The worship of the christian martyrs. 66 paganism, that only twenty-eight years after the death of Theodosius, the faint and minute vestiges were no longer visible to the eye of the legislator.* The ruin of the pagan religion is described by the sophists, as a dreadful and amazing prodigy, which covered the earth with darkness, and restored the ancient dominion of chaos and of night. They relate, in solemn and pathetic strains, that the temples were converted into sepulchres, and that the holy places, which had been adorned by the statues of the gods, were basely polluted by the relics of christian martyrs. "The monks" (a race of filthy animals, to whom Eunapius is tempted to refuse the name of men) are the authors of the new worship, which, in the place of those deities who are conceived by the understanding, has substituted the meanest and most contemptible slaves. The heads, salted and pickled, of those infamous malefactors, who for the multitude of their crimes have suffered a just and ignominious death; their bodies, still marked by the impression of the lash, and the scars of those tortures which were inflicted by the sentence of the magistrate; such" (continues Eunapius)" are the gods which the earth produces in our days; such are the martyrs, the supreme arbitrators of our prayers and petitions to the Deity, whose tombs are now consecrated as the objects of the veneration of the people." Without approving the malice, it is natural enough to share the surprise, of the sophist, the spectator of a revolution, which raised those obscure victims of the laws of Rome, to the rank of celestial and invincible protectors of the Roman empire. The grateful respect of the christians for the martyrs of the faith, was exalted, by time and victory, into religious adoration; and the most illustrious of the saints and prophets were deservedly associated to the honours of the martyrs. One hundred and fifty years after the glorious deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Vatican and the Ostian road were distinguished by the tombs, or rather by the trophies, of those spiritual heroes." In the age which followed the conversion of Constantine, the emperors, the consuls, and the generals of armies, devoutly visited the sepulchres of a tentmaker and a fisherman; and their venerable bones were deposited under the altars of Christ, on which the bishops of the royal city continually offered the unbloody sacrifice. The new capital of the eastern y See Eunapius, in his Life of the sophist Edesius; in that of Eustathius, he foretells the ruin of paganism, kaι Ti μvtodes, kai aɛides σκοτος τυραννήσει τα επι της καλλιτα. z Caius, (apud Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. ii. c. 25.) a Roman presbyter, who lived in the time of Zephyrinus, (A. D. 202-219.) is an early wit ness of this superstitious practice. a Chrysostom. Quod Christus sit Deus. Tom. i. nov. edit. No. 9. I am indebted for this quotation to Benedict the XIVth's pastoral letter on the Jubilee of the year 1750. See the curious and entertaining letters of M. Chais, tom. iii. b Male facit ergo Romanus episcopus? qui, super mortuorum hominum, Petri et Pauli, secundum nos, ossa venerenda. . . . offert Domino sacrificia, et tumulos eorum, Christi arbitratur altaria. Jerom. tom. ii. advers. Vigilant. p. 153. e Jerom (tom. ii. p. 122.) bears witness to these translations, which world, unable to produce any ancient and domestic trophies, was enriched by the spoils of dependent provinces. The bodies of St. Andrew, St. Luke, and St. Timothy, had reposed, near three hundred years, in the obscure graves, from whence they were transported, in solemn pomp, to the church of the apostles, which the magnificence of Constantine had founded on the banks of the Thracian Bosphorus. About fifty years afterwards, the same banks were honoured by the presence of Samuel, the judge and prophet of the people of Israel. His ashes, deposited in a golden vase, and covered with a silken veil, were delivered by the bishops into each other's hands. The relics of Samuel were received by the people, with the same joy and reverence which they would have shown to the living prophet; the highways, from Palestine to the gates of Constantinople, were filled with an uninterrupted procession; and the emperor Arcadius himself, at the head of the most illustrious members of the clergy and senate, advanced to meet his extraordinary guest, who had always deserved and claimed the homage of kings. The example of Rome and Constantinople confirmed the faith and discipline of the catholic world. The honours of the saints and martyrs, after a feeble and ineffectual murmur of profane reason, were universally established; and in the age of Ambrose and Jerom, something was still