XXXII. CHAP. eloquent oration to the fenate of Antioch, declared her royal intention of enlarging the walls of the city, bestowed a donative of two hundred pounds of gold to reftore the public baths, and accepted the ftatues, which were decreed by the gratitude of Antioch. In the Holy Land, her alms and pious foundations exceeded the munificence of the great Helena; and though the public treasure might be impoverished by this exceffive liberality, fhe enjoyed the confcious fatisfaction of returning to Conftantinople with the chains of St. Peter, the right arm of St. Stephen, and an undoubted picture of the Virgin, painted by St. Luke". But this pilgrimage was the fatal term of the glories of Eudocia. Satiated with empty pomp, and unmindful, perhaps, of her obligations to Pulcheria, fhe ambitiously afpired to the government of the Eastern empire: the palace was distracted by female difcord; but the victory was at last decided, by the fuperior afcendant of the fifter of Theodofius. The execution of Paulinus, mafter of the offices, and the difgrace of Cyrus, Prætorian præfect of the Eaft, convinced the public, that the favour of Eudocia was infufficient to protect her most faithful friends; and the uncommon beauty of Paulinus encouraged the fecret rumour, that his guilt was that of a fuccefsful lover". As foon as the emprefs 76 Baronius (Annal. Ecclef. A. D. 438, 439.) is copious and florid; but he is accufed of placing the lies of different ages on the fame level of authenticity. 77 In this fhort view of the difgrace of Eudocia, I have imitated the caution of Evagrius (1. i. c, 21.), and count Marcellinus (in Chron, XXXII. emprefs perceived that the affection of Theodo- CHAP. fius was irretrievably loft, fhe requested the permiffion of retiring to the distant folitude of Jerufalem. She obtained her requeft; but the jealoufy of Theodofius, or the vindictive fpirit of Pulcheria, purfued her in her laft retreat; and Saturninus, count of the domeftics, was directed to punish with death two ecclefiaftics, her most favoured fervants. Eudocia inftantly revenged them by the affaffination of the count: the furious paffions, which fhe indulged on this fufpicious occafion, seemed to juftify the feverity of Theodofius; and the emprefs, ignominiously stript of the honours of her rank 7, was difgraced, perhaps unjustly, in the eyes of the world. The remainder of the life of Eudocia, about fixteen years, was spent in exile and devotion; and the approach of age, the death of Theodofius, the misfortunes of her only daughter, who was led a captive from Rome to Carthage, and the fociety of the Holy Monks of Paleftine, infenfibly confirmed the religious temper of her mind. After a full experience of the viciffitudes of human life, the daughter of the philofopher Leontius expired, at Jerufalem, in the fixty-feventh year of her age; protefting, with her dying breath, Chron. A. D. 440 and 444.). The two authentic dates affigned by the latter, overturn a great part of the Greek fictions; and the celebrated story of the apple, &c. is fit only for the Arabian Nights, where fomething not very unlike it may be found. 78 Prifcus (in Excerpt. Legat., p. 69.), a contemporary, and a courtier, drily mentions her Pagan and Chriftian names, without adding any title of honour or respect. that CHAP. that he had never tranfgreffed the bounds of XXXII. innocence and friendship ". The Per fan war, A.D.422. 80 The gentle mind of Theodofius was never inflamed by the ambition of conqueft, or military renown; and the flight alarm of a Perfian war fcarcely interrupted the tranquillity of the Eaft. The motives of this war were just and honourable. In the last year of the reign of Jezdegerd, the supposed guardian of Theodofius, a bishop, who afpired to the crown of martyrdom, deftroyed one of the fire-temples of Sufa ". His zeal and obftinacy were revenged on his brethren: the Magi excited a cruel perfecution; and the intolerant zeal of Jezdegerd was imitated by his fon Vararanes, or Bahram, who foon afterwards afcended the throne. Some Christian fugitives, who escaped to the Roman frontier, were fternly demanded, and generously refused; and the refufal, aggravated by commercial difputes, foon kindled a war between the rival monarchies. The mountains of Armenia, and the plains of Mefopotamia, 79 For the tavo pilgrimages of Eudocia, and her long refidence at Jerufalem, her devotion, alms, &c. fee Socrates (1. vii. c. 47.) and Evagrius (i. i. c. 20, 21, 22.). The Pafchal Chronicle may fometimes deferve regard; and, in the domeftic history of Antioch, John Ma. lala becomes a writer of good authority. The Abbé Guenée, in a memoir on the fertility of Paleftine, of which I have only feen an ex. tract, calculates the gifts of Eudocia at 20,488 pounds of gold, above 800,000 pounds fterling. 