifices of the Saxons.

Romanam Burgundii sciunt: and the vague tra¬

108. In the beginning of the last century the

dition gradually assumed a more regular form

learned Camden was obliged to undermine with

(Oros. 1. vii. c. 32). It is annihilated by the decisive

respectful scepticism, the romance of Brutus the

authority of Pliny, who composed the History of

Trojan, who is now buried in silent oblivion, with

Drusus, and served in Germany (Plin. Secund.

Scota, the daughter of Pharaoh, and her numerous

Epist. iii. 5), within sixty years after the death of

progeny. Yet I am informed that some champions

that hero.

Germanorum genera quinque;

Vindili,

of the Milesian colony may still be found among the

quorum pars Burgundiones, etc. (Hist. Natur. iv. 28).

original natives of Ireland. A people dissatisfied

100. The wars and negotiations relative to the

with their present condition grasp at any visions of

Burgundians and Alemanni are distinctly related

their past or future glory.

by Ammianus Marcellinus (xxviii. 5, xxix. 4, xxx.

109. Tacitus, or rather his father-in-law Agri¬

3). Orosius (1. vii. c. 32), and the Chronicles of

cola, might remark the German or Spanish com¬

Jerom and Cassiodorus, fix some dates and add

plexion of some British tribes. But it was their

some circumstances. 101. ’Eiri rov avxtva. rrjs YLip.f3piKrjs Xtpaovqaou,

sober, deliberate opinion: “In universum tamen aestimanti Gallos vicinum solum occupasse credi-

2d£oi>es. At the northern extremity of the peninsula

bile est Eorum sacra deprehendas . . . sermo haud

(the Cimbric promontory of Pliny, iv. 27) Ptolemy

multum diversus” (in Vit. Agricol. c. xi.). Caesar

fixes the remnant of the Cimbri. He fills the interval

had observed their common religion (Comment,

between the Saxons and the Cimbri with six ob¬

de Bello Gallico, vi. 13); and in his time the emi¬

scure tribes, who were

gration from the Belgic Gaul was a recent, or at

united, as early as the

sixth century, under [the national appellation of

least an historical event

Danes. See Cluver German. Antiq. 1. iii. c. 21,

British Strabo, has modestly ascertained our gen¬

22, 23. 102. M. d’Anville (Etablissement des Etats de

uine antiquities (Britannia, vol. i. Introduction, p. ii.-xxxi.).

l’Europe, etc., p. 19-26) has marked the extensive limits of the Saxony of Charlemagne.

(v.

12). Camden, the

110. In the dark and doubtful paths of Caledo¬ nian antiquity, I have chosen for my guides two

103. The fleet of Drusus had failed in their at¬

learned and ingenious Highlanders, whom their

tempt to pass, or even to approach, the Sound

birth and education had peculiarly qualified for

(styled, from an obvious resemblance, the Col¬

that office. See Critical Dissertations on the Ori¬

umns of Hercules), and the naval enterprise was

gin, Antiquities, etc., of the Caledonians, by Dr.

never resumed (Tacit, de Moribus German, c. 34).

John Macpherson, London,

The knowledge which the Romans acquired of the

Introduction to the History of Great Britain and

1768, in 4to.; and

Notes: Chapter xxv Ireland, by James Macpherson, Esq., London, i773j in 4t0- third edit. Dr. Macpherson was a minister in the Isle of Skye: and it is a circumstance

801

were afterwards stationed in Italy and Illyricum (Notitia, S. viii. xxxix. xl.). 117. Cum ipse adolescentulus in Gallia viderim

honourable for the present age, that a work replete

Attacottos (or Scotos) gentem Brittannicam hu-

with erudition and criticism should have been com¬

manis vesci carnibus; et cum per silvas porcorum

posed in the most remote of the Hebrides.

greges, et armentorum pecudumque reperiant,

hi. The Irish descent of the Scots has been revived, in the last moments of its decay, and

pastorum nates et feminarum papillas solere ab scindere; et has solas ciborum delicias arbitrari.

strenuously supported, by the Rev. Mr. Whitaker

Such is the evidence of Jerom (tom. ii. p. 75 [adv.

(Hist, of Manchester, vol. i. p. 430, 431; and Gen¬

Jovinianum, 1. ii. tom. ii. p. 335, ed. Vallars.]),

uine History of the Britons asserted, etc., p. 154-

whose veracity I find no reason to question.

293). Yet he acknowledges, 1. That the Scots of Ammianus Marcellinus

(a.d.

340) were already

settled in Caledonia, and that the Roman authors

118. Ammianus has concisely represented (xx. 1, xxvi. 4, xxvii. 8, xxviii. 3) the whole series of the British war.

do not afford any hints of their emigration from

119.

Horrescit. . . ratibus . . . impervia Thule.

another country. 2. That all the accounts of such

Ille . . . nee falso nomine Pictos

emigrations, which have been asserted or received,

Edomuit.

by Irish bards, Scotch historians, or English anti¬

secutus

quaries (Buchanan, Camden, Usher, Stillingfleet, etc.), are totally fabulous. 3.

Fregit Hyperboreas undas.

That three of the

Irish tribes, which are mentioned by Ptolemy 150), were of Caledonian extraction. 4.

(a.d.

vago remis

audacibus

ver. 53, etc. -Maduerunt Saxone fuso

house of Fingal, acquired and possessed the mon¬

Orcades:

archy of Ireland. After these concessions, the re¬

Thule.

maining difference between Mr. Whitaker and his

incaluit

Pictorum

sanguine

Scotorum cumulos flevit glacialis Ierne.

adversaries is minute and obscure. The genuine his¬ tory, which he produces, of a Fergus, the cousin of

mucrone

Claudian, in iii. Cons. Honorii,

That a

younger branch of Caledonian princes, of the

Ossian, who was transplanted

Scotumque

In iv. Cons. Hon. ver. 31, etc. See likewise Pacatus (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 5). But

324) from Ire¬

it is not easy to appreciate the intrinsic value of

land to Caledonia, is built on a conjectural supple¬

flattery and metaphor. Compare the British vic¬

(a.d.

ment to the Erse poetry, and the feeble evidence of

tories of Bolanus (Statius, Silv. v. 2) with his real

Richard of Cirencester, a monk of the fourteenth

character (Tacit, in Vit. Agricol. c. 16).

century. The lively spirit of the learned and in¬

120. Ammianus frequently mentions their con¬

genious antiquarian has tempted him to forget the

cilium annuum, legitimum, etc. Leptis and Sa-

nature of a question which he so vehemently debates,

brata are long since ruined; but the city of Oea,

and so absolutely decides.

the native country of Apuleius, still flourishes

112. Hieme tumentes ac saevientes undas cal-

under the provincial denomination of Tripoli. See

castis Oceani sub remis vestris; . . . insperatum

Cellarius (Geograph. Antiqua, tom. ii. part ii.

imperatoris faciem Britannus expavit. Julius Fir-

p.

micus Maternus de Errore Profan. Relig. p. 464

iii. p. 71, 72), and Marmol (Afrique, tom. ii. p.

[p. 59, ed. Lugd. B. 1672] edit. Gronov. ad calcem

562). 121. Ammian. xxviii. 6. Tillemont (Hist, des

Minuc. Fel. See Tillemont (Hist, des Empereurs,

81), D’Anville (Geographic

Ancienne, tom.

Empereurs, tom. v. p. 25, 676) has discussed the

tom. iv. p. 336). 113. Libanius, Orat. Parent, c. xxxix. p. 264. This curious passage has escaped the diligence of

chronological difficulties of the history of Count Romanus. 122. The chronology of Ammianus is loose and

our British antiquaries. 114. The Caledonians praised and coveted the

obscure; and Orosius (1. vii. c. 33, p. 551, edit.

gold, the steeds, the lights, etc., of the stranger.

Havercamp.) seems to place the revolt of Firmus

See Dr. Blair’s Dissertation on Ossian, vol. ii.

after the deaths of Valentinian and Valens. Tille¬

p. 343; and Mr. Macpherson’s Introduction, p.

mont (Hist, des Emp. tom. v. p. 691) endeavours

242-286. 115. Lord

of the Alps may be trusted in the most slippery

to pick his way. The patient and sure-footed mule Lyttelton has circumstantially re¬

lated (History of Henry II. vol. i. p. 182), and Sir

paths.

David Dalrymple has slightly mentioned (Annals

123. Ammian. xxix. 5. The text of this long

of Scotland, vol. i. p. 69), a barbarous inroad of

chapter (fifteen quarto pages) is broken and cor¬

the Scots, at a time

rupted; and the narrative is perplexed by the want

(a.d.

1137) when law, religion,

and society must have softened their primitive

of chronological and geographical landmarks.

manners. 116. Attacotti bellicosa hominum natio. Am-

551, 552. Jerom. in Chron. p. 187.

124. Ammian. xxviii. 4. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 33, p.

mian. xxvii. 8. Camden (Introduct. p. clii.) has

125. Leo Africanus (in the Viaggi di Ramusio,

restored their true name in the text of Jerom. The

tom. i. fol. 78-83) has traced a curious picture of

bands of Attacotti which Jerom had seen in Gaul

the people and

the

country, which are more

802

Notes: Chapter xxv

minutely described in the Afrique de Marmol,

136. Ammianus (xxvii. 12, xxix. 1, xxx. 1, 2)

tom. iii. p. 1-54. 126. This uninhabitable zone was gradually re¬

has described the events, without the dates, of the

duced, by the improvements of ancient geography,

iii. c. 28, p. 261, c. 31, p. 266, c. 35, p. 271) affords

from forty-five to twenty-four, or even sixteen de¬

some additional facts; but it is extremely difficult

grees of latitude. See a learned and judicious note

to separate truth from fable.

Persian war. Moses of Chorene (Hist. Armen.

1.

of Dr. Robertson, Hist, of America, vol. i. p. 426.

137. Artaxerxes was the successor and brother

127. Intra, si credere libet, vix jam homines et

(the cousin-german) of the great Sapor, and the

magis semiferi . . . Blemmyes, Satyri, etc. Pom-

guardian of his son Sapor III. (Agathias, 1. iv. [c.

ponius Mela, i. 4, p. 26, edit. Voss, in 8vo. Pliny

26] p. 136, edit. Louvre [p. 263, ed. Bonn.]). See

philosophically explains (vi. 35) the irregularities of

the Universal History, vol. xi. p. 86,

nature, which he had credulously admitted (v. 8).

authors of that unequal work have compiled the

161. The

128. If the satyr was the orang-outang, the great

Sassanian dynasty with erudition and diligence;

human ape (Buffon, Hist. Nat. tom. xiv. p. 43,

but it is a preposterous arrangement to divide the

etc.), one of that species might actually be shown

Roman and Oriental accounts into two distinct

alive at Alexandria in the reign of Constantine.

histories.

Yet some difficulty will still remain about the con¬

138. Pacatus in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 22; and Oro-

versation which St. Anthony held with one of

sius, 1. vii. c. 34. Ictumque turn foedus est, quo uni-

these pious savages in the desert of Thebais(Jerom.

versus Oriens usque ad nunc (a.d. 416) tranquilis-

in Vit. Paul. Eremit. tom. i. p. 238).

sime fruitur.

129. St. Anthony likewise met one of these mon¬

139. See in Ammianus (xxx. 1) the adventures

sters, whose existence was seriously asserted by the

of Para. Moses of Chorene calls him Tiridates; and

emperor Claudius. The public laughed; but his

tells a long and not improbable story of his son

praefect of Egypt had the address to send an artful

Gnelus, who afterwards made himself popular in

preparation, the embalmed corpse of an Hippo-

Armenia, and provoked the jealousy of the reign¬

centaur, which was preserved almost a century

ing king (1. iii. c. 21, etc., p. 253, etc.). [Para is not

afterwards in the Imperial palace. See Pliny (Hist.

the same as Tiridates, who was the father of Gnel,

Natur. vii. 3), and the judicious observations of

first husband of Pharandsem, the future wife of

Fr6ret (Mdmoires de l’Acad. tom. vii. p. 321, etc.).

Arsaces, and the mother of Para.]

130. The fable of the pigmies is as old as Homer

140. The concise account of the reign and con¬

(Iliad, iii. 6). The pigmies of India and Ethiopia

quests of Hermanric seems to be one of the valu¬

were (trispithami) twenty-seven inches high. Every

able fragments which Jornandes (c. 23) borrowed

spring their cavalry (mounted on rams and goats)

from the Gothic histories of Ablavius, or Cassio-

marched in battle array to destroy the cranes’

dorus.

eggs, aliter (says Pliny) futuris gregibus non re-

141. M. de Buat (Hist, des Peuples de l’Europe,

sisti. Their houses were built of mud, feathers, and

tom. vi. p. 311-329) investigates, with more in¬

egg-shells. See Pliny (vi. 35, vii. 2) and Strabo (1.

dustry than success, the nations subdued by the

ii. p. 121 [p. 70, ed. Casaub.]),

arms of Hermanric. He denies the existence of the

131. The third and fourth volumes of the valu¬

Vasinobronca, on account of the immoderate length

able Histoire des Voyages describe the present

of their name. Yet the French envoy to Ratisbon,

state of the negroes. The nations of the sea-coast

or Dresden, must have traversed the country of

have been polished by European commerce, and

the Mediomalrici.

those of the inland country have been improved by Moorish colonies. 132. Histoire Philosophique et Politique, etc., tom. iv. p. 192. 133. The evidence of Ammianus is original and

142. The edition of Grotius (Jornandes, p. 642) exhibits the name of ALstri. But reason and the Am¬ brosian MS. have restored the ALstii, whose man¬ ners and situation are expressed by the pencil of Tacitus (Germania, c. 45).

decisive (xxvii. 12). Moses of Chorene (1. iii. c. 17,

143. Ammianus (xxxi. 3) observes, in general

p. 249, and c. 34, p. 269) and Procopius (de Bell.

terms, Ermenrichi . . . bellicosissimi Regis, et per

Persico, 1. i. c. 5, p. 1 7, edit. Louvre [tom. i. p. 29,

multa variaque fortiter facta, vicinis gentibus for-

ed. Bonn]) have been consulted; but those histo¬

midati, etc.

rians, who confound distinct facts, repeat the same

144. Valens . . . docetur relationibus Ducum,

events, and introduce strange stories, must be used

gentem Gothorum, ea tempestate intactam ideo-

with diffidence and caution.

que saevissimam, conspirantem in unum, ad per-

134. Perhaps Artagera, or Ardis, under whose walls Caius, the grandson of Augustus, was wounded.

vadenda parari collimitia Thraciarum. Ammian. xxvi. 6.

This fortress was situate above Amida, near one of

145. M. de Buat (Hist, des Peuples de l’Europe,

the sources of the Tigris. See D’Anville, Geogra¬

tom. vi. p. 332) has curiously ascertained the real

phic Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 106. 135. Tillemont (Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 701) proves from chronology that Olympias must have been the mother of Para.

number of these auxiliaries. The 3000 of Ammi¬ anus, and the 10,000 of Zosimus, were only the first divisions of the Gothic army. 146. The march and subsequent negotiation are

Notes: Chapter xxvi

803

described in the Fragments of Eunapius (Excerpt.

saint afterwards formed an intimate and tender

Legat. p. 18, edit. Louvre [p. 47, ed. Bonn]). The

friendship with the widow of Probus; and the

provincials, who afterwards became familiar with

name of Count Equitius, with less propriety, but

the barbarians, found that their strength was more apparent than real. They were tall of stature, but

without much injustice, has been substituted in the text.

their legs were clumsy and their shoulders were narrow.

friend Iphicles as a man of virtue and merit, who

147. Valens enim, ut consulto placuerat fratri,

had made himself ridiculous and unhappy by

cujus regebatur arbitrio, arma concussit in Gothos

adopting the extravagant dress and manners of the Cynics.

ratione justa permotus. Ammianus (xxvii. 4) then

152. Julian

(Orat. vi. p.

198) represents his

proceeds to describe, not the country of the Goths,

153. Ammian. xxx. 5. Jerom, who exaggerates

but the peaceful and obedient province of Thrace,

the misfortune of Valentinian, refuses him even

which was not affected by the war.

this last consolation of revenge. Vastato genitali

148. Eunapius, in Excerpt. Legat. p. 18, 19 [p.

solo, et inultam patriam derelinquens (tom. i. p. 26

47)

48) ed. Bonn], The Greek sophist must have considered as one and the same war, the whole

[Ep. ad Heliodor. tom. i. p. 341, ed. Vallars.]).

series of Gothic history till the victories and peace

anus (xxx. 6), Zosimus (1. vi. [c. 17] p. 221), Victor

of Theodosius.

154. See, on the death of Valentinian, Ammi¬ (in Epitom. [c. 45]), Socrates (1. iv. c. 31), and Je¬

149. The Gothic war is described by Ammianus

rom (in Chron. p. 187 [tom. viii. p. 815, ed. Val¬

(xxvii. 5), Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 10] p. 211-214), and

lars.], and tom. i. p. 26, ad Heliodor. [tom. i. p.

Themistius (Orat. x. p. 129-141). The orator The-

341, ed. Vallars.]). There is much variety of cir¬

mistius was sent from the senate of Constantinople

cumstances among them; and Ammianus is so elo¬

to congratulate the victorious emperor; and his

quent that he writes nonsense.

servile eloquence compares Valens on the Danube

155. Socrates (1. iv. c. 31) is the only original

to Achilles in the Scamander. Jornandes forgets a

witness of this foolish story, so repugnant to the

war peculiar to the fTn'-Goths, and inglorious to

laws and manners of the Romans, that it scarcely

the Gothic name (Mascou’s Hist, of the Germans,

deserved the formal and elaborate dissertation of

vii. 3).

M. Bonamy (Mem. de l’Academie, tom. xxx. p.

150. Ammianus (xxix. 6) and Zosimus (1. iv.

394-405). Yet I would preserve the natural cir¬

[c. 16] p. 219, 220) carefully mark the origin and

cumstance of the bath, instead of following Zosi¬

progress of the Quadic and Sarmatian war.

mus, who represents Justina as an old woman, the

151. Ammianus (xxx. 5), who acknowledges the merit, has censured, with becoming asperity, the

widow of Magnentius. 156. Ammianus (xxvii. 6) describes the form of

Probus.

this military election, and august investiture. Val¬

When Jerom translated and continued the Chron¬

entinian does not appear to have consulted, or

icle of Eusebius

even informed, the senate of Rome.

oppressive

administration of Petronius (a.d.

380; see Tillemont, Mem.

Ecles. tom. xii. p. 53, 626), he expressed the truth,

157. Ammianus, xxx. 10. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 19]

or at least the public opinion of his country, in the

p. 222, 223. Tillemont has proved (Hist, des Em-

following words: “Probus P. P. Illyrici iniquissimis

pereurs, tom. v. p. 707-709) that Gratian reigned in

tributorum exactionibus, ante provincias quas re-

Italy, Africa, and Illyricum. I have endeavoured

gebat, quam a Barbaris vastarentur, erasit.” (Chron.

to express his authority over his brother’s domin¬

edit. Scaliger, p. 187; Animadvers. p. 259.) The

ions, as he used it, in an ambiguous style.

Chapter XXVI 1. Such is the bad taste of Ammianus (xxvi. 10),

citizens placed St. Hilarion, an Egyptian monk, on

that it is not easy to distinguish his facts from his

the beach. He made the sign of the cross; the

metaphors. Yet he positively affirms that he saw

mountain-wave stopped, bowed, and returned.

the rotten carcase of a ship, ad secundum lapidem, at Methone, or Modon, in Peloponnesus. 2. The earthquakes and inundations are vari¬ ously described by Libanius (Orat. de ulciscend&

3. Dicaearchus the Peripatetic composed a for¬ mal treatise to prove this obvious truth, which is not the most honourable to the human species (Cicero, de Officiis, ii. 5).

Juliani nece, c. x. in Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. tom.

4. The original Scythians of Herodotus (1. iv. c.

vii. p. 158, with a learned note of Olearius), Zo¬

47-57, 99-101) were confined by the Danube and

simus (1. iv. [c. 18] p. 221), Sozomen (1. vi. c. 2),

the Palus Ma20tis within a square of 4000 stadia

Cedrenus (p. 310, 314 [tom. i. p. 543, 550, ed.

(400 Roman miles).

Bonn]), and Jerom (in Chron. p. 186 [tom. viii. p.

l’Academie, tom. xxxv. p.

See D’Anville

(Mem.

de

573-591). Diodorus

809, ed. Vallars.], and tom. i. p. 250, in Vit. Hi-

Siculus (tom. i. 1. ii. [c. 43] p. 155, edit. Wesseling)

larion [tom. ii. p. 36 ed. Vallars.]). Epidaurus

has marked the gradual progress of the name and

must have been overwhelmed, had not the prudent

nation.

804

Notes: Chapter xxvi

5. The Tatars or Tartars were a primitive tribe,

7) represents the full glory and extent of the Mogul

the rivals, and at length the subjects, of the Moguls.

chase. The Jesuits Gerbillon and Verbiest fol¬

In the victorious armies of Zingis Khan and his

lowed the emperor Kamhi when he hunted in

successors, the Tartars formed the vanguard; and

Tartary (Du Halde, Description de la Chine, tom.

the name which first reached the ears of foreigners

iv. p. 81, 290, etc., folio edit.). His grandson, Kien-

was applied to the whole nation (Freret, in the

long, who unites the Tartar discipline with the

Hist, de l’Acaddmie, tom. xviii. p. 60). In speaking

laws and learning of China, describes (Eloge de

of all or any of the northern shepherds of Europe

Moukden, p. 273-285), as a poet, the pleasures

or Asia, I indifferently use the appellations of

which he had often enjoyed as a sportsman.

Scythians or Tartars. 6. Imperium Asiae ter quaesivere: ipsi perpetuo

History of the Tartars, and the lists of the Khans at

13. See the second volume of the Genealogical

ab alieno imperio, aut intacti, aut invicti, mansere.

the end of the life of Gengis, or Zingis. Under the

Since the time of Justin (ii. 3) they have multiplied

reign of Timur, or Tamerlane, one of his subjects,

this account. Voltaire, in a few words (tom. x. p.

a descendant of Zingis, still bore the regal appella¬

64,

tion of Khan; and the conqueror of Asia contented

Hist.

Generale, c.

156), has abridged the

himself with the title of Emir or Sultan. Abul¬

Tartar conquests. Oft o’er the trembling nations from afar

ghazi, part v. c. 4. D’Herbelot, Bibliotheque Ori-

Has Scythia breath’d the living cloud of war.

entale, p. 878.

7. The fourth book of Herodotus affords a cu¬ rious though imperfect portrait of the Scythians.

14. See the

Diets of the

ancient Huns

(De

Guignes, tom. ii. p. 26), and a curious description

Among the moderns, who describe the uniform

of those of Zingis (Vie de Gengiscan, 1. i. c. 6, 1. iv.

scene, the Khan of Khowaresm, Abulghazi Ba¬

c. ii). Such assemblies are frequently mentioned

hadur, expresses his native feelings; and his Gen¬

in the Persian history of Timur, though they served

ealogical History of the Tatars has been copiously

only to countenance the resolutions of their master.

illustrated by the French and English editors.

15. Montesquieu labours to explain a differ¬

Carpin, Ascelin, and Rubruquis (in the Hist, des

ence, which has not existed, between the liberty of

Voyages, tom. vii.), represent the Moguls of the

the Arabs and the perpetual slavery of the Tartars

fourteenth century. To these guides I have added

(The Spirit of Laws, 1. xvii. c. 5,1. xviii. c. 19. etc.).

Gerbillon and the other Jesuits (Description de la

16. Abulghazi Khan, in the two first parts of his

Chine, par Du Halde, tom. iv.), who accurately

Genealogical History, relates the miserable fables

surveyed the

and traditions of the Uzbek Tartars concerning the

Chinese Tartary, and that honest and

intelligent traveller, Bell of Antermony (two vol¬

times which preceded the reign of Zingis. 17. In the thirteenth book of the Iliad, Jupiter

umes in 4to, Glasgow, 1763). 8. The Uzbeks are the most altered from their

turns away his eyes from the bloody fields of Troy

primitive manners; 1, by the profession of the Ma¬

to the plains of Thrace and Scythia. We would

hometan religion; and 2, by the possession of the

not, by changing the prospect, behold a more

cities and harvests of the Great Bucharia.

peaceful or innocent scene.

