54

was

XXXII.

tion; the faults of his adminiftration were no CHAP. longer remembered; but every tongue repeated the praises of his genius and virtue and the respectful attention of the Christian world fixed on a defert fpot among the mountains of Taurus. From that folitude, the archbishop, whofe active mind was invigorated by misfortunes, maintained a strict and frequent correspondence + with the most diftant provinces; exhorted the feparate congregation of his faithful adherents to persevere in their allegiance; urged the deftruction of the temples of Phoenicia, and the extirpation of herefy in the isle of Cyprus ; extended his paftoral care to the miffions of Perfia and Scythia; negociated, by his ambaffadors, with the Roman pontiff, and the emperor Honorius; and boldly appealed, from a partial fynod, to the fupreme tribunal of a free and general council. The mind of the illuftrious exile was ftill independent; but his captive body was exposed to the revenge of the oppreffors, who continued to abuse the name and authority of Arcadius ". An order was dispatched for the instant

removal

54 Two hundred and forty-two of the epiftles of Chryfoftom are still extant (Opera, tom. iii. p. 528-736.). They are addressed to a great variety of perfons, and fhew a firmness of mind, much fuperior to that of Cicero in his exile. The fourteenth epiftle contains a curious narrative of the dangers of his journey.

55 After the exile of Chryfoftom, Theophilus published an enormous and horrible volume against him, in which he perpetually repeats the polite expreffions of hoftem humanitatis, facrilegorum principem, immundum dæmonem; he affirms, that John Chryfoftom had delivered his foul to be adulterated by the devil; and wishes that some farther punishment, adequate (if poffible) to the magnitude of his crimes, may be inflicted on him. St. Jerom, at the request of his

CHAP. removal of Chryfoftom to the extreme defert of XXXII. Pityus; and his guards fo faithfully obeyed their

cruel inftructions, that, before he reached the His death, fea-coaft of the Euxine, he expired at Comana, A.D. 407, in Pontus, in the fixtieth year of his age. The Sept. 14. fucceeding generation acknowledged his innocence and merit. The archbishops of the East, who might blush, that their predeceffors had been the enemies of Chryfoftom, were gradually dif pofed, by the firmness of the Roman pontiff, to reftore the honours of that venerable name 5. At the pious folicitation of the clergy and people of Conftantinople, his relics, thirty years after his death, were tranfported from their obscure ed to Con- fepulchre to the royal city $7. The emperor Theodofius advanced to receive them as far as A.D.438, Chalcedon; and, falling proftrate on the coffin, implored, in the name of his guilty parents, Arcadius and Eudoxia, the forgiveness of the injured faint 58.

His relics

tranfport

ftantino.

ple,

Jan. 27.

57

friend Theophilus, tranflated this edifying performance from Greek into Latin. See Facundus Hermian. Defenf. pro iii Capitul. 1. vi. c. 5. published by Sirmond. Opera, tom. ii. p. 595, 596, 597.

56 His name was inferted by his fucceffor Atticus in the Dyptics of the church of Conftantinople, A. D. 418. Ten years afterwards he was revered as a faint. Cyril, who inherited the place, and the paffions, of his uncle Theophilus, yielded with much reluctance. See Facund. Hermian. 1. iv. c. 1. Tillemont, Mem. Ecclef. tom.

xiv. p. 277-283.

57 Socrates, 1. vii. c. 45. Theodoret, 1. v. c. 36. This event reconciled the Joannites, who had hitherto refufed to acknowledge his fucceffors. During his lifetime, the Joannites were refpected by the catholics, as the true and orthodox communion of Conftantinople. Their obftinacy gradually drove them to the brink of schism.

58 According to fome accounts (Baronius, Annal. Ecclef. A. D. 438. N° 9, 10.), the emperor was forced to fend a letter of invitation and excufes, before the body of the ceremonious faint could be moved from Comana.

