XXXVII. Catholic bishops whom Hunneric fummoned to the con- CHA P. ference of Carthage (116). An allegorical interpretation, in the form, perhaps, of a marginal note, invaded the text of the Latin Bibles, which were renewed and corrected in a dark period of ten centuries (117. After the invention of printing (118), the editors of the Greek Teftament yielded to their own prejudices, or those of the times (119); and the pious fraud, which was embraced with equal zeal at Rome and at Geneva, has been infinitely multiplied in every country and every language of modern Europe. The example of fraud muft excite fufpicion; and the fpe- and miracious miracles by which the African Catholics have defended cles. the truth and juftice of their caufe, may be ascribed, with more reason, to their own industry, than to the visible protection of Heaven. Yet the hiftorian, who views this religious conflict with an impartial eye, may condescend to mention one preternatural event, which will edify the devout, and furprise the incredulous. Tipasa (120), a maritime colony of Mauritania, fixteen miles to the east of Cæfarea, had been diftinguished, in every age, by the orthodox zeal of its inhabitants. They had braved the fury of the DonaVOL. III. H h tifts (116) Or, more properly, by the four bishops who compofed and publifhed the profeffion of faith in the name of their brethren, They style this text, luce clarius (Victor Vitenfis de Perfecut. Vandal. 1. iii, c. 11. p. 54.). It is quoted foon afterwards by the African polemics, Vigilius and Fulgen tius. (117) In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Bibles were corrected by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, and by Nicolas, cardinal and librarian of the Roman church, fecundum orthodoxam fidem (Wetstein, Prolegom. p. 84, 85.). Notwithstanding these corrections, the paffage is ftill wanting in twenty-five Latin MSS. (Wetftein ad loc.), the oldeft and the fairest; two qualities feldom united, except in manufcripts. (118) The art which the Germans had invented was applied in Italy to the profane writers of Rome and Greece. The original Greek of the New Teftament was published about the fame time (A, D. 1514. 1516. 1520.) by the industry of Erafmus, and the munificence of Cardinal Ximenes. The Complutenfian Polyglot coft the cardinal 50,000 ducats. See Mattaire, Aunal. Typograph. tom. ii. p. 2-8, 125-133.; and Weftein, Prolegomena, p. 116—127. (119) The three witneffes have been established in our Greek Teftaments by the prudence of Erafmus; the honest bigotry of the Complutenfian editors; the typographical fraud, or error, of Robert Stephens in the placing a crochet; and the deliberate falfehood, or strange misapprehenfion, of Theodore Beza. (120) Plin. Hift. Natural. v. i. Itinerar. Weffeling, p. 15. Cellarius, Geograph, Antiq. tom. ii. part. ii. p. 127. This Tipasa (which must not be confounded with another in Numidia) was a town of fome note, fince Vefpafian endowed it with the right of Latium, CHA P. tifts (121); they refifted, or eluded, the tyranny of the heretical bishop: most of the inhabitants who could procure "If clear and perfect language of Reftitutus, the fub-deacon, "one of thefe glorious fufferers, who is now lodged in the "palace of the emperor Zeno, and is refpected by the de"vout emprefs." At Conftantinople we are aftonished to find a cool, a learned, an unexceptionable witness, without intereft, and without paffion. Æneas of Gaza, a Platonic philofopher, has accurately defcribed his own obfervations on thefe African fufferers. "I faw them myself: I heard them fpeak: I diligently enquired by what means fuch an arti"culate voice could be formed, without any organ of speech: "I used my eyes to examine the report of my ears: I open"ed their mouth, and faw that the whole tongue had been "completely torn away by the roots; an operation which "the phyficians generally fuppofe to be mortal (123)" The teftimony of Æneas of Gaza might be confirmed by the fuperfluous evidence of the emperor Juftinian, in a perpetual edict; of count Marcellinus, in his Chronicle of the times; and of pope Gregory the First, who had refided at Conftantinople, as the minister of the Roman pontiff (124). They all (121) Optatus Milevitanus de Schifm. Donatift. 