9. II est certain que les grands mangeurs de

18. Thucydides, 1. ii. c. 97.

viande sont en general cruels et feroces plus que

19. See the fourth book of Herodotus. When

les autres hommes. Cette observation est de tous

Darius advanced into the Moldavian desert, be¬

les lieux, et de tous les terns: la barbarie Angloise

tween the Danube and the Dniester, the king of

est connue, etc. Emile de Rousseau, tom. i. p. 274.

the Scythians sent him a mouse, a frog, a bird, and

Whatever we may think of the general observa¬

five arrows; a tremendous allegory!

tion, we shall not easily allow the truth of his ex¬

20. These wars and heroes may be found under

ample. The good-natured complaints of Plutarch,

their respective titles, in the Bibliotheque Orien-

and the pathetic lamentations of Ovid, seduce our

tale of D’Herbelot. They have been celebrated in

reason by exciting our sensibility.

an epic poem of sixty thousand rhymed couplets,

10. These Tartar emigrations have been dis¬

by Ferdusi, the Homer of Persia. See the history of

covered by M. de Guignes (Histoire des Huns,

Nadir Shah, p. 145, 165. The public must lament

tom. i. ii.), a skilful and laborious interpreter of

that Mr. Jones has suspended the pursuit of Ori¬

the Chinese language, who has thus laid open new

ental learning.

and important scenes in the history of mankind. 11. A plain in the Chinese Tartary, only eighty

21. The Caspian Sea, with its rivers and adja¬ cent tribes, are laboriously illustrated in the Exa-

leagues from the great wall, was found by the mis¬

men Critique des Historiens d’Alexandre, which

sionaries to be three thousand geometrical paces

compares the true geography and the errors pro¬

above the level of the sea. Montesquieu, who has

duced by the vanity or ignorance of the Greeks.

used and abused the relations of travellers, de¬

22. The original seat of the nation appears to

duces the revolutions of Asia from this important

have been in the north-west of China, in the prov¬

circumstance, that heat and cold, weakness and

inces of Chensi and Chansi. Under the two first

strength, touch each other without any temperate

dynasties the principal town was still a movable

zone (The Spirit of Laws,

1.

xvii. c. 3).

12. Petit de la Croix (Vie de Gengiscan, 1. iii. c.

camp; the villages were thinly scattered; more land was employed in pasture than in tillage; the exer-

Notes: Chapter xxvi

805

cise of hunting was ordained to clear the country

30. Memoires de FAcademie des Inscriptions,

from wild beasts; Petcheli (where Pekin stands)

tom. xxv. p. 17-33- The comprehensive view of

was a desert; and the southern provinces were

M. de Guignes has compared these distant events.

peopled with Indian savages. The dynasty of the

31. The fame of Sovou, or So-ou, his merit, and

Han (before Christ 206) gave the empire its actual form and extent.

his singular adventures, are still celebrated in

23. The era of the Chinese monarchy has been

notes, p. 241-247; and Memoires sur la Chine, tom. iii. p. 317-360.

variously fixed from 2952 to 2132 years before

China. See the Eloge de Moukden, p. 20, and

Christ; and the year 2637 has been chosen for the

32. See Isbrand Ives in Harris’s Collection, vol.

lawful epoch by the authority of the present em¬ peror. The difference arises from the uncertain du¬

ii- P- 931 i Bell’s Travels, vol. i. p. 247-254; and Gmelin. in the Hist. Generale des Voyages, tom.

ration of the two first dynasties; and the vacant

xviii. p. 283-329. They all remark the vulgar opin¬

space that lies beyond them, as far as the real, or

ion, that the holy sea grows angry and tempestuous

fabulous, times of Fohi or Hoangti. Sematsien

if any one presumes to call it a lake. This grammat¬

dates his authentic chronology from the year 841:

ical nicety often excites a dispute between the

the thirty-six eclipses of Confucius (thirty-one of

absurd superstition of the mariners and the absurd

which have been verified) were observed between

obstinacy of travellers.

the years 722 and 480 before Christ. The historical

33. The construction of the wall of China is

period of China does not ascend above the Greek Olympiads.

mentioned by Du Halde (tom. ii. p. 45) and De Guignes (tom. ii. p. 59).

24. After several ages of anarchy and despotism,

34. See the life of Lieoupang, or Kaoti, in the

the dynasty of the Han (before Christ 206) was the

Hist, de la Chine, published at Paris, 1777, etc.,

era of the revival of learning. The fragments of

tom. i. p. 442-522. This voluminous work is the

ancient literature were restored; the characters

translation (by the P. de Mailla) of the

were improved and fixed; and the future preserva¬

Kien-Kang-Mou, the celebrated abridgment of the

tion of books was secured by the useful inventions

great History of Semakouang continuators.

of ink, paper, and the art of printing. Ninety-seven years before Christ, Sematsien published the first

(a.d.

Tong-

1084) and his

35. See a free and ample memorial, presented

history of China. His labours were illustrated and

by a Mandarin to the emperor Venti

continued by a series of one hundred and eighty

Christ 180-157), in Du Halde (tom. ii. p. 412-

(before

historians. The substance of their works is still ex¬

426), from a collection of State papers, marked

tant; and the most considerable of them are now

with the red pencil by Kamhi himself (p. 384-612).

deposited in the king of France’s library.

Another memorial from the minister of war (Kang-

25. China has been illustrated by the labours of the French; of the missionaries at Pekin,

and

Mou, tom. ii. p. 555) supplies some curious cir¬ cumstances of the manners of the Huns.

Messrs. Freret and De Guignes at Paris. The sub¬

36. A supply of women is mentioned as a cus¬

stance of the three preceding notes is extracted

tomary article of treaty and tribute (Hist, de la

from the Chou-king, with the preface and notes of

Conquete de la Chine par les Tartares Mant-

M. de Guignes, Paris, 1770; The Tong-Kien-Kang-

cheoux, tom. i. p. 186, 187, with the note of the

Mou, translated by the P. de Mailla, under the

editor).

name of Hist. Generate de la Chine, tom. i. p. xlix.-cc.; the Memoires sur la Chine, Paris, 1776,

37. De Guignes, Hist, des Huns, tom. ii. p. 62. 38. See the reign of the emperor Vouti, in the

etc., tom. i. p. 1-323, tom. ii. p. 5-364; the His-

Kang-Mou, tom. iii. p.

tofre des Huns, tom. i. p. 1-131, tom. v. p. 345-

inconsistent

362; and the Memoires de l’Academie des Inscrip¬

drawn.

tions, tom. x. p. 377-402, tom. xv. p. 495-564, tom. xviii. p. 178-295, tom. xxxvi. p. 164-238.

character

1-98. His various and

seems to

be

impartially

39. This expression is used in the memorial to the emperor Venti (Du Halde, tom. ii. p. 417).

26. See the Histoire Generale des Voyages, tom.

Without adopting the exaggerations of Marco Polo

xviii.; and the Genealogical History, vol. ii. p.

and Isaac Vossius, we may rationally allow for

620-664. 27. M. de Guignes (tom. ii. p. 1-124) has given the original history of the ancient Hiong-nou, or

Pekin two millions of inhabitants. The cities of the south, which contain the manufactures of China, are still more populous.

Huns. The Chinese geography of their country

40. See the Kang-Mou, tom. iii. p. 150, and the

(tom. i. part ii. p. Iv.-lxiii.) seems to comprise a

subsequent events under the proper years. This

part of their conquests.

memorable festival is celebrated in the Eloge de

28. See in Du Halde (tom. iv. p. 18-65) a cir¬

Moukden, and explained in a note by the P. Gau-

cumstantial description, with a correct map, of the

bil, p. 89, 90. 41. This inscription was composed on the spot

country of the Mongous. 29. The Igours, or Vigours, were divided into

by Pankou, President of the Tribunal of History

three branches—hunters, shepherds, and husband¬

(Kang-Mou, tom. iii. p. 392). Similar monuments

men; and the last class was despised by the two

have been discovered in many parts of Tartary

former. See Abulghazi, part ii. c. 7.

(Histoires des Huns, tom. ii. p. 122).

806

Notes: Chapter xxvi

i. p.

189) has inserted

modern. See the elaborate researches of M. d’An-

43. The era of the Huns is placed by the Chinese

or climate of the globe. (Memoires de l’Acad. tom.

42. M. de Guignes (tom.

ville, a geographer who is not a stranger in any age

a short account of the Sienpi. 1210 years before Christ. But the series of their kings does not commence till the year 230 (Hist,

ii. p. 125-502. Mesures Itin6raires, p. 154-167.) 53. See the Histoire des Huns, tom. ii. p. 125144. The subsequent history (p. 145-277) of three

des Huns, tom. ii. p. 21, 123). 44. The various accidents of the downfall and

or four Hunnic dynasties evidently proves that

flight of the Huns are related in the Kang-Mou,

their martial spirit was not impaired by a long

tom. iii. p. 88, 91, 95, 139, etc. The small numbers

residence in China. 54. Utque hominibus quietis et placidis otium

of each horde may be ascribed to their losses and

est voluptabile, ita illos pericula juvant et bella.

divisions. 45. M. de Guignes has skilfully traced the foot¬

Judicatur ibi beatus qui in proelio profuderit ani-

steps of the Huns through the vast deserts of Tar¬

mam: senescentes etiam et fortuitis mortibus mun-

tary (tom. ii. p. 123, 277, etc. 325, etc.).

do digressos, ut degeneres et ignavos, conviciis

46. Mohammed, sultan of Carizme, reigned in Sogdiana when it was invaded (a.d.

1218) by

atrocibus

insectantur.

[Ammian.

xxxi.

2.]

We

must think highly of the conquerors of such men.

Zingis and his Moguls. The Oriental historians

55. On the subject of the Alani, see Ammianus

(see D’Herbelot, Petit de la Croix, etc.) celebrate

(xxxi. 2), Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 24), M.

the populous cities which he ruined, and the fruit¬

de Guignes (Hist, des Huns, tom. ii. p. 279), and

ful country which he desolated. In the next cen¬

the Genealogical History of the Tartars (tom. ii.

tury the same provinces of Chorasmia and Mawa-

p. 617).

(Hudson,

56. As we are possessed of the authentic history

Geograph. Minor, tom. iii.). Their actual misery

of the Huns, it would be impertinent to repeat or

may be seen in the Genealogical History of the

to refute the fables which misrepresent their origin

Tartars, p. 423-469.

and progress, their passage of the mud or water of

ralnahr were described by Abulfeda

47. Justin (xli. 6) has left a short abridgment of

the Maeotis in pursuit of an ox or stag, les Indes

the Greek kings of Bactriana. To their industry I

qu’ils avoient decouvertes, etc. (Zosimus 1. iv. [c.

should ascribe the new and extraordinary trade

20] p. 224. Sozomen, 1. vi. c. 37. Procopius, Hist.

which transported the merchandises of India into

Miscell. c. 5. Jornandes, c. 24. Grandeur et Deca¬

Europe by the Oxus, the Caspian, the Cyrus, the

dence, etc., des Romains, c. 17.)

Phasis, and the Euxine. The other ways, both

57. Prodigiosae formas, et pandi; ut bipedes ex-

of the land and sea, were possessed by the Seleu-

istimes bestias; vel quales in commarginandis pon-

cides and the Ptolemies. (See 1’Esprit des Loix, 1.

tibus, effigiati stipites dolantur incompti. Ammian.

xxi.)

xxxi. 2. Jornandes (c. 24) draws a strong carica¬

48. Procopius de Bell. Persico,

1.

i. c. 3, p. 9

ture of a Calmuck face. Species pavenda nigredine

49. In the thirteenth century, the monk Rubru-

magis puncta quam lumina. See Buffon, Hist.

[tom. i. p. 16, ed. Bonn.]. quis (who traversed the immense plain of Kipzak

. . . quaedam deformis offa, non facies; habensque Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 380.

in his journey to the court of the Great Khan) ob¬

58. This execrable origin, which Jornandes (c.

served the remarkable name of Hungary, with the

24) describes with the rancour of a Goth, might be

traces of a common language and origin (Hist, des

originally derived from a more pleasing fable of

Voyages, tom. vii. p. 269).

the Greeks (Herodot. 1. iv. c. 9, etc.).

50. Bell (vol. i. p. 29-34) and the editors of the

59. The Roxolani may be the fathers of the

Genealogical History (p. 539) have described the

‘Pais, the Russians (D’Anville, Empire de Russie, p.

Calmucks of the Volga in the beginning of the

1-10), whose residence (a.d. 862) about Novogrod

present century.

Veliki cannot be very remote from that which the

51. This great transmigration of 300,000 Cal¬ mucks, or Torgouts, happened in the year 1771.

Geographer of Ravenna (i. 12, iv. 4, 46, v. 28, 30) assigns to the Roxolani (a.d. 886).

The original narrative of Kien-long, the reigning

60. The text of Ammianus seems to be imperfect

emperor of China, which was intended for the in¬

or corrupt; but the nature of the ground explains,

scription of a column, has been translated by the

and almost defines, the Gothic rampart. Memoires

missionaries of Pekin

de l’Academie, etc. tom. xxviii. p. 444-462.

tom.

i.

p.

(Memoires sur la Chine,

401-418). The emperor affects the

61. M. de Buat (Hist, des Peuples de PEurope,

smooth and specious language of the Son of Hea¬

tom. vi. p. 407) has conceived a strange idea, that

ven, and the Father of his People.

Alavivus was the same person as Ulphilas the

52. The Kang-Mou (tom. iii. p. 447) ascribes

Gothic bishop; and that Ulphilas, the grandson of

to their conquests a space of 14,000 Us. According

a Cappadocian captive, became a temporal prince of the Goths.

to the present standard, 200 lis (or more accurate¬ ly 193) are equal to one degree of latitude; and one

62. Ammianus (xxxi. 3) and Jornandes (de Re¬

E,nglish mile consequently exceeds three miles of

bus Geticis, c. 24) describe the subversion of the

China. But there are strong reasons to believe that

Gothic empire by the Huns.

the ancient li scarcely equalled one-half of the

63. The chronology of Ammianus is obscure

Notes: Chapter xxvi and imperfect. Tillemont has laboured to clear and settle the annals of Valens.

807

72. Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 26, p. 648, edit. Grot. These splendidi panni (they are compar¬

64. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 20] p. 223. Sozomen, 1. vi.

atively such) are undoubtedly transcribed from

c. 38. The Isaurians, each winter, infested the

the larger histories of Priscus, Ablavius, or Cassio-

roads of Asia Minor, as far as the neighbourhood

dorus.

of Constantinople. Basil, Epist. ccl. apud Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 106.

73. Cum populis suis longe ante suscepti. We are ignorant of the precise date and circumstances

65. The passage of the Danube is exposed by

of their transmigration.

Ammianus (xxxi. 3, 4), Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 20] p.

74. An imperial manufacture of shields, etc.,

223, 224), Eunapius in Excerpt. Legat. (p. 19, 20

was established at Hadrianople; and the populace

[p. 49, 50, ed. Bonn]), and Jornandes (c. 25, 26).

were headed by the Fabricenses, or workmen (Vales,

Ammianus declares (c. 5) that he means only ipsas

ad Ammian. xxxi. 6).

rerum digerere summitates. But he often takes a false measure of their importance, and his super¬ fluous prolixity is disagreeably balanced by his unseasonable brevity.

75. Pacem sibi esse cum parietibus memorans. Ammian. xxxi. 6. 76. These mines were in the country of the Bessi, in the ridge of mountains, the Rhodope, that runs

66. Chishull, a curious traveller, has remarked

between Philippi and Philippopolis, two Mace¬

the breadth of the Danube, which he passed to the

donian cities, which derived their name and origin

south of Bucharest, near the conflux of the Argish

from the father of Alexander. From the mines of

(p. 77). He admires the beauty and spontaneous

Thrace he annually received the value, not the

plenty of Maesia, or Bulgaria.

weight, of a thousand talents (£200,000)—a reve¬

67.

Quem qui scire velit, Libyci velit aequoris Discere quam multae Zephyro turbentur arenae.

xvi. [c. 8] p. 88, edit. Wesseling. Godefroy’s Com¬ mentary on the Theodosian Code, tom. iii. p. 496.

Ammianus has inserted in his prose these lines of Virgil (Georgic.

nue which paid the phalanx and corrupted the orators of Greece. See Diodor. Siculus, tom. ii. 1.

idem

1.

ii. 105), originally designed

Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. i. p. 676, 857. D’Anville, Geographic Ancienne, tom. i. p. 336.

by the poet to express the impossibility of number¬

77. As those unhappy workmen often ran away,

ing the different sorts of vines. See Plin. Hist.

Valens had enacted severe laws to drag them from

Natur. 1. xiv.

their hiding-places. Cod. Theodosian, 1. x. tit. xix.

68. Eunapius and Zosimus curiously specify these

leg- 5. 7-

articles of Gothic wealth and luxury. Yet it must be

78. See Ammianus xxxi. 5, 6. The historian of

presumed that they were the manufactures of the

the Gothic war loses time and space by an unsea¬

provinces, which the barbarians had acquired as

sonable recapitulation of the ancient inroads of the

the spoils of war, or as the gifts or merchandise of

barbarians.

peace. 69. Decern libras; the word silver must be under¬

edit. Wesseling) marks the situation of this place

79. The Itinerary of Antoninus (p. 226, 227,

stood. Jornandes betrays the passions and preju¬

about sixty miles north of Tomi, Ovid’s exile; and

dices of a Goth. The servile Greeks, Eunapius and

the name of Salices (the willows) expresses the na¬

Zosimus, disguise the Roman oppression, and exe¬

ture of the soil.

crate the perfidy of the barbarians. Ammianus, a

80. This circle of waggons, the Carrago, was the

patriot historian, slightly and reluctantly touches

usual fortification of the barbarians (Vegetius de

1.

on the odious subject. Jerom, who wrote almost on

Re Militari,

the spot, is fair, though concise. Per avaritiam

xxxi. 7). The practice and the name were pre¬

iii. c.

10. Valesius ad Ammian.

Maximi ducis, ad rebellionem fame coach sunt (in

served by their descendants as late as the fifteenth

Chron. [tom. viii. p. 817, ed. Vallars.]).

century. The Charroy, which surrounded the Ost,

70. Ammianus, xxxi. 4, 5.

is a word familiar to the readers of Froissart, or

71. Vexillis de more sublatis, auditisque trisle so-

Comines. 81. Statim ut accensi malleoli [Amm. xxxi. 7].

nantibus classicis. Ammian. xxxi. 5. These are the rauca cornua of Claudian (in Rufin. ii. 57), the large

I have used the literal sense of real torches or bea¬

horns of the Uri, or wild bull—such as have been

cons; but I almost suspect that it is only one of

more recently used by the Swiss cantons of Uri and Unterwald (Simler de Republica Helvet.

1.

ii. p.

those turgid metaphors, those false ornaments, that perpetually disfigure the style of Ammianus

1734). Their military

82. Indicant nunc usque albentes ossibus campi.

horn is finely, though perhaps casually, introduced

Ammian. xxxi. 7. The historian might have viewed

in an original narrative of the battle of Nancy (a.d.

these plains, either as a soldier or as a traveller.

1477). “Attendant le combat le dit cor fut corn6

But his modesty has suppressed the adventures of

201, edit. Fuselin. Tigur.

par trois fois, tant que le vent du souffleur pouvoit

his own life subsequent to the Persian wars of Con-

durer: ce qui esbahit fort Monsieur de Bourgoigne;

stantius and Julian. We are ignorant of the time

car deja d Morat Vavoit ouy.” (See the Pieces Justi-

when he quitted the service and retired to Rome,

ficatives in the 4to edition of Philippe de Comines,

where he appears to have composed his History of

tom. iii. p. 493.)

his Own Times.

808

Notes: Chapter xxvi

83. Ammian. xxxi. 8. 84. Hanc Taifalorum gentem turpem, et ob-

nam, ita ad internecionem res legitur gesta. Am¬

scenae vitae flagitiis ita accipimus mersam, ut apud

no more than 370 horse and 3000 foot escaped

eos nefandi concubitus foedere copulentur maribus

from the field of Cannae; 10,000 were made pris¬

puberes, aetatis viriditatem in eorum pollutis usi-

oners; and the number of the slain amounted to

bus consumpturi. Porro, si qui jam adultus aprum

5630 horse and 70,000 foot (Polyb. 1. iii. [c. 11 7] p.

mian. xxxi. 13. According to the grave Polybius,

exceperit solus, vel interemerit ursum immanem,

371, edit. Casaubon, in 8vo.). Livy (xxii. 49) is

colluvione

9.

somewhat less bloody; he slaughters only 2700

Among the Greeks likewise, more especially among

horse and 40,000 foot. The Roman army was sup¬

the Cretans, the holy bands of friendship were con¬

posed to consist of 87,200 effective men (xxii. 36).

liberatur

incesti.

Ammian.

xxxi.

firmed and sullied by unnatural love.

94. We have gained some faint light from Jerom

85. Ammian. xxxi. 8, 9. Jerom (tom. i. p. 26

(tom. i. p. 26 [tom. i. p. 342, ed. Vallars.], and in

[tom. i. p. 342, ed. Vallars.]) enumerates the na¬

Chron. p. 188 [tom. viii. p. 817, ed. Vallars.]),

tions, and marks a calamitous period of twenty

Victor (in Epitome), Orosius (1. vii. c. 33, p. 554),

years. This epistle to Heliodorus was composed in

Jornandes (c. 27), Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 24] p. 230),

the year 397 (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xii.

Socrates (1. iv. c. 38), Sozomen (1. vi. c. 40), Ida¬

p. 645). 86. The field of battle, Argentaria or Argentovaria,

weighed against Ammianus alone, is light and un¬

tius (in Chron.). But their united evidence, if

l’Ancienne Gaule, p. 96-99) at twenty-three Gallic

substantial. 95. Libanius de ulciscend. Julian. Nece, c. 3, in

leagues, or thirty-four and a half Roman miles, to

Fabricius, Bibliot. Grace, tom. vii. p. 146-148.

is accurately fixed by M. d’Anville (Notice de

the south of Strasburg. From its ruins the adjacent town of Colmar has arisen.

96. Valens had gained, or rather purchased,, the friendship of the Saracens, whose vexatious inroads

87. The full and impartial narrative of Ammi-

were felt on the borders of Phoenicia, Palestine,

anus (xxxi. 10) may derive some additional light

and Egypt. The Christian faith had been lately in¬

from the Epitome of Victor, the Chronicle of Je¬

troduced among a people reserved in a future age

rom, and the History of Orosius (1. vii. c. 33, p.

to propagate another religion (Tillemont, Hist,

552, edit. Havercamp). 88. Moratus paucissimos dies, seditione popu-

des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 104, 106, 141; Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 593).

larium levium pulsus. Ammian. xxxi. 11. Socrates,

97. Crinitus quidam, nudus omnia praeter pu-

(1. iv. c. 38) supplies the dates and some circum¬

bem, subraucum et lugubre strepens. Ammian.

stances. 89. Vivosque omnes circa Mutinam, Regium-

xxxi. 16, and Vales, ad loc. The Arabs often fought

que, et Parmam, Italica oppida, rura culturos ex-

sultry climate and ostentatious bravery. The de¬

terminavit. Ammianus, xxxi. 9. Those cities and

scription of this unknown savage is the lively por¬

naked—a custom which may be ascribed to their

districts, about ten years after the colony of the

trait of Derar, a name so dreadful to the Christians

Taifalae, appear in a very desolate state. See Mura-

of Syria. See Ockley’s Hist, of the Saracens, vol. i.

tori, Dissertazioni sopra le Antichita Italiane, tom.

p. 72, 84, 87.

i. Dissertat. xxi. p. 354.

98. The series of events may still be traced in the

90. Ammian. xxxi. 11. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 23] p.

last pages of Ammianus (xxxi. 15, 16). Zosimus (1.

228-230. The latter expatiates on the desultory ex¬

iv. [c. 22] p. 227, 231), whom we are now reduced

ploits of Sebastian, and despatches in a few lines

to cherish, misplaces the sally of the Arabs before

the important battle of Hadrianople. According

the death of Valens. Eunapius (in Excerpt. Legat.

to the ecclesiastical critics, who hate Sebastian, the

p. 20 [p. 51, ed. Bonn]) praises the fertility of

praise of Zosimus is disgrace (Tillemont, Hist, des

Thrace, Macedonia, etc.

Empereurs, tom. v. p. 121). His prejudice and ig¬

99. Observe with how much indifference Caesar

norance undoubtedly render him a very question¬

relates, in the Commentaries of the Gallic war,

able judge of merit.

that he put to death the whole senate of the Veneti,

91. Ammianus (xxxi. 12, 13) almost alone de¬

who had yielded to his mercy (iii. 16); that he la¬

scribes the councils and actions which were termi¬

boured to extirpate the whole nation of the Ebu-

nated by the fatal battle of Hadrianople. We

rones (vi. 43); that forty thousand persons were

might censure the vices of his style, the disorder

massacred at Bourges by the just revenge of his

and perplexity of his narrative; but we must now

soldiers, who spared neither age nor sex (vii. 27),

take leave of this impartial historian; and reproach

etc.

is silenced by our regret for such an irreparable loss.

