XXV.

CHAP. their master; and that the real measure of facts has been very liberally magnified by the vehement declamation and easy credulity of his antagonists*. 1. The silence of Valentinian may suggest a probable argument, that the partial severities, which were exercised in the name and provinces of his colleague, amounted only to some obscure and inconsiderable deviations from the established system of religious toleration and the judicious historian, who has praised the equal temper of the elder brother, has not thought himself obliged to contrast the tranquillity of the West with the cruel persecution of the East †. 2. Whatever crédit may be allowed to vague and distant reports, the character, or at least the behaviour, of Valens may be most distinctly seen in his personal transactions with the eloquent Basil, archbishop of Cæsarea, who had succeeded Athanasius in the management of the Trinitarian cause. The circumstantial narrative has been composed by the friends and admirers of Basil;

and

Dr Jortin (Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. iv. p. 78.) has already conceived and intimated the same suspicion.

This reflection is so obvious and forcible, that Orosius (1. vii. c. 32, 33.) delays the persecution till after the death of Valentinian. Socrates, on the other hand, (supposes 1. iii. c. 32.), that it was appeased by a philosophical oration, which Themistius pronounced in the year 374 (Orat. xii. p. 15k. in Latin only). Such contradictions diminish the evidence, and reduce the term, of the persecution of Valens.

Tillemont, whom I follow and abridge, has extracted (Mém. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 153-167.) the most authentic circumstances from the Panegyrics of the two Gregories: the brother, and the friend, of Basil. The letters of Basil himself (Dupin, Bibliotheque Ecclesiastique, tom. ii. p. 155– 180.), do not present the image of a very lively persecution,

XXV.

and as soon as we have stripped away a thick CHAP. coat of rhetoric and miracle, we shall be astonished by the unexpected mildness of the Arian tyrant, who admired the firmness of his character, or was apprehensive, if he employed violence, of a general revolt in the province of Cappadocia. The archbishop, who asserted, with inflexible pride, the truth of his opinions, and the dignity of his rank, was left in the free possession of his conscience, and his throne. The emperor devoutly assisted at the solemn service of the cathedral; and, instead of a sentence of ba nishment, subscribed the donation of a valuable estate for the use of an hospital, which Basil had lately founded in the neighbourhood of Cæsarea t. 3. I am not able to discover, that any law (such as Theodosius afterwards enacted against the Arians) was published by Valens against the Athanasian sectaries; and the edict which excited the most violent clamours, may not appear so extremely reprehensible. The emperor had observed, that several of his subjects, gratifying their lazy disposition under the pretence of religion, had associated themselves with the monks of Egypt; and he directed the count of the East

to

Basilius Cæsariensis episcopus Cappadocia clarus habetur . . . . qui multa continentiæ et ingenii bona uno superbiæ malo perdidit. This irreverent passage is perfectly in the style and character of St Jerom. It does not appear in Scaliger's edition of his Chronicle; but Isaac Vossius found it in some old MSS. which had not been reformed by the monks.

This noble and charitable foundation, (almost a new city) surpassed in merit, if not in greatness, the pyramids, or the walls of Babylon. It was principally intended for the reception of lepers (Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. xx. p. 439.).

XXV.

CHAP. to drag to drag them from their solitude; and to compel those deserters of society to accept the fair alternative, of renouncing their temporal possessions, or of discharging the public duties of men and citizens. The ministers of Valens seem to have extended the sense of this penal statute, since they claimed a right of enlisting the young and able-bodied monks in the imperial armies. A detachment of cavalry and infantry, consisting of three thousand men, marched from Alexandria into the adjacent desert of Nitria †, which was peopled by five thousand monks. The soldiers were conducted by Arian priests; and it is reported, that a considerable slaughter was made in the monasteries which disobeyed the commands of their sovereign ‡.

