End of the ples were repaired and beautified by the order of Maximin; and the officiating priests of the various deities were subjected to the authority of a superior pontiff destined to oppose the bishop, and to promote the cause of paganism. These pontiffs acknowledged, in their turn, the supreme jurisdiction of the metropolitans or high. priests of the province, who acted as the immediate vicegerents of the emperor himself. A white robe was the ensign of their dignity; and these new prelates were carefully selected from the most noble and opulent families. By the influence of the magistrates, and of the sacerdotal order, a great number of dutiful addresses were obtained, particularly from the cities of Nicomedia, Antioch, and Tyre, which artfully represented the well-known intentions of the court as the general sense of the people; solicited the emperor to consult the laws of justice rather than the dictates of his clemency; expressed their abhorrence of the Christians, and humbly prayed that those impious sectaries might at least be excluded from the limits of their respective territories. The answer of Maximin to the address which he obtained from the citizens of Tyre is still extant. He praises their zeal and devotion in terms of the highest satisfaction, descants on the obstinate impiety of the Christians, and betrays, by the readiness with which he consents to their banishment, that he considered himself as receiving, rather than as conferring, an obligation. The priests as well as the magistrates were empowered to enforce the execution of his edicts, which were engraved on tables of brass; and though it was recommended to them to avoid the effusion of blood, the most cruel and ignominious punishments were inflicted on the refractory Christians (176). The Asiatic Christians had everything to dread from the severity persecutions. of a bigotted monarch who prepared his measures of violence with such deliberate policy. But a few months had scarcely elapsed, before the edicts published by the two Western emperors obliged (176) See Eusebius, I. viii. c. 14. 1. îx. c. 2-8. Lactantius de M. P. c. 36. These writers agree in representing the arts of Maximin: but the former relates the execution of several martyrs, while the latter expressly affirms, occidi servos Dei vetuit.* *It is easy to reconcile them; it is sufficient to quote the entire text of Lactantius: Nam cum clementiam specie tenus profiteretur, occidi servos Dei vetuit, debilitari jussit. Itaque confessoribus effodiebantur oculi, amputabantur manus, nares vel auriculæ desecabantur. Hæc ille moliens Constantini litteris deterretur. Dissimulavit ergo, et tamen, si quis inciderit, mari occulte mergebatur. This detail of torments inflicted on the Christians easily reconciles Lactantius and Eusebius. Those who died in consequence of their tortures, those who were plunged into the sea, might well pass for martyrs. The mutilation of the words of Lactantius has alone given rise to the apparent contradiction. G. Eusebius, ch. vi., relates the public martyrdom of the aged bishop of Emesa, with two others, who were thrown to the wild beasts, the beheading of Peter bishop of Alexandria, with several others, and the death of Lucian presbyter of Antioch, who was carried to Nicomedia, and put to death in prison. The contradiction is direct and undeniable, for although Eusebius may have misplaced the former martyrdoms, it may be doubted whether the authority of Maximin extended to Nicomedia till after the death of Galerius. The last edict of toleration issued by Maximin, and published by Eusebius himself, Eccl. Hist. ix. 9., confirms the statement of Lactantius. M. Maximin to suspend the prosecution of his designs: the civil war which he so rashly undertook against Licinius employed all his attention; and the defeat and death of Maximin soon delivered the church from the last and most implacable of her enemies (177). account of of the In this general view of the persecution, which was first authorised Probable by the edicts of Diocletian, I have purposely refrained from describe the sufferings ing the particular sufferings and deaths of the Christian martyrs. martyrs and It would have been an easy task, from the history of Eusebius, confessors. from the declamations of Lactantius, and from the most ancient acts, to collect a long series of horrid and disgustful pictures, and to fill many pages with racks and scourges, with iron hooks and red-hot beds, and with all the variety of tortures which fire and steel, savage beasts, and more savage executioners, could inflict on the human body. These melancholy scenes might be enlivened by a crowd of visions and miracles destined either to delay the death, to celebrate the triumph, or to discover the relics of those canonized saints who suffered for the name of Christ. But I cannot determine what I ought to transcribe, till I am satisfied how much I ought to believe. The gravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius himself, indirectly confesses, that he has related