100. Such are the accounts of the sack of Madgeburg,

by the ecclesiastic and the fisherman,

92. The difference of the eight miles of Ammi¬

which Mr. Harte has transcribed (Hist, of Gus-

anus, and the twelve of Idatius, can only embar¬

tavus Adolphus, vol. i. p. 313-320), with some ap¬

rass those critics (Valesius ad loc.) who suppose a

prehension of violating the dignity of history.

great army to be a mathematical point, without space or dimensions. 93. Nec ulla, annalibus, praeter Cannensem pug-

101. Et vastatis urbibus, hominibusque interfectis, solitudinem et raritatem bestiarum quoque fieri, et volatilium, pisciumque: testis Illyricum est.

Notes: Chapter xxvi

809

testis Thracia, testis in quo ortus sum solum (Pan-

Zosimus; but Theodoret (1. v. c. 5), who adds some

nonia); ubi praeter ccelum et terram, et crescentes

curious circumstances, strangely applies it to the

vepres, et condensa silvarum cuncta perierunt. Tom.

time of the interregnum.

vii. p. 250, ad 1. Cap. Sophonias; and tom. i. p. 26 [tom. i. p. 342, ed. Vallars.]. 102. Eunapius (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 20 [p. 50, ed.

Bonn])

foolishly

in. Pacatus (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 9) prefers the rustic life of Theodosius to that of Cincinnatus;

supposes

a

preternatural

the one was the effect of choice, the other of pov¬ erty.

growth of the young Goths, that he may introduce

112. M. d’Anville (Geographic Ancienne, tom.

Cadmus’s armed men, who sprung from the drag¬

i. p. 25) has fixed the situation of Caucha, or Coca,

on’s teeth, etc. Such was the Greek eloquence of

in the old province of Gallicia, where Zosimus and

the times.

Idatius have placed the birth or patrimony of

103. Ammianus evidently approves this execu¬

Theodosius.

tion, efficacia velox et salutaris, which concludes

113. Let us hear Ammianus himself. Haec, ut

his work (xxxi. 16). Zosimus, who is curious and

miles quondam at Grascus, a principatu Cassaris

copious (1. iv. [c. 26] p. 233-236), mistakes the

Nervae exorsus, adusque Valentis interitum, pro

date, and labours to find the reason why Julius did

virium explicavi mensura: opus veritatem profes-

not consult the emperor Theodosius, who had not

sum nunquam, ut arbitror, sciens, silentio ausus

yet ascended the throne of the East.

corrumpere vel mendacio. Scribant reliqua poti-

104. A life of Theodosius the Great was com¬

4to;

ores aetate, doctrinisque florentes. Quos id, si li-

1680,

buerit, aggressuros, procudere linguas ad majores

in i2mo), to inflame the mind of the young dau¬

moneo stilos. Ammian. xxxi. 16. The first thirteen

posed in the last century (Paris, 1679,

phin with Catholic zeal. The author, Flechier,

books, a superficial epitome of two hundred and

afterwards bishop of Nismes, was a celebrated

fifty-seven years, are now lost; the last eighteen,

preacher; and his history is adorned or tainted

which contain no more than twenty-five years,

with pulpit eloquence; but he takes his learning

still preserve the copious and authentic history of

from Baronius, and his principles from St. Am¬

his own times. 114. Ammianus was the last subject of Rome

brose and St. Augustin. 105. The birth, character, and elevation of The¬

who composed a profane history in the Latin lan¬

odosius, are marked in Pacatus (in Panegyr. Vet.

guage. The East, in the next century, produced

xii. 10, 11, 12), Themistius (Orat. xiv. p. 182),

some

Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 24] p. 231), Augustine (The

dorus, Malchus, Candidus, etc. See Vossius de

City of God, v. 26), Orosius (1. vii. c. 34), Sozo-

Historicis Grascis, 1. ii. c. 18; de Historicis Latinis,

men (1. vii. c. 2), Socrates (1. v. c. 2), Theodoret (1. v. c. 5), Philostorgius (1. ix. c. 1 7, with Godefroy,

1. ii. c. 10, etc. 115. Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 344, edit. Mont-

p. 393), the Epitome of Victor, and the Chronicles

faucon. I have verified and examined this passage;

of

the

but I should never, without the aid of Tillemont

106. Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p.

historical anecdote in a strange medley of moral

716, etc. 107. Italica, founded by Scipio Africanus for his

and mystic exhortations, addressed, by the preacher

Prosper,

Idatius,

and

Marcellinus,

in

Thesaurus Temporum of Scaliger.

rhetorical

historians,

Zosimus,

Olympio-

(Hist, des Emp. tom. v. p. 152), have detected an

of Antioch, to a young widow.

wounded veterans of Italy. The ruins still appear,

116. Eunapius, in Excerpt. Legation, p. 21 [p.

about a league above Seville, but on the opposite bank of the river. See the Hispania Illustrata of

52, ed. Bonn]. 117. See Godefroy’s Chronology of the Laws.

Nonius—a short though valuable treatise—c. xvii.

Codex Theodos. tom. i. Prolegomen. p. xcix.-civ.

p. 64-67. 108. I agree with Tillemont (Hist, des Empe¬

repose of Theodosius at Thessalonica: Zosimus, to

118. Most writers insist on the illness and long

726), in suspecting the royal

diminish his glory; Jornandes, to favour the Goths;

pedigree, which remained a secret till the pro¬

and the ecclesiastical writers, to introduce his bap¬

motion of Theodosius. Even after that event, the

tism. 119. Compare Themistius (Orat. xiv. p. 181)

reurs, tom.

v.

p.

silence of Pacatus outweighs the venal evidence of Themistius, Victor, and Claudian, who connect

with Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 25] p. 232), Jornandes (c.

the family of Theodosius with the blood of Trajan

xxvii. p. 649), and the prolix Commentary of M.

and Hadrian. 109. Pacatus compares, and consequently pre¬

de Buat (Hist, des Peuples, etc., tom. vi. p. 477-

fers, the youth of Theodosius, to the military edu¬

allude, in general terms, to magna certamina,

552). The Chronicles of Idatius and Marcellinus

cation of Alexander, Hannibal, and the second

magna multaque pralia. The two epithets are not

Africanus, who, like him, had served under their

easily reconciled. 120. Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 25] p. 232) styles him a

fathers (xii. 8). 11 o. Ammianus (xxix. 6) mentions this victory of Theodosius Junior Dux Maesiae, prima etiam

Scythian, a name which the more recent Greeks seem to have appropriated to the Goths.

turn lanugine juvenis, princeps postea perspectis-

121. The reader will not be displeased to see the

simus. The same fact is attested by Themistius and

original words of Jornandes, or the author whom

8io

Notes: Chapter xxvi

he transcribed. Regiam urbem ingressus est, mi-

130. Amator pacis generisque Gothorum, is the

ransque, En, inquit, cerno quod seepe incredulus

praise bestowed by the Gothic historian (c. xxix.),

audiebam, famam videlicet tantae urbis. Et hue

who represents his nation as innocent, peaceable

illuc oculos volvens, nunc situm urbis, commea-

men, slow to anger and patient of injuries. Ac¬

tumque navium, nunc moenia clara prospectans,

cording to Livy, the Romans conquered the world

miratur; populosque diversarum gentium, quasi

in their own defence.

fonte in uno e diversis partibus scaturiente unda,

131. Besides the partial invectives of Zosimus

sic quoque militem ordinatum aspiciens; Deus, in¬

(always discontented with the Christian reigns),

quit, sine dubio est terrenus Imperator, et quisquis

see the grave representations which Synesius ad¬

adversus eum manum moverit, ipse sui sanguinis

dresses to the emperor Arcadius (de Regno, p. 25,

reus existit. Jornandes (c. xxviii. p. 650) proceeds

26, edit. Petav. [Paris, 1612]). The philosophic

to mention his death and funeral. 122. Jornandes, c. xxviii. p. 650. Even Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 34] p. 246) is compelled to approve the generosity of Theodosius, so honourable to himself and so beneficial to the public. 123. The short, but authentic, hints in the Fasti

bishop of Cyrene was near enough to judge; and he was sufficiently removed from the temptation of fear or flattery. 132. Themistius (Orat. xvi. p. 211, 212) com¬ poses an elaborate and rational apology, which is not, however, exempt from the puerilities of Greek

of Idatius (Chron. Scaliger. p. 52) are stained with

rhetoric. Orpheus could only charm the wild beasts

contemporary passion. The fourteenth oration of

of Thrace; but Theodosius enchanted the men and

Themistius is a compliment to Peace and the con¬

women whose predecessors in the same country

sul Saturninus (a.d. 383). 124. "EOvos tl 'ZirvdiKov rraaiv ay voxttov. Zosimus,

had torn Orpheus in pieces, etc.

1. iv. [c. 38] p. 252.

of the public allowance of bread, to expiate the

125. I am justified, by reason and example, in

133. Constantinople was deprived, half a day, murder of a Gothic soldier:

klvovvres to Xkv9lk6v

applying this Indian name to the nov6£v\a of the

was the guilt of the people. Libanius, Orat. xii. p.

barbarians, the single trees hollowed into the shape of a boat, ir\r]9ei fxovo^vXwv e/j.pi.Pacrai'Tes. Zosimus,

394, edit. Morel.

1. iv. [c. 38] p. 253.

a long and ridiculous story of the adventurous

134. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 48] p. 267-271. He tells

Ausi Danubium quondam tranare Gruthungi

prince, who roved the country with only five

In lintres fregere nemus: ter mille ruebant

horsemen, of a spy whom they detected, whipped,

Per fluvium plenae cuneis immanibus alni.

and killed in an old woman’s cottage, etc.

Claudian, in iv. Cons. Hon. 623. 126. Zosimus,

1.

iv. [c. 38] p. 252-255. He too

135. Compare Eunapius (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 21, 22 [p. 53, 54, ed. Bonn.] with Zosimus (1. iv.

frequently betrays his poverty of judgment by dis¬

[c. 56] p. 279). The difference of circumstances and

gracing the most serious narratives with trifling

names must undoubtedly be applied to the same

and incredible circumstances.

story. Fravitta, or Travitta, was afterwards consul

127.

-Odothaei Regis opvna

Retulit Ver. 632. The opima were the spoils which a Roman general

(a.d.

401), and still continued his faithful service

to the eldest son of Theodosius (Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 467).

could only win from the king, or general, of the

136. Les Goths ravagSrent tout depuis le Dan¬

enemy, whom he had slain with his own hands:

ube jusqu’au Bosphore; exterminerent Valens et

and no more than three such examples are cele¬

son armee; et ne repass^rent le Danube que pour

brated in the victorious ages of Rome.

abandonner l’affreuse solitude qu’ils avoient faite

128. See Themistius, Orat. xvi. p.211. Claudian

(CEuvres de Montesquieu, tom. iii. p. 479; Con¬

(in Eutrop. 1. ii. 152) mentions the Phrygian col¬ ony:—

siderations sur les Causes de la Grandeur et de la

-Ostrogothis colitur mistisque Gruthungis Phryx ager-and then proceeds to name the rivers of Lydia, the Pactolus, and Hermus.

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

Claudian (de Bello Getico, 166, etc.,

years, a.d.

says

404),

129. Compare Jornandes (c. 21, 28), who marks

Ex quo jam patrios gens haec oblita Triones,

the condition and number of the Gothic Fcederati, with Zosimus (1. iv. p. 258), who mentions their

Atque Istrum transvecta semel, vestigia fixit Threicio funesta solo-

golden collars; and Pacatus (in Panegyr. Vet. xii.

The error is inexcusable; since it disguises the

37), who applauds, with false or foolish joy, their bravery and discipline.

principal and immediate cause of the fall of the Western empire of Rome.

Chapter XXVII 1. Valentinian was less attentive to the religion

him governor of Britain; and the father of our an¬

of his son; since he intrusted the education of

tiquities is followed, as usual, by his blind progeny.

Gratian to Ausonius, a professed Pagan. (M6m.

Pacatus and Zosimus had taken some pains to pre¬

de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xv. p. 125-

vent this error or fable; and I shall protect myself

138). The poetical fame of Ausonius condemns the

by their decisive testimonies. Regali habitfi exulem

taste of his age.

suum, illi exules orbis induerunt (in Panegyr. Vet.

2. Ausonius was successively promoted to the

xii. 23), and the Greek historian still less equivo¬

Praetorian praefecture of Italy (a.d. 377) and of

cally,

Gaul (a.d. 378); and was at length invested with

iSruxe Trpoe\0d>i> (1. iv. [c. 35] p. 248).

auras (Maximus)

ovhe els apxvv ivrip.ov

1.

the consulship (a.d. 379). He expressed his grati¬

12. Sulpicius Severus, Dialog, ii. 7. Orosius,

tude in a servile and insipid piece of flattery (Actio

vii. c. 34, p. 556. They both acknowledge (Sul¬

Gratiarum, p. 699-736 [ed. Toll. Amst. 1671]),

picius had been his subject) his innocence and

which has survived more worthy productions.

merit. It is singular enough that Maximus should

3. Disputare de principali judic.io non oportet.

be less favourably treated by Zosimus, the partial

Sacrilegii enim instar est dubitare, an is dignus sit, quern elegerit imperator. Codex Justinian.

1.

adversary of his rival.

ix.

13. Archbishop Usher (Antiquitat. Britan. Ec-

tit. xxix. leg. 2. This convenient law was revived

cles. p. 107, 108) has diligently collected the leg¬

and promulgated, after the death of Gratian, by

ends of the island and the continent. The whole emigration consisted of 30,000 soldiers and 100,000

the feeble court of Milan. 4. Ambrose composed, for his instruction, a the¬

plebeians, who settled in Bretagne. Their destined

ological treatise on the faith of the Trinity: and

brides, St. Ursula with 11,000 noble and 60,000

Tillemont (Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 158,

plebeian virgins, mistook their way, landed at Co¬

169) ascribes to the archbishop the merit of Gra-

logne, and were all most cruelly murdered by the

tian’s intolerant laws.

Huns. But the plebeian sisters have been defrauded

5. Qui divinae legis sanctitatem [aut] nesciendo

of their equal honours; and, what is still harder,

omittunt, aut negligendo violant, et offendunt,

John Trithemius presumes to mention the children

sacrilegium committunt. Codex Justinian. 1. ix. tit.

of these British virgins.

xxix. leg.

14. Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 35] p. 248, 249) has trans¬

1. Theodosius indeed may claim his

ported the death of Gratian from Lugdunum in

share in the merit of this comprehensive law.

Gaul

6. Ammianus (xxxi. 1 o) and the younger Victor

(Lyons) to Singidunum in Maesia. Some

[Epit. c. 47] acknowledge the virtues of Gratian;

hints may be extracted from the Chronicles; some

and accuse, or rather lament, his degenerate taste.

lies may be detected in Sozomen (1. vii. c. 13) and

The odious parallel of Commodus is saved by

Socrates (1. v. c. 11). Ambrose is our most authen¬

“licet incruentus;” and perhaps Philostorgius (1. x.

tic evidence (tom. i. Enarrat. in Psalm lxi. p. 961,

c. 10 [5], and Godefroy, p. 412) had guarded, with

tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 888, etc., and de Obitu Val¬

some similar reserve, the comparison of Nero.

entinian. Consolat. No. 28, p. 1182).

7. Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 35] p. 247) and the younger

15. Pacatus

(xii.

28)

celebrates

his

fidelity;

Victor ascribe the revolution to the favour of the

while his treachery is marked in Prosper’s Chron¬

Alani and the discontent of the Roman troops.

icle as the cause of the ruin of Gratian. Ambrose,

Dum exercitum negligeret, et paucos ex Alanis,

who has occasion to exculpate himself, only con¬

quos ingenti auro ad se transtulerat, anteferret

demns the death of Vallio, a faithful servant of Gratian (tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 891, edit. Bene¬

veteri ac Romano militi [Epit. c. 47]. 8. Britannia fertilis provincia tyrannorum, is a memorable expression used by Jerom in the Pela¬

dict.). 16. He protested, nullum ex adversariis nisi in-

gian controversy, and variously tortured in the dis¬

acie occubuisse. Sulp. Severus in Vit. B. Martin

putes of our national antiquaries. The revolutions

c. 23. The orator of Theodosius bestow’s reluctant,

of the last age appeared to justify the image of the

and therefore weighty, praise on his clemency. Si

sublime Bossuet, “cette ile, plus orageuse que les

cui file, pro ceteris, sceleribus, suit, minus crudelis

mers qui l’environment.” q. Zosimus says of the British soldiers,

fuisse videtur (Panegyr. Vet. xii. 28).

aivavTU>v

17. Ambrose mentions the laws of Gratian, quas

t&v aWuiv

non abrogavit hostis (tom. ii. Epist. xvii. p. 827).

irXeov aWaSelp. Kal dvpiai viKicpkvovs [1. c.j.

10. Helena the daughter of Eudda. Her chapel

18. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 37] p. 251, 252. We may

may still be seen at Caersegont, now Caer-narvon.

disclaim his odious suspicions, but we cannot re¬

(Carte’s Hist, of Englsnd, vol. i. p.

168, from

ject the treaty of peace which the friends of Theo¬

Rowland’s Mona Antiqua.) The prudent reader

dosius have absolutely forgotten, or slightly men¬

may not perhaps be satisfied with such Welch

tioned. 19. Their oracle, the archbishop of Milan, as¬

evidence. 11. Camden (vol. i. introduct. p. ci.) appoints

signs to his pupil Gratian an high and respectable.

8ll

Notes: Chapter xxvii

812

place in heaven (tom. ii. de Obit. Val. Consol, p.

In the Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena ad¬

H93)-

dresses the same pathetic complaint to her friend

qo. For the baptism of Theodosius, see Sozomen

(1. vii. c. 4), Socrates (1. v. c. 6), and Tillemont

Hermia:— Is all the counsel that we two have shared, The sisters’ vows, etc.

(Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 728). 21. Ascolius, or Acholius, was honoured by the

Shakspeare had never read the poems of Gregory

friendship and the praises of Ambrose, who styles

Nazianzen; he was ignorant of the Greek lang¬

him, murus fidei atque sanctitatis (tom. ii. Epist.

uage;

xv. p. 820); and afterwards celebrates his speed

Nature, is the same in Cappadocia and in Britain.

but his mother-tongue, the language of

30. This

and diligence in running to Constantinople, Italy,

unfavourable

portrait

of Sasima is

etc. (Epist. xvi. p. 822)—a virtue which does not

drawn by Gregory Nazianzen (tom. ii. de Vita

appertain either to a wall or a bishop.

sua, p. 7, 8). Its precise situation, forty-nine miles

22. Codex Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. i. leg. 2, with

from Archelais, and thirty-two from Tyana, is

Godefroy’s Commentary, tom. vi. p. 5-9. Such an

fixed in the Itinerary of Antoninus (p. 144, edit.

edict deserved the warmest praises of Baronius,

Wesseling).

auream sanctionem, edictum pium et salutare.—

31. The name of Nazianzus has been immort¬

sic itur ad astra. 23. Sozomen, 1. vii. c. 6. Theodoret, 1. v. c. 16.

alised by Gregory; but his native town, under the

Tillemont is displeased (Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p.

Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 692), is mentioned by

Greek or Roman title of Diocaesarea (Tillemont,

627, 628) with the terms of “rustic bishop,” “ob¬

Pliny (vi. 3), Ptolemy, and Hierocles (Itinerar.

scure city.” Yet I must take leave to think that

Wesseling, p. 709). It appears to have been situate

both Amphilochius and Iconium were objects of

on the edge of Isauria. 32. See Ducange, Constant. Christiana, 1. iv. p.

inconsiderable magnitude in the Roman empire. 24. Sozomen, 1. vii. c. 5. Socrates, 1. v. c. 7. Marcellin. in Chron. The account of forty years must

141, 142. The deia Suvapis of Sozomen (1. vii. c. 5) is interpreted to mean the Virgin Mary.

be dated from the election or intrusion of Eusebius,

33. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 432,

who wisely exchanged the bishopric of Nicomedia

etc.) diligently collects, enlarges, and explains, the

for the throne of Constantinople.

oratorical and poetical hints of Gregory himself.

25. Seejortin’s Remarks on Ecclesiastical His¬

34. He pronounced an oration (tom. i. Orat.

tory, vol. iv. p. 71. The thirty-third Oration of

xxiii. p. 409) in his praise; but after their quarrel

Gregory Nazianzen affords indeed some similar

the name of Maximus was changed into that of

ideas, even some still more ridiculous; but I have

Heron (see Jerom, tom. i. in Catalog. Script. Ec¬

not yet found the words of this remarkable passage,

cles. p. 301 [tom. ii. p. 930, ed. Vallars.]). I touch

which I allege on the faith of a correct and liberal

slightly on these obscure and personal squabbles.

scholar. 26. See the thirty-second Oration of Gregory

35. Under the modest emblem of a dream, Greg¬ ory (tom. ii. Carmen ix. p. 78) describes his own

Nazianzen, and the account of his own life, which

success with some human complacency. Yet it

he has composed in 1800 iambics. Yet every physi¬

should seem, from his familiar conversation with

cian is prone to exaggerate the inveterate nature

his auditor St. Jerom (tom. i. Epist. ad Nepotian.

of the disease which he has cured.

p.

27. I confess myself deeply indebted to the two Lives of Gregory Nazianzen, composed, with very

14 [tom. i. p. 261, ed. Vallars.]), that the

preacher understood the true value of popular applause.

different views, by Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom.

36. Lacrimae auditorum laudes tuae sint, is the

ix. p. 305-560, 692-731), and Le Clerc (Biblio-

lively and judicious advice of St. Jerom [loc. cit.].

theque Universelle, tom. xviii. p. 1-128).

37. Socrates (1. v. c. 7) and Sozomen (1. vii. c. 5)

28. Unless Gregory Nazianzen mistook thirty

relate the evangelical words and actions of Da-

years in his own age, he was born, as well as his

mophilus without a word of approbation. He con¬

friend Basil, about the year 329. The preposterous

sidered, says Socrates, that it is difficult to resist

chronology of Suidas has been graciously received,

the powerful; but it was easy, and would have

because it removes the scandal of Gregory’s father,

been profitable, to submit.

a saint likewise, begetting children after he became

38. See Gregory Nazianzen, tom. ii. de Viti

a bishop (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p.

sua, p. 21, 22. For the sake of posterity, the bishop

693-697)-

of Constantinople records a stupendous prodigy.

29. Gregory’s Poem on his own Life contains

In the month of November, it was a cloudy morn¬

some beautiful lines (tom. ii. p. 8 [ed. Paris, 1609]), which burst from the heart, and speak the pangs

ing, but the sun broke forth when the procession entered the church.

of injured and lost friendship: — .irbuoi koivoI Xoywv,

odoret alone (1. v. c. 2) has mentioned this im¬

Opocrreyos rt ko.l auvicTios fiios,

39. Of the three ecclesiastical historians, The¬ portant commission of Sapor, which Tillemont

NoDs els iv ippolv ....

(Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 728), judiciously

Aieo’KeSao'Tai waura, KappnrTai x^yuai.

removes from the reign of Gratian to that of The¬ odosius.

Aupat (fripovtn ras 7raXatas iXiridas.

Notes: Chapter xxvn

813

40. I do not reckon Philostorgius, though he

naciously opposed the Roman church and Nicene

mentions (1. ix. c. 19) the expulsion of Damophilus.

synod, which had fixed Easter to a Sunday. Bing¬

The Eunomian historian has been carefully strained through an orthodox sieve.

ham’s Antiquities, edit.

41. Le Clerc has given a curious extract (Biblio-

1.

xx. c. 5, vol. ii. p. 309, fol.

50. Sozomen, 1. vii. c. 12.

theque Universelle, tom. xviii. p. 91-105) of the

51. See the Sacred History of Sulpicius Severus

theological sermons which Gregory Nazianzen pro¬

(1. ii. p. 437-452, edit. Lugd. Bat. 1647), a correct

nounced at Constantinople against the Arians,

and original writer. Dr. Lardner (Credibility, etc.,

Eunomians, Macedonians, etc. He tells the Mace¬

part ii. vol. ix. p. 256-350) has laboured this art¬

donians, who deified the Father and the Son,

icle with pure learning, good sense, and modera¬

without the Holy Ghost, that they might as well be

tion. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 491-

styled Tntheists as Ditheists. Gregory himself was

527) has raked together all the dirt of the fathers—

almost a Tritheist, and his monarchy of heaven re¬

an useful scavenger!

sembles a well-regulated aristocracy. 42. The first general council of Constantinople

52. Sulpicius Severus mentions the arch-heretic with esteem and pity. Felix profecto, si non pravo

now triumphs in the Vatican; but the popes had

studio

long hesitated, and their hesitation perplexes and

multa in eo animi et corporis bona cerneres. (Hist.

almost staggers the humble Tillemont (Mem. Ec¬ cles. tom. ix. p. 499, 500).

Sacra, 1. ii. p. 439.) Even Jerom (tom. i. in Script.

