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diff --git a/21859.txt b/21859.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..12560a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/21859.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15524 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3), by John +Henry Newman + + +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: Historical Sketches, Volume I (of 3) + The Turks in Their Relation to Europe; Marcus Tullius Cicero; Apollonius of Tyana; Primitive Christianity + + +Author: John Henry Newman + + + +Release Date: June 18, 2007 [eBook #21859] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL SKETCHES, VOLUME I (OF +3)*** + + +E-text prepared by Susan Skinner, Janet Blenkinship, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) + + + +HISTORICAL SKETCHES + +VOL. I. + +The Turks in Their Relation to Europe + +Marcus Tullius Cicero + +Apollonius of Tyana + +Primitive Christianity + +by + +JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN + +New Impression + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + +Longmans, Green, and Co. +39 Paternoster Row, London +New York, Bombay, and Calcutta +1908 + + + * * * * * + + Longmans' Pocket Library. + + _Fcap. 8vo. Gilt top._ + + WORKS BY CARDINAL NEWMAN. + + Apologia Pro Vita Sua. 2s. 6d. net in cloth; 3s. 6d. net in + leather. + + The Church of the Fathers. Reprinted from "Historical Sketches". + Vol. 2. 2s. net in cloth; 3s. net in leather. + + University Teaching. Being the First Part of "The Idea of a + University Defined and Illustrated". 2s. net in cloth; 3s. net in + leather. + + + * * * * * + + +TO THE + +RIGHT REVEREND DAVID MORIARTY, D.D. + +BISHOP OF KERRY. + + +MY DEAR LORD + +If I have not asked your Lordship for your formal leave to dedicate this +Volume to you, this has been because one part of it, written by me as an +Anglican controversialist, could not be consistently offered for the +direct sanction of a Catholic bishop. If, in spite of this, I presume to +inscribe your name in its first page, I do so because I have a freedom +in this matter which you have not, because I covet much to be associated +publicly with you, and because I trust to gain your forgiveness for a +somewhat violent proceeding, on the plea that I may perhaps thereby be +availing myself of the only opportunity given to me, if not the most +suitable occasion, of securing what I so earnestly desire. + +I desire it, because I desire to acknowledge the debt I owe you for +kindnesses and services rendered to me through a course of years. All +along, from the time that the Oratory first came to this place, you have +taken a warm interest in me and in my doings. You found me out +twenty-four years ago on our first start in the narrow streets of +Birmingham, before we could well be said to have a home or a church. And +you have never been wanting to me since, or spared time or trouble, when +I had occasion in any difficulty to seek your guidance or encouragement. + +Especially have I cause to remember the help you gave me, by your +prudent counsels and your anxious sympathy, when I was called over to +Ireland to initiate a great Catholic institution. From others also, +ecclesiastics and laymen, I received a hearty welcome and a large +assistance, which I ever bear in mind; but you, when I would fill the +Professors' chairs, were in a position to direct me to the men whose +genius, learning, and zeal became so great a part of the life and +strength of the University; and, even as regards those whose high +endowments I otherwise learned, or already knew myself, you had your +part in my appointments, for I ever tried to guide myself by what I had +gained from the conversations and correspondence which you had from time +to time allowed me. To you, then, my dear Lord, more than to any other, +I owe my introduction to a large circle of friends, who faithfully +worked with me in the course of my seven years of connexion with the +University, and who now, for twice seven years since, have generously +kept me in mind, though I have been out of their sight. + +There is no one, then, whom I more intimately associate with my life in +Dublin than your Lordship; and thus, when I revive the recollections of +what my friends there did for me, my mind naturally reverts to you; and +again in making my acknowledgments to you, I am virtually thanking +them. + +That you may live for many years, in health, strength, and usefulness, +the centre of many minds, a blessing to the Irish people, and a light in +the Universal Church, is, + + MY DEAR LORD, + The fervent prayer of + Your affectionate friend and servant, + + JOHN HENRY NEWMAN. + BIRMINGHAM, + _October 23, 1872._ + + + + +I. + +LECTURES ON THE HISTORY OF THE TURKS, + +IN THEIR RELATION TO EUROPE. + + + + +PREFATORY NOTICE. + + +The following sketch of Turkish history was the substance of Lectures +delivered in the Catholic Institute of Liverpool during October, 1853. +It may be necessary for its author to state at once, in order to prevent +disappointment, that he only professes in the course of it to have +brought together in one materials which are to be found in any +ordinarily furnished library. Not intending it in the first instance for +publication, but to answer a temporary purpose, he has, in drawing it +up, sometimes borrowed words and phrases, to save himself trouble, from +the authorities whom he has consulted; and this must be taken as his +excuse, if any want of keeping is discernible in the composition. He has +attempted nothing more than to group old facts in his own way; and he +trusts that his defective acquaintance with historical works and +travels, and the unreality of book-knowledge altogether in questions of +fact, have not exposed him to superficial generalizations. + +One other remark may be necessary. Such a work at the present moment, +when we are on the point of undertaking a great war in behalf of the +Turks, may seem without meaning, unless it conducts the reader to some +definite conclusions, as to what is to be wished, what to be done, in +the present state of the East; but a minister of religion may fairly +protest against being made a politician. Political questions are mainly +decided by political expediency, and only indirectly and under +circumstances fall into the province of theology. Much less can such a +question be asked of the priests of that Church, whose voice in this +matter has been for five centuries unheeded by the Powers of Europe. As +they have sown, so must they reap: had the advice of the Holy See been +followed, there would have been no Turks in Europe for the Russians to +turn out of it. All that need be said here in behalf of the Sultan is, +that the Christian Powers are bound to keep such lawful promises as they +have made to him. All that need be said in favour of the Czar is, that +he is attacking an infamous Power, the enemy of God and man. And all +that need be said by way of warning to the Catholic is, that he should +beware of strengthening the Czar's cause by denying or ignoring its +strong point. It is difficult to understand how a reader of history can +side with the Spanish people in past centuries in their struggle with +the Moors, without wishing Godspeed, in mere consistency, to any +Christian Power, which aims at delivering the East of Europe from the +Turkish yoke. + + + + +THE TURKS. + + I. THE MOTHER COUNTRY OF THE TURKS. + + LECT. PAGE + + 1. The Tribes of the North 1 + + 2. The Tartars 19 + + + II. THE DESCENT OF THE TURKS. + + 3. The Tartar and the Turk 48 + + 4. The Turk and the Saracen 74 + + + III. THE CONQUESTS OF THE TURKS. + + 5. The Turk and the Christian 104 + + 6. The Pope and the Turk 131 + + + IV. THE PROSPECTS OF THE TURKS. + + 7. Barbarism and Civilization 159 + + 8. The Past and Present of the Ottomans 183 + + 9. The Future of the Ottomans 207 + + Note 230 + + Chronological Tables 235 + + + * * * * * + + +I. + +THE MOTHER COUNTRY OF THE TURKS. + + + * * * * * + + + + +LECTURE 1. + +_The Tribes of the North._ + + +1. + +The collision between Russia and Turkey, which at present engages public +attention, is only one scene in that persevering conflict, which is +carried on, from age to age, between the North and the South,--the North +aggressive, the South on the defensive. In the earliest histories this +conflict finds a place; and hence, when the inspired Prophets[1] +denounce defeat and captivity upon the chosen people or other +transgressing nations, who were inhabitants of the South, the North is +pointed out as the quarter from which the judgment is to descend. + +Nor is this conflict, nor is its perpetuity, difficult of explanation. +The South ever has gifts of nature to tempt the invader, and the North +ever has multitudes to be tempted by them. The North has been fitly +called the storehouse of nations. Along the breadth of Asia, and thence +to Europe, from the Chinese Sea on the East, to the Euxine on the West, +nay to the Rhine, nay even to the Bay of Biscay, running between and +beyond the 40th and 50th degrees of latitude, and above the fruitful +South, stretches a vast plain, which has been from time immemorial what +may be called the wild common and place of encampment, or again the +highway, or the broad horse-path, of restless populations seeking a +home. The European portion of this tract has in Christian times been +reclaimed from its state of desolation, and is at present occupied by +civilized communities; but even now the East remains for the most part +in its primitive neglect, and is in possession of roving barbarians. + +It is the Eastern portion of this vast territory which I have pointed +out, that I have now, Gentlemen, principally to keep before your view. +It goes by the general name of Tartary: in width from north to south it +is said to vary from 400 to 1,100 miles, while in length from east to +west it is not far short of 5,000. It is of very different elevations in +different parts, and it is divided longitudinally by as many as three or +four mountain-chains of great height. The valleys which lie between them +necessarily confine the wandering savage to an eastward or westward +course, and the slope of the land westward invites him to that direction +rather than to the east. Then, at a certain point in these westward +passages, as he approaches the meridian of the Sea of Aral, he finds the +mountain-ranges cease, and open upon him the opportunity, as well as the +temptation, to roam to the North or to the South also. Up in the East, +from whence he came, in the most northerly of the lofty ranges which I +have spoken of, is a great mountain, which some geographers have +identified with the classical Imaus; it is called by the Saracens Caf, +by the Turks Altai. Sometimes too it has the name of the Girdle of the +Earth, from the huge appearance of the chain to which it belongs, +sometimes of the Golden Mountain, from the gold, as well as other +metals, with which its sides abound. It is said to be at an equal +distance of 2,000 miles from the Caspian, the Frozen Sea, the North +Pacific Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal: and, being in situation the +furthest withdrawn from West and South, it is in fact the high capital +or metropolis of the vast Tartar country, which it overlooks, and has +sent forth, in the course of ages, innumerable populations into the +illimitable and mysterious regions around it, regions protected by their +inland character both from the observation and the civilizing influence +of foreign nations. + + +2. + +To eat bread in the sweat of his brow is the original punishment of +mankind; the indolence of the savage shrinks from the obligation, and +looks out for methods of escaping it. Corn, wine, and oil have no charms +for him at such a price; he turns to the brute animals which are his +aboriginal companions, the horse, the cow, and the sheep; he chooses to +be a grazier rather than to till the ground. He feeds his horses, +flocks, and herds on its spontaneous vegetation, and then in turn he +feeds himself on their flesh. He remains on one spot while the natural +crop yields them sustenance; when it is exhausted, he migrates to +another. He adopts, what is called, the life of a _nomad_. In maritime +countries indeed he must have recourse to other expedients; he fishes in +the stream, or among the rocks of the beach.[2] In the woods he betakes +himself to roots and wild honey; or he has a resource in the chase, an +occupation, ever ready at hand, exciting, and demanding no perseverance. +But when the savage finds himself inclosed in the continent and the +wilderness, he draws the domestic animals about him, and constitutes +himself the head of a sort of brute polity. He becomes a king and father +of the beasts, and by the economical arrangements which this pretension +involves, advances a first step, though a low one, in civilization, +which the hunter or the fisher does not attain. + +And here, beyond other animals, the horse is the instrument of that +civilization. It enables him to govern and to guide his sheep and +cattle; it carries him to the chase, when he is tempted to it; it +transports him and his from place to place; while his very locomotion +and shifting location and independence of the soil define the idea, and +secure the existence, both of a household and of personal property. Nor +is this all which the horse does for him; it is food both in its life +and in its death;--when dead, it nourishes him with its flesh, and, +while alive, it supplies its milk for an intoxicating liquor which, +under the name of _koumiss_, has from time immemorial served the Tartar +instead of wine or spirits. The horse then is his friend under all +circumstances, and inseparable from him; he may be even said to live on +horseback, he eats and sleeps without dismounting, till the fable has +been current that he has a centaur's nature, half man and half beast. +Hence it was that the ancient Saxons had a horse for their ensign in +war; thus it is that the Ottoman ordinances are, I believe, to this day +dated from "the imperial stirrup," and the display of horsetails at the +gate of the palace is the Ottoman signal of war. Thus too, as the +Catholic ritual measures intervals by "a Miserere," and St Ignatius in +his Exercises by "a Pater Noster," so the Turcomans and the Usbeks speak +familiarly of the time of a gallop. But as to houses, on the other hand, +the Tartars contemptuously called them the sepulchres of the living, +and, when abroad, could hardly be persuaded to cross a threshold. Their +women, indeed, and children could not live on horseback; them some kind +of locomotive dwelling must receive, and a less noble animal must draw. +The old historians and poets of Greece and Rome describe it, and the +travellers of the middle ages repeat and enlarge the classical +description of it The strangers from Europe gazed with astonishment on +huge wattled houses set on wheels, and drawn by no less than twenty-two +oxen. + + +3. + +From the age of Job, the horse has been the emblem of battle; a mounted +shepherd is but one remove from a knight-errant, except in the object of +his excursions; and the discipline of a pastoral station from the nature +of the case is not very different from that of a camp. There can be no +community without order, and a community in motion demands a special +kind of organization. Provision must be made for the separation, the +protection, and the sustenance of men, women, and children, horses, +flocks, and cattle. To march without straggling, to halt without +confusion, to make good their ground, to reconnoitre neighbourhoods, to +ascertain the character and capabilities of places in the distance, and +to determine their future route, is to be versed in some of the most +important duties of the military art. Such pastoral tribes are already +an army in the field, if not as yet against any human foe, at least +against the elements. They have to subdue, or to check, or to +circumvent, or to endure the opposition of earth, water, and wind, in +their pursuits of the mere necessaries of life. The war with wild beasts +naturally follows, and then the war on their own kind. Thus when they +are at length provoked or allured to direct their fury against the +inhabitants of other regions, they are ready-made soldiers. They have a +soldier's qualifications in their independence of soil, freedom from +local ties, and practice in discipline; nay, in one respect they are +superior to any troops which civilized countries can produce. One of the +problems of warfare is how to feed the vast masses which its operations +require; and hence it is commonly said, that a well-managed commissariat +is a chief condition of victory. Few people can fight without +eating;--Englishmen as little as any. I have heard of a work of a +foreign officer, who took a survey of the European armies previously to +the revolutionary war; in which he praised our troops highly, but said +they would not be effective till they were supported by a better +commissariat. Moreover, one commonly hears, that the supply of this +deficiency is one of the very merits of the great Duke of Wellington. So +it is with civilized races; but the Tartars, as is evident from what I +have already observed, have in their wars no need of any commissariat at +all; and that, not merely from the unscrupulousness of their foraging, +but because they find in the instruments of their conquests the staple +of their food. "Corn is a bulky and perishable commodity," says an +historian;[3] "and the large magazines, which are indispensably +necessary for the subsistence of civilized troops, are difficult and +slow of transport." But, not to say that even their flocks and herds +were fitted for rapid movement, like the nimble sheep of Wales and the +wild cattle of North Britain, the Tartars could even dispense with these +altogether. If straitened for provisions, they ate the chargers which +carried them to battle; indeed they seemed to account their flesh a +delicacy, above the reach of the poor, and in consequence were enjoying +a banquet in circumstances when civilized troops would be staving off +starvation. And with a view to such accidents, they have been accustomed +to carry with them in their expeditions a number of supernumerary +horses, which they might either ride or eat, according to the occasion. +It was an additional advantage to them in their warlike movements, that +they were little particular whether their food had been killed for the +purpose, or had died of disease. Nor is this all: their horses' hides +were made into tents and clothing, perhaps into bottles and coracles; +and their intestines into bowstrings.[4] + +Trained then as they are, to habits which in themselves invite to war, +the inclemency of their native climate has been a constant motive for +them to seek out settlements and places of sojournment elsewhere. The +spacious plains, over which they roam, are either monotonous grazing +lands, or inhospitable deserts, relieved with green valleys or recesses. +The cold is intense in a degree of which we have no experience in +England, though we lie to the north of them.[5] This arises in a measure +from their distance from the sea, and again from their elevation of +level, and further from the saltpetre with which their soil or their +atmosphere is impregnated. The sole influence then of their fatherland, +if I may apply to it such a term, is to drive its inhabitants from it to +the West or to the South. + + +4 + +I have said that the geographical features of their country carry them +forward in those two directions, the South and the West; not to say that +the ocean forbids them going eastward, and the North does but hold out +to them a climate more inclement than their own. Leaving the district of +Mongolia in the furthermost East, high above the north of China, and +passing through the long and broad valleys which I spoke of just now, +the emigrants at length would arrive at the edge of that elevated +plateau, which constitutes Tartary proper. They would pass over the high +region of Pamer, where are the sources of the Oxus, they would descend +the terrace of the Bolor, and the steeps of Badakshan, and gradually +reach a vast region, flat on the whole as the expanse they had left, but +as strangely depressed below the level of the sea, as Tartary is lifted +above it.[6] This is the country, forming the two basins of the Aral and +the Caspian, which terminates the immense Asiatic plain, and may be +vaguely designated by the name of Turkistan. Hitherto the necessity of +their route would force them on, in one multitudinous emigration, but +now they may diverge, and have diverged. If they were to cross the +Jaxartes and the Oxus, and then to proceed southward, they would come to +Khorasan, the ancient Bactriana, and so to Affghanistan and to Hindostan +on the east, or to Persia on the west. But if, instead, they continued +their westward course, then they would skirt the north coast of the Aral +and the Caspian, cross the Volga, and there would have a second +opportunity, if they chose to avail themselves of it, of descending +southwards, by Georgia and Armenia, either to Syria or to Asia Minor. +Refusing this diversion, and persevering onwards to the west, at length +they would pass the Don, and descend upon Europe across the Ukraine, +Bessarabia, and the Danube. + +Such are the three routes,--across the Oxus, across the Caucasus, and +across the Danube,--which the pastoral nations have variously pursued +at various times, when their roving habits, their warlike propensities, +and their discomforts at home, have combined to precipitate them on the +industry, the civilization, and the luxury of the West and of the South. +And at such times, as might be inferred from what has been already said, +their invasions have been rather irruptions, inroads, or, what are +called, raids, than a proper conquest and occupation of the countries +which have been their victims. They would go forward, 200,000 of them at +once, at the rate of 100 miles a day, swimming the rivers, galloping +over the plains, intoxicated with the excitement of air and speed, as if +it were a fox-chase, or full of pride and fury at the reverses which set +them in motion; seeking indeed their fortunes, but seeking them on no +plan; like a flight of locusts, or a swarm of angry wasps smoked out of +their nest. They would seek for immediate gratification, and let the +future take its course. They would be bloodthirsty and rapacious, and +would inflict ruin and misery to any extent; and they would do tenfold +more harm to the invaded, than benefit to themselves. They would be +powerful to break down; helpless to build up. They would in a day undo +the labour and skill, the prosperity of years; but they would not know +how to construct a polity, how to conduct a government, how to organize +a system of slavery, or to digest a code of laws. Rather they would +despise the sciences of politics, law, and finance; and, if they +honoured any profession or vocation, it would be such as bore +immediately and personally on themselves. Thus we find them treating the +priest and the physician with respect, when they found such among their +captives; but they could not endure the presence of a lawyer. How could +it be otherwise with those who may be called the outlaws of the human +race? They did but justify the seeming paradox of the traveller's +exclamation, who, when at length, after a dreary passage through the +wilderness, he came in sight of a gibbet, returned thanks that he had +now arrived at a civilized country. "The pastoral tribes," says the +writer I have already quoted, "who were ignorant of the distinction of +landed property, must have disregarded the use, as well as the abuse, of +civil jurisprudence; and the skill of an eloquent lawyer would excite +only their contempt or their abhorrence." And he refers to an outrage on +the part of a barbarian of the North, who, not satisfied with cutting +out a lawyer's tongue, sewed up his mouth, in order, as he said, that +the viper might no longer hiss. The well-known story of the Czar Peter, +himself a Tartar, is here in point. When told there were some thousands +of lawyers at Westminster, he is said to have observed that there had +been only two in his own dominions, and he had hung one of them. + + +5. + +Now I have thrown the various inhabitants of the Asiatic plain together, +under one description, not as if I overlooked, or undervalued, the +distinction of races, but because I have no intention of committing +myself to any statements on so intricate and interminable a subject as +ethnology. In spite of the controversy about skulls, and skins, and +languages, by means of which man is to be traced up to his primitive +condition, I consider place and climate to be a sufficiently real aspect +under which he may be regarded, and with this I shall content myself. I +am speaking of the inhabitants of those extended plains, whether +Scythians, Massagetae, Sarmatians, Huns, Moguls, Tartars, Turks, or +anything else; and whether or no any of them or all of them are +identical with each other in their pedigree and antiquities. Position +and climate create habits; and, since the country is called Tartary, I +shall call them Tartar habits, and the populations which have inhabited +it and exhibited them, Tartars, for convenience-sake, whatever be their +family descent. From the circumstances of their situation, these +populations have in all ages been shepherds, mounted on horseback, +roaming through trackless spaces, easily incited to war, easily formed +into masses, easily dissolved again into their component parts, suddenly +sweeping across continents, suddenly descending on the south or west, +suddenly extinguishing the civilization of ages, suddenly forming +empires, suddenly vanishing, no one knows how, into their native north. + +Such is the fearful provision for havoc and devastation, when the Divine +Word goes forth for judgment upon the civilized world, which the North +has ever had in store; and the regions on which it has principally +expended its fury, are those, whose fatal beauty, or richness of soil, +or perfection of cultivation, or exquisiteness of produce, or amenity of +climate, makes them objects of desire to the barbarian. Such are China, +Hindostan, Persia, Syria, and Anatolia or the Levant, in Asia; Greece, +Italy, Sicily, and Spain, in Europe; and the northern coast of Africa. + +These regions, on the contrary, have neither the inducement nor the +means to retaliate upon their ferocious invaders. The relative position +of the combatants must always be the same, while the combat lasts. The +South has nothing to win, the North nothing to lose; the North nothing +to offer, the South nothing to covet. Nor is this all: the North, as in +an impregnable fortress, defies the attack of the South. Immense +trackless solitudes; no cities, no tillage, no roads; deserts, forests, +marshes; bleak table-lands, snowy mountains; unlocated, flitting, +receding populations; no capitals, or marts, or strong places, or +fruitful vales, to hold as hostages for submission; fearful winters and +many months of them;--nature herself fights and conquers for the +barbarian. What madness shall tempt the South to undergo extreme risks +without the prospect or chance of a return? True it is, ambition, whose +very life is a fever, has now and then ventured on the reckless +expedition; but from the first page of history to the last, from Cyrus +to Napoleon, what has the Northern war done for the greatest warriors +but destroy the flower of their armies and the _prestige_ of their name? +Our maps, in placing the North at the top, and the South at the bottom +of the sheet, impress us, by what may seem a sophistical analogy, with +the imagination that Huns or Moguls, Kalmucks or Cossacks, have been a +superincumbent mass, descending by a sort of gravitation upon the fair +territories which lie below them. Yet this is substantially +true;--though the attraction towards the South is of a moral, not of a +physical nature, yet an attraction there is, and a huge conglomeration +of destructive elements hangs over us, and from time to time rushes down +with an awful irresistible momentum. Barbarism is ever impending over +the civilized world. Never, since history began, has there been so long +a cessation of this law of human society, as in the period in which we +live. The descent of the Turks on Europe was the last instance of it, +and that was completed four hundred years ago. They are now themselves +in the position of those races, whom they themselves formerly came down +upon. + + +6. + +As to the instances of this conflict between North and South in the +times before the Christian era, we know more of them from antiquarian +research than from history. The principal of those which ancient writers +have recorded are contained in the history of the Persian Empire. The +wandering Tartar tribes went at that time by the name of Scythians, and +had possession of the plains of Europe as well as of Asia. Central +Europe was not at that time the seat of civilized nations; but from the +Chinese Sea even to the Rhine or Bay of Biscay, a course of many +thousand miles, the barbarian emigrant might wander on, as necessity or +caprice impelled him. Darius assailed the Scythians of Europe; Cyrus, +his predecessor, the Scythians of Asia. + +As to Cyrus, writers are not concordant on the subject; but the +celebrated Greek historian, Herodotus, whose accuracy of research is +generally confessed, makes the great desert, which had already been +fatal, according to some accounts, to the Assyrian Semiramis, the ruin +also of the founder of the Persian Empire. He tells us that Cyrus led an +army against the Scythian tribes (Massagetae, as they were called), who +were stationed to the east of the Caspian; and that they, on finding him +prepared to cross the river which bounded their country to the South, +sent him a message which well illustrates the hopelessness of going to +war with them. They are said to have given him his choice of fighting +them either three days' march within their own territory, or three days' +march within his; it being the same to them whether he made himself a +grave in their inhospitable deserts, or they a home in his flourishing +provinces. He had with him in his army a celebrated captive, the Lydian +King Croesus, who had once been head of a wealthy empire, till he had +succumbed to the fortunes of a more illustrious conqueror; and on this +occasion he availed himself of his advice. Croesus cautioned him +against admitting the barbarians within the Persian border, and +counselled him to accept their permission of his advancing into their +territory, and then to have recourse to stratagem. "As I hear," he says +in the simple style of the historian, which will not bear translation, +"the Massagetae have no experience of the good things of life. Spare not +then to serve up many sheep, and add thereunto stoups of neat wine, and +all sorts of viands. Set out this banquet for them in our camp, leave +the refuse of the army there, and retreat with the body of your troops +upon the river. If I am not mistaken, the Scythians will address +themselves to all this good cheer, as soon as they fall in with it, and +then we shall have the opportunity of a brilliant exploit." I need not +pursue the history further than to state the issue. In spite of the +immediate success of his _ruse de guerre_, Cyrus was eventually +defeated, and lost both his army and his life. The Scythian Queen +Tomyris, in revenge for the lives which he had sacrificed to his +ambition, is related to have cut off his head and plunged it into a +vessel filled with blood, saying, "Cyrus, drink your fill." Such is the +account given us by Herodotus; and, even if it is to be rejected, it +serves to illustrate the difficulties of an invasion of Scythia; for +legends must be framed according to the circumstances of the case, and +grow out of probabilities, if they are to gain credit, and if they have +actually succeeded in gaining it. + + +7. + +Our knowledge of the expedition of Darius in the next generation, is +more certain. This fortunate monarch, after many successes, even on the +European side of the Bosphorus, impelled by that ambition, which holy +Daniel had already seen in prophecy to threaten West and North as well +as South, towards the end of his life directed his arms against the +Scythians who inhabited the country now called the Ukraine. His pretext +for this expedition was an incursion which the same barbarians had made +into Asia, shortly before the time of Cyrus. They had crossed the Don, +just above the sea of Azoff, had entered the country now called +Circassia, had threaded the defiles of the Caucasus, and had defeated +the Median King Cyaxares, the grandfather of Cyrus. Then they overran +Armenia, Cappadocia, Pontus, and part of Lydia, that is, a great portion +of Anatolia or Asia Minor; and managed to establish themselves in the +country for twenty-eight years, living by plunder and exaction. In the +course of this period, they descended into Syria, as far as to the very +borders of Egypt. The Egyptians bought them off, and they turned back; +however, they possessed themselves of a portion of Palestine, and gave +their name to one town, Scythopolis, in the territory of Manasses. This +was in the last days of the Jewish monarchy, shortly before the +captivity. At length Cyaxares got rid of them by treachery; he invited +the greater number of them to a banquet, intoxicated, and massacred +them. Nor was this the termination of the troubles, of which they were +the authors; and I mention the sequel, because both the office which +they undertook and their manner of discharging it, their insubordination +and their cruelty, are an anticipation of some passages in the early +history of the Turks. The Median King had taken some of them into his +pay, made them his huntsmen, and submitted certain noble youths to +their training. Justly or unjustly they happened one day to be punished +for leaving the royal table without its due supply of game: without more +ado, the savages in revenge murdered and served up one of these youths +instead of the venison which had been expected of them, and made +forthwith for the neighbouring kingdom of Lydia. A war between the two +states was the consequence. + +But to return to Darius:--it is said to have been in retaliation for +these excesses that he resolved on his expedition against the Scythians, +who, as I have mentioned, were in occupation of the district between the +Danube and the Don. For this purpose he advanced from Susa in the +neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf, through Assyria and Asia Minor to the +Bosphorus, just opposite to the present site of Constantinople, where he +crossed over into Europe. Thence he made his way, with the incredible +number of 700,000 men, horse and foot, to the Danube, reducing Thrace, +the present Roumelia, in his way. When he had crossed that stream, he +was at once in Scythia; but the Scythians had adopted the same sort of +strategy, which in the beginning of this century was practised by their +successors against Napoleon. They cut and carried off the green crops, +stopped up their wells or spoilt their water, and sent off their +families and flocks to places of safety. Then they stationed their +outposts just a day's journey before the enemy, to entice him on. He +pursued them, they retreated; and at length he found himself on the Don, +the further boundary of the Scythian territory. They crossed the Don, +and he crossed it too, into desolate and unknown wilds; then, eluding +him altogether, from their own knowledge of the country, they made a +circuit, and got back into their own land again. + +Darius found himself outwitted, and came to a halt; how he had +victualled his army, whatever deduction we make for its numbers, does +not appear; but it is plain that the time must come, when he could not +proceed. He gave the order for retreat. Meanwhile, he found an +opportunity of sending a message to the Scythian chief, and it was to +this effect:--"Perverse man, take your choice; fight me or yield." The +Scythians intended to do neither, but contrived, as before, to harass +the Persian retreat. At length an answer came; not a message, but an +ominous gift; they sent Darius a bird, a mouse, a frog, and five arrows; +without a word of explanation. Darius himself at first hailed it as an +intimation of submission; in Greece to offer earth and water was the +sign of capitulation, as, in a sale of land in our own country, a clod +from the soil still passes, or passed lately, from seller to purchaser, +as a symbol of the transfer of possession. The Persian king, then, +discerned in these singular presents a similar surrender of territorial +jurisdiction. But another version, less favourable to his vanity and his +hopes, was suggested by one of his courtiers, and it ran thus: "Unless +you can fly like a bird, or burrow like a mouse, or swim the marshes +like a frog, you cannot escape our arrows." Whichever interpretation was +the true one, it needed no message from the enemy to inflict upon Darius +the presence of the dilemma suggested in this unpleasant interpretation. +He yielded to imperative necessity, and hastened his escape from the +formidable situation in which he had placed himself, and through great +good fortune succeeded in effecting it. He crossed the sea just in time; +for the Scythians came down in pursuit, as far as the coast, and +returned home laden with booty. + +This is pretty much all that is definitely recorded in history of the +ancient Tartars. Alexander, in a later age, came into conflict with them +in the region called Sogdiana which lies at the foot of that high +plateau of central and eastern Asia, which I have designated as their +proper home. But he was too prudent to be entangled in extended +expeditions against them, and having made trial of their formidable +strength, and made some demonstrations of the superiority of his own, he +left them in possession of their wildernesses. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Isai. xli. 25: Jer. i. 14; vi. 1, 22; Joel ii. 20; etc., etc. + +[2] Gibbon. + +[3] Gibbon. + +[4] Caldecott's Baber. + +[5] Vid. Mitford's Greece, vol. viii. p. 86. + +[6] Pritchard's Researches. + + + + +LECTURE II. + +_The Tartars._ + + +1. + +If anything needs be added to the foregoing account, in illustration of +the natural advantages of the Scythian or Tartar position, it is the +circumstance that the shepherds of the Ukraine were divided in their +counsels when Darius made war against them, and that only a portion of +their tribes coalesced to repel his invasion. Indeed, this internal +discord, which is the ordinary characteristic of races so barbarous, and +the frequent motive of their migrations, is the cause why in ancient +times they were so little formidable to their southern neighbours; and +it suggests a remark to the philosophical historian, Thucydides, which, +viewed in the light of subsequent history, is almost prophetic. "As to +the Scythians," he says, "not only no European nation, but not even any +Asiatic, would be able to measure itself with them, nation with nation, +were they but of one mind." Such was the safeguard of civilization in +ancient times; in modern unhappily it has disappeared. Not unfrequently, +since the Christian era, the powers of the North have been under one +sovereign, sometimes even for a series of years; and have in consequence +been brought into combined action against the South; nay, as time has +gone on, they have been thrown into more and more formidable +combinations, with more and more disastrous consequences to its +prosperity. Of these northern coalitions or Empires, there have been +three, nay five, which demand our especial attention both from their +size and their historical importance. + +The first of these is the Empire of the Huns, under the sovereignty of +Attila, at the termination of the Roman Empire; and it began and ended +in himself. The second is in the time of the Crusades, when the Moguls +spread themselves over Europe and Asia under Zingis Khan, whose power +continued to the third generation, nay, for two centuries, in the +northern parts of Europe. The third outbreak was under Timour or +Tamerlane, a century and more before the rise of Protestantism, when the +Mahometan Tartars, starting from the basin of the Aral and the fertile +region of the present Bukharia, swept over nearly the whole of Asia +round about, and at length seated themselves in Delhi in Hindostan, +where they remained in imperial power till they succumbed to the English +in the last century. Then come the Turks, a multiform and reproductive +race, varied in its fortunes, complicated in its history, falling to +rise again, receding here to expand there, and harassing and oppressing +the world for at least a long 800 years. And lastly comes the Russian +Empire, in which the Tartar element is prominent, whether in its pure +blood or in the Slavonian approximation, and which comprises a +population of many millions, gradually moulded into one in the course of +centuries, ever growing, never wavering, looking eagerly to the South +and to an unfulfilled destiny, and possessing both the energy of +barbarism in its subjects and the subtlety of civilization in its +rulers. The two former of these five empires were Pagan, the two next +Mahometan, the last Christian, but schismatic; all have been persecutors +of the Church, or, at least, instruments of evil against her children. +The Russians I shall dismiss; the Turks, who form my proper subject, I +shall postpone. First of all, I will take a brief survey of the three +empires of the Tartars proper; of Attila and his Huns; of Zingis and his +Moguls; and of Timour and his Mahometan Tartars. + +I have already waived the intricate question of race, as regards the +various tribes who have roamed from time immemorial, or used to roam, in +the Asiatic and European wilderness, because it was not necessary to the +discussion in which I am engaged. Their geographical position +assimilated them to each other in their wildness, their love of +wandering, their pastoral occupations, their predatory habits, their +security from attack, and the suddenness and the transitoriness of their +conquests, even though they descend from our first parent by different +lines. However, there is no need of any reserve or hesitation in +speaking of the three first empires into which the shepherds of the +North developed, the Huns, the Moguls, and the Mahometan Tartars: they +were the creation of Tribes, whose identity of race is as certain as +their community of country. + + +2. + +Of these the first in order is the Hunnish Empire of Attila, and if I +speak of it and of him with more of historical consecutiveness than of +Zingis or of Timour, it is because I think in him we see the pure +undiluted Tartar, better than in the other two, and in his empire the +best specimen of a Tartar rule. Nothing brings before us more vividly +the terrible character of Attila than this, that he terrified the Goths +themselves. These celebrated barbarians at the time of Attila inhabited +the countries to the north of the Black Sea, between the Danube and the +Don, the very district in which Darius so many centuries before found +the Scythians. They were impending over the Roman Empire, and +threatening it with destruction; their king was the great Hermanric, +who, after many victories, was closing his days in the fulness of power +and renown. That they themselves, the formidable Goths, should have to +fear and flee, seemed the most improbable of prospects; yet it was their +lot. Suddenly they heard, or rather they felt before they heard,--so +rapid is the torrent of Scythian warfare,--they felt upon them and among +them the resistless, crushing force of a remorseless foe. They beheld +their fields and villages in flames about them, and their hearthstones +deluged in the blood of their dearest and their bravest. Shocked and +stunned by so unexpected a calamity, they could think of nothing better +than turning their backs on the enemy, crowding to the Danube, and +imploring the Romans to let them cross over, and to lodge themselves and +their families in safety from the calamity which menaced them. + +Indeed, the very appearance of the enemy scared them; and they shrank +from him, as children before some monstrous object. It is observed of +the Scythians, their ancestors, who, as I have mentioned, came down upon +Asia in the Median times, that they were a frightful set of men. "The +persons of the Scythians," says a living historian,[7] "naturally +unsightly, were rendered hideous by indolent habits, only occasionally +interrupted by violent exertions; and the same cause subjected them to +disgusting diseases, in which they themselves revered the finger of +Heaven." Some of these ancient tribes are said to have been cannibals, +and their horrible outrage in serving up to Cyaxares human flesh for +game, may be taken to confirm the account Their sensuality was +unbridled, so much so that even polygamy was a licence too limited for +their depravity. The Huns were worthy sons of such fathers. The Goths, +the bravest and noblest of barbarians, recoiled in horror from their +physical and mental deformity. Their voices were shrill, their gestures +uncouth, and their shapes scarcely human. They are said by a Gothic +historian to have resembled brutes set up awkwardly on their hind legs, +or to the misshapen figures (something like, I suppose, the grotesque +forms of medieval sculpture), which were placed upon the bridges of +antiquity. Their shoulders were broad, their noses flat, and their eyes +black, small, and deeply buried in their head. They had little hair on +their skulls, and no beard. The report was spread and believed by the +Goths, that they were not mere men, but the detestable progeny of evil +spirits and witches in the wilds of the East. + +As the Huns were but reproductions of the ancient Scythians, so are they +reproduced themselves in various Tartar races of modern times. +Tavernier, the French traveller, in the seventeenth century, gives us a +similar description of the Kalmuks, some of whom at present are included +in the Russian Empire. "They are robust men," he says,[8] "but the most +ugly and deformed under heaven; a face so flat and broad, that from one +eye to the other is a space of five or six fingers. Their eyes are very +small, the nose so flat that two small nostrils is the whole of it; +their knees turned out, and their feet turned in." + +Attila himself did not degenerate in aspect from this unlovely race; for +an historian tells us, whom I have already made use of, that "his +features bore the stamp of his national origin; and the portrait of +Attila exhibits the genuine deformity of a modern Calmuck; a large +head, a swarthy complexion, small deep-seated eyes, a flat nose, a few +hairs in the place of a beard, broad shoulders, and a short square body, +of nervous strength, though of a disproportioned form." I should add +that the Tartar eyes are not only far apart, but slant inwards, as do +the eyebrows, and are partly covered by the eyelid. Now Attila, this +writer continues, "had a custom of rolling his eyes, as if he wished to +enjoy the terror which he had inspired;" yet, strange to say, all this +was so far from being thought a deformity by his people, that it even +went for something supernatural, for we presently read, "the barbarian +princes confessed, that they could not presume to gaze, with a steady +eye, on the divine majesty of the King of the Huns." + +I consider Attila to have been a pure Hun; I do not suppose the later +hordes under Zingis and Timour to have been so hideous, as being the +descendants of mixed marriages. Both Zingis himself and Timour had +foreign mothers; as to the Turks, from even an earlier date than those +conquerors, they had taken foreign captives to be mothers of their +families, and had lived among foreign people. Borrowing the blood of a +hundred tribes as they went on, they slowly made their way, in the +course of six or seven centuries, from Turkistan to Constantinople. Then +as to the Russians again, only a portion of the empire is strictly +Tartar or Scythian; the greater portion is but Scythian in its first +origin, many ages ago, and has long surrendered its wandering or nomad +habits, its indolence, and its brutality. + + +3. + +To return to Attila:--this extraordinary man is the only conqueror of +ancient and modern times who has united in one empire the two mighty +kingdoms of Eastern Scythia and Western Germany, that is, of that +immense expanse of plain, which stretches across Europe and Asia. If we +divide the inhabited portions of the globe into two parts, the land of +civilization and the land of barbarism, we may call him the supreme and +sole king of the latter, of all those populations who did not live in +cities, who did not till the soil, who were hunters and shepherds, +dwelling in tents, in waggons, and on horseback.[9] Imagination can +hardly take in the extent of his empire. In the West he interfered with +the Franks, and chastised the Burgundians, on the Rhine. On the East he +even sent ambassadors to negotiate an equal alliance with the Chinese +Empire. The north of Asia was the home of his race, and on the north of +Europe he ascended as high as Denmark and Sweden. It is said he could +bring into the field an army of 500,000 or 700,000 men. + +You will ask perhaps how he gained this immense power; did he inherit +it? the Russian Empire is the slow growth of centuries; had Attila a +long line of royal ancestors, and was his empire, like that of Haroun, +or Soliman, or Aurunzebe, the maturity and consummation of an eventful +history? Nothing of the kind; it began, as it ended, with himself. The +history of the Huns during the centuries immediately before him, will +show us how he came by it. It seems that, till shortly before the +Christian era, the Huns had a vast empire, from a date unknown, in the +portion of Tartary to the east of Mount Altai. It was against these +formidable invaders that the Chinese built their famous wall, 1,500 +miles in length, which still exists as one of the wonders of the world. +In spite of its protection, however, they were obliged to pay tribute to +their fierce neighbours, until one of their emperors undertook a task +which at first sight seems an exception to what I have already laid down +as if a universal law in the history of northern warfare. This Chinese +monarch accomplished the bold design of advancing an army as much as 700 +miles into the depths of the Tartar wilderness, and thereby at length +succeeded in breaking the power of the Huns. He succeeded;--but at the +price of 110,000 men. He entered Tartary with an army 140,000 strong; he +returned with 30,000. + +The Huns, however, though broken, had no intention at all of being +reduced. The wild warriors turned their faces westward, and not knowing +whither they were going, set out for Europe. This was at the end of the +first century after Christ; in the course of the following centuries +they pursued the track which I have already marked out for the +emigrating companies. They passed the lofty Altai; they gradually +travelled along the foot of the mountain-chain in which it is seated; +they arrived at the edge of the high table-land which bounds Tartary on +the west; then turning southward down the slopes which led to the low +level of Turkistan, they found themselves close to a fertile region +between the Jaxartes and the Oxus, the present Bukharia, then called +Sogdiana by the Greeks, afterwards the native land of Timour. Here was +the first of the three thoroughfares for a descent southwards, which I +have pointed out as open to the choice of adventurers. A portion of +these Huns, attracted by the rich pasture-land and general beauty of +Sogdiana, took up their abode there; the main body wandered on. +Persevering in their original course, they skirted Siberia and the north +of the Caspian, crossed the Volga, then the Don, and thus in the fifth +century of the Christian era, as I just now mentioned, came upon the +Goths, who were in undisturbed possession of the country. Now it would +appear that, in this long march from the wall of China to the Danube, +lasting as it did through some centuries, they lost hold of no part of +the tracts which they traversed. They remained on each successive +encampment long enough (if I may so express myself) to sow themselves +there. They left behind them at least a remnant of their own population +while they went forward, like a rocket thrown up in the sky, which, +while it shoots forward, keeps possession of its track by its train of +fire. And hence it was that Attila, when he found himself at length in +Hungary, and elevated to the headship of his people, became at once the +acknowledged king of the vast territories and the untold populations +which that people had been leaving behind them in its advance during the +foregoing 350 years. + +Such a power indeed had none of the elements of permanence in it, but it +was appalling at the moment, whenever there was a vigorous and +unscrupulous hand to put it into motion. Such was Attila; it was his +boast, that, where his horse once trod, there grass never grew again. As +he fulfilled his terrible destiny, religious men looked on with awe, and +called him the "Scourge of God." He burst as a thunder-cloud upon the +whole extent of country, now called Turkey in Europe, along a line of +more than five hundred miles from the Black Sea to the Gulf of Venice. +He defeated the Roman armies in three pitched battles, and then set +about destroying the cities of the Empire. Three of the greatest, +Constantinople, Adrianople, and another, escaped: but as for the rest, +the barbarian fury fell on as many as seventy; they were sacked, +levelled to the ground, and their inhabitants carried off to captivity. +Next he turned round to the West, and rode off with his savage horsemen +to the Rhine. He entered France, and stormed and sacked the greater part +of its cities. At Metz he involved in one promiscuous massacre priests +and children; he burned the city, so that a solitary chapel of St. +Stephen was its sole remains. At length he was signally defeated by the +Romans and Goths united at Chalons on the Marne, in a tremendous battle, +which ended in 252,000, or, as one account says, 300,000 men being left +dead on the field. + +Irritated rather than humbled, as some beast of prey, by this mishap, he +turned to Italy. Crossing the Alps, he laid siege to Aquileia, at that +time one of the richest, most populous, and strongest of the cities on +the Hadriatic coast. He took it, sacked it, and so utterly destroyed it, +that the succeeding generation could scarcely trace its ruins. It is, we +know, no slight work, in toil and expense, even with all the appliances +of modern science, to raze a single fortress; yet the energy of these +wild warriors made sport of walled cities. He turned back, and passed +along through Lombardy; and, as he moved, he set fire to Padua and other +cities; he plundered Vincenza, Verona, and Bergamo; and sold to the +citizens of Milan and Pavia their lives and buildings at the price of +the surrender of their property. There were a number of minute islands +in the shallows of the extremity of the Hadriatic; and thither the +trembling inhabitants of the coast fled for refuge. Fish was for a time +their sole food, and salt, extracted from the sea, their sole +possession. Such was the origin of the city and the republic of Venice. + + +4. + +It does not enter into my subject to tell you how this ferocious +conqueror was stayed in the course of blood and fire which was carrying +him towards Rome, by the great St. Leo, the Pope of the day, who +undertook an embassy to his camp. It was not the first embassy which the +Romans had sent to him, and their former negotiations had been +associated with circumstances which could not favourably dispose the Hun +to new overtures. It is melancholy to be obliged to confess that, on +that occasion, the contrast between barbarism and civilization had been +to the advantage of the former. The Romans, who came to Attila to treat +upon the terms of an accommodation, after various difficulties and some +insults, had found themselves at length in the Hunnish capital, in +Hungary, the sole city of an empire which extended for some thousand +miles. In the number of these ambassadors were some who were conducting +an intrigue with Attila's own people for his assassination, and who +actually had with them the imperial gold which was to be the price of +the crime. Attila was aware of the conspiracy, and showed his knowledge +of it; but, from respect for the law of nations and of hospitality, he +spared the guilty instruments or authors. Sad as it is to have to record +such practices of an Imperial Court professedly Christian, still, it is +not unwelcome, for the honour of human nature, to discover in +consequence of them those vestiges of moral rectitude which the +degradation of ages had not obliterated from the Tartar character. It is +well known that when Homer, 1,500 years before, speaks of these +barbarians, he calls them, on the one hand, "drinkers of mare's milk;" +on the other, "the most just of men." Truth, honesty, justice, +hospitality, according to their view of things, are the historical +characteristics, it must be granted, of Scythians, Tartars, and Turks, +down to this day; and Homer, perhaps, as other authors after him, was +the more struck with such virtues in these wild shepherds, in contrast +with the subtlety and perfidy, which, then as since, were the qualities +of his own intellectually gifted countrymen. + +Attila, though aware of the treachery and of the traitor, had received +the Roman ambassadors, as a barbarian indeed, but as a king; and with +that strange mixture of rudeness and magnificence of which I shall have, +as I proceed, to give more detailed specimens. As he entered the royal +village or capital with his guests, a numerous troop of women came out +to meet him, and marched in long files before him, chanting hymns in his +honour. As he passed the door of one of his favourite soldiers, the wife +of the latter presented wine and meat for his refreshment. He did not +dismount, but a silver table was raised for his accommodation by his +domestics, and then he continued his march. His palace, which was all of +wood, was surrounded by a wooden wall, and contained separate houses for +each of his numerous wives. The Romans were taken round to all of them +to pay their respects; and they admired the singular quality and +workmanship of the wooden columns, which they found in the apartments of +his queen or state wife. She received them reclining on a soft couch, +with her ladies round her working at embroidery. Afterwards they had an +opportunity of seeing his council; the supreme tribunal was held in the +gate of the palace according to Oriental custom, perpetuated even to +this day in the title of the "Ottoman Porte." They were invited to two +solemn banquets, in which Attila feasted with the princes and nobles of +Scythia. The royal couch and table were covered with carpets and fine +linen. The swords, and even the shoes of the nobles, were studded with +gold and precious stones; the tables were profusely spread with gold +and silver plates, goblets, and vases. Two bards stood before the King's +couch, and sung of his victories. Wine was drunk in great excess; and +buffoons, Scythian and Moorish, exhibited their unseemly dances before +the revellers. When the Romans were to depart, Attila discovered to them +his knowledge of the treachery which had been carried on against him. + +Such were some of the untoward circumstances under which the great +Pontiff I have mentioned undertook a new embassy to the King of the +Huns. He was not, we may well conceive, to be a spectator of their +barbaric festivities, or to be a listener to their licentious +interludes; he was rather an object to be gazed upon, than to gaze; and +in truth there was that about him, in the noble aspect and the spare +youthful form, which portraits give to Pope Leo, which was adapted to +arrest and subdue even Attila. Attila had seen many great men in his +day; he had seen the majesty of the Caesars, and the eagles of their +legions; he had never seen before a Vicar of Christ. The place of their +interview has been ascertained by antiquarians;[10] it is near the great +Austrian fortress of Peschiera, where the Mincio enters the Lago di +Garda, close to the farm of Virgil. It is said he saw behind the Pontiff +the two Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, as they are represented in the +picture of Raffaelle; he was subdued by the influence of religion, and +agreed to evacuate Italy. + +A few words will bring us to the end of his career. Evil has its limit; +the Scourge of God had accomplished His mission. Hardly had St. Leo +retired, when the barbarian king availed himself of the brief interval +in his work of blood, to celebrate a new marriage. In the deep +corruption of the Tartar race, polygamy is comparatively a point of +virtue: Attila's wives were beyond computation. Zingis, after him, had +as many as five hundred; another of the Tartar leaders, whose name I +forget, had three hundred. Attila, on the evening of his new nuptials, +drank to excess, and was carried to his room. There he was found in the +morning, bathed and suffocated in his blood. An artery had suddenly +burst; and, as he lay on his back, the blood had flowed back upon his +throat and lungs, and so he had gone to his place. + + +5. + +And now for Zingis and Timour:--like the Huns, they and their tribes +came down from the North of Asia, swept over the face of the South, +obliterated the civilization of centuries, inflicted unspeakable misery +on whole nations, and then were spent, extinguished, and only survived +to posterity in the desolation they caused. As Attila ruled from China +to the Rhine, and wasted Europe from the Black Sea to the Loire, so +Zingis and his sons and grandsons occupied a still larger portion of the +world's surface, and exercised a still more pitiless sway. Besides the +immense range of territory, from Germany to the North Pacific Ocean, +throughout which their power was felt, even if it was not acknowledged, +they overran China, Siberia, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Anatolia, Syria, +and Persia. During the sixty-five years of their dominion, they subdued +almost all Asia and a large portion of Europe. The conquests of Timour +were as sudden and as complete, if not as vast, as those of Zingis; and, +if he did not penetrate into Europe, he accomplished instead the +subjugation of Hindostan. + +The exploits of those warriors have the air of Eastern romance; 700,000 +men marched under the standard of Zingis; and in one of his battles he +left 160,000 of his enemies upon the field. Before Timour died, he had +had twenty-seven crowns upon his head. When he invaded Turkistan, his +army stretched along a line of thirteen miles. We may conceive his +energy and determination, when we are told that, for five months, he +marched through wildernesses, subsisting his immense army on the +fortunes of the chase. In his invasion of Hindostan he had to pass over +a high chain of mountains, and, in one stage of the passage, had to be +lowered by ropes on a scaffold, down a precipice of 150 cubits in depth. +He attempted the operation five times before he got safely to the +bottom. + +These two extraordinary men rivalled or exceeded Attila in their +wholesale barbarities. Attila vaunted that the grass never grew again +after his horse's hoof; so it was the boast of Zingis, that when he +destroyed a city, he did it so completely, that his horse could gallop +across its site without stumbling. He depopulated the whole country from +the Danube to the Baltic in a season; and the ruins of cities and +churches were strewed with the bones of the inhabitants. He allured the +fugitives from the woods, where they lay hid, under a promise of pardon +and peace; he made them gather in the harvest and the vintage, and then +he put them to death. At Gran, in Hungary, he had 300 noble ladies +slaughtered in his presence. But these were slight excesses compared +with other of his acts. When he had subdued the northern part of China, +he proposed, not in the heat of victory, but deliberately in council, to +exterminate all its inhabitants, and to turn it into a cattle-walk; from +this project indeed he was diverted, but a similar process was his rule +with the cities he conquered. Let it be understood, he came down upon +cities living in peace and prosperity, as the cities of England now, +which had done him no harm, which had not resisted him, which submitted +to him at discretion on his summons. What was his treatment of such? He +ordered out the whole population on some adjacent plain; then he +proceeded to sack their city. Next he divided them into three parts: +first, the soldiers and others capable of bearing arms; these he either +enlisted into his armies, or slaughtered on the spot. The second class +consisted of the rich, the women, and the artizans;--these he divided +amongst his followers. The remainder, the old, infirm, and poor, he +suffered to return to their rifled city. Such was his ordinary course; +but when anything occurred to provoke him, the most savage excesses +followed. The slightest offence, or appearance of offence, on the part +of an individual, sufficed for the massacre of whole populations. The +three great capitals of Khorasan were destroyed by his orders, and a +reckoning made of the slain; at Maru were killed 1,300,000; at Herat, +1,600,000; and at Neisabour, 1,747,000; making a total of 4,647,000 +deaths. Say these numbers are exaggerated fourfold or tenfold; even on +the last supposition you will have a massacre of towards half a million +of helpless beings. After recounting such preternatural crimes, it is +little to add, that his devastation of the fine countries between the +Caspian and the Indus, a tract of many hundred miles, was so complete, +that six centuries have been unable to repair the ravages of four years. + +Timour equalled Zingis, if he could not surpass him, in barbarity. At +Delhi, the capital of his future dynasty, he massacred 100,000 +prisoners, because some of them were seen to smile when the army of +their countrymen came in sight. He laid a tax of the following sort on +the people of Ispahan, viz, to find him 70,000 human skulls, to build +his towers with; and, after Bagdad had revolted, he exacted of the +inhabitants as many as 90,000. He burned, or sacked, or razed to the +ground, the cities of Astrachan, Carisme, Delhi, Ispahan, Bagdad, +Aleppo, Damascus, Broussa, Smyrna, and a thousand others. We seem to be +reading of some antediluvian giant, rather than of a medieval conqueror. + + +6. + +The terrible races which I have been describing, like those giants of +old, have ever been enemies of God and persecutors of His Church. Celts, +Goths, Lombards, Franks, have been converted, and their descendants to +this day are Christian; but, whether we consider Huns, Moguls, or Turks, +up to this time they are in the outer darkness. And accordingly, to the +innumerable Tartar tribes, and to none other, have been applied by +commentators the solemn passages about Gog and Magog, who are to fight +the battles of Antichrist against the faithful. "Satan shall go forth +and seduce the nations which are at the four corners of the earth, Gog +and Magog, and shall collect them to battle, whose number is as the sea +sand." From time to time the Holy See has fulfilled its apostolic +mission of sending preachers to them, but without success. The only +missionaries who have had any influence upon them have been those of the +Nestorian heresy, who have in certain districts made the same sort of +impression on them which the Greek schism has made upon the Russians. +St. Louis too sent a friar to them on an embassy, when he wished to +persuade them to turn their strength upon the Turks, with whom he was at +war; other European monarchs afterwards followed his pattern; and +sometimes European merchants visited them for the purposes of trade. +However little influence as these various visitants, in the course of +several centuries, had upon their minds, they have at least done us the +service of giving us information concerning their habits and manners; +and this so fully corroborates the historical account of them which I +have been giving, that it will be worth while laying before you some +specimens of it here. + +I have said that some of these travellers were laymen travelling for +gain or in secular splendour, and others were humble servants of +religion. The contrast of their respective adventures is striking. The +celebrated Marco Polo, who was one of a company of enterprising Venetian +merchants, lived many years in Tartary in honour, and returned laden +with riches; the poor friars met with hardships in plenty, and nothing +besides. Not that the Poli were not good Catholics, not that they went +out without a blessing from the Pope, or without friars of the order of +St. Dominic of his selection; but so it was, that the Tartars understood +the merchant well enough, but could not comprehend, could not set a +value on the friar. + +When the Pope's missionaries came in sight of the Tartar encampment on +the northern frontier of Persia, they at once announced their mission +and its object. It was from the Vicar of Christ upon earth, and the +spiritual head of Christendom; and it was a simple exhortation addressed +to the fierce conquerors before whom they stood, to repent and believe. +The answer of the Tartars was equally prompt and equally intelligible. +When they had fully mastered the business of their visitors, they +sentenced them to immediate execution; and did but hesitate about the +mode. They were to be flayed alive, their skins filled with hay, and so +sent back to the Pope; or they were to be put in the first rank in the +next battle with the Franks, and to die by the weapons of their own +countrymen. Eventually one of the Khan's wives begged them off. They +were kept in a sort of captivity for three years, and at length thought +themselves happy to be sent away with their lives. So much for the +friars; how different was the lot of the merchants may be understood by +the scene which took place on their return to Venice, It is said that, +on their arrival at their own city, after the absence of a quarter of a +century, their change of appearance and poorness of apparel were such +that even their nearest friends did not know them. Having with +difficulty effected an entrance into their own house, they set about +giving a splendid entertainment to the principal persons of the city. +The banquet over, following the Oriental custom, they successively put +on and then put off again, and distributed to their attendants, a series +of magnificent dresses; and at length they entered the room in the same +weather-stained and shabby dresses, in which, as travellers, they had +made their first appearance at Venice. The assembled company eyed them +with wonder; which you may be sure was not diminished, when they began +to unrip the linings and the patches of those old clothes, and as the +seams were opened, poured out before them a prodigious quantity of +jewels. This had been their expedient for conveying their gains to +Europe, and the effect of the discovery upon the world may be +anticipated. Persons of all ranks and ages crowded to them, as the +report spread, and they were the wonder of their day.[11] + + +7. + +Savage cruelty, brutal gluttony, and barbarous magnificence, are the +three principal ethical characteristics of a Tartar prince, as we may +gather from what has come down to us in history, whether concerning the +Scythians or the Huns. The first of these three qualities has also been +illustrated, from the references which I have been making to the history +of Zingis and Timour, so that I think we have heard enough of it, +without further instances from the report of these travellers, whether +ecclesiastical or lay. I will but mention one corroboration of a +barbarity, which at first hearing it is difficult to credit. When the +Spanish ambassador, then, was on his way to Timour, and had got as far +as the north of Persia, he there actually saw a specimen of that sort of +poll-tax, which I just now mentioned. It was a structure consisting of +four towers, composed of human skulls, a layer of mud and of skulls +being placed alternately; and he tells us that upwards of 60,000 men +were massacred to afford materials for this building. Indeed it seems a +demonstration of revenge familiar to the Tartar race. Selim, the Ottoman +Sultan, reared a similar pyramid on the banks of the Nile.[12] + +To return to our Spanish traveller. He proceeded to his destination, +which was Samarcand, the royal city of Timour, in Sogdiana, the present +Bukharia, and was presented to the great conqueror. He describes the +gate of the palace as lofty, and richly ornamented with gold and azure; +in the inner court were six elephants, with wooden castles on their +backs, and streamers which performed gambols for the amusement of the +courtiers. He was led into a spacious room, where were some boys, +Timour's grandsons, and these carried the King of Spain's letters to the +Khan. He then was ushered into Timour's presence, who was seated, like +Attila's queen, on a sort of cushioned sofa, with a fountain playing +before him. He was at that time an old man, and his eyesight was +impaired. + +At the entertainment which followed, the meat was introduced in leathern +bags, so large as to be dragged along with difficulty. When opened, +pieces were cut out and placed on dishes of gold, silver, or porcelain. +One of the most esteemed, says the ambassador, was the hind quarter of a +horse; I must add what I find related, in spite of its offending our +ears:--our informant tells us that horse-tripe also was one of the +delicacies at table. No dish was removed, but the servants of the guests +were expected to carry off the remains, so that our ambassador doubtless +had his larder provided with the sort of viands I have mentioned for +some time to come. The drink was the famous Tartar beverage which we +hear of so often, mares' milk, sweetened with sugar, or perhaps rather +the _koumiss_ or spirit which is distilled from it. It was handed round +in gold and silver cups. + +Nothing is more strange about the Tartars than the attachment they have +shown to such coarse fare, from the earliest times till now. Timour, at +whose royal table this most odious banquet was served, was lord of all +Asia, and had the command of every refinement not only of luxury, but of +gluttony. Yet he is faithful to the food which regaled the old Scythians +in the heroic age of Greece, and which is prized by the Usbek of the +present day. As Homer, in the beginning of the historic era, calls the +Scythians "mares'-milk drinkers," so geographers of the present day +describe their mode of distilling it in Russia. Tavernier speaks of it +two centuries ago; the European visitors partook of it in the middle +ages; and the Roman ambassadors, in the later times of the Empire. These +tribes have had the command of the vine, yet they seem to have scorned +or even abhorred its use; and we have a curious account in Herodotus, of +a Scythian king who lost his life for presuming to take part secretly in +the orgies of Bacchus. Yet it was not that they did not intoxicate +themselves freely with the distillation which they had chosen; and even +when they tolerated wine, they still adhered to their _koumiss_. That +beverage is described by the Franciscan, who was sent by St. Louis, as +what he calls biting, and leaving a taste like almond milk on the +palate; though Elphinstone, on the contrary writing in this century, +says "it is of a whitish colour and a sourish taste." And so of +horse-flesh; I believe it is still put out for sale in the Chinese +markets; Lieutenant Wood, in his journey to the source of the Oxus, +speaks of it among the Usbeks as an expensive food. So does Elphinstone, +adding that in consequence the Usbeks are "obliged to be content with +beef." Pinkerton tells us that it is made into dried hams; but this +seems to be a refinement, for we hear a great deal from various authors +of its being eaten more than half raw. After all, horse-flesh was the +most delicate of the Tartar viands in the times we are now considering. +We are told that, in spite of their gold and silver, and jewels, they +were content to eat dogs, foxes, and wolves; and, as I have observed +before, the flesh of animals which had died of disease. + +But again we have lost sight of the ambassador of Spain. After this +banquet, he was taken about by Timour to other palaces, each more +magnificent than the one preceding it. He speaks of the magnificent +halls, painted with various colours, of the hangings of silk, of gold +and silver embroidery, of tables of solid gold, and of the rubies and +other precious stones. The most magnificent of these entertainments was +on a plain; 20,000 pavilions being pitched around Timour's, which +displayed the most gorgeous variety of colours. Two entertainments were +given by the ladies of the court, in which the state queens of Timour, +nine in number, sat in a row, and here pages handed round wine, not +_koumiss_, in golden cups, which they were not slow in emptying. + +The good friar, who went from St. Louis to the princes of the house of +Zingis, several centuries earlier, gives us a similar account. When he +was presented to the Khan, he went with a Bible and a Psalter in his +hand; on entering the royal apartment, he found a curtain of felt spread +across the room; it was lifted up, and discovered the great man at table +with his wives about him, and prepared for drinking _koumiss_. The court +knew something of Christianity from the Nestorians, who were about it, +and the friar was asked to say a blessing on the meal; so he entered +singing the Salve Regina. On another occasion he was present at the +baptism of a wife of the Khan by a Nestorian priest. After the ceremony, +she called for a cup of liquor, desired a blessing from the officiating +minister, and drank it off. Then she drank off another, and then +another; and continued this process till she could drink no more, and +was put into her carriage, and taken home. At another entertainment the +friar had to make a speech, in the name of the holy king he represented, +to pray for health and long life to the Khan. When he looked round for +his interpreter, he found him in a state of intoxication, and in no +condition to be of service; then he directed his gaze upon the Khan +himself, and found him intoxicated also. + +I have made much mention of the wealth of the Tartars, from Attila to +Timour; their foreign conquests would yield to them of course whatever +of costly material their pride might require; but their native territory +itself was rich in minerals. Altai in the north yielded the precious +metals; the range of mountains which branches westward from the Himalaya +on the south yielded them rubies and lapis lazuli. We are informed by +the travellers whom I have been citing that they dressed in winter in +costly furs; in summer in silk, and even in cloth of gold.[13] One of +the Franciscans speaks of the gifts received by the Khan from foreign +powers. They were more than could be numbered;--satin cloths, robes of +purple, silk girdles wrought with gold, costly skins. We are told of an +umbrella enriched with precious stones; of a train of camels covered +with cloth of Bagdad; of a tent of glowing purple; of five hundred +waggons full of silver, gold, and silk stuffs. + + +8. + +It is remarkable that the three great conquerors, who have been our +subject, all died in the fulness of glory. From the beginning of history +to our own times, the insecurity of great prosperity has been the theme +of poets and philosophers. Scripture points out to our warning in +opposite ways the fortunes of Sennacherib, Nabuchodonosor, and +Antiochus. Profane history tells us of Solon, the Athenian sage, coming +to the court of Croesus, the prosperous King of Lydia, whom in his +fallen state I have already had occasion to mention; and, when he had +seen his treasures and was asked by the exulting monarch who was the +happiest of men, making answer that no one could be called happy before +his death. And we may call to mind in confirmation the history of +Cyrus, of Hannibal, of Mithridates, of Belisarius, of Bajazet, of +Napoleon. But these Tartars finished a prosperous course without +reverse; they died indeed and went to judgment, but, as far as the +visible scene of their glory is concerned, they underwent no change. +Attila was summoned suddenly, but the summons found him a triumphant +king; and the case is the same with Zingis and Timour. These latter +conquerors had glories besides of a different kind which increased the +lustre of their rule. They were both lawgivers; it is the boast of +Zingis that he laid down the principle of religious toleration with a +clearness which modern philsophers have considered to rival the theory +of Locke; and Timour, also established an efficient police in his +dominions, and was a patron of literature. Their sun went down full and +cloudless, with the merit of having shed some rays of blessing upon the +earth, scorching and withering as had been its day. It is remarkable +also that all three had something of a misgiving, or softening of mind, +miserably unsatisfactory as it was, shortly before their deaths. +Attila's quailing before the eye of the Vicar of Christ, and turning +away from Italy, I have already spoken of. As to Zingis, as, laden at +once with years and with the spoils of Asia, he reluctantly measured his +way home at the impatient bidding of his veterans, who were tired of +war, he seemed visited by a sense of the vanity of all things and a +terror for the evil he had done. He showed some sort of pity for the +vanquished, and declared his intention of rebuilding the cities he had +destroyed. Alas! it is ever easier to pull down than to build up. His +wars continued; he was successful by his lieutenants when he could not +go to battle himself; he left his power to his children and +grandchildren, and he died. + + +9. + +Such was the end of Zingis, a pagan, who had some notion of Christianity +in a corrupted form, and who once almost gave hopes of becoming a +Christian, but who really had adopted a sort of indifference towards +religious creeds altogether. Timour was a zealous Mahometan, and had +been instructed in more definite notions of moral duty. He too felt some +misgivings about his past course towards the end of his life; and the +groans and shrieks of the dying and the captured in the sack of Aleppo +awoke for a while the stern monitor within him. He protested to the +cadhi his innocence of the blood which he had shed. "You see me here," +he said, "a poor, lame, decrepit mortal; yet by my arm it has pleased +the Almighty to subdue the kingdoms of Iran, Touran, and Hindostan. I am +not a man of blood; I call God to witness, that never, in all my wars, +have I been the aggressor, but that my enemies have ever been the +authors of the calamities which have come upon them."