was tri- CH A P.

AND the Son, AND the Holy Ghoft 147, umphantly chanted by a full chorus of voices; and the Catholics infulted, by the purity of their doctrine, the Arian prelate, who had ufurped the throne of the venerable Euftathius. The fame

zeal which infpired their fongs prompted the more scrupulous members of the orthodox party to form separate affemblies, which were governed by the prefbyters till the death of their exiled bishop allowed the election and confecration of a new epifcopal paftor 148. The revolutions of the court multiplied the number of pretenders; and the fame city was often difputed, under the reign of Conftantius, by two, or three, or even four bishops, who exercised their spiritual jurisdiction over their respective followers, and alternately loft and regained the temporal poffeffions of the church. The abuse of Christianity introduced into the Roman government new caufes of tyranny and fedition; the bands of civil fociety were torn afunder by the fury of religious factions; and the obfcure citizen, who might calmly have furveyed the elevation and fall of fucceffive em

147 Philoftorgius, 1. iii. c. 13. Godefroy has examined this fubject with. fingular accuracy (p. 147, &c.). There were three heterodox forms: "To the Father by the Son, and in the Holy Ghoft." "To the Father, and the Son, in the Holy Ghost:" and "To the Father in the Son and the Holy Ghoft."

148 After the exile of Euftathius under the reign of Constantine, the rigid party of the orthodox formed a separation which afterwards degenerated into a schism, and lafted above fourscore years. See Tillemont, Mem. Ecclef. tom. vii. p. 35-54. 1137-1158. tom. viii. p. 537—632. 13·4— 1332. In many churches the Arians and Homooufians, who had renounced each other's communion, continued for fome time to join in prayer. Philoftorgius, 1. iii. c. 14.

XXI.

XXI.

CHA P. perors, imagined and experienced, that his own life and fortune were connected with the interests of a popular ecclefiaftic. The example of the two capitals, Rome and Conftantinople, may serve to represent the ftate of the empire, and the temper of mankind, under the reign of the fons of Conftantine.

Rome.

I. The Roman pontiff, as long as he maintained his ftation and his principles, was guarded by the warm attachment of a great people; and could reject with fcorn, the prayers, the menaces, and the oblations of an heretical prince. When the eunuchs had fecretly pronounced the exile of Liberius, the well-grounded apprehenfion of a tumult engaged them to use the utmost precautions in the execution of the fentence. The capital was invested on every fide, and the præfect was commanded to feize the perfon of the bishop, either by ftratagem, or by open force. The order was obeyed, and Liberius, with the greatest difficulty, at the hour of midnight, was swiftly conveyed beyond the reach of the Roman people, before their confternation was turned into rage. As foon as they were informed of his banishment into Thrace, a general affembly was convened, and the clergy of Rome bound themfelves, by a public and folemn oath, never to defert their bishop, never to acknowledge the ufurper Fælix; who, by the influence of the eunuchs, had been irregularly chofen and confecrated within the walls of a profane palace. At the end of two years, their pious obftinacy fubfifted entire and unfhaken; and when Conftan

2

tius vifited Rome, he was affailed by the impor- c H A P.
tunate folicitations of a people, who had preferved, XXI.
as the last remnant of their ancient freedom, the
right of treating their fovereign with familiar info-
lence. The wives of many of the fenators and
most honourable citizens, after preffing their huf-
bands to intercede in favour of Liberius, were ad-
vised to undertake a commiffion, which, in their
hands would be lefs dangerous, and might prove
more fuccessful. The emperor received with po-
liteness these female deputies, whose wealth and
dignity were displayed in the magnificence of
their dress and ornaments: he admired their in-
flexible refolution of following their beloved pastor
to the most diftant regions of the earth; and con-
fented that the two bifhops, Liberius and Fælix,
fhould govern in peace their respective congre-
gations. But the ideas of toleration were fo re-
pugnant to the practice, and even to the fenti-
ments of thofe times, that when the answer of
Conftantius was publicly read in the Circus of
Rome, fo reasonable a project of accommodation
was rejected with contempt and ridicule. The
eager vehemence which animated the fpectators
in the decifive moment of a horfe-race, was now
directed towards a different object; and the Cir-
cus refounded with the fhout of thousands, who
repeatedly exclaimed, "One God, One Christ,
"One Bishop." The zeal of the Roman people.
in the cause of Liberius, was not confined to
words alone; and the dangerous and bloody fedi-
tion which they excited foon after the departure

XXI.

