diff options
Diffstat (limited to '10522-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 10522-8.txt | 8351 |
1 files changed, 8351 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/10522-8.txt b/10522-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..abe4ae2 --- /dev/null +++ b/10522-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8351 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Beacon Lights of History, Volume IV, by John +Lord + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + + + + +Title: Beacon Lights of History, Volume IV + +Author: John Lord + +Release Date: December 23, 2003 [eBook #10522] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME +IV*** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Charlie Kirschner, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +LORD'S LECTURES + +BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME IV + +IMPERIAL ANTIQUITY. + +BY JOHN LORD, LL.D., + +AUTHOR OF "THE OLD ROMAN WORLD," "MODERN EUROPE," +ETC., ETC. + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CYRUS THE GREAT. + +ASIATIC SUPREMACY. + +The Persian Empire +Persia Proper +Origin of the Persians +The Religion of the Iranians +Persian Civilization +Persian rulers +Youth and education of Cyrus +Political Union of Persia and Media +The Median Empire +Early Conquests of Cyrus +The Lydian Empire +Croesus, King of Lydia +War between Croesus and Cyrus +Fate of Croesus +Conquest of the Ionian Cities +Conquest of Babylon +Assyria and Babylonia +Subsequent conquests of Cyrus +His kindness to the Jews +Character of Cyrus +Cambyses; Darius Hystaspes +Xerxes +Fall of the Persian Empire +Authorities + + +JULIUS CAESAR. + +IMPERIALISM. + +Caesar an instrument of Providence +His family and person +Early manhood; marriage; profession; ambition +Curule magistrates; the Roman Senate +Only rich men who control elections ordinarily elected +Venality of the people +Caesar borrows money to bribe the people +Elected Quaestor +Gains a seat in the Senate +Second marriage, with a cousin of Pompey +Caesar made Pontifex Maximus; elected Praetor +Sent to Spain; military services in Spain +Elected Consul; his reforms; Leges Juliae +Opposition of the Aristocracy +Assigned to the province of Gaul +His victories over the Gauls and Germans +Character of the races he subdued +Amazing difficulties of his campaigns +Reluctance of the Senate to give him the customary honor +Jealousy of the nobles; hostility between them and Caesar +The Aristocracy unfit to govern; their habits and manners +They call Pompey to their aid +Neither Pompey nor Caesar will disband his forces; Caesar recalled +Caesar marches on Home; crosses the Rubicon +Ultimate ends of Caesar; the civil war +Pompey's incapacity and indecision; flies to Brundusi +Caesar defeats Pompey's generals in Spain +Dictatorship of Caesar +Battle of Pharsalia +Death of Pompey in Egypt +Battles of Thapsus and of Munda +They result in Caesar's supremacy +His services as Emperor +His habits and character +His assassination,--its consequences +Causes of Imperialism,--its supposed necessity when Caesar +arose; public rebuke of Caesar by Cicero +An historical puzzle +Authorities + + +MARCUS AURELIUS. + +THE GLORY OF ROME. + +Remarkable character of Marcus Aurelius +His parentage and education +Adopted by Antoninus Pius +Subdues the barbarians of Germany +Consequences of the German Wars +Mistakes of Marcus Aurelius; Commodus +Persecutions of the Christians +The "Meditations,"--their sublime Stoicism +Epictetus,--the influence of his writings +Style and value of the "Meditations" +Necessities of the Empire +Its prosperity under the Antonines; external glories +Its internal weakness; seeds of ruin +Gibbon controverted by Marcus Aurelius +Authorities + + +CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. + +CHRISTIANITY ENTHRONED. + +Constantine and Diocletian +Influence of martyrdoms +Influence of Asceticism,--its fierce protest +Rise of Constantine +His civil wars for the supremacy of the Roman world +The rival Emperors and their fate: Maximinian, Galerius, + Maxentius, Maximin, Licinius +Constantine sole Emperor over the West and East +Foundation of Constantinople,--its great advantage +The pomp and ceremony of the imperial Court +Crimes of Constantine; his virtues +Conversion of Constantine +His Christian legislation; edict of Toleration +Patronage of the Clergy; union of Church and State +Council of Nice +Theological discussion +Doctrine of the Trinity +Athanasius and Arius +The Nicene Creed +Effect of philosophical discussions on theological truths +Constantine's work; the uniting of Church with State +Death of Constantine +His character and services +Authorities + + +PAULA. + +WOMAN AS FRIEND. + +Female friendship +Paganism unfavorable to friendship +Character of Jewish women +Great Pagan women +Paula, her early life +Her conversion to Christianity +Her asceticism +Asceticism the result of circumstances +Virtues of Paula +Her illustrious friends +Saint Jerome and his great attainments +His friendship with Paula +His social influence at Rome +His treatment of women +Vanity of mere worldly friendship +^Esthetic mission of woman +Elements of permanent friendship +Necessity of social equality +Illustrious friendships +Congenial tastes in friendship +Necessity of Christian graces +Sympathy as radiating from the Cross +Necessity of some common end in friendship +The extension of monastic life +Virtues of early monastic life +Paula and Jerome seek its retreats +Their residence in Palestine +Their travels in the East +Their illustrious visitors +Peculiarities of their friendship +Death of Paula +Her character and fame +Elevation of woman by friendship + + +CHRYSOSTOM. + +SACRED ELOQUENCE. + +The power of the Pulpit +Eloquence always a power +The superiority of the Christian themes to those of Pagan antiquity +Sadness of the great Pagan orators +Cheerfulness of the Christian preachers +Chrysostom +Education +Society of the times +Chrysostom's conversion, and life in retirement +Life at Antioch +Characteristics of his eloquence; his popularity as orator +His influence +Shelters Antioch from the wrath of Theodosius +Power and responsibility of the clergy +Transferred to Constantinople, as Patriarch of the East +His sermons, and their effect at Court +Quarrel with Eutropius +Envy of Theophilus of Alexandria +Council of the Oaks; condemnation to exile +Sustained by the people; recalled +Wrath of the Empress +Exile of Chrysostom +His literary labors in exile +His more remote exile, and death +His fame and influence +Authorities + + +SAINT AMBROSE. + +EPISCOPAL AUTHORITY. + +Dignity of the Episcopal office in the early Church +Growth of Episcopal authority,--its causes +The See of Milan; election of Ambrose as Archbishop +His early life and character; his great ability +Change in his life after consecration +His conservation of the Faith +Persecution of the Manicheans +Opposition to the Arians +His enemies; Faustina +Quarrel with the Empress +Establishment of Spiritual Authority +Opposition to Temporal Power +Ambrose retires to his cathedral; Ambrosian chant +Rebellion of Soldiers; triumph of Ambrose +Sent as Ambassador to Maximus; his intrepidity +His rebuke of Theodosius; penance of the Emperor +Fidelity and ability of Ambrose as Bishop +His private virtues +His influence on succeeding ages +Authorities + + +SAINT AUGUSTINE. + +CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. + +Lofty position of Augustine in the Church +Parentage and birth +Education and youthful follies +Influence of the Manicheans on him +Teacher of rhetoric +Visits Rome +Teaches rhetoric at Milan +Influence of Ambrose on him +Conversion; Christian experience +Retreat to Lake Como +Death of Monica his mother +Return to Africa +Made Bishop of Hippo; his influence as Bishop +His greatness as a theologian; his vast studies +Contest with Manicheans,--their character and teachings +Controversy with the Donatists,--their peculiarities +Tracts: Unity of the Church and Religious Toleration +Contest with the Pelagians: Pelagius and Celestius +Principles of Pelagianism +Doctrines of Augustine: Grace; Predestination; Sovereignty of God; + Servitude of the Will +Results of the Pelagian controversy +Other writings of Augustine: "The City of God;" Soliloquies; Sermons +Death and character +Eulogists of Augustine +His posthumous influence +Authorities + + +THEODOSIUS THE GREAT. + +LATTER DAYS OF ROME. + +The mission of Theodosius +General sense of security in the Roman world +The Romans awake from their delusion +Incursions of the Goths +Battle of Adrianople; death of Valens +Necessity for a great deliverer to arise; Theodosius +The Goths,--their characteristics and history +Elevation of Theodosius as Associate Emperor +He conciliates the Goths, and permits them to settle in the Empire +Revolt of Maximus against Gratian; death of Gratian +Theodosius marches against Maximus and subdues him +Revolt of Arbogastes,--his usurpation +Victories of Theodosius over all his rivals; the Empire once + more united under a single man +Reforms of Theodosius; his jurisprudence +Patronage of the clergy and dignity of great ecclesiastics +Theodosius persecutes the Arians +Extinguishes Paganism and closes the temples +Cements the union of Church with State +Faults and errors of Theodosius; massacre of Thessalonica +Death of Theodosius +Division of the Empire between his two sons +Renewed incursions of the Goths,--Alaric; Stilicho +Fall of Rome; Genseric and the Vandals +Second sack of Rome +Reflections on the Fall of the Western Empire +Authorities + + +LEO THE GREAT. + +FOUNDATION OF THE PAPACY. + +Leo the Great,--founder of the Catholic Empire +General aim of the Catholic Church +The Church the guardian of spiritual principles +Theocratic aspirations of the Popes +Origin of ecclesiastical power; the early Popes +Primacy of the Bishop of Rome +Necessity for some higher claim after the fall of Rome +Early life of Leo +Elevation to the Papacy; his measures; his writings +His persecution of the Manicheans +Conservation of the Faith by Leo +Intercession with the barbaric kings; Leo's intrepidity +Desolation of Rome +Designs and thoughts of Leo +The _jus divinum_ principle; state of Rome when this principle + was advocated +Its apparent necessity +The influence of arrogant pretensions on the barbarians +They are indorsed by the Emperor +The government of Leo +The central power of the Papacy +Unity of the Church +No rules of government laid down in the Scriptures +Governments the result of circumstances +The Papal government the need of the Middle Ages +The Papacy in its best period +Greatness of Leo's character and aims +Fidelity of his early successors, and perversions of later Popes +Authorities + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +VOLUME IV. + +The Conversion of Paula by St. Jerome. +_After the painting by L. Alma-Tadema_. + +Archery Practice of a Persian King. +_After the painting by F.A. Bridgman_. + +Tomyris Plunges the Head of the Dead Cyrus into a Vessel of Blood. +_After the painting by A. Zick_. + +Julius Caesar. +_From the bust in the National Museum, Rome_. + +Surrender of Vercingetorix, the Last Chief of Gaul. +_After the painting by Henri Motte_. + +Marcus Aurelius. +_From a photograph of the statue at the Capitol, Rome_. + +Persecution of Christians in the Roman Arena. +_After the painting by G. Mantegazza_. + +St. Jerome in His Cell. +_After the painting by J.L. Gérôme_. + +St. Chrysostom Condemns the Vices of the Empress Eudoxia. +_After the painting by Jean Paul Laurens_. + +St. Ambrose Refuses the Emperor Theodosius Admittance to His Church. +_After the painting by Gebhart Fügel_. + +St. Augustine and His Mother. +_After the painting by Ary Scheffer_. + +Invasion of the Goths into the Roman Empire. +_After the painting by O. Fritsche_. + +Invasion of the Huns into Italy. +_After the painting by V. Checa_. + + + + +BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY + + * * * * * + +CYRUS THE GREAT. + + * * * * * + +559-529 B.C. + +ASIATIC SUPREMACY. + + +One of the most prominent and romantic characters in the history of the +Oriental world, before its conquest by Alexander of Macedon, is Cyrus +the Great; not as a sage or prophet, not as the founder of new religious +systems, not even as a law-giver, but as the founder and organizer of +the greatest empire the world has seen, next to that of the Romans. The +territory over which Cyrus bore rule extended nearly three thousand +miles from east to west, and fifteen hundred miles from north to south, +embracing the principal nations known to antiquity, so that he was +really a king of kings. He was practically the last of the great Asiatic +emperors, absorbing in his dominions those acquired by the Assyrians, +the Babylonians, and the Lydians. He was also the first who brought Asia +into intimate contact with Europe and its influences, and thus may be +regarded as the link between the old Oriental world and the Greek +civilization. + +It is to be regretted that so little is really known of the Persian +hero, both in the matter of events and also of exact dates, since +chronologists differ, and can only approximate to the truth in their +calculations. In this lecture, which is in some respects an introduction +to those that will follow on the heroes and sages of Greek, Roman, and +Christian antiquity, it is of more importance to present Oriental +countries and institutions than any particular character, interesting as +he may be,--especially since as to biography one is obliged to sift +historical facts from a great mass of fables and speculations. + +Neither Herodotus, Xenophon, nor Ctesias satisfy us as to the real life +and character of Cyrus. This renowned name represents, however, the +Persian power, the last of the great monarchies that ruled the Oriental +world until its conquest by the Greeks. Persia came suddenly into +prominence in the middle of the seventh century before Christ. Prior to +this time it was comparatively unknown and unimportant, and was one of +the dependent provinces of Media, whose religion, language, and customs +were not very dissimilar to its own. + +Persia was a small, rocky, hilly, arid country about three hundred miles +long by two hundred and fifty wide, situated south of Media, having the +Persian Gulf as its southern boundary, the Zagros Mountains on the west +separating it from Babylonia, and a great and almost impassable desert +on the east, so that it was easily defended. Its population was composed +of hardy, warlike, and religious people, condemned to poverty and +incessant toil by the difficulty of getting a living on sterile and +unproductive hills, except in a few favored localities. The climate was +warm in summer and cold in winter, but on the whole more temperate than +might be supposed from a region situated so near the tropics,--between +the twenty-fifth and thirtieth degrees of latitude. It was an elevated +country, more than three thousand feet above the sea, and was favorable +to the cultivation of the fruits and flowers that have ever been most +prized, those cereals which constitute the ordinary food of man growing +in abundance if sufficient labor were spent on their cultivation, +reminding us of Switzerland and New England. But vigilance and incessant +toil were necessary, such as are only found among a hardy and courageous +peasantry, turning easily from agricultural labors to the fatigues and +dangers of war. The real wealth of the country was in the flocks and +herds that browsed in the valleys and plains. Game of all kinds was +abundant, so that the people were unusually fond of the pleasures of the +chase; and as they were temperate, inured to exposure, frugal, and +adventurous, they made excellent soldiers. Nor did they ever as a nation +lose their warlike qualities,--it being only the rich and powerful among +them who learned the vices of the nations they subdued, and became +addicted to luxury, indolence, and self-indulgence. Before the conquest +of Media the whole nation was distinguished for temperance, frugality, +and bravery. According to Herodotus, the Persians were especially +instructed in three things,--"to ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the +truth." Their moral virtues were as conspicuous as their warlike +qualities. They were so poor that their ordinary dress was of leather. +They could boast of no large city, like the Median Ecbatana, or like +Babylon,--Pasargadae, their ancient capital, being comparatively small +and deficient in architectural monuments. The people lived chiefly in +villages and hamlets, and were governed, like the Israelites under the +Judges, by independent chieftains, none of whom attained the rank and +power of kings until about one hundred years before the birth of Cyrus. +These pastoral and hunting people, frugal from necessity, brave from +exposure, industrious from the difficulty of subsisting in a dry and +barren country, for the most sort were just such a race as furnished a +noble material for the foundation of a great empire. + +Whence came this honest, truthful, thrifty race? It is generally +admitted that it was a branch of the great Aryan family, whose original +settlements are supposed to have been on the high table-lands of Central +Asia east of the Caspian Sea, probably in Bactria. They emigrated from +that dreary and inhospitable country after Zoroaster had proclaimed his +doctrines, after the sacred hymns called the Gathas were sung, perhaps +even after the Zend-Avesta or sacred writings of the Zoroastrian priests +had been begun,--conquering or driving away Turanian tribes, and +migrating to the southwest in search of more fruitful fields and fertile +valleys, they found a region which has ever since borne a +name--Iran--that evidently commemorated the proud title of the Aryan +race. And this great movement took place about the time that another +branch of their race also migrated southeastwardly to the valleys of the +Indus. The Persians and the Hindus therefore had common ancestors,--the +same indeed, as those of the Greeks, Romans, Sclavonians, Celts, and +Teutons, who migrated to the northwest and settled in Europe. The Aryans +in all their branches were the noblest of the primitive races, and have +in their later developments produced the highest civilization ever +attained. They all had similar elements of character, especially love of +personal independence, respect for woman, and a religious tendency of +mind. We see a considerable similarity of habits and customs between +the Teutonic races of Germany and Scandinavia and the early inhabitants +of Persia, as well as great affinity in language. All branches of the +Aryan family have been warlike and adventurous, if we may except the +Hindus, who were subjected to different influences,--especially of +climate, which enervated their bodies if it did not weaken their minds. + +When the migration of the Iranians took place it is difficult to +determine, but probably between fifteen hundred and two thousand years +before our era, although it may have been even five hundred years +earlier than that. All theories as to their movements before their +authentic history begins are based on conjecture and speculation, which +it is not profitable to pursue, since we can settle nothing in the +present state of our knowledge. + +It is very singular that the Iranians should have had, after their +migrations and settlements, religious ideas and systems so different +from those of the Hindus, considering that they had common ancestors. +The Iranians, including the Medes as well as Persians, accepted +Zoroaster as their prophet and teacher, and the Zend-Avesta as their +sacred books, and worshipped one Supreme Deity, whom they called +Ahura-Mazda (Ormazd),--the Lord Omniscient,--and thus were monotheists; +while the Hindus were practically poly-theists, governed by a +sacerdotal caste, who imposed gloomy austerities and sacrifices, +although it would seem that the older Vedistic hymns of the Hindus were +theistic in spirit. The Magi--the priests of the Iranians--differed +widely in their religious views from the Brahmans, inculcating a higher +morality and a loftier theological creed, worshipping the Supreme Being +without temples or shrines or images, although their religion ultimately +degenerated into a worship of the powers of Nature, as the recognition +of Mithra the sun-god and the mysterious fire-altars would seem to +indicate. But even in spite of the corruptions introduced by the Magi +when they became a powerful sacerdotal body, their doctrine remained +purer and more elevated than the religions of the surrounding nations. + +While the Iranians worshipped a supreme deity of goodness, they also +recognized a supreme deity of evil, both ruling the world--in perpetual +conflict--by unnumbered angels, good and evil; but the final triumph of +the good was a conspicuous article of their faith. In close logical +connection with this recognition of a supreme power in the universe was +the belief of a future state and of future rewards and punishments, +without which belief there can be, in my opinion, no high morality, as +men are constituted. + +In process of time the priests of the Zoroastrian faith became unduly +powerful, and enslaved the people by many superstitions, such as the +multiplication of rites and ceremonies and the interpretation of dreams +and omens. They united spiritual with temporal authority, as a powerful +priesthood is apt to do,--a fact which the Christian priesthood of the +Middle Ages made evident in the Occidental world. + +In the time of Cyrus the Magi had become a sort of sacerdotal caste. +They were the trusted ministers of kings, and exercised a controlling +influence over the people. They assumed a stately air, wore white and +flowing robes, and were adept in the arts of sorcery and magic. They +were even consulted by kings and chieftains, as if they possessed +prophetic power. They were a picturesque body of men, with their mystic +wands, their impressive robes, their tall caps, appealing by their long +incantations and frequent ceremonies and prayers to the eye and to the +ear. "Pure Zoroastrianism was too spiritual to coalesce readily with +Oriental luxury and magnificence when the Persians were rulers of a vast +empire, but Magism furnished a hierarchy to support the throne and add +splendor and dignity to the court, while it blended easily with +previous creeds." + +In material civilization the Medes and Persians were inferior to the +Babylonians and Egyptians, and immeasurably behind the Greeks and +Romans. Their architecture was not so imposing as that of the Egyptians +and Babylonians; it had no striking originality, and it was only in the +palaces of great monarchs that anything approached magnificence. Still, +there were famous palaces at Ecbatana, Susa, and Persepolis, raised on +lofty platforms, reached by grand staircases, and ornamented with +elaborate pillars. The most splendid of these were erected after the +time of Cyrus, by Darius and Xerxes, decorated with carpets, hangings, +and golden ornaments. The halls of their palaces were of great size and +imposing effect. Next to palaces, the most remarkable buildings were the +tombs of kings; but we have no remains of marble statues or metal +castings or ivory carvings, not even of potteries, which at that time in +other countries were common and beautiful. The gems and signet rings +which the Persians engraved possessed much merit, and on them were +wrought with great skill the figures of men and animals; but the nearest +approach to sculpture were the figures of colossal bulls set to guard +the portals of palaces, and these were probably borrowed from the +Assyrians. + +Nor were the Persians celebrated for their textile fabrics and dyes. "So +long as the carpets of Babylon, the shawls of India, the fine linen of +Egypt, and the coverlets of Damascus poured continually into Persia in +the way of tribute and gifts, there was no stimulus to manufacture." The +same may be said of the ornamental metal-work of the Greeks, and the +glass manufacture of the Phoenicians. The Persians were soldiers, and +gloried in being so, to the disdain of much that civilization has +ever valued. + +It may as well be here said that the Iranians, both Medes and Persians, +were acquainted with the art of writing. Harpagus sent a letter to Cyrus +concealed in the belly of a hare, and Darius signed a decree which his +nobles presented to him in writing. In common with the Babylonians they +used the same alphabetic system, though their languages were +unlike,--namely, the cuneiform or arrow-head or wedge-shaped characters, +as seen in the celebrated inscriptions of Darius on the side of a high +rock thirty feet from the ground. We cannot determine whether the Medes +and Persians brought their alphabet from their original settlements in +Central Asia, or derived it from the Turanian and Semitic nations with +which they came in contact. In spite of their knowledge of writing, +however, they produced no literature of any account, and of science they +were completely ignorant. They made few improvements even in military +weapons, the chief of which, as among all the nations of antiquity, were +the bow, the spear, and the sword. They were skilful horsemen, and made +use of chariots of war. Their great occupation, aside from agriculture, +was hunting, in which they were trained by exposure for war. They were +born to conquer and rule, like the Romans, and cared for little except +the warlike virtues. + +Such were the Persians and the rugged country in which they lived, with +their courage and fortitude, their love of freedom, their patriotism, +their abhorrence of lies, their self-respect allied with pride, their +temperance and frugality, forming a noble material for empire and +dominion when the time came for the old monarchies to fall into their +hands,--the last and greatest of all the races that had ruled the +Oriental world, and kindred in their remote ancestry with those European +conquerors who laid the foundation of modern civilization. + +Of these Persians Cyrus was the type-man, combining in himself all that +was admirable in his countrymen, and making so strong an impression on +the Greeks that he is presented by their historians as an ideal prince, +invested with all those virtues which the mediaeval romance-writers have +ascribed to the knights of chivalry. + +The Persians were ruled by independent chieftains, or petty kings, who +acknowledged fealty to Media; so that Persia was really a province of +Media, as Burgundy was of France in the Middle Ages, and as Babylonia at +one period was of Assyria. The most prominent of these chieftains or +princes was Achaemenes, who is regarded as the founder of the Persian +monarchy. To this royal family of the Achaemenidae Cyrus belonged. His +father Cambyses, called by some a satrap and by others a king, married, +according to Herodotus, a daughter of Astyages, the last of the +Median monarchs. + +The youth and education of Cyrus are invested with poetic interest by +both Herodotus and Xenophon, but their narratives have no historical +authority in the eyes of critics, any more than Livy's painting of +Romulus and Remus: they belong to the realm of romance rather than +authentic history. Nevertheless the legend of Cyrus is beautiful, and +has been repeated by all succeeding historians. + +According to this legend, Astyages--a luxurious and superstitious +monarch, without the warlike virtues of his father, who had really built +up the Median empire--had a dream that troubled him, which being +interpreted by the Magi, priests of the national religion, was to the +effect that his daughter Mandanê (for he had no legitimate son) would be +married to a prince whose heir should seize the supreme power of Media. +To prevent this, he married her to a prince beneath her rank, for whom +he felt no fear,--Cambyses, the chief governor or king of Persia, who +ruled a territory to the South, about one fifth the size of Media, and +which practically was a dependent province. Another dream which alarmed +Astyages still further, in spite of his precaution, induced him to send +for his daughter, so that having her in his power he might easily +destroy her offspring. As soon as Cyrus was born therefore in the royal +palace at Ecbatana, the king intrusted the infant prince to one of the +principal officers of his court, named Harpagus, with peremptory orders +to destroy him. Harpagus, although he professed unconditional obedience +to his monarch, had scruples about taking the life of one so near the +throne, the grandson of the king and presumptive heir of the monarchy. +So he, in turn, intrusted the royal infant to the care of a herdsman, in +whom he had implicit confidence, with orders to kill him. The herdsman +had a tender-hearted and conscientious wife who had just given birth to +a dead child, and she persuaded her husband--for even in Media women +virtually ruled, as they do everywhere, if they have tact--to substitute +the dead child for the living one, deck it out in the royal costume, and +expose it to wild beasts. This was done, and Cyrus remained the supposed +child of the shepherd. The secret was well kept for ten years, and both +Astyages and Harpagus supposed that Cyrus was slain. + +Cyrus meanwhile grew up among the mountains, a hardy and beautiful boy, +exposed to heat and cold, hunger and fatigue, and thus was early inured +to danger and hardship. Added to personal beauty was remarkable courage, +frankness, and brightness, so that he took the lead of other boys in +their amusements. One day they played king, and Cyrus was chosen to +represent royalty, which he acted so literally as to beat the son of a +Median nobleman for disobedience. The indignant and angry father +complained at once to the king, and Astyages sent for the herdsman and +his supposed son to attend him in his palace. When the two mountaineers +were ushered into the royal presence, Astyages was so struck with the +beauty, wit, and boldness of the boy that he made earnest inquiries of +the herdsman, who was forced to tell the truth, and confessed that the +youth was not his son, but had been put into his hands by Harpagus with +orders to destroy him. The royal origin of Cyrus was now apparent, and +the king sent for Harpagus, who corroborated the statement of the +herdsman. Astyages dissembled his wrath, as Oriental monarchs can, who +are trained to dissimulation, and the only punishment he inflicted on +Harpagus was to set before him at a banquet a dish made of the arms and +legs of a dead infant. This the courtier in turn professed to relish, +but henceforth became the secret and implacable enemy of the king. + +Herodotus tells us that Astyages took the boy, unmistakably his grandson +and heir, to his palace to be educated according to his rank. Cyrus was +now brought up with every honor and the greatest care, taught to hunt +and ride and shoot with the bow like the highest nobles. He soon +distinguished himself for his feats in horsemanship and skill in hunting +wild animals, winning universal admiration, and disarming envy by his +tact, amiability, and generosity, which were as marked as his +intellectual brilliancy,--being altogether a model of reproachless +chivalry. + +For some reason, however, the fears and jealousy of Astyages were +renewed, and Cyrus was sent to his father in Persia with costly gifts. +Possibly he was recalled by Cambyses himself, for a father by all the +Eastern codes had a right to the person of his son. + +No sooner was Cyrus established in Persia,--a country which it would +seem he had never before seen,--than he was sought by the discontented +Persians to head a revolt against their masters, and he availed himself +of the disaffection of Harpagus, the most influential of the Median +noblemen, for the dethronement of his grandfather. Persia arose in +rebellion against Media. A war ensued, and in a battle between the +conflicting forces Astyages was defeated and taken prisoner, but was +kindly treated by his magnanimous conqueror. This battle ended the +Median ascendency, and Cyrus became the monarch of both Media +and Persia. + +Since the Medes belonged to the same Aryan family as the Persians, and +had the same language, religion, and institutions, with slight +differences, and lived among the mountains exposed to an uncongenial +climate with extremes of heat and cold, and were doomed to hard and +incessant labors for a subsistence, and were therefore--that is, the +ordinary people--frugal, industrious, and temperate, it will be seen +that what we have said of Persia equally applies to Media, except the +possession by the latter of political power as wielded by the sovereign +of a larger State. + +Before a central power was established in Media, the country had +been--as in all nations in their formative state--ruled by chieftains, +who acknowledged as their supreme lord the King of Assyria, who reigned +in Nineveh. Among these chieftains was a remarkable man called Deioces, +so upright and able that he was elected king. Deioces reigned +fifty-three years wisely and well, bequeathing the kingdom he had +founded to his son Phraortes, under whom Media became independent of +Assyria. His son and successor Cyaxares, who died 593 B.C., was a +successful warrior and conqueror, and was the founder of Median +greatness. With the assistance of Nabopolassar, a Babylonian general who +had also revolted against the Assyrian monarch, Cyaxares succeeded, +after repeated failures, in taking Nineveh and destroying the great +Assyrian Empire which had ruled the Eastern world for several centuries. +The northern and eastern provinces were annexed to Media, while the +Babylonian valley of the Euphrates in the south fell to the share of +Nabopolassar, who established the Babylonian ascendency. This in its +turn was greatly augmented by his son Nebuchadnezzar, one of the most +famous conquerors of antiquity, whose empire became more extensive even +than the Assyrian. He reigned in Babylon with unparalleled splendor, and +made his capital the wonder and the admiration of the world, enriching +and ornamenting it with palaces, temples, and hanging gardens, and +strengthening its defences to such a marvellous degree that it was +deemed impregnable. + +Cyaxares the Median meanwhile raised up in Ecbatana a rival power to +that of Babylon, although he devoted himself to warlike expeditions more +than to the adornment of his capital. He penetrated with his invincible +troops as far to the west as Lydia in Asia Minor, then ruled by the +father of Croesus, and thus became known to the Ionian cities which the +Greeks had colonized. After a brilliant reign, Cyaxares transmitted his +empire to an unworthy son,--Astyages, the grandfather of Cyrus, whose +loss of the throne has been already related. With Astyages perished the +Median Empire, which had lasted only about one hundred years, and Media +was incorporated with Persia. Henceforth the Medes and Persians are +spoken of as virtually one nation, similar in religion and customs, and +furnishing equally the best cavalry in the world. Under Cyrus they +became the ascendent power in Asia, and maintained their ascendency +until their conquest by Alexander. The union between Media and Persia +was probably as complete as that between Burgundy and France, or that of +Scotland with England. Indeed, Media now became the residence of the +Persian kings, whose palaces at Ecbatana, Susa, and Persepolis nearly +rivalled those of Babylon. Even modern Persia comprises the +ancient Media. + +The reign of Cyrus properly begins with the conquest of Media, or rather +its union with Persia, B.C. 549. We know, however, but little of the +career of Cyrus after he became monarch of both Persia and Media, until +he was forty years of age. He was probably engaged in the conquest of +various barbaric hordes before his memorable Lydian campaign. But we are +in ignorance of his most active years, when he was exposed to the +greatest dangers and hardships, and when he became perfected in the +military art, as in the case of Caesar amid the marshes and forests of +Gaul and Belgium. The fame of Caesar rests as much on his conquests of +the Celtic barbarians of Europe as on his conflict with Pompey; but +whether Cyrus obtained military fame or not in his wars against the +Turanians, he doubtless proved himself a benefactor to humanity more in +arresting the tide of Scythian invasion than by those conquests which +have given him immortality. + +When Cyrus had cemented his empire by the conquest of the Turanian +nations, especially those that dwelt between the Caspian and Black seas, +his attention was drawn to Lydia, the most powerful kingdom of western +Asia, whose monarch, Croesus, reigned at Sardis in Oriental +magnificence. Lydia was not much known to distant States until the reign +of Gyges, about 716 B.C., who made war on the Dorian and Ionian Greek +colonies on the coast of Asia Minor, the chief of which were Miletus, +Smyrna, Colophon, and Ephesus. His successor Ardys continued this +warfare, but was obliged to desist because of an invasion of the +Cimmerians,--barbarians from beyond the Caucasus, driven away from +their homes by the Scythians. His grandson Alyattes, greatest of the +Lydian monarchs, succeeded in expelling the Cimmerians from Lydia. After +subduing some of the maritime cities of Asia Minor, this monarch faced +the Medes, who had advanced their empire to the river Halys, the eastern +boundary of Lydia, which flows northwardly into the Euxine. For five +years Alyattes fought the Medes under Cyaxares with varying success, and +the war ended by the marriage of the daughter of the Lydian king with +Astyages. After this, Alyattes reigned forty-three years, and was buried +in a tomb whose magnificence was little short of the grandest of the +Egyptian monuments. + +Croesus, his son, entered upon a career which reminds us of Solomon, the +inheritor of the conquests of David. Like the Jewish monarch, Croesus +was rich, luxurious, and intellectual. His wealth, obtained chiefly from +the mines of his kingdom, was a marvel to the Greeks. His capital Sardis +became the largest in western Asia, and one of the most luxurious cities +known to antiquity, whither resorted travellers from all parts of the +world, attracted by the magnificence of the court, among whom was Solon +himself, the great Athenian law-giver. Croesus continued the warfare on +the Greek cities of Asia, and forced them to become his tributaries. He +brought under his sway most of the nations to the west of the Halys, and +though never so great a warrior as his father, he became very powerful. +He was as generous in his gifts as he was magnificent in his tastes. His +offerings to the oracle at Delphi were unprecedented in their value, +when he sought advice as to the wisdom of engaging in war with Cyrus. Of +the three great Asian empires, Croesus now saw his father's ally, +Babylon, under a weak and dissolute ruler; Media, absorbed into Persia +under the power of a valiant and successful conqueror; and his own +empire, Lydia, threatened with attack by the growing ambition of Persia. +Herodotus says he "was led to consider whether it were possible to check +the growing power of that people." + +It was the misfortune of Croesus to overrate his strength,--an error +often seen in the career of fortunate men, especially those who enter +upon a great inheritance. It does not appear that Croesus desired war +with Persia, but he did not dread it, and felt confident that he could +overcome a man whose chief conquests had been made over barbarians. +Perhaps he felt the necessity of contending with Cyrus before that +warrior's victories and prestige should become overwhelming, for the +Persian monarch obviously aimed at absorbing all Asia in his empire; at +any rate, when informed by the oracle at Delphi that if he fought with +the Persians he would destroy a mighty empire, Croesus interpreted the +response in his own favor. + +Croesus made great preparations for the approaching contest, which was +to settle the destiny of Asia Minor. The Greeks were on his side, for +they feared the Persians more than they did the Lydians. With the aid of +Sparta, the most warlike of the Grecian States, he advanced to meet the +Persian conqueror, not however without the expostulation of some of his +wisest counsellors. One of them, according to Herodotus, ventured to +address him with these plain words: "Thou art about, O King, to make war +against men who wear leather trousers and other garments of leather; who +feed not on what they like, but on what they can get from a soil which +is sterile and unfriendly; who do not indulge in wine, but drink water; +who possess no figs, nor anything which is good to eat. If, then, thou +conquerest them, what canst thou get from them, seeing that they have +nothing at all? But if they conquer thee, consider how much that is +precious thou wilt lose; if they once get a taste of our pleasant +things, they will keep such a hold of them that we never shall be able +to make them lose their grasp." We cannot consider Croesus as utterly +infatuated in not taking this advice, since war had become inevitable, +It was "either anvil or hammer," as between France and Prussia in +1870-72,--as between all great powers that accept the fortune of war, +ever uncertain in its results. The only question seems to have been who +should first take the offensive in a war that had been long preparing, +and in which defeat would be followed by the utter ruin of the +defeated party. + +The Lydians began the attack by crossing the Halys and entering the +enemy's territory. The first battle took place at Pteria in Cappadocia, +near Sinope on the Euxine, but was indecisive. Both parties fought +bravely, and the slaughter on both sides was dreadful, the Lydians being +the most numerous, and the Persians the most highly disciplined. After +the battle of Pteria, Croesus withdrew his army to his own territories +and retired upon his capital, with a view of augmenting his forces; +while Cyrus, with the instinct of a conqueror, ventured to cross the +Halys in pursuit, and to march rapidly on Sardis before the enemy could +collect another army. Prompt decision and celerity of movement +characterize all successful warriors, and here it was that Cyrus showed +his military genius. Before Croesus was fully prepared for another +fight, Cyrus was at the gates of Sardis. But the Lydian king rallied +what forces he could, and led them out to battle. The Lydians were +superior in cavalry; seeing which, Cyrus, with that fertility of +resource which marked his whole career, collected together the camels +which transported his baggage and provisions, and placed them in the +front of his array, since the horse, according to Herodotus, has a +natural dread of the camel and cannot abide his sight or his smell. The +result was as Cyrus calculated; the cavalry of the Lydians turned round +and galloped away. The Lydians fought bravely, but were driven within +the walls of their capital. Cyrus vigorously prosecuted the siege, which +lasted only fourteen days, since an attack was made on the side of the +city which was undefended, and which was supposed to be impregnable and +unassailable. The proud city fell by assault, and was given up to +plunder. Croesus himself was taken alive, after a reign of fourteen +years, and the mighty Lydia became a Persian province. + +There is something unusually touching in the fate of Croesus after so +great prosperity. Saved by Cyrus from an ignominious and painful death, +such as the barbarous customs of war then made common, the unhappy +Lydian monarch became, it is said, the friend and admirer of the +Conqueror, and was present in his future expeditions, and even proved a +wise and faithful counsellor. If some proud monarchs by the fortune of +war have fallen suddenly from as lofty an eminence as that of Croesus, +it is certain that few have yielded with nobler submission than he to +the decrees of fate. + +The fall of Sardis,--B.C. 546, according to Grote,--was followed by the +submission of all the States that were dependent on Lydia. Even the +Grecian colonies in Asia Minor were annexed to the Persian Empire. + +The conquest of the Ionian cities, first by Croesus and then by Cyrus, +was attended with important political consequences. Before the time of +Croesus the Greek cities of Asia were independent. Had they combined +together for offence and defence, with the assistance of Sparta and +Athens, they might have resisted the attacks of both Lydians and +Persians. But the autonomy of cities and states, favorable as it was to +the development of art, literature, and commerce, as well as of +individual genius in all departments of knowledge and enterprise, was +not calculated to make a people politically powerful. Only a strong +central power enables a country to resist hostile aggressions on a great +scale. Thus Greece herself ultimately fell into the hands of Philip, and +afterward into those of the Romans. + +The conquest of the Ionian cities also introduced into Asia Minor and +perhaps into Europe Oriental customs, luxuries, and wealth hitherto +unknown. Certainly when Persia became an irresistible power and ruled +the conquered countries by satraps and royal governors, it assimilated +the Greeks with Asiatics, and modified the forms of social life; it +brought Asia and Europe together, and produced a rivalry which finally +ended in the battle of Marathon and the subsequent Asiatic victories of +Alexander. While the conquests of the Persians introduced Oriental ideas +and customs into Greece, the wars of Alexander extended the Grecian sway +in Asia. The civilized world opened toward the East; but with the +extension of Greek ideas and art, there was a decline of primitive +virtues in Greece herself. Luxury undermined power. + +The annexation of Asia Minor to the empire of Cyrus was followed by a +protracted war with the barbarians on his eastern boundaries. The +imperfect subjugation of barbaric nations living in Central Asia +occupied Cyrus, it is thought, about twelve years. He pushed his +conquests to the Iaxartes on the north and Afghanistan on the east, +reducing that vast country which lies between the Caspian Sea and the +deserts of Tartary. + +Cyrus was advancing in years before he undertook the conquest of +Babylon, the most important of all his undertakings, and for which his +other conquests were preparatory. At the age of sixty, Cyrus, 538 B.C., +advanced against Narbonadius, the proud king of Babylon,--the only +remaining power in Asia that was still formidable. The Babylonian +Empire, which had arisen on the ruins of the Assyrian, had lasted only +about one hundred years. Yet what wonders and triumphs had been seen at +Babylon during that single century! What progress had been made in arts +and sciences! What grand palaces and temples had been erected! What a +multitude of captives had added to the pomp and wealth of the proudest +city of antiquity! Babylon the great,---"the glory of kingdoms," "the +praise of the whole earth," the centre of all that was civilized and all +that was corrupting in the Oriental world, with its soothsayers, its +magicians, its necromancers, its priests, its nobles,--was now to fall, +for its abominations cried aloud to heaven for punishment. + +This great city was built on both sides of the Euphrates, was fifteen +miles square, with gardens and fields capable of supporting a large +population, and was stocked with provisions to maintain a siege of +indefinite length against any enemy. The accounts of its walls and +fortifications exceed belief, estimated by Herodotus to be three hundred +and fifty feet in height, with a wide moat surrounding them, which could +not be bridged or crossed by an invading army. The soldiers of +Narbonadius looked with derision on the veteran forces of Cyrus, +although they were inured to the hardships and privations of incessant +war. To all appearance the city was impregnable, and could be taken only +by unusual methods. But the genius of the Persian conqueror, according +to traditional accounts, surmounted all difficulties. Who else would +have thought of diverting the Euphrates from its bed into the canals and +gigantic reservoirs which Nebuchadnezzar had built for purposes of +irrigation? Yet this seems to have been done. Taking advantage of a +festival, when the whole population were given over to bacchanalian +orgies, and therefore off their guard, Cyrus advanced, under the cover +of a dark night, by the bed of the river, now dry, and easily surprised +the drunken city, slaying the king, with a thousand of his lords, as he +was banqueting in his palace. The slightest accident or miscarriage +would have defeated so bold an operation. The success of Cyrus had all +the mystery and solemnity of a Providential event. Though no miracle was +wrought, the fall of Babylon--so strong, so proud, so defiant--was as +wonderful as the passage of the Israelites across the Red Sea, or the +crumbling walls of Jericho before the blasts of the trumpets of Joshua. + +However, this account is to be taken with some reserve, since by the +discoveries of historical "cylinders,"--the clay books whereon the +Chaldaean priests and scribes recorded the main facts of the reigns of +their monarchs,--and especially one called the "Proclamation Cylinder," +prepared for Cyrus after the fall of Babylon, it would seem that +dissension and treachery within had much to do with facilitating the +entrance of the invader. Narbonadius, the second successor of +Nebuchadnezzar, had quarrelled with the priesthood of Babylon, and +neglected the worship of Bel-Marduk and Nebo, the special patron gods of +that city. The captive Jews also, who had been now nearly fifty years in +the land, had grown more zealous for their own God and religion, more +influential and wealthy, and even had become in some sort a power in the +State. The invasion of Cyrus--a monotheist like themselves--must have +seemed to them a special providence from Jehovah; indeed, we know that +it did, from the records in II. Chronicles xxxvi. 22, 23: "The Lord +stirred up the spirit of Koresh, King of Persia, that he made a +proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing." +The same words occur in the beginning of the Book of Ezra, both +referring to the sending home of the Jews after the fall of Babylon; the +forty-sixth chapter of Isaiah also: "The Lord saith of Koresh, He is my +shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure." + +Babylon was not at that time levelled with the ground, but became one of +the capitals of the Persian Empire, where the Persian monarch resided +for more than half the year. Although the Babylonian Empire began with +Nabopolassar, B.C. 625, on the destruction of Nineveh, yet Babylon was a +very ancient city and the capital of the ancient Chaldaean monarchy, +which lasted under various dynasties from about 2400 B.C. to 1300 B.C., +when it was taken by the Assyrians under Tig Vathi-Nin. The great +Assyrian Empire, which thus absorbed ancient Babylonia, lasted between +six and seven hundred years, according to Herodotus, although recent +discoveries and inscriptions make its continuance much longer, and was +the dominant power of Asia during the most interesting period of Jewish +history, until taken by Cyaxares the Median. The limits of the empire +varied at different times, for the conquered States which composed it +were held together by a precarious tenure. But even in its greatest +strength it was inferior in size and power to the Empire of Cyrus. To +check rebellion,--a source of constant trouble and weakness,--the +warlike monarchs were obliged to reconquer, imposing not only tribute +and fealty, but overrunning the rebellious countries with fire and +sword, and carrying away captive to distant cities a large part of the +population as slaves. Thus at one time two hundred thousand Jews were +transported to Assyria, and the "Ten Tribes" were scattered over the +Eastern world, never more to return to Palestine. + +On the rebellion of Nabopolassar, in 625 B.C., Babylon recovered not +only its ancient independence, but more than its ancient prestige; yet +the empire of which it was the capital lasted only about the same length +of time as Media and Lydia,--the most powerful monarchies existing when +Cyrus was born. Babylon, however, during its brief dominion, after +having been subject to Assyria for seven hundred years, reappeared in +unparalleled splendor, and was probably the most magnificent capital the +ancient world ever saw until Rome arose. Even after its occupancy by the +Persian monarchs for two hundred years, it called out the admiration of +Herodotus and Alexander alike. Its arts, its sciences, its manufactures, +to say nothing of its palaces and temples, were the admiration of +travellers. When the proud conqueror of Palestine beheld the +magnificence he had created, little did he dream that "this great +Babylon which he had built" would become such a desolation that its very +site would be uncertain,--a habitation for dragons, a dreary waste for +owls and goats and wild beasts to occupy. + +We should naturally suppose that Cyrus, with the kings of Asia prostrate +before his satraps, would have been contented to enjoy the fruits of his +labors; but there is no limit to man's ambition. Like Alexander, he +sought for new worlds to conquer, and perished, as some historians +maintain, in an unsuccessful war with some unknown barbarians on the +northeastern boundaries of his empire,--even as Caesar meditated a war +with the Parthians, where he might have perished, as Crassus did. +Unbounded as is human ambition, there is a limit to human +aggrandizement. Great conquerors are raised up by Providence to +accomplish certain results for civilization, and when these are +attained, when their mission is ended, they often pass away +ingloriously,--assassinated or defeated or destroyed by self-indulgence, +as the case may be. It seems to have been the mission of Cyrus to +destroy the ascendency of the Semitic and Hamitic despotisms in western +Asia, that a new empire might be erected by nobler races, who should +establish a reign of law. For the first time in Asia there was, on the +accession of Cyrus to unlimited power, a recognition of justice, and the +adoration of one supreme deity ruling in goodness and truth. + +This may be the reason why Cyrus treated the captive Jews with so great +generosity, since he recognized in their Jehovah the Ahura-Mazda,--the +Supreme God that Zoroaster taught. No political reason will account for +sending back to Palestine thousands of captives with imperial presents, +to erect once more their sacred Temple and rebuild their sacred city. He +and all the Persian monarchs were zealous adherents of the religion of +Zoroaster, the central doctrine of which was the unity of God and +Divine Providence in the world, which doctrine neither Egyptian nor +Babylonian nor Lydian monarchs recognized. What a boon to humanity was +the restoration of the Jews to their capital and country! We read of no +oppression of the Jews by the Persian monarchs. Mordecai the Jew became +the prime minister of such an effeminate monarch as Xerxes, while Daniel +before him had been the honored minister of Darius. + +Of all the Persian monarchs Cyrus was the best beloved. Xenophon made +him the hero of his philosophical romance. He is represented as the +incarnation of "sweetness and light." When a mere boy he delights all +with whom he is brought into contact, by his wit and valor. The king of +Media accepts his reproofs and admires his wisdom; the nobles of Media +are won by his urbanity and magnanimity. All historians praise his +simple habits and unbounded generosity. In an age when polygamy was the +vice of kings, he was contented with one wife, whom he loved and +honored. He rejected great presents, and thought it was better to give +than to receive. He treated women with delicacy and captives with +magnanimity. He conducted war with unknown mildness, and converted the +conquered into friends. He exalted the dignity of labor, and scorned all +baseness and lies. His piety and manly virtues may have been exaggerated +by his admirers, but what we do know of him fills us with admiration. +Brilliant in intellect, lofty in character, he was an ideal man, fitted +to be the guide of a noble nation whom he led to glory and honor. Other +warriors of world-wide fame have had, like him, great excellencies, +marred by glaring defects; but no vices or crimes are ascribed to Cyrus, +such as stained the characters of David and Constantine. The worst we +can say of him is that he was ambitious, and delighted in conquest; but +he was a conqueror raised up to elevate a religious race to a higher +plane, and to find a field for the development of their energies, +whatever may be said of their subsequent degeneracy. "The grandeur of +his character is well rendered in that brief and unassuming inscription +of his, more eloquent in its lofty simplicity than anything recorded by +Assyrian and Babylonian kings: 'I am Kurush [Cyrus] the king, the +Achaemenian.'" Whether he fell in battle, or died a natural death in one +of his palaces, he was buried in the ancient but modest capital of the +ancient Persians, Pasargadae; and his tomb was intact in the time of +Alexander, who visited it,--a sort of marble chapel raised on a marble +platform thirty-six feet high, in which was deposited a gilt +sarcophagus, together with Babylonian tapestries, Persian weapons, and +rare jewels of great value. This was the inscription on his tomb: "O +man, I am Kurush, the son of Kambujiya, who founded the greatness of +Persia and ruled Asia; grudge me not this monument." + +Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who though not devoid of fine +qualities was jealous and tyrannical. He caused his own brother Smerdis +to be put to death. He completed the conquests of his father by adding +Egypt to his empire. In a fit of remorse for the murder of his brother +he committed suicide, and the empire was usurped by a Magian impostor, +called Gaumata, who claimed to be the second son of Cyrus. His reign, +however, was short, he being slain by Darius the son of Hystaspes, +belonging to another branch of the royal family. Darius was a great +general and statesman, who reorganized the empire and raised it to the +zenith of its power and glory. It extended from the Greek islands on the +west to India on the east. This monarch even penetrated to the Danube +with his armies, but made no permanent conquest in Europe. He made Susa +his chief capital, and also built Persepolis, the ruins of which attest +its ancient magnificence. It seems that he was a devout follower of +Zoroaster, and ascribed his successes to the favor of Ahura-Mazda, the +Supreme Deity. + +It was during the reign of Darius that Persia came in contact with +Greece, in consequence of the revolt of the Ionian cities of Asia Minor, +which, however, was easily suppressed by the Persian satrap. Then +followed two invasions of Greece itself by the Persians under the +generals of Darius, and their defeat at Marathon by Miltiades. + +Darius was succeeded by Xerxes, the Ahasuerus of the Hebrew Scriptures, +whose invasion of Greece with the largest army the world ever saw +properly belongs to Grecian history. It was reserved for the heroes of +Plataea to teach the world the lesson that the strength of armies is not +in multitudes but in discipline,--a lesson confirmed by the conquests of +Alexander and Caesar. + +On the fall of the Persian Empire three hundred years after the fall of +Babylon, and the establishment of the Greek rule in Asia under the +generals of Alexander, Persia proper did not cease to be formidable. +Under the Sassanian princes the ambition of the Achaemenians was +revived. Sapor defied Rome herself, and dragged the Emperor Valerian in +disgraceful captivity to Ctesiphon, his capital. Sapor II. was the +conqueror of the Emperor Julian, and Chrosroes was an equally formidable +adversary. In the year 617 A.D. Persian warriors advanced to the walls +of Constantinople, and drove the Emperor Heraclius to despair. + +Thus Persia never lost wholly its ancient prestige, and still remains, +after the rise and fall of so many dynasties, and such great +vicissitudes from Greek and Arab conquests, a powerful country twice the +size of Germany, under the rule of an independent prince. There seems +no likelihood of her ever again playing so grand a part in the world's +history as when, under the great Cyrus, she prepared the transfer of +empire from the Orient to the Occident. But "what has been, has been, +and she has had her hour." + +AUTHORITIES. + +Herodotus and Xenophon are our main authorities, though not to be fully +relied upon. Of modern works Rawlinson's Ancient Monarchies and +Rawlinson's Herodotus are the most valuable. Ragozin has written +interesting books on Media, Persia, Assyria, and Chaldaea, making +special note of the researches of European travellers in the East. +Fergusson, Layard, Sayce, and George Smith have shed light on all this +ancient region. Johnson's work is learned but indefinite. Benjamin is +the latest writer on the history of Persia; but a satisfactory life of +Cyrus has yet to be written. + + + +JULIUS CAESAR. + + * * * * * + +100-44 B.C. + +IMPERIALISM. + +The most august name in the history of the old Roman world, and perhaps +of all antiquity, is that of Julius Caesar; and a new interest has of +late been created in this extraordinary man by the brilliant sketch of +his life and character by Mr. Froude, who has whitewashed him, as is the +fashion with hero-worshippers, like Carlyle in his history of Frederick +II. But it is not an easy thing to reverse the verdict of the civilized +world for two thousand years, although a man of genius can say many +interesting things and offer valuable suggestions. + +In his Life of Caesar Mr. Froude seems to vindicate Imperialism, not +merely as a great necessity in the corrupt times which succeeded the +civil wars of Marius and Sulla, but as a good thing in itself. It seems +to me that while there was a general tendency to Imperialism in the +Roman world for one or two hundred years before Christ, the whole +tendency of modern governments is against it, and has been since the +second English Revolution. It still exists in Russia and Turkey, +possibly in Germany and Austria; yet constitutional forms of government +seem to be gradually taking its place. What a change in England, France, +Italy, and Spain during the last hundred years!