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The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

E >> Edward Gibbon >> The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire




[Footnote 47: I can only be understood to mean, that such was his
natural temper when it was not hardened, or inflamed, by
religious zeal. From his retirement, he exhorts Nectarius to
prosecute the heretics of Constantinople.]

It was not enough that Theodosius had suppressed the
insolent reign of Arianism, or that he had abundantly revenged
the injuries which the Catholics sustained from the zeal of
Constantius and Valens. The orthodox emperor considered every
heretic as a rebel against the supreme powers of heaven and of
earth; and each of those powers might exercise their peculiar
jurisdiction over the soul and body of the guilty. The decrees
of the council of Constantinople had ascertained the true
standard of the faith; and the ecclesiastics, who governed the
conscience of Theodosius, suggested the most effectual methods of
persecution. In the space of fifteen years, he promulgated at
least fifteen severe edicts against the heretics; ^48 more
especially against those who rejected the doctrine of the
Trinity; and to deprive them of every hope of escape, he sternly
enacted, that if any laws or rescripts should be alleged in their
favor, the judges should consider them as the illegal productions
either of fraud or forgery. The penal statutes were directed
against the ministers, the assemblies, and the persons of the
heretics; and the passions of the legislator were expressed in
the language of declamation and invective. I. The heretical
teachers, who usurped the sacred titles of Bishops, or
Presbyters, were not only excluded from the privileges and
emoluments so liberally granted to the orthodox clergy, but they
were exposed to the heavy penalties of exile and confiscation, if
they presumed to preach the doctrine, or to practise the rites,
of their accursed sects. A fine of ten pounds of gold (above
four hundred pounds sterling) was imposed on every person who
should dare to confer, or receive, or promote, an heretical
ordination: and it was reasonably expected, that if the race of
pastors could be extinguished, their helpless flocks would be
compelled, by ignorance and hunger, to return within the pale of
the Catholic church. II. The rigorous prohibition of
conventicles was carefully extended to every possible
circumstance, in which the heretics could assemble with the
intention of worshipping God and Christ according to the dictates
of their conscience. Their religious meetings, whether public or
secret, by day or by night, in cities or in the country, were
equally proscribed by the edicts of Theodosius; and the building,
or ground, which had been used for that illegal purpose, was
forfeited to the Imperial domain. III. It was supposed, that
the error of the heretics could proceed only from the obstinate
temper of their minds; and that such a temper was a fit object of
censure and punishment. The anathemas of the church were
fortified by a sort of civil excommunication; which separated
them from their fellow- citizens, by a peculiar brand of infamy;
and this declaration of the supreme magistrate tended to justify,
or at least to excuse, the insults of a fanatic populace. The
sectaries were gradually disqualified from the possession of
honorable or lucrative employments; and Theodosius was satisfied
with his own justice, when he decreed, that, as the Eunomians
distinguished the nature of the Son from that of the Father, they
should be incapable of making their wills or of receiving any
advantage from testamentary donations. The guilt of the
Manichaean heresy was esteemed of such magnitude, that it could
be expiated only by the death of the offender; and the same
capital punishment was inflicted on the Audians, or
Quartodecimans, ^49 who should dare to perpetrate the atrocious
crime of celebrating on an improper day the festival of Easter.
Every Roman might exercise the right of public accusation; but
the office of Inquisitors of the Faith, a name so deservedly
abhorred, was first instituted under the reign of Theodosius.
Yet we are assured, that the execution of his penal edicts was
seldom enforced; and that the pious emperor appeared less
desirous to punish, than to reclaim, or terrify, his refractory
subjects. ^50
[Footnote 48: See the Theodosian Code, l. xvi. tit. v. leg. 6 -
23, with Godefroy's commentary on each law, and his general
summary, or Paratitlon, tom vi. p. 104 - 110.]

[Footnote 49: They always kept their Easter, like the Jewish
Passover, on the fourteenth day of the first moon after the
vernal equinox; and thus pertinaciously opposed the Roman Church
and Nicene synod, which had fixed Easter to a Sunday. Bingham's
Antiquities, l. xx. c. 5, vol. ii. p. 309, fol. edit.]

[Footnote 50: Sozomen, l. vii. c. 12.]