Yet

XXXII.

of Arca

Yet a reasonable doubt may be entertained, CHAP. whether any stain of hereditary guilt could be derived from Arcadius to his fucceffor. Eudoxia The death was a young and beautiful woman, who indulged dius, A.D.408, her paffions, and defpifed her husband: Count May 1. John enjoyed, at leaft, the familiar confidence of the emprefs; and the public named him as the real father of Theodofius the younger ". The birth of a fon was accepted, however, by the pious husband, as an event the moft fortunate and honourable to himself, to his family, and to the eastern world: and the royal infant, by an unprecedented favour, was invefted with the titles of Cæfar and Auguftus. In lefs than four years afterwards, Eudoxia, in the bloom of youth, was deftroyed by the confequences of a mifcarriage; and this untimely death confounded the prophecy of a holy bishop holy bishop, who, amidst the univerfal joy, had ventured to foretel, that she' fhould behold the long and aufpicious reign of her glorious fon. The catholics applauded the juftice of heaven, which avenged the perfecution of St. Chryfoftom; and perhaps the emperor was

59 Zofimus, 1. v. p. 315. The chastity of an empress should not be impeached without producing a witnefs; but it is aftonishing, that the witnefs fhould write and live under a prince, whofe legitimacy he dared to attack. We must fuppofe that his hiftory was a party libel, privately read and circulated by the Pagans. Tillemont (Hift. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 782.) is not averfe to brand the reputation of Eudoxia.

60 Porphyry of Gaza. His zeal was tranfported by the order which he had obtained for the deftruction of eight Pagan temples of that city. See the curious details of his life (Baronius, A. D. 401. No 17-51.) originally written in Greek, or perhaps in Syriac, by a monk, one of his favourite deacons..

the

XXXII.

CHAP. the only perfon who fincerely bewailed the lofs of the haughty and rapacious Eudoxia. Such a domeftic misfortune afflicted him more deeply than the public calamities of the Eaft"; the licentious excurfions, from Pontus to Palestine, of the Ifaurian robbers, whofe impunity accused the weakness of the government; and the earthquakes, the conflagrations, the famine, and the flights of locufts 62, which the popular difcontent was equally disposed to attribute to the incapacity of the monarch. At length, in the thirtyfirst year of his age, after a reign (if we may abuse that word) of thirteen years three months and fifteen days, Arcadius expired in the palace of Conftantinople. It is impoffible to delineate his character; fince, in a period very copiously furnished with hiftorical materials, it has not been poffible to remark one action that properly belongs to the son of the great Theodofius.

His fupposed tef

tament.

The hiftorian Procopius 63 has indeed illuminated the mind of the dying emperor with a ray of human prudence or celeftial wisdom. Arcadius confidered, with anxious forefight, the helpless condition of his fon Theodofius, who was no more than seven years of age, the dangerous factions of a minority, and the aspiring spirit of Jezde

61 Philoftorg. 1. xi. c. 8. and Godefroy, Differtat. p. 457.

62 Jerom (tom. vi. p. 73. 76.) describes, in lively colours, the regular and destructive march of the locusts, which spread a dark cloud, between heaven and earth, over the land of Palestine. Seafonable winds fcattered them, partly into the Dead Sea, and partly into the Mediterranean.

63 Procopius, de Bell. Perfic. 1. i. c. 2. p. 8. edit. Louvre.

gerd,

XXXII.

gerd, the Perfian monarch. Inftead of tempting CHAP. the allegiance of an ambitious fubject, by the participation of fupreme power, he boldly appealed to the magnanimity of a king; and placed, by a folemn teftament, the fceptre of the Eaft in the hands of Jezdegerd himself. The royal guardian accepted and difcharged this honourable truft with unexampled fidelity; and the infancy of Theodofius was protected by the arms and councils of Perfia. Such is the fingular narrative of Procopius; and his veracity is not difputed by Agathias 4, while he prefumes to diffent from his judgment, and to arraign the wifdom of a Christian emperor, who fo rafhly, though fo fortunately, committed his fon and his dominions to the unknown faith of a ftranger, a rival, and a heathen. At the diftance of one hundred and

64

fifty years, this political queftion might be debated in the court of Juftinian; but a prudent hiftorian will refufe to examine the propriety, till he has afcertained the truth, of the teftament of Arcadius. As it ftands without a parallel in the hiftory of the world, we may juftly require, that it fhould be attefted by the pofitive and unanimous evidence of contemporaries. The strange novelty of the event, which excites our distrust, must have attracted their notice; and their uni

64 Agathias, l. iv. p. 136, 137. Although he confeffes the prevalence of the tradition, he afferts, that Procopius was the first who had committed it to writing. Tillemont (Hift. des Em, pereurs, tom. vi. p. 597.) argues very fenfibly on the merits of this falle. His criticifin was not warped by any ecclefiaftical authority: both Procopius and Agathias are half Pagans.