--what a breaking up of +the old absolutism of the Bourbons! Even the imperialism of Napoleon is +held in detestation by a large class of the French nation. + +It may have been necessary for such a man as Caesar to arise when the +Romans had already conquered a great part of the civilized world, and +when the various provinces which composed the Empire needed a firm, +stable, and uniform government in the hands of a single man, in order to +promote peace and law,--the first conditions of human society. But it is +one thing to recognize the majesty of divine Providence in furnishing a +remedy for the peculiar evils of an age or people, and quite another +thing to make this remedy a panacea for all the future conditions of +nations. If we believe in the moral government of this world by a divine +and supreme Intelligence whom we call God, then it is not difficult to +see in Julius Caesar, after nearly two thousand years, an instrument of +Providence like Constantine, Charlemagne, Richelieu, and Napoleon +himself. It matters nothing whether Caesar was good or bad, whether he +was a patriot or a usurper, so far as his ultimate influence is +concerned, if he was the instrument of an overruling Power; for God +chooses such instruments as he pleases. Even in human governments it is +sometimes expedient to employ rogues in order to catch rogues, or to +head off some peculiar evil that honest people do not know how to +manage. But because a bad man is selected by a higher power to do some +peculiar work, it does not follow that this bad man should be praised +for doing it, especially if the work is good only so far as it is +overruled. Both human consciousness and Christianity declare that it is +a crime to shed needless and innocent blood. If ambition prompts a man +to destroy his rivals and fill the world with miseries in order to climb +to supreme power, then it is an insult to the human understanding to +make this ambition synonymous with patriotism. A successful conqueror +may be far-sighted and enlightened, whatever his motives for conquest; +but because he is enlightened, it does not follow that he fights battles +with the supreme view of benefiting his country, like William III. and +George Washington. He may have taken the sword chiefly to elevate +himself; or, after having taken the sword with a view of rendering +important services, and having rendered these services, he may have been +diverted from his original intentions, and have fought for the +gratification of personal ambition, losing sight utterly of the cause +in which he embarked. + +Now this is the popular view which the world has taken of Caesar. +Shakspeare may have been unjust in his verdict; but it is a verdict +which has been sustained by most writers and by popular sentiment during +the last three hundred years. It was also the verdict of Cicero, of the +Roman Senate, and of ancient historians. It is one of my objects to show +in this lecture how far this verdict is just. It is another object to +point out the services of Caesar to the State, which, however great and +honestly to be praised, do not offset crime. + +Caius Julius Caesar belonged to one of the proudest and most ancient of +the patrician families of Rome,--a branch of the _gens Julia_, which +claimed a descent from Iules, the son of Aeneas. His father, Caius +Julius, married Aurelia, a noble matron of the Cotta family, and his +aunt Julia married the great Marius; so that, though he was a patrician +of the purest blood, his family alliances were either plebeian or on the +liberal side in politics. He was born one hundred years before Christ, +and received a good education, but was not precocious, like Cicero. +There was nothing remarkable about his childhood. "He was a tall and +handsome man, with dark, piercing eyes, sallow complexion, large nose, +full lips, refined and intellectual features, and thick neck." He was +particular about his appearance, and showed a studied negligence of +dress. His uncle Marius, in the height of his power, marked him out for +promotion, and made him a priest of Jupiter when he was fourteen years +old. On the death of his father, a man of praetorian rank, and therefore +a senator, at the age of seventeen Caesar married Cornelia, the daughter +of Cinna, which connected him still more closely with the popular party. +He was only a few years younger than Cicero and Pompey. When he was +eighteen he attracted the notice of Sulla, then dictator, who wished him +to divorce his wife and take such a one as he should propose,--which the +young man, at the risk of his life, refused to do. This boldness and +independence of course displeased the Dictator, who predicted his +future. "In this young Caesar," said he, "there are many Mariuses;" but +he did not kill him, owing to the intercession of powerful friends. + +The career of Caesar may be divided into three periods, during each of +which he appeared in a different light: the first, until he began the +conquest of Gaul, at the age of forty-three; the second, the time of his +military exploits in Gaul, by which he rendered great services and +gained popularity and fame; and the third, that of his civil wars, +dictatorship, and imperial reign. + +In the first period of his life, for about twenty-five years, he made a +mark indeed, but rendered no memorable services to the State and won no +especial fame. Had he died at the age of forty-three, his name would +probably not have descended to our times, except as a leading citizen, a +good lawyer, and powerful debater. He saw military service, almost as a +matter of course; but he was not particularly distinguished as a +general, nor did he select the military profession. He was eloquent, +aspiring, and able, as a young patrician; but, like Cicero, it would +seem that he sought the civil service, and made choice of the law, by +which to rise in wealth and power. He was a politician from the first; +and his ambition was to get a seat in the Senate, like all other able +and ambitious men. Senators were not hereditary, however nobly born, but +gained their seats by election to certain high offices in the gift of +the people, called curule offices, which entitled them to senatorial +position and dignity. A seat in the Senate was the great object of Roman +ambition; because the Senate was the leading power of the State, and +controlled the army, the treasury, religious worship, and the provinces. +The governors and ambassadors, as well as the dictators, were selected +by this body of aristocrats. In fact, to the Senate was intrusted the +supreme administration of the Empire, although the source of power was +technically and theoretically in the people, or those who had the right +of suffrage; and as the people elected those magistrates whose offices +entitled them to a seat in the Senate, the Senate was virtually elected +by the people. Senators held their places for life, but could be weeded +out by the censors. And as the Senate in its best days contained between +three and four hundred men, not all the curule magistrates could enter +it, unless there were vacancies; but a selection from them was made by +the censors. So the Senate, in all periods of the Roman Republic, was +composed of experienced men,--of those who had previously held the great +offices of State. + +To gain a seat in the Senate, therefore, it was necessary to be elected +by the people to one of the great magistracies. In the early ages of the +Republic the people were incorruptible; but when foreign conquest, +slavery, and other influences demoralized them, they became venal and +sold their votes. Hence only rich men, ordinarily, were elected to high +office; and the rich men, as a rule, belonged to the old families. So +the Senate was made up not only of experienced men, but of the +aristocracy. There were rich men outside the Senate,--successful +plebeians, men who had made fortunes by trade, bankers, monopolists, and +others; but these, if ambitious of social position or political +influence, became gradually absorbed among the senatorial families. +Those who could afford to buy the votes of the people, and those only, +became magistrates and senators. Hence the demagogues were rich men and +belonged to the highest ranks, like Clodius and Catiline. + +It thus happened that, when Julius Caesar came upon the stage, the +aristocracy controlled the elections. The people were indeed sovereign; +but they abdicated their power to those who would pay the most for it. +The constitution was popular in name; in reality it was aristocratic, +since only rich men (generally noble) could be elected to office. Rome +was ruled by aristocrats, who became rich as the people became poor. The +great source of senatorial wealth was in the control of the provinces. +The governors were chosen by the Senate and from the Senate; and it +required only one or two years to make a fortune as a governor, like +Verres. The ultimate cause which threw power into the hands of the rich +and noble was the venality of the people. The aristocratic demagogues +bought them, in the same way that rich monopolists in our day control +legislatures. The people are too numerous in this country to be directly +bought up, even if it were possible, and the prizes they confer are not +high enough to tempt rich men, as they did in Rome. + +A man, therefore, who would rise to power at Rome must necessarily bribe +the people, must purchase their votes, unless he was a man of +extraordinary popularity,--some great orator like Cicero, or successful +general like Marius or Sulla; and it was difficult to get popularity +except as a lawyer and orator, or as a general. + +Caesar, like Cicero and Hortensius, chose the law as a means of rising +in the world; for, though of ancient family, he was not rich. He must +make money by his profession, or he must borrow it, if he would secure +office. It seems he borrowed it. How he contrived to borrow such vast +sums as he spent on elections, I do not know. He probably made friends +of rich men like Crassus, who became security for him. He was in debt to +the amount of $1,500,000 of our money before he held office. He was a +bold political gambler, and played for high stakes. It would seem that +he had very winning and courteous manners, though he was not +distinguished for popular oratory. His terse and pregnant sentences, +however, won the admiration of his friend Cicero, a brother lawyer, and +he was very social and hospitable. He was on the liberal side in +politics, and attacked the abuses of the day, which won him popular +favor. At first he lived in a modest house with his wife and mother, in +the Subarra, without attracting much notice. The first office to which +he was elected was that of a Military Tribune, soon after his sojourn of +two years in Rhodes to learn from Apollonius the arts of oratory. His +next office was that of Quaestor, which enabled him to enter the Senate, +at the age of thirty-two; and his third office, that of Aedile, which +gave him the control of the public buildings: the Aediles were expected +to decorate the city, and this gave him opportunities of cultivating +popularity by splendor and display. The first thing which brought him +into notice as an orator was a funeral oration he pronounced on his Aunt +Julia, the widow of Marius. The next fortunate event of his life was his +marriage with Pompeia, a cousin of Pompey, who was then the foremost man +in Rome, having distinguished himself in Spain and in putting down the +slave insurrection under Spartacus; but Pompey's great career in the +East had not yet commenced, so that the future rivals at that time were +friends. Caesar glorified Pompey in the Senate, which by virtue of his +office he had lately entered. The next step to greatness was his +election by the people--through the use of immense amounts of borrowed +money--to the great office of Pontifex Maximus, which made him the pagan +Pope of Rome for life, with a grand palace to live in. Soon after he was +made Praetor, which office entitled him to a provincial government; and +he was sent by the Senate to Spain as Pro-praetor, completed the +conquest of the peninsula, and sent to Borne vast sums of money. These +services entitled him to a triumph; but, as he presented himself at the +same time as a candidate for the consulship, he was obliged to forego +the triumph, and was elected Consul without opposition: his vanity ever +yielded to his ambition. + +Thus far there was nothing remarkable in Caesar's career. He had risen +by power of money, like other aristocrats, to the highest offices of the +State, showing abilities indeed, but not that extraordinary genius which +has made him immortal. He was the leader of the political party which +Sulla had put down, and yet was not a revolutionist like the Gracchi. He +was an aristocratic reformer, like Lord John Russell before the passage +of the Reform Bill, whom the people adored. He was a liberal, but not a +radical. Of course he was not a favorite with the senators, who wished +to perpetuate abuses. He was intensely disliked by Cato, a most +excellent and honest man, but narrow-minded and conservative,--a sort of +Duke of Wellington without his military abilities. The Senate would make +no concessions, would part with no privileges, and submit to no changes. +Like Lord Eldon, it "adhered to what was established, because it was +established." + +Caesar, as Consul, began his administration with conciliation; and he +had the support of Crassus with his money, and of Pompey as the +representative of the army, who was then flushed with his Eastern +conquests,--pompous, vain, and proud, but honest and incorruptible. +Cicero stood aloof,--the greatest man in the Senate, whose aristocratic +privileges he defended. He might have aided Caesar "in the speaking +department;" but as a "new man" he was jealous of his prerogatives, and +was always conservative, like Burke, whom he resembled in his eloquence +and turn of mind and fondness for literature and philosophy. Failing to +conciliate the aristocrats, Caesar became a sort of Mirabeau, and +appealed to the people, causing them to pass his celebrated "Leges +Juliae," or reform bills; the chief of which was the "land act," which +conferred portions of the public lands on Pompey's disbanded soldiers +for settlement,--a wise thing, which senators opposed, since it took +away their monopoly. Another act required the provincial governors, on +their return from office, to render an account of their stewardship and +hand in their accounts for public inspection. The Julian Laws also were +designed to prevent the plunder of the public revenues, the debasing of +the coin, the bribery of judges and of the people at elections. There +were laws also for the protection of citizens from violence, and sundry +other reforms which were enlightened and useful. In the passage of these +laws against the will of the Senate, we see that the people were still +recognized as sovereign in _legislation_. The laws were good. All +depended on their execution; and the Senate, as the administrative body, +could practically defeat their operation when Caesar's term of office +expired; and this it unwisely determined to do. The last thing it +wished was any reform whatever; and, as Mr. Froude thinks, there must +have been either reform or revolution. But this is not so clear to me. +Aristocracy was all-powerful when money could buy the people, and when +the people had no virtue, no ambition, no intelligence. The struggle at +Rome in the latter days of the Republic was not between the people and +the aristocracy, but between the aristocracy and the military chieftains +on one side, and those demagogues whom it feared on the other. The +result showed that the aristocracy feared and distrusted Caesar; and he +used the people only to advance his own ends,--of course, in the name of +reform and patriotism. And when he became Dictator, he kicked away the +ladder on which he climbed to power. It was Imperialism that he +established; neither popular rights nor aristocratic privileges. He had +no more love of the people than he had of those proud aristocrats who +afterwards murdered him. + +But the empire of the world--to which Caesar at that time may, or may +not, have aspired: who can tell? but probably not--was not to be gained +by civil services, or reforms, or arguments in law courts, or by holding +great offices, or haranguing the people at the rostrum, or making +speeches in the Senate,--where he was hated for his liberal views and +enlightened mind, rather than from any fear of his overturning the +constitution,--but by military services and heroic deeds and the +devotion of a tried and disciplined regular army. Caesar was now +forty-three years of age, being in the full maturity of his powers. At +the close of his term as Consul he sought a province where military +talents were indispensable, and where he could have a long term of +office. The Senate gave him the "woods and forests,"--an unsubdued +country, where he would have hard work and unknown perils, and from +which it was probable he would never return. They sent him to Gaul. But +this was just the field for his marvellous military genius, then only +partially developed; and the second period of his career now began. + +It was during this second period that he rendered his most important +services to the State and earned his greatest fame. The dangers which +threatened the Empire came from the West, and not the East. Asia was +already-subdued by Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey, or was on the point of +being subdued. Mithridates was a formidable enemy; but he aimed at +establishing an Asiatic empire, not conquering the European provinces. +He was not so dangerous as even Pyrrhus had been. Moreover, the conquest +of the East was comparatively easy,--over worn-out races and an effete +civilization; it gave _éclat_ to Sulla and Pompey,--as the conquest of +India, with a handful of British troops, made Clive and Hastings +famous; it required no remarkable military genius, nor was it necessary +for the safety of Italy. Conquest over the Oriental monarchies meant +only spoliation. It was prompted by greed and vanity more than by a +sense of danger. Pompey brought back money enough from the East to +enrich all his generals, and the Senate besides,--or rather the State, +which a few aristocrats practically owned. + +But the conquest of Gaul would be another affair. It was peopled with +hardy races, who cast their greedy eyes on the empire of the Romans, or +on some of its provinces, and who were being pushed forward to invasion +by a still braver people beyond the Rhine,--races kindred to those +Teutons whom Marius had defeated. There was no immediate danger from the +Germans; but there was ultimate danger, as proved by the union they made +in the time of Marcus Antoninus for the invasion of the Roman provinces. +It was necessary to raise a barrier against their inundations. It was +also necessary to subdue the various Celtic tribes of Gaul, who were +getting restless and uneasy. There was no money in a conquest over +barbarians, except so far as they could be sold into slavery; but there +was danger in it. The whole country was threatened with insurrections, +leagues, and invasion, from the Alps to the ocean. There was a +confederacy of hostile kings and chieftains; they commanded innumerable +forces; they controlled important posts and passes. The Gauls had long +made fixed settlements, and had built bridges and fortresses. They were +not so warlike as the Germans; but they were yet formidable enemies. +United, they were like "a volcano giving signs of approaching eruption; +and at any moment, and hardly without warning, another lava stream might +be poured down Venetia and Lombardy." + +To rescue the Empire from such dangers was the work of Caesar; and it +was no small undertaking. The Senate had given him unlimited power, for +five years, over Gaul,--then a _terra incognita_,--an indefinite +country, comprising the modern States of France, Holland, Switzerland, +Belgium, and a part of Germany. Afterward the Senate extended the +governorship five years more; so difficult was the work of conquest, and +so formidable were the enemies. But it was danger which Caesar loved. +The greater the obstacles the better was he pleased, and the greater was +the scope for his genius,--which at first was not appreciated, for the +best part of his life had been passed in Rome as a lawyer and orator and +statesman. But he had a fine constitution, robust health, temperate +habits, and unbounded energies. He was free to do as he liked with +several legions, and had time to perfect his operations. And his legions +were trained to every kind of labor and hardship. They could build +bridges, cut down forests, and drain swamps, as well as march with a +weight of eighty pounds to the man. They could make their own shoes, +mend their own clothes, repair their own arms, and construct their own +tents. They were as familiar with the axe and spade as they were with +the lance and sword. They were inured to every kind of danger and +difficulty, and not one of them was personally braver than the general +who led them, or more skilful in riding a horse, or fording a river, or +climbing a mountain. No one of them could be more abstemious. Luxury is +not one of the peculiarities of successful generals in barbaric +countries. + +To give a minute sketch of the various encounters with the different +tribes and nations that inhabited the vast country he was sent to +conquer and govern, would be impossible in a lecture like this. One must +read Caesar's own account of his conflicts with Helvetii, Aedui, Remi, +Nervii, Belgae, Veneti, Arverni, Aquitani, Ubii, Eubueones, Treveri, and +other nations between the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Rhine, and the sea. +Their numbers were immense, and they were well armed, and had cavalry, +military stores, efficient leaders, and indomitable courage. When beaten +in one place they sprang up in another, like the Saxons with whom +Charlemagne contended. They made treaties only to break them. They +fought with the desperation of heroes who had their wives and children, +firesides and altars, to guard; yet against them Caesar was uniformly +successful. He was at times in great peril, yet he never lost but one +battle, and this through the fault of his generals. Yet he had able +generals, whom he selected himself,--Labienus, who afterwards deserted +him, Antony, Publius Crassus, Cotta, Sabinus,--all belonging to the +aristocracy. They made mistakes, but Caesar never. They would often have +been cut off but for Caesar's timely aid. + +When we consider the dangers to which he was constantly exposed, the +amazing difficulties he had to surmount, the hardships he had to +encounter, the fears he had to allay, the murmurs he was obliged to +silence, the rivers he was compelled to cross in the face of enemies, +the forests it was necessary to penetrate, the swamps and mountains and +fortresses which impeded his marches, we are amazed at his skill and +intrepidity, to say nothing of his battles with forces ten times more +numerous than his own. His fertility of resources, his lightning +rapidity of movement, his sagacity and insight, his perfection of +discipline, his careful husbandry of forces, his ceaseless diligence, +his intrepid courage, the confidence with which he inspired his +soldiers, his brilliant successes (victory after victory), with the +enormous number of captives by which he and the State became +enriched,--all these things dazzled his countrymen, and gave him a fame +such as no general had ever earned before. He conquered a population of +warriors to be numbered by millions, with no aid from charts and maps, +exposed perpetually to treachery and false information. He had to please +and content an army a thousand miles from home, without supplies, except +such as were precarious,--living on the plainest food, and doomed to +infinite labors and drudgeries, besides attacking camps and assaulting +fortresses, and fighting pitched battles. Yet he won their love, their +respect, and their admiration,--and by an urbanity, a kindness, and a +careful protection of their interests, such as no general ever showed +before. He was a hero performing perpetual wonders, as chivalrous as the +knights of the Middle Ages. No wonder he was adored, like a Moses in the +wilderness, like a Napoleon in his early conquests. + +This conquest of Gaul, during which he drove the Germans back to their +forests, and inaugurated a policy of conciliation and moderation which +made the Gauls the faithful allies of Rome, and their country its most +fertile and important province, furnishing able men both for the Senate +and the Army, was not only a great feat of genius, but a great +service--a transcendent service--to the State, which entitled Caesar to +a magnificent reward. Had it been cordially rendered to him, he might +have been contented with a sort of perpetual consulship, and with the +éclat of being the foremost man of the Empire. The people would have +given him anything in their power to give, for he was as much an idol to +them as Napoleon became to the Parisians after the conquest of Italy. He +had rendered services as brilliant as those of Scipio, of Marius, of +Sulla, or of Pompey. If he did not save Italy from being subsequently +overrun by barbarians, he postponed their irruptions for two hundred +years. And he had partially civilized the country he had subdued, and +introduced Roman institutions. He had also created an army of +disciplined veterans, such as never before was seen. He perfected +military mechanism, that which kept the Empire together after all +vitality had fled. He was the greatest master of the art of war known to +antiquity. Such transcendent military excellence and such great services +entitled him to the gratitude and admiration of the whole Empire, +although he enriched himself and his soldiers with the spoils of his ten +years' war, and did not, so far as I can see, bring great sums into the +national treasury. + +But the Senate was reluctant to give him the customary rewards for ten +years' successful war, and for adding Western Europe to the Empire. It +was jealous of his greatness and his renown. It also feared him, for he +had eleven legions in his pay, and was known to be ambitious. It hated +him for two reasons: first, because in his first consulship he had +introduced reforms, and had always sided with the popular and liberal +party; and secondly, because military successes of unprecedented +brilliancy had made him dangerous. So, on the conclusion of the conquest +of Gaul, it withdrew two legions from his army, and sought to deprive +him of his promised second consulate, and even to recall him before his +term of office as governor was expired. In other words, it sought to +cripple and disarm him, and raise his rival, Pompey, over him in the +command of the forces of the Empire. + +It was now secret or open war, not between Caesar and the Roman people, +but between Caesar and the Senate,--between a great and triumphant +general and the Roman oligarchy of nobles, who, for nearly five hundred +years, had ruled the Empire. On the side of Caesar were the army, the +well-to-do classes, and the people; on the side of the Senate were the +forces which a powerful aristocracy could command, having the prestige +of law and power and wealth, and among whom were the great names of +the republic. + +Mr. Froude ridicules and abuses this aristocracy, as unfit longer to +govern the State, as a worn-out power that deserved to fall. He +uniformly represents them as extravagant, selfish, ostentatious, +luxurious, frivolous, Epicurean in opinions and in life, oppressive in +all their social relations, haughty beyond endurance, and controlling +the popular elections by means of bribery and corruption. It would be +difficult to refute these charges. The Patricians probably gave +themselves up to all the pleasures incident to power and unbounded +wealth, in a corrupt and wicked age. They had their palaces in the city +and their villas in the country, their parks and gardens, their +fish-ponds and game-preserves, their pictures and marbles, their +expensive furniture and costly ornaments, gold and silver vessels, gems +and precious works of art. They gave luxurious banquets; they travelled +like princes; they were a body of kings, to whom the old monarchs of +conquered provinces bowed down in fear and adulation. All this does not +prove that they were incapable, although they governed for the interests +of their class. They were all experienced in affairs of State,--most of +them had been quaestors, aediles, praetors, censors, tribunes, consuls, +and governors. Most of them were highly educated, had travelled +extensively, were gentlemanly in their manners, could make speeches in +the Senate, and could fight on the field of battle when there was a +necessity. They doubtless had the common vices of the rich and proud; +but many of them were virtuous, patriotic, incorruptible, almost austere +in morals, dignified and intellectual, whom everybody respected,--men +like Cato, Brutus, Cassius, Cicero, and others. Their sin was that they +wished to conserve their powers, privileges, and fortunes, like all +aristocracies,--like the British House of Lords. Nor must it be +forgotten that it was under their régime that the conquest of the world +was made, and that Rome had become the centre of everything magnificent +and glorious on the earth. + +It was doubtless shortsighted and ungrateful in these nobles to attempt +to deprive Caesar of his laurels and his promised consulship. He had +earned them by grand services, both as a general and a statesman. But +their jealousy and hatred were not unnatural. They feared, not +unreasonably, that the successful general--rich, proud, and dictatorial +from the long exercise of power, and seated in the chair of supremest +dignity--would make sweeping changes; might reduce their authority to a +shadow, and elevate himself to perpetual dictatorship; and thus, by +substituting imperialism for aristocracy, subvert the Constitution. That +is evidently what Cicero feared, as appears in his letters to Atticus. +That is what all the leading Senators feared, especially Cato. It was +known that Caesar--although urbane, merciful, enlightened, hospitable, +and disposed to govern for the public good--was unscrupulous in the use +of tools; that he had originally gained his seat in the Senate by +bribery and demagogic arts; that he was reckless as to debts, regarding +money only as a means to buy supporters; that he had appropriated vast +sums from the spoils of war for his own use, and, from being poor, had +become the richest man in the Empire; that he had given his daughter +Julia in marriage to Pompey from political ends; that he was +long-sighted in his ambition, and would be content with nothing less +than the gratification of this insatiate passion. All this was known, +and it gave great solicitude to the leaders of the aristocracy, who +resolved to put him down,--to strip him of his power, or fight him, if +necessary, in a civil war. So the aristocracy put themselves under the +protection of Pompey,--a successful but overrated general, who also +aimed at supreme power, with the nobles as his supporters, not perhaps +as Imperator, but as the agent and representative of a subservient +Senate, in whose name he would rule. + +This contest between Caesar and the aristocracy under the lead of +Pompey, its successful termination in Caesar's favor, and his brilliant +reign of about four years, as Dictator and Imperator, constitute the +third period of his memorable career. + +Neither Caesar nor Pompey would disband their legions, as it was +proposed by Curio in the Senate and voted by a large majority. In fact, +things had arrived at a crisis: Caesar was recalled, and he must obey +the Senate, or be decreed a public enemy; that is, the enemy of the +power that ruled the State. He would not obey, and a general levy of +troops in support of the Senate was made, and put into the hands of +Pompey with unlimited command. The Tribunes of the people, however, +sided with Caesar, and refused confirmation of the Senatorial decrees. +Caesar then no longer hesitated, but with his army crossed the Rubicon, +which was an insignificant stream, but was the Rome-ward boundary of his +province. This was the declaration of civil war. It was now "'either +anvil or hammer." The admirers of Caesar claim that his act was a +necessity, at least a public benefit, on the ground of the misrule of +the aristocracy. But it does not appear that there was anarchy at Rome, +although Milo had killed Clodius. There were aristocratic feuds, as in +the Middle Ages. Order and law--the first conditions of society--were +not in jeopardy, as in the French Revolution, when Napoleon arose. The +people were not in hostile array against the nobles, nor the nobles +against the people. The nobles only courted and bribed the people; but +so general was corruption that a change in government was deemed +necessary by the advocates of Caesar,--at least they defended it. The +gist of all the arguments in favor of the revolution is: better +imperialism than an oligarchy of corrupt nobles. It is not my province +to settle that question. It is my work only to describe events. + +It is clear that Caesar resolved on seizing supreme power, in taking it +away from the nobles, on the ground probably that he could rule better +than they,--the plea of Napoleon, the plea of Cromwell, the plea of +all usurpers. + +But this supreme power he could not exercise until he had conquered +Pompey and the Senate and all his enemies. It must need be that "he +should wade through slaughter to his throne." This alternative was +forced on him, and he accepted it. He accepted civil war in order to +reign. At best, he would do evil that good might come. He was doubtless +the strongest man in the world; and, according to Mr. Carlyle's theory, +the strongest ought to rule. + +Much has been said about the rabble,--the democracy,--their turbulence, +corruption, and degradation, their unfitness to rule, and all that sort +of thing, which I regard as irrelevant, so far as the usurpation of +Caesar is concerned; since the struggle was not between them and the +nobles, but between a fortunate general and the aristocracy who +controlled the State. Caesar was not the representative of the people or +of their interests, as Tiberius Gracchus was, but the representative of +the Army. He had no more sympathy with the people than he had with the +nobles: he probably despised them both, as unfit to rule. He flattered +the people and bought them, but he did not love them. It was his +soldiers whom he loved, next to himself; although, as a wise and +enlightened statesman, he wished to promote the great interests of the +nation, so far as was consistent with the enjoyment of imperial rule. +This friend of the people would give them spectacles and shows, +largesses of corn,--money, even,--and extension of the suffrage, but not +political power. He was popular with them, because he was generous and +merciful, because his exploits won their admiration, and his vast public +works gave employment to them and adorned their city. + +It is unnecessary to dwell on the final contest of Caesar with the +nobles, with Pompey at their head, since nothing is more familiar in +history. Plainly he was not here rendering public services, as he did in +Spain and Gaul, but taking care of his own interests. I cannot see how a +civil war was a service, unless it were a service to destroy the +aristocratic constitution and substitute imperialism, which some think +was needed with the vast extension of the Empire, and for the good +administration of the provinces,--robbed and oppressed by the governors +whom the Senate had sent out to enrich the aristocracy. It may have been +needed for the better administration of justice, for the preservation of +law and order, and a more efficient central power. Absolutism may have +proved a benefit to the Empire, as it proved a benefit to France under +Cardinal Richelieu, when he humiliated the nobles. If so, it was only a +choice of evils, for absolutism is tyranny, and tyranny is not a +blessing, except in a most demoralized state of society, which it is +claimed was the state of Rome at the time of the usurpation of Caesar. +It is certain that the whole united strength of the aristocracy could +not prevail over Caesar, although it had Pompey for its defender, with +his immense prestige and experience as a general. + +After Caesar had crossed the Rubicon, and it was certain he would march +to Rome and seize the reins of government, the aristocracy fled +precipitately to Pompey's wing at Capua, fearing to find in Caesar +another Marius. Pompey did not show extraordinary ability in the crisis. +He had no courage and no purpose. He fled to Brundusium, where ships +were waiting to transport his army to Durazzo. He was afraid to face his +rival in Italy. Caesar would have pursued, but had no navy. He therefore +went to Rome, which he had not seen for ten years, took what money he +wanted from the treasury, and marched to Spain, where the larger part of +Pompey's army, under his lieutenants, were now arrayed against him. +These it was necessary first to subdue. But Caesar prevailed, and all +Spain was soon at his feet. His successes were brilliant; and Gaul, +Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia were wholly his own, as well as Spain, which +was Pompey's province. He then rapidly returned to Rome, was named +Dictator, and as such controlled the consular election, and was chosen +Consul. But Pompey held the East, and, with his ships, controlled the +Mediterranean, and was gathering forces for the invasion of Italy. +Caesar allowed himself but eleven days in Rome. It was necessary to +meet Pompey before that general could return to Italy. It was +mid-winter,--about a year after he had crossed the Rubicon. He had with +him only thirty thousand men, but these were veterans. Pompey had nine +full Roman legions, which lay at Durazzo, opposite to Brundusium, +besides auxiliaries and unlimited means; but he was hampered by +senatorial civilians, and his legions were only used to Eastern warfare. +He also controlled the sea, so that it was next to impossible for Caesar +to embark without being defeated. Yet Caesar did cross the sea amid +overwhelming obstacles, and the result was the battle of +Pharsalia,--deemed one of the decisive battles of the world, although +the forces of the combatants were comparatively small. It was gained by +the defeat of Pompey's cavalry by a fourth line of the best soldiers of +Caesar, which was kept in reserve. Pompey, on the defeat of his cavalry, +upon whom he had based his hopes, lost heart and fled. He fled to the +sea,--uncertain, vacillating, and discouraged,--and sailed for Egypt, +relying on the friendship of the young king; but was murdered +treacherously before he set foot upon the land. His fate was most +tragical. His fall was overwhelming. + +This battle, in which the flower of the Roman aristocracy succumbed to +the conqueror of Gaul, with vastly inferior forces, did not end the +desperate contest. Two more bloody battles were fought--one in Africa +and one in Spain--before the supremacy of Caesar was secured. The battle +of Thapsus, between Utica and Carthage, at which the Roman nobles once +more rallied under Cato and Labienus, and the battle of Munda, in Spain, +the most bloody of all, gained by Caesar over the sons of Pompey, +settled the civil war and made Caesar supreme. He became supreme only by +the sacrifice of half of the Roman nobility and the death of their +principal leaders,--Pompey, Labienus, Lentulus, Ligarius, Metellus, +Scipio Afrarius, Cato, Petreius, and others. In one sense it was the +contest between Pompey and Caesar for the empire of the world. Cicero +said, "The success of the one meant massacre, and that of the other +slavery,"--for if Pompey had prevailed, the aristocracy would have +butchered their enemies with unrelenting vengeance; but Caesar hated +unnecessary slaughter, and sought only power. In another sense it was +the struggle between a single man--with enlightened views and vast +designs--and the Roman aristocracy, hostile to reforms, and bent on +greed and oppression. The success of Caesar was favorable to the +restoration of order and law and progressive improvements; the success +of the nobility would have entailed a still more grinding oppression of +the people, and possibly anarchy and future conflicts between fortunate +generals and the aristocracy. Destiny or Providence gave the empire of +the world to a single man, although that man was as unscrupulous as +he was able. + +Henceforth imperialism was the form of government in Rome, which lasted +about four hundred years. How long an aristocratic government would have +lasted is a speculation. Caesar, in his elevation to unlimited power, +used his power beneficently. He pardoned his enemies, gave security to +property and life, restored the finances, established order, and devoted +himself to useful reforms. He cut short the grant of corn to the citizen +mob; he repaired the desolation which war had made; he rebuilt cities +and temples; he even endeavored to check luxury and extravagance and +improve morals. He reformed the courts of law, and collected libraries +in every great city. He put an end to the expensive tours of senators in +the provinces, where they had appeared as princes exacting +contributions. He formed a plan to drain the Pontine Marshes. He +reformed the calendar, making the year to begin with the first day of +January. He built new public buildings, which the enlargement of +business required. He seemed to have at heart the welfare of the State +and of the people, by whom he was adored. But he broke up the political +ascendancy of nobles, although he did not confiscate their property. He +weakened the Senate by increasing its numbers to nine hundred, and by +appointing senators himself from his army and from the provinces,--those +who would be subservient to him, who would vote what he decreed. + +Caesar's ruling passion was ambition,--thirst of power; but he had no +great animosities. He pardoned his worst enemies,--Brutus, Cassius, and +Cicero, who had been in arms against him; nor did he reign as a tyrant. +His habits were simple and unostentatious. He gave easy access to his +person, was courteous in his manners, and mingled with senators as a +companion rather than as a master. Like Charlemagne, he was temperate in +eating and drinking, and abhorred gluttony and drunkenness,--the vices +of the aristocracy and of fortunate plebeians alike. He was +indefatigable in business, and paid attention to all petitions. He was +economical in his personal expenses, although he lavished vast sums upon +the people in the way of amusing or bribing them. He dispensed with +guards and pomps, and was apparently reckless of his life: anything was +better to him than to live in perpetual fear of conspirators and +traitors. There never was a braver man, and he was ever kind-hearted to +those who did not stand in his way. He was generous, magnanimous, and +unsuspicious. He was the model of an absolute prince, aside from laxity +of morals. In regard to women, of their virtue he made little account. +His favorite mistress was Servilia, sister of Cato and mother of Brutus. +Some have even supposed that Brutus was Caesar's son, which accounts +for his lenity and forbearance and affection. He was the high-priest of +the Roman worship, and yet he believed neither in the gods nor in +immortality. But he was always the gentleman,--natural, courteous, +affable, without vanity or arrogance or egotism. He was not a patriot in +the sense that Cicero and Cato were, or Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, +since his country was made subservient to his own interests and +aggrandizement. Yet he was a very interesting man, and had fewer faults +than Napoleon, with equally grand designs. + +But even he could not escape a retribution, in spite of his exalted +position and his great services. The leaders of the aristocracy still +hated him, and could not be appeased for the overthrow of their power. +They resolved to assassinate him, from vengeance rather than fear. +Cicero was not among the conspirators; because his discretion could not +be relied upon, and they passed him by. But his heart was with them. +"There are many ways," said he, "in which a man may die." It was not a +wise thing to take his life; since the Constitution was already +subverted, and somebody would reign as imperator by means of the army, +and his death would necessarily lead to renewed civil wars and new +commotions and new calamities. But angry, embittered, and passionate +enemies do not listen to reason. They will not accept the inevitable. +There was no way to get rid of Caesar but by assassination, and no one +wished him out of the way but the nobles. Hence it was easy for them to +form a conspiracy. It was easy to stab him with senatorial daggers. +Caesar was not killed because he had personal enemies, nor because he +destroyed the liberties of Roman citizens, but because he had usurped +the authority of the aristocracy. + +Yet he died, perhaps at the right time, at the age of fifty-six, after +an undisputed reign of only three or four years,--about the length of +that of Cromwell. He was already bending under the infirmities of a +premature old age. Epileptic fits had set in, and his constitution was +undermined by his unparalleled labors and fatigues; and then his +restless mind was planning a new expedition to Parthia, where he might +have ingloriously perished like Crassus. But such a man could not die. +His memory and deeds lived. He filled a role in history, which could not +be forgotten. He inaugurated a successful revolution. He bequeathed a +policy to last as long as the Empire lasted; and he had rendered +services of the greatest magnitude, by which he is to be ultimately +judged, as well as by his character. It is impossible for us to settle +whether or not his services overbalanced the evils of the imperialism he +established and of the civil wars by which he reached supreme command. +Whatever view we may take of the comparative merits of an aristocracy or +an imperial despotism in a corrupt age, we cannot deny to Caesar some +transcendent services and a transcendent fame. The whole matter is laid +before us in the language of Cicero to Caesar himself, in the Senate, +when he was at the height of his power; which shows that the orator was +not lacking in courage any more than in foresight and moral wisdom:-- + +"Your life, Caesar, is not that which is bounded by the union of your +soul and body. Your life is that which shall continue fresh in the +memory of ages to come, which posterity will cherish and eternity itself +keep guard over. Much has been done by you which men will admire; much +remains to be done which they can praise. They will read with wonder of +empires and provinces, of the Rhine, the ocean, and the Nile, of battles +without number, of amazing victories, of countless monuments and +triumphs; but unless the Commonwealth be wisely re-established in +institutions by you bestowed upon us, your name will travel widely over +the world, but will have no fixed habitation; and those who come after +you _will dispute about you_ as we have disputed. Some will extol you to +the skies; others will find something wanting, and the most important +element of all. Remember the tribunal before which you are to stand. The +ages that are to be will try you, it may be with minds less prejudiced +than ours, uninfluenced either by the desire to please you or by envy of +your greatness." + +Thus spoke Cicero with heroic frankness. The ages have "disputed about" +Caesar, and will continue to dispute about him, as they do about +Cromwell and Napoleon; but the man is nothing to us in comparison with +the ideas which he fought or which he supported, and which have the same +force to-day as they had nearly two thousand years ago. He is the +representative of imperialism; which few Americans will defend, unless +it becomes a necessity which every enlightened patriot admits. The +question is, whether it was or was not a necessity at Rome fifty years +before Christ was born. It is not easy to settle in regard to the +benefit that Caesar is supposed by some--including Mr. Froude and the +late Emperor of the French--to have rendered to the cause of +civilization by overturning the aristocratic Constitution, and +substituting, not the rule of the people, but that of a single man. It +is still one of the speculations of history; it is not one of its +established facts, although the opinions of enlightened historians seem +to lean to the necessity of the Caesarian imperialism, in view of the +misrule of the aristocracy and the abject venality of the citizens who +had votes to sell. But it must be borne in mind that it was under the +aristocratic rule of senators and patricians that Rome went on from +conquering to conquer; that the governing classes were at all times the +most intelligent, experienced, and efficient in the Commonwealth; that +their very vices may have been exaggerated; and that the imperialism +which crushed them, may also have crushed out original genius, +literature, patriotism, and exalted sentiments, and even failed to have +produced greater personal security than existed under the aristocratic +Constitution at any period of its existence. All these are disputed +points of history. It may be that Caesar, far from being a national +benefactor by reorganizing the forces of the Empire, sowed the seeds of +ruin by his imperial policy; and that, while he may have given unity, +peace, and law to the Empire, he may have taken away its life. I do not +assert this, or even argue its probability. It may have been, and it may +not have been. It is an historical puzzle. There are two sides to all +great questions. But whether or not we can settle with the light of +modern knowledge such a point as this, I look upon the defence of +imperialism in itself, in preference to constitutional government with +all its imperfections, as an outrage on the whole progress of modern +civilization, and on whatever remains of dignity and intelligence among +the people. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Caesar's Commentaries, Leges Juliae, Appian, Plutarch, Suetonius, Dion +Cassius, and Cicero's Letters to Atticus are the principal original +authorities. Napoleon III. wrote a dull Life of Caesar, but it is rich +in footnotes, which it is probable he did not himself make, since +nothing is easier than the parade of learning. Rollin's Ancient History +may be read with other general histories. Merivale's History of the +Empire is able and instructive, but dry. Mr. Froude's sketch of Caesar +is the most interesting I have read, but advocates imperialism. +Niebuhr's Lectures on the History of Rome is also a standard work, as +well as Curtius's History of Rome. + + + +MARCUS AURELIUS. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 121-180. + +THE GLORY OF ROME. + +Marcus Aurelius is immortal, not so much for what he _did_ as for what +he _was_. His services to the State were considerable, but not +transcendent. He was a great man, but not pre-eminently a great emperor. +He was a meditative sage rather than a man of action; although he +successfully fought the Germanic barbarians, and repelled their fearful +incursions. He did not materially extend the limits of the Empire, but +he preserved and protected its provinces. He reigned wisely and ably, +but made mistakes. His greatness was in his character; his influence for +good was in his noble example. When we consider his circumstances and +temptations, as the supreme master of a vast Empire, and in a wicked and +sensual age, he is a greater moral phenomenon than Socrates or +Epictetus. He was one of the best men of Pagan antiquity. History +furnishes no example of an absolute monarch so pure and spotless and +lofty as he was, unless it be Alfred the Great or St. Louis. But the +sphere of the Roman emperor was far greater than that of the Mediaeval +kings. Marcus Aurelius ruled over one hundred and twenty millions of +people, without check or hindrance or Constitutional restraint. He could +do what he pleased with their persons and their property. Most +sovereigns, exalted to such lofty dignity and power, have been either +cruel, or vindictive, or self-indulgent, or selfish, or proud, or hard, +or ambitious,--men who have been stained by crimes, whatever may have +been their services to civilization. Most of them have yielded to their +great temptations. But Marcus Aurelius, on the throne of the civilized +world, was modest, virtuous, affable, accessible, considerate, gentle, +studious, contemplative, stained by novices,--a model of human virtue. +Hence he is one of the favorite characters of history. No Roman emperor +was so revered and loved as he, and of no one have so many monuments +been preserved. Everybody had his picture or statue in his house. He was +more than venerated in his day, and his fame as a wise and good man has +increased with the flight of ages. + +This illustrious emperor did not belong to the family of the great +Caesar. That family became extinct with Nero, the sixth emperor. Like +Trajan and Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius derived his remote origin from +Spain, although he was born in Rome. His great-grandfather was a +Spaniard, and yet attained the praetorian rank. His grandfather reached +the consulate. His father died while praetor, and when he himself was a +child. He was adopted by his grandfather Annius Verus. But his +marvellous moral beauty, even as a child, attracted the attention of the +Emperor Hadrian, who bestowed upon him the honor of the aequestrian +rank, at the age of six. At fifteen he was adopted by Antoninus Pius, +then, as we might say, "Crown Prince." Had he been older, he would have +been adopted by Hadrian himself. He thus, a mere youth, became the heir +of the Roman world. His education was most excellent. From Fronto, the +greatest rhetorician of the day, he learned rhetoric; from Herodes +Atticus he acquired a knowledge of the world; from Diognotus he learned +to despise superstition; from Apollonius, undeviating steadiness of +purpose; from Sextus of Chaeronea, toleration of human infirmities; from +Maximus, sweetness and dignity; from Alexander, allegiance to duty; from +Rusticus, contempt of sophistry and display. This stoical philosopher +created in him a new intellectual life, and opened to him a new world of +thought. But the person to whom he was most indebted was his adopted +father and father-in-law, the Emperor Antoninus Pius. For him he seems +to have had the greatest reverence. "In him," said he, "I noticed +mildness of manner with firmness of resolution, contempt of vain-glory, +industry in business, and accessibility of person. From him I learned +to acquiesce in every fortune, to exercise foresight in public affairs, +to rise superior to vulgar praises, to serve mankind without ambition, +to be sober and steadfast, to be content with little, to be practical +and active, to be no dreamy bookworm, to be temperate, modest in dress, +and not to be led away by novelties." What a picture of an emperor! What +a contrast to such a man as Louis XIV! + +We might draw a parallel between Marcus Aurelius and David, when he was +young and innocent. But the person in history whom he most resembled was +St. Anselm. He was a St. Anselm on the throne. Philosophical meditations +seem to have been his delight and recreation; and yet he could issue +from his retirement and engage in active pursuits. He was an able +general as well as a meditative sage,--heroic like David, capable of +enduring great fatigue, and willing to expose himself to great dangers. + +While his fame rests on his "Meditations," as that of David rests upon +his Psalms, he yet rendered great military services to the Empire. He +put down a dangerous revolt under Avidius Cassius in Asia, and did not +punish the rebellious provinces. Not one person suffered death in +consequence of this rebellion. Even the papers of Cassius, who aimed to +be emperor, were burned, that a revelation of enemies might not be +made,--a signal instance of magnanimity. Cassius, it seems, was +assassinated by his own officers, which assassination Marcus Aurelius +regretted, because it deprived him of granting a free pardon to a very +able but dangerous man. + +But the most signal service he rendered the Empire was a successful +resistance to the barbarians of Germany, who had formed a general union +for the invasion of the Roman world. They threatened the security of the +Empire, as the Teutons did in the time of Marius, and the Gauls and +Germans in the time of Julius Caesar. It took him twenty years to subdue +these fierce warriors. He made successive campaigns against them, as +Charlemagne did against the Saxons. It cost him the best years of his +life to conquer them, which he did under difficulties as great as Julius +surmounted in Gaul. He was the savior and deliverer of his country, as +much as Marius or Scipio or Julius. The public dangers were from the +West and not the East. Yet he succeeded in erecting a barrier against +barbaric inundations, so that for nearly two hundred years the Romans +were not seriously molested. There still stands in "the Eternal City" +the column which commemorates his victories,--not so beautiful as that +of Trajan, which furnished the model for Napoleon's column in the Place +Vendôme, but still greatly admired. Were he not better known for his +writings, he would be famous as one of the great military emperors, +like Vespasian, Diocletian, and Constantine. Perhaps he did not add to +the art of war; that was perfected by Julius Caesar. It was with the +mechanism of former generals that he withstood most dangerous enemies, +for in his day the legions were still well disciplined and irresistible. + +The only stains on the reign of this good and great emperor--for there +were none on his character--were in allowing the elevation of his son +Commodus as his successor, and his persecution of the Christians. + +In regard to the first, it was a blunder rather than a fault. Peter the +Great caused _his_ heir to be tried and sentenced to death, because he +was a sot, a liar, and a fool. He dared not intrust the interests of his +Empire to so unworthy a son; the welfare of Russia was more to him than +the interest of his family. In that respect this stern and iron man was +a greater prince than Marcus Aurelius; for the law of succession was not +established at Rome any more than in Russia. There was no danger of +civil war should the natural succession be set aside, as might happen in +the feudal monarchies of Europe. The Emperor of Rome could adopt or +elect his successor. It would have been wise for Aurelius to have +selected one of the ablest of his generals, or one of the wisest of his +senators, as Hadrian did, for so great and responsible a position, +rather than a wicked, cruel, dissolute son. But Commodus was the son of +Faustina also,--an intriguing and wicked woman, whose influence over her +husband was unfortunately great; and, what is common in this world, the +son was more like the mother than the father. (I think the wife of Eli +the high-priest must have been a bad woman.) All his teachings and +virtues were lost on such a reprobate. She, as an unscrupulous and +ambitious woman, had no idea of seeing her son supplanted in the +imperial dignity; and, like Catherine de'Medici and Agrippina, probably +she connived at and even encouraged the vices of her children, in order +more easily to bear rule. At any rate, the succession of Commodus to the +throne was the greatest calamity that could have happened. For five +reigns the Empire had enjoyed peace and prosperity; for five reigns the +tide of corruption had been stayed: but the flood of corruption swept +all barriers away with the accession of Commodus, and from that day the +decline of the Empire was rapid and fatal. Still, probably nothing could +have long arrested ruin. The Empire was doomed. + +The other fact which obscured the glory of Marcus Aurelius as a +sovereign was his persecution of the Christians,--for which it is hard +to account, when the beneficent character of the emperor is considered. +His reign was signalized for an imperial persecution, in which Justin at +Rome, Polycarp at Smyrna, and Ponthinus at Lyons, suffered martyrdom. It +was not the first persecution. Under Nero the Christians had been +cruelly tortured, nor did the virtuous Trajan change the policy of the +government. Hadrian and Antoninus Pius permitted the laws to be enforced +against the Christians, and Marcus Aurelius saw no reason to alter them. +But to the mind of the Stoic on the throne, says Arnold, the Christians +were "philosophically contemptible, politically subversive, and morally +abominable." They were regarded as statesmen looked upon the Jesuits in +the reign of Louis XV., as we look upon the Mormons,--as dangerous to +free institutions. Moreover, the Christians were everywhere +misunderstood and misrepresented. It was impossible for Marcus Aurelius +to see the Christians except through a mist of prejudices. "Christianity +grew up in the Catacombs, not on the Palatine." In allowing the laws to +take their course against a body of men who were regarded with distrust +and aversion as enemies of the