XXIII. CHAP. restitution of those stately structures, which had been levelled with the dust and of the precious ornaments, which had been converted to Christian uses; swelled into a very large account of damages and debt. The authors of the injury had neither the ability nor the inclination to discharge this accumulated demand: and the im partial wisdom of a legislator would have been displayed in balancing the adverse claims and complaints, by an equitable and temperate arbitration. But the whole empire, and particularly the East, was thrown into confusion by the rash edicts of Julian; and the Pagan magistrates, inflamed by zeal and revenge, abused the rigorous privilege of the Roman law, which substitutes, in the place of his inadequate property, the person of the insolvent debtor. Under the preceding reign, Mark, bishop of Arethusa *, had laboured in the conversion of his people with armis more effectual than those of persuasion t. The magistrates required the full value of a temple which had been destroyed by his intolerant zeal but as they were satisfied of his poverty, they Restan, or Arethusa, at the equal distance of sixteen miles between Emesa (Hens), and Epiphania (Hamath), was founded, or at least named, by Seleucus Nicator. Its peculiar æra, dates from the year of Rome 685; according to the medals of the city. In the decline of the Seleucides, Emesa and Arethusa were usurped by the Arab Sampsiceramus, whose posterity, the vassals of Rome, were not extinguished in the reign of Vespasian. See d'Anville's Maps and Geographie Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 134. Wesseling. Itineraria, p. 188. and Noris. Epoch. Syro Macedon. p. 80. 481, 482. + Sozomen, l. v. c. 10. It is surprising, that Gregory and Theodoret should suppress a circumstance, which, in their eyes, must have enhanced the religious merit of the confessor. XXIN. they desired only to bend his inflexible spirit to CHAP. the promise of the slightest compensation. They apprehended the aged prelate, they inhumanly scourged him, they tore his beard; and his naked body, anointed with honey, was suspended, in a net, between heaven and earth, and ex; posed to the stings of insects and the rays of a Syrian sun. From this lofty station, Mark still persisted to glory in his crime, and to insult the impotent rage of his persecutors. He was at length rescued from their hands, and dismissed to enjoy the honour of his divine triumph. The Arians celebrated the virtue of their pious confessor; the Catholics ambitiously claimed his aldiance ; and the Pagans, who might be susceptible of shame or remorse, were deterred frona the repetition of such unavailing cruelty. Julian spared his life: but if the bishop of Arethusa 13 *The sufferings and constancy of Mark, which Gregory has so tragically painted (Orat. iii. p. 88-91.), are confirmed by the unexceptionable and reluctant evidence of Libanius. Μάρκος εκείνος κρεμαμένος, και μαςιγεμένος, και τα πωγωνός αυτώ πιλλομενο, παντα ενέγκων ανδρείως νυν ισοθέος εςι ταις τιμαις, και φανε τε, περιμαχητος ευθυς. Epist. 730. p. 350, 351. Edit. Wolf. Amstel. 1738. tigaros, certatim eum sibi (Christiani) vindicant. It is thus thet La Croze and Wolfus (ad loc.) have explained a Greek word, whose true signification had been mistaken by former interpreters, and even by Le Clerc Bibliotheque An cienne et Modernc, tom. iii. p. 371. Yet Tillemont is strangely puzzled to understand (Mém. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1309.) how Gregory and Theodoret could mistake a Semi-Ariau bishop for a saint. See the probable advice of Sallust. Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iii. 90, 91. Libanius intercedes for a similar offender, lest they should find many Marks; yet he allows, that if Orion had secreted the consecrated wealth, he deserved to suffer the punishment of Marsyas; to be flayed alive. Epist. 750. p. 349-551. XXIII. CHAP. thusa had saved the infancy of Julian, posterity will condemn the ingratitude, instead of praising the clemency, of the emperor. The temple and sacred grove of Daphne. At the distance of five miles from Antioch, the Macedonian kings of Syria had consecrated to Apollo one of the most elegant places of devotion in the Pagan world t. A magnificent temple rose in honour of the god of light; and his colossal figure almost filled the capacious sanctuary, which was enriched with gold and gems, and adorned by the skill of the Grecian artists. The deity was represented in a bending attitude, with a golden cup in his hand, pouring out a libation on the earth; as if he supplicated the venerable mother to give to his arms the cold and beauteous DAPHNE; for the spot was ennobled by fiction; and the fancy of the Syrian poets had transported the amorous tale from the banks of the Peneus to those of the Orontes. The ancient rites of Greece were imitated by the royal colony of Antioch. A stream of prophecy, which rivalled the truth and reputation of the Delphic oracle, flowed from the Castalian * Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 90.) is satisfied, that, by saving the apostate, Mark had deserved still more than he had suffered. The grove and temple of Daphne are described by Strabo (1. xvi. p. 1089, 1090. edit. Amstel. 