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the palace of Constantinople, he despatched an honourable and pressing invitation to Maximus, who then resided at Sardis in Lydia, with Chrysanthius, the associate of his art and studies. The prudent and superstitious Chrysanthius refused to undertake a journey which showed itself, according to the rules of divination, with the most threatening and malignant aspect: but his companion, whose fanaticism was of a bolder cast, persisted in his interrogations, till he had extorted from the gods a seeming consent to his own wishes, and those of the emperor. The journey of Maximus through the cities of Asia displayed the triumph of philosophic vanity; and the magistrates vied with each other in the honourable reception which they prepared for the friend of their sovereign. Julian was pronouncing an oration before the senate, when he was informed of the arrival of Maximus. The emperor immediately interrupted his discourse, advanced to meet him, and, after a tender embrace, conducted him by the hand into the midst of the assembly; where he publicly acknowledged the benefits which he had derived from the instructions of the philosopher. Maximus," who soon acquired the confidence, and influenced the councils, of Julian, was insensibly corrupted by the temptations of a court. His dress became more splendid, his demeanour more lofty, and he was exposed, under a succeeding reign, to a disgraceful inquiry into the means by which the disciple of Plato had accumulated, in the short duration of his favour, a very scandalous proportion of wealth. Of the other philosophers and sophists, who were invited to the imperial residence by the choice of Julian, or by the success of Maximus, few were able to preserve their innocence or their reputation. The liberal gifts of money, lands, and houses, were insufficient to satiate their rapacious avarice; and the indignation of the people was justly excited by the remembrance of their abject poverty and disinterested professions. The penetration of Julian could not always be deceived: but he was unwilling to despise the characters of those men whose talents deserved his esteem: he desired to escape the double reproach of imprudence and inconstancy; and he was apprehensive of degrading, in the eyes of the profane, the honour of letters and of religion,

Conversions,

The favour of Julian was almost equally divided between the pagans, who had firmly adhered to the worship of their ancestors, and the christians, who prudently emthe same style of friendship and confidence, are addressed to the philo. sopher Maximus.

z Eunapius (in Maximo, p. 77, 78, 79. and in Chrysanthio, p. 147, 148.) has minutely related these anecdotes, which he conceives to be the most important events of the age. Yet he fairly confesses the frailty of Maximus. His reception at Constantinople is described by Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. 86. p. 301.) and Ammianus, (xxii. 7.)

a Chrysanthius, who had refused to quit Lydia, was created highpriest of the province. His cautious and temperate use of power secured him after the revolution; and he lived in peace; while Maximus, Priscus, &c. were persecuted by the christian ministers. See the adventures of those fanatic sophists, collected by Brucker, tom. ii. p.

281-293.

b See Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. 101, 102. p. 324–326.) and Eunapius. (Vit. Sophist. in Proæresio, p. 126.) Some students, whose expectations perhaps were groundless or extravagant, retired in disgust. (Greg. Naz. Orat. iv. p. 120.) It is strange that we should not