State, the Emperor was simply +unfortunate. So wise and good a man, perhaps, ought to have known the +Christians better; but, not knowing them, he cannot be stigmatized as a +cruel man. How different the fortunes of the Church had Aurelius been +the first Christian emperor instead of Constantine! Or, had his wife +Faustina known the Christians as well as Marcia the mistress of +Commodus, perhaps the persecution might not have happened,--and perhaps +it might. Earnest and sincere men have often proved intolerant when +their peculiar doctrines have been assailed,--like Athanasius and St. +Bernard. A Stoical philosopher was trained, like a doctor of the Jewish +Sandhedrim, in a certain intellectual pride. + +The fame of Marcus Aurelius rests, as it has been said, on his +philosophical reflections, as his "Meditations" attest. This remarkable +book has come down to us, while most of the annals of the age have +perished; so that even Niebuhr confesses that he knows less of the reign +of Marcus Aurelius than of the early kings of Rome. Perhaps that is one +reason why Gibbon begins his history with later emperors. But the +"Meditations" of the good emperor survive, like the writings of +Epictetus, St. Augustine, and Thomas à Kempis: one of the few immortal +books,--immortal, in this case, not for artistic excellence, like the +writings of Thucydides and Tacitus, but for the loftiness of thoughts +alone; so precious that the saints of the Middle Ages secretly preserved +them as in accord with their own experiences. It is from these +"Meditations" that we derive our best knowledge of Marcus Aurelius. They +reveal the man,--and a man of sorrows, as the truly great are apt to be, +when brought in contact with a world of wickedness, as were Alfred +and Dante. + +In these "Meditations" there is a striking resemblance to the discourses +of Epictetus, which alike reveal the lofty and yet sorrowful soul, and +are among the most valuable fragments which have come down from Pagan +antiquity; and this is remarkable, since Epictetus was a Phrygian slave, +of the lowest parentage. He belonged to the secretary and companion of +Nero, whose name was Epaphroditus, and who treated this poor Phrygian +with great cruelty. And yet, what is very singular, the master caused +the slave to be indoctrinated in the Stoical philosophy, on account of a +rare intelligence which commanded respect. He was finally manumitted, +but lived all his life in the deepest poverty, to which he attached no +more importance than Socrates did at Athens. In his miserable cottage he +had no other furniture than a straw pallet and an iron lamp, which last +somebody stole. His sole remark on the loss of the only property he +possessed was, that when the thief came again he would be disappointed +to find only an earthen lamp instead of an iron one. This earthen lamp +was subsequently purchased by a hero-worshipper for three thousand +drachmas ($150). Epictetus, much as he despised riches and display and +luxury and hypocrisy and pedantry and all phariseeism, living in the +depths of poverty, was yet admired by eminent men, among whom was the +Emperor Hadrian himself; and he found a disciple in Arrian, who was to +him what Xenophon was to Socrates, committing his precious thoughts to +writing; and these thoughts were to antiquity what the "Imitation of +Christ" was to the Middle Ages,--accepted by Christians as well as by +pagans, and even to-day regarded as one of the most beautiful treatises +on morals ever composed by man. The great peculiarity of the "Manual" +and the "Discourses" is the elevation of the soul over external evils, +the duty of resignation to whatever God sends, and the obligation to do +right because it is right. Epictetus did not go into the dreary +dialectics of the schools, but, like Socrates, confined himself to +practical life,--to the practice of virtue as the greatest good,--and +valued the joys of true intellectual independence. To him his mind was +his fortune, and he desired no better. We do not find in the stoicism of +the Phrygian slave the devout and lofty spiritualism of +Plato,--thirsting for God and immortality; it may be doubted whether he +believed in immortality at all: but he did recognize what is most noble +in human life,--the subservience of the passions to reason, the power of +endurance, patience, charity, and disinterested action. He did recognize +the necessity of divine aid in the struggles of life, the glory of +friendship, the tenderness of compassion, the power of sympathy. His +philosophy was human, and it was cheerful; since he did not believe in +misfortune, and exalted gentleness and philanthropy. Above everything, +he sought inward approval, not the praises of the world,--that happiness +which lies within one's self, in the absence of all ignoble fears, in +contentment, in that peace of the mind which can face poverty, disease, +exile, and death. + +Such were the lofty views which, embodied in the discourses of +Epictetus, fell into the hands of Marcus Aurelius in the progress of his +education, and exercised such a great influence on his whole subsequent +life. The slave became the teacher of the emperor,--which it is +impossible to conceive of unless their souls were in harmony. As a +Stoic, the emperor would not be less on his throne than the slave in his +cottage. The trappings and pomps of imperial state became indifferent to +him, since they were external, and were of small moment compared with +that high spiritual life which he desired to lead. If poverty and pain +were nothing to Epictetus, so grandeur and power and luxury should be +nothing to him,--both alike being merely outward things, like the +clothes which cover a man. And the fewer the impediments in the march +after happiness and truth the better. Does a really great and +preoccupied man care what he wears? "A shocking bad hat" was perhaps as +indifferent to Gladstone as a dirty old cloak was to Socrates. I suppose +if a man is known to be brainless, it is necessary for him to wear a +disguise,--even as instinct prompts a frivolous and empty woman to put +on jewels. But who expects a person recognized as a philosopher to use +a mental crutch or wear a moral mask? Who expects an old man, compelling +attention by his wisdom, to dress like a dandy? It is out of place; it +is not even artistic,--it is ridiculous. That only is an evil which +shackles the soul. Aurelius aspired to its complete emancipation. Not +for the joys of a future heaven did he long, but for the realities and +certitudes of earth,--the placidity and harmony and peace of his soul, +so long as it was doomed to the trials and temptations of the world, and +a world, too, which he did not despise, but which he sought to benefit. + +So, what was contentment in the slave became philanthropy in the +emperor. He would be a benefactor, not by building baths and theatres, +but by promoting peace, prosperity, and virtue. He would endure +cheerfully the fatigue of winter campaigns upon the frozen Danube, if +the Empire could be saved from violence. To extend its boundaries, like +Julius, he cared nothing; but to preserve what he had was a supreme +duty. His watchword was duty,--to himself, his country, and God. He +lived only for the happiness of his subjects. Benevolence became the law +of his life. Self-abnegation destroyed self-indulgence. For what was he +placed by Providence in the highest position in the world, except to +benefit the world? The happiness of one hundred and twenty millions was +greater than the joys of any individual existence. And what were any +pleasures which ended in vanity to the sublime placidity of an +emancipated soul? Stoicism, if it did not soar to God and immortality, +yet aspired to the freedom and triumph of what is most precious in man. +And it equally despised, with haughty scorn, those things which +corrupted and degraded this higher nature,--the glorious dignity of +unfettered intellect. The accidents of earth were nothing in his +eyes,--neither the purple of kings nor the rags of poverty. It was the +soul, in its transcendent dignity, which alone was to be preserved +and purified. + +This was the exalted realism which appears in the "Meditations" of +Marcus Aurelius, and which he had learned from the inspirations of a +slave. Yet such was the inborn, almost supernatural, loftiness of +Aurelius, that, had he been the slave and Epictetus the emperor, the +same moral wisdom would have shone in the teachings and life of each; +for they both were God's witnesses of truth in an age of wickedness and +shame. It was He who chose them both, and sent them out as teachers of +righteousness,--the one from the humblest cottage, the other from the +most magnificent palace of the capital of the world. In station they +were immeasurably apart; in aim and similarity of ideas they were +kindred spirits,--one of the phenomena of the moral history of our race; +for the slave, in his physical degradation, had all the freedom and +grandeur of an aspiring soul, and the emperor, on his lofty throne, had +all the humility and simplicity of a peasant in the lowliest state of +poverty and suffering. Surely circumstances had nothing to do with this +marvellous exhibition. It was either the mind and soul triumphant over +and superior to all outward circumstances, or it was God imparting an +extraordinary moral power. + +I believe it was the inscrutable design of the Supreme Governor of the +universe to show, perhaps, what lessons of moral wisdom could be taught +by men under the most diverse influences and under the greatest +contrasts of rank and power, and also to what heights the souls of both +slave and king could rise, with His aid, in the most corrupt period of +human history. Noah, Abraham, and Moses did not stand more isolated +amidst universal wickedness than did the Phrygian slave and the imperial +master of the world. And as the piety of Noah could not save the +antediluvian empires, as the faith of Abraham could not convert +idolatrous nations, as the wisdom of Moses could not prevent the +sensualism of emancipated slaves, so the lofty philosophy of Aurelius +could not save the Empire which he ruled. And yet the piety of Noah, the +faith of Abraham, the wisdom of Moses, and the stoicism of Aurelius have +proved alike a spiritual power,--the precious salt which was to preserve +humanity from the putrefaction of almost universal selfishness and vice, +until the new revelation should arouse the human soul to a more serious +contemplation of its immortal destiny. + +The imperial "Meditations" are without art or arrangement,--a sort of +diary, valuable solely for their precious thoughts; not lofty soarings +in philosophical and religious contemplation, which tax the brain to +comprehend, like the thoughts of Pascal, but plain maxims for the daily +intercourse of life, showing great purity of character and extraordinary +natural piety, blended with pithy moral wisdom and a strong sense of +duty. "Men exist for each other: teach them or bear with them," said he. +"Benevolence is invincible, if it be not an affected smile." "When thou +risest in the morning unwillingly, say, 'I am rising to the work of a +human being; why, then, should I be dissatisfied if I am going to do the +things for which I was brought into the world?'" "Since it is possible +that thou mayest depart from this life this very moment, regulate every +act and thought accordingly (... for death hangs over thee whilst thou +livest), while it is in thy power to be good." "What has become of all +great and famous men, and all they desired and loved? They are smoke and +ashes, and a tale." "If thou findest in human life anything better than +justice, temperance, fortitude, turn to it with all thy soul; but if +thou findest anything else smaller (and of no value) than this, give +place to nothing else." "Men seek retreats for themselves,--houses in +the country, seashores, and mountains; but it is always in thy power to +retire within thyself, for nowhere does a man retire with more quiet or +freedom than into his own soul." Think of such sayings, written down in +his diary on the evenings of the very days of battle with the barbarians +on the Danube or in Hungarian marshes! Think of a man, O ye Napoleons, +ye conquerors, who can thus muse and meditate in his silent tent, and by +the light of his solitary lamp, after a day of carnage and of victory! +Think of such a man,--not master of a little barbaric island or a +half-established throne in a country no bigger than a small province, +but the supreme sovereign of a vast empire, at the time of its greatest +splendor and prosperity, with no mortal power to keep his will in +check,--nothing but the voice within him; nothing but the sense of duty; +nothing but the desire of promoting the happiness of others: and this +man a Pagan! + +But the state of that Empire, with all its prosperity, needed such a man +to arise. If anything or anybody could save it, it was that succession +of good emperors of whom Marcus Aurelius was the last, in the latter +part of the second century. Let us glance, in closing, at the real +condition of the Empire at that time. I take leave of the man,--this +"laurelled hero and crowned philosopher," stretching out his hands to +the God he but dimly saw, and yet enunciating moral truths which for +wisdom have been surpassed only by the sacred writers of the Bible, to +whom the Almighty gave his special inspiration. I turn reluctantly from +him to the Empire he governed. + +Gibbon says, in his immortal History, "If a man were called to fix the +period in the history of the world during which the condition of the +human race was most happy and prosperous, he would, without hesitation, +name that which elapsed from the death of Domitian to the accession of +Commodus." + +This is the view that Gibbon takes of the prosperity of the old Roman +world under such princes as the Antonines. Niebuhr, however, a greater +critic, though not so great an artist, takes a different view; and both +are great authorities. If Gibbon meant simply that this period was the +happiest and most prosperous during the imperial reigns, he may not have +been far from the truth, according to his standpoint of what human +happiness consists in,--that external prosperity which was the blessing +of the Old Testament, and which Macaulay exalts as proudly as Gibbon +before him. There _was_ this external prosperity, so far as we know, and +we know but little aside from monuments and medals. Even Tacitus shrank +from writing contemporaneous history, and the period he could have +painted is to us dark, mysterious, and unknown. Still, it is generally +supposed and conceded that the Empire at this time was outwardly +splendid and prosperous. Certainly there was a period of peace, when no +wars troubled the State but those which were distant,--on the very +confines of the Empire, and that with rude barbarians, no more +formidable in the eyes of the luxurious citizens of the capital than a +revolt of the Sepoys to the eyes of the citizens of London, or Indian +raids among the Rocky Mountains to the eyes of the people of New York. +And there was the reign of law and order, a most grateful thing to those +who had read of the conspiracy of Catiline and the tumults of Clodius, +two hundred and fifty years before. And there was doubtless a +magnificent material civilization which promised to be eternal, and of +which every Roman was proud. There was a centralization of power in the +Eternal City such as had never been seen before and has never been seen +since,--a solid Empire so large that the Mediterranean, which it +enclosed, was a mere central lake, around the vast circuit of whose +shores were temples and palaces and villas of unspeakable beauty, and +where a busy population pursued unmolested its various trades. There was +commerce on every river which empties itself into this vast basin; there +were manufactures in every town, and there were agricultural skill and +abundance in every province. The plains of Egypt and Mesopotamia +rejoiced in the richest harvests of wheat; the hills of Syria and Gaul, +and Spain and Italy, were covered with grape-vines and olives. Italy +boasted of fifty kinds of wine, and Gaul produced the same vegetables +that are known at the present day. All kinds of fruit were plenty and +luscious in every province. There were game-preserves and fish-ponds and +groves. There were magnificent roads between all the great cities,--an +uninterrupted highway, mostly paved, from York to Jerusalem. The +productions of the East were consumed in the West, for ships whitened +the sea, bearing their precious gems, and ivory, and spices, and +perfumes, and silken fabrics, and carpets, and costly vessels of gold +and silver, and variegated marbles; and all the provinces of an empire +which extended fifteen hundred miles from north to south and three +thousand from east to west were dotted with cities, some of which almost +rivalled the imperial capital in size and magnificence. The little +island of Rhodes contained twenty-three thousand statues, and Antioch +had a street four miles in length, with double colonnades throughout its +whole extent. The temple of Ephesus covered as much ground as does the +cathedral of Cologne, and the library of Alexandria numbered seven +hundred thousand volumes. Rome, the proud metropolis, had a diameter of +eleven miles, and was forty-five miles in circuit, with a population, +according to Lipsius, larger than modern London. It had seventeen +thousand palaces, thirty theatres, nine thousand baths, and eleven +amphitheatres,--one of which could seat eighty-seven thousand +spectators. The gilding of the roof of the capitol cost fifteen millions +of our money. The palace of Nero was more extensive than Versailles. The +mausoleum of Hadrian became the most formidable fortress of Mediaeval +times. And then, what gold and silver vessels ornamented every palace, +what pictures and statues enriched every room, what costly and gilded +and carved furniture was the admiration of every guest, what rich +dresses decorated the women who supped at gorgeous tables of solid +silver, whose very sandals were ornamented with precious stones, and +whose necks were hung with priceless pearls and rubies and diamonds! +Paulina wore a pearl which, it is said, cost two hundred and fifty +thousand dollars of our money. All the masterpieces of antiquity were +collected in this centre of luxury and pride,--all those arts which made +Greece immortal, and which we can only copy. What vast structures, +ornamented with pillars and marble statues, were crowded together near +the Forum and Capitoline Hill! The museums of Italy contain to-day +twenty thousand specimens of ancient sculpture, which no modern artist +could improve. More than a million of dollars were paid for a single +picture for the imperial bed-chamber,--for painting was carried to as +great perfection as sculpture. + +Such were the arts of the Pagan city, such the material civilization in +all the cities; and these cities were guarded by soldiers who were +trained to the utmost perfection of military discipline, and presided +over by governors as elegant, as polished, and as intelligent as the +courtiers of Louis XIV. The genius for war was only equalled by genius +for government. How well administered were all the provinces! The Romans +spread their laws, their language, and their institutions everywhere +without serious opposition. They were great civilizers, as the English +have been. "Law" became as great an idea as "glory;" and so perfect was +the mechanism of government that the happiness of the people was +scarcely affected by the character of the emperors. Jurisprudence, the +indigenous science of the Romans, is still studied and adopted for its +political wisdom. + +Such was the civilization of the Roman world in the time of Marcus +Aurelius,--that external grandeur, that outward prosperity, to which +Gibbon points with such admiration and pride, and to which he ascribed +the highest happiness which the world has ever enjoyed. Far different, +probably, would have been the verdict of the good and contemplative +emperor who then ruled the civilized world, when he saw the luxury, the +pride, the sensuality, the selfishness, the irreligion, the worldliness, +which marked all classes; producing vices too horrible to be even +named, and undermining the moral health, and secretly and surely +preparing the way for approaching violence and ruin. + +What, then, is the reverse of the picture which Gibbon admired? What +established facts have we as an offset to these gilded material glories? +What should be the true judgment of mankind as to this lauded period? + +The historian speaks of peace, and the prosperity which naturally flowed +from it in the uninterrupted pursuit of the ordinary occupations of +life. This is indisputable. There was the increase of wealth, the +enjoyment of security, the absence of fears, and the reign of law. Life +and property were guarded. A man could travel from one part of the +Empire to the other without fear of robbers or assassins. All these +things are great blessings. Materially we have no higher civilization. +But with peace and prosperity were idleness, luxury, gambling, +dissipation, extravagance, and looseness of morals of which we have no +conception, and which no subsequent age of the world has seen. It was +the age of most scandalous monopolies, and disproportionate fortunes, +and abandonment to the pleasures of sense. Any Roman governor could make +a fortune in a year; and his fortune was spent in banquets and fêtes and +races and costly wines, and enormous retinues of slaves. The theatres, +the chariot races, the gladiatorial shows, the circus, and the sports +of the amphitheatre were then at their height. The central spring of +society was money, since it purchased everything which Epicureanism +valued. No dignitary was respected for his office,--only for the salary +or gains which his office brought. All professions which were not +lucrative gradually fell into disrepute; and provided they were +lucrative, it was of no consequence whether or not they were infamous. +Dancers, cooks, and play-actors received the highest consideration, +since their earnings were large. Scholars, poets, and philosophers--what +few there were--pined in attics. Epictetus lived in a miserable cottage +with only a straw pallet and a single lamp. Women had no education, and +were disgracefully profligate; even the wife of Marcus Aurelius (the +daughter of Antoninus Pius) was one of the most abandoned women of the +age, notwithstanding all the influence of their teachings and example. +Slavery was so great an institution that half of the population were +slaves. There were sixty millions of them in the Empire, and they were +generally treated with brutal cruelty. The master of Epictetus, himself +a scholar and philosopher, broke wantonly the leg of his illustrious +slave to see how well he could bear pain. There were no public +charities. The poor and miserable and sick were left to perish unheeded +and unrelieved. Even the free citizens were fed at the public expense, +not as a charity, but to prevent revolts. About two thousand people +owned the whole civilized world, and their fortunes were spent in +demoralizing it. What if their palaces were grand, and their villas +beautiful, and their dresses magnificent, and their furniture costly, if +their lives were spent in ignoble and enervating pleasures, as is +generally admitted. There was a low religious life, almost no religion +at all, and what there was was degrading by its superstition. +Everywhere were seen the rites of magical incantations, the pretended +virtue of amulets and charms, soothsayers laughing at their own +predictions,--nowhere the worship of the _one God_ who created the +heaven and the earth, nor even a genuine worship of the Pagan deities, +but a general spirit of cynicism and atheism. What does St. Paul say of +the Romans when he was a prisoner in the precincts of the imperial +palace, and at a time of no greater demoralization? We talk of the +glories of jurisprudence; but what was the practical operation of laws +when such a harmless man as Paul could be brought to trial, and perhaps +execution! What shall we say of the boasted justice, when judgments were +rendered on technical points, and generally in favor of those who had +the longest purses; so that it was not only expensive to go to law, but +so expensive that it was ruinous? What could be hoped of laws, however +good, when they were made the channels of extortion, when the +occupation of the Bench itself was the great instrument by which +powerful men protected their monopolies? We speak of the glories of art; +but art was prostituted to please the lower tastes and inflame the +passions. The most costly pictures were hung up in the baths, and were +disgracefully indecent. Even literature was directed to the flattery of +tyrants and rich men. There was no manly protest from literary men +against the increasing vices of society,--not even from the +philosophers. Philosophy continually declined, like literature and art. +Nothing strikes us more forcibly than the absence of genius in the +second century. There was no reward for genius except when it flattered +and pandered to what was demoralizing. Who dared to utter manly protests +in the Senate? Who discussed the principles of government? Who would +venture to utter anything displeasing to the imperial masters of the +world? In this age of boundless prosperity, where were the great poets, +where the historians, where the writers on political economy, where the +moralists? For one hundred years there were scarcely ten eminent men in +any department of literature whose writings have come down to us. There +was the most marked decay in all branches of knowledge, except in that +knowledge which could be utilized for making money. The imperial régime +cast a dismal shadow over all the efforts of independent genius, on all +lofty aspirations, on all individual freedom. Architects, painters, and +sculptors there were in abundance, and they were employed and well paid; +but where were poets, scholars, sages?--where were politicians even? The +great and honored men were the tools of emperors,--the prefects of their +guards, the generals of their armies, the architects of their palaces, +the purveyors of their banquets. If the emperor happened to be a good +administrator of this complicated despotism, he was sustained, like +Tiberius, whatever his character. If he was weak or frivolous, he was +removed by assassination. It was a government of absolute physical +forces, and it is most marvellous that such a man as Marcus Aurelius +could have been its representative. And what could he have done with his +philosophical inquiries had he not also been a great general and a +practical administrator,--a man of business as well as a man of thought? + +But I cannot enumerate the evils which coexisted with all the boasted +prosperity of the Empire, and which were preparing the way for +ruin,--evils so disgraceful and universal that Christianity made no +impression at all on society at large, and did not modify a law or +remove a single object of scandal. Do you call that state of society +prosperous and happy when half of the population was in base bondage to +cruel masters; when women generally were degraded and slighted; when +money was the object of universal idolatry; when the only pleasures +were in banquets and races and other demoralizing sports; when no value +was placed upon the soul, and infinite value on the body; when there was +no charity, no compassion, no tenderness; when no poor man could go to +law; when no genius was encouraged unless for utilitarian ends; when +genius was not even appreciated or understood, still less rewarded; when +no man dared to lift up his voice against any crying evil, especially of +a political character; when the whole civilized world was fettered, +deceived, and mocked, and made to contribute to the power, pleasure, and +pride of a single man and the minions upon whom he smiled? Is all this +to be overlooked in our estimate of human happiness? Is there nothing to +be considered but external glories which appeal to the senses alone? +Shall our eyes be diverted from the operation of moral law and the +inevitable consequences of its violation? Shall we blind ourselves to +the future condition of our families and our country in our estimate of +happiness? Shall we ignore, in the dazzling life of a few favored +extortioners, monopolists, and successful gamblers all that Christianity +points out as the hope and solace and glory of mankind? Not thus would +we estimate human felicity. Not thus would Marcus Aurelius, as he cast +his sad and prophetic eye down the vistas of succeeding reigns, and saw +the future miseries and wars and violence which were the natural result +of egotism and vice, have given his austere judgment on the happiness of +his Empire. In all his sweetness and serenity, he penetrated the veil +which the eye of the worldly Gibbon could not pierce. _He_ declares that +"those things which are most valued are empty, rotten, and +trifling,"--these are his very words; and that the real _life_ of the +people, even in the days of Trajan, had ceased to exist,--that +everything truly precious was lost in the senseless grasp after what can +give no true happiness or permanent prosperity. + +AUTHORITIES. + +The "Meditations" of Marcus Aurelius; Epictetus should be read in +connection. Renan's Life of Marcus Aurelius. Farrar's Seekers after God. +Arnold has also written some interesting things about this emperor. In +Smith's Dictionary there is an able article. Gibbon says something, but +not so much as we could wish. Tillemont, in his History of the Emperors, +says more. I would also refer my readers to my "Old Roman World," to +Sismondi's Fall of the Roman Empire, and to Montesquieu's treatise on +the Decadence of the Romans. The original Roman authorities which have +come down to us are meagre and few. + + + +CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 272-337. + +CHRISTIANITY ENTHRONED. + +One of the links in the history of civilization is the reign of +Constantine, not unworthily called the Great, since it would be +difficult to find a greater than he among the Roman emperors, after +Julius Caesar, while his labors were by far more beneficent. A new era +began with his illustrious reign,--the triumph of Christianity as the +established religion of the crumbling Empire. Under his enlightened +protection the Church, persecuted from the time of Nero, and never +fashionable or popular, or even powerful as an institution, arose +triumphant, defiant, almost militant, with new passions and interests; +ambitious, full of enthusiasm, and with unbounded hope,--a great +spiritual power, whose authority even princes and nobles were at last +unable to withstand. No longer did the Christians live in catacombs and +hiding-places; no longer did they sing their mournful songs over the +bleeding and burning bodies of the saints, but arose in the majesty of +a new and irresistible power,--temporal as well as spiritual,--breathing +vengeance on ancient foes, grasping great dignities, seizing the +revenues of princes, and proclaiming the sovereignty of their invisible +King. In defence of their own doctrines they became fierce, arrogant, +dogmatic, contentious,--not with sword in one hand and crucifix in the +other, like the warlike popes and bishops of mediaeval Europe, but with +intense theological hatreds, and austere contempt of those luxuries and +pleasures which had demoralized society. + +The last great act of Diocletian--one of the ablest and most warlike of +the emperors--was an unrelenting and desperate persecution of the +Christians, whose religion had been steadily gaining ground for two +centuries, in spite of martyrdoms and anathemas; and this was so severe +and universal that it seemed to be successful. But he had no sooner +retired from the government of the world (A.D. 305) than the faith he +supposed he had suppressed forever sprung up with new force, and defied +any future attempt to crush it. + +The vitality of the new religion had been preserved in ages of +unparalleled vices by two things especially,--by martyrdom and by +austerities; the one a noble attestation of faith in an age of unbelief, +and the other a lofty, almost stoical, disdain of those pleasures which +centre in the body. + +The martyrs cheerfully and heroically endured physical sufferings in +view of the glorious crown of which they were assured in the future +world. They lived in the firm conviction of immortality, and that +eternal happiness was connected indissolubly with their courage, +intrepidity, and patience in bearing testimony to the divine character +and mission of Him who had shed his blood for the remission of sins. No +sufferings were of any account in comparison with those of Him who died +for them. Filled with transports of love for the divine Redeemer, who +rescued them from the despair of Paganism, and bound with ties of +supreme allegiance to Him as the Conqueror and Saviour of the world, +they were ready to meet death in any form for his sake. They had become, +by professing Him as their Lord and Sovereign, soldiers of the Cross, +ready to endure any sacrifices for his sacred cause. + +Thus enthusiasm was kindled in a despairing and unbelieving world. And +probably the world never saw, in any age, such devotion and zeal for an +invisible power. It was animated by the hope of a glorious immortality, +of which Christianity alone, of all ancient religions, inspired a firm +conviction. In this future existence were victory and blessedness +everlasting,--not to be had unless one was faithful unto death. This +sublime faith--this glorious assurance of future happiness, this +devotion to an unseen King--made a strong impression on those who +witnessed the physical torments which the sufferers bore with +unspeakable triumph. There must be, they thought, something in a +religion which could take away the sting of death and rob the grave of +its victory. The noble attestation of faith in Jesus did perhaps more +than any theological teachings towards the conversion of men to +Christianity. And persecution and isolation bound the Christians +together in bonds of love and harmony, and kept them from the +temptations of life There was a sort of moral Freemasonry among the +despised and neglected followers of Christ, such as has not been seen +before or since. They were _in_ the world but not _of_ the world. They +were the precious salt to preserve what was worth preserving in a +rapidly dissolving Empire. They formed a new power, which would be +triumphant amid the universal destruction of old institutions; for the +soul would be saved, and Christianity taught that the soul was +everything,--that nothing could be given in exchange for it. + +The other influence which seemed to preserve the early Christians from +the overwhelming materialism of the times was the asceticism which so +early became prevalent. It had not been taught by Jesus, but seemed to +arise from the necessities of the times. It was a fierce protest against +the luxuries of an enervated age. The passion for dress and ornament, +and the indulgence of the appetites and other pleasures which pampered +the body, and which were universal, were a hindrance to the enjoyment of +that spiritual life which Christianity unfolded. As the soul was +immortal and the body was mortal, that which was an impediment to the +welfare of what was most precious was early denounced. In order to +preserve the soul from the pollution of material pleasures, a strenuous +protest was made. Hence that defiance of the pleasures of sense which +gave loftiness and independence of character soon became a recognized +and cardinal virtue. The Christian stood aloof from the banquets and +luxuries which undermined the virtues on which the strength of man is +based. The characteristic vices of the Pagan world were unchastity and +fondness for the pleasures of the table. To these were added the lesser +vices of display and ornaments in dress. From these the Christian fled +as fatal enemies to his spiritual elevation. I do not believe it was the +ascetic ideas imported from India, such as marked the Brahmins, nor the +visionary ideas of the Sufis and the Buddhists, and of other Oriental +religionists, which gave the impulse to monastic life and led to the +austerities of the Church in the second and third centuries, so much as +the practical evils with which every one was conversant, and which were +plainly antagonistic to the doctrine that the life is more than meat. +The triumph of the mind over the body excited an admiration scarcely +less marked than the voluntary sacrifice of life to a sacred cause. +Asceticism, repulsive in many of its aspects, and even unnatural and +inhuman, drew a cordon around the Christians, and separated them from +the sensualities of ordinary life. It was a reproof as well as a +protest. It attacked Epicureanism in its most vulnerable point. "How +hardly shall they who have riches enter into the kingdom of God?" Hence +the voluntary poverty, the giving away of inherited wealth to the poor, +the extreme simplicity of living, and even retirement from the +habitations of men, which marked the more earnest of the new believers. +Hence celibacy, and avoidance of the society of women,--all to resist +most dangerous temptation. Hence the vows of poverty and chastity which +early entered monastic life,--a life favorable to ascetic virtues. These +were indeed perverted. Everything good is perverted in this world. +Self-expiations, flagellations, sheepskin cloaks, root dinners, +repulsive austerities, followed. But these grew out of the noble desire +to keep unspotted from the world. And unless this desire had been +encouraged by the leaders of the Church, the Christian would soon have +been contaminated with the vices of Paganism, especially such as were +fashionable,--as is deplorably the case in our modern times, when it is +so difficult to draw the line between those who do not and those who do +openly profess the Christian faith. It is quite probable that +Christianity would not have triumphed over Paganism, had not +Christianity made so strong a protest against those vices and fashions +which were peculiar to an Epicurean age and an Epicurean philosophy. + +It was at this period, when Christianity was a great spiritual power, +that Constantine arose. He was born at Naissus, in Dacia, A.D. 274, his +father being a soldier of fortune, and his mother the daughter of an +innkeeper. He was eighteen when his father, Constantius, was promoted by +the Emperor Diocletian to the dignity of Caesar,--a sort of +lieutenant-emperor,--and early distinguished himself in the Egyptian and +Persian wars. He was thirty-one when he joined his father in Britain, +whom he succeeded, soon after, in the imperial dignity. Like Theodosius, +he was tall, and majestic in manners; gracious, affable, and accessible, +like Julius; prudent, cautious, reticent, like Fabius; insensible to the +allurements of pleasure, and incredibly active and bold, like Hannibal, +Charlemagne, and Napoleon; a politic man, disposed to ally himself with +the rising party. The first few years of his reign, which began in A.D. +306, were devoted to the establishment of his power in Britain, where +the flower of the Western army was concentrated,--foreseeing a desperate +contest with the five rivals who shared between them the Empire which +Diocletian had divided; which division, though possibly a necessity in +those turbulent times, would yet seem to have been an unwise thing, +since it led to civil wars and rivalries, and struggles for supremacy. +It is a mistake to divide a great empire, unless mechanism is worn out, +and a central power is impossible. The tendency of modern civilization +is to a union of States, when their language and interests and +institutions are identical. Yet Diocletian was wearied and oppressed by +the burdens of State, and retired disgusted, dividing the Empire into +two parts, the Eastern and Western. But there were subdivisions in +consequence, and civil wars; and had the policy of Diocletian been +continued, the Empire might have been subdivided, like Charlemagne's, +until central power would have been destroyed, as in the Middle Ages. +But Constantine aimed at a general union of the East and West once +again, partly from the desire of centralization, and partly from +ambition. The military career of Constantine for about seventeen years +was directed to the establishment of his power in Britain, to the +reunion of the Empire, and the subjugation of his colleagues,--a long +series of disastrous civil wars. These wars are without poetic +interest,--in this respect unlike the wars between Caesar and Pompey, +and that between Octavius and Antony. The wars of Caesar inaugurated the +imperial régime when the Empire was young and in full vigor, and when +military discipline was carried to perfection; those of Constantine +were in the latter days of the Empire, when it was impossible to +reanimate it, and all things were tending rapidly to dissolution,--an +exceedingly gloomy period, when there were neither statesmen nor +philosophers nor poets nor men of genius, of historic fame, outside the +Church. Therefore I shall not dwell on these uninteresting wars, brought +about by the ambition of six different emperors, all of whom were aiming +for undivided sovereignty. There were in the West Maximian, the old +colleague of Diocletian, who had resigned with him, but who had +reassumed the purple; his son, Maxentius, elevated by the Roman Senate +and the Praetorian Guard,--a dissolute and imbecile young man, who +reigned over Italy; and Constantine, who possessed Gaul and Britain. In +the East were Galerius, who had married the daughter of Diocletian, and +who was a general of considerable ability; Licinius, who had the +province of Illyricum; and Maximin, who reigned over Syria and Egypt. + +The first of these emperors who was disposed of was Maximian, the father +of Maxentius and father-in-law of Constantine. He was regarded as a +usurper, and on the capture of Marseilles, he under pressure of +Constantine committed suicide by strangulation, A.D. 310. Galerius did +not long survive, being afflicted with a loathsome disease, the result +of intemperance and gluttony, and died in his palace in Nicomedia, in +Bithynia, the capital of the Eastern provinces. The next emperor who +fell was Maxentius, after a desperate struggle in Italy with +Constantine,--whose passage over the Alps, and successive victories at +Susa (at the foot of Mont Cenis, on the plains of Turin), at Verona, and +Saxa Rubra, nine miles from Rome, from which Maxentius fled, only to +perish in the Tiber, remind us of the campaigns of Hannibal and +Napoleon. The triumphal arch which the victor erected at Rome to +commemorate his victories still remains as a monument of the decline of +Art in the fourth century. As a result of the conquest over Maxentius, +the Praetorian guards were finally abolished, which gave a fatal blow to +the Senate, and left the capital disarmed and exposed to future insults +and dangers. + +The next emperor who disappeared from the field was Maximin, who had +embarked in a civil war with Licinius. He died at Tarsus, after an +unsuccessful contest, A.D. 313; and there were left only Licinius and +Constantine,--the former of whom reigned in the East and the latter in +the West. Scarcely a year elapsed before these two emperors embarked in +a bloody contest for the sovereignty of the world. Licinius was beaten, +but was allowed the possession of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. +A hollow reconciliation was made between them, which lasted eight years, +during which Constantine was engaged in the defence of his empire from +the hostile attacks of the Goths in Illyricum. He gained great +victories over these barbarians, and chased them beyond the Danube. He +then turned against Licinius, and the bloody battle of Adrianople, A.D. +323, when three hundred thousand combatants were engaged, followed by a +still more bloody one on the heights of Chrysopolis, A.D. 324, made +Constantine supreme master of the Empire thirty-seven years after +Diocletian had divided his power with Maximian. + +The great events of his reign as sole emperor, with enormous prestige as +a general, second only to that of Julius Caesar, were the foundation of +Constantinople and the establishment of Christianity as the religion of +the Empire. + +The ancient Byzantium, which Constantine selected as the new capital of +his Empire, had been no inconsiderable city for nearly one thousand +years, being founded only ninety-seven years after Rome itself. Yet, +notwithstanding its magnificent site,--equally favorable for commerce +and dominion,--its advantages were not appreciated until the genius of +Constantine selected it as the one place in his vast dominions which +combined a central position and capacities for defence against invaders. +It was also a healthy locality, being exposed to no malarial poisons, +like the "Eternal City." It was delightfully situated, on the confines +of Europe and Asia, between the Euxine and the Mediterranean, on a +narrow peninsula washed by the Sea of Marmora and the beautiful harbor +called the Golden Horn, inaccessible from Asia except by water, while it +could be made impregnable on the west. The narrow waters of the +Hellespont and the Bosporus, the natural gates of the city, could be +easily defended against hostile fleets both from the Euxine and the +Mediterranean, leaving the Propontis (the deep, well-harbored body of +water lying between the two straits, in modern times called the Sea of +Marmora) with an inexhaustible supply of fish, and its shores lined with +vineyards and gardens. Doubtless this city is more favored by nature for +commerce, for safety, and for dominion, than any other spot on the face +of the earth; and we cannot wonder that Russia should cast greedy eyes +upon it as one of the centres of its rapidly increasing Empire. This +beautiful site soon rivalled the old capital of the Empire in riches and +population, for Constantine promised great privileges to those who would +settle in it; and he ransacked and despoiled the cities of Italy, +Greece, and Asia Minor of what was most precious in Art to make his new +capital attractive, and to ornament his new palaces, churches, and +theatres. In this Grecian city he surrounded himself with Asiatic pomp +and ceremonies. He assumed the titles of Eastern monarchs. His palace +was served and guarded with a legion of functionaries that made access +to his person difficult. He created a new nobility, and made infinite +gradations of rank, perpetuated by the feudal monarchs of Europe. He +gave pompous names to his officers, both civil and military, using +expressions still in vogue in European courts, like "Your Excellency," +"Your Highness," and "Your Majesty,"--names which the emperors who had +reigned at Rome had uniformly disdained. He cut himself loose from all +the traditions of the past, especially all relics of republicanism. He +divided the civil government of the Empire into thirteen great dioceses, +and these he subdivided into one hundred and sixteen provinces. He +separated the civil from the military functions of governors. He +installed eunuchs in his palace, to wait upon his person and perform +menial offices. He made his chamberlain one of the highest officers of +State. He guarded his person by bodies of cavalry and infantry. He +clothed himself in imposing robes; elaborately arranged his hair; wore a +costly diadem; ornamented his person with gems and pearls, with collars +and bracelets. He lived, in short, more like a Heliogabalus than a +Trajan or an Aurelian. All traces of popular liberty were effaced. All +dignities and honors and offices emanated from him. The Caesars had been +absolute monarchs, but disguised their power. Constantine made an +ostentatious display of his. Moreover he increased the burden of +taxation throughout the Empire. The last fourteen years of his reign +was a period of apparent prosperity, but the internal strength of the +Empire and the character of the emperor sadly degenerated. He became +effeminate, and committed crimes which sullied his fame. He executed his +oldest son on mere suspicion of crime, and on a charge of infidelity +even put to death the wife with whom he had lived for twenty years, and +who was the mother of future emperors. + +But if he had great faults he had also great virtues. No emperor since +Augustus had a more enlightened mind, and no one ever reigned at Rome +who, in one important respect, did so much for the cause of +civilization. Constantine is most lauded as the friend and promoter of +Christianity. It is by his service to the Church that he has won the +name of the first Christian emperor. His efforts in behalf of the Church +throw into the shade all the glory he won as a general and as a +statesman. The real interest of his reign centres in his Christian +legislation, and in those theological controversies in which he +interfered. With Constantine began the enthronement of Christianity, and +for one thousand years what is most vital in European history is +connected with Christian institutions and doctrines. + +It was when he was marching against Maxentius that his conversion to +Christianity took place, A.D. 312, when he was thirty-eight, in the +sixth year of his reign. Up to this period he was a zealous Pagan, and +made magnificent offerings to the gods of his ancestors, and erected +splendid temples, especially in honor of Apollo. The turn of his mind +was religious, or, as we are taught by modern science to say, +superstitious. He believed in omens, dreams, visions, and supernatural +influences. + +Now it was in a very critical period of his campaign against his Pagan +rival, on the eve of an important battle, as he was approaching Rome for +the first time, filled with awe of its greatness and its recollections, +that he saw--or fancied he saw--a little after noon, just above the sun +which he worshipped, a bright Cross, with this inscription, [Greek: En +touto nika]--"In this conquer;" and in the following night, when sleep +had overtaken him, he dreamed that Christ appeared to him, and enjoined +him to make a banner in the shape of the celestial sign which he had +seen. Such is the legend, unhesitatingly received for centuries, yet +which modern critics are not disposed to accept as a miracle, although +attested by Eusebius, and confirmed by the emperor himself on oath. +Whether some supernatural sign really appeared or not, or whether some +natural phenomenon appeared in the heavens in the form of an illuminated +Cross, it is not worth while to discuss. We know this, however, that if +the greatest religious revolution of antiquity was worthy to be +announced by special signs and wonders, it was when a Roman emperor of +extraordinary force of character declared his intention to acknowledge +and serve the God of the persecuted Christians. The miracle rests on the +authority of a single bishop, as sacredly attested by the emperor, in +whom he saw no fault; but the fact of the conversion remains as one of +the most signal triumphs of Christianity, and the conversion itself was +the most noted and important in its results since that of Saul of +Tarsus. It may have been from conviction, and it may have been from +policy. It may have been merely that he saw, in the vigorous vitality of +the Christian principle of devotion to a single Person, a healthier +force for the unification of his great empire than in the disintegrating +vices of Paganism. But, whatever his motive, his action stirred up the +enthusiasm of a body of men which gave the victory of the Milvian +Bridge. All that was vital in the Empire was found among the +Christians,--already a powerful and rising party, that persecution could +not put down. Constantine became the head and leader of this party, +whose watchword ever since has been "Conquer," until all powers and +principalities and institutions are brought under the influence of the +gospel. So far as we know, no one has ever doubted the sincerity of +Constantine. Whatever were his faults, especially that of gluttony, +which he was never able to overcome, he was ever afterwards strict and +fervent in his devotions. He employed his evenings in the study of the +Scriptures, as Marcus Aurelius meditated on the verities of a spiritual +life after the fatigues and dangers of the day. He was not so good a man +as was the pious Antoninus, who would, had _he_ been converted to +Christianity, have given to it a purer and loftier legislation. It may +be doubted whether Aurelius would have made popes of bishops, or would +have invested metaphysical distinctions in theology with so great an +authority. But the magnificent patronage which Constantine gave to the +clergy was followed by greater and more enlightened sovereigns than +he,--by Theodosius, by Charlemagne, and by Alfred; while the dogmas +which were defended by Athanasius with such transcendent ability at the +council where the emperor presided in person, formed an anchor to the +faith in the long and dreary period when barbarism filled Europe with +desolation and fear. + +Constantine, as a Roman emperor, exercised the supreme right of +legislation,--the highest prerogative of men in power. So that his acts +as legislator naturally claim our first notice. His edicts were laws +which could not be gainsaid or resisted. They were like the laws of the +Medes and Persians, except that they could be repealed or modified. + +One of the first things he did after his conversion was to issue an +edict of toleration, which secured the Christians from any further +persecution,--an act of immeasurable benefit to humanity, yet what any +man would naturally have done in his circumstances. If he could have +inaugurated the reign of toleration for all religious opinions, he would +have been a still greater benefactor. But it was something to free a +persecuted body of believers who had been obliged to hide or suffer for +two hundred years. By the edict of Milan, A.D. 313, he secured the +revenues as well as the privileges of the Church, and restored to the +Christians the lands and houses of which they had been stripped by the +persecution of Diocletian. Eight years later he allowed persons to +bequeath property to Christian institutions and churches. He assigned in +every city an allowance of corn in behalf of charities to the poor. He +confirmed the clergy in the right of being tried in their own courts and +by their peers, when accused of crime,--a great privilege in the fourth +century, but a great abuse in the fourteenth. The arbitration of bishops +had the force of positive law, and judges were instructed to execute the +episcopal decrees. He transferred to the churches the privilege of +sanctuary granted to those fleeing from justice in the Mosaic +legislation. He ordained that Sunday should be set apart for religious +observances in all the towns and cities of the Empire. He abolished +crucifixion as a punishment. He prohibited gladiatorial games. He +discouraged slavery, infanticide, and easy divorces. He allowed the +people to choose their own ministers, nor did he interfere in the +election of bishops. He exempted the clergy from all services to the +State, from all personal taxes, and all municipal duties. He seems to +have stood in awe of bishops, and to have treated them with great +veneration and respect, giving to them lands and privileges, enriching +their churches with ornaments, and securing to the clergy an ample +support. So prosperous was the Church under his beneficence, that the +average individual income of the eighteen hundred bishops of the Empire +has been estimated by Gibbon at three thousand dollars a year, when +money was much more valuable than it is in our times. + +In addition to his munificent patronage of the clergy, Constantine was +himself deeply interested in all theological affairs and discussions. He +convened and presided over the celebrated Council of Nicaea, or Nice, as +it is usually called, composed of three hundred and eighteen bishops, +and of two thousand and forty-eight ecclesiastics of lesser note, +listening to their debates and following their suggestions. The +Christian world never saw a more imposing spectacle than this great +council, which was convened to settle the creed of the Church. It met in +a spacious basilica, where the emperor, arrayed in his purple and silk +robes, with a diadem of precious jewels on his head, and a voice of +gentleness and softness, and an air of supreme majesty, exhorted the +assembled theologians to unity and concord. + +The vital question discussed by this magnificent and august assembly +was metaphysical as well as religious; yet it was the question of the +age, on which everybody talked, in public and in private, and which was +deemed of far greater importance than any war or any affair of State. +The interest in this subject seems strange to many, in an age when +positive science and material interests have so largely crowded out +theological discussions. But the doctrine of the Trinity was as vital +and important in the eyes of the divines of the fourth century as that +of Justification by Faith was to the Germans when they assembled in the +great hall of the Electoral palace of Leipsic to hear Luther and Dr. Eck +advocate their separate sides. + +In the time of Constantine everything pertaining to Christianity and the +affairs of the Church became invested with supreme importance. All other +subjects and interests were secondary, certainly among the Christians +themselves. As redemption is the central point of Christianity, public +preaching and teaching had been directed chiefly, at first, to the +passion, death, and resurrection of the Saviour of the world. Then came +discussions and controversies, naturally, about the person of Christ and +his relation to the Godhead. Among the early followers of our Lord there +had been no pride of reason and a very simple creed. Least of all did +they seek to explain the mysteries of their faith by metaphysical +reasoning. Their doctrines were not brought to the test of philosophy. +It was enough for these simple and usually unimportant and unlettered +people to accept generally accredited facts. It was enough that Christ +had suffered and died for them, in his boundless love, and that their +souls would be saved in consequence. And as to doctrines, all they +sought to know was what our Lord and his apostles said. Hence there was +among them no system of theology, as we understand it, beyond the +Apostles' Creed. But in the early part of the second century Justin +Martyr, a converted philosopher, devoted much labor to a metaphysical +development of the doctrine drawn from the expressions of the Apostle +John in reference to the Logos, or Word, as identical with the Son. + +In the third century the whole Church was agitated by the questions +which grew out of the relations between the Father and the Son. From the +person of Christ--so dear to the Church--the discussion naturally passed +to the Trinity. Then arose the great Alexandrian school of theology, +which attempted to explain and harmonize the revealed truths of the +Bible by Grecian dialectics. Hence interminable disputes among divines +and scholars, as to whether the Father and the Logos were one; whether +the Son was created or uncreated; whether or not he was subordinate to +the Father; whether the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were distinct, or +one in essence. Origen, Clement, and Dionysius were the most famous of +the doctors who discussed these points. All classes of Christians were +soon attracted by them. They formed the favorite subjects of +conversation, as well as of public teaching. Zeal in discussion created +acrimony and partisan animosity. Things were lost sight of, and words +alone prevailed. Sects and parties arose. The sublime efforts of such +men as Justin and Clement to soar to a knowledge of God were perverted +to vain disputations in reference to the relations between the three +persons of the Godhead. + +Alexandria was the centre of these theological agitations, being then, +perhaps, the most intellectual city in the Empire. It was filled with +Greek philosophers and scholars and artists, and had the largest library +in the world. It had the most famous school of theology, the learned and +acute professors of which claimed to make theology a science. Philosophy +became wedded to theology, and brought the aid of reason to explain the +subjects of faith. + +Among the noted theologians of this Christian capital was a presbyter +who preached in the principal church. His name was Arius, and he was the +most popular preacher of the city. He was a tall, spare man, handsome, +eloquent, with a musical voice and earnest manner. He was the idol of +fashionable women and cultivated men. He was also a poet, like Abélard, +and popularized his speculations on the Trinity. He was as reproachless +in morals as Dr. Channing or Theodore Parker; ascetic in habits and +dress; bold, acute, and plausible; but he shocked the orthodox party by +such sayings as these: "God was not always Father; once he was not +Father; afterwards he became Father." He affirmed, in substance, that +the Son was created by the Father, and hence was inferior in power and +dignity. He did not deny the Trinity, any more than Abélard did in after +times; but his doctrines, pushed out to their logical sequence, were a +virtual denial of the divinity of Christ. If he were created, he was a +creature, and, of course, not God. A created being cannot be the Supreme +Creator. He may be commissioned as a divine and inspired teacher, but he +cannot be God himself. Now his bishop, Alexander, maintained that the +Son (Logos, or Word) is eternally of the same essence as the Father, +uncreated, and therefore equal with the Father. Seeing the foundation of +the