43. Before the death of Meletius, six or eight of

corrupisset

optimum

ingenium;

prorsus

Eccles. p. 302 [tom. ii. p. 934, ed. Vallars.]) speaks with temper of Priscillian and Latronian.

his most popular ecclesiastics, among whom was

53. The bishopric (in Old Castile) is now worth

Flavian, had abjured, for the sake of peace, the

20,000 ducats a-year (Busching’s Geography, vol.

bishopric of Antioch (Sozomen,

1.

vii. c. 3, 11;

Socrates, 1. v. c. 5). Tillemont thinks it his duty to

ii. p. 308), and is therefore much less likely to pro¬ duce the author of a new heresy.

disbelieve the story; but he owns that there are

54. Exprobrabatur mulieri viduae nimia religio,

many circumstances in the life of Flavian which

et diligentius culta divinitas (Pacat. in Panegyr.

seem inconsistent with the praises of Chrysostom

Vet. xii. 29). Such was the idea of a humane though

and the character of a saint (Mem. Eccles. tom. x.

ignorant polytheist.

54i). 44. Consult Gregory Nazianzen, de vita sua,

quae ultra Britanniam est. What must have been

tom. ii. p. 25-28. His general and particular opin¬

the ancient condition of the rocks of Scilly (Cam¬

ion of the clergy and their assemblies may be seen in verse and prose (tom. i. Orat. i. p. 33; Epist. lv.

den’s Britannia, vol. ii. p. 1519)? 56. The scandalous calumnies of Augustin, pope

p. 814, tom. ii.; Carmen x. p. 81). Such passages

Leo, etc., which Tillemont swallows like a child,

P-

55. One of them was sent in Syllinam insulam

are faintly marked by Tillemont, and fairly pro¬

and Lardner refutes like a man, may suggest some

duced by Le Clerc.

candid suspicions in favour of the older Gnostics.

45. See Gregory, tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 28-31.

57. Ambrose, tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 891.

The fourteenth, twenty-seventh, and thirty-second

58. In the Sacred History, and the Life of St.

Orations were pronounced in the several stages of

Martin, Sulpicius Severus uses some caution; but

this business. The peroration of the last (tom. i. p.

he declares himself more freely in the Dialogues

528), in which he takes a solemn leave of men and

(iii. 15). Martin was reproved, however, by his

angels, the city and the emperor, the East and the

own conscience and by an angel; nor could he

West, etc., is pathetic, and almost sublime.

afterwards perform miracles with so much ease.

46. The whimsical ordination of Nectarius is

59. The catholic presbyter (Sulp. Sever. 1. ii. p.

attested by Sozomen (1. vii. c. 8); but Tillemont

448), and the Pagan orator (Pacat. in Panegyr.

observes (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 719), Apres

Vet. xxi. 29), reprobate with equal indignation the

tout, ce narre de Sozomene est si honteux pour

character and conduct of Ithacius.

tous ceux qu’il y mele, et surtout pour Theodose,

60. The Life of St. Martin, and the Dialogues

qu’il vaut mieux travailler a le detruire qu’a le

concerning his miracles, contain facts adapted to

soutenir: an admirable canon of criticism!

the grossest barbarism, in a style not unworthy of

47. I can only be understood to mean that such

the Augustin age. So natural is the alliance be¬

was his natural temper when it was not hardened

tween good taste and good sense, that I am always

or inflamed by religious zeal. From his retirement

astonished by this contrast.

he exhorts Nectarius to prosecute the heretics of Constantinople.

61. The short and superficial Life of St. Am¬ brose, by his deacon Paulinus (Appendix ad edit.

48. See the Theodosian Code, I. xvi. tit. v. leg.

Benedict, p. i.-xv.), has the merit of original evi¬

6-23, with Godefroy’s commentary on each law,

dence. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 78-

and his general summary, or Paratitlon, tom. vi. p.

306) and the Benedictine editors (p. xxxi.-lxiii.)

104-110. 49. They always kept their Easter, like the Jew¬

have laboured with their usual diligence.

ish Passover, on the fourteenth day of the first

888-891) gives the emperor a very spirited account

moon after the vernal equinox; and thus perti¬

of his own embassy.

62. Ambrose himself (tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p.

Notes: Chapter

814

xxvii

63. His own representation of his principles and

weak and ambiguous evidence to antedate the

conduct (tom. ii. Epist. xx. xxi. xxii. p. 852-880) is

second marriage of Theodosius (Hist, des Empe-

one of the curious monuments of ecclesiastical an¬

reurs, tom. v. p. 740), and consequently to refute

tiquity. It contains two letters to his sister Marcel-

ces contes de Zosime qui seroient trop contraires a

lina, with a petition to Valentinian, and the ser¬

la pi6te de Th6odose. 76. See Godefroy’s Chronology of the Laws,

mon de Basilicis non tradendis. 64. Retz had a similar message from the queen

Cod. Theodos. tom. i. p. cxix.

to request that he would appease the tumult of

77. Besides the hints which may be gathered

Paris. It was no longer in his power, etc. A quoi

from chronicles and ecclesiastical history, Zosimus

i’ajoutai tout ce que vous pouvez vous imaginer de

(1. iv. [c. 40, seq.] p. 259-267), Orosius (1. vii. c.

respect, de douleur, de regret, et de soumission,

35), and Pacatus (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 30-47),

etc. (Memoires, tom. i. p. 140). Certainly I do not

supply the loose and scanty materials of this civil

compare either the causes or the men; yet the co¬

war. Ambrose (tom. ii. Epist. xl. p. 952, 953)

adjutor himself had some idea (p. 84) of imitating

darkly alludes to the well-known events of a mag¬ azine surprised, an action at Petovio, a Sicilian,

St. Ambrose. 65. Sozomen alone (1. vii. c. 1 3) throws this lu¬ minous fact into a dark and perplexed narrative. 66. Excubabat pia plebs in ecclesia mori parata

perhaps a naval, victory, etc. Ausonius (p. 236, edit. Toll.) applauds the peculiar merit and good fortune of Aquileia.

cum episcopo suo . . . Nos adhuc frigidi excitaba-

78. Quam promptum laudare principem, tam

mur tamen civitate attonita atque turbata. Au¬

tutum siluisse de principe (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet.

gustine, Confessions, ix. 15. 67. Tillemont, M6m. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 78, 498.

xii. 2). Latinus Pacatus Drepanius, a native of

Many churches in Italy, Gaul, etc., were dedi¬

388). He was afterwards proconsul of Africa; and

Gaul,

pronounced this oration at Rome

(a.d.

cated to these unknown martyrs, of whom St. Ger-

his friend Ausonius praises him as a poet second

vase seems to have been more fortunate than his

only to Virgil. See Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 303.

companion. 68. Invenimus mirae magnitudinis viros duos, ut

79. See the fair portrait of Theodosius by the

prisca aetas ferebat, tom. ii. Epist. xxii. p. 875. The

younger Victor; the strokes are distinct and the

size of these skeletons was fortunately, or skilfully,

colours are mixed. The praise of Pacatus is too

suited to the popular prejudice of the gradual de¬

vague; and Claudian always seems afraid of exalt¬ ing the father above the son.

crease of the human stature, which has prevailed in every age since the time of Homer.

80. Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xl. p. 955. Pacatus,

Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris. 69. Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xxii. p. 875. Augusine, Confessions, ix. 16, The City of God, 1. xxii. c. 8.

from the want of skill or of courage, omits this glorious circumstance. 81. Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 20.

Paulin, in Vita St. Ambros. c. 14, in Append. Ben¬

82. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 50] p. 271, 272. His partial

edict. p. 4. The blind man’s name was Severus; he

evidence is marked by an air of candour and truth.

touched the holy garment, recovered his sight, and

He observes these vicissitudes of sloth and activity,

devoted the rest of his life (at least twenty-five

not as a vice but as a singularity in the character of Theodosius.

years) to the service of the church. I should recom¬ mend this miracle to our divines, if it did not prove the worship of relics as well as the Nicene creed. 70. Paulin, in Vit. St. Ambros. c. 5 [15], in Ap¬ pend. Benedict, p. 5.

83. This choleric temper is acknowledged and excused by Victor [Epit. c. 48]. Sed habes (says Ambrose in decent and manly language to his sov¬ ereign) naturae impetum, quern si quis lenire velit,

190,

cito vertes ad misericordiam: si quis stimulet, in

750. He partially allows the mediation of Theo¬

71. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p.

magis exsuscitas, ut eum revocare vix possis (tom.

dosius, and capriciously rejects that of Maximus,

ii. Epist. Ii. p. 998). Theodosius (Claud, in iv.

though it is attested by Prosper, Sozomen, and Theodoret.

Cons. Hon. 266, etc.) exhorts his son to moderate his anger.

72. The modest censure of Sulpicius (Dialog, iii.

84. The Christians and Pagans agreed in be¬

15 [p. 576]) inflicts a much deeper wound than the

lieving that the sedition of Antioch was excited by

feeble declamation of Pacatus (xii. 25, 26).

the daemons. A gigantic woman (says Sozomen, 1.

73. Esto tutior adversus hominem, pacis invo-

vii. c. 23) paraded the streets with a scourge in her

lucro [bellum] tegentem, was the wise caution of

hand. An old man, says Libanius (Orat. xii. p.

Ambrose (tom. ii. p. 891) after his return from his

396), transformed himself into a youth, then a boy, etc.

second embassy. 387, No. 63) applies to this

85. Zosimus, in his short and disingenuous ac¬

season of public distress some of the penitential sermons of the archbishop.

74. Baronius

count (1. iv. [c. 41] p. 258, 259), is certainly mis¬

(a.d.

75. The flight of Valentinian and the love of

taken in sending Libanius himself to Constanti¬ nople. His own orations fix him at Antioch.

Theodosius for his sister are related by Zosimus (1.

86. Libanius (Orat. i. p. 6, edit. Venet.) de¬

iv. [c. 43] p. 263, 264). Tillemont produces some

clares, that under such a reign the fear of a massa-

Notes: Chapter xxvn

815

ere was groundless and absurd, especially in the

96. Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. Ii. p. 997-1001. His

emperor’s absence; for his presence, according to

epistle is a miserable rhapsody on a noble subject.

the eloquent slave, might have given a sanction to

Ambrose could act better than he could write. His

the most bloody acts.

compositions are destitute of taste or genius; with¬

87. Laodicea, on the sea-coast, sixty-five miles from

Antioch

(see Noris,

Epoch.

Syro-Maced.

out the spirit of Tertullian, the copious elegance of

Dissert, iii. p. 230). The Antiochians were offended

Lactantius, the lively wit of Jerom, or the grave energy of Augustin.

that the dependent city of Seleucia should presume to intercede for them.

(Canon lvi.), the voluntary homicide was Jour

88. As the days of the tumult depend on the

97. According

to

the

years a mourner

discipline

of St.

Basil

an hearer; seven in a prostrate

movable festival of Easter, they can only be deter¬

state; and four in a standing posture. I have the

mined by the previous determination of the year.

original (Beveridge, Pandect, tom. ii. p. 47-151)

The year 387 has been preferred, after a laborious

and a translation (Chardon, Hist, des Sacremens,

inquiry, by Tillemont (Hist, des Emp. tom. v. p.

tom. iv. p. 219-277) of the Canonical Epistles of St. Basil.

741-744) and Montfaucon (Chrysostom, tom. xiii. p. 105-110).

98. The penance of Theodosius is authenticated

89. Chrysostom opposes their courage, which was

by Ambrose (tom. ii. de Obit. Theodos. c. 34, p.

not attended with much risk, to the cowardly

1207), Augustine (The City of God, v. 26), and Pau¬

flight of the Cynics.

linus (in Vit. Ambros. c. 24). Socrates is ignorant;

90. The sedition of Antioch is represented in a

Sozomen (1. vii. c. 25) concise; and the copious

lively and almost dramatic manner by two orators

narrative of Theodoret (1. v. c. 18) must be used

who had their respective shares of interest and

with precaution.

merit. See Libanius (Orat. xiv. xv. [xii. xiii.] p.

99. Codex Theodos.

1.

ix. tit. xl. leg. 13. The

389-420, edit. Morel.; Orat. i. p. 1-14, Venet.

date and circumstances of this law are perplexed

1754) and the twenty orations of St. John Chry¬

with difficulties; but I feel myself inclined to favour

sostom, de Statuis (tom. ii. p. 1-225, edit. Mont¬

the honest efforts of Tillemont (Hist, des Emp.

faucon). I do not pretend to much personal ac¬

tom. v. p. 721) and Pagi (Critica, tom. i. p. 578).

quaintance with Chrysostom; but Tillemont (Hist,

100. L'n prince qui aime la religion, et qui la

des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 263-283) and Hermant

craint, est un lion qui cede a la main qui le flatte,

(Vie de St. Chrysostome, tom. i. p. 137-224) had

ou a la voix qui l’appaise. The Spirit of Laws,

read him with pious curiosity and diligence. 91. The original evidence of Ambrose (tom. ii.

1. xxiv. c. 2.

Epist. Ii. p. 998), Augustine (The City of God, v. 26),

is the niggard praise of Zosimus himself (1. iv. [c.

I 01. Tovto rrepi tovs ebepyeTas u.adf)Kov ibo^tv tlvai,

and Paulinus (in Vit. Ambros. c. 24), is delivered

48] p. 267). Augustin says, with some happiness of

in vague expressions of horror and pity. It is illus¬

expression, Valentinianum . . . misericordissima

trated by the subsequent and unequal testimonies

veneratione restituit.

of Sozomen (1. vii. c. 25), Theodoret (1. v. c. 17), Theophanes (Chronograph, p. 62 [tom. i. p. 113,

102. Sozomen,

1.

vii. c. 14. His chronology is

very irregular.

ed. Bonn.]), Cedrenus (p. 317 [tom. i. p. 556, ed.

103. See Ambrose (tom. ii. de Obit. Valentin-

Bonn.]), and Zonaras (tom. ii. 1. xiii. [c. 18] p. 34).

ian. c. 15, etc., p. 1178, c. 36, etc., p. 1184). When

Zosimus alone, the partial enemy of Theodosius,

the young emperor gave an entertainment, he

most unaccountably passes over in silence the

fasted himself; he refused to see an handsome ac¬

worst of his actions.

tress, etc. Since he ordered his wild beasts to be

92. See the whole transaction in Ambrose (tom.

killed, it is ungenerous in Philostorgius (1. xi. c. 1)

ii. Epist. xl. xli. p. 946-956), and his biographer

to reproach him with the love of that amusement.

Paulinus (c. 23). Bayle and Barbeyrac (Morales

104. Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 53] p. 275) praises the

des Peres, c. xvii. p. 325, etc.) have justly con¬

enemy of Theodosius. But he is detested by Soc¬

demned the archbishop. 93. His sermon is a strange allegory of Jeremiah’s

rates (1. v. c. 25) and Orosius (1. vii. c. 35).

rod, of an almond-tree, of the woman who washed

second volume of the Historians of France) has

105. Gregory of Tours (1. ii. c. 9, p. 165, in the

and anointed the feet of Christ. But the peroration

preserved a curious fragment of Sulpicius Alex¬

is direct and personal. 94. Hodie, Episcope, de me proposuisti. Am¬

ander, an historian far more valuable than himself.

brose modestly confessed it; but he sternly repri¬

434) has diligently collected all the circumstances

106. Godefroy (Dissertat. ad Philostorg. p. 429-

manded Timesius, general of the horse and foot,

of the death of Valentinian II. The variations and

who had presumed to say that the monks of Cal-

the ignorance of contemporary writers prove that

linicum deserved punishment.

it was secret. 107. De Obith Valentinian. tom. ii. p. 1173-

95. Yet, five years afterwards, when Theodosius was absent from his spiritual guide, he tolerated

1196. He is forced to speak a discreet and obscure

the Jews, and condemned the destruction of their

language: yet he is much bolder than any layman,

synagogues. Cod. Theodos.

1.

xvi. tit. viii. leg. 9,

with Godefroy’s Commentary, tom. vi. p. 225.

or perhaps any other ecclesiastic, would have dared to be.

Notes; Chapter

816

108. See c. 51, p. 1188; c. 75, p. 1193. Dom

xxvii

stream in the country of Goretz, now called the

Chardon (Hist, des Sacremens, tom. i. p. 86), who

Vipao, falls into the Sontius, or Lisonzo, above

owns that St. Ambrose most strenuously main¬

Aquileia,

tains the indispensable necessity of baptism, labours

D’Anville’s ancient and modern maps, and the

to reconcile the contradiction.

Italia Antiqua of Cluverius (tom. i. p. 188).

109.

Quern sibi

Germanus famulum dele-

some miles from the Hadriatic.

See

118. Claudian’s wit is intolerable: the snow was dyed red; the cold river smoked; and the channel

gerat exul, is the contemptuous expression of Claudian (iv.

must have been choked with carcasses if the cur¬

Cons. Hon. 74). Eugenius professed Christianity;

rent had not been swelled with blood.

but his secret attachment to Paganism (Sozomen,

1.

119. Theodoret affirms that St. John and St.

vii. c. 22; Philostorg. 1. xi. c. 2) is probable in a

Philip appeared to the waking or sleeping em¬

grammarian, and would secure the friendship of

peror, on horseback, etc. This is the first instance

Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 54] p. 276, 277).

of apostolic chivalry, which afterwards became so

110. Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 55] p. 278) mentions this embassy; but he is diverted by another story from

popular in Spain and in the Crusades. 120.

Te propter, gelidis Aquilo

relating the event. 111.

Hwerapa^ev

de monte

procellis 17

toIitov -yaperri

3

Obruit adversas acies; revolutaque tela

TaXXa ra / aaf-

Xeia, tov kbtXpov d\ovpopevr]. Zosim.

1.

iv. [c. 55]

Vertit in auctores, et turbine reppulit

p. 277. He afterwards says ([c. 57] p. 280) that

hastas.

Galla died in childbed; and intimates that the af¬

O nimium dilecte Deo, cui fundit ab

fliction of her husband was extreme but short.

antris

112. Lycopolis is the modern Siut, or Osiot, a

^Tolus armatas hiemes; cui militat ZEther,

town of Said, about the size of St. Denys, which

Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti.

drives a profitable trade with the kingdom of Sen-

These famous lines of Claudian (in iii. Cons. Hon¬

naar, and has a very convenient fountain, “cujus

or. 93,

potu signa virginitatis eripiuntur.” See D’Anville,

Augustin and Orosius, who suppress the Pagan

Description de l’Egypte, p.

181. Abulfeda, De¬

a.d.

396) are alleged by his contemporaries,

deity of ZEolus, and add some circumstances from

script. Egypt, p. 14; and the curious Annotations,

the

p. 25, g2, of his editor Michaelis.

months after the victory, it was compared by Am¬

113. The Life of John of Lycopolis is described by his two friends, Rufinus (1. ii. c. i. p. 449) and

information

of eye-witnesses.

Within

four

brose to the miraculous victories of Moses and Joshua.

Palladius (Hist. Lausiac. c. 43, p. 738), in Ros-

121. The events of this civil war are gathered

weyde’s great Collection of the Vitae Patrum.

from Ambrose (tom. ii. Epist. lxii. p. 1022), Pau-

Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 718, 720) has

linus (in Vit. Ambros. c. 26-34), Augustine (The City of God, v. 26), Orosius (1. vii. c. 35), Sozo¬

settled the chronology. 114. Sozomen,

1.

vii. c. 22. Claudian (in Eu-

men (1. vii. c. 24), Theodoret (1. v. c. 24), Zosimus

trop. 1. i. 312) mentions the eunuch’s journey: but

(1. iv. [c. 58], p. 281, 282), Claudian (in. iii. Cons.

he most contemptuously derives the Egyptian

Hon. 63-105; in iv. Cons. Hon. 70-117), and the

dreams and the oracles of the Nile.

Chronicles published by Scaliger.

1.

122. This disease, ascribed by Socrates (1. v. c.

vii. 10. Alaric himself (de Bell. Getico, 524) dwells

26) to the fatigues of war, is represented by Philo-

with

storgius (1. xi. c. 2) as the effect of sloth and intem¬

115. Zosimus, more

1.

iv. [c. 57] p. 280; Socrates,

complacency on

his

early exploits

against the Romans. ... Tot Augustos Hebro qui teste fugavi. Yet his vanity could scarcely have proved this plurality of flying emperors.

perance; for which Photius calls him an impudent liar (Godefroy, Dissert, p. 438). 123. Zosimus supposes that the boy Honorius accompanied his father (1. iv. [c. 58] p. 280). Yet

116. Claudian (in iv. Cons. Honor. 77, etc.)

the quanto flagrabant pectora voto is all that flat¬

contrasts the military plans of the two usurpers: —

tery would allow to a contemporary poet, who

. . . Novitas audere priori Suadebat; cautumque dabant exempla sequentem. His nova moliri praeceps: his quaerere tuta Providus. Hie fusis, collectis viribus file; Hie vagus excurrens; hie intra claustra reductus; Dissimiles, sed morte pares . . . 117. The Frigidus, a small though memorable

clearly describes the emperor’s refusal, and the journey of Honorius, after the victory (Claudian in iii. Cons. 78-125). 124. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 33] p. 244. 125. Vegetius, de Re Militari,

1.

i. c. 20. The

series of calamities, which he marks, compel us to believe that the Hero to whom he dedicates his book is the last and most inglorious of the Valentinians.

Chapter XXVIII 1. St. Ambrose (tom. ii. de Obit. Theodos. p. 1208 [ed. Bened.]) expressly praises and recom¬

147), that the Christians had a majority in the senate.

mends the zeal of Josiah in the destruction of idol¬

13. The first

(a.d.

382) to Gratian, who refused

atry. The language of Julius Firmicus Maternus

them audience. The second

on the same subject (de Errore Profan. Relig. p.

ian, when the field was disputed by Symmachus

467, edit. Gronov. [Rotterod. 1743]) is piously in¬

and Ambrose. The third

human. Nec filio jubet (the Mosaic Law) parci,

and the fourth

(a.d.

(a.d.

(a.d.

384) to Valentin-

388) to Theodosius;

392) to Valentinian; Lardner

nec fratri, et per amatam conjugem gladium vin-

(Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 372-399) fairly

dicem ducit, etc.

represents the whole transaction.

2. Bayle (tom. ii. p. 406, in his Commentaire

14. Symmachus, who was invested with all the

Philosophique) justifies and limits these intolerant

civil and sacerdotal honours, represented the em¬

laws by the temporal reign of Jehovah over the

peror under the two characters of Pontijex Maximus

Jews. The attempt is laudable.

and Princeps Senatus. See the proud inscription at

3. See the outlines of the Roman hierarchy in

the head of his works.

Cicero (deLegibus, ii. 7, 8), Livy (i. 20), Dionysius

15. As if any one, says Prudentius (in Symmach.

Halicarnassensis (1. ii. [c. 63, sqq.\ p. 119-129, edit.

i. 639), should dig in the mud with an instrument

Hudson), Beaufort (Republique Romaine, tom. i.

of gold and ivory. Even saints, and polemic saints,

p. 1-90), and Moyle (vol. i. p. 10-55). The last is

treat this adversary with respect and civility. 16. See the fifty-fourth Epistle of the tenth book

the work of an English whig, as well as of a Ro¬

of Symmachus [p. 289, ed. Paris, 1604]. In the

man antiquary. 4. These mystic, and perhaps imaginary, sym¬

form and disposition of his ten books of Epistles,he

bols have given birth to various fables and conjec¬

imitated the younger Pliny, whose rich and florid

tures. It seems probable that the Palladium was a

style he was supposed by his friends to equal or

small statue (three cubits and a half high) of Mi¬

excel (Macrob. Saturnal, 1. v. c. i.). But the luxur-

nerva, with a lance and distaff; that it was usually

iancy of Symmachus consists of barren leaves,

inclosed in a seria, or barrel; and that a similar

without fruits, and even without flowers. Few

barrel was placed by its side to disconcert curiosity

facts and few sentiments can be extracted from his

or sacrilege.

verbose correspondence.

See Mezeriac

(Comment,

sur les

17. See Ambrose (tom. ii. Epist. xvii. xviii. p.

Epitres d’Ovide, tom. i. p. 60-66) and Lipsius

825-833). The former of these epistles is a short

(tom. iii. p. 610, de Vesta, etc., c. 10). 5. Cicero frankly (ad Atticum, 1. ii. Epist. 5) or

caution; the latter is a formal reply to the petition

1.

xv. Epist 4) confesses

or libel of Symmachus. The same ideas are more

that the Augurate is the supreme object of his wishes.

copiously expressed in the poetry, if it may deserve

Pliny is proud to tread in the footsteps of Cicero

that name, of Prudentius, who composed his two

indirectly (ad Familiar.

(1. iv. Epist. 8), and the chain of tradition might be

books against Symmachus

continued from history and marbles.

senator was still alive. It is whimsical enough

6. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 36] p. 249, 250. I have sup¬

(a.d.