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braced the religion of their sovereign. The acquisition of new proselytes gratified the ruling passions of his soul, superstition and vanity; and he was heard to declare, with the enthusiasm of a missionary, that if he could render each individual richer than Midas, and every city greater than Babylon, he should not esteem himself the benefactor of mankind, unless, at the same time, he could reclaim his subjects from their impious revolt against the immortal gods. A prince, who had studied human nature, and who possessed the treasures of the Roman empire, could adapt his arguments, his promises, and his rewards, to every order of christians; and the merit of a seasonable conversion was allowed to supply the defects of a candidate, or even to expiate the guilt of a criminal. As the army is the most forcible engine of absolute power, Julian applied himself, with peculiar diligence, to corrupt the religion of his troops, without whose hearty concurrence every measure must be dangerous and unsuccessful; and the natural temper of soldiers made this conquest as easy as it was important. The legions of Gaul devoted themselves to the faith, as well as to the fortunes, of their victorious leader; and even before the death of Constantius, he had the satisfaction of announcing to his friends, that they assisted with fervent devotion, and voracious appetite, at the sacrifices, which were repeatedly offered in his camp, of whole hecatombs of fat oxen.f The armies of the east, which had been trained under the standard of the cross and of Constantius, required a more artful and expensive mode of persuasion. On the days of solemn and public festivals, the emperor received the homage, and rewarded the merit, of the troops. His throne of state was encircled with the military ensigns of Rome and the republic; the holy name of Christ was erased from the Labarum; and the symbols of war, of majesty, and of pagan superstition, were so dexterously blended, that the faithful subject incurred the guilt of idolatry, when he respectfully saluted the person or image of his sovereign. The soldiers passed successively in review and each of them, before he received from the hand of Julian a liberal donative, proportioned to his rank and services, was required to cast a few grains of incense into the flame which burnt upon the altar. Some christian confessors might resist, and others might repent; but the far greater number, allured by the prospect of gold, and awed by the presence of the be able to contradict the title of one of Tillemont's chapters, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 960.) "La cour de Julien est pleine de philosophes et de gens perdûs."

Under the reign of Lewis XIV. his subjects of every rank aspired to the glorious title of Convertisseur, expressive of their zeal and success in making proselytes. The word and the idea are growing obsolete in France; may they never be introduced into England!

d See the strong expressions of Libanius, which were probably those of Julian himself. (Orat. Parent. c. 59. p. 285.)

e When Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. x. p. 167.) is desirous to magnify the christian firmness of his brother Cæsarius, physician to the imperial court, he owns that Cæsarius disputed with a formidable adversary, πολυν εν όπλοις, και μέγαν εν λογων δεινοτητι. In his invectives he scarcely allows any share of wit or courage to the apostate.

f Julian. Epist. xxxviii. Ammianus, xxii. 12. Adeo ut in dies pæne singulos milites carnis distentiore saginâ victitantes incultius, potusque aviditate correpti, humeris impositi transeuntium per plateas, ex pub

emperor, contracted the criminal engagement; and their future perseverance in the worship of the gods was enforced by every consideration of duty and of interest. By the frequent repetition of these arts, and at the expense of sums which would have purchased the service of half the nations of Scythia, Julian gradually acquired for his troops the imaginary protection of the gods, and for himself the firm and effectual support of the Roman legions. It is indeed more than probable, that the restoration and encouragement of paganism revealed a multitude of pretended christians, who, from motives of temporal advantage, had acquiesced in the religion of the former reign; and who afterwards returned, with the same flexibility of conscience, to the faith which was professed by the successors of Julian.

The Jews.

While the devout monarch incessantly laboured to restore and propagate the religion of his ancestors, he embraced the extraordinary design of rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem. In a public epistle to the nation or community of the Jews, dispersed through the provinces, he pities their misfortunes, condemns their oppressors, praises their constancy, declares himself their gracious protector, and expresses a pious hope, that, after his return from the Persian war, he may be permitted to pay his grateful vows to the Almighty in his holy city of Jerusalem. The blind superstition, and abject slavery, of those unfortunate exiles, must excite the contempt of a philosophic emperor; but they deserved the friendship of Julian, by their implacable hatred of the christian name. The barren synagogue abhorred and envied the fecundity of the rebellious church: the power of the Jews was not equal to their malice; but their gravest rabbis approved the private murder of an apostate; and their seditious clamours had often awakened the indolence of the pagan magistrates. Under the reign of Constantine, the Jews became the subjects of their revolted children, nor was it long before they experienced the bitterness of domestic tyranny. The civil immunities which had been granted, or confirmed, by Severus, were gradually repealed by the christian princes; and a rash tumult, excited by the Jews of Palestine, seemed to justify the lucrative modes of oppression, which were invented by the bishops and

licis ædibus . ad sua diversoria portarentur. The devout prince and the indignant historian describe the same scene; and in Illyricum or Antioch, similar causes must have produced similar effects.

g Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 74, 75. 83-86.) and Libanius, (Orat. Parent. c. lxxxi. lxxxii. p. 307, 308.) περί ταυτην την σπεδην, εκ αρνάμαι πλο τον ανηλώσθαι μέγαν. The sophist owns and justifies the expense of these military conversions.

h Julian's epistle (xxv.) is addressed to the community of the Jews. Aldus (Venet. 1499.) has branded it with an eynatos; but this stigma is justly removed by the subsequent editors, Petavius and Spanheim, The epistle is mentioned by Sozomen, (1. v. c. 22.) and the purport of it is confirmed by Gregory, (Orat. iv. p. 111.) and by Julian himself, Fragment. p. 295.

i The Misnal denounced death against those who abandoned the foundation. The judgment of zeal is explained by Marsham, (Canon. Chron. p. 161, 162. edit. fol. London, 1672.) and Basnage. (Hist. des Juifs, tom. viii. p. 120.) Constantine made a law to protect christian converts from judaism. Cod. Theod. I. xvi. tit. viii. leg. 1. Godefroy, tom. vi. p. 215.

k Et interea (during the civil war of Magnentius) Judæorum seditio, qui patricium nefarie in regni speciem sustulerunt, oppressa. Aurelius Victor, in Constantio, c. xlii. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 379. in 4to.

Jerusalem.

eunuchs of the court of Constantius. The Jewish patriarch, who was still permitted to exercise a precarious jurisdiction, held his residence at Tiberias ; and the neighbouring cities of Palestine were filled with the remains of a people, who fondly adhered to the promised land. But the edict of Hadrian was renewed and enforced; and they viewed from afar the walls of the holy city, which were profaned in their eyes by the triumph of the cross, and the devotion of the christians.m In the midst of a rocky and barren country, the walls of Jerusalem" enclosed the two mountains of Sion and Acra, within an oval figure of about three English miles. Towards the south, the upper town, and the fortress of David, were erected on the lofty ascent of mount Sion: on the north side, the buildings of the lower town covered the spacious summit of mount Acra; and a part of the hill, distinguished by the name of Moriah, and levelled by human industry, was crowned with the stately temple of the Jewish nation. After the final destruction of the temple, by the arms of Titus and Hadrian, a ploughshare was drawn over the consecrated ground, as a sign of perpetual interdiction. Sion was deserted; and the vacant space of the lower city was filled with the public and private edifices of the Ælian colony, which spread themselves over the adjacent hill of Calvary. The holy places were polluted with monuments of idolatry; and, either from design or accident, a chapel was dedicated to Venus, on the spot which had been sanctified by the death and resurrection of Christ.P Almost three hundred years after those stupendous events, the profane chapel of Venus was demolished by the order of Constantine; and the removal of the earth and stones revealed the holy sepulchre to the eyes of mankind. A magnificent church was erected on that mystic ground, by the first christian emperor; and the effects of his pious munificence were extended to every spot which had been consecrated by the footsteps of patriarchs, of prophets, and of the Son of God.

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1 The city and synagogue of Tiberias are curiously described by Reland. Palestin. tom. ii. p. 1036-1042. m Basnage has fully illustrated the state of the Jews under Constantine and his successors. (tom. viii. c. iv. p. 111-153.)

n Reland (Palestin. Ì. i. p. 309. 390. I. iii. p. 838.) describes, with learning and perspicuity, Jerusalem, and the face of the adjacent country.

o I have consulted a rare and curious treatise of M. D'Anville, sur l'ancienne Jerusalem, Paris, 1747, p. 75. The circumference of the ancient city (Euseb. Preparat. Evangel. I. ix. c. 36.) was twenty-seven stadia, or 2550 toises. A plan, taken on the spot, assigns no more than 1980 for the modern town. The circuit is defined by natural land-marks, which cannot be mistaken or removed.

p See two curious passages in Jerom, (tom. i. p. 102. tom. vi. p. 315.) and the ample details of Tillemont. (Hist. des Empereurs, tom, i. p. 569. tom. ii. p. 289. 294. 4to, edition.)