faith, as generally accepted, undermined, he caused Arius to be +deposed by a synod of bishops. But the daring presbyter was not +silenced, and obtained powerful and numerous adherents. Men of +influence--like Eusebius the historian--tried to compromise the +difficulties for the sake of unity; and some looked on the discussion as +a war of words, which did not affect salvation. In time the bitterness +of the dispute became a scandal. It was deemed disgraceful for +Christians to persecute each other for dogmas which could not be settled +except by authority, and in the discussion of which metaphysics so +strongly entered. Alexander thought otherwise. He regarded the +speculations of Arius as heretical, as derogating from the supreme +allegiance which was due to Christ. He thought that the very foundations +of Christianity were being undermined. + +No one was more disturbed by these theological controversies than the +Emperor himself. He was a soldier, and not a metaphysician; and, as +Emperor, he was Pontifex Maximus,--head of the Church. He hated these +contentions between good and learned men. He felt that they compromised +the interests of the Church universal, of which he was the protector. +Therefore he despatched Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, in Spain,--in whom he +had great confidence, who was in fact his ecclesiastical adviser,--to +both Alexander and Arius, to bring about a reconciliation. As well +reconcile Luther with Dr. Eck, or Pascal with the Jesuits! The divisions +widened. The party animosities increased. The Church was rent in twain. +Metaphysical divinity destroyed Christian union and charity. So +Constantine summoned the first general council in Church history to +settle the disputed points, and restore harmony and unity. It convened +at Nicaea, or Nice, in Asia Minor, not far from Constantinople. + +Arius, as the author of all the troubles, was of course present at the +council. As a presbyter he could speak, but not vote. He was sixty years +of age, and in the height of his power and fame, and he was able +in debate. + +But there was one man in the assembly on whom all eyes were soon riveted +as the greatest theologian and logician that had arisen in the Church +since the apostolic age. He was archdeacon to the bishop of Alexandria, +--a lean, attenuated man, small in stature, with fiery eye, haughty air, +and impetuous eloquence. His name was Athanasius,--neither Greek nor +Roman, but a Coptic African. He was bitterly opposed to Arius and his +doctrines. No one could withstand his fervor and his logic. He was like +Bernard at the council of Soissons. He was not a cold, dry, +unimpassioned impersonation of mere intellect, like Thomas Aquinas or +Calvin, but more like St. Augustine,--another African, warm, religious, +profound, with human passions, but lofty soul. He also had that +intellectual pride and dogmatism which afterward marked Bossuet. For two +months he appealed to the assembly, and presented the consequences of +the new heresy. With his slight figure, his commanding intellectual +force, his conservative tendencies, his clearness of statement, his +logical exactness and fascinating persuasiveness, he was to churchmen +what Alexander Hamilton was to statesmen. He gave a constitution to the +Church, and became a theological authority scarcely less than Augustine +in the next generation, or Lainez at the Council of Trent. + +And the result of the deliberations of that famous council led by +Athanasius,--although both Hosius and Eusebius of Caesarea had more +prelatic authority and dignity than he,--was the Nicene Creed. Who can +estimate the influence of those formulated doctrines? They have been +accepted for fifteen hundred years as the standard of the orthodox +faith, in both Catholic and Protestant churches,--not universally +accepted, for Arianism still has its advocates, under new names, and +probably will have so long as the received doctrines of Christianity are +subjected to the test of reason. Outward unity was, however, restored to +the Church, both by prelatic and imperial authority, although learned +and intellectual men continued to speculate and to doubt. The human mind +cannot be chained. But it was a great thing to establish a creed which +the Christian world could accept in the rude and ignorant ages which +succeeded the destruction of the old civilization. That creed was the +anchor of religious faith in the Middle Ages. It is still retained in +the liturgies of Christendom. + +It is not my province to criticise the Nicene Creed, which is virtually +the old Apostles' Creed, with the addition of the Trinity, as defined by +Athanasius. The subject is too complicated and metaphysical. It is +allied with questions concerning which men have always differed and ever +will differ. Although the Alexandrian divines invoked the aid of reason, +it is a matter which reason cannot settle. It is a matter to be +received, if received at all, as a mystery which is insoluble. It +belongs to the realm of faith and authority. And the realms of faith and +reason are eternally distinct. As metaphysics cannot solve material +phenomena, so reason cannot explain subjects which do not appeal to +consciousness. Bacon was a great benefactor when he separated the world +of physical Nature from the world of Mind; and Pascal was equally a +profound philosopher when he showed that faith could not take cognizance +of science, nor science of faith. The blending of distinct realms has +ever been attended with scepticism. "Canst thou by searching find out +God?" What He has revealed for our acceptance should not be confounded +with truths to be settled by inquiry. It is a legitimate yet underrated +department of Christian inquiry to establish the authenticity and +meaning of texts of Scripture from which deductions are made. If the +premises are wrong, confusion and error are the result. We must be sure +of the premises on which theological dogmas are based. If as much time +and genius and learning had been expended in unravelling the meaning of +Scripture declarations as have been spent in theological deductions and +metaphysical distinctions, we should have had a more universally +accepted faith. Happily, in our day, the aspirations and ambitions of +exact scholarship are more and more directed to the elucidation of the +sacred Scriptures of Christianity. Exegesis and philosophy alike appeal +to the intellect; but the one can be so aided by learning that the truth +can be reached, while the other pushes the inquirer into an unfathomable +sea of difficulties. All moral truths are so bounded and involved with +other moral truths that they seem to qualify the meaning of each other. +Almost any assumed truth in religion, when pushed to its utmost logical +sequence, appears to involve absurdities. The "divine justice" of +theologians ends, by severe logical sequences, in apparent injustice, +and "divine mercy" in the sweeping away of all retribution. + +It may not unreasonably be asked, Has not theology attempted too much? +Has it solved the truths for the solution of which it borrowed the aid +of reason, and has it not often made a religion which is based on +deductions and metaphysical distinctions as imperative as a religion +based on simple declarations? Has it not appealed to the head, when it +should have appealed to the heart and conscience; and thus has not +religion often been cold and dry and polemical, when it should have been +warm, fervent, and simple? Such seem to have been some of the effects of +the Trinitarian controversy between Athanasius and Arius, and their +respective followers even to our own times. A belief in the unity of +God, as distinguished from polytheism, has been made no more imperative +than a belief in the supposed relations between the Father and the Son. +The real mission of Christ, to save souls, with all the glorious peace +which salvation procures, has often been lost sight of in the covenant +supposed to have been made between the Father and the Son. Nothing could +exceed the acrimony of the Nicene Fathers in their opposition to those +who could not accept their deductions. And the more subtile the +distinctions the more violent were the disputes; until at last religious +persecution marked the conduct of Christians towards each other,--as +fierce almost as the persecutions they had suffered from the Pagans. And +so furious was the strife between those theological disputants, +estimable in other respects as were their characters, that even the +Emperor Constantine at last lost all patience and banished Athanasius +himself to a Gaulish city, after he had promoted him to the great See of +Alexandria as a reward for his services to the Church at the Council of +Nice. To Constantine the great episcopal theologian was simply +"turbulent," "haughty," "intractable." + +With the establishment of the doctrine of the Trinity by the Council of +Nice, the interest in the reign of Constantine ceases, although he lived +twelve years after it. His great work as a Christian emperor was to +unite the Church with the State. He did not elevate the Church above the +State; that was the work of the Mediaeval Popes. But he gave external +dignity to the clergy, of whom he was as great a patron as Charlemagne. +He himself was a sort of imperial Pope, attending to things spiritual as +well as to things temporal. His generosity to the Church made him an +object of universal admiration to prelates and abbots and ecclesiastical +writers. In this munificent patronage he doubtless secularized the +Church, and gave to the clergy privileges they afterwards abused, +especially in the ecclesiastical courts. But when the condition of the +Teutonic races in barbaric times is considered, his policy may have +proved beneficent. Most historians consider that the elevation of the +clergy to an equality with barons promoted order and law, especially in +the absence of central governments. If Constantine made a mistake in +enriching and exalting the clergy, it was endorsed by Charlemagne +and Alfred. + +After a prosperous and brilliant reign of thirty-one years, the emperor +died in the year 337, in the suburbs of Nicomedia, which Diocletian had +selected as the capital of the East. In great pomp, and amid expressions +of universal grief, his body was transferred to the city he had built +and called by his name; it was adorned with every symbol of grandeur and +power, deposited on a golden bed, and buried in a consecrated church, +which was made the sepulchre of the Greek emperors until the city was +taken by the Turks. The sacred rite of baptism by which Constantine was +united with the visible Church, strange to say, was not administered +until within a few days before his death. + +No emperor has received more praises than Constantine. He was fortunate +in his biographers, who saw nothing to condemn in a prince who made +Christianity the established religion of the Empire. If not the +greatest, he was one of the greatest, of all the absolute monarchs who +controlled the destinies of over one hundred millions of subjects. If +not the best of the emperors, he was one of the best, as sovereigns are +judged. I do not see in his character any extraordinary magnanimity or +elevation of sentiment, or gentleness, or warmth of affection. He had +great faults and great virtues, as strong men are apt to have. If he was +addicted to the pleasures of the table, he was chaste and continent in +his marital relations. He had no mistresses, like Julius Caesar and +Louis XIV. He had a great reverence for the ordinances of the Christian +religion. His life, in the main, was as decorous as it was useful. He +was a very successful man, but he was also a very ambitious man; and an +ambitious man is apt to be unscrupulous and cruel. Though he had to deal +with bigots, he was not himself fanatical. He was tolerant and +enlightened. His most striking characteristic was policy. He was one of +the most politic sovereigns that ever lived,--like Henry IV. of France, +forecasting the future, as well as balancing the present. He could not +have decreed such a massacre as that of Thessalonica, or have revoked +such an edict as that of Nantes. Nor could he have stooped to such a +penance as Ambrose inflicted on Theodosius, or given his conscience to a +Father Le Tellier. He tried to do right, not because it was right, like +Marcus Aurelius, but because it was wise and expedient; he was a +Christian, because he saw that Christianity was a better religion than +Paganism, not because he craved a lofty religious life; he was a +theologian, after the pattern of Queen Elizabeth, because theological +inquiries and disputations were the fashion of the day; but when +theologians became rampant and arrogant he put them down, and dictated +what they should believe. He was comparatively indifferent to slaughter, +else he would not have spent seventeen years of his life in civil war, +in order to be himself supreme. He cared little for the traditions of +the Empire, else he would not have transferred his capital to the banks +of the Bosporus. He was more like Peter the Great than like Napoleon +I.; yet he was a better man than either, and bestowed more benefits on +the world than both together, and is to be classed among the greatest +benefactors that ever sat upon the throne. + +AUTHORITIES. + +The original authorities of the life of Constantine are Eusebius, Bishop +of Caesarea, his friend and admirer; also Hosius, of Cordova. The +ecclesiastical histories of Socrates, Theodoret, Zosimus, and Sozomen +are dry, but the best we have of that age. The lives of Athanasius and +Arius should be read in connection. Gibbon is very full and exhaustive +on this period. So is Tillemont, who was an authority to Gibbon. Milman +has written, in his interesting history of the Church, a fine notice of +Constantine, and so has Stanley. The German Church histories, especially +that of Neander, should be read; also, Cardinal Newman's History of the +Arians. I need not remind the reader of the innumerable tracts and +treatises on the doctrine of the Trinity. They comprise half the +literature of the Middle Ages as well as of the Fathers. In a lecture I +can only glance at some of the vital points. + + + +PAULA. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 347-404. + +WOMAN AS FRIEND. + +The subject of this lecture is Paula, an illustrious Roman lady of rank +and wealth, whose remarkable friendship for Saint Jerome, in the latter +part of the fourth century, has made her historical. If to her we do not +date the first great change in the social relations of man with woman, +yet she is the most memorable example that I can find of that exalted +sentiment which Christianity called out in the intercourse of the sexes, +and which has done more for the elevation of society than any other +sentiment except that of religion itself. + +Female friendship, however, must ever have adorned and cheered the +world; it naturally springs from the depths of a woman's soul. However +dark and dismal society may have been under the withering influences of +Paganism, it is probable that glorious instances could be chronicled of +the devotion of woman to man and of man to woman, which was not +intensified by the passion of love. Nevertheless, the condition of +women in the Pagan world, even with all the influences of civilization, +was unfavorable to that sentiment which is such a charm in social life. + +The Pagan woman belonged to her husband or her father rather than to +herself. As more fully shown in the discussion of Cleopatra, she was +universally regarded as inferior to man, and made to be his slave. She +was miserably educated; she was secluded from intercourse with +strangers; she was shut up in her home; she was given in marriage +without her consent; she was guarded by female slaves; she was valued +chiefly as a domestic servant, or as an animal to prevent the extinction +of families; she was seldom honored; she was doomed to household +drudgeries as if she were capable of nothing higher; in short, her lot +was hard, because it was unequal, humiliating, and sometimes degrading, +making her to be either timorous, frivolous, or artful. Her amusements +were trivial, her taste vitiated, her education neglected, her rights +violated, her aspirations scorned. The poets represented her as +capricious, fickle, and false. She rose only to fall; she lived only to +die. She was a victim, a toy, or a slave. Bedizened or burdened, she was +either an object of degrading admiration or of cold neglect. + +The Jewish women seem to have been more favored and honored than women +were in Greece or Rome, even in the highest periods of their +civilization. But in Jewish history woman was the coy maiden, or the +vigilant housekeeper, or the ambitious mother, or the intriguing wife, +or the obedient daughter, or the patriotic song-stress, rather than the +sympathetic friend. Though we admire the beautiful Rachel, or the heroic +Deborah, or the virtuous Abigail, or the affectionate Ruth, or the +fortunate Esther, or the brave Judith, or the generous Shunamite, we do +not find in the Rachels and Esthers the hallowed ministrations of the +Marys, the Marthas and the Phoebes, until Christianity had developed the +virtues of the heart and kindled the loftier sentiments of the soul. +Then woman became not merely the gentle nurse and the prudent housewife +and the disinterested lover, but a _friend_, an angel of consolation, +the equal of man in character, and his superior in the virtues of the +heart and soul. It was not till then that she was seen to have those +qualities which extort veneration, and call out the deepest sympathy, +whenever life is divested of its demoralizing egotisms. The original +beatitudes of the Garden of Eden returned, and man awoke from the deep +sleep of four thousand years, to discover, with Adam, that woman was a +partner for whom he should resign all the other attachments of life; and +she became his star of worship and his guardian angel amid the +entanglements of sin and cares of toil. + +I would not assert that there were not noble exceptions to the +frivolities and slaveries to which women were generally doomed in Pagan +Greece and Rome. Paganism records the fascinations of famous women who +could allure the greatest statesmen and the wisest moralists to their +charmed circle of admirers,--of women who united high intellectual +culture with physical beauty. It tells us of Artemisia, who erected to +her husband a mausoleum which was one of the wonders of the world; of +Telesilla, the poetess, who saved Argos by her courage; of Hipparchia, +who married a deformed and ugly cynic, in order that she might make +attainments in learning and philosophy; of Phantasia, who wrote a poem +on the Trojan war, which Homer himself did not disdain to utilize; of +Sappho, who invented a new measure in lyric poetry, and who was so +highly esteemed that her countrymen stamped their money with her image; +of Volumnia, screening Rome from the vengeance of her angry son; of +Servilia, parting with her jewels to secure her father's liberty; of +Sulpicia, who fled from the luxuries of Rome to be a partner of the +exile of her husband; of Hortensia, pleading for justice before the +triumvirs in the market-place; of Octavia, protecting the children of +her rival Cleopatra; of Lucretia, destroying herself rather than survive +the dishonor of her house; of Cornelia, inciting her sons, the Gracchi, +to deeds of patriotism; and many other illustrious women. We read of +courage, fortitude, patriotism, conjugal and parental love; but how +seldom do we read of those who were capable of an exalted friendship for +men, without provoking scandal or exciting rude suspicion? Who among the +poets paint friendship without love; who among them extol women, unless +they couple with their praises of mental and moral qualities a mention +of the delights of sensual charms and of the joys of wine and banquets? +Poets represent the sentiments of an age or people; and the poets of +Greece and Rome have almost libelled humanity itself by their bitter +sarcasms, showing how degraded the condition of woman was under Pagan +influences. + +Now, I select Paula, to show that friendship--the noblest sentiment in +woman--was not common until Christianity had greatly modified the +opinions and habits of society; and to illustrate how indissolubly +connected this noble sentiment is with the highest triumphs of an +emancipating religion. Paula was a highly favored as well as a highly +gifted woman. She was a descendant of the Scipios and the Gracchi, and +was born A.D. 347, at Rome, ten years after the death of the Great +Constantine who enthroned Christianity, but while yet the social forces +of the empire were entangled in the meshes of Paganism. She was married +at seventeen to Toxotius, of the still more illustrious Julian family. +She lived on Mount Aventine, in great magnificence. She owned, it is +said, a whole city in Italy. She was one of the richest women of +antiquity, and belonged to the very highest rank of society in an +aristocratic age. Until her husband died, she was not distinguished from +other Roman ladies of rank, except for the splendor of her palace and +the elegance of her life. It seems that she was first won to +Christianity by the virtues of the celebrated Marcella, and she hastened +to enroll herself, with her five daughters, as pupils of this learned +woman, at the same time giving up those habits of luxury which thus far +had characterized her, together with most ladies of her class. On her +conversion, she distributed to the poor the quarter part of her immense +income,--charity being one of the forms which religion took in the early +ages of Christianity. Nor was she contented to part with the splendor of +her ordinary life. She became a nurse of the miserable and the sick; and +when they died she buried them at her own expense. She sought out and +relieved distress wherever it was to be found. + +But her piety could not escape the asceticism of the age; she lived on +bread and a little oil, wasted her body with fastings, dressed like a +servant, slept on a mat of straw, covered herself with haircloth, and +denied herself the pleasures to which she had been accustomed; she +would not even take a bath. The Catholic historians have unduly +magnified these virtues; but it was the type which piety then assumed, +arising in part from a too literal interpretation of the injunctions of +Christ. We are more enlightened in these times, since modern Christian +civilization seeks to solve the problem how far the pleasures of this +world may be reconciled with the pleasures of the world to come. But the +Christians of the fourth century were more austere, like the original +Puritans, and made but little account of pleasures which weaned them +from the contemplation of God and divine truth, and chained them to the +triumphal car of a material and infidel philosophy. As the great and +besetting sin of the Jews before the Captivity was idolatry, which thus +was the principal subject of rebuke from the messengers of +Omnipotence,--the one thing which the Jews were warned to avoid; as +hypocrisy and Pharisaism and a technical and legal piety were the +greatest vices to be avoided when Christ began his teachings,--so +Epicureanism in life and philosophy was the greatest evil with which the +early Christians had to contend, and which the more eminent among them +sought to shun, like Athanasius, Basil, and Chrysostom. The asceticism +of the early Church was simply the protest against that materialism +which was undermining society and preparing the way to ruin; and hence +the loftiest type of piety assumed the form of deadly antagonism to the +luxuries and self-indulgence which pervaded every city of the empire. + +This antagonism may have been carried too far, even as the Puritan made +war on many innocent pleasures; but the spectacle of a self-indulgent +and pleasure-seeking Christian was abhorrent to the piety of those +saints who controlled the opinions of the Christian world. The world was +full of misery and poverty, and it was these evils they sought to +relieve. The leaders of Pagan society were abandoned to gains and +pleasures, which the Christians would fain rebuke by a lofty +self-denial,--even as Stoicism, the noblest remonstrance of the Pagan +intellect, had its greatest example in an illustrious Roman emperor, who +vainly sought to stem the vices which he saw were preparing the way for +the conquests of the barbarians. The historian who does not take +cognizance of the great necessities of nations, and of the remedies with +which good men seek to meet these necessities, is neither philosophical +nor just; and instead of railing at the saints,--so justly venerated and +powerful,--because they were austere and ascetic, he should remember +that only an indifference to the pleasures and luxuries which were the +fatal evils of their day could make a powerful impression even on the +masses, and make Christianity stand out in bold contrast with the +fashionable, perverse, and false doctrines which Paganism indorsed. And +I venture to predict, that if the increasing and unblushing materialism +of our times shall at last call for such scathing rebukes as the Jewish +prophets launched against the sin of idolatry, or such as Christ himself +employed when he exposed the hollowness of the piety of the men who took +the lead in religious instruction in his day, then the loftiest +characters--those whose example is most revered--will again disdain and +shun a style of life which seriously conflicts with the triumphs of a +spiritual Christianity. + +Paula was an ascetic Roman matron on her conversion, or else her +conversion would then have seemed nominal. But her nature was not +austere. She was a woman of great humanity, and distinguished for those +generous traits which have endeared Augustine to the heart of the world. +Her hospitalities were boundless; her palace was the resort of all who +were famous, when they visited the great capital of the empire. Nor did +her asceticism extinguish the natural affections of her heart. When one +of her daughters died, her grief was as immoderate as that of Bernard on +the loss of his brother. The woman was never lost in the saint. Another +interesting circumstance was her enjoyment of cultivated society, and +even of those literary treasures which imperishable art had bequeathed. +She spoke the Greek language as an English or Russian nobleman speaks +French, as a theological student understands German. Her companions were +gifted and learned women. Intimately associated with her in Christian +labors was Marcella,--a lady who refused the hand of the reigning +Consul, and yet, in spite of her duties as a leader of Christian +benevolence, so learned that she could explain intricate passages of the +Scriptures; versed equally in Greek and Hebrew; and so revered, that, +when Rome was taken by the Goths, her splendid palace on Mount Aventine +was left unmolested by the barbaric spoliators. Paula was also the +friend and companion of Albina and Marcellina, sisters of the great +Ambrose, whose father was governor of Gaul. Felicita, Principia, and +Feliciana also belonged to her circle,--all of noble birth and great +possessions. Her own daughter, Blessella, was married to a descendant of +Camillus; and even the illustrious Fabiola, whose life is so charmingly +portrayed by Cardinal Wiseman, was also a member of this chosen circle. + +It was when Rome was the field of her charities and the scene of her +virtues, when she equally blazed as a queen of society and a saint of +the most self-sacrificing duties, that Paula fell under the influence of +Saint Jerome, at that time secretary of Pope Damasus,--the most austere +and the most learned man of Christian antiquity, the great oracle of the +Latin Church, sharing with Augustine the reverence bestowed by +succeeding ages, whose translation of the Scriptures into Latin has made +him an immortal benefactor. Nor was Jerome a plebeian; he was a man of +rank and fortune,--like the more famous of the Fathers,--but gave away +his possessions to the poor, as did so many others of his day. Nothing +had been spared on his education by his wealthy Illyrian parents. At +eighteen he was sent to Rome to complete his studies. He became deeply +imbued with classic literature, and was more interested in the great +authors of Greece and Rome than in the material glories of the empire. +He lived in their ideas so completely, that in after times his +acquaintance with even the writings of Cicero was a matter of +self-reproach. Disgusted, however, with the pomps and vanities around +him, he sought peace in the consolations of Christianity. His ardent +nature impelled him to embrace the ascetic doctrines which were so +highly esteemed and venerated; he buried himself in the catacombs, and +lived like a monk. Then his inquiring nature compelled him to travel for +knowledge, and he visited whatever was interesting in Italy, Greece, and +Asia Minor, and especially Palestine, finally fixing upon Chalcis, on +the confines of Syria, as his abode. There he gave himself up to +contemplation and study, and to the writing of letters to all parts of +Christendom. These letters and his learned treatises, and especially the +fame of his sanctity, excited so much interest that Pope Damasus +summoned him back to Rome to become his counsellor and secretary. More +austere than Bossuet or Fénelon at the court of Louis XIV., he was as +accomplished, and even more learned than they. They were courtiers; he +was a spiritual dictator, ruling, not like Dunstan, by an appeal to +superstitious fears, but by learning and sanctity. In his coarse +garments he maintained his equality with princes and nobles. To the +great he appeared proud and repulsive. To the poor he was affable, +gentle, and sympathetic; they thought him as humble as the rich thought +him arrogant. + +Such a man--so learned and pious, so courtly in his manners, so eloquent +in his teachings, so independent and fearless in his spirit, so +brilliant in conversation, although tinged with bitterness and +sarcasm--became a favorite in those high circles where rank was adorned +by piety and culture. The spiritual director became a friend, and his +friendship was especially valued by Paula and her illustrious circle. +Among those brilliant and religious women he was at home, for by birth +and education he was their equal. At the house of Paula he was like +Whitefield at the Countess of Huntingdon's, or Michael Angelo in the +palace of Vittoria Colonna,--a friend, a teacher, and an oracle. + +So, in the midst of a chosen and favored circle did Jerome live, with +the bishops and the doctors who equally sought the exalted privilege of +its courtesies and its kindness. And the friendship, based on sympathy +with Christian labors, became strengthened every day by mutual +appreciation, and by that frank and genial intercourse which can exist +only with cultivated and honest people. Those high-born ladies listened +to his teachings with enthusiasm, entered into all his schemes, and gave +him most generous co-operation; not because his literary successes had +been blazed throughout the world, but because, like them, he concealed +under his coarse garments and his austere habits an ardent, earnest, +eloquent soul, with intense longings after truth, and with noble +aspirations to extend that religion which was the only hope of the +decaying empire. Like them, he had a boundless contempt for empty and +passing pleasures, for all the plaudits of the devotees to fashion; and +he appreciated their trials and temptations, and pointed out, with more +than fraternal tenderness, those insidious enemies that came in the +disguise of angels of light. Only a man of his intuitions could have +understood the disinterested generosity of those noble women, and the +passionless serenity with which they contemplated the demons they had by +grace exorcised; and it was only they, with their more delicate +organization and their innate insight, who could have entered upon his +sorrows, and penetrated the secrets he did not seek to reveal. He gave +to them his choicest hours, explained to them the mysteries, revealed +his own experiences, animated their hopes, removed their +stumbling-blocks, encouraged them in missions of charity, ignored their +mistakes, gloried in their sacrifices, and held out to them the promised +joys of the endless future. In return, they consoled him in +disappointment, shared his resentments, exulted in his triumphs, soothed +him in his toils, administered to his wants, guarded his infirmities, +relieved him from irksome details, and inspired him to exalted labors by +increasing his self-respect. Not with empty flatteries, nor idle +dalliances, nor frivolous arts did they mutually encourage and assist +each other. Sincerity and truthfulness were the first conditions of +their holy intercourse,--"the communion of saints," in which they +believed, the sympathies of earth purified by the aspirations of heaven; +and neither he nor they were ashamed to feel that such a friendship was +more precious than rubies, being sanctioned by apostles and martyrs; +nay, without which a Bethany would have been as dreary as the stalls and +tables of money-changers in the precincts of the Temple. + +A mere worldly life could not have produced such a friendship, for it +would have been ostentatious, or prodigal, or vain; allied with +sumptuous banquets, with intellectual tournaments, with selfish aims, +with foolish presents, with emotions which degenerate into passions +_Ennui_, disappointment, burdensome obligation, ultimate disgust, are +the result of what is based on the finite and the worldly, allied with +the gifts which come from a selfish heart, with the urbanities which are +equally showered on the evil and on the good, with the graces which +sometimes conceal the poison of asps. How unsatisfactory and mournful +the friendship between Voltaire and Frederic the Great, with all their +brilliant qualities and mutual flatteries! How unmeaning would have been +a friendship between Chesterfield and Dr. Johnson, even had the latter +stooped to all the arts of sycophancy! The world can only inspire its +votaries with its own idolatries. Whatever is born of vanity will end in +vanity. "Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that +mirth is heaviness." But when we seek in friends that which can +perpetually refresh and never satiate,--the counsel which maketh wise, +the voice of truth and not the voice of flattery; that which will +instruct and never degrade, the influences which banish envy and +mistrust,--then there is a precious life in it which survives all +change. In the atmosphere of admiration, respect, and sympathy suspicion +dies, and base desires pass away for lack of their accustomed +nourishment; we see defects through the glass of our own charity, with +eyes of love and pity, while all that is beautiful is rendered radiant; +a halo surrounds the mortal form, like the glory which mediaeval +artists aspired to paint in the faces of Madonnas; and adoration +succeeds to sympathy, since the excellences we admire are akin to the +perfections we adore. "The occult elements" and "latent affinities," of +which material pursuits never take cognizance, are "influences as potent +in adding a charm to labor or repose as dew or air, in the natural +world, in giving a tint to flowers or sap to vegetation." + +In that charmed circle, in which it would be difficult to say whether +Jerome or Paula presided, the aesthetic mission of woman was seen +fully,--perhaps for the first time,--which is never recognized when love +of admiration, or intellectual hardihood, or frivolous employments, or +usurped prerogatives blunt original sensibilities and sap the elements +of inward life. Sentiment proved its superiority over all the claims of +intellect,--as when Flora Macdonald effected the escape of Charles +Stuart after the fatal battle of Culloden, or when Mary poured the +spikenard on Jesus' head, and wiped his feet with the hairs of her head. +The glory of the mind yielded to the superior radiance of an admiring +soul, and equals stood out in each other's eyes as gifted superiors whom +it was no sin to venerate. Radiant in the innocence of conscious virtue, +capable of appreciating any flights of genius, holding their riches of +no account except to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, these friends +lived only to repair the evils which unbridled sin inflicted on +mankind,--glorious examples of the support which our frail nature needs, +the sun and joy of social life, perpetual benedictions, the sweet rest +of a harassed soul. + +Strange it is that such a friendship was found in the most corrupt, +conventional, luxurious city of the empire. It is not in cities that +friendships are supposed to thrive. People in great towns are too +preoccupied, too busy, too distracted to shine in those amenities which +require peace and rest and leisure. Bacon quotes the Latin adage, _Magna +civitas, magna solitudo_. It is in cities where real solitude dwells, +since friends are scattered, "and crowds are not company, and faces are +only as a gallery of pictures, and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where +there is no love." + +The history of Jerome and Paula suggests another reflection,--that the +friendship which would have immortalized them, had they not other and +higher claims to the remembrance and gratitude of mankind, rarely exists +except with equals. There must be sympathy in the outward relations of +life, as we are constituted, in order for men and women to understand +each other. Friendship is not philanthropy: it is a refined and subtile +sentiment which binds hearts together in similar labors and experiences. +It must be confessed it is exclusive, esoteric,--a sort of moral +freemasonry. Jerome, and the great bishops, and the illustrious ladies +to whom I allude, all belonged to the same social ranks. They spent +their leisure hours together, read the same books, and kindled at the +same sentiments. In their charmed circle they unbent; indulged, +perchance, in ironical sallies on the follies they alike despised. They +freed their minds, as Cicero did to Atticus; they said things to each +other which they might have hesitated to say in public, or among fools +and dunces. I can conceive that those austere people were sometimes even +merry and jocose. The ignorant would not have understood their learned +allusions; the narrow-minded might have been shocked at the treatment of +their shibboleths; the vulgar would have repelled them by coarseness; +the sensual would have disgusted them by their lower tastes. + +There can be no true harmony among friends when their sensibilities are +shocked, or their views are discrepant. How could Jerome or Paula have +discoursed with enthusiasm of the fascinations of Eastern travel to +those who had no desire to see the sacred places; or of the charms of +Grecian literature to those who could talk only in Latin; or of the +corrupting music of the poets to people of perverted taste; or of the +sublimity of the Hebrew prophets to those who despised the Jews; or of +the luxury of charity to those who had no superfluities; or of the +beatitudes of the passive virtues to soldiers; or of the mysteries of +faith to speculating rationalists; or of the greatness of the infinite +to those who lived in passing events? A Jewish prophet must have seemed +a rhapsodist to Athenian critics, and a Grecian philosopher a conceited +cynic to a converted fisherman of Galilee,--even as a boastful Darwinite +would be repulsive to a believer in the active interference of the moral +Governor of the universe. Even Luther might not have admired Michael +Angelo, any more than the great artist did the courtiers of Julius II.; +and John Knox might have denounced Lord Bacon as a Gallio for advocating +moderate measures of reform. The courtly Bossuet would not probably have +sympathized with Baxter, even when both discoursed on the eternal gulf +between reason and faith. Jesus--the wandering, weary Man of +Sorrows--loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus; but Jesus, in the hour of +supreme grief, allowed the most spiritual and intellectual of his +disciples to lean on his bosom. It was the son of a king whom David +cherished with a love surpassing the love of woman. It was to Plato that +Socrates communicated his moral wisdom; it was with cultivated youth +that Augustine surrounded himself in the gardens of Como; Caesar walked +with Antony, and Cassius with Brutus; it was to Madame de Maintenon that +Fénelon poured out the riches of his intellect, and the lofty Saint +Cyran opened to Mère Angelique the sorrows of his soul. We associate +Aspasia with Pericles; Cicero with Atticus; Héloïse with Abélard; +Hildebrand with the Countess Matilda; Michael Angelo with Vittoria +Colonna; Cardinal de Retz with the Duchess de Longueville; Dr. Johnson +with Hannah More. + +Those who have no friends delight most in the plaudits of a plebeian +crowd. A philosopher who associates with the vulgar is neither an oracle +nor a guide. A rich man's son who fraternizes with hostlers will not +long grace a party of ladies and gentlemen. A politician who shakes +hands with the rabble will lose as much in influence as he gains in +power. In spite of envy, poets cling to poets and artists to artists. +Genius, like a magnet, draws only congenial natures to itself. Had a +well-bred and titled fool been admitted into the Turk's-Head Club, he +might have been the butt of good-natured irony; but he would have been +endured, since gentlemen must live with gentlemen and scholars with +scholars, and the rivalries which alienate are not so destructive as the +grossness which repels. More genial were the festivities of a feudal +castle than any banquet between Jews and Samaritans. Had not Mrs. Thrale +been a woman of intellect and sensibility, the hospitalities she +extended to Johnson would have been as irksome as the dinners given to +Robert Hall by his plebeian parishioners; and had not Mrs. Unwin been as +refined as she was sympathetic, she would never have soothed the morbid +melancholy of Cowper, while the attentions of a fussy, fidgety, +talkative, busy wife of a London shopkeeper would have driven him +absolutely mad, even if her disposition had been as kind as that of +Dorcas, and her piety as warm as that of Phoebe. Paula was to Jerome +what Arbella Johnson was to John Winthrop, because their tastes, their +habits, their associations, and their studies were the same,--they were +equals in rank, in culture, and perhaps in intellect. + +But I would not give the impression that congenial tastes and habits and +associations formed the basis of the holy friendship between Paula and +Jerome. The fountain and life of it was that love which radiated from +the Cross,--an absorbing desire to extend the religion which saves the +world. Without this foundation, their friendship might have been +transient, subject to caprice and circumstances,--like the gay +intercourse between the wits who assembled at the Hôtel de Rambouillet, +or the sentimental affinities which bind together young men at college +or young girls at school, when their vows of undying attachment are so +often forgotten in the hard struggles or empty vanities of subsequent +life. Circumstances and affinities produced those friendships, and +circumstances or time dissolved them,--like the merry meetings of Prince +Hal and Falstaff; like the companionship of curious or _ennuied_ +travellers on the heights of Righi or in the galleries of Florence. The +cord which binds together the selfish and the worldly in the quest for +pleasure, in the search for gain, in the toil for honors, at a +bacchanalian feast, in a Presidential canvass, on a journey to +Niagara,--is a rope of sand; a truth which the experienced know, yet +which is so bitter to learn. It is profound philosophy, as well as +religious experience, which confirms this solemn truth. The soul can +repose only on the certitudes of heaven; those who are joined together +by the gospel feel alike the misery of the fall and the glory of the +restoration. The impressive earnestness which overpowers the mind when +eternal and momentous truths are the subjects of discourse binds people +together with a force of sympathy which cannot be produced by the +sublimity of a mountain or the beauty of a picture. And this enables +them to bear each other's burdens, and hide each other's faults, and +soothe each other's resentments; to praise without hypocrisy, rebuke +without malice, rejoice without envy, and assist without ostentation. +This divine sympathy alone can break up selfishness, vanity, and pride. +It produces sincerity, truthfulness, disinterestedness,--without which +any friendship will die. It is not the remembrance of pleasure which +keeps alive a friendship, but the perception of virtues. How can that +live which is based on corruption or a falsehood? Anything sensual in +friendship passes away, and leaves a residuum of self-reproach, or +undermines esteem. That which preserves undying beauty and sacred +harmony and celestial glory is wholly based on the spiritual in man, on +moral excellence, on the joys of an emancipated soul. It is not easy, in +the giddy hours of temptation or folly, to keep this truth in mind, but +it can be demonstrated by the experience of every struggling character. +The soul that seeks the infinite and imperishable can be firmly knit +only to those who live in the realm of adoration,--the adoration of +beauty, or truth, or love; and unless a man or woman _does_ prefer the +infinite to the finite, the permanent to the transient, the true to the +false, the incorruptible to the corruptible there is not even the +capacity of friendship, unless a low view be taken of it to advance our +interests, or enjoy passing pleasures which finally end in bitter +disappointments and deep disgusts. + +Moreover, there must be in lofty friendship not only congenial tastes, +and an aspiration after the imperishable and true, but some common end +which both parties strive to secure, and which they love better than +they love themselves. Without this common end, friendship might wear +itself out, or expend itself in things unworthy of an exalted purpose. +Neither brilliant conversation, nor mutual courtesies, nor active +sympathies will make social intercourse a perpetual charm. We tire of +everything, at times, except the felicities of a pure and fervid love. +But even husband and wife might tire without the common guardianship of +children, or kindred zeal in some practical aims which both alike seek +to secure; for they are helpmates as well as companions. Much more is it +necessary for those who are not tied together in connubial bonds to have +some common purpose in education, in philanthropy, in art, in religion. +Such was pre-eminently the case with Paula and Jerome. They were equally +devoted to a cause which was greater than themselves. + +And this was the extension of monastic life, which in their day was the +object of boundless veneration,--the darling scheme of the Church, +indorsed by the authority of sainted doctors and martyrs, and +resplendent in the glories of self-sacrifice and religious +contemplation. At that time its subtile contradictions were not +perceived, nor its practical evils developed. It was not a withered and +cunning hag, but a chaste and enthusiastic virgin, rejoicing in poverty +and self-denial, jubilant with songs of adoration, seeking the solution +of mysteries, wrapt in celestial reveries, yet going forth from dreary +cells to feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and still more, to give +spiritual consolations to the poor and miserable. It was a great scheme +of philanthropy, as well as a haven of rest. It was always sombre in its +attire, ascetic in its habits, intolerant in its dogmas, secluded in +its life, narrow in its views, and repulsive in its austerities; but its +leaders and dignitaries did not then conceal under their coarse raiments +either ambition, or avarice, or gluttony. They did not live in stately +abbeys, nor ride on mules with gilded bridles, nor entertain people of +rank and fashion, nor hunt heretics with fire and sword, nor dictate to +princes in affairs of state, nor fill the world with spies, nor extort +from wives the secrets of their husbands, nor peddle indulgences for +sin, nor undermine morality by a specious casuistry, nor incite to +massacres, insurrections, and wars. This complicated system of +despotism, this Protean diversified institution of beggars and +tyrants, this strange contradiction of glory in debasement and +debasement in glory (type of the greatness and littleness of man), +was not then matured, but was resplendent with virtues which extort +esteem,--chastity, poverty, and obedience, devotion to the miserable, a +lofty faith which spurned the finite, an unbounded charity amid the +wreck of the dissolving world. As I have before said, it was a protest +which perhaps the age demanded. The vow of poverty was a rebuke to that +venal and grasping spirit which made riches the end of life; the vow of +chastity was the resolution to escape that degrading sensuality which +was one of the greatest evils of the times; and the vow of obedience was +the recognition of authority amid the disintegrations of society. The +monks would show that a cell could be the blessed retreat of learning +and philosophy, and that even in a desert the soul could rise triumphant +above the privations of the body, to the contemplation of immortal +interests. + +For this exalted life, as it seemed to the saints of the fourth +century,--seclusion from a wicked world, leisure for study and repose, +and a state favorable to Christian perfection,--both Paula and Jerome +panted: he, that he might be more free to translate the Scriptures and +write his commentaries, and to commune with God; she, to minister to his +wants, stimulate his labors, enjoy the beatific visions, and set a proud +example of the happiness to be enjoyed amid barren rocks or scorching +sands. At Rome, Jerome was interrupted, diverted, disgusted. What was a +Vanity Fair, a Babel of jargons, a school for scandals, a mart of lies, +an arena of passions, an atmosphere of poisons, such as that city was, +in spite of wonders of art and trophies of victory and contributions of +genius, to a man who loved the certitudes of heaven, and sought to +escape from the entangling influences which were a hindrance to his +studies and his friendships? And what was Rome to an emancipated woman, +who scorned luxuries and demoralizing pleasure, and who was perpetually +shocked by the degradation of her sex even amid intoxicating social +triumphs, by their devotion to frivolous pleasures, love of dress and +ornament, elaborate hair-dressings, idle gossipings, dangerous +dalliances, inglorious pursuits, silly trifles, emptiness, vanity, and +sin? "But in the country," writes Jerome, "it is true our bread will be +coarse, our drink water, and our vegetables we must raise with our own +hands; but sleep will not snatch us from agreeable discourse, nor +satiety from the pleasures of study. In the summer the shade of the +trees will give us shelter, and in the autumn the falling leaves a place +of repose. The fields will be painted with flowers, and amid the +warbling of birds we will more cheerfully chant our songs of praise." + +So, filled with such desires, and possessing such simplicity of +tastes,--an enigma, I grant, to an age like ours, as indeed it may have +been to his,--Jerome bade adieu to the honors and luxuries and +excitements of the great city (without which even a Cicero languished), +and embarked at Ostia, A.D. 385, for those regions consecrated by the +sufferings of Christ. Two years afterwards, Paula, with her daughter, +joined him at Antioch, and with a numerous party of friends made an +extensive tour in the East, previous to a final settlement in Bethlehem. +They were everywhere received with the honors usually bestowed on +princes and conquerors. At Cyprus, Sidon, Ptolemais, Caesarea, and +Jerusalem these distinguished travellers were entertained by Christian +bishops, and crowds pressed forward to receive their benediction. The +Proconsul of Palestine prepared his palace for their reception, and the +rulers of every great city besought the honor of a visit. But they did +not tarry until they reached the Holy Sepulchre, until they had kissed +the stone which covered the remains of the Saviour of the world. Then +they continued their journey, ascending the heights of Hebron, visiting +the house of Mary and Martha, passing through Samaria, sailing on the +lake Tiberias, crossing the brook Cedron, and ascending the Mount of +Transfiguration. Nor did they rest with a visit to the sacred places +hallowed by associations with kings and prophets and patriarchs. They +journeyed into Egypt, and, by the route taken by Joseph and Mary in +their flight, entered the sacred schools of Alexandria, visited the +cells of Nitria, and stood beside the ruins of the temples of +the Pharaohs. + +A whole year was thus consumed by this illustrious party,--learning more +than they could in ten years from books, since every monument and relic +was explained to them by the most learned men on earth. Finally they +returned to Bethlehem, the spot which Jerome had selected for his final +resting-place, and there Paula built a convent near to the cell of her +friend, which she caused to be excavated from the solid rock. It was +there that he performed his mighty literary labors, and it was there +that his happiest days were spent. Paula was near, to supply _his_ +simple wants, and give, with other pious recluses, all the society he +required. He lived in a cave, it is true, but in a way afterwards +imitated by the penitent heroes of the Fronde in the vale of Chevreuse; +and it was not disagreeable to a man sickened with the world, absorbed +in literary labors, and whose solitude was relieved by visits from +accomplished women and illustrious bishops and scholars. Fabiola, with a +splendid train, came from Rome to listen to his wisdom. Not only did he +translate the Bible and write commentaries, but he resumed his pious and +learned correspondence with devout scholars throughout the Christian +world. Nor was he too busy to find time to superintend the studies of +Paula in Greek and Hebrew, and read to her his most precious +compositions; while she, on her part, controlled a convent, entertained +travellers from all parts of the world, and diffused a boundless +charity,--for it does not seem that she had parted with the means of +benefiting both the poor and the rich. + +Nor was this life at Bethlehem without its charms. That beautiful and +fertile town,--as it then seems to have been,--shaded with sycamores and +olives, luxurious with grapes and figs, abounding in wells of the purest +water, enriched with the splendid church that Helena had built, and +consecrated by so many associations, from David to the destruction of +Jerusalem, was no dull retreat, and presented far more attractions than +did the vale of Port Royal, where Saint Cyran and Arnauld discoursed +with the Mère Angelique on the greatness and misery of man; or the sunny +slopes of Cluny, where Peter the Venerable sheltered and consoled the +persecuted Abélard. No man can be dull when his faculties are stimulated +to their utmost stretch, if he does live in a cell; but many a man is +bored and _ennuied_ in a palace, when he abandons himself to luxury and +frivolities. It is not to animals, but to angels, that the higher +life is given. + +Nor during those eighteen years which Paula passed in Bethlehem, or the +previous sixteen years at Rome, did ever a scandal rise or a base +suspicion exist in reference to the friendship which has made her +immortal. There was nothing in it of that Platonic sentimentality which +marked the mediaeval courts of love; nor was it like the chivalrous +idolatry of flesh and blood bestowed on queens of beauty at a +tournament or tilt; nor was it poetic adoration kindled by the +contemplation of ideal excellence, such as Dante saw in his lamented and +departed Beatrice; nor was it mere intellectual admiration which bright +and enthusiastic women sometimes feel for those who dazzle their brains, +or who enjoy a great _éclat_; still less was it that impassioned ardor, +that wild infatuation, that tempestuous frenzy, that dire unrest, that +mad conflict between sense and reason, that sad forgetfulness sometimes +of fame and duty, that reckless defiance of the future, that selfish, +exacting, ungovernable, transient impulse which ignores God and law and +punishment, treading happiness and heaven beneath the feet,--such as +doomed the greatest genius of the Middle Ages to agonies more bitter +than scorpions' stings, and shame that made the light of heaven a +burden; to futile expiations and undying ignominies. No, it was none of +these things,--not even the consecrated endearments of a plighted troth, +the sweet rest of trust and hope, in the bliss of which we defy poverty, +neglect, and hardship; it was not even this, the highest bliss of earth, +but a sentiment perhaps more rare and scarcely less exalted,--that which +the apostle recognized in the holy salutation, and which the Gospel +chronicles as the highest grace of those who believed in Jesus, the +blessed balm of Bethany, the courageous vigilance which watched +beside the tomb. + +But the time came--as it always must--for the sundering of all earthly +ties; austerities and labors accomplished too soon their work. Even +saints are not exempted from the penalty of violated physical laws. +Pascal died at thirty-seven. Paula lingered to her fifty-seventh year, +worn out with cares and vigils. Her death was as serene as her life was +lofty; repeating, as she passed away, the aspirations of the +prophet-king for his eternal home. Not ecstasies, but a serene +tranquillity, marked her closing hours. Raising her finger to her lip, +she impressed upon it the sign of the cross, and yielded up her spirit +without a groan. And the icy hand of death neither changed the freshness +of her countenance nor robbed it of its celestial loveliness; it seemed +as if she were in a trance, listening to the music of angelic hosts, and +glowing with their boundless love. The Bishop of Jerusalem and the +neighboring clergy stood around her bed, and Jerome closed her eyes. For +three days numerous choirs of virgins alternated in Greek, Latin, and +Syriac their mournful but triumphant chants. Six bishops bore her body +to the grave, followed by the clergy of the surrounding country. Jerome +wrote her epitaph in Latin, but was too much unnerved to preach her +funeral sermon. Inhabitants from all parts of Palestine came to her +funeral: the poor showed the garments which they had received from her +charity; while the whole multitude, by their sighs and tears, evinced +that they had lost a nursing mother. The Church received the sad +intelligence of her death with profound grief, and has ever since +cherished her memory, and erected shrines and monuments to her honor. In +that wonderful painting of Saint Jerome by Domenichino,--perhaps the +greatest ornament of the Vatican, next to that miracle of art, the +"Transfiguration" of Raphael,--the saint is represented in repulsive +aspects as his soul was leaving his body, ministered unto by the +faithful Paula. But Jerome survived his friend for fifteen years, at +Bethlehem, still engrossed with those astonishing labors which made him +one of the greatest benefactors of the Church, yet austere and bitter, +revealing in his sarcastic letters how much he needed the soothing +influences of that sister of mercy whom God had removed to the choir of +angels, and to whom the Middle Ages looked as an intercessor, like Mary +herself, with the Father of all, for the pardon of sin. + +But I need not linger on Paula's deeds of fame. We see in her life, +pre-eminently, that noble sentiment which was the first development in +woman's progress from the time that Christianity snatched her from the +pollution of Paganism. She is made capable of friendship for man without +sullying her soul, or giving occasion for reproach. Rare and difficult +as this sentiment is, yet her example has proved both its possibility +and its radiance. It is the choicest flower which a man finds in the +path of his earthly pilgrimage. The coarse-minded interpreter of a +woman's soul may pronounce that rash or dangerous in the intercourse of +life which seeks to cheer and assist her male associates by an endearing +sympathy; but who that has had any great literary or artistic success +cannot trace it, in part, to the appreciation and encouragement of those +cultivated women who were proud to be his friends? Who that has written +poetry that future ages will sing; who that has sculptured a marble that +seems to live; who that has declared the saving truths of an +unfashionable religion,--has not been stimulated to labor and duty by +women with whom he lived in esoteric intimacy, with mutual admiration +and respect? + +Whatever the heights to which woman is destined to rise, and however +exalted the spheres she may learn to fill, she must remember that it was +friendship which first distinguished her from Pagan women, and which +will ever constitute one of her most peerless charms. Long and dreary +has been her progress from the obscurity to which even the Middle Ages +doomed her, with all the boasted admiration of chivalry, to her present +free and exalted state. She is now recognized to be the equal of man in +her intellectual gifts, and is sought out everywhere as teacher and as +writer. She may become whatever she pleases,--actress, singer, painter, +novelist, poet, or queen of society, sharing with man the great prizes +bestowed on genius and learning. But her nature cannot be half +developed, her capacities cannot be known, even to herself, until she +has learned to mingle with man in the free interchange of those +sentiments which keep the soul alive, and which stimulate the noblest +powers. Then only does she realize her aesthetic mission. Then only can +she rise in the dignity of a guardian angel, an educator of the heart, a +dispenser of the blessings by which she would atone for the evil +originally brought upon mankind. Now, to administer this antidote to +evil, by which labor is made sweet, and pain assuaged, and courage +fortified, and truth made beautiful, and duty sacred,--this is the true +mission and destiny of woman. She made a great advance from the +pollutions and slaveries of the ancient world when she proved herself, +like Paula, capable of a pure and lofty friendship, without becoming +entangled in the snares and labyrinths of an earthly love; but she will +make a still greater advance when our cynical world shall comprehend +that it is not for the gratification of passing vanity, or foolish +pleasure, or matrimonial ends that she extends her hand of generous +courtesy to man, but that he may be aided by the strength she gives in +weakness, encouraged by the smiles she bestows in sympathy, and +enlightened by the wisdom she has gained by inspiration. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Butler's Lives of the Saints; Epistles of Saint Jerome; Cave's Lives of +the Fathers; Dolci's De Rebus Gestis Hieronymi; Tillemont's +Ecclesiastical History; Gibbon's Decline and Fall; Neander's Church +History. See also Henry and Dupin. One must go to the Catholic +historians, especially the French, to know the details of the lives of +those saints whom the Catholic Church has canonized. Of nothing is +Protestant ecclesiastical history more barren than the heroism, +sufferings, and struggles of those great characters who adorned the +fourth and fifth centuries, as if the early ages of the Church have no +interest except to Catholics. + + + +CHRYSOSTOM. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 347-407. + +SACRED ELOQUENCE. + +The first great moral force, after martyrdom, which aroused the +degenerate people of the old Roman world from the torpor and egotism and +sensuality which were preparing the way for violence and ruin, was the +Christian pulpit. Sacred eloquence, then, as impersonated in Chrysostom, +"the golden-mouthed," will be the subject of this Lecture, for it was by +the "foolishness of preaching" that a new spiritual influence went forth +to save a dying world. Chrysostom was not, indeed, the first great +preacher of the new doctrines which were destined to win such mighty +triumphs, but he was the most distinguished of the pulpit orators of the +early Church. Yet even he is buried in his magnificent cause. Who can +estimate the influence of the pulpit for fifteen hundred years in the +various countries of Christendom? Who can grasp the range of its +subjects and the dignity of its appeals? In ages even of ignorance and +superstition it has been eloquent with themes of redemption and of a +glorious immortality. + +Eloquence has ever been admired and honored among all nations, +especially among the Greeks. It was the handmaid of music and poetry +when the divinity of mind was adored--perhaps with Pagan instincts, but +still adored--as a birthright of genius, upon which no material estimate +could be placed, since it came from the Gods, like physical beauty, and +could neither be bought nor acquired. Long before Christianity declared +its inspiring themes and brought peace and hope to oppressed millions, +eloquence was a mighty power. But then it was secular and mundane; it +pertained to the political and social aspects of States; it belonged to +the Forum or the Senate; it was employed to save culprits, to kindle +patriotic devotion, or to stimulate the sentiments of freedom and public +virtue. Eloquence certainly did not belong to the priest. It was his +province to propitiate the Deity with sacrifices, to surround himself +with mysteries, to inspire awe by dazzling rites and emblems, to work on +the imagination by symbols, splendid dresses, smoking incense, +slaughtered beasts, grand temples. He was a man to conjure, not to +fascinate; to kindle superstitious fears, not to inspire by thoughts +which burn. The gift of tongues was reserved for rhetoricians, +politicians, lawyers, and Sophists. + +Now Christianity at once seized and appropriated the arts of eloquence +as a means of spreading divine truth. Christianity ever has made use of +all the arts and gifts and inventions of men to carry out the concealed +purposes of the Deity. It was not intended that Christianity should +always work by miracles, but also by appeals to the reason and +conscience of mankind, and through the truths which had been +supernaturally declared,--the required means to accomplish an end. +Therefore, she enriched and dignified an art already admired and +honored. She carried away in triumph the brightest ornament of the Pagan +schools and placed it in the hands of her chosen ministers. So that the +Christian pulpit soon began to rival the Forum in an eloquence which may +be called artistic,--a natural power of moving men, allied with learning +and culture and experience. Young men of family and fortune at last, +like Gregory Nazianzen and Basil, prepared themselves in celebrated +schools; for eloquence, though a gift, is impotent without study. See +the labors of the most accomplished of the orators of Pagan antiquity. +It was not enough for an ancient Greek to have natural gifts; he must +train himself by the severest culture, mastering all knowledge, and +learning how he could best adapt himself to those he designed to move. +So when the gospel was left to do its own work on people's hearts, after +supernatural influence is supposed to have been withdrawn, the +Christian preachers, especially in the Grecian cities, found it +expedient to avail themselves of that culture which the Greeks ever +valued, even in degenerate times. Indeed, when has Christianity rejected +learning and refinement? Paul, the most successful of the apostles, was +also the most accomplished,--even as Moses, the most gifted man among +the ancient Jews, was also the most learned. It is a great mistake to +suppose that those venerated Fathers, who swayed by their learning and +eloquence the Christian world, were merely saints. They were the +intellectual giants of their day, living in courts, and associating with +the wise, the mighty, and the noble. And nearly all of them were great +preachers: Cyprian, Athanasius, Augustine, Ambrose, and even Leo, if +they yielded to Origen and Jerome in learning, were yet very polished, +cultivated men, accustomed to all the refinements which grace and +dignify society. + +But the eloquence of these bishops and orators was rendered potent by +vastly grander themes than those which had been dwelt upon by Pericles, +or Demosthenes, or Cicero, and enlarged by an amazing depth of new +subjects, transcending in dignity all and everything on which the +ancient orators had discoursed or discussed. The bishop, while he +baptized believers, and administered the symbolic bread and wine, also +taught the people, explained to them the mysteries, enforced upon them +their duties, appealed to their intellects and hearts and consciences, +consoled them in their afflictions, stimulated their hopes, aroused +their fears, and kindled their devotions. He plunged fearlessly into +every subject which had a bearing on religious life. While he stood +before them clad in the robes of priestly office, holding in his hands +the consecrated elements which told of their redemption, and offering up +to God before the altar prayers in their behalf, he also ascended the +pulpit to speak of life and death in all their sublime relations. "There +was nothing touching," says Talfourd, "in the instability of fortune, in +the fragility of loveliness, in the mutability of mortal friendship, or +the decay of systems, nor in the fall of States and empires, which he +did not present, to give humiliating ideas of worldly grandeur. Nor was +there anything heroic in sacrifice, or grand in conflict, or sublime in +danger,--nothing in the loftiness of the soul's aspirations, nothing of +the glorious promises of everlasting life,--which he did not dwell upon +to stimulate the transported crowds who hung upon his lips. It was his +duty and his privilege," continues this eloquent and Christian lawyer, +"to dwell on the older history of the world, on the beautiful +simplicities of patriarchal life, on the stern and marvellous story of +the Hebrews, on the glorious visions of the prophets, on the songs of +the inspired melodists, on the countless beauties of the Scriptures, on +the character and teachings and mission of the Saviour. It was his to +trace the Spirit of the boundless and the eternal, faintly breathing in +every part of the mystic circle of superstition,--unquenched even amidst +the most barbarous rites of savage tribes, and in the cold and beautiful +shapes of Grecian mould." + +How different this eloquence from that of the expiring nations! Their +eloquence is sad, sounding like the tocsin of departed glories, +protesting earnestly--but without effect--against those corruptions +which it was too late to heal. How touching the eloquence of +Demosthenes, pointing out the dangers of the State, and appealing to +liberty, when liberty had fled. In vain his impassioned appeals to men +insensible to elevated sentiments. He sang the death-song of departed +greatness without the possibility of a new creation. He spoke to +audiences cultivated indeed, but divided, enervated, embittered, +infatuated, incapable of self-sacrifice, among whom liberty was a mere +tradition and patriotism a dream; and he spoke in vain. Nor could +Cicero--still more accomplished, if not so impassioned--kindle among the +degenerate Romans the ancient spirit which had fled when demagogues +began their reign. How mournful was the eloquence of this great patriot, +this experienced statesman, this wise philosopher, who, in spite of all +his weaknesses, was admired and honored by all who spoke the Latin +tongue. But had he spoken with the tongue of an archangel it would have +been all the same, on any worldly or political subject. The old +sentiments had died out. Faith was extinguished amid universal +scepticism and indifference. He had no material to work on. The +birthright of ancient heroes had been sold for a mess of pottage, and +this he knew; and therefore with his last philippics he bowed his +venerable head, and prepared himself for the sword of the executioner, +which he accepted as an inevitable necessity. + +These great orators appealed to traditions, to sentiments which had +passed away, to glories which could not possibly return; and they spoke +in vain. All they could do was to utter their manly and noble protests, +and die, with the dispiriting and hopeless feeling that the seeds of +ruin, planted in a soil of corruption, would soon bear their wretched +fruits,--even violence and destruction. + +But the orators who preached a new religion of regenerating forces were +more cheerful. They knew that these forces would save the world, +whatever the depth of ignominy, wretchedness, and despair. Their +eloquence was never sad and hopeless, but triumphant, jubilant, +overpowering. It kindled the fires of an intense enthusiasm. It kindled +an enthusiasm not based on the conquest of the earth, but on the +conquests of the soul, on the never-fading glories of immortality, on +the ever-increasing power of the kingdom of Christ. The new orators did +not preach liberty, or the glories of material life, or the majesty of +man, or even patriotism, but Salvation,--the future destinies of the +soul. A new arena of eloquence was entered; a new class of orators +arose, who discoursed on subjects of transcending comfort to the poor +and miserable. They made political slavery of no account in comparison +with the eternal redemption and happiness promised in the future state. +The old institutions could not be saved: perhaps the orators did not +care to save them; they were not worth saving; they were rotten to the +core. But new institutions should arise upon their ruins; creation +should succeed destruction; melodious birth-songs should be heard above +the despairing death-songs. There should be a new heaven and a new +earth, in which should dwell righteousness; and the Prince of Peace-- +Prophet, Priest, and King--should reign therein forever and ever. + +Of the great preachers who appeared in thousands of pulpits in the +fourth century,--after Christianity was seated on the throne of the +Roman world, and before it had sunk into the eclipse which barbaric +spoliations and papal usurpations, and general ignorance, madness, and +violence produced,--there was one at Antioch (the seat of the old +Greco-Asiatic civilization, alike refined, voluptuous, and intellectual) +who was making a mighty stir and creating a mighty fame. This was +Chrysostom, whose name has been a synonym of eloquence for more than +fifteen hundred years. His father, named Secundus, was a man of high +military rank; his mother, Anthusa, was a woman of rare Christian +graces,--as endeared to the Church as Monica, the sainted mother of +Augustine; or Nonna, the mother of Gregory Nazianzen. And it is a +pleasing fact to record, that most of the great Fathers received the +first impulse to their memorable careers from the influence of pious +mothers; thereby showing the true destiny and glory of women, as the +guardians and instructors of their children, more eager for their +salvation than ambitious of worldly distinction. Buried in the blessed +sanctities and certitudes of home,--if this can be called a +burial,--those Christian women could forego the dangerous fascination of +society and the vanity of being enrolled among its leaders. Anthusa so +fortified the faith of her yet unconverted son by her wise and +affectionate counsels, that she did not fear to intrust him to the +teachings of Libanius, the Pagan rhetorician, deeming an accomplished +education as great an ornament to a Christian gentleman as were the good +principles she had instilled a support in dangerous temptation. Her son +John--for that was his baptismal and only name--was trained in all the +learning of the schools, and, like so many of the illustrious of our +world, made in his youth a wonderful proficiency. He was precocious, +like Cicero, like Abélard, like Pascal, like Pitt, like Macaulay, and +Stuart Mill; and like them he panted for distinction and fame. The most +common path to greatness for high-born youth, then as now, was the +profession of the law. But the practice of this honorable profession did +not, unfortunately, at least in Antioch, correspond with its theory. +Chrysostom (as we will call him, though he did not receive this +appellation until some centuries after his death) was soon disgusted and +disappointed with the ordinary avocations of the Forum,--its low +standard of virtue, and its diversion of what is ennobling in the pure +fountains of natural justice into the turbid and polluted channels of +deceit, chicanery, and fraud; its abandonment to usurious calculations +and tricks of learned and legalized jugglery, by which the end of law +itself was baffled and its advocates alone enriched. But what else could +be expected of lawyers in those days and in that wicked city, or even in +any city of the whole Empire, when justice was practically a marketable +commodity; when one half of the whole population were slaves; when the +circus and the theatre were as necessary as the bath; when only the rich +and fortunate were held in honor; when provincial governments were sold +to the highest bidder; when effeminate favorites were the grand +chamberlains of emperors; when fanatical mobs rendered all order a +mockery; when the greed for money was the master passion of the people; +when utility was the watchword of philosophy, and material gains the end +and object of education; when public misfortunes were treated with the +levity of atheistic science; when private sorrows, miseries, and +sufferings had no retreat and no shelter; when conjugal infelicities +were scarcely a reproach; when divorces were granted on the most +frivolous pretexts; when men became monks from despair of finding women +of virtue for wives; and when everything indicated a rapid approach of +some grand catastrophe which should mingle, in indiscriminate ruin, the +masters and the slaves of a corrupt and prostrate world? + +Such was society, and such the signs of the times, when Chrysostom began +the practice of the law at Antioch,--perhaps the wickedest city of the +whole Empire. His eyes speedily were opened. He could not sleep, for +grief and disgust; he could not embark on a profession which then, at +least, added to the evils it professed to cure; he began to tremble for +his higher interests; he abandoned the Forum forever; he fled as from a +city of destruction; he sought solitude, meditation, and prayer, and +joined those monks who lived in cells, beyond the precincts of the +doomed city. The ardent, the enthusiastic, the cultivated, the +conscientious, the lofty Chrysostom fraternized with the visionary +inhabitants of the desert, speculated with them on the mystic +theogonies of the East, discoursed with them on the origin of evil, +studied with them the Christian mysteries, fasted with them, prayed with +them, slept like them on a bed of straw, denied himself his accustomed +luxuries, abandoning himself to alternate transports of grief and +sublime enthusiasm, now contending with the demons who sought his +destruction; then soaring to comprehend the Man-God,--the Word made +flesh, the incarnation of the divine Logos,--and the still more subtile +questions pertaining to the nature and distinctions of the Trinity. + +Such were the forms and modes of his conversion,--somewhat different +from the experience of Augustine or of Luther, yet not less real and +permanent. Those days were the happiest of his life. He had leisure and +he had enthusiasm. He desired neither riches nor honors, but the peace +of a forgiven soul He was a monk without losing his humanity; a +philosopher without losing his taste for the Bible; a Christian without +repudiating the learning of the schools. But the influence of early +education, his practical yet speculative intellect, his inextinguishable +sympathies, his desire for usefulness, and possibly an unsubdued +ambition to exert a greater influence would not allow him wholly to bury +himself. He made long visits to the friends and habitations he had left, +in order to stimulate their faith, relieve their necessities, and +encourage them in works of benevolence; leading a life of alternate +study and active philanthropy,--learning from the accomplished Diodorus +the historical mode of interpreting the Scriptures, and from the +profound Theodorus the systems of ancient philosophy. Thus did he train +himself for his future labors, and lay the foundation for his future +greatness. It was thus he accumulated those intellectual treasures which +he afterwards lavished at the imperial court. + +But his health at last gave way; and who can wonder? Who can long thrive +amid exhausting studies on root dinners and ascetic severities? He was +obliged to leave his cave, where he had dwelt six blessed years; and the +bishop of Antioch, who knew his merits, pressed him into the active +service of the Church, and ordained him deacon,--for the hierarchy of +the Church was then established, whatever may have been the original +distinctions of the clergy. With these we have nothing to do. But it +does not appear that he preached as yet to the people, but performed +like other deacons the humble office of reader, leaving to priests and +bishops the higher duties of a public teacher. It was impossible, +however, for a man of his piety and his gifts, his melodious voice, his +extensive learning, and his impressive manners long to remain in a +subordinate post. He was accordingly ordained a presbyter, A.D. 381, by +Bishop Flavian, in the spacious basilica of Antioch, and the active +labors of his life began at the age of thirty-four. + +Many were the priests associated with him in that great central +metropolitan church; "but upon him was laid the duty of especially +preaching to the people,--the most important function recognized by the +early Church. He generally preached twice in the week, on Saturday and +Sunday mornings, often at break of day, in consequence of the heat of +the sun. And such was his popularity and unrivalled power, that the +bishop, it is said, often allowed him to finish what he had himself +begun. His listeners would crowd around his pulpit, and even interrupt +his teachings by their applause. They were unwearied, though they stood +generally beyond an hour. His elocution, his gestures, and his matter +were alike enchanting." Like Bernard, his very voice would melt to +tears. It was music singing divine philosophy; it was harmony clothing +the richest moral wisdom with the most glowing style. Never, since the +palmy days of Greece, had her astonishing language been wielded by such +a master. He was an artist, if sacred eloquence does not disdain that +word. The people were electrified by the invectives of an Athenian +orator, and moved by the exhortations of a Christian apostle. In majesty +and solemnity the ascetic preacher was a Jewish prophet delivering to +kings the unwelcome messages of divine Omnipotence. In grace of manner +and elegance of language he was the persuasive advocate of the ancient +Forum; in earnestness and unction he has been rivalled only by +Savonarola; in dignity and learning he may remind us of Bossuet; in his +simplicity and orthodoxy he was the worthy successor of him who preached +at the day of Pentecost. He realized the perfection which sacred +eloquence attained, but to which Pagan art has vainly aspired,--a charm +and a wonder to both learned and unlearned,--the precursor of the +Bourdaloues and Lacordaires of the Roman Catholic Church, but especially +the model for "all preachers who set above all worldly wisdom those +divine revelations which alone can save the world." + +Everything combined to make Chrysostom the pride and the glory of the +ancient Church,--the doctrines which he did not hesitate to proclaim to +unwilling ears, and the matchless manner in which he enforced +them,--perhaps the most remarkable preacher, on the whole, that ever +swayed an audience; uniting all things,--voice, language, figure, +passion, learning, taste, art, piety, occasion, motive, prestige, and +material to work upon. He left to posterity more than a thousand +sermons, and the printed edition of all his works numbers twelve folio +volumes. Much as we are inclined to underrate the genius and learning of +other days in this our age of more advanced utilities, of progressive +and ever-developing civilization,--when Sabbath-school children know +more than sages knew two thousand years ago, and socialistic +philanthropists and scientific _savans_ could put to blush Moses and +Solomon and David, to say nothing of Paul and Peter, and other reputed +oracles of the ancient world, inasmuch as they were so weak and +credulous as to believe in miracles, and a special Providence, and a +personal God,--yet we find in the sermons of Chrysostom, preached even +to voluptuous Syrians, no commonplace exhortations, such as we sometimes +hear addressed to the thinkers of this generation, when poverty of +thought is hidden in pretty expressions, and the waters of life are +measured out in tiny gill cups, and even then diluted by weak platitudes +to suit the taste of the languid and bedizened and frivolous slaves of +society, whose only intellectual struggle is to reconcile the pleasures +of material and sensual life with the joys and glories of the world to +come. He dwelt, boldly and earnestly, and with masculine power, on the +majesty of God and the comparative littleness of man, on moral +accountability to Him, on human degeneracy, on the mysterious power of +evil, by force of which good people in this dispensation are in a small +minority, on the certainty of future retribution; yet also on the +never-fading glories of immortality which Christ has brought to light by +his sufferings and death, his glorious resurrection and ascension, and +the promised influences of the Holy Spirit. These truths, so solemn and +so grand, he preached, not with tricks of rhetoric, but simply and +urgently, as an ambassador of Heaven to lost and guilty man. And can you +wonder at the effect? When preachers throw themselves on the cardinal +truths of Christianity, and preach with earnestness as if they believed +them, they carry the people with them, producing a lasting impression, +and growing broader and more dignified every day. When they seek +novelties, and appeal purely to the intellect, or attempt to be +philosophical or learned, they fail, whatever their talents. It is the +divine truth which saves, not genius and learning,--especially the +masses, and even the learned and rich, when their eyes are opened to the +delusions of life. + +For twelve years Chrysostom preached at Antioch, the oracle and the +friend of all classes whether high or low, rich or poor, so that he +became a great moral force, and his fame extended to all parts of the +Empire. Senators and generals and governors came to hear his eloquence. +And when, to his vast gifts, he added the graces and virtues of the +humblest of his flock,--parting with a splendid patrimony to feed the +hungry and clothe the naked, utterly despising riches except as a means +of usefulness, living most abstemiously, shunning the society of +idolaters, indefatigable in labor, accessible to those who needed +spiritual consolation, healing dissensions, calming mobs, befriending +the persecuted, rebuking sin in high places; a man acquainted with grief +in the midst of intoxicating intellectual triumphs,--reverence and love +were added to admiration, and no limits could be fixed to the moral +influence he exerted. + +There are few incidents in his troubled age more impressive than when +this great preacher sheltered Antioch from the vengeance of Theodosius. +That thoughtless and turbulent city had been disgraced by an outrageous +insult to the emperor. A mob, a very common thing in that age, had +rebelled against the majesty of the law, and murdered the officers of +the Government. The anger of Theodosius knew no bounds, but was +fortunately averted by the entreaties of the bishop, and the emperor +abstained from inflicting on the guilty city the punishment he +afterwards sent upon Thessalonica for a less crime. Moreover the +repentance of the people was open and profound. Chrysostom had moved and +melted them. It was the season of Lent. Every day the vast church was +crowded. The shops were closed; the Forum was deserted; the theatre was +shut; the entire day was consumed with public prayers; all pleasures +were forsaken; fear and anguish sat on every countenance, as in a +Mediaeval city after an excommunication. Chrysostom improved the +occasion; and perhaps the most remarkable Lenten sermons ever preached, +subdued the fierce spirits of the city, and Antioch was saved. It was +certainly a sublime spectacle to see a simple priest, unclothed even +with episcopal functions, surrounded for weeks by the entire population +of a great city, ready to obey his word, and looking to him alone as +their deliverer from temporal calamities, as well as their guide in +fleeing from the wrath to come. + +And here we have a noted example of the power as well as the dignity of +the pulpit,--a power which never passed away even in ages of +superstition, never disdained by abbots or prelates or popes in the +plenitude of their secular magnificence (as we know from the sermons of +Gregory and Bernard); a sacred force even in the hands of monks, as when +Savonarola ruled the city of Florence, and Bourdaloue awed the court of +France; but a still greater force among the Reformers, like Luther and +Knox and Latimer, yea in all the crises and changes of both the Catholic +and Protestant churches; and not to be disdained even in our utilitarian +times, when from more than two hundred thousand pulpits in various +countries of Christendom, every Sunday, there go forth voices, weak or +strong, from gifted or from shallow men, urging upon the people their +duties, and presenting to them the hopes of the life to come. Oh, what a +power is this! How few realize its greatness, as a whole! What a power +it is, even in its weaker forms, when the clergy abdicate their +prerogatives and turn themselves into lecturers, or bury themselves in +liturgies! But when they preach without egotism or vanity, scorning +sensationalism and vulgarity and cant, and falling back on the great +truths which save the world, then sacredness is added to dignity. And +especially when the preacher is fearless and earnest, declaring most +momentous truths, and to people who respond in their hearts to those +truths, who are filled with the same enthusiasm as he is himself, and +who catch eagerly his words of life, and follow his directions as if he +were indeed a messenger of Jehovah,--then I know of no moral power which +can be compared with the pulpit. Worldly men talk of the power of the +press, and it is indeed an influence not to be disdained,--it is a great +leaven; but the teachings of its writers, when not superficial, are +contradictory, and are often mere echoes of public sentiment in +reference to mere passing movements and fashions and politics and +spoils. But the declarations of the clergy, for the most part, are all +in unison, in all the various churches--Catholic and Protestant, +Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist--which accept God +Almighty as the moral governor of the universe, the great master of our +destinies, whose eternal voice speaketh to the conscience of mankind. +And hence their teachings, if they are true to their calling, have +reference to interests and duties and aspirations and hopes as far +removed in importance from mere temporal matters as the heaven is +higher than the earth. Oh, what high treason to the deity whom the +preacher invokes, what stupidity, what frivolity, what insincerity, what +incapacity of realizing what is truly great, when he descends from the +lofty themes of salvation and moral accountability, to dwell on the +platitudes of aesthetic culture, the beauties and glories of Nature, or +the wonders of a material civilization, and then with not half the force +of those books and periodicals which are scattered in every hamlet of +civilized Europe and America! + +Now it was to the glory of Chrysostom that he felt the dignity of his +calling and aspired to nothing higher, satisfied with his great +vocation,--a vocation which can never be measured by the lustre of a +church or the wealth of a congregation. Gregory Nazianzen, whether +preaching in his paternal village or in the cathedral of Constantinople, +was equally the creator of those opinion-makers who settle the verdicts +of men. Augustine, in a little African town, wielded ten times the +influence of a bishop of Rome, and his sermons to the people of the town +of Hippo furnished a thesaurus of divinity to the clergy for a +thousand years. + +Nevertheless, Antioch was not great enough to hold such a preacher as +Chrysostom. He was summoned by imperial authority to the capital of the +Eastern Empire. One of the ministers of Arcadius, the son of the great +Theodosius, had heard him preach, and greatly admired his eloquence, and +perhaps craved the excitement of his discourses,--as the people of Rome +hankered after the eloquence of Cicero when he was sent into exile. +Chrysostom reluctantly resigned his post in a provincial city to become +the Patriarch of Constantinople. It was a great change in his outward +dignity. His situation as the highest prelate of the East was rarely +conferred except on the favorites of emperors, as the episcopal sees of +Mediaeval Europe were rarely given to men but of noble birth. Yet being +forced, as it were, to accept what he did not seek or perhaps desire, he +resolved to be true to himself and his master. Scarcely was he +consecrated by Theophilus of Alexandria before he launched out his +indignant invectives against the patron who had elevated him, the court +which admired him, and the imperial family which sustained him. Still +the preacher, when raised to the government of the Eastern church, +regarding his sphere in the pulpit as the loftiest which mortal genius +could fill. He feared no one, and he spared no one. None could rob a man +who had parted with a princely fortune for the sake of Christ; none +could bribe a man who had no favors to ask, and who could live on a +crust of bread; none could silence a man who felt himself to be the +minister of divine Omnipotence, and who scattered before his altar the +dust of worldly grandeur. + +It seems that Chrysostom regarded his first duty, even as the +Metropolitan of the East, to preach the gospel. He subordinated the +bishop to the preacher. True, he was the almoner of his church and the +director of its revenues; but he felt that the church of Christ had a +higher vocation for a bishop to fill than to be a good business man. +Amid all the distractions of his great office he preached as often and +as fervently as he did at Antioch. Though possessed of enormous +revenues, he curtailed the expenses of his household, and surrounded +himself with the pious and the learned. He lived retired within his +palace; he dined alone on simple food, and always at home. The great +were displeased that he would not honor with his presence their +sumptuous banquets; but rich dinners did not agree with his weak +digestion, and perhaps he valued too highly his precious time to waste +himself, body and soul, for the enjoyment of even admiring courtiers. +His power was not at the dinner-table but in the pulpit, and he feared +to weaken the effects of his discourses by the exhibition of weaknesses +which nearly every man displays amid the excitements of social +intercourse. + +Perhaps, however, Chrysostom was too ascetic. Christ dined with +publicans and sinners; and a man must unbend somewhere, or he loses the +elasticity of his mind, and becomes a formula or a mechanism. The +convivial enjoyments of Luther enabled him to bear his burden. Had +Thomas à Becket shown the same humanity as archbishop that he did as +chancellor, he might not have quarrelled with his royal master. So +Chrysostom might have retained his favor with the court and his see +until he died, had he been less austere and censorious. Yet we should +remember that the asceticism which is so repulsive to us, and with +reason, and which marked the illustrious saints of the fourth century, +was simply the protest against the almost universal materialism of the +day,--that dreadful moral blight which was undermining society. As +luxury and extravagance and material pleasures were the prominent evils +of the old Roman world in its decline, it was natural that the protest +against these evils should assume the greatest outward antagonism. +Luxury and a worldly life were deemed utterly inconsistent with a +preacher of righteousness, and were disdained with haughty scorn by the +prophets of the Lord, as they were by Elijah and Elisha in the days of +Ahab. "What went ye out in the wilderness to see?" said our Lord, with +disdainful irony,--"a man clothed in soft raiment? They that wear soft +clothing are in king's houses,"--as much as to say, My prophets, my +ministers, rejoice not in such things. + +So Chrysostom could never forget that he was a minister of Christ, and +was willing to forego the trappings and pleasures of material life +sooner than abdicate his position as a spiritual dictator. The secular +historians of our day would call him arrogant, like the courtiers of +Arcadius, who detested his plain speaking and his austere piety; but the +poor and unimportant thought him as humble as the rich and great thought +him proud. Moreover, he was a foe to idleness, and sent away from court +to their distant sees a host of bishops who wished to bask in the +sunshine of court favor, or revel in the excitements of a great city; +and they became his enemies. He deposed others for simony, and they +became still more hostile. Others again complained that he was +inhospitable, since he would not give up his time to everybody, even +while he scattered his revenues to the poor. And still others +entertained towards him the passion of envy,--that which gives rancor to +the _odium theologicum_, that fatal passion which caused Daniel to be +cast into the lions' den, and Haman to plot the ruin of Mordecai; a +passion which turns beautiful women into serpents, and learned +theologians into fiends. So that even Chrysostom was assailed with +danger. Even he was not too high to fall. + +The first to turn against the archbishop was the Lord High +Chamberlain,--Eutropius,--the minister who had brought him to +Constantinople. This vulgar-minded man expected to find in the preacher +he had elevated a flatterer and a tool. He was as much deceived as was +Henry II. when he made Thomas à Becket archbishop of Canterbury. The +rigid and fearless metropolitan, instead of telling stories at his +table and winking at his infamies, openly rebuked his extortions and +exposed his robberies. The disappointed minister of Arcadius then bent +his energies to compass the ruin of the prelate; but, before he could +effect his purpose, he was himself disgraced at court. The army in +revolt had demanded his head, and Eutropius fled to the metropolitan +church of Saint Sophia. Chrysostom seized the occasion to impress his +hearers with the instability of human greatness, and preached a sort of +funeral oration for the man before he was dead. As the fallen and +wretched minister of the emperor lay crouching in an agony of shame and +fear beneath the table of the altar, the preacher burst out: "Oh, vanity +of vanities, where is now the glory of this man? Where the splendor of +the light which surrounded him; where the jubilee of the multitude which +applauded him; where the friends who worshipped his power; where the +incense offered to his image? All gone! It was a dream: it has fled like +a shadow; it has burst like a bubble! Oh, vanity of vanity of vanities! +Write it on all walls and garments and streets and houses: write it on +your consciences. Let every one cry aloud to his neighbor, Behold, all +is vanity! And thou, O wretched man," turning to the fallen chamberlain, +"did I not say unto thee that money is a thankless servant? Said I not +that wealth is a most treacherous friend? The theatre, on which thou +hast bestowed honor, has betrayed thee; the race-course, after +devouring thy gains, has sharpened the sword of those whom thou hast +labored to amuse. But our sanctuary, which thou hast so often assailed, +now opens her bosom to receive thee, and covers thee with her wings." + +But even the sacred cathedral did not protect him. He was dragged out +and slain. + +A more relentless foe now appeared against the prelate,--no less a +personage than Theophilus, the very bishop who had consecrated him. +Jealousy was the cause, and heresy the pretext,--that most convenient +cry of theologians, often indeed just, as when Bernard accused Abélard, +and Calvin complained of Servetus; but oftener, the most effectual way +of bringing ruin on a hated man, as when the partisans of Alexander VI. +brought Savonarola to the tribunal of the Inquisition. It seems that +Theophilus had driven out of Egypt a body of monks because they would +not assent to the condemnation of Origen's writings; and the poor men, +not knowing where to go, fled to Constantinople and implored the +protection of the Patriarch. He compassionately gave them shelter, and +permission to say their prayers in one of his churches. Therefore he was +a heretic, like them,--a follower of Origen. + +Under common circumstances such an accusation would have been treated +with contempt. But, unfortunately, Chrysostom had alienated other +bishops also. Yet their hostility would not have been heeded had not +the empress herself, the beautiful and the artful Eudoxia, sided against +him. This proud, ambitious, pleasure-seeking, malignant princess--in +passion a Jezebel, in policy a Catherine de Medici, in personal +fascination a Mary Queen of Scots--hated the archbishop, as Mary hated +John Knox, because he had ventured to reprove her levities and follies; +and through her influence (and how great is the influence of a beautiful +woman on an irresponsible monarch!) the emperor, a weak man, allowed +Theophilus to summon and preside over a council for the trial of +Chrysostom. It assembled at a place called the Oaks, in the suburbs of +Chalcedon, and was composed entirely of the enemies of the Patriarch. +Nothing, however, was said about his heresy: that charge was ridiculous. +But he was accused of slandering the clergy--he had called them corrupt; +of having neglected the duties of hospitality, for he dined generally +alone; of having used expressions unbecoming of the house of God, for he +was severe and sarcastic; of having encroached on the jurisdiction of +foreign bishops in having shielded a few excommunicated monks; and of +being guilty of high treason, since he had preached against the sins of +the empress. On these charges, which he disdained to answer, and before +a council which he deemed illegal, he was condemned; and the emperor +accepted the sentence, and sent him into exile. + +But the people of Constantinople would not let him go. They drove away +his enemies from the city; they raised a sedition and a seasonable +earthquake, as Gibbon might call it, and having excited superstitious +fears, the empress caused him to be recalled. His return, of course, was +a triumph. The people spread their garments in his way, and conducted +him in pomp to his archiepiscopal throne. Sixty bishops assembled and +annulled the sentence of the Council of the Oaks. He was now more +popular and powerful than before. But not more prudent. For a silver +statue of the empress having been erected so near to the cathedral that +the games instituted to its honor disturbed the services of the church, +the bishop in great indignation ascended the pulpit, and declaimed +against female vices. The empress at this was furious, and threatened +another council. Chrysostom, still undaunted, then delivered that +celebrated sermon, commencing thus: "Again Herodias raves; again she +dances; again she demands the head of John in a basin." This defiance, +which was regarded as an insult, closed the career of Chrysostom in the +capital of the Empire. Both the emperor and empress determined to +silence him. A new council was convened, and the Patriarch was accused +of violating the canons of the Church. It seems he ventured to preach +before he was formally restored, and for this technical offence he was +again deposed. No second earthquake or popular sedition saved him. He +had sailed too long against the stream. What genius and what fame can +protect a man who mocks or defies the powers that be, whether kings or +people? If Socrates could not be endured at Athens, if Cicero was +banished from Rome, how could this unarmed priest expect immunity from +the possessors of absolute power whom he had offended? It is the fate of +prophets to be stoned. The bold expounders of unpalatable truth ever +have been martyrs, in some form or other. + +But Chrysostom met his fate with fortitude, and the only favor which he +asked was to reside in Cyzicus, near Nicomedia. This was refused, and +the place of his exile was fixed at Cucusus,--a remote and desolate city +amid the ridges of Mount Taurus; a distance of seventy days' journey, +which he was compelled to make in the heat of summer. + +But he lived to reach this dreary resting-place, and immediately devoted +himself to the charms of literary composition and letters to his +friends. No murmurs escaped him. He did not languish, as Cicero did in +his exile, or even like Thiers in Switzerland. Banishment was not +dreaded by a man who disdained the luxuries of a great capital, and who +was not ambitious of power and rank. Retirement he had sought, even in +his youth, and it was no martyrdom to him so long as he could study, +meditate, and write. + +So Chrysostom was serene, even cheerful, amid the blasts of a cold and +cheerless climate. It was there he wrote those noble and interesting +letters, of which two hundred and forty still remain. Indeed, his +influence seemed to increase with his absence from the capital; and this +his enemies beheld with the rage which Napoleon felt for Madame de Staël +when he had banished her to within forty leagues of Paris. So a fresh +order from the Government doomed him to a still more dreary solitude, on +the utmost confines of the Roman Empire, on the coast of the Euxine, +even the desert of Pityus. But his feeble body could not sustain the +fatigues of this second journey. He was worn out with disease, labors, +and austerities; and he died at Comono, in Pontus,--near the place where +Henry Martin died,--in the sixtieth year of his age, a martyr, like +greater men than he. + +Nevertheless this martyrdom, and at the hands of a Christian emperor, +filled the world with grief. It was only equalled in intensity by the +martyrdom of Becket in after ages. The voice of envy was at last hushed; +one of the greatest lights of the Church was extinguished forever. +Another generation, however, transported his remains to the banks of the +Bosporus, and the emperor--the second Theodosius--himself advanced to +receive them as far as Chalcedon, and devoutly kneeling before his +coffin, even as Henry II. kneeled at the shrine of Becket, invoked the +forgiveness of the departed saint for the injustice and injuries he had +received. His bones were interred with extraordinary pomp in the tomb of +the apostles, and were afterwards removed to Rome, and deposited, still +later, beneath a marble mausoleum in a chapel of Saint Peter, where they +still remain. + +Such were the life and death of the greatest pulpit orator of Christian +antiquity. And how can I describe his influence? His sermons, indeed, +remain; but since we have given up the Fathers to the Catholics, as if +they had a better right to them than we, their writings are not so well +known as they ought to be,--as they will be, when we become broader in +our views and more modest of our own attainments. Few of the Protestant +divines, whom we so justly honor, surpassed Chrysostom in the soundness +of his theology, and in the learning with which he adorned his sermons. +Certainly no one of them has equalled him in his fervid, impassioned, +and classic eloquence. He belongs to the Church universal. The great +divines of the seventeenth century made him the subject of their +admiring study. In the Middle Ages he was one of the great lights of the +reviving schools. Jeremy Taylor, not less than Bossuet, acknowledged his +matchless services. One of his prayers has entered into the beautiful +liturgy of Cranmer. He was a Bernard, a Bourdaloue, and a Whitefield +combined, speaking in the language of Pericles, and on themes which +Paganism never comprehended and the Middle Ages but imperfectly +discussed. + +The permanent influence of such a man can only be measured by the +dignity and power of the pulpit itself in all countries and in all +ages. So far as pulpit eloquence is an art, its greatest master still +speaketh. But greater than his art was the truth which he unfolded and +adorned. It is not because he held the most cultivated audiences of his +age spell-bound by his eloquence, but because he did not fear to deliver +his message, and because he magnified his office, and preached to +emperors and princes as if they were ordinary men, and regarded himself +as the bearer of most momentous truth, and soared beyond human praises, +and forgot himself in his cause, and that cause the salvation of +souls,--it is for these things that I most honor him, and believe that +his name will be held more and more in reverence, as Christianity +becomes more and more the mighty power of the world. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Theodoret; Socrates; Sozomen; Gregory Nazianzen's Orations; the Works of +Chrysostom; Baronius's Annals; Epistle of Saint Jerome; Tillemont's +Ecclesiastical History; Mabillon; Fleury's Ecclesiastical History; Life +of Chrysostom by Monard,--also a Life, by Frederic M. Perthes, +translated by Professor Hovey; Neander's Church History; Gibbon; Milman; +Du Pin; Stanley's Lectures on the Eastern Church. The Lives of the +Fathers have been best written by Frenchmen, and by Catholic historians. + + + +SAINT AMBROSE. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 340-397. + +EPISCOPAL AUTHORITY. + +Of the great Fathers, few are dearer to the Church than Ambrose, +Archbishop of Milan, both on account of his virtues and the dignity he +gave to the episcopal office. + +Nearly all the great Fathers were bishops, but I select Ambrose as the +representative of their order, because he was more illustrious as a +prelate than as a theologian or orator, although he stood high as both. +He contributed more than any man who preceded him to raise the power of +bishops as one of the controlling agencies of society for more than a +thousand years. + +The episcopal office, aside from its spiritual aspects, had become a +great worldly dignity as early as the fourth century. It gave its +possessor rank, power, wealth,--a superb social position, even in the +eyes of worldly men. "Make me but bishop of Rome," said a great Pagan +general, "and I too would become a Christian." As archbishop of Milan, +the second city of Italy, Ambrose found himself one of the highest +dignitaries of the Empire. + +Whence this great power of bishops? How happened it that the humble +ministers of a new and persecuted religion became princes of the earth? +What a change from the outward condition of Paul and Peter to that of +Ambrose and Leo! + +It would be unpleasant to present this subject on controversial and +sectarian grounds. Let those people--and they are numerous--who believe +in the divine right of bishops, enjoy their opinion; it is not for me to +assail them. Let any party in the Church universal advocate the divine +institution of their own form of government. But I do not believe that +any particular form of government is laid down in the Bible; and yet I +admit that church government is as essential and fundamental a matter as +a worldly government. Government, then, must be in both Church and +State. This _is_ recognized in the Scriptures. No institution or State +can live without it. Men are exhorted by apostles to obey it, as a +Christian duty. But they do not prescribe the form,--leaving that to be +settled by the circumstances of the times, the wants of nations, the +exigencies of the religious world. And whatever form of government +arises, and is confirmed by the wisest and best men, is to be sustained, +is to be obeyed. The people of Germany recognize imperial authority: it +may be the best government for them. England is practically ruled by an +aristocracy,--for the House of Commons is virtually as aristocratic in +sympathies as the House of Lords. In this country we have a +representation of the people, chosen by the people, and ruling for the +people. We think this is the best form of government for us,--just now. +In Athens there was a pure democracy. Which of these forms of civil +government did God appoint? + +So in the Church. For four centuries the bishops controlled the infant +Church. For ten centuries afterwards the Popes ruled the Christian +world, and claimed a divine right. The government of the Church assumed +the theocratic form. At the Reformation numerous sects arose, most of +them claiming the indorsement of the Scriptures. Some of these sects +became very high-church; that is, they based their organization on the +supposed authority of the Bible. All these sects are sincere; but they +differ, and they have a right to differ. Probably the day never will +come when there will be uniformity of opinion on church government, any +more than on doctrines in theology. + +Now it seems to me that episcopal power arose, like all other powers, +from the circumstances of society,--the wants of the age. One thing +cannot be disputed, that the early bishop--or presbyter, or elder, +whatever name you choose to call him--was a very humble and unimportant +person in the eyes of the world. He lived in no state, in no dignity; he +had no wealth, and no social position outside his flock. He preached in +an upper chamber or in catacombs. Saint Paul preached at Rome with +chains on his arms or legs. The apostles preached to plain people, to +common people, and lived sometimes by the work of their own hands. In a +century or two, although the Church was still hunted and persecuted, +there were nevertheless many converts. These converts contributed from +their small means to the support of the poor. At first the deacons, who +seem to have been laymen, had charge of this money. Paul was too busy a +man himself to serve tables. Gradually there arose the need of a +superintendent, or overseer; and that is the meaning of the Greek word +[Greek: episkopos], from which we get our term _bishop_. Soon, +therefore, the superintendent or bishop of the local church had the +control of the public funds, the expenditure of which he directed. This +was necessary. As converts multiplied and wealth increased, it became +indispensable for the clergy of a city to have a head; this officer +became presiding elder, or bishop,--whose great duty, however, was to +preach. In another century these bishops had become influential; and +when Christianity was established by Constantine as the religion of the +Empire, they added power to influence, for they disbursed great +revenues and ruled a large body of inferior clergy. They were looked up +to; they became honored and revered; and deserved to be, for they were +good men, and some of them learned. Then they sought a warrant for their +power outside the circumstances to which they were indebted for their +elevation. It was easy to find it. What sect cannot find it? They +strained texts of Scripture,--as that great and good man, Moses Stuart, +of Andover, in his zeal for the temperance cause, strained texts to +prove that the wine of Palestine did not intoxicate. + +But whatever were the causes which led to the elevation and ascendency +of bishops, the fact is clear enough that episcopal authority began at +an early date; and that bishops were influential in the third century +and powerful in the fourth,--a most fortunate thing, as I conceive, for +the Church at that time. As early as the third century we read of so +great a man as the martyr Cyprian declaring "that bishops had the same +rights as apostles, whose successors they were." In the fourth century, +such illustrious men as Eusebius of Emesa, Athanasius of Alexandria, +Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, Martin of Tours, Chrysostom of +Constantinople, and Augustine of Hippo, and sundry other great men whose +writings swayed the human mind until the Reformation, advocated equally +high-church pretensions. The bishops of that day lived in a state of +worldly grandeur, reduced the power of presbyters to a shadow, seated +themselves on thrones, surrounded themselves with the insignia of +princes, claimed the right of judging in civil matters, multiplied the +offices of the Church, and controlled revenues greater than the incomes +of senators and patricians. As for the bishoprics of Rome, +Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Milan, they were great +governments, and required men of great executive ability to rule them. +Preaching gave way to the multiplied duties and cares of an exalted +station. A bishop was then not often selected because he could preach +well, but because he knew how to govern. Who, even in our times, would +think of filling the See of London, although it is Protestant, with a +man whose chief merit is in his eloquence? They want a business man for +such a post. Eloquence is no objection, but executive ability is the +thing most needed. + +So Providence imposed great duties on the bishops of the fourth century, +especially in large cities; and very able as well as good men were +required for this position, equally one of honor and authority. + +The See of Milan was then one of the most important in the Empire. It +was the seat of imperial government. Valentinian, an able general, bore +the sceptre of the West; for the Empire was then divided,--Valentinian +ruling the eastern, and his brother Gratian the western, portion of +it,--and, as the Goths were overrunning the civilized world and +threatening Italy, Valentinian fixed his seat of government at Milan. It +was a turbulent city, disgraced by mobs and religious factions. The +Arian party, headed by the Empress Justina, mother of the young emperor, +was exceedingly powerful. It was a critical period, and even orthodoxy +was in danger of being subverted. I might dwell on the miseries of that +period, immediately preceding the fall of the Empire; but all I will say +is, that the See of Milan needed a very able, conscientious, and +wise prelate. + +Hence Ambrose was selected, not by the emperor but by the people, in +whom was vested the right of election. He was then governor of that part +of Italy now embraced by the archbishoprics of Milan, Turin, Genoa, +Ravenna, and Bologna,--the greater part of Lombardy and Sardinia. He +belonged to an illustrious Roman family. His father had been praetorian +prefect of Gaul, which embraced not only Gaul, but Britain and +Africa,--about a third of the Roman Empire. The seat of this great +prefecture was Treves; and here Ambrose was born in the year 340. His +early days were of course passed in luxury and pomp. On the death of his +father he retired to Rome to complete his education, and soon +outstripped his noble companions in learning and accomplishments. Such +was his character and position that he was selected, at the age of +thirty-four, for the government of Northern Italy. Nothing eventful +marked his rule as governor, except that he was just, humane, and able. +Had he continued governor, his name would not have passed down in +history; he would have been forgotten like other provincial governors. + +But he was destined to a higher sphere and a more exalted position than +that of governor of an important province. On the death of Archbishop +Auxentius, A.D. 374, the See of Milan became vacant. A great +man was required for the archbishopric in that age of factions, +heresies, and tumults. The whole city was thrown into the wildest +excitement. The emperor wisely declined to interfere with the election. +Rival parties could not agree on a candidate. A tumult arose. The +governor--Ambrose--proceeded to the cathedral church, where the election +was going on, to appease the tumult. His appearance produced a momentary +calm, when a little child cried out, "Let Ambrose our governor be our +bishop!" That cry was regarded as a voice from heaven,--as the voice of +inspiration. The people caught the words, re-echoed the cry, and +tumultuously shouted, "Yes! let Ambrose our governor be our bishop!" + +And the governor of a great province became archbishop of Milan. This is +a very significant fact. It shows the great dignity and power of the +episcopal office at that time: it transcended in influence and power the +governorship of a province. It also shows the enormous strides which the +Church had made as one of the mighty powers of the world since +Constantine, only about sixty years before, had opened to organized +Christianity the possibilities of influence. It shows how much more +already was thought of a bishop than of a governor. + +And what is very remarkable, Ambrose had not even been baptized. He was +a layman. There is no evidence that he was a Christian except in name. +He had passed through no deep experience such as Augustine did, shortly +after this. It was a more remarkable appointment than when Henry II. +made his chancellor, Becket, archbishop of Canterbury. Why was Ambrose +elevated to that great ecclesiastical post? What had he done for the +Church? Did he feel the responsibility of his priestly office? Did he +realize that he was raised in his social position, even in the eye of an +emperor? Why did he not shrink from such an office, on the grounds of +unfitness? + +The fact is, as proved by his subsequent administration, he was the +ablest man for that post to be found in Italy. He was really the most +fitting man. If ever a man was called to be a priest, he was called. He +had the confidence of both the emperor and the people. Such confidence +can be based only on transcendent character. He was not selected because +he was learned or eloquent, but because he had administrative ability; +and because he was just and virtuous. + +A great outward change in his life marked his elevation, as in Becket +afterwards. As soon as he was baptized, he parted with his princely +fortune and scattered it among the poor, like Cyprian and Chrysostom. +This was in accordance with one of the great ideas of the early Church, +almost impossible to resist. Charity unbounded, allied with poverty, was +the great test of practical Christianity. It was afterwards lost sight +of by the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, and never was recognized +by Protestantism at all, not even in theory. Thrift has been one of the +watchwords of Protestantism for three hundred years. One of the boasts +of Protestantism has been its superior material prosperity. Travellers +have harped on the worldly thrift of Protestant countries. The Puritans, +full of the Old Testament, like the Jews, rejoiced in an outward +prosperity as one of the evidences of the favor of God. The Catholics +accuse the Protestants, of not only giving birth to rationalism, in +their desire to extend liberality of mind, but of fostering a material +life in