404) while that

that Montesquieu (Considerations, etc.,

c.

xix.

pressed the foolish pun about Pontijex and Maximus.

tom. iii. p. 487) should overlook the two profes¬

7. This statue was transported from Tarentum

sed antagonists of Symmachus, and amuse him¬

to Rome, placed in the Curia Julia by Caesar, and

self with descanting on the more remote and in¬

decorated by Augustus with the spoils of Egypt.

direct confutations of Orosius, St. Augustin, and

8. Prudentius (1. ii. [in Symm.] in initio) has drawn a very awkward portrait of Victory; but

Salvian. 18. See Prudentius (in Symmach. 1. i. 545, etc.).

the curious reader will obtain more satisfaction

The Christian agrees with the Pagan Zosimus (1.

from Montfaucon’s Antiquities (tom. i. p. 341).

iv. [c. 59] p. 283) in placing this visit of Theodo¬

g. See Suetonius (in August, c. 35) and the Ex¬ ordium of Pliny’s Panegyric. 1 o. These facts are mutually allowed by the two

sius after the second civil war, gemini bis victor caede Tyranni (1. i. 410). But the time and circum¬ stances are better suited to his first triumph. 19. Prudentius, after proving that the sense of

advocates Symmachus and Ambrose. 11. The Notitia Ur bis, more recent than Con¬

the senate is declared by a legal majority, proceeds

stantine, does not find one Christian church worthy

to say (609, etc.), Adspice quam pleno subsellia nostra Senatu

to be named among the edifices of the city. Am¬

Decernant infame Jovis pulvinar, et omne

brose (tom. ii. Epist. xvii. p. 825) deplores the public scandals of Rome, which continually of¬

Idolum longe purgata ex urbe fugandum.

fended the eyes, the ears, and the nostrils of the

Qua vocat egregii sententia Principis, illuc

faithful. 12. Ambrose repeatedly affirms, in contradic¬ tion to common sense (Moyle’s Works, vol. ii. p.

Libera, turn pedibus, turn corde, frequentia transit. Zosimus ascribes to the conscript fathers an hea-

817

818

Notes: Chapter xxvm

thenish courage which few of them are found to possess. 20. Jerom specifies the pontiff Albinus, who was surrounded with such a believing family of chil¬ dren and grandchildren as would have been suffi¬ cient to convert even Jupiter himself—an extra¬ ordinary proselyte! (tom. i. ad Laetam, p. 54 [Ep. cvii. tom. i. p. 671, ed. Vallars.]). 21. Exsultare Patres videas, pulcherrima mundi Lumina; Conciliumque senum gestire Catonum Candidiore toga niveum pietatis amictum Sumere; et exuvias deponere pontificales. The fancy of Prudentius is warmed and elevated by victory. 22. Prudentius, after he has described the con¬ version of the senate and people, asks, with some truth and confidence, Et dubitamus adhuc Romam, tibi, Christe, dicatam In leges transisse tuas? 23. Jerom exults in the desolation of the Capitol and the other temples of Rome (tom. i. p. 54, tom. ii. p. 95). 24. Libanius (Orat. pro Templis, p. 10, Genev. 1634, published by James Godefroy, and now ex¬ tremely scarce) accuses Valentinian and Valens of prohibiting sacrifices. Some partial order may have been issued by the Eastern emperor; but the idea of any general law is contradicted by the silence of the Code and the evidence of ecclesias¬ tical history. 25. See his laws in the Theodosian Code, 1. xvi. tit. x. leg. 7-11. 26. Homer’s sacrifices are not accompanied with any inquisition of entrails (see Feithius, Antiquitat. Homer. 1. i. c. 10, 16. The Tuscans, who produced the first Haruspices, subdued both the Greeks and the Romans (Cicero de Divinatione, ii. 23). 27. Zosimus, 1. iv. [c. 37] p. 245, 249. Theodoret, 1. v. c. 21. Idatius in Chron. Prosper. Aquitan. 1. iii. c. 38 apud Baronium, Annal. Eccles. a.d. 389, No. 52. Libanius (pro Templis, p. 10) labours to prove that the commands of Theodosius were not direct and positive. 28. Cod. Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. x. leg. 8, 18. There is room to believe that this temple of Edessa, which Theodosius wished to save for civil uses, was soon afterwards a heap of ruins (Libanius pro Templis. р. 26, 27, and Godefroy’s notes, p. 59). 29. See this curious oration of Libanius pro Templis, pronounced, or rather composed, about the year 390. I have consulted with advantage Dr. Lardner’s version and remarks (Heathen Testi¬ monies, vol. iv. p. 135-163). 30. See the Life of Martin by Sulpicius Severus, с. 9-14- The saint once mistook (as Don Quixote might have done) an harmless funeral for an idola¬ trous procession, and imprudently committed a miracle. 31. Compare Sozomen (1. vii. c. 15) with The¬

odoret (1. v. c. 21). Between them they relate the crusade and death of Marcellus. 32. Libanius pro Templis, p. 10-13. He ra^s at these black-garbed men, the Christian monks, who eat more than elephants. Poor elephants! they are temperate animals. 33. Prosper. Aquitan. 1. iii. c. 38, apud Baron¬ ium; Annal. Eccles. a.d. 389, No. 58, etc. The temple had been shut some time, and the access to it was overgrown with brambles. 34. Donatus, Roma Antiqua et Nova, 1. iv. c. 4, p. 468. This consecration was performed by Pope Boniface IV. I am ignorant of the favourable cir¬ cumstances which had preserved the Pantheon above two hundred years after the reign of Theo¬ dosius. 35. Sophronius composed a recent and separate history (Jerom. in Script. Eccles. tom. i. p. 303), which has furnished materials to Socrates (1. v. c. 16), Theodoret (1. v. c. 22), and Rufinus (1. ii. c. 22). Yet the last, who had been at Alexandria be¬ fore and after the event, may deserve the credit of an original witness. 36. Gerard Vossius (Opera, tom. v. p. 80, and de Idololatria, 1. i. c. 29) strives to support the strange notion of the Fathers, that the patriarch Joseph was adored in Egypt as the bull Apis and the god Serapis. 37. Origo dei nondum nostris celebrata, Tsgyptiorum antistites sic memorant, etc. Tacit. Hist. iv. 83. The Greeks who had travelled into Egypt were alike ignorant of this new deity. 38. Macrobius, Saturnal. 1. i. c. 7. Such a living fact decisively proves his foreign extraction. 39. At Rome, Isis and Serapis were united in the same temple. The precedency which the queen assumed may seem to betray her unequal alliance with the stranger of Pontus. But the superiority of the female sex was established in Egypt as a civil and religious institution (Diodor. Sicul. tom. i. 1. i. [c. 27] p. 31, edit. Wesseling), and the same order is observed in Plutarch’s Treatise of Isis and Osiris; whom he identifies with Serapis. 40. Ammianus (xxii. 16). The Exposito totius Mundi (p. 8, in Hudson’s Geograph. Minor, tom. iii.), and Rufinus (1. ii. c. 22), celebrate the Serapeum as one of the wonders of the world. 41. See M6moires de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. ix. p. 397-416. The old library of the Ptole¬ mies was totally consumed in Caesar’s Alexandrian war. Marc Antony gave the whole collection of Pergamus (200,000 volumes) to Cleopatra, as the foundation of the new library of Alexandria. 42. Libanius (pro Templis, p. 21) indiscreetly provokes his Christian masters by this insulting remark. 43. We may choose between the date of Marcellinus (a.d. 389) or that of Prosper (a.d. 391). Tillemont (Hist. des. Emp. tom. v. p. 310, 756) prefers the former, and Pagi the latter. 44. Tillemont, Mem. Eccl6s. tom. xi. p. 441 — 500. The ambiguous situation of Theophilus—a

Notes: Chapter xxvm

819

saint, as the friend of Jerom; a devil, as the enemy

country: and those of Bacchus (Georgic. ii. 380)

of Chrysostom—produces a sort of impartiality;

had produced the theatre of Athens. See Godefroy,

yet, upon the whole, the balance is justly inclined

ad loc., Liban., and Codex Theodos. tom. vi. p.

against him.

284 [ed. Lugd. 1665J.

45. Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p.

54. Honorius tolerated these rustic festivals (a.d.

41 1) has alleged a beautiful passage from Suidas,

399). “Absque ullo sacrificio, atque ulla super-

or rather from Damascius, which shows the devout

stitione damnabili.” But nine years afterwards he

and virtuous Olympius, not in the light of a war¬

found it necessary to reiterate and enforce the same

rior, but of a prophet.

proviso (Codex Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. x. leg. 17, 19).

46. Nos vidimus armaria librorum, quibus di-

55. Cod. Theodos.

1.

xvi. tit. x. leg. 12. Jortin

reptis, exinanita ea a nostris hominibus, nostris

(Remarks on Eccles. History, vol. iv. p. 134) cen¬

temporibus memorent. Orosius, 1. vi. c. 15, p. 421,

sures, with becoming asperity, the style and senti¬

edit. Havercamp. Though a bigot and a contro¬

ment of this intolerant law.

versial writer, Orosius seems to blush.

56. Such a charge should not be lightly made;

47. Eunapius, in the Lives of Antoninus and

but it may surely be justified by the authority of

zEdesius, execrates the sacrilegious rapine of The-

St. Augustin, who thus addresses the Donatists:

ophilus. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 453)

“Quis nostrum, quis vestrum non laudat leges ab

quotes an epistle of Isidore of Pelusium, which re¬

Imperatoribus datas adversus sacrificia Paganor-

proaches the primate with the idolatrous worship of

um? Et certe longe ibi poena severior constituta est;

gold, the auri sacra fames.

illius quippe impietatis capitale supplicium est.”

48. Rufinius names the priest of Saturn who, in

Epist. xciii. No. 10 [tom. ii. p. 308, ed. Bened.

the character of the god, familiarly conversed with

1797], quoted by Le Clerc (Bibliotheque Choisie,

many pious ladies of quality; till he betrayed him¬

tom. viii. p. 277), who adds some judicious reflec¬

self, in a moment of transport, when he could not

tions on the intolerance of the victorious Christians.

disguise the tone of his voice. The authentic and

57. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 28, p. 537. Augustin (Enar-

impartial narrative of zEschines (see Bayle, Dic-

rat. in Psalm cxl. apud Lardner, Heathen Testi¬

tionnaire Critique, Scamandre), and the adven¬

monies, vol. iv. p. 458) insults their cowardice.

1.

“Quis eorum comprehensus est in sacrificio (cum

ture of Mundus (Joseph. Antiquitat. Judaic.

xviii. c. 3 [§ 4], p. 877, edit. Havercamp), may prove that such amorous frauds have been prac¬ 49. See the images of Serapis, in Montfaucon (tom. ii. p. 297): but the description of Macrobius

1.

58. Libanius (pro Templis, p. 17, 18) mentions, without censure, the occasional conformity, and as

tised with success.

(Saturnal.

his legibus ista prohiberentur) et non negavit?”

i. c. 20) is much more picturesque

it were theatrical play, of these hypocrites. 59. Libanius concludes his apology (p. 32) by declaring to the emperor that, unless he expressly warrants the destruction of the temples, loth tovs

and satisfactory. 50. Sed fortes tremuere manus, motique verenda Majestate loci, si robora sacra ferirent In sua credebant redituras membra se¬

twv aypuv Starroras, nai avTois, xai Tip vopco fio-qdqoovTas, the proprietors will defend themselves and the laws. 60. Paulinus, in Vit. Ambros. c. 26. Augustine, The City of God, 1. v. c. 26. Theodoret, 1. v. c. 24.

cures. (Lucan, iii. 419). “Is it true” (said Augustus to a

61. Libanius suggests the form of a persecuting

veteran of Italy, at whose house he supped) “that

edict which Theodosius might enact (pro Templis,

the man who gave the first blow to the golden

p. 31): a rash joke and a dangerous experiment.

statue of Anaitis was instantly deprived of his eyes

Some princes would have taken his advice.

and of his life?”—“/ was that man” (replied the

62. Denique pro mentis terrestribus aequa

clear-sighted veteran), “and you now sup on one (Plin. Hist. Natur.

rependens Munera, sacricolis summos impertit hon-

xxxiii. 24). 51. The History of the Reformation affords fre¬

ores, Dux bonus, et certare sinit cum laude

quent examples of the sudden change from super¬

suorum: Nec pago implicitos per debita culmina

of the legs of the goddess.”

stition to contempt. 52. Sozomen, 1. vii. c. 20. I have supplied the

mundi Ire viros prohibet. Ipse magistratum tibi consulis, ipse tri¬

measure. The same standard of the inundation, and consequently of the cubit, has uniformly sub¬

bunal

sisted since the time of Herodotus. See Freret, in

Contulit.

the Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom.

Prudent, in Symmach. i. 617, etc.

xvi. p. 344-353. Greaves’s Miscellaneous Works, vol. i. p. 233. The Egyptian cubit is about twenty-

63. Libanius (pro Templis, p. 32) is proud that

two inches of the English measure. 53. Libanius (pro Templis, p. 15, 16, 17) pleads

Theodosius should thus distinguish a man who even in his presence would swear by Jupiter. Yet

their cause with gentle and insinuating rhetoric.

this presence seems to be no more than a figure of

From the earliest age such feasts had enlivened the

rhetoric.

820

Notes: Chapter xxvm

64. Zosimus, who styles himself Count and Ex¬

peruse the controversy of St. Jerom and Vigilan¬

advocate of the Treasury, reviles, with partial and

tius, and St. Augustin’s account of the miracles of

indecent bigotry, the Christian princes, and even

St. Stephen, may speedily gain some idea of the

the father of his sovereign. His work must have been privately circulated, since it escaped the in¬

spirit of the Fathers. 75. M. de Beausobre (Hist, du Manicheisme,

vectives of the ecclesiastical historians prior to

tom. ii. p. 648) has applied a worldly sense to the

Evagrius (1. iii. c. 40-41), who lived towards the

pious observation of the clergy of Smyrna, who

end of the sixth century. 65. Yet the Pagans of Africa complained that

carefully preserved the relics of St. Polycarp the

the times would not allow them to answer with

martyr. 76. Martin of Tours (see his Life, c. 8, by Sul-

freedom the City of God; nor does St. Augustin

picius Severus) extorted this confession from the

(v. 26) deny the charge. 66. The Moors of Spain, who secretly preserved

mouth of the dead man. The error is allowed to be natural; the discovery is supposed to be miracu¬

the Mahometan religion above a century, under

lous. Which of the two was likely to happen most

the tyranny of the Inquisition, possessed the Koran, with the peculiar use of the Arabic tongue. See the

frequently? 77. Lucian composed in Greek his original nar¬

curious and honest story of their expulsion in

rative, which has been translated by Avitus, and

Geddes (Miscellanies, vol. i. p. 1-198).

published by Baronius (Annal. Eccles. a.d. 415,

67. Paganos qui supersunt, quanquam jam nul-

No. 7-16). The Benedictine editors of St. Augustin

los esse credamus, etc. Cod. Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. x.

have given (at the end of the work De Civitate Dei)

leg. 22, a.d. 423. The younger Theodosius was

two several copies, with many various readings. It

afterwards satisfied that his judgment had been

is the character of falsehood to be loose and incon¬

somewhat premature.

sistent. The most incredible parts of the legend are

68. See Eunapius, in the Life of the sophist Tidesius; in that of Eustathius he foretells the ruin of Paganism, Kai tl pvdcobes, (cat deifies, pbwq(jiv tp-KoirfcraL rots iroKepiois apKovv-

counsellor of Pyrrhus, after his return from his em¬

ras, sufficient to excite the contempt of the enemy.

bassy, in which he had diligently studied the dis¬

3. Eos qui catholicae sectae sunt inimici, intra

cipline and manners of Rome. See Plutarch in

palatium militare prohibemus. Nullus nobis sit

8. These comparisons were used by Cineas, the

Pyrrhus.

aliqua ratione conjunctus, qui a nobis fide et re-

9. In the three census which were made of the

ligione discordat. Cod. Theodos, 1. xvi. tit. v. leg.

Roman people about the time of the second Punic

42, and Godefroy’s Commentary, tom. vi. p. 164.

war, the numbers stand as follows (see Livy, Epi-

This law was applied in the utmost latitude and

tom. 1. xx. Hist. 1. xxvii. 36, xxix .37), 270, 213, 137,

rigorously executed. Zosimus, 1. v. [c. 46] p. 364.

108, 214,000. The fall of the second and the rise of

4. Addison (see his Works, vol. ii. p. 54, edit.

the third appears so enormous, that several critics,

Baskerville) has given a very picturesque descrip¬

notwithstanding the unanimity of the MSS., have

tion of the road through the Apennine. The Goths

suspected some corruption of the text of Livy.

were not at leisure to observe the beauties of the

(See Drakenbroch ad xxvii. 36, and Beaufort, Re-

prospect; but they were pleased to find that the

publique Romaine, tom. i. p. 325). They did not

Saxa Intercisa, a narrow passage which Vespasian

consider that the second census was taken only at

had cut through the rock (Cluver. Italia Antiq.

Rome, and that the numbers were diminished, not

tom. i. p. 618), was totally neglected.

only by the death, but likewise by the absence, of

5.

Hinc albi, Clitumne, Greges, et maxima taurus

many soldiers. In the third census, Livy expressly affirms that the legions were mustered by the care

Victima saepe, tuo perfusi flumine sacro,

of particular commissaries. From the numbers on

Romanos ad templa Deum duxere tri-

the list we must always deduct one-twelfth above

umphos.

Georg, ii. 147.

Besides Virgil, most of the Latin poets, Propertius,

threescore and incapable of bearing arms. See Population de la France, p. 72.

Lucan, Silius Italicus, Claudian, etc., whose pas¬

10. Livy considers these two incidents as the

sages may be found in Cluverius and Addison,

effects only of chance and courage. I suspect that

have celebrated the triumphal victims of Clitumnus.

they were both managed by the admirable policy

6. Some ideas of the march of Alaric are bor¬

of the senate.

rowed from the journey of Honorius over the same

11. See Jerom, tom. i. p. 169, 170, ad Eusto-

ground (see Claudian in vi. Cons. Hon. 494-522).

chium [Epist. cviii. tom. i. p. 684, ed. Vallars.]; he

The measured distance between Ravenna and

bestows on Paula the splendid titles of Gracchorum

Rome was 254 Roman miles. Itinerar. Wesseling,

stirps, soboles Scipionum, Pauli hzeres, cujus vo-

p. 126.

cabulum trahit, Martiae Papyriae Matris Africani

Notes: Chapter xxxi

831

vera et germana propago. This particular descrip¬

20. Probus . . . claritudine generis et potentia et

tion supposes a more solid title than the surname

opum amplitudine cognitus Orbi Romano, per

of Julius, which Toxotius shared with a thousand

quern universum poene patrimonia sparsa possedit,

families of the western provinces. See the Index of

juste an secus non judicioli est nostri. Ammian.

Tacitus, of Gruter’s Inscriptions, etc. 12. Tacitus

Marcellin.

xxvii.

11.

His children and widow

affirms that, be¬

erected for him a magnificent tomb in the Vati¬

tween the battle of Actium and the reign of Ves¬

can, which was demolished in the time of pope

pasian, the senate was gradually filled with new

Nicholas V. to make room for the new church of

families from the Municipia and colonies of Italy.

St. Peter. Baronius, who laments the ruin of this

13.

(Annal. iii. 55)

Nec quisquam Procerum tentet (licet aere vetusto Floreat, et claro cingatur Roma senatu)

Christian monument, has diligently preserved the inscriptions and basso-relievos. See Annal. Eccles. a.d. 395, No. 5-17.

Se jactare parem; sed prima sede relicta Aucheniis, de jure licet certare secundo. Claud, in Prob. et Olybrii Coss. 18. Such a compliment paid to the obscure name of the Auchenii has amazed the critics; but they all agree that, whatever may be the true reading, the sense of Claudian can be applied only to the Anician family. 14. The earliest date on the annals of Pighius is

21. Two Persian satraps travelled to Milan and Rome to hear St. Ambrose and to see Probus. (Paulin,

in Vit. Ambros.)

Claudian

(in Cons.

Probin. et. Olybr. 30-60) seems at a loss how to express the glory of Probus. 22. See the poem which Claudian addressed to the two noble youths. 23. Secundinus,

the Manichaean,

ap.

Baron.

Annal. Eccles. a.d. 390, No. 34.

that of M. Anicius Gallus, Trib. PI. a.u.c. 506.

24. See Nardini, Roma Antica, p. 89, 498, 500.

Another Tribune, Q. Anicius, a.u.c. 508, is dis¬

25.

tinguished by the epithet of Praenestinus. Livy

Quid

loquar

inclusas

inter

laquearia

silvas?

(xlv. 43) places the Anicii below the great families of Rome.

Vernula qua vario carmine ludit avis? Claud. Rutil. Numatian. Itinerar.

15. Livy, xliv. 30, 31, xlv. 3, 26, 43. He fairly

ver. hi.

appreciates the merit of Anicius, and justly ob¬

The poet lived at the time of the Gothic invasion.

serves that his fame was clouded by the superior

A moderate palace would have covered Cincin-

lustre of the Macedonian, which preceded the

natus’s farm of four acres (Val. Max. iv. 4, 7). In

Illyrian, triumph.

laxitatem ruris excurrunt, says Seneca, Epist. 114.

16. The dates of the three consulships are a.u.c. 593, 818, 967: the two last under the reigns of

See a judicious note of Mr. Hume, Essays, vol. i. p. 562, last 8vo edition.

Nero and Caracalla. The second of these consuls

26. This curious account of Rome in the reign

distinguished himself only by his infamous flattery

of Honorius is found in a fragment of the historian

(Tacit. Annal. xv. 74); but even the evidence of

Olympiodorus, ap. Photium, p. 197 [p. 63, ed.

crimes, if they bear the stamp of greatness and an¬

Bekker],

tiquity, is admitted, without reluctance, to prove the genealogy of a noble house.

27. The sons of Alypius [Olympius in Bekker’s ed.], of Symmachus, and of Maximus, spent, dur¬

1 7. In the sixth century the nobility of the Ani-

ing their respective praetorships, twelve, or twenty,

cian name is mentioned (Gassiodor. Variar. 1. x.

or forty, centenaries (or hundredweight of gold).

Ep. 11, 12) with singular respect by the minister

See Olympiodor. ap. Phot. p. 197 [p. 63, ed. Bek¬

of a Gothic king of Italy.

ker]. This popular estimation allows some latitude;

18.

-Fixus in omnes Cognatos procedit honos; quemcumque requiras Hac de stirpe virum, certum est de Consule nasci. Per fasces numerantur avi, semperque renata Nobilitate virent, et prolem fata sequuntur.

but it is difficult to explain a law in the Theodosian Code (1. vi. tit. iv. leg. 5) which fixes the expense of the first prastor at 25,000, of the second at 20,000, and of the third at 15,000 jolles. The name of jollis (see Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 727) was equally applied to a purse of 125 pieces of silver, and to a small copper coin of the value of 2T25 part of that purse. In the former sense, the 25,000 jolles would be equal to

(Claudian in Prob. et Olyb. Consulat. 12, etc.)

£150,000; in the latter to five or six pounds ster¬

The Annii, whose name seems to have merged in

ling. The one appears extravagant, the other is

the Anician, mark the Fasti with many consulships

ridiculous. There must have existed some third

from the time of Vespasian to the fourth century,

and middle value, which is here understood; but

19. The title of first Christian senator may be

ambiguity is an inexcusable fault in the language

justified by the authority of Prudentius (in Sym-

of laws.

mach. i. 553) and the dislike of the Pagans to the

28. Nicopolis ... in Actiaco littore sita posses-

Anician family. See Tillemont, Hist, des Empe-

sionis vestras nunc pars vel maxima est. Jerom. in

reurs, tom. iv. p. 183, v. p. 44. Baron. Annal. a.d.

praefat. Comment, ad Epistol. ad Titum, tom. ix.

312, No. 78; a.d. 322, No. 2.

p.

243.

M.

de

Tillemont

supposes,

strangely

832

Notes: Chapter xxxi

enough, that it was part of Agamemnon’s inheri¬

36. The minute diligence of antiquarians has not been able to verify these extraordinary names.

tance. Mem. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 85. 29. Seneca, Epist. lxxxix. His language is of the

I am of opinion that they were invented by the

declamatory kind: but declamation could scarcely

historian himself, who was afraid of any personal

exaggerate the avarice and luxury of the Romans.

satire or application. It is certain, however, that

The philosopher himself deserved some share of

the simple denominations of the Romans were

the reproach, if it be true that his rigorous exac¬

gradually lengthened to the number of four, five,

tion of Quadringmties, above three hundred thou¬

or even seven, pompous surnames; as, for instance,

sand pounds, which he had lent at high interest,

Marcus Maecius Maemmius Furius Balburius Cas-

provoked a rebellion in Britain. (Dion Cassius, 1.

cilianus Placidus. See Norris, Cenotaph. Pisan.

lxii. [c. 2] p. 1003.) According to the conjecture of

Dissert, iv. p. 438.