q Eusebius, in Vit. Constantin. I. iii. c. 25-47, 51-53. The empe ror likewise built churches at Bethlem, the Mount of Olives, and the oak of Mamre. The holy sepulchre is described by Sandys, (Travels, p. 125-133.) and curiously delineated by Le Bruyn. (Voyage au Le. vant, p. 288-296.)

lantic ocean, and the most distant countries of the east and their piety was authorized by the example of the empress Helena, who appears to have united the credulity of age with the warm feelings of a recent conversion. Sages and heroes, who have visited the memorable scenes of ancient wisdom or glory, have confessed the inspiration of the genius of the place; and the christian, who knelt before the holy sepulchre, ascribed his lively faith, and his fervent devotion, to the more immediate influence of the divine Spirit. The zeal, perhaps the avarice, of the clergy of Jerusalem, cherished and multiplied these beneficial visits. They fixed, by unquestionable tradition, the scene of each memorable event. They exhibited the instruments which had been used in the passion of Christ; the nails and the lance that had pierced his hands, his feet, and his side; the crown of thorns that was planted on his head; the pillar at which he was scourged; and, above all, they showed the cross on which he suffered, and which was dug out of the earth in the reign of those princes, who inserted the symbol of christianity in the banners of the Roman legions. Such miracles as seemed necessary to account for its extraordinary preservation and seasonable discovery, were gradually propagated without opposition. The custody of the true cross, which on Easter Sunday was solemnly exposed to the people, was intrusted to the bishop of Jerusalem; and he alone might gratify the curious devotion of the pilgrims, by the gift of small pieces, which they had enchased in gold or gems, and carried away in triumph to their respective countries. But as this gainful branch of commerce must soon have been annihilated, it was found convenient to suppose, that the marvellous wood possessed a secret power of vegetation; and that its substance, though continually diminished, still remained entire and unimpaired." It might perhaps have been expected, that the influence of the place and the belief of a perpetual miracle, should have produced some salutary effects on the morals, as well as on the faith, of the people. Yet the most respectable of

The Itinerary from Bourdeaux to Jerusalem, was composed in the year 333, for the use of pilgrims; among whom Jerom (tom. i. p. 126.) mentions the Britons and the Indians. The causes of this superstitious fashion are discussed in the learned and judicious preface of Wesseling. (Itinerar. p. 537–545.)

s Cicero (de Finibus, v. i.) has beautifully expressed the common sense of mankind.

t Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 326. No. 42-50.) and Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 8-16.) are the historians and champions of this miraculous invention of the cross, under the reign of Constantine. Their oldest witnesses are Paulinus, Sulpicius Severus, Rufinus, Ambrose, and perhaps Cyril of Jerusalem. The silence of Eusebius, and the Bourdeaux pilgrim, which satisfies those who think, perplexes those who believe. See Jortin's sensible remarks, vol. ii. p. 238-248. u This multiplication is asserted by Paulinus, (Epist. xxxvi. See Dupin, Bibliot. Eccles. tom. iii. p. 149.) who seems to have improved a rhetorical flourish of Cyril into a real fact. The same supernatural privilege must have been communicated to the Virgin's milk, (Erasmi Opera, tom. i. p. 778. Lugd. Batav. 1703. in Colloq. de Peregrinat. Religionis ergo) saints' heads, &c. and other relics, which are repeated in so many different churches.

x Jerom, (tom. i p. 103.) who resided in the neighbouring village of Bethlem, describes the vices of Jerusalem from his personal experience.

y Gregor. Nyssen, apud Wesseling, p. 539. The whole epistle, which condemns either the use or the abuse of religious pilgrimage, is painful to the catholic divines, while it is dear and familiar to our protestant polemics.

z He renounced his orthodox ordination, officiated as a deacon, and was re-ordained by the hands of the Arians. But Cyril afterwards

the ecclesiastical writers have been obliged to confess, not only that the streets of Jerusalem were filled with the incessant tumult of business and pleasure, but that every species of vice, adultery, theft, idolatry, poisoning, murder, was familiar to the inhabitants of the holy city. The wealth and pre-eminence of the church of Jerusalem excited the ambition of Arian, as well as orthodox, candidates; and the virtues of Cyril, who, since his death, has been honoured with the title of Saint, were displayed in the exercise, rather than in the acquisition, of his episcopal dignity."

d

Julian attempts to rebuild the temple.