The theory of persecution was established by Theodosius,
whose justice and piety have been applauded by the saints: but
the practice of it, in the fullest extent, was reserved for his
rival and colleague, Maximus, the first, among the Christian
princes, who shed the blood of his Christian subjects on account
of their religious opinions. The cause of the Priscillianists,
^51 a recent sect of heretics, who disturbed the provinces of
Spain, was transferred, by appeal, from the synod of Bordeaux to
the Imperial consistory of Treves; and by the sentence of the
Praetorian praefect, seven persons were tortured, condemned, and
executed. The first of these was Priscillian ^52 himself, bishop
of Avila, in Spain; who adorned the advantages of birth and
fortune, by the accomplishments of eloquence and learning. Two
presbyters, and two deacons, accompanied their beloved master in
his death, which they esteemed as a glorious martyrdom; and the
number of religious victims was completed by the execution of
Latronian, a poet, who rivalled the fame of the ancients; and of
Euchrocia, a noble matron of Bordeaux, the widow of the orator
Delphidius. ^54 Two bishops who had embraced the sentiments of
Priscillian, were condemned to a distant and dreary exile; ^55
and some indulgence was shown to the meaner criminals, who
assumed the merit of an early repentance. If any credit could be
allowed to confessions extorted by fear or pain, and to vague
reports, the offspring of malice and credulity, the heresy of the
Priscillianists would be found to include the various
abominations of magic, of impiety, and of lewdness. ^56
Priscillian, who wandered about the world in the company of his
spiritual sisters, was accused of praying stark naked in the
midst of the congregation; and it was confidently asserted, that
the effects of his criminal intercourse with the daughter of
Euchrocia had been suppressed, by means still more odious and
criminal. But an accurate, or rather a candid, inquiry will
discover, that if the Priscillianists violated the laws of
nature, it was not by the licentiousness, but by the austerity,
of their lives. They absolutely condemned the use of the
marriage-bed; and the peace of families was often disturbed by
indiscreet separations. They enjoyed, or recommended, a total
abstinence from all anima food; and their continual prayers,
fasts, and vigils, inculcated a rule of strict and perfect
devotion. The speculative tenets of the sect, concerning the
person of Christ, and the nature of the human soul, were derived
from the Gnostic and Manichaean system; and this vain philosophy,
which had been transported from Egypt to Spain, was ill adapted
to the grosser spirits of the West. The obscure disciples of
Priscillian suffered languished, and gradually disappeared: his
tenets were rejected by the clergy and people, but his death was
the subject of a long and vehement controversy; while some
arraigned, and others applauded, the justice of his sentence. It
is with pleasure that we can observe the humane inconsistency of
the most illustrious saints and bishops, Ambrose of Milan, ^57
and Martin of Tours, ^58 who, on this occasion, asserted the
cause of toleration. They pitied the unhappy men, who had been
executed at Treves; they refused to hold communion with their
episcopal murderers; and if Martin deviated from that generous
resolution, his motives were laudable, and his repentance was
exemplary. The bishops of Tours and Milan pronounced, without
hesitation, the eternal damnation of heretics; but they were
surprised, and shocked, by the bloody image of their temporal
death, and the honest feelings of nature resisted the artificial
prejudices of theology. The humanity of Ambrose and Martin was
confirmed by the scandalous irregularity of the proceedings
against Priscillian and his adherents. The civil and
ecclesiastical ministers had transgressed the limits of their
respective provinces. The secular judge had presumed to receive
an appeal, and to pronounce a definitive sentence, in a matter of
faith, and episcopal jurisdiction. The bishops had disgraced
themselves, by exercising the functions of accusers in a criminal
prosecution. The cruelty of Ithacius, ^59 who beheld the
tortures, and solicited the death, of the heretics, provoked the
just indignation of mankind; and the vices of that profligate
bishop were admitted as a proof, that his zeal was instigated by
the sordid motives of interest. Since the death of Priscillian,
the rude attempts of persecution have been refined and methodized
in the holy office, which assigns their distinct parts to the
ecclesiastical and secular powers. The devoted victim is
regularly delivered by the priest to the magistrate, and by the
magistrate to the executioner; and the inexorable sentence of the
church, which declares the spiritual guilt of the offender, is
expressed in the mild language of pity and intercession.

[Footnote 51: See the Sacred History of Sulpicius Severus, (l.
ii. p. 437 - 452, edit. Ludg. Bat. 1647,) a correct and original
writer. Dr. Lardner (Credibility, &c., part ii. vol. ix. p. 256
- 350) has labored this article with pure learning, good sense,
and moderation. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 491 - 527)
has raked together all the dirt of the fathers; a useful
scavenger!]