deemed wanting to the sanctity of a christian church, till it had been consecrated by some portion of holy relics, which fixed and inflamed the devotion of the faithful. tions. In the long period of twelve hun- General reflec dred years, which elapsed between the reign of Constantine and the reformation of Luther, the worship of saints and relics corrupted the pure and perfect simplicity of the christian model; and some symptoms of degeneracy may be observed even in the first generations which adopted and cherished this pernicious innovation. I. The satisfactory experience, that I. Fabulous marthe relics of saints were more valuable tyrs and relics. than gold or precious stones,' stimulated the clergy to multiply the treasures of the church. Without much regard for truth or probability, they invented names for skeletons, and actions for names. The fame of the apostles, and of the holy men who had imitated their virtues, was darkened by religious fiction. To the invincible band of genuine and primitive martyrs, they added myriads of imaginary are neglected by the ecclesiastical historians. The passion of St. Andrew at Patræ, is described in an epistle from the clergy of Achaia, which Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 60. No. 34.) wishes to believe, and Tillemont is forced to reject. St. Andrew was adopted as the spiritual founder of Constantinople. (Mem. Eccles. tom. i. p. 317-323. 588-594.) d Jerom (tom. ii. p. 122.) pompously describes the translation of Samuel, which is noticed in all the chronicles of the times. e The presbyter Vigilantius, the protestant of his age, firmly, though ineffectually, withstood the superstition of monks, relics, saints, fasts, &c. for which Jerom compares him to the Hydra, Cerberus, the Centaurs, &c. and considers him only as the organ of the dæmon, (tom. ii. p. 120-126.) Whoever will peruse the controversy of St. Jerom and Vigilantius, and St. Augustin's account of the miracles of St. Stephen, may speedily gain some idea of the spirit of the fathers. f M. de Beausobre (Hist. du Manicheisme, tom. ii. p. 648.) has applied a worldly sense to the pious observation of the clergy of Smyrna, who carefully preserved the relics of St. Polycarp the martyr. heroes, who had never existed, except in the fancy | Roman world, to possess a divine and miraculous of crafty or credulous legendaries; and there is reason to suspect, that Tours might not be the only diocese in which the bones of a malefactor were adored instead of those of a saint. A superstitious practice, which tended to increase the temptations of fraud, and credulity, insensibly extinguished the light of history, and of reason, in the christian world. II. Miracles. II. But the progress of superstition would have been much less rapid and victorious, if the faith of the people had not been assisted by the seasonable aid of visions and miracles, to ascertain the authenticity and virtue of the most suspicious relics. In the reign of the younger Theodosius, Lucian, a presbyter of Jerusalem, and the ecclesiastical minister of the village of Caphargamala, about twenty miles from the city, related a very singular dream, which, to remove his doubts, had been repeated on three successive Saturdays. A venerable figure stood before him, in the silence of the night, with a long beard, a white robe, and a gold rod; announced himself by the name of Gamaliel, and revealed to the astonished presbyter, that his own corpse, with the bodies of his son Abibas, his friend Nicodemus, and the illustrious Stephen, the first martyr of the christian faith, were secretly buried in the adjacent field. He added, with some impatience, that it was time to release himself, and his companions, from their obscure prison; that their appearance would be salutary to a distressed world; and that they had made choice of Lucian to inform the bishop of Jerusalem of their situation and their wishes. The doubts and difficulties which still retarded this important discovery, were successively removed by new visions; and the ground was opened by the bishop, in the presence of an innumerable multitude. The coffins of Gamaliel, of his son, and of his friend, were found in regular order; but when the fourth coffin, which contained the remains of Stephen, was shown to the light, the earth trembled, and an odour, such as that of paradise, was smelt, which instantly cured the various diseases of seventy-three of the assistants. The companions of Stephen were left in their peaceful residence of Caphargamala: but the relics of the first martyr were transported, in solemn procession, to a church constructed in their honour on mount Sion; and the minute particles of those relics, a drop of blood, or the scrapings of a bone, were acknowledged, in almost