The vain and ambitious mind of Julian might aspire to restore the ancient glory of the temple of Jerusalem." As the christians were firmly persuaded that a sentence of everlasting destruction had been pronounced against the whole fabric of the Mosaic law, the imperial sophist would have converted the success of his undertaking into a specious argument against the faith of prophecy, and the truth of revelation. He was displeased with the spiritual worship of the synagogue; but he approved the institutions of Moses, who had not disdained to adopt many of the rites and ceremonies of Egypt. The local and national deity of the Jews was sincerely adored by a polytheist, who desired only to multiply the number of the gods; and such was the appetite of Julian for bloody sacrifice, that his emulation might be excited by the piety of Solomon, who had offered, at the feast of the dedication, twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. These considerations might influence his designs; but the prospect of an immediate and important advantage would not suffer the impatient monarch to expect the remote and uncertain event of the Persian war. He resolved to erect, without delay, on the commanding eminence of Moriah, a stately temple, which might eclipse the splendour of the church of the Resurrection on the adjacent hill of Calvary; to establish an order of priests, whose interested zeal would detect the arts, and resist the ambition, of their christian rivals; and to

changed with the times, and prudently conformed to the Nicene faith. Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. viii.) who treats his memory with tenderness and respect, has thrown his virtues into the text, and his faults into the notes, in decent obscurity, at the end of the volume.

a

Imperii sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens propagare. Ammian. xxiii. i. The temple of Jerusalem had been famous even among the gentiles. They had many temples in each city (at Sichem five, at Gaza eight, at Rome four hundred and twenty-four;) but the wealth and religion of the Jewish nation was centred in one spot.

b The secret intentions of Julian are revealed by the late bishop of Gloucester, the learned and dogmatic Warburton; who, with the authority of a theologian, prescribes the motives and conduct of the Supreme Being. The discourse entitled Julian, (2d edition, London, 1751.) is strongly marked with all the peculiarities which are imputed to the Warburtonian school.

e I shelter myself behind Maimonides, Marsham, Spencer, Le Clerc, Warburton, &c. who have fairly derided the fears, the folly, and the falsehood, of some superstitious divines. See Divine Legation, vol. iv. p. 25, &c.

d Julian (Fragment, p. 295.) respectfully styles him ueyas Ocos, and mentions him elsewhere (Epist. Ixiii.) with still higher reverence. He doubly condemns the christians: for believing, and for renouncing, the religion of the Jews. Their Deity was a true, but not the only, God. Apud Cyril. l. ix. p. 305, 306.

e 1 Kings viii. 63. 2 Chronicles vii. 5. Joseph. Antiquitat. Judaic. 1. viii. c. 4. p. 431. edit. Havercamp. As the blood and smoke of so many hecatombs might be inconvenient, Lightfoot, the christian Rabbi, removes them by a miracle. Le Clerc (ad loca) is bold enough to suspect the fidelity of the numbers.

of the temple, are attested, with some variations, by contemporary and respectable evidence. This public event is described by Ambrose,' bishop of Milan, in an epistle to the emperor Theodosius, which must provoke the severe animadversion of the Jews; by the eloquent Chrysostom, who might appeal to the memory of the elder part of his congregation at Antioch; and by Gregory Nazianzen," who published his account of the perhaps by a premiracle before the expiration of the ternatural event. same year. The last of these writers has boldly declared, that this preternatural event was not dis

