XXIII. CHAP. had saved the infancy of Julian,' posterity will condemn the ingratitude, instead of praising the clemency, of the emperor, The temple and sa of Daphne At the distance of five miles from Antioch, cred grove the Macedonian kings of Syria had consecrated to Apollo one of the most elegant places of devotion in the pagan world." A magnificent temple rose in honour of the god of light; and his collossal figure", almost filled the capacious sanctuary, which was enriched with gold and gems, and adorned by the skill of the Grecian artists. The deity was represented in a bending attitude, with a golden cup in his hand, pouring out a libation on the earth; as if he supplicated the venerable mother to give to his arms the cold and beauteous DAPHNE: for the spot was ennobled by fiction: and the fancy of the Syrian poets had transported the amorous tale from the banks of the Peneus to those of the Orontes. The ancient rites of Greece were imitated by the royal colony of Antioch. A stream of prophecy, which rivalled the truth and reputation of the Delphic oracle, flowed from the Gregory (Orat. iii, p. 90) is satisfied that, by saving the apostate, Mark had deserved still more than he had suffered. The grove and temple of Daphne are described by Strabo, (l. xvi. p. 1089, 1090, edit. Amstel. 1707); Libanius, (Nænia, p. 185, 188, Antiochic. Orat. xi, p. 380, 381), and Sozomen, (L. v, c. 19) Wesseling (Itinerar. p. 581), and Causaubon (ad Hist. August. p. 64) illustrate this curious subject. "Simulacrum in eo Olympiaci Jovis imitamenti æquiparans magnitu dinem. Ammian. xxii. 13. The Olympic Jupiter was sixty feet high, and his bulk was consequently equal to that of a thousand men. See a curious Memoire of the Abbe Gedoyn, (Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ix, p. 198). XXIII. Castalian fountain of Daphne. In the adjacent CHAP. fields a stadium was built by a special privilege, which had been purchased from Elis; the Olympic games were celebrated at the expence of the city; and a revenue of thirty thousand pounds sterling was annually applied to the public pleasures." The perpetual resort of pilgrims and spectators, insensibly formed, in the neighbourhood of the temple, the stately and populous village of Daphne, which emulated the splendor, without acquiring the title, of a provincial city. The temple and the village were deeply bosomed in a thick grove of laurels and cypresses, which reached as far as a circumference of ten miles, and formed in the most sultry summers a cool and impenetrable shade. A thousand streams of the purest water issuing from every hill, preserved the verdure of the • Hadrian read the history of his future fortunes on a leaf dipped in the Castalian stream; a trick which, according to the physician Vandale, (de Oraculis, p. 281, 282), might be easily performed by chemical preparations. The emperor stopped the source of such dangerous knowledge; which was again opened by the devout curiosity of Ju lian. P It was purchased, A. D. 44, in the year 92 of the era of Antioch, (Noris. Epoch. Syro-Maced. p. 139-174), for the term of ninety Olym✔ piads. But the Olympic games of Antioch were not regularly celebrated till the reign of Commodus. See the curious details in the Chronicle of John Malela, (tom. i, p. 293, 320, 372-381), a writer whose merit and authority are confined within the limits of his native city. ¶ Fifteen talents of gold, bequeathed by Sosibius, who died in the reign of Augustus. The theatrical merits of the Syrian cities, in the age of Constantine, are compared in the Expositio totius Mundi, p. 6, (Hudson, Geograph. Minor, tom. iii). XXIII. CHAP. earth, and the temperature of the air; the senses were gratified with harmonious sounds and aromatic odours; and the peaceful grove was consecrated to health and joy, to luxury and love. The vigorous youth pursued, like Apollo, the object of his desires; and the blushing maid was warned, by the fate of Daphne, to shun the folly of unseasonable coyness. The soldier and the philosopher wisely avoided the temptation of this sensual paradise ; where pleasure, assuming the character of religion, imperceptibly dissolved the firmness of manly virtue. But the groves of Daphne continued for many ages to enjoy the veneration of natives and strangers; the privileges of the holy