[14] + +This was the feeling of a mind sated with conquest, sated with glory, +aware at length that he must go further and look deeper, if he was to +find that on which the soul could really feed and live, and startled to +find the entrance to that abode of true greatness and of glory sternly +shut against him. He looked towards the home of his youth, and the seat +of his long prosperity, across the Oxus, to Sogdiana, to Samarcand, its +splendid capital, with its rich groves and smiling pastures, and there +the old man went to die. Not that he directly thought of death; for +still he yearned after military success: and he went thither for but a +short repose, between his stupendous victories in Asia Minor and a +projected campaign in China. But Samarcand was a fitting halt in that +long march; and there for the last time he displayed the glory of his +kingdom, receiving the petitions or appeals of his subjects, +ostentatiously judging between the deserving and the guilty, inspecting +plans for the erection of palaces and temples, and giving audience to +ambassadors from Russia, Spain, Egypt, and Hindostan. An English +historian, whom I have already used, has enlarged upon this closing +scene, and I here abridge his account of it. "The marriage of six of the +Emperor's grandsons," he says, "was esteemed an act of religion as well +as of paternal tenderness; and the pomp of the ancient caliphs was +revived in their nuptials. They were celebrated in the garden of +Canighul, where innumerable tents and pavilions displayed the luxury of +a great city and the spoils of a victorious camp. Whole forests were cut +down to supply fuel for the kitchens; the plain was spread with pyramids +of meat and vases of every liquor, to which thousands of guests were +courteously invited. The orders of the state and the nations of the +earth were marshalled at the royal banquet. The public joy was testified +by illuminations and masquerades; the trades of Samarcand passed in +review; and every trade was emulous to execute some quaint device, some +marvellous pageant, with the materials of their peculiar art. After the +marriage contracts had been ratified by the cadhies, nine times, +according to the Asiatic fashion, were the bridegrooms and their brides +dressed and undressed; and at each change of apparel, pearls and rubies +were showered on their heads, and contemptuously abandoned to their +attendants." + +You may recollect the passage in Milton's Paradise Lost, which has a +reference to the Oriental ceremony here described. It is in his account +of Satan's throne in Pandemonium. "High on a throne," the poet says, + + "High on a throne of royal state, which far + Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Ind, + Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand, + Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, + Satan exulting sat, by merit raised + To that bad eminence." + +So it is; the greatest magnificence of this world is but a poor +imitation of the flaming throne of the author of evil. But let us return +to the history:--"A general indulgence was proclaimed, and every law was +relaxed, every pleasure was allowed; the people were free, the sovereign +was idle; and the historian of Timour may remark, that after devoting +fifty years to the attainment of empire, the only happy period of his +life was the two months in which he ceased to exercise his power. But he +was soon awakened to the cares of government and war. The standard was +unfurled for the invasion of China; the emirs made the report of +200,000, the select and veteran soldiers of Iran and Touran; the baggage +and provisions were transported by 500 great waggons, and an immense +train of horses and camels; and the troops might prepare for a long +absence, since more than six months were employed in the tranquil +journey of a caravan from Samarcand to Pekin. Neither age, nor the +severity of winter, could retard the impatience of Timour; he mounted on +horseback, passed the Sihun" (or Jaxartes) "on the ice, marched 300 +miles from his capital, and pitched his last camp at Otrar, where he was +expected by the angel of death. Fatigue and the indiscreet use of iced +water accelerated the progress of his fever; and the conqueror of Asia +expired in the seventieth year of his age; his designs were lost; his +armies were disbanded; China was saved." + + * * * * * + +But the wonderful course of human affairs rolled on. Timour's death was +followed at no long interval by the rise of John Basilowich in Russia, +who succeeded in throwing of the Mogul yoke, and laid the foundation of +the present mighty empire. The Tartar sovereignty passed from Samarcand +to Moscow. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Thirlwall: Greece, vol. ii. p. 196. + +[8] Voyages, t. i. p. 456. + +[9] Gibbon. + +[10] Maffei Verona, part ii. p. 6. + +[11] Murray's Asia. + +[12] Thornton's Turkey. Vid. also Jenkinson's Voyage across the Caspian +in 1562. + +[13] Vid. also Jenkinson, _supr._ + +[14] Gibbon. + + + + +II. + +THE DESCENT OF THE TURKS, + + + + +LECTURE III. + +_The Tartar and the Turk._ + + +You may think, Gentlemen, I have been very long in coming to the Turks, +and indeed I have been longer than I could have wished; but I have +thought it necessary, in order to your taking a just view of them, that +you should survey them first of all in their original condition. When +they first appear in history they are Huns or Tartars, and nothing else; +they are indeed in no unimportant respects Tartars even now; but, had +they never been made something more than Tartars, they never would have +had much to do with the history of the world. In that case, they would +have had only the fortunes of Attila and Zingis; they might have swept +over the face of the earth, and scourged the human race, powerful to +destroy, helpless to construct, and in consequence ephemeral; but this +would have been all. But this has not been all, as regards the Turks; +for, in spite of their intimate resemblance or relationship to the +Tartar tribes, in spite of their essential barbarism to this day, still +they, or at least great portions of the race, have been put under +education; they have been submitted to a slow course of change, with a +long history and a profitable discipline and fortunes of a peculiar +kind; and thus they have gained those qualities of mind, which alone +enable a nation to wield and to consolidate imperial power. + + +1. + +I have said that, when first they distinctly appear on the scene of +history, they are indistinguishable from Tartars. Mount Altai, the high +metropolis of Tartary, is surrounded by a hilly district, rich not only +in the useful, but in the precious metals. Gold is said to abound there; +but it is still more fertile in veins of iron, which indeed is said to +be the most plentiful in the world. There have been iron works there +from time immemorial, and at the time that the Huns descended on the +Roman Empire (in the fifth century of the Christian era), we find the +Turks nothing more than a family of slaves, employed as workers of the +ore and as blacksmiths by the dominant tribe. Suddenly in the course of +fifty years, soon after the fall of the Hunnish power in Europe, with +the sudden development peculiar to Tartars, we find these Turks spread +from East to West, and lords of a territory so extensive, that they were +connected, by relations of peace or war, at once with the Chinese, the +Persians, and the Romans. They had reached Kamtchatka on the North, the +Caspian on the West, and perhaps even the mouth of the Indus on the +South. Here then we have an intermediate empire of Tartars, placed +between the eras of Attila and Zingis; but in this sketch it has no +place, except as belonging to Turkish history, because it was contained +within the limits of Asia, and, though it lasted for 200 years, it only +faintly affected the political transactions of Europe. However, it was +not without some sort of influence on Christendom, for the Romans +interchanged embassies with its sovereign in the reign of the then +Greek Emperor Justin the younger (A.D. 570), with the view of engaging +him in a warlike alliance against Persia. The account of one of these +embassies remains, and the picture it presents of the Turks is +important, because it seems clearly to identify them with the Tartar +race. + +For instance, in the mission to the Tartars from the Pope, which I have +already spoken of, the friars were led between two fires, when they +approached the Khan, and they at first refused to follow, thinking they +might be countenancing some magical rite. Now we find it recorded of +this Roman embassy, that, on its arrival, it was purified by the Turks +with fire and incense. As to incense, which seems out of place among +such barbarians, it is remarkable that it is used in the ceremonial of +the Turkish court to this day. At least Sir Charles Fellows, in his work +on the Antiquities of Asia Minor, in 1838, speaks of the Sultan as going +to the festival of Bairam with incense-bearers before him. Again, when +the Romans were presented to the great Khan, they found him in his tent, +seated on a throne, to which wheels were attached and horses attachable, +in other words, a Tartar waggon. Moreover, they were entertained at a +banquet which lasted the greater part of the day; and an intoxicating +liquor, not wine, which was sweet and pleasant, was freely presented to +them; evidently the Tartar _koumiss_.[15] The next day they had a second +entertainment in a still more splendid tent; the hangings were of +embroidered silk, and the throne, the cups, and the vases were of gold. +On the third day, the pavilion, in which they were received, was +supported on gilt columns; a couch of massive gold was raised on four +gold peacocks; and before the entrance to the tent was what might be +called a sideboard, only that it was a sort of barricade of waggons, +laden with dishes, basins, and statues of solid silver. All these points +in the description,--the silk hangings, the gold vessels, the +successively increasing splendour of the entertainments,--remind us of +the courts of Zingis and Timour, 700 and 900 years afterwards. + +This empire, then, of the Turks was of a Tartar character; yet it was +the first step of their passing from barbarism to that degree of +civilization which is their historical badge. And it was their first +step in civilization, not so much by what it did in its day, as (unless +it be a paradox to say so), by its coming to an end. Indeed it so +happens, that those Turkish tribes which have changed their original +character and have a place in the history of the world, have obtained +their _status_ and their qualifications for it, by a process very +different from that which took place in the nations most familiar to us. +What this process has been I will say presently; first, however, let us +observe that, fortunately for our purpose, we have still specimens +existing of those other Turkish tribes, which were never submitted to +this process of education and change, and, in looking at them as they +now exist, we see at this very day the Turkish nationality in something +very like its original form, and are able to decide for ourselves on its +close approximation to the Tartar. You may recollect I pointed out to +you, Gentlemen, in the opening of these lectures, the course which the +pastoral tribes, or nomads as they are often called, must necessarily +take in their emigrations. They were forced along in one direction till +they emerged from their mountain valleys, and descended their high +plateau at the end of Tartary, and then they had the opportunity of +turning south. If they did not avail themselves of this opening, but +went on still westward, their next southern pass would be the defiles of +the Caucasus and Circassia, to the west of the Caspian. If they did not +use this, they would skirt the top of the Black Sea, and so reach +Europe. Thus in the emigration of the Huns from China, you may recollect +a tribe of them turned to the South as soon as they could, and settled +themselves between the high Tartar land and the sea of Aral, while the +main body went on to the furthest West by the north of the Black Sea. +Now with this last passage into Europe we are not here concerned, for +the Turks have never introduced themselves to Europe by means of it;[16] +but with those two southward passages which are Asiatic, viz., that to +the east of the Aral, and that to the west of the Caspian. The Turkish +tribes have all descended upon the civilized world by one or other of +these two roads; and I observe, that those which have descended along +the east of the Aral have changed their social habits and gained +political power, while those which descended to the west of the Caspian +remain pretty much what they ever were. The former of these go among us +by the general name of Turks; the latter are the Turcomans or Turkmans. + + +2. + +Now, first, I shall briefly mention the Turcomans, and dismiss them, +because, when they have once illustrated the original state of their +race, they have no place in this sketch. I have said, then, that the +ancient Turco-Tartar empire, to which the Romans sent their embassy in +the sixth century, extended to the Caspian and towards the Indus. It was +in the beginning of the next century that the Romans, that is, the +Greco-Romans of Constantinople, found them in the former of these +neighbourhoods; and they made the same use of them in the defence of +their territory, to which they had put the Goths before the overthrow of +the Western Empire. It was a most eventful era at which they addressed +themselves to these Turks of the Caspian. It was almost the very year of +the Hegira, which marks the rise of the Mahometan imposture and rule. As +yet, however, the Persians were in power, and formidable enemies to the +Romans, and at this very time in possession of the Holy Cross, which +Chosroes, their powerful king, had carried away from Jerusalem twelve +years before. But the successful Emperor Heraclius was already in the +full tide of those brilliant victories, which in the course of a few +years recovered it; and, to recall him from their own soil, the Persians +had allied themselves with the barbarous tribes of Europe, (the +Russians, Sclavonians, Bulgarians, and others,) which, then as now, were +pressing down close upon Constantinople from the north. This alliance +suggested to Heraclius the counterstroke of allying himself with the +Turkish freebooters, who in like manner, as stationed above the Caspian, +were impending over Persia. Accordingly the horde of Chozars, as this +Turkish tribe was called, at the Emperor's invitation, transported their +tents from the plains of the Volga through the defiles of the Caucasus +into Georgia. Heraclius showed them extraordinary attention; he put his +own diadem on the head of the barbarian prince, and distributed gold, +jewels, and silk to his officers; and, on the other hand, he obtained +from them an immediate succour of 40,000 horse, and the promise of an +irruption of their brethren into Persia from the far East, from the +quarter of the Sea of Aral, which I have pointed out as the first of +the passages by which the shepherds of Tartary came down upon the South. +Such were the allies, with which Heraclius succeeded in utterly +overthrowing and breaking up the Persian power; and thus, strange to +say, the greatest of all the enemies of the Church among the nations of +the earth, the Turk, began his career in Christian history by +cooeperating with a Christian Emperor in the recovery of the Holy Cross, +of which a pagan, the ally of Russia, had got possession. The religious +aspect, however, of this first era of their history, seems to have +passed away without improvement; what they gained was a temporal +advantage, a settlement in Georgia and its neighbourhood, which they +have held from that day to this. + +This horde of Turks, the Chozars, was nomad and pagan; it consisted of +mounted shepherds, surrounded with their flocks, living in tents and +waggons. In the course of the following centuries, under the shadow of +their more civilized brethren, other similar hordes were introduced, +nomad and pagan still; they might indeed happen sometimes to pass down +from the east of the Caspian as well as from the west, hastening to the +south straight from Turkistan along the coast of the Aral;--either road +would lead them down to the position which the Chozars were the first to +occupy in Georgia and Armenia,--but still there would be but one step in +their journey between their old native sheep-walk and horse-path and the +fair region into which they came. It was a sudden Tartar descent, +accompanied with no national change of habits, and promising no +permanent stability. Nor would they have remained there, I suppose, as +they did remain, were it not that they have been protected, as they were +originally introduced, by neighbouring states which have made use of +them. There, however, in matter of fact, they remain to this day, the +successors of the Chozars, in Armenia, in Syria, in Asia Minor, even as +far west as the coast of the Archipelago and its maritime cities and +ports, being pretty much what they were a thousand years ago, except +that they have taken up the loose profession of Mahometanism, and have +given up some of the extreme peculiarities of their Tartar state, such +as their attachment to horse-flesh and mares' milk. These are the +Turcomans. + + +3. + +The writer in the Universal History divides them into eastern and +western. Of the Eastern, with which we are not concerned, he tells us +that[17] "they are tall and robust, with square flat faces, as well as +the western; only they are more swarthy, and have a greater resemblance +to the Tartars. Some of them have betaken themselves to husbandry. They +are all Mohammedans; they are very turbulent, very brave, and good +horsemen." And of the Western, that they once had two dynasties in the +neighbourhood of Armenia, and were for a time very powerful, but that +they are now subjects of the Turks, who never have been able to subdue +their roving habits; that they dwell in tents of thick felt, without +fixed habitation; that they profess Mahomedanism, but perform its duties +no better than their brethren in the East; that they are governed by +their own chiefs according to their own laws; that they pay tribute to +the Ottoman Porte, and are bound to furnish it with horsemen; that they +are great robbers, and are in perpetual warfare with their neighbours +the Kurds; that they march sometimes two or three hundred families +together, and with their droves cover sometimes a space of two leagues, +and that they prefer the use of the bow to that of firearms. + +This account is drawn up from writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth +centuries. Precisely the same report of their habits is made by Dr. +Chandler in his travels in Asia Minor in the middle of the last century; +he fell in with them in his journey between Smyrna and Ephesus. "We were +told here," he says, "that the road farther on was beset with Turcomans, +a people supposed to be descended from the Nomades Scythae: or Shepherd +Scythians; busied, as of old, in breeding and nurturing cattle, and +leading, as then, an unsettled life; not forming villages and towns with +stable habitations, but flitting from place to place, as the season and +their convenience directs; choosing their stations, and overspreading +without control the vast neglected pastures of this desert empire.... We +set out, and ... soon after came to a wild country covered with +thickets, and with the black booths of the Turcomans, spreading on every +side, innumerable, with flocks and herds and horses and poultry feeding +round them."[18] + +I may seem to be making unnecessary extracts, but I have two reasons for +multiplying them; in order, first, to show the identity in character of +the various tribes of the Tartar and the Turkish stock, and next, in +order to impress upon your imagination what that character is; for it is +not easy to admit into the mind the very idea of a people of this kind, +dwelling too, and that for ages, in some of the most celebrated and +beautiful regions of the world, such as Syria and Asia Minor. With this +view I will read what Volney says of them, as he found them in Syria +towards the close of the last century. "The Turkmans," he says,[19] "are +of the number of those Tartar hordes, who, in the great revolutions of +the Empire of the Caliphs, emigrated from the eastward of the Caspian +Sea, and spread themselves over the vast plains of Armenia and Asia +Minor. Their language is the same as that of the Turks, and their mode +of life nearly resembles that of the Bedouin Arabs. Like them, they are +shepherds, and consequently obliged to travel over immense tracts of +land to procure subsistence for their numerous herds.... Their whole +occupation consists in smoking and looking after their flocks. +Perpetually on horseback, with their lances on their shoulders, their +crooked sabres by their sides, and their pistols in their belts, they +are expert horsemen and indefatigable soldiers.... A great number of +these tribes pass in the summer into Armenia and Caramania, where they +find grass in great abundance, and return to their former quarters in +the winter. The Turkmans are reputed to be Moslem ... but they trouble +themselves little about religion." + +While I was collecting these passages, a notice of these tribes appeared +in the columns of the _Times_ newspaper, sent home by its Constantinople +correspondent, apropos of the present concentration of troops in that +capital in expectation of a Russian war. His Statement enables us to +carry down our specimens of the Tartar type of the Turkish race to the +present day "From the coast of the Black Sea," he writes home, "to the +Taurus chain of mountains, a great part of the population is nomad, and +besides the Turks or Osmanlis," that is, the Ottoman or Imperial Turks, +"consists of two distinct races;--the Turcomans, who possessed +themselves of the land before the advent of the Osmanlis, and who +wander with their black tents up to the shores of the Bosphorus; and the +Curds." With the Curds we are not here concerned. He proceeds: "The +Turcomans, who are spread over the whole of Asia Minor, are a most +warlike people. Clans, numbering many thousand, acknowledge the Sultan +as the representative of the Caliphs and the Sovereign Lord of Islam, +from whom all the Frank kings receive their crowns; but they are +practically independent of him, and pay no taxes but to their own +chiefs. In the neighbourhood of Caesarea, Kusan Oghlou, a Turcoman chief, +numbers 20,000 armed horsemen, rules despotically over a large district, +and has often successfully resisted the Sultan's arms. These people lead +a nomad life, are always engaged in petty warfare, are well mounted, and +armed with pistol, scimitar, spear, or gun, and would always be useful +as irregular troops." + + +4. + +And now I have said enough, and more than enough, of the original state +of the Turkish race, as exhibited in the Chozars and Turcomans:--it is +time to pursue the history of that more important portion of it with +which we are properly engaged, which received some sort of education, +and has proved itself capable of social and political union. I observed +just now, that that education was very different in its mode and +circumstances from that which has been the lot of the nations with which +we are best acquainted. Other nations have been civilized in their own +homes, and, by their social progress, have immortalized a country as +well as a race. They have been educated by their conquests, or by +subjugation, or by the intercourse with foreigners which commerce or +colonization has opened; but in every case they have been true to their +fatherland, and are children of the soil. The Greeks sent out their +colonies to Asia Minor and Italy, and those colonies reacted upon the +mother country. Magna Graecia and Ionia showed their mother country the +way to her intellectual supremacy. The Romans spread gradually from one +central city, and when their conquests reached as far as Greece, "the +captive," in the poet's words, "captivated her wild conqueror, and +introduced arts into unmannered Latium."[20] England was converted by +the Roman See and conquered by the Normans, and was gradually civilized +by the joint influences of religion and of chivalry. Religion indeed, +though a depraved religion, has had something to do, as we shall see, +with the civilization of the Turks; but the circumstances have been +altogether different from those which we trace in the history of +England, Rome, or Greece. The Turks present the spectacle of a race +poured out, as it were, upon a foreign material, interpenetrating all +its parts, yet preserving its individuality, and at length making its +way through it, and reappearing, in substance the same as before, but +charged with the qualities of the material through which it has been +passed, and modified by them. They have been invaded by no conqueror, +they have brought no captive arts or literature home, they have +undergone no conversion in mass, they have been taught by no commerce, +by no international relationship; but they have in the course of +centuries slowly soaked or trickled, if I may use the words, through the +Saracenic populations with which they came in contact, and after being +nationally lost to the world, as far as history goes, for long periods +and through different countries, eventually they have come to the face +of day with that degree of civilization which they at present possess, +and at length have usurped a place within the limits of the great +European family. And this is why the path southwards to the east of the +Aral was, in matter of fact, the path of civilization, and that by the +Caucasus the path of barbarism; this is why the Turks who took the +former course could found an empire, and those who took the latter have +remained Tartars or Turcomans, as they were originally; because the way +of the Caucasus was a sheer descent from Turkistan into the country +which they occupy, but the way of the Aral was a circuitous course, +leading them through many countries--through Sogdiana, Khorasan, +Zabulistan, and Persia,--with many fortunes, under many masters, for +many hundred years, before they came round to the region to which their +Turcoman brethren attained so easily, but with so little eventual +advantage. My meaning will be clearer, as I proceed. + + +5. + +1. First of all, we may say that the very region into which they came, +tended to their civilization. Of course the peculiarities of soil, +climate, and country are not by themselves sufficient for a social +change, else the Turcomans would have the best right to civilization; +yet, when other influences are present too, climate and country are far +from being unimportant. You may recollect that I have spoken more than +once of the separation of a portion of the Huns from the main body, when +they were emigrating from Tartary into Europe, in the time of the +Goths.[21] These turned off sharp to the South immediately on descending +the high table-land; and, crossing the Jaxartes, found themselves in a +fertile and attractive country, between the Aral and their old country, +where they settled. It is a peculiarity of Asia that its regions are +either very hot or very cold. It has the highest mountains in the world, +bleak table-lands, vast spaces of burning desert, tracts stretched out +beneath the tropical sun. Siberia goes for a proverb for cold: India is +a proverb for heat. It is not adequately supplied with rivers, and it +has little of inland sea. In these respects it stands in singular +contrast with Europe. If then the tribes which inhabit a cold country +have, generally speaking, more energy than those which are relaxed by +the heat, it follows that you will have in Asia two descriptions of +people brought together in extreme, sometimes in sudden, contrariety +with each other, the strong and the weak. Here then, as some +philosophers have argued,[22] you have the secret of the despotisms and +the vast empires of which Asia has been the seat; for it always +possesses those who are naturally fitted to be tyrants, and those also +whose nature it is to tremble and obey. But we may take another, perhaps +a broader, view of the phenomenon. The sacred writer says: "Give me +neither riches nor beggary:" and, as the extremes of abundance and of +want are prejudicial to our moral well-being, so they seem to be +prejudicial to our intellectual nature also. Mental cultivation is best +carried on in temperate regions. In the north men are commonly too cold, +in the south too hot, to think, read, write, and act. Science, +literature, and art refuse to germinate in the frost, and are burnt up +by the sun. + +Now it so happened that the region in which this party of Huns settled +themselves was one of the fairest and most fruitful in Asia. It is +bounded by deserts, it is in parts encroached on by deserts; but viewed +in its length and breadth, in its produce and its position, it seems a +country equal, or superior, to any which that vast continent, as at +present known, can show. Its lower portion is the extensive territory of +Khorasan, the ancient Bactriana; going northwards across the Oxus, we +come into a spacious tract, stretching to the Aral and to the Jaxartes, +and measuring a square of 600 miles. It was called in ancient times +Sogdiana; in the history of the middle ages Transoxiana, or "beyond the +Oxus;" by the Eastern writers Maver-ul-nere, or Mawer-al-nahar, which is +said to have the same meaning; and it is now known by the name Bukharia. +To these may be added a third province, at the bottom of the Aral, +between the mouth of the Oxus and the Caspian, called Kharasm. These, +then, were the regions in which the Huns in question took up their +abode. + +The two large countries I first mentioned are celebrated in all ages for +those characteristics which render a spot desirable for human +habitation. As to Sogdiana, or Maver-ul-nere, the region with which we +are specially concerned, the Orientals, especially the Persians, of the +medieval period do not know how to express in fit terms their admiration +of its climate and soil. They do not scruple to call it the Paradise of +Asia. "It may be considered," says a modern writer,[23] "as almost the +only example of the finest temperate climate occurring in that +continent, which presents generally an abrupt transition from burning +tropical heat to the extreme cold of the north." According to an Arabian +author, there are just three spots in the globe which surpass all the +rest in beauty and fertility; one of them is near Damascus, another +seems to be the valley of a river on the Persian Gulf, and the third is +the plain of Sogdiana. Another writer says: "I have cast my eyes around +Bokhara, and never have I seen a verdure more fresh or of wider extent. +The green carpet mingles in the horizon with the azure of the sky."[24] +Abulfeda in like manner calls it "the most delightful of all places God +has created." Some recent writer, I think, speaks in disparagement of +it.[25] And I can quite understand, that the deserts which must be +passed to reach it from the south or the north may betray the weary +traveller into an exaggerated praise, which is the expression both of +his recruited spirits and of his gratitude. But all things are good only +by comparison; and I do not see why an Asiatic, having experience of the +sands which elsewhere overspread the face of his continent, should for +that reason be ill qualified to pronounce that Sogdiana affords a +contrast to them. Moreover, we have the experience of other lands, as +Asia Minor, which have presented a very different aspect in different +ages. A river overflows and turns a fruitful plain into a marsh; or it +fails, and turns it into a sandy desert. Sogdiana is watered by a number +of great rivers, which make their way across it from the high land on +its east to the Aral or Caspian. Now we read in history of several +instances of changes, accidental or artificial, in the direction or the +supply of these great water-courses. I think I have read somewhere, but +cannot recover my authority, of some emigration of the inhabitants of +those countries, caused by a failure of the stream on which they +depended. And we know for certain that the Oxus has been changed in its +course, accidentally or artificially, more than once. Disputes have +arisen before now between the Russian Government and the Tartars, on the +subject of one of these diversions of the bed of a river.[26] One +province of Khorasan, which once was very fertile, is in consequence now +a desert It may be questioned, too, whether the sands of the adjacent +deserts, which are subject to violent agitation from the action of the +wind, may not have encroached upon Sogdiana. Nor should it be overlooked +that this rich country has been subjected to the same calamities which +have been the desolation of Asia Minor; for, as the Turcomans have +devastated the latter, so, as I have already had occasion to mention, +Zingis swept round the sea of Aral, and destroyed the fruits of a long +civilization. + +Even after the ravages of that conqueror, however, Timour and the +Emperor Baber, who had a right to judge of the comparative excellence of +the countries of the East, bear witness to the beauty of Sogdiana. +Timour, who had fixed his imperial seat in Samarcand, boasted he had a +garden 120 miles in extent. Baber expatiates on the grain and fruit and +game of its northern parts; of the tulips, violets, and roses of another +portion of it; of the streams and gardens of another. Its plains are +said by travellers to abound in wood, its rivers in fish, its valleys in +fruit-trees, in wheat and barley, and in cotton.[27] The quince, +pomegranate, fig, apricot, and almond all flourish in it. Its melons are +the finest in the world. Mulberries abound, and provide for a +considerable manufacture of silk. No wine, says Baber, is equal to the +wine of Bokhara. Its atmosphere is so clear and serene, that the stars +are visible even to the verge of the horizon. A recent Russian traveller +says he came to a country so smiling, well cultivated, and thickly +peopled, with fields, canals, avenues of trees, villages, and gardens, +that he thought himself in an enchanted country. He speaks in raptures +of its melons, pomegranates, and grapes.[28] Its breed of horses is +celebrated; so much so that a late British traveller[29] visited the +country with the special object of substituting it for the Arab in our +Indian armies. Its mountains abound in useful and precious produce. Coal +is found there; gold is collected from its rivers; silver and iron are +yielded by its hills; we hear too of its mines of turquoise, and of its +cliffs of lapis lazuli,[30] and its mines of rubies, which to this day +are the object of the traveller's curiosity.[31] I might extend my +remarks to the country south of the Oxus and of its mountain range, the +modern Affghanistan. Though Cabul is 6,000 feet above the level of the +sea, it abounds in pomegranates, mulberries, apples, and fruit of every +kind. Grapes are so plentiful, that for three months of the year they +are given to the cattle. + + +6. + +This region, favoured in soil and climate, is favoured also in position. +Lying at the mouth of the two great roads of emigration from the far +East, the valleys of the Jaxartes and the Oxus, it is the natural mart +between High Asia and Europe, receiving the merchandize of East and +North, and transporting it by its rivers, by the Caspian, the Kur, and +the Phasis, to the Black Sea. Thus it received in former days the silk +of China, the musk of Thibet, and the furs of Siberia, and shipped them +for the cities of the Roman Empire. To Samarcand, its metropolis, we owe +the art of transforming linen into paper, which the Sogdian merchants +are said to have gained from China, and thence diffused by means of +their own manufacturers over the western world. A people so +circumstanced could not be without civilization; but that civilization +was of a much earlier date. It must not be forgotten that the celebrated +sage, Zoroaster, before the times of history, was a native, and, as some +say, king of Bactriana. Cyrus had established a city in the same region, +which he called after his name. Alexander conquered both Bactriana and +Sogdiana, and planted Grecian cities there. There is a long line of +Greco-Bactrian kings; and their coins and paterae have been brought to +light within the last few years. Alexander's name is still famous in the +country; not only does Marco Polo in the middle ages speak of his +descendants as still found there, but even within the last fifteen years +Sir Alexander Burns found a man professing that descent in the valley of +the Oxus, and Lieutenant Wood another in the same neighbourhood. + +Nor was Greek occupation the only source of the civilization of +Sogdiana. Centuries rolled on, and at length the Saracens renewed, on +their own peculiar basis, the mental cultivation which Sogdiana had +received from Alexander. The cities of Bokhara and Samarcand have been +famous for science and literature. Bokhara was long celebrated as the +most eminent seat of Mahometan learning in central Asia; its colleges +were, and are, numerous, accommodating from 60 to 600 students each. One +of them gained the notice and the pecuniary aid of the Russian Empress +Catharine.[32] Samarcand rivals Bokhara in fame; its university even in +the last century was frequented by Mahometan youth from foreign +countries. There were more than 300 colleges for students, and there was +an observatory, celebrated in the middle ages, the ruins of which +remain. Here lies the body of Timour, under a lofty dome, the sides of +which are enriched with agate. "Since the time of the Holy Prophet," +that is, Mahomet, says the Emperor Baber, "no country has produced so +many Imaums and eminent divines as Mawar-al-nahar," that is, Sogdiana. +It was celebrated for its populousness. At one time it boasted of being +able to send out 300,000 foot, and as many horse, without missing them. +Bridges and caravansaries abounded; the latter, in the single province +attached to its capital, amounted to 2,000. In Bactriana, the very ruins +of Balkh extend for a circuit of 20 miles, and Sir A. Burns wound +through three miles of them continuously. + +Such is the country, seated at present between the British and the +Russian Empires, and such as regards its previous and later state, which +the savage Huns, in their emigration from Tartary, had necessarily +encountered; and it cannot surprise us that one of their many tribes had +been persuaded to settle there, instead of seeking their fortunes +farther west. The effect upon these settlers in course of time was +marvellous. Though it was not of course the mere climate of Sogdiana +that changed them, still we cannot undervalue the influence which is +necessarily exerted on the mind by the idea of property, when once +recognised and accepted, by the desire of possession and by the love of +home, and by the sentiment of patriotism which arises in the mind, +especially with the occupation of a rich and beautiful country. +Moreover, they became the guests or masters of a people, who, however +rude, at least had far higher claims to be called civilized than they +themselves, and possessed among them the remains of a more civilized +era. They found a race, too, not Tartar, more capable of civilization, +more gifted with intellect, and more comely in person. Settling down +among the inhabitants, and intermarrying with them, in the course of +generations their Tartar characteristics were sensibly softened. For a +thousand years this restless people remained there, as if chained to the +soil. They still had the staple of barbarism in them, but so polished +were they for children of a Tartar stock, that they are called in +history the White Huns of Sogdiana. They took to commerce, they took to +literature; and when, at the end of a few centuries, the Turks, as I +have already described, spread abroad from the iron works and forges of +Mount Altai to Kamtchatka, the Volga, and the Indus, and overran these +White Huns in the course of their victories, they could find no parties +more fitted than them to act as their diplomatists and correspondents in +their negotiations with the Romans. + +Such was the influence of Sogdiana on the Huns; is it wonderful that it +exerted some influence on the Turks, when they in turn got possession of +it? History justifies the anticipation; as the Huns of the second or +third centuries settled around the Aral, so the Turks in the course of +the sixth or seventh centuries overran them, and descended down to the +modern Affghanistan and the Indus; and as the fair region and its +inhabitants, which they crossed and occupied, had begun at the former +era the civilization of the first race of Tartars, so did it at the +latter era begin the education of the second. + + +7. + +2. But a more direct and effective instrument of social education was +accorded to the Turks on their occupation of Sogdiana. You may recollect +I spoke of their first empire as lasting for only 200 years,[33] about +90 of which measures the period of that occupation. Their power then +came to an end; what was the consequence of their fall? were they driven +out of Sogdiana again? were they massacred? did they take refuge in the +mountains or deserts? were they reduced to slavery? Thus we are +introduced to a famous passage of history: the case was as follows:--At +the very date at which Heraclius called the Turcomans into Georgia, at +the very date when their Eastern brethren crossed the northern border of +Sogdiana, an event of most momentous import had occurred in the South. A +new religion had arisen in Arabia. The impostor Mahomet, announcing +himself the Prophet of God, was writing the pages of that book, and +moulding the faith of that people, which was to subdue half the known +world. The Turks passed the Jaxartes southward in A.D. 626; just four +years before Mahomet had assumed the royal dignity, and just six years +after, on his death, his followers began the conquest of the Persian +Empire. In the course of 20 years they effected it; Sogdiana was at its +very extremity, or its borderland; there the last king of Persia took +refuge from the south, while the Turks were pouring into it from the +north. There was little to choose for the unfortunate prince between the +Turk and the Saracen; the Turks were his hereditary foe; they had been +the giants and monsters of the popular poetry; but he threw himself into +their arms. They engaged in his service, betrayed him, murdered him, and +measured themselves with the Saracens in his stead. Thus the military +strength of the north and south of Asia, the Saracenic and the Turkish, +came into memorable conflict in the regions of which I have said so +much. The struggle was a fierce one, and lasted many years; the Turks +striving to force their way down to the ocean, the Saracens to drive +them back into their Scythian deserts. They first fought this issue in +Bactriana or Khorasan; the Turks got the worst of the fight, and then +it was thrown back upon Sogdiana itself, and there it ended again in +favour of the Saracens. At the end of 90 years from the time of the +first Turkish descent on this fair region, they relinquished it to their +Mahometan opponents. The conquerors found it rich, populous, and +powerful; its cities, Carisme, Bokhara, and Samarcand, were surrounded +beyond their fortifications by a suburb of fields and gardens, which was +in turn protected by exterior works; its plains were well cultivated, +and its commerce extended from China to Europe. Its riches were +proportionally great; the Saracens were able to extort a tribute of two +million gold pieces from the inhabitants; we read, moreover, of the +crown jewels of one of the Turkish princesses; and of the buskin of +another, which she dropt in her flight from Bokhara, as being worth two +thousand pieces of gold.[34] Such had been the prosperity of the +barbarian invaders, such was its end; but not _their_ end, for adversity +did them service, as well as prosperity, as we shall see. + +It is usual for historians to say, that the triumph of the South threw +the Turks back again upon their northern solitudes; and this might +easily be the case with some of the many hordes, which were ever passing +the boundary and flocking down; but it is no just account of the +historical fact, viewed as a whole. Not often indeed do the Oriental +nations present us with an example of versatility of character; the +Turks, for instance, of this day are substantially what they were four +centuries ago. We cannot conceive, were Turkey overrun by the Russians +at the present moment, that the fanatical tribes, which are pouring into +Constantinople from Asia Minor, would submit to the foreign yoke, take +service under their conquerors, become soldiers, custom-officers, +police, men of business, attaches, statesmen, working their way up from +the ranks and from the masses into influence and power; but, whether +from skill in the Saracens, or from far-reaching sagacity in the Turks +(and it is difficult to assign it to either cause), so it was, that a +process of this nature followed close upon the Mahometan conquest of +Sogdiana. It is to be traced in detail to a variety of accidents. Many +of the Turks probably were made slaves, and the service to which they +were subjected was no matter of choice. Numbers had got attached to the +soil; and inheriting the blood of Persians, White Huns, or aboriginal +inhabitants for three generations, had simply unlearned the wildness of +the Tartar shepherd. Others fell victims to the religion of their +conquerors, which ultimately, as we know, exercised a most remarkable +influence upon them. Not all at once, but as tribe descended after +tribe, and generation followed generation, they succumbed to the creed +of Mahomet; and they embraced it with the ardour and enthusiasm which +Franks and Saxons so gloriously and meritoriously manifested in their +conversion to Christianity. + + +8. + +3. Here again was a very powerful instrument in modification of their +national character. Let me illustrate it in one particular. If there is +one peculiarity above another, proper to the savage and to the Tartar, +it is that of excitability and impetuosity on ordinary occasions; the +Turks, on the other hand, are nationally remarkable for gravity and +almost apathy of demeanour. Now there are evidently elements in the +Mahometan creed, which would tend to change them from the one +temperament to the other. Its sternness, its coldness, its doctrine of +fatalism; even the truths which it borrowed from Revelation, when +separated from the truths it rejected, its monotheism untempered by +mediation, its severe view of the divine attributes, of the law, and of +a sure retribution to come, wrought both a gloom and also an improvement +in the barbarian, not very unlike the effect which some forms of +Protestantism produce among ourselves. But whatever was the mode of +operation, certainly it is to their religion that this peculiarity of +the Turks is ascribed by competent judges. Lieutenant Wood in his +journal gives us a lively account of a peculiarity of theirs, which he +unhesitatingly attributes to Islamism. "Nowhere," he says, "is the +difference between European and Mahomedan society more strongly marked +than in the lower walks of life.... A Kasid, or messenger, for example, +will come into a public department, deliver his letters in full durbar, +and demean himself throughout the interview with so much composure and +self-possession, that an European can hardly believe that his grade in +society is so low. After he has delivered his letters, he takes his seat +among the crowd, and answers, calmly and without hesitation, all the +questions which may be addressed to him, or communicates the verbal +instructions with which he has been entrusted by his employer, and which +are often of more importance than the letters themselves. Indeed, all +the inferior classes possess an innate self-respect, and a natural +gravity of deportment, which differs as far from the suppleness of a +Hindustani as from the awkward rusticity of an English clown." ... "Even +children," he continues, "in Mahomedan countries have an unusual degree +of gravity in their deportment. The boy, who can but lisp his 'Peace be +with you,' has imbibed this portion of the national character. In +passing through a village, these little men will place their hands upon +their breasts, and give the usual greeting. Frequently have I seen the +children of chiefs approach their father's durbar, and stopping short at +the threshold of the door, utter the shout of 'Salam Ali-Kum,' so as to +draw all eyes upon them; but nothing daunted, they marched boldly into +the room, and sliding down upon their knees, folded their arms and took +their seat upon the musnad with all the gravity of grown-up persons." + +As Islamism has changed the demeanour of the Turks, so doubtless it has +in other ways materially innovated on their Tartar nature. It has given +an aim to their military efforts, a political principle, and a social +bond. It has laid them under a sense of responsibility, has moulded them +into consistency, and taught them a course of policy and perseverance in +it. But to treat this part of the subject adequately to its importance +would require, Gentlemen, a research and a fulness of discussion +unsuitable to the historical sketch which I have undertaken. I have said +enough for my purpose upon this topic; and indeed on the general +question of the modification of national character to which the Turks +were at this period subjected. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[15] Univ. Hist. Modern, vol. iii. p. 346. + +[16] I am here assuming that the Magyars are not of the Turkish stock; +vid. Gibbon and Pritchard. + +[17] Vol. v. p. 248. + +[18] P. 127, ed. 1817. + +[19] Travels in Syria, vol. i. p. 369, ed. 1787. + +[20] Hor. Epist. ii 1, 155. + +[21] _Supr._ p. 26. + +[22] Montesquieu. + +[23] Murray. + +[24] Caldecott's Baber. + +[25] Vid. Quarterly Review, vol. lii. p. 396-7. + +[26] Univ. Hist. mod. vol. v. p. 262, etc. + +[27] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 353. + +[28] Meyendorff. + +[29] Moorcroft. + +[30] Vid. Elphinstone. + +[31] Wood's Oxus. + +[32] Elphinstone's Cabul. + +[33] _Supr._ p. 59. + +[34] Gibbon. + + + + +LECTURE IV. + +_The Turk and the Saracen._ + + +1. + +Mere occupation of a rich country is not enough for civilization, as I +have granted already. The Turks came into the pleasant plains and +valleys of Sogdiana; the Turcomans into the well-wooded mountains and +sunny slopes of Asia Minor. The Turcomans were brought out of their +dreary deserts, yet they retained their old habits, and they remain +barbarians to this day. But why? it must be borne in mind, they neither +subjugated the inhabitants of their new country on the one hand, nor +were subjugated by them on the other. They never had direct or intimate +relations with it; they were brought into it by the Roman Government at +Constantinople as its auxiliaries, but they never naturalized themselves +there. They were like gipseys in England, except that they were mounted +freebooters instead of pilferers and fortune-tellers. It was far +otherwise with their brethren in Sogdiana; they were there first as +conquerors, then as conquered. First they held it in possession as their +prize for 90 or 100 years; they came into the usufruct and enjoyment of +it. Next, their political ascendancy over it involved, as in the case of +the White Huns, some sort of moral surrender of themselves to it. What +was the first consequence of this? that, like the White Huns, they +intermarried with the races they found there. We know the custom of the +Tartars and Turks; under such circumstances they would avail themselves +of their national practice of polygamy to its full extent of licence. In +the course of twenty years a new generation would arise of a mixed race; +and these in turn would marry into the native population, and at the end +of ninety or a hundred years we should find the great-grandsons or the +great-great-grandsons of the wild marauders who first crossed the +Jaxartes, so different from their ancestors in features both of mind and +body, that they hardly would be recognized as deserving the Tartar name. +At the end of that period their power came to an end, the Saracens +became masters of them and of their country, but the process of +emigration southward from the Scythian desert, which had never +intermitted during the years of their domination, continued still, +though that domination was no more. + +Here it is necessary to have a clear idea of the nature of that +association of the Turkish tribes from the Volga to the Eastern Sea, to +which I have given the name of Empire:--it was not so much of a +political as of a national character; it was the power, not of a system, +but of a race. They were not one well-organized state, but a number of +independent tribes, acting generally together, acknowledging one leader +or not, according to circumstances, combining and cooeperating from the +identity of object which acted on them, and often jealous of each other +and quarrelling with each other on account of that very identity. Each +tribe made its way down to the south as it could; one blocked up the way +of the other for a time; there were stoppages and collisions, but there +was a continual movement and progress. Down they came one after another, +like wolves after their prey; and as the tribes which came first became +partially civilized, and as a mixed generation arose, these would +naturally be desirous of keeping back their less polished uncles or +cousins, if they could; and would do so successfully for awhile: but +cupidity is stronger than conservatism; and so, in spite of delay and +difficulty, down they would keep coming, and down they did come, even +after and in spite of the overthrow of their Empire; crowding down as to +a new world, to get what they could, as adventurers, ready to turn to +the right or the left, prepared to struggle on anyhow, willing to be +forced forward into countries farther still, careless what might turn +up, so that they did but get down. And this was the process which went +on (whatever were their fortunes when they actually got down, prosperous +or adverse) for 400, nay, I will say for 700 years. The storehouse of +the north was never exhausted; it sustained the never-ending run upon +its resources. + + +2. + +I was just now referring to a change in the Turks, which I have +mentioned before, and which had as important a bearing as any other of +their changes upon their subsequent fortunes. It was a change in their +physiognomy and shape, so striking as to recommend them to their masters +for the purposes of war or of display. Instead of bearing any longer the +hideous exterior which in the Huns frightened the Romans and Goths, they +were remarkable, even as early as the ninth century, when they had been +among the natives of Sogdiana only two hundred years, for the beauty of +their persons. An important political event was the result: hence the +introduction of the Turks into the heart of the Saracenic empire. By +this time the Caliphs had removed from Damascus to Bagdad; Persia was +the imperial province, and into Persia they were introduced for the +reason I have mentioned, sometimes as slaves, sometimes as captives +taken in war, sometimes as mercenaries for the Saracenic armies: at +length they were enrolled as guards to the Caliph, and even appointed to +offices in the palace, to the command of the forces, and to +governorships in the provinces. The son of the celebrated Harun al +Raschid had as many as 50,000 of these troops in Bagdad itself. And thus +slowly and silently they made their way to the south, not with the pomp +and pretence of conquest, but by means of that ordinary intercommunion +which connected one portion of the empire of the Caliphs with another. +In this manner they were introduced even into Egypt. + +This was their history for a hundred and fifty years, and what do we +suppose would be the result of this importation of barbarians into the +heart of a flourishing empire? Would they be absorbed as slaves or +settlers in the mass of the population, or would they, like mercenaries +elsewhere, be fatal to the power that introduced them? The answer is not +difficult, considering that their very introduction argued a want of +energy and resource in the rulers whom they served. To employ them was a +confession of weakness; the Saracenic power indeed was not very aged, +but the Turkish was much younger, and more vigorous;--then too must be +considered the difference of national character between the Turks and +the Saracens. A writer of the beginning of the present century,[35] +compares the Turks to the Romans; such parallels are generally fanciful +and fallacious; but, if we must accept it in the present instance, we +may complete the picture by likening the Saracens and Persians to the +Greeks, and we know what was the result of the collision between Greece +and Rome. The Persians were poets, the Saracens were philosophers. The +mathematics, astronomy, and botany were especial subjects of the studies +of the latter. Their observatories were celebrated, and they may be +considered to have originated the science of chemistry. The Turks, on +the other hand, though they are said to have a literature, and though +certain of their princes have been patrons of letters, have never +distinguished themselves in exercises of pure intellect; but they have +had an energy of character, a pertinacity, a perseverance, and a +political talent, in a word, they then had the qualities of mind +necessary for ruling, in far greater measure, than the people they were +serving. The Saracens, like the Greeks, carried their arms over the +surface of the earth with an unrivalled brilliancy and an unchequered +success; but their dominion, like that of Greece, did not last for more +than 200 or 300 years. Rome grew slowly through many centuries, and its +influence lasts to this day; the Turkish race battled with difficulties +and reverses, and made its way on amid tumult and complication, for a +good 1,000 years from first to last, till at length it found itself in +possession of Constantinople, and a terror to the whole of Europe. It +has ended its career upon the throne of Constantine; it began it as the +slave and hireling of the rulers of a great empire, of Persia and +Sogdiana. + + +3. + +As to Sogdiana, we have already reviewed one season of power and then in +turn of reverse which there befell the Turks; and next a more remarkable +outbreak and its reaction mark their presence in Persia. I have spoken +of the formidable force, consisting of Turks, which formed the guard of +the Caliphs immediately after the time of Harun al Raschid:--suddenly +they rebelled against their master, burst into his apartment at the hour +of supper, murdered him, and cut his body into seven pieces. They got +possession of the symbols of imperial power, the garment and the staff +of Mahomet, and proceeded to make and unmake Caliphs at their pleasure. +In the course of four years they had elevated, deposed, and murdered as +many as three. At their wanton caprice, they made these successors of +the false prophet the sport of their insults and their blows. They +dragged them by the feet, stripped them, and exposed them to the burning +sun, beat them with iron clubs, and left them for days without food. At +length, however, the people of Bagdad were roused in defence of the +Caliphate, and the Turks for a time were brought under; but they +remained in the country, or rather, by the short-sighted policy of the +moment, were dispersed throughout it, and thus became in the sequel +ready-made elements of revolution for the purposes of other traitors of +their own race, who, at a later period, as we shall presently see, +descended on Persia from Turkistan. + +Indeed, events were opening the way slowly, but surely, to their +ascendancy. Throughout the whole of the tenth century, which followed, +they seem to disappear from history; but a silent revolution was all +along in progress, leading them forward to their great destiny. The +empire of the Caliphate was already dying in its extremities, and +Sogdiana was one of the first countries to be detached from his power. +The Turks were still there, and, as in Persia, filled the ranks of the +army and the offices of the government; but the political changes which +took place were not at first to their visible advantage. What first +occurred was the revolt of the Caliph's viceroy, who made himself a +great kingdom or empire out of the provinces around, extending it from +the Jaxartes, which was the northern boundary of Sogdiana, almost to the +Indian ocean, and from the confines of Georgia to the mountains of +Affghanistan. The dynasty thus established lasted for four generations +and for the space of ninety years. Then the successor happened to be a +boy; and one of his servants, the governor of Khorasan, an able and +experienced man, was forced by circumstances to rebellion against him. +He was successful, and the whole power of this great kingdom fell into +his hands; now he was a Tartar or Turk; and thus at length the Turks +suddenly appear in history, the acknowledged masters of a southern +dominion. + + +4. + +This is the origin of the celebrated Turkish dynasty of the Gaznevides, +so called after Gazneh, or Ghizni, or Ghuznee, the principal city, and +it lasted for two hundred years. We are not particularly concerned in +it, because it has no direct relations with Europe; but it falls into +our subject, as having been instrumental to the advance of the Turks +towards the West. Its most distinguished monarch was Mahmood, and he +conquered Hindostan, which became eventually the seat of the empire. In +Mahmood the Gaznevide we have a prince of true Oriental splendour. For +him the title of Sultan or Soldan was invented, which henceforth became +the special badge of the Turkish monarchs; as Khan is the title of the +sovereign of the Tartars, and Caliph of the sovereign of the Saracens. I +have already described generally the extent of his dominions: he +inherited Sogdiana, Carisme, Khorasan, and Cabul; but, being a zealous +Mussulman, he obtained the title of Gazi, or champion, by his reduction +of Hindostan, and his destruction of its idol temples. There was no +need, however, of religious enthusiasm to stimulate him to the war: the +riches, which he amassed in the course of it, were a recompense amply +sufficient. His Indian expeditions in all amounted to twelve, and they +abound in battles and sieges of a truly Oriental cast. "Never," says a +celebrated historian,[36] "was the Mussulman hero dismayed by the +inclemency of the seasons, the height of the mountains, the breadth of +the rivers, the barrenness of the desert, the multitudes of the enemy," +or their elephants of war. One of the sovereigns of the country brought +against him as many as 2,500 elephants; the borderers on the Indus +resisted him with 4,000 war-boats. He was successful in every direction; +he levelled to the ground many hundreds of pagodas, and carried off +their treasures. In one of his campaigns[37] he took prisoner the prince +of Lahore, round whose neck alone were sixteen strings of jewels, valued +at L320,000 of our money. At Mutra he found five great idols of pure +gold, with eyes of rubies; and a hundred idols of silver, which, when +melted down, loaded a hundred camels with bullion. + +These stories, which sound like the fables in the Arabian Nights, are +but a specimen of the wonderful fruits of the victories of this Mahmood. +His richest prize was the great temple of Sunnat, or Somnaut, on the +promontory of Guzerat, between the Indus and Bombay. It was a place as +diabolically wicked as it was wealthy, and we may safely regard Mahmood +as the instrument of divine vengeance upon it. But here I am only +concerned with its wealth, for which grave writers are the vouchers. +When this temple was taken, Mahmood entered a great square hall, having +its lofty roof supported with 56 pillars, curiously turned and set with +precious stones. In the centre stood the idol, made of stone, and five +feet high. The conqueror began to demolish it. He raised his mace, and +struck off the idol's nose. The Brahmins interposed, and are said to +have offered the fabulous sum, as Mill considers it, of ten millions +sterling for its ransom. His officers urged him to accept it, and the +Sultan himself was moved; but recovering himself, he observed that it +was somewhat more honourable to destroy idols than to traffic in them, +and proceeded to repeat his blows at the trunk of the figure. He broke +it open; it was found to be hollow, and at once explained the +prodigality of the offer of the Brahmins. Inside was found an +incalculable treasure of diamonds, rubies, and pearls. Mahmood took away +the lofty doors of sandal-wood, which belonged to this temple, as a +trophy for posterity. Till a few years ago, they were the decoration of +his tomb near Gazneh, which is built of white marble with a cupola, and +where Moollas are still maintained to read prayers over his grave.[38] +There too once hung the ponderous mace, which few but himself could +wield; but the mace has disappeared, and the sandal gates, if genuine, +were carried off about twelve years since by the British +Governor-General of India, and restored to their old place, as an +acceptable present to the impure idolaters of Guzerat.[39] + +It is not wonderful that this great conqueror should have been overcome +by the special infirmity, to which such immense plunder would dispose +him; he has left behind him a reputation for avarice. He desired to be +a patron of literature, and on one occasion he promised a court poet a +golden coin for every verse of an heroic poem he was writing. Stimulated +by the promise, "the divine poet," to use the words of the Persian +historian, "wrote the unparalleled poem called the Shah Namna, +consisting of 60,000 couplets." This was more than had been bargained +for by the Sultan, who, repenting of his engagement, wished to +compromise the matter for 60,000 rupees, about a sixteenth part of the +sum he had promised. The indignant author would accept no remuneration +at all, but wrote a satire upon Mahmood instead; but he was merciful in +his revenge, for he reached no more than the seven-thousandth couplet. + +There is a melancholy grandeur about the last days of this victorious +Sultan, which seems to show that even then the character of his race was +changed from the fierce impatience of Hun and Tartar to the grave, +pensive, and majestic demeanour of the Turk. Tartar he was in his +countenance, as he was painfully conscious, but his mind had a +refinement, to which the Tartar was a stranger. Broken down by an +agonizing complaint, he perceived his life was failing, and his glory +coming to an end. Two days before his death, he commanded all the untold +riches of his treasury, his sacks of gold and silver, his caskets of +precious stones, to be brought out and placed before him. Having feasted +his eyes upon them, he burst into tears; he knew they would not long be +his, but he had not the heart to give any part of then away. The next +day he caused to be drawn up before his travelling throne, for he +observed still the Tartar custom, his army of 100,000 foot and 55,000 +horse, his chariots, his camels, and his 1,300 elephants of war; and +again he wept, and, overcome with grief, retired to his palace. Next +day he died, after a prosperous reign of more than thirty years. + +But, to return to the general history. It will be recollected that +Mahmood's dominions stretched very far to the west, as some say, even +round the Caspian to Georgia; and it is not wonderful that, while he was +adding India to them, he found a difficulty in defending his frontier +towards Persia. Meantime, as before, his own countrymen kept streaming +down upon him without intermission from the north, and he thought he +could not do better than employ these dangerous visitors in garrison +duty against his western enemies. They took service under him, but did +not fulfil his expectations. Indeed, what followed may be anticipated +from the history which I have been giving of the Caliphs: it was an +instance of workmen emancipating themselves from their employer. The +fierce barbarians who were defending the province of Khorasan so well +for another, naturally felt that they could take as good care of it for +themselves; and when Mahmood was approaching the end of his life, he +became sensible of the error he had committed in introducing them. He +asked one of their chiefs what force he could lend him: "If you sent one +of the arrows into our camp," was the answer, "50,000 of us will mount +to do thy bidding." "But what if I want more?" inquired Mahmood; "send +this arrow into the camp of Balik, and you will have another 50,000." +The Sultan asked again: "But what if I require your whole forces?" "Send +round my bow," answered the Turk, "and the summons will be obeyed by +200,000 horse."[40] The foreboding, which disclosures such as this +inspired, was fulfilled the year before his death. The Turks came into +collision with his lieutenants, and defeated one of them in a bloody +action; and though he took full reprisals, and for a while cleared the +country of them, yet in the reign of his son they succeeded in wresting +from his dynasty one-half of his empire, and Hindostan, the acquisition +of Mahmood, became henceforth its principal possession. + + +5. + +We have now arrived at what may literally be called the turning-point of +Turkish history. We have seen them gradually descend from the north, and +in a certain degree become acclimated in the countries where they +settled. They first appear across the Jaxartes in the beginning of the +seventh century; they have now come to the beginning of the eleventh. +Four centuries or thereabout have they been out of their deserts, +gaining experience and educating themselves in such measure as was +necessary for playing their part in the civilized world. First they came +down into Sogdiana and Khorasan, and the country below it, as +conquerors; they continued in it as subjects and slaves. They offered +their services to the race which had subdued them; they made their way +by means of their new masters down to the west and the south; they laid +the foundations for their future supremacy in Persia, and gradually rose +upwards through the social fabric to which they had been admitted, till +they found themselves at length at the head of it. The sovereign power +which they had acquired in the line of the Gaznevides, drifted off to +Hindostan; but still fresh tribes of their race poured down from the +north, and filled up the gap; and while one dynasty of Turks was +established in the peninsula, a second dynasty arose in the former seat +of their power. + +Now I call the era at which I have arrived the turning-point of their +fortunes, because, when they had descended down to Khorasan and the +countries below it, they might have turned to the East or to the West, +as they chose. They were at liberty to turn their forces eastward +against their kindred in Hindostan, whom they had driven out of Ghizni +and Affghanistan, or to face towards the west, and make their way +thither through the Saracens of Persia and its neighbouring countries. +It was an era which determined the history of the world. I recollect +once hearing a celebrated professor of geology attempt to draw out the +consequences which would have occurred, had there not been an outlet for +the Thames, which exists in fact, at a certain point of its course. He +said that, had the range of hills been unbroken, it would have streamed +off to the north-east, and have run into the sea at the Wash in +Lincolnshire. An utter change in the political events which came after, +another history of England, and nothing short of it, would have been the +result. An illustration such as this will at least serve to express what +I would say of the point at which we now stand in the history of the +Turks. Mahmood turned to the east; and had the barbarian tribes which +successively descended done the same, they might have conquered the +Gaznevide dynasty, they might have settled themselves, like Timour, at +Delhi, and their descendants might have been found there by the British +in their conquests during the last century; but they would have been +unknown to Europe, they would have been strange to Constantinople, they +would have had little interest for the Church. They had rebelled against +Mahmood, they had driven his family to the East; but they did not pursue +him thither; he had strength enough to keep them off the rich territory +he had appropriated; he was the obstacle which turned the stream +westward; in consequence, they looked towards Persia, where their +brethren had been so long settled, and they directed their course for +good and all towards Europe. + +But this era was a turning-point in their history in another and more +serious respect. In Sogdiana and Khorasan, they had become converts to +the Mahometan faith. You will not suppose I am going to praise a +religious imposture, but no Catholic need deny that it is, considered in +itself, a great improvement upon Paganism. Paganism has no rule of right +and wrong, no supreme and immutable judge, no intelligible revelation, +no fixed dogma whatever; on the other hand, the being of one God, the +fact of His revelation, His faithfulness to His promises, the eternity +of the moral law, the certainty of future retribution, were borrowed by +Mahomet from the Church, and are steadfastly held by his followers. The +false prophet taught much which is materially true and objectively +important, whatever be its subjective and formal value and influence in +the individuals who profess it. He stands in his creed between the +religion of God and the religion of devils, between Christianity and +idolatry, between the West and the extreme East. And so stood the Turks, +on adopting his faith, at the date I am speaking of; they stood between +Christ in the West, and Satan in the East, and they had to make their +choice; and, alas! they were led by the circumstances of the time to +oppose themselves, not to Paganism, but to Christianity. A happier lot +indeed had befallen poor Sultan Mahmood than befell his kindred who +followed in his wake. Mahmood, a Mahomedan, went eastward and found a +superstition worse than his own, and fought against it, and smote it; +and the sandal doors which he tore away from the idol temple and hung +up at his tomb at Gazneh, almost seemed to plead for him through +centuries as the soldier and the instrument of Heaven. The tribes which +followed him, Moslem also, faced westward, and found, not error but +truth, and fought against it as zealously, and in doing so, were simply +tools of the Evil One, and preachers of a lie, and enemies, not +witnesses of God. The one destroyed idol temples, the other Christian +shrines. The one has been saved the woe of persecuting the Bride of the +Lamb; the other is of all races the veriest brood of the serpent which +the Church has encountered since she was set up. For 800 years did the +sandal gates remain at Mahmood's tomb, as a trophy over idolatry; and +for 800 years have Seljuk and Othman been our foe, singled out as such, +and denounced by successive Vicars of Christ. + + +6. + +The year 1048 of our era is fixed by chronologists as the date of the +rise of the Turkish power, as far as Christendom is interested in its +history.[41] Sixty-three years before this date, a Turk of high rank, of +the name of Seljuk, had quarrelled with his native prince in Turkistan, +crossed the Jaxartes with his followers, and planted himself in the +territory of Sogdiana. His father had been a chief officer in the +prince's court, and was the first of his family to embrace Islamism; but +Seljuk, in spite of his creed, did not obtain permission to advance into +Sogdiana from the Saracenic government, which at that time was in +possession of the country. After several successful encounters, however, +he gained admission into the city of Bokhara, and there he settled. As +time went on, he fully recompensed the tardy hospitality which the +Saracens had shown him; for his feud with his own countrymen, whom he +had left, took the shape of a religious enmity, and he fought against +them as pagans and infidels, with a zeal, which was both an earnest of +the devotion of his people to the faith of Mahomet, and a training for +the exercise of it. He died, it is said, in battle against the pagans, +and at the wonderful age of 107. Of his five sons, whom he left behind +him, one, Michael, was cut off prematurely in battle against the +infidels also, and has obtained the name of Shadid or the Martyr; for in +a religion where the soldier is the missionary, the soldier is the +martyr also. The other sons became rich and powerful; they had numerous +flocks and fertile pastures in Sogdiana, till at length they attracted +the notice of the Sultan Mahmood, who, having dispossessed the Saracens +of the country where Seljuk had placed himself, looked about for +mercenary troops to keep his possession of it. It was one of Seljuk's +family, who at a later date alarmed Mahmood by telling him he could +bring 200,000 horsemen from the Scythian wilderness, if he sent round +his bow to summon them; it was Seljuk's horde and retainers that +ultimately forced back Mahmood's son into the south and the east, and +got possession of Sogdiana and Khorasan. Having secured this +acquisition, they next advanced into Persia, and this was the event, +which is considered to fix the date of their entrance into +ecclesiastical history. It was the date of their first steadily looking +westward; it determined their destiny; they began to be enemies of the +Cross in the year 1048, under the leading of Michael the Martyr's son, +Togrul Beg. + +It is the inconvenience of any mere sketch of historical transactions, +that a multiplicity of objects successively passes over the field of +view, not less independent in themselves, though not less connected in +the succession of events, than the pictures of a magic lantern. I am +aware of the weariness and the perplexity which are in consequence +inflicted on the attention and the memory of the hearer; but what can I +do but ask your indulgence, Gentlemen, for a circumstance which is +inherent in any undertaking like the present? I have in the course of an +hour to deal with a series of exploits and fortunes, which begin in the +wilds of Turkistan, and conclude upon the Bosphorus; in which, as I may +say, time is no measure of events, one while from the obscurity in which +they lie, at another from their multitude and consequent confusion. For +four centuries the Turks are little or hardly heard of; then suddenly in +the course of as many tens of years, and under three Sultans, they make +the whole world resound with their deeds; and, while they have pushed to +the East through Hindostan, in the West they have hurried down to the +coasts of the Mediterranean and the Archipelago, have taken Jerusalem, +and threatened Constantinople. In their long period of silence they had +been sowing the seeds of future conquests; in their short period of +action they were gathering the fruit of past labours and sufferings. The +Saracenic empire stood apparently as before; but, as soon as a Turk +showed himself at the head of a military force within its territory, he +found himself surrounded by the armies of his kindred which had been so +long in its pay; he was joined by the tribes of Turcomans, to whom the +Romans in a former age had shown the passes of the Caucasus; and he +could rely on the reserve of innumerable swarms, ever issuing out of his +native desert, and following in his track. Such was the state of Western +Asia in the middle of the eleventh century. + + +7. + +I have said there were three great Sultans of the race of Seljuk, by +whom the conquest of the West of Asia was begun and completed; their +names are Togrul Beg, Alp Arslan, and Malek Shah. I have not to write +their histories, but I may say a few words of their characters and their +actions. + +1. The first, Togrul, was the son and grandson of Mahometan Martyrs, and +he inherited that fanaticism, which made the old Seljuk and the young +Michael surrender their lives in their missionary warfare against the +enemies of their faith. Each day he repeated the five prayers prescribed +for the disciples of Islam; each week he gave two days to fasting; in +every city which he made his own, he built a mosque before he built his +palace. He introduced vast numbers of his wild countrymen into his +provinces, and suffered their nomadic habits, on the condition of their +becoming proselytes to his creed. He was the man suited to his time; +mere material power was not adequate to the overthrow of the Saracenic +sovereignty: rebellion after rebellion had been successful against the +Caliph; and at the very time I speak of he was in subjection to a family +of the old Persian race. But then he was spiritual head of the Empire as +well as temporal; and, though he lay in his palace wallowing in brutal +sensuality, he was still a sort of mock-Pope, even after his armies and +his territories had been wrested from his hands; but it was the reward +of Togrul's zeal to gain from him this spiritual prerogative, retaining +which the Caliph could never have fallen altogether. He gave to Togrul +the title of Rocnoddin, or "the firm pillar of religion;" and, what was +more to the purpose, he made him his vicegerent over the whole Moslem +world. Armed with this religious authority, which was temporal in its +operation, he went to war against the various insurgents who troubled +the Caliph's repose, and substituted himself for them, a more powerful +and insidious enemy than any or all. But even Mahomet, the Caliph's +predecessor, would not have denied that Togrul was worthy of his hire; +he turned towards Armenia and Asia Minor, and began that terrible war +against the Cross, which was to last 500 years. The prodigious number of +130,000 Christians, in battle or otherwise, is said to be the sacrifice +he offered up to the false prophet. On his victorious return, he was +again recognized by his grateful master as his representative. He made +his public entry into the imperial city on horseback. At the palace gate +he showed the outward deference to the Caliph's authority which was his +policy. He dismounted, his nobles laid aside their arms, and thus they +walked respectfully into the recesses of the palace. According to the +Saracenic ceremonial, the Caliph received them behind his black veil, +the black garment of his family was cast over his shoulders, and the +staff of Mahomet was in his hand. Togrul kissed the ground, and waited +modestly, till he was led to the throne, and was there allowed to seat +himself, and to hear the commission publicly declaring him invested with +the authority of the Vicar of the Arch-deceiver. He was then +successively clothed in seven robes of honour, and presented with seven +slaves, the natives of the seven climates of the Saracenic Empire. His +veil was perfumed with musk; two crowns were set upon his head; two +scimitars were girded on his side, in token of his double reign over +East and West. He twice kissed the Caliph's hand; and his titles were +proclaimed by the voice of heralds and the applause of the Moslem. + +Such was Togrul Beg, and such was his reward. After these exploits, he +marched against his brother (for these Turkish tribes were always +quarrelling over their prey), deposed him, strangled him and put to +death a number of his adherents, married the Caliph's daughter, and then +died without children. His power passed to his nephew Alp Arslan. + +2. Alp Arslan, the second Sultan of the line of Seljuk, is said to +signify in Turkish "the courageous lion:" and the Caliph gave its +possessor the Arabic appellation of Azzaddin, or "Protector of +Religion." It was the distinctive work of his short reign to pass from +humbling the Caliph to attacking the Greek Emperor. Togrul had already +invaded the Greek provinces of Asia Minor, from Cilicia to Armenia, +along a line of 600 miles, and here it was that he had achieved his +tremendous massacres of Christians. Alp Arslan renewed the war; he +penetrated to Caesarea in Cappadocia, attracted by the gold and pearls +which encrusted the shrine of the great St. Basil. He then turned his +arms against Armenia and Georgia, and conquered the hardy mountaineers +of the Caucasus, who at present give such trouble to the Russians. After +this he encountered, defeated, and captured the Greek Emperor. He began +the battle with all the solemnity and pageantry of a hero of romance. +Casting away his bow and arrows, he called for an iron mace and +scimitar; he perfumed his body with musk, as if for his burial, and +dressed himself in white, that he might be slain in his winding-sheet. +After his victory, the captive Emperor of New Rome was brought before +him in a peasant's dress; he made him kiss the ground beneath his feet, +and put his foot upon his neck. Then, raising him up, he struck or +patted him three times with his hand, and gave him his life and, on a +large ransom, his liberty. At this time the Sultan was only forty-four +years of age, and seemed to have a career of glory still before him. +Twelve hundred nobles stood before his throne; two hundred thousand +soldiers marched under his banner. As if dissatisfied with the South, he +turned his arms against his own paternal wildernesses, with which his +family, as I have related, had a feud. New tribes of Turks seem to have +poured down, and were wresting Sogdiana from the race of Seljuk, as the +Seljukians had wrested it from the Gaznevides. Alp had not advanced far +into the country, when he met his death from the hand of a captive. A +Carismian chief had withstood his progress, and, being taken, was +condemned to a lingering execution. On hearing the sentence, he rushed +forward upon Alp Arslan; and the Sultan, disdaining to let his generals +interfere, bent his bow, but, missing his aim, received the dagger of +his prisoner in his breast. His death, which followed, brings before us +that grave dignity of the Turkish character, of which we have already +had an example in Mahmood. Finding his end approaching, he has left on +record a sort of dying confession:--"In my youth," he said, "I was +advised by a sage to humble myself before God, to distrust my own +strength, and never to despise the most contemptible foe. I have +neglected these lessons, and my neglect has been deservedly punished. +Yesterday, as from an eminence, I beheld the numbers, the discipline, +and the spirit of my armies; the earth seemed to tremble under my feet, +and I said in my heart, Surely thou art the king of the world, the +greatest and most invincible of warriors. These armies are no longer +mine; and, in the confidence of my personal strength, I now fall by the +hand of an assassin." On his tomb was engraven an inscription, conceived +in a similar spirit. "O ye, who have seen the glory of Alp Arslan +exalted to the heavens, repair to Maru, and you will behold it buried in +the dust."