Gale (Antoninus’s Itinerary in Britain, p. 92), the

37. The carruca, or coaches of the Romans, were

same Faustinus possessed an estate near Bury, in

often of solid silver curiously carved and engraved;

Suffolk, and another in the kingdom of Naples.

and the trappings of the mules or horses were em¬

30. Volusius, a wealthy senator (Tacit. Annal.

bossed with gold. This magnificence continued

iii. 30), always preferred tenants born on the es¬ tate. Columella, who received this maxim from

from the reign of Nero to that of Honorius; and the Appian way was covered with the splendid

him, argues very judiciously on the subject. De Re

equipages of the nobles, who came out to meet St.

Rustica, 1. i. c. 7, p. 408, edit. Gesner. Leipzig,

Melania when she returned to Rome six years be¬

r73531. Valesius (ad Ammian. xiv. 6) has proved,

fore the Gothic siege (Seneca, Epist. Ixxxvii.; Plin.

from Chrysostom and Augustin, that the senators

ron. Annal. Eccles. a.d. 397, No. 5). Yet pomp is

were not allowed to lend money at usury. Yet it

well exchanged for convenience; and a plain mod¬

appears from the Theodosian Code (see Godefroy

ern coach that is hung upon springs is much pref¬

Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 49; Paulin. Nolan, apud Ba¬

ad 1. ii. tit. xxxiii. tom. i. p. 230-239) that they

erable to the silver or gold carts of antiquity, which

were permitted to take six per cent, or one-half of

rolled on the axletree, and were exposed, for the

the legal interest; and, what is more singular, this

most part, to the inclemency of the weather.

permission was granted to thc young senators.

38. In a homily of Asterius, bishop of Amasia,

32. Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 50. He states the

M. de Valois has discovered (ad Ammian. xiv. 6)

silver at only 4380 pounds, which is increased by

that this was a new fashion; that bears, wolves,

Livy (xxx. 45) to 100,023; the former seems too

lions, and tigers, woods, hunting-matches, etc.,

little for an opulent city, the latter too much for

were represented in embroidery; and that the

any private sideboard.

more pious coxcombs substituted the figure or

33. The learned Arbuthnot (Tables of Ancient

legend of some favourite saint.

Coins, etc., p. 153) has observed with humour,

39. See Pliny’s Epistles, i. 6. Three large wild

and I believe with truth, that Augustus had nei¬

boars were allured and taken in the toils without

ther glass to his windows nor a shirt to his back.

interrupting the studies of the philosophic sports¬ man.

Under the lower empire the use of linen and glass became somewhat more common.

40. The change from the inauspicious word

[Glass was in general use during the reign of Augustus, and linen in that of Tiberius.]

Avernus, which stands in the text, is immaterial. The two lakes, Avernus and Lucrinus, communi¬

34. It is incumbent on me to explain the liber¬

cated with each other, and were fashioned by the

ties which I have taken with the text of Ammi-

stupendous moles of Agrippa into the Julian port*

anus. 1. I have melted down into one piece the

which opened through a narrow entrance into the

sixth chapter of the fourteenth and the fourth of

gulf of Puteoli. Virgil, who resided on the spot, has

the twenty-eighth book. 2. I have given order

described (Georgic ii. 161) this work at the mo¬

and connection to the confused mass of materials.

ment of its execution: and his commentators, es¬

3. I have softened some extravagant hyperboles and

pecially Catrou, have derived much light from

pared away some superfluities of the original. 4. I

Strabo, Suetonius, and Dion. Earthquakes and

have developed some observations which were in¬

volcanoes have changed the face of the country,

sinuated rather than expressed. With these allow¬

and turned the Lucrine lake, since the year 1538,

ances my version will be found, not literal indeed,

into the Monte Nuovo. See Camillo Pellegrino

but faithful and exact.

Discorsi della Campania Felice, p. 239, 244, etc.

35. Claudian, who seems to have read the his¬ tory of Ammianus, speaks of this great revolution in a much less courtly style: Postquam jura ferox Caesar Transtulit;

et

Antonii Sanfelicii Campania, p. 13, 88. 41. The regna Cumana et Puteolana; loca caetero quivalde expetenda, interpeilantium autem

in

se communia

lapsi mores;

multitudine paene fugienda. Cicero ad Attic, xiv.

16. desuetaque

priscis

42. The proverbial expression of Cimmerian dark¬ ness was originally borrowed from the description

Artibus, in gremium pacis servile recessi. De Bell. Gildonico, v. 49.

of Homer (in the eleventh book of the Odyssey) which he applies to a remote and fabulous country

Notes: Chapter xxxi

833

on the shores of the ocean. See Erasmi Adagia, in

etymology) from Ireland to Japan, pours forth on

his Works, tom. ii. p. 593, the Leyden edition.

this trifling subject a copious torrent of classic and

43. We may learn from Seneca Epist. cxxiii., three curious circumstances relative to the jour¬

Oriental learning. See Syntagma Dissertat. tom. ii. p. 217-405.

neys of the Romans. 1. They were preceded by a

47. Marius Maximus, homo omnium verbosis-

troop of Numidian light-horse, who announced by

simus, qui et mythistoricis se voluminibus impli-

a cloud of dust the approach of a great man. 2.

cavit. Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 242 (Vopisc.

Their baggage-mules transported not only the

Firm. c. 1.] He wrote the Lives of the, Emperors

precious vases but even the fragile vessels of crystal

from Trajan to Alexander Severus. See Gerard

and murra, which last is almost proved, by the

Vossius de Historicis Latin. 1. ii. c. 3, in his Works,

learned French translator of Seneca (tom. iii. p.

vol. iv. p. 57.

402-422), to mean the porcelain of China and Ja¬

48. This satire is probably exaggerated. The

pan. 3. The beautiful faces of the young slaves were

Saturnalia of Macrobius, and the Epistles of Jerom,

covered with a medicated crust, or ointment, which

afford satisfactory proofs that Christian theology

secured them against the effects of the sun and

and classic literature were studiously cultivated by

frost.

several Romans of both sexes and of the highest

44. Distributio

solemnium

sportularum.

The

rank.

sportults, or sportellce, were small baskets supposed

49. Macrobius, the friend of these Roman nobles,

to contain a quantity of hot provisions of the value

considered the stars as the cause, or at least the

of

signs, of future events (de Somn. Scipion. 1. i. c. 19,

100 quadrantes,

or

twelvepence halfpenny,

which were ranged in order in the hall, and osten¬

р. 68).

tatiously distributed to the hungry or servile crowd

50. The histories of Livy (see particularly vi.

who waited at the door. This indelicate custom is

36) are full of the extortions of the rich and the

very frequently mentioned in the epigrams of

sufferings of the poor debtors. The melancholy

Martial and the satires of Juvenal. See likewise

story of a brave old soldier (Dionys. Hal. 1. vi.

Suetonius, in Claud, c. 21; in Neron. c. 16; in Do-

с. 26, p. 347, edit. Hudson, and Livy, ii. 23)

mitian. c. 4, 7- These baskets of provisions were

must

afterwards converted into large pieces of gold and

primitive times, which have been so undeservedly

silver coin, or plate, which were mutually given

praised.

have

been

frequently repeated in those

and accepted even by the persons of the highest

51. Non esse in civitate duo millia hominum qui

rank (see Symmach. Epist. iv. 55, ix. 124, and

rem haberent. Cicero, Offic. ii. 21, and Comment.

Miscell. p. 256 [ed. Paris, 1604]), on solemn oc¬

Paul. Manut, in edit. Graev. This vague compu¬

casions, of consulships, marriages, etc.

tation was made a.u.c. 649, in a speech of the

45. The want of an English name obliges me to

tribune Philippus, and it was his object, as well as

refer to the common genus of squirrels, the Latin

that of the Gracchi (see Plutarch), to deplore, and

glis, the French loir; a little animal who inhabits

perhaps to exaggerate, the misery of the common

the woods and remains torpid in cold weather (see

people.

Plin. Hist. Natur. viii. 82; Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. viii. 158; Pennant’s Synopsis of Quadrupeds, p. 289). The art of rearing and fattening great

52. See the third Satire (60-125) of Juvenal, who indignantly complains, -Quamvis quota portio fascia Achaei!

numbers of gliers was practised in Roman villas as

Jampridem

a profitable article of rural economy (Varro, de

Orontes;

Re Rustica, iii. 15). The excessive demand of them for luxurious tables was increased by the foolish

Syrus

in Tiberim

defluxit

Et linguam et mores, etc. Seneca, when he proposes to comfort his mother

prohibitions of the censors; and it is reported that

(Consolat. ad Helv. c. 6) by the reflection that a

they are still esteemed in modern Rome, and are

great part of mankind were in a state of exile, re¬

frequently sent as presents by the Colonna princes

minds her how few of the inhabitants of Rome were

(see Brotier, the last editor of Pliny, tom. ii. p. 458,

born in the city.

apud Barbou, 1779). 46. This game, which might be translated by

oil, wine, etc., may be found in the fourteenth

the more familiar names of trictrac, or backgammon,

book of the Theodosian Code, which expressly

was a favourite amusement of the gravest Romans;

treats of the police of the great cities. See particu¬

and old Mucius Scaevola, the lawyer, had the rep¬

larly the titles iii. iv. xv. xvi. xvii. xxiv. The collat¬

53. Almost all that is said of the bread, bacon,

utation of a very skilful player. It was called ludus

eral testimonies are produced in Godefroy’s Com¬

duodecim scriptorum, from the twelve scripta or lines

mentary, and it is needless to transcribe them.

which equally divided the alveolus or table. On

According to a law of Theodosius, which appre¬

these the two armies, the white and the black, each

ciates in money the military allowance, a piece of

consisting of fifteen men, or calculi, were regularly

gold (eleven shillings) was equivalent to eighty

placed and alternately moved according to the

pounds of bacon, or to eighty pounds of oil, or to

laws of the game and the chances of the tessera or

twelve modii (or pecks) of salt (Cod. Theod. 1. viii.

dice. Dr. Hyde, who diligently traces the history

tit. iv. leg. 17). This equation, compared with an¬

and varieties of the nerdiludium (a name of Persic

other seventy pounds of bacon for an amphora (Cod.

834

Notes: Chapter xxxi

Theod. 1. xiv. tit. iv. leg. 4), fixes the price of wine at about sixteenpence the gallon.

64. See the dialogue of Lucian, entitled de Saltatione, tom. ii. p. 265-317, edit. Reitz. The pan¬

54. The anonymous author of the Description

tomimes obtained the honourable name of x^poao-

of the World (p. 14, in tom. iii. Geograph. Minor.

(fioi; and it was required that they should be con¬

Husdon) observes of Lucania, in his barbarous

versant with almost every art and science. Burette

Latin, Regio obtima, et ipsa omnibus habundans,

(in the Memoires de l’Academie des Inscriptions,

et lardum muitum foras emittit: propter quod est

tom. i. p. 127, etc.) has given a short history of the

in montibus, cujus aescam animalium variam. 55. See Novell, ad calcem Cod. Theod. D. Va¬

art of pantomimes. 65. Ammianus, 1. xiv. c. 6. He complains, with

lent. 1. i. tit. xv. [tom. vi. App. p. 28, ed. Gothofr.].

decent indignation, that the streets of Rome were

This law was published at Rome, June 29th, a.d.

filled with crowds of females, who might have

452-

given children to the state, but whose only occupa¬

56. Suetcn. in August, c. 42. The utmost de¬

tion was to curl and dress their hair, and jactari

bauch of the emperor himself, in his favourite wine

volubilibus gyris, dum exprimunt innumera simu¬

of Rhaetia, never exceeded a sextarius (an English

lacra, quae finxere fabulae theatrales.

pint). Id. c. 77. Torrentius ad loc. and Arbuthnot’s

66. Lipsius (tom. iii. p. 423, de Magnitud. Ro-

Tables, p. 86. 57. His design was to plant vineyards along the

mana, 1. iii. c. 3) and Isaac Vossius (Observat.

sea-coast of Etruria (Vopiscus, in Hist. August, p.

four, or eight, or fourteen millions in Rome. Mr.

Var. p. 26-34) have indulged strange dreams, of

225 [in Aurel. c. 48]), the dreary, unwholesome,

Hume (Essays, vol. i. p. 450-457), with admirable

uncultivated Maremme of modern Tuscany.

good sense and scepticism, betrays some secret dis¬

58. Olympiodor, apud Phot. p. 197 [p. 63, ed.

position to extenuate the populousness of ancient times.

Bekker]. 59. Seneca (Epistol. Ixxxvi.) compares the baths

67. Olympiodor. ap. Phot. p.

197 [p. 63, ed.

of Scipio Africanus, at his villa of Liternum, with

Bekker], See Fabricius, Biblioth. Graec. tom. ix. p.

the magnificence (which was continually increas¬

400.

ing) of the public baths of Rome, long before the

68. In ea autem majestate urbis, et vicium infi-

stately Thermae of Antoninus and Diocletian were

nita frequentia innumerabiles habitationes opus

erected. The quadrans paid for admission was the

fuit explicare. Ergo cum recipere non posset area

quarter of the as, about one-eighth of an English

plana tantam multitudinem [ad habitandum] in

penny.

urbe, ad auxilium altitudinis aedificiorum res ipsa

60. Ammianus (1. xiv. c. 6, and 1. xxviii. c. 4),

coegit devenire. Vitruv. ii. 8. This passage, which

after describing the luxury and pride of the nobles

I owe to Vossius, is clear, strong, and compre¬

of Rome, exposes, with equal indignation, the

hensive.

vices and follies of the common people.

69. The successive testimonies of Pliny, Aris¬

61. Juvenal, Satir. xi. 191, etc. The expressions

tides, Claudian, Rutilius, etc., prove the insuffi¬

of the historian Ammianus are not less strong and

ciency of these restrictive edicts. See Lipsius, de

animated than those of the satirist; and both the

Magnitud. Romana, 1. iii. c. 4.

one and the other painted from the life. The num¬

-Tabulata tibi jam tertia fumant;

bers which the great Circus was capable of re¬

Tu nescis; nam si gradibus trepidatur ab

ceiving are taken from the original Notitia of the

imis

city. The differences between them prove that

Ultimus ardebit, quem tegula sola tuetur

they did not transcribe each other; but the sum may appear incredible, though the country on these occasions flocked to the city. 62. Sometimes, indeed, they composed original pieces.

A pluvia.

Juvenal, Satir. iii. 199.

70. Read the whole third Satire, but particular¬ ly 166, 223, etc. The description of a crowded in¬ sula, or lodging-house, in Petronius (c. 95, 97), perfectly tallies with the complaints of Juvenal;

-Vestigia Graeca

and we learn from legal authority that, in the time

Ausi deserere et celebrare domestica facta.

of Augustus (Heineccius, Hist. Juris Roman, c. iv.

Horat. Epistol. ad Pisones, 285, and the learned

p. 181), the ordinary rent of the several canacula,

though perplexed note of Dacier, who might have

or apartments of an insula, annually produced

allowed the name of tragedies to the Brutus and

forty thousand sesterces, between three and four

the Decius of Pacuvius, or to the Cato of Maternus.

hundred pounds sterling (Pandect. 1. xix. tit. ii.

The Octavia, ascribed to one of the Senecas, still

No. 30), a sum which proves at once the large

remains a very unfavourable specimen of Roman tragedy.

extent and high value of those common build¬ ings.

63. In the time of Quintillian and Pliny a tragic

71. This sum total is composed of 1 780 domus, or

poet was reduced to the imperfect method of hiring

great houses, of 46,602 insula, or plebeian habita¬

a great room, and reading his play to the com¬

tions (see Nardini, Roma Antica, 1. iii. p. 88); and

pany, whom he invited for that purpose. (See Dia¬

these numbers are ascertained by the agreement

log. de Oratoribus, c. 9, 10, and Plin. Epistol. vii.

of the texts of the different Notitia. Nardini, 1. viii,

«7-)

P- 498, 500.

Notes: Chapter xxxi

835

72. See that accurate writer M. de Messance,

the pound. See Pliny, Hist. Natur. xii. 14. It was

Recherches sur la Population, p. 175-187. From

brought from India; and the same country, the

probable or certain grounds he assigns to Paris

coast of Malabar, still affords the greatest plenty;

23,565 houses, 71,114 families, and 576,630 in¬

but the improvement of trade and navigation has

habitants.

multiplied the quantity and reduced the price.

73. This computation is not very different from that which M. Brotier, the last editor of Tacitus

See Histoire Politique et Philosophique, etc., tom. i. p. 457.

(tom. ii. p. 380), has assumed from similar prin¬

80. This Gothic chieftain is called, by Jornandes

ciples; though he seems to aim at a degree of pre¬

and Isidore, Athaulphus; by Zosimus and Orosius,

cision which it is neither possible nor important to obtain.

Ataulphus; and by Olympiodorus, Adaoulphus.

I

have used the celebrated name of Adolphus, which

74. For the events of the first siege of Rome,

seems to be authorised by the practice of the

which are often confounded with those of the sec¬

Swedes, the sons or brothers of the ancient Goths.

ond and third, see Zosimus, 1. v. [c. 38-42] p. 350-

81. The treaty between Alaric and the Romans,

354; Sozomen, 1. ix. c. 6; Olympiodorus, ap. Phot,

etc., is taken from Zosimus, 1. v. [c. 41, sqq.] p.

p. 180 [p. 57, ed. Bekk.]; Philostorgius, 1. xii. c. 3;

354, 355, 358, 359, 362, 363. The additional cir¬ cumstances are too few and trifling to require any

and Godefroy, Dissertat. p. 467-475. 75. The mother of Laeta was named Pissumena. Her father, family, and country are unknown. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 59.

other quotation. 82. Zosimus, 1. v. [c. 48] p. 367, 368, 369. 83. Zosimus, 1. v. [c. 45] p. 360, 361, 362. The

76. Ad nefandos cibos erupit esurientium rabies,

bishop, by remaining at Ravenna, escaped the

et sua invicem membra aniarunt, dum mater non

impending calamities of the city. Orosius, 1. vii. c.

parcit lactenti infantiae; et recipit utero, quem paullo ante effuderat. Jerom. ad. Principiam, tom.

39, P- 57384. For the adventures of Olympius and his suc¬

i. p. 121 [Ep. cxxvii. tom. i. p. 953, ed. Vallars.].

cessors in the ministry, see Zosimus, 1. v. [c. 46] p.

The same horrid circumstance is likewise told of

363, 365, 366; and Olympiodor. ap. Phot. p. 180,

the sieges of Jerusalem and Paris. For the latter,

181 [p. 57, ed. Bekk.].

compare the tenth book of the Henriade, and the

85. Zosimus (1. v. [c. 46] p. 364) relates this cir¬

Journal de Henri IV. tom. i. p. 47-83; and ob¬

cumstance with visible complacency, and cele¬

serve that a plain narrative of facts is much more

brates the character of Gennerid as the last glory

pathetic than the most laboured descriptions of

of expiring Paganism. Very different were the sen¬

epic poetry.

timents of the council of Carthage, who deputed

77. Zosimus (1. v. [c. 41] p. 355, 356) speaks of

four bishops to the court of Ravenna, to complain

these ceremonies like a Greek unacquainted with

of the law which had been just enacted, that all

the national superstition of Rome and Tuscany. I

conversions to Christianity should be free and vol¬

suspect that they consisted of two parts, the secret

untary. See Baronius, Annal. Eccles. a.d. 409, No.

and the public; the former were probably an imi¬

12; a.d. 410, No. 47, 48.

tation of the arts and spells by which Numa had

86. Zosimus, 1. v. [c. 47-49] p. 367, 368, 369.

drawn down Jupiter and his thunder on Mount

This custom of swearing by the head, or life, or

Aventine. -Quid agant laqueis, quae carmina

safety, or genius, of the sovereign, was of the high¬

dicant, Quaque trahant superis sedibus arte Jovem, Scire nefas homini.

est antiquity, both in Egypt (Genesis xlii. 15) and Scythia. It was soon transferred, by flattery, to the Caesars; and Tertullian complains that it was the only oath which the Romans of his time affected to reverence. See an elegant Dissertation of the

The ancilia or shields of Mars, the pignora Imperii,

Abbe Massieu on the Oaths of the Ancients, in the

which were carried in solemn procession on the

Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. i. p.

calends of March, derived their origin from this

208, 209. 87. Zosimus, 1. v. [c. 50] p. 368, 369. I have

mysterious event (Ovid. Fast. iii. 259—398)- It was probably designed to revive this ancient festival,

softened the expressions of Alaric, who expatiates

which had been suppressed by Theodosius. In that

in too florid a manner on the history of Rome.

case we recover a chronological date (March the

88. See Sueton. in Claud, c. 20; Dion Cassius,

1st, a.d. 409) which has not hitherto been observed.

1. lx. [c. 11] p. 949, edit. Reimar; and the lively

78. Sozomen (1. ix. c. 6) insinuates that the ex¬

description of Juvenal, Satir. xii. 75, etc. In the

periment was actually though unsuccessfully made,

sixteenth century, when the remains of this Au¬

but he does not mention the name of Innocent;

gustan port were still visible, the antiquarians

and Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 645) is de¬

sketched the plan (see D’Anville, Mem. de 1’Aca¬

termined not to believe that a pope could be guilty

demic des Inscriptions, tom. xxx. p. 198), and de¬

of such impious condescension.

clared with enthusiasm that all the monarchs of

79. Pepper was a favourite ingredient of the

Europe would be unable to execute so great a

most expensive Roman cookery, and the best sort

work (Bergier, Hist, des Grands Chemins des Ro-

commonly sold for fifteen denarii, or ten shillings,

mains, tom. ii. p. 356).

836

Notes: Chapter xxxi

89. The Ostia Tiberina (see Cluver. Italia Antiq. 1. iii. p. 870-879), in the plural number, the two

12th of February and the 8th of August, a.d. 410, evidently relate to this usurper.

mouths of the Tiber, were separated by the Holy

96. In hoc, Alaricus, imperatore, facto, infecto,

Island, an equilateral triangle, whose sides were

refecto, ac defecto . . . mimum risit, et Iudum

each of them computed at about two miles. The

spectavit imperii. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 42, p. 582.

colony of Ostia was founded immediately beyond

97. Zosimus, 1. vi. [c. 13] p. 384. Sozomen, 1. ix.

the left, or southern, and the Port immediately be¬

c. 9. Philostorgius. 1. xii. c. 3. In this place the text

yond the right, or northern, branch of the river;

of Zosimus is mutilated, and we have lost the re¬

and the distance between their remains measures

mainder of his sixth and last book, which ended

something more than two miles on Cingolani’s

with the sack of Rome. Credulous and partial as

map. In the time of Strabo the sand and mud de¬

he is, we must take our leave of that historian with

posited by the Tiber had choked the harbour of

some regret.

Ostia; the progress of the same cause has added

98. Adest Alaricus, trepidam Romam obsidet,

much to the size of the Holy Island, and gradually

turbat, irrumpit. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 39, p. 573. He

left both Ostia and the Port at a considerable dis¬

despatches this great event in seven words; but he

tance from the shore. The dry channels (fiumi

employs whole pages in celebrating the devotion of

morti) and the large estuaries (stagno di Ponente,

the Goths. I have extracted from an improbable

di Levante) mark the changes of the river and the

story of Procopius the circumstances which had an

efforts of the sea. Consult, for the present state of

air of probability. Procop. de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c.

this dreary and desolate tract, the excellent map

2 [tom. i. p. 315, ed. Bonn]. He supposes that the

of the ecclesiastical state by the mathematicians of

city was surprised while the senators slept in the

Benedict XIV.; an actual survey of the Agro Ro¬

afternoon; but Jerom, with more authority and

mano, in six sheets, by Cingolani, which contains

more reason, affirms that it was in the night, nocte

113,819 rubbia (about 570,000 acres);

and the

Moab capta est; nocte cecidit murus ejus, tom. i.

large topographical map of Ameti, in eight sheets.

p. 121, ad Principiam [Epist. cxxvii. c. 12, tom. i.

90. As early as the third (Lardner’s Credibility of the Gospel, part ii. vol. iii. p. 89-92), or at least

P- 953> ed- Vallars.]. 99. Orosius (1. vii. c. 39, p. 573-576) applauds

the fourth century (Carol, a Sancto Paulo, Notit.

the piety of the Christian Goths without seeming

Eccles. p. 47), the Port of Rome was an episcopal

to perceive that the greatest part of them were

city, which was demolished, as it should seem, in

Arian heretics. Jornandes (c. 30, p. 653 [p. 86, ed.

the ninth century, by pope Gregory IV., during

Lugd. B. 1597]) and Isidore of Seville (Chron. p.

the incursions of the Arabs. It is now reduced to an

714, edit. Grot.), who were both attached to the

inn, a church, and the house or palace of the bishop,

Gothic cause, have repeated and embellished these

who ranks as one of six cardinal bishops of the Ro¬

edifying tales. According to Isidore, Alaric him¬

man church. See Eschinard, Descrizione di Roma et dell’ Agro Romano, p. 328.

self was heard to say that he waged war with the

91. For the elevation of Attalus, consult Zosi-

style of the seventh century; two hundred years

mus, 1. vi. [c. 6, 7] p. 377-380; Sozomen, 1. ix. c. 8,

before, the fame and merit had been ascribed, not

9; Olympiodor. ap. Phot. p. 180, 181 [p. 57, ed.

to the Apostles, but to Christ.

