16 XXVIII. grateful and ignominious office "." The fears CHAP. of the people fupplied what the difcretion of the orator had fuppreffed; and the calamities, which afflicted, or threatened, the declining empire, were unanimously imputed, by the Pagans, to the new religion of Chrift and of Conftantine. fion of &c. But the hopes of Symmachus were repeatedly Conver baffled by the firm and dexterous oppofition of Rome, the archbishop of Milan; who fortified the em- A. D.388, perors against the fallacious eloquence of the advocate of Rome. In this controversy, Ambrofe condescends to speak the language of a philofopher, and to afk, with fome contempt, why it fhould be thought neceffary to introduce an imaginary and invisible power, as the cause of those victories, which were fufficiently explained by the valour and difcipline of the legions. He juftly derides the abfurd reverence for antiquity, which could only tend to difcourage the improvements of art, and to replunge the human race into their original barbarifm. From thence gradually rifing to a more lofty and theological tone, he pronounces, that Chriftianity alone is the doctrine of truth and falvation; and that every mode of Polytheism conducts its deluded votaries, through the paths of error, to the abyfs of eternal perdi 16 See the fifty-fourth epiftle of the tenth book of Symmachus. In the form and difpofition of his ten books of epiftles, he imitated the younger Pliny; whofe rich and florid style he was fuppofed, by his friends, to equal or excel (Macrob. Saturnal. 1. v. c. 1.). But the luxuriancy of Symmachus confifts of barren leaves, without fruits, and even without flowers. Few facts, and few fentiments, can be extracted from his verbose correfpondence. CHAP. tion". Arguments like thefe, when they were XXVIII. fuggefted by a favourite bishop, had power to prevent the restoration of the altar of Victory; but the fame arguments fell, with much more energy and effect, from the mouth of a conqueror; and the gods of antiquity were dragged in triumph at the chariot-wheels of Theodofius". In a full meeting of the fenate, the emperor proposed, according to the forms of the republic, the important queftion, Whether the worship of Jupiter, or that of Chrift, fhould be the religion of the Romans? The liberty of fuffrages, which he affected to allow, was deftroyed by the hopes and fears that his presence infpired; and the arbitrary exile of Symmachus was a recent admonition, that it might be dangerous to oppose the wishes of the monarch. On a régular division of the fenate, Jupiter was condemned and degraded by the fense of a very large majority; and it is rather surprising, that any members should be found bold enough to declare, 17 See Ambrofe (tom. ii. epift. xvii, xviii. p. 825-833.). The former of these epiftles is a fhort caution; the latter is a formal reply to the petition or libel of Symmachus. The fame ideas are more copiously expreffed in the poetry, if it may deferve that name, of Prudentius; who compofed his two books against Symmachus (A. D. 404.) while that fenator was still alive. It is whimsical enough, that Montefquieu (Confiderations, &c. c. xix. tom. iii. p. 487.) fhould overlook the two profeffed antagonists of Symmachus; and amuse himself with defcanting on the more remote and indirect confutations of Orofius, St. Augustin, and Salvian. 18 See Prudentius (in Symmach. 1. i. 545, &c.). The Christian agrees with the Pagan Zofimus (1. iv. p. 283.), in placing this visit of Theodofius after the fecond civil war, gemini bis victor cæde Tyranni (1. i. 410.). But the time and circumftances are better fuited to his first triumph. by XXVIII. by their speeches and votes, that they were ftill CHAP. Prudentius, after proving that the fenfe of the fenate is declared by a legal majority, proceeds to fay (609, &c.), Adfpice quain pleno subsellia nostra Senatû Qua vocat egregii fententia Principis, illuc Zofimus afcribes to the confcript fathers an heathenish courage, 20 Jerom specifies the pontiff Albinus, who was furrounded with fuch a believing family of children and grand children, as would have been fufficient to convert even Jupiter himself; an extraordinary profelyte! (tom. i. ad Lætam, p. 54.) XXVIII. CHAP. the fnowy robes of baptifmal innocence; and "to humble the pride of the confular fafces be"fore the tombs of the martyrs " 21" The citizens, who fubfifted by their own industry, and the populace, who were fupported by the public liberality, filled the churches of the Lateran, and Vatican, with an inceffant throng of devout profelytes. The decrees of the fenate, which proscribed the worship of idols, were ratified by the general consent of the Romans 2: the splendour of the capitol was defaced, and the folitary temples were abandoned to ruin and contempt Rome fubmitted to the yoke of the Gofpel; and the vanquished provinces had not yet loft their reverence for the name and authority of Rome. Deftrucion of the the pro vinces, 22 23 The filial piety of the emperors themselves entemples in gaged them to proceed, with fome caution and tenderness, in the reformation of the eternal city. A. D.381, Thofe abfolute monarchs acted with lefs regard to the prejudices of the provincials. The pious labour which had been fufpended near twenty years fince the death of Conftantius 24, was vi &c. 21 Exfultare Patres videas, pulcherrima mundi gorously The fancy of Prudentius is warmed and elevated by victory. 22 Prudentius, after he has defcribed the converfion of the fenate and people, asks, with fome truth and confidence, Et dubitamus adhuc Romam, tibi, Chrifte, dicatam In leges transîffe tuas ? 23 Jerom exults in the defolation 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 extremely scarce) accufes Valentinian and gorously refumed, and finally accomplished, by the zeal of Theodofius. Whilft that warlike prince yet struggled with the Goths, not for the glory, but for the fafety, of the republic; he ventured to offend a confiderable party of his fubjects, by fome acts which might perhaps fecure the protection of Heaven, but which muft feem rafh and unfeasonable in the eye of human prudence. The fuccefs of his first experiments against the Pagans, encouraged the pious emperor to reiterate and enforce his edicts of proscription; the fame laws which had been originally published in the provinces of the Eaft, were applied, after the defeat of Maximus, to the whole extent of the Western empire; and every victory of the orthodox Theodofius contributed to the triumph of the Chriftian and Catholic faith". He attacked fuperftition in her most vital part, by prohibiting the ufe of facrifices, which he declared to be criminal as well as infamous; and if the terms of his edicts more strictly condemned the impious curiosity which examined the entrails of the victims 26, every fubfequent explanation tended to involve, in the and Valens of prohibiting facrifices. Some partial order may have been iffued by the Eaftern emperor; but the idea of any general law is contradicted by the filence of the Code, and the evidence of ecclefiaftical history. 25 See his laws in the Theodofian' Code, 1. xvi. tit. x. leg. 7-11. CHAP. 26 Homer's facrifices are not accompanied with any inquifition of entrails (fee Feithius, Antiquitat. Homer. 1. i. c. 10. 16.). The Tufcans, who produced the first Harufpices, subdued both the Greeks and the Romans. (Cicero de Divinatione, ii, 23.).. |