invite a numerous colony of Jews, whose stern fanaticism would be always prepared to second, and even to anticipate, the hostile measures of the pagan government. Among the friends of the emperor (if the names of emperor and of friend are not incompatible) the first place was assigned, by Julian himself, to the virtuous and learned Alypius.f❘ The humanity of Alypius was tempered by severe justice, and manly fortitude; and while he exercised his abilities in the civil administration of Britain, he imitated, in his poetical compositions, the harmony and softness of the odes of Sappho. This minister, to whom Julian communicated, with-puted by the infidels; and his assertion, strange as out reserve, his most careless levities, and his most serious counsels, received an extraordinary commission to restore, in its pristine beauty, the temple of Jerusalem; and the diligence of Alypius required and obtained the strenuous support of the governor of Palestine. At the call of their great deliverer, the Jews, from all the provinces of the empire, assembled on the holy mountain of their fathers; and their insolent triumph alarmed and exasperated the christian inhabitants of Jerusalem. The desire of rebuilding the temple has, in every age, been the ruling passion of the children of Israel. In this propitious moment the men forgot their avarice, and the women their delicacy; spades and pickaxes of silver were provided by the vanity of the rich, and the rubbish was transported in mantles of silk and purple. Every purse was opened in liberal contributions, every hand claimed a share in the pious labour; and the commands of a great monarch were executed by the enthusiasm of a whole people.s

h

Yet, on this occasion, the joint efforts The enterprise is defeated; of power and enthusiasm were unsuccessful; and the ground of the Jewish temple, which is now covered by a Mahometan mosque, still continued to exhibit the same edifying spectacle of ruin and desolation. Perhaps the absence and death of the emperor, and the new maxims of a christian reign, might explain the interruption of an arduous work, which was attempted only in the last six months of the life of Julian. But the christians entertained a natural and pious expectation, that, in this memorable contest, the honour of religion would be vindicated by some signal miracle. An earthquake, a whirlwind, and a fiery eruption, which overturned and scattered the new foundations

f Julian. epist. xxix. xxx. La Bleterie has neglected to translate the second of these epistles.

g See the zeal and impatience of the Jews in Gregory Nazianzen (Orat. iv. p. 111.) and Theodoret, (1. iii. c. 20.)

h Built by Omar, the second Khalif, who died, A. D. 644. This great mosque covers the whole consecrated ground of the Jewish temple, and constitutes almost a square of 760 toises, or one Roman mile in circumference. See D'Anville Jerusalem, p. 45.

⚫i Ammianus records the consuls of the year 363, before he proceeds to mention the thoughts of Julian. Templum... instaurare sumptibus cogitabat immodicis. Warburton has a secret wish to anticipate the design; but he must have understood, from former examples, that the execution of such a work would have demanded many years.

k The subsequent witnesses, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Philostorgius, &c. add contradictions, rather than authority. Compare the objections of Basuage (Hist. des Juifs, tom, viii. p. 157-168.) with Warburton's answers, (Julian, p. 174-258.) The bishop has ingeniously explained the miraculous crosses which appeared on the garments of the spectators by a similar instance, and the natural effects of lightning. 1 Ambros. tom. iì. epist. xl. p. 946. edit. Benedictin. He composed

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it may seem, is confirmed by the unexceptionable testimony of Ammianus Marcellinus." The philosophic soldier, who loved the virtues, without adopting the prejudices, of his master, has recorded, in his judicious and candid history of his own times, the extraordinary obstacles which interrupted the restoration of the temple of Jerusalem. "Whilst Alypius, assisted by the governor of the province, urged, with vigour and diligence, the execution of the work, horrible balls of fire breaking out near the foundations, with frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the place, from time to time, inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen; and the victorious element continuing in this manner obstinately and resolutely bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance, the undertaking was abandoned.” Such authority should satisfy a believing, and must astonish an incredulous, mind. Yet a philosopher may still require the original evidence of impartial and intelligent spectators. At this important crisis, any singular accident of nature would assume the appearance, and produce the effects, of a real prodigy. This glorious deliverance would be speedily improved and magnified by the pious art of the clergy of Jerusalem, and the active credulity of the christian world; and, at the distance of twenty years, a Roman historian, careless of theological disputes, might adorn his work with the specious and splendid miracle.P

Julian.

