XXIII. CHAP. fortune at the expence of his honour, he em braced, with real or affected zeal, the profeffion of Arianifm. From the love, or the oftentation, of learning, he collected a valuable library of hiftory, rhetoric, philofophy, and theology "; and the choice of the prevailing faction promoted George of Cappadocia to the throne of Athanafius. The entrance of the new archbishop was that of a Barbarian conqueror; and each moment of his reign was polluted by cruelty and avarice. The Catholics of Alexandria and Egypt were abandoned to a tyrant, qualified, by nature and education, to exercife the office of oppreffes perfecution; but he oppreffed with an impartial hand the various inhabitants of his extenfive diocefe. The primate of Egypt affumed the pomp and infolence of his lofty ftation; but he ftill betrayed the vices of his bafe and fervile extraction. The merchants of Alexandria were impoverished by the unjuft, and almoft univerfal, monopoly, which he acquired, of nitre, salt, paper, funerals, &c.: and the fpiritual father of a great people condefcended to practise the vile and pernicious arts of an informer. The Alexandrians could never forget, nor forgive, the tax, which he fuggefted, on all the houses of Alexandria and Egypt. 119 After the maffacre of George, the emperor Julian repeatedly fent orders to preserve the library for his own ufe, and to torture the flaves who might be fufpected of fecreting any books. He praises the merit of the collection, from whence he had borrowed and transcribed several manuscripts while he pursued his ftudies in Cappadocia. He could wish indeed that the works of the Galilæans might perish; but he requires an exact account even of those theological volumes, left other treatises more valuable should be confounded in their lofs. Julian. Epift. ix. xxxvi. the 2 XXIII. the city; under an obfolete claim, that the royal CHAP. founder had conveyed to his fucceffors, the Ptolemies and the Cæfars, the perpetual property of the foil. The Pagans, who had been flattered with the hopes of freedom and toleration, excited his devout avarice; and the rich temples of Alexandria were either pillaged or infulted by the haughty prelate, who exclaimed, in a loud and threatening tone, "How long will these fe"pulchres be permitted to ftand?" Under the reign of Conftantius, he was expelled by the fury, or rather by the justice, of the people; and it was not without a violent struggle, that the civil and military powers of the state could reftore his authority, and gratify his revenge. The meffenger who proclaimed at Alexandria the acceffion of Julian, announced the downfal of the archbishop. George, with two of his ob- A. D. 361, fequious minifters, count Diodorus, and Dracontius, mafter of the mint, were ignominioufly dragged in chains to the public prifon. At the end of twenty-four days, the prifon was forced open by the rage of a fuperftitious multitude, impatient of the tedious forms of judicial proceedings. The enemies of gods and men ex- Dec. 24. pired under their cruel, infults; the lifeless bodies of the archbishop and his associates were carried in triumph through the streets on the back of a camel; and the inactivity of the Athanafian party was esteemed a fhining example of I 20 120 Philoftorgius, with cautious malice, infinuates their guilt, και το Αθανασιο γνό μην τρατηγησαι της πράξεως, 1. vii. c. 2. Godefroy, P. 267. evange Νον. 30. He is maf facred by the people. XXIII. 121 CHAP. evangelical patience. The remains of these guilty wretches were thrown into the fea; and the popular leaders of the tumult declared their refolution to disappoint the devotion of the Chriftians, and to intercept the future honours of these martyrs, who had been punished, like their predeceffors, by the enemies of their religion "" The fears of the Pagans were juft, and their precautions ineffectual. The meritorious death of the archbishop obliterated the memory of his life. The rival of Athanafius was dear and facred to the Arians, and the feeming converfion of those fectaries introduced his worship into the bofom of the Catholic church 22. The odious ftranger, difguifing every circumstance of time and place, affumed the mask of a martyr, a saint, and a Christian hero "23; and the infamous George 121 Cineres projecit in mare, id metuens ut clamabat, ne, collectis fupremis, ædes illis exftruerent; ut reliquis, qui deviare a religione compulfi, pertulere cruciabiles pœnas, adufque gloriofam mortem intemeratâ fide progreffi, et nunc MARTYRES appellantur. Ammian. xxii. 11. Epiphanius proves to the Arians, that George was not a martyr. 122 Some Donatifts (Optatus Milev. p. 60. 303. edit. Dupin; and Tillemont, Mem. Ecclef. tom. vi. p. 713. in 4to) and Prifcillianifts (Tillemont, Mem. Ecclef. tom. viii. p. 517. in 4to) have in like manner ufurped the honours of Catholic faints and martyrs. 123 The faints of Cappadocia, Bafil and the Gregories, were ignorant of their holy companion. Pope Gelafius (A. D. 494.), the first Catholic who acknowledges St. George, places him among the martyrs, " qui Deo magis quam hominibus noti funt." He rejects his Acts as the compofition of heretics. Some, perhaps not the oldeft, of the fpurious Acts, are ftill extant; and, through a cloud of fiction, we may yet diftinguish the combat which St. George of Cappadocia fuftained in the prefence of Queen Alexandria, against the magician Athanafius. 5 of XXIII. of Cappadocia has been transformed 124 into the CHAP. renowned St. George of England, the patron of arms, of chivalry, and of the garter 125. and wor shipped as About the fame time that Julian was informed a faint and martyr. of the tumult of Alexandria, he received intelligence from Èdeffa, that the proud and wealthy faction of the Arians had infulted the weakness and they will advance with more diligence in "the paths of virtue and falvation, when they "are relieved by my affiftance from the load of 124 This transformation is not given as abfolutely certain, but as extremely probable. See the Longueruana, tom. i. p. 194. 125 A curious hiftory of the worship of St. George, from the fixth century (when he was already revered in Palestine, in Armenia, at Rome, and at Treves in Gaul), might be extracted from Dr. Heylin (History of St. George, 2d edition, London, 1633, in 4to, pp. 429.), and the Bollandifts (A&t. SS. Menf. April. tom. iii. p. 100-163.). His fame and popularity in Europe, and especially in England, proceeded from the Crufades. 126 Julian. Epift. xliii. VOL. IV. K "temporal С НА Р. "temporal poffeffions. Take care," purfued the monarch, in a more ferious tone, "take XXIII. 66 care how you provoke my patience and hu"manity. If thefe diforders continue, I will "revenge on the magiftrates the crimes of the "people; and you will have reafon to dread, "not only confiscation and exile, but fire and "the fword." The tumults of Alexandria were doubtlefs of a more bloody and dangerous nature but a Chriftian bifhop had fallen by the hands of the Pagans; and the public epistle of Julian affords a very lively proof of the partial fpirit of his administration. His reproaches to the citizens of Alexandria are mingled with expreffions of esteem and tenderness; and he laments, that, on this occafion, they fhould have departed from the gentle and generous manners which attefted their Grecian extraction. gravely cenfures the offence which they had committed against the laws of juftice and humanity; but he recapitulates, with visible complacency, the intolerable provocations which they had fo long endured from the impious tyranny of George of Cappadocia. Julian admits the principle, that a wife and vigorous government fhould chaftife the infolence of the people: yet, in confideration of their founder Alexander, and of Serapis their tutelar deity, he grants a free and gracious pardon to the guilty city, for which he again feels the affection of a brother 128. He 128 Julian. Epift. x. He allowed his friends to afsuage his anger. Ammian, xxii. II. After |