every province of the g Martin of Tours, (see his Life, c. 8. by Sulpicius Severus) extorted this confession from the mouth of the dead man. The error is allowed to be natural; the discovery is supposed to be miraculous. Which of the two was likely to happen most frequently! h Lucian composed in Greek his original narrative, which has been translated by Avitus, and published by Baronius. (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 415. No. 7-16.) The Benedictine editors of St. Augustin have given (at the end of the work De Civitate Dei) two several copies, with many various readings. It is the character of falsehood to be loose and inconsistent. The most incredible parts of the legend are smoothed and softened by Tillemont. (Mem. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 9, &c.) i A phial of St. Stephen's blood was annually liquefied at Naples, till he was superseded by St. Januarius. (Ruinart. Hist. Persecut. Vandal. p. 529.) * Augustin composed the two-and-twenty books De Civitate Dei in virtue. The grave and learned Augustin, whose understanding scarcely admits the excuse of credulity, has attested the innumerable prodigies which were performed in Africa by the relics of St. Stephen; and this marvellous narrative is inserted in the elaborate work of the City of God, which the bishop of Hippo designed as a solid and immortal proof of the truth of Christianity. Augustin solemnly declares, that he had selected those miracles only which were publicly certified by the persons who were either the objects, or the spectators, of the power of the martyr. Many prodigies were omitted, or forgotten; and Hippo had been less favourably treated than the other cities of the province. And yet the bishop enumerates above seventy miracles, of which three were resurrections from the dead, in the space of two years, and within the limits of his own diocese. If we enlarge our view to all the dioceses, and all the saints, of the christian world, it will not be easy to calculate the fables, and the errors, which issued from this inexhaustible source. But we may surely be allowed to observe, that a miracle, in that age of superstition and credulity, lost its name and its merit, since it could scarcely be considered as a deviation from | the ordinary, and established, laws of nature. m III. The innumerable miracles, of III. Revival of which the tombs of the martyrs were polytheism. the perpetual theatre, revealed to the pious believer the actual state and constitution of the invisible world; and his religious speculations appeared to be founded on the firm basis of fact and experience. Whatever might be the condition of vulgar souls, in the long interval between the dissolution and the resurrection of their bodies, it was evident that the superior spirits of the saints and martyrs did not consume that portion of their existence in silent and inglorious sleep. It was evident (without presuming to determine the place of their habitation, or the nature of their felicity) that they enjoyed the lively and active consciousness of their happiness, their virtue, and their powers; and that they had already secured the possession of their eternal reward. The enlargement of their intellectual faculties surpassed the measure of the human imagination; since it was proved by experience, that they were capable of hearing and understanding the various petitions of their numerous votaries; who, in the same moment of time, but in the most distant parts of the world, invoked the name and assistance of Stephen or of Martin." The confidence of their the space of thirteen years. A. D. 413-426. (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 608, &c.) His learning is too often borrowed, and his arguments are too often his own; but the whole work claims the merit of a magnificent design, vigorously, and not unskilfully, executed. 1 See Augustin de Civitat. Dei, 1. xxii. c. 22. and the Appendix, which contains two books of St. Stephen's miracles, by Evodius, bishop of Uzalis. Freculphus (apud Basnage, Hist. des Juifs, tom. viii. p. 249.) has preserved a Gallic or Spanish proverb, "Whoever pretends to have read all the miracles of St. Stephen, he lies." in Burnet (de Statû Mortuorum, p. 56-84.) collects the opinions of the fathers, as far as they assert the sleep, or repose, of human souls till the day of judgment. He afterwards exposes (p. 91, &c.) the inconveniences which must arise, if they possessed a more active and sensible existence. petitioners was founded on the persuasion, that the to affect the senses of the vulgar. If, in the beginsaints, who reigned with Christ, cast an eye of pityning of the fifth century,' Tertullian, or Lactantius, upon earth; that they were warmly interested in the prosperity of the