[Footnote 52: Severus Sulpicius mentions the arch-heretic with
esteem and pity Faelix profecto, si non pravo studio corrupisset
optimum ingenium prorsus multa in eo animi et corporis bona
cerneres. (Hist. Sacra, l ii. p. 439.) Even Jerom (tom. i. in
Script. Eccles. p. 302) speaks with temper of Priscillian and
Latronian.]

[Footnote 53: The bishopric (in Old Castile) is now worth 20,000
ducats a year, (Busching's Geography, vol. ii. p. 308,) and is
therefore much less likely to produce the author of a new
heresy.]

[Footnote 54: Exprobrabatur mulieri viduae nimia religio, et
diligentius culta divinitas, (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 29.)
Such was the idea of a humane, though ignorant, polytheist.]
[Footnote 55: One of them was sent in Sillinam insulam quae ultra
Britannianest. What must have been the ancient condition of the
rocks of Scilly? (Camden's Britannia, vol. ii. p. 1519.)]
[Footnote 56: The scandalous calumnies of Augustin, Pope Leo,
&c., which Tillemont swallows like a child, and Lardner refutes
like a man, may suggest some candid suspicions in favor of the
older Gnostics.]

[Footnote 57: Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 891.]

[Footnote 58: In the Sacred History, and the Life of St. Martin,
Sulpicius Severus uses some caution; but he declares himself more
freely in the Dialogues, (iii. 15.) Martin was reproved, however,
by his own conscience, and by an angel; nor could he afterwards
perform miracles with so much ease.]
[Footnote 59: The Catholic Presbyter (Sulp. Sever. l. ii. p. 448)
and the Pagan Orator (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 29) reprobate,
with equal indignation, the character and conduct of Ithacius.]
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.

Part III.

Among the ecclesiastics, who illustrated the reign of
Theodosius, Gregory Nazianzen was distinguished by the talents of
an eloquent preacher; the reputation of miraculous gifts added
weight and dignity to the monastic virtues of Martin of Tours;
^60 but the palm of episcopal vigor and ability was justly
claimed by the intrepid Ambrose. ^61 He was descended from a
noble family of Romans; his father had exercised the important
office of Praetorian praefect of Gaul; and the son, after passing
through the studies of a liberal education, attained, in the
regular gradation of civil honors, the station of consular of
Liguria, a province which included the Imperial residence of
Milan. At the age of thirty-four, and before he had received the
sacrament of baptism, Ambrose, to his own surprise, and to that
of the world, was suddenly transformed from a governor to an
archbishop. Without the least mixture, as it is said, of art or
intrigue, the whole body of the people unanimously saluted him
with the episcopal title; the concord and perseverance of their
acclamations were ascribed to a praeternatural impulse; and the
reluctant magistrate was compelled to undertake a spiritual
office, for which he was not prepared by the habits and
occupations of his former life. But the active force of his
genius soon qualified him to exercise, with zeal and prudence,
the duties of his ecclesiastical jurisdiction; and while he
cheerfully renounced the vain and splendid trappings of temporal
greatness, he condescended, for the good of the church, to direct
the conscience of the emperors, and to control the administration
of the empire. Gratian loved and revered him as a father; and
the elaborate treatise on the faith of the Trinity was designed
for the instruction of the young prince. After his tragic death,
at a time when the empress Justina trembled for her own safety,
and for that of her son Valentinian, the archbishop of Milan was
despatched, on two different embassies, to the court of Treves.
He exercised, with equal firmness and dexterity, the powers of
his spiritual and political characters; and perhaps contributed,
by his authority and eloquence, to check the ambition of Maximus,
and to protect the peace of Italy. ^62 Ambrose had devoted his
life, and his abilities, to the service of the church. Wealth
was the object of his contempt; he had renounced his private
patrimony; and he sold, without hesitation, the consecrated
plate, for the redemption of captives. The clergy and people of
Milan were attached to their archbishop; and he deserved the
esteem, without soliciting the favor, or apprehending the
displeasure, of his feeble sovereigns.

[Footnote 60: The Life of St. Martin, and the Dialogues
concerning his miracles contain facts adapted to the grossest
barbarism, in a style not unworthy of the Augustan age. So
natural is the alliance between good taste and good sense, that I
am always astonished by this contrast.]
[Footnote 61: The short and superficial Life of St. Ambrose, by
his deacon Paulinus, (Appendix ad edit. Benedict. p. i. - xv.,)
has the merit of original evidence. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom.
x. p. 78 - 306) and the Benedictine editors (p. xxxi. - lxiii.)
have labored with their usual diligence.]
[Footnote 62: Ambrose himself (tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 888 -
891) gives the emperor a very spirited account of his own
embassy.]