[42] Alp Arslan was adorned with great natural qualities both +of intellect and of soul. He was brave and liberal: just, patient, and +sincere: constant in his prayers, diligent in his alms, and, it is +added, witty in his conversation;--but his gifts availed him not. + +3. It often happens in the history of states and races, in which there +is found first a rise and then a decline, that the greatest glories take +place just then when the reverse is beginning or begun. Thus, for +instance, in the history of the Ottoman Turks, to which I have not yet +come, Soliman the Magnificent is at once the last and greatest of a +series of great Sultans. So was it as regards this house of Seljuk. +Malek Shah, the son of Alp Arslan, the third sovereign, in whom its +glories ended, is represented to us in history in colours so bright and +perfect, that it is difficult to believe we are not reading the account +of some mythical personage. He came to the throne at the early age of +seventeen; he was well-shaped, handsome, polished both in manners and in +mind; wise and courageous, pious and sincere. He engaged himself even +more in the consolidation of his empire than in its extension. He +reformed abuses; he reduced the taxes; he repaired the high roads, +bridges, and canals; he built an imperial mosque at Bagdad; he founded +and nobly endowed a college. He patronised learning and poetry, and he +reformed the calendar. He provided marts for commerce; he upheld the +pure administration of justice, and protected the helpless and the +innocent. He established wells and cisterns in great numbers along the +road of pilgrimage to Mecca; he fed the pilgrims, and distributed +immense sums among the poor. + +He was in every respect a great prince; he extended his conquests across +Sogdiana to the very borders of China. He subdued by his lieutenants +Syria and the Holy Land, and took Jerusalem. He is said to have +travelled round his vast dominions twelve times. So potent was he, that +he actually gave away kingdoms, and had for feudatories great princes. +He gave to his cousin his territories in Asia Minor, and planted him +over against Constantinople, as an earnest of future conquests; and he +may be said to have finally allotted to the Turcomans the fair regions +of Western Asia, over which they roam to this day. + +All human greatness has its term; the more brilliant was this great +Sultan's rise, the more sudden was his extinction; and the earlier he +came to his power, the earlier did he lose it He had reigned twenty +years, and was but thirty-seven years old, when he was lifted up with +pride and came to his end. He disgraced and abandoned to an assassin his +faithful vizir, at the age of ninety-three, who for thirty years had +been the servant and benefactor of the house of Seljuk. After obtaining +from the Caliph the peculiar and almost incommunicable title of "the +commander of the faithful," unsatisfied still, he wished to fix his own +throne in Bagdad, and to deprive his impotent superior of his few +remaining honours. He demanded the hand of the daughter of the Greek +Emperor, a Christian, in marriage. A few days, and he was no more; he +had gone out hunting, and returned indisposed; a vein was opened, and +the blood would not flow. A burning fever took him off, only eighteen +days after the murder of his vizir, and less than ten before the day +when the Caliph was to have been removed from Bagdad. + + +8. + +Such is human greatness at the best, even were it ever so innocent; but +as to this poor Sultan, there is another aspect even of his glorious +deeds. If I have seemed here or elsewhere in these Lectures to speak of +him or his with interest or admiration, only take me, Gentlemen, as +giving the external view of the Turkish history, and that as +introductory to the determination of its true significance. Historians +and poets may celebrate the exploits of Malek; but what were they in the +sight of Him who has said that whoso shall strike against His +corner-stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, shall be +ground to powder? Looking at this Sultan's deeds as mere exhibitions of +human power, they were brilliant and marvellous; but there was another +judgment of them formed in the West, and other feelings than admiration +roused by them in the faith and the chivalry of Christendom. Especially +was there one, the divinely appointed shepherd of the poor of Christ, +the anxious steward of His Church, who from his high and ancient watch +tower, in the fulness of apostolic charity, surveyed narrowly what was +going on at thousands of miles from him, and with prophetic eye looked +into the future age; and scarcely had that enemy, who was in the event +so heavily to smite the Christian world, shown himself, when he gave +warning of the danger, and prepared himself with measures for averting +it. Scarcely had the Turk touched the shores of the Mediterranean and +the Archipelago, when the Pope detected and denounced him before all +Europe. The heroic Pontiff, St. Gregory the Seventh, was then upon the +throne of the Apostle; and though he was engaged in one of the severest +conflicts which Pope has ever sustained, not only against the secular +power, but against bad bishops and priests, yet at a time when his very +life was not his own, and present responsibilities so urged him, that +one would fancy he had time for no other thought, Gregory was able to +turn his mind to the consideration of a contingent danger in the almost +fabulous East. In a letter written during the reign of Malek Shah, he +suggested the idea of a crusade against the misbeliever, which later +popes carried out. He assures the Emperor of Germany, whom he was +addressing, that he had 50,000 troops ready for the holy war, whom he +would fain have led in person. This was in the year 1074. + +In truth, the most melancholy accounts were brought to Europe of the +state of things in the Holy Land. A rude Turcoman ruled in Jerusalem; +his people insulted there the clergy of every profession; they dragged +the patriarch by the hair along the pavement, and cast him into a +dungeon, in hopes of a ransom; and disturbed from time to time the Latin +Mass and office in the Church of the Resurrection. As to the pilgrims, +Asia Minor, the country through which they had to travel in an age when +the sea was not yet safe to the voyager, was a scene of foreign +incursion and internal distraction. They arrived at Jerusalem exhausted +by their sufferings, and sometimes terminated them by death, before they +were permitted to kiss the Holy Sepulchre. + + +9. + +Outrages such as these were of frequent occurrence, and one was very +like another. In concluding, however, this Lecture, I think it worth +while to set before you, Gentlemen, the circumstances of one of them in +detail, that you may be able to form some ideas of the state both of +Asia Minor and of a Christian pilgrimage, under the dominion of the +Turks. You may recollect, then, that Alp Arslan, the second Seljukian +Sultan, invaded Asia Minor, and made prisoner the Greek Emperor. This +Sultan came to the throne in 1062, and appears to have begun his warlike +operations immediately. The next year, or the next but one, a body of +pilgrims, to the number of 7,000, were pursuing their peaceful way to +Jerusalem, by a route which at that time lay entirely through countries +professing Christianity.[43] The pious company was headed by the +Archbishop of Mentz, the Bishops of Utrecht, Bamberg, and Ratisbon, and, +among others, by a party of Norman soldiers and clerks, belonging to the +household of William Duke of Normandy, who made himself, very soon +afterwards, our William the Conqueror. Among these clerks was the +celebrated Benedictine Monk Ingulphus, William's secretary, afterwards +Abbot of Croyland in Lincolnshire, being at that time a little more than +thirty years of age. They passed through Germany and Hungary to +Constantinople, and thence by the southern coast of Asia Minor or +Anatolia, to Syria and Palestine. When they got on the confines of Asia +Minor towards Cilicia, they fell in with the savage Turcomans, who were +attracted by the treasure, which these noble persons and wealthy +churchmen had brought with them for pious purposes and imprudently +displayed. Ingulphus's words are few, but so graphic that I require an +apology for using them. He says then, they were "exenterated" or +"cleaned out of the immense sums of money they carried with them, +together with the loss of many lives." + +A contemporary historian gives us fuller particulars of the adventure, +and he too appears to have been a party to the expedition.[44] It seems +the prelates celebrated the rites of the Church with great +magnificence, as they went along, and travelled with a pomp which became +great dignitaries. The Turcomans in consequence set on them, overwhelmed +them, stripped them to the skin, and left the Bishop of Utrecht disabled +and half dead upon the field. The poor sufferers effected their retreat +to a village, where they fortified an enclosure and took possession of a +building which stood within it. Here they defended themselves +courageously for as many as three days, though they are said to have had +nothing to eat. At the end of that time they expressed a wish to +surrender themselves to the enemy, and admitted eighteen of the +barbarian leaders into their place of strength, with a view of +negotiating the terms. The Bishop of Bamberg, who is said to have had a +striking presence, acted for the Christians, and bargained for nothing +more than their lives. The savage Turcoman, who was the speaker on the +other side, attracted by his appearance, unrolled his turban, and threw +it round the Bishop's neck, crying out: "You and all of you are mine." +The Bishop made answer by an interpreter: "What will you do to me?" The +savage shrieked out some unintelligible words, which, being explained to +the Bishop, ran thus: "I will suck that blood which is so ruddy in your +throat, and then I will hang you up like a dog at your gate." "Upon +which," says the historian, "the Bishop, who had the modesty of a +gentleman, and was of a grave disposition, not bearing the insult, +dashed his fist into the Turcoman's face with such vigour as to fell him +to the ground, crying out that the profane wretch should rather be the +sufferer, for laying his unclean hands upon a priest." + +This was the signal for an exploit so bold, that it seemed, if I may so +express myself, like a particular inspiration. The Christians, unarmed +as they were, started up, and though, as I have observed, they may be +said to have scarcely tasted food for three days, rushed upon the +eighteen Turcomans, bound their arms behind their backs, and showing +them in this condition to their own troops who surrounded the house, +protested that they would instantly put them all to death, unless they +themselves were let go. It is difficult to see how this complication +would have ended, in which neither side were in a condition either to +recede or to advance, had not a third party interfered with a +considerable force in the person of the military governor, himself a +Pagan,[45] of a neighbouring city; and though, as our historian says, +the Christians found it difficult to understand how Satan could cast out +Satan, so it was, that they found themselves at liberty and their +enemies marched off to punishment, on the payment of a sum of money to +their deliverers. I need not pursue the history of these pilgrims +further than to say, that, of 7,000 who set out, only 2,000 returned to +Europe. + + * * * * * + +Much less am I led to enter into the history of the Crusades which +followed. How the Holy See, twenty years after St. Gregory, effected +that which St. Gregory attempted without result; how, along the very way +which the pilgrims I have described journeyed, 100,000 men at length +appeared cased in complete armour and on horseback; how they drove the +Turk from Nicaea over against Constantinople, where he had fixed his +imperial city, to the farther borders of Asia Minor; how, after +defeating him in a pitched battle at Dorylaeum, they went on and took +Antioch, and then at length, after a long pilgrimage of three years, +made conquest of Jerusalem itself, I need not here relate. To one point +only is it to our present purpose to direct attention. It is commonly +said that the Crusades failed in their object; that they were nothing +else but a lavish expenditure of men and treasure; and that the +possession of the Holy Places by the Turks to this day is a proof of it. +Now I will not enter here into a very intricate controversy; this only +will I say, that, if the tribes of the desert, under the leadership of +the house of Seljuk, turned their faces to the West in the middle of the +eleventh century; if in forty years they had advanced from Khorasan to +Jerusalem and the neighbourhood of Constantinople; and if in consequence +they were threatening Europe and Christianity; and if, for that reason, +it was a great object to drive them back or break them to pieces; if it +were a worthy object of the Crusades to rescue Europe from this peril +and to reassure the anxious minds of Christian multitudes;--then were +the Crusades no failure in their issue, for this object was fully +accomplished. The Seljukian Turks were hurled back upon the East, and +then broken up, by the hosts of the Crusaders.[46] The lieutenant of +Malek Shah, who had been established as Sultan of Roum (as Asia Minor +was called by the Turks), was driven to an obscure town, where his +dynasty lasted, indeed, but gradually dwindled away. A similar fate +attended the house of Seljuk in other parts of the Empire, and internal +quarrels increased and perpetuated its weakness. Sudden as was its rise, +as sudden was its fall; till the terrible Zingis, descending on the +Turkish dynasties, like an avalanche, cooeperated effectually with the +Crusaders and finished their work; and if Jerusalem was not protected +from other enemies, at least Constantinople was saved, and Europe was +placed in security, for three hundred years.[47] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[35] Thornton. + +[36] Gibbon. + +[37] Vid. Dow's Hindostan. + +[38] Caldecott's Baber. Vid. also Elphinstone, vol. ii. p. 366. + +[39] "Our victorious army bears the gates of the temple of Somnauth in +triumph from Affghanistan, and the despoiled tomb of Sultan Mahmood +looks upon the ruins of Ghuznee. The insult of 800 years is at last +avenged," etc., etc.--_Proclamation of the Governor-General to all the +princes, chiefs, and people of India._ + +[40] Gibbon. Universal Hist. + +[41] Baronius, Pagi. + +[42] Gibbon. + +[43] Baronius, Gibbon. + +[44] Vid. Cave's Hist. Litterar. in nom. _Lambertus_. + +[45] Gibbon makes this the Fatimite governor of some town in Galilee, +laying the scene in Palestine. The name Capernaum is doubtfully +mentioned in the history, but the occurrence is said to have taken place +on the borders of Lycia. Anyhow, there were Turcomans in Palestine. Part +of the account in the text is taken from Marianus Scotus. + +[46] I should observe that the Turks were driven out of Jerusalem by the +Fatimites of Egypt, two years before the Crusaders appeared. + +[47] I am pleased to see that Mr. Sharon Turner takes the same view +strongly.--_England in Middle Ages_, i. 9. Also Mr. Francis Newman; "The +See of Rome," he says, "had not forgotten, if Europe had, how deadly and +dangerous a war Charles Martel and the Franks had had to wage against +the Moors from Spain. A new and redoubtable nation, the Seljuk Turks, +had now appeared on the confines of Europe, as a fresh champion of the +Mohammedan Creed; and it is not attributing too much foresight or too +sagacious policy to the Court of Rome, to believe, that they wished to +stop and put down the Turkish power before it should come too near. Be +this as it may, such was the result. The might of the Seljukians was +crippled on the plains of Palestine, and did not ultimately reach +Europe.... A large portion of Christendom, which disowned the religious +pretensions of Rome, was afterwards subdued by another Turkish tribe, +the Ottomans or Osmanlis; but Romish Christendom remained untouched: +Poland, Germany, and Hungary, saved her from the later Turks, even +during the schism of the Reformation, as the Franks had saved her from +the Moors. On the whole, it would seem that to the Romish Church we have +been largely indebted for that union between European nations, without +which Mohammedanism might perhaps not have been repelled. I state this +as probable, not at all as certain."--_Lectures at Manchester, 1846._ + + + + +III. + +THE CONQUESTS OF THE TURKS + + + + +LECTURE V. + +_The Turk and the Christian._ + + +I Said in my last Lecture, that we are bound to judge of persons and +events in history, not by their outward appearance, but by their inward +significancy. In speaking of the Turks, we may for a moment yield to the +romance which attends on their name and their actions, as we may admire +the beauty of some beast of prey; but, as it would be idle and puerile +to praise its shape or skin, and form no further judgment upon it, so in +like manner it is unreal and unphilosophical to interest ourselves in +the mere adventures and successes of the Turks, without going on to view +them in their moral aspect also. No race casts so broad and dark a +shadow on the page of ecclesiastical history, and leaves so painful an +impression on the minds of the reader, as the Turkish. The fierce Goths +and Vandals, and then again the Lombards, were converted to Catholicism. +The Franks yielded to the voice of St. Remigius, and Clovis, their +leader, became the eldest son of the Church. The Anglo-Saxons gave up +their idols at the preaching of St. Augustine and his companions. The +German tribes acknowledged Christ amid their forests, though they +martyred St. Boniface and other English and Irish missionaries who came +to them. The Magyars in Hungary were led to faith through loyalty to +their temporal monarch, their royal missioner St. Stephen. The heathen +Danes reappear as the chivalrous Normans, the haughty but true sons and +vassals of St. Peter. The Saracens even, who gave birth to an imposture, +withered away at the end of 300 or 400 years, and had not the power, +though they had the will, to persevere in their enmity to the Cross. The +Tartars had both the will and the power, but they were far off from +Christendom, or they came down in ephemeral outbreaks, which were rather +those of freebooters than of persecutors, or they directed their fury as +often against the enemies of the Church as against her children. But the +unhappy race, of whom I am speaking, from the first moment they appear +in the history of Christendom, are its unmitigated, its obstinate, its +consistent foes. They are inexhaustible in numbers, pouring down upon +the South and West, and taking one and the same terrible mould of +misbelief, as they successively descend. They have the populousness of +the North, with the fire of the South; the resources of Tartars, with, +the fanaticism of Saracens. And when their strength declines, and age +steals upon them, there is no softening, no misgiving; they die and make +no sign. In the words of the Wise Man, "Being born, they forthwith +ceased to be; and have been able to show no mark of virtue, but are +consumed in wickedness." God's judgments, God's mercies, are +inscrutable; one nation is taken, another is left. It is a mystery; but +the fact stands; since the year 1048 the Turks have been the great +Antichrist among the races of men. + +I say since this date, because then it was that Togrul Beg finally +opened the gates of the North to those descents, which had taken place +indeed at intervals before, but then became the habit of centuries. In +vain was the power of his dynasty overthrown by the Crusaders; in vain +do the Seljukians disappear from the annals of the world; in vain is +Constantinople respited; in vain is Europe saved. Christendom in arms +had not yet finished, it had but begun the work, in which it needed the +grace to persevere. Down came the savage hordes, as at first, upon +Sogdiana and Khorasan, so then upon Syria and its neighbouring +countries. Sometimes they remain wild Turcomans, sometimes they fall +into the civilization of the South; but there they are, in Egypt, in the +Holy Land, in Armenia, in Anatolia, forming political bodies of long or +short duration, breaking up here to form again there, in all cases +trampling on Christianity, and beating out its sacred impression from +the breasts of tens of thousands. Nor is this all; scarcely is the race +of Seljuk quite extinct, or rather when it is on its very death-bed, +after it had languished and shrunk and dwindled and flickered and kept +on dying through a tedious two hundred years, when its sole remaining +heir was just in one obscure court, from that very court we discern the +birth of another empire, as dazzling in its rise, as energetic and +impetuous in its deeds as that of Togrul, Alp, and Malek, and far more +wide-spreading, far more powerful, far more lasting than the Seljukian. +This is the empire of the great (if I must measure it by a human +standard) and glorious race of Othman; this is the dynasty of the +Ottomans or Osmanlis; once the admiration, the terror of nations, now, +even in its downfall, an object of curiosity, interest, anxiety, and +even respect; but, whether high or low, in all cases to the Christian +the inveterate and hateful enemy of the Cross. + + +1. + +There is a certain remarkable parallel and contrast between the fortunes +of these two races, the Seljukian and the Ottoman. In the beginning of +the twelfth century, the race of Seljuk all but took Constantinople, and +overran the West, and did not; in the beginning of the fifteenth, the +Ottoman Turks were all but taking the same city, and then were withheld +from taking it, and at length did take it, and have it still. In each +case a foe came upon them from the north, still more fierce and vigorous +than they, and humbled them to the dust. + +These two foes, which came upon the Seljukian Turks and the Ottoman +Turks respectively, are names by this time familiar to us; they are +Zingis and Timour. Zingis came down upon the Seljukians, and Timour came +down upon the Ottomans. Timour pressed the Ottomans even more severely +than Zingis pressed the Seljukians; yet the Seljukians did not recover +the blow of Zingis; but the Ottomans survived the blow of Timour, and +rose more formidable after it, and have long outlived the power which +inflicted it. + +Zingis and Timour were but the blind instruments of divine vengeance. +They knew not what they did. The inward impulse of gigantic energy and +brutal cupidity urged them forward; ambition, love of destruction, +sensual appetite, frenzied them, and made them both more and less than +men. They pushed eastward, westward, southward; they confronted promptly +and joyfully every peril, every obstacle which lay in their course. They +smote down all rival pride and greatness of man; and therefore, by the +law (as I may call it) of their nature and destiny, not on politic +reason or far-reaching plan, but because they came across him, they +smote the Turk. These then were one class of his opponents; but there +was another adversary, stationed against him, of a different order, one +whose power was not material, but mental and spiritual; one whose enmity +was not random, or casual, or temporary, but went on steadily from age +to age, and lasts down to this day, except so far as the Turk's +decrepitude has at length disarmed anxiety and opposition. I have spoken +of him already; of course I mean the Vicar of Christ. I mean the +zealous, the religious enmity to every anti-Christian power, of him who +has outlasted Zingis and Timour, who has outlasted Seljuk, who is now +outlasting Othman. He incited Christendom against the Seljukians, and +the Seljukians, assailed also by Zingis, sunk beneath the double blow. +He tried to rouse Christendom against the Ottomans also, but in vain; +and therefore in vain did Timour discharge his overwhelming, crushing +force against them. Overwhelmed and crushed they were, but they revived. +The Seljukians fell, in consequence of the united zeal of the great +Christian commonwealth moving in panoply against them; the Ottomans +succeeded by reason of its deplorable divisions, and its decay of faith +and heroism. + + +2. + +Whether indeed in the long run, and after all his disappointments and +reverses, the Pope was altogether unsuccessful in his warfare against +the Ottomans, we shall see by-and-by; but certainly, if perseverance +merited a favourable issue, at least he has had a right to expect it. +War with the Turks was his uninterrupted cry for seven or eight +centuries, from the eleventh to the eighteenth; it is a solitary and +singular event in the history of the Church. Sylvester the Second was +the originator of the scheme of a union of Christian nations against +them. St. Gregory the Seventh collected 50,000 men to repel them. Urban +the Second actually set in motion the long crusade. Honorius the Second +instituted the order of Knight Templars to protect the pilgrims from +their assaults. Eugenius the Third sent St. Bernard to preach the Holy +War. Innocent the Third advocated it in the august Council of the +Lateran. Nicholas the Fourth negotiated an alliance with the Tartars for +its prosecution. Gregory the Tenth was in the Holy Land in the midst of +it, with our Edward the First, when he was elected Pope. Urban the Fifth +received and reconciled the Greek Emperor with a view to its renewal. +Innocent the Sixth sent the Blessed Peter Thomas the Carmelite to preach +in its behalf. Boniface the Ninth raised the magnificent army of French, +Germans, and Hungarians, who fought the great battle of Nicopolis. +Eugenius the Fourth formed the confederation of Hungarians and Poles who +fought the battle of Varna. Nicholas the Fifth sent round St. John +Capistran to urge the princes of Christendom against the enemy. +Callixtus the Third sent the celebrated Hunniades to fight with them. +Pius the Second addressed to their Sultan an apostolic letter of warning +and denunciation. Sixtus the Fourth fitted out a fleet against them. +Innocent the Eighth made them his mark from the beginning of his +Pontificate to the end. St. Pius the Fifth added the "Auxilium +Christianorum" to our Lady's Litany in thankfulness for his victory over +them. Gregory the Thirteenth with the same purpose appointed the +Festival of the Rosary. Clement the Ninth died of grief on account of +their successes. The venerable Innocent the Eleventh appointed the +Festival of the Holy Name of Mary, for their rout before Vienna. +Clement the Eleventh extended the Feast of the Rosary to the whole +Church for the great victory over them near Belgrade. These are but some +of the many instances which might be given; but they are enough for the +purpose of showing the perseverance of the Popes. + +Nor was their sagacity in this matter less remarkable than their +pertinacity. The Holy See has the reputation, even with men of the +world, of seeing instinctively what is favourable, what is unfavourable, +to the interests of religion and of the Catholic Faith. Its undying +opposition to the Turks is not the least striking instance of this +divinely imparted gift. From the very first it pointed at them as an +object of alarm for all Christendom, in a way in which it had marked out +neither Tartars nor Saracens. It exposed them to the reprobation of +Europe, as a people, with whom, if charity differ from merciless +ferocity, tenderness from hardness of heart, depravity of appetite from +virtue, and pride from meekness and humility, the faithful never could +have sympathy, never alliance. It denounced, not merely an odious +outlying deformity, painful simply to the moral sight and scent, but an +energetic evil, an aggressive, ambitious, ravenous foe, in whom foulness +of life and cruelty of policy were methodized by system, consecrated by +religion, propagated by the sword. I am not insensible, I wish to do +justice, to the high qualities of the Turkish race. I do not altogether +deny to its national character the grandeur, the force and originality, +the valour, the truthfulness and sense of justice, the sobriety and +gentleness, which historians and travellers speak of; but, in spite of +all that has been done for them by nature and by the European world, +Tartar still is the staple of their composition, and their gifts and +attainments, whatever they may be, do but make them the more efficient +foes of faith and civilization. + + +3. + +It was said by a Prophet of old, in the prospect of a fierce invader, "a +day of clouds and whirlwinds, a numerous and strong people, as the +morning spread upon the mountains. The like to it hath not been from the +beginning, nor shall be after it, even to the years of generation and +generation. Before the face thereof a devouring fire, and behind it a +burning flame. The land is like a garden of pleasure before it, and +behind it a desolate wilderness; neither is there any one can escape +it." Now I might, in illustration of the character which the Turks bear +in history, suitably accommodate these words to the moral, or the +social, or the political, or the religious calamities, of which they +were the authors to the Christian countries they overran; and so I might +bring home to you the meaning and drift of that opposition with which +the Holy See has met them in every age. I might allude (if I dare, but I +dare not, nor does any one dare),--else, allusion might be made to those +unutterable deeds which brand the people which allows them, even in the +natural judgment of men, as the most flagitious, the most detestable of +nations. I might enlarge on the reckless and remorseless cruelty which, +had they succeeded in Europe, as they succeeded in Asia, would have +decimated or exterminated her children; I might have reminded you, for +instance, how it has been almost a canon of their imperial policy for +centuries, that their Sultan, on mounting the throne, should destroy his +nearest of kin, father, brother, or cousin, who might rival him in his +sovereignty; how he is surrounded, and his subjects according to their +wealth, with slaves carried off from their homes, men and boys, living +monuments of his barbarity towards the work of God's hands; how he has +at his remorseless will and in the sudden breath of his mouth the life +or death of all his subjects; how he multiplies his despotism by giving +to his lieutenants in every province, a like prerogative; how little +scruple those governors have ever felt in exercising this prerogative to +the full, in executions on a large scale, and sudden overwhelming +massacres, shedding blood like water, and playing with the life of man +as though it were the life of a mere beast or reptile. I might call your +attention to particular instances of such atrocities, such as that +outrage perpetrated in the memory of many of us,--how, on the +insurrection of the Greeks at Scio, their barbarian masters carried fire +and sword throughout the flourishing island till it was left a desert, +hurrying away women and boys to an infamous captivity, and murdering +youths and grown men, till out of 120,000 souls, in the spring time, not +900 were left there when the crops were ripe for the sickle. If I do not +go into scenes such as these in detail, it is because I have wearied and +troubled you more than enough already, in my account of the savage +perpetrations of Zingis and Timour. + +Or I might, in like manner, still more obviously insist on their system +of compulsory conversion, which, from the time of the Seljukian Sultans +to the present day, have raised the indignation and the compassion of +the Christian world; how, when the lieutenants of Malek Shah got +possession of Asia Minor, they profaned the churches, subjected Bishops +and Clergy to the most revolting outrages, circumcised the youth, and +led off their sisters to their profligate households;--how, when the +Ottomans conquered in turn, and added an infantry, I mean the +Janizaries, to their Tartar horse, they formed that body of troops, from +first to last, for near five hundred years, of boys, all born Christian, +a body of at first 12,000, at last 40,000 strong, torn away year by year +from their parents, circumcised, trained to the faith and morals of +their masters, and becoming in their turn the instruments of the +terrible policy of which they had themselves been victims; and how, when +at length lately they abolished this work of their hands, they ended it +by the slaughter of 20,000 of the poor renegades whom they had seduced +from their God. I might remind you how within the last few years a +Protestant traveller tells us that he found the Nestorian Christians, +who had survived the massacres of their race, living in holes and pits, +their pastures and tillage land forfeited, their sheep and cattle driven +away, their villages burned, and their ministers and people tortured; +and how a Catholic missionary has found in the neighbourhood of Broussa +the remnant of some twenty Catholic families, who, in consequence of +repudiating the Turkish faith, had been carried all the way from Servia +and Albania across the sea to Asia Minor; the men killed, the women +disgraced, the boys sold, till out of a hundred and eighty persons but +eighty-seven were left, and they sick, and famished, and dying among +their unburied dead. I could of course continue this topic also to any +extent, and draw it out as an illustration of the words of the Prophet +which I have quoted. But I prefer to take those words literally, as +expressive of the desolation spread by an infidel foe over the face of a +flourishing country; and then I shall be viewing the Turkish rule under +an aspect addressed to the senses, not admitting of a question, +calculated to rouse the sensibilities of Christians of whatever caste of +opinion, and explanatory by itself of the determined front which the +Holy See has ever made against it. + + +4. + +The Catholic Church was in the first instance a wanderer on the earth, +and had nothing to attach her to its soil; but no sooner did persecution +cease, and territory was allowed to her, than she began to exert a +beneficent influence upon the face of the land, and on its cultivators. +She shed her consolations, and extended her protection, over the serf +and the slave; and, while she gradually relaxed his fetters, she sent +her own dearest children to bear his burden with him, and to aid him in +the cultivation of the soil. Under the loving assiduity of the +Benedictine Monk, the ravages of war were repaired, the plantation +throve, the river diffused itself in rills and channels, and hill and +dale and plain rejoiced in corn land and pasture. And when in a later +time a world was to be created, not restored, when the deep forests of +the North were to be cleared, and the unwholesome marsh to be drained, +who but the missionaries from the same great Order were to be the +ministers of temporal, as well as spiritual, benefits to the rude tribes +they were converting? And then again, when history moved on into the era +of the first Turkish outbreak, who but St. Bernard, the very preacher of +the Crusade, who but he led on his peaceful Cistercians, after the +pattern of his master, St. Stephen, to that laborious but cheerful +husbandry, which they continue in the wild places of the earth even to +this day? Never has Holy Church forgotten,--abhorrent, as she is, from +the Pantheistic tendencies which in all ages have surrounded her,--never +has she forgotten the interests of that mighty mother on whose bosom we +feed in life, into whose arms we drop in death; never has she forgotten +that that mother is the special creature of God, and to be honoured, in +leaf and flower, in lofty tree and pleasant stream, for His sake, as +well as for our own; that while it is our primeval penalty to till the +earth, she lovingly repays us for our toil; that Adam was a gardener +even in Paradise, and that Noe inaugurated his new world by "beginning +to be a husbandman, and by planting a vineyard." + +Such is the genius of the true faith; and it might have been thought, +that, though not Christians, even of very gratitude, the barbarous race, +which owed a part of whatever improvement of mind or manners they had +received to the fair plains of Sogdiana, would, on seizing on their rich +and beautiful lands on the north, east, and south of the Mediterranean, +have felt some sort of reverence for their captive, and, while enjoying +her gifts, would have been merciful to the giver. But the same selfish +sensuality, with which they regard the rational creation of God, +possesses them in their conduct towards physical nature. They have made +the earth their paramour, and are heartless towards her dishonour and +her misery. We have lately been reminded in this place of the Doge of +Venice[48] making the Adriatic his bride, and claiming her by a ring of +espousal; but the Turk does not deign to legitimatize his possession of +the soil he has violently seized, or to gain a title to it by any sacred +tie; caring for no better right to it than the pirate has to the +jurisdiction of the high seas. Let the Turcoman ride up and down Asia +Minor or Syria for a thousand years, how is the trampling of his +horse-hoofs a possession of those countries, more than a Scythian raid +or a Tartar gallop across it? The imperial Osmanli sits and smokes long +days in his pavilion, without any thought at all of his broad domain +except to despise and to plunder and impoverish its cultivators; and is +his title made better thereby than the Turcoman's, to be the heir of +Alexander and Seleucus, of the Ptolemies and Massinissa, of Constantine +and Justinian? What claim does it give him upon Europe, Asia, and +Africa, upon Greece, Palestine, and Egypt, that he has frustrated the +munificence of nature and demolished the works of man? + + +5. + +Asia Minor especially, the peninsula which lies between the Black Sea, +the Archipelago, and the Mediterranean, was by nature one of the most +beautiful, and had been made by art one of the most fertile of +countries. It had for generations contained flourishing marts of +commerce, and it had been studded with magnificent cities, the ruins of +which now stand as a sepulchre of the past. No country perhaps has seen +such a succession of prosperous states, and had such a host of +historical reminiscences, under such distinct eras and such various +distributions of territory. It is memorable in the beginning of history +for its barbarian kings and nobles, whose names stand as commonplaces +and proverbs of wealth and luxury. The magnificence of Pelops imparts +lustre even to the brilliant dreams of the mythologist. The name of +Croesus, King of Lydia, whom I have already had occasion to mention, +goes as a proverb for his enormous riches. Midas, King of Phrygia, had +such abundance of the precious metals, that he was said by the poets to +have the power of turning whatever he touched into gold. The tomb of +Mausolus, King of Caria, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient +world. It was the same with the Greek colonies which were scattered +along its coasts; they are renowned for opulence, for philosophy, and +for the liberal and the fine arts. Homer among the poets, Thales among +philosophers, Herodotus, the father of history, Hippocrates, the oracle +of physicians, Apelles, the prince of painters, were among their +citizens; and Pythius, who presented one of the Persian Kings with a +plane-tree and a vine of massive gold, was in his day, after those +kings, the richest man in the known world. + +Then come the many splendid cities founded by the successors of +Alexander, through its extent; and the powerful and opulent kingdoms, +Greek or Barbarian, of Pontus, and Bithynia, and Pergamus--Pergamus, +with its library of 200,000 choice volumes. Later still, the resources +of the country were so well recognised, that it was the favourite prey +of the Roman statesmen, who, after involving themselves in enormous +debts in the career of ambition, needed by extortion and rapine to set +themselves right with their creditors. Next it became one of the first +seats of Christianity; St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles relates to +us the apostolic labours of St. Paul there in town and country; St. John +wrote the Apocalypse to the Churches of seven of its principal cities; +and St. Peter, his first Epistle to Christians scattered through its +provinces. It was the home of some of the greatest Saints, Martyrs, and +Doctors of the early ages: there first, in Bithynia, the power of +Christianity manifested itself over a heathen population; there St. +Polycarp was martyred, there St. Gregory Thamaturgus converted the +inhabitants of Pontus; there St. Gregory Nazianzen, St. Gregory Nyssen, +St. Basil, and St. Amphilochius preached and wrote. There were held +three of the first four Councils of the Church, at Chalcedon, at +Ephesus, and at Nicaea, the very city afterwards profaned by the palace +of the Sultan. It abounded in the gifts of nature, for food, utility, or +ornament; its rivers ran with gold, its mountains yielded the most +costly marbles; it had mines of copper, and especially of iron; its +plains were fruitful in all kinds of grain, in broad pastures and +luxuriant woods, while its hills were favourable to the olive and the +vine. + +Such was that region, once celebrated for its natural advantages, for +its arts, its splendour, as well as for its gifts of grace; and the +misery and degradation which are at present imprinted on the very face +of the soil are the emblems of that worse ruin which has overtaken the +souls of its children. I have already referred to the journal of Dr. +Chandler, who saw it, even in its western coast, overrun by the hideous +tents of the Turcomans. Another traveller of late years[49] tells us of +that ancient Bithynia, which runs along the Black Sea, a beautiful and +romantic country, intersected with lofty mountains and fertile valleys, +and abounding in rivers and forests. The luxuriance of the pastures, he +says, and the richness of the woods, often reminded him of an English +gentleman's park. Such is it as nature has furnished it for the benefit +of man; but he found its forests covered with straggling Turcomans and +numerous flocks of goats. As he was passing through Phrygia, the +inhabitants smiled, when he asked for ruins, assuring him that the whole +country was overspread with them. There too again he found a great part +of its face covered with the roving Turcomans, "a boisterous and +ignorant race, though much more honourable and hospitable," he adds, +"than the inhabitants of the towns." Mr. Alison tells us that when the +English fleet, in 1801, was stationed on the southern coast, some +sailors accidentally set fire to a thick wood, and the space thus left +bare was studded all along with the ruins of temples and palaces. + +A still more recent traveller[50] corroborates this testimony. Striking +inland from Smyrna, he found "the scenery extremely beautiful, and the +land," he continues, "which is always rich, would be valuable, if +sufficiently cultivated, but it is much neglected." In another part of +the country, he "rode for at least three miles through a ruined city, +which was one pile of temples, theatres, and buildings, vying with each +other in splendour." Now here, you will observe, I am not finding fault +with the mere circumstance that the scenes of ancient grandeur should +abound in ruins. Buildings will decay; old buildings will not answer new +uses; there are ruins enough in Europe; but the force of the argument +lies in this, that in these countries there are ruins and nothing else; +that the old is gone, and has not been replaced by the new. So was it +about Smyrna; and so too about Sardis: "Its situation," he says, "is +very beautiful, but the country over which it looks is now almost +deserted, and the valley is become a swamp. Its little rivers of clear +water, after turning a mill or two, serve only to flood, instead of +draining and beautifying the country." His descriptions of the splendour +of the scenery, yet of the desolation of the land, are so frequent that +I should not be able to confine my extracts within bounds, did I attempt +to give them all. He speaks of his route as lying through "a rich +wilderness" of ruins. Sometimes the landscape "so far exceeded the +beauty of nature, as to seem the work of magic." Again, "the splendid +view passed like a dream; for the continual turns in the road, and the +increasing richness of the woods and vegetation, soon limited my view to +a mere foreground. Nor was this without interest; on each projecting +rock stood an ancient sarcophagus; and the trees half concealed the lids +and broken sculpture of innumerable tombs." + +The gifts of nature remain; he was especially struck with the trees. "We +traversed the coast," he says, "through woods of the richest trees, the +planes being the handsomest to be found in this or perhaps any other +part of the world. I have never seen such stupendous arms to any trees." +Everything was running wild; "the underwood was of myrtle, growing +sometimes twenty feet high, the beautiful daphne laurel, and the +arbutus; and they seemed contending for preeminence with the vine, +clematis, and woodbine, which climbed to the very tops, and in many +instances bore them down into a thicket of vegetation, impervious except +to the squirrels and birds, which, sensible of their security in these +retreats, stand boldly to survey the traveller." Elsewhere he found the +ground carpeted with the most beautiful flowers. A Protestant +Missionary,[51] in like manner, travelling in a different part of the +country, speaks of the hedges of wild roses, the luxuriant gardens and +fruit-trees, principally the cherry, the rich soil, the growth of beech, +oak, and maple, the level meadows and swelling hills covered with the +richest sward, and the rivulets of the purest water. No wonder that, as +he tells us, "sitting down under a spreading walnut-tree, by the side of +a murmuring mill stream, he was led by the charming woodland scenery +around to reflect upon that mysterious Providence, by which so beautiful +a country has been placed under such a blighting government, in the +hands of so ignorant and barbarous a people." + +The state of the population is in keeping with the neglected condition +of the country. It is, down to the present time, wasting away; and that +there are inhabitants at all seems in the main referable to merely +accidental causes. On the road from Angora to Constantinople there were +old people, twenty years since, who remembered as many as forty or fifty +villages, where now there are none; and in the middle of the last +century two hundred places had become forsaken in the tract lying +between those two cities and Smyrna.[52] + +This desolation is no accident of a declining empire; it dates from the +very time that a Turk first came into the country, from the era of the +Seljukian Sultans, eight hundred years ago. We have indirect but clear +proof of it in the course of history following their expulsion from the +country by the Crusaders. For a while the Greeks recovered their +dominion in its western portion, and fixed their imperial residence at +Nicaea, which had been the capital of the Seljukians. A vigorous prince +mounted the throne, and the main object of his exertions and the special +work of his reign was the recovery of the soil. We are told by an +English historian,[53] that he found the most fertile lands without +either cultivation or inhabitants, and he took them into his own +management. It followed that, in the course of some years, the imperial +domain became the granary and garden of Asia; and the sovereign made +money without impoverishing his people. According to the nature of the +soil, he sowed it with corn, or planted it with vines, or laid it down +in grass: his pastures abounded with herds and flocks, horses and swine; +and his speculation, as it may be called, in poultry was so happy, that +he was able to present his empress with a crown of pearls and diamonds +out of his gains. His example encouraged his nobles to imitation; and +they learned to depend for their incomes on the honourable proceeds of +their estates, instead of oppressing their people, and seeking favours +from the court. Such was the immediate consequence when man cooeperated +with the bountifulness of nature in this fruitful region; and it brings +out prominently by its contrast the wretchedness of the Turkish +domination. + + +6. + +That wretchedness is found, not in Asia Minor only, but wherever Turks +are to be found in power. Throughout the whole extent of their +territory, if you believe the report of travellers, the peasantry are +indigent, oppressed, and wretched.[54] The great island of Crete or +Candia would maintain four times its present population; once it had a +hundred cities; many of its towns, which were densely populous, are now +obscure villages. Under the Venetians it used to export corn largely; +now it imports it. As to Cyprus, from holding a million of inhabitants, +it now has only 30,000. Its climate was that of a perpetual spring; now +it is unwholesome and unpleasant; its cities and towns nearly touched +one another, now they are simply ruins. Corn, wine, oil, sugar, and the +metals are among its productions; the soil is still exceedingly rich; +but now, according to Dr. Clarke, in that "paradise of the Levant, +agriculture is neglected, inhabitants are oppressed, population is +destroyed." Cross over to the continent, and survey Syria and its +neighbouring cities; at this day the Turks themselves are dying out; +Diarbekr, which numbered 400,000 souls in the middle of last century, +forty years afterwards had dwindled to 50,000. Mosul had lost half its +inhabitants; Bagdad had fallen from 130,000 to 20,000; and Bassora from +100,000 to 8,000. + +If we pass on to Egypt, the tale is still the same. "In the fifteenth +century," says Mr. Alison, "Egypt, after all the revolutions which it +had undergone, was comparatively rich and populous; but since the fatal +era of Turkish conquest, the tyranny of the Pashas has expelled +industry, riches, and the arts." Stretch across the width of Africa to +Barbary, wherever there is a Turk, there is desolation. What indeed have +the shepherds of the desert, in the most ambitious effort of their +civilization, to do with the cultivation of the soil? "That fertile +territory," says Robertson, "which sustained the Roman Empire, still +lies in a great measure uncultivated; and that province, which Victor +called _Speciositas totius terrae florentis_, is now the retreat of +pirates and banditti." + +End your survey at length with Europe, and you find the same account is +to be given of its Turkish provinces. In the Morea, Chateaubriand, +wherever he went, beheld villages destroyed by fire and sword, whole +suburbs deserted, often fifteen leagues without a single habitation. "I +have travelled," says Mr. Thornton, "through several provinces of +European Turkey, and cannot convey an idea of the state of desolation in +which that beautiful country is left. For the space of seventy miles, +between Kirk Kilise and Carnabat, there is not an inhabitant, though the +country is an earthly paradise. The extensive and pleasant village of +Faki, with its houses deserted, its gardens overrun with weeds and +grass, its lands waste and uncultivated, and now the resort of robbers, +affects the traveller with the most painful sensations."[55] Even in +Wallachia and Moldavia the population has been gradually decreasing, +while of that rich country not more than a fortieth part is under +tillage. In a word, the average population in the whole Empire is not a +fifth of what it was in ancient times. + + +7. + +Here I am tempted to exclaim (though the very juxtaposition of two +countries so different from each other in their condition needs an +apology), I cannot help exclaiming, how different is the condition of +that other peninsula in the centre of which is placed the See of Peter! +I am ashamed of comparing, or even contrasting, Italy with Asia +Minor--the seat of Christian governments with the seat of a barbarian +rule--except that, since I have been speaking of the tenderness which +the Popes have shown, according to their means, for the earth and its +cultivators, there is a sort of fitness in pointing out that the result +is in their case conformable to our just anticipation. Besides, so much +is uttered among us in disparagement of the governments of that +beautiful country, that there is a reason for pressing the contrast on +the attention of those, who in their hearts acknowledge little +difference between the rulers of Italy and of Turkey. I think it will be +instructive, then, to dwell upon the account given us of Italy by an +intelligent and popular writer of this day; nor need we, in doing so, +concern ourselves with questions which he elsewhere discusses, such as +whether Italy has received the last improvements in agriculture, or in +civil economy, or in finance, or in politics, or in mechanical +contrivances; in short, whether the art of life is carried there to its +perfection. Systems and codes are to be tested by their results; let us +put aside theories and disputable points; let us survey a broad, +undeniable, important fact; let us look simply at the state both of the +land and of the population in Italy; let us take it as our gauge and +estimate of political institutions; let us, by way of contrast, put it +side by side of the state of land and population, as reported to us by +travellers in Turkey. + +Mr. Alison, then, in his most diligent and interesting history of +Europe,[56] divides the extent of Italy into three great districts, of +mountain, plain, and marsh. The region of marsh lies between the +Apennines and the Mediterranean; and here, I confess, he finds fault +with the degree of diligence in reclaiming it exerted by its present +possessors. He notices with dissatisfaction that the marshes of Volterra +are still as pestilential as in the days of Hannibal; moreover, that the +Campagna of Rome, once inhabited by numerous tribes, is now an almost +uninhabited desert, and that the Pontine Marshes, formerly the abode of +thirty nations, are now a pestilential swamp. I will not stop to remind +you that the irruptions of barbarians like the Turks, have been the +causes of this desolation, that the existing governments had nothing to +do with it, and that, on the contrary, they have made various efforts to +overcome the evil. For argument's sake, I will allow them to be a +reproach to the government, for they will be found to be only exceptions +to the general state of the country. Even as regards this low tract, he +speaks of one portion of it, the plain of the Clitumnus, as being rich, +as in ancient days, in herds and flocks; and he enlarges upon the +Campagna of Naples as "still the scene of industry, elegance, and +agricultural riches. There," he says, "still, as in ancient times, an +admirable cultivation brings to perfection the choicest gifts of +nature. Magnificent crops of wheat and maize cover the rich and level +expanse; rows of elms or willows shelter their harvests from the too +scorching rays of the sun; and luxuriant vines, clustering to the very +tops of the trees, are trained in festoons from one summit to the other. +On its hills the orange, the vine, and the fig-tree flourish in +luxuriant beauty; the air is rendered fragrant by their ceaseless +perfume; and the prodigy is here exhibited of the fruit and the flower +appearing at the same time on the same stem." + +So much for that portion of Italy which owes least to the labours of the +husbandman: the second portion is the plain of Lombardy, which stretches +three hundred miles in length by one hundred and twenty in breadth, and +which, he says, "beyond question is the richest and the most fertile in +Europe." This great plain is so level, that you may travel two hundred +miles in a straight line, without coming to a natural eminence ten feet +high; and it is watered by numerous rivers, the Ticino, the Adda, the +Adige, and others, which fall into the great stream of the Po, the "king +of rivers," as Virgil calls it, which flows majestically through its +length from west to east till it finds its mouth in the Adriatic. It is +obvious, from the testimony of the various travellers in the East, whom +I have cited, what would be the fate of this noble plain under a Turkish +government; it would become nothing more or less than one great and +deadly swamp. But Mr. Alison observes: "It is hard to say, whether the +cultivation of the soil, the riches of nature, or the structures of +human industry in this beautiful region, are most to be admired. An +unrivalled system of agriculture, from which every nation in Europe +might take a lesson, has long been established over its whole surface, +and two, and sometimes three successive crops annually reward the +labours of the husbandman. Indian corn is produced in abundance, and by +its return, quadruple that of wheat, affords subsistence for a numerous +and dense population. Rice arrives at maturity to a great extent in the +marshy districts; and an incomparable system of irrigation, diffused +over the whole, conveys the waters of the Alps to every field, and in +some places to every ridge, in the grass lands. It is in these rich +meadows, stretching round Lodi, and from thence to Verona, that the +celebrated Parmesan cheese, known over all Europe for the richness of +its flavour, is made. The vine and the olive thrive in the sunny slopes +which ascend from the plain to the ridges of the Alps; and a woody zone +of never-failing beauty lies between the desolation of the mountain and +the fertility of the plain." + + +8. + +Such is his language concerning the cultivation at present bestowed upon +the great plain of Italy; but after all it is for the third or +mountainous region of the country, where art has to supply the +deficiencies of nature, that he reserves his enthusiastic praises. After +speaking of what nature really does for it in the way of vegetation and +fruits, he continues: "An admirable terrace-cultivation, where art and +industry have combined to overcome the obstacles of nature, has +everywhere converted the slopes, naturally sterile and arid, into a +succession of gardens, loaded with the choicest vegetable productions. A +delicious climate there brings the finest fruits to maturity; the grapes +hang in festoons from tree to tree; the song of the nightingale is heard +in every grove; all nature seems to rejoice in the paradise which the +industry of man has created. To this incomparable system of +horticulture, which appears to have been unknown to the ancient Romans, +and to have been introduced into Europe by the warriors who returned +from the Crusades, the riches and smiling aspect of Tuscany and the +mountain-region of Italy are chiefly to be ascribed; for nothing can be +more desolate by nature than the waterless declivities, in general +almost destitute of soil, on which it has been formed. The earth +required to be brought in from a distance, retaining walls erected, the +steep slopes converted into a series of gentle inclinations, the +mountain-torrent diverted or restrained, and the means of artificial +irrigation, to sustain nature during the long droughts of summer, +obtained. By the incessant labour of centuries this prodigy has been +completed, and the very stony sterility of nature converted into the +means of heightening, by artificial means, the heat of summer.... No +room is lost in these little but precious freeholds; the vine extends +its tendrils along the terrace walls ... in the corners formed by their +meeting, a little sheltered nook is found, where fig-trees are planted, +which ripen delicious fruit under their protection. The owner takes +advantage of every vacant space to raise melons and vegetables. Olives +shelter it from the rains; so that, within the compass of a very small +garden, he obtains olives, figs, grapes, pomegranates, and melons. Such +is the return which nature yields under this admirable system of +management, that half the crop of seven acres is sufficient in general +for the maintenance of a family of five persons, and the whole produce +supports them all in rustic affluence. Italy, in this delightful region, +still realizes the glowing description of her classic historian three +hundred years ago." + +The author I have quoted goes on next to observe that this diligent +cultivation of the rock accounts for what at first sight is +inexplicable, viz., the vast population, which is found, not merely in +the valleys, but over the greater part of the ridges of the Apennines, +and the endless succession of villages and hamlets which are perched on +the edge or summit of rocks, often, to appearance, scarcely accessible +to human approach. He adds that the labour never ends, for, if a place +goes out of repair, the violence of the rain will soon destroy it. +"Stones and torrents wash down the soil; the terraces are broken +through; the heavy rains bring down a shapeless mass of ruins; +everything returns rapidly to its former state." Thus it is that parts +of Palestine at present exhibit such desolate features to the traveller, +who wonders how it ever could have been the rich land described in +Scripture; till he finds that it was this sort of cultivation which made +it what it was, that this it was the Crusaders probably saw and imported +into Europe, and this that the ruthless Turks in great measure laid +waste. + +Lastly, he speaks of the population of Italy; as to the towns, it has +declined on account of the new channels of commerce which nautical +discovery has opened, to the prejudice of the marts and ports of the +middle ages. In spite of this, however, he says, "that the provinces +have increased both in riches and inhabitants, and the population of +Italy was never, either in the days of the Emperors, or of the modern +Republics, so considerable as it is at the present moment. In the days +of Napoleon, it gave 1,237 to the square marine league, a density +greater than that of either France or England at that period. This +populousness of Italy," he adds, "is to be explained by the direction of +its capital to agricultural investment, and the increasing industry with +which, during a long course of centuries, its inhabitants have overcome +the sterility of nature." + +Such is the contrast between Italy under its present governments and +Asia Minor under the Turks; and can we doubt at all, that, if the Turks +had conquered Italy, they would have caused the labours of the +agriculturist and the farmer to cease, and have reduced it to the level +of their present dominions? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[48] Vid. a beautiful passage in Cardinal Wiseman's late lecture at +Liverpool. + +[49] Vid. Murray's Asia. + +[50] Sir Charles Fellows. + +[51] Vid. Smith and Dwight's Travels. + +[52] Eclectic Review, Dec., 1839. + +[53] Gibbon. + +[54] Alison on Population, vol. i. p. 309, etc. + +[55] Vol. i., p. 66, note. + +[56] Alison, ch. xx., Sec. 28. + + + + +LECTURE VI. + +_The Pope and the Turk._ + + +1. + +And now, having dwelt upon the broad contrast which exists between +Christendom and Turkey, I proceed to give you some general idea of the +Ottoman Turks, who are at present in power, as I have already sketched +the history of the Seljukian. We left off with the Crusaders victorious +in the Holy Land, and the Seljukian Sultan, the cousin of Malek Shah, +driven back from his capital over against Constantinople, to an obscure +town on the Cilician border of Asia Minor. This is that Sultan Soliman, +who plays so conspicuous a part in Tasso's celebrated Poem of "Jerusalem +Delivered,"-- + + That Solyman, than whom there was not any + Of all God's foes more rebel an offender; + Nay, nor a giant such, among the many + Whom earth once bore, and might again engender; + The Turkish Prince, who first the Greeks expelling, + Fixed at Nicaea his imperial dwelling. + + And then he made his infidel advances + From Phrygian Sangar to Meander's river; + Lydia and Mysia, humbled in war's chances, + Bithynia, Pontus, hymned the Arch-deceiver; + But when to Asia passed the Christian lances, + To battle with the Turk and misbeliever, + He, in two fields, encountered two disasters, + And so he fled, and the vexed land changed masters. + +Two centuries of military effort followed, and then the contest seemed +over; the barbarians of the North destroyed, and Europe free. It seemed +as though the Turks had come to their end and were dying out, as the +Saracens had died out before them, when suddenly, when the breath of the +last Seljukian Sultan was flitting at Iconium, and the Crusaders had +broken their last lance for the Holy Sepulchre, on the 27th of July, +1301, the rule and dynasty of the Ottomans rose up from his death-bed. + + +2. + +Othman, the founder of the line and people, who take from him the name +of Ottoman or Osmanli, was the grandson of a nomad Turk, or Turcoman, +who, descending from the North by Sogdiana and the Oxus, took the +prescriptive course (as I may call it) towards social and political +improvement. His son, Othman's father, came into the service of the last +Sultan of the Seljukian line, and governed for fifty-two years a horde +of 400 families. That line of sovereigns had been for a time in alliance +with the Greek Emperors; but Othman inherited the fanaticism of the +desert, and, when he succeeded to his father's power, he proclaimed a +gazi, or holy war, against the professors of Christianity. Suddenly, +like some beast of prey, he managed to leap the mountain heights which +separated the Greek Province from the Mahomedan conquests, and he +pitched himself in Broussa, in Bithynia, which remained from that time +the Turkish capital, till it was exchanged for Adrianople and +Constantinople. This was the beginning of a long series of +conquests lasting about 270 years, till the Ottomans became one of the +first, if not the first power, not only of Asia, but of the world. + +These conquests were achieved during the reigns of ten great Sultans, +the average length of whose reigns is as much as twenty-six years, an +unusual period for military sovereigns, and both an evidence of the +stability, and a means of the extension, of their power. Then came the +period of their decline, and we are led on through the space of another +270 years, up to our own day, when they seem on the verge of some great +reverse or overthrow. In this second period they have had as many as +twenty-one Sultans, whose average reigns are only half the length of +those who preceded them, and afford as cogent an argument of their +national disorder and demoralization. Of these twenty-one, five have +been strangled, three have been deposed, and three have died of excess; +of the remaining ten, four only have attained the age of man, and these +come together in the course of the last century; two others have died +about the age of thirty, and three about the age of fifty. The last, the +thirty-first from Othman, is the present Sultan, who came to the throne +as a boy, and is described at that time by an English traveller, as one +of the most "sickly, pale, inanimate, and unmanly youths he ever +saw,"[57] and who has this very year just reached the average length of +the reign of his twenty predecessors. + +The names of the Ottoman Sultans are more familiar to us and more easy +to recollect than other Oriental sovereigns, partly from their greater +euphony as Europeans read them, partly from their recurrence again and +again in the catalogue. There are four Mahomets, four Mustaphas, four +Amuraths or Murads, three Selims, three Achmets, three Othmans, two +Mahmoods, two Solimans, and two Bajazets.[58] + +I have already described Othman, the founder of the line, as a soldier +of fortune in the Seljukian service; and, in spite of the civilizing +influences of the country, the people, and the religion, to which he had +attached himself, he had not as yet laid aside the habits of his +ancestors, but was half shepherd, half freebooter. Nor is it likely that +any of his countrymen would be anything else, as long as they were still +in war and in subordinate posts. Peace must precede the enjoyment, and +power the arts of government; and the very readiness with which his +followers left their nomad life, as soon as they had the opportunity, +shows that the means of civilization which they had enjoyed, had not +been thrown away on them. The soldiers of Zingis, when laden with booty, +and not till then, cried out to be led back, and would fight no more; +Tamerlane, at the end of fifty years, began to be a magnificent king. In +like manner, Othman observed the life of a Turcoman, till he became a +conqueror; but, as soon as he had crossed Mount Olympus, and found +himself in the Greek territory as a master, he was both willing and able +to accommodate himself to a pomp and luxury to which a mere Turcoman was +unequal. He bade adieu to his fastnesses in the heights, and he began to +fortify the towns and castles which he had heretofore pillaged. Conquest +and civilization went hand in hand; his successor, Orchan, selected a +capital, which he ornamented with a mosque, a hospital, a mint, and a +college; he introduced professors of the sciences, and, what was as +great a departure from Tartar habits, he raised a force of infantry, +among his captives (in anticipation of the Janizaries, formed soon +after), and he furnished himself with a train of battering engines. More +strange still, he gained the Greek Emperor's daughter in marriage, a +Christian princess; and lastly, he crossed over into Europe under cover +of friendship to the court of Constantinople, and possessed himself of +Gallipoli, the key of the Hellespont. His successors gained first +Roumelia, that is, the country round Constantinople, as far as the +Balkan, with Adrianople for a capital; then they successively swept over +Moldavia, Servia, Bulgaria, Greece, and the Morea. Then they gained a +portion of Hungary; then they took Constantinople, just 400 years ago +this very year. Meanwhile they had extended their empire into Syria, +Egypt, and along the coast of Africa. And thus at length they more than +half encompassed the Mediterranean, from the straits of Gibraltar to the +Gulf of Venice, and reigned in three quarters of the world. + + +3. + +Now you may ask me, what were Christians doing in Europe all this while? +What was the Holy Father about at Rome, if he did not turn his eyes, as +heretofore, on the suffering state of his Asiatic provinces, and oppose +some rampart to the advance of the enemy upon Constantinople? and how +has he been the enduring enemy of the Turk, if he acquiesced in the +Turk's long course of victories? Alas! he often looked towards the East, +and often raised the alarm, and often, as I have said, attempted by +means of the powers of Christendom, what his mission did not give him +arms to do himself. But he was impeded and embarrassed by so many and +such various difficulties, that, if I proposed to go through them, I +should find myself engaged in a history of Europe during those +centuries. I will suggest some of them, though I can do no more. + +1. First of all, then, I observe generally, that the Pope, in attempting +to save Constantinople and its Empire, was attempting to save a +fanatical people, who had for ages set themselves against the Holy See +and the Latin world, and who had for centuries been under a sentence of +excommunication. They hated and feared the Catholics, as much as they +hated and feared the Turks, and they contemned them too, for their +comparative rudeness and ignorance of literature; and this hatred and +fear and contempt were grafted on a cowardly, crafty, insincere, and +fickle character of mind, for which they had been notorious from time +immemorial. It was impossible to save them without their own cordial +cooeperation; it was impossible to save them in spite of themselves. + +These odious traits and dispositions had, in the course of the two +hundred years during which the Crusades lasted, borne abundant fruits +and exhibited themselves in results intolerable to the warlike +multitudes who had come to their assistance. For two hundred years "each +spring and summer had produced a new emigration of pilgrim warriors for +the defence of the Holy Land;"[59] and what had been the effect upon the +Greeks of such prodigality of succour? what satisfaction, what gratitude +had they shown for an undertaking on the part of the West, which ought +properly to have been their own, and which the West commenced, because +the East asked it? When the celebrated Peter the Hermit was in +Constantinople, he would have addressed himself first of all to its +imperial master; and not till the Patriarch of the day showed the +hopelessness of seeking help from a vicious and imbecile court, did he +cry out: "I will rouse the nations of Europe in your cause." The +Emperors sought help themselves instead of lending it. Again and again, +in the course of the Holy Wars, did they selfishly betake themselves to +the European capitals; and they made their gain of the successes of the +Crusaders, as far as they had opportunity, as the jackal follows the +lion; but from the very first, their pride was wounded, and their +cowardice alarmed, at the sight of their protectors in their city and +provinces, and they took every means to weaken and annoy the very men +whom they had invited. In the great council of Placentia, summoned by +Urban the Second, before the Crusades were yet begun, in the presence of +200 Latin Bishops, 4,000 inferior clergy, and 30,000 laity, the +ambassadors of the Greek Emperor had been introduced, and they pleaded +the distress of their sovereign and the danger of their city, which the +misbelievers already were threatening.[60] They insisted on its being +the policy of the Latin princes to repel the barbarian in Asia rather +than when he was in the heart of Europe, and drew such a picture of +their own miseries, that the vast assembly burst into tears, and +dismissed them with the assurance of their most zealous cooeperation. + +Yet what, I say, was the reception which the cowardly suppliants had +given to their avengers and protectors? From the very first, they threw +difficulties in the way of their undertaking. When the heroic Godfrey +and his companions in arms arrived in the neighbourhood of +Constantinople, they found themselves all but betrayed into a dangerous +position, where they might either have been starved, or been easily +attacked. When at length they had crossed over into Asia, the Crusaders +found themselves without the means of sustenance. They had bargained for +a fair market in the Greek territories; but the Imperial Court allowed +the cities which they passed by to close their gates upon them, to let +down to them from the wall an insufficient supply of food, to mix +poisonous ingredients in their bread, to give them base coin, to break +down the bridges before them, and to fortify the passes, and to mislead +them by their guides, to give information of their movements to the +Turk, to pillage and murder the stragglers, and to hang up their dead +bodies on gibbets along the highway. The Greek clergy preached against +them as heretics and schismatics and dogs; the Patriarch and the Bishops +spoke of their extermination as a merit, and their priests washed and +purified the altars where the Latin priests had said mass. Nay, the +Emperors formed a secret alliance with Turks and Saracens against them, +and the price at which they obtained it, was the permission of erecting +a mosque in Constantinople. + +As time went on, they did not stop even here. A number of Latin +merchants had settled at Constantinople, as our own merchants now are +planted all over the cities of the Continent. The Greek populace rose +against them; and the Emperor did not scruple to send his own troops to +aid the rioters. The Latins were slaughtered in their own homes and in +the streets; their clergy were burned in the churches, their sick in the +hospitals, and their whole quarter reduced to ashes; nay, 4,000 of the +survivors were sold into perpetual slavery to the Turks. They cut off +the head of the Cardinal Legate, and tied it to the tail of a dog, and +then chanted a _Te Deum_. What could be said to such a people? What +could be made of them? The Turks might be a more powerful and energetic, +but could not be a more virulent, a more unscrupulous foe. It did not +seem to matter much to the Latin whether Turk or Greek was lord of +Constantinople; and the Greek justified the indifference of the Latin by +declaring that he would rather have the Turban in Constantinople than +the Tiara. + +2. It is the nature of crime to perpetuate itself, and the atrocities of +the Greeks brought about a retaliation from the Latins. Twenty years +after the events I have been relating, the Crusading hosts turned their +arms against the Greeks, and besieged and gained possession of +Constantinople; and, though their excesses seem to have been inferior to +those which provoked them, it is not to be supposed that a city could be +taken by a rude and angry multitude, without the occurrence of +innumerable outrages. It was pillaged and disfigured; and the Pope had +to publish an indignant protest against the work of his own adherents +and followers. He might well be alarmed and distressed, not only for the +crime itself, but for its bearing on the general course of the Crusades; +for, if it was difficult under any circumstances to keep the Greeks in a +right course, it was doubly difficult, when they had been injured, even +though they were the original offenders. + + +4. + +3. But there were other causes, still less satisfactory than those I +have mentioned, tending to nullify all the Pope's efforts to make head +against the barbarian power. I have said that the period of the Ottoman +growth was about 270 years; and this period, viz., the fourteenth and +fifteenth and first half of the sixteenth centuries, was the most +disastrous and melancholy in the internal history of the Church of any +that can be named. It was that miserable period, which directly prepared +the way for Protestantism. The resistance to the Pope's authority, on +the part of the states of Europe generally, is pretty nearly coincident +with the rise of the Ottomans. Heresy followed; in the middle of the +fourteenth century, the teaching of Wickliffe gained ground in England; +Huss and others followed on the Continent; and they were succeeded by +Luther. That energy of Popes, those intercessions of holy men, which +hitherto had found matter in the affairs of the East, now found a more +urgent incentive in the troubles which were taking place at home. + +4. The increase of national prosperity and strength, to which the +alienation of kings and states from the Holy See must be ascribed, in +various ways indisposed them to the continuance of the war against the +misbelievers. Rulers and people, who were increasing in wealth, did not +like to spend their substance on objects both distant and spiritual. +Wealth is a present good, and has a tendency to fix the mind on the +visible and tangible, to the prejudice of both faith and secular policy. +The rich and happy will not go to war, if they can help it; and trade, +of course, does not care for the religious tenets of those who offer to +enter into relations with it, whether of interchange or of purchase. Nor +was this all; when nations began to know their own strength, they had a +tendency to be jealous of each other, as well as to be indifferent to +the interests of religion; and the two most valiant nations of Europe, +France and England, gave up the Holy Wars, only to go to war one with +another. As in the twelfth century, we read of Coeur de Lion in +Palestine, and in the thirteenth, of St. Louis in Egypt, so in the +fourteenth do we read the sad tale of Poitiers and Cressy, and in the +fifteenth of Agincourt. People are apt to ask what good came of the +prowess shown at Ascalon or Damietta; forgetting that they should rather +ask themselves what good came of the conquests of our Edwards and +Henries, of which they are so proud. If Richard's prowess ended in his +imprisonment in Germany, and St. Louis died in Africa, yet there is +another history which ends as ingloriously in the Maid of Orleans, and +the expulsion of tyrants from a soil they had usurped. In vain did the +Popes attempt to turn the restless destructiveness of the European +commonwealth into a safer channel. In vain did the Legates of the Holy +See interpose between Edward of England and the French king; in their +very presence was a French town delivered over by the English conqueror +to a three days' pillage.