catholic church; and that the individuals, who imitated the example of their faith and piety, were the peculiar and favourite objects of their most tender regard. Sometimes, indeed, their friendship might be influenced by considerations of a less exalted kind: they viewed, with partial affection, the places which had been consecrated by their birth, their residence, their death, their burial, or the possession of their relics. The meaner passions of pride, avarice, and revenge, may be deemed unworthy of a celestial breast; yet the saints themselves condescended to testify their grateful approbation of the liberality of their votaries : and the sharpest bolts of punishment were hurled against those impious wretches, who violated their magnificent shrines, or disbelieved their superuatural power. Atrocious, indeed, must have been the guilt, and strange would have been the scepticism, of those men, if they had obstinately resisted the proofs of a divine agency, which the elements, the whole range of the animal creation, and even the subtle and invisible operations of the human mind, were compelled to obey. The immediate, and almost instantaneous, effects, that were supposed to follow the prayer, or the offence, satisfied the christians of the ample measure of favour and authority which the saints enjoyed in the presence of the Supreme God; and it seemed almost superfluous to inquire, whether they were continually obliged to intercede before the throne of grace; or whether they might not be permitted to exercise, according to the dictates of their benevolence and justice, the delegated powers of their subordinate ministry. The imagination, which had been raised by a painful effort to the contemplation and worship of the Universal Cause, eagerly embraced such inferior objects of adoration as were more proportioned to its gross conceptions and imperfect faculties. The sublime and simple theology of the primitive christians was gradually corrupted; and the MONARCHY of heaven, already clouded by metaphysical subtilties, was degraded by the introduction of a popular mythology, which tended to restore the reign of polytheism." IV. Introduc. IV. As the objects of religion were tion of pagan gradually reduced to the standard of ceremonies, the imagination, the rites and ceremonies were introduced that seemed most powerfully in the bosom of Abraham, (in loco refrigerii,) or else under the altar of God. Nec posse suis tumulis et ubi voluerunt adesse præsentes. But Jerom (tom. ii. p. 122.) sternly refutes this blasphemy. Tu Deo leges pones? Tu apostolis vincula injicies, ut usque ad diem judicii teneantur custodiâ, nec sint cum Domino suo; de quibus scriptum est, Sequuntur Agnum quocunque vadit. Si Agnus ubique, ergo, et hi, qui cum Agno sunt, ubique esse credendi sunt. Et cum diabolus et' dæmones toto vagentur in orbe, &c. o Fleury, Discours sur l'Hist. Ecclesiastique, ii. p.. 80. p At Minorca, the relics of St. Stephen converted in eight days 540 Jews; with the help, indeed, of some wholesome severities, such as burning the synagogue, driving the obstinate infidels to starve among the rocks, &c. See the original letter of Severus bishop of Minorca, (ad calcem St. Augustin. de Civ. Dei.) and the judicious remark of Basuage, (tom. viii. p. 245-251.) 4 Mr. Hume (Essays, vol. ii. p. 434.) observes, like a philosopher, the natural flux and reflux of polytheism and theism. had been suddenly raised from the dead, to assist at the festival of some popular saint, or martyr,' they would have gazed with astonishment, and indignation, on the profane spectacle, which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual worship of a christian congregation. As soon as the doors of the church were thrown open, they must have been offended by the smoke of incense, the perfume of flowers, and the glare of lamps and tapers, which diffused, at noon-day, a gawdy, superfluous, and, in their opinion, a sacrilegious light. If they approached the balustrade of the altar, they made their way through the prostrate crowd, consisting for the most part of strangers and pilgrims, who resorted to the city on the vigil of the feast, and who already felt the strong intoxication of fanaticism, and, perhaps, of wine. Their devout kisses were imprinted on the walls and pavement of the sacred edifice; and their fervent prayers were directed, whatever might be the language of their church, to the bones, the blood, or the ashes, of the saint, which were usually concealed, by a linen or silken veil, from the eyes of the vulgar. The christians frequented the tombs of the martyrs, in the hope of obtaining, from their powerful intercession, every sort of spiritual, but more especially of temporal, blessings. They implored the preservation of their