41 often led them to honour and victory. In the two engagements of Thyatira and Nacolia the unfortunate Procopius was deserted by his troops, who were seduced by the instructions and example of their perfidious officers. After wandering some time among the woods and mountains of Phrygia, he was betrayed by his desponding followers, conducted to the Imperial camp, and immediately beheaded. He suffered the ordinary fate of an unsuccessful usurper, but the acts of cruelty which were exercised by the conqueror, under the forms of legal justice, excited the pity and indignation of mankind. 42 Such indeed are the common and natural fruits of despotism and rebellion. But the inquisition into the crime of magic, which, under the reign of the two brothers, was so rigorously prosecuted both at Rome and Antioch, was interpreted as the fatal symptom, either of the displeasure of A. 373, &c. Heaven or of the depravity of mankind. 43 Let us not hesitate to indulge a liberal pride that, in the present age, the enlightened part of Europe has abolished a cruel and odious prejudice, which reigned in every climate of the globe and adhered to every system of religious opinions. 45 The nations and the sects of Severe inquisition into the crime of magic at Rome and Antioch, “The same field of battle is placed by Ammianus in Lycia, and by Zosimus at Thyatira, which are at the distance of 150 miles from each other. But Thyatira alluitur 750 (Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 31; Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 79): and the transcribers might easily convert an obscure river into a well-known province." #The adventures, usurpation, and fall of Procopius, are related, in a regular series, by Ammianus (xxvi. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) and Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 4 seq.] p. 203-210). They often illustrate, and seldom contradict, each other. Themistius (Orat. vii. p. 91, 92) adds some base panegyric; and Eunapius (p. 83, 84 [p. 104, ed. Comm.]) some malicious satire, * Libsanius de ulciscend. Julian. nece, c. ix. [x.] p. 158, 159. The sophist deplores the public frenay, but he does not (after their deaths) impeach the justice of the The French and English lawyers of the present age allow the theory, and deny the actior, of witchcraft (Denisart, Recueil de Décisions de Jurisprudence, au mot Svis, tom. iv. p. 553. Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. iv. p. 60). As private reason always prevents, or outstrips, public wisdom, the president Montesquieu (sprit des Loix, 1, xii. c. 5, 6) rejects the existence of magic. Se durres de Bayle, tom. iii. p. 567-589. The sceptic of Rotterdam exhibits, according to his custom, a strange medley of loose knowledge and lively wit. * Ammianus [xxvi. 9] and Zosimus [iv. place the last battle at Nacolia in Ammianus altogether omits the for battle near Thyatira. Procopius was his march (iter tendebat) towards Lyva Ne Wagner's note, in loo.-M. Symmachus joins with Themistius in praising the clemency of Valens. Sie vic forte moderatus est, quasi contra se nemo pugnarit. Symm. Orat. p. 12.-M. The infamous inquisition into sorcery and witchoraft has been of greater influence on human affairs than is commonly supThe persecution against philosoplaud their libraries was carried on with so much fury, that from this time (A.D. 374) the names of the Gentile philosophers became almost extinct; and the Christian philosophy and religion, particularly in the East, established their ascendancy. I am surprised that Gibbon has not made this observation. Heyne, Note on Zosimus, 1. iv. 14, p. 637. Be sides vast heaps of manuscripts publicly destroyed throughout the East, men of letters burned their whole libraries, lest some fatal volume should expose them to the malice of the informers and the extreme penalty of the law. Amm. Marc. xxix. 2.-M. the Roman world admitted, with equal credulity and similar abhorrence, the reality of that infernal art 46 which was able to control the eternal order of the planets and the voluntary operations of the human mind. They dreaded the mysterious power of spells and incantations, of potent herbs and execrable rites, which could extinguish or recall life, inflame the passions of the soul, blast the works of creation, and extort from the reluctant dæmons the secrets of futurity. They believed, with the wildest inconsistency, that this preternatural dominion of the air, of earth, and of hell was exercised, from the vilest motives of malice or gain, by some wrinkled hags and itinerant sorcerers, who passed their obscure lives in penury and contempt. The arts of magic were equally condemned by the public opinion and by the laws of Rome, but, as they tended to gratify the most imperious passions of the heart of man, they were continually proscribed and continually practised. 48 An imaginary cause is capable of producing the most serious and mischievous effects. The dark predictions of the death of an emperor or the success of a conspiracy were calculated only to stimulate the hopes of ambition and to dissolve the ties of fidelity, and the intentional guilt of magic was aggravated by the actual crimes of treason and sacrilege.49 Such vain terrors disturbed the peace of society and the happiness of individuals, and the harmless flame which insensibly melted a waxen image might derive a powerful and pernicious energy from the affrighted fancy of the person whom it was maliciously designed to represent.50 From the infusion of those herbs which were supposed 46 The Pagans distinguished between good and bad magic, the Theurgic and the Goetic (Hist. de l'Académie, &c., tom. vii. p. 25). But they could not have defended this obscure distinction against the acute logic of Bayle. In the Jewish and Christian system, all dæmons are infernal spirits; and all commerce with them is idolatry, apostasy, &c., which deserves death and damnation. 