[61] In vain did one Pope take a vow of +never-dying hostility to the Turks; in vain did another, close upon his +end, repair to the fleet, that "he might, like Moses, raise his hands to +God during the battle;"[62] Christian was to war with Christian, not +with infidel. + +The suppliant Greek Emperor in one of his begging missions, as they may +be called, came to England: it was in the reign of Henry the Fourth, but +Henry could do nothing for him. He had usurped the English Crown, and +could not afford to rescue the Holy Sepulchre, with so precarious a +position at home. However, he was under some kind of promise to take the +Cross, which is signified in the popular story, that he had expected to +die at Jerusalem, whereas he died in his palace at Westminster instead, +in the Jerusalem chamber. It is said, too, that he was actually +meditating a Crusade, and had ordered galleys to be prepared, when he +came to his end.[63] His son, Henry the Fifth, crossed the Channel to +conquer France, just at the very, the only time, when the Ottoman +reverses gave a fair hope of the success of Christendom. When premature +death overtook him, and he had but two hours to live,[64] he ordered his +confessor to recite the Seven Penitential Psalms; and, when the verse +was read about building the walls of Jerusalem, the word caught his ear; +he stopped the reader, and observed that he had proposed to conquer +Jerusalem, and to have rebuilt it, had God granted him life. Indeed, he +had already sent a knight to take a survey of the towns and country of +Syria, which is still extant. Alas, that good intentions should only +become strong in moments of sickness or of death! + +A like necessary or unnecessary attention, as the case might be, to +national concerns and private interests, prevailed all over Europe. In +the same century[65] Charles the Seventh of France forbade the preaching +of a Crusade in his dominions, lest it should lay him open to the +attacks of the English. Alfonso of Portugal promised to join in a Holy +War, and retracted. Alfonso of Arragon and Sicily took the Cross, and +used the men and money raised for its objects in a war against the +Genoese. The Bohemians would not fight, unless they were paid; and the +Germans affected or felt a fear that the Pope would apply the sums they +contributed for some other purpose. + +5. Alas! more must be said; it seldom happens that the people go wrong, +without the rulers being somewhere in fault, nor is the portion of +history to which I am referring an exception. It must be confessed that, +at the very time the Turks were making progress, the Christian world was +in a more melancholy state than it had ever been either before or since. +The sins of nations were accumulating that heavy judgment which fell +upon them in the Ottoman conquests and the Reformation. There were great +scandals among Bishops and Priests, as well as heresy and +insubordination. As to the Pontiffs who filled the Holy See during that +period, I will say no more than this, that it did not please the good +Providence of God to raise up for His Church such heroic men as St. +Leo, of the fifth, and St. Gregory, of the eleventh century. For a time +the Popes removed from Italy to France; then, when they returned to +Rome, there was a schism in the Papacy for nearly forty years, during +which time the populations of Europe were perplexed to find the real +successor of St. Peter, or even took the pretended Pope for the true +one. + + +5. + +Such was the condition of Christendom, thus destitute of resources, thus +weakened by internal quarrels, thus bribed and retained (so to speak) by +the temptations of the world, at the very time when the Ottomans were +pressing on its outposts. One moment occurred, and just one, in their +history, when they might have been resisted with success. You will +recollect that the Seljukians were broken, not simply by the Crusaders, +but also, though not so early, by the terrible Zingis. What Zingis was +to the Seljukians, such, and more than such, was Timour to the Ottomans. +It was in their full career of victory, and when everything seemed in +their power, when they had gained the whole province of Roumelia, which +is round about Constantinople, that a terrible reverse befell them. The +Sultan then on the throne was Bajazet, surnamed Ilderim, or the +Lightning, from the rapidity of his movements. He had extended his +empire, or his sensible influence, from the Carpathians to the +Euphrates; he had destroyed the remains of rival dynasties in Asia +Minor, had carried his arms down to the Morea, and utterly routed an +allied Christian army in Hungary. Elated with these successes, he put no +bounds to his pride and ambition. He vaunted that he would subdue, not +Hungary only, but Germany and Italy besides; and that he would feed his +horse with a bushel of oats on the altar of St. Peter's, at Rome. The +Apostle heard the blasphemy; and this mighty conqueror was not suffered +to leave this world for his eternal habitation without Divine infliction +in evidence that He who made him, could unmake him at His will. The +Disposer of all things sent against him the fierce Timour, of whom I +have already said so much. One would have thought the two conquerors +could not possibly have come into collision--Timour, the Lord of Persia, +Khorasan, Sogdiana, and Hindostan, and Bajazet, the Sultan of Syria, +Asia Minor, and Greece. They were both Mahomedans; they might have +turned their backs on each other, if they were jealous of each other, +and might have divided the world between them. Bajazet might have gone +forward towards Germany and Italy, and Timour might have stretched his +conquests into China. + +But ambition is a spirit of envy as well as of covetousness; neither of +them could brook a rival greatness. Timour was on the Ganges, and +Bajazet was besieging Constantinople, when they interchanged the words +of hatred and defiance. Timour called Bajazet a pismire, whom he would +crush with his elephants; and Bajazet retaliated with a worse insult on +Timour, by promising that he would capture his retinue of wives. The +foes met at Angora in Asia Minor; Bajazet was defeated and captured in +the battle, and Timour secured him in an iron-barred apartment or cage, +which, according to Tartar custom, was on wheels, and he carried him +about, as some wild beast, on his march through Asia. Can imagination +invent a more intolerable punishment upon pride? is it not wonderful +that the victim of it was able to live as many as nine months under such +a visitation? + +This was at the beginning of the fifteenth century, shortly before young +Harry of Monmouth, the idol of English poetry and loyalty, crossed the +sea to kill the French at Agincourt; and an opportunity was offered to +Christendom to destroy an enemy, who never before or since has been in +such extremity of peril. For fourteen years a state of interregnum, or +civil war, lasted in the Ottoman empire; and the capture of +Constantinople, which was imminent at the time of Bajazet's downfall, +was anyhow delayed for full fifty years. Had a crusade been attempted +with the matured experience and subdued enthusiasm, which the trials of +three hundred years had given to the European nations, the Ottomans, +according to all human probability, would have perished, as the +Seljukians before them. But, in the inscrutable decree of Heaven, no +such attempt was made; one attempt indeed was made too soon, and a +second attempt was made too late, but none at the time. + +1. The first of these two was set on foot when Bajazet was in the full +tide of his victories; and he was able, not only to defeat it, but, by +defeating, to damp the hopes, and by anticipation, to stifle the +efforts, which might have been used against him with better effect in +the day of his reverses. In the year 1394, eight years before Bajazet's +misfortunes, Pope Boniface the Ninth proclaimed a Crusade, with ample +indulgences for those who engaged in it, to the countries which were +especially open to the Ottoman attack. In his Bull, he bewails the sins +of Christendom, which had brought upon them that scourge which was the +occasion of his invitation. He speaks of the massacres, the tortures, +and slavery which had been inflicted on multitudes of the faithful. "The +mind is horrified," he says, "at the very mention of these miseries; but +it crowns our anguish to reflect, that the whole of Christendom, which, +if in concord, might put an end to these and even greater evils, is +either in open war, country with country, or, if in apparent peace, is +secretly wasted by mutual jealousies and animosities."[66] + +The Pontiff's voice, aided by the imminent peril of Hungary and its +neighbouring kingdoms, was successful. Not only from Germany, but even +from France, the bravest knights, each a fortress in himself, or a +man-of-war on land (as he may be called), came forward in answer to his +call, and boasted that, even were the sky to fall, they would uphold its +canopy upon the points of their lances. They formed the flower of the +army of 100,000 men, who rallied round the King of Hungary in the great +battle of Nicopolis. The Turk was victorious; the greater part of the +Christian army were slain or driven into the Danube; and a part of the +French chivalry of the highest rank were made prisoners. Among these +were the son of the Duke of Burgundy; the Sire de Coucy, who had great +possessions in France and England; the Marshal of France (Boucicault), +who afterwards fell on the field of Agincourt; and four French princes +of the blood. Bajazet spared twenty-five of his noblest prisoners, whom +their wealth and station made it politic to except; then, summoning the +rest before his throne, he offered them the famous choice of the Koran +or the sword. As they came up one by one, they one by one professed +their faith in Christ, and were beheaded in the Sultan's presence. His +royal and noble captives he carried about with him in his march through +Europe and Asia, as he himself was soon to grace the retinue of Timour. +Two of the most illustrious of them died in prison in Asia. As to the +rest, he exacted a heavy ransom from them; but, before he sent them +away, he gave them a grand entertainment, which displayed both the +barbarism and the magnificence of the Asiatic. He exhibited before them +his hunting and hawking equipage, amounting to seven thousand huntsmen +and as many falconers; and, when one of his chamberlains was accused +before him of drinking a poor woman's goat's milk, he literally +fulfilled the "castigat auditque" of the poet, by having the unhappy man +ripped open, in order to find in his inside the evidence of the charge. + +Such was the disastrous issue of the battle of Nicopolis; nor is it +wonderful that it should damp the zeal of the Christians and weaken the +influence of the Pope, for a long time to come; anyhow, it had this +effect till the critical moment of the Turkish misfortunes was over, and +the race of Othman was recovering itself after the captivity and death +of its Sultan. "Whereas the Turks might have been expelled from Greece +on the loss of their Sultan," says Rainaldus, "Christians, torn to +pieces by their quarrels and by schism, lost a fit and sufficient +opportunity. Whence it followed, that the wound inflicted upon the beast +was not unto death, but he revived more ferocious for the devouring of +the faithful." + +2. However, Christendom made a second attempt still, but when it was too +late. The grandson of Bajazet was then on the throne, one of the ablest +of the Sultans; and, though the allied Christian army had considerable +success against him at first, in vain was the bravery of Hunniades, and +the preaching of St. John Capistran: the Turk managed to negotiate with +its leaders, to put them in the wrong, to charge them with perjury, and +then to beat them in the fatal battle of Varna, in which the King of +Hungary and Poland and the Pope's Legate were killed, with 10,000 men. +In vain after this was any attempt to make head against the enemy; in +vain did Pope after Pope raise his warning voice and point to the +judgment which hung over Christendom; Constantinople fell. + + +6. + +Thus things did but go on worse and worse for the interest of +Christendom. Even the taking of Constantinople was not the limit of the +Ottoman successes. Mahomet the Conqueror, as he is called, was but the +seventh of the great Sultans, who carried on the fortunes of the +barbarian empire. An eighth, a ninth followed. The ninth, Selim, +returned from his Eastern conquests with the last of the Caliphs in his +company, and made him resign to himself the prerogatives of Pontiff and +Lawgiver, which the Caliph inherited from Mahomet. Then came a tenth, +the greatest perhaps of all, Soliman the Magnificent, the contemporary +of the Emperor Charles, Francis the First of France, and Henry the +Eighth of England. And an eleventh might have been expected, and a +twelfth, and the power of the enemy would have become greater and +greater, and would have afflicted the Church more and more heavily; and +what was to be the end of these things? What was to be the end? why, not +a Christian only, but any philosopher of this world would have known +what was to be the end, in spite of existing appearances. All earthly +power has an end; it rises to fall, it grows to die; and the depth of +its humiliation issues out of the pride of its lifting up. This is what +even a philosopher would say; he would not know whether Soliman, the +tenth conqueror, was also to be the last; but if not the tenth, he would +be bold to say it would be the twelfth, who would close their victories, +or the fifteenth, or the twentieth. But what a philosopher could not +say, what a Christian knows and enjoys, is this, that one earthly power +there is which is something more than earthly, and which, while it dies +in the individual, for he is human, is immortal in its succession, for +it is divine. + +It was a remarkable question addressed by the savage Tartars of Zingis +to the missionaries whom the Pope sent them in the thirteenth century: +"Who was the Pope?" they asked; "was he not an old man, five hundred +years of age?"[67] It was their one instinctive notion of the religion +of the West; and the Turks in their own history have often had cause to +lament over its truth. Togrul Beg first looked towards the West, in the +year 1048; twenty years later, between the years 1068 and 1074,[68] his +successor, Malek Shah, attracted the attention of the great St. Gregory +the Seventh. Time went on; they were thrown back by the impetuosity of +the Crusaders; they returned to the attack. Fresh and fresh multitudes +poured down from Turkistan; the furious deluge of the Tartars under +Zingis spread itself and disappeared; the Turks sunk in it, but emerged; +the race seemed indestructible; then Othman began a new career of +victory, as if there had never been an old one, and founded an empire, +more stable, more coherent than any Turkish rule before it. Then +followed Sultan after Sultan, each greater than his predecessor, while +the line of Popes had indeed many bright names to show, Pontiffs of +learning, and of piety, and of genius, and of zeal and energy; but still +where was the destined champion of Christendom, the holy, the +inflexible, the lion-hearted, the successor of St. Gregory, who in a +luxurious and a self-willed age, among his other high duties and +achievements, had the mission, by his prayers and by his efforts, of +stopping the enemy in his full career, and of rescuing Catholicism from +the pollution of the blasphemer? The five hundred years were not yet +completed. + +But the five hundred years at length were run out; the long-expected +champion was at hand. He appeared at the very time when the Ottoman +crescent had passed its zenith and was beginning to descend the sky. The +Turkish successes began in the middle of the eleventh century; they +ended in the middle of the sixteenth; in the middle of the sixteenth +century, just five hundred years after St. Gregory and Malek Shah, Selim +the Sot came to the throne of Othman, and St. Pius the Fifth to the +throne of the Apostle; Pius became Pope in 1566, and Selim became Sultan +in that very same year. + +O what a strange contrast, Gentlemen, did Rome and Constantinople +present at that era! Neither was what it had been, but they had changed +in opposite directions. Both had been the seat of Imperial Power; Rome, +where heresy never throve, had exchanged its Emperors for the succession +of St. Peter and St. Paul; Constantinople had passed from secular +supremacy into schism, and thence into a blasphemous apostasy. The +unhappy city, which with its subject provinces had been successively the +seat of Arianism, of Nestorianism, of Photianism, now had become the +metropolis of the false Prophet; and, while in the West the great +edifice of the Vatican Basilica was rising anew in its wonderful +proportions and its costly materials, the Temple of St. Sophia in the +East was degraded into a Mosque! O the strange contrast in the state of +the inhabitants of each place! Here in the city of Constantine a +God-denying misbelief was accompanied by an impure, man-degrading rule +of life, by the slavery of woman, and the corruption of youth. But +there, in the city which Apostles had consecrated with their blood, the +great and true reformation of the age was in full progress. There the +determinations in doctrine and discipline of the great Council of Trent +had lately been promulgated. There for twenty years past had laboured +our own dear saint, St. Philip, till he earned the title of Apostle of +Rome, and yet had still nearly thirty years of life and work in him. +There, too, the romantic royal-minded saint, Ignatius Loyola, had but +lately died. And there, when the Holy See fell vacant, and a Pope had to +be appointed in the great need of the Church, a saint was present in the +conclave to find in it a brother saint, and to recommend him for the +Chair of St. Peter, to the suffrages of the Fathers and Princes of the +Church. + + +7. + +St Carlo Borromeo,[69] the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, was the nephew +of the Pope who was just dead, and though he was only twenty-five years +of age at the time, nevertheless, by the various influences arising out +of the position which he held, and from the weight attached to his +personal character, he might be considered to sway the votes of the +College of Cardinals, and to determine the election of a new Pontiff. It +is remarkable that Cardinal Alessandrino, as St. Pius was then called, +(from Alexandria, in North Italy, near which he was born,) was not the +first object of his choice. His eyes were first turned on Cardinal +Morone, who was in many respects the most illustrious of the Sacred +College, and had served the Church on various occasions with great +devotion, and with distinguished success. From his youth he had been +reared up in public affairs, he had held many public offices, he had +great influence with the German Emperor, he had been Apostolical Legate +at the Council of Trent. He had great virtue, judgment, experience, and +sagacity. Such, then, was the choice of St. Carlo, and the votes were +taken; but it seemed otherwise to the Holy Ghost. He wanted four to +make up the sufficient number of votes. St. Carlo had to begin again; +and again, strange to say, the Cardinal Alessandrino still was not his +choice. He chose Cardinal Sirleto, a man most opposite in character and +history to Morone. He was not nobly born, he was no man of the world, he +had ever been urgent with the late Pope not to make him Cardinal. He was +a first-rate scholar in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin; versed in the +Scriptures, ready as a theologian. Moreover, he was of a character most +unblemished, of most innocent life, and of manners most popular and +winning. St. Pius as well as St. Carlo advocated the cause of Cardinal +Sirleto, and the votes were given a second time; a second time they came +short. It was like holy Samuel choosing Eliab instead of David. Then +matters were in confusion; one name and another were mentioned, and no +progress was made. + +At length and at last, and not till all others were thought of who could +enter into the minds of the electors, the Cardinal Alessandrino himself +began to attract attention. He seems not to have been known to the +Fathers of the conclave in general; a Dominican Friar, of humble rank, +ever taken up in the duties of his rule and his special employments, +living in his cell, knowing little or nothing of mankind--such a one St. +Carlo, the son of a prince and the nephew of a Pope, had no means of +knowing; and the intimacy, consequent on their cooeperation in behalf of +Cardinal Sirleto, was the first real introduction which the one Saint +had to the other. It was just at this moment that our own St. Philip was +in his small room at St. Girolamo, with Marcello Ferro, one of his +spiritual children, when, lifting up his eyes to heaven, and going +almost into an ecstasy, he said: "The Pope will be elected on Monday." +On one of the following days, as they were walking together, Marcello +asked him who was to be Pope. Philip answered, "Come, I will tell you; +the Pope will be one whom you have never thought of, and whom no one has +spoken of as likely; and that is Cardinal Alessandrino; and he will be +elected on Monday evening without fail." The event accomplished the +prediction; the statesman and the man of the world, the accomplished and +exemplary and amiable scholar, were put aside to make way for the Saint. +He took the name of Pius. + +I am far from denying that St. Pius was stern and severe, as far as a +heart burning within and melting with the fulness of divine love could +be so; and this was the reason that the conclave was so slow in electing +him. Yet such energy and vigour as his was necessary for his times. He +was emphatically a soldier of Christ in a time of insurrection and +rebellion, when, in a spiritual sense, martial law was proclaimed. St. +Philip, a private priest, might follow his bent, in casting his net for +souls, as he expressed himself, and enticing them to the truth; but the +Vicar of Christ had to right and to steer the vessel, when it was in +rough waters, and among breakers. A Protestant historian on this point +does justice to him. "When Pope," he says, "he lived in all the +austerity of his monastic life, fasted with the utmost rigour and +punctuality, would wear no finer garments than before ... arose at an +extremely early hour in the morning, and took no _siesta_. If we doubted +the depth of his religious earnestness, we may find a proof of it in his +declaration, that the Papacy was unfavourable to his advance in piety; +that it did not contribute to his salvation and to his attainment of +Paradise; and that, but for prayer, the burden had been too heavy for +him. The happiness of a fervent devotion, which often moved him to +tears, was granted him to the end of his life. The people were excited +to enthusiasm, when they saw him walking in procession, barefooted and +bareheaded, with the expression of unaffected piety in his countenance, +and with his long snow-white beard falling on his breast. They thought +there had never been so pious a Pope; they told each other how his very +look had converted heretics. Pius was kind, too, and affable; his +intercourse with his old servants was of the most confidential kind. At +a former period, before he was Pope, the Count della Trinita had +threatened to have him thrown into a well, and he had replied, that it +must be as God pleased. How beautiful was his greeting to this same +Count, who was now sent as ambassador to his court! 'See,' said he, when +he recognized him, 'how God preserves the innocent.' This was the only +way in which he made him feel that he recollected his enmity. He had +ever been most charitable and bounteous; he kept a list of the poor of +Rome, whom he regularly assisted according to their station and their +wants." The writer, after proceeding to condemn what he considers his +severity, ends thus: "It is certain that his deportment and mode of +thinking exercised an incalculable influence on his contemporaries, and +on the general development of the Church of which he was the head. After +so many circumstances had concurred to excite and foster a religious +spirit, after so many resolutions and measures had been taken to exalt +it to universal dominion, a Pope like this was needed, not only to +proclaim it to the world, but also to reduce it to practice; his zeal +and his example combined produced the most powerful effect."[70] + + +8. + +It is not to be supposed that a Saint on whom lay the "solicitude of +all the churches," should neglect the tradition, which his predecessors +of so many centuries had bequeathed to him, of zeal and hostility +against the Turkish power. He was only six years on the Pontifical +throne; and the achievement of which I am going to speak was among his +last; he died the following year. At this time the Ottoman armies were +continuing their course of victory; they had just taken Cyprus, with the +active cooeperation of the Greek population of the island, and were +massacring the Latin nobility and clergy, and mutilating and flaying +alive the Venetian governor. Yet the Saint found it impossible to move +Christendom to its own defence. How, indeed, was that to be done, when +half Christendom had become Protestant, and secretly perhaps felt as the +Greeks felt, that the Turk was its friend and ally? In such a quarrel +England, France, and Germany were out of the question. At length, +however, with great effort, he succeeded in forming a holy league +between himself, King Philip of Spain, and the Venetians. Don John, of +Austria, King Philip's half brother, was appointed commander-in-chief of +the forces, and Colonna admiral. The treaty was signed on the 24th of +May; but such was the cowardice and jealousy of the parties concerned, +that the autumn had arrived, and nothing of importance was accomplished. +With difficulty were the armies united; with difficulty were the +dissensions of the commanders brought to a settlement. Meanwhile, the +Ottomans were scouring the Gulf of Venice, blockading the ports, and +terrifying the city itself. + +But the holy Pope was securing the success of his cause by arms of his +own, which the Turks understood not. He had been appointing a Triduo of +supplication at Rome, and had taken part in the procession himself. He +had proclaimed a jubilee to the whole Christian world, for the happy +issue of the war. He had been interesting the Holy Virgin in his cause. +He presented to his admiral, after High Mass in his chapel, a standard +of red damask, embroidered with a crucifix, and with the figures of St. +Peter and St. Paul, and the legend, "_In hoc signo vinces_." Next, +sending to Messina, where the allied fleet lay, he assured the +general-in-chief and the armament, that "if, relying on divine, rather +than on human help, they attacked the enemy, God would not be wanting to +His own cause. He augured a prosperous and happy issue; not on any light +or random hope, but on a divine guidance, and by the anticipations of +many holy men." Moreover, he enjoined the officers to look to the good +conduct of their troops; to repress swearing, gaming, riot, and plunder, +and thereby to render them more deserving of victory. Accordingly, a +fast of three days was proclaimed for the fleet, beginning with the +Nativity of our Lady; all the men went to confession and communion, and +appropriated to themselves the plentiful indulgences which the Pope +attached to the expedition. Then they moved across the foot of Italy to +Corfu, with the intention of presenting themselves at once to the enemy; +being disappointed in their expectations, they turned back to the Gulf +of Corinth; and there at length, on the 7th of October, they found the +Turkish fleet, half way between Lepanto and the Echinades on the North, +and Patras, in the Morea, on the South; and, though it was towards +evening, strong in faith and zeal, they at once commenced the +engagement. + +The night before the battle, and the day itself, aged as he was, and +broken with a cruel malady, the Saint had passed in the Vatican in +fasting and prayer. All through the Holy City the monasteries and the +colleges were in prayer too. As the evening advanced, the Pontifical +treasurer asked an audience of the Sovereign Pontiff on an important +matter. Pius was in his bedroom, and began to converse with him; when +suddenly he stopped the conversation, left him, threw open the window, +and gazed up into heaven. Then closing it again, he looked gravely at +his official, and said, "This is no time for business; go, return thanks +to the Lord God. In this very hour our fleet has engaged the Turkish, +and is victorious." As the treasurer went out, he saw him fall on his +knees before the altar in thankfulness and joy. + +And a most memorable victory it was: upwards of 30,000 Turks are said to +have lost their lives in the engagement, and 3,500 were made prisoners. +Almost their whole fleet was taken. I quote from Protestant authorities +when I say that the Sultan, on the news of the calamity, neither ate, +nor drank, nor showed himself, nor saw any one for three days; that it +was the greatest blow which the Ottomans had had since Timour's victory +over Bajazet, a century and a half before; nay, that it was the +turning-point in the Turkish history;[71] and that, though the Sultans +have had isolated successes since, yet from that day they undeniably and +constantly declined, that they have lost their _prestige_ and their +self-confidence, and that the victories gained over them since are but +the complements and the reverberations of the overthrow at Lepanto. + +Such was the catastrophe of this long and anxious drama; the hosts of +Turkistan and Tartary had poured down from their wildernesses through +ages, to be withstood, and foiled, and reversed by an old man. It was a +repetition, though under different circumstances, of the history of Leo +and the Hun. In the contrast between the combatants we see the contrast +of the histories of good and evil. The Enemy, as the Turks in this +battle, rushing forward with the terrible fury of wild beasts; and the +Church, ever combating with the energetic perseverance and the heroic +obstinacy of St. Pius. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[57] Formby's Visit to the East. + +[58] The three remaining of the thirty are Orchan, Ibrahim, and Abdoul +Achmet. + +[59] Gibbon. + +[60] Gibbon. + +[61] Hume's History. + +[62] Ranke, vol. i + +[63] Turner's History. + +[64] Ibid. + +[65] Gieseler's Text Book. + +[66] Baronius. + +[67] Bergeron. + +[68] Gibbon says twenty years: Sharon Turner gives 1074. + +[69] Bollandist. Mai. 5. + +[70] Ranke's Hist. of the Popes. + +[71] "The battle of Lepanto arrested for ever the danger of Mahometan +invasion in the south of Europe."--Alison's Europe, vol. ix. p. 95. "The +powers of the Turks and of their European neighbours were now nearly +balanced; in the reign of Amurath the Third, who succeeded Selim, the +advantages became more evidently in favour of the Christians; and since +that time, though the Turks have sometimes enjoyed a transitory success, +the real stability of their affairs has constantly declined."--Bell's +Geography, vol. ii, part 2. Vid. also Ranke, vol. i., pp. 381-2. It is +remarkable that it should be passed over by Professor Creasy in his +"Fifteen Decisive Battles." + + + + +IV. + +THE PROSPECTS OF THE TURKS. + + + + +LECTURE VII. + +_Barbarism and Civilization._ + + +1. + +My object in the sketch which I have been attempting, of the history of +the Turks, has been to show the relation of this celebrated race to +Europe and to Christendom. I have not been led to speak of them by any +especial interest in them for their own sake, but by the circumstances +of the present moment, which bring them often before us, oblige us to +speak of them, and involve the necessity of entertaining some definite +sentiments about them. With this view I have been considering their +antecedents; whence they came, how they came, where they are, and what +title they have to be there at all. When I now say, that I am proceeding +to contemplate their future, do not suppose me to be so rash as to be +hazarding any political prophecy; I do but mean to set down some +characteristics in their existing state (if I have any right to fancy, +that in any true measure we at the distance of some thousand miles know +it), which naturally suggest to us to pursue their prospective history +in one direction, not in another. + +Now it seems safe to say, in the first place, that some time or other +the Ottomans will come to an end. All human power has its termination +sooner or later; states rise to fall; and, secure as they may be now, so +one day they will be in peril and in course of overthrow. Nineveh, Tyre, +Babylon, Persia, Egypt, and Greece, each has had its day; and this was +so clear to mankind 2,000 years ago, that the conqueror of Carthage +wept, as he gazed upon its flames, for he saw in them the conflagration +of her rival, his own Rome. "_Fuit Ilium._" The Saracens, the Moguls, +have had their day; those European states, so great three centuries ago, +Spain and Poland, Venice and Genoa, are now either extinct or in +decrepitude. What is the lot of all states, is still more strikingly +fulfilled in the case of empires; kingdoms indeed are of slow growth, +but empires commonly are but sudden manifestations of power, which are +as short-lived as they are sudden. Even the Roman empire, which is an +exception, did not last beyond five hundred years; the Saracenic three +hundred; the Spanish three hundred; the Russian has lasted about a +hundred and fifty, that is, since the Czar Peter; the British not a +hundred; the Ottoman has reached four or five. If there be an empire +which does not at all feel the pressure of this natural law, but lasts +continuously, repairs its losses, renews its vigour, and with every +successive age emulates its antecedent fame, such a power must be more +than human, and has no place in our present inquiry. We are concerned, +not with any supernatural power, to which is promised perpetuity, but +with the Ottoman empire, famous in history, vigorous in constitution, +but, after all, human, and nothing more. There is, then, neither risk +nor merit in prophesying the eventual fall of the Osmanlis, as of the +Seljukians, as of the Gaznevides before them; the only wonder is that +they actually have lasted as much as four hundred years. + +Such will be the issue and the sum of their whole history; but, certain +as this is, and confidently as it may be pronounced, nothing else can be +prudently asserted about their future. Times and moments are in the +decrees of the All-wise, and known to Him alone; and so are the +occurrences to which they give birth. The only further point open to +conjecture, as being not quite destitute of data for speculating upon +it, is the particular course of events and quality of circumstances, +which will precede the downfall of the Turkish power; for, granting that +that downfall is to come, it is reasonable to think it will take place +in that particular way, for which in their present state we see an +existing preparation, if such can be discerned, or in a way which at +least is not inconsistent with the peculiarities of that present state. + + +2. + +Hence, in speculating on this question, I shall take this as a +reasonable assumption first of all, that the catastrophe of a state is +according to its antecedents, and its destiny according to its nature; +and therefore, that we cannot venture on any anticipation of the +instruments or the conditions of its death, until we know something +about the principle and the character of its life. Next I lay down, +that, whereas a state is in its very idea a society, and a society is a +collection of many individuals made one by their participation in some +common possession, and to the extent of that common possession, the +presence of that possession held in common constitutes the life, and the +loss of it constitutes the dissolution, of a state. In like manner, +whatever avails or tends to withdraw that common possession, is either +fatal or prejudicial to the social union. As regards the Ottoman power, +then, we have to inquire what its life consists in, and what are the +dangers to which that life, from the nature of its constitution, is +exposed. + +Now, states may be broadly divided into _barbarous_ and _civilized_; +their common possession, or life, is some object either of _sense_ or of +_imagination_; and their bane and destruction is either _external_ or +_internal_. And, to speak in general terms, without allowing for +exceptions or limitations (for I am treating the subject scientifically +only so far as is requisite for my particular inquiry), we may pronounce +that _barbarous_ states live in a common _imagination_, and are +destroyed _from without_; whereas _civilized_ states live in some common +object of _sense_, and are destroyed from _within_. + +By _external_ enemies I mean foreign wars, foreign influence, +insurrection of slaves or of subject races, famine, accidental +enormities of individuals in power, and other instruments analogous to +what, in the case of an individual, is called a violent death; by +_internal_ I mean civil contention, excessive changes, revolution, decay +of public spirit, which may be considered analogous to natural death. + +Again, by objects of _imagination_, I mean such as religion, true or +false (for there are not only false imaginations but true), divine +mission of a sovereign or of a dynasty, and historical fame; and by +objects of _sense_, such as secular interests, country, home, protection +of person and property. + +I do not allude to the conservative power of habit when I speak of the +social bond, because habit is rather the necessary result of possessing +a common object, and protects all states equally, barbarous and +civilized. Nor do I include moral degeneracy among the instruments of +their destruction, because this too attaches to all states, civilized +and barbarous, and is rather a disposition exposing them to the +influence of what is their bane, than a direct cause of their ruin in +itself. + + +3. + +But what is meant by the words _barbarous_ and _civilized_, as applied +to political bodies? this is a question which it will take more time to +answer, even if I succeed in satisfying it at all. By "barbarism," then, +I suppose, in itself is meant a state of nature; and by "civilization," +a state of mental cultivation and discipline. In a state of nature man +has reason, conscience, affections, and passions, and he uses these +severally, or rather is influenced by them, according to circumstances; +and whereas they do not one and all necessarily move in the same +direction, he takes no great pains to make them agree together, but lets +them severally take their course, and, if I may so speak, jostle into a +sort of union, and get on together, as best they can. He does not +improve his talents; he does not simplify and fix his motives; he does +not put his impulses under the control of principle, or form his mind +upon a rule. He grows up pretty much what he was when a child; +capricious, wayward, unstable, idle, irritable, excitable; with not much +more of habituation than that which experience of living unconsciously +forces even on the brutes. Brutes act upon instinct, not on reason; they +are ferocious when they are hungry; they fiercely indulge their +appetite; they gorge themselves; they fall into torpor and inactivity. +In a like, but a more human way, the savage is drawn by the object held +up to him, as if he could not help following it; an excitement rushes on +him, and he yields to it without a struggle; he acts according to the +moment, without regard to consequences; he is energetic or slothful, +tempestuous or calm, as the winds blow or the sun shines. He is one +being to-day, another to-morrow, as if he were simply the sport of +influences or circumstances. If he is raised somewhat above this extreme +state of barbarism, just one idea or feeling occupies the narrow range +of his thoughts, to the exclusion of others. + +Moreover, brutes differ from men in this; that they cannot invent, +cannot progress. They remain in the use of those faculties and methods, +which nature gave them at their birth. They are endowed by the law of +their being with certain weapons of defence, and they do not improve on +them. They have food, raiment, and dwelling, ready at their command. +They need no arrow or noose to catch their prey, nor kitchen to dress +it; no garment to wrap round them, nor roof to shelter them. Their +claws, their teeth, their viscera, are their butcher and their cook; and +their fur is their wardrobe. The cave or the jungle is their home; or if +it is their nature to exercise some architectural craft, they have not +to learn it. But man comes into the world with the capabilities, rather +than the means and appliances, of life. He begins with a small capital, +but one which admits of indefinite improvement. He is, in his very idea, +a creature of progress. He starts, the inferior of the brute animals, +but he surpasses them in the long run; he subjects them to himself, and +he goes forward on a career, which at least hitherto has not found its +limit. + +Even the savage of course in some measure exemplifies this law of human +nature, and is lord of the brutes; and what he is and man is generally, +compared with the inferior animals, such is man civilized compared with +the barbarian. Civilization is that state to which man's nature points +and tends; it is the systematic use, improvement, and combination of +those faculties which are his characteristic; and, viewed in its idea, +it is the perfection, the happiness of our mortal state. It is the +development of art out of nature, and of self-government out of passion, +and of certainty out of opinion, and of faith out of reason. It is the +due disposition of the various powers of the soul, each in its place, +the subordination or subjection of the inferior, and the union of all +into one whole. Aims, rules, views, habits, projects; prudence, +foresight, observation, inquiry, invention, resource, resolution, +perseverance, are its characteristics. Justice, benevolence, expedience, +propriety, religion, are its recognized, its motive principles. +Supernatural truth is its sovereign law. Such is it in its true idea, +synonymous with Christianity; and, not only in idea, but in matter of +fact also, is Christianity ever civilization, as far as its influence +prevails; but, unhappily, in matter of fact, civilization is not +necessarily Christianity. If we would view things as they really are, we +must bear in mind that, true as it is, that only a supernatural grace +can raise man towards the perfection of his nature, yet it is +possible,--without the cultivation of its spiritual part, which +contemplates objects subtle, distant, delicate of apprehension, and slow +of operation, nay, even with an actual contempt of faith and devotion, +in comparison of objects tangible and present,--possible it is, I say, +to combine in some sort the other faculties of man into one, and to +progress forward, with the substitution of natural religion for faith, +and a refined expediency or propriety for true morality, just as with +practice a man might manage to run without an arm or without sight, and +as the defect of one organ is sometimes supplied to a certain extent by +the preternatural action of another. + +And this is, in fact, what is commonly understood by civilization, and +it is the sense in which the word must be used here; not that perfection +which nature aims at, and requires, and cannot of itself reach; but a +second-rate perfection of nature, being what it is, and remaining what +it is, without any supernatural principle, only with its powers of +ratiocination, judgment, sagacity, and imagination fully exercised, and +the affections and passions under sufficient control. Such was it, in +its higher excellences, in heathen Greece and Rome, where the perception +of moral principles, possessed by the cultivated and accomplished +intellect, by the mind of Plato or Isocrates, of Cleanthes, Seneca, +Epictetus, or Antoninus, rivalled in outward pretensions the inspired +teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Such is it at the present day, +not only in its reception of the elements of religion and morals (when +Christianity is in the midst of it as an inexhaustible storehouse for +natural reason to borrow from), but especially in a province peculiar to +these times, viz., in science and art, in physics, in politics, in +economics, and mechanics. And great as are its attainments at present, +still, as I have said, we are far from being able to discern, even in +the distance, the limit of its advancement and of its perfectibility. + + +4. + +It is evident from what has been said, that barbarism is a principle, +not of society, but of isolation; he who will not submit even to +himself, is not likely to volunteer a subjection to others; and this is +more or less the price which, from the nature of the case, the members +of society pay individually for the security of that which they hold in +common. It follows, that no polity can be simply barbarous; barbarians +may indeed combine in small bodies, as they have done in Gaul, Scythia, +and America, from the gregariousness of our nature, from fellowship of +blood, from accidental neighbourhood, or for self-preservation; but such +societies are not bodies or polities; they are but the chance result of +an occasion, and are destitute of a common life. Barbarism has no +individuality, it has no history; quarrels between neighbouring tribes, +grudges, blood-shedding, exhaustion, raids, success, defeat, the same +thing over and over again, this is not the action of society, nor the +subject-matter of narrative; it neither interests the curiosity, nor +leaves any impression on the memory. "_Labitur et labetur_;" it forms +and breaks again, like the billows of the sea, and is but a mockery of +unity. When I speak of barbarian states, I mean such as consist of +members not simply barbarous, but just so far removed from the extreme +of savageness that they admit of having certain principles in common, +and are able to submit themselves individually to the system which rises +out of those principles; that they do recognize the ideas of government, +property, and law, however imperfectly; though they still differ from +civilized polities in those main points, which I have set down as +analogous to the difference between brutes and the human species. + +As instinct is perfect after its kind at first, and never advances, +whereas the range of the intellect is ever growing, so barbarous states +are pretty much the same from first to last, and this is their +characteristic; and civilized states, on the other hand, though they +have had a barbarian era, are ever advancing further and further from +it, and thus their distinguishing badge is progress. So far my line of +thought leads me to concur in the elaborate remarks on the subject put +forth by the celebrated M. Guizot, in his "Lectures on European +Civilization." Civilized states are ever developing into a more perfect +organization, and a more exact and more various operation; they are ever +increasing their stock of thoughts and of knowledge: ever creating, +comparing, disposing, and improving. Hence, while bodily strength is the +token of barbarian power, mental ability is the honourable badge of +civilized states. The one is like Ajax, the other like Ulysses; +civilized nations are constructive, barbarous are destructive. +Civilization spreads by the ways of peace, by moral suasion, by means of +literature, the arts, commerce, diplomacy, institutions; and, though +material power never can be superseded, it is subordinate to the +influence of mind. Barbarians can provide themselves with swift and +hardy horses, can sweep over a country, rush on with a shout, use the +steel and firebrand, and frighten and overwhelm the weak or cowardly; +but in the wars of civilized countries, even the implements of carnage +are scientifically constructed, and are calculated to lessen or +supersede it; and a campaign becomes co-ordinately a tour of _savants_, +or a colonizing expedition, or a political demonstration. When Sesostris +marched through Asia to the Euxine, he left upon his road monuments of +himself, which have not utterly disappeared even at this day; and the +memorials of the rule of the Pharaohs are still engraved on the rocks of +Libya and Arabia. Alexander, again, in a later age, crossed from +Macedonia to Asia with the disciples of Aristotle in his train. His +march was the diffusion of the arts and commerce, and the acquisition of +scientific knowledge; the countries he passed through were accurately +described, as he proceeded, and the intervals between halt and halt +regularly measured.[72] His naval armaments explored nearly the whole +distance from Attock on the Upper Indus to the Isthmus of Suez: his +philosophers noted down the various productions and beasts of the +unknown East; and his courtiers were the first to report to the western +world the singular institutions of Hindostan. + +Again, while Attila boasted that his horse's hoof withered the grass it +trod on, and Zingis could gallop over the site of the cities he had +destroyed, Seleucus, or Ptolemy, or Trajan, covered the range of his +conquests with broad capitals, marts of commerce, noble roads, and +spacious harbours. Lucullus collected a magnificent library in the East, +and Caesar converted his northern expeditions into an antiquarian and +historical research. + +Nor is this an accident in Roman annals. She was a power pre-eminently +military; yet what is her history but the most remarkable instance of a +political development and progress? More than any power, she was able to +accommodate and expand her institutions according to the circumstances +of successive ages, extending her municipal privileges to the conquered +cities, yielding herself to the literature of Greece, and admitting into +her bosom the rites of Egypt and Phrygia. At length, by an effort of +versatility unrivalled in history, she was able to reverse one main +article of her policy, and, as she had already acknowledged the +intellectual supremacy of Greece, so did she humble herself in a still +more striking manner before a religion which she had persecuted. + + +5. + +If these remarks upon the difference between barbarism and civilization +be in the main correct, they have prepared the way for answering the +question which I have raised concerning the principle of life and the +mode of dissolution proper or natural to barbarous and civilized powers +respectively. Ratiocination and its kindred processes, which are the +necessary instruments of political progress, are, taking things as we +find them, hostile to imagination and auxiliary to sense. It is true +that a St. Thomas can draw out a whole system of theology from +principles impalpable and invisible, and fix upon the mind by pure +reason a vast multitude of facts and truths which have no pretence to a +bodily form. But, taking man as he is, we shall commonly find him +dissatisfied with a demonstrative process from an undemonstrated +premiss, and, when he has once begun to reason, he will seek to prove +the point from which his reasoning starts, as well as that at which it +arrives. Thus he will be forced back from immediate first principles to +others more remote, nor will he be satisfied till he ultimately reaches +those which are as much within his own handling and mastery as the +reasoning apparatus itself. Hence it is that civilized states ever tend +to substitute objects of sense for objects of imagination, as the basis +of their existence. The Pope's political power was greater when Europe +was semi-barbarous; and the divine right of the successors of the +English St. Edward received a death-blow in the philosophy of Bacon and +Locke. At present, I suppose, our own political life, as a nation, lies +in the supremacy of the law; and that again is resolvable into the +internal peace, and protection of life and property, and freedom of the +individual, which are its result; and these I call objects of sense. + +For the very same reason, objects of this nature will not constitute the +life of a barbarian community; prudence, foresight, calculation of +consequences do not enter into its range of mental operations; it has no +talent for analysis; it cannot understand expediency; it is impressed +and affected by what is direct and absolute. Religion, superstition, +belief in persons and families, objects, not proveable, but vivid and +imposing, will be the bond which keeps its members together. I have +already alluded to the divinity which in the imagination of the Huns +encircled the hideous form of Attila. Zingis claimed for himself or his +ancestry a miraculous conception, and received from a prophet, who +ascended to heaven, the dominion of the earth. He called himself the son +of God; and when the missionary friars came to his immediate successor +from the Pope, that successor made answer to them, that it was the +Pope's duty to do him homage, as being earthly lord of all by divine +right. It was a similar pretension, I need hardly say, which was the +life of the Mahometan conquests, when the wild Saracen first issued from +the Arabian desert. So, too, in the other hemisphere, the Caziques of +aboriginal America were considered to be brothers of the Sun, and +received religious homage as his representatives. They spoke as the +oracles of the divinity, and claimed the power of regulating the seasons +and the weather at their will. This was especially the case in Peru; +"the whole system of policy," says Robertson, "was founded on religion. +The Incas appeared, not only as a legislator, but as the messenger of +heaven."[73] Elsewhere, the divine virtue has been considered to rest, +not on the monarch, but on the code of laws, which accordingly is the +social principle of the nation. The Celts ascribed their legislation to +Mercury;[74] as Lycurgus and Numa in Sparta and Rome appealed to a +divine sanction in behalf of their respective institutions. + +This being the case, imperfect as is the condition of barbarous states, +still what is there to overthrow them? They have a principle of union +congenial to the state of their intellect, and they have not the +ratiocinative habit to scrutinize and invalidate it. Since they admit of +no mental progress, what serves as a bond to-day will be equally +serviceable to-morrow; so that apparently their dissolution cannot come +from themselves. It is true, a barbarous people, possessed of a +beautiful country, may be relaxed in luxury and effeminacy; but such +degeneracy has no obvious tendency to weaken their faith in the objects +in which their political unity consists, though it may render them +defenceless against external attacks. And here indeed lies their real +peril at all times; they are ever vulnerable from without. Thus Sparta, +formed deliberately on a barbarian pattern, remained faithful to it, +without change, without decay, while its intellectual rival was the +victim of successive revolutions. At length its power was broken +externally by the Theban Epaminondas; and by the restoration of +Messenia, the insurrection of the Laconians, and the emancipation of the +Helots. Agesilaus, at the time of its fall, was as good a Spartan as any +of his predecessors. Again, the ancient Empire of the Huns in Asia is +said to have lasted 1,500 years; at length its wanton tyranny was put an +end to by the Chinese King plunging into the Tartar desert, and thus +breaking their power. Thrace, again, a barbarous country, lasted many +centuries, with kings of great vigour, with much external prosperity, +and then succumbed, not to internal revolution, but to the permanent +ascendancy of Rome. Similar too is the instance of Pontus, and again of +Numidia and Mauritania; they may have had great or accomplished +sovereigns, but they have no history, except in the wars of their +conquerors. Great leaders are necessary for the prosperity, as great +enemies for the destruction, of barbarians; they thrive, as they come to +nought, by means of agents external to themselves. So again Malek Shah +died, and his empire fell to pieces. Hence, too, the unexpected and +utter catastrophes which befall barbarous people, analogous to a violent +death, which I have alluded to in speaking of the sudden rise and fall +of Tartar dynasties; for no one can anticipate results, which, instead +of being the slow evolution of political principles, proceed from the +accident of external quarrels and of the relative condition of rival +powers. + + +6. + +Far otherwise is the history of those states, in which the intellect, +not prescription, is recognized as the ultimate authority, and where the +course of time is necessarily accompanied by a corresponding course of +change. Such polities are ever in progress; at first from worse to +better, and then from better to worse. In all human things there is a +_maximum_ of advance, and that _maximum_ is not an established state of +things, but a point in a career. The cultivation of reason and the +spread of knowledge for a time develop and at length dissipate the +elements of political greatness; acting first as the invaluable ally of +public spirit, and then as its insidious enemy. Barbarian minds remain +in the circle of ideas which sufficed their forefathers; the opinions, +principles, and habits which they inherited, they transmit. They have +the _prestige_ of antiquity and the strength of conservatism; but where +thought is encouraged, too many will think, and will think too much. The +sentiment of sacredness in institutions fades away, and the measure of +truth or expediency is the private judgment of the individual. An +endless variety of opinion is the certain though slow result; no +overpowering majority of judgments is found to decide what is good and +what is bad; political measures become acts of compromise; and at +length the common bond of unity in the state consists in nothing really +common, but simply in the unanimous wish of each member of it to secure +his own interests. Thus the veterans of Sylla, comfortably settled in +their farms, refused to rally round Pompey in his war with Caesar.[75] +Thus the municipal cities in the provinces refused to unite together in +a later age for the defence of the Empire, then evidently on the way to +dissolution.[76] Selfishness takes the place of loyalty, patriotism, and +faith; parties grow and strengthen themselves; classes and ranks +withdraw from each other more and more; the national energy becomes but +a self-consuming fever, and but enables the constituent parts to be +their own mutual destruction; and at length such union as is necessary +for political life is found to be impossible. Meanwhile corruption of +morals, which is common to all prosperous countries, completes the +internal ruin, and, whether an external enemy appears or not, the nation +can hardly be considered any more a state. It is but like some old arch, +which, when its supports are crumbled away, stands by the force of +cohesion, no one knows how. It dies a natural death, even though some +Alaric or Genseric happens to be at hand to take possession of the +corpse. And centuries before the end comes, patriots may see it coming, +though they cannot tell its hour; and that hour creates surprise, not +because it at length is come, but because it has been so long delayed. + +I have been referring to the decline, as I before spoke of the progress, +of the Romans: the career of that people through twelve centuries is a +drama of sustained interest and equable and majestic evolution; it has +given scope for the most ingenious researches into its internal history. +There one age is the parent of another; the elements and principles of +its political system are brought out into a variety of powers with +mutual relations; external events act and react with domestic affairs; +manners and views change; excess of prosperity becomes the omen of +misfortune to come; till in the words of the poet, "_Suis et ipsa Roma +viribus ruit_." For how many philosophical histories has Greece afforded +opportunity! while the constitutional history of England, as far as it +has hitherto gone, is a recognized subject-matter of scientific and +professional teaching. The case is the same with the history of the +medieval Italian cities, of the medieval Church, and of the Saracenic +empire. As regards the last of these instances, I am not alluding merely +to the civil contentions and wars which took place in it, for such may +equally happen to a barbarian state. Cupidity and ambition are inherent +in the nature of man; the Gauls and British, the tribes of Scythia, the +Seljukian Turks, consisted each of a number of mutually hostile +communities or kingdoms. What is relevant to my purpose in the history +of the Saracens is, that their quarrels often had an intellectual basis, +and arose out of their religion. The white, the green, and the black +factions, who severally reigned at Cordova, Cairo, and Bagdad, +excommunicated each other, and claimed severally to be the successors of +Mahomet. Then came the fanatical innovation of the Carmathians, who +pretended to a divine mission to complete the religion of Mahomet, as +Mahomet had completed Christianity.[77] They relaxed the duties of +ablution, fasting, and pilgrimage; admitted the use of wine, and +protested against the worldly pomp of the Caliphs. They spread their +tents along the coast of the Persian Gulf, and in no long time were able +to bring an army of 100,000 men into the field. Ultimately they took up +their residence on the borders of Assyria, Syria, and Egypt. As time +went on, and the power of the Caliphs was still further reduced, +religious contention broke out in Bagdad itself, between the rigid and +the lax parties, and the followers of the Abbassides and of Ali. + +If we consult ancient history, the case is the same; the Jews, a people +of progress, were ruined, as appears on the face of Scripture, by +internal causes; they split into sects, Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians, +Essenes, as soon as the Divine Hand retired from the direct government +of their polity; and they were fighting together in Jerusalem when the +Romans were beleaguering its walls. Nay, even the disunion, which was a +special and divine punishment for their sins, was fulfilled according to +this natural law which I am illustrating; it was the splendid reign of +Solomon, the era of literature, commerce, opulence, and general +prosperity, which was the antecedent of fatal revolutions. If we turn to +civilized nations of an even earlier date, the case is the same; we are +accustomed indeed to associate Chinese and Egyptians with ideas of +perpetual untroubled stability; but a philosophical historian, whom I +shall presently cite, speaks far otherwise of those times when the +intellect was prominently active. China was for many centuries the seat +of a number of petty principalities, which were limited, not despotic; +about 200 years before our era it became one absolute monarchy. Till +then idolatry was unknown, and the doctrines of Confucius were in +honour: the first Emperor ordered a general burning of books, burning at +the same time between 400 and 500 of the followers of Confucius, and +persecuting the men of letters. A rationalist philosophy succeeded, and +this again gave way to the introduction of the religion of Buddha or Fo, +just about the time of our Lord's Crucifixion. At later periods, in the +fifth and in the thirteenth centuries, the country was divided into two +distinct kingdoms, north and south; and such was its state when Marco +Polo visited it. It has been several times conquered by the Tartars, and +it is a remarkable proof of its civilization, that it has ever obliged +them to adopt its manners, laws, and even language. China, then, has a +distinct and peculiar internal history, and has paid to the full the +penalty which, in the course of centuries, goes along with the blessings +of civilization. "The whole history of China, from beginning to end," +says Frederic Schlegel, "displays one continued series of seditions, +usurpations, anarchy, changes of dynasty, and other violent revolutions +and catastrophes."[78] + +The history of Egypt tells the same tale; "Civil discord," he says, +"existed there under various forms. The country itself was often divided +into several kingdoms; and, even when united, we observe a great +conflict of interests between the agricultural province of Upper Egypt, +and the commercial and manufacturing province of the Lower: as, indeed, +a similar clashing of interests is often to be noticed in modern states. +In the period immediately preceding the Persian conquest, the caste of +warriors, or the whole class of nobility, were decidedly opposed to the +monarchs, because they imagined them to promote too much the power of +the priesthood;"--in other words, their national downfall was not owing +directly to an external cause, but to an internal collision of parties +and interests;--"in the same way," continues the author I am quoting, +"as the history of India presents a similar rivalry or political +hostility between the Brahmins and the caste of the Cshatriyas. In the +reign of Psammatichus, the disaffection of the native nobility obliged +this prince to take Greek soldiers into his pay; and thus at length was +the defence of Egypt entrusted to an army of foreign mercenaries." He +adds, which is apposite to my purpose, for I suppose he is speaking of +civilized nations, "In general, states and kingdoms, before they succumb +to a foreign conqueror, are, if not outwardly and visibly, yet secretly +and internally, undermined." + +So much on the connexion between the civilization of a state and its +overthrow from internal causes, or, what may be called, its succumbing +to a natural death. I will only add, that I am but attempting to set +down general rules, to which there may be exceptions, explicable or not. +For instance, Venice is one of the most civilized states of the middle +age; but, by a system of jealous and odious tyranny, it continued to +maintain its ground without revolution, when revolutions were frequent +in the other Italian cities; yet the very necessity of so severe a +despotism shows us what would have happened there, if natural causes had +been left to work unimpeded. + + +7. + +I feel I owe you, Gentlemen, an apology for the time I have consumed in +an abstract discussion; it is drawing to an end, but it still requires +the notice of two questions, on which, however, I have not much to say, +even if I would. First, can a civilized state become barbarian in course +of years? and secondly, can a barbarian state ever become civilized? + +As to the former of these questions, considering the human race did +start with society, and did not start with barbarism, and barbarism +exists, we might be inclined at first sight to answer it in the +affirmative; again, since Christianity implies civilization, and is the +recovery of the whole race of Adam, we might answer the second in the +affirmative also; but such resolutions of the inquiry are scarcely to +the point. Doubtless the human race may degenerate, doubtless it may +make progress; doubtless men, viewed as individuals or as members of +races or tribes, or as inhabitants of certain countries, may change +their state from better to worse, or from worse to better: this, +however, is not the question; but whether a given state, which has a +certain political unity, can change the principle of that unity, and, +without breaking up into its component parts, become barbarian instead +of civilized, and civilized instead of barbarian. + +(1.) Now as to the latter of these questions, it still must be answered +in the affirmative under circumstances: that is, all civilized states +have started with barbarism, and have gradually in the course of ages +developed into civilization, unless there be any political community in +the world, as China has by some been considered, representative of Noe; +and unless we consider the case of colonies, as Constantinople or +Venice, fairly to form an exception. But the question is very much +altered, when we contemplate a change in one or two generations from +barbarism to civilization. The substitution of one form of political +life for another, when it occurs, is the sort of process by which +fossils take the place of animal substances, or strata are formed, or +carbon is crystallized, or boys grow into men. Christianity itself has +never, I think, suddenly civilized a race; national habits and opinions +cannot be cast off at will without miracle. Hence the extreme jealousy +and irritation of the members of a state with innovators, who would +tamper with what the Greeks called [Greek: nomima], or constitutional +and vital usages. Hence the fury of Pentheus against the Maenades, and of +the Scythians against their King Scylas, and the agitation created at +Athens by the destruction of the Mercuries. Hence the obstinacy of the +Roman statesmen of old, and of the British constituency now, against the +Catholic Church; and the feeling is so far justified, that projected +innovations often turn out, if not simply nugatory, nothing short of +destructive; and though there is a great notion just now that the +British Constitution admits of being fitted upon every people under +heaven, from the Blacks to the Italians, I do not know what has occurred +to give plausibility to the anticipation. England herself once attempted +the costume of republicanism, but she found that monarchy was part of +her political essence. + +(2.) Still less can the possibility be admitted of a civilized polity +really relapsing into barbarism; though a state of things may be +superinduced, which in many of its features may be thought to resemble +it. In truth, I have not yet traced out the ultimate result of those +internal revolutions which I have assigned as the incidental but certain +evils, in the long run, attendant on civilization. That result is +various: sometimes the over-civilized and degenerate people is swept +from the face of the earth, as the Roman populations in Africa by the +Vandals; sometimes it is reduced to servitude, as the Egyptians by the +Ptolemies, or the Greeks by the Turks; sometimes it is absorbed or +included in new political combinations, as the northern Italians by the +Lombards and Franks; sometimes it remains unmolested on its own +territory, and lives by the momentum, or the repute, or the habit, or +the tradition of its former civilization. This last of course is the +only case which bears upon the question I am considering; and I grant +that a state of things does then ensue, which in some of its phenomena +is like barbarism; China is an example in point. No one can deny its +civilization; its diligent care of the soil, its cultivation of silk and +of the tea-tree, its populousness, its canals, its literature, its court +ceremonial, its refinement of manners, its power of persevering so +loyally in its old institutions through so many ages, abundantly +vindicate it from the reproach of barbarism. But at the same time there +are tokens of degeneracy, which are all the stronger for being also +tokens, still more striking than those I have hitherto mentioned, of its +high civilization in times past. It has had for ages the knowledge of +the more recent discoveries and institutions of the West, which have +done so much for Europe, yet it has been unable to use them, the +magnetic needle, gunpowder, and printing. The littleness of the national +character, its self-conceit, and its formality, are further instances of +an effete civilization. They remind the observer vividly of the picture +which history presents to us of the Byzantine Court before the taking of +Constantinople; or, again, of that _material_ retention of Christian +doctrine (to use the theological word), of which Protestantism in its +more orthodox exhibitions, and still more, of which the Greek schism +affords the specimen. Either a state of deadness and mechanical action, +or a restless ebb and flow of opinion and sentiment, is the symptom of +that intellectual exhaustion and decrepitude, whether in politics or +religion, which, if old age be a second childhood, may in some sense be +called barbarism, and of which, at present, we are respectively reminded +in China on the one hand, and in some southern states of Europe on the +other. + +These are the principles, whatever modifications they may require, +which, however rudely adumbrated, I trust will suffice to enable me to +contemplate the future of the Ottoman Empire. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[72] Murray's Asia. + +[73] Robertson's America, books vi. and vii. + +[74] Univ. Hist. Anc., vol. xvi. + +[75] Merivale's Rome, vol. ii. + +[76] Guizot's European Civilization. + +[77] Gibbon, vol x. + +[78] Philosophy of History; Robertson's translation. + + + + +LECTURE VIII. + +_The Past and Present of the Ottomans._ + + +Whatever objections in detail may stand against the account I have been +giving of barbarism and civilization--and I trust there are none which +do not admit of removal--so far, I think, is clear, that, if my account +be only in the main correct, the Turkish power certainly is not a +civilized, and is a barbarous power. The barbarian lives without +principle and without aim; he does but reflect the successive outward +circumstances in which he finds himself, and he varies with them. He +changes suddenly, when their change is sudden, and is as unlike what he +was just before, as one fortune or external condition is unlike another. +He moves when he is urged by appetite; else, he remains in sloth and +inactivity. He lives, and he dies, and he has done nothing, but leaves +the world as he found it. And what the individual is, such is his whole +generation; and as that generation, such is the generation before and +after. No generation can say what it has been doing; it has not made the +state of things better or worse; for retrogression there is hardly room; +for progress, no sort of material. Now I shall show that these +characteristics of the barbarian are rudimental points, as I may call +them, in the picture of the Turks, as drawn by those who have studied +them. I shall principally avail myself of the information supplied by +Mr. Thornton and M. Volney, men of name and ability, and for various +reasons preferable as authorities to writers of the present day. + + +1. + +"The Turks," says Mr. Thornton, who, though not blind to their +shortcomings, is certainly favourable to them, "the Turks are of a grave +and saturnine cast ... patient of hunger and privations, capable of +enduring the hardships of war, but not much inclined to habits of +industry.... They prefer apathy and indolence to active enjoyments; but +when moved by a powerful stimulus they sometimes indulge in pleasures in +excess." "The Turk," he says elsewhere, "stretched at his ease on the +banks of the Bosphorus, glides down the stream of existence without +reflection on the past, and without anxiety for the future. His life is +one continued and unvaried reverie. To his imagination the whole +universe appears occupied in procuring him pleasures.... Every custom +invites to repose, and every object inspires an indolent voluptuousness. +Their delight is to recline on soft verdure under the shade of trees, +and to muse without fixing the attention, lulled by the trickling of a +fountain or the murmuring of a rivulet, and inhaling through their pipe +a gently inebriating vapour. Such pleasures, the highest which the rich +can enjoy, are equally within the reach of the artizan or the peasant." + +M. Volney corroborates this account of them:--"Their behaviour," he +says, "is serious, austere, and melancholy; they rarely laugh, and the +gaiety of the French appears to them a fit of delirium. When they speak, +it is with deliberation, without gestures and without passion; they +listen without interrupting you; they are silent for whole days +together, and they by no means pique themselves on supporting +conversation. If they walk, it is always leisurely, and on business. +They have no idea of our troublesome activity, and our walks backwards +and forwards for amusement. Continually seated, they pass whole days +smoking, with their legs crossed, their pipes in their mouths, and +almost without changing their attitude." Englishmen present as great a +contrast to the Ottoman as the French; as a late English traveller +brings before us, apropos of seeing some Turks in quarantine: +"Certainly," he says, "Englishmen are the least able to wait, and the +Turks the most so, of any people I have ever seen. To impede an +Englishman's locomotion on a journey, is equivalent to stopping the +circulation of his blood; to disturb the repose of a Turk on his, is to +re-awaken him to a painful sense of the miseries of life. The one nation +at rest is as much tormented as Prometheus, chained to his rock, with +the vulture feeding on him; the other in motion is as uncomfortable as +Ixion tied to his ever-moving wheel."[79] + + +2. + +However, the barbarian, when roused to action, is a very different being +from the barbarian at rest. "The Turk," says Mr. Thornton, "is usually +placid, hypochondriac, and unimpassioned; but, when the customary +sedateness of his temper is ruffled, his passions ... are furious and +uncontrollable. The individual seems possessed with all the ungovernable +fury of a multitude; and all ties, all attachments, all natural and +moral obligations, are forgotten or despised, till his rage subsides." A +similar remark is made by a writer of the day: "The Turk on horseback +has no resemblance to the Turk reclining on his carpet. He there assumes +a vigour, and displays a dexterity, which few Europeans would be +capable of emulating; no horsemen surpass the Turks; and, with all the +indolence of which they are accused, no people are more fond of the +violent exercise of riding."