1707.), Libanius (Nænia, p. 185. 188. Antiochic. Orat. xi. p. 380, 381.), and Sozomen (1. v. c. 19.). Wesseling (Itinerar. p. 581.). and Casaubon (ad Hist. August. p. 64.) illustrate this curious sub ject. Simulacrum in eo Olympiaci Jovis imitamenti æquiparans magnitudinem. Ammian. xxii. 13. The Olympic Jupiter was sixty feet high, and his bulk was consequently equal to that of a thousand men. See a curious Memoire of the Abbe Gedoyn, Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ix. p. 198. XXIII. Castalian fountain of Daphne. In the adjacent CHAP fields a stadium was built by a special privileget, which had been purchased from Elis; the Olympic games were celebrated at the expence of the city; and a revenue of thirty thousand pounds sterling was annually applied to the public pleasures. The perpetual resort of pilgrims and spectators insensibly formed, in the neighbourhood of the temple, the stately and populous village of Daphne, which emulated the splendour, without acquiring the title, of a provincial city. The temple and the village were deeply bosomed in a thick grove of laurels and cypresses, which reached as far as a circumference of ten miles, and formed in the most sultry summers a cool and impenetrable shade. A thousand streams of the purest water, issuing from every hill, preserved the verdure of the earth, I 4 Hadrian read the history of his future fortunes on a leaf dipped in the Castalian stream; a trick, which, according to the physician Vandale (de Oraculis, p. 281, 282.), might be easily performed by chemical preparations. The emperor stopped the source of such dangerous knowledge; which was again opened by the devout curiosity of Julian. It was purchased, A. D. 44, in the year 92 of the era of Antioch (Noris. Epoch. Syro-Maced. p. 139-174.) for the term of ninety Olympiads. But the Olympic games of Antioch were not regularly celebrated till the reign of Commo dus. See the curious details in the Chronicle of John Malala (tom. i. p. 293. 320. 372-381.), a writer whose merit and authority are confined within the limits of his native city. Fifteen talents of gold, bequeathed by Sosibus, who died in the reign of Augustus. The theatrical merits of the Syrian cities, in the age of Constantine, are compared in the Exposi tio totius Mundi, p. 6. Hudson, Geograph. Minor, tom. iii, XXIII. CHAR earth, and the temperature of the air; the senses were gratified with harmonious sounds and aromatic odours; and the peaceful grove was consecrated to health and joy, to luxury and love. The vigorous youth pursued, like Apollo, the object of his desires; and the blushing maid was warned, by the fate of Daphne, to shun the folly of unseasonable coyness. The soldier and the philosopher wisely avoided the temptation of this sensual paradise; where pleasure, assuming the character of religion, imperceptibly dissolved the firmness of manly virtue. But the groves of Daphne continued for many ages to enjoy the veneration of natives and strangers; the privi leges of the holy ground were enlarged by the munificence of succeeding emperors; and every generation added new ornaments to the splendour of the templet. Neglect and profanation $ ** When Julian, on the day of the annual festiof Daphne. val, hastened to adore the Apollo of Daphne, his devotion was raised to the highest pitch of eagerness and impatience. His lively imagination anticipated the grateful pomp of victims, of libations, and of incense; a long procession of "youths and virgins, clothed in white robes, the symbol * Avidio Cassio Syriacos legiones dedi luxuriâ diffluentes et Daphnicis moribus. These are the words of the emperor Marcus Antoninus in an original letter preserved by his biographer in Hist. August. p. 41. Cassius dismissed or punished every soldier who was seen at Daphne. Aliquantum agrorum Daphnensibus dedit (Pompey), quo lucus ibi spatiosior fieret; delectatus amenitate loci et aqua rum abundantiâ. Eutropius, vi. 11. Sextus Rufus, de Pro vinciis, c. 16. |