ground were enlarged by the munificence of succeeding emperors; and every generation added new ornaments to the splendor of the temple." Neglect and profa. When Julian, on the day of the annual festimation of val, hastened to adore the Apollo of Daphne, Daphne. his devotion was raised to the highest pitch of eagerness and impatience. His lively imagination anticipated the grateful pomp of victims, of libations, and of incense; a long procession of youths and virgins, clothed in white robes, the Avidio Cassio Syriacos legiones dedi luxuriâ diffluentes et Daphnicis moribus. These are the words of the emperor Marcus Antoninus, in an original letter preserved by his biographer in Hist. August. p. 41. Cassius dismissed or punished every soldier who was seen at Daphne. Aliquantum agrorum Daphnensibus dedit (Pompey), quo lucus ibi spatiosior fieret; delectatus amœnitate loci et aquarum abundantia.Entropius, vi, 14. Sextus Rufus, de Provinciis, c. 16. XXIII. symbol of their innocence; and the tumultuous CHAP. concourse of an innumerable people. But the zeal of Antioch was diverted, since the reign of Christianity, into a different channel. Instead of hecatombs of fat oxen sacrificed by the tribes of a wealthy city, to their tutelar deity, the emperor complains that he found only a single goose, provided at the expence of a priest, the pale and solitary inhabitant of this decayed temple. The altar was deserted, the oracle had been reduced to silence, and the holy ground was profaned by the introduction of Christian and funeral rites. After Babylas" (a bishop of Antioch, who died in prison in the persecution of Decius) had rested near a century in his grave, his body, by the order of the Cæsar Gallus, was transported into the midst of the grove of Daphne. A magnificent church was erected over his remains; a portion of the sacred lands was usurped for the maintenance of the clergy, and for the burial of the Christians of Antioch, who were ambitious of lying at the feet of their bishop; and the priests of Apollo retired, with their affrighted and indignant votaries. As soon Julian (Misopogon, p. 361, 362) discovers his own character with that raivete, that unconscious simplicity, which always constitutes geBuine humour. u Babylas is named by Eusebius in the succession of the bishops of Antioch, (Hist. Eccles. 1. vi, c. 29, 39). His triumph over two emperors (the first fabulous, the second historical) is diffusely celebrated by Chrysostom, (tom. ii, p. 536-579, edit. Montfaucon). Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. iii, part, ii, p. 287–302, 459.465) becomes almost a sceptic. of the dead tion of the CHAP. as another revolution seemed to restore the forXXIII. tune of paganism, the church of St. Babylas was demolished, and new buildings were added to the mouldering edifice which had been raised by the piety of the Syrian kings. But the first and most serious care of Julian was to deliver his oppressed deity from the odious presence of the dead and living Christians, who had so effectually suppressed the voice of fraud or enthusiasm. The scene of infection was purified, according to the forms of ancient rituals; the Removal bodies were decently removed; and the minibodies, and sters of the church were permitted to convey. conflagra- the remains of St. Babylas to their former hatemple. bitation within the walls of Antioch. The modest behaviour which might have assuaged the jealousy of an hostile government, was neglected on this occasion by the zeal of the Christians. The lofty car, that transported the relics of Babylas, was followed, and accompanied, and received, by an innumerable multitude; who chanted, with thundering acclamations, the Psalms of David the most expressive of their contempt for idols and idolaters. The return of the saint was a triumph; and the triumph was an insult on the religion of the emperor, who exerted his pride to dissemble his resentment. During the night which terminated this 2 Ecclesiastical critics, particularly those who love relics, exult in the confession of Julian, (Misopogon, p. 361), and Libanius, (Nænia, p. 185), that Apollo was disturbed by the vicinity of one dead man.— Yet Ammianus (xxii, 12) clears and purifies the whole ground, accord ing to the rites which the Athenians formerly practised m the isle of Delos. |