health, or the cure of their infirmities; the fruitfulness of their barren wives, or the safety and happiness of their children. Whenever they undertook any distant or dangerous journey, they requested, that the holy martyrs would be their guides and protectors on the road; and if they returned without having experienced any misfortune, they again hastened to the tombs of the martyrs, to celebrate, with grateful thanksgivings, their obligations to the memory and relics of those heavenly patrons. The walls were hung round with symbols of the favours which they had received; eyes, and hands, and feet, of gold and silver: and edifying pictures, which could not long escape the abuse of indiscreet or idolatrous devotion, represented the image, the attributes, and the miracles of the tutelar saint. The same uniform original spirit of superstition might suggest, in the most distant ages and countries, the same method of deceiving the credulity, and of affecting the senses, of mankind :" but it must ingenuously be confessed, that the ministers of the catholic church imitated the profane model, which r D'Aubigné (see his own Memoirs, p. 156-160.) frankly offered, with the consent of the Huguenot ministers, to allow the first 400 years as the rule of faith. The Cardinal du Perron haggled for forty years more, which were indiscreetly given. Yet neither party would have fourd their account in this foolish bargain. 8 The worship practised and inculcated by Tertullian, Lactantius, Arnobius, &c. is so extremely pure and spiritual, that their declamations against the pagan sometimes glance against the Jewish ceremonies. t Faustus the Manichæan accuses the catholics of idolatry. Vertitis idola in martyres... quos votis similibus colitis. M. de Beausobre (Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, tom. ii. p. 629-700.) a protestant, but a philosopher, has represented with candour and learning, the introduction of christian idolatry in the fourth and fifth centuries. The resemblance of superstition, which could not be imitated, might be traced from Japan to Mexico. Warburton has seized this idea, which he distorts, by rendering it too general and absolute. (Di. vine Legation, vol. iv. p. 126, &c.) they were impatient to destroy. The most respectable bishops had persuaded themselves, that the ignorant rustics would more cheerfully renounce the superstition of paganism, if they found some resemblance, some compensation, in the bosom of christianity. The religion of Constantine achieved, in less than a century, the final conquest of the Roman empire: but the victors themselves were insensibly subdued by the arts of their vanquished rivals.* CHAP. XXIX. Final division of the Roman empire between the sons of Theodosius.—Reign of Arcadius and Honorius.-Administration of Rufinus and Stilicho. —Revolt and defeat of Gildo in Africa. empire between A. D. 395. ent from the line which now separates the Germans and the Turks; and the respective advantages of territory, riches, populousness, and military strength, were fairly balanced and compensated, in this final and permanent division of the Roman empire. The hereditary sceptre of the sons of Theodosius appeared to be the gift of nature, and of their father; the generals and ministers had been accustomed to adore the majesty of the royal infants; and the army and people were not admonished of their rights, and of their power, by the dangerous example of a recent election. The gradual discovery of the weakness of Arcadius and Honorius, and the repeated calamities of their reign, were not sufficient to obliterate the deep and early impressions of loyalty. The subjects of Rome, who still reverenced the persons, or rather the names, of their sovereigns, beheld with equal abhorrence, the rebels who opposed, and the ministers who abused, the authority of the throne. Theodosius had tarnished the glory с Character and administration of Rufinus, A. D. 386-395. of his reign by the elevation of Rufinus; Division of the THE genius of Rome expired with Theodosius; the last of the successors of Augustus and Constantine, who appeared in the field at the head of their armies, and whose authority was universally acknowledged throughout the whole extent of the empire. The memory of his virtues still continued, however, to protect the feeble and inexperienced youth of his two sons. After the death of their father, Arcadius and Honorius were saluted, by the unanimous consent of mankind, as the lawful emperors of the east, and of the west; and the oath of fidelity was eagerly taken by every order of the state; the senates of old and new Rome, the clergy, the magistrates, the soldiers, and the people. Arcadius, who then was about eighteen years of age, was born in Spain, in the humble