Bekk.]; Philostorg. I. xii. c. 3, and Godefroy, Dissertat. p. 470. 92. We may admit the evidence of Sozomen for

Romans, and not with the Apostles. Such was the

100. See Augustine, The City of God, 1. i. c. 1 -6. He particularly appeals to the examples of Troy, Syracuse, and Tarentum.

the Arian baptism, and that of Philostorgius for

1 01. Jerom (tom. i. p. 121, ad Principiam [Ep.

the Pagan education, of Attalus. The visible joy of

cxxvii. tom. i. p. 953, ed. Vallars.]) has applied to

Zosimus, and the discontent which he imputes to

the sack of Rome ail the strong expressions of Virgil: —

the Anician family, are very unfavourable to the Christianity of the new emperor. 93. He carried his insolence so far as to declare that he should mutilate Honorius before he sent him into exile. But this assertion of Zosimus [1. vi.

Quis cladem illius noctis, quis funera fando, Explicet, etc. Procopius (1. i. c. 2 [tom. i. p. 316, ed. Bonn]) pos¬

c. 8] is destroyed by the more impartial testimony

itively affirms that great numbers were slain by

of Olympiodorus, who attributes the ungenerous

theGoths. Augustine (The City of God, 1. i.c. 12,13)

proposal (which was absolutely rejected by At¬

offers Christian comfort for the death of those

talus) to the baseness and perhaps the treachery of Jovius.

whose bodies

94. Procop. de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 2 [tom. i. p. 318, ed. Bonn], 95. See the cause and circumstances of the fall

(multa corpora)

had remained

(in

tanta strage) unburied. Baronius, from the different writings of the Fathers, has thrown some light on the sack of Rome. Annal. Eccles. a.d. 410, No. 16-44.

of Attalus in Zosimus, I. vi. [c.. 9-12], p. 380-383.

102. Sozomen, 1. ix. c. 1 o. Augustine (The City of

Sozomen, 1. ix. c. 8. Philostorg. 1. xii. c. 3. The two

God, 1. i. c. 17) intimates that some virgins or ma¬

acts of indemnity in the- Theodosian Code, 1. ix.

trons actually killed themselves to escape viola¬

tit. xxxviii. leg. 11, 12, which were published the

tion; and though he admires their spirit, he is

Notes: Chapter xxxi obliged, by his theology, to condemn their rash

837

Roma Antiqua of Donatus, p. 162-201, and the

presumption. Perhaps the good bishop of Hippo

Roma Antica of Nardini, p. 212-273. The former

was too easy in the belief, as well as too rigid in the

is more useful for the ancient descriptions, the

censure, of this act of female heroism. The twenty

latter for the actual topography.

maidens (if they ever existed) who threw them¬

108. Orosius (1. ii. c. 19, p. 142) compares the

selves into the Elbe when Magdeburg was taken

cruelty of the Gauls and the clemency of the Goths.

by storm, have been multiplied to the number of

Ibi vix quemquam inventum senatorem, qui vel

twelve hundred. See Harte’s History of Gustavus Adolphus, vol. i. p. 308.

absens evaserit; hie vix quemquam requiri, qui forte ut latens perierit. But there is an air of rhet¬

103. See Augustine, The City of God, 1. i. c. 16-

oric, and perhaps of falsehood, in this antithesis;

18.

He treats the subject with remarkable ac¬

and Socrates (I. vii. c. 10) affirms, perhaps by an

curacy: and after admitting that there cannot be

opposite exaggeration, that many senators were put

any crime where there is no consent, he adds, Sed

to death with various and exquisite tortures.

quia non solum quod ad dolorem, verum etiam

I og. Multi . . . Christiani captivi ducti sunt.

quod ad libidinem, pertinet, in corpore alieno

Augustine, The City of God, 1. i. c. 14; and the

perpetrari potest; quicquid tale factum fuerit, etsi

Christians experienced no peculiar hardships.

retentam constantissimo animo pudicitiam non ex-

II o. See Heineccius, Antiquitat. Juris Roman, tom. i. p. 96.

cutit, pudorem tamen incutit, ne credatur factum cum mentis etiam voluntate, quod fieri fortasse

ill. Appendix Cod. Theodos. xvi. in Sirmond.

sine carnis aliqua voluptate non potuit. In c. 18 he

Opera, tom. i. p. 735. This edict was published on

makes some curious distinctions between moral

the 1 ith of December, a.d. 408, and is more rea¬

and physical virginity.

sonable than properly belonged to the ministers

104. Marcella, a Roman lady, equally respect¬ able for her rank, her age, and her piety, was thrown on the ground and cruelly beaten and whipped, caesam fustibus flagellisque, etc. Jerom, tom. i. p. 121, ad Principiam [Ep. cxxvii. c. 13, tom. i. p. 953, ed. Vallars], See Augustine, The City of

of Honorius. 112. Eminus Igilii svlvosa cacumina miror; Quern fraudare nefas laudis honore suae. Haec proprios nuper tutata est insula saltus;

God, 1. i. c. 1 o. The modern Sacco di Roma, p.

Sive loci ingenio, seu dornini genio.

108, gives an idea of the various methods of tortur¬

Gurgite cum modico victricibus obstitit

ing prisoners for gold.

armis,

105. The historian Sallust, who usefully prac¬

Tanquam longinquo dissociata mari.

tised the vices which he has so eloquently cen¬

Haec multos lacera suscepit ab urbe fu-

sured, employed the plunder of Numidia to adorn his palace and gardens on the Quirinal hill. The spot where the house stood is now marked by the church of St. Susanna, separated only by a street

gatos, Hie fessis posito certa timore salus. Plurima

terreno

populaverat

aequora

bello,

from the baths of Diocletian, and not far distant

Contra naturam classe timendus eques:

from the Salarian gate. See Nardini, Roma An-

Unum, mira fides, vario discrimine por-

tica, p. 192, 193, and the great Plan of Modern Rome, by Nolli. 106. The expressions of Procopius are distinct and moderate (de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 2 [tom. i. p.

tum! Tam prope Romanis, tarn procul esse Getis. Rutilius, in Itinerar. 1. i. 325.

316, ed. Bonn]). The chronicle of Marcellinus

The island is now called Giglio. See Cluver. Ital.

speaks too strongly, partem urbis Romas cremavit;

Antiq. 1. ii. p. 502.

and the words of Philostorgius tv tpttirioLs 5t ttjs

113. As the adventures of Proba and her family

xoXeus K.tip.twqs, (1. xii. c. 3) convey a false and exag¬

are connected with the life of St. Augustin, they

gerated idea. Bargaeus has composed a particular

are diligently illustrated by Tillemont, Mem. Ec-

dissertation (see tom. iv. Antiquit. Rom. Grasv.)

cl6s. tom. xiii. p. 620-635. Some time after their

to prove that the edifices of Rome were not sub¬

arrival in Africa, Demetrias took the veil and made

verted by the Goths and Vandals.

a vow of virginity; an event which was considered

107. Orosius, 1. ii. c. 19, p. 143. He speaks as if

as of the highest importance to Rome and to the

he disapproved all statues; vel Deum vel hominem

world. All the Saints wrote congratulatory letters

mentiuntur. They consisted of the kings of Alba

to her; that of Jerom is still extant (tom. i. p. 62-

and Rome from ^Tneas, the Romans illustrious

73, ad Demetriad. de servanda Virginitat. [Epist.

either in arms or arts, and the deified Cassars. The

exxx. tom. i. p. 969, ed. Vallars.]), and contains a

expression which he uses of Forum is somewhat am¬

mixture of absurd reasoning, spirited declamation,

biguous, since there existed five principal Fora; but

and curious facts, some of which relate to the siege

as they were all contiguous and adjacent, in the plain which is surrounded by the Capitoline, the

and sack of Rome. 114. See the pathetic complaint of Jerom (tom.

Quirinal, the Esquiline, and the Palatine hills,

v. p. 400) in his preface to the second book of his

they might fairly be considered as one. See the

Commentaries on the Prophet Ezekiel.

838

Notes: Chapter xxxi

115. Orosius, though with some theological par¬ tiality, states this comparison, 1. ii. c. 19, p. 142, 1.

say that he believed St. Felix did love him; at least, as a master loves his little dog.

vii. c. 39, p. 575. But, in the history of the taking of

125. See Jornandes, de Pv.eb. Get. c. 30, p. 653.

Rome by the Gauls, everything is uncertain, and

Philostorgius, 1. xii. c. 3. Augustine, The City of

perhaps fabulous. See Beaufort sur 1’Incertitude,

God, 1. i. c. 10. Baronius, Annal. Eccles. a.d. 410,

etc., de l’Histoire Romaine, p. 356; and Melot, in the Mem. de l’Academie des Inscript, tom. xv. p.

No. 45, 46. 126. The platanus, or plane-tree, was a favourite

1-21.

of the ancients, by whom it was propagated, for

116. The reader who wishes to inform himself of

the sake of shade, from the East to Gaul. Pliny,

the circumstances of this famous event may peruse

Hist. Natur. xii. 3, 4, 5. He mentions several of an

an admirable narrative in Dr. Robertson’s History

enormous size; one in the Imperial villa at Veli-

of Charles V. vol. ii. p. 283; or consult the Annali

trae, which Caligula called his nest, as the branches

d’ltalia of the learned Muratori, tom. xiv. p. 230-

were capable of holding a large table, the proper

244, octavo edition. If he is desirous of examining

attendants, and the emperor himself, whom Pliny

the originals, he may have recourse to the eigh¬

quaintly styles pars umbra;

teenth book of the great, but unfinished, history of

might, with equal reason, be applied to Alaric.

Guicciardini. But the account which most truly

an expression which

127. The prostrate South to the destroyer

little book, entitled II Sacco di Roma, composed,

yields Her boasted titles and her golden fields;

within less than a month after the assault of the

With grim delight the brood of winter

deserves the name of authentic and original is a

view

city, by the brother of the historian Guicciardini, who appears to have been an able magistrate and

A brighter day, and skies of azure hue;

a dispassionate writer.

Scent the new fragrance of the opening rose,

11 7. The furious spirit of Luther, the effect of temper and enthusiasm,

has been forcibly at¬

And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows.

tacked (Bossuet, Hist, des Variations des Eglises Protestantes, livre i. p. 20-36) and feebly defended

See Gray’s Poems, published by Mr. Mason, p.

(Seckendorf, Comment, de Lutheranismo, espe¬

197. Instead of compiling tables of chronology and

cially 1. i. No. 78, p. 120, and 1. iii. No. 122, p. 556).

natural history, why did not Mr. Gray apply the

118. Marcellinus, in Chron. Orosius (1. vii. c. 39, p. 575), asserts that he left Rome on the third day; but this difference is easily reconciled by the successive motions of great bodies of troops.

powers of his genius to finish the philosophic poem of which he has left such an exquisite specimen? 128. For the perfect description of the Straits of Messina, Scylla, Charybdis, etc., see Cluverius

119. Socrates (1. vii. c. 1 o) pretends, without

(Ital. Antiq. 1. iv. p. 1293, and Silicia Antiq. 1. i. p.

any colour of truth or reason, that Alaric fled on

60-76), who had diligently studied the ancients

the report that the armies of the Eastern empire

and surveyed with a curious eye the actual face of

were in full march to attack him.

the country.

120. Ausonius de Claris Urbibus, p. 233, edit. Toll. The luxury of Capua had formerly surpassed that of Sybaris itself. See Athenaeus Deipnosophist. 1. xii. [c. 36] p. 528, edit. Casaubon. 121. Forty-eight years before the foundation of Rome (about 800 before the Christian era) the

129. Jornandes, de Reb. Get. c. 30, p. 654 [p. 87, ed. Lugd. B. 1597]. 130. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 43, p. 584, 585. He was sent by St. Augustin, in the year 415, from Africa to Palestine, to visit St. Jerom and to consult with him on the subject of Pelagian controversy.

Tuscans built Capua and Nola, at the distance of

131. Jornandes supposes, without much proba¬

twenty-three miles from each other: but the latter

bility, that Adolphus visited and plundered Rome

of the two cities never emerged from a state of

a second time (more locustarum erasit). Yet he

mediocrity. 122. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 1 —

agrees with Orosius in supposing that a treaty of peace was concluded between the Gothic prince

146) has compiled, with his usual diligence, all

and Honorius. See Oros. 1. vii. c. 43, p. 584, 585.

that relates to the life and writings of Paulinus,

Jornandes, de Reb. Geticis, c. 31, p. 654, 655 [p. 88, ed. Lugd. B.].

whose retreat is celebrated by his own pen and by the praises of St. Ambrose, St. Jerom, St. Augustin,

132. The retreat of the Goths from Italy and

Sulpicius Severus, etc., his Christian friends and

their first transactions in Gaul are dark and doubt¬

contemporaries.

ful. I have derived much assistance from Mascou

123. See the affectionate letters of Ausonius

(Hist, of the Ancient Germans, 1. viii. c. 29, 35, 36,

(Epist. xix.-xxv. p. 650-698, edit. Toll.) to his

37), who has illustrated and connected the broken

colleague, his friend, and his disciple, Paulinus.

chronicles and fragments of the times.

The religion of Ausonius is still a problem (see

133. See an account of Placidia in Ducange,

Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xv. p.

Fam. Byzant. p. 72; and Tillemont, Hist, des Em-

123-138). I believe that it was such in his own time,

pereurs, tom. v. p. 260, 386, etc., tom. vi. p. 240.

and consequently that in his heart he was a Pagan. 124. The humble Paulinus once presumed to

134. Zosim. 1. v. [c. 38] p. 350. 135. Zosim. 1. vi. [c. 12] p. 383. Orosius (1 vii.

Notes: Chapter xxxi

839

c. 40, p. 567) and the Chronicles of Marcellinus

to the custom of the Orientals, who ascribe to that

and Idatius seem to suppose that the Goths did not

prince every ancient work of knowledge or mag¬

carry away Placidia till after the last siege of Rome.

nificence.

136. See the pictures of Adolphus and Placidia,

143. His three laws are inserted in the Theo-

and the account of their marriage, in Jornandes,

dosian Code, 1. xi. tit. xxviii. leg. 7; 1. xiii. tit. xi.

de Reb. Geticis, c. 31, p. 654, 655 [p. 88, ed. Lugd.

leg. 12; 1. xv. tit. xiv. leg. 14. The expressions of

B.] With regard to the place where the nuptials

the last are very remarkable, since they contain

were stipulated, or consummated, or celebrated,

not only a pardon, but an apology.

the MSS. of Jornandes vary between two neigh¬

144. Olympiodorus ap. Phot. p. 188 [p. 59, ed.

bouring cities, Forli and Imola (Forum Livii and

Bekk.]. Philostorgius (1. xii. c. 5) observes, that

Forum Cornelii). It is fair and easy to reconcile the

when Honorius made his triumphal entry he en¬

Gothic historian with Olympiodorus (see Mascou,

couraged the Romans, with his hand and voice

1. viii. c. 36): but Tillemont grows peevish, and

(x^tpl Ko-i yXcbttij), to rebuild their city; and the

swears that it is not worth while to try to conciliate

Chronicle of Prosper commends Heraclian, qui in

Jornandes with any good authors. 137. The Visigoths (the subjects of Adolphus)

Romanae urbis reparationem strenuum exhibuerat ministerium.

restrained, by subsequent laws, the prodigality of

145. The date of the voyage of Claudius Rutilius

conjugal love. It was illegal for a husband to make

Numatianus is clogged with some difficulties; but

any gift or settlement for the benefit of his wife

Scaliger has deduced from astronomical characters

during the first year of their marriage; and his

that he left Rome the 14th of September, and em¬

liberality could not at any time exceed the tenth

barked at Porto the 9th of October, a.d. 416. See

part of his property. The Lombards were some¬

Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 820.

what more indulgent: they allowed the morgingcap

In this poetical Itinerary, Rutilius (1. i. 115, etc.)

immediately after the wedding night; and this

addresses Rome in a high strain of congratulation:

famous gift, the reward of virginity, might equal

Erige crinales lauros, seniumque sacrati

the fourth part of the husband’s substance. Some cautious maidens, indeed, were wise enough to

Verticis in virides, Roma, recinge comas, etc. 146. Orosius composed his

history in Africa

stipulate beforehand a present which they were

only two years after the event; yet his authority

too sure of not deserving. See Montesquieu, The

seems to be overbalanced by the improbability of

Spirit of Laws, 1. xix. c. 25. Muratori, delle Anti-

the fact. The Chronicle of Marcellinus gives Her¬

chita Italiane, tom. i. Dissertazione xx. p. 243.

aclian 700 ships and 3000 men: the latter of these

138. We owe the curious detail of this nuptial feast to the historian Olympiodorus, ap. Photium, р. 185, 188 [p. 59, ed. Bekk.].

numbers is ridiculously corrupt; but the former would please me very much. 147. The Chronicle of Idatius affirms, without

139. See in the great collection of the Historians

the least appearance of truth, that he advanced as

of France by Dom Bouquet, tom. ii. Greg. Turo-

far as Otriculum, in Umbria, where he was over¬

nens. 1. iii. c. 10, p. 191. Gesta Regum Francorum,

thrown in a great battle, with the loss of fifty thou¬

с. 23, p. 557. The anonymous writer, with an ig¬ norance worthy of his times, supposes that these

sand men. 148. See Cod. Theod. 1. xv. tit. xiv. leg. 13. The

instruments of Christian worship had belonged to

legal acts performed in his name, even the manu¬

the temple of Solomon. If he has any meaning, it

mission of slaves, were declared invalid till they

must be that they were found in the sack of Rome.

had been formally repeated.

140. Consult the following original testimonies

149. I have disdained to mention a very foolish,

in the Historians of France, tom. ii. Fredegarii

and probably a false, report (Procop. de Bell. Van¬

Scholastici Chron. c. 73, p. 441. Fredegar. Frag¬

dal. 1. i. c. 2 [tom. i. p. 316, ed. Bonn]), that Ho¬

ment. iii. p. 463. Gesta Regis Dagobert. c. 29, p.

norius was alarmed by the loss of Rome till he un¬

587. The accession of Sisenand to the throne of

derstood that it was not a favourite chicken of that

Spain happened

name, but only the capital of the world, which had

a.d.

631. The 200,000 pieces of

gold were appropriated by Dagobert to the foun¬

been lost. Yet even this story is some evidence of

dation of the church of St. Denys.

the public opinion.

141. The president Goguet (Oirgine des Loix,

150. The materials for the lives of all these ty¬

etc., tom. ii. p. 239) is of opinion that the stupen¬

rants are taken from six contemporary historians,

dous pieces of emerald, the statues and columns

two Latins and four Greeks: Orosius, 1. vii. c. 42,

which antiquity has placed in Egypt, at Gades, at

p. 581, 582, 583; Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus,

Constantinople, were in reality artificial composi¬

apud Gregor. Turon. 1. ii. c. 9, in the Historians of

tions of coloured glass. The famous emerald dish

France, tom. ii. p. 165, 166; Zosimus, 1. vi. [c. 2] p.

which is shown at Genoa is supposed to counte¬

370, 371; Olympiodorus, apud Phot. p. 180, 181,

nance the suspicion. 142. Elmacin. Hist. Saracenica, 1. i. p. 85; Rod-

12, 13, 14, 15; and Philostorgius, 1. xii. c. 5, 6,

184, 185 [p. 57 sqq., ed. Bekk.]; Sozomen, 1. ix. c.

eric. Tolet. Hist. Arab. c. 9. Cardonne, Hist, de

with Godefroy’s Dissertations, p. 477--481; besides

l’Afrique et de 1’Espagne sous les Arabes, tom. i. p.

the four Chronicles of Prosper Tyro, Prosper of

83. It was called the Table of Solomon, according

Aquitain, Idatius, and Marcellinus.

840

Notes: Chapter xxxi

151. The praises which Sozomen has bestowed

Jornandes, the Roman and the Gothic historian.

on this act of despair appear strange and scanda¬

160. According to the system of Jornandes (c.

lous in the mouth of an ecclesiastical historian. He

33, p. 659 [ed. Grot.]), the true hereditary right to

observes (p. 379 [ed. Cantab. 1720]) that the wife

the Gothic sceptre was vested in the Amali; but

of Gerontius was a Christian; and that her death

those princes, who were the vassals of the Huns,

was worthy of her religion, and of immortal fame.

commanded the tribes of the Ostrogoths in some

152. EISos a&ov Tvpawibos, is the expression of

distant parts of Germany or Scythia.

Olympiodorus, which he seems to have borrowed

161. The murder is related by Olympiodorus;

from Asolus, a tragedy of Euripides, of which some

but the number of the children is taken from an

fragments only are now extant (Euripid. Barnes,

epitaph of suspected authority.

tom. ii. p. 443, ver. 38). This allusion may prove

162. The death of Adolphus was celebrated at

that the ancient tragic poets were still familiar to

Constantinople with illuminations and Circensian

the Greeks of the fifth century.

games.

(See Chron. Alexandrin.)

It may seem

153. Sidonius Apollinaris (1. v. Epist. 9, p. 139,

doubtful whether the Greeks were actuated on

and Not. Sirmond. p. 58), after stigmatising the

this occasion by their hatred of the barbarians or

inconstancy of Constantine, the facility of Jovinus,

of the Latins. 163. Quod

the peifidy of Gerontius, continues to observe that

Tartessiacis

avus

hujus

Vallia

terris

all the vices of these tyrants were united in the per¬ son of Dardanus. Yet the praefect supported a re¬

Vandalicas

spectable character in the world, and even in the church; held a devout correspondence with St.

Alanos Stravit, et

Augustin and St. Jerom; and was complimented

Calpen.

turmas,

et juncti

Martis

occiduam texere cadavera

by the latter (tom. iii. p. 66) with the epithets of

Sidon. Appollinar. in Panegyr.