[80] + +So was it with their ancestors, the Tartars; now dosing on their horses +or their waggons, now galloping over the plains from morning to night. +However, these successive phases of Turkish character, as reported by +travellers, have seemed to readers as inconsistencies in their reports; +Thornton accepts the inconsistency. "The national character of the +Turks," he says, "is a composition of contradictory qualities. We find +them brave and pusillanimous; gentle and ferocious; resolute and +inconstant; active and indolent; fastidiously abstemious, and +indiscriminately indulgent. The great are alternately haughty and +humble, arrogant and cringing, liberal and sordid." What is this but to +say in one word that we find them barbarians? + +According to these distinct moods or phases of character, they will +leave very various impressions of themselves on the minds of successive +beholders. A traveller finds them in their ordinary state in repose and +serenity; he is surprised and startled to find them so different from +what he imagined; he admires and extols them, and inveighs against the +prejudice which has slandered them to the European world. He finds them +mild and patient, tender to the brute creation, as becomes the children +of a Tartar shepherd, kind and hospitable, self-possessed and dignified, +the lowest classes sociable with each other, and the children gamesome. +It is true; they are as noble as the lion of the desert, and as gentle +and as playful as the fireside cat. Our traveller observes all +this;[81] and seems to forget that from the humblest to the highest of +the feline tribe, from the cat to the lion, the most wanton and +tyrannical cruelty alternates with qualities more engaging or more +elevated. Other barbarous tribes also have their innocent aspects--from +the Scythians in the classical poets and historians down to the Lewchoo +islanders in the pages of Basil Hall. + + +3. + +2. But whatever be the natural excellences of the Turks, progressive +they are not. This Sir Charles Fellows seems to allow: "My intimacy with +the character of the Turks," he says, "which has led me to think so +highly of their moral excellence, has not given me the same favourable +impression of the development of their mental powers. Their refinement +is of manners and affections; there is little cultivation or activity of +mind among them." This admission implies a great deal, and brings us to +a fresh consideration. Observe, they were in the eighth century of their +political existence when Thornton and Volney lived among them, and these +authors report of them as follows:--"Their buildings," says Thornton, +"are heavy in their proportions, bad in detail, both in taste and +execution, fantastic in decoration, and destitute of genius. Their +cities are not decorated with public monuments, whose object is to +enliven or to embellish." Their religion forbids them every sort of +painting, sculpture, or engraving; thus the fine arts cannot exist among +them. They have no music but vocal; and know of no accompaniment except +a bass of one note like that of the bagpipe. Their singing is in a great +measure recitative, with little variation of note. They have scarcely +any notion of medicine or surgery; and they do not allow of anatomy. As +to science, the telescope, the microscope, the electric battery, are +unknown, except as playthings. The compass is not universally employed +in their navy, nor are its common purposes thoroughly understood. +Navigation, astronomy, geography, chemistry, are either not known, or +practised only on antiquated and exploded principles. As to their civil +and criminal codes of law, these are unalterably fixed in the Koran. +Their habits require very little furniture; "the whole inventory of a +wealthy family," says Volney, "consists in a carpet, mats, cushions, +mattresses, some small cotton clothes, copper and wooden platters for +the table, a mortar, a portable mill, a little porcelain, and some +plates of copper tinned. All our apparatus of tapestry, wooden +bedsteads, chairs, stools, glasses, desks, bureaus, closets, buffets +with their plate and table services, all our cabinet and upholstery-work +are unknown." They have no clocks, though they have watches. In short, +they are hardly more than dismounted Tartars still; and, if pressed by +the Powers of Christendom, would be able, at very short warning, to pack +up and turn their faces northward to their paternal deserts. You find in +their cities barbers and mercers; saddlers and gunsmiths; bakers and +confectioners; sometimes butchers; whitesmiths and ironmongers; these +are pretty nearly all their trades. Their inheritance is their all; +their own acquisition is nought. Their stuffs are from the classical +Greeks; their dyes are the old Tyrian; their cement is of the age of the +Romans; and their locks may be traced back to Solomon. They do not +commonly engage either in agriculture or in commerce; of the cultivators +of the soil I have said quite enough in a foregoing Lecture, and their +commerce seems to be generally in the hands of Franks, Greeks, or +Armenians, as formerly in the hands of the Jews.[82] + +The White Huns took to commerce and diplomacy in the course of a century +or two; the Saracens in a shorter time unlearned their barbarism, and +became philosophers and experimentalists; what have the Turks to show to +the human race for their long spell of prosperity and power? + +As to their warfare, their impracticable and unprogressive temperament +showed itself even in the era of their military and political +ascendancy, and had much to do, as far as human causes are concerned, +with their defeat at Lepanto. "The signal for engaging was no sooner +given," says the writer in the "Universal History," "than the Turks with +a hideous cry fell on six galeasses, which lay at anchor near a mile +ahead of the confederate fleet." "With a hideous cry,"--this was the +true barbarian onset; we find it in the Red Indians and the New +Zealanders; and it is noticed of the Seljukians, the predecessors of the +Ottomans, in their celebrated engagement with the Crusaders at Dorylaeum. +"With horrible howlings," says Mr. Turner, "and loud clangour of drums +and trumpets, the Turks rushed on;" and you may recollect, the savage +who would have murdered the Bishop of Bamberg, began with a shriek. +However, as you will see directly, such an onset was as ignorant as it +was savage, for it was made with a haughty and wilful blindness to the +importance of firearms under their circumstances. The Turks, in the +hey-day of their victories and under their most sagacious leaders, had +scorned and ignored the use of the then newly invented instruments of +war. In truth, they had shared the prejudice against firearms which had +been in the first instance felt by the semi-barbarous chivalry of +Europe. The knight-errant, as Ariosto draws and reflects him, disdained +so dishonourable a means of beating a foe. He looked upon the use of +gunpowder, as Mr. Thornton reminds us, as "cruel, cowardly, and +murderous;" because it gave an unfair and disgraceful advantage to the +feeble or the unwarlike. Such was the sentiment of the Ottomans even in +the reign of their great Soliman. Shortly before the battle of Lepanto, +a Dalmatian horseman rode express to Constantinople, and reported to the +Divan, that 2,500 Turks had been surprised and routed by 500 +musqueteers. Great was the indignation of the assembly against the +unfortunate troops, of whom the messenger was one. But he was successful +in his defence of himself and his companions. "Do you not hear," he +said, "that we were overcome by guns? We were routed by fire, not by the +enemy. It would have been otherwise, had it been a contest of courage. +They took fire to their aid; fire is one of the elements; what is man +that he should resist their shock?" They did not dream of the apophthegm +that knowledge is power; and that we become strong by subduing nature to +our will. + +Accordingly, their tactics by sea was a sort of land engagement on deck, +as it was with our ancestors, and with the ancients. First, they charged +the adverse vessel, with a view of taking it; if that would not do, they +boarded it. They fought hand to hand, and each captain might pretty much +exercise his own judgment which ship to attack, as Homer's heroes chose +their combatants on the field of Troy. However, the Christian galeasses +at Lepanto,--for to these we must at length return,--were vessels of +larger dimensions than the Ottomans had ever built; they were fortified, +like castles, with heavy ordnance, and were so disposed as to cover the +line of their own galleys. The consequence was, that as the Turks +advanced in order of battle, these galeasses kept up a heavy and +destructive fire upon them, and their barbarian energy availed them as +little as their howlings. It was the triumph of civilization over brute +force, as well as of faith over misbelief. "While discipline and +attention to the military exercises could insure success in war, the +Turks," says Thornton, "were the first of military nations. When the +whole art of war was changed, and victory or defeat became matter of +calculation, the rude and illiterate Turkish warriors experienced the +fatal consequences of ignorance without suspecting the cause; accustomed +to employ no other means than force, they sunk into despondency, when +force could no longer avail." + +Another half century has passed since this was written, and the Turkish +power has now completed its eighth century since Togrul Beg, the first +Seljukian Sultan; and what has been the fruit of so long a duration? +Just about the time of Togrul Beg, flourished William, Duke of Normandy; +he passed over to take possession of England; compare the England of the +Conquest with the England of this day. Again, compare the Rome of Junius +Brutus to the Rome of Constantine, 800 years afterwards. In each of +these polities there was a continuous progression, and the end was +unlike the beginning; but the Turks, except that they have gained the +faculty of political union, are pretty much what they were when they +crossed the Jaxartes and Oxus. Again, at the time of Togrul Beg, the +Greek schism also took place; now from Michael Cerularius, in 1054, to +Anthimus, in 1853, Patriarchs of Constantinople, eight centuries have +passed of religious deadness and insensibility: a longer time has passed +in China of a similar political inertness: yet China has preserved at +least the civilization, and Greece the ecclesiastical science, with +which they respectively passed into their long sleep; but the Turks of +this day are still in the less than infancy of art, literature, +philosophy, and general knowledge; and we may fairly conclude that, if +they have not learned the very alphabet of science in eight hundred +years, they are not likely to set to work on it in the nine hundredth. + +Moreover, it is remarkable that with them, as with the ancient Medes and +Persians, change of law and government is distinctly prohibited. The +greatest of their Sultans, and the last of the great ten, Soliman, known +in European history as the Magnificent, is called by his compatriots the +Regulator, on account of the irreversible sanction which he gave to the +existing administration of affairs. "The magnitude and the splendour of +the military achievements of Soliman," says Mr. Thornton, "are surpassed +in the judgment of his people by the wisdom of his legislation. He has +acquired the name of Canuni, or institutor of rules ... on account of +the order and police which he established in his Empire. He caused a +compilation to be made of all the maxims and regulations of his +predecessors on subjects of political and military economy. He strictly +defined the duties, the powers, and the privileges of all governors, +commanders, and public functionaries, He regulated the levies, the +services, the equipments, and the pay of the military and maritime force +of the Empire. He prescribed the mode of collecting, and of applying, +the public revenue. He assigned to every officer his rank at court, in +the city, and in the army; and the observance of his regulations was +enforced on his successors by the sanction of his authority. The work, +which his ancestors had begun, and which his care had completed, seemed +to himself and his contemporaries the compendium of human wisdom. +Soliman contemplated it with the fondness of a parent; and, conceiving +it not to be susceptible of further improvement, he endeavoured to +secure its perpetual duration." The author, after pointing out that this +was done at the very time when a new hemisphere was in course of +exploration, when the telescope was mapping for mankind the heavens, +when the Baconian philosophy was about to convert discovery and +experiment into instruments of science, printing was carrying knowledge +and literature into the heart of society, and the fine arts were +receiving one of their most remarkable developments, proceeds: "The +institutions of Soliman placed a barrier between his subjects and future +improvement. He beheld with complacency and exultation the eternal +fabric which his hands had reared; and the curse denounced against pride +has reduced the nation, which participated in his sentiments, to a state +of inferiority to the present level of civilized men." The result is the +same, though we say that Soliman only recognized and affirmed that +barbarism was the law of the Ottoman power. + + +4. + +3. It is true that in the last quarter of a century efforts have been +made by the government of Constantinople to innovate on the existing +condition of its people; and it has addressed itself in the first +instance to certain details of daily Turkish life. We must take it for +granted that it began with such changes as were easiest; if so, its +failure in these small matters suggests how little ground there is for +hope of success in other advances more important and difficult. Every +one knows that in the details of dress, carriage, and general manners, +the Turks are very different from Europeans: so different, and so +consistently different, that the contrariety would seem to arise from +some difference of essential principle. "This dissimilitude," says Mr. +Thornton, "which pervades the whole of their habits, is so general, even +in things of apparent insignificance, as almost to indicate design +rather than accident. The whole exterior of the Oriental is different +from ours." And then he goes on to mention some specimens, to which we +are able to add others from Volney and Bell. For instance:--The European +stands firm and erect; his head drawn back, his chest advanced, his toes +turned out, his knees straight. The attitude of the Turk, in each of +these particulars, is different, and, to express myself by an +antithesis, is more conformable to nature, and less to reason. The +European wears short and close garments, the Turk long and ample. The +one uncovers the head, when he would show reverence; with the other, a +bared head is a sign of folly. The one salutes by an inclination, the +other by raising himself. The one passes his life upright, the other +sitting. The one sits on raised seats, the other on the ground. In +inviting a person to approach, the one draws his hand to him, the other +thrusts it from him. The host in Europe helps himself last; in Turkey, +first. The one drinks to his company, or at least to some toast; the +other drinks silently, and his guests congratulate him. The European has +a night dress, the Turk lies down in his clothes. The Turkish barber +pushes the razor from him; the Turkish carpenter draws the saw to him; +the Turkish mason sits as he builds; and he begins a house at the top, +and finishes at the bottom, so that the upper rooms are inhabited, when +the bottom is a framework. + +Now it would seem as if this multitude of little usages hung together, +and were as difficult to break through as the meshes of some complicated +web. However, the Sultan found it the most favourable subject-matter of +his incipient reformation; and his consequent attempt and the omens of +its ultimate issue are interestingly recounted in the pages of Sir +Charles Fellows, the panegyrist both of Mahmood and his people. "The +Turk," he says, "proud of his beard, comes up from the province a +candidate for, or to receive, the office of governor. The Sultan gives +him an audience, passes his hand over his own short-trimmed beard; the +candidate takes the hint, and appears the next day shorn of his honoured +locks. The Sultan, who is always attired in a plain blue frock coat, +asks of the aspirant for office if he admires it; he, of course, praises +the costume worn by his patron; whereupon the Sultan suggests that he +would look well in it, as also in the red unturbaned fez. The following +day the officer again attends to receive or lose his appointment; and, +to promote the progress of his suit, throws off his costly and beautiful +costume, and appears like the Sultan in the dull unsightly frock." + +Such is the triumph of loyalty and self-interest, and such is its limit. +"A regimental cloak," continues our author, "may sometimes be seen +covering a fat body inclosed in all the robes of the Turkish costume; +the whole bundle, including the fur-lined gown, being strapped together +round the waist. Some of the figures are literally as broad as long, and +have a laughable effect on horseback. The saddles for the upper classes +are now generally made of the European form; but the people, who cannot +give up their accustomed love of finery for plain leather, have them +mostly of purple or crimson velvet, embroidered with silver or gold, the +holsters ornamented with beautiful patterns." After a while, he +continues: "One very unpopular reform which the Sultan tried to effect +in the formation of his troops was that of their wearing braces, a +necessary accompaniment to the trousers; and why? because these form a +cross, the badge of the infidel, upon the back. Many, indeed, will +submit to severe punishment, and even death, for disobedience to +military orders, rather than bear upon their persons this sign hostile +to their religion." + +In another place he continues this subject with an amusing accuracy of +analysis:--"The mere substitution of trousers for their loose dress +interferes seriously with their old habits; they all turn in their toes, +in consequence of the Turkish manner of sitting, and they walk wide, and +with a swing, from being habituated to the full drapery: this gait has +become natural to them, and in their European trousers they walk in the +same manner. They wear wide-topped loose boots, which push up their +trousers. Wellington boots would be still more inconvenient, as they +must slip them off six times a day for prayers. In this new dress they +cannot with comfort sit or kneel on the ground, as is their custom; and +they will thus be led to use chairs; and with chairs they will want +tables. But, were these to be introduced, their houses would be too low, +for their heads would almost touch the ceiling. Thus by a little +innovation might their whole usages be unhinged." + + +5. + +4. In these failures, however, should they turn out to be such, the _vis +inertiae_ of habit is not the whole account of the matter; an +antagonistic principle is at work, characteristic of the barbarian, and +intimately present to the mind of a Turk--national pride. All nations, +indeed, are proud of themselves; but, as being the first and the best, +not as being the solitary existing perfection, among the inhabitants of +the earth. Civilized nations allow that foreigners have their specific +excellences, and such excellences as are a lesson to themselves. They +may think too well of their own proficiency, and may lose by such +blindness; but they admit enough about others to allow of their own +emulation and advance; whereas the barbarian, in his own estimate, is +perfect already; and what is perfect cannot be improved. Hence he +cherishes in his heart a self-esteem of a very peculiar kind, and a +special contempt of others. He views foreigners, either as simply +unworthy of his attention, or as objects of his legitimate dominion. +Thus, too, he justifies his sloth, and places his ignorance of all +things human and divine on a sort of intellectual basis. + +Robertson, in his history of America, enlarges on this peculiarity of +the savage. "The Tartar," he says, "accustomed to roam over extensive +plains, and to subsist on the produce of his herds, imprecates upon his +enemy, as the greatest of all curses, that he may be condemned to reside +in one place, and to be nourished with the top of a weed. The rude +Americans ... far from complaining of their own situation, or viewing +that of men in a more improved state with admiration or envy, regard +themselves as the standard of excellence, as beings the best entitled, +as well as the most perfectly qualified, to enjoy real happiness.... +Void of foresight, as well as free from care themselves, and delighted +with that state of indolent security, they wonder at the anxious +precautions, the unceasing industry, and complicated arrangements of +Europeans, in guarding against distant evils, or providing for future +wants; and they often exclaim against their preposterous folly, in thus +multiplying the troubles, and increasing the labour of life.... The +appellation which the Iroquois give to themselves is, 'The chief of +men.' Caraibe, the original name of the fierce inhabitants of the +Windward Islands, signifies 'The warlike people.' The Cherokees, from an +idea of their own superiority, call the Europeans 'Nothings,' or 'The +accursed race,' and assume to themselves the name of 'The beloved +people....' They called them the froth of the sea, men without father or +mother. They suppose that either they have no country of their own, and, +therefore, invaded that which belonged to others; or that, being +destitute of the necessaries of life at home, they were obliged to roam +over the ocean, in order to rob such as were more amply provided."[83] + +It is easy to see that an intense self-adoration, such as is here +suggested, is, in the case of a martial people, to a certain point a +principle of strength; it gives a sort of intellectual force to the +impetuosity and obstinacy of their attacks; while, on the other hand, it +is in the long run a principle of debility, as blinding them to the most +evident and imminent dangers, and, after defeat, burdening and +precipitating their despair. + +Now, is it possible to trace this attribute of barbarism among the +Turks? If so, what does it do for them, and whence is it supplied? You +will recollect, I have not been unwilling in a former Lecture to +acknowledge what is salutary in Mahometanism; certainly it embodies in +it some ancient and momentous truths, and is undeniably beneficial so +far as their proper influence extends. But, after all, looked at as a +religion, it is as debasing to the populations which receive it as it +is false; and, as it arose among barbarians, it is not wonderful that it +subserves the reign of barbarism. This it certainly does in the case of +the Turks; already three great departments of intellectual activity in +civilized countries have incidentally come before us, which are +forbidden ground to its professors. The first is legislation; for the +criminal and civil code of the Mahometan is unalterably fixed in the +Koran. The second is the modern system of money transactions and +finance; for "in obedience to their religion," says an author I have +been lately quoting,[84] "which, like the Jewish law, forbids taking +interest for money, the Turks abstain from carrying on many lucrative +trades connected with the lending of money. Hence other nations, +generally the Armenians, act as their bankers." The third is the +department of the Fine Arts for, it being unlawful to represent the +human form, nay, any natural substance whatever, as fruit or flowers, +sculpture loses its solitary object, painting is almost extinguished, +while architecture has been obliged to undergo a sort of revolution in +its decorative portions to accommodate it to the restriction. These, +however, are matters of detail, though of very high importance; what I +wish rather to point out is the general tendency of Mahometanism, as +such, to foster those very faults in the barbarian which keep him from +ameliorating his condition. Here something might be said on what seems +to be the acknowledged effect of its doctrine of fatalism, viz., in +encouraging a barbarian recklessness of mind both in special seasons of +prosperity and adversity, and in the ordinary business of life; but this +is a point which it is difficult to speak of without a more intimate +knowledge of its circumstances than can be gained at a distance; I +prefer to show how the Religion is calculated to act upon that +extravagant self-conceit, which Robertson tells us is so congenial to +uncivilized man. While, on the one hand, it closes the possible openings +and occasions of internal energy and self-education, it has no tendency +to compensate for this mischief, on the other, by inculcating any docile +attention to the instruction of foreigners. + + +6. + +To learn from others, you must entertain a respect for them; no one +listens to those whom he contemns. Christian nations make progress in +secular matters, because they are aware they have many things to learn, +and do not mind from whom they learn them, so that he be able to teach. +It is true that Christianity, as well as Mahometanism, which imitated +it, has its visible polity, and its universal rule, and its especial +prerogatives and powers and lessons, for its disciples. But, with a +divine wisdom, and contrary to its human copyist, it has carefully +guarded (if I may use the expression) against extending its revelations +to any point which would blunt the keenness of human research or the +activity of human toil. It has taken those matters for its field in +which the human mind, left to itself, could not profitably exercise +itself, or progress, if it would; it has confined its revelations to the +province of theology, only indirectly touching on other departments of +knowledge, so far as theological truth accidentally affects them; and it +has shown an equally remarkable care in preventing the introduction of +the spirit of caste or race into its constitution or administration. +Pure nationalism it abhors; its authoritative documents pointedly ignore +the distinction of Jew and Gentile, and warn us that the first often +becomes the last; while its subsequent history has illustrated this +great principle, by its awful, and absolute, and inscrutable, and +irreversible passage from country to country, as its territory and its +home. Such, then, it has been in the divine counsels, and such, too, as +realized in fact; but man has ways of his own, and, even before its +introduction into the world, the inspired announcements, which preceded +it, were distorted by the people to whom they were given, to minister to +views of a very different kind. The secularized Jews, relying on the +supernatural favours locally and temporally bestowed on themselves, fell +into the error of supposing that a conquest of the earth was reserved +for some mighty warrior of their own race, and that, in compensation of +the reverses which befell them, they were to become an imperial nation. + +What a contrast is presented to us by these different ideas of a +universal empire! The distinctions of race are indelible; a Jew cannot +become a Greek, or a Greek a Jew; birth is an event of past time; +according to the Judaizers, their nation, as a nation, was ever to be +dominant; and all other nations, as such, were inferior and subject. +What was the necessary consequence? There is nothing men more pride +themselves on than birth, for this very reason, that it is irrevocable; +it can neither be given to those who have it not, nor taken away from +those who have. The Almighty can do anything which admits of doing; He +can compensate every evil; but a Greek poet says that there is one thing +impossible to Him--to undo what is done. Without throwing the thought +into a shape which borders on the profane, we may see in it the reason +why the idea of national power was so dear and so dangerous to the Jew. +It was his consciousness of inalienable superiority that led him to +regard Roman and Greek, Syrian and Egyptian, with ineffable arrogance +and scorn. Christians, too, are accustomed to think of those who are not +Christians as their inferiors; but the conviction which possesses them, +that they have what others have not, is obviously not open to the +temptation which nationalism presents. According to their own faith, +there is no insuperable gulf between themselves and the rest of mankind; +there is not a being in the whole world but is invited by their religion +to occupy the same position as themselves, and, did he come, would stand +on their very level, as if he had ever been there. Such accessions to +their body they continually receive, and they are bound under obligation +of duty to promote them. They never can pronounce of any one, now +external to them, that he will not some day be among them; they never +can pronounce of themselves that, though they are now within, they may +not some day be found outside, the divine polity. Such are the +sentiments inculcated by Christianity, even in the contemplation of the +very superiority which it imparts; even there it is a principle, not of +repulsion between man and man, but of good fellowship; but as to +subjects of secular knowledge, since here it does not arrogate any +superiority at all, it has in fact no tendency whatever to centre its +disciple's contemplation on himself, or to alienate him from his kind. +He readily acknowledges and defers to the superiority in art or science +of those, if so be, who are unhappily enemies to Christianity. He admits +the principle of progress on all matters of knowledge and conduct on +which the Creator has not decided the truth already by revealing it; and +he is at all times ready to learn, in those merely secular matters, from +those who can teach him best. Thus it is that Christianity, even +negatively, and without contemplating its positive influences, is the +religion of civilization. + + +7. + +But I have here been directing your attention to Christianity with no +other view than to illustrate, by the contrast, the condition of the +Mahometan Turks. Their religion is not far from embodying the very dream +of the Judaizing zealots of the Apostolic age. On the one hand, there is +in it the profession of a universal empire, and an empire by conquest; +nay, military success seems to be considered the special note of its +divine origin. On the other hand, I believe it is a received notion with +them that their religion is not even intended for the north of the +earth, for some reasons connected with its ceremonial; nor is there in +it any public recognition, as in intercessory prayer, of the duty of +converting infidels. Certainly, the idea of Mahometan missions and +missionaries, unless an army in the field may be considered to be such, +is never suggested to us by Eastern historian or traveller, as entering +into their religious system. Though the Caliphate, then, may be +transferred from Saracen to Turk, Mahometanism is essentially a +consecration of the principle of nationalism; and thereby is as +congenial to the barbarian as Christianity is congenial to man +civilized. The less a man knows, the more conceited he is of his +proficiency; and, the more barbarous is a nation, the more imposing and +peremptory are its claims. Such was the spirit of the religion of the +Tartars, whatever was the nature of its tenets in detail. It deified the +Tartar race; Zingis Khan was "the son of God, mild and venerable;" and +"God was great and exalted over all, and immortal, but Zingis Khan was +sole lord upon the earth."[85] Such, too, is the strength of the Greek +schism, which there only flourishes where it can fasten on barbarism, +and extol the prerogatives of an elect nation. The Czar is the +divinely-appointed source of religious power; his country is "Holy +Russia;" and the high office committed to him and to it is to extend +what it considers the orthodox faith. The Osmanlis are not behind Tartar +or Russ in pretending to a divine mission; the Sultan, in his treaties +with Christian Powers, calls himself "Refuge of Sovereigns, Distributor +of Crowns to the Kings of the earth, Master of Europe, Asia, and Africa, +and shadow of God upon earth." + +We might smile at such titles, were they not claimed in good earnest, +and professed in order to be used. It is said to be the popular belief +among the Turks, that the monarchs of Europe are, as this imperial style +declares, the feudatories of the Sultan. We should smile, too, at the +very opposite titles which they apply to Europeans, did they not here, +too, mean what they say, and strengthen and propagate their own scorn +and hatred of us by using them. "The Mussulmans, courteous and humane in +their intercourse with each other," says Thornton, "sternly refuse to +unbelievers the salutation of peace." Not that they necessarily insult +the Christian, he adds, by this refusal; nay, he even insists that +polished Turks are able to practise condescension; and then, as an +illustration of their courtesy, he tells us that "Mr. Eton, pleasantly +and accurately enough, compared the general behaviour of a Turk to a +Christian with that of a German baron to his vassal." However, he allows +that at least "the common people, more bigoted to their dogmas, express +more bluntly their sense of superiority over the Christians." "Their +usual salutation addressed to Christians," says Volney, "is 'good +morning;' but it is well if it be not accompanied with a Djaour, Kafer, +or Kelb, that is, impious, infidel, dog, expressions to which +Christians are familiarized." Sir C. Fellows is an earnest witness for +their amiableness; but he does not conceal that the children "hoot after +a European, and call him Frank dog, and even strike him;" and on one +occasion a woman caught up a child and ran off from him, crying out +against the Ghiaour; which gives him an opportunity of telling us that +the word "Ghiaour" means a man without a soul, without a God. A writer +in a popular Review, who seems to have been in the East, tells us that +"their hatred and contempt of the Ghiaour and Frangi is as burning as +ever; perhaps even more so, because they are forced to implore his aid. +The Eastern seeks Christian aid in the same spirit and with the same +disgust as he would eat swine's flesh, were it the only means of +securing him from starvation."[86] Such conduct is indeed only +consistent with their faith, and the untenableness of that faith is not +my present question; here I do but ask, are these barbarians likely to +think themselves inferior in any respect to men without souls? are they +likely to receive civilization from the nations of the West, whom, +according to the well-known story, they definitively divide into the hog +and the dog? + +I have not time for more than an allusion to what is the complement of +this arrogance, and is a most pregnant subject of thought, whenever the +fortunes of the Ottomans are contemplated; I mean the despair which +takes its place in their minds, consistently with the barbarian +temperament, upon the occurrence of any considerable reverses. A passage +from Mr. Thornton just now quoted refers to this characteristic. The +overthrow at Lepanto, though they rallied from their consternation for a +while, was a far more serious and permanent misfortune in its moral +than in its material consequences. And, on any such national calamity, +the fatalism of their creed, to which I have already referred, +consecrates and fortifies their despair. + + * * * * * + +I have been proving a point, which most persons would grant me, in thus +insisting on the essential barbarism of the Turks; but I have thought it +worth while to insist on it under the feeling, that to prove it is at +the same time to describe it, and many persons will vaguely grant that +they are barbarous without having any clear idea what barbarism means. +With this view I draw out my formal conclusion:--If civilization be the +ascendancy of mind over passion and imagination; if it manifests itself +in consistency of habit and action, and is characterised by a continual +progress or development of the principles on which it rests; and if, on +the other hand, the Turks alternate between sloth and energy, +self-confidence and despair,--if they have two contrary characters +within them, and pass from one to the other rapidly, and when they are +the one, are as if they could not be the other;--if they think +themselves, notwithstanding, to be the first nation upon earth, while at +the end of many centuries they are just what they were at the +beginning;--if they are so ignorant as not to know their ignorance, and +so far from making progress that they have not even started, and so far +from seeking instruction that they think no one fit to teach +them;--there is surely not much hazard in concluding, that, apart from +the consideration of any supernatural intervention, barbarians they have +lived, and barbarians they will die. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[79] Formby's Visit, p. 70. + +[80] Bell's Geography. + +[81] Vid, Sir Charles Fellows' Asia Minor. + +[82] The correspondent of the _Times_ in February, 1854, speaking of the +great arsenal of Rustchuk, observes: "All the heavy smith work was done +by Bulgarians, the light iron work by gipsies, the carpenters were all +Turks, the sawyers Bulgarians, the tinmen all Jews." + +[83] Lib. iv. fin. + +[84] Sir C. Fellows. + +[85] Bergeron, t. 1. + +[86] Edinburgh Rev. 1853. + + + + +LECTURE IX. + +_The Future of the Ottomans._ + + +Scientific anticipations are commonly either truisms or failures; +failures, if, as is usually the case, they are made upon insufficient +data; and truisms, if they succeed, for conclusions, being always +contained in their premisses, never can be discoveries. Yet, as mixed +mathematics correct, without superseding, the pure science, so I do not +see why I may not allowably take a sort of pure philosophical view of +the Turks and their position, though it be but abstract and theoretical, +and require correction when confronted by the event. There is a use in +investigating what ought to be, under given suppositions and conditions, +even though speculation and fact do not happen to keep pace together. + +As to myself, having laid down my premisses, as drawn from historical +considerations, I must needs go on, whether I will or no, to the +conjectures to which they lead; and that shall be my business in this +concluding discussion. My line of argument has been as follows:--First, +I stated some peculiarities of civilized and of barbarian communities; I +said that it is a general truth that civilized states are destroyed from +within, and barbarian states from without; that the very causes, which +lead to the greatness of civilized communities, at length by continuing +become their ruin, whereas the causes of barbarian greatness uphold +that greatness, as long as they continue, and by ceasing to act, not by +continuing, lead the way to its overthrow. Thus the intellect of Athens +first was its making and then its unmaking; while the warlike prowess of +the Spartans maintained their pre-eminence, till it succumbed to the +antagonist prowess of Thebes. + + +1. + +I laid down this principle as a general law of human society, open to +exceptions and requiring modifications in particular cases, but true on +the whole. Next, I went on to show that the Ottoman power was of a +barbarian character. The conclusion is obvious; viz., that it has risen, +and will fall, not by anything within it, but by agents external to +itself; and this conclusion, I certainly think, is actually confirmed by +Turkish history, as far as it has hitherto gone. The Ottoman state +seems, in matter of fact, to be most singularly constructed, so as to +have nothing inside of it, and to be moved solely or mainly by +influences from without. What a contrast, for instance, to the German +race! In the earliest history of that people, we discern an element of +civilization, a vigorous action of the intellect residing in the body, +independent of individuals, and giving birth to great men, rather than +created by them. Again, in the first three centuries of the Church, we +find martyrs indeed in plenty, as the Turks might have soldiers; but (to +view the matter humanly) perhaps there was not one great mind, after the +Apostles, to teach and to mould her children. The highest intellects, +Origen, Tertullian, and Eusebius, were representatives of a philosophy +not hers; her greatest bishops, such as St. Gregory, St. Dionysius, and +St Cyprian, so little exercised a doctor's office, as to incur, however +undeservedly, the imputation of doctrinal inaccuracy. Vigilant as was +the Holy See then, as in every age, yet there is no Pope, I may say, +during that period, who has impressed his character upon his generation; +yet how well instructed, how precisely informed, how self-possessed an +oracle of truth, nevertheless, do we find the Church to be, when the +great internal troubles of the fourth century required it! how +unambiguous, how bold is the Christianity of the great Pontiffs, St. +Julius, St. Damasus, St. Siricius, and St. Innocent; of the great +Doctors, St. Athanasius; St. Basil, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine! By +what channels, then, had the divine philosophy descended down from the +Great Teacher through three centuries of persecution? First through the +See and Church of Peter, into which error never intruded (though Popes +might be little more than victims, to be hunted out and killed, as soon +as made), and to which the faithful from all quarters of the world might +have recourse when difficulties arose, or when false teachers anywhere +exalted themselves. But intercommunion was difficult, and comparatively +rare in days like those, and of nothing is there less pretence of proof +than that the Holy See, while persecution raged, imposed a faith upon +the ecumenical body. Rather, in that earliest age, it was simply the +living spirit of the myriads of the faithful, none of them known to +fame, who received from the disciples of our Lord, and husbanded so +well, and circulated so widely, and transmitted so faithfully, +generation after generation, the once delivered apostolic faith; who +held it with such sharpness of outline and explicitness of detail, as +enabled even the unlearned instinctively to discriminate between truth +and error, spontaneously to reject the very shadow of heresy, and to be +proof against the fascination of the most brilliant intellects, when +they would lead them out of the narrow way. Here, then, is a luminous +instance of what I mean by an energetic action from within. + +Take again the history of the Saracenic schools and parties, on which I +have already touched. Mr. Southgate considers the absence of religious +controversy among the Turks, contrasted with its frequency of old among +the Saracens, as a proof of the decay of the spirit of Islam. I should +rather refer the present apathy to the national temperament of the +Turks, and set it down, with other instances I shall mention presently, +as a result of their barbarism. Saracenic Mahometanism, on the contrary, +gives me an apposite illustration of what I mean by an "interior" +people, if I may borrow a devotional word to express a philosophical +idea. A barbarous nation has no "interior," but the Saracens show us +what a national "interior" is. "In former ages," says the author to whom +I have referred, Mr. Southgate, "the bosom of Islamism was riven with +numerous feuds and schisms, some of which have originated from religious +controversy, and others from political ambition. During the first +centuries of its existence, and while Mussulman learning flourished +under the patronage of the Caliphs, religious questions were discussed +by the learned with all the proverbial virulence of theological hatred. +The chief of these questions respected the origin of the Koran, the +nature of God, predestination and free will, and the grounds of human +salvation. The question, whether the Koran was created or eternal, rent +for a time the whole body of Islamism into twain, and gave rise to the +most violent persecutions.... Besides these religious contentions, which +divided the Mussulmans into parties, but seldom gave birth to sects, +there have sprung up, at different periods, avowed heresies, which +flourished for a time, and for the most part died with their authors. +Others, stimulated by ambition only, have reared the standard of revolt, +and under cover of some new religious dogma, propounded only to shield a +selfish end, have sought to raise themselves to power. Most of these, +whether theological disputes, heresies, or civil rebellions, cloaked +under the name of religion, arose previously to the sixteenth +century."[87] + + +2. + +Such is that internal peculiarity, the presence of which constitutes a +civilized, the absence a barbarous people; which makes a people great, +and small again; and which, just consistently with the notion of their +being barbarians, I cannot discern, for strength or for weakness, in the +Turks. On the contrary, almost all the elements of their success, and +instruments of their downfall, are external to themselves. For instance, +their religion, one of their principal bonds, owes nothing to them; it +is, not only in substance, but in concrete shape, just what it was when +it came to them. I cannot find that they have commented upon it; I +cannot find that they are the channels of any of those famous traditions +by which the Koran is interpreted, and which they themselves accept; or +that they have exercised their minds upon it at all, except so far as +they have been obliged, in a certain degree, to do so in the +administration of the law. It is true also that they have been obliged +to choose to be Sunnites and not Shiahs; but, considering the latter +sect arose in Persia, since the date of the Turkish occupation of +Constantinople, it was really no choice at all. They have but remained +as they were. Besides, the Shiahs maintain the hereditary transmission +of the Caliphate, which would exclude the line of Othman from the +succession--good reason then the Turks should be Sunnites; and the dates +of the two events so nearly coincide, that one could even fancy that the +Shiahs actually arose in consequence of the Sultan Selim's carrying off +the last of the Abassides from Egypt, and gaining the transference of +the Caliphate from his captive. Besides, if it is worth while pursuing +the point, did they not remain Sunnites, they would have to abandon the +traditional or oral law, and must cease to use the labours of its four +great doctors, which would be to bring upon themselves an incalculable +extent of intellectual toil; for without recognized comments on the +Koran, neither the religion nor the civil state could be made to work. + +The divine right of the line of Othman is another of their special +political bonds, and this too is shown by the following extract from a +well-known historian,[88] if it needs showing, to be simply external to +themselves: "The origin of the Sultans," he says, "is obscure; but this +sacred and indefeasible right" to the throne, "which no time can erase, +and no violence can infringe, was soon and unalterably implanted in the +minds of their subjects. A weak or vicious Sultan may be deposed and +strangled, but his inheritance devolves to an infant or an idiot; nor +has the most daring rebel presumed to ascend the throne of his lawful +sovereign. While the transient dynasties of Asia have been continually +subverted by a crafty visir in the palace, or a victorious general in +the camp, the Ottoman succession has been confirmed by the practice of +five centuries, and is now incorporated with the vital principle of the +Turkish nation." Here we have on the one hand the imperial succession +described as an element of the political life of the Osmanlis--on the +other as an appointment over which they have no power; and obviously it +is from its very nature independent of them. It is a form of life +external to the community it vivifies. + +Probably it was the wonderful continuity of so many great Sultans in +their early ages, which wrought in their minds the idea of a divine +mission as the attribute of the dynasty; and its acquisition of the +Caliphate would fix it indelibly within them. And here again, we have +another special instrument of their imperial greatness, but still an +external one. I have already had occasion to observe, that barbarians +make conquests by means of great men, in whom they, as it were, live; +ten successive monarchs, of extraordinary vigour and talent, carried on +the Ottomans to empire. Will any one show that those monarchs can be +fairly called specimens of the nation, any more than Zingis was the +specimen of the Tartars? Have they not rather acted as the _Deus e +machina_, carrying on the drama, which has languished or stopped, since +the time when they ceased to animate it? Contrast the Ottoman history in +this respect with the rise of the Anglo-Indian Empire, or with the +military successes of Great Britain under the Regency; or again with the +literary eminence of England under Charles the Second or even Anne, +which owed little to those monarchs. Kings indeed at various periods +have been most effective patrons of art and science; but the question +is, not whether English or French literature has ever been indebted to +royal encouragement, but whether the Ottomans can do anything at all, as +a nation, without it. + +Indeed, I should like it investigated what internal history the Ottomans +have at all; what inward development of any kind they have made since +they crossed Mount Olympus and planted themselves in Broussa; how they +have changed shape and feature, even in lesser matters, since they were +a state, or how they are a year older than when they first came into +being. We see among them no representative of Confucius, Chi-hoagti, and +the sect of Ta-osse; no magi; no Pisistratus and Harmodius; no Socrates +and Alcibiades; no patricians and plebeians; no Caesar; no invasion or +adoption of foreign mysteries; no mythical impersonation of an Ali; no +Suffeeism; no Guelphs and Gibellines; nothing really on the type of +Catholic religious orders; no Luther; nothing, in short, which, for good +or evil, marks the presence of a life internal to the political +community itself. Some authors indeed maintain they have a literature; +but I cannot ascertain what the assertion is worth. Rather the tenor of +their annals runs thus:--Two Pachas make war against each other, and a +kat-sherif comes from Constantinople for the head of the one or the +other; or a Pacha exceeds in pillaging his province, or acts +rebelliously, and is preferred to a higher government and suddenly +strangled on his way to it; or he successfully maintains himself, and +gains an hereditary settlement, still subject, however, to the feudal +tenure, which is the principle of the political structure, continuing to +send his contingent of troops, when the Sultan goes to war, and +remitting the ordinary taxes through his agent at Court. Such is the +staple of Turkish history, whether amid the hordes of Turkistan, or the +feudatory Turcomans of Anatolia, or the imperial Osmanlis. + + +3. + +The remark I am making applies to them, not only as a nation, but as a +body politic. When they descended on horseback upon the rich territories +which they occupy, they had need to become agriculturists, and miners, +and civil engineers, and traders; all which they were not; yet I do not +find that they have attempted any of these functions themselves. Public +works, bridges, and roads, draining, levelling, building, they seem +almost entirely to have neglected; where, however, to do something was +imperative, instead of applying themselves to their new position, and +manifesting native talent for each emergency, they usually have had +recourse to foreign assistance to execute what was uncongenial or +dishonourable to themselves. The Franks were their merchants, the +Armenians their bankers, the subject races their field labourers, and +the Greeks their sailors. "Almost the whole business of the ship," says +Thornton, "is performed by the slaves, or by the Greeks who are retained +upon wages." + +The most remarkable instance of this reluctance to develop from +within--remarkable, both for the originality, boldness, success, and +permanence of the policy adopted, and for its appositeness to my +purpose--is the institution of the Janizaries, detestable as it was in a +moral point of view. I enlarge upon it here because it is at the same +time a palmary instance of the practical ability and wisdom of their +great Sultans, exerted in compensation of the resourceless impotence of +the barbarians whom they governed. The Turks were by nature nothing +better than horsemen; infantry they could not be; an infantry their +Sultans hardly attempted to form out of them; but since infantry was +indispensable in European warfare, they availed themselves of passages +in their own earlier history, and provided themselves with a perpetual +supply of foot soldiers from without. Of this procedure they were not, +strictly speaking, the originators; they took the idea of it from the +Saracens. You may recollect that, when their ancestors were defeated by +the latter people in Sogdiana, instead of returning to their deserts, +they suffered themselves to be diffused and widely located through the +great empire of the Caliphs. Whether as slaves, or as captives, or as +mercenaries, they were taken into favour by the dominant nation, and +employed as soldiers or civilians. They were chosen as boys or youths +for their handsome appearance, turned into Mahometans, and educated for +the army or other purposes. And thus the strength of the empire which +they served was always kept fresh and vigorous, by the continual +infusion into it of new blood to perform its functions; a skilful +policy, if the servants could be hindered from becoming masters. + +Masters in time they did become, and then they adopted a similar system +themselves; we find traces of it even in the history of the Gaznevide +dynasty. In the reign of the son of the great Mahmood, we read of an +insurrection of the slaves; who, conspiring with one of his nobles, +seized his best horses, and rode off to his enemies. "By slaves," says +Dow, in translating this history, "are meant the captives and young +children, bought by kings, and educated for the offices of state. They +were often adopted by the Emperors, and very frequently succeeded to the +Empire. A whole dynasty of these possessed afterwards the throne in +Hindostan." + +The same system appears in Egypt, about or soon after the time of the +celebrated Saladin. Zingis, in his dreadful expedition from Khorasan to +Syria and Russia, had collected an innumerable multitude of youthful +captives, who glutted, as we may say, the markets of Asia. This gave the +conquerors of Egypt an opportunity of forming a mercenary or foreign +force for their defence, on a more definite idea than seems hitherto to +have been acted upon. Saladin was a Curd, and, as such, a neighbour of +the Caucasus; hence the Caucasian tribes became for many centuries the +store-houses of Egyptian mercenaries. A detestable slave trade has +existed with this object, especially among the Circassians, since the +time of the Moguls; and of these for the most part this Egyptian force, +Mamlouks, as they are called, has consisted. After a time, these +Mamlouks took matters into their own hands, and became a self-elective +body, or sort of large corporation. They were masters of the country, +and of its nominal ruler, and they recruited their ranks continually, +and perpetuated their power, by means of the natives of the Caucasus, +slaves like themselves, and of their own race. + +"During the 500 or 600 years," says Volney, "that there have been +Mamlouks in Egypt, not one of them has left subsisting issue; there does +not exist one single family of them in the second generation; all their +children perish in the first and second descent. The means therefore by +which they are perpetuated and multiplied were of necessity the same by +which they were first established." These troops have been massacred and +got rid of in the memory of the last generation; towards the end of last +century they formed a body of above 8,500 men. The writer I have just +been quoting adds the following remarks:--"Born for the most part in the +rites of the Greek Church, and circumcised the moment they are bought, +they are considered by the Turks themselves as renegades, void of faith +and of religion. Strangers to each other, they are not bound by those +natural ties which unite the rest of mankind. Without parents, without +children, the past has nothing to do for them, and they do nothing for +the future. Ignorant and superstitious from education, they become +ferocious from the murders they commit, and corrupted by the most +horrible debauchery." On the other hand, they had every sort of +incentive and teaching to prompt them to rapacity and lawlessness. "The +young peasant, sold in Mingrelia or Georgia, no sooner arrives in Egypt, +than his ideas undergo a total alteration. A new and extraordinary scene +opens before him, where everything conduces to awaken his audacity and +ambition. Though now a slave, he seems destined to become a master, and +already assumes the spirit of his future condition. No sooner is a slave +enfranchised, than he aspires to the principal employments; and who is +to oppose his pretensions? and he will be no less able than his betters +in the art of governing, which consists only in taking money, and giving +blows with the sabre." + +In describing the Mamlouks I have been in a great measure describing the +Janizaries, and have little to add to the picture. When Amurath, one of +the ten Sultans, had made himself master of the territory round +Constantinople, as far as the Balkan, he passed northwards, and subdued +the warlike tribes which possessed Bulgaria, Servia, Bosnia, and the +neighbouring provinces. These countries had neither the precious metals +in their mountains, nor marts of commerce; but their inhabitants were a +brave and hardy race, who had been for ages the terror of +Constantinople. It was suggested to the Sultan, that, according to the +Mahometan law, he was entitled to a fifth part of the captives, and he +made this privilege the commencement of a new institution. Twelve +thousand of the strongest and handsomest youths were selected as his +share; he formed them into a military force; he made them abjure +Christianity, he consecrated them with a religious rite, and named them +Janizaries. The discipline to which they were submitted was peculiar, +and in some respects severe. They were in the first instance made over +to the peasantry to assist them in the labours of the field, and thus +were prepared by penury and hard fare for the privations of a military +life. After this introduction, they were drafted into the companies of +the Janizaries, but only in order to commence a second noviciate. +Sometimes they were employed in the menial duties of the palace, +sometimes in the public works, sometimes in the dockyards, and sometimes +in the imperial gardens. Meanwhile they were taught their new religion, +and were submitted to the drill. When at length they went on service, +the road to promotion was opened upon them; nor were military honours +the only recompense to which they might aspire. There are examples in +history, of men from the ranks attaining the highest dignities in the +state, and at least of one of them marrying the sister of the Sultan. + +This corps has constituted the main portion of the infantry of the +Ottoman armies for a period of nearly five hundred years; till, in our +own day, on account of its repeated turbulence, it was annihilated, as +the Mamlouks before it, by means of a barbarous massacre. Its end was as +strange as its constitution; but here it comes under our notice as a +singular exemplification of the unproductiveness, as I may call it, of +the Turkish intellect. It was nothing else but an external institution +devised to supply a need which a civilized state would have supplied +from its own resources; and it fell perhaps without any essential +prejudice to the integrity of the power which it had served. That power +is just what it was before the Janizaries were formed. They may still +fall back upon the powerful cavalry, which carried them all the way from +Turkistan; or they may proceed to employ a mercenary force; anyhow their +primitive social type remains inviolate. + +Such is the strange phenomenon, or rather portent, presented to us by +the barbarian power which has been for centuries seated in the very +heart of the old world; which has in its brute clutch the most famous +countries of classical and religious antiquity, and many of the most +fruitful and beautiful regions of the earth; which stretches along the +course of the Danube, the Euphrates, and the Nile; which embraces the +Pindus, the Taurus, the Caucasus, Mount Sinai, the Libyan mountains, and +the Atlas, as far as the Pillars of Hercules; and which, having no +history itself, is heir to the historical names of Constantinople and +Nicaea, Nicomedia and Caesarea, Jerusalem and Damascus, Nineveh and +Babylon, Mecca and Bagdad, Antioch and Alexandria, ignorantly holding in +possession one-half of the history of the whole world. There it lies and +will not die, and has not in itself the elements of death, for it has +the life of a stone, and, unless pounded and pulverized, is +indestructible. Such is it in the simplicity of its national existence, +while that mode of existence remains, while it remains faithful to its +religion and its imperial line. Should its fidelity to either fail, it +would not merely degenerate or decay; it would simply cease to be. + + +4. + +But we have dwelt long enough on the internal peculiarities of the +Ottomans; now let us shift the scene, and view them in the presence of +their enemies, and in their external relations both above and below +them; and then at once a very different prospect presents itself for our +contemplation. However, the first remark I have to make is one which has +reference still to their internal condition, but which does not properly +come into consideration, till we place them in the presence of rival +and hostile nations and races. Moral degeneracy is not, strictly +speaking, a cause of political ruin, as I have already said; but its +existence is of course a point of the gravest importance, when we would +calculate the chance which a people has of standing the brunt of war and +insurrection. It is a natural question to ask whether the Osmanlis, +after centuries of indulgence, have the physical nerve and mental vigour +which carried them forward through such a course of fortunes, till it +enthroned them in three quarters of the world. Their numbers are +diminished and diminishing; their great cities are half emptied; their +villages have disappeared; I believe that even out of the fraction of +Mahometans to be found amid their European population, but a miserable +minority are Osmanlis. Too much stress, however, must not be laid on +this circumstance. Though the Osmanlis are the conquering race, it +requires to be shown that they have ever had much to do, as a race, with +the executive of the Empire. While there are some vigorous minds at the +head of affairs, while there is a constant introduction of foreigners +into posts of authority and power, while Curd and Turcoman supply the +cavalry, while Egypt and other Pachalics send their contingents, while +the government can manage to combine, or to steer between, the +fanaticism of its subjects and the claims of European diplomacy, there +is a certain counterbalance in the State to the depravity and +worthlessness, whatever it be, of those who have the nominal power. + +A far more formidable difficulty, when we survey their external +prospects, is that very peculiarity, which, internally considered, is so +much in their favour--the simplicity of their internal unity, and the +individuality of their political structure. The Turkish races, as being +conquerors, of course are only a portion of the whole population of +their empire; for four centuries they have remained distinct from +Slavonians, Greeks, Copts, Armenians, Curds, Arabs, Jews, Druses, +Maronites, Ansarians, Motoualis; and they never can coalesce with them. +Like other Empires, they have kept their sovereign position by the +insignificance, degeneracy, or mutual animosities of the several +countries and religions which they rule, and by the ruthless tyranny of +their government. Were they to relax that tyranny, were they to +relinquish their ascendancy, were they to place their Greek subjects, +for instance, on a civil equality with themselves, how in the nature of +things could two incommunicable races coexist beside each other in one +political community? Yet if, on the other hand, they refuse this +enfranchisement of their subjects, they will have to encounter the +displeasure of united Christendom. + +Nor is it a mere question of political practicability or expedience: +will the Koran, in its laxest interpretation, admit of that toleration, +on which the Frank kingdoms insist? yet what and where are they without +the Koran? + +Nor do we understand the full stress of the dilemma in which they are +placed, until we have considered what is meant by the demands and the +displeasure of the European community. Pledged by the very principle of +their existence to barbarism, the Turks have to cope with civilized +governments all around them, ever advancing in the material and moral +strength which civilization gives, and ever feeling more and more +vividly that the Turks are simply in the way. They are in the way of the +progress of the nineteenth century. They are in the way of the Russians, +who wish to get into the Mediterranean; they are in the way of the +English, who wish to cross to the East; they are in the way of the +French, who, from the Crusades to Napoleon, have felt a romantic +interest in Syria; they are in the way of the Austrians, their +hereditary foes. There they lie, unable to abandon their traditionary +principles, without simply ceasing to be a state; unable to retain them, +and retain the sympathy of Christendom;--Mahometans, despots, slave +merchants, polygamists, holding agriculture in contempt, Europe in +abomination, their own wretched selves in admiration, cut off from the +family of nations,[89] existing by ignorance and fanaticism, and +tolerated in existence by the mutual jealousies of Christian powers as +well as of their own subjects, and by the recurring excitement of +military and political combinations, which cannot last for ever. + + +5. + +And, last of all, as if it were not enough to be unable to procure the +countenance of any Christian power, except on specific conditions +prejudicial to their existence, still further, as the alternative of +their humbling themselves before the haughty nations of the West whom +they abhor, they have to encounter the direct cupidity, hatred, and +overpowering pressure of the multitudinous North, with its fanaticism +almost equal, and its numbers superior, to their own; a peril more awful +in imagination, from the circumstance that its descent has been for so +many centuries foretold and commenced, and of late years so widely +acquiesced in as inevitable. Seven centuries and a half have passed, +since, at the very beginning of the Crusades, a Greek writer still +extant turns from the then menacing inroads of the Turks in the East, +and the long centuries of their triumph which lay in prospect, to record +a prophecy, old in his time, relating to the North, to the effect that +in the last days the Russians should be masters of Constantinople. When +it was uttered no one knows; but it was written on an equestrian statue, +in his day one of the special monuments of the Imperial City, which had +one time been brought thither from Antioch. That statue, whether of +Christian or pagan origin is not known, has a name in history, for it +was one of the works of art destroyed by the Latins in the taking of +Constantinople; and the prediction engraven on it bears at least a +remarkable evidence of the congruity in itself, if I may use the word; +of that descent of the North upon Constantinople, which, though not as +yet accomplished, generation after generation grows more probable. + +It is now a thousand years since this famous prophecy has been +illustrated by the actual incursions of the Russian hordes. Such was the +date of their first expedition against Constantinople; their assaults +continued through two centuries; and, in the course of that period, they +seemed to be nearer the capture of the city than they have been at any +time since. They descended the Dnieper in boats, coasted along the East +of the Black Sea, and so came round by Trebizond to the Bosphorus, +plundering the coast as they advanced. At one time their sovereign had +got possession of Bulgaria, to the south of the Danube. Barbarians of +other races flocked to his standard; he found himself surrounded by the +luxuries of the East and West, and he marched down as far as Adrianople, +and threatened to go further. Ultimately he was defeated; then followed +the conversion of his people to Christianity, which for a period +restrained their barbarous rapacity; after this, for two centuries, they +were under the yoke and bondage of the Tartars; but the prophecy, or +rather the omen, remains, and the whole world has learned to acquiesce +in the probability of its fulfilment. The wonder rather is, that that +fulfilment has been so long delayed. The Russians, whose wishes would +inspire their hopes, are not solitary in their anticipations: the +historian from whom I have borrowed this sketch of their past +attempts,[90] writing at the end of last century, records his own +expectation of the event. "Perhaps," he says, "the present generation +may yet behold the accomplishment of a rare prediction, of which the +style is unambiguous and the date unquestionable." The Turks themselves +have long been under the shadow of its influence; even as early as the +middle of the seventeenth century, when they were powerful, and Austria +and Poland also, and Russia distant and comparatively feeble, a +traveller tells us that, "of all the princes of Christendom, there was +none whom the Turks so much feared as the Czar of Muscovy." This +apprehension has ever been on the increase; in favour of Russia, they +made the first formal renunciation of territory which had been +consecrated to Islam by the solemnities of religion,--a circumstance +which has sunk deep into their imaginations; there is an enigmatical +inscription on the tomb of the Great Constantine, to the effect that +"the yellow-haired race shall overthrow Ismael;" moreover, ever since +their defeats by the Emperor Leopold, they have had a surmise that the +true footing of their faith is in Asia; and so strong is the popular +feeling on the subject, that in consequence their favourite cemetery is +at Scutari on the Asiatic coast.[91] + + +6. + +It seems likely, then, at no very remote day, to fare ill with the old +enemy of the Cross. However, we must not undervalue what is still the +strength of his position. First, no well-authenticated tokens come to us +of the decay of the Mahometan faith. It is true that in one or two +cities, in Constantinople, perhaps, or in the marts of commerce, laxity +of opinion and general scepticism may to a certain extent prevail, as +also in the highest class of all, and in those who have most to do with +Europeans; but I confess nothing has been brought home to me to show +that this superstition is not still a living, energetic principle in the +Turkish population, sufficient to bind them together in one, and to lead +to bold and persevering action. It must be recollected that a national +and local faith, like the Mahometan, is most closely connected with the +sentiments of patriotism, family honour, loyalty towards the past, and +party spirit; and this the more in the case of a religion which has no +articles of faith at all, except those of the Divine Unity and the +mission of Mahomet. To these must be added more general considerations: +that they have ever prospered under their religion, that they are +habituated to it, that it suits them, that it is their badge of a +standing antagonism to nations they abhor, and that it places them, in +their own imagination, in a spiritual position relatively to those +nations, which they would simply forfeit if they abandoned it. It would +require clear proof of the fact, to credit in their instance the report +of a change of mind, which antecedently is so improbable. + +And next it must be borne in mind that, few as may be the Osmanlis, yet +the raw material of the Turkish nation, represented principally by the +Turcomans, extends over half Asia; and, if it is what it ever has been, +might under circumstances be combined or concentrated into a formidable +Power. It extends at this day from Asia Minor, in a continuous tract, to +the Lena, towards Kamtchatka, and from Siberia down to Khorasan, the +Hindu Cush, and China. The Nogays on the north-east of the Danube, the +inhabitants of the Crimea, the populations on each side of the Don and +Wolga, the wandering Turcomans who are found from the west of Asia, +along the Euxine, Caspian, and so through Persia into Bukharia, the +Kirghies on the Jaxartes, are said to speak one tongue, and to have one +faith.[92] Religion is a bond of union, and language is a medium of +intercourse; and, what is still more, they are all Sunnites, and +recognize in the Sultan the successor of Mahomet. + +Without a head, indeed, to give them a formal unity, they are only one +in name. Nothing is less likely than a resuscitation of the effete +family of Othman; still, supposing the Ottomans driven into Asia, and a +Sultan of that race to mount the throne, such as Amurath, Mahomet, or +Selim, it is not easy to set bounds to the influence the Sovereign +Pontiff of Islam might exert, and to the successes he might attain, in +rallying round him the scattered members of a race, warlike, fanatical, +one in faith, in language, in habits, and in adversity. Nay, even +supposing the Turkish Caliph, like the Saracenic of old, still to +slumber in his seraglio, he might appoint a vicegerent, Emir-ul-Omra, or +Mayor of the Palace, such as Togrul Beg, to conquer with his authority +in his stead. + +But, supposing great men to be wanting to the Turkish race, and the +despair, natural to barbarians, to rush upon them, and defeat, +humiliation, and flight to be their lot; supposing the rivalries and +dissensions of Pachas, in themselves arguing no disaffection to their +Sultan and Caliph, should practically lead to the success of their too +powerful foes, to the divulsion of their body politic, and the partition +of their territory; should this be the distant event to which the +present complications tend, then the fiercer spirits, I suppose, would +of their free will return into the desert, as a portion of the Kalmucks +have done within the last hundred years. Those, however, who remained, +would lead the easiest life under the protection of Russia. She already +is the sovereign ruler of many barbarian populations, and, among them, +Turks and Mahometans; she lets them pursue their wandering habits +without molestation, satisfied with such service on their part as the +interests of the empire require. The Turcomans would have the same +permission, and would hardly be sensible of the change of masters. It is +a more perplexing question how England or France, did they on the other +hand become their masters, would be able to tolerate them in their +reckless desolation of a rich country. Rather, such barbarians, unless +they could be placed where they would answer some political purpose, +would eventually share the fate of the aboriginal inhabitants of North +America; they would, in the course of years, be surrounded, pressed +upon, divided, decimated, driven into the desert by the force of +civilization, and would once more roam in freedom in their old home in +Persia or Khorasan, in the presence of their brethren, who have long +succeeded them in its possession. + + * * * * * + +Many things are possible; one thing is inconceivable,--that the Turks +should, as an existing nation, accept of modern civilization; and, in +default of it, that they should be able to stand their ground amid the +encroachments of Russia, the interested and contemptuous patronage of +Europe, and the hatred of their subject populations. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[87] Tour through Armenia, etc. + +[88] Gibbon. + +[89] Since this was written, they have been taken into the European +family by the Treaty of 1856, and the Sultan has become a Knight of the +Garter. This strange phenomenon is not for certain to the advantage of +their political position. + +[90] Gibbon. + +[91] Thornton, ii. 89; Formby, p. 24; Eclectic Rev., Dec., 1828. + +[92] Pritchard. + + + + +NOTE ON PAGE 109. + + +Cardinal Fisher, in his _Assert. Luther. Confut._, fol. clxi., gives the +following list of Popes who, up to his time, had called on the Princes +of Christendom to direct their arms against the Turks:--Urban II., +Paschal II., Gelasius II., Calistus II., Eugenius III., Lucius III., +Gregory VIII., Clement III., Coelestine III., Innocent III., Honorius +III., Gregory IX., Innocent IV., Alexander IV., Gregory X., John XXII., +Martin IV., Nicolas IV., Innocent VI., Urban V. + + + + +NOTE ON PAGE 124, ETC. + + +The following passages, as being upon the subject of the foregoing +Lectures, are extracted from the lively narrative of an Expedition to +the Jordan and Dead Sea by Commander Lynch, of the United States Navy. + +1. He was presented to Sultan Abdoul Medjid in February, 1848. He says: +"On the left hung a gorgeous crimson velvet curtain, embroidered and +fringed with gold" [the ancient Tartar one was of felt], "and towards it +the secretary led the way. His countenance and his manner exhibited more +awe than I had ever seen depicted in the human countenance. He seemed to +hold his breath; and his step was so soft and stealthy, that once or +twice I stopped, under the impression that I had left him behind, but +found him ever beside me. There were three of us in close proximity, and +the stairway was lined with officers and attendants; but such was the +death-like stillness that I could distinctly hear my own foot-fall. If +it had been a wild beast slumbering in his lair that we were about to +visit, there could not have been a silence more deeply hushed." + +2. "I presented him, in the name of the President of the United States, +with some biographies and prints, illustrative of the character and +habits of our North American Indians, the work of American artists. He +looked at some of them ... and said that he considered them as evidences +of the advancement of the United States in _civilization_, and would +treasure them as a souvenir of the good feeling of its Government +towards him. At the word 'civilization,' pronounced in French, I +started, for it seemed singular, coming from the lips of a Turk, and +applied to our country." The author accounts for it by observing that +the Sultan is but a beginner in French, and probably meant by +"civilization" arts and sciences. + +3. He saw the old Tartar throne, which puts one in mind of Attila's +queen, Zingis's lieutenant, and Timour. "The old divan, upon which the +Sultans formerly reclined when they gave audience, looks like an +overgrown four-poster, covered with carbuncles, turquoise, amethysts, +topaz, emeralds, ruby, and diamond: the couch was covered with Damascus +silk and Cashmere shawls." + +4. "Anchored in the Bay of Scio. In the afternoon, the weather partially +moderating, visited the shore. From the ship we had enjoyed a view of +rich orchards and green fields; but on landing we found ourselves amid a +scene of desolation.... We rode into the country.... What a contrast +between the luxuriant vegetation, the bounty of nature, and the +devastation of man! Nearly every house was unroofed and in ruins, not +one in ten inhabited, although surrounded with thick groves of +orange-trees loaded with the weight of their golden fruit." + +"While weather-bound, we availed ourselves of the opportunity to visit +the ruins [of Ephesus]. There are no trees and but very few bushes on +the face of this old country, but the mountain-slopes and the valleys +are enamelled with thousands of beautiful flowers.... Winding round the +precipitous crest of a mountain, we saw the river Cayster ... flowing +through the alluvial plain to the sea, and on its banks the black tents +of herdsmen, with their flocks of goats around them." As Chandler had +seen them there ninety years ago. + +5. "The tomb of Mahmood is a sarcophagus about eight feet high and as +many long, covered with purple cloth embroidered in gold, and many +votive shawls of the richest cashmere thrown over it.... At the head is +the crimson tarbouch which the monarch wore in life, with a lofty plume, +secured by a large and lustrous aigrette of diamonds. The following +words are inscribed in letters of gold on the face of the tomb:--'This +is the tomb of the layer of the basis of the civilization of his empire; +of the monarch of exalted place, the Sultan victorious and just, Mahmood +Khan, son of the victorious Abd' al Hamid Khan. May the Almighty make +his abode in the gardens of Paradise! Born,' etc." + +"From the eager employment of Franks, the introduction of foreign +machinery, and the adoption of improved modes of cultivating the land, +the present Sultan gives the strongest assurance of his anxiety to +promote the welfare of his people." + +San Stefano "possesses two things in its near vicinity, of peculiar +interest to an American--a model farm and an agricultural school. The +farm consists of about 2,000 acres of land, especially appropriated to +the culture of the cotton-plant. Both farm and school are under the +superintendence of Dr. Davis of South Carolina.... Besides the principal +culture, he is sedulously engaged in the introduction of seeds, plants, +domestic animals, and agricultural instruments. The school is held in +one of the kiosks of the Sultan, which overlooks the sea." + +At Jaffa, Dr. Kayat, H.B.M. Consul, "has encouraged the culture of the +vine; has introduced that of the mulberry and of the Irish potato; and +by word and example is endeavouring to prevail on the people in the +adjacent plain to cultivate the sweet potato.... In the court-yard we +observed an English plough of improved construction." + +He speaks in several places of the remains of the terrace cultivation +(vid. above, p. 128) of Palestine. + +6. "We visited the barracks, where a large number of Turkish soldiers, +shaved and dressed like Europeans except the moustache and the tarbouch, +received us with the Asiatic salute.... The whole caserne was +scrupulously clean, the bread dark coloured, but well baked and sweet. +The colonel, who politely accompanied us, said that the bastinado had +been discontinued, on account of its injuring the culprit's eyes." + +... "Here," in the Palace, "we saw the last of the White Eunuchs; the +present enlightened Sultan having pensioned off those on hand, and +discontinued their attendance for ever." + +"In an extensive, but nearly vacant building, was an abortive attempt at +a museum." + +"It is said, but untruly, that the slave market of Constantinople has +been abolished. An edict, it is true, was some years since promulgated, +which declared the purchase and sale of slaves to be unlawful; the +prohibition, however, is only operative against the Franks, under which +term the Greeks are included." + +7. "Every coloured person, employed by the Government, receives monthly +wages; and, if a slave, is emancipated at the expiration of seven years, +when he becomes eligible to any office beneath the sovereignty. Many of +the high dignitaries of the empire were originally slaves; the present +Governor of the Dardanelles is a black, and was, a short time since, +freed from servitude." + +"The secretary had the most prepossessing countenance of any Turk I had +yet seen, and in conversation evinced a spirit of inquiry and an amount +of intelligence that far surpassed my expectations.... His history is a +pleasing one. He was a poor boy, a charity scholar in one of the public +schools. The late Sultan Mahmood requiring a page to fill a vacancy in +his suite, directed the appointment to be given to the most intelligent +pupil. The present secretary was the fortunate one; and by his +abilities, his suavity and discretion, has risen to the highest office +near the person of majesty." + + + + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES. + +[The dates, as will be seen, are fixed on no scientific principal, but +are taken as they severally occur in approved authors.] + +OUTLINES OF TURKISH CHRONOLOGY. + + A.D. + + I. Tartar Empire of the Turks in the north and centre of + Asia 500-700 + + II. Their subjection, education, and silent growth, under the + Saracens 700-1000 + + III. Their Gaznevide Empire in Hindostan 1000-1200 + + IV. Their Seljukian Empire in Persia and Asia Minor 1048-1100 + + V. Decline of the Seljukians, yet continuous descent of their + kindred tribes to the West 1100-1300 + + VI. Their Ottoman Empire in Asia, Africa, and Europe, + growing for 270 years 1300-1571 + + VII. Their Ottoman Empire declining for 270 years 1571-1841 + + + +CHRONOLOGICAL EVENTS INTRODUCED INTO THE FOREGOING LECTURES. + + B.C. + + Semiramis lost in the Scythian desert p. 13 -- + The Scythians celebrated by Homer pp. 29, 39 900 + The Scythians occupy for twenty-eight years the Median kingdom + in the time of Cyaxares pp. 15, 22 (_Prideaux_) 633 + Cyrus loses his life in an expedition against the Scythian Massagetae + p. 14 (_Clinton_) 529 + Darius invades Scythia north of the Danube, p. 16 (_Clinton_) 508 + Zoroaster p. 66 (_Prideaux_) 492 + Alexander's campaign in Sogdiana p. 18 (_Clinton_) 329 + + A.D. + + Ancient Empire of the Huns in further Asia ends; their consequent + emigration westward p. 26 (_Gibbon_) 100 + + The White Huns of Sogdiana pp. 26, 34, 52, 60, 67 after 100 + + Main body of the Huns invade the Goths on the north of the + Danube p. 22 (_L'Art de verifier les dates_) 376 + + Attila and his Huns ravage the Roman Empire pp. 27, 28 441-452 + + Mission of St. Leo to Attila pp. 29, 31 453 + + Tartar Empire of the Turks pp. 49-52 (_L'Art_, etc., _Gibbon_), + about 500-700 + Chosroes the Second captures the Holy Cross p. 53 + (_L'Art_, etc.) 614 + Mahomet assumes the royal dignity. The Hegira p. 69 (_L'Art_) 622 + The Turks from the Wolga settled by the Emperor Heraclius + in Georgia against the Persians p. 53 (_Gibbon_) 626 + The Turks invade Sogdiana p. 68 (_Gibbon_) 626 + Heraclius recovers the Holy Cross p. 53 (_L'Art_, etc.) 628 + Death of Mahomet p. 69 (_L'Art_) 632 + Yezdegerde, last King of Persia, flying from the Saracens, is + received and murdered by the Turks in Sogdiana p. 69 (_Universal + History_) 654 + The Saracens reduce the Turks in Sogdiana p. 70 (_L'Art_, and + _Univ. Hist._) 705-716 + + The Caliphate transferred from Damascus to Bagdad p. 76 + (_L'Art_) 762 + Harun al Raschid p. 77 (_L'Art_) 786 + The Turks taken into the pay of the Caliphs p. 77 (_L'Art_) 833, etc. + The Turks tyrannize over the Caliphs p. 79 (_L'Art_) 862-870 + The Caliphs lose Sogdiana p. 80 (_L'Art_) 873 + The Turkish dynasty of the Gaznevides in Khorasan and Sogdiana + p. 80 (_Dow_) 977 + Mahmood the Gaznevide pp. 80-84 (_Dow_) 997 + + Seljuk the Turk pp. 84-89 (_Univ. Hist._) 985 + The Seljukian Turks wrest Sogdiana and Khorasan from the + Gaznevides p. 89 (_Dow_) 1041 + Togrul Beg, the Seljukian, turns to the West pp. 89, 92 + (_Baronius_) 1048 + Sufferings of Christians on pilgrimage to Jerusalem pp. 98-101 + (_Baronius_) 1064 + Alp Arslan's victory over the Emperor Diogenes p. 93 + (_Baronius_) 1071 + St. Gregory the Seventh's letter against the Turks p. 98 (_Sharon + Turner_) 1074 + Jerusalem in possession of the Turks p. 98 (_L'Art_) 1076 + Soliman, the Seljukian Sultan of Roum, establishes himself at + Nicaea p. 131 (_L'Art_) 1082 + + The Council of Placentia under Urban the Second pp. 109, 137 + (_L'Art_) 1095 + The first Crusade p. 109 (_L'Art_) 1097 + Conquests of Zingis Khan and the Moguls pp. 32-34 + (_L'Art_) 1176-1259 + Richard Coeur de Lion in Palestine p. 140 (_L'Art_) 1190 + Institution of Mamlooks p. 217 about 1200 + Constantinople taken by the Latins p. 139 (_L'Art_) 1203 + Greek Empire of Nicaea p. 121 (_L'Art_) 1206 + The Greek Emperor Vataces encourages agriculture in Asia + Minor p. 121 (_L'Art_) 1222-1255 + + The Moguls subjugate Russia p. 225 (_L'Art_) 1236 + Mission of St. Louis to the Moguls pp. 35-41 (_L'Art_) 1253 + The Turks attack the north and west coast of Asia Minor + p. 93 (_Univ. Hist._) 1266-1296 + Marco Polo p. 37 1270 + End of the Seljukian kingdom of Roum p. 132 (_L'Art_) 1294 + + Othman p. 132 1301 + The Popes retire to Avignon for seventy years p. 143 (_L'Art_) 1305 + Orchan, successor to Othman, originates the institution of + Janizaries p. 134 (_L'Art_) 1326-1360 + Battle of Cressy p. 140 1346 + Battle of Poitiers, p. 140 1356 + Wicliffe, p. 139 1360 + Amurath institutes the Janizaries pp. 113, 215, 218 (_Gibbon_) 1370 + Conquests of Timour p. 32 (_L'Art_) 1370, etc. + Schismatical Pontiffs for thirty-eight years p. 143 + (_L'Art_) 1378-1417 + Battle of Nicopolis p. 146 (_L'Art_) 1393 + Timour defeats and captures Bajazet p. 144 (_L'Art_) 1402 + Timour at Samarcand pp. 38, 45 (_L'Art_) 1404 + Timour dies on his Chinese expedition p. 46 1405 + + Henry the Fourth of England dies, p. 141 1413 + Battle of Agincourt pp. 140, 145 1415 + Huss p. 140 1415 + Henry the Fifth of England dies p. 142 1422 + Maid of Orleans p. 141 1428 + Battle of Varna p. 147 (_L'Art_) 1442 + Constantinople taken by the Ottomans p. 147 1453 + John Basilowich rescues Russia from the Moguls p. 47 + (_L'Art_) about 1480 + Luther p. 140 1517 + Soliman the Great pp. 148, 192 1520 + St. Pius the Fifth p. 153 1568 + Battle of Lepanto pp. 156, 189 1571 + + + + +II. + +PERSONAL AND LITERARY CHARACTER OF CICERO. + +(_From the_ ENCYCLOPAEDIA METROPOLITANA _of 1824_.) + + + + +PREFATORY NOTICE. + + +If the following sketch of Cicero's life and writings be thought +unworthy of so great a subject, the Author must plead the circumstances +under which it was made. + +In the spring of 1824, when his hands were full of work, Dr. Whately +paid him the compliment of asking him to write it for the _Encyclopaedia +Metropolitana_, to which he was at that time himself contributing. Dr. +Whately explained to him that the Editor had suddenly been disappointed +in the article on Cicero which was to have appeared in the +_Encyclopaedia_, and that in consequence he could not allow more than two +months for the composition of the paper which was to take its place; +also, that it must contain such and such subjects. The Author undertook +and finished it under these conditions. + +In the present Edition (1872) he has in some places availed himself of +the excellent translations of its Greek and Latin passages, made by the +Reverend Henry Thompson in the Edition of 1852. + + +MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO + + PAGE + + 1. CHIEF EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF CICERO, Secs. 1-4 245 + + 2. HIS LITERARY POSITION, Sec. 5 259 + + 3. THE NEW ACADEMY AND HIS RELATION TO IT, Secs. 6-7 264 + + 4. HIS PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS, Secs. 8-10 275 + + 5. HIS LETTERS, HIS HISTORICAL AND POETICAL + COMPOSITIONS, Sec. 10 289 + + 6. HIS ORATIONS, Sec. 11 291 + + 7. HIS STYLE, Sec. 12 295 + + 8. THE ORATORS OF ROME, Sec. 13 297 + + + + +MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. + + +1. + +Marcus Tullius Cicero was born at Arpinum, the native place of +Marius,[93] in the year of Rome 648 (A.C. 106), the same year which gave +birth to the Great Pompey. His family was ancient and of Equestrian +rank, but had never taken part in the public affairs of Rome,[94] though +both his father and grandfather were persons of consideration in the +part of Italy to which they belonged.[95] His father, being a man of +cultivated mind himself, determined to give his two sons the advantage +of a liberal education, and to fit them for the prospect of those public +employments which a feeble constitution incapacitated himself from +undertaking. Marcus, the elder of the two, soon displayed indications of +a superior intellect, and we are told that his schoolfellows carried +home such accounts of him, that their parents often visited the school +for the sake of seeing a youth who gave such promise of future +eminence.[96] One of his earliest masters was the poet Archias, whom he +defended afterwards in his Consular year; under his instructions he was +able to compose a poem, though yet a boy, on the fable of Glaucus, which +had formed the subject of one of the tragedies of AEschylus. Soon after +he assumed the manly gown he was placed under the care of Scaevola, the +celebrated lawyer, whom he introduces so beautifully into several of his +philosophical dialogues; and in no long time he gained a thorough +knowledge of the laws and political institutions of his country.[97] + +This was about the time of the Social war; and, according to the Roman +custom, which made it a necessary part of education to learn the +military art by personal service, Cicero took the opportunity of serving +a campaign under the Consul Pompeius Strabo, father of Pompey the Great. +Returning to pursuits more congenial to his natural taste, he commenced +the study of Philosophy under Philo the Academic, of whom we shall speak +more particularly hereafter.[98] But his chief attention was reserved +for Oratory, to which he applied himself with the assistance of Molo, +the first rhetorician of the day; while Diodotus the Stoic exercised him +in the argumentative subtleties for which the disciples of Zeno were so +generally celebrated. At the same time he declaimed daily in Greek and +Latin with some young noblemen, who were competitors with him in the +same race of political honours. + +Of the two professions,[99] which, from the contentiousness of human +nature, are involved in the very notion of society, while that of arms, +by its splendour and importance, secures the almost undivided admiration +of a rising and uncivilized people, legal practice, on the other hand, +becomes the path to honours in later and more civilized ages, by reason +of the oratorical accomplishments to which it usually gives scope. The +date of Cicero's birth fell precisely during that intermediate state of +things, in which the glory of military exploits lost its pre-eminence +by means of the very opulence and luxury which were their natural issue; +and he was the first Roman who found his way to the highest dignities of +the State with no other recommendation than his powers of eloquence and +his merits as a civil magistrate.[100] + +The first cause of importance he undertook was his defence of Sextus +Roscius; in which he distinguished himself by his spirited opposition to +Sylla, whose favourite Chrysogonus was prosecutor in the action. This +obliging him, according to Plutarch, to leave Rome on prudential +motives, he employed his time in travelling for two years under pretence +of his health, which, he tells us,[101] was as yet unequal to the +exertion of pleading. At Athens he met with T. Pomponius Atticus, whom +he had formerly known at school, and there renewed with him a friendship +which lasted through life, in spite of the change of interests and +estrangements of affection so common in turbulent times.[102] Here too +he attended the lectures of Antiochus, who, under the name of Academic, +taught the dogmatic doctrines of Plato and the Stoics. Though Cicero +felt at first considerable dislike of his philosophical views,[103] he +seems afterwards to have adopted the sentiments of the Old Academy, +which they much resembled; and not till late in life to have relapsed +into the sceptical tenets of his former instructor Philo.[104] After +visiting the principal philosophers and rhetoricians of Asia, in his +thirtieth year he returned to Rome, so strengthened and improved both +in bodily and mental powers, that he soon eclipsed in his oratorical +efforts all his competitors for public favour. So popular a talent +speedily gained him the suffrage of the Commons; and, being sent to +Sicily as Quaestor, at a time when the metropolis itself was visited with +a scarcity of corn, he acquitted himself in that delicate situation with +such address as to supply the clamorous wants of the people without +oppressing the province from which the provisions were raised.[105] +Returning thence with greater honours than had ever been before decreed +to a Roman Governor, he ingratiated himself still farther in the esteem +of the Sicilians by undertaking his celebrated prosecution of Verres; +who, though defended by the influence of the Metelli and the eloquence +of Hortensius, was at length driven in despair into voluntary exile. + +Five years after his Quaestorship, Cicero was elected AEdile, a post of +considerable expense from the exhibition of games connected with it. In +this magistracy he conducted himself with singular propriety;[106] for, +it being customary to court the people by a display of splendour in +these official shows, he contrived to retain his popularity without +submitting to the usual alternative of plundering the provinces or +sacrificing his private fortune. The latter was at this time by no means +ample; but, with the good sense and taste which mark his character, he +preserved in his domestic arrangements the dignity of a literary and +public man, without any of the ostentation of magnificence which often +distinguished the candidate for popular applause.[107] + +After the customary interval of two years, he was returned at the head +of the list as Praetor;[108] and now made his first appearance in the +rostrum in support of the Manilian law. About the same time he defended +Cluentius. At the expiration of his Praetorship, he refused to accept a +foreign province, the usual reward of that magistracy;[109] but, having +the Consulate full in view, and relying on his interest with Caesar and +Pompey, he allowed nothing to divert him from that career of glory for +which he now believed himself to be destined. + + +2. + +It may be doubted, indeed, whether any individual ever rose to power by +more virtuous and truly honourable conduct; the integrity of his public +life was only equalled by the correctness of his private morals; and it +may at first sight excite our wonder that a course so splendidly begun +should afterwards so little fulfil its early promise. Yet it was a +failure from the period of his Consulate to his Pro-praetorship in +Cilicia, and each year is found to diminish his influence in public +affairs, till it expires altogether with the death of Pompey. This +surprise, however, arises in no small degree from measuring Cicero's +political importance by his present reputation, and confounding the +authority he deservedly possesses as an author with the opinions +entertained of him by his contemporaries as a statesman. From the +consequence usually attached to passing events, a politician's celebrity +is often at its zenith in his own generation; while the author, who is +in the highest repute with posterity, may perhaps have been little +valued or courted in his own day. Virtue indeed so conspicuous as that +of Cicero, studies so dignified, and oratorical powers so commanding, +will always invest their possessor with a large portion of reputation +and authority; and this is nowhere more apparent than in the +enthusiastic welcome with which he was greeted on his return from exile. +But unless other qualities be added, more peculiarly necessary for a +statesman, they will hardly of themselves carry that political weight +which some writers have attached to Cicero's public life, and which his +own self-love led him to appropriate. + +The advice of the Oracle,[110] which had directed him to make his own +genius, not the opinion of the people, his guide to immortality (which +in fact pointed at the above-mentioned distinction between the fame of a +statesman and of an author), at first made a deep impression on his +mind; and at the present day he owes his reputation principally to those +pursuits which, as Plutarch tells us, exposed him to the ridicule and +even to the contempt of his contemporaries as a "pedant and a +professor."[111] But his love of popularity overcame his philosophy, and +he commenced a career which gained him one triumph and ten thousand +mortifications. + +It is not indeed to be doubted that in his political course he was more +or less influenced by a sense of duty. To many it may even appear that a +public life was best adapted for the display of his particular talents; +that, at the termination of the Mithridatic war, Cicero was in fact +marked out as the very man to adjust the pretensions of the rival +parties in the Commonwealth, to withstand the encroachments of Pompey, +and to baffle the arts of Caesar. And if the power of swaying and +controlling the popular assemblies by his eloquence; if the +circumstances of his rank, Equestrian as far as family was concerned, +yet almost Patrician from the splendour of his personal honours; if the +popularity derived from his accusation of Verres, and defence of +Cornelius, and the favour of the Senate acquired by the brilliant +services of his Consulate; if the general respect of all parties which +his learning and virtue commanded; if these were sufficient +qualifications for a mediator between contending factions, Cicero was +indeed called upon by the voice of his country to that most arduous and +honourable post. And in his Consulate he had seemed sensible of the +call: "All through my Consulate," he declares in his speech against +Piso, "I made a point of doing nothing without the advice of the Senate +and the approval of the People. I ever defended the Senate in the +Rostrum, in the Senate House the People, and united the populace with +the leading men, the Equestrian order with the Senate." + +Yet, after that eventful period, we see him resigning his high station +to Cato, who, with half his abilities, little foresight, and no +address,[112] possessed that first requisite for a statesman, firmness. +Cicero, on the contrary, was irresolute, timid, and inconsistent.[113] +He talked indeed largely of preserving a middle course,[114] but he was +continually vacillating from one to the other extreme; always too +confident or too dejected; incorrigibly vain of success, yet meanly +panegyrizing the government of an usurper. His foresight, sagacity, +practical good sense, and singular tact, were lost for want of that +strength of mind which points them steadily to one object. He was never +decided, never (as has sometimes been observed) took an important step +without afterwards repenting of it. Nor can we account for the firmness +and resolution of his Consulate, unless we discriminate between the +case of resisting and exposing a faction, and that of balancing +contending interests. Vigour in repression differs widely from +steadiness in mediation; the latter requiring a coolness of judgment, +which a direct attack upon a public foe is so far from implying, that it +even inspires minds naturally timid with unusual ardour. + + +3. + +His Consulate was succeeded by the return of Pompey from the East, and +the establishment of the First Triumvirate; which, disappointing his +hopes of political power, induced him to resume his forensic and +literary occupations. From these he was recalled, after an interval of +four years, by the threatening measures of Clodius, who at length +succeeded in driving him into exile. This event, which, considering the +circumstances connected with it, was one of the most glorious of his +life, filled him with the utmost distress and despondency. He wandered +about Greece bewailing his miserable fortune, refusing the consolations +which his friends attempted to administer, and shunning the public +honours with which the Greek cities were eager to load him.[115] His +return, which took place in the course of the following year, reinstated +him in the high station he had filled at the termination of his +Consulate, but the circumstances of the times did not allow him to +retain it. We refer to Roman history for an account of his vacillations +between the several members of the Triumvirate; his defence of Vatinius +to please Caesar; and of his bitter political enemy Gabinius, to +ingratiate himself with Pompey. His personal history in the meanwhile +furnishes little worth noticing, except his election into the college of +Augurs, a dignity which had been a particular object of his ambition. +His appointment to the government of Cilicia, which took place about +five years after his return from exile, was in consequence of Pompey's +law, which obliged those Senators of Consular or Praetorian rank, who had +never held any foreign command, to divide the vacant provinces among +them. This office, which we have above seen him decline, he now accepted +with feelings of extreme reluctance, dreading perhaps the military +occupations which the movements of the Parthians in that quarter +rendered necessary. Yet if we consider the state and splendour with +which the Proconsuls were surrounded, and the opportunities afforded +them for almost legalized plunder and extortion, we must confess that +this insensibility to the common objects of human cupidity was the token +of no ordinary mind. The singular disinterestedness and integrity of his +administration, as well as his success against the enemy, also belong to +the history of his times. The latter he exaggerated from the desire, so +often instanced in eminent men, of appearing to excel in those things +for which nature has not adapted them. + +His return to Italy was followed by earnest endeavours to reconcile +Pompey with Caesar, and by very spirited behaviour when Caesar required +his presence in the Senate. On this occasion he felt the glow of +self-approbation with which his political conduct seldom repaid him: he +writes to Atticus,[116] "I believe I do not please Caesar, but I am +pleased with myself, which has not happened to me for a long while." +However, this effort at independence was but transient. At no period of +his public life did he display such miserable vacillation as at the +opening of the civil war.[117] We find him first accepting a commission +from the Republic; then courting Caesar; next, on Pompey's sailing for +Greece, resolving to follow him thither; presently determining to stand +neuter; then bent on retiring to the Pompeians in Sicily; and, when +after all he had joined their camp in Greece, discovering such timidity +and discontent as to draw from Pompey the bitter reproof, "I wish Cicero +would go over to the enemy, that he may learn to fear us."[118] + +On his return to Italy, after the battle of Pharsalia, he had the +mortification of learning that his brother and nephew were making their +peace with Caesar, by throwing on himself the blame of their opposition +to the conqueror. And here we see one of those elevated points of +character which redeem the weaknesses of his political conduct; for, +hearing that Caesar had retorted on Quintus Cicero the charge which the +latter had brought against himself, he wrote a pressing letter in his +favour, declaring his brother's safety was not less precious to him than +his own, and representing him not as the leader, but as the companion of +his voyage.[119] + +Now too the state of his private affairs reduced him to much perplexity; +a sum he had advanced to Pompey had impoverished him, and he was forced +to stand indebted to Atticus for present assistance.[120] These +difficulties led him to take a step which it has been customary to +regard with great severity; the divorce of his wife Terentia, though he +was then in his sixty-second year, and his marriage with his rich ward +Publilia, who of course was of an age disproportionate to his own.[121] +Yet, in reviewing this proceeding, we must not adopt the modern standard +of propriety, forgetful of a condition of society which reconciled +actions even of moral turpitude with a reputation for honour and virtue. +Terentia was a woman of a most imperious and violent temper, and (what +is more to the purpose) had in no slight degree contributed to his +present embarrassments by her extravagance in the management of his +private affairs.[122] By her he had two children, a son, born a year +before his Consulate, and a daughter whose loss he was now fated to +deplore. To Tullia he was tenderly attached, not only from the +excellence of her disposition, but from her literary tastes; and her +death tore from him, as he so pathetically laments to Sulpicius, the +only comfort which the course of public events had left him.[123] At +first he was inconsolable; and, retiring to a little island near his +estate at Antium, he buried himself in the woods, to avoid the sight of +man.[124] His distress was increased by the conduct of his new wife +Publilia; whom he soon divorced for testifying joy at the death of her +stepdaughter. On this occasion he wrote his Treatise on Consolation, +with a view to alleviate his grief; and, with the same object, he +determined on dedicating a temple to his daughter, as a memorial of her +virtues and his affection. His friends were assiduous in their +attentions; and Caesar, who had treated him with extreme kindness on his +return from Egypt, signified the respect he bore his character by +sending him a letter of condolence from Spain,[125] where the remains of +the Pompeian party still engaged him. Caesar, moreover, had shortly +before given a still stronger proof of his favour, by replying to a work +which Cicero had drawn up in praise of Cato;[126] but no attentions, +however considerate, could soften Cicero's vexation at seeing the +country he had formerly saved by his exertions now subjected to the +tyranny of one master. His speeches, indeed, for Marcellus and Ligarius, +exhibit traces of inconsistency; but for the most part he retired from +public business, and gave himself up to the composition of those works +which, while they mitigated his political sorrows, have secured his +literary celebrity. + + +4. + +The murder of Caesar, which took place in the following year, once more +brought him on the stage of public affairs; but as our present paper is +but supplemental to the history of the times, we leave to others to +relate what more has to be told of him, his unworthy treatment of +Brutus, his coalition with Octavius, his orations against Antonius, his +proscription, and his violent death, at the age of sixty-four. Willingly +would we pass over his public life altogether; for he was as little of a +great statesman as of a great commander. His merits are of another kind +and in a higher order of excellence. Antiquity may be challenged to +produce a man more virtuous, more perfectly amiable than Cicero. None +interest more in their life, none excite more painful emotions in their +death. Others, it is true, may be found of loftier and more heroic +character, who awe and subdue the mind by the grandeur of their views, +or the intensity of their exertions. But Cicero engages our affections +by the integrity of his public conduct, the correctness of his private +life, the generosity,[127] placability, and kindness of his heart, the +playfulness of his wit, the warmth of his domestic attachments. In this +respect his letters are invaluable. "Here," says Middleton, "we may see +the genuine man without disguise or affectation, especially in his +letters to Atticus; to whom he talked with the same frankness as to +himself, opened the rise and progress of each thought; and never entered +into any affair without his particular advice."[128] + +It must be confessed, indeed, that this private correspondence discloses +the defects of his political conduct, and shows that they were partly of +a moral character. Want of firmness has been repeatedly mentioned as his +principal failing; and insincerity is the natural attendant on a timid +and irresolute mind. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that +openness and candour are rare qualities in a statesman at all times, and +while the duplicity of weakness is despised, the insincerity of a +powerful but crafty mind, though incomparably more odious, is too +commonly regarded with feelings of indulgence. Cicero was deficient, not +in honesty, but in moral courage; his disposition, too, was conciliatory +and forgiving; and much which has been referred to inconsistency should +be attributed to the generous temper which induced him to remember the +services rather than the neglect of Plancius, and to relieve the exiled +and indigent Verres.[129] Much too may be traced to his professional +habits as a pleader; which led him to introduce the licence of the +Forum into deliberative discussions, and (however inexcusably) even into +his correspondence with private friends. + +Some writers, as Lyttelton, have considered it an aggravation of +Cicero's inconsistencies, that he was so perfectly aware, as his +writings show, of what was philosophically and morally upright and +honest. It might be sufficient to reply, that there is a wide difference +between calmly deciding on an abstract point, and acting on that +decision in the hurry of real life; that Cicero in fact was apt to fancy +(as all will fancy when assailed by interest or passion) that the +circumstances of his case constituted it an exception to the broad +principles of duty. Besides, he considered it to be actually the duty of +a statesman to accommodate theoretical principle to the exigencies of +existing circumstances. "Surely," he says in his defence of Plancius, +"it is no mark of inconsistency in a statesman to determine his judgment +and to steer his course by the state of the political weather. This is +what I have been taught, what I have experienced, what I have read; this +is what is recorded in history of the wisest and most eminent men, +whether at home or abroad; namely, that the same man is not bound always +to maintain the same opinions, but those, whatever they may be, which +the state of the commonwealth, the direction of the times, and the +interests of peace may demand."[130] Moreover, he claimed for himself +especially the part of mediator between political rivals; and he +considered it to be a mediator's duty alternately to praise and blame +both parties, even to exaggeration, if by such means it was possible +either to flatter or frighten them into an adoption of temperate +measures.[131] "Cicero," says Plutarch, "used to give them private +advice, keeping up a correspondence with Caesar, and urging many things +upon Pompey himself, soothing and persuading each of them."[132] + + +5. + +But such criticism on Cicero as Lyttelton's proceeds on an entire +misconception of the design and purpose with which the ancients +prosecuted philosophical studies. The motives and principles of morals +were not so seriously acknowledged as to lead to a practical application +of them to the conduct of life. Even when they proposed them in the form +of precept, they still regarded the perfectly virtuous man as the +creature of their imagination rather than a model for imitation--a +character whom it was a mental recreation rather than a duty to +contemplate; and if an individual here or there, as Scipio or Cato, +attempted to conform his life to his philosophical conceptions of +virtue, he was sure to be ridiculed for singularity and affectation. + +Even among the Athenians, by whom philosophy was, in many cases, +cultivated to the exclusion of every active profession, intellectual +amusement, not the discovery of Truth, was the principal object of their +discussions. That we must thus account for the ensnaring questions and +sophistical reasonings of which their disputations consisted, has been +noticed by writers on Logic;[133] and it was their extension of this +system to the case of morals which brought upon their Sophists the irony +of Socrates and the sterner rebuke of Aristotle. But if this took place +in a state of society in which the love of speculation pervaded all +ranks, much more was it to be expected among the Romans, who, busied as +they were in political enterprises, and deficient in philosophical +acuteness, had neither time nor inclination for abstruse investigations; +and who considered philosophy simply as one of the many fashions +introduced from Greece, "a sort of table furniture," as Warburton well +expresses it, a mere refinement in the arts of social enjoyment.[134] +This character it bore both among friends and enemies. Hence the +popularity which attended the three Athenian philosophers who had come +to Rome on an embassy from their native city; and hence the inflexible +determination with which Cato procured their dismissal, through fear, as +Plutarch tells us,[135] lest their arts of disputation should corrupt +the Roman youth. And when at length, by the authority of Scipio,[136] +the literary treasures of Sylla, and the patronage of Lucullus, +philosophical studies had gradually received the countenance of the +higher classes of their countrymen, still, in consistency with the +principle above laid down, we find them determined in their adoption of +this or that system, not so much by the harmony of its parts, or by the +plausibility of its reasonings, as by its suitableness to the particular +profession and political station to which they severally belonged. Thus, +because the Stoics were more minute than other sects in inculcating the +moral and social duties, we find the Roman jurisconsults professing +themselves followers of Zeno;[137] the orators, on the contrary, adopted +the disputatious system of the later Academics;[138] while Epicurus was +the master of the idle and the wealthy. Hence, too, they confined the +profession of philosophical science to Greek teachers; considering them +the sole proprietors, as it were, of a foreign and expensive luxury, +which the vanquished might suitably have the duty of furnishing, and +which the conquerors could well afford to purchase. + +Before the works of Cicero, no attempts worth considering had been made +for using the Latin tongue in philosophical subjects. The natural +stubbornness of the language conspired with Roman haughtiness to prevent +this application.[139] The Epicureans, indeed, had made the experiment, +but their writings were even affectedly harsh and slovenly,[140] and we +find Cicero himself, in spite of his inexhaustible flow of rich and +expressive diction, making continual apologies for his learned +occupations, and extolling philosophy as the parent of everything great, +virtuous, and amiable.[141] + +Yet, with whatever discouragement his design was attended, he ultimately +triumphed over the pride of an unlettered people, and the difficulties +of a defective language. He was indeed possessed of that first requisite +for eminence, an enthusiastic attachment to the studies he was +recommending. But, occupied as he was with the duties of a statesman, +mere love of literature would have availed little, if separated from +that energy and breadth of intellect by which he was enabled to pursue a +variety of objects at once, with equally perserving and indefatigable +zeal. "He suffered no part of his leisure to be idle," says Middleton, +"or the least interval of it to be lost; but what other people gave to +the public shows, to pleasures, to feasts, nay, even to sleep and the +ordinary refreshments of nature, he generally gave to his books, and the +enlargement of his knowledge. On days of business, when he had anything +particular to compose, he had no other time for meditating but when he +was taking a few turns in his walks, where he used to dictate his +thoughts to his scribes who attended him. We find many of his letters +dated before daylight, some from the senate, others from his meals, and +the crowd of his morning levee."[142] Thus he found time, without +apparent inconvenience, for the business of the State, for the turmoil +of the courts, and for philosophical studies. During his Consulate he +delivered twelve orations in the Senate, Rostrum, or Forum. His +Treatises _de Oratore_ and _de Republica_, the most finished perhaps of +his compositions, were written at a time when, to use his own words, +"not a day passed without his taking part in forensic disputes."[143] +And in the last year of his life he composed at least eight of his +philosophical works, besides the fourteen orations against Antony, which +are known by the name of Philippics. + +Being thus ardent in the cause of philosophy, he recommended it to the +notice of his countrymen, not only for the honour which its introduction +would reflect upon himself (which of course was a motive with him), but +also with the fondness of one who esteemed it "the guide of life, the +parent of virtue, the guardian in difficulty, and the tranquillizer in +misfortune."[144] Nor were his mental endowments less adapted to the +accomplishment of his object than the spirit with which he engaged in +the work. Gifted with great versatility of talent, with acuteness, +quickness of perception, skill in selection, art in arrangement, +fertility of illustration, warmth of fancy, and extraordinary taste, he +at once seizes upon the most effective parts of his subject, places them +in the most striking point of view, and arrays them in the liveliest and +most inviting colours. His writings have the singular felicity of +combining brilliancy of execution with never-failing good sense. It must +be allowed that he is deficient in depth; that he skims over rather than +dives into the subjects of which he treats; that he had too great +command of the plausible to be a patient investigator or a sound +reasoner. Yet if he has less originality of thought than others, if he +does not grapple with his subject, if he is unequal to a regular and +lengthened disquisition, if he is frequently inconsistent in his +opinions, we must remember that mere soundness of view, without talent +for display, has few recommendations for those who have not yet imbibed +a taste even for the outward form of knowledge,[145] that system nearly +precludes freedom, and depth almost implies obscurity. It was this very +absence of scientific exactness which constituted in Roman eyes a +principal charm of Cicero's compositions.[146] + +Nor must his profession as a pleader be forgotten in enumerating the +circumstances which concurred to give his writings their peculiar +character. For, however his design of interesting his countrymen in +Greek literature, however too his particular line of talent, may have +led him to explain rather than to invent; yet he expressly informs us it +was principally with a view to his own improvement in Oratory that he +devoted himself to philosophical studies.[147] This induced him to +undertake successively the cause of the Stoic, the Epicurean, or the +Platonist, as an exercise for his powers of argumentation; while the +wavering and unsettled state of mind, occasioned by such habits of +disputation, led him in his personal judgment to prefer the sceptical +tenets of the New Academy. + + +6. + +Here then, before enumerating Cicero's philosophical writings, an +opportunity is presented to us of redeeming the pledge we have given +elsewhere in our Encyclopaedia,[148] to consider the system of doctrine +which the reformers (as they thought themselves) of the Academic school +introduced about 300 years before the Christian era. + +We shall not trace here the history of the Old Academy, or speak of the +innovations on the system of Plato, silently introduced by the austere +Polemo. When Zeno, however, who was his pupil, advocated the same rigid +tenets in a more open and dogmatic form,[149] the Academy at length took +the alarm, and a reaction ensued. Arcesilas, who had succeeded Polemo +and Crates, determined on reverting to the principles of the elder +schools;[150] but mistaking the profession of ignorance, which Socrates +had used against the Sophists on physical questions, for an actual +scepticism on points connected with morals, he fell into the opposite +extreme, and declared, first, that nothing could be known, and +therefore, secondly, nothing should be maintained.[151] + +Whatever were his private sentiments (for some authors affirm his +esoteric doctrines to have been dogmatic[152]), he brought forward these +sceptical tenets in so unguarded a form, that it required all his +argumentative powers, which were confessedly great, to maintain them +against the obvious objections which were pressed upon him from all +quarters. On his death, therefore, as might have been anticipated, his +school was deserted for those of Zeno and Epicurus; and during the lives +of Lacydes, Evander, and Hegesinus, who successively filled the Academic +chair, being no longer recommended by the novelty of its doctrines,[153] +or the talents of its masters, it became of little consideration amid +the wranglings of more popular philosophies. Carneades,[154] therefore, +who succeeded Hegesinus, found it necessary to use more cautious and +guarded language; and, by explaining what was paradoxical, by +reservations and exceptions, in short, by all the arts which an acute +and active genius could suggest, he contrived to establish its +authority, without departing, as far as we have the means of judging, +from the principle of universal scepticism which Arcesilas had so +pertinaciously advocated.[155] + +The New Academy,[156] then, taught with Plato, that all things in their +own nature were fixed and determinate; but that, through the +constitution of the human mind, it was impossible _for us_ to see them +in their simple and eternal forms, to separate appearance from reality, +truth from falsehood.[157] For the conception we form of any object is +altogether derived from and depends on the sensation, the impression, it +produces on our own minds ([Greek: pathos energeias, phantasia]). Reason +does but deduce from premisses ultimately supplied by sensation. Our +only communication, then, with actual existences being through the +medium of our own impressions, we have no means of ascertaining the +correspondence of the things themselves with the ideas we entertain of +them; and therefore can in no case be certain of the truthfulness of our +senses. Of their fallibility, however, we may easily assure ourselves; +for in cases in which they are detected contradicting each other, all +cannot be correct reporters of the object with which they profess to +acquaint us. Food, which is the same as far as _sight_ and _touch_ are +concerned, _tastes_ differently to different individuals; fire, which is +the same to the _eye_, communicates a sensation of _pain_ at one time, +of _pleasure_ at another; the oar _appears_ crooked in the water, while +the _touch_ assures us it is as straight as before it was immersed.[158] +Again, in dreams, in intoxication, in madness, impressions are made upon +the mind, vivid enough to incite to reflection and action, yet utterly +at variance with those produced by the same objects when we are awake, +or sober, or in possession of our reason.[159] + +It appears, then, that we cannot prove that our senses are _ever_ +faithful to the things they profess to report about; but we do know they +_often_ produce erroneous impressions of them. Here then is room for +endless doubt; for why may they not deceive us in cases in which we +cannot detect the deception? It is certain they _often_ act irregularly; +is there any consistency _at all_ in their operations, any law to which +these varieties may be referred? + +It is undeniable that an object often varies in the impression which it +makes upon the mind, while, on the other hand, the same impression may +arise from different objects. What limit is to be assigned to this +disorder? is there any sensation strong enough to _assure_ us of the +presence of the object which it seems to intimate, any such as to +preclude the possibility of deception? If, when we look into a mirror, +our minds are impressed with the appearance of trees, fields, and +houses, which are unreal, how can we ascertain beyond all doubt whether +the scene we directly look upon has any more substantial existence than +the former?[160] + +From these reasonings the Academics taught that nothing was certain, +nothing was to be known ([Greek: katalepton]). For the Stoics +themselves, their most determined opponents, defined the [Greek: +kataleptike phantasia] (the phantasy or impression which involved +knowledge[160a]) to be one that was capable of being produced by no object +except that to which it really belonged.[161] + +Since then we cannot arrive at knowledge, we must suspend our decision, +pronounce absolutely on nothing, nay, according to Arcesilas, never even +form an opinion.[162] In the conduct of life, however, probability[163] +must determine our choice of action; and this admits of different +degrees. The lowest kind is that which suggests itself on the first view +of the case ([Greek: phantasia pithane], or _persuasive phantasy_); but +in all important matters we must correct the evidence of our senses by +considerations derived from the nature of the medium, the distance of +the object, the disposition of the organ, the time, the manner, and +other attendant circumstances. When the impression has been thus +minutely considered, the _phantasy_ becomes [Greek: aperiodeumene], or +_approved on circumspection_; and if during this examination no +objection has arisen to weaken our belief, the highest degree of +probability is attained, and the phantasy is pronounced _unembarrassed +with doubt_, or [Greek: aperispastos].[164] + +Sextus Empiricus illustrates this as follows:[165] If on entering a dark +room we discern a coiled rope, our first impression may be that it is a +serpent--this is the _persuasive phantasy_. On a closer inspection, +however, after _walking round it_ ([Greek: periodeusantes]), or _on +circumspection_, we observe it does not move, nor has it the proper +colour, shape, or proportions; and now we conclude it is not a serpent; +here we are determined in our belief by the [Greek: periodeumene +phantasia], and we assent to the _circumspective phantasy_. For an +instance of the third and most accurate kind, viz., that with which no +contrary impression interferes, we may refer to the conduct of Admetus +on the return of Alcestis from the infernal regions. He believes he sees +his wife; everything confirms it; but he cannot simply acquiesce in that +opinion, because his mind is _embarrassed or distracted_ [Greek: +perispatai] from the knowledge he has of her having died; he asks, +"What! do I see my wife I just now buried?" (_Alc._ 1148.) Hercules +resolves his difficulty, and his phantasy is in repose, or [Greek: +aperispastos]. + +The suspension then of assent ([Greek: epoche]) which the Academics +enjoined, was, at least from the time of Carneades,[166] almost a +speculative doctrine;[167] and herein lay the chief difference between +them and the Pyrrhonists; that the latter altogether denied the +existence of the probable, while the former admitted there was +sufficient to allow of action, provided we pronounced absolutely on +nothing. + +Little more can be said concerning the opinions of a sect whose +fundamental maxim was that nothing could be known, and nothing should be +taught. It lay midway between the other philosophies; and in the +altercations of the various schools it was at once attacked by all,[168] +yet appealed to by each of the contending parties, if not to +countenance its own sentiments, at least to condemn those advocated by +its opponents,[169] and thus to perform the office of an umpire.[170] +From this necessity, then, of being prepared on all sides for +attack,[171] it became as much a school of rhetoric as of +philosophy,[172] and was celebrated among the ancients for the eloquence +of its masters.[173] Hence also its reputation was continually varying: +for, requiring the aid of great abilities to maintain its exalted and +arduous post, it alternately rose and fell in estimation, according to +the talents of the individual who happened to fill the chair.[174] And +hence the frequent alterations which took place in its philosophical +tenets; which, depending rather on the arbitrary determinations of its +present head, than on the tradition of settled maxims, were accommodated +to the views of each successive master, according as he hoped by +sophistry or concession to overcome the repugnance which the mind ever +will feel to the doctrines of universal scepticism. + +And in these continual changes it is pleasing to observe that the +interests of virtue and good order were uniformly promoted; interests +to which the Academic doctrines were certainly hostile, if not +necessarily fatal. Thus, although we find Carneades, in conformity to +the plan adopted by Arcesilas,[175] opposing the _dogmatic_ principles +of the Stoics concerning moral duty,[176] and studiously concealing his +private views even from his friends;[177] yet, by allowing that the +suspense of judgment was not always a duty, that the wise man might +sometimes _believe_ though he could not _know_;[178] he in some measure +restored the authority of those great instincts of our nature which his +predecessor appears to have discarded. Clitomachus pursued his steps by +innovations in the same direction;[179] Philo, who followed next, +attempting to reconcile his tenets with those of the Platonic +school,[180] has been accounted the founder of a fourth academy--while, +to his successor Antiochus, who embraced the doctrines of the +Porch,[181] and maintained the fidelity of the senses, it has been usual +to assign the establishment of a fifth. + + +7. + +We have already observed that Cicero in early life inclined to the +doctrines of Plato and Antiochus, which, at the time he composed the +bulk of his writings, he had abandoned for those of Carneades and +Philo.[182] Yet he was never so entirely a disciple of the New Academy +as to neglect the claims of morality and the laws. He is loud in his +protestations that truth is the great object of his search: "For my own +part, if I have applied myself especially to this philosophy, through +any love of display or pleasure in disputation, I should condemn not +only my folly, but my moral condition. And, therefore, unless it were +absurd, in an argument like this, to do what is sometimes done in +political discussions, I would swear by Jupiter and the divine Penates +that I burn with a desire of discovering the truth, and really believe +what I am saying."[183] And, however inappropriate this boast may +appear, he at least pursues the useful and the magnificent in +philosophy; and uses his academic character as a pretext rather for a +judicious selection from each system than for an indiscriminate +rejection of all.[184] Thus, in the capacity of a statesman, he calls in +the assistance of doctrines which, as an orator, he does not scruple to +deride; those of Zeno in particular, who maintained the truth of the +popular theology, and the divine origin of augury, and (as we noticed +above) was more explicit than the other masters in his views of social +duty. This difference of sentiment between the magistrate and the +pleader is strikingly illustrated in the opening of his treatise _de +Legibus_; where, after deriving the principles of law from the nature of +things, he is obliged to beg quarter of the Academics, whose reasonings +he feels could at once destroy the foundation on which his argument +rested. "My treatise throughout," he says, "aims at the strengthening of +states and the welfare of peoples. I dread therefore to lay down any but +well considered and carefully examined principles; I do not say +principles which are universally received, for none are such, but +principles received by those philosophers who consider virtue to be +desirable for its own sake, and nothing whatever to be good, or at least +a great good, which is not in its own nature praiseworthy." These +philosophers are the Stoics; and then, apparently alluding to the +arguments of Carneades against justice, which he had put into the mouth +of Philus in the third book of his _de Republica_, he proceeds: "As to +the Academy, which puts the whole subject into utter confusion, I mean +the New Academy of Arcesilas and Carneades, let us persuade it to hold +its peace. For, should it make an inroad upon the views which we +consider we have so skilfully put into shape, it will make an extreme +havoc of them. The Academy I cannot conciliate, and I dare not +ignore."[185] + +And as, in questions connected with the interests of society, he thus +uniformly advocates the tenets of the Porch, so in discussions of a +physical character we find him adopting the sublime and glowing +sentiments of Pythagoras and Plato. Here, however, having no object of +expediency in view to keep him within the bounds of consistency, he +scruples not to introduce whatever is most beautiful in itself, or most +adapted to his present purpose. At one time he describes the Deity as +the all-pervading Soul of the world, the cause of life and motion;[186] +at another He is the intelligent Preserver and Governor of every +separate part.[187] At one time the soul of man is in its own nature +necessarily eternal, without beginning or end of existence;[188] at +another it is represented as a portion, or the haunt of the one +infinite Spirit;[189] at another it is to enter the assembly of the +Gods, or to be driven into darkness, according to its moral conduct in +this life;[190] at another, it is only in its best and greatest +specimens destined for immortality;[191] sometimes that immortality is +described as attended with consciousness and the continuance of earthly +friendships;[192] sometimes as but an immortality of name and +glory;[193] more frequently however these separate notions are confused +together in the same passage. + +Though the works of Aristotle were not given to the world till Sylla's +return from Greece, Cicero appears to have been a considerable +proficient in his philosophy,[194] and he has not overlooked the +important aid it affords in those departments of science which are alike +removed from abstract reasoning and fanciful theorizing. To Aristotle he +is indebted for most of the principles laid down in his rhetorical +discussions,[195] while in his treatises on morals not a few of his +remarks may be traced to the same acute philosopher.[196] + +The doctrines of the Garden alone, though some of his most intimate +friends were of the Epicurean school, he regarded with aversion and +contempt; feeling no sort of interest in a system which cut at the very +root of that activity of mind, industry, and patriotism, for which he +himself both in public and private was so honourably distinguished.[197] + +Such then was the New Academy, and such the variation of opinion which, +in Cicero's judgment, was not inconsistent with the profession of an +Academic. And, however his adoption of that philosophy may be in part +referred to his oratorical habits, or his natural cast of mind, yet, +considering the ambition which he felt to inspire his countrymen with a +taste for literature and science,[198] we must conclude with +Warburton[199] that, in acceding to the system of Philo, he was strongly +influenced by the freedom of thought and reasoning which it allowed to +his literary works, the liberty of illustrating the principles and +doctrines, the strong and weak parts, of every Grecian school. Bearing +then in mind his design of recommending the study of philosophy, it is +interesting to observe the artifices of style and manner which, with +this end, he adopted in his treatises; and though to enter minutely into +this subject would be foreign to our present purpose, it may be allowed +us to make some general remarks on the character of works so eminently +successful in accomplishing the object for which they were undertaken. + + +8. + +The obvious peculiarity of Cicero's philosophical discussions is the +form of dialogue in which most of them are conveyed. Plato, indeed, and +Xenophon, had, before his time, been even more strictly dramatic in +their compositions; but they professed to be recording the sentiments +of an individual, and the Socratic mode of argument could hardly be +displayed in any other shape. Of that interrogative and inductive +conversation, however, Cicero affords but few specimens;[200] the nature +of his dialogue being as different from that of the two Athenians as was +his object in writing. His aim was to excite interest; and he availed +himself of this mode of composition for the life and variety, the ease, +perspicuity, and vigour which it gave to his discussions. His dialogue +is of two kinds: according as the subject of it is beyond or under +controversy, it assumes the shape of a continued treatise, or a free +disputation; in the latter case imparting clearness to what is obscure, +in the former relief to what is clear. Thus his practical and systematic +treatises on rhetoric and moral duty, when not written in his own +person, are merely divided between several speakers who are the mere +organs of his own sentiments; while in questions of a more speculative +cast, on the nature of the gods, on the human soul, on the greatest +good, he uses his academic liberty, and brings forward the theories of +contending schools under the character of their respective advocates. +The advantages gained in both cases by the form of dialogue are evident. +In controverted subjects he is not obliged to discover his own views, he +can detail opposite arguments forcibly and luminously, and he is allowed +the use of those oratorical powers in which, after all, his great +strength lay. In those subjects, on the other hand, which are +uninteresting because they are familiar, he may pause or digress before +the mind is weary and the attention begins to flag; the reader is +carried on by easy journeys and short stages, and novelty in the speaker +supplies the want of novelty in the matter. Nor does Cicero discover +less skill in the execution of these dialogues than address in their +method. It were idle to enlarge upon the beauty, richness, and taste of +compositions which have been the admiration of every age and country. In +the dignity of his speakers, their high tone of mutual courtesy, the +harmony of his groups, and the delicate relief of his contrasts, he is +inimitable. The majesty and splendour of his introductions, which +generally address themselves to the passions or the imagination, the +eloquence with which both sides of a question are successively +displayed, the clearness and terseness of his statements on abstract +points, the grace of his illustrations, his exquisite allusions to the +scene or time of the supposed conversation, his digressions in praise of +philosophy or great men, his quotations from Grecian and Roman poetry; +lastly, the melody and fulness of his style, unite to throw a charm +round his writings peculiar to themselves. To the Roman reader they +especially recommended themselves by their continual and most artful +references to the heroes of the old republic, who now appeared but +exemplars, and (as it were) patrons of that eternal philosophy, which he +had before, perhaps, considered as the short-lived reveries of ingenious +but inactive men. Nor is there any confusion, want of keeping, or +appearance of effort in the introduction of the various beauties we have +been enumerating, which are blended together with so much skill and +propriety, that it is sometimes difficult to point out the particular +sources of the admiration which they inspire. + + +9. + +The series of his rhetorical works[201] has been preserved nearly +complete, and consists of the _De Inventione_, _De Oratore_, _Brutus +sive de claris Oratoribus_, _Orator sive de optimo genere Dicendi_, _De +partitione Oratoria_, _Topica_, and _de optimo genere Oratorum_. The +last-mentioned, which is a fragment, is understood to have been the +proem to his translation (now lost) of the speeches of Demosthenes and +AEschines, _De Corona_. These he translated with the view of defending, +by the example of the Greek orators, his own style of eloquence, which, +as we shall afterwards find, the critics of the day censured as too +Asiatic in its character; and hence the proem, which still survives, is +on the subject of the Attic style of oratory. This composition and his +abstracts of his own orations[202] are his only rhetorical works not +extant, and probably our loss is not very great. The _Treatise on +Rhetoric_, addressed to Herennius, though edited with his works, and +ascribed to him by several of the ancients, is now generally attributed +to Cornificius, or some other writer of the day. + +The works, which we have enumerated, consider the art of rhetoric in +different points of view, and thus receive from each other mutual +support and illustration, while they prevent the tediousness which might +else arise, if they were moulded into one systematic treatise on the +general subject. Three are in the form of dialogue; the rest are written +in his own person. In all, except perhaps the _Orator_, he professes to +have availed himself of the principles of the Aristotelic and Isocratean +schools, selecting what was best in each of them, and, as occasion might +offer, adding remarks and precepts of his own.[203] The subject of +Oratory is considered in three distinct lights;[204] with reference to +the case, the speaker, and the speech. The case, as respects its +nature, is definite or indefinite; with reference to the hearer, it is +judicial, deliberative, or descriptive; as regards the opponent, the +division is fourfold--according as the fact, its nature, its quality, or +its propriety is called in question. The art of the speaker is directed +to five points: the discovery of persuasives (whether ethical, +pathetical, or argumentative), arrangement, diction, memory, delivery. +And the speech itself consists of six parts: introduction, statement of +the case, division of the subject, proof, refutation, and conclusion. + +His treatises _De Inventione_ and _Topica_, the first and nearly the +last of his compositions, are both on the invention of arguments, which +he regards, with Aristotle, as the very foundation of the art; though he +elsewhere confines the term eloquence, according to its derivation, to +denote excellence of diction and delivery, to the exclusion of +argumentative skill.[205] The former of these works was written at the +age of twenty, and seems originally to have consisted of four books, of +which but two remain.[206] In the first of these he considers rhetorical +invention generally, supplies commonplaces for the six parts of an +oration promiscuously, and gives a full analysis of the two forms of +argument, syllogism and induction. In the second book he applies these +rules particularly to the three subject-matters of rhetoric, the +deliberative, the judicial, and the descriptive, dwelling principally on +the judicial, as affording the most ample field for discussion. This +treatise seems for the most part compiled from the writings of +Aristotle, Isocrates, and Hermagoras;[207] and as such he alludes to it +in the opening of his _De Oratore_ as deficient in the experience and +judgment which nothing but time and practice can impart. Still it is an +entertaining, nay, useful work; remarkable, even among Cicero's +writings, for its uniform good sense, and less familiar to the scholar +only because the greater part has been superseded by the compositions of +his riper years. + +His _Topica_, or treatise on commonplaces, has less extent and variety +of plan, being little else than a compendium of Aristotle's work on the +same subject. It was, as he informs us in its proem, drawn up from +memory on his voyage from Italy to Greece, soon after Caesar's murder, +and in compliance with the wishes of Trebatius, who had some time before +urged him to undertake the translation.[208] + +Cicero seems to have intended his _De Oratore_, _De claris Oratoribus_, +and _Orator_, to form one complete system.[209] Of these three noble +works the first lays down the principles and rules of the rhetorical +art; the second exemplifies them in the most eminent speakers of Greece +and Rome; and the third shadows out the features of that perfect orator, +whose superhuman excellences should be the aim of our ambition. The _De +Oratore_ was written when the author was fifty-two, two years after his +return from exile; and is a dialogue between some of the most +illustrious Romans of the preceding age on the subject of oratory. The +principal speakers are the orators Crassus and Antonius, who are +represented unfolding the principles of their art to Sulpicius and +Cotta, young men just rising in the legal profession. In the first book, +the conversation turns on the subject-matter of rhetoric, and the +qualifications requisite for the perfect orator. Here Crassus maintains +the necessity of his being acquainted with the whole circle of the arts, +while Antonius confines eloquence to the province of speaking well. The +dispute for the most part seems verbal; for Cicero himself, though he +here sides with Crassus, yet elsewhere, as we have above noticed, +pronounces eloquence, strictly speaking, to consist in beauty of +diction. Scaevola, the celebrated lawyer, takes part in this preliminary +discussion; but, in the ensuing meetings, makes way for Catulus and +Caesar, the subject leading to such technical disquisitions as were +hardly suitable to the dignity of the aged Augur.[210] The next morning +Antonius enters upon the subject of invention, which Caesar completes by +subjoining some remarks on the use of humour in oratory; and Antonius, +relieving him, finishes the morning discussion with treating of +arrangement and memory. In the afternoon the rules for propriety and +elegance of diction are explained by Crassus, who was celebrated in this +department of the art; and the work concludes with his handling the +subject of delivery and action. Such is the plan of the _De Oratore_, +the most finished perhaps of Cicero's compositions. An air of grandeur +and magnificence reigns throughout. The characters of the aged senators +are finely conceived, and the whole company is invested with an almost +religious majesty, from the allusions interspersed to the melancholy +destinies for which its members were reserved. + +His treatise _De claris Oratoribus_ was written after an interval of +nine years, about the time of Cato's death, when he was sixty-one, and +is thrown into the shape of a dialogue between Brutus, Atticus, and +himself. He begins with Solon, and after briefly mentioning the orators +of Greece, proceeds to those of his own country, so as to take in the +whole period from the time of Junius Brutus down to himself. About the +same time he wrote his _Orator_; in which he directs his attention +principally to diction and delivery, as in his _De Inventione_ and +_Topica_ he considers the matter of an oration.[211] This treatise is of +a less practical nature than the rest.[212] It adopts the principles of +Plato, and delineates the perfect orator according to the abstract +conceptions of the intellect rather than the deductions of observation +and experience. Hence he sets out with a definition of the perfectly +eloquent man, whose characteristic it is to express himself with +propriety on all subjects, whether humble, great, or of an intermediate +character;[213] and here he has an opportunity of paying some indirect +compliments to himself. With this work he was so well satisfied that he +does not scruple to declare, in a letter to a friend, that he was ready +to rest on its merits his reputation for judgment in Oratory.[214] + +The treatise _De partitione Oratoria_, or on the three parts of +rhetoric, is a kind of catechism between Cicero and his son, drawn up +for the use of the latter at the same time with the two preceding. It is +the most systematic and perspicuous of his rhetorical works, but seems +to be but the rough draught of what he originally intended.[215] + + +10. + +The connection which we have been able to preserve between the +rhetorical writings of Cicero cannot be attained in his moral, +political, and metaphysical treatises; partly from the extent of the +subject, partly from the losses occasioned by time, partly from the +inconsistency which we have warned the reader to expect in his +sentiments. In our enumeration, therefore, we shall observe no other +order than that which the date of their composition furnishes. + +The earliest now extant is part of his treatise _De Legibus_, in three +books; being a sequel to his work on Politics. Both were written in +imitation of Plato's treatises on the same subjects.[216] The latter of +these (_De Republica_) was composed a year after the _De Oratore_,[217] +and seems to have vied with it in the majesty and interest of the +dialogue. It consisted of a series of discussions in six books on the +origin and principles of government, Scipio being the principal speaker, +but Laelius, Philus, Manilius, and other personages of like gravity +taking part in the conversation. Till lately, but a fragment of the +fifth book was understood to be in existence, in which Scipio, under the +fiction of a dream, inculcates the doctrine of the immortality of the +soul. But in the year 1822, Monsignor Mai, librarian of the Vatican, +published considerable portions of the first and second books, from a +palimpsest manuscript of St. Austin's _Commentary on the Psalms_. In the +part now recovered, Scipio discourses on the different kinds of +constitutions and their respective advantages; with a particular +reference to that of Rome. In the third book, the subject of justice was +discussed by Laelius and Philus; in the fourth, Scipio treated of morals +and education; while in the fifth and sixth, the duties of a magistrate +were explained, and the best means of preventing changes and revolutions +in the constitution itself. In the latter part of the treatise, allusion +was made to the actual posture of affairs in Rome, when the conversation +was supposed to have occurred, and the commotions excited by the +Gracchi. + +In his treatise _De Legibus_, which was written two years later than the +_De Republica_, when he was fifty-five, and shortly after the murder of +Clodius, he represents himself as explaining to his brother Quintus and +Atticus, in their walks through the woods of Arpinum, the nature and +origin of the laws and their actual state, both in other countries and +in Rome. The first part only of the subject is contained in the books +now extant; the introduction to which we have had occasion to notice, +when speaking of his Stoical sentiments on questions connected with +State policy. Law he pronounces to be the perfection of reason, the +eternal mind, the divine energy, which, while it pervades and unites in +one the whole universe, associates gods and men by the more intimate +resemblance of reason and virtue, and still more closely men with men, +by the participation of common faculties, affections, and situations. He +then proves, at length, that justice is not merely created by civil +institutions, from the power of conscience, the imperfections of human +law, the moral sense, and the disinterestedness of virtue. He next +proceeds to unfold the principles, first, of religious law, under the +heads of divine worship; the observance of festivals and games; the +office of priests, augurs, and heralds; the punishment of sacrilege and +purjury; the consecration of land, and the rights of sepulchre; and, +secondly, of civil law, which gives him an opportunity of noticing the +respective duties of magistrates and citizens. In these discussions, +though professedly speaking of the abstract question, he does not +hesitate to anticipate the subject of the lost books, by frequent +allusions to the history and customs of his own country. It must be +added, that in no part of his writings do worse instances occur, than in +this treatise, of that vanity which was notoriously his weakness, which +are rendered doubly offensive by their being put into the mouth of his +brother and Atticus.[218] + +Here a period of seven or eight years intervenes, during which he +composed little of importance besides his Orations. He then published +the _De claris Oratoribus_ and _Orator_; and a year later, when he was +sixty-three, his _Academicae Quaestiones_, in the retirement from public +business to which he was driven by the dictatorship of Caesar. This work +had originally consisted of two dialogues, which he entitled _Catulus_ +and _Lucullus_, from the names of the respective speakers in each. These +he now remodelled and enlarged into four books, dedicating them to +Varro, whom he introduced as advocating, in the presence of Atticus, the +tenets of Antiochus, while he himself defended those of Philo. Of this +most valuable composition, only the second book (_Lucullus_) of the +first edition and part of the first book of the second are now extant. +In the former of those two, Lucullus argues against, and Cicero for, the +Academic sect, in the presence of Catulus and Hortensius; in the latter, +Varro pursues the history of philosophy from Socrates to Arcesilas, and +Cicero continues it down to the time of Carneades. In the second edition +the style was corrected, the matter condensed, and the whole polished +with extraordinary care and diligence.[219] + +The same year he published his treatise _De Finibus_, or "On the chief +good," in five books, in which are explained the sentiments of the +Epicureans, Stoics, and Peripatetics on the subject. This is the +earliest of his works in which the dialogue is of a disputatious +character. It is opened with a defence of the Epicurean tenets, +concerning pleasure, by Torquatus; to which Cicero replies at length. +The scene then shifts from the Cuman villa to the library of young +Lucullus (his father being dead), where the Stoic Cato expatiates on the +sublimity of the system which maintains the existence of one only good, +and is answered by Cicero in the character of a Peripatetic. Lastly, +Piso, in a conversation held at Athens, enters into an explanation of +the doctrine of Aristotle, that happiness is the greatest good. The +general style of this treatise is elegant and perspicuous; and the last +book in particular has great variety and splendour of diction. + +It was about this time that Cicero was especially courted by the heads +of the dictator's party, of whom Hirtius and Dolabella went so far as to +declaim daily at his house for the benefit of his instructions.[220] A +visit of this nature to the Tusculan villa, soon after the publication +of the _De Finibus_, gave rise to his work entitled _Tusculanae +Quaestiones_, which professes to be the substance of five philosophical +disputes between himself and friends, digested into as many books. He +argues throughout after the manner of an Academic, even with an +affectation of inconsistency; sometimes making use of the Socratic +dialogue, sometimes launching out into the diffuse expositions which +characterise his other treatises.[221] He first disputes against the +fear of death; and in so doing he adopts the opinion of the Platonic +school, as regards the nature of God and the soul. The succeeding +discussions on enduring pain, on alleviating grief, on the other +emotions of the mind, and on virtue, are conducted for the most part on +Stoical principles.[222] This is a highly ornamental composition, and +contains more quotations from the poets than any other of Cicero's +treatises. + +We have already had occasion to remark upon the singular activity of his +mind, which becomes more and more conspicuous as we approach the period +of his death. During the ensuing year, which is the last of his life, +in the midst of the confusion and anxieties consequent on Caesar's +death, and the party warfare of his Philippics, he found time to write +the _De Natura Deorum_, _De Divinatione_, _De Fato_, _De Senectute_, _De +Amicitia_, _De Officiis_, and _Paradoxa_, besides the treatise on +Rhetorical Common Places above mentioned. + +Of these, the first three were intended as a full exposition of the +conflicting opinions entertained on their respective subjects; the _De +Fato_, however, was not finished according to this plan.[223] His +treatise _De Natura Deorum_, in three books, may be reckoned the most +splendid of all his works, and shows that neither age nor disappointment +had done injury to the richness and vigour of his mind. In the first +book, Velleius, the Epicurean, sets forth the physical tenets of his +sect, and is answered by Cotta, who is of the Academic school. In the +second, Balbus, the disciple of the Porch, gives an account of his own +system, and is, in turn, refuted by Cotta in the third. The eloquent +extravagance of the Epicurean, the solemn enthusiasm of the Stoic, and +the brilliant raillery of the Academic, are contrasted with extreme +vivacity and humour;--while the sublimity of the subject itself imparts +to the whole composition a grander and more elevated character, and +discovers in the author imaginative powers, which, celebrated as he +justly is for playfulness of fancy, might yet appear more the talent of +the poet than the orator. + +His treatise _De Divinatione_ is conveyed in a discussion between his +brother Quintus and himself, in two books. In the former, Quintus, after +dividing Divination into the heads of natural and artificial, argues +with the Stoics for its sacred nature, from the evidence of facts, the +agreement of all nations, and the existence of divine intelligences. In +the latter, Cicero questions its authority, with Carneades, from the +uncertain nature of its rules, the absurdity and uselessness of the art, +and the possibility of accounting from natural causes for the phenomena +on which it was founded. This is a curious work, from the numerous cases +adduced from the histories of Greece and Rome to illustrate the subject +in dispute. + +His treatise _De Fato_ is quite a fragment; it purports to be the +substance of a dissertation in which he explained to Hirtius (soon after +Consul) the sentiments of Chrysippus, Diodorus, Epicurus, Carneades, and +others, upon that abstruse subject. It is supposed to have consisted at +least of two books, of which we have but the proem of the first, and a +small portion of the second. + +In his beautiful compositions, _De Senectute_ and _De Amicitia_, Cato +the censor and Laelius are respectively introduced, delivering their +sentiments on those subjects. The conclusion of the former, in which +Cato discourses on the immortality of the soul, has been always +celebrated; and the opening of the latter, in which Fannius and Scaevola +come to console Laelius on the death of Scipio, is as exquisite an +instance of delicacy and taste in composition as can be found in his +works. In the latter he has borrowed largely from the eighth and ninth +books of Aristotle's _Ethics_. + +His treatise _De Officiis_ was finished about the time he wrote his +second Philippic, a circumstance which illustrates the great versatility +of his mental powers. Of a work so extensively celebrated, it is enough +to have mentioned the name. Here he lays aside the less authoritative +form of dialogue, and, with the dignity of the Roman Consul, unfolds, in +his own person, the principles of morals, according to the views of the +older schools, particularly of the Stoics. It is written in three +books, with great perspicuity and elegance of style; the first book +treats of the _honestum_, or _virtue_, the second of the _utile_, or +_expedience_, and the third adjusts the claims of the two, when they +happen to interfere with each other. + +His _Paradoxa Stoicorum_ might have been more suitably, perhaps, +included in his rhetorical works, being six short declamations in +support of the positions of Zeno; in which that philosopher's subtleties +are adapted to the comprehension of the vulgar, and the events of the +times. The second, fourth, and sixth, are respectively directed against +Antony, Clodius, and Crassus. They seem to have suffered from time.[224] +The sixth is the most eloquent, but the argument of the third is +strikingly maintained. + +Besides the works now enumerated, we have a considerable fragment of his +translation of Plato's _Timaeus_, which he seems to have finished in his +last year. His remaining philosophical works, viz.: the _Hortensius_, +which was a defence of philosophy; _De Gloria_; _De Consolatione_, +written upon Platonic principles on his daughter's death; _De Jure +Civili_, _De Virtutibus_, _De Auguriis_, _Chorographia_, translations of +Plato's _Protagoras_, and Xenophon's _OEconomics_, works on Natural +History, Panegyric on Cato, and some miscellaneous writings, are, except +a few fragments, entirely lost. + + * * * * * + +His Letters, about one thousand in all, are comprised in thirty-six +books, sixteen of which are addressed to Atticus, three to his brother +Quintus, one to Brutus, and sixteen to his different friends; and they +form a history of his life from his fortieth year. Among those addressed +to his friends, some occur from Brutus, Metellus, Plancius, Caelius, and +others. For the preservation of this most valuable department of +Cicero's writings, we are indebted to Tyro, the author's freedman, +though we possess, at the present day, but a part of those originally +published. As his correspondence with his friends belongs to his +character as a man and politician, rather than to his literary aspect, +we have already noticed it in the first part of this memoir. + + * * * * * + +His Poetical and Historical works have suffered a heavier fate. The +latter class, consisting of his commentary on his consulship and his +history of his own times, is altogether lost. Of the former, which +consisted of the heroic poems _Halcyone_, _Limon_, _Marius_, and his +Consulate, the elegy of _Tamelastes_, translations of Homer and Aratus, +epigrams, etc., nothing remains, except some fragments of the +_Phaenomena_ and _Diosemeia_ of Aratus. It may, however, be questioned +whether literature has suffered much by these losses. We are far, +indeed, from speaking contemptuously of the poetical talent of one who +possessed so much fancy, so much taste, and so fine an ear.