habitation of a private family. But he received a princely education in the palace of Constantinople; and his inglorious life was spent in that peaceful and splendid seat of royalty, from whence he appeared to reign over the provinces of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, from the lower Danube to the confines of Persia and Æthiopia. His younger brother, Honorius, assumed, in the eleventh year of his age, the nominal government of Italy, Africa, Gaul, Spain, and Britain; and the troops, which guarded the fron-imitating the repentance, of Theodosius. The mitiers of his kingdom, were opposed, on one side, to the Caledonians, and on the other, to the Moors. The great and martial præfecture of Illyricum was divided between the two princes; the defence and possession of the provinces of Noricum, Pannonia, and Dalmatia, still belonged to the western empire; but the two large dioceses of Dacia and Macedonia, which Gratian had intrusted to the valour of Theodosius, were for ever united to the empire of the east. The boundary in Europe was not very differ The imitation of paganism is the subject of Dr. Middleton's agree. able letter from Rome. Warburton's animadversions obliged him to connect (vol. iii. p. 120-132.) the history of the two religions; and to prove the antiquity of the christian copy. a Alecto, envious of the public felicity, convenes an infernal synod ; Megæra recommends her pupil Rufinus, and excites him to deeds of mischief, &c. But there is as much difference between Claudian's fury and that of Virgil, as between the characters of Turnus and Rufinus. nister, who viewed with proud indifference the rest of mankind, never forgave the appearance of an injury; and his personal enemies had forfeited, in his opinion, the merit of all public services. Promotus, the master-general of the infantry, had saved the empire from the invasion of the Ostrogoths; but he indignantly supported the pre-eminence of a rival, whose character and profession he despised ; and, in the midst of a public council, the impatient soldier was provoked to chastise with a blow the in b It is evident, (Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 770.) though de Marca is ashamed of his countryman, that Rufinus was born at Elusa, the metropolis of Novempopulania, now a small village of Gascony. (D'Anville, Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 289.) e Philostorgius, 1. xi. c. 3. with Godefroy's Dissert. p. 440. d A passage of Suidas is expressive of his profound dissimulation βαθυγνώμων ανθρωπος και κρύψινος. decent pride of the favourite. This act of violence | the exceptionable parts of their own conduct; the was represented to the emperor as an insult, which enmity of Rufinus might be palliated by the jealous it was incumbent on his dignity to resent. The dis- and unsociable nature of ambition: but he indulged grace and exile of Promotus were signified by a per- a spirit of revenge, equally repugnant to prudence emptory order, to repair, without delay, to a military and to justice, when he degraded their native counstation on the banks of the Danube; and the death try of Lycia from the rank of Roman provinces ; of that general (though he was slain in a skirmish | stigmatized a guiltless people with a mark of igwith the barbarians) was imputed to the perfidious nominy; and declared, that the countrymen of arts of Rufinus. The sacrifice of a hero gratified his Tatian and Proculus should for ever remain incaparevenge; the honours of the consulship elated his ble of holding any employment of honour or advanThe new vanity; but his power was still imperfect and pre- tage, under the imperial government.b carious, as long as the important posts of præfect of præfect of the east (for Rufinus instantly succeeded the east, and of præfect of Constantinople, were filled to the vacant honours of his adversary) was not diby Tatian, and his son Proculus; whose united verted, however, by the most criminal pursuits, authority balanced, for some time, the ambition and from the performance of the religious duties, which favour of the master of the offices. The two præfects in that age were considered as the most essential were accused of rapine and corruption in the admin- to salvation. In the suburb of Chalcedon, suristration of the laws and finances. For the trial of named the Oak, he had built a magnificent villa; to these illustrious offenders, the emperor constituted a | which he devoutly added a stately church, consespecial commission: several judges were named to crated to the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and share the guilt and reproach of injustice; but the continually sanctified by the prayers and penance right of pronouncing sentence was reserved to the of a regular