1. ii. p. 38. (122) Victor Vitenfis, v. 6. p. 76. Ruinart, p. 483-487. (123) Æneas Gazæus in Theophrasto, in Biblioth. Patrum, tom. viii. p. 664, 665. He was a Chriftian, and composed this Dialogue (the Theophraftus) on the immortality of the foul, and the refurrection of the body befides twenty-five Epiftles, ftill extant. See Cave (Hift. Literaria, p. 297.) and Fabricius (Bibl. Græc, tom. i. p. 422.). (124) Juftinian, Codex, 1. i, tit. xxvii, Marcellin. in Chron. p. 45. in Thefaur, all lived within the compass of a century; and they all appeal CHA P. to their perfonal knowledge, or the public notoriety, for the XXXVII. truth of a miracle, which was repeated in feveral instances, difplayed on the greateft theatre of the world, and fubmit ted, during a series of years, to the calm examination of the fenfes. This fupernatural gift of the African confeffors, who spoke without tongues, will command the affent of thofe, and of thofe only, who already believe, that their language was pure and orthodox. But the ftubborn mind of an infidel is guarded by fecret, incurable, fufpicion; and the Arian, or Socinian, who has seriously rejected the doctrine of the Trinity, will not be fhaken by the most plaufible evidence of an Athanafian miracle. martyrdom of Herme The Vandals and the Oftrogoths perfevered in the profef- The ruin fion of Arianifm till the final ruin of the kingdoms which they of Arianifm had founded in Africa and Italy. The Barbarians of Gaul among the Barbarians, fubmitted to the orthodox dominion of the Franks; and A D. 500 Spain was reftored to the Catholic church by the voluntary - 700.. converfion of the Vifigoths. This falutary revolution (125) was haftened by the exam- Revolt and ple of a royal martyr, whom our calmer reafon ftyle an may ungrateful rebel. Leovigild, the Gothic monarch of Spain, negild in deferved the refpect of his enemies, and the love of his fub- Spain, jects: the Catholics enjoyed a free toleration, and his Arian A. D. 577 fynods attempted, without much fuccefs, to reconcile their -584. fcruples by abolishing the unpopular rite of a fecond baptism. His eldeft fon Hermenegild, who was invefted by his father with the royal diadem, and the fair principality of Boetica, contracted an honourable and othodox alliance with a Merovingian princess, the daughter of Sigebert king of Austrafia, and of the famous Brunechild. The beauteous Ingundis, who was no more than thirteen years of age, was received, beloved, and perfecuted, in the Arian court of Toledo; and her Hh 2 Thefaur. Temporum Scaliger. Procopius, de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 7. p. 196. Gregor. Magnus Dialog. iii. 32. None of thefe witnesses have specified the number of the confeffors, which is fixed at fixty in an old meno. logy (apud Ruinart, p. 486.), Two of them loft their fpeech by fornica. tion; but the miracle is enhanced by the fingular inftance of a boy who had never spoken before his tongue was cut out. (125) See the two general hiftorians of Spain, Mariana (Hift. de Rebus Hifpaniæ, tom. i. 1. v. c. 12-15. P. 182-194.) and Ferreras (French tranflation, tom. ii. p. 206-247.). Mariana almoft forgets that he is a Jefuit, to affume the ftyle and fpirit of a Roman claffic. Ferreras, an in. duftrious compiler, reviews his facts, and rectifies his chronology. CHAP. her religious conftancy was alternately affaulted with blanXXXVII. difhments and violence by Goifvintha, the Gothic queen, who abused the noble claim of maternal authority (126). Incensed by her refiftance, Goifvintha feized the Catholic princefs by her long hair, inhumanly dafhed her against the ground, kicked her till fhe was covered with blood, and at laft gave orders that the fhould be stripped, and thrown into a bafon, or fifh-pond (127). Love and honour might excite Hermenegild to refent this injurious treatment of his bride; and he was gradually perfuaded, that Ingundis fuffered for the cause of divine truth. Her tender complaints, and the weighty arguments of Leander, archbishop of Seville, accomplished his converfion; and the heir of the Gothic monarchy was initiated in the Nicene faith by the folemn rites of confirmation (128). The rafh youth, inflamed by zeal, and perhaps by ambition, was tempted to violate the duties of a fon, and a fubject; and the Catholics of