80 Theodoret, 1. v. c. 39. Tillemont, Mem. Ecclef. tom. xii. p. 356–364. Affemanni, Bibliot. Oriental. tom. iii. p. 396. tom. iv. p. 61. Theodoret blames the rafhness of Abdas, but extols the conftancy of his martyi dom. Yet I do not clearly understand the cafùistry which prohibits our repairing the damage which we have unlawfully committed. 81 XXXII. were filled with hostile armies; but the operations CHAP. of two fucceffive campaigns were not productive of any decifive or memorable events. Some engagements were fought, fome towns were befieged, with various and doubtful fuccefs; and if the Romans failed in their attempt to recover the long loft poffeffion of Nifibis, the Perfians were repulfed from the walls of a Mefopotamian city, by the valour of a martial bishop, who pointed his thundering engine in the name of St. Thomas the Apostle. Yet the fplendid victories, which the incredible fpeed of the meffenger Palladius repeatedly announced to the palace of Conftantinople, were celebrated with festivals and panegyrics. From these panegyrics the " hiftorians of the age might borrow their extraordinary, and, perhaps, fabulous, tales; of the proud challenge of a Perfian hero, who was entangled by the net, and difpatched by the fword, of Areobindus the Goth; of the ten thousand Immortals, who were flain in the attack of the Roman camp; and of the hundred thousand Arabs, or Saracens, who were impelled by a panic terror to throw themfelves headlong into the Euphrates. Such events may be difbelieved, or difregarded; but the charity of a bishop, Acacius of Amida, whofe name might have dignified the faintly calendar, fhall not be loft in oblivion. Boldly declaring, that vafes of gold and filver are useless to a God 81 Socrates (1. vii. c. 18, 19, 20, 21.) is the beft author for the who XXXII. CHAP. who neither eats nor drinks, the generous prelate fold the plate of the church of Amida; employed the price in the redemption of feven thoufand Perfian captives; fupplied their wants with affectionate liberality; and difmiffed them to their native country, to inform the king of the true fpirit of the religion which he perfecuted. The practice of benevolence in the midst of war muft always tend to affuage the animofity of contending nations; and I wish to perfuade myself, that Acacius contributed to the restoration of peace. . In the conference which was held on the limits of the two empires, the Roman ambaffadors degraded the perfonal character of their fovereign, by a vain attempt to magnify the extent of his power; when they seriously advifed the Perfians to prevent, by a timely accommodation, the wrath of a monarch, who was yet ignorant of this diftant war. A truce of one hundred years was folemnly ratified; and, although the revolutions of Armenia might threaten the public tranquillity, the effential conditions of this treaty were refpected near fourfcore years by the fucceffors of Conftantine and Artaxerxes. Armenia divided be tween the Perfians and the Romans, Since the Roman and Parthian ftandards first encountered on the banks of the Euphrates, the kingdom of Armenia 2 was alternately oppreffed 82 82 This account of the ruin and divifion of the kingdom of Armenia is taken from the third book of the Armenian hiftory of Mofes of Chorene. Deficient as he is in every qualification of a good hiftorian, his local information, his paffions, and his prejudices, are ftrongly expreffive of a native and contemporary. Procopius (de Edificiis, l. iii. c. 1. 5) relates the fame facis in a very different manner; but I have extracted the circumftances the most probable in themfelves, and the leaft inconfiftent with Mofes of Chorene. by |