XXIII

CHAP. forvent devotion, and voracious appetite, at the sacrifices, which were repeatedly offered in his camp, of whole hecatombs of fat oxen. The armies of the East, which had been trained under the standard of the cross, and of Constantius, required a more artful and expensive mode of persuasion. On the days of solemn and public festivals, the emperor received the homage, and rewarded the merit, of the troops. His throne of state was encircled with the military ensigns of Rome and the republic; the holy name of Christ was erazed from the Labarum; and the symbols of war, of majesty, and of pagan superstition, were so dextrously blended, that the faithful subject incurred the guilt of idolatry, when he respectfully saluted the person or image of his sovereign. The soldiers passed successively in review; and each of them, before he received from the hand of Julian a liberal donative, proportioned to his rank and services, was required to cast a few grains of incense into the flame which burnt upon the altar. Some Christian confessors might resist, and others might repent; but the far greater number, allured by the prospect of gold, and awed by the presence of the emperor, contracted the criminal engagement;

and

ad sua

* Julian. Epist. xxxviii. Ammianus, xxii. 12. Adeo ut in dies pæne singulos milites caruis distentiore sagina victitantes incultius, potusque aviditate correpti, humeris impositi transeuntium per plateas, ex publicis ædibus . . . diversoria portarentur. The devout prince and the indignant historian describe the same scene; and in Illyricum or Aas tioch, similar causes must have produced similar effects.

XXIII.

and their future perseverance in the worship of CHAP. the gods was enforced by every consideration of duty and of interest. By the frequent repetition of these arts, and at the expence of sums which would have purchased the service of half the nations of Scythia, Julian gradually acquired for his troops the imaginary protection of the gods, and for himself the firm and effectual support of the Roman legions*. It is indeed more than probable, that the restoration and encouragement of Paganism revealed a multitude of pretended Christians, who, from motives of temporal advantage, had acquiesced in the religion of the former reign; and who afterwards returned, with the same flexibility of conscience, to the faith which was professed by the successors of Julian.

While the devout monarch incessantly laboured The Jews. ]

to restore and propagate the religion of his an

cestors, he embraced the extraordinary design.

of rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem: In a public epistle to the nation or community of the Jews, dispersed through the provinces, he pities their misfortunes, condemns their oppressors, praises their constancy, declares himself their Vol. IV. gracious

II

Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 74, 75. 83-86.) and Libanius (Orat. Parent. c. lxxxi. lxxxii. p. 307, 308.) Tigi THUTHY THY σπεδην, εκ αριέμαι πλάτον ἀνήλασθαι μέγαν. The sophist owns and justifies the expence of these military conversions:

+ Julian's epistle (xxv.) is addressed to the community of the Jews. Aldus (Venet. 1499.) has branded it with an yes; but this stigma is justly removed by the subsequent editors, Petavius and Spanheim: The epistle is mentioned by Sozomen (1. v. c. 22.), and the purport of it is confirmed by Gregory (Orat. iv. p. 111.), and by Julian himself, Frag

XXIL

CHAP. gracious protector, and expresses a pious hope, that after his return from the Persian war, he may be permitted to pay his gratefub vows to the Almighty in his holy city of Jerusalem. The blind superstition, and abject slavery, of those unfortunate exiles, must excite the con tempt of a philosophic emperor; but theyndeserved the friendship of Julian, by their impla cable hatred of the Christian name. The barren' synagogue abhorred and envied the fecundity of the rebellious church the power of the Jews was not equal to their malice; but their gravest rabbis approved the private murder of an apostate; and their seditious clamours had often awakened the indolence of the pagan magistrates. Under the reign of Constantine, the Jews became the subjects of their revolted children, nor was it long before they experienced the bitterness of domestic tyranny. The civil immunities. which had been granted, or confirmed, by Severus, were gradually repealed by the Christian princes; and a rash tumult excited by the Jews of Palestine, seemed to justify the lucrative modes of oppression, which were invented by the bishops

*The Misnah denounced death against those who abandoned the foundation. The judgment of zeal is explained by Marsham (Canon. Chron. p. 161, 162. edit. fol. London, 1672.) and Basnage (Hist. des Juifs, tom. viii. p. 120.). Constantine made a law to protect Christian converts from Jedaism. Cod. Theod. l. xvi. tit. viii. leg. 1. Godefroy, tom. vi. p. 215.

