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of that indolent despair which enjoys the present hour and declines the thoughts of futurity. The uncertain condition of their property discouraged the subjects of Theodosius from engaging in those useful and laborious undertakings. which require an immediate expense, and promise a slow and distant advantage. The frequent examples of ruin and desolation tempted them not to spare the remains of a patrimony, which might, every hour, become the prey of the rapacious Goth. And the mad prodigality, which prevails in the confusion of a shipwreck or a siege, may serve to explain the progress of luxury amidst the misfortunes and terrors of a sinking nation.

The effeminate luxury which infected the manners of courts and cities had instilled a secret and destructive poison into the camps of the legions; and their degeneracy has been marked by the pen of a military writer, who had accurately studied the genuine and ancient principles of Roman discipline. It is the just and important observation of Vegetius, that the infantry was invariably covered with defensive armour, from the foundation of the city to the reign of the emperor Gratian. The relaxation of discipline, and the disuse of exercise, rendered the soldiers less able, and less willing, to support the fatigues of the service; they complained of the weight of the armour, which they seldom wore: and they successively obtained the permission of laying aside both their cuirasses and their helmets. The heavy weapons of their ancestors, the short sword, and the formidable pilum, which had subdued the world, insensibly dropped from their feeble hands. As the use of the shield is incompatible with that of the bow, they reluctantly marched into the field; condemned to suffer either the pain of wounds, or the ignominy of flight, and always disposed to prefer the more shameful alternative. The cavalry of the Goths, the Huns, and the Alani, had felt the benefits, and adopted the use, of defensive armour; and, as they excelled in the management of missile weapons, they easily overwhelmed the naked and trembling legions, whose heads and breasts were exposed, without defence, to the arrows of the barbarians. The loss of armies, the destruction of cities, and the dishonour of the Roman name, ineffectually solicited the successors of Gratian to restore the helmets and cuirasses of the infantry. The enervated soldiers abandoned

their own, and the public, defence; and their pusillanimous indolence may be considered as the immediate cause of the downfal of the empire.*

CHAPTER XXVIII.-FINAL DESTRUCTION OF PAGANISM.-INTRODUCTION OF THE WORSHIP OF SAINTS AND RELICS, AMONG THE CHRISTIANS.

THE ruin of Paganism, in the age of Theodosius, is perhaps the only example of the total extirpation of any ancient and popular superstition; and may, therefore, deserve to be considered as a singular event in the history of the human mind. The Christians, more especially the clergy, had impatiently supported the cruel delays of Constantine, and the equal toleration of the elder Valentinian; nor could they deem their conquest perfect or secure, as long as their adversaries were permitted to exist. The influence which Ambrose and his brethren had acquired over the youth of Gratian and the piety of Theodosius, was employed to infuse the maxims of persecution into the breasts of their imperial proselytes. Two specious principles of religious jurisprudence were established, from whence they deduced a direct and rigorous conclusion against the subjects of the empire who still adhered to the ceremonies of their ancestors: that the magistrate is, in some measure, guilty of the crimes which he neglects to prohibit or to punish; and that the idolatrous worship of fabulous deities, and real demons, is the most abominable crime against the supreme majesty of the Creator. The laws of Moses, and the examples of Jewish history,† were hastily, perhaps erroneously applied, by the clergy, to the mild and universal reign of Christianity. The zeal of the emperors was

* Vegetius, de Re Militari, 1. 1, c. 10. The series of calamities which he marks, compel us to believe, that the hero, to whom he dedicates his book, is the last and most inglorious of the Valentinians.

St. Ambrose (tom. ii, de Obit. Theodos. p. 1208) expressly praises and recommends the zeal of Josiah in the destruction of Idolatry. The language of Julius Firmicus Maternus on the same subject (de Errore Profan. Relig. p. 467, edit. Gronov.) is piously inhuman. Nec filio jubet (the Mosaic Law) parci, nec fratri, et per amatam conjugem gladium vindicem ducit, &c. Bayle (tom. ii, p. 406, in his Commentaire Philosophique) justifies and limits these intolerant laws by the temporal reign of Jehovah over the Jews. The attempt is laudable.

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excited to vindicate their own honour and that of the Deity; and the temples of the Roman world were subverted about sixty years after the conversion of Constantine.

From the age of Numa to the reign of Gratian, the Romans preserved the regular succession of the several colleges of the sacerdotal order.* Fifteen PONTIFFS exercised their supreme jurisdiction over all things and persons that were consecrated to the service of the gods; and the various questions which perpetually arose in a loose and traditionary system, were submitted to the judgment of their holy tribunal. Fifteen grave and learned AUGURS observed the face of the heavens, and prescribed the actions of heroes, according to the flight of birds. Fifteen keepers of the Sybilline books (their name of QUINDECEMVIRS was derived from their number) occasionally consulted the history of future, and, as it should seem, of contingent, events. Six VESTALS devoted their virginity to the guard of the sacred fire, and of the unknown pledges of the duration of Rome; which no mortal had been suffered to