The government of Italy, and of the young emperor, naturally
devolved to his mother Justina, a woman of beauty and spirit, but
who, in the midst of an orthodox people, had the misfortune of
professing the Arian heresy, which she endeavored to instil into
the mind of her son. Justina was persuaded, that a Roman emperor
might claim, in his own dominions, the public exercise of his
religion; and she proposed to the archbishop, as a moderate and
reasonable concession, that he should resign the use of a single
church, either in the city or the suburbs of Milan. But the
conduct of Ambrose was governed by very different principles. ^63
The palaces of the earth might indeed belong to Caesar; but the
churches were the houses of God; and, within the limits of his
diocese, he himself, as the lawful successor of the apostles, was
the only minister of God. The privileges of Christianity,
temporal as well as spiritual, were confined to the true
believers; and the mind of Ambrose was satisfied, that his own
theological opinions were the standard of truth and orthodoxy.
The archbishop, who refused to hold any conference, or
negotiation, with the instruments of Satan, declared, with modest
firmness, his resolution to die a martyr, rather than to yield to
the impious sacrilege; and Justina, who resented the refusal as
an act of insolence and rebellion, hastily determined to exert
the Imperial prerogative of her son. As she desired to perform
her public devotions on the approaching festival of Easter,
Ambrose was ordered to appear before the council. He obeyed the
summons with the respect of a faithful subject, but he was
followed, without his consent, by an innumerable people they
pressed, with impetuous zeal, against the gates of the palace;
and the affrighted ministers of Valentinian, instead of
pronouncing a sentence of exile on the archbishop of Milan,
humbly requested that he would interpose his authority, to
protect the person of the emperor, and to restore the tranquility
of the capital. But the promises which Ambrose received and
communicated were soon violated by a perfidious court; and,
during six of the most solemn days, which Christian piety had set
apart for the exercise of religion, the city was agitated by the
irregular convulsions of tumult and fanaticism. The officers of
the household were directed to prepare, first, the Portian, and
afterwards, the new, Basilica, for the immediate reception of the
emperor and his mother. The splendid canopy and hangings of the
royal seat were arranged in the customary manner; but it was
found necessary to defend them. by a strong guard, from the
insults of the populace. The Arian ecclesiastics, who ventured
to show themselves in the streets, were exposed to the most
imminent danger of their lives; and Ambrose enjoyed the merit and
reputation of rescuing his personal enemies from the hands of the
enraged multitude.

[Footnote 63: His own representation of his principles and
conduct (tom. ii. Epist. xx xxi. xxii. p. 852 - 880) is one of
the curious monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity. It contains
two letters to his sister Marcellina, with a petition to
Valentinian and the sermon de Basilicis non madendis.]
But while he labored to restrain the effects of their zeal,
the pathetic vehemence of his sermons continually inflamed the
angry and seditious temper of the people of Milan. The
characters of Eve, of the wife of Job, of Jezebel, of Herodias,
were indecently applied to the mother of the emperor; and her
desire to obtain a church for the Arians was compared to the most
cruel persecutions which Christianity had endured under the reign
of Paganism. The measures of the court served only to expose the
magnitude of the evil. A fine of two hundred pounds of gold was
imposed on the corporate body of merchants and manufacturers: an
order was signified, in the name of the emperor, to all the
officers, and inferior servants, of the courts of justice, that,
during the continuance of the public disorders, they should
strictly confine themselves to their houses; and the ministers of
Valentinian imprudently confessed, that the most respectable part
of the citizens of Milan was attached to the cause of their
archbishop. He was again solicited to restore peace to his
country, by timely compliance with the will of his sovereign.
The reply of Ambrose was couched in the most humble and
respectful terms, which might, however, be interpreted as a
serious declaration of civil war. "His life and fortune were in
the hands of the emperor; but he would never betray the church of
Christ, or degrade the dignity of the episcopal character. In
such a cause he was prepared to suffer whatever the malice of the
daemon could inflict; and he only wished to die in the presence
of his faithful flock, and at the foot of the altar; he had not
contributed to excite, but it was in the power of God alone to
appease, the rage of the people: he deprecated the scenes of
blood and confusion which were likely to ensue; and it was his
fervent prayer, that he might not survive to behold the ruin of a
flourishing city, and perhaps the desolation of all Italy." ^64
The obstinate bigotry of Justina would have endangered the empire
of her son, if, in this contest with the church and people of
Milan, she could have depended on the active obedience of the
troops of the palace. A large body of Goths had marched to
occupy the Basilica, which was the object of the dispute: and it
might be expected from the Arian principles, and barbarous
manners, of these foreign mercenaries, that they would not
entertain any scruples in the execution of the most sanguinary
orders. They were encountered, on the sacred threshold, by the
archbishop, who, thundering against them a sentence of
excommunication, asked them, in the tone of a father and a
master, whether it was to invade the house of God, that they had
implored the hospitable protection of the republic. The suspense
of the Barbarians allowed some hours for a more effectual
negotiation; and the empress was persuaded, by the advice of her
wisest counsellors, to leave the Catholics in possession of all
the churches of Milan; and to dissemble, till a more convenient
season, her intentions of revenge. The mother of Valentinian
could never forgive the triumph of Ambrose; and the royal youth
uttered a passionate exclamation, that his own servants were
ready to betray him into the hands of an insolent priest.