Et interea (during the civil war of Magnentius) Judeorum seditio, qui Patricium nefaric in regni speciem sustulerunt, oppressa. Aurelius Victor, in Constantio, c. xiii. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 379, in 4to.

XXIII.

bishops and eunuchs of the court of Constantius. CHAP. The Jewish patriarch, who was still permitted to exercise a precarious jurisdiction, held his resi1 dence at Tiberias *; and the neighbouring cities of Palestine were filled with the remains of a people, who fondly adhered to the promised land. But the edict of Hadrian was renewed and enforced ; and they viewed from afar the walls of the holy city, which were profaned in their eyes by the triumph of the cross, and the devotion of the Christians t.

In the midst of a rocky and barren country, Jerusalem. the walls of Jerusalem inclosed the two mountains of Sion and Acra, within an oval figure of about three English miles §. Towards the south, the upper town, and the fortress of David, were erected on the lofty ascent of Mount Sion: on the north side, the buildings of the lower town covered the spacious summit of Mount Acra ; and a part of the hill, distinguished by the name of Moriah, and levelled by human industry, was crowned with the stately temple of the Jewish nation.

H2

* The city and synagogue of Tiberias are curiously described by Reland, Palestin. tom. ii. p. 1036-1042.

Basnage has fully illustrated the state of the Jews under Constantine and his successors (tom. viii. c. iv. p. 111-153.).

Reland (Palestin. 1. i. p. 309. 390. 1. iii. p. 838.) describes, with learning and perspicuity, Jerusalem, and the face of the adjacent country.

I have consulted a rare and curious treatise of M. d'Anville (sur l'ancienne Jerusalem, Paris, 1747, p. 75.). The cir cumference of the ancient city (Euseb. Præparat. Evangel. 1. ix. c. 36.) was twenty-seven stadia, or 2550 toises: A plan taken on the spot, assigns no more than 1980 for the modern town. The circuit is defined by natural land-marks, which cannot be mistaken or removed.

XXIII.

CHAP. nation. After the final destruction of the temple, by the arms of Titus and Hadrian, a plough share was drawn over the consecrated ground, as a sign of perpetual, interdiction. Sion was deserted; and the vacant space of the lower city was filled with the public and private edifices of the Elian colony, which spread themselves over the adjacent hill of Calvary. The holy places were polluted with monuments of idolatry; and, either from design or accident, a chapel was dedicated to Venus, on the spot which had been sanctified by the death and resurrection of Christ *. Almost three hundred years after those stupendous events, the profane chapel of Venus was demolished by the order of Constantine; and the removal of the earth and stones revealed the holy sepulchre to the eyes of mankind. A magnificent church was erected on that mystic ground, by the first Christian emperor; and the effects of his pious munificence were extended to every spot which had been consecrated by the footsteps of pa triarchs, of prophets, and of the Son of God †.

Pilgrimages,

The passionate desire of contemplating the original monuments of the redemption, attracted to Jerusalem a successive crowd of pilgrims, from the shores of the Atlantic ocean, and the most distant

See two curious passages in Jerom (tom. i. p. 102. t. vi. p. 315.), and the ample details of Tillemont (Hist. des Einpereurs, tom. i. p. 569. tom. ii. p. 289. 294. 4to edition.).

Eusebius, in Vit. Constantin. l. iii. c. 25-47. 51–53. The emperor likewise built churches at Bethlem, the Mount of Olives, and the oak of Mambre. The holy sepulchre is described by Sandys (Travels, p. 125-133.), and curiously delineated by Le Bruyn (Voyage au Levant, p. 288-296.)