Spain, although they could not complain of perfecution, applauded his pious rebellion against an heretical father. The civil war was protracted by the long and obftinate fieges of Merida, Cordova, and Seville, which had ftrenuously efpoufed the party of Hermenegild. He invited the orthodox Barbarians, the Suevi, and the Franks, to the destruction of his native land : he folicited the dangerous aid of the Romans, who poffeffed Africa, and a part of the Spanish coaft; and his holy ambaffador, the archbishop Leander, effectually negociated in perfon with the Byzantine court. But the hopes of the Catholics were crushed by the active diligence of a monarch who commanded the troops and treasures of Spain; and the guilty Hermenegild, after his vain attempts to refift or to efcape, was compelled to furrender himfelf into the hands of an incenfed father. Leovigild was still mindful of that sa cred (126) Goifvintha fucceffively married two kings of the Vifigoths: Athanigild, to whom the bore Brunechild, the mother of Ingundis; and Leovigild, whose two fons, Hermenegild and Recared, were the iffue of a former marriage. (127) Iracundiæ furore fuccenfa, apprehenfam per comam capitis puellam in terram conlidit, et diu calcibus verberatam, ac fanguine cruentatam, juffit exfpoliari, et pifcinæ immergi. Greg. Turon. 1. v. c. 39. in tom. ii. p. 255. Gregory is one of our beft originals for this portion of hiftory. (128) The Catholics who admitted the baptifm of heretics, repeated the rite, or, as it was afterwards ftyled, the facrament of confirmation, to which they afcribed many myftic and marvellous prerogatives, both vifible and invifible. See Chardon, Hift. des Sacremens, tom, i, p. 405 -55%.. cred character; and the rebel, defpoiled of the regal orna- CHA P. ments, was still permitted, in a decent exile, to profefs the XXXVII. Catholic religion. His repeated and unfuccefsful treafons at length provoked the indignation of the Gothic king; and the fentence of death, which he pronounced with apparent reluctance, was privately executed in the tower of Seville. The inflexible conftancy with which he refufed to accept the Arian communion, as the price of his fafety, may excufe the honours that have been paid to the memory of St. Hermenegild. His wife and infant fon were detained by the Romans in ignominious captivity: and this domeftic misfortune tarnished the glories of Leovigild, and embittered the last moments of his life. His fon and fucceffor, Recared, the first Catholic king of Converfion of Recared Spain, had imbibed the faith of his unfortunate brother, which he fupported with more prudence and fuccefs. In- Vifigoths ftead of revolting against his father, Recared patiently ex- of Spain, pected the hour of his death. Inftead of condemning his A. D. 586 memory, he pioufly fuppofed, that the dying monarch had -589. abjured the errors of Arianism, and recommended to his fon the converfion of the Gothic nation. To accomplish that falutary end, Recared convened an affembly of the Arian clergy and nobles, declared himself a Catholic, and exhorted them to imitate the example of their prince. The laborious interpretation of doubtful texts, or the curious pursuit of metaphyfical arguments, would have excited an endless controverfy; and the monarch discreetly proposed to his illiterate audience, two fubftantial and vifible arguments, the teftimony of Earth, and of Heaven. The Earth had fubmitted to the Nicene fynod: the Romans, the Barbarians, and the inhabitants of Spain, unanimoufly profeffed the fame orthodox creed; and the Vifigoths refifted, almost alone, the consent of the Christian world. A fuperftitious age was prepared to reverence, as the teftimony of Heaven, the preternatural cures, which were performed by the skill or virtue of the Catholic clergy: the baptifmal fonts of Offet in Boetica (129), which were fpontaneoufly replenished each year, (129) Offet, or Julia Conftantia, was oppofite to Seville, on the northern fide of the Boetis (Plin. Hift. Natur. iii. 3.): and the authentic reference of Gregory of Tours (Hift. Francor. l. vi. c. 43. p. 288.) deserves more credit than the name of Lufitania (de Gloriâ Martyr. c. 24), which has been eagerly embraced by the vain and fuperftitious Portuguese (Ferreras, Hig. d'Espagne, tom. ii, p. 166,). |