[Footnote 64: Retz had a similar message from the queen, to
request that he would appease the tumult of Paris. It was no
longer in his power, &c. A quoi j'ajoutai tout ce que vous
pouvez vous imaginer de respect de douleur, de regret, et de
soumission, &c. (Memoires, tom. i. p. 140.) Certainly I do not
compare either the causes or the men yet the coadjutor himself
had some idea (p. 84) of imitating St. Ambrose]

The laws of the empire, some of which were inscribed with
the name of Valentinian, still condemned the Arian heresy, and
seemed to excuse the resistance of the Catholics. By the
influence of Justina, an edict of toleration was promulgated in
all the provinces which were subject to the court of Milan; the
free exercise of their religion was granted to those who
professed the faith of Rimini; and the emperor declared, that all
persons who should infringe this sacred and salutary
constitution, should be capitally punished, as the enemies of the
public peace. ^65 The character and language of the archbishop of
Milan may justify the suspicion, that his conduct soon afforded a
reasonable ground, or at least a specious pretence, to the Arian
ministers; who watched the opportunity of surprising him in some
act of disobedience to a law which he strangely represents as a
law of blood and tyranny. A sentence of easy and honorable
banishment was pronounced, which enjoined Ambrose to depart from
Milan without delay; whilst it permitted him to choose the place
of his exile, and the number of his companions. But the
authority of the saints, who have preached and practised the
maxims of passive loyalty, appeared to Ambrose of less moment
than the extreme and pressing danger of the church. He boldly
refused to obey; and his refusal was supported by the unanimous
consent of his faithful people. ^66 They guarded by turns the
person of their archbishop; the gates of the cathedral and the
episcopal palace were strongly secured; and the Imperial troops,
who had formed the blockade, were unwilling to risk the attack,
of that impregnable fortress. The numerous poor, who had been
relieved by the liberality of Ambrose, embraced the fair occasion
of signalizing their zeal and gratitude; and as the patience of
the multitude might have been exhausted by the length and
uniformity of nocturnal vigils, he prudently introduced into the
church of Milan the useful institution of a loud and regular
psalmody. While he maintained this arduous contest, he was
instructed, by a dream, to open the earth in a place where the
remains of two martyrs, Gervasius and Protasius, ^67 had been
deposited above three hundred years. Immediately under the
pavement of the church two perfect skeletons were found, ^68 with
the heads separated from their bodies, and a plentiful effusion
of blood. The holy relics were presented, in solemn pomp, to the
veneration of the people; and every circumstance of this
fortunate discovery was admirably adapted to promote the designs
of Ambrose. The bones of the martyrs, their blood, their
garments, were supposed to contain a healing power; and the
praeternatural influence was communicated to the most distant
objects, without losing any part of its original virtue. The
extraordinary cure of a blind man, ^69 and the reluctant
confessions of several daemoniacs, appeared to justify the faith
and sanctity of Ambrose; and the truth of those miracles is
attested by Ambrose himself, by his secretary Paulinus, and by
his proselyte, the celebrated Augustin, who, at that time,
professed the art of rhetoric in Milan. The reason of the
present age may possibly approve the incredulity of Justina and
her Arian court; who derided the theatrical representations which
were exhibited by the contrivance, and at the expense, of the
archbishop. ^70 Their effect, however, on the minds of the
people, was rapid and irresistible; and the feeble sovereign of
Italy found himself unable to contend with the favorite of
Heaven. The powers likewise of the earth interposed in the
defence of Ambrose: the disinterested advice of Theodosius was
the genuine result of piety and friendship; and the mask of
religious zeal concealed the hostile and ambitious designs of the
tyrant of Gaul. ^71

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