their ambition to be outwardly prosperous. I make no comment on +this fact; I only state it, for everybody knows the accusation to be +true, and most people rejoice in it. One of the chief arguments I used +to hear for the observance of public worship was, that it would raise +the value of property and improve the temporal condition of the +worshippers,--so that temporal thrift was made to be indissolubly +connected with public worship. "Go to church, and you will thrive in +business. Become a Sabbath-school teacher, and you will gain social +position." Such arguments logically grow out from linking the kingdom of +heaven with success in life, and worldly prosperity with the outward +performance of religious duties,--all of which may be true, and +certainly marks Protestantism, but is somewhat different from the ideas +of the Church eighteen hundred years ago. But those were unenlightened +times, when men said, "How hardly shall they who have riches enter into +the kingdom of God." + +I pass now to consider the services which Ambrose rendered to the +Church, and which have given him a name in history. + +One of these was the zealous conservation of the truths he received on +authority. To guard the purity of the faith was one of the most +important functions of a primitive bishop. The last thing the Church +would tolerate in one of her overseers was a Gallio in religion. She +scorned those philosophical dignitaries who would sit in the seats of +Moses and Paul, and use the speculations of the Greeks to build up the +orthodox faith. The last thing which a primitive bishop thought of was +to advance against Goliath, not with the sling of David, but with the +weapons of Pagan Grecian schools. It was incumbent on the watchman who +stood on the walls of Zion, to see that no suspicious enemy entered her +hallowed gates. The Church gave to him that trust, and reposed in his +fidelity. Now Ambrose was not a great scholar, nor a subtle theologian. +Nor was he dexterous in the use of dialectical weapons, like Athanasius, +Augustine, or Thomas Aquinas. But he was sufficiently intelligent to +know what the authorities declared to be orthodox. He knew that the +fashionable speculations about the Trinity were not the doctrines of +Paul. He knew that self-expiation was not the expiation of the cross; +that the mission of Christ was something more than to set a good +example; that faith was not estimation merely; that regeneration was not +a mere external change of life; that the Divine government was a +perpetual interference to bring good out of evil, even if it were in +accordance with natural law. He knew that the boastful philosophy by +which some sought to bolster up Christianity was that against which the +apostles had warned the faithful. He knew that the Church was attacked +in her most vital points, even in doctrines,--for "as a man thinketh, +so is he." + +So he fearlessly entered the lists against the heretics, most of whom +were enrolled among the Manicheans, Pelagians, and Arians. + +The Manicheans were not the most dangerous, but they were the most +offensive. Their doctrines were too absurd to gain a lasting foothold in +the West. But they made great pretensions to advanced thought, and +engrafted on Christianity the speculations of the East as to the origin +of evil and the nature of God. They were not only dreamy theosophists, +but materialists under the disguise of spiritualism. I shall have more +to say of these people in the next Lecture, on Augustine, since one of +his great fights was against the Manichean heresy. So I pass them by +with only a brief allusion to their opinions. + +The Arians were the most powerful and numerous body of heretics,--if I +may use the language of historians,--and it was against these that +Ambrose chiefly contended. The great battle against them had been fought +by Athanasius two generations before; but they had not been put down. +Their doctrines extensively prevailed among many of the barbaric +chieftains, and the empress herself was an Arian, as well as many +distinguished bishops. Ambrose did not deny the great intellectual +ability of Arius, nor the purity of his morals; but he saw in his +doctrines the virtual denial of Christ's divinity and atonement, and a +glorification of the reason, and an exaltation of the will, which +rendered special divine grace unnecessary. The Arian controversy, which +lasted one hundred years, and has been repeatedly revived, was not a +mere dialectical display, not a war of words, but the most important +controversy in which theologians ever enlisted, and the most vital in +its logical deductions. Macaulay sneers at the _homoousian_ and the +_homoiousian_; and when viewed in a technical point of view, it may seem +to many frivolous and vain. But the distinctions of the Trinity, which +Arius sought to sweep away, are essential to the unity and completeness +of the whole scheme of salvation, as held by the Church to have been +revealed in the Scriptures; for if Christ is a mere creature of God,--a +creation, and not one with Him in essence,--then his death would avail +nothing for the efficacy of salvation; or,--to use the language of +theologians, who have ever unfortunately blended the declarations and +facts of Scripture with dialectical formularies, which are deductions +made by reason and logic from accepted truths, yet not so binding as the +plain truths themselves,--Christ's death would be insufficient for an +infinite redemption. No propitiation of a created being could atone for +the sins of all other creatures. Thus by the Arian theory the Christ of +the orthodox church was blotted out, and a man was substituted, who was +divine only in the matchless purity of his life and the transcendent +wisdom of his utterances; so that Christ, logically, was a pattern and +teacher, and not a redeemer. Now, historically, everybody knows that for +three hundred years Christ was viewed and worshipped as the Son of +God,--a divine, uncreated being, who assumed a mortal form to make an +atonement or propitiation for the sins of the world. Hence the doctrines +of Arius undermined, so far as they were received, the whole theology of +the early Church, and obscured the light of faith itself. I am compelled +to say this, if I speak at all of the Arians, which I do historically +rather than controversially. If I eliminated theology and political +theories and changes from my Lectures altogether, there would be nothing +left but commonplace matter. + +But Ambrose had powerful enemies to contend with in his defence of the +received doctrines of the Church. The Empress Faustina was herself an +Arian, and the patroness of the sect. Milan was filled with its +defenders, turbulent and insolent under the shield of the court. It was +the headquarters of the sect at that time. Arianism was fashionable; and +the empress had caused an edict to be passed, in the name of her son +Valentinian, by which liberty of conscience and worship was granted to +the Arians. She also caused a bishop of her nomination and creed to +challenge Ambrose to a public disputation in her palace on the points in +question. Now what course did Ambrose pursue? Nothing could be fairer, +apparently, than the proposal of the empress,--nothing more just than +her demands. We should say that she had enlightened reason on her side, +for heresy can never be exterminated by force, unless the force is +overwhelming,--as in the persecution of the Huguenots by Louis XIV., +or the slaughter of the Albigenses by Innocent III. or the princes +he incited to that cruel act. Ambrose, however, did not regard +the edict as suggested by the love of toleration, but as the +desire for ascendency,--as an advanced post to be taken in the +conflict,--introductory to the triumph of the Arian doctrines in the +West, and which the Arian emperor and his bishops intended should +ultimately be the established religion of the Western nations. It was +not a fight for toleration, but for ascendency. Moreover Ambrose saw in +Arianism a hostile creed,--a dangerous error, subversive of what is most +vital in Christianity. So he determined to make no concessions at all, +to give no foothold to the enemy in a desperate fight. The least +concession, he thought, would be followed by the demand for new +concessions, and would be a cause of rejoicing to his enemies and of +humiliation to his friends; and in accordance with the everlasting +principles of all successful warfare he resolved to yield not one jot or +tittle. The slightest concession was a compromise, and a compromise +might lead to defeat. There could be no compromise on such a vital +question as the divinity of our Lord. He might have conceded the wisdom +of compromise in some quarrel about temporal matters. Had he, as +governor of a province, been required to make some concession to +conquering barbarians,--had he been a modern statesman devising a +constitution, a matter of government,--he might have acted differently. +A policy about tariffs and revenues, all resting on unsettled principles +of political economy, may have been a matter of compromise,--not the +fundamental principles of the Christian religion, as declared by +inspiration, and which he was bound to accept as they were revealed and +declared, whether they could be reconciled with his reason or not. There +is great moral grandeur in the conflict of fundamental principles of +religion; and there is equal grandeur in the conflict between principles +and principalities, between combatants armed with spiritual weapons and +combatants armed with the temporal sword, between defenceless priests +and powerful emperors, between subjects and the powers that be, between +men speaking in the name of God Almighty and men at the head of +armies,--the former strong in the invisible power of truth; the latter +resplendent with material forces. + +Ambrose did not shun the conflict and the danger. Never before had a +priest dared to confront an emperor, except to offer up his life as a +martyr. Who could resist Caesar on his own ground? In the approaching +conflict we see the precursor of the Hildebrands and the Beckets. One of +the claims of Luther as a hero was his open defiance of the Pope, when +no person in his condition had ever before ventured on such a step. But +a Roman emperor, in his own capital, was greater than a distant Pope, +especially when the defiant monk was protected by a powerful prince. +Ambrose had the exalted merit of being the first to resist his emperor, +not as a martyr willing to die for his cause, but as a prelate in a +desperate and open fight,--as a prelate seeking to conquer. He was the +first notable man to raise the standard of independent spiritual +authority. Consider, for a moment, what a tremendous step that was,--how +pregnant with future consequences. He was the first of all the heroes of +the Church who dared to contend with the temporal powers, not as a man +uttering a protest, but as an equal adversary,--as a warrior bent on +victory. Therefore has his name great historical importance. I know of +no man who equalled him in intrepidity, and in a far-reaching policy. I +fancy him looking down the vista of the ages, and deliberately laying +the foundation of an arrogant spiritual power. What an example did he +set for the popes and bishops of the Middle Ages! Here was a just and +equal law, as we should say,--a beneficent law of religious toleration, +as it would outwardly appear,--which Ambrose, as a subject of the +emperor, was required to obey. True, it was in reference to a spiritual +matter, but emperors, from Caesar downwards, as Pontifex Maximus, had +believed it their right and province to meddle in such matters. See what +a hand Constantine had in the organization of the Church, even in the +discussion of religious doctrines. He presided at the Council of Nice, +where the great subject of discussion was the Trinity. But the +Archbishop of Milan dares to say, virtually, to the emperor, "This +law-making about our church matters is none of your concern. +Christianity has abrogated your power as High Priest. In spiritual +things we will not obey you. Your enactments conflict with the divine +laws,--higher than yours; and we, in this matter of conscience, defy +your authority. We will obey God rather than you." See in this defiance +the rise of a new power,--the power of the Middle Ages,--the reign of +the clergy. + +In the first place, Ambrose refused to take part in a religious +disputation held in the palace of his enemy,--in any palace where a +monarch sat as umpire. The Church was the true place for a religious +controversy, and the umpire, if such were needed, should be a priest and +not a layman. The idea of temporal lords settling a disputed point of +theology seemed to him preposterous. So, with blended indignation and +haughtiness, he declared it was against the usages of the Church for the +laity to sit as judges in theological discussions; that in all spiritual +matters emperors were subordinate to bishops, not bishops to emperors. +Oh, how great is the posthumous influence of original heroes! +Contemplate those fiery remonstrances of Ambrose,--the first on +record,--when prelates and emperors contended for the mastery, and you +will see why the Archbishop of Milan is so great a favorite of the +Catholic Church. + +And what was the response of the empress, who ruled in the name of her +son, in view of this disobedience and defiance? Chrysostom dared to +reprove female vices; he did not rebel against imperial power. But +Ambrose raised an issue with his sovereign. And this angry sovereign +sent forth her soldiers to eject Ambrose from the city. The haughty and +insolent priest should be exiled, should be imprisoned, should die. +Shall he be permitted to disobey an imperial command? Where would then +be the imperial authority?--a mere shadow in an age of anarchy. + +Ambrose did not oppose force by force. His warfare was not carnal, but +spiritual. He would not, if he could, have braved the soldiers of the +Government by rallying his adherents in the streets. That would have +been a mob, a sedition, a rebellion. + +But he seeks the shelter of his church, and prays to Almighty God. And +his friends and admirers--the people to whom he preached, to whom he is +an oracle--also follow him to his sanctuary. The church is crowded with +his adherents, but they are unarmed. Their trust is not in the armor of +Goliath, nor even in the sling of David, but in that power which +protected Daniel in the lions' den. The soldiers are armed, and they +surround the spacious basilica, the form which the church then assumed. +And yet though they surround the church in battle array, they dare not +force the doors,--they dare not enter. Why? Because the church had +become a sacred place. It was consecrated to the worship of Jehovah. The +soldiers were afraid of the wrath of God more than of the wrath of +Faustina or Valentinian. What do you see in this fact? You see how +religious ideas had permeated the minds even of soldiers. They were not +strong enough or brave enough to fight the ideas of their age. Why did +not the troops of Louis XVI. defend the Bastille? They were strong +enough; its cannon could have demolished the whole Faubourg St. Antoine. +Alas! the soldiers who defended that fortress had caught the ideas of +the people. They fraternized with them, rather than with the Government; +they were afraid of opposing the ideas which shook France to its centre. +So the soldiers of the imperial government at Milan, converted to the +ideas of Christianity, or sympathizing with them, or afraid of them, +dared not assail the church to which Ambrose fled for refuge. Behold in +this fact the majestic power of ideas when they reach the people. + +But if the soldiers dared not attack Ambrose and his followers in a +consecrated place, they might starve him out, or frighten him into a +surrender. At this point appears the intrepidity of the Christian hero. +Day after day, and night after night, the bishop maintained his post. +The time was spent in religious exercises. The people listened to +exhortation; they prayed; they sang psalms. Then was instituted, amid +that long-protracted religious meeting that beautiful antiphonal chant +of Ambrose, which afterwards, modified and simplified by Pope Gregory, +became the great attraction of religious worship in all the cathedrals +and abbeys and churches of Europe for more than one thousand years. It +was true congregational singing, in which all took part; simple and +religious as the songs of Methodists, both to drive away fear and ennui, +and fortify the soul by inspiring melodies,--not artistic music borrowed +from the opera and oratorio, and sung by four people, in a distant loft, +for the amusement of the rich pew-holders of a fashionable congregation, +and calculated to make it forget the truths which the preacher has +declared; but more like the hymns and anthems of the son of Jesse, when +sung by the whole synagogue, making the vaulted roof and lofty pillars +of the Medieval church re-echo the paeans of the transported +worshippers. + +At last there were signs of rebellion among the soldiers. The new +spiritual power was felt, even among them. They were tired of their +work; they hated it, since Ambrose was the representative of ideas that +claimed obedience no less than the temporal powers. The spiritual and +temporal powers were, in fact, arrayed against each other,--an unarmed +clergy, declaring principles, against an armed soldiery with swords and +lances. What an unequal fight! Why, the very weapons of the soldier are +in defence of ideas! The soldier himself is very strong in defence of +universally recognized principles, like law and government, whose +servant he is. In the case of Ambrose, it was the supposed law of God +against the laws of man. What soldier dares to fight against +Omnipotence, if he believes at all in the God to whom he is as +personally responsible as he is to a ruler? + +Ambrose thus remained the victor. The empress was defeated. But she was +a woman, and had persistency; she had no intention of succumbing to a +priest, and that priest her subject. With subtle dexterity she would +change the mode of attack, not relinquish the fight. She sought to +compromise. She promised to molest Ambrose no more if he would allow +_one_ church for the Arians. If the powerful metropolitan would concede +that, he might return to his palace in safety; she would withdraw the +soldiers. But this he refused. Not one church, declared he, should the +detractors of our Lord possess in the city over which he presided as +bishop. The Government might take his revenues, might take his life; but +he would be true to his cause. With his last breath he would defend the +Church, and the doctrines on which it rested. + +The angry empress then renewed her attack more fiercely. She commanded +the troops to seize by force one of the churches of the city for the use +of the Arians; and the bishop was celebrating the sacred mysteries on +Palm Sunday when news was brought to him of this outrage,--of this +encroachment on the episcopal authority. The whole city was thrown into +confusion. Every man armed himself; some siding with the empress, and +others with the bishop. The magistrates were in despair, since they +could not maintain law and order. They appealed to Ambrose to yield for +the sake of peace and public order. To whom he replied, in substance, +"What is that to me? My kingdom is not of this world. I will not +interfere in civil matters. The responsibility of maintaining order in +the streets does not rest on me, but on you. See you to that. It is only +by prayer that I am strong." + +Again the furious empress--baffled, not conquered--ordered the soldiers +to seize the person of Ambrose in his church. But they were +terror-stricken. Seize the minister at the altar of Omnipotence! It was +not to be thought of. They refused to obey. They sent word to the +imperial palace that they would only take possession of the church on +the sole condition that the emperor (who was controlled by his mother) +should abandon Arianism. How angry must have been the Court! Soldiers +not only disobedient, but audaciously dictating in matters of religion! +But this treason on the part of the defenders of the throne was a very +serious matter. The Court now became alarmed in its turn. And this alarm +was increased when the officers of the palace sided with the bishop. "I +perceive," said the crestfallen and defeated monarch, and in words of +bitterness, "that I am only the shadow of an emperor, to whom you dare +dictate my religious belief." + +Valentinian was at last aroused to a sense of his danger. He might be +dragged from his throne and assassinated. He saw that his throne was +undermined by a priest, who used only these simple words, "It is my duty +to obey God rather than man." A rebellious mob, an indignant court, a +superstitious soldiery, and angry factions compelled him to recall his +guards. It was a great triumph for the archbishop. Face to face he had +defeated the emperor. The temporal power had yielded to the spiritual. +Six hundred years before Henry IV. stooped to beg the favor and +forgiveness of Hildebrand, at the fortress of Canossa, the State had +conceded the supremacy of the Church in the person of the +fearless Ambrose. + +Not only was Ambrose an intrepid champion of the Church and the orthodox +faith, but he was often sent, in critical crises, as an ambassador to +the barbaric courts. Such was the force and dignity of his personal +character. This is one of the first examples on record of a priest +being employed by kings in the difficult art of negotiation in State +matters; but it became very common in the Middle Ages for prelates and +abbots to be ambassadors of princes, since they were not only the most +powerful but most intelligent and learned personages of their times. +They had, moreover, the most tact and the most agreeable manners. + +When Maximus revolted against the feeble Gratian (emperor of the West), +subdued his forces, took his life, and established himself in Gaul, +Spain, and Britain, the Emperor Valentinian sent Ambrose to the +barbarian's court to demand the body of his murdered brother. Arriving +at Treves, the seat of the prefecture, where his father had been +governor, he repaired at once to the palace of the usurper, and demanded +an interview with Maximus. The lord chamberlain informed him he could +only be heard before council. Led to the council chamber, the usurper +arose to give him the accustomed kiss of salutation among the Teutonic +kings. But Ambrose refused it, and upbraided the potentate for +compelling him to appear in the council chamber. "But," replied Maximus, +"on a former mission you came to this chamber." "True," replied the +prelate, "but then I came to sue for peace, as a suppliant; now I come +to demand, as an equal, the body of Gratian." "An equal, are you?" +replied the usurper; "from whom have you received this rank?" "From God +Almighty," replied the prelate, "who preserves to Valentinian the empire +he has given him." On this, the angry Maximus threatened the life of the +ambassador, who, rising in wrath, in his turn thus addressed him, before +all his councillors: "Since you have robbed an anointed prince of his +throne, at least restore his ashes to his kindred. Do _you_ fear a +tumult when the soldiers shall see the dead body of their murdered +emperor? What have you to fear from a corpse whose death you ordered? Do +you say you only destroyed your enemy? Alas! he was not _your_ enemy, +but you were _his_. If some one had possessed himself of your provinces, +as you seized those of Gratian, would not he--instead of you--be the +enemy? Can you call him an enemy who only sought to preserve what was +his own? Who is the lawful sovereign,--he who seeks to keep together his +legitimate provinces, or he who has succeeded in wresting them away? Oh, +thou successful usurper! God himself shall smite thee. Thou shalt be +delivered into the hands of Theodosius. Thou shalt lose thy kingdom and +thy life." How the prelate reminds us of a Jewish prophet giving to +kings unwelcome messages,--of Daniel pointing out to Belshazzar the +handwriting on the wall! He was not a Priam begging the dead body of his +son, or hurling impotent weapons amid the crackling ruins of Troy, but +an Elijah at the court of Ahab. But this fearlessness was surpassed by +the boldness of rebuke which later he dared to give to Theodosius, when +this great general had defeated the Goths, and postponed for a time the +ruin of the Empire, of which he became the supreme and only emperor. +Theodosius was in fact one of the greatest of the emperors, and the last +great man who swayed the sceptre of Trajan, his ancestor. On him the +vulgar and the high-born equally gazed with admiration,--and yet he was +not great enough to be free from vices, patron as he was of the Church +and her institutions. + +It seems that this illustrious emperor, in a fit of passion, ordered the +slaughter of the people of Thessalonica, because they had arisen and +killed some half-a-dozen of the officers of the government, in a +sedition, on account of the imprisonment of a favorite circus-rider. The +wrath of Theodosius knew no bounds. He had once before forgiven the +people of Antioch for a more outrageous insult to imperial authority; +but he would not pardon the people of Thessalonica, and caused some +seven thousand of them to be executed,--an outrageous vengeance, a crime +against humanity. The severity of this punishment filled the whole +Empire with consternation. Ambrose himself was so overwhelmed with grief +and indignation that he retired into the country in order to avoid all +intercourse with his sovereign. And there he remained, until the emperor +came to himself and comprehended the enormity of his crime. But Ambrose +wrote a letter to the emperor, in which he insisted on his repentance +and expiation. The emperor was so touched by the fidelity and eloquence +of the prelate that he came to the cathedral to offer up his customary +oblations. But the bishop, in his episcopal robes, met him at the porch +and forbade his entrance. "Do not think, O Emperor, to atone for the +enormity of your offence by merely presenting yourself in the church. +Dream not of entering these sacred precincts with your hands stained +with blood. Receive with submission the sentence of the Church." Then +Theodosius attempted to justify himself by the example of David. "But," +retorted the bishop, "if you imitate David in his crime, imitate David +in his repentance. Insult not the Church by a double crime." So the +emperor, in spite of his elevated rank and power, was obliged to return. +The festival of Christmas approached, the great holiday of the Church, +and then was seen one of the rarest spectacles which history records. +The great emperor, now with undivided authority, penetrated with grief +and shame and penitence, again approached the sacred edifice, and openly +made a full confession of his sins; and not till then was he received +into the communion of the Church. + +I think this scene is grand; worthy of a great painter,--of a painter +who knows history as well as art, which so few painters do know; yet +ought to know if they would produce immortal pictures. Nor do I know +which to admire the more,--the penitent emperor offering public penance +for his abuse of imperial authority, or the brave and conscientious +prelate who dared to rebuke his sin. When has such a thing happened in +modern times? Bossuet had the courage to dictate, in the royal chapel, +the duties of a king, and Bourdaloue once ventured to reprove his royal +hearer for an outrageous scandal. These instances of priestly boldness +and fidelity are cited as remarkable. And they were remarkable, when we +consider what an egotistical, haughty, exacting, voluptuous monarch +Louis XIV. was,--a monarch who killed Racine by an angry glance. But +what bishop presumed to insist on public penance for the persecutions of +the Huguenots, or the lavish expenditures and imperious tyranny of the +court mistresses, who scandalized France? I read of no churchman who, in +more recent times, has dared to reprove and openly rebuke a sovereign, +in the style of Ambrose, except John Knox. Ambrose not merely reproved, +but he punished, and brought the greatest emperor, since Constantine, to +the stool of penitence. + +It was by such acts, as prelate, that Ambrose won immortal fame, and set +an example to future ages. His whole career is full of such deeds of +intrepidity. Once he refused to offer the customary oblation of the +altar until Theodosius had consented to remit an unjust fine. He battled +all enemies alike,--infidels, emperors, and Pagans. It was his mission +to act, rather than to talk. His greatness was in his character, like +that of our Washington, who was not a man of words or genius. What a +failure is a man in an exalted post without character! + +But he had also other qualities which did him honor,--for which we +reverence him. See his laborious life, his assiduity in the discharge of +every duty, his charity, his broad humanity, soaring beyond mere +conventional and technical and legal piety. See him breaking in pieces +the consecrated vessels of the cathedral, and turning them into money to +redeem Illyrian captives; and when reproached for this apparent +desecration replying thus: "Whether is it better to preserve our gold or +the souls of men? Has the Church no higher mission to fulfil than to +guard the ornaments made by men's hands, while the faithful are +suffering exile and bonds? Do the blessed sacraments need silver and +gold, to be efficacious? What greater service to the Church can we +render than charities to the unfortunate, in obedience to that eternal +test, 'I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat'"? See this venerated +prelate giving away his private fortune to the poor; see him refusing +even to handle money, knowing the temptation to avarice or greed. What +a low estimate he placed on what was so universally valued, measuring +money by the standard of eternal weights! See this good bishop, always +surrounded with the pious and the learned, attending to all their wants, +evincing with his charities the greatest capacity of friendship. His +affections went out to all the world, and his chamber was open to +everybody. The companion and Mentor of emperors, the prelate charged +with the most pressing duties finds time for all who seek his advice or +consolation. + +One of the most striking facts which attest his goodness was his +generous and affectionate treatment of Saint Augustine, at that time an +unconverted teacher of rhetoric. It was Ambrose who was instrumental in +his conversion; and only a man of broad experience, and deep +convictions, and profound knowledge, and exquisite tact, could have had +influence over the greatest thinker of Christian antiquity. Augustine +not only praises the private life of Ambrose, but the eloquence of his +sermons; and I suppose that Augustine was a judge in such matters. +"For," says Augustine, "while I opened my heart to admire how eloquently +he spoke, I also felt how truly he spoke." Everybody equally admired and +loved this great metropolitan, because his piety was enlightened, +because he was above all religious tricks and pious frauds. He even +refused money for the Church when given grudgingly, or extorted by +plausible sophistries. He remitted to a poor woman a legacy which her +brother had given to the Church, leaving her penniless and dependent; +declaring that "if the Church is to be enriched at the expense of +fraternal friendships, if family ties are to be sundered, the cause of +Christ would be dishonored rather than advanced." We see here not only a +broad humanity, but a profound sense of justice,--a practical piety, +showing an enlightened and generous soul. He was not the man to allow a +family to be starved because a conscience-stricken husband or father +wished, under ghostly influences and in face of death, to make a +propitiation for a life of greediness and usurious grindings, by an +unjust disposition of his fortune to the Church. Possibly he had doubts +whether any money would benefit the Church which was obtained by wicked +arts, or had been originally gained by injustice and hard-heartedness. + +Thus does Saint Ambrose come down to us from antiquity,--great in his +feats of heroism, great as an executive ruler of the Church, great in +deeds of benevolence, rather than as orator, theologian, or student. +Yet, like Chrysostom, he preached every Sunday, and often in the week +besides, and his sermons had great power on his generation. When he died +in 397 he left behind him even a rich legacy of theological treatises, +as well as some fervid, inspiring hymns, and an influence for the better +in the modes of church music, which was the beginning of the modern +development of that great element in public worship. As a defender of +the faith by his pen, he may have yielded to greater geniuses than he; +but as the guardian of the interests of the Church, as a stalwart giant, +who prostrated the kings of the earth before him and gained the first +great battles of the spiritual over the temporal power, Ambrose is +worthy to be ranked among the great Fathers, and will continue to +receive the praises of enlightened Christendom. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Life of Ambrose, by his deacon, Paulinus; Theodoret; Tillemont's +Memoires Ecclesiastique, tom. x; Baronius; Zosimus; the Epistles of +Ambrose; Butler's Lives of the Saints; Biographie Universelle; Gibbon's +Decline and Fall. Milman has only a very brief notice of this great +bishop, the founder of sacerdotalism in the Latin Church. Neander's and +the standard Church Histories. There are some popular biographical +sketches in the encyclopedias, but no classical history of this prelate, +in English, with which I am acquainted. The French writers are the best. + + + +SAINT AUGUSTINE. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 354-430. + +CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY. + +The most intellectual of all the Fathers of the Church was doubtless +Saint Augustine. He is the great oracle of the Latin Church. He directed +the thinking of the Christian world for a thousand years. He was not +perhaps so learned as Origen, nor so critical as Jerome; but he was +broader, profounder, and more original than they, or any other of the +great lights who shed the radiance of genius on the crumbling fabric of +the ancient civilization. He is the sainted doctor of the Church, +equally an authority with both Catholics and Protestants. His +penetrating genius, his comprehensive views of all systems of ancient +thought, and his marvellous powers as a systematizer of Christian +doctrines place him among the immortal benefactors of mankind; while his +humanity, his breadth, his charity, and his piety have endeared him to +the heart of the Christian world. + +Let me present, as well as I can, his history, his services, and his +personal character, all of which form no small part of the inheritance +bequeathed to us by the giants of the fourth and fifth centuries,--that +which we call the Patristic literature,--the only literature worthy of +preservation in the declining days of the old Roman world. + +Augustine was born at Tagaste, or Tagastum, near Carthage, in the +Numidian province of the Roman Empire, in the year 354,--a province +rich, cultivated, luxurious, where the people (at least the educated +classes) spoke the Latin language, and had adopted the Roman laws and +institutions. They were not black, like negroes, though probably +swarthy, being descended from Tyrians and Greeks, as well as Numidians. +They were as civilized as the Spaniards or the Gauls or the Syrians. +Carthage then rivalled Alexandria, which was a Grecian city. If +Augustine was not as white as Ptolemy or Cleopatra, he was probably no +darker than Athanasius. + +Unlike most of the great Fathers, his parentage was humble. He owed +nothing to the circumstances of wealth and rank. His father was a +heathen, and lived, as Augustine tells us, in "heathenish sin." But his +mother was a woman of remarkable piety and strength of mind, who devoted +herself to the education of her son. Augustine never alludes to her +except with veneration; and his history adds additional confirmation to +the fact that nearly all the remarkable men of our world have had +remarkable mothers. No woman is dearer to the Church than Monica, the +sainted mother of Augustine, and chiefly in view of her intense +solicitude for his spiritual interests, and her extraordinary faith in +his future conversion, in spite of his youthful follies and +excesses,--encouraged by that good bishop who told her "that it was +impossible that the child of so many prayers could be lost." + +Augustine, in his "Confessions,"--that remarkable book which has lasted +fifteen hundred years, and is still prized for its intensity, its +candor, and its profound acquaintance with the human heart, as well as +evangelical truth; not an egotistical parade of morbid sentimentalities, +like the "Confessions" of Rousseau, but a mirror of Christian +experience,--tells us that until he was sixteen he was obstinate, lazy, +neglectful of his studies, indifferent to reproach, and abandoned to +heathenish sports. He even committed petty thefts, was quarrelsome, and +indulged in demoralizing pleasures. At nineteen he was sent to Carthage +to be educated, where he went still further astray; was a follower of +stage-players (then all but infamous), and gave himself up to unholy +loves. But his intellect was inquiring, his nature genial, and his +habits as studious as could be reconciled with a life of pleasure,--a +sort of Alcibiades, without his wealth and rank, willing to listen to +any Socrates who would stimulate his mind. With all his excesses and +vanities, he was not frivolous, and seemed at an early age to be a +sincere inquirer after truth. The first work which had a marked effect +on him was the "Hortensius" of Cicero,--a lost book, which contained an +eloquent exhortation to philosophy, or the love of wisdom. From that he +turned to the Holy Scriptures, but they seemed to him then very poor, +compared with the stateliness of Tully, nor could his sharp wit +penetrate their meaning. Those who seemed to have the greatest influence +over him were the Manicheans,--a transcendental, oracular, indefinite, +illogical, pretentious set of philosophers, who claimed superior wisdom, +and were not unlike (at least in spirit) those modern _savans_ in the +Christian commonwealth, who make a mockery of what is most sacred in +Christianity while themselves propounding the most absurd theories. + +The Manicheans claimed to be a Christian sect, but were Oriental in +their origin and Pagan in their ideas. They derived their doctrines from +Manes, or Mani, who flourished in Persia in the second half of the third +century, and who engrafted some Christian doctrines on his system, which +was essentially the dualism of Zoroaster and the pantheism of Buddha. He +assumed two original substances,--God and Hyle, light and darkness, +good and evil,--which were opposed to each other. Matter, which is +neither good nor evil, was regarded as bad in itself, and identified +with darkness, the prince of which overthrew the primitive man. Among +the descendants of the fallen man light and darkness have struggled for +supremacy, but matter, or darkness, conquered; and Christ, who was +confounded with the sun, came to break the dominion. But the light of +his essential being could not unite with darkness; therefore he was not +born of a woman, nor did he die to rise again. Christ had thus no +personal existence. As the body, being matter, was thought to be +essentially evil, it was the aim of the Manicheans to set the soul free +from matter; hence abstinence, and the various forms of asceticism which +early entered into the pietism of the Oriental monks. That which gave +the Manicheans a hold on the mind of Augustine, seeking after truth, was +their arrogant claim to the solution of mysteries, especially the origin +of evil, and their affectation of superior knowledge. Their watchwords +were Reason, Science, Philosophy. Moreover, like the Sophists in the +time of Socrates, they were assuming, specious, and rhetorical. +Augustine--ardent, imaginative, credulous--was attracted by them, and he +enrolled himself in their esoteric circle. + +The coarser forms of sin he now abandoned, only to resign himself to the +emptiness of dreamy speculations and the praises of admirers. He won +prizes and laurels in the schools. For nine years he was much flattered +for his philosophical attainments. I can almost see this enthusiastic +youth scandalizing and shocking his mother and her friends by his bold +advocacy of doctrines at war with the gospel, but which he supposed to +be very philosophical. Pert and bright young men in these times often +talk as he did, but do not know enough to see their own shallowness. + + "Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring." + +The mind of Augustine, however, was logical, and naturally profound; and +at last he became dissatisfied with the nonsense with which plausible +pretenders ensnared him. He was then what we should call a schoolmaster, +or what some would call a professor, and taught rhetoric for his +support, which was a lucrative and honorable calling. He became a master +of words. From words he ascended to definitions, and like all true +inquirers began to love the definite, the precise. He wanted a basis to +stand upon. He sought certitudes,--elemental truths which sophistry +could not cover up. Then the Manicheans could no longer satisfy him. He +had doubts, difficulties, which no Manichean could explain, not even Dr. +Faustus of Mileve, the great oracle and leader of the sect,--a subtle +dialectician and brilliant orator, but without depth or +earnestness,--whom he compares to a cup-bearer presenting a costly +goblet, but without anything in it. And when it became clear that this +high-priest of pretended wisdom was ignorant of the things in which he +was supposed to excel, but which Augustine himself had already learned, +his disappointment was so great that he lost faith both in the teacher +and his doctrines. Thus this Faustus, "neither willing nor witting it," +was the very man who loosened the net which had ensnared Augustine for +so many years. + +He was now thirty years of age, and had taught rhetoric in Carthage, the +capital of Northern Africa, with brilliant success, for three years; but +panting for new honors or for new truth, he removed to Rome, to pursue +both his profession and his philosophical studies. He entered the +capital of the world in the height of its material glories, but in the +decline of its political importance, when Damasus occupied the episcopal +throne, and Saint Jerome was explaining the Scriptures to the high-born +ladies of Mount Aventine, who grouped around him,--women like Paula, +Fabiola, and Marcella. Augustine knew none of these illustrious people. +He lodged with a Manichean, and still frequented the meetings of the +sect; convinced, indeed, that the truth was not with them, but +despairing to find it elsewhere. In this state of mind he was drawn to +the doctrines of the New Academy,--or, as Augustine in his +"Confessions" calls them, the Academics,--whose representatives, +Arcesilaus and Carneades, also made great pretensions, but denied the +possibility of arriving at absolute truth,--aiming only at probability. +However lofty the speculations of these philosophers, they were +sceptical in their tendency. They furnished no anchor for such an +earnest thinker as Augustine. They gave him no consolation. Yet his +dislike of Christianity remained. + +Moreover, he was disappointed with Rome. He did not find there the great +men he sought, or if great men were there he could not get access to +them. He found himself in a moral desert, without friends and congenial +companions. He found everybody so immersed in pleasure, or gain, or +frivolity, that they had no time or inclination for the quest for truth, +except in those circles he despised. "Truth," they cynically said, "what +_is_ truth? Will truth enable us to make eligible matches with rich +women? Will it give us luxurious banquets, or build palaces, or procure +chariots of silver, or robes of silk, or oysters of the Lucrine lake, or +Falernian wines? Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." Inasmuch +as the arts of rhetoric enabled men to rise at the bar or shine in +fashionable circles, he had plenty of scholars; but they left his +lecture-room when required to pay. At Carthage his pupils were +boisterous and turbulent; at Rome they were tricky and mean. The +professor was not only disappointed,--he was disgusted. He found +neither truth nor money. Still, he was not wholly unknown or +unsuccessful. His great abilities were seen and admired; so that when +the people of Milan sent to Symmachus, the prefect of the city, to +procure for them an able teacher of rhetoric, he sent Augustine,--a +providential thing, since in the second capital of Italy he heard the +great Ambrose preach; he found one Christian whom he respected, whom he +admired,--and him he sought. And Ambrose found time to show him an +episcopal kindness. At first Augustine listened as a critic, trying the +eloquence of Ambrose, whether it answered the fame thereof, or flowed +fuller or lower than was reported; "but of the matter I was," says +Augustine, "a scornful and careless looker-on, being delighted with the +sweetness of his discourse. Yet I was, though by little and little, +gradually drawing nearer and nearer to truth; for though I took no pains +to learn _what_ he spoke, only to hear _how_ he spoke, yet, together +with the words which I would choose, came into my mind the things I +would refuse; and while I opened my heart to admire how eloquently he +spoke, I also felt how truly he spoke. And so by degrees I resolved to +abandon forever the Manicheans, whose falsehoods I detested, and +determined to be a catechumen of the Catholic Church." + +This was the great crisis of his life. He had renounced a false +philosophy; he sought truth from a Christian bishop; he put himself +under Christian influences. Fortunately at this time his mother Monica, +to whom he had lied and from whom he had run away, joined him; also his +son Adeodatus,--the son of the woman with whom he had lived in illicit +intercourse for fifteen years. But his conversion was not accomplished. +He purposed marriage, sent away his concubine to Africa, and yet fell +again into the mazes of another unlawful and entangling love. It was not +easy to overcome the loose habits of his life. Sensuality ever robs a +man of the power of will. He had a double nature,--a strong sensual +body, with a lofty and inquiring soul. And awful were his conflicts, not +with an unfettered imagination, like Jerome in the wilderness, but with +positive sin. The evil that he would not, that he did, followed with +remorse and shame; still a slave to his senses, and perhaps to his +imagination, for though he had broken away from the materialism of the +Manicheans, he had not abandoned philosophy. He read the books of Plato, +which had a good effect, since he saw, what he had not seen before, that +true realities are purely intellectual, and that God, who occupies the +summit of the world of intelligence, is a pure spirit, inaccessible to +the senses; so that Platonism to him, in an important sense, was the +vestibule of Christianity. Platonism, the loftiest development of pagan +thought, however, did not emancipate him. He comprehended the Logos of +the Athenian sage; but he did not comprehend the Word made flesh, the +Word attached to the Cross. The mystery of the Incarnation offended his +pride of reason. + +At length light beamed in upon him from another source, whose simplicity +he had despised. He read Saint Paul. No longer did the apostle's style +seem barbarous, as it did to Cardinal Bembo,--it was a fountain of life. +He was taught two things he had not read in the books of the +Platonists,--the lost state of man, and the need of divine grace. The +Incarnation appeared in a new light. Jesus Christ was revealed to him as +the restorer of fallen humanity. + +He was now "rationally convinced." He accepted the theology of Saint +Paul; but he could not break away from his sins. And yet the awful +truths he accepted filled him with anguish, and produced dreadful +conflicts. The law of his members warred against the law of his mind. In +agonies he cried, "Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from +this body of death?" He shunned all intercourse. He withdrew to his +garden, reclined under a fig-tree, and gave vent to bitter tears. He +wrestled with the angel, and his deliverance was at hand. It was under +the fig-tree of his garden that he fancied he heard a voice of boy or +girl, he could not tell, chanting and often repeating, "Take up and +read; take up and read." He opened the Scriptures, and his eye alighted +not on the text which had converted Antony the monk, "Go and sell all +that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in +heaven," but on this: "Let us walk honestly, as in the day, not in +rioting, drunkenness, and wantonness, but put ye on the Lord Jesus +Christ, and not make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts +thereof." That text decided him, and broke his fetters. His conversion +was accomplished. He poured forth his soul in thanksgiving and praise. + +He was now in the thirty-second year of his age, and resolved to +renounce his profession,--or, to use his language, "to withdraw from the +marts of lip-labor and the selling of words,"--and enter the service of +the new master who had called him to prepare himself for a higher +vocation. He retired to a country house, near Milan, which belonged to +his friend Veracundus, and he was accompanied in his retreat by his +mother, his brother Navigius, his son Adeodatus, Alypius his confidant, +Trigentius and Licentius his scholars, and his cousins Lastidianus and +Rusticus. I should like to describe those blissful and enchanting days, +when without asceticism and without fanaticism, surrounded with admiring +friends and relatives, he discoursed on the highest truths which can +elevate the human mind. Amid the rich olive-groves and dark waving +chesnuts which skirted the loveliest of Italian lakes, in sight of both +Alps and Apennines, did this great master of Christian philosophy +prepare himself for his future labors, and forge the weapons with which +he overthrew the high-priests who assailed the integrity of the +Christian faith. The hand of opulent friendship supplied his wants, as +Paula ministered to Jerome in Bethlehem. Often were discussions with his +pupils and friends prolonged into the night and continued until the +morning. Plato and Saint Paul reappeared in the gardens of Como. Thus +three more glorious years were passed in study, in retirement, and in +profitable discourse, without scandal and without vanity. The proud +philosopher was changed into a humble Christian, thirsting for a living +union with God. The Psalms of David, next to the Epistles of Saint Paul, +were his favorite study,--that pure and lofty poetry "which strips away +the curtains of the skies, and approaches boldly but meekly into the +presence of Him who dwells in boundless and inaccessible majesty." In +the year 387, at the age of thirty-three, he received the rite of +baptism from the great archbishop who was so instrumental in his +conversion, and was admitted into the ranks of the visible Church, and +prepared to return to Africa. But before he could embark, his beloved +mother died at Ostia, feeling, with Simeon, that she could now depart in +peace, having seen the salvation of the Lord,--but to the immoderate +grief of Augustine who made no effort to dry his tears. It was not till +the following year that he sailed for Carthage, not long tarrying there, +but retiring to Tagaste, to his paternal estate, where he spent three +years more in study and meditation, giving away all he possessed to +religion and charity, living with his friends in a complete community of +goods. It was there that some of his best works were composed. In the +year 391, on a visit to Hippo, a Numidian seaport, he was forced into +more active duties. Entering the church, the people clamored for his +ordination; and such was his power as a pulpit orator, and so +universally was he revered, that in two years after he became coadjutor +bishop, and his great career began. + +As a bishop he won universal admiration. Councils could do nothing +without his presence. Emperors condescended to sue for his advice. He +wrote letters to all parts of Christendom. He was alike saint, oracle, +prelate, and preacher. He labored day and night, living simply, but +without monkish austerity. At table, reading and literary conferences +were preferred to secular conversation. His person was accessible. He +interested himself in everybody's troubles, and visited the forlorn and +miserable. He was indefatigable in reclaiming those who had strayed from +the fold. He won every heart by charity, and captivated every mind with +his eloquence; so that Hippo, a little African town, was no longer +"least among the cities of Judah," since her prelate was consulted from +the extremities of the earth, and his influence went forth throughout +the crumbling Empire, to heal division and establish the faith of the +wavering,--a Father of the Church universal. + +Yet it is not as bishop, but as doctor, that he is immortal. It was his +mission to head off the dissensions and heresies of his age, and to +establish the faith of Paul even among the Germanic barbarians. He is +the great theologian of the Church, and his system of divinity not only +was the creed of the Middle Ages, but is still an authority in the +schools, both Catholic and Protestant. + +Let us, then, turn to his services as theologian and philosopher. He +wrote over a thousand treatises, and on almost every subject that has +interested the human mind; but his labors were chiefly confined to the +prevailing and more subtle and dangerous errors of his day. Nor was it +by dry dialectics that he refuted these heresies, although the most +logical and acute of men, but by his profound insight into the cardinal +principles of Christianity, which he discoursed upon with the most +extraordinary affluence of thought and language, disdaining all +sophistries and speculations. He went to the very core,--a realist of +the most exalted type, permeated with the spirit of Plato, yet bowing +down to Paul. + +We first find him combating the opinions which had originally enthralled +him, and which he understood better than any theologian who ever lived. + +But I need not repeat what I have already said of the +Manicheans,--those arrogant and shallow philosophers who made such high +pretension to superior wisdom; men who adored the divinity of mind, and +the inherent evil of matter; men who sought to emancipate the soul, +which in their view needed no regeneration from all the influences of +the body. That this soul, purified by asceticism, might be reunited to +the great spirit of the universe from which it had originally emanated, +was the hopeless aim and dream of these theosophists,--not the control +of passions and appetites, which God commands, but their eradication; +not the worship of a Creator who made the heaven and the earth, but a +vague worship of the creation itself. They little dreamed that it is not +the body (neither good nor evil in itself) which is sinful, but the +perverted mind and soul, the wicked imagination of the heart, out of +which proceeds that which defileth a man, and which can only be +controlled and purified by Divine assistance. Augustine showed that +purity was an inward virtue, not the crucifixion of the body; that its +passions and appetites are made to be subservient to reason and duty; +that the law of temperance is self-restraint; that the soul was not an +emanation or evolution from eternal light, but a distinct creation of +Almighty God, which He has the power to destroy, as well as the body +itself; that nothing in the universe can live without His pleasure; that +His intervention is a logical sequence of His moral government. But his +most withering denunciation of the Manicheans was directed against +their pride of reason, against their darkened understanding, which led +them not only to believe a lie, but to glory in it,--the utter +perverseness of the mind when in rebellion to divine authority, in view +of which it is almost vain to argue, since truth will neither be +admitted nor accepted. + +There was another class of Christians who provoked the controversial +genius of Augustine, and these were the Donatists. These men were not +heretics, but bigots. They made the rite of baptism to depend on the +character of the officiating priest; and hence they insisted on +rebaptism, if the priest who had baptized proved unworthy. They seemed +to forget that no clergyman ever baptized from his own authority or +worthiness, but only in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the +Holy Ghost. Nobody knows who baptized Paul, and he felt under certain +circumstances even that he was sent not to baptize, but to preach the +gospel. Lay baptism has always been held valid. Hence, such reformers as +Calvin and Knox did not deem it necessary to rebaptize those who had +been converted from the Roman Catholic faith; and, if I do not mistake, +even Roman Catholics do not insist on rebaptizing Protestants. But the +Donatists so magnified, not the rite, but the form of it, that they lost +the spirit of it, and became seceders, and created a mournful division +in the Church,--a schism which gave rise to bitter animosities. The +churches of Africa were rent by their implacable feuds, and on so small +a matter,--even as the ranks of the reformers under Luther were so soon +divided by the Anabaptists. In proportion to the unimportance of the +shibboleth was tenacity to it,--a mark which has ever characterized +narrow and illiberal minds. It is not because a man accepts a shibboleth +that he is narrow and small, but because he fights for it. As a minute +critic would cast out from the fraternity of scholars him who cannot +tell the difference between _ac_ and _et_, so the Donatist would expel +from the true fold of Christ those who accepted baptism from an unworthy +priest. Augustine at first showed great moderation and patience and +gentleness in dealing with these narrow-minded and fierce sectarians, +who carried their animosity so far as to forbid bread to be baked for +the use of the Catholics in Carthage, when they had the ascendency; but +at last he became indignant, and implored the aid of secular +magistrates. + +Augustine's controversy with the Donatists led to two remarkable +tracts,--one on the evil of suppressing heresy by the sword, and the +other on the unity of the Church. + +In the first he showed a spirit of toleration beyond his age; and this +is more remarkable because his temper was naturally ardent and fiery. +But he protested in his writings, and before councils, against violence +in forcing religious convictions, and advocated a liberality worthy of +John Locke. + +In the second tract he advocated a principle which had a prodigious +influence on the minds of his generation, and greatly contributed to +establish the polity of the Roman Catholic Church. He argued the +necessity of unity in government as well as unity in faith, like Cyprian +before him; and this has endeared him to the Roman Catholic Church, I +apprehend, even more than his glorious defence of the Pauline theology. +There are some who think that all governments arise out of the +circumstances and the necessities of the times, and that there are no +rules laid down in the Bible for any particular form or polity, since a +government which may be adapted to one age or people may not be fitted +for another;--even as a monarchy would not succeed in New England any +more than a democracy in China. But the most powerful sects among +Protestants, as well as among the Catholics themselves, insist on the +divine authority for their several forms of government, and all would +have insisted, at different periods, on producing conformity with their +notions. The high-church Episcopalian and the high-church Presbyterian +equally insist on the divine authority for their respective +institutions. The Catholics simply do the same, when they make Saint +Peter the rock on which the supremacy of their Church is based. In the +time of Augustine there was only one form of the visible Church,--there +were no Protestants; and he naturally wished, like any bishop, to +strengthen and establish its unity,--a government of bishops, of which +the bishop of Rome was the acknowledged head. But he did not +anticipate--and I believe he would not have indorsed--their future +encroachments and their ambitious schemes for enthralling the mind of +the world, to say nothing of personal aggrandizement and the usurpation +of temporal authority. And yet the central power they established on the +banks of the Tiber was, with all its corruptions, fitted to conserve the +interests of Christendom in rude ages of barbarism and ignorance; and +possibly Augustine, with his profound intuitions, and in view of the +approaching desolations of the Christian world, wished to give to the +clergy and to their head all the moral power and prestige possible, to +awe and control the barbaric chieftains, for in his day the Empire was +crumbling to pieces, and the old civilization was being trampled under +foot. If there was a man in the whole Empire capable of taking +comprehensive views of the necessities of society, that man was the +Bishop of Hippo; so that if we do not agree with his views of church +government, let us bear in mind the age in which he lived, and its +peculiar dangers and