* See the outlines of the Roman hierarchy in Cicero (de Legibus, 2. 7, 8), Livy (1. 20), Dionysius Halicarnassensis (1. 2, p. 119-291, edit. Hudson), Beaufort (République Romaine, tom. i, p. 1-90), and Moyle, (vol. i, p. 10-55). The last is the work of an English whig, as well as of a Roman antiquary. [These colleges though regularly kept up, had not uniformly the same number of members. In the vicissitudes of the Republic, they underwent various changes. Numa instituted four Pontifices and four Augures, two of each for the Ramnes, or Latin tribe, and as many for the Tities, or Sabine tribe, who constituted, together, the first nobility of Rome. By the Ogulnian law, so called from its authors, Q. and Cn. Ogulnius, who were Tribunes of the People, A.U.C. 453, each of these two colleges was increased to nine members, by the addition of four plebes, with a Pontifex Maximus for the priests, and a Magister Collegii for the Augures. It was not till about 220 years afterwards, that their numbers were raised to 15 by Sylla, during his dictatorship. (A.U.c. 673. Niebuhr's Lectures, vol. i, pp. 124. 130. 523; vol. ii, p. 389.) The vestals were six from the time of the second Tarquin, who either, according to Livy, added two to Numa's four, or according to Festus, reduced them to that number. The first confraternity or college of Salii, appointed by Numa, consisted of twelve, called Palatini, from their residence on mount Palatine. Tullus Hostilius added a second college of Salii, named Collini or Quirinales, being located on the Quirinal hill. The two original confraternities of the Luperci were designated Fabii and Quinctiliani, after their two first presidents. Julius Cæsar added a third, whom he denominated Julii, in honour of his own family.-ED.]

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behold with impunity.* Seven EPULOS prepared the table of the gods, conducted the solemn procession, and regulated the ceremonies of the annual festival. The three FLAMENS of Jupiter, of Mars, and of Quirinus, were considered as the peculiar ministers of the three most powerful deities, who watched over the fate of Rome and of the universe. The KING of the SACRIFICES represented the person of Numa and of his successors, in the religious functions which could be performed only by royal hands. The confraternities of the SALIANS, the LUPERCALS, &c., practised such rites as might extort a smile of contempt from every reasonable man, with a lively confidence of recommending themselves to the favour of the immortal gods. The authority which the Roman priests had formerly obtained in the councils of the republic, was gradually abolished by the establishment of monarchy, and the removal of the seat of empire. But the dignity of their sacred character was still protected by the laws and manners of their country; and they still continued, more especially the college of pontiffs, to exercise in the capital, and sometimes in the provinces, the rights of their ecclesiastical and civil jurisdiction. Their robes of purple, chariots of state, and sumptuous entertainments, attracted the admiration of the people; and they received, from the consecrated lands, and the public revenue, an ample stipend, which liberally supported the splendour of the priesthood, and all the expenses of the religious worship of the state. As the service of the altar was not incompatible with the command of armies, the Romans, after their consulships and triumphs, aspired to the place of pontiff, or of augur; the seats of Cicerot and Pompey were filled, in

*These mystic, and perhaps imaginary, symbols, have given birth to various fables and conjectures. It seems probable, that the Palladium was a small statue (three cubits and a half high) of Minerva, with a lance and distaff; that it was usually enclosed in a seria, or barrel; and that a similar barrel was placed by its side, to disconcert curiosity or sacrilege. See Mezeriac (Commen. sur les Epitres d'Ovide, tom. i, p. 60-66,) and Lipsius, (tom. iii, p. 610, de Vestâ, &c., c. 10.) Cicero frankly, (ad Atticum. 1. 2, epist. 5,) or indirectly, (ad Familiar. 1. 15, epist. 4,) confesses, that the augurate is the supreme object of his wishes. Pliny is proud to tread in the footsteps of Cicero, (1. 4, epist. 8,) and the chain of tradition might be continued from history and marbles. [These colleges were the heads only of that establishment, whose motives for instigating the perse

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the fourth century, by the most illustrious members of the senate; and the dignity of their birth reflected additional splendour on their sacerdotal character. The fifteen priests who composed the college of pontiffs, enjoyed a more distinguished rank as the companions of their sovereign; and the Christian emperors condescended to accept the robe and ensigns, which were appropriated to the office of supreme pontiff. But when Gratian ascended the throne, more scrupulous, or more enlightened, he sternly rejected those profane symbols ;* applied to the service of the state, or of the church, the revenues of the priests and vestals;† abolished their honours and immunities; and dissolved the ancient fabric of Roman superstition, which was supported by the opinions and habits of eleven hundred years. Paganism was still the constitutional religion of the senate. The hall or temple in which they assembled, was adorned by the statue and altar of Victory; a majestic female standing on a globe, with flowing garments, expanded wings, and a crown of laurel in her outstretched hand.§ cution of their Christian rivals, have been the subject of foregoing notes. Here are seen the endowments and the splendour which they strove to protect, and their wide connections with the powerful families whom they interested in their cause. The reader must add to them, the many similar bodies, distributed throughout the empire, their numerous dependents, their subordinate functionaries, and the multitudes whose gains and livelihood were obtained by supplying the materials of a worship, which consumed solid testimonials of piety more largely than any other. If he considers these, he will probably arrive at the conclusion, that the pagan hostility to Christianity was attributable to mercenary rather than religious causes.-Ed.]

* Zosimus, 1. 4, p. 249-250. I have suppressed the foolish pun about Pontifex and Maximus.

But

The arbitrary and oppressive character of these proceedings seems to have been in turning adrift the recipients of income, without any provision for compensation or support. The state has an unquestionable right to deal with revenues which it bestows, or which, if bestowed by others, would be invalid without its sanction. it is equally bound to respect and maintain the tenures which it creates. It is only when the term of tenure expires, that the property and the right to dispose of it, revert to the state. The abstract claim of corporations, which exist only by the authority of the state, to a perpetuity of possession, beyond the lives of their members, is visionary. The immunity of private, cannot be extended to public, property.-ED. This statue was transported from Tarentum to Rome, placed on the Curia Julia by Cæsar, and decorated by Augustus with the spoils of Egypt. § Prudentius (1. 2, in initio) has drawn a very