Christianorum Nobilissime and Nobilium Chris-

Anthem. 363, p. 300, edit. Sirmond.

tianissime. 154. The expression may be understood almost literally:

Olympiodorus says,

p.o\is aaKKois tfiko 198, 199 [ed. Paris; tom. i. p. 344^7., ed. Bonn]). Dom. Ruinart, the last editor of Vic¬ tor, has illustrated the whole subject with a copious and learned apparatus of notes and supplement. (Paris, 1694.) 91. Victor, iv. 2, p. 65. Hunneric refuses the name of Catholics to the Homoousians. He describes,

as the veri Divinas Majestatis cultores, his own party, who professed the faith, confirmed by more than a thousand bishops, in the synods of Rimini and Seleucia. 92. Victor, ii. 1, p. 21, 22, Laudabilior . . . videbatur. In the MSS. which omit this word, the passage is unintelligible. See Ruinart, Not. p. 164. 93. Victor, ii. 2, p. 22, 23 [21, 22]. The clergy of Carthage called these conditions periculoste\ and they seem, indeed, to have been proposed as a snare to entrap the catholic bishops. 94. See the narrative of this conference and the treatment of the bishops in Victor, ii. 13-18, p. 35-42, and the whole fourth book, p. 63-71. The third book, p. 42-62, is entirely filled by their apology or confession of faith. 95. See the list of the African bishops, in Victor, p. 117-140, and Ruinart’s notes, p. 215-397. The schismatic name of Donatus frequently occurs, and they appear to have adopted (like our fanatics of the last age) the pious appellations of Deodatus, Deogratias, Quidvultdeus, Habetdeum, etc. 96. Fulgent. Vit. c. 16-29. Thrasimund affected the praise of moderation and learning; and Ful¬ gentius addressed three books of controversy to the Arian tyrant, whom he stylespiissime Rex. Biblioth. Maxim. Patrum, tom. ix. p. 41. Only sixty bishops are mentioned as exiles in the Life of Fulgentius; they are increased to one hundred and twenty by Victor Tunnunensis and Isidore; but the number of two hundred and twenty is specified in the Historia Miscella and a short authentic chronicle of the times. See Ruinart, p. 570, 571. 97. See the base and insipid epigrams of the Stoic, who could not support exile with more for¬ titude than Ovid. Corsica might not produce corn, wine, or oil; but it could not be destitute of grass, water, and even fire. 98. Si ob gravitatem coeli interissent, vile dam¬ num. Tacit. Annal. ii. 85. In this application Thrasimund would have adopted the reading of some critics, utile damnum. 99. See these preludes of a general persecution, in Victor, ii. c. 3, 4, 7, and the two edicts of Hun¬ neric, 1. ii. p. 35, 1. iv. p. 64. 100. See Procopius de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 7 [c. 8]> P- 197> :98 [tom. i. p. 344 sqq., ed. Bonn], A Moorish prince endeavoured to propitiate the God of the Christians by his diligence to erase the marks of the Vandal sacrilege. 101. See this story in Victor, ii. 8-12, p. 30-34. Victor describes the distress of these confessors as an eye-witness. 102. See the fifth book of Victor. His passionate complaints are confirmed by the sober testimony of Procopius and the public declaration of the em¬ peror Justinian. Cod. 1. i. tit. xxvii. 103. Victor, ii. 18, p. 41. 104. Victor, v. 4, p. 74, 75. His name was Victorianus, and he was a wealthy citizen of Adrumetum, who enjoyed the confidence of the king,

Notes: Chapter by whose favour he had obtained the office, or at least the title, of proconsul of Africa. 105. Victor, i. 6, p. 8, 9. After relating the firm resistance and dexterous reply of Count Sebastian, he adds, quare alio [alius] generis argumento postea bellicosum virum occidit. 106. Victor, v. 12, 13. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 609. 107. Primate was more properly the title of the bishop of Carthage; but the name of patriarch was given by the sects and nations to their principal ecclesiastic. See Thomassin, Discipline de l’Elgise, tom. i. p. 155, 158. 108. The patriarch Cyrila himself publicly de¬ clared that he did not understand Latin (Victor, ii. 18, p. 42): Nescio Latine; and he might con¬ verse with tolerable ease, without being capable of disputing or preaching in that language.His Van¬ dal clergy were still more ignorant; and small con¬ fidence could be placed in the Africans who had conformed. 109. Victor, ii. 1, 2, p. 22. no. Victor, v. 7, p. 77. He appeals to the am¬ bassador himself, whose name was Uranius. in. Astutiores, Victor, iv. 4, p. 70. He plainly intimates that their quotation of the Gospel, “Non jurabitis in toto,” was only meant to elude the ob¬ ligation of an inconvenient oath. The forty-six bishops who refused were banished to Corsica; the three hundred and two who swore were distributed through the provinces of Africa. 112. Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspas, in the Byzacene province, was of a senatorial family and had received a liberal education. He could repeat all Homer and Menander before he was allowed to study Latin, his native tongue (Vit. Fulgent, c. 1). Many African bishops might understand Greek, and many Greek theologians were translated into Latin. 113. Compare the two prefaces to the Dialogue of Vigilius of Thapsus (p. 118, 119, edit. Chiflet). He might amuse his learned reader with an inno¬ cent fiction; but the subject was too grave, and the Africans were too ignorant. 114. The P. Quesnel started this opinion, which has been favourably received. But the three fol¬ lowing truths, however surprising they may seem, are now universally acknowledged (Gerard Vossius, tom. vi. p. 516-522; Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 667-671). 1. St. Athanasius is not the author of the creed which is so frequently read in our churches. 2. It does not appear to have existed within a century after his death. 3. It was orig¬ inally composed in the Latin tongue, and, con¬ sequently, in the Western provinces. Gennadius, a patriarch of Constantinople, was so much amazed by this extraordinary composition, that he frankly pronounced it to be the work of a drunken man. Petav. Dogmat. Theologica, tom. ii. I. vii. c. 8, p. 687. 115. 1 John v. 7. See Simon, Hist. Critique du Nouveau Testament, part i. c. xviii. p. 203-218;

xxxvii

873

and part ii. c. ix. p. 99-121; and the elaborate Prolegomena and Annotations of Dr. Mill and Wetstein to their editions of the Greek Testament. In 1689, the papist Simon strove to be free; in 1707, the Protestant Mill wished to be a slave; in 175L the Arminian Wetstein used the liberty of his times and of his sect. 116. Of all the MSS. now extant, above four¬ score in number, some of which are more than 1200 years. old (Wetstein ad loc.). The orthodox copies of the Vatican, of the Complutensian edi¬ tors, of Robert Stephens, are become invisible; and the two MSS. of Dublin and Berlin are un¬ worthy to form an exception. See Emyln’s Works, vol. ii. p. 227-255, 269-299; and M. de Missy’s four ingenious letters, in tom. viii. and ix. of the Journal Britannique. 117. Or, more properly, by the four bishops who composed and published the profession of faith in the name of their brethren. They styled this text luce clarius (Victor Vitensis de Persecut. Vandal. 1. iii.'c. 11, p. 54). It is quoted soon afterwards by the African polemics Vigilius and Fulgentius. 118. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the Bibles were corrected by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, and by Nicolas, cardinal and librarian of the Roman church, secundum orthodoxam fidem (Wetstein, Prolegom. p. 84, 85). Notwith¬ standing these corrections, the passage is still wanting in twenty-five Latin MSS. (Wetstein ad loc.), the oldest and the fairest; two qualities sel¬ dom united, except in manuscripts. 119. The art which the Germans had invented was applied in Italy to the profane writers of Rome and Greece. The original Greek of the New Testa¬ ment was published about the same time (a.d. 1514, 1516, 1520) by the industry of Erasmus and the munificence of Cardinal Ximenes. The Com¬ plutensian Polyglot cost the cardinal 50,000 ducats. See Mattaire, Annal. Typograph. tom. ii. p. 2-8, 125—133; and Wetstein, Prolegomena, p. 116-127. 120. The three witnesses have been established in our Greek Testaments by the prudence of Eras¬ mus; the honest bigotry of the Complutensian editors; the typographical fraud or error of Robert Stephens in the placing a crotchet; and the delib¬ erate falsehood or strange misapprehension of Theodore Beza. 121. Plin. Hist. Natural, v. 1; Itinerar. Wesseling, p. 15; Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. part ii. p. 127. This Tipasa (which must not be confounded with another in Numidia) was a town of some note, since Vespasian endowed it with the right of Latium. 122. Optatus Milevitanus de Schism. Donatist. 1. ii. p. 38. 123. Victor Vitensis, v. 6. p. 76. Ruinart, p. 483-487. 124. zEneas Gazaeus in Theophrasto, in Biblioth. Patrum, tom. viii. p. 664, 665. He was a Christian, and composed this Dialogue (the Theo¬ phrastus) on the immortality of the soul and the

874

Notes: Chapter xxxvm

resurrection of the body; besides twenty-five Epis¬

132. Ferreras (tom. ii. p. 168-175, a.d. 550) has

tles, still extant. See Cave (Hist. Litteraria, p. 297)

illustrated the difficulties which regard the time

and Fabricius (Biblioth. Graec. tom. i. p. 422). 125. Justinian. Codex, 1. i. tit. xxvii. [leg. 1 ]; Marcellin. in Chron. p. 45, in Thesaur. Tempo-

and circumstances of the conversion of the Suevi. They had been recently united by Leovigild to the Gothic monarchy of Spain.

rum Scaliger; Procopius, de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 8,

133. This addition to the Nicene, or rather the

p. 196 [ed. Par.; tom. i. p. 345, ed. Bonn]; Gregor.

Constantinopolitan creed, was first made in the

Magnus, Dialog, iii. 32. None of these witnesses

eighth council of Toledo, a.d. 653; but it was ex¬

have specified the number of the confessors, which

pressive of the popular doctrine (Gerard Vossius,

is fixed at sixty in an old menology (apud Ruinart,

tom. vi. p. 527, de tribus Symbolis).

p. 486). Two of them lost their speech by fornica¬

134. See Gregor. Magn. 1. vii. Epist. 126, apud

tion; but the miracle is enhanced by the singular

Baronium, Annal. Eccles. a.d. 599, No. 25, 26

instance of a boy who had never spoken before his

[1. ix. Ep. 122, tom. ii. p. 1031, ed. Bened.]. 135. Paul Warnefrid (de Gestis Langobard. 1.

tongue was cut out. 126. See the two general historians of Spain,

iv. c. 44, p. 853, edit. Grot.) allows that Arianism

Mariana (Hist, de Rebus Hispaniae, tom. i. 1. v. c.

still prevailed under the reign of Rotharis (a.d.

12-15, p. 182-194) and Ferreras (French transla¬

636-652). The pious deacon does not attempt to

tion tom. ii. p. 206-247). Mariana almost forgets

mark the precise era of the national conversion,

that he is a Jesuit, to assume the style and spirit of

which was accomplished, however, before the end

a Roman classic. Ferreras, an industrious com¬

of the seventh century.

piler, reviews his facts and rectifies his chronology.

136. Quorum fidei et conversioni ita congratu¬

127. Goisvintha successively married two kings

late esse rex perhibetur, ut nullum tamen cogeret

of the Visigoths: Athanigild, to whom she bore

ad Christianismum. . . . Didicerat enim a doctori-

Brunechild, the mother of Ingundis; and Leovi-

bus auctoribusque suae salutis, servitium Christi

gild, whose two sons, Hermenegild and Recared,

voluntarium non coactitium esse debere. Bedae

were the issue of a former marriage.

Hist. Ecclesiastic. 1. i. c. 26, p. 62, edit. Smith.

128. Iracundiae furore succensa, adprehensam

137. See the Historians of France, tom. iv. p.

per comam capitis puellam in terram conlidit, et

114; and Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Saxonicae, p. 11,

diu calcibus verberatam, ac sanguine cruentatam,

31. Siquis sacrificium immolaverit praeter Deo soli morte moriatur.

jussit exspoliari, et piscinas immergi. Greg. Turon. 1. v. c. 39, in tom. ii. p. 255. Gregory is one of our best originals for this portion of history. i2g. The catholics, who admitted the baptism

138. The Jews pretend that they were intro¬ duced into Spain by the fleets of Solomon and the arms of Nebuchadnezzar; that

Hadrian trans¬

of heretics, repeated the rite, or, as it was after¬

ported

wards styled, the sacrament, of confirmation, to

Judah, and ten thousand of the tribe of Benja¬

which they ascribed many mystic and marvellous

min, etc. Basnage, Hist, des Juifs, tom. vii. c. 9, p.

prerogatives, both visible and invisible. See Char-

240-256.

don, Hist, des Sacremens, tom. i. p. 405-552. 130. Osset, or Julia Constantia, was opposite to

forty thousand

families of the

tribe of

139. Isidore, at that time archbishop of Seville, mentions, disapproves, and congratulates, the zeal

Seville, on the northern side of the Bastis (Plin.

of Sisebut (Chron. Goth. p. 728 [ed. Grot.]). Ba-

Hist. Natur. iii. 3): and the authentic reference of

ronius (a.d. 614, No. 41) assigns the number on

Gregory of Tours (Hist. Francor. 1. vi. c. 43, p.

the evidence of Aimoin (1. iv. c. 22): but the evi¬

288) deserves more credit than the name of Lusi¬

dence is weak, and I have not been able to verify

tania (de Gloria Martyr, c. 24), which has been

the quotation (Historians of France, tom. iii. p. 127).

eagerly embraced by the vain and superstitious Portuguese (Ferreras, Hist. d’Espagne, tom. ii. p. 166.)

140. Basnage

(tom.

viii.

c.

13,

p.

388-400)

faithfully represents the state of the Jews: but he

131. This miracle was skilfully performed. An

might have added, from the canons of the Spanish

Arian king sealed the doors and dug a deep trench

councils and the laws of the Visigoths, many curi¬

round the church without being able to intercept

ous circumstances essential to his subject, though they are foreign to mine.

the Easter supply of baptismal water.

Chapter XXXVIII i. In this chapter I shall draw my quotations

illustrated with learned notes. Such a national

from the Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la

work, which will be continued to the year 1500,

France, Paris, 1738-1767, in eleven volumes in

might provoke our emulation.

folio. By the labour of Dom Bouquet and the other

2. Tacitus,

The

Histories,

iv.

73,

74.

To

Benedictines, all the original testimonies, as far as

abridge Tacitus would indeed be presumptuous;

1060, are disposed in chronological order, and

but I may select the general ideas which he applies

a.d.

Notes: Chapter xxxvm to the present state and future revolutions of Gaul. 3. Eadem semper causa Germanis transcendendi in Gallias, libido atque avaritia, et mutanda: sedis amor; ut relictis paludibus et solitudinibus suis, fecundissimu.m hoc solum vosque ipsos possiderent. . . . Nam pulsis Romanis quid aliud quam bella omnium inter se gentium exsistent? 4. Sidonius Apollinaris ridicules, with affected wit and pleasantry, the hardships of his situation (Carm. xii. in tom. i. p. 811). 5. See Procopius de Bell. Gothico, 1. i. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 31 [tom. ii. p. 64, ed. Bonn], The char¬ acter of Grotius inclines me to believe that he has not substituted the Rhine for the Rhone (Hist. Gothorum, p. 1 75) without the authority of some MS. 6. Sidonius, 1. viii. Epist. 3, 9, in tom. i. p. 800. Jornandes de Rebus Geticis (c. 47, p. 680) justifies in some measure this portrait of the Gothic hero. 7. I use the familiar appellation of Clovis, from the Latin Chlodovechus or Chlodovaus. But the Ch expresses only the German aspiration; and the true name is not different from Luduin or Lewis (Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p.

68). 8. Greg. Turon. 1. ii. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 168. Bafina speaks the language of nature: the Franks, who had seen her in their youth, might converse with Gregory in their old age; and the bishop of Tours could not wish to defame the mother of the first Christian king. 9. The Abbe Dubos (Hist. Critique de FEtablissement de la Monarchic Frangoise dans les Gaules, tom. i. p. 630-650) has the merit of de¬ fining the primitive kingdom of Clovis, and of ascertaining the genuine number of his subjects. 10. Ecclesiam incultam ac negligentii civium Paganorum praetermissam, veprium densitate oppletam, etc. Vit. St. Vedasti, in tom. iii. p. 372. This description supposes that Arras was possessed by the Pagans many years before the baptism of Clovis. 11. Gregory of Tours (1. v. c. i. tom. ii. p. 232) contrasts the poverty of Clovis with the wealth of his grandsons. Yet Remigius (in tom. iv. p. 52) mentions his paternas opes, as sufficient for the re¬ demption of captives. 12. See Gregory (1. ii. c. 27, 37, in tom. iii. p. 175, 181, 182). The famous story of the vase of Soissons explains both the power and character of Clovis. As a point of controversy, it has been strangely tortured by Boulainvilliers, Dubos, and the other political antiquarians. 13. The Duke of Nivernois, a noble statesman, who has managed weighty and delicate negotia¬ tions, ingeniously illustrates (Mem. de FAcad. des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p. 147—184) the political system of Clovis. 14. M. Biet (in a Dissertation which deserved the prize of the Academy of Soissons, p. 178-226) has accurately defined the nature and extent of the kingdom of Syagrius, and his father; but he too readily allows the slight evidence of Dubos

875

(tom. ii. p. 54-57) to deprive him of Beauvais and Amiens. 15. I may observe that Fredegarius, in his epit¬ ome of Gregory of Tours (tom. ii. p. 398 [c. 15]), has prudently substituted the name of Patricius for the incredible title of Rex Romanorum. 16. Sidonius (1. v. Epist. 5, in tom. i. p. 794), who styles him the Solon, the Amphion, of the barbarians, addresses this imaginary king in the tone of friendship and equality. From such offices of arbitration, the crafty Deioces had raised him¬ self to the throne of the Medes (Herodot. 1. i. c. 96-100). 1 7. Campum sibi praeparari jussit. M. Biet (p. 226-251) has diligently ascertained this field of battle at Nogent, a Benedictine abbey, about ten miles to the north of Soissons. The ground was marked by a circle of Pagan sepulchres; and Clovis bestowed the adjacent lands of Leuilly and Coucy on the church of Rheims. 18. See Caesar. Comment, de Bell. Gallic, ii. 4, in tom. i. p. 220, and the Notitiae, tom. i. p. 126. The three Fabricte of Soissons were, Scutaria, Balistaria, and Clinabaria. The last supplied the com¬ plete armour of the heavy cuirassiers. 19. The epithet must be confined to the circum¬ stances; and history cannot justify the French prejudice of Gregory (1. ii. c. 27, in tom. ii. p. 175), ut Gothorum pavere mos est. 20. Dubos has satisfied me (tom. i. p. 277-286) that Gregory of Tours, his transcribers or his readers, have repeatedly confounded the German kingdom of Thuringia, beyond the Rhine, and the Gallic city of Tongria, on the Meuse, which was more anciently the country of the Eburones, and more recently the diocese of Liege. 21. Populi habitantes juxta Lemannum lacum, Alemanni dicuntur. Servius, ad Virgil. Georgic. iv. 278. Dom Bouquet (tom. i. p. 81 7) has only alleged the more recent and corrupt text of Isidore of Seville. 22. Gregory of Tours sends St. Lupicinus inter ilia Jurensis deserti secreta, quae, inter Burgundiam Alamanniamque sita, Aventicae adjacent civitati, in tom. i. p. 648. M. de Watteville (Hist, de la Confederation Helvetique, tom. i. p. 9, 10) has accurately defined the Helvetian limits of the duchy of Alemannia, and the Transjurane Bur¬ gundy. They were commensurate with the dio¬ ceses of Constance and Avenche, or Lausanne, and are still discriminated in modern Switzerland by the use of the German or French language. 23. See Guilliman de Rebus Helveticis, 1. i. c. 3, p. 11, 12. Within the ancient walls of Vindonissa, the castle of Hapsburg, the abbey of Konigsfeld, and the town of Bruck, have successively arisen. The philosophic traveller may compare the monu¬ ments of Roman conquest, of feudal or Austrian tyranny, of monkish superstition, and of industrious freedom. If he be truly a philosopher, he will ap¬ plaud the merit and happiness of his own times. 24. Gregory of Tours (1. ii. 30, 37, in tom. ii. p.

876

Notes: Chapter xxxvm

176, 177, 182), the Gesta Francorum (in tom. ii. p.

p. 171), as an admirable effusion of Christian zeal.

551), and the epistle of Theodoric (Cassiodor.

32. Gregory (1. ii. c. 40-43, in tom. ii. p. 183-

Variar. 1. ii. Ep. 41, in tom. iv. p. 4) represent the

185), after coolly relating the repeated crimes and

defeat of the Alemanni. Some of their tribes settled

affected remorse of Clovis,

in Rhaetia, under the protection of Theodoric,

undesignedly, with a lesson which ambition will

concludes,

perhaps

whose successors ceded the colony and their coun¬

never hear—“His ita transactis . . . obiit.”

try to the grandson of Clovis. The state of the Ale¬

33. After the Gothic victory, Clovis made rich

manni under the Merovingian kings may be seen

offerings to St. Martin of Tours. He wished to re¬

in Mascou (Hist, of the Ancient Germans, xi. 8,

deem his war-horse by the gift of one hundred

etc.; Annotation xxxvi.) and Guilliman (de Reb.

pieces of gold, but the enchanted steed could not

Helvet. 1. ii. c. 10-12, p. 72-80).

move from the stable till the price of his redemp¬

25. Clotilda, or rather Gregory, supposes that

tion had been doubled. This miracle provoked the

Clovis worshipped the gods of Greece and Rome.

king to exclaim, Vere B. Martinus est bonus in

The fact is incredible, and the mistake only shows

auxilio, sed carus in negotio. (Gesta Francorum, in

how completely, in less than a century, the na¬

tom. ii. p. 554, 555.)

tional religion of the Franks had been abolished,

34. See the epistle from Pope Anastasius to the royal convert

and even forgotten.

(in tom. iv.

p.

50, 51).

Avitus,

26. Gregory of Tours relates the marriage and

bishop of Vienne, addressed Clovis on the same

conversion of Clovis (1. ii. c. 28-31, in tom. ii. p.

subject (p. 49); and many of the Latin bishops

175-178). Even Fredegarius, or the nameless Epit-

would assure him of their joy and attachment.

omiser (in tom. ii. p. 398-400), the author of the

35. Instead of the ’ApPopvxoi., an unknown peo¬

Gesta Francorum (in tom. ii. p. 548-552), and

ple, who now appear in the text of Procopius [Bell.

Aimoin himself (1. i. c. 13-16, in tom. iii. p. 37-

Goth. 1. i. c. 12], Hadrian de Valois has restored

40), may be heard without disdain. Tradition

the proper name of the ’Appopvxoi.; and this easy

might long preserve some curious circumstances of

correction has been almost universally approved.

these important transactions.

Yet an unprejudiced reader would naturally sup¬

27. A traveller, who returned from Rheims to

pose that Procopius means to describe a tribe of

Auvergne, had stolen a copy of his Declamations

Germans in the alliance of Rome, and not a con¬

from the secretary or bookseller of the modest

federacy of Gallic cities which had revolted from

archbishop (Sidonius, Apollinar. 1. ix. Epist. 7).

the empire.

Four epistles of Remigius, which are still extant

36. This important digression of Procopius (de

(in tom. iv. p. 51, 52, 53), do not correspond with

Bell. Gothic. 1. i. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 29-36 [tom. ii.

the splendid praise of Sidonius.

p. 62, sqq., ed. Bonn]) illustrates the origin of the

28. Hincmar, one of the successors of Remigius

French monarchy. Yet I must observe, 1. That the

845-882), has composed his Life (in tom. iii.

Greek historian betrays an inexcusable ignorance

p. 373-380). The authority of ancient MSS. of the

of the geography of the West; 2. That these treaties

(a.d.

church of Rheims might inspire some confidence,

and privileges, which should leave some lasting

which is destroyed, however, by the selfish and

traces, are totally invisible in Gregory of Tours,

audacious fictions of Hincmar. It is remarkable

the Salic laws, etc.

enough that Remigius, who was consecrated at the age of twenty-two

37. Regnum circa Rhodanum aut Ararium cum

457), filled the episcopal

provincia Massiliensi retinebant. Greg. Turon. 1.

chair seventy-four years (Pagi Critica, in Baron,

ii. c. 32, in tom. ii. p. 178. The province of Mar¬

tom. ii. p. 384, 572).

seilles, as far as the Durance, was afterwards ceded

(a.d.

29. A vial (the Sainte Ampoulle) of holy or rather

to the Ostrogoths; and the signatures of twenty-

celestial oil was brought down by a white dove, for

five bishops are supposed to represent the kingdom

the baptism of Clovis; and it is still used and re¬

of Burgundy,

newed in the coronation of the kings of France.

p. 104, 105.) Yet I would except Vindonissa. The

a.d.

519. (Concil. Epaon. in tom. iv.

Hincmar (he aspired to the primacy of Gaul) is

bishop, who lived under the Pagan Alemanni,

the first author of this fable (in tom. iii. p. 377),

would naturally resort to the synods of the next

whose slight foundations the Abbe de Vertot (Me-

Christian kingdom. Mascou (in his four first anno¬

moires de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ii. p.

tations) has explained many circumstances rela¬ tive to the Burgundian monarchy.

619-633) has undermined with profound respect and consummate dexterity.

38. Mascou (Flist. of the Germans, xi. 10), who

30. Mitis depone colla, Sicamber: adora quod

very reasonably distrusts the testimony of Gregory

incendisti, incende quod adorasti. Greg. Turon. 1.

of Tours, has produced a passage from Avitus

ii. c. 31, in tom. ii. p. 177.

(Epist. v.) to prove that Gundobald affected to de¬

31. Si ego ibidem cum Francis meis fuissem, injurias

ejus

vindicassem.

This

rash

expression,

plore the tragic event which his subjects affected to applaud.

which Gregory has prudently concealed, is cele¬

39. See the original conference (in tom. iv. p.

brated by Fredegarius (Epitom. c. 21, in tom. ii.

99-102). Avitus, the principal actor, and probably

p. 400), Aimoin (1. i. c. 16, in tom. iii. p. 40), and

the secretary of the meeting, was bishop of Vienne.

the Chroniques de St. Denys (1. i. c. 20, in tom. iii.

A short account of his person and works may be

Notes: Chapter found in Dupin (Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom. v. p. 5-10). 40. Gregory of Tours (1. iii. c. 19, in tom. ii. p. 197) indulges his genius, or rather transcribes some more eloquent writer, in the description of Dijon —a castle, which already deserved the title of a city. It depended on the bishops of Langres till the twelfth century, and afterwards became the cap¬ ital of the dukes of Burgundy. Longuerue, De¬ scription de la France, part i. p. 280. 41. The Epitomiser of Gregory of Tours (in tom. ii. p. 401) has supplied this number of Franks, but he rashly supposes that they were cut in pieces by Gundobald. The prudent Burgundian spared the soldiers of Clovis, and sent these captives to the king of the Visigoths, who settled them in the territory of Toulouse. 42. In this Burgundian war I have followed Gregory of Tours (1. ii. c. 32, 33, in tom. ii. p. 178, 179), whose narrative appears so incompatible with that of Procopius (de Bell. Goth. 1. i. c. 12, in tom.