necessities. And let us also remember that his idea +of the unity of the Church has a spiritual as well as a temporal +meaning, and in that sublime and lofty sense can never be controverted +so long as _One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism_ remain the common creed of +Christians in all parts of the world. It was to preserve this unity that +he entered so zealously into all the great controversies of the age, and +fought heretics as well as schismatics. + +The great work which pre-eminently called out his genius, and for which +he would seem to have been raised up, was to combat the Pelagian heresy, +and establish the doctrine of the necessity of Divine Grace,--even as it +was the mission of Athanasius to defend the doctrine of the Trinity, and +that of Luther to establish Justification by Faith. In all ages there +are certain heresies, or errors, which have spread so dangerously, and +been embraced so generally by the leading and fashionable classes, that +they seem to require some extraordinary genius to arise in order to +combat them successfully, and rescue the Church from the snares of a +false philosophy. Thus Bernard was raised up to refute the rationalism +and nominalism of Abélard, whose brilliant and subtile inquiries had a +tendency to extinguish faith in the world, and bring all mysteries to +the test of reason. The enthusiastic and inquiring young men who flocked +to his lectures from all parts of Europe carried back to their homes and +convents and schools insidious errors, all the more dangerous because +they were mixed with truths which were universally recognized. It +required such a man as Bernard to expose these sophistries and destroy +their power, not so much by dialectical weapons as by appealing to those +lofty truths, those profound convictions, those essential and immutable +principles which consciousness reveals and divine authority confirms. It +took a greater than Abélard to show the tendency of his speculations, +from the logical sequence of which even he himself would have fled, and +which he did reject when misfortunes had broken his heart, and disease +had brought him to face the realities of the future life. So God raised +up Pascal to expose the sophistries of the Jesuits and unravel that +subtle casuistry which was undermining the morality of the age, and +destroying the authority of Saint Augustine on some of the most vital +principles which entered into the creed of the Catholic Church. Thus +Jonathan Edwards, the ablest theologian which this country has seen, +controverted the fashionable Arminianism of his day. Thus some great +intellectual giant will certainly and in due time appear to demolish +with scathing irony the theories and speculations of some of the +progressive schools of our day, and present their absurdities and +boastings and pretensions in such a ridiculous light that no man with +any intellectual dignity will dare to belong to their fraternity, unless +he impiously accepts--sometimes with ribald mockeries--the logical +sequence of their doctrines. + +Now it was not the Manicheans or Donatists who were the most dangerous +people in the time of Augustine,--nor were their doctrines likely to be +embraced by the Christian schools, especially in the West; but it was +the Pelagians who in high places were assailing the Pauline theology. +And they advocated principles which lay at the root of most of the +subsequent controversies of the Church. They were intellectual men, +generally good men, who could not be put down, and who would thrive +under any opposition. Augustine did not attack the character of these +men, but rendered a great service to the Church by pointing out, clearly +and luminously, the antichristian character of their theories, when +rigorously pushed out, by a remorseless logic, to their +necessary sequence. + +Whatever value may be attached to that science which is based on +deductions drawn from the truths of revelation, certain it is that it +was theology which most interested Christians in the time of Augustine, +as in the time of Athanasius; and his controversy with the Pelagians +made then a mighty stir, and is at the root of half the theological +discussions from that age to ours. If we would understand the changes of +human thought in the Middle Ages, if we would seek to know what is most +vital in Church history, that celebrated Pelagian controversy claims our +special attention. + +It was at a great crisis in the Church when a British monk of +extraordinary talents, persuasive eloquence, and great attainments,--a +man accustomed to the use of dialectical weapons and experienced by +extensive travels, ambitious, ardent, plausible, adroit,--appeared among +the churches and advanced a new philosophy. His name was Pelagius; and +he was accompanied by a man of still greater logical power than he +himself possessed, though not so eloquent or accomplished or pleasing in +manner, who was called Celestius,--two doctors of whom the schools were +justly proud, and who were admired and honored by enthusiastic young +men, as Abélard was in after-times. + +Nothing disagreeable marked these apostles of the new philosophy, nor +could the malignant voice of theological hatred and envy bring upon +their lives either scandal or reproach. They had none of the infirmities +which so often have dimmed the lustre of great benefactors. They were +not dogmatic like Luther, nor severe like Calvin, nor intolerant like +Knox. Pelagius, especially, was a most interesting man, though more of a +philosopher than a Christian. Like Zeno, he exalted the human will; like +Aristotle, he subjected all truth to the test of logical formularies; +like Abélard, he would believe nothing which he could not explain or +comprehend. Self-confident, like Servetus, he disdained the Cross. The +central principle of his teachings was man's ability to practise any +virtue, independently of divine grace. He made perfection a thing easy +to be attained. There was no need, in his eyes, as his adversaries +maintained, of supernatural aid in the work of salvation. Hence a +Saviour was needless. By faith, he is represented to mean mere +intellectual convictions, to be reached through the reason alone. Prayer +was useful simply to stimulate a man's own will. He was further +represented as repudiating miracles as contrary to reason, of abhorring +divine sovereignty as fatal to the exercise of the will, of denying +special providences as opposing the operation of natural laws, as +rejecting native depravity and maintaining that the natural tendency of +society was to rise in both virtue and knowledge, and of course +rejecting the idea of a Devil tempting man to sin. "His doctrines," says +one of his biographers, "were pleasing to pride, by flattering its +pretension; to nature, by exaggerating its power; and to reason, by +extolling its capacity." He asserted that death was not the penalty of +Adam's transgression; he denied the consequences of his sin; and he +denied the spiritual resurrection of man by the death of Christ, thus +rejecting him as a divine Redeemer. Why should there be a divine +redemption if man could save himself? He blotted out Christ from the +book of life by representing him merely as a martyr suffering for the +declaration of truths which were not appreciated,--like Socrates at +Athens, or Savonarola at Florence. In support of all these doctrines, +so different from those of Paul, he appealed, not to the apostle's +authority, but to human reason, and sought the aid of Pagan philosophy, +rather than the Scriptures, to arrive at truth. + +Thus was Pelagius represented by his opponents, who may have exaggerated +his heresies, and have pushed his doctrines to a logical sequence which +he would not accept but would even repel, in the same manner as the +Pelagians drew deductions from the teachings of Augustine which were +exceedingly unfair,--making God the author of sin, and election to +salvation to depend on the foreseen conduct of men in regard to an +obedience which they had no power to perform. + +But whether Pelagius did or did not hold all the doctrines of which he +was accused, it is certain that the spirit of them was antagonistic to +the teachings of Paul, as understood by Augustine, who felt that the +very foundations of Christianity were assailed,--as Athanasius regarded +the doctrines of Arius. So he came to the rescue, not of the Catholic +Church, for Pelagius belonged to it as well as he, but to the rescue of +Christian theology. The doctrines of Pelagius were becoming fashionable +and prevalent in many parts of the Empire. Even the Pope at one time +favored them. They might spread until they should be embraced by the +whole Catholic world, for Augustine believed in the vitality of error as +well as in the vitality of truth,--of the natural and inevitable +tendency of society towards Paganism, without the especial and +restraining grace of God. He armed himself for the great conflict with +the infidelity of his day, not with David's sling, but Goliath's sword. +He used the same weapons as his antagonist, even the arms of reason and +knowledge, and constructed an argument which was overwhelming, if Paul's +Epistles were to be the accepted premises of his irresistible logic. +Great as was Pelagius, Augustine was a far greater man,--broader, +deeper, more learned, more logical, more eloquent, more intense. He was +raised up to demolish, with the very reason he professed to disdain, the +sophistries and dogmas of one of the most dangerous enemies which the +Church had ever known,--to leave to posterity his logic and his +conclusions when similar enemies of his faith should rise up in future +ages. He furnished a thesaurus not merely to Bernard and Thomas Aquinas, +but even to Calvin and Bossuet and Pascal. And it will be the marvellous +lucidity of the Bishop of Hippo which shall bring back to the true +faith, if it is ever brought back, that part of the Roman Catholic +Church which accepts the verdict of the Council of Trent, when that +famous council indorsed the opinions of Pelagius while upholding the +authority of Augustine as the greatest doctor of the Church. + +To a man like Augustine, with his deep experiences,--a man rescued from +a seductive philosophy and a corrupt life, as he thought, by the +special grace of God and in answer to his mother's prayers,--the views +of Pelagius were both false and dangerous. He could find no words +sufficiently intense whereby to express his gratitude for his +deliverance from both sin and error. To him this Deliverer is so +personal, so loving, that he pours out his confession to Him as if He +were both friend and father. And he felt that all that is vital in +theology must radiate from the recognition of His sovereign power in the +renovation and salvation of the world. All his experiences and +observations of life confirmed the authority of Scripture,--that the +world, as a matter of fact, was sunk in a state of sin and misery, and +could be rescued only by that divine power which converted Paul. His +views of predestination, grace, and Providence all radiate from the +central principle of the majesty of God and the littleness of man. All +his ideas of the servitude of the will are confirmed by his personal +experience of the awful fetters which sin imposes, and the impossibility +of breaking away from them without direct aid from the God who ruleth +the world in love. And he had an infinitely greater and deeper +conviction of the reality of this divine love, which had rescued him, +than Pelagius had, who felt that his salvation was the result of his own +merits. The views of Augustine were infinitely more cheerful than those +of his adversary respecting salvation, since they gave more hope to the +miserable population of the Empire who could not claim the virtues of +Pelagius, and were impotent of themselves to break away from the bondage +which degraded them. There is nothing in the writings of Augustine,--not +in this controversy, or any other controversy,--to show that God +delights in the miseries or the penalty which are indissolubly connected +with sin; on the contrary, he blesses and adores the divine hand which +releases men from the constraints which sin imposes. This divine +interposition is wholly based on a divine and infinite love. It is the +helping hand of Omnipotence to the weak will of man,--the weak will even +of Paul, when he exclaimed, "The evil that I would not, that I do." It +is the unloosing, by His loving assistance, of the wings by which the +emancipated soul would rise to the lofty regions of peace and +contemplation. + +I know very well that the doctrines which Augustine systematized from +Paul involve questions which we cannot answer; for why should not an +infinite and omnipotent God give to all men the saving grace that he +gave to Augustine? Why should not this loving and compassionate Father +break all the fetters of sin everywhere, and restore the primeval +Paradise in this wicked world where Satan seems to reign? Is He not more +powerful than devils? Alas! the prevalence of evil is more mysterious +than the origin of evil. But this is something,--and it is well for the +critic and opponent of the Augustinian theology to bear this in +mind,--that Augustine was an earnest seeker after truth, even when +enslaved by the fornications of Carthage; and his own free-will in +persistently seeking truth, through all the mazes of Manichean and +Grecian speculation, is as manifest as the divine grace which came to +his assistance. God Almighty does not break fetters until there is some +desire in men to have them broken. If men _will_ hug sins, they must not +complain of their bondage. Augustine recognized free-will, which so many +think he ignored, when his soul aspired to a higher life. When a +drunkard in his agonies cries out to God, then help is near. A drowning +man who calls for a rope when a rope is near stands a good chance of +being rescued. + +I need not detail the results of this famous controversy. Augustine, +appealing to the consciousness of mankind as well as to the testimony of +Paul, prevailed over Pelagius, who appealed to the pride of reason. In +those dreadful times there were more men who felt the need of divine +grace than there were philosophers who revelled in the speculations of +the Greeks. The danger from the Pelagians was not from their +organization as a sect, but their opinions as individual men. Probably +there were all shades of opinion among them, from a modest and +thoughtful semi-Pelagianism to the rankest infidelity. There always have +been, and probably ever will be, sceptical and rationalistic people, +even in the bosom of the Church. + +Now had it not been for Augustine,--a profound thinker, a man of +boundless influence and authority,--it is not unlikely that Pelagianism +would have taken so deep a root in the mind of Christendom, especially +in the hearts of princes and nobles, that it would have become the creed +of the Church. Even as it was, it was never fully eradicated in the +schools and in the courts and among worldly people of culture +and fashion. + +But the fame of Augustine does not rest on his controversies with +heretics and schismatics alone. He wrote treatises on almost all +subjects of vital interest to the Church. His essay on the Trinity was +worthy of Athanasius, and has never been surpassed in lucidity and +power. His soliloquies on a blissful life, and the order of the +universe, and the immortality of the soul are pregnant with the richest +thought, equal to the best treatises of Cicero or Boethius. His +commentary on the Psalms is sparkling with tender effusions, in which +every thought is a sentiment and every sentiment is a blazing flame of +piety and love. Perhaps his greatest work was the amusement of his +leisure hours for thirteen years,--a philosophical treatise called "The +City of God," in which he raises and replies to all the great questions +of his day; a sort of Christian poem upon our origin and end, and a +final answer to Pagan theogonies,--a final sentence on all the gods of +antiquity. In that marvellous book he soars above his ordinary +excellence, and develops the designs of God in the history of States and +empires, furnishing for Bossuet the groundwork of his universal history. +Its great excellence, however, is its triumphant defence of Christianity +over all other religions,--the last of the great apologies which, while +settling the faith of the Christian world, demolished forever the last +stronghold of a defeated Paganism. As "ancient Egypt pronounced +judgments on her departed kings before proceeding to their burial, so +Augustine interrogates the gods of antiquity, shows their impotence to +sustain the people who worshipped them, triumphantly sings their +departed greatness, and seals with his powerful hand the sepulchre into +which they were consigned forever." + +Besides all the treatises of Augustine,--exegetical, apologetical, +dogmatical, polemical, ascetic, and autobiographical,--three hundred and +sixty-three of his sermons have come down to us, and numerous letters to +the great men and women of his time. Perhaps he wrote too much and too +loosely, without sufficient regard to art,--like Varro, the most +voluminous writer of antiquity, and to whose writings Augustine was much +indebted. If Saint Augustine had written less, and with more care, his +writings would now be more read and more valued. Thucydides compressed +the labors of his literary life into a single volume; but that volume +is immortal, is a classic, is a text-book. Yet no work of man is +probably more lasting than the "Confessions" of Augustine, from the +extraordinary affluence and subtilty of his thoughts, and his burning, +fervid, passionate style. When books were scarce and dear, his various +works were the food of the Middle Ages: and what better books ever +nourished the European mind in a long period of ignorance and ignominy? +So that we cannot overrate his influence in giving a direction to +Christian thought. He lived in the writings of the sainted doctors of +the Scholastic schools. And he was a very favored man in living to a +good old age, wearing the harness of a Christian laborer and the armor +of a Christian warrior until he was seventy-six. He was a bishop nearly +forty years. For forty years he was the oracle of the Church, the light +of doctors. His social and private life had also great charms: he lived +the doctrines that he preached; he completely triumphed over the +temptations which once assailed him. Everybody loved as well as revered +him, so genial was his humanity, so broad his charity. He was affable, +courteous, accessible, full of sympathy and kindness. He was tolerant of +human infirmities in an age of angry controversy and ascetic rigors. He +lived simply, but was exceedingly hospitable. He cared nothing for +money, and gave away what he had. He knew the luxury of charity, having +no superfluities. He was forgiving as well as tolerant; saying, It is +necessary to pardon offences, not seven times, but seventy times seven. +No one could remember an idle word from his lips after his conversion. +His humility was as marked as his charity, ascribing all his triumphs to +divine assistance. He was not a monk, but gave rules to monastic orders. +He might have been a metropolitan patriarch or pope; but he was +contented with being bishop of a little Numidian town. His only visits +beyond the sanctuary were to the poor and miserable. As he won every +heart by love, so he subdued every mind by eloquence. He died leaving no +testament, because he had no property to bequeath but his immortal +writings,--some ten hundred and thirty distinct productions. He died in +the year 430, when his city was besieged by the Vandals, and in the arms +of his faithful Alypius, then a neighboring bishop, full of visions of +the ineffable beauty of that blissful state to which his renovated +spirit had been for forty years constantly soaring. + +"Thus ceased to flow," said a contemporary, "that river of eloquence +which had watered the thirsty fields of the Church; thus passed away the +glory of preachers, the master of doctors, and the light of scholars; +thus fell the courageous combatant who with the sword of truth had given +heresy a mortal blow; thus set this glorious sun of Christian doctrine, +leaving a world in darkness and in tears." + +His vacant see had no successor. "The African province, the cherished +jewel of the Roman Empire, sparkled for a while in the Vandal diadem. +The Greek supplanted the Vandal, and the Saracen supplanted the Greek, +and the home of Augustine was blotted out from the map of Christendom." +The light of the gospel was totally extinguished in Northern Africa. The +acts of Rome and the doctrines of Cyprian were equally forgotten by the +Mahommedan conquerors. Only in Bona, as Hippo is now called, has the +memory of the great bishop been cherished,--the one solitary flower +which escaped the successive desolations of Vandals and Saracens. And +when Algiers was conquered by the French in 1830, the sacred relics of +the saint were transferred from Pavia (where they had been deposited by +the order of Charlemagne), in a coffin of lead, enclosed in a coffin of +silver, and the whole secured in a sarcophagus of marble, and finally +committed to the earth near the scenes which had witnessed his +transcendent labors. I do not know whether any monument of marble and +granite was erected to his memory; but he needs no chiselled stone, no +storied urn, no marble bust, to perpetuate his fame. For nearly fifteen +hundred years he has reigned as the great oracle of the Church, Catholic +and Protestant, in matters of doctrine,--the precursor of Bernard, of +Leibnitz, of Calvin, of Bossuet, all of whom reproduced his ideas, and +acknowledged him as the fountain of their own greatness. "Whether," said +one of the late martyred archbishops of Paris, "he reveals to us the +foundations of an impure polytheism, so varied in its developments, yet +so uniform in its elemental principles; or whether he sports with the +most difficult problems of philosophy, and throws out thoughts which in +after times are sufficient to give an immortality to Descartes,--we +always find in this great doctor all that human genius, enlightened by +the Spirit of God, can explain, and also to what a sublime height reason +herself may soar when allied with faith." + +AUTHORITIES. + +The voluminous Works of Saint Augustine, especially his "Confessions." +Mabillon, Tillemont, and Baronius have written very fully of this great +Father. See also Vaughan's Life of Thomas Aquinas. Neander, Geisler, +Mosheim, and Milman indorse, in the main, the eulogium of Catholic +writers. There are numerous popular biographies, of which those of +Baillie and Schaff are among the best; but the most satisfactory book I +have read is the History of M. Poujoulat, in three volumes, issued at +Paris in 1846. Butler, in his Lives of the Saints, has an extended +biography. Even Gibbon pays a high tribute to his genius and character. + + + +THEODOSIUS THE GREAT. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 346-395. + +THE LATTER DAYS OF ROME. + +The last of those Roman emperors whom we call great was Theodosius. +After him there is no great historic name, unless it be Justinian, who +reigned when Rome had fallen. With Theodosius is associated the +life-and-death struggle of Rome with the Gothic barbarians, and the +final collapse of Paganism as a tolerated religion. Paganism in its +essence, its spirit, was not extinguished; it entered into new forms, +even into the Church itself; and it still exists in Christian countries. +When Bismarck was asked why he did not throw down his burdens, he is +reported to have said: "Because no man can take my place. I should like +to retire to my estates and raise cabbages; but I have work to do +against Paganism: I live among Pagans." Neither Theodosius nor Bismarck +was what we should call a saint. Both have been stained by acts which it +is hard to distinguish from crimes; but both have given evidence of +hatred of certain evils which undermine society. Theodosius, +especially, made war and fought nobly against the two things which most +imperilled the Empire,--the barbarians who had begun their ravages, and +the Paganism which existed both in and outside the Church. For which +reasons he has been praised by most historians, in spite of great crimes +and some vices. The worldly Gibbon admires him for the noble stand he +took against external dangers, and the Fathers of the Church almost +adored him for his zealous efforts in behalf of orthodoxy. An eminent +scholar of the advanced school has seen nothing in him to admire, and +much to blame. But he was undoubtedly a very great man, and rendered +important services to his age and to civilization, although he could not +arrest the fatal disease which even then had destroyed the vitality of +the Empire. It was already doomed when he ascended the throne. No mortal +genius, no imperial power, could have saved the crumbling Empire. + +In my lecture on Marcus Aurelius I alluded to the external prosperity +and internal weakness of the old Roman world during his reign. That +outward prosperity continued for a century after he was dead,--that is, +there were peace, thrift, art, wealth, and splendor. Men were unmolested +in the pursuit of pleasure. There were no great wars with enemies beyond +the limits of the Empire. There were wars of course; but these chiefly +were civil wars between rival aspirants for imperial power, or to +suppress rebellions, which did not alarm the people. They still sat +under their own vines and fig-trees, and danced to voluptuous music, and +rejoiced in the glory of their palaces. They feasted and married and +were given in marriage, like the antediluvians. They never dreamed that +a great catastrophe was near, that great calamities were impending. + +I do not say that the people in that century were happy or contented, or +even generally prosperous. How could they be happy or prosperous when +monsters and tyrants sat on the throne of Augustus and Trajan? How could +they be contented when there was such a vast inequality of +condition,--when slaves were more numerous than freemen,--when most of +the women were guarded and oppressed,--when scarcely a man felt secure +of the virtue of his wife, or a wife of the fidelity of her +husband,--when there was no relief from corroding sorrows but in the +sports of the amphitheatre and circus, or some form of demoralizing +excitement or public spectacle,--when the great mass were ground down by +poverty and insult, and the few who were rich and favored were satiated +with pleasure, ennuéd, and broken down by dissipation,--when there was +no hope in this world or in the next, no true consolation in sickness or +in misfortune, except among the Christians, who fled by thousands to +desert places to escape the contaminating vices of society? + +But if the people were not happy or fortunate as a general thing, they +anticipated no overwhelming calamities; the outward signs of prosperity +remained,--all the glories of art, all the wonders of imperial and +senatorial magnificence; the people were fed and amused at the expense +of the State; the colosseum was still daily crowded with its +eighty-seven thousand spectators, and large hogs were still roasted +whole at senatorial banquets, and wines were still drunk which had been +stored one hundred years. The "dark-skinned daughters of Isis" still +sported unmolested in wanton mien with the priests of Cybele in their +discordant cries. The streets still were filled with the worshippers of +Bacchus and Venus, with barbaric captives and their Teuton priests, with +chariots and horses, with richly apparelled young men, and fashionable +ladies in quest of new perfumes. The various places of amusement were +still thronged with giddy youth and gouty old men who would have felt +insulted had any one told them that the most precious thing they had was +the most neglected. Everywhere, as in the time of Trajan, were +unrestricted pleasures and unrestricted trades. What cared the +shopkeepers and the carpenters and the bakers whether a Commodus or a +Severus reigned? They were safe. It was only great nobles who were in +danger of being robbed or killed by grasping emperors. The people, on +the whole, lived for one hundred years after the accession of Commodus +as they did under Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. True, there had been great +calamities during this hundred years. There had been terrible plagues +and pestilences: in some of these as many as five thousand people died +daily in Rome alone. There were tumults and revolts; there were wars and +massacres; there was often the reign of monsters or idiots. Yet even as +late as the reign of Aurelian, ninety years after the death of Aurelius, +the Empire was thought to be eternal; nor was any triumph ever +celebrated with greater pride and magnificence than his. And as the +victorious emperor in his triumphal chariot marched along the Via Sacra +up the Capitoline hill, with the spoils and trophies of one hundred +battles, with ambassadors and captives, including Zenobia herself, +fainting with the weight of jewels and golden fetters, it would seem +that Rome was destined to overcome all the vicissitudes of Nature, and +reign as mistress of the world forever. + +But that century did not close until real dangers stared the people in +the face, and so alarmed the guardians of the Empire that they no longer +could retire to their secluded villas for luxurious leisure, but were +forced to perpetual warfare, and with foes they had hitherto despised. + +Two things marked the one hundred years before the accession of +Theodosius of especial historical importance,--the successful inroads +of barbarians carrying desolation and alarm to the very heart of the +Empire; and the wonderful spread of the Christian religion. Persecution +ended with Diocletian; and under Constantine Christianity seated herself +upon his throne. During this century of barbaric spoliations and public +miseries,--the desolation of provinces, the sack of cities, the ruin of +works of art, the burning of palaces, all the unnumbered evils which +universal war created,--the converts to Christianity increased, for +Christianity alone held out hope amid despair and ruin. The public +dangers were so great that only successful generals were allowed to wear +the imperial purple. + +The ablest men of the Empire were at last summoned to govern it. From +the year 268 to 394 most of the emperors were able men, and some were +great and virtuous. Perhaps the Empire was never more ably administered +than was the Roman in the day of its calamities. Aurelian, Diocletian, +Constantine, Theodosius, are alike immortal. They all alike fought with +the same enemies, and contended with the same evils. The enemies were +the Gothic barbarians; the evils were the degeneracy and vices of Roman +soldiers, which universal corruption had at last produced. It was a sad +hour in the old capital of the world when its blinded inhabitants were +aroused from the stupendous delusion that they were invincible; when the +crushing fact blazed upon them that the legions had been beaten, that +province after province had been overrun, that the proudest cities had +fallen, that the barbarians were advancing,--everywhere +advancing,--treading beneath their feet temples, palaces, statues, +libraries, priceless works of art; that there was no shelter to which +they could fly; that Rome herself was doomed. In the year 378 the +Emperor Valens himself was slain, almost under the walls of his capital, +with two-thirds of his army,--some sixty thousand infantry and six +thousand cavalry,--while the victorious Goths, gorged with spoils, +advanced to take possession of the defeated and crumbling Empire. From +the shores of the Bosporus to the Julian Alps nothing was seen but +conflagration, murders, and depredations, and the cry of anguish went up +to heaven in accents of almost universal despair. + +In such a crisis a great man was imperatively needed, and a great man +arose. The dismayed emperor cast his eyes over the whole extent of his +dominions to find a deliverer. And he found the needed hero living +quietly and in modest retirement on a farm in Spain. This man was +Theodosius the Great, a young man then,--as modest as David amid the +pastures, as unambitious as Cincinnatus at the plough. "The vulgar," +says Gibbon, "gazed with admiration on the manly beauty of his face and +the graceful majesty of his person, while in the qualities of his mind +and heart intelligent observers perceived the blended excellences of +Trajan and Constantine." As prudent as Fabius, as persevering as Alfred, +as comprehensive as Charlemagne, as full of resources as Frederic II., +no more fitting person could be found to wield the sceptre of Trajan his +ancestor. No greater man than he did the Empire then contain, and +Gratian was wise and fortunate in associating with himself so +illustrious a man in the imperial dignity. + +If Theodosius was unassuming, he was not obscure and unimportant. His +father had been a successful general in Britain and Africa, and he +himself had been instructed by his father in the art of war, and had +served under him with distinction. As Duke of Maesia he had vanquished +an army of Sarmatians, saved the province, deserved the love of his +soldiers, and provoked the envy of the court. But his father having +incurred the jealousy of Gratian and been unjustly executed, he was +allowed to retire to his patrimonial estates near Valladolid, where he +gave himself up to rural enjoyments and ennobling studies. He was not +long permitted to remain in this retirement; for the public dangers +demanded the service of the ablest general in the Empire, and there was +no one so illustrious as he. And how lofty must have been his character, +if Gratian dared to associate with himself in the government of the +Empire a man whose father he had unjustly executed! He was thirty-three +when he was invested with imperial purple and intrusted with the conduct +of the Gothic war. + +The Goths, who under Fritigern had defeated the Roman army before the +walls of Adrianople, were Germanic barbarians who lived between the +Rhine and the Vistula in those forests which now form the empire of +Germany. They belonged to a family of nations which had the same natural +characteristics,--love of independence, passion for war, veneration for +women, and religious tendency of mind. They were brave, persevering, +bold, hardy, and virtuous, for barbarians. They cast their eyes on the +Roman provinces in the time of Marius, and were defeated by him under +the name of Teutons. They had recovered strength when Caesar conquered +the Gauls. They were very formidable in the time of Marcus Aurelius, and +had formed a general union for the invasion of the Roman world. But a +barrier had been made against their incursions by those good and warlike +emperors who preceded Commodus, so that the Romans had peace for one +hundred years. These barbarians went under different names, which I will +not enumerate,--different tribes of the same Germanic family, whose +remote ancestors lived in Central Asia and were kindred to the Medes and +Persians. Like the early inhabitants of Greece and Italy, they were of +the Aryan race. All the members of this great family, in their early +history, had the same virtues and vices. They worshipped the forces of +Nature, recognizing behind these a supreme and superintending deity, +whose wrath they sought to deprecate by sacrifices. They set a great +value on personal independence, and hence had great individuality of +character. They delighted in the pleasures of the chase. They were +generally temperate and chaste. They were superstitious, social, and +quarrelsome, bent on conquest, and migrated from country to country with +a view of improving their fortunes. + +The Goths were the first of these barbarians who signally triumphed over +the Roman arms. "Starting from their home in the Scandinavian peninsula, +they pressed upon the Slavic population of the Vistula, and by rapid +conquests established themselves in southern and eastern Germany. Here +they divided. The Visi or West Goths advanced to the Danube." In the +reign of Decius (249-251) they crossed the river and ravaged the Roman +territory. In 269 they imposed a tribute on the Emperor Gratian, and +seem to have been settled in Dacia. After this they made several +successful raids,--invading Bythinia, entering the Propontis, and +advancing as far as Athens and Corinth, even to the coasts of Asia +Minor; destroying in their ravages the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, with +its one hundred and twenty-seven marble columns. + +These calamities happened in the middle of the third century, during the +reign of the frivolous Gallienus, who received the news with his +accustomed indifference. While the Goths were burning the Grecian +cities, this royal cook and gardener was soliciting a place in the +Areopagus of Athens. + +In the reign of Claudius the barbarians united under the Gothic +standard, and in six thousand vessels prepared again to ravage the +world. Against three hundred and twenty thousand of these Goths Claudius +advanced, and defeated them at Naissus in Dalmatia. Fifty thousand were +slain, and three Gothic women fell to the share of every soldier. On the +return of spring nothing of that mighty host was seen. Aurelian--who +succeeded Claudius, and whose father had been a peasant of Sirmium--put +an end to the Gothic war, and the Empire again breathed; but only for a +time, for the barbarians continually advanced, although they were +continually beaten by the warlike emperors who succeeded Gallienus. In +the middle of the third century they were firmly settled in Dacia, by +permission of Valerian. One hundred years after, pressed by Huns, they +asked for lands south of the Danube, which request was granted by +Valens; but they were rudely treated by the Roman officials, especially +their women, and treachery was added to their other wrongs. Filled with +indignation, they made a combination and swept everything before +them,--plundering cities, and sparing neither age nor sex. These ravages +continued for a year. Valens, aroused, advanced against them, and was +slain in the memorable battle on the plains of Adrianople, 9th of +August, 378,--the most disastrous since the battle of Cannae, and from +which the Empire never recovered. + +To save the crumbling world, Theodosius was now made associate emperor. +And in that great crisis prudence was more necessary than valor. No +Roman army at that time could contend openly in the field, face to face, +with the conquering hordes who assembled under the standard of +Fritigern,--the first historic name among the Visigoths. Theodosius +"fixed his headquarters at Thessalonica, from whence he could watch the +irregular actions of the barbarians and direct the movements of his +lieutenants." He strengthened his defences and fortifications, from +which his soldiers made frequent sallies,--as Alfred did against the +Danes,--and accustomed themselves to the warfare of their most dangerous +enemies. He pursued the same policy that Fabius did after the battle of +Cannae, to whose wisdom the Romans perhaps were more indebted for their +ultimate success than to the brilliant exploits of Scipio. The death of +Fritigern, the great predecessor of Alaric, relieved Theodosius from +many anxieties; for it was followed by the dissension and discord of the +barbarians themselves, by improvidence and disorderly movements; and +when the Goths were once more united under Athanaric, Theodosius +succeeded in making an honorable treaty with him, and in entertaining +him with princely hospitalities in his capital, whose glories alike +astonished and bewildered him. Temperance was not one of the virtues of +Gothic kings under strong temptation, and Athanaric, yielding to the +force of banquets and imperial seductions, soon after died. The politic +emperor gave his late guest a magnificent funeral, and erected to his +memory a stately monument; which won the favor of the Goths, and for a +time converted them to allies. In four years the entire capitulation of +the Visigoths was effected. + +Theodosius then turned his attention to the Ostro or East Goths, who +advanced, with other barbarians, to the banks of the lower Danube, on +the Thracian frontier. Allured to cross the river in the night, the +barbarians found a triple line of Roman war-vessels chained to each +other in the middle of the river, which offered an effectual resistance +to their six thousand canoes, and they perished with their king. + +Having gradually vanquished the most dangerous enemies of the Empire, +Theodosius has been censured for allowing them to settle in the +provinces they had desolated, and still more for incorporating fifty +thousand of their warriors in the imperial armies, since they were +secret enemies, and would burst through their limits whenever an +opportunity offered. But they were really too formidable to be driven +back beyond the frontiers of the crumbling Empire. Theodosius could only +procure a period of peace; and this was not to be secured save by adroit +flatteries. The day was past for the extermination of the Goths by Roman +soldiers, who had already thrown away their defensive armor; nor was it +possible that they would amalgamate with the people of the Empire, as +the Celtic barbarians had done in Spain and Gaul after the victories of +Caesar. Though the kingly power was taken away from them and they fought +bravely under the imperial standards, it was evident from their +insolence and their contempt of the effeminate masters that the day was +not distant when they would be the conquerors of the Empire. It does not +speak well for an empire that it is held together by the virtues and +abilities of a single man. Nor could the fate of the Roman empire be +doubtful when barbarians were allowed to settle in its provinces; for +after the death of Valens the Goths never abandoned the Roman territory. +They took possession of Thrace, as Saxons and Danes took possession +of England. + +After the conciliation of the Goths,--for we cannot call it the +conquest,--Theodosius was obliged to turn his attention to the affairs +of the Western Empire; for he ruled only the Eastern provinces. It would +seem that Gratian, who had called him to his assistance to preserve the +East from the barbarians, was now in trouble in the West. He had not +fulfilled the great expectation that had been formed of him. He degraded +himself in the eyes of the Romans by his absorbing passion for the +pleasures of the chase; while public affairs imperatively demanded his +attention. He received a body of Alans into the military and domestic +service of the palace. He was indolent and pleasure-seeking, but was +awakened from his inglorious sports by a revolt in Britain. Maximus, a +native of Spain and governor of the island, had been proclaimed emperor +by his soldiers. He invaded Gaul with a large fleet and army, followed +by the youth of Britain, and was received with acclamations by the +armies of that province. Gratian, then residing in Paris, fled to Lyons, +deserted by his troops, and was assassinated by the orders of Maximus. +The usurper was now acknowledged by the Western provinces as emperor, +and was too powerful to be resisted at that time by Theodosius, who +accepted his ambassadors, and made a treaty with the usurper by which he +was permitted to reign over Britain, Gaul, and Spain, provided that the +other Western provinces, including Wales, should accept and acknowledge +Valentinian, the brother of the murdered Gratian, who was however a +mere boy, and was ruled by his mother Justina, an Arian,--that +celebrated woman who quarrelled with Ambrose, archbishop of Milan. +Valentinian was even more feeble than Gratian, and Maximus, not +contented with the sovereignty of the three most important provinces of +the Empire, resolved to reign over the entire West. Theodosius, who had +dissembled his anger and waited for opportunity, now advanced to the +relief of Valentinian, who had been obliged to fly from Milan,--the seat +of his power. But in two months Theodosius subdued his rival, who fled +to Italy, only, however, to be dragged from the throne and executed. + +Having terminated the civil war, and after a short residence in Milan, +Theodosius made his triumphal entry into the ancient capital of the +world. He was now the absolute and undisputed master of the East and the +West, as Constantine had been, whom he resembled in his military genius +and executive ability; but he gave to Valentinian (a youth of twenty, +murdered a few months after) the provinces of Italy and Illyria, and +intrusted Gaul to the care of Arbogastes,--a gallant soldier among the +Franks, who, like Maximus, aspired to reign. But power was dearer to the +valiant Frank than a name; and he made his creature, the rhetorician +Eugenius, the nominal emperor of the West. Hence another civil war; but +this more serious than the last, and for which Theodosius was obliged +to make two years' preparation. The contest was desperate. Victory at +one time seemed even to be on the side of Arbogastes: Theodosius was +obliged to retire to the hills on the confines of Italy, apparently +subdued, when, in the utmost extremity of danger, a desertion of troops +from the army of the triumphant barbarian again gave him the advantage, +and the bloody and desperate battle on the banks of the Frigidus +re-established Theodosius as the supreme ruler of the world. Both +Arbogastes and Eugenius were slain, and the East and West were once more +and for the last time united. The division of the Empire under +Diocletian had not proved a wise policy, but was perhaps necessary; +since only a Hercules could have borne the burdens of undivided +sovereignty in an age of turbulence, treason, revolts, and anarchies. It +was probably much easier for Tiberius or Trajan to rule the whole world +than for one of the later emperors to rule a province. Alfred had a +harder task than Charlemagne, and Queen Elizabeth than Queen Victoria. + +I have dwelt very briefly on those contests in which the great +Theodosius was obliged to fight for his crown and for the Empire. For a +time he had delivered the citizens from the fear of the Goths, and had +re-established the imperial sovereignty over the various provinces. But +only for a time. The external dangers reappeared at his death. He only +averted impending ruin; he only propped up a crumbling Empire. No human +genius could have long prevented the fall. Hence his struggles with +barbarians and with rebels have no deep interest to us. We associate +with his reign something more important than these outward conflicts. +Civilization at large owes him a great debt for labors in another field, +for which he is most truly immortal,--for which his name is treasured by +the Church,--for which he was one of the great benefactors. + +These labors were directed to the improvement of jurisprudence, and the +final extinction of Paganism as a tolerated religion. He gave to the +Church and to Christianity a new prestige. He rooted out, so far as +genius and authority can, those heresies which were rapidly assimilating +the new religion to the old. He was the friend and patron of those great +ecclesiastics whose names are consecrated. The great Ambrose was his +special friend, in whose arms he expired. Augustine, Martin of Tours, +Jerome, Gregory Nazianzen, Basil, Chrysostom, Damasus, were all +contemporaries, or nearly so. In his day the Church was really seated on +the high-places of the earth. A bishop was a greater man than a senator; +he exercised more influence and had more dignity than a general. He was +ambassador, courtier, and statesman, as well as prelate. Theodosius +handed over to the Church the government of mankind. To him we date +that ecclesiastical government which was perfected by Charlemagne, and +which was dominant in the Middle Ages. Anarchy and misery spread over +the world; but the new barbaric forces were obedient to the officers of +the Church. The Church looms up in the days of Theodosius as the great +power of the world. + +Theodosius is lauded as a Christian prince even more than Constantine, +and as much as Alfred. He was what is called orthodox, and intensely so. +He saw in Arianism a heresy fatal to the Church. "It is our pleasure," +said he, "that all nations should steadfastly adhere to the religion +which was taught by Saint Peter to the Romans, which is _the sole Deity +of the Father, the Son, and Holy Ghost_, under an equal majesty; and we +authorize the followers of this doctrine to assume the title of Catholic +Christians." If Rome under Damasus and the teachings of Jerome was the +seat of orthodoxy, Constantinople was the headquarters of Arianism. We +in our times have no conception of the interest which all classes took +in the metaphysics of theology. Said one of the writers of the day: "If +you desire a man to change a piece of silver, he informs you wherein the +Son differs from the Father; if you ask the price of a loaf, you are +told in reply that the Son is inferior to the Father; if you inquire +whether the bath is ready, the answer is that the Son was made out of +nothing." The subtle questions pertaining to the Trinity were the theme +of universal conversation, even amid the calamities of the times. + +Theodosius, as soon as he had finished his campaign against the Goths, +summoned the Arian archbishop of Constantinople, and demanded his +subscription to the Nicene Creed or his resignation. It must be +remembered that the Arians were in an overwhelming majority in the city, +and occupied the principal churches. They complained of the injustice of +removing their metropolitan, but the emperor was inflexible; and Gregory +Nazianzen, the friend of Basil, was promoted to the vacant See, in the +midst of popular grief and rage. Six weeks afterwards Theodosius +expelled from all the churches of his dominions, both of bishops and of +presbyters, those who would not subscribe to the Nicene Creed. It was a +great reformation, but effected without bloodshed. + +Moreover, in the year 381 he assembled a general council of one hundred +and fifty bishops at his capital, to finish the work of the Council of +Nice, and in which Arianism was condemned. In the space of fifteen years +seven imperial edicts were fulminated against those who maintained that +the Son was inferior to the Father. A fine equal to two thousand dollars +was imposed on every person who should receive or promote an Arian +ordination. The Arians were forbidden to assemble together in their +churches, and by a sort of civil excommunication they were branded with +infamy by the magistrates, and rendered incapable of civil offices of +trust and emolument. Capital punishment even was inflicted on +Manicheans. + +So it would appear that Theodosius inaugurated religious persecution for +honest opinions, and his edicts were similar in spirit to those of Louis +XIV. against the Protestants,--a great flaw in his character, but for +which he is lauded by the Catholic historians. The eloquent Fléchier +enlarges enthusiastically on the virtues of his private life, on his +chastity, his temperance, his friendship, his magnanimity, as well as +his zeal in extinguishing heresy. But for him, Arianism might possibly +have been the established religion of the Empire, since not only the +dialectical Greeks, but the sensuous Goths, inclined to that creed. +Ulfilas, in his conversion of those barbarians, had made them the +supporters of Arianism, not because _they_ understood the subtile +distinctions which theologians had made, but because it was the accepted +and fashionable faith of Constantinople. Spain, however, through the +commanding influence of Hosius, adhered to the doctrines of Athanasius, +while the eloquence of the commanding intellects of the age was put +forth in behalf of Trinitarianism. The great leader of Arianism had +passed away when Augustine dictated to the Christian world from the +little town of Hippo, and Jerome transplanted the monasticism of the +East into the West. At Tours Martin defended the same cause that +Augustine had espoused in Africa; while at Milan, the court capital of +the West, the venerable Ambrose confirmed Italy in the Latin creed. In +Alexandria the fierce Theophilus suppressed Arianism with the same +weapons that he had used in extirpating the worship of Isis and Osiris. +Chrysostom at Antioch was the equally strenuous advocate of the +Athanasian Creed. We are struck with the appearance of these commanding +intellects in the last days of the Empire,--not statesmen and generals, +but ecclesiastics and churchmen, generally agreed in the interpretation +of the faith as declared by Paul, and through whose counsels the emperor +was unquestionably governed. In all matters of religion Theodosius was +simply the instrument of the great prelates of the age,--the only great +men that the age produced. + +After Theodosius had thus established the Nicene faith, so far as +imperial authority, in conjunction with that of the great prelates, +could do so, he closed the final contest with Paganism itself. His laws +against Pagan sacrifices were severe. It was death to inspect the +entrails of victims for sacrifice; and all other sacrifices, in the year +392, were made a capital offence. He even demolished the Pagan temples, +as the Scots destroyed the abbeys and convents which were the great +monuments of Mediaeval piety. The revenues of the temples were +confiscated. Among the great works of ancient art which were destroyed, +but might have been left or converted into Christian use, were the +magnificent temple of Edessa and the serapis of Alexandria, uniting the +colossal grandeur of Egyptian with the graceful harmony of Grecian art. +At Rome not only was the property of the temples confiscated, but also +all privileges of the priesthood. The Vestal virgins passed unhonored in +the streets. Whoever permitted any Pagan rite--even the hanging of a +chaplet on a tree--forfeited his estate. The temples of Rome were not +destroyed, as in Syria and Egypt; but as all their revenues were +confiscated, public worship declined before the superior pomps of a +sensuous and even idolatrous Christianity. The Theodosian code, +published by Theodosius the Younger, A.D. 438, while it incorporated +Christian usages and laws in the legislation of the Empire, did not, +however, disturb the relation of master and slave; and when the Empire +fell, slavery still continued as it was in the times of Augustus and +Diocletian. Nor did Christianity elevate imperial despotism into a wise +and beneficent rule. It did not change perceptibly the habits of the +aristocracy. The most vivid picture we have of the vices of the leading +classes of Roman society are painted by a contemporaneous Pagan +historian,--Ammianus Marcellinus,--and many a Christian matron adorned +herself with the false and colored hair, the ornaments, the rouge, and +the silks of the Pagan women of the time of Cleopatra. Never was luxury +more enervating, or magnificence more gorgeous, but without refinement, +than in the generation that preceded the fall of Rome. And coexistent +with the vices which prepared the way for the conquests of the +barbarians was the wealth of the Christian clergy, who vied with the +expiring Paganism in the splendor of their churches, in the ornaments of +their altars, and in the imposing ceremonial of their worship. The +bishop became a great worldly potentate, and the strictest union was +formed between the Church and State. The greatest beneficent change +which the Church effected was in relation to divorce,--the facility for +which disgraced the old Pagan civilization; but Christianity invested +marriage with the utmost solemnity, so that it became a holy and +indissoluble sacrament,--to which the Catholic Church, in the days of +deepest degeneracy has ever clung, leaving to the Protestants the +restoration of this old Pagan custom of divorce, as well as the +encouragement and laudation of a material civilization. + +The spirit of Paganism never has been exorcised in any age of Christian +progress and triumph, but has appeared from time to time in new forms. +In the conquering Church of Constantine and Theodosius it adopted Pagan +emblems and gorgeous rites and ceremonies; in the Middle Ages it +appeared in the dialectical contests of the Greek philosophers; in our +times in the deification of the reason, in the apotheosis of art, in the +inordinate value placed on the enjoyments of the body, and in the +splendor of an outside life. Names are nothing. To-day we are swinging +to the Epicurean side of the Greeks and Romans as completely as they did +in the age of Commodus and Aurelian; and none may dare to hurl their +indignant protests without meeting a neglect and obloquy sometimes more +hard to bear than the persecutions of Nero, of Trajan, of Leo X., of +Louis XIV. + +If Theodosius were considered aside from his able administration of the +Empire and his patronage of the orthodox leaders of the Church, he would +be subject to severe criticism. He was indolent, irascible, and severe. +His name and memory are stained by a great crime,--the slaughter of from +seven to fifteen thousand of the people of Thessalonica,--one of the +great crimes of history, but memorable for his repentance more than for +his cruelty. Had Theodosius not submitted to excommunication and +penance, and given every sign of grief and penitence for this terrible +deed, he would have passed down in history as one of the cruellest of +all the emperors, from Nero downwards; for nothing can excuse, or even +palliate, so gigantic a crime, which shocked the whole civilized +world,--a crime more inexcusable than the slaughter of Saint Bartholomew +or the massacre which followed the revocation of the edict of Nantes. + +Theodosius survived that massacre about five years, and died at Milan, +395, at the age of fifty, from a disease which was caused by the +fatigues of war, which, with a constitution undermined by +self-indulgence, he was unable to bear. But whatever the cause of his +death it was universally lamented, not from love of him so much as from +the sense of public dangers which he alone had the power to ward off. At +his death his Empire was divided between his two feeble sons,--Honorius +and Arcadius, and the general ruin which everybody began to fear soon +took place. After Theodosius, no great and warlike sovereign reigned +over the crumbling and dismembered Empire, and the ruin was as rapid as +it was mournful. + +The Goths, released from the restraints and fears which Theodosius +imposed, renewed their ravages; and the effeminate soldiers of the +Empire, who formerly had marched with a burden of eighty pounds, now +threw away the heavy weapons of their ancestors, even their defensive +armor, and of course made but feeble resistance. The barbarians advanced +from conquering to conquer. Alaric, leader of the Goths, invaded Greece +at the head of a numerous army. Degenerate soldiers guarded the pass +where three hundred Spartan heroes had once arrested the Persian hosts, +and fled as Alaric approached. Even at Thermopylae no resistance was +made. The country was laid waste with fire and sword. Athens purchased +her preservation at an enormous ransom. Corinth, Argos, and Sparta +yielded without a blow, but did not escape the doom of vanquished +cities. Their palaces were burned, their families were enslaved, and +their works of art were destroyed. + +Only one general remained to the desponding Arcadius,--Stilicho, trained +in the armies of Theodosius, who had virtually intrusted to him, +although by birth a Vandal, the guardianship of his children. We see in +these latter days of the Empire that the best generals were of barbaric +birth,--an impressive commentary on the degeneracy of the legions. At +the approach of Stilicho, Alaric retired at first, but collecting a +force of ten thousand men penetrated the Julian Alps, and advanced into +Italy. The Emperor Honorius was obliged to summon to his rescue his +dispirited legions from every quarter, even from the fortresses of the +Rhine and the Caledonian wall, with which Stilicho compelled Alaric to +retire, but only on a subsidy of two tons of gold. The Roman people, +supposing that they were delivered, returned to their circuses and +gladiatorial shows. Yet Italy was only temporarily delivered, for +Stilicho,--the hero of Pollentia,--with the collected forces of the +whole western Empire, might still have defied the armies of the Goths +and staved off the ruin another generation, had not imperial jealousy +and the voice of envy removed him from command. The supreme guardian of +the western Empire, in the greatest crisis of its history, himself +removes the last hope of Rome. The frivolous senate which Stilicho had +saved, and the weak and timid emperor whom he guarded, were alike +demented. _Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat_. In an evil hour the +brave general was assassinated. + +The Gothic king observing the revolutions at the palace, the elevation +of incompetent generals, and the general security in which the people +indulged, resolved to march to a renewed attack. Again he crossed the +Alps, with a still greater army, and invaded Italy, destroying +everything in his path. Without obstruction he crossed the Apennines, +ravaged the fertile plains of Umbria, and reached the city, which for +four hundred years had not been violated by the presence of a foreign +enemy. The walls were then twenty-five miles in circuit, and contained +so large a population that it affected indifference. Alaric made no +attempt to take the city by storm, but quietly and patiently enclosed it +with a cordon through which nothing could force its way,--as the +Prussians in our day invested Paris. The city, unprovided for a siege, +soon felt all the evils of famine, to which pestilence was naturally +added. In despair, the haughty citizens condescended to sue for a +ransom. Alaric fixed the price of his retreat at the surrender of all +the gold and silver, all the precious movables, and all the slaves of +barbaric birth. He afterwards somewhat modified his demands, but marched +away with more spoil than the Romans brought from Carthage and Antioch. + +Honorius intrenched himself at Ravenna, and refused to treat with the +magnanimous Alaric. Again, consequently, he marched against the doomed +capital; again invested it; again cut off supplies. In vain did the +nobles organize a defence,--there were no defenders. Slaves would not +fight, and a degenerate rabble could not resist a warlike and superior +race. Cowardice and treachery opened the gates. In the dead of night the +Gothic trumpets rang unanswered in the streets. The old heroic virtues +were gone. No resistance was made. Nobody fought from temples and +palaces. The queen of the world, for five days and nights, was exposed +to the lust and cupidity of despised barbarians. Yet a general slaughter +was not made; and as much wealth as could be collected into the churches +of St. Peter and St. Paul was spared. The superstitious barbarians in +some degree respected churches. But the spoils of the city were immense +and incalculable,--gold, jewels, vestments, statues, vases, silver +plate, precious furniture, spoils of Oriental cities,--the collective +treasures of the world,--all were piled upon the Gothic wagons. The +sons and daughters of patrician families became, in their turn, slaves +to the barbarians. Fugitives thronged the shores of Syria and Egypt, +begging daily bread. The Roman world was filled with grief and +consternation. Its proud capital was sacked, since no one would defend +it. "The Empire fell," says Guizot, "because no one belonged to it." The +news of the capture "made the tongue of old Saint Jerome to cling to the +roof of his mouth in his cell at Bethlehem. What is now to be seen," +cried he, "but conflagration, slaughter, ruin,--the universal shipwreck +of society?" The same words of despair came from Saint Augustine at +Hippo. Both had seen the city in the height of its material grandeur, +and now it was laid low and desolate. The end of all things seemed to be +at hand; and the only consolation of the great churchmen of the age was +the belief in the second coming of our Lord. + +The sack of Rome by Alaric, A.D. 410, was followed in less than half a +century by a second capture and a second spoliation at the hands of the +Vandals, with Genseric at their head,--a tribe of barbarians of kindred +Germanic race, but fiercer instincts and more hideous peculiarities. +This time, the inhabitants of Rome (for Alaric had not destroyed +it,--only robbed it) put on no airs of indifference or defiance. They +knew their weakness. They begged for mercy. + +The last hope of the city was her Christian bishop; and the great Leo, +who was to Rome what Augustine had been to Carthage when that capital +also fell into the hands of Vandals, hastened to the barbarian's camp. +The only concession he could get was that the lives of the people should +be spared,--a promise only partially kept. The second pillage lasted +fourteen days and nights. The Vandals transferred to their ships all +that the Goths had left, even to the trophies of the churches and +ancient temples; the statues which ornamented the capital, the holy +vessels of the Jewish temple which Titus had brought from Jerusalem, +imperial sideboards of massive silver, the jewels of senatorial +families, with their wives and daughters,--all were carried away to +Carthage, the seat of the new Empire of the Vandals, A.D. 455, then once +more a flourishing city. The haughty capital met the fate which she had +inflicted on her rival in the days of Cato the censor, but fell still +more ingloriously, and never would have recovered from this second fall +had not her immortal bishop, rising with the greatness of the crisis, +laid the foundation of a new power,--that spiritual domination which +controlled the Gothic nations for more than a thousand years. + +With the fall of Rome,--yet too great a city to be wholly despoiled or +ruined, and which has remained even to this day the centre of what is +most interesting in the world,--I should close this Lecture; but I must +glance rapidly over the whole Empire, and show its condition when the +imperial capital was spoiled, humiliated, and deserted. + +The Suevi, Alans, and Vandals invaded Spain, and erected their barbaric +monarchies. The Goths were established in the south of Gaul, while the +north was occupied by the Franks and Burgundians. England, abandoned by +the Romans, was invaded by the Saxons, who formed permanent conquests. +In Italy there were Goths and Heruli and Lombards. All these races were +Germanic. They probably made serfs or slaves of the old population, or +were incorporated with them. They became the new rulers of the +devastated provinces; and all became, sooner or later, converts to a +nominal Christianity, the supreme guardian of which was the Pope, whose +authority they all recognized. The languages which sprang up in Europe +were a blending of the Roman, Celtic, and Germanic. In Spain and Italy +the Latin predominated, as the Saxon prevailed in England after the +Norman conquest. Of all the new settlers in the Roman world, the +Normans, who made no great incursions till the time of Charlemagne, were +probably the strongest and most refined. But they all alike had the same +national traits, substantially; and they entered upon the possessions of +the Romans after various contests, more or less successful, for two +hundred and fifty years. + +The Empire might have been invaded by these barbarians in the time of +the Antonines, and perhaps earlier; but it would not have succumbed to +them. The Legions were then severely disciplined, the central power was +established, and the seeds of ruin had not then brought forth their +wretched fruits. But in the fifth century nothing could have saved the +Empire. Its decline had been rapid for two hundred years, until at last +it became as weak as the Oriental monarchies which Alexander subdued. It +fell like a decayed and rotten tree. As a political State all vitality +had fled from it. The only remaining conservative forces came from +Christianity; and Christianity was itself corrupted, and had become a +part of the institutions of the State. + +It is mournful to think that a brilliant external civilization was so +feeble to arrest both decay and ruin. It is sad to think that neither +art nor literature nor law had conservative strength; that the manners +and habits of the people grew worse and worse, as is universally +admitted, amid all the glories and triumphs and boastings of the +proudest works of man. "A world as fair and as glorious as our own," +says Sismondi, "was permitted to perish." Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, +Athens, met the old fate of Babylon, of Tyre, of Carthage. Degeneracy +was as marked and rapid in the former, notwithstanding all the +civilizing influences of letters, jurisprudence, arts, and utilitarian +science, as in the latter nations,--a most significant and impressive +commentary on the uniform destinies of nations, when those virtues on +which the strength of man is based have passed away. An observer in the +days of Theodosius would very likely have seen the churches of Rome as +fully attended as are those in New York itself to-day; and he would have +seen a more magnificent city,--and yet it fell. There is no cure for a +corrupt and rotten civilization. As the farms of the old Puritans of +Massachusetts and Connecticut are gradually but surely passing into the +hands of the Irish, because the sons and grandsons of the old +New-England farmer prefer the uncertainties and excitements of a +demoralized city-life to laborious and honest work, so the possessions +of the Romans passed into the hands of German barbarians, who were +strong and healthy and religious. They desolated, but they +reconstructed. + +The punishment of the enervated and sensual Roman was by war. We in +America do not fear this calamity, and have no present cause of fear, +because we have not sunk to the weakness and wickedness of the Romans, +and because we have no powerful external enemies. But if amid our +magnificent triumphs of science and art, we should accept the +Epicureanism of the ancients and fall into their ways of life, then +there would be the same decline which marked them,--I mean in virtue and +public morality,--and there would be the same penalty; not perhaps +destruction from external enemies, as in Persia, Syria, Greece, and +Rome, but some grievous and unexpected series of catastrophes which +would be as mournful, as humiliating, as ruinous, as were the incursions +of the Germanic races. The operations of law, natural and moral, are +uniform. No individual and no nation can escape its penalty. The world +will not be destroyed; Christianity will not prove a failure,--but new +forces will arise over the old, and prevail. Great changes will come. He +whose right it is to rule will overturn and overturn: but "creation +shall succeed destruction; melodious birth-songs will come from the +fires of the burning phoenix," assuring us that the progress of the race +is certain, even if nations are doomed to a decline and fall whenever +conservative forces are not strong enough to resist the torrent of +selfishness, vanity, and sin. + +AUTHORITIES. + +The original authorities are Ammianus Marcellinus, Zosimus, Sozomen, +Socrates, orations of Gregory Nazianzen, Theodoret, the Theodosian Code, +Sulpicius Severus, Life of Martin of Tours, Life of Ambrose by Paulinus, +Augustine's "De Civitate Dei," Epistles of Ambrose; also those of +Jerome; Claudien. The best modern authorities are Tillemont's History of +the Emperors; Gibbon's Decline and Fall; Milmans's History of +Christianity; Neander; Sheppard's Fall of Rome; and Flécier's Life of +Theodosius. There are several popular Lives of Theodosius in French, but +very few in English. + + + +LEO THE GREAT. + + * * * * * + +A.D. 390-461. + +FOUNDATION OF THE PAPACY. + +With the great man who forms the subject of this Lecture are identified +those principles which lay at the foundation of the Roman Catholic power +for fifteen hundred years. I do not say that he is the founder of the +Roman Catholic Church, for that is another question. Roman Catholicism, +as a polity, or government, or institution, is one thing; and Roman +Catholicism, as a religion, is quite another, although they have been +often confounded. As a government, or polity, it is peculiar,--the +result of the experience of ages, adapted to society and nations in a +certain state of progress or development, with evils and corruptions, of +course, like all other human institutions. As a religion, although it +superadded many dogmas and rites which Protestants do not accept, and +for which they can see no divine authority,--like auricular confession, +the deification of the Virgin, indulgences for sin, and the +infallibility of the Pope,--still, it has at the same time defended the +cardinal principles of Christian faith and morality; such as the +personality and sovereignty of God, the divinity of Christ, salvation in +consequence of his sufferings and death, immortality, the final +judgment, the necessity of a holy life, temperance, humility, patience, +and the virtues which were taught upon the Mount and enforced by the +original disciples and apostles, whose writings are accepted +as inspired. + +In treating so important a subject as that represented by Leo the Great, +we must bear in mind these distinctions. While Leo is conceded to have +been a devout Christian and a noble defender of the faith as we receive +it,--one of the lights of the early Christian Church, numbered even +among the Fathers of the Church, with Augustine and Chrysostom,--his +special claim to greatness is that to him we trace some of the first +great developments of the Roman Catholic power as an institution. More +than any other one man, he laid the foundation-stone of that edifice +which alike sheltered and imprisoned the European nations for more than +a thousand years. He was not a great theologian like Augustine, or +preacher like Chrysostom, but he was a great bishop like Ambrose,--even +far greater, inasmuch as he was the organizer of new forces in the +administration of his important diocese. In fact he was a great +statesman, as the more able of the popes always aspired to be. He was +the associate and equal of princes. + +It was the sublime effort of Leo to make the Church the guardian of +spiritual principles and give to it a theocratic character and aim, +which links his name with the mightiest moral movements of the world; +and when I speak of the Church I mean the Church of Rome, as presided +over by men who claimed to be the successors of Saint Peter,--to whom +they assert Christ had given the supreme control over all other churches +as His vicars on the earth. It was the great object of Leo to +substantiate this claim, and root it in the minds of the newly converted +barbarians; and then institute laws and measures which should make his +authority and that of his successors paramount in all spiritual matters, +thus centring in his See the general oversight of the Christian Church +in all the countries of Europe. It was a theocratic aspiration, one of +the grandest that ever entered into the mind of a man of genius, yet, as +Protestants now look at it, a usurpation,--the beginning of a vast +system of spiritual tyranny in order to control the minds and +consciences of men. It took several centuries to develop this system, +after Leo was dead. With him it was not a vulgar greed of power, but an +inspiration of genius,--a grand idea to make the Church which he +controlled a benign and potent influence on society, and to prevent +civilization from being utterly crushed out by the victorious Goths and +Vandals. It is the success of this idea which stamps the Church as the +great leading power of Mediaeval Ages,--a power alike majestic and +venerable, benignant yet despotic, humble yet arrogant and usurping. + +But before I can present this subtile contradiction, in all its mighty +consequences both for good and evil, I must allude to the Roman See and +the condition of society when Leo began his memorable pontificate as the +precursor of the Gregories and the Clements of later times. Like all +great powers, it was very gradually developed. It was as long in +reaching its culminating greatness as that temporal empire which +controlled the ancient world. Pagan Rome extended her sway by generals +and armies; Mediaeval Rome, by her prelates and her principles. + +However humble the origin of the Church of Rome, in the early part of +the fifth century it was doubtless the greatest See (or _seat_ of +episcopal power) in Christendom. The Bishop of Rome had the largest +number of dependent bishops, and was the first of clerical dignitaries. +As early as A.D. 250,--sixty years before Constantine's conversion, and +during the times of persecution,--such a man as Cyprian, metropolitan +Bishop of Carthage, yielded to him the precedence, and possibly the +presidency, because his See was the world's metropolis. And when the +seat of empire was removed to the banks of the Bosporus, the power of +the Roman Bishop, instead of being diminished, was rather increased, +since he was more independent of the emperors than was the Bishop of +Constantinople. And especially after Rome was taken by the Goths, he +alone possessed the attributes of sovereignty. "He had already towered +as far above ordinary bishops in magnificence and prestige as Caesar had +above Fabricius." + +It was the great name of ROME, after all, which was the mysterious +talisman that elevated the Bishop of Rome above other metropolitans. Who +can estimate the moral power of that glorious name which had awed the +world for a thousand years? Even to barbarians that proud capital was +sacred. The whole world believed her to be eternal; she alone had the +prestige of universal dominion. This queen of cities might be desolated +like Babylon or Tyre, but her influence was indestructible. In her very +ruins she was majestic. Her laws, her literature, and her language still +were the pride of nations; they revered her as the mother of +civilization, clung to the remembrance of her glories, and refused to +let her die. She was to the barbarians what Athens had been to the +Romans, what modern Paris is to the world of fashion, what London ever +will be to the people of America and Australia,--the centre of a proud +civilization. So the bishops of such a city were great in spite of +themselves, no matter whether they were remarkable as individuals or +not. They were the occupants of a great office; and while their city +ruled the world, it was not necessary for them to put forth any new +claims to dignity or power. No person and no city disputed their +pre-eminence. They lived in a marble palace; they were clothed in purple +and fine linen; they were surrounded by sycophants; nobles and generals +waited in their ante-chambers; they were the companions of princes; they +controlled enormous revenues; they were the successors of the high +pontiffs of imperial domination. + +Yet for three hundred years few of them were eminent. It is not the +order of Providence that great posts, to which men are elected by +inferiors, should be filled with great men. Such are always feared, and +have numerous enemies who defeat their elevation. Moreover, it is only +in crises of imminent danger that signal abilities are demanded. Men are +preferred for exalted stations who will do no harm, who have talent +rather than genius,--men who have business capacities, who have industry +and modesty and agreeable manners; who, if noted for anything, are noted +for their character. Hence we do not read of more than two or three +bishops, for three hundred years, who stood out pre-eminently among +their contemporaries; and these were inferior to Origen, who was a +teacher in a theological school, and to Jerome, who was a monk in an +obscure village. Even Augustine, to whose authority in theology the +Catholic Church still professes to bow down, as the schools of the +Middle Ages did to Aristotle, was the bishop of an unimportant See in +Northern Africa. Only Clement in the first century, and Innocent in the +fourth loomed up above their contemporaries. As for the rest, great as +was their dignity as bishops, it is absurd to attribute to them schemes +for enthralling the world. No such plans arose in the bosom of any of +them. Even Leo I. merely prepared the way for universal domination; he +had no such deep-laid schemes as Gregory VII. or Boniface VIII. The +primacy of the Bishop of Rome was all that was conceded by other bishops +for four hundred years, and this on the ground of the grandeur of his +capital. Even this was disputed by the Bishop of Constantinople, and +continued to be until that capital was taken by the Turks. + +But with the waning power, glory, and wealth of Rome,--decimated, +pillaged, trodden under foot by Goths and Vandals, rebuked by +Providence, deserted by emperors, abandoned to decay and ruin,--some +expedient or new claim to precedency was demanded to prevent the Roman +bishops from sinking into mediocrity. It was at this crisis that the +pontificate of Leo began, in the year 440. It was a gloomy period, not +only for Rome, but for civilization. The queen of cities had been +repeatedly sacked, and her treasures destroyed or removed to distant +cities. Her proud citizens had been sold as slaves; her noble matrons +had been violated; her grand palaces had been levelled with the ground; +her august senators were fugitives and exiles. All kinds of calamities +overspread the earth and decimated the race,--war, pestilence, and +famine. Men in despair hid themselves in caves and monasteries. +Literature and art were crushed; no great works of genius appeared. The +paralysis of despair deadened all the energies of civilized man. Even +armies lost their vigor, and citizens refused to enlist. The old +mechanism of the Caesars, which had kept the Empire together for three +hundred years after all vitality had fled, was worn out. The general +demoralization had led to a general destruction. Vice was succeeded by +universal violence; and that, by universal ruin. Old laws and restraints +were no longer of any account. A civilization based on material forces +and Pagan arts had proved a failure. The whole world appeared to be on +the eve of dissolution. To the thoughtful men of the age everything +seemed to be involved in one terrific mass of desolation and horror. +"Even Jerome," says a great historian, "heaped together the awful +passages of the Old Testament on the capture of Jerusalem and other +Eastern cities; and the noble lines of Virgil on the sack of Troy are +but feeble descriptions of the night which covered the western Empire." + +Now Leo was the man for such a crisis, and seems to have been raised up +to devise some new principle of conservation around which the stricken +world might rally. "He stood equally alone and superior," says Milman, +"in the Christian world. All that survived of Rome--of her unbounded +ambition, of her inflexible will, and of her belief in her title to +universal dominion--seemed concentrated in him alone." + +Leo was born, in the latter part of the fourth century, at Rome, of +noble parents, and was intensely Roman in all his aspirations. He early +gave indications of future greatness, and was consecrated to a service +in which only talent was appreciated. When he was nothing but an +acolyte, whose duty it was to light the lamps and attend on the bishop, +he was sent to Africa and honored with the confidence of the great +Bishop of Hippo. And he was only deacon when he was sent by the Emperor +Valentinian III. to heal the division between Aëtius and Albinus,--rival +generals, whose dissensions compromised the safety of the Empire. He was +absent on important missions when the death of Sixtus, A.D. 440, left +the Papacy without a head. On Leo were all eyes now fixed, and he was +immediately summoned by the clergy and the people of Rome, in whom the +right of election was vested, to take possession of the vacant throne. +He did not affect unworthiness like Gregory in later years, but accepted +at once the immense responsibility. + +I need not enumerate his measures and acts. Like all great and patriotic +statesmen he selected the wisest and ablest men he could find as +subordinates, and condescended himself to those details which he +inexorably exacted from others. He even mounted the neglected pulpit of +his metropolitan church to preach to the people, like Chrysostom and +Gregory Nazianzen at Constantinople. His sermons are not models of +eloquence or style, but are practical, powerful, earnest, and orthodox. +Athanasius himself was not more evangelical, or Ambrose more impressive. +He was the especial foe of all the heresies which characterized the age. +He did battle with all who attempted to subvert the Nicene Creed. Those +whom he especially rebuked were the Manicheans,--men who made the +greatest pretension to intellectual culture and advanced knowledge, and +yet whose lives were disgraced not merely by the most offensive +intellectual pride, but the most disgraceful vices; men who confounded +all the principles of moral obligation, and who polluted even the +atmosphere of Rome by downright Pagan licentiousness. He had no patience +with these false philosophers, and he had no mercy. He even complained +of them to the emperor, as Calvin did of Servetus to the civil +authorities of Geneva (which I grant was not to his credit); and the +result was that these dissolute and pretentious heretics were expelled +from the army and from all places of trust and emolument. + +Many people in our enlightened times would denounce this treatment as +illiberal and persecuting, and justly. But consider his age and +circumstances. What was Leo to do as the guardian of the faith in those +dreadful times? Was he to suffer those who poisoned all the sources of +renovation which then remained to go unrebuked and unpunished? He may +have said, in his defence, "Shall I, the bishop of this diocese, the +appointed guardian of faith and morals in a period of alarming +degeneracy,--shall I, armed with the sword of Saint Peter, stop to draw +the line between injuries inflicted by the tongue and injuries inflicted +by the hand? Shall we defend our persons, our property, and our lives, +and take no notice of those who impiously and deliberately would destroy +our souls by their envenomed blasphemies? Shall we allow the wells of +water which spring up to everlasting life to be poisoned by the impious +atheists and scoffers, who in every age set themselves up against Christ +and His kingdom, and are only allowed by God Almighty to live, as the +wild beasts of the desert or scorpions and serpents are allowed to live? +Let them live, but let us defend ourselves against their teeth and +fangs. Are the overseers of God's people, in a world of shame, to be +mere philosophical Gallios, indifferent to our higher interests? Is it a +Christian duty to permit an avalanche of evils to overwhelm the Church +on the plea of toleration? Shall we suffer, when we have the power to +prevent it, a pandemonium of scoffers and infidels and sentimental +casuists to run riot in the city which is intrusted to us to guard? Not +thus will we be disloyal to our trusts. Men have souls to save, and we +will come to the rescue with any weapons we can lay our hands upon. The +Church is the only hope of the world, not merely in our unsettled times, +but for all ages. And hence I, as the guardian of those spiritual +principles which lie at the root of all healthy progress in +civilization, and all religious life, will not tamely and ignobly see +those principles subverted by dangerous and infidel speculations, even +if they are attractive to cultivated but irreligious classes." + +Such may have been the arguments, it is not unreasonable to +suppose, which influenced the great Leo in his undoubted +persecutions,--persecutions, we should remember, which were then +indorsed by the Catholic Church. They would be condemned in our times by +all enlightened men, but they were the only remedy known in that age +against dangerous opinions. So Leo put down the Manicheans and preserved +the unity of the faith, which was of immeasurable importance in the sea +of anarchies which at that time was submerging all the traditions of +the past. + +Leo also distinguished himself by writing a treatise on the +Incarnation,--said to be the ablest which has come down to us from the +primitive Church. He was one of those men who believed in theology as a +series of divine declarations, to be cordially received whether they are +fully grasped by the intellect or not. These declarations pertain to +most momentous interests, and hence transcend in dignity any question +which mere philosophy ever attempted to grasp, or physical science ever +brought forward. In spite of the sneers of the infidels, or the attacks +of _savans_, or the temporary triumph of false opinions, let us remember +they have endured during the mighty conflicts of the last eighteen +hundred years, and will endure through all the conflicts of ages,--the +might, the majesty, and the glory of the kingdom of Christ. Whoever thus +conserves truths so important is a great benefactor, whether neglected +or derided, whether despised or persecuted. + +In addition to the labors of Leo to preserve the integrity of the +received faith among the semi-barbaric western nations, his efforts were +equally great to heal the disorders of the Church. He reformed +ecclesiastical discipline in Africa, rent by Arian factions and Donatist +schismatics. He curtailed the abuses of metropolitan tyranny in Gaul. He +sent his legates to preside over the councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon. +He sat in judgment between Vienna and Arles. He fought for the +independence of the Church against emperors and barbaric chieftains. He +encouraged literature and missions and schools and the spread of the +Bible. He was the paragon of a bishop,--a man of transcendent dignity of +character, as well as a Father of the Church Universal, of whom all +Christendom should be proud. + +Among Leo's memorable acts as one of the great lights of his age was the +part he was called upon to perform as a powerful intercessor with +barbaric kings. When Attila with his swarm of Mongol conquerors appeared +in Italy,--the "scourge of God," as he was called; the instrument of +Providence in punishing the degenerate rulers and people of the falling +Empire,--Leo was sent by the affrighted emperor to the barbarian's camp +to make what terms he could. The savage Hun, who feared not the armies +of the emperor, stood awe-struck, we are told, before the minister of +God; and, swayed by his eloquence and personal dignity, consented to +retire from Italy for the hand of the princess Honoria. And when +afterwards Genseric, at the head of his Vandals, became master of the +capital, he was likewise influenced by the powerful intercession of the +bishop, and consented to spare the lives of the Romans, and preserve the +public buildings and churches from conflagration. Genseric could not +yield up the spoil of the fallen capital, and his soldiers transported +to Carthage, the seat of the new Vandal kingdom, the riches and trophies +which illustrious generals had won,--yea, the treasures of three +religions; the gods of the capitoline temple, the golden candlesticks +which Titus brought from Jerusalem, and the sacred vessels which adorned +the churches of the Christians, and which Alaric had spared. + +Thus far the intrepid bishop of Rome--for he was nothing more--calls +forth our sympathy and admiration for the hand he had in establishing +the faith and healing the divisions of the Church, for which he earned +the title of Saint. He taught no errors like Origen, and pushed out no +theological doctrines into a jargon of metaphysics like Athanasius. He +was more practical than Jerome, and more moderate than Augustine. + +But he instituted a claim, from motives of policy, which subsequently +ripened into an irresistible government, on which the papal structure as +an institution or polity rests. He did not put forth this claim, +however, until the old capital of the Caesars was humiliated, +vanquished, and completely prostrated as a political power. When the +Eternal City was taken a second time, and her riches plundered, and her +proud palaces levelled with the dust; when her amphitheatre was +deserted, her senatorial families were driven away as fugitives and sold +as slaves, and her glory was departed,--nothing left her but +recollections and broken columns and ruined temples and weeping +matrons, ashes, groans, and lamentations, miseries and most bitter +sorrows,--then did her great bishop, intrepid amid general despair, lay +the foundation of a new empire, vaster in its influence, if not in its +power, than that which raised itself up among the nations in the +proudest days of Vespasian and the Antonines. + +Leo, from one of the devastated hills of Rome,--once crowned with +palaces, temples, and monuments,--looked out upon the Christian world, +and saw the desolation spoken of by Jeremy the prophet, as well as by +the Cumaean sibyl: all central power hopelessly prostrated; law and +justice by-words; provinces wasted, decimated, and anarchical; +literature and art crushed; vice, in all its hateful deformity, rampant +and multiplying itself; false opinions gaining ground; Christians +adopting the errors of Paganism; soldiers turned into banditti; the +contemplative hiding themselves in caves and deserts; the rich made +slaves; barbarians everywhere triumphant; women shrieking in terror; +bishops praying in despair,--a world disordered, a pandemonium of devils +let loose, one terrific and howling mass of moral and physical +desolation such as had never been seen since Noah entered into the ark. + +Amid this dreary wreck of the old civilization, which had been supposed +to be eternal, what were Leo's designs and thoughts? In this mournful +crisis, what did he dream of in his sad and afflicted soul? To flee +into a monastery, as good men in general despair and wretchedness did, +and patiently wait for the coming of his Lord, and for the new +dispensation? Not at all: he contemplated the restoration of the eternal +city,--a new creation which should succeed destruction; the foundation +of a new power which should restore law, preserve literature, subdue the +barbarians, introduce a still higher civilization than that which had +perished,--not by bringing back the Caesars, but by making himself +Caesar; a revived central power which the nations should respect and +obey. That which the world needed was this new central power, to settle +difficulties, depose tyrants, establish a common standard of faith and +worship, encourage struggling genius, and conserve peace. Who but the +Church could do this? The Church was the last hope of the fallen Empire. +The Church should put forth her theocratic aspirations. The keys of +Saint Peter should be more potent than the sceptres of kings. The Church +should not be crushed in the general desolation. She was still the +mighty power of the world. Christianity had taken hold of the hearts and +minds of men, and raised its voice to console and encourage amid +universal despair. Men's thoughts were turned to God and to his +vicegerents. He was mighty to save. His promises were a glorious +consolation. The Church should arise, put on her beautiful garments, +and go on from conquering to conquer. A theocracy should restore +civilization. The world wanted a new Christian sovereign, reigning by +divine right, not by armies, not by force,--by an appeal to the future +fears and hopes of men. Force had failed: it was divided against itself. +Barbaric chieftains defied the emperors and all temporal powers. Rival +generals desolated provinces. The world was plunging into barbarism. The +imperial sceptre was broken. Not a diadem, but a tiara, must be the +emblem of universal sovereignty. Not imperial decrees, but papal bulls, +must now rule the world. Who but the Bishop of Rome could wear this +tiara? Who but he could be the representative of the new theocracy? He +was the bishop of the metropolis whose empire never could pass away. But +his city was in ruins. If his claim to precedency rested on the grandeur +of his capital, he must yield to the Bishop of Constantinople. He must +found a new claim, not on the greatness and antiquity of his capital, +but on the superstitious veneration of the Christian world,--a claim +which would be accepted. + +Now it happened that one of Leo's predecessors had instituted such a +claim, which he would revive and enforce with new energy. Innocent had +maintained, forty years before Leo, that the primacy of the Roman See +was derived from Saint Peter,--that Christ had delegated to Peter +supreme power as chief of the apostles; and that he, as the successor +of Saint Peter, was entitled to his jurisdiction and privileges. This is +the famous _jus divinum_ principle which constitutes the corner-stone of +the papal fabric. On this claim was based the subsequent encroachments +of the popes. Leo saw the force of this claim, and adopted it and +intrenched himself behind it, and became forthwith more formidable than +any of his predecessors or any living bishop; and he was sure that so +long as the claim was allowed, no matter whether his city was great or +small, his successors would become the spiritual dictators of +Christendom. The dignity and power of the Roman bishop were now based on +a new foundation. He was still venerable from the souvenirs of the +Empire, but more potent as the successor of the chief of the apostles. +Ambrose had successfully asserted the independent spiritual power of the +bishops; Leo seized that sceptre and claimed it for the Bishop of Rome. + +Protestants are surprised and indignant that this haughty and false +claim (as they view it) should have been allowed; it only shows to what +depth of superstition the Christian world had already sunk. What an +insult to the reason and learning of the world! What preposterous +arrogance and assumption! Where are the proofs that Saint Peter was +really the first bishop of Rome, even? And if he were, where are the +Scripture proofs that he had precedency over the other apostles? And +more, where do we learn in the Scriptures that any prerogative could be +transmitted to successors? Where do we find that the successors of Peter +were entitled to jurisdiction over the whole Church? Christ, it is true, +makes use of the expression of a "rock" on which his Church should be +built. But Christ himself is the rock, not a mortal man. "Other +foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ,"--a +truth reiterated even by Saint Augustine, the great and acknowledged +theologian of the Catholic Church, although Augustine's views of sin and +depravity are no more relished by the Roman Catholics of our day than +the doctrines of Luther himself, who drew his theological system, like +Calvin, from Augustine more than from any other man, except Saint Paul. + +But arrogant and unfounded as was the claim of Leo,--that Peter, not +Christ, was the rock on which the Church is founded,--it was generally +accepted by the bishops of the day. Everything tended to confirm it, +especially the universal idea of a necessary unity of the Church. There +must be a head of the Church on earth, and who could be lawfully that +head other than the successor of the apostle to whom Christ had given +the keys of heaven and hell? + +But this claim, considering the age when it was first advanced, had the +inspiration of genius. It was most opportune. The Bishop of Rome would +soon have been reduced to the condition of other metropolitans had his +dignity rested on the greatness of his capital. He now became the +interpreter of his own decrees,--an arch-pontiff ruling by divine right. +His power became indefinite and unlimited. Just in proportion to the +depth of the religious sentiment of the newly converted barbarians would +be his ascendancy over them; and the Germanic races were religious +peoples like the early Greeks and Romans. Tacitus points out this +sentiment of religion as one of their leading characteristics. It was +not the worship of ancestors, as among the Aryan races until Grecian and +Roman civilization was developed. It was more like the worship of the +invisible powers of Nature; for in the rock, the mountain, the river, +the forest, the sun, the stars, the storms, the rude Teutonic mind saw a +protecting or avenging deity. They easily transferred to the Christian +clergy the reverence they had bestowed on the old priests of Odin, of +Freya, and of Thor. Reverence was one of the great sentiments of our +German ancestors. It was only among such a people that an overpowering +spiritual despotism could be maintained. The Pope became to them the +vicegerent of the great Power which they adored. The records of the race +do not show such another absorbing pietism as was seen in the monastic +retreats of the Middle Ages, except among the Brahmans and Buddhists of +India. This religious fervor the popes were to make use of, to extend +their empire. + +And that nothing might be wanted to cement their power which had been +thus assured, the Emperor Valentinian III.--a monarch controlled by +Leo--passed in the year 445 this celebrated decree:-- + +"The primacy of the Apostolic See having been established by the merit +of Saint Peter, its founder, the sacred Council of Nice, and the dignity +of the city of Rome, we thus declare our irrevocable edict, that all +bishops, whether in Gaul or elsewhere, shall make no innovation without +the sanction of the Bishop of Rome; and, that the Apostolic See may +remain inviolable, all bishops who shall refuse to appear before the +tribunal of the Bishop of Rome, when cited, shall be constrained to +appear by the governor of the province." + +Thus firmly was the Papacy rooted in the middle of the fifth century, +not only by the encroachments of bishops, but by the authority of +emperors. The papal dominion begins, as an institution, with Leo the +Great. As a religion it began when Paul and Peter preached at Rome. Its +institution was peculiar and unique; a great spiritual government +usurping the attributes of other governments, as predicted by Daniel, +and, at first benignant, ripening into a gloomy tyranny,--a tyranny so +unscrupulous and grasping as to become finally, in the eyes of Luther, +an evil power. As a religion, as I have said, it did not widely depart +from the primitive creeds until it added to the doctrines generally +accepted by the Church, and even still by Protestants, those other +dogmas which were means to an end,--that end the possession of power and +its perpetuation among ignorant people. Yet these dogmas, false as they +are, never succeeded in obscuring wholly the truths which are taught in +the gospel, or in extinguishing faith in the world. In all the +encroachments of the Papacy, in all the triumphs of an unauthorized +Church polity, the flame of true Christian piety has been dimmed, but +not extinguished. And when this fatal and ambitious polity shall have +passed away before the advance of reason and civilization, as other +governments have been overturned, the lamp of piety will yet burn, as in +other churches, since it will be fed by the Bible and the Providence of +God. Governments and institutions pass away, but not religions; +certainly not the truths originally declared among the mountains of +Judea, which thus far have proved the elevation of nations. + +It is then the government, not the religion, which Leo inaugurated, with +which we have to do. And let us remember in reference to this +government, which became so powerful and absolute, that Leo only laid +the foundation. He probably did not dream of subjecting the princes of +the earth except in matters which pertained to his supremacy as a +spiritual ruler. His aim was doubtless spiritual, not temporal. He had +no such deep designs as Hildebrand and Innocent III. cherished. The +encroachments of later ages he did not anticipate. His doctrine was, +"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the +things which are God's." As the vicegerent of the Almighty, which he +felt himself to be in spiritual matters, he would institute a +guardianship over everything connected with religion, even education, +which can never be properly divorced from it. He was the patron of +schools, as he was of monasteries. He could advise kings: he could not +impose upon them his commands (except in Church matters), as Boniface +VIII. sought to do. He would organize a network of Church functionaries, +not of State officers; for he was the head of a great religious +institution. He would send his legates to the end of the earth to +superintend the work of the Church, and rebuke princes, and protest +against wars; for he had the religious oversight of Christendom. + +Now when we consider that there was no central power in Europe at this +time, that the barbaric princes were engaged in endless wars, and that a +fearful gloom was settling upon everything pertaining to education and +peace and order; that even the clergy were ignorant, and the people +superstitious; that everything was in confusion, tending to a worse +confusion, to perfect anarchy and barbaric license; that provincial +councils were no longer held; that bishops and abbots were abdicating +their noblest functions,--we feel that the spiritual supremacy which Leo +aimed to establish had many things to be said in its support; that his +central rule was a necessity of the times, keeping civilization from +utter ruin. + +In the first place, what a great idea it was to preserve the unity of +the Church,--the idea of Cyprian and Augustine and all the great +Fathers,--an idea never exploded, and one which we even in these times +accept, though not in the sense understood by the Roman Catholics! We +cannot conceive of the Church as established by the apostles, without +recognizing the necessity of unity in doctrines and discipline. Who in +that age could conserve this unity unless it were a great spiritual +monarch? In our age books, universities, theological seminaries, the +press, councils, and an enlightened clergy can see that no harm comes to +the great republic which recognizes Christ as the invisible head. Not so +fifteen hundred years ago. The idea of unity could only be realized by +the exercise of sufficient power in one man to preserve the integrity of +the orthodox faith, since ignorance and anarchy covered the earth with +their funereal shades. + +The Protestants are justly indignant in view of subsequent encroachments +and tyrannies. But these were not the fault of Leo. Everything good in +its day is likely to be perverted. The whole history of society is the +history of the perversion of institutions originally beneficent. Take +the great foundations for education and other moral and intellectual +necessities, which were established in the Middle Ages by good men. See +how these are perverted and misused even in such glorious universities +as Oxford and Cambridge. See how soon the primitive institutions of +apostles were changed, in order to facilitate external conquests and +make the Church a dignified worldly power. Not only are we to remember +that everything good has been perverted, and ever will be, but that all +governments, religious and civil, seem to be, in one sense, +expediencies,--that is, adapted to the necessities and circumstances of +the times. In the Bible there are no settled laws definitely laid down +for the future government of the Church,--certainly not for the +government of States and cities. A government which was best for the +primitive Christians of the first two centuries was not adapted to the +condition of the Church in the third and fourth centuries, else there +would not have been bishops. If we take a narrow-minded and partisan +view of bishops, we might say that they always have existed since the +times of the apostles; the Episcopalians might affirm that the early +churches were presided over by bishops, and the Presbyterians that every +ordained minister was a bishop,--that elder and bishop are synonymous. +But that is a contest about words, not things. In reality, episcopal +power, as we understand it, was not historically developed till there +was a large increase in the Christian communities, especially in great +cities, where several presbyters were needed, one of whom presided over +the rest. Some such episcopal institution, I am willing to concede, was +a necessity, although I cannot clearly see the divine authority for it. +In like manner other changes became necessary, which did not militate +against the welfare of the Church, but tended to preserve it. New +dignities, new organizations, new institutions for the government of the +Church successively arose. All societies must have a government. This is +a law recognized in the nature of things. So Christian society must be +organized and ruled according to the necessities of the times; and the +Scriptures do not say what these shall be,--they are imperative and +definite only in matters of faith and morals. To guard the faith, to +purify the morals according to the Christian standard, overseers, +officers, rulers are required. In the early Church they were all +brethren. The second and third century made bishops. The next age made +archbishops and metropolitans and patriarchs. The age which succeeded +was the age of Leo; and the calamities and miseries and anarchies and +ignorance of the times, especially the rule of barbarians, seemed to +point to a monarchical head, a more theocratic government,--a +government so august and sacred that it could not be resisted. + +And there can be but little doubt that this was the best government for +the times. Let me illustrate by civil governments. There is no law laid +down in the Bible for these. In the time of our Saviour the world was +governed by a universal monarch. The imperial rule had become a +necessity. It was tyrannical; but Paul as well as Christ exhorted his +followers to accept it. In process of time, when the Empire fell, every +old province had a king,--indeed there were several kings in France, as +well as in Germany and Spain. The prelates of the Church never lifted up +their voice against the legality of this feudo-kingly rule. Then came a +revolt, after the Reformation, against the government of kings. New +England and other colonies became small republics, almost democracies. +On the hills of New England, with a sparse rural population and small +cities, the most primitive form of government was the best. It was +virtually the government of townships. The selectmen were the overseers; +and, following the necessities of the times, the ministers of the gospel +were generally Independents or Congregationalists, not clergy of the +Established Church of Old England. Both the civil and the religious +governments which they had were the best for the people. But what was +suited to Massachusetts would not be fit for England or France. See how +our government has insensibly drifted towards a strong central power. +What must be the future necessities of such great cities as New York, +Philadelphia, and Chicago,--where even now self-government is a failure, +and the real government is in the hands of rings of politicians, backed +by foreign immigrants and a lawless democracy? Will the wise, the +virtuous, and the rich put up forever with such misrule as these cities +have had, especially since the Civil War? And even if other institutions +should gradually be changed, to which we now cling with patriotic zeal, +it may be for the better and not the worse. Those institutions are the +best which best preserve the morals and liberties of the people; and +such institutions will gradually arise as the country needs, unless +there shall be a general shipwreck of laws, morals, and faith, which I +do not believe will come. It is for the preservation of these laws, +morals, and doctrines that all governments are held responsible. A +change in the government is nothing; a decline of morals and faith is +everything. + +I make these remarks in order that we may see that the rise of a great +central power in the hands of the Bishop of Rome, in the fifth century, +may have been a great public benefit, perhaps a necessity. It became +corrupt; it forgot its mission. Then it was attacked by Luther. It +ceased to rule England and a part of Germany and other countries where +there were higher public morals and a purer religious faith. Some fear +that the rule of the Roman Church will be re-established in this +country. Never,--only its religion. The Catholic Church may plant her +prelates in every great city, and the whole country may be regarded by +them as missionary ground for the re-establishment of the papal polity. +But the moment this polity raises its head and becomes arrogant, and +seeks to subvert the other established institutions of the country or +prevent the use of the Bible in schools, it will be struck down, even as +the Jesuits were once banished from France and Spain. Its religion will +remain,--may gain new adherents, become the religion of vast multitudes. +But it is not the faith which the Roman Catholic Church professes to +conserve which I fear. That is very much like that of Protestants, in +the main. It is the institutions, the polity, the government of that +Church which I speak of, with its questionable means to gain power, its +opposition to the free circulation of the Bible, its interference with +popular education, its prelatical assumptions, its professed allegiance +to a foreign potentate, though as wise and beneficent as Pio Nono or the +reigning Pope. + +In the time of Leo there were none of these things. It was a poor, +miserable, ignorant, anarchical, superstitious age. In such an age the +concentration of power in the hands of an intelligent man is always a +public benefit. Certainly it was wielded wisely by Leo, and for +beneficent ends. He established the patristic literature. The writings +of the great Fathers were by him scattered over Europe, and were studied +by the clergy, so far as they were able to study anything. All the great +doctrines of Augustine and Jerome and Athanasius were defended. The +whole Church was made to take the side of orthodoxy, and it remained +orthodox to the times of Bernard and Anselm. Order was restored to the +monasteries; and they so rapidly gained the respect of princes and good +men that they were richly endowed, and provision made in them for the +education of priests. Everywhere cathedral schools were established. The +canon law supplanted in a measure the old customs of the German forests +and the rude legislation of feudal chieftains. When bishops quarrelled +with monasteries or with one another, or even with barons, appeals were +sent to Rome, and justice was decreed. In after times these appeals were +settled on venal principles, but not for centuries. The early Mediaeval +popes were the defenders of justice and equity. And they promoted peace +among quarrelsome barons, as well as Christian truth among divines. They +set aside, to some extent, those irascible and controversial councils +where good and great men were persecuted for heresy. These popes had no +small passions to gratify or to stimulate. They were the conservators of +the peace of Europe, as all reliable historians testify. They were +generally very enlightened men,--the ablest of their times. They +established canons and laws which were based on wisdom, which stood the +test of ages, and which became venerable precedents. + +The Catholic polity was only gradually established, sustained by +experience and reason. And that is the reason why it has been so +permanent. It was most admirably adapted to rule the ignorant in ages of +cruelty and crime,--and, I am inclined to think, to rule the ignorant +and superstitious everywhere. Great critics are unanimous in their +praises of that wonderful mechanism which ruled the world for one +thousand years. + +Nor did the popes, for several centuries after Leo, grasp the temporal +powers of princes. As political monarchs they were at first poor and +insignificant. The Papacy was not politically a great power until the +time of Hildebrand, nor a rich temporal power till nearly the era of the +Reformation. It was a spiritual power chiefly, just such as it is +destined to become again,--the organizer of religious forces; and, so +far as these are animated by the gospel and reason, they are likely to +have a perpetuated influence. Who can predict the end of a spiritual +empire which shows no signs of decay? It is not half so corrupt as it +was in the time of Boniface VIII., nor half so feeble as in the time of +Leo X. It is more majestic and venerable than in the time of Luther. Nor +are Protestants so bitter and one-sided as they were fifty years ago. +They begin to judge this great power by broader principles; to view it +as it really is,--not as "Antichrist" and the "scarlet mother," but as a +venerable institution, with great abuses, having at heart the interests +of those whom it grinds down and deceives. + +But, after all, I do not in this Lecture present the Papacy of the +eleventh century or the nineteenth, but the Papacy of the fifth century, +as organized by Leo. True, its fundamental principles as a government +are the same as then. These principles I do not admire, especially for +an enlightened era. I only palliate them in reference to the wants of a +dark and miserable age, and as a critic insist upon their notable +success in the age that gave them birth. + +With these remarks on the regimen, the polity, and the government of the +Church of which Leo laid the foundation, and which he adapted to +barbarous ages, when the Church was still a struggling power and +Christianity itself little better than nominal,--long before it had much +modified the laws or changed the morals of society; long before it had +created a new civilization,--with these remarks, acceptable, it may be, +neither to Catholics nor to Protestants, I turn once more to the man +himself. Can you deny his title to the name of Great? Would you take him +out of the galaxy of illustrious men whom we still call Fathers and +Saints? Even Gibbon praises his exalted character. What would the +Church of the Middle Ages have been without such aims and aspirations? +Oh, what a benevolent mission the Papacy performed in its best ages, +mitigating the sorrows of the poor, raising the humble from degradation, +opposing slavery and war, educating the ignorant, scattering the Word of +God, heading off the dreadful tyranny of feudalism, elevating the +learned to offices of trust, shielding the pious from the rapacity of +barons, recognizing man as man, proclaiming Christian equalities, +holding out the hopes of a future life to the penitent believer, and +proclaiming the sovereignty of intelligence over the reign of brute +forces and the rapacity of ungodly men! All this did Leo, and his +immediate successors. And when he superadded to the functions of a great +religious magistrate the virtues of the humblest Christian,--parting +with his magnificent patrimony to feed the poor, and proclaiming (with +an eloquence unusual in his time) the cardinal doctrines of the +Christian faith, and setting himself as an example of the virtues which +he preached,--we concede his claim to be numbered among the great +benefactors of mankind. How much worse Roman Catholicism would have been +but for his august example and authority! How much better to educate the +ignorant people, who have souls to save, by the patristic than by +heathen literature, with all its poison of false philosophies and +corrupting stimulants! Who, more than he and his immediate successors, +taught loyalty to God as the universal Sovereign, and the virtues +generated by a peaceful life,--patriotism, self-denial, and faith? He +was a dictator only as Bernard was, ruling by the power of learning and +sanctity. As an original administrative genius he was scarcely surpassed +by Gregory VII. Above all, he sought to establish faith in the world. +Reason had failed. The old civilization was a dismal mockery of the +aspirations of man. The schools of Athens could make Sophists, +rhetoricians, dialecticians, and sceptics. But the faith of the Fathers +could bring philosophers to the foot of the Cross. What were material +conquests to these conquests of the soul, to this spiritual reign of the +invisible principles of the kingdom of Christ? + +So, as the vicegerents of Almighty power, the popes began to reign. +Ridicule not that potent domination. What lessons of human experience, +what great truths of government, what principles of love and wisdom are +interwoven with it! Its growth is more suggestive than the rise of any +temporal empires. It has produced more illustrious men than any European +monarchy. And it aimed to accomplish far grander ends,--even obedience +to the eternal laws which God has decreed for the public and private +lives of men. It is invested with more poetic interest. Its doctors, its +dignitaries, its saints, its heroes, its missions, and its laws rise up +before us in sublime grandeur when seriously contemplated. It failed at +last, when no longer needed. But it was not until its encroachments and +corruptions shocked the reason of the world, and showed a painful +contrast to those virtues which originally sustained it, that earnest +men arose in indignation, and declared that this perverted institution +should no longer be supported by the contributions of more enlightened +ages; that it had become a tyrannical and dangerous government, to be +assailed and broken up. It has not yet passed away. It has survived the +Reformation and the attacks of its countless enemies. How long this +power of blended good and evil will remain we cannot predict. But one +thing we do know,--that the time will come when all governments shall +become the kingdoms of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and Christian +truth alone shall so permeate all human institutions that the forces of +evil shall be driven forever into the immensity of eternal night. + +With the Pontificate of Leo the Great that dark period which we call the +"Middle Ages" may be said to begin. The disintegration of society then +was complete, and the reign of ignorance and superstition had set in. +With the collapse of the old civilization a new power had become a +necessity. If anything marked the Middle Ages it was the reign of +priests and nobles. This reign it will be my object to present in the +Lectures which are to fill the next volume of this Work, together with +subjects closely connected with papal domination and feudal life. + +AUTHORITIES. + +Works of Leo, edited by Quesnel; Zosimus; Socrates; Theodoret; Fleury's +Ecclesiastical History; Tillemont's Histoire des Empereurs; Gibbon's +Decline and Fall; Beugot's Histoire de la Destruction du Paganism; +Alexander de Saint Chéron's Histoire du Pontificat de Saint Leo le +Grande, et de son Siècle; Dumoulin's Vie et Religion de deux Papes Léon +I. et Grégoire I.; Maimbourg's Histoire du Pontificat de Saint Léon; +Arendt's Leo der Grosse und seine Zeit; Butler's Lives of the Saints; +Neander; Milman's Latin Christianity; Biographie Universelle; +Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Church historians universally praise +this Pope. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME +IV*** + + +******* This file should be named 10522-8.txt or 10522-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/2/10522 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS," WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + +https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** |