[225] But his +poems were principally composed in his youth; and afterwards, when his +powers were more mature, his occupations did not allow even to his +active mind the time necessary for polishing a language still more +rugged in metre than it was in prose. His contemporary history, on the +other hand, can hardly have conveyed more explicit, and certainly would +have contained less faithful, information than his private +correspondence; while, with all the penetration he assuredly possessed, +it may be doubted if his diffuse and graceful style was adapted for the +deep and condensed thoughts and the grasp of facts and events which are +the chief excellences of historical composition. + + +11. + +The Orations which he is known to have composed amount in all to about +eighty, of which fifty-nine, either entire or in part, are preserved. Of +these some are deliberative, others judicial, others descriptive; some +delivered from the rostrum, or in the senate; others in the forum, or +before Caesar; and, as might be anticipated from the character already +given of his talents, he is much more successful in pleading or in +panegyric than in debate or invective. In deliberative oratory, indeed, +great part of the effect of the composition depends on its creating in +the hearer a high opinion of the speaker; and, though Cicero takes +considerable pains to interest the audience in his favour, yet his style +is not simple and grave enough, he is too ingenious, too declamatory, +discovers too much personal feeling, to elicit that confidence in him, +without which argument has little influence. His invectives, again, +however grand and imposing, yet, compared with his calmer and more +familiar productions, have a forced and unnatural air. Splendid as is +the eloquence of his Catilinarians and Philippics, it is often the +language of abuse rather than of indignation; and even his attack on +Piso, the most brilliant and imaginative of its kind, becomes wearisome +from want of ease and relief. His laudatory orations, on the other hand, +are among his happiest efforts. Nothing can exceed the taste and beauty +of those for the Manilian law, for Marcellus, for Ligarius, for Archias, +and the ninth Philippic, which is principally in praise of Servius +Sulpicius. But it is in judicial eloquence, particularly on subjects of +a lively cast, as in his speeches for Caelius and Muraena, and against +Caecilius, that his talents are displayed to the best advantage. In both +these departments of oratory the grace and amiableness of his genius +are manifested in their full lustre, though none of his orations are +without tokens of those characteristic excellences. Historical +allusions, philosophical sentiments, descriptions full of life and +nature, and polite raillery, succeed each other in the most agreeable +manner, without appearance of artifice or effort. Such are his pictures +of the confusion of the Catilinarian conspirators on detection;[226] of +the death of Metellus;[227] of Sulpicius undertaking the embassy to +Antony;[228] the character he draws of Catiline;[229] and his fine +sketch of old Appius, frowning on his degenerate descendant Clodia.[230] + +These, however, are but incidental and occasional artifices to divert +and refresh the mind, since his Orations are generally laid out +according to the plan proposed in rhetorical works; the introduction, +containing the ethical proof; the body of the speech, the argument, and +the peroration addressing itself to the passions of the judges. In +opening his case, he commonly makes a profession of timidity and +diffidence, with a view to conciliate the favour of his audience; the +eloquence, for instance, of Hortensius, is so powerful,[231] or so much +prejudice has been excited against his client,[232] or it is his first +appearance in the rostrum,[233] or he is unused to speak in an armed +assembly,[234] or to plead in a private apartment.[235] He proceeds to +entreat the patience of his judges; drops out some generous or popular +sentiment, or contrives to excite prejudice against his opponent. He +then states the circumstances of his case, and the intended plan of his +oration; and here he is particularly clear. But it is when he comes +actually to prove his point that his oratorical powers begin to have +their full play. He accounts for everything so naturally, makes trivial +circumstances tell so happily, so adroitly converts apparent objections +into confirmations of his argument, connects independent facts with such +ease and plausibility, that it becomes impossible to entertain a +question on the truth of his statement. This is particularly observable +in his defence of Cluentius, where prejudices, suspicions, and +difficulties are encountered with the most triumphant ingenuity; in the +antecedent probabilities of his _Pro Milone_;[236] in his apology for +Muraena's public,[237] and Caelius's private life,[238] and his +disparagement of Verres's military services in Sicily;[239] it is +observable too in the address with which the Agrarian law of +Rullus,[240] and the accusation of Rabirius,[241] both popular measures, +are represented to be hostile to public liberty; with which Milo's +impolitic unconcern is made a touching incident;[242] and Cato's attack +upon the crowd of clients which accompanied the candidate for office, a +tyrannical disregard for the feelings of the poor.[243] So great indeed +is his talent, that he even hurts a good cause by an excess of +plausibility. + +But it is not enough to have barely proved his point; he proceeds, +either immediately, or towards the conclusion of his speech, to heighten +the effect by amplification.[244] Here he goes (as it were) round and +round his object; surveys it in every light; examines it in all its +parts; retires, and then advances; turns and re-turns it; compares and +contrasts it; illustrates, confirms, enforces his view of the question, +till at last the hearer feels ashamed of doubting a position which seems +built on a foundation so strictly argumentative. Of this nature is his +justification of Rabirius in taking up arms against Saturninus;[245] his +account of the imprisonment of the Roman citizens by Verres, and of the +crucifixion of Gavius;[246] his comparison of Antony with Tarquin;[247] +and the contrast he draws of Verres with Fabius, Scipio, and +Marius.[248] + +And now, having established his case, he opens upon his opponent a +discharge of raillery, so delicate and good-natured, that it is +impossible for the latter to maintain his ground against it. Or where +the subject is too grave to admit this, he colours his exaggeration with +all the bitterness of irony or vehemence of passion. Such are his +frequent delineations of Gabinius, Piso, Clodius, and Antony;[249] +particularly his vivid and almost humorous contrast of the two consuls, +who sanctioned his banishment, in his oration for Sextius.[250] Such the +celebrated account (already referred to) of the crucifixion of Gavius by +Verres, which it is difficult to read, even at the present day, without +having our feelings roused against the merciless Praetor. But the appeal +to the gentler emotions of the soul is reserved (perhaps with somewhat +of sameness) for the close of his oration; as in his defence of +Cluentius, Muraena, Caelius, Milo, Sylla, Flaccus, and Rabirius Postumus; +the most striking instances of which are the poetical burst of feeling +with which he addresses his client Plancius,[251] and his picture of the +desolate condition of the Vestal Fonteia, should her brother be +condemned.[252] At other times, his peroration contains more heroic and +elevated sentiments; as in his invocation of the Alban groves and altars +in the peroration of the _Pro Milone_, the panegyric on patriotism, and +the love of glory in his defence of Sextius, and that on liberty at the +close of the third and tenth Philippics.[253] + + +12. + +But it is by the invention of a style, which adapts itself with singular +felicity to every class of subjects, whether lofty or familiar, +philosophical or forensic, that Cicero answers even more exactly to his +own definition of a perfect orator[254] than by his plausibility, +pathos, and brilliancy. It is not, however, here intended to enter upon +the consideration of a subject so ample and so familiar to all scholars +as Cicero's diction, much less to take an extended view of it through +the range of his philosophical writings and familiar correspondence. +Among many excellences, the greatest is its suitableness to the genius +of the Latin language; though the diffuseness thence necessarily +resulting has exposed it, both in his own days and since his time, to +the criticisms of those who have affected to condemn its Asiatic +character, in comparison with the simplicity of Attic writers, and the +strength of Demosthenes.[255] Greek, however, is celebrated for its +copiousness in vocabulary, for its perspicuity, and its reproductive +power; and its consequent facility of expressing the most novel or +abstruse ideas with precision and elegance. Hence the Attic style of +eloquence was plain and simple, because simplicity and plainness were +not incompatible with clearness, energy, and harmony. But it was a +singular want of judgment, an ignorance of the very principles of +composition, which induced Brutus, Calvus, Sallust, and others to +imitate this terse and severe beauty in their own defective language, +and even to pronounce the opposite kind of diction deficient in taste +and purity. In Greek, indeed, the words fall, as it were, naturally, +into a distinct and harmonious order; and, from the exuberant richness +of the materials, less is left to the ingenuity of the artist. But the +Latin language is comparatively weak, scanty, and unmusical; and +requires considerable skill and management to render it expressive and +graceful. Simplicity in Latin is scarcely separable from baldness; and +justly as Terence is celebrated for chaste and unadorned diction, yet, +even he, compared with Attic writers, is flat and heavy.[256] Again, the +perfection of strength is clearness united to brevity; but to this +combination Latin is utterly unequal. From the vagueness and uncertainty +of meaning which characterises its separate words, to be perspicuous it +must be full. What Livy, and much more Tacitus, have gained in energy, +they have lost in lucidity and elegance; the correspondence of Brutus +with Cicero is forcible, indeed, but harsh and abrupt. Latin, in short, +is not a philosophical language, not a language in which a deep thinker +is likely to express himself with purity or neatness. Cicero found it +barren and dissonant, and as such he had to deal with it. His good sense +enabled him to perceive what could be done, and what it was in vain to +attempt; and happily his talents answered precisely to the purpose +required. He may be compared to a clever landscape-gardener, who gives +depth and richness to narrow and confined premises by ingenuity and +skill in the disposition of his trees and walks. Terence and Lucretius +had cultivated simplicity; Cotta, Brutus, and Calvus had attempted +strength; but Cicero rather made a language than a style; yet not so +much by the invention as by the combination of words. Some terms, +indeed, his philosophical subjects obliged him to coin;[257] but his +great art lies in the application of existing materials, in converting +the very disadvantages of the language into beauties,[258] in enriching +it with circumlocutions and metaphors, in pruning it of harsh and +uncouth expressions, in systematizing the structure of a sentence.[259] +This is that _copia dicendi_ which gained Cicero the high testimony of +Caesar to his inventive powers,[260] and which, we may add, constitutes +him the greatest master of composition that the world has seen. + + +13. + +Such, then, are the principal characteristics of Cicero's oratory; on a +review of which we may, with some reason, conclude that Roman eloquence +stands scarcely less indebted to his works than Roman philosophy. For, +though in his _De claris Oratoribus_ he begins his review from the age +of Junius Brutus, yet, soberly speaking (and as he seems to allow in the +opening of the _De Oratore_), we cannot assign an earlier date to the +rise of eloquence among his countrymen, than that of the same Athenian +embassy which introduced the study of philosophy. To aim, indeed, at +persuasion, by appeals to the reason or passions, is so natural, that no +country, whether refined or barbarous, is without its orators. If, +however, eloquence be the mere power of persuading, it is but a relative +term, limited to time and place, connected with a particular audience, +and leaving to posterity no test of its merits but the report of those +whom it has been successful in influencing; but we are speaking of it as +the subject-matter of an art.[261] + +The eloquence of Carneades and his associates had made (to use a +familiar term) a great sensation among the Roman orators, who soon split +into two parties,--the one adhering to the rough unpolished manners of +their forefathers, the other favouring the artificial graces which +distinguished the Grecian rhetoricians. In the former class were Cato +and Laelius,[262] both men of cultivated minds, particularly Cato, whose +opposition to Greek literature was founded solely on political +considerations. But, as might have been expected, the Athenian cause had +prevailed; and Carbo and the two Gracchi, who are the principal orators +of the next generation, are praised as masters of an oratory learned, +majestic, and harmonious in its character.[263] These were succeeded by +Antonius, Crassus, Cotta, Sulpicius, and Hortensius; who, adopting +greater liveliness and variety of manner, form a middle age in the +history of Roman eloquence. But it was in that which immediately +followed that the art was adorned by an assemblage of orators, which +even Greece will find it difficult to match. Of these Caesar, Cicero, +Curio, Brutus, Caelius, Calvus, and Callidius, are the most celebrated. +The talents, indeed, of Caesar were not more conspicuous in arms than in +his style, which was noted for its force and purity.[264] Caelius, whom +Cicero brought forward into public life, excelled in natural quickness, +loftiness of sentiment, and politeness in attack;[265] Brutus in +philosophical gravity, though he sometimes indulged himself in a warmer +and bolder style.[266] Callidius was delicate and harmonious; Curio bold +and flowing; Calvus, from studied opposition to Cicero's peculiarities, +cold, cautious, and accurate.[267] Brutus and Calvus have been before +noticed as the advocates of the dry sententious mode of speaking, which +they dignified by the name of Attic; a kind of eloquence which seems to +have been popular from the comparative facility with which it was +attained. + +In the Ciceronian age the general character of the oratory was dignified +and graceful. The popular nature of the government gave opportunities +for effective appeals to the passions; and, Greek literature being as +yet a novelty, philosophical sentiments were introduced with +corresponding success. The republican orators were long in their +introductions, diffuse in their statements, ample in their divisions, +frequent in their digressions, gradual and sedate in their +perorations.[268] Under the Emperors, however, the people were less +consulted in state affairs; and the judges, instead of possessing an +almost independent authority, being but delegates of the executive, from +interested politicians became men of business; literature, too, was now +familiar to all classes; and taste began sensibly to decline. The +national appetite felt a craving for stronger and more stimulating +compositions. Impatience was manifested at the tedious majesty and +formal graces, the parade of arguments, grave sayings, and shreds of +philosophy,[269] which characterized their fathers; and a smarter and +more sparkling kind of oratory succeeded,[270] just as in our own +country the minuet of the last century has been supplanted by the +quadrille, and the stately movements of Giardini have given way to +Rossini's brisker and more artificial melodies. Corvinus, even before +the time of Augustus, had shown himself more elaborate and fastidious in +his choice of expressions.[271] Cassius Severus, the first who openly +deviated from the old style of oratory, introduced an acrimonious and +virulent mode of pleading.[272] It now became the fashion to decry +Cicero as inflated, languid, tame, and even deficient in ornament;[273] +Mecaenas and Gallio followed in the career of degeneracy; till flippancy +of attack, prettiness of expression, and glitter of decoration prevailed +over the bold and manly eloquence of free Rome. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[93] De Legg. i. 1, ii. 1. + +[94] Contra Rull. ii. 1. + +[95] De Legg. ii. 1, iii. 16; de Orat. ii. 66. + +[96] Plutarch, in Vita. + +[97] Middleton's Life, vol. i. p. 13. 4to; de Clar. Orat. 89. + +[98] Ibid. + +[99] Pro Muraena, 11; de Orat. i. g. + +[100] In Catil. iii. 6; in Pis. 3; pro Sylla, 30; pro Dom. 37; de +Harusp. resp. 23; ad Fam. xv. 4. + +[101] De Clar. Orat. 91. + +[102] Middleton's Life, vol. i. p. 42, 4to. + +[103] Plutarch, in Vita. + +[104] Warburton, Div. Leg. lib, iii. sec. 3; and Vossius. de Nat. Logic. +c. viii. sec. 22. + +[105] Pro Planc. 26; in Ver. vi. 14. + +[106] Pro Dom. 57, 58. + +[107] De Offic. ii. 17; Middleton. + +[108] In Pis. 1. + +[109] Pro Muraena, 20. + +[110] Plutarch, in Vita. + +[111] [Greek: Graikos kai scholastikos]. Plutarch, in Vita. + +[112] Ad Atticum, i. 18, ii. 1. + +[113] See Montesquieu, Grandeur des Romains, ch. xii. + +[114] Ad Atticum, i. 19. + +[115] Ad Atticum, lib. iii.; ad Fam. lib. xiv.; pro Sext. 22; pro Dom. +36; Plutarch, in Vita. It is curious to observe how he converts the +alleviating circumstances of his case into exaggerations of his +misfortune: he writes to Atticus: "As to your many fierce objurgations +of me, for my weakness of mind, I ask you, what aggravation is wanting +to my calamity? Who else has ever fallen from so high a position, in so +good a cause, with so large an intellect, influence, popularity, with +all good men so powerfully supporting him, as I?"--iii. 10. Other +persons would have reckoned the justice of their cause, and the +countenance of good men, alleviations of their distress; and so, when +others were concerned, he himself thought. Vid. pro Sext. 12. + +[116] Ad Atticum, ix. 18. + +[117] Ibid. vii. 11, ix. 6, x. 8 and 9, xi, 9, etc. + +[118] Macrobius, Saturnalia, ii. 3. + +[119] Ad Atticum, xi. 8, 9, 10 and 12. + +[120] Ibid. xi. 13. + +[121] Ad Fam. iv. 14; Middleton, vol. ii. p. 149. + +[122] Ibid. + +[123] Ad Fam. iv. 6. + +[124] Ad Atticum, xii. 15, etc + +[125] Ad Atticum, xiii. 20. + +[126] Ibid. xii. 40 and 41. + +[127] His want of jealousy towards his rivals was remarkable; this was +exemplified in his esteem for Hortensius, and still more so in his +conduct towards Calvus. See Ad Fam. xv. 21. + +[128] Vol. ii. p. 525, 4to. + +[129] Pro Planc.; Middleton, vol. i. p. 108. + +[130] C. 39. + +[131] Ad Fam. vi. 6, vii. 3. + +[132] Plutarch, in Vita Cic. See also in Vita Pomp. + +[133] Vid. Dr. Whately in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. + +[134] Lactantius, Inst. iii. 16. + +[135] Plutarch, in Vita Caton. See also de Invent. i. 36. + +[136] Paterculus, i. 12, etc. Plutarch, in Vitt. Lucull. et Syll. + +[137] Gravin. Origin. Juris Civil. lib. i. c. 44. + +[138] Quinct. xii. 2. Auct. Dialog. de Orator. 31. + +[139] De Nat. Deor. i. 4; de Off. i. 1; de Fin.; init. Acad. Quaest. +init. etc. + +[140] Tusc Quaest. i. 3; ii. 3; Acad. Quaest. i. 2; de Nat. Deor. i. 21; +de Fin. i. 3, etc.; de Clar. Orat. 35. + +[141] Lucullus, 2; de Fin. i. 1-3; Tusc Quaest. ii. 1, 2; iii. 2; v. 2; +de Legg. i. 22-24; de Off. ii. 2; de Orat. 41, etc. + +[142] Middleton's Life, vol. ii. p. 254. + +[143] Ad Quinct. fratr. iii. 3. + +[144] Tusc. Quaest, v. 2. + +[145] De Off. i. 5. _init._ + +[146] Johnson's observations on Addison's writings may be well applied +to those of Cicero, who would have been eminently successful in short +miscellaneous essays, like those of the Spectator, had the manners of +the age allowed it. + +[147] Orat iii. 4; Tusc. Quaest. ii. 3; de Off. i. 1. Paradox. _praefat._ +Quinct. Instit. xii. 2. + +[148] Article, Plato, in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. + +[149] Acad. Quaest. i. 10, etc.; Lucullus, 5; de Legg. i. 20; iii. 3, +etc. + +[150] Acad. Quaest. i. 4, 12, 13; Lucullus, 5 and 23; de Nat. Deor. i. 5; +de Fin. ii. 1; de Orat. iii. 18. Augustin. contra Acad. ii. 6. Plutarch, +in Colot. 26. + +[151] "Arcesilas negabat esse quidquam, quod sciri posset, ne illud +quidem ipsum quod Socrates sibi reliquisset. Sic omnia latere censebat +in occulto, neque esse quicquam quod cerni, quod intelligi, posset; +quibus de causis nihil oportere neque profiteri neque affirmare +quenquam, neque assentione approbare, etc."--_Acad. Quaest._ i. 12. See +also Lucullus, 9 and 18. They were countenanced in these conclusions by +Plato's doctrine of ideas.--_Lucullus_, 46. + +[152] Sext. Empir. Pyrrh. Hypot. i. 33. Diogenes Laertius, lib. iv. in +Arcesil. Vid. Lactant. Instit. iii. 6. + +[153] Lucullus, 6. + +[154] Augustin. contr. Acad. iii. 17. + +[155] Lucullus, 18, 24. Augustin. contr. Acad. iii. 39. + +[156] See Sext. Empir. adv. Log. i. 166., etc., p. 405. + +[157] Acad. Quaest. i. 13; Lucullus, 23, 38; de Nat. Deor. i. 5; Orat. +71. + +[158] "Tu autem te negas infracto remo neque columbae collo commoveri. +Primum cur? nam et in remo sentio non esse id quod videatur, et in +columba plures videri colores, nec esse plus uno, etc."--_Lucullus_, 25. + +[159] Lucullus, 16-18; 26-28. + +[160] "Vehementer errare eos qui dicant ab Academia sensus eripi; a +quibus nunquam dictum sit aut colorem aut saporem aut sonum nullum esse, +[sed] illud sit disputatum, non inesse in his propriam, quae nusquam +alibi esset, veri et certi notam."--_Lucullus_, 32. See also 13, 24, 31; +de Nat. Deor. i. 5. + +[160a] [Greek: Oi goun Stoikoi katalepsin einai phasi kataleptike +phantasia sugkatatheso] _Sext. Empir. Pyrrh. Hypot._ iii. 25. Vid. also +Adv. Log. i. 152, p. 402. + +[161] "Verum non posse comprehendi ex illa Stoici Zenonis definitione +arripuisse videbantur, qui ait id verum percipi posse, quod ita esset +animo impressum ex eo unde esset, ut esse non posset ex eo unde non +esset. Quod brevius planiusque sic dicitur, his signis verum posse +comprehendi, quae signa non potest habere quod falsum est."--_Augustin, +contra Acad._ ii. 5. See also Sext. Empir. adv. Math. lib. vii. [Greek: +peri metaboles], and Cf. Lucullus, 6 with 13. + +[162] Lucullus, 13, 21, 40. + +[163] [Greek: Tois phainomenois oun prosechoutes kata ten biotiken +teresin adoxastos bioumen, epei me dunametha anenergetoi pantapasin +einai].--_Sext. Empir. Pyrrh. Hypot._ 1, 11. + +[164] Cicero terms these three impressions, "visio probabilis; quae ex +circumspectione aliqua et accurata consideratione fiat; quae non +impediatur."--_Lucullus_, 11. + +[165] Pyrrh. Hypot. i. 33. + +[166] Numen. apud Euseb. Praep. Evang. xiv. 7. + +[167] Lucullus, 31, 34; de Off. ii. 2; de Fin. v. 26. Quinct. xii. 1. + +[168] Lucullus, 22, et alibi; Tusc. Quaest. ii. 2. + +[169] See a striking passage from Cicero's Academics, preserved by +Augustine, contra Acad. iii. 7, and Lucullus, 18. + +[170] De Nat. Deor. passim; de Div. ii. 72. "Quorum controversiam +solebat tanquam honorarius arbiter judicare Carneades."--_Tusc. Quaest._ +v. 41. + +[171] De Fin. ii. 1; de Orat. i. 18; Lucullus, 3; Tusc. Quaest. v. 11; +Numen. apud Euseb. Praep. Evang. xiv. 6, etc. Lactantius, Inst. iii. 4. + +[172] De Nat. Deor. i. 67; de Fat. 2; Dialog. de Orat. 31, 32. + +[173] Lucullus, 6, 18; de Orat. ii. 38, iii. 18. Quint, Inst. xii. 2. +Numen. apud Euseb. Praep. Evang. xiv. 6 and 8. + +[174] "Haec in philosophia ratio contra omnia disserendi nullamque rem +aperte judicandi, profecta a Socrate, _repetita_ ab Arcesila, +_confirmata_ a Carneade, usque ad nostram viguit aetatem; quam _nunc_ +propemodum _orbam_ esse in ipsa Graecia intelligo. Quod non Academiae +vitio, sed _tarditate hominum_ arbitror contigisse. Nam si singulas +disciplinas percipere magnum est, quanto majus omnes? quod facere iis +necesse est, quibus propositum est, veri reperiendi causa, et contra +omnes philosophos et pro omnibus dicere."--_De Nat. Deor._ i. 5. + +[175] De Nat. Deor. i. 25, Augustin, contra Acad. iii. 17. Numen. apud +Euseb. Praep. Evang. xiv. 6. + +[176] De Fin. ii. 13, v. 7; Lucullus, 42; Tusc. Quaest. v. 29. + +[177] Lucullus, 45. + +[178] Lucullus, 21, 24; for an elevated moral precept of his, see de +Fin. ii. 18. + +[179] [Greek: Aner en tais trisin airesesi diatripsas, en te te +Akademaike kai Peripate tike kai Stoike].--_Diogenes Laertius_, lib. iv. +sub fin. + +[180] "Quanquam Philo, magnus vir, negaret in libris duas Academias esse +erroremque eorum qui ita putarunt coarguit."--_Acad. Quaest._ i. 4. + +[181] De Fin, v. 5; Lucullus, 22, 43. Sext. Emp. Pyrrh. Hyp. i. 33. + +[182] Acad. Quaest. i. 4; de Nat. Deor. i. 7. + +[183] Lucullus, 20; see also de Nat. Deor. i. 7; de Fin. i. 5. + +[184] "Nobis autem nostra Academia magnam licentiam dat, ut, quodcunque +maxime probabile occurrat, id nostro jure liceat defendere."--_De Off._ +iii. 4. See also Tusc. Quaest. iv. 4, v. 29; de Invent. ii. 3. + +[185] De Legg. i. 13. + +[186] Tusc. Quaest. i. 27; de Div. ii. 72; pro Milon. 31; de Legg. ii. 7. + +[187] Fragm. de Rep. 3; Tusc. Quaest. i. 29. + +[188] Tusc. Quaest. i. _passim_; de Senect. 21, 22; Somn. Scip. 8. + +[189] De Div. i. 32, 49; Fragm. de Consolat. + +[190] Tusc. Quaest. i. 30; Som. Scip. 9; de Legg. ii. 11. + +[191] De Amic. 4; de Off. iii. 28; pro Cluent. 61; de Legg. ii. 17: +Tusc. Quaest. i. 11; pro Sext. 21; de Nat. Deor. i. 17. + +[192] De Senect. 23. + +[193] Pro Arch. 11, 12, ad Fam. v. 21, vi. 21. + +[194] He seems to have fallen into some misconceptions of Aristotle's +meaning. De Invent. i. 35, 36, ii. 14; see Quinct. Inst. v. 14. + +[195] De Invent. i. 7, ii. 51, _et passim_; ad. Fam. i. 9; de Orat. ii. +36. + +[196] De Off. i. 1; de Fin. iv. 5. + +[197] De Fin. ii. 21, iii. 1; de Legg. i. 13; de Orat. iii. 17; ad Fam. +xiii. 1; pro Sext. 10. + +[198] De Nat. Deor. i. 4; Tusc. Quaest. i. 1, v. 29; de Fin. i. 3, 4; de +Off. i. 1; de Div. ii. 1, 2. + +[199] Div. Leg. lib. iii. sec. 9. + +[200] See Tusc. Quaest and de Republ. + +[201] See Fabricius, Bibliothec. Latin.; Olivet, in Cic. opp. omn.; +Middleton's Life. + +[202] Quinct. Inst. x. 7. + +[203] De Invent. ii. 2 et 3; ad Fam. i. 9. + +[204] Cf. de part. Orat. with de Invent. + +[205] Orat. 19. + +[206] Vossius, de Nat. Rhet. c. xiii.; Fabricius, Bibliothec. Latin. + +[207] De Invent. i. 5, 6; de clar. Orat. 76. + +[208] Ad Fam. vii. 19. + +[209] De Div. ii. 1. + +[210] Ad Atticum. iv. 16. + +[211] Orat. 16. + +[212] Orat. 14, 31. + +[213] Orat. 21, 29. + +[214] Ad Fam. vi. 18. + +[215] See Middleton, vol. ii. p. 147. + +[216] De Legg. i. 5. + +[217] Ang. Mai. praef. in Remp. Middleman, vol. i. p. 486 + +[218] Quinct. Inst. xi. 1. + +[219] Ad Atticum, xiii. 13, 16, 19. + +[220] Ad Fam. ix. 16, 18. + +[221] Tusc. Quaest v. 4, 11. + +[222] Ibid. iii. 10, v. 27. + +[223] De Nat. Deor. i. 6; de Div. i. 4, de Fat. 1. + +[224] Sciopp. in Olivet. + +[225] See Plutarch, in Vita. + +[226] In Catil. iii. 3-5. + +[227] Pro Cael. 24. + +[228] Philipp. ix. 3. + +[229] Pro Cael. 6. + +[230] Ibid. 14. + +[231] Pro Quinct. 1, and In Verr. Act i. 13 + +[232] Pro Cluent 1. + +[233] Pro Leg. Manil. 1. + +[234] Pro Milon. 1. + +[235] Pro Deiotar. 2. + +[236] Pro Milon. 14, etc. + +[237] Pro Muraen. 9. + +[238] Pro Cael. 7, etc. + +[239] In Verr. vi. 2, etc. + +[240] Contra Rull. ii. 6, 7. + +[241] Pro Rabir. 4. + +[242] Pro Milon. _init. et alibi._ + +[243] Pro Muraen. 34. + +[244] De Orat. partit. 8, 16, 17. + +[245] Pro Rabir. 8. + +[246] In Verr. v. 56, etc., and 64, etc. + +[247] Philipp. iii. 4. + +[248] In Verr. vi. 10. + +[249] Post Redit. in Senat. i. 4-8; pro Dom. 9, 39, etc.; in Pis. 10, +11. Philipp. ii. 18, etc. + +[250] Pro Sext. 8-10. + +[251] Pro Planc. 41, 42. + +[252] Pro Fonteio, 17. + +[253] Vid. his ideal description of an orator, in Orat. 40. Vid. also de +clar. Orat. 93, his negative panegyric on his own oratorical +attainments. + +[254] Orat. 29. + +[255] Tusc. Quaest. i. 1; de clar. Orat. 82, etc., de opt. gen. dicendi. + +[256] Quinct. x. 1. + +[257] De Fin. iii. 1 and 4; Lucull. 6. Plutarch, in Vita. + +[258] This, which is analogous to his address in pleading, is nowhere +more observable than in his rendering the recurrence of the same word, +to which he is forced by the barrenness or vagueness of the language, an +elegance. + +[259] It is remarkable that some authors attempted to account for the +_invention_ of the Asiatic style, on the same principle we have here +adduced to account for Cicero's _adoption_ of it in Latin; viz. that the +Asiatics had a defective knowledge of Greek, and devised phrases, etc., +to make up for the imperfection of their scanty vocabulary. See Quinct. +xii. 10. + +[260] De clar. Orat. 72. + +[261] "Vulgus interdum," says Cicero, "non probandum oratorem probat, +sed probat sine comparatione, cum a mediocri aut etiam a malo +delectatur; eo est contentus: esse melius sentit: illud quod est, +qualecunque est, probat."--De clar. Orat. 52. + +[262] De clar. Orat. 72. Quinct. xii. 10. + +[263] De clar. Orat. 25, 27; pro Harusp. resp. 19. + +[264] Quinct. x. 1 and 2. De clar. Orat. 75. + +[265] Ibid. + +[266] Ibid. and ad Atticum, xiv. 1. + +[267] Ibid. + +[268] Dialog. de Orat. 20 apud Tacit. and 22. Quinct. x. 2. + +[269] "It is not uncommon for those who have grown wise by the labour of +others, to add a little of their own, and overlook their +master."--_Johnson. We have before compared Cicero to Addison as regards +the purpose of inspiring their respective countrymen with literary +taste. They resembled each other in the return they experienced. + +[270] Dialog. 18. + +[271] Ibid. + +[272] Dialog. 19. + +[273] Dialog. 18 and 22 Quinct. xii 10. + + + + +III. + +THE APOLLONIUS OF TYANA + +(_From the_ ENCYCLOPAEDIA METROPOLITANA _of 1826._) + + +APOLLONIUS OF TYANA. + + PAGE + + INTRODUCTION.--HIS LIFE WRITTEN BY PHILOSTRATUS, INDIRECTLY + AGAINST CHRISTIANITY 305 + + 1. HIS BIRTH, EDUCATION, PYTHAGOREAN TRAINING, AND TRAVELS 306 + + 2. HIS POLITICAL ASPECT 309 + + 3. HIS REPUTATION 316 + + 4. HIS PROFESSION OF MIRACLES 319 + + 5. NOT BORNE OUT BY THE INTERNAL CHARACTER OF THE ACTS + THEMSELVES 323 + + 6. NOR BY THEIR DRIFT 326 + + 7. BUT AN IMITATION OF SCRIPTURE MIRACLES 328 + + + + +APOLLONIUS OF TYANA. + + +Apollonius, the Pythagorean philosopher, was born at Tyana, in +Cappadocia, in the year of Rome 750, four years before the common +Christian era.[274] His reputation rests, not so much on his personal +merits, as on the attempt made in the early ages of the Church, and +since revived,[275] to bring him forward as a rival to the Divine Author +of our Religion. A narrative of his life, which is still extant, was +written with this object, about a century after his death (A.D. 217), by +Philostratus of Lemnos, when Ammonius was systematizing the Eclectic +tenets to meet the increasing influence and the spread of Christianity. +Philostratus engaged in this work at the instance of his patroness Julia +Domna, wife of the Emperor Severus, a princess celebrated for her zeal +in the cause of Heathen Philosophy; who put into his hands a journal of +the travels of Apollonius rudely written by one Damis, an Assyrian, his +companion.[276] This manuscript, an account of his residence at AEgae, +prior to his acquaintance with Damis, by Maximus of that city, a +collection of his letters, some private memoranda relative to his +opinions and conduct, and lastly the public records of the cities he +frequented, were the principal documents from which Philostratus +compiled his elaborate narrative.[277] It is written with considerable +elegance and command of Greek, but with more attention to ornament than +is consistent with correct taste. Though it is not a professed imitation +of the Gospels, it contains quite enough to show that it was written +with a view of rivalling the sacred narrative; and accordingly, in the +following age, it was made use of in a direct attack upon Christianity +by Hierocles,[278] Prefect of Bithynia, a disciple of the Eclectic +School, to whom a reply was made by Eusebius of Caesarea. The selection +of a Pythagorean Philosopher for the purpose of a comparison with our +Lord was judicious. The attachment of the Pythagorean Sect to the +discipline of the established religion, which most other philosophies +neglected, its austerity, its pretended intercourse with heaven, its +profession of extraordinary power over nature, and the authoritative +tone of teaching which this profession countenanced,[279] were all in +favour of the proposed object. But with the plans of the Eclectics in +their attack upon Christianity we have no immediate concern. + + +1. + +Philostratus begins his work with an account of the prodigies attending +the philosopher's birth, which, with all circumstances of a like nature, +we shall for the present pass over, intending to make some observations +on them in the sequel. At the age of fourteen he was placed by his +father under the care of Euthydemus, a distinguished rhetorician of +Tarsus; but, being displeased with the dissipation of the place, he +removed with his master to AEgae, a neighbouring town, frequented as a +retreat for students in philosophy.[280] Here he made himself master of +the Platonic, Stoic, Epicurean, and Peripatetic systems; giving, +however, an exclusive preference to the Pythagorean, which he studied +with Euxenus of Heraclea, a man, however, whose life ill accorded with +the ascetic principles of his Sect. At the early age of sixteen years, +according to his biographer, he resolved on strictly conforming himself +to the precepts of Pythagoras, and, if possible, rivalling the fame of +his master. He renounced animal food and wine; restricted himself to the +use of linen garments and sandals made of the bark of trees; suffered +his hair to grow; and betook himself to the temple of AEsculapius, who is +said to have regarded him with peculiar favour.[281] + +On the news of his father's death, which took place not long afterwards, +he left AEgae for his native place, where he gave up half his inheritance +to his elder brother, whom he is said to have reclaimed from a dissolute +course of life, and the greater part of the remainder to his poorer +relatives.[282] + +Prior to composing any philosophical work, he thought it necessary to +observe the silence of five years, which was the appointed initiation +into the esoteric doctrines of his Sect. During this time he exercised +his mind in storing up materials for future reflection. We are told that +on several occasions he hindered insurrections in the cities in which he +resided by the mute eloquence of his look and gestures;[283] but such an +achievement is hardly consistent with the Pythagorean rule, which +forbad its disciples during their silence the intercourse of mixed +society.[284] + +The period of silence being expired, Apollonius passed through the +principal cities of Asia Minor, disputing in the temples in imitation of +Pythagoras, unfolding the mysteries of his Sect to such as were +observing their probationary silence, discoursing with the Greek Priests +about divine rites, and reforming the worship of barbarian cities.[285] +This must have been his employment for many years; the next incident in +his life being his Eastern journey, which was not undertaken till he was +between forty and fifty years of age.[286] + +His object in this expedition was to consult the Magi and Brachmans on +philosophical matters; still following the example of Pythagoras, who is +said to have travelled as far as India with the same purpose. At +Nineveh, where he arrived with two companions, he was joined by Damis, +already mentioned as his journalist.[287] Proceeding thence to Babylon, +he had some interviews with the Magi, who rather disappointed his +expectations; and was well received by Bardanes the Parthian King, who, +after detaining him at his Court for the greater part of two years, +dismissed him with marks of peculiar honour.[288] From Babylon he +proceeded, by way of the Caucasus and the Indus, to Taxila, the city of +Phraotes, King of the Indians, who is represented as an adept in the +Pythagorean Philosophy;[289] and passing on, at length accomplished the +object of his expedition by visiting Iarchas, Chief of the Brachmans, +from whom he is said to have learned many valuable theurgic +secrets.[290] + +On his return to Asia Minor, after an absence of about five years, he +stationed himself for a time in Ionia; where the fame of his travels and +his austere mode of life gained for him much attention to his +philosophical harangues. The cities sent embassies to him, decreeing him +public honours; while the oracles pronounced him more than mortal, and +referred the sick to him for relief.[291] + +From Ionia he passed over to Greece, and made his first tour through its +principal cities;[292] visiting the temples and oracles, reforming the +divine rites, and sometimes exercising his theurgic skill. Except at +Sparta, however, he seems to have attracted little attention. At Eleusis +his application for admittance to the Mysteries was unsuccessful; as was +a similar attempt at the Cave of Trophonius at a later date.[293] In +both places his reputation for magical powers was the cause of his +exclusion. + + +2. + +Hitherto our memoir has only set before us the life of an ordinary +Pythagorean, which may be comprehended in three words, mysticism, +travel, and disputation. From the date, however, of his journey to Rome, +which succeeded his Grecian tour, it is in some degree connected with +the history of the times; and, though for much of what is told us of him +we have no better authority than the word of Philostratus himself, still +there is neither reason nor necessity for supposing the narrative to be +in substance untrue. + +Nero had at this time prohibited the study of philosophy, alleging that +it was made the pretence for magical practices;[294]--and the report of +his tyrannical excesses so alarmed the followers of Apollonius as they +approached Rome, that out of thirty-four who had accompanied him thus +far, eight only could be prevailed on to proceed. On his arrival, his +religious pretensions were the occasion of his being brought +successively before the consul Telesinus and Tigellinus the Minister of +Nero.[295] Both of them, however, dismissed him after an examination; +the former from a secret leaning towards philosophy, the latter from +fear (as we are told) of his extraordinary powers. He was in consequence +allowed to go about at his pleasure from temple to temple, haranguing +the people, and, as in Asia, prosecuting his reforms in the worship paid +to the gods. This, however, can hardly have been the case, supposing the +edict against philosophers was as severe as his biographer represents. +In that case neither Apollonius, nor Demetrius the Cynic, who joined him +after his arrival, would have been permitted to remain in Rome; +certainly not Apollonius, after his acknowledgment of his own magical +powers in the presence of Tigellinus.[296] + +It is more probable he was sent out of the city; anyhow we soon find him +in Spain, taking part in the conspiracy forming against Nero by Vindex +and others.[297] The political partisans of that day seem to have made +use of professed jugglers and magicians to gain over the body of the +people to their interests. To this may be attributed Nero's banishing +such men from Rome;[298] and Apollonius had probably been already +serviceable in this way at the Capital, as he was now in Spain, and +immediately after to Vespasian; and at a later period to Nerva. + +His next expeditions were to Africa, to Sicily, and so to Greece,[299] +but they do not supply anything of importance to the elucidation of his +character. At Athens he obtained the initiation in the Mysteries, for +which he had on his former visit unsuccessfully applied. + +The following spring, the seventy-third of his life, according to the +common calculation, he proceeded to Alexandria,[300] where he attracted +the notice of Vespasian, who had just assumed the purple, and who seemed +desirous of countenancing his proceedings by the sanction of religion. +Apollonius might be recommended to him for this purpose by the fame of +his travels, his reputation for theurgic knowledge, and his late acts in +Spain against Nero. It is satisfactory to be able to detect an +historical connexion between two personages, each of whom has in his +turn been made to rival our Lord and His Apostles in pretensions to +miraculous power. Thus, claims which appeared to be advanced on distinct +grounds are found to proceed from one centre, and by their coalition to +illustrate and expose one another. The celebrated cures by Vespasian are +connected with the ordinary theurgy of the Pythagorean School; and +Apollonius is found here, as in many other instances, to be the +instrument of a political party. + +His biographer's account of his first meeting with the Emperor, which is +perhaps substantially correct, is amusing from the theatrical character +with which it was invested.[301] The latter, on entering Alexandria, was +met by the great body of the Magistrates, Prefects, and Philosophers of +the city; but, not discovering Apollonius in the number, he hastily +asked, "whether the Tyanean was in Alexandria," and when told he was +philosophizing in the Serapeum, proceeding thither he suppliantly +entreated him to make him Emperor; and, on the Philosopher's answering +he had already done so in praying for a just and venerable +Sovereign,[302] Vespasian avowed his determination of putting himself +entirely into his hands, and of declining the supreme power, unless he +could obtain his countenance in assuming it.[303] A formal consultation +was in consequence held, at which, besides Apollonius, Dio and +Euphrates, Stoics in the Emperor's train, were allowed to deliver their +sentiments; when the latter philosopher entered an honest protest +against the sanction which Apollonius was giving to the ambition of +Vespasian, and advocated the restoration of the Roman State to its +ancient republican form.[304] This difference of opinion laid the +foundation of a lasting quarrel between the rival advisers, to which +Philostratus makes frequent allusion in the course of his history. +Euphrates is mentioned by the ancients in terms of high commendation; by +Pliny especially, who knew him well.[305] He seems to have seen through +his opponent's religious pretences, as we gather even from +Philostratus;[306] and when so plain a reason exists for the dislike +which Apollonius, in his Letters, and Philostratus, manifest towards +him, their censure must not be allowed to weigh against the testimony, +which unbiassed writers have delivered in his favour. + +After parting from Vespasian, Apollonius undertook an expedition into +AEthiopia, where he held discussions with the Gymnosophists, and visited +the cataracts of the Nile.[307] On his return he received the news of +the destruction of Jerusalem; and being pleased with the modesty of the +conqueror, wrote to him in commendation of it. Titus is said to have +invited him to Argos in Cilicia, for the sake of his advice on various +subjects, and obtained from him a promise that at some future time he +would visit him at Rome.[308] + +On the succession of Domitian, he became once more engaged in the +political commotions of the day, exerting himself to excite the +countries of Asia Minor against the Emperor.[309] These proceedings at +length occasioned an order from the Government to bring him to Rome, +which, however, according to his biographer's account, he anticipated by +voluntarily surrendering himself, under the idea that by his prompt +appearance he might remove the Emperor's jealousy, and save Nerva and +others whose political interests he had been promoting. On arriving at +Rome he was brought before Domitian; and when, very inconsistently with +his wish to shield his friends from suspicion, he launched out into +praise of Nerva, he was forced away into prison to the company of the +worst criminals, his hair and beard were cut short, and his limbs loaded +with chains. After some days he was brought to trial; the charges +against him being the singularity of his dress and appearance, his being +called a god, his foretelling a pestilence at Ephesus, and his +sacrificing a child with Nerva for the purpose of augury.[310] +Philostratus supplies us with an ample defence, which, it seems, he was +to have delivered,[311] had he not in the course of the proceedings +suddenly vanished from the Court, and transported himself to Puteoli, +whither he had before sent on Damis. + +This is the only miraculous occurrence which forces itself into the +history as a component part of the narrative; the rest being of easy +omission without any detriment to its entireness.[312] And strictly +speaking, even here, it is only his vanishing which is of a miraculous +nature, and his vanishing is not really necessary for the continuity of +events. His "liberation" and "transportation" are sufficient for that +continuity; and to be set free from prison and sent out of Rome are +occurrences which might happen without a divine interposition. And in +fact they seem very clearly to have taken place in the regular course of +business. Philostratus allows that just before the philosopher's +pretended disappearance, Domitian had publicly acquitted him, and that +after the miracle he proceeded to hear the cause next in order, as if +nothing had happened;[313] and tells us, moreover, that Apollonius on +his return to Greece gave out that he had pleaded his own cause and so +escaped, no allusion being made to a miraculous preservation.[314] + +After spending two years in the latter country in his usual +philosophical disputations, he passed into Ionia. According to his +biographer's chronology, he was now approaching the completion of his +hundredth year. We may easily understand, therefore, that when invited +to Rome by Nerva, who had just succeeded to the Empire, he declined the +proposed honour with an intimation that their meeting must be deferred +to another state of being.[315] His death took place shortly after; and +Ephesus, Rhodes, and Crete are variously mentioned as the spot at which +it occurred.[316] A temple was dedicated to him at Tyana,[317] which was +in consequence accounted one of the sacred cities, and permitted the +privilege of electing its own Magistrates.[318] + +He is said to have written[319] a treatise upon Judicial Astrology, a +work on Sacrifices, another on Oracles, a Life of Pythagoras, and an +account of the answers which he received from Trophonius, besides the +memoranda noticed in the opening of our memoir. A collection of Letters +ascribed to him is still extant.[320] + + +3. + +It may be regretted that so elaborate a history, as that which we have +abridged, should not contain more authentic and valuable matter. Both +the secular transactions of the times and the history of Christianity +might have been illustrated by the life of one, who, while he was an +instrument of the partisans of Vindex, Vespasian, and Nerva, was a +contemporary and in some respects a rival of the Apostles; and who, +probably, was with St. Paul at Ephesus and Rome.[321] As far as his +personal character is concerned, there is nothing to be lamented in +these omissions. There is nothing very winning, or very commanding, +either in his biographer's picture of him, or in his own letters. His +virtues, as we have already seen, were temperance and a disregard of +wealth; and that he really had these, and such as these, may be safely +concluded from the fact of the popularity which he enjoyed. The great +object of his ambition seems to have been to emulate the fame of his +master; and his efforts had their reward in the general admiration he +attracted, the honours paid him by the Oracles, and the attentions shown +him by men in power. + +We might have been inclined, indeed, to suspect that his reputation +existed principally in his biographer's panegyric, were it not attested +by other writers. The celebrity, which he has enjoyed since the writings +of the Eclectics, by itself affords but a faint presumption of his +notoriety before they appeared. Yet, after all allowances, there remains +enough to show that, however fabulous the details of his history may be, +there was something extraordinary in his life and character. Some +foundation there must have been for statements which his eulogists were +able to maintain in the face of those who would have spoken out had they +been altogether novel. Pretensions never before advanced must have +excited the surprise and contempt of the advocates of Christianity.[322] +Yet Eusebius styles him a wise man, and seems to admit the correctness +of Philostratus, except in the miraculous parts of the narrative.[323] +Lactantius does not deny that a statue was erected to him at +Ephesus;[324] and Sidonius Apollinaris, who even wrote his life, speaks +of him as the admiration of the countries he traversed, and the +favourite of monarchs.[325] One of his works was deposited in the palace +at Antium by the Emperor Hadrian, who also formed a collection of his +letters;[326] statues were erected to him in the temples, divine honours +paid him by Caracalla, Alexander Severus, and Aurelian, and magical +virtue attributed to his name.[327] + +It has in consequence been made a subject of dispute, how far his +reputation was built upon that supposed claim to extraordinary power +which, as was noticed in the opening of our memoir, has led to his +comparison with Sacred Names. If it could be shown that he did advance +such pretensions, and upon the strength of them was admitted as an +object of divine honour, a case would be made out, not indeed so strong +as that on which Christianity is founded, yet remarkable enough to +demand our serious examination. Assuming, then, or overlooking this +necessary condition, sceptical writers have been forward to urge the +history and character of Apollonius as creating a difficulty in the +argument for Christianity derived from miracles; while their opponents +have sometimes attempted to account for a phenomenon of which they had +not yet ascertained the existence, and have most gratuitously ascribed +his supposed power to the influence of the Evil principle.[328] On +examination, we shall find not a shadow of a reason for supposing that +Apollonius worked miracles in any proper sense of the word; or that he +professed to work them; or that he rested his authority on extraordinary +works of any kind; and it is strange indeed that Christians, with +victory in their hands, should have so mismanaged their cause as to +establish an objection where none existed, and in their haste to +extricate themselves from an imaginary difficulty, to overturn one of +the main arguments for Revealed Religion. + + +4. + +1. To state these pretended prodigies is in most cases a refutation of +their claim upon our notice,[329] and even those which are not in +themselves exceptionable become so from the circumstances or manner in +which they took place. Apollonius is said to have been an incarnation of +the God Proteus; his birth was announced by the falling of a thunderbolt +and a chorus of swans; his death signalized by a wonderful voice calling +him up to Heaven; and after death he appeared to a youth to convince him +of the immortality of the soul.[330] He is reported to have known the +language of birds; to have evoked the spirit of Achilles; to have +dislodged a demon from a boy; to have detected an Empusa who was +seducing a youth into marriage; when brought before Tigellinus, to have +caused the writing of the indictment to vanish from the paper; when +imprisoned by Domitian, to have miraculously released himself from his +fetters; to have discovered the soul of Amasis in the body of a lion; to +have cured a youth attacked by hydrophobia, whom he pronounced to be +Telephus the Mysian.[331] In declaring men's thoughts and distant +events, he indulged most liberally; adopting a brevity which seemed +becoming the dignity of his character, while it secured his prediction +from the possibility of an entire failure. For instance: he gave +previous intimation of Nero's narrow escape from lightning; foretold the +short reigns of his successors; informed Vespasian at Alexandria of the +burning of the Capitol; predicted the violent death of Titus by a +relative; discovered a knowledge of the private history of his Egyptian +guide; foresaw the wreck of a ship he had embarked in, and the execution +of a Cilician Propraetor.[332] His prediction of the Propraetor's ruin was +conveyed in the words, "O that particular day!" that is, of execution; +of the short reigns of the Emperors in his saying that many Thebans +would succeed Nero. We must not omit his first predicting and then +removing a pestilence at Ephesus, the best authenticated of his +professed miracles, as being attested by the erecting of a statue to him +in consequence. He is said to have put an end to the malady by +commanding an aged man to be stoned, whom he pointed out as its author, +and who when the stones were removed was found changed into the shape of +a dog.[333] + +That such marvellous occurrences are wanting either in the gravity, or +in the conclusiveness, proper to true miracles, is very plain; moreover, +that they gain no recommendation from the mode in which they are +recorded will be evident, if we extract the accounts given us by +Philostratus of those two which alone among Apollonius's acts, from +their internal character, demand our attention. These are the revival of +a young maid at Rome, who was on her way to burial, and the announcement +at Ephesus of Domitian's assassination at the very time of its +occurrence. + +As to the former of these, it will be seen to be an attempt, and an +elaborate, pretentious attempt, to outdo certain narratives in the +Gospels. It runs as follows:-- + + "A maiden of marriageable age seemed to have died, and the + bridegroom was accompanying her bier, uttering wailing cries, as + was natural on his marriage being thus cut short. And all Rome + lamented with him, for the maiden belonged to a consular house. But + Apollonius, coming upon this sad sight, said, 'Set down the bier, + for I will stop your tears for her.' At the same time, he asked her + name; and most of those present thought he was going to make a + speech about her, after the manner of professed mourners. But he, + doing nothing else than touching her, and saying over her some + indistinct words, woke her from her seeming death. And the girl + spoke, and returned to her father's house, as Alcestis, when + restored to life by Hercules."[334] + +As to his proclaiming at Ephesus the assassination of Domitian at the +time of its occurrence, of course, if he was at a great distance from +Rome and the synchronism of events could be proved, we should be bound +to give it our serious consideration; but synchronisms are difficult to +verify. Moreover, Apollonius is known to have taken part in the politics +of the empire; and his words, if he used them, might be prompted by his +knowledge, or by his furtherance, of some attempt upon Domitian's life. +Apollonius was at this time busily engaged in promoting Nerva's +interests among the Ionians. Dion[335] tells us that his success was +foretold by the astrologers, among whom Tzetzes reckons Apollonius; and +he mentions a prediction of Domitian's death which had been put into +circulation in Germany. It is true that Dion confirms Philostratus's +statement so far as the prediction is concerned, expressing strongly his +personal belief in it. "Apollonius," he says, "ascending upon a high +stone at Ephesus or elsewhere, and calling together the people, cried +out, 'Well done, Stephanus!'" He adds, "This really took place, though a +man should ever so much disbelieve it."[336] But it must be recollected +that Dion was writing his history when Philostratus wrote; and one of +them may have taken the account from the other; moreover, he is well +known to be of a credulous turn of mind, and far from averse from +recording marvellous stories. + +Let us now turn to the statement of Philostratus; it will be found to +form as strong a contrast to the simplicity and dignity of the Gospel +narratives, as the dabbling in politics, which is so marked a feature in +Apollonius, differs from the conduct of Him who emphatically declared +that His kingdom was not of this world. + + "He was conversing," says Philostratus, "among the groves attached + to the porticoes, about noon, that is, just at the time when the + event was occurring in the imperial palace; and first he dropped + his voice, as if in terror; then, with a faltering unusual to him, + he described [an action], as if he beheld something external, as + his words proceeded. Then he was silent, stopping abruptly; and + looking with agitation on the ground, and advancing up three or + four of the steps, 'Strike the tyrant, strike!' he cried out, not + as drawing a mere image of the truth from some mirror, but as + seeing the thing itself, and seeming to realize what was doing; + and, to the consternation of all Ephesus, for it was thronging + around while he was conversing, after an interval of suspense, + such as happens when spectators are following some undecided action + up to its issue, he said, 'Courage, my men, for the tyrant is + slaughtered this day--nay, now, now.'"[337] + +Only an eye-witness is warranted to write thus pictorially; Philostratus +was born 86 years after Apollonius's death. + + +5. + +2. But it is almost superfluous to speak either of the general character +of his extraordinary acts, or of the tone and manner in which they are +narrated, when, in truth, neither Apollonius nor his biographer had any +notion or any intention of maintaining that, in our sense of the word +"miracle," these acts were miracles at all, or were to be referred to +the immediate agency of the Supreme Being. Apollonius neither claimed +for himself, nor did Philostratus claim for him, any direct mission from +on high; nor did he in consequence submit the exercise of his +preternatural powers to such severe tests as may fairly be applied to +the miracles of Christianity. + +Of works, indeed, which are asserted to proceed from the Author of +nature, sobriety, dignity, and conclusiveness may fairly be required; +but when a man ascribes his extraordinary power to his knowledge of some +merely human secret, impropriety does but evidence his own want of +taste, and ambiguity his want of skill. We have no longer a right to +expect a great end, worthy means, or a frugal and judicious application +of the miraculous gift. Now, Apollonius claimed nothing beyond a fuller +insight into nature than others had; a knowledge of the fated and +immutable laws to which it is conformed, of the hidden springs on which +it moves.[338] He brought a secret from the East and used it; and though +he professed to be favoured, and in a manner taught, by good +spirits,[339] yet he certainly referred no part of his power to a +Supreme Intelligence. Theurgic virtues, or those which consisted in +communion with the Powers and Principles of nature, were high in the +scale of Pythagorean excellence, and to them it was that he ascribed his +extraordinary gift. By temperate living, it was said, the mind was +endued with ampler and more exalted faculties than it otherwise +possessed; partook more fully of the nature of the One Universal Soul, +was gifted with prophetic inspiration, and a kind of intuitive +perception of secret things.[340] This power, derived from the favour of +the celestial deities, who were led to distinguish the virtuous and +high-minded, was quite distinct from magic, an infamous, uncertain, and +deceitful art, consisting in a compulsory power over infernal spirits, +operating by means of Astrology, Auguries, and Sacrifices, and directed +to the personal emolument of those who cultivated it.[341] To our +present question, however, this distinction made by the genuine +Pythagorean, is unimportant. To whichever principle the miracles of +Apollonius be referred, theurgy or magic, in either case they are +independent of the First Cause, and not granted with a view to the +particular purpose to which they are to be applied.[342] + +3. We have also incidentally shown that they did not profess to be +miracles in the proper meaning of the word, that is, evident innovations +on the laws of nature. At the utmost they do but exemplify the aphorism, +"Knowledge is power."[343] Such as are within the range of human +knowledge are no miracles. Those of them, on the contrary, which are +beyond it, will be found on inspection to be unintelligible, and to +convey no evidence. The prediction of an earthquake (for instance) is +not necessarily superhuman. An interpretation of the discourse of birds +can never be verified. In understanding languages, knowing future +events, discovering the purposes of others, recognising human souls when +enclosed in new bodies, Apollonius merely professes extreme penetration +and extraordinary acquaintance with nature. The spell by which he evokes +spirits and exorcises demons, implies the mere possession of a +secret;[344] and so perfectly is his biographer aware of this, as almost +to doubt the resuscitation of the Roman damsel, the only decisive +miracle of them all, on the ground of its being supernatural, +insinuating that perhaps she was dead only in appearance.[345] +Accordingly, in the narrative which we have extracted above, he begins +by saying that she "seemed to have died," or "was to all appearance +dead;" and again at the end of it he speaks of her "seeming death." +Hence, moreover, may be understood the meaning of the charge of magic, +as brought against the early Christians by their heathen adversaries; +the miracles of the Gospels being strictly interruptions of physical +order, and incompatible with theurgic knowledge.[346] + +When our Lord and His Apostles declare themselves to be sent from God, +this claim to a divine mission illustrates and gives dignity to their +profession of extraordinary power; whereas the divinity,[347] no less +than the gift of miracles to which Apollonius laid claim, must be +understood in its Pythagorean sense, as referring not to any intimate +connection with a Supreme Agent, but to his partaking, through his +theurgic skill, more largely than others in the perfections of the +animating principle of nature. + + +6. + +4. Yet, whatever is understood by his miraculous gift and his divine +nature, certainly his works were not adduced as vouchers for his +divinity, nor were they, in fact, the principal cause of his reputation. +What we desiderate is a contemporary appeal to them, on the part of +himself or his friends; as St. Paul speaks of his miracles to the Romans +and Corinthians, even calling them in one place "the signs of an +Apostle;" or as St. Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, details the +miracles of both St. Peter and St. Paul.[348] Far different is it with +Apollonius: we meet with no claim to extraordinary power in his Letters; +nor when returning thanks to a city for public honours bestowed on him, +nor when complaining to his brother of the neglect of his townsmen, nor +when writing to his opponent Euphrates.[349] To the Milesians, indeed, +he speaks of earthquakes which he had predicted; but without appealing +to the prediction in proof of his authority.[350] Since, then, he is so +far from insisting on his pretended extraordinary powers, and himself +connects the acquisition of them with his Eastern expedition,[351] we +may conclude that credit for possessing magical secrets was a _part_ of +the reputation which that expedition conferred. A foreign appearance, +singularity of manners, a life of travel, and pretences to superior +knowledge, excite the imagination of beholders;[352] and, as in the case +of a wandering people among ourselves, appear to invite the persons who +are thus distinguished, to fraudulent practices. Apollonius is +represented as making converts as soon as seen.[353] It was not, then +his display of marvels, but his Pythagorean dress and mysterious +deportment, which arrested attention, and made him thought superior to +other men, because he was different from them. Like Lucian's +Alexander[354] (who was all but his disciple), he was skilled in +medicine, professed to be favoured by AEsculapius, pretended to +foreknowledge, was in collusion with the heathen priests, and was +supported by the Oracles; and being more strict in conduct than the +Paphlagonian,[355] he established a more lasting celebrity. His +usefulness to political aspirants contributed to his success; perhaps +also the real and contemporary miracles of the Christian teachers would +dispose many minds easily to acquiesce in any claims of a similar +character. + + +7. + +5. In the foregoing remarks we have admitted, the general fidelity of +the history, because ancient authors allow it, and there was no +necessity to dispute it. Tried however on his own merits, it is quite +unworthy of serious attention. Not only in the miraculous accounts (as +we have already seen), but in the relation of a multitude of ordinary +facts, an effort to rival our Saviour's history is distinctly visible. +The favour in which Apollonius from a child was held by gods and men; +his conversations when a youth in the Temple of AEsculapius; his +determination in spite of danger to go up to Rome;[356] the cowardice +of his disciples in deserting him; the charge brought against him of +disaffection to Caesar; the Minister's acknowledging, on his private +examination, that he was more than man; the ignominious treatment of him +by Domitian on his second appearance at Rome; his imprisonment with +criminals; his vanishing from Court and sudden reappearance to his +mourning disciples at Puteoli;[357]--these, with other particulars of a +similar cast, evidence a history modelled after the narrative of the +Evangelists. Expressions, moreover, and descriptions occur, clearly +imitated from the sacred volume. To this we must add[358] the rhetorical +colouring of the whole composition, so contrary to the sobriety of +truth;[359] the fabulous accounts of things and places interspersed +through the history;[360] lastly, we must bear in mind the principle, +recognised by the Pythagorean and Eclectic schools, of permitting +exaggeration and deceit in the cause of philosophy.[361] + + * * * * * + +After all, it must be remembered, that were the pretended miracles as +unexceptionable as we have shown them to be absurd and useless--were +they plain interruptions of established laws--were they grave and +dignified in their nature, and important in their object, and were there +nothing to excite suspicion in the design, manner, or character of the +narrator--still the testimony on which they rest is the bare word of an +author writing one hundred years after the death of the person +panegyrized, and far distant from the places in which most of the +miracles were wrought, and who can give no better account of his +information than that he gained it from an unpublished work,[362] +professedly indeed composed by a witness of the extraordinary +transactions, but passing into his hands through two intermediate +possessors. These are circumstances which almost, without positive +objections, are sufficient by their own negative force to justify a +summary rejection of the whole account. Unless, indeed, the history had +been perverted to a mischievous purpose, we should esteem it impertinent +to direct argument against a mere romance, and to subject a work of +imagination to a grave discussion. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[274] Olear. ad Philostr. i. 12. + +[275] By Lord Herbert and Mr. Blount. + +[276] Philostr. i. 3. + +[277] Philostr. i. 2, 3. + +[278] His work was called [Greek: Logoi Philaletheis pros Christianous]' +on this subject see Mosheim, _Dissertat. de turbata per recentiores +Platonicos Ecclesia_, Sec. 25. + +[279] Philostr i. 17, vi. 11. + +[280] Philostr. i. 7. + +[281] Ibid. i. 8. + +[282] Ibid. i. 13. + +[283] Ibid. i. 14, 15. + +[284] Brucker, vol. ii. p. 104. + +[285] Philostr. i. 16. + +[286] See Olear. _praefat. ad vitam._ As he died, U.C. 849, he is usually +considered to have lived to a hundred. Since, however, here is an +interval of almost twenty years in which nothing important happens, in a +part also of his life unconnected with any public events to fix its +chronology, it is highly probable that the date of his birth is put too +early. Philostratus says that accounts varied, making him live eighty, +ninety, or one hundred years; see viii. 29. See also ii. 12, where, by +some inaccuracy, he makes him to have been in India twenty years +_before_ he was at Babylon.--Olear. _ad locum et praefat. ad vit._ The +common date of his birth is fixed by his biographer's merely accidental +mention of the revolt of Archelaus against the Romans, as taking place +before Apollonius was twenty years old; see i. 12. + +[287] Philostr. i. 19. + +[288] Philostr. i. 27-41. + +[289] Ibid. ii. 1-40. Brucker, vol. ii. p. 110. + +[290] Ibid. iii. 51. + +[291] Ibid. iv. 1. Acts xiii. 8; see also Acts viii. 9-11, and xix. +13-16. + +[292] Ibid. iv. 11, _et seq._ + +[293] When denied at the latter place he forced his way in.--Philostr. +viii. 19. + +[294] Ibid. iv. 35. Brucker (vol. ii. p. 118) with reason thinks this +prohibition extended only to the profession of magic. + +[295] Ibid. iv. 40, etc. + +[296] Brucker, vol. ii. p. 120. + +[297] Philostr. v. 10. + +[298] Astrologers were concerned in Libo's conspiracy against Tiberius, +and punished. Vespasian, as we shall have occasion to notice presently, +made use of them in furthering his political plans.--Tacit. Hist. ii. +78. We read of their predicting Nero's accession, the deaths of +Vitellius and Domitian, etc. They were sent into banishment by Tiberius, +Claudius, Vitellius, and Domitian. Philostratus describes Nero as +issuing his edict _on leaving the Capital_ for Greece, iv. 47. These +circumstances seem to imply that astrology, magic, etc, were at that +time of considerable service in political intrigues. + +[299] Philostr. v. ii, etc. + +[300] Ibid. v. 20, etc. + +[301] Philostr. v. 27. + +[302] Tacitus relates, that when Vespasian was going to the _Serapeum, +ut super rebus imperii consuleret_, Basilides, an Egyptian, who was at +the time eighty miles distant, suddenly appeared to him; from his name +the emperor drew an omen that the god sanctioned his assumption of the +Imperial power.--Hist. iv. 82. This sufficiently agrees in substance +with the narrative of Philostratus to give the latter some probability. +It was on this occasion that the famous cures are said to have been +wrought. + +[303] As Egypt supplied Rome with corn, Vespasian by taking possession +of that country almost secured to himself the Empire.--Tacit. Hist. ii. +82, iii. 8. Philostratus insinuates that he was already in possession of +supreme power, and came to Egypt for the sanction of Apollonius. [Greek: +Ten men archen kektemeuos, dialexomeuos de tps audri]. v. 27. + +[304] Philostr. v. 31. + +[305] Brucker, vol. ii. p. 566, etc. + +[306] Philostr. v. 37, he makes Euphrates say to Vespasian, [Greek: +Philosophian, o basileu, ten men kata physin echainei kai aspazou ten de +theoklutein phaskousan paraitou katapseudomenoi gar tou theiou polla kai +anoeta, emas epairousi.] See Brucker; and Apollon. Epist. 8. + +[307] Ibid. vi. 1, etc. + +[308] Philostr. vi. 29, etc. + +[309] Ibid. vii. 1, etc., see Brucker, vol. ii. p. 128. + +[310] Ibid. viii. 5, 6, etc. On account of his foretelling the +pestilence he was honoured as a god by the Ephesians, vii. 21. Hence +this prediction appeared in the indictment. + +[311] Euseb. in Hier. 41. + +[312] Perhaps his causing the writing of the indictment to vanish from +the paper, when he was brought before Tigellinus, may be an exception, +as being the alleged cause of his acquittal. In general, however, no +consequence follows from his marvellous actions: _e. g._ when imprisoned +by Domitian, in order to show Damis his power, he is described as +drawing his leg out of the fetters, and then--as putting it back again, +vii. 38. A great exertion of power with apparently a small object. + +[313] Philostr. viii. 8, 9. + +[314] Ibid. viii. 15. + +[315] Philostr. viii. 27. + +[316] Ibid. viii. 30. + +[317] Ibid. i. 5. viii. 29. + +[318] A coin of Hadrian's reign is extant with the inscription, which +seems to run [Greek: Tyana iera, asulos autonomos]. Olear. ad Philostr. +viii. 31. + +[319] See Bayle, Art. _Apollonius_; and Brucker. + +[320] Bishop Lloyd considers them spurious, but Olearius and Brucker +show that there is good reason from internal evidence to suppose them +genuine. See Olear. Addend. ad praefat. Epistol.; and Brucker, vol. ii. +p. 147. + +[321] Apollonius continued at Ephesus, Smyrna, etc., from A.D. 50 to +about 59, and was at Rome from A.D. 63 to 66. St. Paul passed through +Ionia into Greece A.D. 53, and was at Ephesus A.D. 54, and again from +A.D. 56 to 58; he was at Rome in A.D. 65 and 66, when he was martyred. + +[322] Lucian and Apuleius speak of him as if his name were familiar to +them. Olear. praef. ad Vit. + +[323] In Hierocl. 5. + +[324] Inst. v. 3. + +[325] See Bayle, Art. _Apollonius_; and Cudworth, Intell. Syst. iv. 14. + +[326] Philostr. viii. 19, 20. + +[327] See Eusebius, Vopiscus, Lampridius, etc., as quoted by Bayle. + +[328] See Brucker on this point, vol. ii. p. 141, who refers to various +authors. Eusebius takes a more sober view of the question, allowing the +substance of the history, but disputing the extraordinary parts. See in +Hierocl. 5 and 12. + +[329] Most of them are imitations of the miracles attributed to +Pythagoras. + +[330] See Philostr. i. 4, 5, viii. 30, 31. He insinuates (Cf. viii. 29 +with 31), that Apollonius was taken up alive. See Euseb. 8. + +[331] Philostr. iv. 3, 16, 20, 25, 44, v. 42, vi. 43, vii. 38. + +[332] Ibid. i. 12, iv. 24, 43, 11-13, 18, 30, vi. 3, 32. + +[333] Ibid. iv. 10. + +[334] Vit. iv. 45; Cf. Mark v. 29, etc.; Luke vii. 16; also John xi. +41-43; Acts iii. 4-6. In the sequel, the parents offer him money, which +he gives as a portion to the damsel. See 2 Kings v. 15, 16 [4 Kings], +and other passages in Scripture. + +[335] Lib. 67. + +[336] Hist. 67. + +[337] Vit. viii. 26. + +[338] Philostr. v. 12; in i. 2, he associates Democritus, a natural +philosopher, with Pythagoras and Empedocies. See viii. 7, Sec. 8, and +Brucker, vol. i. p. 1108, etc., and p. 1184. + +[339] In his apology before Domitian, he expressly attributes his +removal of the Ephesian pestilence to Hercules, and makes this +ascription the test of a divine philosopher as distinguished from a +magician, viii. 7, Sec. 9, _ubi vid._ Olear. + +[340] Vid. viii, 7, Sec. 9. See also ii. 37, vi. 11, viii. 5. + +[341] Philostr. i. 2, and Olear. _ad loc._ note 3, iv. 44, v. 12, vii. +39, viii. 7; Apollon. Epist. 8 and 52; Philostr. Prooem. vit. +Sophist.; Euseb. in Hier. 2; Mosheim, de Simone Mago, Sec. 13. Yet it +must be confessed that the views both of the Pythagoreans and Eclectics +were very inconsistent on this subject. Eusebius notices several +instances of [Greek: goeteia] in Apollonius's miracles; in Hierocl. 10, +28, 29, and 31. See Brucker, vol. ii. p. 447. At Eleusis, and the Cave +of Triphonius, Apollonius was, as we have seen, accounted a magician, +and so also by Euphrates, Moeragenes, Apuleius, etc. See Olear. Praef. +ad vit. p. 33; and Brucker, vol. ii. p. 136, note _k_. + +[342] See Mosheim, Dissertat. de turbata Ecclesia, etc., Sec. 27. + +[343] See Quaest. ad Orthodox 24 as quoted by Olearius, in his Preface, +p. 34. + +[344] Eusebius calls it [Greek: theia tis kai arretos sophia] in +Hierocl. 2. In iii. 41, Philostratus speaks of the [Greek: kleseis ais +theoi chairousi], the _spells_ for evoking them, which Apollonius +brought from India; Cf. iv. 16, and in iv. 20 of the [Greek: tekmerion] +used for casting out an Evil Spirit. + +[345] [Greek: Ei te spinthera tes psyches euren en aute], etc. + +[346] Douglas (Criterion, p. 387, note), observes that some heretics +affirmed that our Lord rose from the dead [Greek: phantasiodos], only in +appearance, _from an idea of the impossibility of a resurrection_. + +[347] Apollon. Epist. 17. + +[348] Vid. Rom. xv. 69; 1 Cor. ii. 4; 2 Cor. xii. 2, and Acts _passim_. + +[349] See Epist. 1, 2, etc., 11, 44; the last-mentioned addressed to his +brother begins, "What wonder, that, while the rest of mankind think me +godlike, and some even a god, my own country alone hitherto ignores me, +for whose sake especially I wished to distinguish myself, when not even +to you, my brother, as I perceive, has it become clear how much I excel +this race of men in my _doctrine_ and my _life_?"--Epist. ii. 44, vid. +also i. 2. He does not say "in supernatural power." Cf. John xii. 37: +"But though He had done so many _miracles_ before them, yet they +believed not in Him." + +[350] Epist. 68. Claudius, in a message to the Tyanaeans, Epist. 53, +praises him merely as a benefactor to youth. + +[351] Philostr. vi. 11. See Euseb. in Hierocl. 26, 27. + +[352] Hence the first of the charges brought against him by Domitian was +the strangeness of his dress.--Philostr. viii. 5. By way of contrast, +Cf. 1 Cor. ii. 3, 4; 2 Cor. x. 10. + +[353] Philostr. iv. 1. See also i. 19, 21, iv. 17, 20, 39, vii. 31, +etc., and i. 10, 12 etc. + +[354] Brucker, vol. ii. p. 144. + +[355] Brucker supposes that, as in the case of Alexander, gain was his +object; but we seem to have no proof of this, nor is it necessary thus +to account for his conduct. We discover, indeed, in his character, no +marks of that high enthusiasm which would support him in his whimsical +career without any definite worldly object; yet the veneration he +inspired, and the notice taken of him by great men, might be quite a +sufficient recompense to a conceited and narrow mind. + +[356] Cf. also Acts xx. 22, 23; xxi. 4, 11-14. + +[357] Philostr. i. 8, 11, iv. 36, 38, 44, vii. 34, viii. 5, 11. + +[358] See the description of his raising the Roman maid as above given. +Or take again the account of his appearance to Damis and Demetrius at +Puteoli, after vanishing from Court, viii. 12; in which there is much +incautious agreement with Luke xxiv. 14-17, 27, 29, 32, 36-40. Also more +or less in the following: vii. 30, init. and 34, fin. with Luke xii. 11, +12; iii. 38, with Matt. xvii. 14, etc., where observe the contrast of +the two narratives: viii. 30, fin. with Acts xii. 7-10: iv. 44, with +John xviii. 33, etc.: vii. 34, init. with Mark xiv. 65: iv. 34, init. +with Acts xvi. 8-10: i. 19, fin. with Mark vii. 27, 28. Brucker and +Douglas notice the following in the detection of the Empusa: [Greek: +Dakruonti epskei to phasma, kai edeito me basanizein auto, mede +anagkazein omolsgein dti eie], iv. 25, Cf. Mark v. 7-9. Olearius +compares an expression in vii. 30, with 1 Cor. ix. 9. + +[359] _E. G._ his ambitious descriptions of countries, etc. In iv. 30, +32, v. 22, vi. 24, he ascribes to Apollonius regular Socratic +disputations, and in vi. 11, a long and flowery speech in the presence +of the Gymnosophists--modes of philosophical instruction totally at +variance with the genius of the Pythagorean school, the Philosopher's +Letters still extant, and the writer's own description of his manner of +teaching, i. 17. Some of his exaggerations and mis-statements have been +noticed in the course of the narrative. As a specimen of the rhetorical +style in which the work is written, vid. his account of the restoration +of the Roman damsel, [Greek: O de ouden all e prosapsamenos autes +aphypnise],--contrast this with the simplicity of the Scripture +narrative. See also the last sentence of v. 17, and indeed _passim_. + +[360] _E. G._ his accounts of Indian and AEthiopian monsters; of serpents +whose eyes were jewels of magical virtue; of pygmies; of golden water; +of the speaking tree; of a woman half white and half black, etc.; he +incorporates in his narrative the fables of Ctesias, Agatharchidas, and +other writers. His blunders in geography and natural philosophy may be +added, as far as they arise from the desire of describing wonders, etc. +See also his pompous description of the wonders of Babylon, which were +not then in existence.--Prideaux, Connection, Part 1. Book viii. For his +inconsistencies, see Eusebius and Brucker. It must be remembered, that +in the age of Philostratus the composition of romantic histories was in +fashion. + +[361] See Brucker, vol. i. p. 992, vol. ii. p. 378. Apollonius was only +one out of several who were set up by the Eclectics as rivals to Christ +Brucker, vol. ii. p. 372. Mosheim, de turbata Ecclesia, etc. Secs. 25, +26. + +[362] Philostr. i. 2, 3. He professes that his account contains much +_news_. As to the sources, besides the journal of Damis, from which he +pretends to derive his information, he neither tells us how he met with +them, nor what they contained; nor does he refer to them in the course +of his history. On the other hand (as we have above noticed), much of +the detail of Apollonius's journey is derived from the writings of +Ctesias, etc. + + + + +IV. + +PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. + +(_From the_ BRITISH MAGAZINE, 1833-1836.) + + + + +PREFATORY NOTICE. + + +THE following Papers originally belonged to the "Church of the Fathers," +as it appeared in the _British Magazine_, in the years 1833-1836, and as +it was published afterwards in one volume, with additions and omissions, +in 1840. They were removed from the subsequent Catholic editions, except +the chapter on Apollinaris, as containing polemical matter, which had no +interest for Catholic readers. Now they are republished under a separate +title. + +The date of their composition is a sufficient indication of the +character of the theology which they contain. They are written under the +assumption that the Anglican Church has a place, as such, in Catholic +communion and Apostolic Christianity. This is a question of fact, which +the Author would now of course answer in the negative, retaining still, +and claiming as his own, the positive principles and doctrines which +that fact is, in these Papers, taken to involve. + + +PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. + + CHAP. PAGE + + 1. WHAT DOES ST. AMBROSE SAY ABOUT IT? 339 + + 2. WHAT SAYS VINCENT OF LERINS? 375 + + 3. WHAT SAYS THE HISTORY OF APOLLINARIS? 391 + + 4. WHAT SAY JOVINIAN AND HIS COMPANIONS? 401 + + 5. WHAT SAY THE APOSTOLICAL CANONS? 