XXVII. was capable of the most vigorous exertions; but, CHAP. as foon as the defign was accomplished, or the danger was furmounted, the hero funk into inglorious repofe; and, forgetful that the time of a prince is the property of his people, refigned himfelf to the enjoyment of the innocent, but trifling, pleasures of a luxurious court. The natural difpofition of Theodofius was hafty and choleric and, in a station were none could refift, and few would diffunde, the fatal confequence of his refentment, the humane monarch was juftly alarmed by the confcioufnefs of his infirmity, and of his power. It was the constant study of his life to fupprefs, or regulate, the intemperate fallies of paffion; and the fuccefs of his efforts enhanced the merit of his clemency. But the painful virtue, which claims the merit of victory, is expofed to the danger of defeat; and the reign of a wife and merciful prince was polluted by an act of cruelty, which would ftain the annals of Nero or Domitian. Within the fpace of three years, the inconfiftent hiftorian of Theodofius must relate the generous pardon of the citizens of Antioch, and the inhuman maffacre of the people of Theffalonica. The lively impatience of the inhabitants of Antioch was never fatisfied with their own fituation, or with the character, and conduct, of their fuc ceffive fovereigns. The Arian fubjects of Theodofius deplored the lofs of their churches; and, as three rival bishops difputed the throne of Antioch, the fentence which decided their pretenfions The fedi tion of Antioch, CHAP. excited the murmurs of the two unfuccefsful con*XXVII. gregations. The exigencies of the Gothic war, and the inevitable expence that accompanied the conclufion of the peace, had conftrained the emperor to aggravate the weight of the public impositions; and the provinces of Asia, as they had not been involved in the distress, were the less inclined to contribute to the relief, of Europe. The aufpicious period now approached of the tenth year of his reign; a festival more grateful to the foldiers, who received a liberal donative, than to the fubjects, whofe voluntary offerings had been long fince converted into an extraordinary and oppreffive burthen. The edicts of taxation interrupted the repofe, and pleasures, of Antioch; and the tribunal of the magiftrate was befieged by a fuppliant crowd; who, in pathetic, but, at firft, in refpectful, language, folicited the redress of their grievances. They were gradually incenfed by the pride of their haughty rulers, who treated their complaints as a criminal resistance; their fatirical wit degenerated into fharp and angry invectives; and, from the fubordinate powers of government, the invectives of the people infenfibly rose to attack the facred character of the emperor himfelf. Their fury, provoked by a feeble oppofition, difcharged itfelf on the images of the Imperial family, which were erected as objects of public veneration, in the moft confpicuous places of the city. The statues of Theodofius, of his father, of his wife Flaccilla, of his two fons, Arcadius and Honorius, were infolently Feb. 26. 84 XXVII. infolently thrown down from their pedeftals, CHAP. broken in pieces, or dragged with contempt through the ftreets: and the indignities which were offered to the representations of Imperial majefty, fufficiently declared the impious and treasonable wishes of the populace. The tumult was almoft immediately fuppreffed by the arrival of a body of archers; and Antioch had leisure to reflect on the nature and confequences of her crime 4. According to the duty of his office, the governor of the province dispatched a faithful narrative of the whole tranfaction; while the trembling citizens intrufted the confeffion of their crime, and the affurance of their repentance, to the zeal of Flavian their bishop, and to the eloquence of the fenator Hilarius, the friend, and, moft probably, the disciple, of Libanius; whofe genius, on this melancholy occafion, was not ufelefs to his country "s. But the two capitals, Antioch and Conftantinople, were feparated by the distance of eight hundred miles; and, notwithftanding the diligence of the Imperial pofts, the guilty city was feverely punished by a long and dreadful interval of fufpence. Every rumour agitated the hopes and fears of the Antiochians and they heard with terror, that their fovereign, 85 84 The Chriftians and Pagans agreed in believing, that the fedition of Antioch was excited by the dæmons. A gigantic woman (fays Sozomen, 1. vii. c. 23.) paraded the streets with a fcourge in her hand. An old man (fays Libanius, Orat. xii. p. 396.) trans formed himself into a youth, then a boy, &c. 85 Zofimus, in his short and difingenuous account (1. iv. p. 258, 259.), is certainly mistaken in fending Libanius himself to Conftanmople. His own orations fix him at Antioch. exafperated XXVII. 86 CHAP. exasperated by the infult which had been offered to his own ftatues, and, more efpecially, to those of his beloved wife, had refolved to level with the ground the offending city; and to maffacre, without diftinction of age or fex, the criminal inhabitants ; many of whom were actually driven, by their apprehenfions, to feek a refuge in the mountains of Syria, and the adjacent defert. At March 22. length, twenty-four days after the fedition, the general Hellebicus, and Cæfarius, mafter of the offices, declared the will of the emperor, and the fentence of Antioch. That proud capital was degraded from the rank of a city; and the metropolis of the Eaft, ftripped of its lands, its privileges, and its revenues, was fubjected, under the humiliating denomination of a village, to the jurifdiction of Laodicea ". The Baths, the Circus, and the theatres, were fhut: and, that every fource of plenty and pleasure might at the fame time be intercepted, the diftribution of corn was abolished, by the fevere inftructions of Theodofius. His commiffioners then proceeded to inquire into the guilt of individuals; of those who had perpetrated, and of those who had not prevented, the deftruction of the facred ftatues. The tribunal of Hellebicus and Cæfarius, encompaffed with 86 Libanius (Orat. i. p. 6. edit. Venet.) declares, that, under fuch a reign, the fear of a maflacre was groundless and abfurd, especially in the emperor's abfence; for his prefence, according to the eloquent flave, might have given a fanction to the most bloody acts. 87 Laodicea, on the fea-coaft, fixty-five miles from Antioch (fee Noris Epoch. Syro-Maced. Differt. iii. p. 230.). The Antiochians were offended, that the dependent city of Seleucia fhould presume to intercede for them. armed 88 armed foldiers, was erected in the midft of the CHAP. XXVII. Forum. The noblest, and moft wealthy, of the citizens of Antioch, appeared before them in chains; the examination was affifted by the use of torture, and their fentence was pronounced or fufpended, according to the judgment of thefe extraordinary magiftrates. The houfes of the criminals were expofed to fale, their wives and children were fuddenly reduced, from affluence and luxury, to the most abject diftrefs; and a bloody execution was expected to conclude the horrors of a day 8, which the preacher of Antioch, the eloquent Chryfoftom, has represented as a lively image of the laft and univerfal judgment of the world. But the minifters of Theodofius performed, with reluctance, the cruel task which had been affigned them; they dropped a gentle tear over the calamities of the people; and they liftened with reverence to the prefting folicitations of the monks and hermits, who defcended in fwarms from the mountains 89. Hellebicus and Cæfarius were perfuaded to fufpend the execution of their fentence; and it was agreed, that the former should remain at Antioch, while the latter returned, with all poffible speed, to Conftantinople; and prefumed once more to confult the will of his fovereign. The refentment of Clemency 88 As the days of the tumult depend on the moveable festival of Eafter, they can only be determined by the previous determination of the year. The year 387 has been preferred, after a laborious inquiry, by Tillemont (Hift. des Emp. tom. v. p. 741-744.) and Montfaucon (Chryfoftom, tom. xiii. p. 105–110.). 89 Chryfoftom opposes their courage, which was not attended with much risk, to the cowardly flight of the Cynics. Theodofius of Theodofius. |