The restoration of the Jewish temple Partiality of was secretly connected with the ruin of the christian church. Julian still continued to maintain the freedom of religious worship, without distinguishing, whether this universal toleration proceeded from his justice or his clemency. He affected to pity the unhappy christians, who were

this fanatic epistle (A. D. 388.) to justify a bishop, who had been condemned by the civil magistrate for burning a synagogue.

m Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 580. advers. Judicos et Gentes, tom. ii. p. 574. de Sto Babylà, edit. Montfauçon. I have followed the common and natural supposition; but the learned Benedictine, who dates the composition of these sermons in the year 383, is confident they were never pronounced from the pulpit.

n Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iv. p. 110-113. To de SV TEPIßONTOV zari θαύμα, και εδε τοις άθεοις αυτοίς απισούμενον λέξων έρχομαι.

o Ammian. xxiii. 1. Cum itaque rei fortiter instaret Alypius, juva retque provinciæ rector, metuendi globi flammarum prope fundamenta crebris assultibus erumpentes fecere locum exustis aliquoties operantibus inaccessum; hocque modo elemento destinatius repellente, cessavit inceptum. Warburton labours (p. 60-90.) to extort a confession of the miracle from the mouths of Julian and Libanius, and to employ the evidence of a rabbi, who lived in the fifteenth century. Such witnesses can only be received by a very favourable judge.

p Dr. Lardner, perhaps alone of the christian critics, presumes to doubt the truth of this famous miracle. (Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 47-71.) The silence of Jerom would lead to a suspi

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mistaken in the most important object of their lives; | of grammar and rhetoric." The motives alleged by but his pity was degraded by contempt, his contempt was imbittered by hatred; and the sentiments of Julian were expressed in a style of sarcastic wit, which inflicts a deep and deadly wound, whenever it issues from the mouth of a sovereign. As he was sensible that the christians gloried in the name of their Redeemer, he countenanced, and perhaps enjoined, the use of the less honourable appellation of GALILEANS. He declared, that, by the folly of the Galilæans, whom he describes as a sect of fanatics, contemptible to men, and odious to the gods, the empire had been reduced to the brink of destruction; and he insinuates in a public edict, that a frantic patient might sometimes be cured by salutary violence. An ungenerous distinction was admitted into the mind and counsels of Julian, that, according to the difference of their religious sentiments, one part of his subjects deserved his favour and friendship, while the other was entitled only to the common benefits that his justice could not refuse to an obedient people. According to a principle pregnant with mischief and oppression, the emperor transferred to the pontiffs of his own religion the management of the liberal allowances from the public revenue, which had been granted to the church by the piety of Constantine and his sons. The proud system of clerical honours and immunities, which had been constructed with so much art and labour, was levelled to the ground; the hopes of testamentary donations were intercepted by the rigour of the laws; and the priests of the christian sect were confounded with the last and most ignominious class of the people. Such of these regulations as appeared necessary to check the ambition and avarice of the ecclesiastics, were soon afterwards imitated by the wisdom of an orthodox prince. The peculiar distinctions which policy has bestowed, or superstition has lavished, on the sacerdotal order, must be confined to those priests who profess the religion of the state. But the will of the legislator was not exempt from prejudice and passion; and it was the object of the insidious policy of Julian, to deprive the christians of all the temporal honours and advantages which rendered them respectable in the eyes of the world.'

A just and severe censure has been He prohibits the christians from inflicted on the law which prohibited teaching schools. the christians from teaching the arts

cion, that the same story, which was celebrated at a distance, might be despised on the spot.

q Greg. Naz. Orat. iii. p. 81. And this law was confirmed by the invariable practice of Julian himself. Warburton has justly observed (p. 35.) that the Platonists believed in the mysterious virtue of words; and Julian's dislike for the name of Christ might proceed from superstition, as well as from contempt.

r Fragment. Julian. p. 288. He derides the uwopia Taλiλatov, (Epist. vii.) and so far loses sight of the principles of toleration, as to wish (Epist. xlii.) ακοντας ιάσθαι.