47 The Canidia of Horace (Carm. 1. v. Od. 5 [Epod. 5], with Dacier's and Sanadon's illustrations) is a vulgar witch. The Erichtho of Lucan (Pharsal. vi. 430-827) is tedious, disgusting, but sometimes sublime. She chides the delay of the Furies; and threatens, with tremendous obscurity, to pronounce their real names; to reveal the true infernal countenance of Hecate; to invoke the secret powers that lie below hell, &c. 46 Genus hominum potentibus infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod in civitate nostrâ et vetabitur semper et retinebitur. Tacit. Hist. i. 22. See Augustin, de Civitate Dei, 1. viji. c. 19, and the Theodosian Code, 1. ix. tit. xvi. with Godefroy's Commentary. 49 The persecution of Antioch was occasioned by a criminal consultation. The twenty-four letters of the alphabet were arranged round a magic tripod: and a dancing ring, which had been placed in the centre, pointed to the four first letters in the name of the future emperor, . E. o. A. Theodorus (perhaps with many others, who owned the fatal syllables) was executed. Theodosius succeeded. Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 353-372) has copiously and fairly examined this dark transaction of the reign of Valens. 50 Limus ut hic durescit, et hæc ut cera liquescit Virgil, Bucolic. viii. 80. Devovet absentes, simulacraque cerea figit. Ovid. in Epist. Hypsil. ad Jason. 91 [Ep. vi.]. Such vain incantations could affect the mind, and increase the disease, of Germanicus. Tacit. Annal. ii. 69. to possess a supernatural influence it was an easy step to the use of more substantial poison, and the folly of mankind sometimes became the instrument and the mask of the most atrocious crimes. As soon as the zeal of informers was encouraged by the ministers of Valens and Valentinian, they could not refuse to listen to another charge too frequently mingled in the scenes of domestic guilt, a charge of a softer and less malignant nature, for which the pious though excessive rigour of Constantine had recently decreed the punishment of death. This deadly and incoherent mixture of treason and magic, of poison and adultery, afforded infinite gradations of guilt and innocence, of excuse and aggravation, which in these proceedings appear to have been confounded by the angry or corrupt passions of the judges. They easily discovered that the degree of their industry and discernment was estimated by the Imperial court according to the number of executions that were furnished from their respective tribunals. It was not without extreme reluctance that they pronounced a sentence of acquittal, but they eagerly admitted such evidence as was stained with perjury or procured by torture to prove the most improbable charges against the most respectable characters. The progress of the inquiry continually opened new subjects of criminal prosecution; the audacious informer, whose falsehood was detected, retired with impunity; but the wretched victim who discovered his real or pretended accomplices was seldom permitted to receive the price of his infamy. From the extremity of Italy and Asia the young and the aged were dragged in chains to the tribunals of Rome and Antioch. Senators, matrons, and philosophers expired in ignominious and cruel tortures. The soldiers who were appointed to guard the prisons declared, with a murmur of pity and indignation, that their numbers were insufficient to oppose the flight or resistance of the multitude of captives. The wealthiest families were ruined by fines and confiscations; the most innocent citizens trembled for their safety; and we may form some notion of the magnitude of the evil from the extravagant assertion of an ancient writer, that in the obnoxious provinces the prisoners, the exiles, and the fugitives formed the greatest part of the inhabitants. 52 When Tacitus describes the deaths of the innocent and illustrious Romans who were sacrificed to the cruelty of the first Cæsars, the $1 See Heineccius Antiquitat. Juris Roman. tom. ii. p. 353, &c. Cod. Theodosian. 1. ix. tit. 7, with Godefroy's Commentary. 52 The cruel persecution of Rome and Antioch is described, and most probably exaggerated, by Ammianus (xxviii. 1, xxix. 1, 2) and Zosimus (1. iv. [c. 13] p. 216-218). The philosopher Maximus, with some justice, was involved in the charge of magic (Eunapius in Vit. Sophist. p. 88, 89 [p. 110, ed. Comm.]); and young Chrysostom, who had accidentally found one of the proscribed books, gave himself for lost (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 340). art of the historian, or the merit of the sufferers, excites in our breasts tinian and A.D. 364-375. the most lively sensations of terror, of admiration, and of The cruelty pity. The coarse and undistinguishing pencil of Ammianus of Valenhas delineated his bloody figures with tedious and disgust- Valens, ing accuracy. But as our attention is no longer engaged by the contrast of freedom and servitude, of recent greatness and of actual misery, we should turn with horror from the frequent executions which disgraced, both at Rome and Antioch, the reign of the two brothers. 