whatever might redound to the glory, and that he has suppressed all that could tend to the disgrace, of religion (178). Such an acknowledgment will naturally excite a suspicion that a writer who has so openly violated one of the fundamental laws of history, has not paid a very strict regard to the observance of the other; and the suspicion will derive additional credit from the character of Eusebius, which was less tinctured with credulity, and more practised (177) A few days before his death, he published a very ample edict of toleration, in which he imputes all the severities which the Christians suffered to the judges and governors, who had misunderstood his intentions. See the Edict in Eusebius, 1. ix. c. 10. (178) Such is the fair deduction from two remarkable passages in Eusebius, 1. viii. c. 2. and de Martyr. Palestin. c. 12. The prudence of the historian has exposed his own character to censure and suspicion. It was well known that he himself had been thrown into prison; and it was suggested that he had purchased his deliverance by some dishonourable compliance. The reproach was urged in his lifetime, and even in his presence, at the council of Tyre. See Tillemont, Mémoires Ecclésiastiques, tom, viii. part i. p. 67.* * Historical criticism does not consist in reject cont. Cels. 1. i. ii. vi. viii. passim. Libanius, the ing indiscriminately all the facts which do not panegyrist of Julian, says, while speaking of the agree with a particular system, as Gibbon does Christians, "Those who followed a corrupt reli in this chapter, in which, except at the last ex-gion were in continual apprehensions; they fear tremity, he will not consent to believe a martyr- ed lest Julian should invent tortures still more dom. Authorities are to be weighed, not excluded refined than those to which they had been exposed from examination. Now the Pagan historians before, as mutilation, burning alive, &c.; for the justify in many places the details which have emperors had inflicted upon them all these bar been transmitted to us by the historians of the barities." Lib. Parent. in Julian. ap. Fab. Bib. church, concerning the tortures endured by the Græc. No. 9. No. 58. p. 283.-G. Christians. Celsus reproaches the Christians with holding their assemblies in secret, on account of the fear inspired by their sufferings, "for when you are arrested," he 66 says, you are dragged to punishment; and, before you are put to death, you have to suffer all kinds of tortures." Origen. This sentence of Gibbon has given rise to several learned dissertations: Möller, De fide Eusebii Cæsar. &c., Havniæ, 1813. Danzius, de Eusebio Cæs. Hist. Eccl. scriptore, ejusque fide historica recte æstimanda, &c., Jenæ, 1815. Kestner, Commentatio de Eusebii Hist. Eccles. in the arts of courts, than that of almost any of his contemporaries. On some particular occasions, when the magistrates were exasperated by some personal motives of interest or resentment, when the zeal of the martyrs urged them to forget the rules of prudence, and perhaps of decency, to overturn the altars, to pour out imprecations against the emperors, or to strike the judge as he sat on his tribunal, it may be presumed, that every mode of torture which cruelty could invent or constancy could endure, was exhausted on those devoted victims (179). Two circumstances, however, have been unwarily mentioned, which insinuate that the general treatment of the Christians, who had been apprehended by the officers of justice, was less intolerable than it is usually imagined to have been. 1. The confessors who were condemned to work in the mines were permitted, by the humanity or the negligence of their keepers, to build chapels, and freely to profess their religion in the midst of those dreary habitations (180). 2. The bishops were obliged to check and to censure the forward zeal of the Christians, who voluntarily threw themselves into the hands of the magistrates. Some of these were persons oppressed by poverty and debts, who blindly sought to terminate a miserable existence by a glorious death. Others were allured by the hope that a short (179) The ancient, and perhaps authentic, account of the sufferings of Tarachus,* and his companions (Acta Sincera Ruinart, p. 419-448.), is filled with strong expressions of resentment and contempt, which could not fail of irritating the magistrate. The behaviour of Ædesius to Hierocles, præfect of Egypt, was still more extraordinary. λόγοις τε καὶ ἔργοις τον δικαστὴν περιβαλών. Euseb. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 5.t (180) Euseb. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13. conditoris auctoritate et fide, &c. See also Reuterdahl, de fontibus Historia Eccles. Eusebianæ, Lond. Goth., 1826. Gibbon's inference may appear stronger than the text will warrant, yet it is difficult, after reading the passages, to dismiss all suspicion of partiality from the mind. - M. *M. Guizot states, that the acts of Tarachus and his companions contain nothing that appears dictated by violent feelings (sentiment outré). Nothing can be more painful than the constant attempt of Gibbon, throughout this discussion, to find some flaw in the virtue and heroism of the martyrs, some extenuation for the cruelty of the persecutors. But truth must not be sacrificed even to well-grounded moral indignation. Though the language of these martyrs is in great part that of calm defiance, of noble firmness, yet there are many expressions which betray "resentment and contempt." "Children of Satan, worshippers of Devils," is their common appellation of the heathen. One of them calls the judge, va δέστατε ; another, θηρίων ἀναιδέστατε τύpavve one curses, and declares that he will curse the Emperors, 6pica, xal ü6píow o μous ovtas xai alponétas, as pestilential and blood-thirsty tyrants, whom God will soon visit in his wrath. On the other hand, though at first they speak the milder language of per suasion, the cold barbarity of the judges and officers might surely have called forth one sentence of abhorrence from Gibbon. On the first unsatisfactory answer, "Break his jaw," is the order of the judge. They direct and witness the most excruciating tortures; the people, as M. Guizot observes, were so much revolted by the cruelty of Maximus, that when the martyrs appeared in the amphitheatre, fear seized on all hearts, and general murmurs against the unjust judge ran through the assembly.. It is singular, at least, that Gibbon should have quoted "as probably authentic," acts so much embellished with miracle as these of Tarachus are, particularly towards the end. — M. Scarcely were the authorities informed of this, than the president of the province, a man, says Eusebius, harsh and cruel, banished the confessors, some to Cyprus, others to different parts of Palestine, and ordered them to be tormented by being set to the most painful labours. Four of them, whom he required to abjure their faith, and refused, were burnt alive. Euseb. de Mart. Palest. c. xiii.-G. Two of these were bishops; a fifth, Silvanus, bishop of Gaza, was the last martyr ; another, named John, was blinded, but used to officiate, and recite from memory long passages of the sacred writings.-M. confinement would expiate the sins of a whole life; and others again were actuated by the less honourable motive of deriving a plentiful subsistence, and perhaps a considerable profit, from the alms which the charity of the faithful bestowed on the prisoners (181). After the church had triumphed over all her enemies, the interest as well as vanity of the captives prompted them to magnify the merit of their respective sufferings. A convenient distance of time or place gave an ample scope to the progress of fiction; and the frequent instances which might be alleged of holy martyrs, whose wounds had been instantly healed, whose strength had been renewed, and whose lost members had miraculously been restored, were extremely convenient for the purpose of removing every difficulty, and of silencing every objection. The most extravagant legends, as they conduced to the honour of the church, were applauded by the credulous multitude, countenanced by the power of the clergy, and attested by the suspicious evidence of ecclesiastical history. martyrs. The vague descriptions of exile and imprisonment, of pain and Number of torture, are so easily exaggerated or softened by the pencil of an artful orator,* that we are naturally induced to inquire into a fact of a more distinct and stubborn kind; the number of persons who suffered death in consequence of the edicts published by Diocletian, his associates, and his successors. The recent legendaries record whole armies and cities, which were at once swept away by the undistinguishing rage of persecution. The more ancient writers content themselves with pouring out a liberal effusion of loose and tragical invectives, without condescending to ascertain the precise number of those persons who were permitted to seal with their blood their belief of the Gospel. From the history of Eusebius, it may however be collected, that only nine bishops were punished with death; and we are assured, by his particular enumeration of the martyrs of Palestine, that no more than ninety-two Christians were entitled to that honourable appellation (182).† As we are (181) Augustin. Collat. Carthagin. Dei, iii. c. 13. ap. Tillemont, Mémoires Ecclésiastiques, tom. v. part i. p. 46. The controversy with the Donatists has reflected some, though perhaps a partial, light on the history of the African church. (182) Eusebius de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13. He closes his narration by assuring us, that these were the martyrdoms inflicted in Palestine, during the whole course of the persecution. The 9th chapter * Perhaps there never was an instance of an author committing so deliberately the fault which he reprobates so strongly in others. What is the dexterous management of the more inartificial historians of Christianity, in exaggerating the numbers of the martyrs, compared to the unfair address with which Gibbon here quietly dismisses from the account all the horrible and excruciating tortures which fell short of death? The reader may refer to the xiith chapter (book viii.) of Eusebius, for the description and for the scenes of these tortures.