CHA P. of Conftantius, determined that prince to accept the submission of the exiled prelate, and to restore him to the undivided dominion of the capital. After fome ineffectual refiftance, his rival was expelled from the city by the permiffion of the emperor, and the power of the oppofite faction; the adherents of Fælix were inhumanly murdered in the streets, in the public places, in the baths, and even in the churches; and the face of Rome, upon the return of a Chriftian bishop, renewed the horrid image of the maffacres of Marius, and the profcriptions of Sylla 149.

Conftantinople.

II. Notwithstanding the rapid increase of Christians under the reign of the Flavian family, Rome, Alexandria, and the other great cities of the empire, ftill contained a ftrong and powerful faction of infidels, who envied the profperity, and who ridiculed, even on their theatres, the theological disputes of the church. Conftantinople alone enjoyed the advantage of being born and educated in the bofom of the faith. The capital of the East had never been polluted by the worship of idols; and the whole body of the people had deeply imbibed the opinions, the virtues, and the paffions, which diftinguished the Chriftians of that age from the rest of mankind. After the death of Alexander, the epifcopal throne was dif puted by Paul and Macedonius. By their zeal

149 See, on this ecclefiaftical revolution of Rome, Ammianus, xv. 7. Athanaf. tom. i. p. 834. 861. Sozomen, 1. iv. c. 15. Theodoret. 1. ii. c. 17. Sulp. Sever. Hift. Sacra, l. ii. p. 413. Hieronym. Chron. Marcellin, et Fauftin, Libell. p. 3, 4. Tillemont. Mem. Ecclef, tom. vi. P. 336.

and

XXI.

and abilities they both deserved the eminent fta- CHAP.
tion to which they afpired; and if the moral cha-
racter of Macedonius was lefs exceptionable, his
competitor had the advantage of a prior election
and a more orthodox doctrine. His firm attach-
ment to the Nicene creed, which has given Paul
a place in the calendar among faints and martyrs,
exposed him to the refentment of the Arians. In
the space of fourteen years he was five times driven
from the throne; to which he was more frequently
restored by the violence of the people, than by the
permiffion of the prince; and the power of Ma-
cedonius could be fecured only by the death of
his rival. The unfortunate Paul was dragged in
chains from the fandy deserts of Mefopotamia to
the most defolate places of Mount Taurus 50,
confined in a dark and harrow dungeon, left fix
days without food, and at length ftrangled, by
the order of Philip, one of the principal ministers
of the emperor Conftantius 11. The firft blood
which stained the new capital was fpilt in this ec-
clefiaftical contest; and many persons were flain on

151

150 Cucufus was the last stage of his life and fufferings. The fituation of that lonely town, on the confines of Cappadocia, Cilicia, and the Leffer Armenia, has occafioned fome geographical perplexity; but we are directed to the true fpot by the course of the Roman road from Cæfarea to to Anazarbus. See Cellarii. Geograph. tom. ii. p. 213. Weffeling ad

Itenerar, p. 179. 703.

151 Athanafius (tom. i. p. 703. 813, 874.) affirms, in the most pofitive terms that Paul was murdered; and appeals not only to common fame, but even to the unfufpicious teftimony of Philagrius, one of the Arian perfecutors. Yet he acknowledges, that the heretics attributed to disease the death of the bishop of Conftantinople. Athanafius is fervilely copied by Socrates (1. ii. c. 26.); but Sozomen, who discovers a more liberal temper, prefumes (1. iv. c. 2.) to infinuate a prudent doubt.

both

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