53 Valens was of a timid,54 and Valentinian of a choleric, disposition.55 An anxious regard to his personal safety was the ruling principle of the administration of Valens. In the condition of a subject, he had kissed, with trembling awe, the hand of the oppressor; and when he ascended the throne, he reasonably expected that the same fears which had subdued his own mind would secure the patient submission of his people. The favourites of Valens obtained, by the privilege of rapine and confiscation, the wealth which his economy would have refused.56 They urged, with persuasive eloquence, that, in all cases of treason, suspicion is equivalent to proof; that the power supposes the intention of mischief; that the intention is not less criminal than the act; and that a subject no longer deserves to live, if his life may threaten the safety, or disturb the repose, of his sovereign. The judgment of Valentinian was sometimes deceived, and his confidence abused; but he would have silenced the informers with a contemptuous smile, had they presumed to alarm his fortitude by the sound of danger. They praised his inflexible love of justice; and, in the pursuit of justice, the emperor was easily tempted to consider clemency as a weakness, and passion as a virtue. As long as he wrestled with his equals in the bold competition of an active and ambitious life, Valentinian was seldom injured, and never insulted, with impunity: if his prudence was arraigned, his spirit was applauded; and the proudest and most powerful generals were apprehensive of provoking the resentment of a fearless soldier. After he became master of the world, he unfortunately forgot that, where no resistance can be made, no courage can be exerted; and instead 53 Consult the six last books of Ammianus, and more particularly the portraits of the two royal brothers (xxx. 8, 9, xxxi. 14). Tillemont has collected (tom. v. p. 1218, p. 127-133) from all antiquity their virtues and vices. 54 The younger Victor asserts that he was valde timidus [Epit. c. 46]; yet he behaved, as almost every man would do, with decent resolution at the head of an army. The same historian attempts to prove that his anger was harmless. Ammianus observes, with more candour and judgment, incidentia crimina ad contemptam vel læsam principis amplitudinem trahens, in sanguinem sæviebat [xxxi. 14]. 55 Cum esset in acerbitatem naturæ calore propensior... pœnas per ignes augebat et gladios. Ammian. xxx. 8. See xxvii. 7. 56 I have transferred the reproach of avarice from Valens to his servants. Avarice more properly belongs to ministers than to kings, in whom that passion is commonly extinguished by absolute possession. 66 57 of consulting the dictates of reason and magnanimity, he indulged the furious emotions of his temper, at a time when they were disgraceful to himself, and fatal to the defenceless objects of his displeasure. In the government of his household, or of his empire, slight, or even imaginary offences-a hasty word, a casual omission, an involuntary delay-were chastised by a sentence of immediate death. The expressions which issued the most readily from the mouth of the emperor of the West were, Strike off his head;"-"burn him "alive;"—"let him be beaten with clubs till he expires ;" and his most favoured ministers soon understood, that, by a rash attempt to dispute or suspend the execution of his sanguinary commands, they might involve themselves in the guilt and punishment of disobedience. The repeated gratification of this savage justice hardened the mind of Valentinian against pity and remorse; and the sallies of passion were confirmed by the habits of cruelty.58 He could behold with calm satisfaction the convulsive agonies of torture and death: he reserved his friendship for those faithful servants whose temper was the most congenial to his own. The merit of Maximin, who had slaughtered the noblest families of Rome, was rewarded with the royal approbation, and the præfecture of Gaul. Two fierce and enormous bears, distinguished by the appellations of Innocence and Mica Aurea, could alone deserve to share the favour of Maximin. The cages of those trusty guards were always placed near the bedchamber of Valentinian, who frequently amused his eyes with the grateful spectacle of seeing them tear and devour the bleeding limbs of the malefactors who were abandoned to their rage. Their diet and exercises were carefully inspected by the Roman emperor; and when Innocence had earned her discharge, by a long course of meritorious service, the faithful animal was again restored to the freedom of her native woods. 59 But in the calmer moments of reflection, when the mind of Valens was not agitated by fear, or that of Valentinian by rage, the tyrant resumed the sentiments, or at least the conduct, of the father of his country. The dispassionate judgment Their laws and government. 57 He sometimes expressed a sentence of death with a tone of pleasantry: “Abi, "Comes, et muta ei caput, qui sibi mutari provinciam cupit." A boy, who had slipped too hastily a Spartan hound; an armourer, who had made a polished cuirass that wanted some grains of the legitimate weight, &c., were the victims of his fury. 58 The innocents of Milan were an agent and three apparitors, whom Valentinian condemned for signifying a legal summons. Ammianus (xxvii. 7) strangely supposes that all who had been unjustly executed were worshipped as martyrs by the Christians. His impartial silence does not allow us to believe that the great chamberlain Rhodanus was burnt alive for an act of oppression (Chron. Paschal. p. 302 [tom. i. p. 558, ed. Bonn]). 59 Ut bene meritam in silvas jussit abire Innoxiam. Ammian. xxix. 3, and Valesius ad locum. |