• Ου γαρ μοι θέμις επί κομιζέμεν η ελεαίρειν Άνδρας, οἱ κε θεοισιν απεχθωντ' αθανατοισιν. These two lines, which Julian has changed and perverted in the true spirit of a bigot, (Epist. xlix.) are taken from the speech of Eolus, when he refuses to grant Ulysses a fresh supply of winds. (Odyss. x. 73.) Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. lix. p. 286.) attempts to justify this partial behaviour, by an apology, in which persecution peeps through the mask of candour.

t These laws which affected the clergy, may be found in the slight hints of Julian himself, (Epist. lii.) in the vague declamations of

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the emperor to justify this partial and oppressive
measure, might command, during his life-time, the
silence of slaves and the applause of flatterers.
Julian abuses the ambiguous meaning of a word
which might be indifferently applied to the language
and the religion of the GREEKS: he contemptuously
observes, that the men who exalt the merit of
implicit faith are unfit to claim or to enjoy the ad-
vantages of science; and he vainly contends, that if
they refuse to adore the gods of Homer and Demos-
thenes, they ought to content themselves with
expounding Luke and Matthew in the churches of
the Galilæans. In all the cities of the Roman
world, the education of the youth was intrusted to
masters of grammar and rhetoric; who were elected
by the magistrates, maintained at the public ex-
pense, and distinguished by many lucrative and
honourable privileges. The edict of Julian appears
to have included the physicians, and professors of
all the liberal arts; and the emperor, who reserved
to himself the approbation of the candidates, was
authorized by the laws to corrupt, or to punish, the
religious constancy of the most learned of the chris-
tians. As soon as the resignation of the more
obstinate teachers had established the unrivalled
dominion of the pagan sophists, Julian invited the
rising generation to resort with freedom to the
public schools, in a just confidence, that their
tender minds would receive the impressions of
literature and idolatry. If the greatest part of the
christian youth should be deterred by their own
scruples, or by those of their parents, from accept-
ing this dangerous mode of instruction, they must,
at the same time, relinquish the benefits of a liberal
education. Julian had reason to expect that, in the
space of a few years, the church would relapse into
its primæval simplicity, and that the theologians,
who possessed an adequate share of the learning
and eloquence of the age, would be succeeded by a
generation of blind and ignorant fanatics, incapable
of defending the truth of their own principles, or of
exposing the various follies of polytheism."
It was undoubtedly the wish and the
Disgrace and op-
design of Julian to deprive the chris- pression of the
tians of the advantages of wealth,
of knowledge, and of power; but the injustice of
excluding them from all offices of trust and profit,
seems to have been the result of his general policy,

christians.

Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 86, 87.) and in the positive assertions of Sozomen,
(l. v. c. 5.)
u Inclemens perenni obruendum silentio. Ammian. xxii. 10.
XXV. 5.

The edict itself, which is still extant among the epistles of Julian, (xlii.) may be compared with the loose invectives of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p. 96.) Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1291–1294.) has collected the seeming differences of ancients and moderns. They may be easily reconciled. The christians were directly forbid to teach, they were indirectly forbid to learn; since they would not frequent the schools of the pagans.

y Codex Theodos. 1. xiii. tit. iii. de medicis et professoribus, leg. 5. (published the 17th of June, received at Spoleto in Italy the 29th of July, A. D. 363.) with Godefroy's Illustrations, tom. v. p. 31.

z Orosius celebrates their disinterested resolution. Sicut a majoribus nostris compertum habemus, omnes ubique propemodum. . . officium quam fidem deserere maluerunt, vii. 30. Proæresius, a christian sophist, refused to accept the partial favour of the emperor. Hieronym. in Chron. p. 185. Edit. Scaliger. Eunapius in Proæresio, p. 126.

a They had recourse to the expedient of composing books for their

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