-M. This calculation is made from the martyrs, of whom Eusebius speaks by name; but he re- unacquainted with the degree of episcopal zeal and courage which prevailed at that time, it is not in our power to draw any useful inferences from the former of these facts; but the latter may serve to justify a very important and probable conelusion. According to the distribution of Roman provinces, Palestine may be considered as the sixteenth part of the Eastern empire (183) and since there were some governors, who from a real or affected clemency had preserved their hands unstained with the blood of the faithful (184), it is reasonable to believe, that the country which had given birth to Christianity, produced at least the sixteenth part of the martyrs who suffered death within the dominions of Galerius and Maximin; the whole might consequently amount to about fifteen hundred, a number which, if it is equally divided between the ten years of the persecution, will allow an annual consumption of one hundred and fifty martyrs. Allotting the same proportion to the provinces of Italy, Africa, and perhaps Spain, where, at the end of two or three years, the rigour of the penal laws was either suspended or abolished, the multitude of Christians in the Roman empire, on whom of his viiith book, which relates to the province of Thebais in Egypt, may seem to contradict our moderate computation; but it will only lead' us to admire the artful management of the historian. Choosing for the scene of the most exquisite cruelty the most remote and sequestered country of the Roman empire, he relates that in Thebais from ten to one hundred persons had frequently suffered martyrdom in the same day. But when he proceeds to mention his own journey into Egypt, his language insensibly becomes more cautious and moderate. Instead of a large, but definite number, he speaks of many Christians (λelous), and most artfully selects two ambiguous words (iotopn σαμεν and ὑπομείναντας)*, which may signify either what he had seen or what he had heard ; either the expectation, or the execution, of the punishment. Having thus provided a secure evasion, he commits the equivocal passage to his readers and translators; justly conceiving that their piety would induce them to prefer the most favourable sense. There was perhaps some malice in the remark of Theodorus Metochita, that all who, like Eusebius, had been conversant with the Egyptians, delighted in an obscure and intricate style. (See Valesius ad loc.) (183) When Palestine was divided into three, the præfecture of the East contained forty-eight provinces. As the ancient distinctions of nations were long since abolished, the Romans distributed the provinces, according to a general proportion of their extent and opulence. (184) Ut gloriari possint nullam se innocentium peremisse, nam et ipse audivi aliquos gloriantes, quia administratio sua, in hac parte, fuerit incruenta. Lactant, Institut. Divin. v. 11. tion and these objections; but Ruinart (Act. Mart. Pref. p. 27. et seq.) has answered him in a peremptory manner: Nobis constat Eusebium in his toria infinitos passim martyres admisisse, quamvis revera paucorum nomina recensuerit. Nec alium Eusebii interpretem quam ipsummet Eusebium proferimus, qui (1. iii. c. 33.) ait sub Trajano plurimos ex fidelibus martyrii certamen subiisse, (1. v. init.) sub Antonino et Vero innumerabiles prope martyres per universum orbem enituisse affirmat. (L. vi. c. 1.) Severum persecutionem concitasse refert, in qua per omnes ubique locorum Ecclesias, ab athletis pro pietate certantibus, illustria confecta fuerunt martyria. Sic de Decii, sic de Valeriani, persecutionibus loquitur, quæ an Dodwelli faveant conjectionibus judicet æquus lector. Even in the persecutions which Gibbon has represented as much more mild than that of Diocletian, the number of martyrs appears much greater, than that to which he limits the martyrs of the latter; and this number is attested by in contestable monuments. I will quote but one example. We find among the letters of St. Cyprian one from Lucianus to Celerinus, written from the depth of a prison, in which Lucianus names seventeen of his brethren dead, some in the quarries, some in the midst of tortures, some of starvation in prison. Jussi sumus (he proceeds), secundum. præceptum imperatoris, fame et siti necari, et reclusi sumus in duabus cellis, ita ut nos afficerent fame et siti et ignis vapore.-G. *Those who will take the trouble to consult the text will see that if the word op.sivavtag could be taken for the expectation of punishment, the passage could have no sense, and become absurd.-M. The many (nelovs) he speaks of as suffering together in one day; ¿0pówg xarà píxv ǹμépav. The fact seems to be, that religious persecution always raged in Egypt with greater violence than elsewhere.-M. |