Valentinian restrains

the avarice

of the

The strict regulations which had been framed by the wisdom of modern legislators to restrain the wealth and avarice of the clergy, may be A. D. 370. originally deduced from the example of the emperor Valentinian. His edict § addressed to

clergy,

Damasus,

* Cod. Theodos. 1. xii. tit. i. leg. 63. Godefroy (tom. iv. p. 409-413.) performs the duty of a commentator and advocate. Tillemont (Mém. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 808.) suposes a second law to excuse his orthodox friends, who had misrepresented the edict of Valens, and suppressed the liberty of choice.

See d'Anville, Description de l'Egypte, p. 74. Here after I shall consider the monastic institutions.

Socrates, 1. iv. c. 24, 25. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 33. Jerom in Chron. p. 189. and tom. ii. p. 212. The monks of Egypt performed many miracles, which prove the truth of their faith. Right, says Jortin (Remarks, vol. iv. p. 79.), but what proves the truth of those miracles?

Cod. Theodos. 1. xvi. tit. ii. leg. 20. Godefroy (tom. vi. p. 49.), after the example of Baronius, impartially collects all

that

XXV.

Damasus, bishop of Rome, was publicly read in CHA P. the churches of the city. He admonished the ecclesiastics and monks not to frequent the houses of widows and virgins; and menaced their disobedience with the animadversion of the civil judge. The director was no longer permitted to receive any gift, or legacy, or inheritance, from the liberality of his spiritual daughter; every testament contrary to this edict was declared null and void; and the illegal donation was confiscated for the use of the treasury. By a subsequent regulation, it should seem, that the same provisions were extended to nuns and bishops; and that all persons of the ecclesiastical order were rendered incapable of receiving any testamentary gifts, and strictly confined to the natural and legal rights of inheritance. As the guardian of domestic happiness and virtue, Valentinian applied this severe remedy to the growing evil. In the capital of the empire, the females of noble and opulent houses possessed a very ample share of independent property: and many of those devout females had embraced the doctrines of Christianity, not only with the cold assent of the' understanding, but with the warmth of affection, and perhaps with the eagerness of fashion. They sacrificed the pleasures of dress and luxury; and renounced, for the praise of chastity, the soft endearments of conjugal society. Some ecclesiastic,

that the fathers have said on the subject of this important law; whose spirit was long afterwards revived by the emperor Frederic II. Edward I. of England, and other Christian princes who reigned after the twelfth century.

XXV.

CHAP. siastic, of real or apparent sanctity, was chosen to direct their timorous conscience, and to amuse the vacant tenderness of their heart and the unbounded confidence, which they hastily bestowed, was often abused by knaves and enthusiasts; who hastened from the extremities of the East, to enjoy, on a splendid theatre, the privileges of the monastic profession. By their contempt of the world, they insensibly acquired its most desirable advantages; the lively attachment, perhaps, of a young and beautiful woman, the delicate plenty of an opulent household, and the respectful ho mage of the slaves, the freedmen, and the clients of a senatorial family. The immense fortunes of the Roman ladies were gradually consumed, in lavish alms and expensive pilgrimages; and the artful monk, who had assigned himself the first, or possibly the sole place, in the testament of his spiritual daughter, still presumed to declare, with the smooth face of hypocrisy, that he was only the instrument of charity, and the steward of the poor. The lucrative, but disgraceful, trade*, which was exercised by the clergy to defraud the expectations of the natural heirs, had provoked the indignation of a superstitious age: and two of the most respectable of the Latin fathers very honestly

The expressions which I have used are temperate and feeble, if compared with the vehement invectives of Jerom. (tom. i. p. 13. 45. 144, &c.). In his turn, he was reproached with the guilt which he imputed to his brother monks and the Sceleratus, the Versipellis, was publicly accused as the lover of the widow Paula (tom. ii. p. 363.). He undoubtedly possessed the affections, both of the mother and the daugh ter; but he declares, that he never abused his influence, to any selfish or sensual purpose.

.