society of monks. A numerous, and president alone, and that president was Rufinus him- almost general, synod of the bishops of the eastern self. The father, stripped of the præfecture of the empire was summoned to celebrate, at the same east, was thrown into a dungeon; but the son, con- time, the dedication of the church, and the baptism scious that few ministers can be found innocent, of the founder. This double ceremony was perwhere an enemy is their judge, had secretly escaped; formed with extraordinary pomp; and when Rufinus and Rufinus must have been satisfied with the least was purified, in the holy font, from all the sins that obnoxious victim, if despotism had not condescend- he had hitherto committed, a venerable hermit of ed to employ the basest and most ungenerous arti- Egypt rashly proposed himself as the sponsor of a fice. The prosecution was conducted with an proud and ambitious statesman.i appearance of equity and moderation, which flattered Tatian with the hope of a favourable event: his confidence was fortified by the solemn assurances and perfidious oaths of the president, who presumed to interpose the sacred name of Theodosius himself; and the unhappy father was at last persuaded to recall, by a private letter, the fugitive Proculus. He was instantly seized, examined, condemned, and beheaded, in one of the suburbs of Constantinople, with a precipitation which disappointed the clemency of the emperor. Without respecting the misfortunes of a consular senator, the cruel judges of Tatian compelled him to behold the execution of his son: the fatal cord was fastened round his own neck; but in the moment when he expected, and perhaps desired, the relief of a speedy death, he was permitted to consume the miserable remnant of his old age in poverty and exile. The punishment of the two præfects might, perhaps, be excused by e Zosimus, 1. iv. p. 272, 273. f Zosimus, who describes the fall of Tatian and his son, (l. iv. p. 273, 274.) asserts their innocence; and even his testimony may outweigh the charges of their enemies, (Cod. Theod. tom. iv. p. 489.) who accuse them of oppressing the Curiæ. The connexion of Tatian with the Arians, while he was præfect of Egypt, (A. D. 373.) inclines Tillemont to believe that he was guilty of every crime. (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 360. Mem. Eccles, tom. vi. p. 589.) Post trabeas exsul. In Rufin. i. 248. The facts of Zosimus explain the allusions of Claudian; but his classic interpreters were ignorant of the fourth century. The fatal cord I found, with the help of Tillemont, in a sermon of St. Asterius, of Amasea. h This odious law is recited, and repealed, by Arcadius, (A. D. 396.) in the Theodosian Code, 1. ix. tit. xxxviii. leg. 9. The sense, as it is explained by Claudian (in Rufin. i. 234.) and Godefroy, (tom. iii. p. 279.) is perfectly clear, He oppresses The character of Theodosius imposed on his minister the task of hypocrisy, which disguised, and sometimes restrained, the abuse of power; and Rufinus was apprehensive of disturbing the indolent slumber of a prince, still capable of exerting the abilities, and the virtue, which had raised him to the throne.* But the absence, and, soon afterwards, the death, of the emperor, confirmed the absolute authority of Rufinus over the person and dominions of Arcadius ; a feeble youth, whom the imperious præfect considered as his pupil, rather than his sovereign. Regardless of the public opinion, he indulged his passions without remorse, and without resistance; and his malignant and rapacious spirit rejected every passion that might have contributed to his own glory, or the happiness of the people. His avarice, which seems to have prevailed, in his corrupt mind, over every other sentiment, attracted Exscindere cives Funditus; et nomen gentis delere laborat. The scruples of Pagi and Tillemont can arise only from their zeal for the glory of Theodosius. i Ammonius . . . Rufinum propriis manibus suscepit sacro fonte mundatum. See Rosweyde's Vita Patrum, p. 947. Sozomen (1. viii. c. 17.) mentions the church and monastery; and Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 593.) records this synod, in which St. Gregory of Nyssa performed a conspicuous part. k Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, 1. xii. c. 12.) praises one of the laws of Theodosius, addressed to the præfect Rufinus, (l. ix. tit. iv. leg. unic.) to discourage the prosecution of treasonable, or sacrilegious, words. A tyrannical statute always proves the existence of tyranny; but a laudable edict may only contain the specious professions, or ineffectual wishes, of the prince, or his ministers. This, I am afraid, is a just, though mortifying, canon of criticism. fluctibus auri. Expleri ille calor nequit. |