417 + + + + +PRIMITIVE CHRISTIANITY. + +CHAPTER I. + +WHAT DOES ST. AMBROSE SAY ABOUT IT? + + +Sec. 1. _Ambrose and Justina._ + +No considerate person will deny that there is much in the spirit of the +times, and in the actual changes which the British Constitution has +lately undergone, which makes it probable, or not improbable, that a +material alteration will soon take place in the relations of the Church +towards the State, to which it has been hitherto united. I do not say +that it is out of the question that things may return to their former +quiet and pleasant course, as in the good old time of King George III.; +but the very chance that they will not makes it a practical concern for +every churchman to prepare himself for a change, and a practical +question for the clergy, by what instruments the authority of Religion +is to be supported, should the protection and patronage of the +Government be withdrawn. Truth, indeed, will always support itself in +the world by its native vigour; it will never die while heaven and earth +last, but be handed down from saint to saint until the end of all +things. But this was the case before our Lord came, and is still the +case, as we may humbly trust, in heathen countries. My question concerns +_the Church_, that peculiar institution which Christ set up as a +visible home and memorial of Truth; and which, as being in this world, +must be manifested by means of this world. I know it is common to make +light of this solicitude about the Church, under the notion that the +Gospel may be propagated without it,--or that men are about the same +under every Dispensation, their hearts being in fault, and not their +circumstances,--or for other reasons, better or worse as it may be; to +all which I am accustomed to answer (and I do not see how I can be in +error), that, if Christ had not meant His Church to answer a purpose, He +would not have set it up, and that our business is not to speculate +about possible Dispensations of Religion, but to resign and devote +ourselves to that in which we are actually placed. + +Hitherto the English Church has depended on the State, _i. e._ on the +ruling powers in the country--the king and the aristocracy; and this is +so natural and religious a position of things when viewed in the +abstract, and in its actual working has been productive of such +excellent fruits in the Church, such quietness, such sobriety, such +external propriety of conduct, and such freedom from doctrinal excesses, +that we must ever look back upon the period of ecclesiastical history so +characterized with affectionate thoughts; particularly on the reigns of +our blessed martyr St. Charles, and King George the Good. But these +recollections of the past must not engross our minds, or hinder us from +looking at things as they are, and as they will be soon, and from +inquiring what is intended by Providence to take the place of the +time-honoured instrument, which He has broken (if it be yet broken), the +regal and aristocratical power. I shall offend many men when I say, we +must _look to the people_; but let them give me a hearing. + +Well can I understand their feelings. Who at first sight does not +dislike the thoughts of gentlemen and clergymen depending for their +maintenance and their reputation on their flocks? of their strength, as +a visible power, lying not in their birth, the patronage of the great, +and the endowment of the Church (as hitherto), but in the homage of a +multitude? I confess I have before now had a great repugnance to the +notion myself; and if I have overcome it, and turned from the Government +to the People, it has been simply because I was forced to do so. It is +not we who desert the Government, but the Government that has left us; +we are forced back upon those below us, because those above us will not +honour us; there is no help for it, I say. But, in truth, the prospect +is not so bad as it seems at first sight. The chief and obvious +objection to the clergy being thrown on the People, lies in the probable +lowering of Christian views, and the adulation of the vulgar, which +would be its consequence; and the state of Dissenters is appealed to as +an evidence of the danger. But let us recollect that we are an +apostolical body; we were not made, nor can be unmade by our flocks; and +if our influence is to depend on _them_, yet the Sacraments reside with +_us_. We have that with us, which none but ourselves possess, the mantle +of the Apostles; and this, properly understood and cherished, will ever +keep us from being the creatures of a populace. + +And what may become necessary in time to come, is a more religious state +of things also. It will not be denied that, according to the Scripture +view of the Church, though all are admitted into her pale, and the rich +inclusively, yet, the poor are her members with a peculiar suitableness, +and by a special right. Scripture is ever casting slurs upon wealth, and +making much of poverty. "To the poor the Gospel is preached." "God hath +chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom." +"If thou wilt be perfect, sell all that thou hast, and give to the +poor." To this must be added the undeniable fact that the Church, when +purest and when most powerful, _has_ depended for its influence on its +consideration with the many. Becket's letters, lately published,[363] +have struck me not a little; but of course I now refer, not to such dark +ages as most Englishmen consider these, but to the primitive Church--the +Church of St. Athanasius and St. Ambrose. With a view of showing the +power of the Church at that time, and on what it was based, not (as +Protestants imagine) on governments, or on human law, or on endowments, +but on popular enthusiasm, on dogma, on hierarchical power, and on a +supernatural Divine Presence, I will now give some account of certain +ecclesiastical proceedings in the city of Milan in the years 385, +386,--Ambrose being bishop, and Justina and her son, the younger +Valentinian, the reigning powers. + + +1. + +Ambrose was eminently a popular bishop, as every one knows who has read +ever so little of his history. His very promotion to the sacred office +was owing to an unexpected movement of the populace. Auxentius, his +Arian predecessor in the see of Milan, died, A.D. 374, upon which the +bishops of the province wrote to the then Emperor, Valentinian the +First, who was in Gaul, requesting him to name the person who was to +succeed him. This was a prudent step on their part, Arianism having +introduced such matter for discord and faction among the Milanese, that +it was dangerous to submit the election to the people at large, though +the majority of them were orthodox. Valentinian, however, declined to +avail himself of the permission thus given him; the choice was thrown +upon the voices of the people, and the cathedral, which was the place of +assembling, was soon a scene of disgraceful uproar, as the bishops had +anticipated. Ambrose was at that time civil governor of the province of +which Milan was the capital: and, the tumult increasing, he was obliged +to interfere in person, with a view of preventing its ending in open +sedition. He was a man of grave character, and had been in youth brought +up with a sister, who had devoted herself to the service of God in a +single life; but as yet was only a catechumen, though he was half way +between thirty and forty. Arrived at the scene of tumult, he addressed +the assembled crowds, exhorting them to peace and order. While he was +speaking, a child's voice, as is reported, was heard in the midst of the +crowd to say, "Ambrose is bishop;" the populace took up the cry, and +both parties in the Church, Catholic and Arian, whether influenced by a +sudden enthusiasm, or willing to take a man who was unconnected with +party, voted unanimously for the election of Ambrose. + +It is not wonderful that the subject of this sudden decision should have +been unwilling to quit his civil office for a station of such high +responsibility; for many days he fought against the popular voice, and +that by the most extravagant expedients. He absconded, and was not +recovered till the Emperor, confirming the act of the people of Milan, +published an edict against all who should conceal him. Under these +strange circumstances, Ambrose was at length consecrated bishop. His +ordination was canonical only on the supposition that it came under +those rare exceptions, for which the rules of the Church allow, when +they speak of election "by divine grace," by the immediate suggestion of +God; and if ever a bishop's character and works might be appealed to as +evidence of the divine purpose, surely Ambrose was the subject of that +singular and extraordinary favour. From the time of his call he devoted +his life and abilities to the service of Christ. He bestowed his +personal property on the poor: his lands on the Church; making his +sister tenant for life. Next he gave himself up to the peculiar studies +necessary for the due execution of his high duties, till he gained that +deep insight into Catholic truth, which is evidenced in his writings, +and in no common measure in relation to Arianism, which had been the +dominant creed in Milan for the twenty years preceding his elevation. +Basil of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, was at this time the main pillar of +Catholic truth in the East, having succeeded Athanasius of Alexandria, +who died about the time that both Basil and Ambrose were advanced to +their respective sees. He, from his see in the far East, addresses the +new bishop in these words in an extant Epistle:-- + + "Proceed in thy work, thou man of God; and since thou hast not + received the Gospel of Christ of men, neither wast taught it, but + the Lord himself translated thee from among the world's judges to + the chair of the Apostles, fight the good fight, set right the + infirmities of the people, wherever the Arian madness has affected + them; renew the old foot-prints of the Fathers, and by frequent + correspondence build up thy love towards us, of which thou hast + already laid the foundation."--_Ep._ 197. + +I just now mentioned St. Thomas Becket. There is at once a similarity +and a contrast between his history and that of Ambrose. Each of the two +was by education and society what would now be called a gentleman. Each +was in high civil station when he was raised to a great ecclesiastical +position; each was in middle age. Each had led an upright, virtuous life +before his elevation; and each, on being elevated, changed it for a life +of extraordinary penance and saintly devotion. Each was promoted to his +high place by the act, direct or concurrent, of his sovereign; and each +showed to that sovereign in the most emphatic way that a bishop was the +servant, not of man, but of the Lord of heaven and earth. Each boldly +confronted his sovereign in a great religious quarrel, and staked his +life on its issue;--but then comes the contrast, for Becket's earthly +master was as resolute in his opposition to the Church as Becket was in +its behalf, and made him a martyr; whereas the Imperial Power of Rome +quailed and gave way before the dauntless bearing and the grave and +gracious presence of the great prelate of Milan. Indeed, the whole +Pontificate of Ambrose is a history of successive victories of the +Church over the State; but I shall limit myself to a bare outline of one +of them. + + +2. + +Ambrose had presided in his see about eleven years at the time when the +events took place which are here to be related. Valentinian was dead, as +well as his eldest son Gratian. His second son, who bore his own name, +was Emperor of the West, under the tutelage of Justina, his second wife. + +Justina was an Arian, and brought up her son in her own heretical views. +This was about the time when the heresy was finally subdued in the +Eastern Churches; the Ecumenical Council of Constantinople had lately +been held, many Arian bishops had conformed, and laws had been passed by +Theodosius against those who held out. It was natural under such +circumstances that a number of the latter should flock to the court of +Milan for protection and patronage. The Gothic officers of the palace +were Arians also, as might be supposed, after the creed of their nation. +At length they obtained a bishop of their persuasion from the East; and +having now the form of an ecclesiastical body, they used the influence +of Valentinian, or rather of his mother, to extort from Ambrose one of +the churches of Milan for their worship. + +The bishop was summoned to the palace before the assembled Court, and +was formally asked to relinquish St. Victor's Church, then called the +Portian Basilica, which was without the walls, for the Arian worship. +His duty was plain; the churches were the property of Christ; he was the +representative of Christ, and was therefore bound not to cede what was +committed to him in trust. This is the account of the matter given by +himself in the course of the dispute:-- + + "Do not," he says, "O Emperor, embarrass yourself with the thought + that you have an Emperor's right over sacred things. Exalt not + yourself, but, as you would enjoy a continuance of power, be God's + subject. It is written, God's to God, and Caesar's to Caesar. The + palace is the Emperor's, the churches are the bishop's."--_Ep._ 20. + +This argument, which is true at all times, was much more convincing in +an age like the primitive, before men had begun to deny that Christ had +left a visible representative of Himself in His Church. If there was a +body to whom the concerns of religion were intrusted, there could be no +doubt it was that over which Ambrose presided. It had been there planted +ever since Milan became Christian, its ministers were descended from the +Apostles, and it was the legitimate trustee of the sacred property. But +in our day men have been taught to doubt whether there _is_ one +Apostolic Church, though it is mentioned in the Creed: nay, it is +grievous to say, clergymen have sometimes forgotten, sometimes made +light of their own privileges. Accordingly, when a question arises now +about the spoliation of the Church, we are obliged to betake ourselves +to the rules of _national_ law; we appeal to precedents, or we urge the +civil consequences of the measure, or we use other arguments, which, +good as they may be, are too refined to be very popular. Ambrose rested +his resistance on grounds which the people understood at once, and +recognized as irrefragable. They felt that he was only refusing to +surrender a trust. They rose in a body, and thronged the palace gates. A +company of soldiers was sent to disperse them; and a riot was on the +point of ensuing, when the ministers of the Court became alarmed, and +despatched Ambrose to appease the tumult, with the pledge that no +further attempt should be made on the possessions of the Church. + +Now some reader will here interrupt the narrative, perhaps, with +something of an indignant burst about connecting the cause of religion +with mobs and outbreaks. To whom I would reply, that the multitude of +men is always rude and intemperate, and needs restraint,--religion does +not make them so. But being so, it is better they should be zealous +about religion, and repressed by religion, as in this case, than flow +and ebb again under the irrational influences of this world. A mob, +indeed, is always wayward and faithless; but it is a good sign when it +is susceptible of the hopes and fears of the world to come. Is it not +probable that, when religion is thus a popular subject, it may +penetrate, soften, or stimulate hearts which otherwise would know +nothing of its power? However, this is not, properly speaking, my +present point, which is to show how a Church may be in "favour with all +the people" without any subserviency to them. To return to our history. + + +3. + +Justina, failing to intimidate, made various underhand attempts to +remove the champion of orthodoxy. She endeavoured to raise the people +against him. Failing in this object, next, by scattering promises of +place and promotion, she set on foot various projects to seize him in +church, and carry him off into banishment. One man went so far as to +take lodgings near the church, and had a carriage in readiness, in order +to avail himself of any opportunity which offered to convey him away. +But none of these attempts succeeded. + +This was in the month of March; as Easter drew on, more vigorous steps +were taken by the Court. On April 4th, the Friday before Palm Sunday, +the demand of a church for the Arians was renewed; the pledges which the +government had given, that no further steps should be taken in the +matter, being perhaps evaded by changing the church which was demanded. +Ambrose was now asked for the New or Roman Basilica, which was within +the walls, and larger than the Portian. It was dedicated to the +Apostles, and (I may add, for the sake of the antiquarian,) was built in +the form of a cross. When the bishop refused in the same language as +before, the imperial minister returned to the demand of the Portian +Church; but the people interfering, and being clamorous against the +proposal, he was obliged to retire to the palace to report how matters +stood. + +On Palm Sunday, after the lessons and sermon were over in the Basilica, +in which he officiated, Ambrose was engaged in teaching the creed to +the candidates for baptism, who, as was customary, had been catechized +during Lent, and were to be admitted into the Church on the night before +Easter-day. News was brought him that the officers of the Court had +taken possession of the Portian Church, and were arranging the imperial +hangings in token of its being confiscated to the Emperor; on the other +hand, that the people were flocking thither. Ambrose continued the +service of the day; but, when he was in the midst of the celebration of +the Eucharistical rite, a second message came that one of the Arian +priests was in the hands of the populace. + + "On this news (he says, writing to his sister,) I could not keep + from shedding many bitter tears, and, while I made oblation, I + prayed God's protection that no blood might be shed in the Church's + quarrel: or if so, that it might be mine, and that not for my + people only, but for those heretics."--_Ep._ 20. + +At the same time he despatched some of his clergy to the spot, who had +influence enough to rescue the unfortunate man from the mob. + +Though Ambrose so far seems to have been supported only by a popular +movement, yet the proceedings of the following week showed that he had +also the great mass of respectable citizens on his side. The imprudent +measures of the Court, in punishing those whom it considered its +enemies, disclosed to the world their number and importance. The +tradesmen of the city were fined two hundred pounds of gold, and many +were thrown into prison. All the officers, moreover, and place-men of +the courts of justice, were ordered to keep in-doors during the +continuance of the disorders; and men of higher rank were menaced with +severe consequences, unless the Basilica were surrendered. + +Such were the acts by which the Imperial Court solemnized Passion week. +At length a fresh interview was sought with Ambrose, which shall be +described in his own words:-- + + "I had a meeting with the counts and tribunes, who urged me to give + up the Basilica without delay, on the ground that the Emperor was + but acting on his undoubted rights, as possessing sovereign power + over all things. I made answer, that if he asked me for what was my + own--for instance, my estate, my money, or the like--I would make + no opposition: though, to tell the truth, all that was mine was the + property of the poor; but that he had no sovereignty over things + sacred. If my patrimony is demanded, seize upon it; my person, here + I am. Would you take to prison or to death? I go with pleasure. Far + be it from me to entrench myself within the circle of a multitude, + or to clasp the altar in supplication for my life; rather I will be + a sacrifice for the altar's sake. + + "In good truth, when I heard that soldiers were sent to take + possession of the Basilica, I was horrified at the prospect of + bloodshed, which might issue in ruin to the whole city. I prayed + God that I might not survive the destruction, which might ensue, of + such a place, nay, of Italy itself. I shrank from the odium of + having occasioned slaughter, and would sooner have given my own + throat to the knife.... I was ordered to calm the people. I + replied, that all I could do was not to inflame them; but God alone + could appease them. For myself, if I appeared to have instigated + them, it was the duty of the government to proceed against me, or + to banish me. Upon this they left me." + +Ambrose spent the rest of Palm Sunday in the same Basilica in which he +had been officiating in the morning: at night he went to his own house, +that the civil power might have the opportunity of arresting him, if it +was thought advisable. + + +4. + +The attempt to gain the Portian seems now to have been dropped; but on +the Wednesday troops were marched before day-break to take possession +of the New Church, which was within the walls. Ambrose, upon the news of +this fresh movement, used the weapons of an apostle. He did not seek to +disturb them in their possession; but, attending service at his own +church, he was content with threatening the soldiers with a sentence of +excommunication. Meanwhile the New Church, where the soldiers were +posted, began to fill with a larger congregation than it ever contained +before the persecution. Ambrose was requested to go thither, but, +desirous of drawing the people away from the scene of imperial tyranny, +lest a riot should ensue, he remained where he was, and began a comment +on the lesson of the day, which was from the book of Job. First, he +commended them for the Christian patience and resignation with which +they had hitherto borne their trial, which indeed was, on the whole, +surprising, if we consider the inflammable nature of a multitude. "We +petition your Majesty," they said to the Emperor; "we use no force, we +feel no fear, but we petition." It is common in the leader of a +multitude to profess peaceableness, but very unusual for the multitude +itself to persevere in doing so. Ambrose went on to observe, that both +they and he had in their way been tempted, as Job was, by the powers of +evil. For himself, his peculiar trial had lain in the reflection that +the extraordinary measures of the government, the movements of the +Gothic guards, the fines of the tradesmen, the various sufferings of the +faithful, all arose from, as it might be called, his obstinacy in not +yielding to what seemed an overwhelming necessity, and giving the +Basilica to the Arians. Yet he felt that to do so would be to peril his +soul; so that the request was but the voice of the tempter, as he spoke +in Job's wife, to make him "say a word against God, and die," to betray +his trust, and incur the sentence of spiritual death. + +Before this time the soldiers who had been sent to the New Church, from +dread of the threat of excommunication, had declared against the +sacrilege, and joined his own congregation; and now the news came that +the royal hangings had been taken down. Soon after, as he was continuing +his address to the people, a fresh message came to him from the Court to +ask him whether he had an intention of domineering over his sovereign? +Ambrose, in answer, showed the pains he had taken to be obedient to the +Emperor's will, and to hinder disturbance: then he added:-- + + "Priests have by old right bestowed sovereignty, never assumed it; + and it is a common saying, that sovereigns have coveted the + priesthood more than priests the sovereignty. Christ hid Himself, + lest He should be made a king. Yes! we have a dominion of our own. + The dominion of the priest lies in his helplessness, as it is said, + 'When I am weak, then am I strong.'" + +And so ended the dispute for a time. On Good Friday the Court gave way; +the guards were ordered from the Basilica, and the fines were remitted. +I end for the present with the view which Ambrose took of the prospect +before him:-- + + "Thus the matter rests; I wish I could say, has ended: but the + Emperor's words are of that angry sort which shows that a more + severe contest is in store. He says I domineer, or worse than + domineer. He implied this when his ministers were entreating him, + on the petition of the soldiers, to attend church. 'Should Ambrose + bid you,' he made answer, 'doubtless you would give me to him in + chains.' I leave you to judge what these words promise. Persons + present were all shocked at hearing them; but there are parties who + exasperate him." + +FOOTNOTES: + +[363] Vid. _British Magazine_, 1832, etc. And Froude's Remains, part II, +vol. ii. + + + + +Sec. 2. _Ambrose and Valentinian._ + + +1. + +In the opposition which Ambrose made to the Arians, as already related, +there is no appearance of his appealing to any law of the Empire in +justification of his refusal to surrender the Basilica to them. He +rested it upon the simple basis of the Divine Law, a commonsense +argument which there was no evading. "The Basilica has been made over to +Christ; the Church is His trustee; I am its ruler. I dare not alienate +the Lord's property. He who does so, does it at his peril." Indeed, he +elsewhere expressly repudiates the principle of dependence in this +matter on human law. "Law," he says, "has not brought the Church +together, but the faith of Christ." However, Justina determined to have +human law on her side. She persuaded her son to make it a capital +offence in any one, either publicly or privately, even by petition, to +interfere with the assemblies of the Arians; a provision which admitted +a fair, and might also bear, and did in fact receive, a most tyrannical +interpretation. Benevolus, the Secretary of State, from whose office the +edict was to proceed, refused to draw it up, and resigned his place; but +of course others less scrupulous were easily found to succeed him. At +length it was promulgated on the 21st of January of the next year, A.D. +386, and a fresh attempt soon followed on the part of the Court to get +possession of the Portian Basilica, which was without the walls. + +The line of conduct which Ambrose had adopted remained equally clear +and straight, whether before or after the promulgation of this edict. It +was his duty to use all the means which Christ has given the Church to +prevent the profanation of the Basilica. But soon a new question arose +for his determination. An imperial message was brought to him to retire +from the city at once, with any friends who chose to attend him. It is +not certain whether this was intended as an absolute command, or (as his +words rather imply) a recommendation on the part of government to save +themselves the odium, and him the suffering, of public and more severe +proceedings. Even if it were the former, it does not appear that a +Christian bishop, so circumstanced, need obey it; for what was it but in +other words to say, "Depart from the Basilica, and leave it to us?"--the +very order which he had already withstood. The words of Scripture, which +bid Christians, if persecuted in one city, flee to another, are +evidently, from the form of them, a discretionary rule, grounded on the +expediency of each occasion, as it arises. A mere threat is not a +persecution, nor is a command; and though we are bound to obey our civil +rulers, the welfare of the Church has a prior claim upon our obedience. +Other bishops took the same view of the case with Ambrose; and, +accordingly, he determined to stay in Milan till removed by main force, +or cut off by violence. + + +2. + +The reader shall hear his own words in a sermon which he delivered upon +the occasion:-- + + "I see that you are under a sudden and unusual excitement," he + said, "and are turning your eyes on me. What can be the reason of + this? Is it that you saw or heard that an imperial message had been + brought to me by the tribunes desiring me to depart hence whither I + would, and to take with me all who would follow me? What! did you + fear that I would desert the Church, and, for fear of my life, + abandon you? Yet you might have attended to my answer. I said that + I could not, for an instant, entertain the thought of deserting the + Church, in that I feared the Lord of all more than the Emperor of + the day: in truth that, should force hurry me off, it would be my + body, not my mind, that was got rid of; that, should he act in the + way of kingly power, I was prepared to suffer after the manner of a + priest. + + "Why, then, are you thus disturbed? I will never leave you of my + own will; but if compelled, I may not resist. I shall still have + the power of sorrowing, of weeping, of uttering laments: when + weapons, soldiers, Goths, too, assail me, tears are my weapons, for + such are the defences of a priest. In any other way I neither ought + to resist, nor can; but as to retiring and deserting the Church, + this is not like me; and for this reason, lest I seem to do so from + dread of some heavier punishment. Ye yourselves know that it is my + wont to submit to our rulers, but not to make concessions to them; + to present myself readily to legal punishment, and not to fear what + is in preparation. + + "A proposal was made to me to deliver up at once the Church plate. + I made answer, that I was ready to give anything that was my own, + farm or house, gold or silver; but that I could withdraw no + property from God's temple, nor surrender what was put into my + hands, not to surrender, but to keep safely. Besides, that I had a + care for the Emperor's well-being; since it was as little safe for + him to receive as for me to surrender: let him bear with the words + of a free-spoken priest, for his own good, and shrink from doing + wrong to his Lord. + + "You recollect to-day's lesson about holy Naboth and his vineyard. + The king asked him to make it over to him, as a ground, not for + vines, but for common pot-herbs. What was his answer? 'God forbid I + should give to thee the inheritance of my fathers!' The king was + saddened when another's property was justly denied him; but he was + beguiled by a woman's counsel. Naboth shed his blood rather than + give up his vines. Shall he refuse his own vineyard, and we + surrender the Church of Christ? + + "What contumacy, then, was there in my answer? I did but say at the + interview, 'God forbid I should surrender Christ's heritage!' I + added, 'the heritage of our fathers;' yes, of our Dionysius, who + died in exile for the faith's sake, of Eustorgius the Confessor, of + Myrocles, and of all the other faithful bishops back. I answered + as a priest: let the Emperor act as an Emperor; he shall rob me of + my life sooner than of my fidelity. + + "In what respect was my answer other than respectful? Does the + Emperor wish to tax us? I make no opposition. The Church lands pay + taxes. Does he require our lands? He has power to claim them; we + will not prevent him. The contributions of the people will suffice + for the poor. Let not our enemies take offence at our lands; they + may away with them, if it please the Emperor; not that I give them, + but I make no opposition. Do they seek my gold? I can truly say, + silver and gold I seek not. But they take offence at my raising + contributions. Nor have I any great fear of the charge. I confess I + have stipendiaries; they are the poor of Christ's flock; a treasure + which I am well used in amassing. May this at all times be my + offence, to exact contributions for the poor. And if they accuse me + of defending myself by means of them, I am far from denying, I + court the charge. The poor _are_ my defenders, but it is by their + prayers. Blind though they be, lame, feeble, and aged, yet they + have a strength greater than that of the stoutest warriors. In a + word, gifts made to them are a claim upon the Lord; as it is + written, 'He who giveth to the poor, lendeth to God;' but a + military guard oftentimes has no title to divine grace. + + "They say, too, that the people are misled by the verses of my + hymns. I frankly confess this also. Truly those hymns have in them + a high strain above all other influence. For can any strain have + more of influence than the confession of the Holy Trinity, which is + proclaimed day by day by the voice of the whole people? Each is + eager to rival his fellows in confessing, as he well knows how, in + sacred verses, his faith in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus all + are made teachers, who else were scarce equal to being scholars. + + "No one can deny that in what we say we pay to our sovereign due + honour. What indeed can do him higher honour than to style him a + son of the Church? In saying this, we are loyal to him without + sinning against God. For the Emperor is within the Church, but not + over the Church; and a religious sovereign seeks, not rejects, the + Church's aid. This is our doctrine, modestly avowed, but insisted + on without wavering. Though they threaten fire, or the sword, or + transportation, we, Christ's poor servants, have learned not to + fear. And to the fearless nothing is frightful; as Scripture says, + 'Their blows are like the arrows of a child.'"--_Serm. contr. + Auxent._ + + +3. + +Mention is made in this extract of the Psalmody which Ambrose adopted +about this time. The history of its introduction is curiously connected +with the subject before us, and interesting, inasmuch as this was the +beginning of a change in the style of Church music, which spread over +the West, and continues even among ourselves to this day; it is as +follows;-- + +Soldiers had been sent, as in the former year, to surround his church, +in order to prevent the Catholic service there; but being themselves +Christians, and afraid of excommunication, they went so far as to allow +the people to enter, but would not let them leave the building. This was +not so great an inconvenience to them as might appear at first sight: +for the early Basilicas were not unlike the heathen temples, or our own +collegiate chapels, that is, part of a range of buildings, which +contained the lodgings of the ecclesiastics, and formed a fortress in +themselves, which could easily be fortified from within or blockaded +from without. Accordingly, the people remained shut up within the sacred +precincts for some days, and the bishop with them. There seems to have +been a notion, too, that he was to be seized for exile, or put to death; +and they naturally kept about him to "see the end," to suffer with him +or for him, according as their tempers and principles led them. Some +went so far as to barricade the doors of the Basilica;[364] nor could +Ambrose prevent this proceeding, unnecessary as it was, because of the +good feelings of the soldiery towards them, and indeed impracticable in +such completeness as might be sufficient for security. + +Some persons may think that Ambrose ought to have used his utmost +influence against it, whereas in his sermon to the people he merely +insists on its uselessness, and urges the propriety of looking simply to +God, and not at all to such expedients, for deliverance. It must be +recollected, however, that he and his people in no sense drew the sword +from its sheath; he confined himself to passive resistance. He had +violated no law; the Church's property was sought by a tyrant: without +using any violence, he took possession of that which he was bound to +defend with his life. He placed himself upon the sacred territory, and +bade them take it and him together, after St. Laurence's pattern, who +submitted to be burned rather than deliver up the goods with which he +had been intrusted for the sake of the poor. However, it was evidently a +very uncomfortable state of things for a Christian bishop, who might +seem to be responsible for all the consequences, yet was without control +over them. A riot might commence any moment, which it would not be in +his power to arrest. Under these circumstances, with admirable presence +of mind, he contrived to keep the people quiet, and to direct their +minds to higher objects than those around them, by Psalmody. Sacred +chanting had been one especial way in which the Catholics of Antioch had +kept alive, in Arian times, the spirit of orthodoxy. And from the first +a peculiar kind of singing--the antiphonal or responsorial, answering to +our cathedral chanting--had been used in honour of the sacred doctrine +which heresy assailed. Ignatius, the disciple of St. Peter, was reported +to have introduced the practice into the Church of Antioch, in the +doxology to the Trinity. Flavian, afterwards bishop of that see, revived +it during the Arian usurpation, to the great edification and +encouragement of the oppressed Catholics. Chrysostom used it in the +vigils at Constantinople, in opposition to the same heretical party; and +similar vigils had been established by Basil in the monasteries of +Cappadocia. The assembled multitude, confined day and night within the +gates of the Basilica, were in the situation of a monastic body without +its discipline, and Ambrose rightly considered that the novelty and +solemnity of the oriental chants, in praise of the Blessed Trinity, +would both interest and sober them during the dangerous temptation to +which they were now exposed. The expedient had even more successful +results than the bishop anticipated; the soldiers were affected by the +music, and took part in it; and, as we hear nothing more of the +blockade, we must suppose that it thus ended, the government being +obliged to overlook what it could not prevent. + +It may be interesting to the reader to see Augustine's notice of this +occurrence, and the effect of the Psalmody upon himself, at the time of +his baptism. + + "The pious populace (he says in his Confessions) was keeping vigils + in the church prepared to die, O Lord, with their bishop, Thy + servant. There was my mother, Thy handmaid, surpassing others in + anxiety and watching, and making prayers her life. + + "I, uninfluenced as yet by the fire of Thy Spirit, was roused + however by the terror and agitation of the city. Then it was that + hymns and psalms, after the oriental rite, were introduced, lest + the spirits of the flock should fail under the wearisome + delay."--_Confess._ ix. 15. + +In the same passage, speaking of his baptism, he says:-- + + "How many tears I shed during the performance of Thy hymns and + chants, keenly affected by the notes of Thy melodious Church! My + ears drank up those sounds, and they distilled into my heart as + sacred truths, and overflowed thence again in pious emotion, and + gushed forth into tears, and I was happy in them."--_Ibid._ 14. + +Elsewhere he says:-- + + "Sometimes, from over-jealousy, I would entirely put from me and + from the Church the melodies of the sweet chants which we use in + the Psalter, lest our ears seduce us; and the way of Athanasius, + Bishop of Alexandria, seems the safer, who, as I have often heard, + made the reader chant with so slight a change of note, that it was + more like speaking than singing. And yet when I call to mind the + tears I shed when I heard the chants of Thy Church in the infancy + of my recovered faith, and reflect that at this time I am affected, + not by the mere music, but by the subject, brought out, as it is, + by clear voices and appropriate tune, then, in turn, I confess how + useful is the practice."--_Confess._ x. 50. + +Such was the influence of the Ambrosian chants when first introduced at +Milan by the great bishop whose name they bear; there they are in use +still, in all the majestic austerity which gave them their original +power, and a great part of the Western Church uses that modification of +them which Pope Gregory introduced at Rome in the beginning of the +seventh century. + + +4. + +Ambrose implies, in the sermon from which extracts were given above, +that a persecution, reaching even to the infliction of bodily +sufferings, was at this time exercised upon the bishops of the +Exarchate. Certainly he himself was all along in imminent peril of his +life, or of sudden removal from Milan. However, he made it a point to +frequent the public places and religious meetings as usual; and indeed +it appears that he was as safe there as at home, for he narrowly escaped +assassination from a hired ruffian of the Empress's, who made his way to +his bed-chamber for the purpose. Magical arts were also practised +against him, as a more secret and certain method of ensuring his +destruction. + +I ought to have mentioned, before this, the challenge sent to him by the +Arian bishop to dispute publicly with him on the sacred doctrine in +controversy; but was unwilling to interrupt the narrative of the contest +about the Basilica. I will here translate portions of a letter sent by +him, on the occasion, to the Emperor. + + "To the most gracious Emperor and most happy Augustus Valentinian, + Ambrosius Bishop,-- + + "Dalmatius, tribune and notary, has come to me, at your Majesty's + desire, as he assures me, to require me to choose umpires, as + Auxentius[365] has done on his part. Not that he informed me who + they were that had already been named; but merely said that the + dispute was to take place in the consistory, in your Majesty's + presence, as final arbitrator of it. + + "I trust my answer will prove sufficient. No one should call me + contumacious, if I insist on what your father, of blessed memory, + not only sanctioned by word of mouth, but even by a law:--That in + cases of faith, or of ecclesiastics, the judges should be neither + inferior in function nor separate in jurisdiction--thus the + rescript runs; in other words, he would have priests decide about + priests. And this extended even to the case of allegations of wrong + conduct. + + "When was it you ever heard, most gracious Emperor, that in a + question of faith laymen should be judges of a bishop? What! have + courtly manners so bent our backs, that we have forgotten the + rights of the priesthood, that I should of myself put into + another's hands what God has bestowed upon me? Once grant that a + layman may set a bishop right, and see what will follow. The layman + in consequence discusses, while the bishop listens; and the bishop + is the pupil of the layman. Yet, whether we turn to Scripture or to + history, who will venture to deny that in a question of faith, in a + question, I say, of faith, it has ever been the bishop's business + to judge the Christian Emperor, not the Emperor's to judge the + bishop? + + "When, through God's blessing, you live to be old, then you will + know what to think of the fidelity of that bishop who places the + rights of the priesthood at the mercy of laymen. Your father, who + arrived, through God's blessing, at maturer years, was in the habit + of saying, 'I have no right to judge between bishops;' but now your + Majesty says, 'I ought to judge.' He, even though baptized into + Christ's body, thought himself unequal to the burden of such a + judgment; your Majesty, who still have to earn a title to the + sacrament, claims to judge in a matter of faith, though you are a + stranger to the sacrament to which that faith belongs. + + "But Ambrose is not of such value, that he must degrade the + priesthood for his own well-being. One man's life is not so + precious as the dignity of all those bishops who have advised me + thus to write; and who suggested that Auxentius might be choosing + some heathen perhaps or Jew, whose permission to decide about + Christ would be a permission to triumph over Him. What would + pleasure them but blasphemies against Him? What would satisfy them + but the impious denial of His divinity--agreeing, as they do, full + well with the Arian, who pronounces Christ to be a creature with + the ready concurrence of Jews and heathens? + + "I would have come to your Majesty's Court, to offer these remarks + in your presence; but neither my bishops nor my people would let + me; for they said that, when matters of faith were discussed in the + Church, this should be in the presence of the people. + + "I could have wished your Majesty had not told me to betake myself + to exile somewhere. I was abroad every day; no one guarded me. I + was at the mercy of all the world; you should have secured my + departure to a place of your own choosing. Now the priests say to + me, 'There is little difference between voluntarily leaving and + betraying the altar of Christ; for when you leave, you betray it.' + + "May it please your Majesty graciously to accept this my declining + to appear in the Imperial Court. I am not practised in attending + it, except in your behalf; nor have I the skill to strive for + victory within the palace, as neither knowing, nor caring to know, + its secrets."--_Ep._ 21. + +The reader will observe an allusion in the last sentence of this defence +to a service Ambrose had rendered the Emperor and his mother, upon the +murder of Gratian; when, at the request of Justina, he undertook the +difficult embassy to the usurper Maximus, and was the means of +preserving the peace of Italy. This Maximus now interfered to defend him +against the parties whom he had on a former occasion defended against +Maximus; but other and more remarkable occurrences interposed in his +behalf, which shall be mentioned in the next section. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[364] Vid. 2 [4] Kings vi. 32. + +[365] The Arian bishop, who had lately come from the East to Milan, had +taken the name of Auxentius, the heretical predecessor of Ambrose. + + + + +Sec. 3. _Ambrose and the Martyrs._ + + +1. + +A termination was at length put to the persecution of the Church of +Milan by an occurrence of a very different nature from any which take +place in these days. And since such events as I am to mention do not +occur now, we are apt to argue, not very logically, that they did not +occur then. I conceive this to be the main objection which will be felt +against the following narrative. Miracles never took place then, because +we do not see reason to believe that they take place now. But it should +be recollected, that if there are no miracles at present, neither are +there at present any martyrs. Might we not as cogently argue that no +martyrdoms took place then, because no martyrdoms take place now? And +might not St. Ambrose and his brethren have as reasonably disbelieved +the possible existence of parsonages and pony carriages in the +nineteenth century, as we the existence of martyrs and miracles in the +primitive age? Perhaps miracles and martyrs go together. Now the account +which is to follow does indeed relate to miracles, but then it relates +to martyrs also. + +Another objection which may be more reasonably urged against the +narrative is this: that in the fourth century there were many miraculous +tales which even Fathers of the Church believed, but which no one of any +way of thinking believes now. It will be argued, that because some +miracles are alleged which did not really take place, that therefore +none which are alleged took place either. But I am disposed to reason +just the contrary way. Pretences to revelation make it probable that +there is a true Revelation; pretences to miracles make it probable that +there are real ones; falsehood is the mockery of truth; false Christs +argue a true Christ; a shadow implies a substance. If it be replied that +the Scripture miracles are these true miracles, and that it is they, and +none other but they, none after them, which suggested the counterfeit; I +ask in turn, if so, what becomes of the original objection, that _no_ +miracles are true, because some are false? If this be so, the Scripture +miracles are to be believed as little as those after them; and this is +the very plea which infidels have urged. No; it is not reasonable to +limit the scope of an argument according to the exigency of our +particular conclusions; we have no leave to apply the argument _for_ +miracles only to the first century, and that _against_ miracles only to +the fourth. If forgery in some miracles proves forgery in all, this +tells against the first as well as against the fourth century; if +forgery in some argues truth in others, this avails for the fourth as +well as for the first. + +And I will add, that even credulousness on other occasions does not +necessarily disqualify a person's evidence for a particular alleged +miracle; for the sight of one true miracle could not but dispose a man +to believe others readily, nay, too readily, that is, would make him +what is called credulous. + +Now let these remarks be kept in mind while I go on to describe the +alleged occurrence which has led to them. I know of no direct objection +to it in particular, viewed in itself; the main objections are such +antecedent considerations as I have been noticing. on +original] But if Elisha's bones restored a dead man to life, I know of +no antecedent reason why the relics of Gervasius and Protasius should +not, as in the instance to be considered, have given sight to the blind. + + +2. + +The circumstances were these:--St. Ambrose, at the juncture of affairs +which I have described in the foregoing pages, was proceeding to the +dedication of a certain church at Milan, which remains there to this +day, with the name of "St. Ambrose the Greater;" and was urged by the +people to bury relics of martyrs under the altar, as he had lately done +in the case of the Basilica of the Apostles. This was according to the +usage of those times, desirous thereby both of honouring those who had +braved death for Christ's sake, and of hallowing religious places with +the mortal instruments of their triumph. Ambrose in consequence gave +orders to open the ground in the church of St. Nabor, as a spot likely +to have been the burying-place of martyrs during the heathen +persecutions. + +Augustine, who was in Milan at the time, alleges that Ambrose was +directed in his search by a dream. Ambrose himself is evidently reserved +on the subject in his letter to his sister, though he was accustomed to +make her his confidant in his ecclesiastical proceedings; he only speaks +of his heart having burnt within him in presage of what was to happen. +The digging commenced, and in due time two skeletons were discovered, of +great size, perfect, and disposed in an orderly way; the head of each, +however, separated from the body, and a quantity of blood about. That +they were the remains of martyrs, none could reasonably doubt; and their +names were ascertained to be Gervasius and Protasius; how, it does not +appear, but certainly it was not so alleged on any traditionary +information or for any popular object, since they proved to be quite new +names to the Church of the day, though some elderly men at length +recollected hearing them in former years. Nor is it wonderful that these +saints should have been forgotten, considering the number of the +Apostolic martyrs, among whom Gervasius and Protasius appear to have a +place. + +It seems to have been usual in that day to verify the genuineness of +relics by bringing some of the _energumeni_, or possessed with devils, +to them. Such afflicted persons were present with St. Ambrose during the +search; and, before the service for exorcism commenced, one of them gave +the well-known signs of horror and distress which were customarily +excited by the presence of what had been the tabernacle of divine grace. + +The skeletons were raised and transported to the neighbouring church of +St. Fausta. The next day, June 18th, on which they were to be conveyed +to their destination, a vast concourse of people attended the +procession. This was the moment chosen by Divine Providence to give, as +it were, signal to His Church, that, though years passed on, He was +still what He had been from the beginning, a living and a faithful God, +wonder-working as in the lifetime of the Apostles, and true to His word +as spoken by His prophets unto a thousand generations. There was in +Milan a man of middle age, well known in the place, by name Severus, +who, having become blind, had given up his trade, and was now supported +by charitable persons. Being told the cause of the shoutings in the +streets, he persuaded his guide to lead him to the sacred relics. He +came near; he touched the cloth which covered them; and he regained his +sight immediately. + +This relation deserves our special notice from its distinct +miraculousness and its circumstantial character; but numerous other +miracles are stated to have followed. Various diseases were cured and +demoniacs dispossessed by the touch of the holy bodies or their +envelopments. + + +3. + +Now for the evidence on which the whole matter rests. Our witnesses are +three: St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, and Paulinus, the secretary of the +latter, who after his death addressed a short memoir of his life to the +former. + +1. St. Augustine, in three separate passages in his works, two of which +shall here be quoted, gives his testimony. First, in his City of God, in +an enumeration of miracles which had taken place since the Apostles' +time. He begins with that which he himself had witnessed in the city of +St. Ambrose:-- + + "The miracle," he says, "which occurred at Milan, while I was + there, when a blind man gained sight, was of a kind to come to the + knowledge of many, because the city is large, and the Emperor was + there at the time, and it was wrought with the witness of a vast + multitude, who had come together to the bodies of the martyrs + Protasius and Gervasius; which, being at the time concealed and + altogether unknown, were discovered on the revelation of a dream to + Ambrose the bishop; upon which that blind man was released from his + former darkness, and saw the day."--xxii. 8. + +And next in his sermon upon the feast-day of the two martyrs:-- + + "We are celebrating, my brethren, the day on which, by Ambrose the + bishop, that man of God, there was discovered, precious in the + sight of the Lord, the death of His Saints; of which so great glory + of the martyrs, then accruing, even I was a witness. I was there, I + was at Milan, I know the miracles which were done, God attesting to + the precious death of His Saints; that by those miracles + henceforth, not in the Lord's sight only, but in the sight of men + also, that death might be precious. A blind man, perfectly well + known to the whole city, was restored to sight; he ran, he caused + himself to be brought near, he returned without a guide. We have + not yet heard of his death; perhaps he is still alive. In the very + church where their bodies are, he has vowed his whole life to + religious service. We rejoiced in his restoration, we left him in + service."--_Serm._ 286. _vid._ also 318. + +The third passage will be found in the ninth book of St. Augustine's +Confessions, and adds to the foregoing extracts the important fact that +the miracle was the cause of Justina's relinquishing her persecution of +the Catholics. + +2. Now let us proceed to the evidence of St Ambrose, as contained in the +sermons which he preached upon the occasion. In the former of the two he +speaks as follows of the miracles wrought by the relics:-- + + "Ye know, nay, ye have yourselves seen, many cleansed from evil + spirits, and numbers loosed from their infirmities, on laying their + hands on the garment of the saints. Ye see renewed the miracles of + the old time, when, through the advent of the Lord Jesus, a fuller + grace poured itself upon the earth; ye see most men healed by the + very shadow of the sacred bodies. How many are the napkins which + pass to and fro! what anxiety for garments which are laid upon the + most holy relics, and made salutary by their very touch! It is an + object with all to reach even to the extreme border, and he who + reaches it will be made whole. Thanks be to Thee, Lord Jesus, for + awakening for us at this time the spirits of the holy martyrs, when + Thy Church needs greater guardianship. Let all understand the sort + of champions I ask for--those who may act as champions, not as + assailants. And such have I gained for you, my religious people, + such as benefit all, and harm none. Such defenders I solicit, such + soldiers I possess, not the world's soldiers, but soldiers of + Christ. I fear not that such will give offence; because the higher + is their guardianship, the less exceptionable is it also. Nay, for + them even who grudge me the martyrs, do I desire the martyrs' + protection. So let them come and see my body-guard; I own I have + such arms about me. 'These put their trust in chariots and these + in horses; but we will glory in the name of the Lord our God.' + + "Elisaeus, as the course of Holy Scripture tells us, when hemmed in + by the Syrian army, said to his frightened servant, by way of + calming him, 'There are more that are for us than are against us.' + And to prove this, he begged that Gehazi's eyes might be opened; + upon which the latter saw innumerable hosts of Angels present to + the prophet. We, though we cannot see them, yet are sensible of + them. Our eyes were held as long as the bodies of the saints lay + hid in their graves. The Lord has opened our eyes: we have seen + those aids by which we have often been defended. We had not the + sight of these, yet we had the possession. And so, as though the + Lord said to us in our alarm, 'Behold what martyrs I have given + you!' in like manner our eyes are unclosed, and we see the glory of + the Lord, manifested, as once in their passion, so now in their + power. We have got clear, my brethren, of no slight disgrace; we + had patrons, yet we knew it not. We have found this one thing, in + which we have the advantage of our forefathers--they lost the + knowledge of these holy martyrs, and we have obtained it. + + "Bring the victorious victims to the spot where is Christ the + sacrifice. But He upon the altar, who suffered for all; they under + it, who were redeemed by His passion. I had intended this spot for + myself, for it is fitting that where the priest had been used to + offer, there he should repose; but I yield the right side to the + sacred victims; that spot was due to the martyrs. Therefore let us + bury the hallowed relics, and introduce them into a fitting home; + and celebrate the whole day with sincere devotion."--_Ep._ 22. + +In his latter sermon, preached the following day, he pursues the +subject:-- + + "This your celebration they are jealous of, who are wont to be; + and, being jealous of it, they hate the cause of it, and are + extravagant enough to deny the merits of those martyrs, whose works + the very devils confess. Nor is it wonderful; it commonly happens + that unbelievers who deny are less bearable than the devil who + confesses. For the devil said, 'Jesus, Son of the living Son, why + hast Thou come to torment us before the time?' And, whereas the + Jews heard this, yet they were the very men to deny the Son of God. + And now ye have heard the evil spirits crying out, and confessing + to the martyrs, that they cannot bear their pains, and saying, 'Why + are ye come to torment us so heavily?' And the Arians say, 'They + are not martyrs, nor can they torment the devil, nor dispossess any + one;' while the torments of the evil spirits are evidenced by their + own voice, and the benefits of the martyrs by the recovery of the + healed, and the tokens of the dispossessed. + + "The Arians say, 'These are not real torments of evil spirits, but + they are pretended and counterfeit.' I have heard of many things + pretended, but no one ever could succeed in feigning himself a + devil. How is it we see them in such distress when the hand is laid + on them? What room is here for fraud? what suspicion of imposture? + + "They deny that the blind received sight; but he does not deny that + he was cured. He says, 'I see, who afore saw not.' He says, 'I + ceased to be blind,' and he evidences it by the fact. They deny the + benefit, who cannot deny the fact. The man is well known; employed + as he was, before his affliction, in a public trade, Severus his + name, a butcher his business: he had given it up when this + misfortune befell him. He refers to the testimony of men whose + charities were supporting him; he summons them as evidence of his + present visitation, who were witnesses and judges of his blindness. + He cries out that, on his touching the hem of the martyrs' garment, + which covered the relics, his sight was restored to him. We read in + the Gospel, that when the Jews saw the cure of the blind man, they + sought the testimony of the parents. Ask others, if you distrust + me; ask persons unconnected with him, if you think that his parents + would take a side. The obstinacy of these Arians is more hateful + than that of the Jews. When the latter doubted, at least they + inquired of the parents; these inquire secretly, deny openly, as + giving credit to the fact, but denying the author."--_Ibid._ + +3. We may corroborate the evidence of those two Fathers with that of +Paulinus, who was secretary to St. Ambrose, and wrote his life, about +A.D. 411. + + "About the same time," he says, "the holy martyrs Protasius and + Gervasius revealed themselves to God's priest. They lay in the + Basilica, where, at present, are the bodies of the martyrs Nabor + and Felix; while, however, the holy martyrs Nabor and Felix had + crowds to visit them, as well the names as the graves of the + martyrs Protasius and Gervasius were unknown; so that all who + wished to come to the rails which protected the graves of the + martyrs Nabor and Felix, were used to walk on the graves of the + others. But when the bodies of the holy martyrs were raised and + placed on litters, thereupon many possessions of the devil were + detected. Moreover, a blind man, by name Severus, who up to this + day performs religious service in the Basilica called Ambrosian, + into which the bodies of the martyrs have been translated, when he + had touched the garment of the martyrs, forthwith received sight. + Moreover, bodies possessed by unclean spirits were restored, and + with all blessedness returned home. And by means of these benefits + of the martyrs, while the faith of the Catholic Church made + increase, by so much did Arian misbelief decline."--Sec. 14. + + +4. + +Now I want to know what reason is there for stumbling at the above +narrative, which will not throw uncertainty upon the very fact that +there was such a Bishop as Ambrose, or such an Empress as Justina, or +such a heresy as the Arian, or any Church at all in Milan. Let us +consider some of the circumstances under which it comes to us. + +1. We have the concordant evidence of three distinct witnesses, of whom +at least two were on the spot when the alleged miracles were wrought, +one writing at the time, another some years afterwards in a distant +country. And the third, writing after an interval of twenty-six years, +agrees minutely with the evidence of the two former, not adding to the +miraculous narrative, as is the manner of those who lose their delicate +care for exactness in their admiration of the things and persons of whom +they speak. + +2. The miracle was wrought in public, on a person well known, on one who +continued to live in the place where it was professedly wrought, and +who, by devoting himself to the service of the martyrs who were the +instruments of his cure, was a continual memorial of the mercy which he +professed to have received, and challenged inquiry into it, and +refutation if that were possible. + +3. Ambrose, one of our informants, publicly appealed, at the time when +the occurrence took place, to the general belief, claimed it for the +miracle, and that in a sermon which is still extant. + +4. He made his statement in the presence of bitter and most powerful +enemies, who were much concerned, and very able to expose the fraud, if +there was one; who did, as might be expected, deny the hand of God in +the matter; but who, for all that appears, did nothing but deny what +they could not consistently confess, without ceasing to be what they +were. + +5. A great and practical impression was made upon the popular mind in +consequence of the alleged miracles: or, in the words of an historian, +whose very vocation it is to disbelieve them, "Their effect on the minds +of the people was rapid and irresistible; and the feeble sovereign of +Italy found himself unable to contend with the favourite of +heaven."[366] + +6. And so powerfully did all this press upon the Court, that, as the +last words of this extract intimate, the persecution was given up, and +the Catholics left in quiet possession of the churches. + +On the whole, then, are we not in the following dilemma? If the miracle +did not take place, then St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, men of name, +said they had ascertained a fact which they did not ascertain, and said +it in the face of enemies, with an appeal to a whole city, and that +continued during a quarter of a century. What instrument of refutation +shall we devise against a case like this, neither so violently _a +priori_ as to supersede the testimony of Evangelists, nor so fastidious +of evidence as to imperil Tacitus or Caesar? On the other hand, if the +miracle did take place, a certain measure of authority, more or less, +surely must thereby attach to St. Ambrose--to his doctrine and his life, +to his ecclesiastical principles and proceedings, to the Church itself +of the fourth century, of which he is one main pillar. The miracle gives +a certain sanction to three things at once, to the Catholic doctrine of +the Trinity, to the Church's resistance of the civil power, and to the +commemoration of saints and martyrs. + + * * * * * + +Does it give any sanction to Protestantism and its adherents? shall we +accept it or not? shall we retreat, or shall we advance? shall we +relapse into scepticism upon all subjects, or sacrifice our deep-rooted +prejudices? shall we give up our knowledge of times past altogether, or +endure to gain a knowledge which we think we have already--the knowledge +of divine truth? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[366] Gibbon, Hist. ch. 27. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +WHAT SAYS VINCENT OF LERINS? + + +1. + +It is pretty clear that most persons of this day will be disposed to +wonder at the earnestness shown by the early bishops of the Church in +their defence of the Catholic faith. Athanasius, Hilary, Basil, Gregory, +and Ambrose resisted the spread of Arianism at the risk of their lives. +Yet their repeated protests and efforts were all about what? The man of +the world will answer, "strifes of words, perverse disputings, curious +questions, which do not tend to advance what ought to be the one end of +all religion, peace and love. This is what comes of insisting on +orthodoxy; putting the whole world into a fever!" _Tantum religio +potuit_, etc., as the Epicurean poet says. + +Such certainly is the phenomenon which we have to contemplate: theirs +was a state of mind seldom experienced, and little understood, in this +day; however, for that reason, it is at least interesting to the +antiquarian, even were it not a sound and Christian state also. The +highest end of Church union, to which the mass of educated men now look, +is quiet and unanimity; as if the Church were not built upon faith, and +truth really the first object of the Christian's efforts, peace but the +second. The one idea which statesmen, and lawyers, and journalists, and +men of letters have of a clergyman is, that he is by profession "a man +of peace:" and if he has occasion to denounce, or to resist, or to +protest, a cry is raised, "O how disgraceful in a minister of peace!" +The Church is thought invaluable as a promoter of good order and +sobriety; but is regarded as nothing more. Far be it from me to seem to +disparage what is really one of her high functions; but still a part of +her duty will never be tantamount to the whole of it. At present the +_beau ideal_ of a clergyman in the eyes of many is a "reverend +gentleman," who has a large family, and "administers spiritual +consolation." Now I make bold to say, that confessorship for the +Catholic faith is one part of the duty of Christian ministers, nay, and +Christian laymen too. Yet, in this day, if at any time there is any +difference in matters of doctrine between Christians, the first and last +wish--the one sovereign object--of so-called judicious men, is to hush +it up. No matter what the difference is about; _that_ is thought so +little to the purpose, that your well-judging men will not even take the +trouble to inquire what it is. It may be, for what they know, a question +of theism or atheism; but they will not admit, whatever it is, that it +can be more than secondary to the preservation of a good understanding +between Christians. They think, whatever it is, it may safely be +postponed for future consideration--that things will right +themselves--the one pressing object being to present a bold and extended +front to our external enemies, to prevent the outward fabric of the +Church from being weakened by dissensions, and insulted by those who +witness them. Surely the Church exists, in an especial way, for the sake +of the faith committed to her keeping. But our practical men forget +there may be remedies worse than the disease; that latent heresy may be +worse than a contest of "party;" and, in their treatment of the Church, +they fulfil the satirist's well-known line:-- + + "Propter vitam vivendi perdere causas." + +No wonder they do so, when they have been so long accustomed to merge +the Church in the nation, and to talk of "Protestantism" in the abstract +as synonymous with true religion; to consider that the characteristic +merit of our Church is its "tolerance," as they call it, and that its +greatest misfortune is the exposure to the world of those antagonistic +principles and views which are really at work within it. But talking of +exposure, what a scandal it was in St. Peter to exert his apostolical +powers on Ananias; and in St. John, to threaten Diotrephes! What an +exposure in St. Paul to tell the Corinthians he had "a rod" for them, +were they disobedient! One should have thought, indeed, that weapons +were committed to the Church for use as well as for show; but the +present age apparently holds otherwise, considering that the Church is +then most primitive, when it neither cares for the faith itself, nor +uses the divinely ordained means by which it is to be guarded. Now, to +people who acquiesce in this view, I know well that Ambrose or Augustine +has not more of authority than an English non-juror; still, to those who +do not acquiesce in it, it may be some little comfort, some +encouragement, some satisfaction, to see that they themselves are not +the first persons in the world who have felt and judged of religion in +that particular way which is now in disrepute. + + +2. + +However, some persons will allow, perhaps, that doctrinal truth ought to +be maintained, and that the clergy ought to maintain it; but then they +will urge that we should not make the path of truth too narrow; that it +is a royal and a broad highway by which we travel heavenward, whereas it +has been the one object of theologians, in every age, to encroach upon +it, till at length it has become scarcely broad enough for two to walk +abreast in. And moreover, it will be objected, that over-exactness was +the very fault of the fourth and fifth centuries in particular, which +refined upon the doctrines of the Holy Trinity and our Lord's +Incarnation, till the way of life became like that razor's edge, which +is said in the Koran to be drawn high over the place of punishment, and +must be traversed by every one at the end of the world. + +Now I cannot possibly deny, however disadvantageous it may be to their +reputation, that the Fathers do represent the way of faith as narrow, +nay, even as being the more excellent and the more royal for that very +narrowness. Such is orthodoxy certainly; but here it is obvious to ask +whether this very characteristic of it may not possibly be rather an +argument for, than against, its divine origin. Certain it is, that such +nicety, as it is called, is not unknown to other religious +dispensations, creeds, and covenants, besides that which the primitive +Church identified with Christianity. Nor is it a paradox to maintain +that the whole system of religion, natural as well as revealed, is full +of similar appointments. As to the subject of ethics, even a heathen +philosopher tells us, that virtue consists in a mean--that is, in a +point between indefinitely-extending extremes; "men being in one way +good, and many ways bad." The same principle, again, is seen in the +revealed system of spiritual communications; the grant of grace and +privilege depending on positive ordinances, simple and definite--on the +use of a little water, the utterance of a few words, the imposition of +hands, and the like; which, it will perhaps be granted, are really +essential to the conveyance of spiritual blessings, yet are confessedly +as formal and technical as any creed can be represented to be. In a +word, such technicality is involved in the very idea of a _means_, which +may even be defined to be a something appointed, at God's inscrutable +pleasure, as the necessary condition of something else; and the simple +question before us is, merely the _matter of fact_, viz., whether any +doctrine _is_ set forth by Revelation as necessary to be believed _in +order_ to salvation? Antecedent difficulty in the question there is +none; or rather, the probability is in favour of there being some +necessary doctrine, from the analogy of the other parts of religion. The +question is simply about the matter of fact. + +This analogy is perspicuously expressed in one of the sermons of St. +Leo:--"Not only," he says, "in the exercise of virtue and the observance +of the commandments, but also in the path of faith, strait and difficult +is the way which leads to life; and it requires great pains, and +involves great risks, to walk without stumbling along the one footway of +sound doctrine, amid the uncertain opinions and the plausible untruths +of the unskilful, and to escape all peril of mistake when the toils of +error are on every side."--_Serm._ 25. + +St. Gregory Nazianzen says the same thing:--"We have bid farewell to +contentious deviations of doctrine, and compensations on either side, +neither Sabellianizing nor Arianizing. These are the sports of the evil +one, who is a bad arbiter of our matters. But we, pacing along the +middle and royal way, _in which also the essence of the virtues lies_, +in the judgment of the learned, believe in Father, Son, and Holy +Ghost."--_Orat._ 32. + +On the whole, then, I see nothing very strange either in orthodoxy +lying in what at first sight appears like subtle and minute exactness of +doctrine, or in its being our duty to contend even to confessorship for +such exactness. Whether it be thus exact, and whether the exactness of +Ambrose, Leo, or Gregory be the true and revealed exactness, is quite +another question: all I say is, that it is no great difficulty to +believe that it may be what they say it is, both as to its truth and as +to its importance. + + +3. + +But now supposing the question is asked, are Ambrose, Leo, and Gregory +right? and is our Church right in maintaining with them the Athanasian +doctrine on those sacred points to which it relates, and condemning +those who hold otherwise? what answer is to be given? I answer by asking +in turn, supposing any one inquired how we know that Ambrose, Leo, or +Gregory was right and our Church right, in receiving St. Paul's +Epistles, what answer we should make? The answer would be, that it is a +matter of history that the Apostle wrote those letters which are +ascribed to him. And what is meant by its being a matter of history? +why, that it has ever been so believed, so declared, so recorded, so +acted on, from the first down to this day; that there is no assignable +point of time when it was not believed, no assignable point at which the +belief was introduced; that the records of past ages fade away and +vanish _in_ the belief; that in proportion as past ages speak at all, +they speak in one way, and only fail to bear a witness, when they fail +to have a voice. What stronger testimony can we have of a past fact? + +Now evidence such as this have we for the Catholic doctrines which +Ambrose, Leo, or Gregory maintained; they have never and nowhere _not_ +been maintained; or in other words, wherever we know anything positive +of ancient times and places, there we are told of these doctrines also. +As far as the records of history extend, they include these doctrines as +avowed always, everywhere, and by all. This is the great canon of the +_Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus_, which saves us from the +misery of having to find out the truth for ourselves from Scripture on +our independent and private judgment. He who gave Scripture, also gave +us the interpretation of Scripture; and He gave the one and the other +gift in the same way, by the testimony of past ages, as matter of +historical knowledge, or as it is sometimes called, by Tradition. We +receive the Catholic doctrines as we receive the canon of Scripture, +because, as our Article expresses it, "_of their authority" there "was +never any doubt in the Church_." + +We receive them on Catholic Tradition, and therefore they are called +Catholic doctrines. And that they are Catholic, is a proof that they are +Apostolic; they never could have been universally received in the +Church, unless they had had their origin in the origin of the Church, +unless they had been made the foundation of the Church by its founders. +As the separate successions of bishops in various countries have but one +common origin, the Apostles, so what has been handed down through these +separate successions comes from that one origin. The Apostolic College +is the only point in which all the lines converge, and from which they +spring. Private traditions, wandering unconnected traditions, are of no +authority, but permanent, recognised, public, definite, intelligible, +multiplied, concordant testimonies to one and the same doctrine, bring +with them an overwhelming evidence of apostolical origin. We ground the +claims of orthodoxy on no powers of reasoning, however great, on the +credit of no names, however imposing, but on an external fact, on an +argument the same as that by which we prove the genuineness and +authority of the four gospels. The unanimous tradition of all the +churches to certain articles of faith is surely an irresistible +evidence, more trustworthy far than that of witnesses to certain facts +in a court of law, by how much the testimony of a number is more cogent +than the testimony of two or three. That this really is the ground on +which the narrow line of orthodoxy was maintained in ancient times, is +plain from an inspection of the writings of the very men who maintained +it, Ambrose, Leo, and Gregory, or Athanasius and Hilary, and the rest, +who set forth its Catholic character in more ways than it is possible +here to instance or even explain. + + +4. + +However, in order to give the general reader some idea of the state of +the case, I will make some copious extracts from the famous tract of +Vincent of Lerins on Heresy, written in A.D. 434, immediately after the +third Ecumenical Council, held against Nestorius. The author was +originally a layman, and by profession a soldier. In after life he +became a monk and took orders. Lerins, the site of his monastery, is one +of the small islands off the south coast of France. He first states what +the principle is he would maintain, and the circumstances under which he +maintains it; and if his principle is reasonable and valuable in itself, +so does it come to us with great weight under the circumstances which he +tells us led him to his exposition of it:[367] + + "Inquiring often," he says, "with great desire and attention, of + very many excellent, holy, and learned men, how and by what means I + might assuredly, and as it were by some general and ordinary way, + discern the true Catholic faith from false and wicked heresy; to + this question I had usually this answer from them all, that whether + I or any other desired to find out the fraud of heretics, daily + springing up, and to escape their snares, and to continue in a + sound faith himself safe and sound, that he ought, by two ways, by + God's assistance, to defend and preserve his faith; that is, first, + by the authority of the law of God; secondly, by the tradition of + the Catholic Church."--_Ch._ 2. + +It will be observed he is speaking of the _mode_ in which an +_individual_ is to seek and attain the truth; and it will be observed +also, as the revered Bishop Jebb has pointed out, that he is +allowing[368] and sanctioning the use of personal inquiry. He +proceeds:-- + + "Here some man, perhaps, may ask, seeing the canon of the Scripture + is perfect, and most abundantly of itself sufficient for all + things, what need we join unto it the authority of the Church's + understanding and interpretation? The reason is this, because the + Scripture being of itself so deep and profound, all men do not + understand it in one and the same sense, but divers men diversely, + this man and that man, this way and that way, expound and interpret + the sayings thereof, so that to one's thinking, 'so many men, so + many opinions' almost may be gathered out of them: for Novatian + expoundeth it one way, Photinus another; Sabellius after this sort, + Donatus after that; Arius, Eunomius, Macedonius will have this + exposition, Apollinaris and Priscilian will have that; Jovinian, + Pelagius, Celestius, gather this sense, and, to conclude, Nestorius + findeth out that; and therefore very necessary it is for the + avoiding of so great windings and turnings, of errors so various, + that the line of expounding the Prophets and Apostles be directed + and drawn, according to the rule of the Ecclesiastical and Catholic + sense. + + "Again, within the Catholic Church itself we are greatly to consider + that we hold that which hath been believed _everywhere_, _always_, + and _of all men_: for that is truly and properly _Catholic_ (as the + very force and nature of the word doth declare) which comprehendeth + all things in general after an universal manner, and that shall we + do if we follow _universality, antiquity, consent_. Universality + shall we follow thus, if we profess that one faith to be true which + the whole Church throughout the world acknowledgeth and confesseth. + Antiquity shall we follow, if we depart not any whit from those + senses which it is plain that our holy elders and fathers generally + held. Consent shall we likewise follow, if in this very Antiquity + itself we hold the definitions and opinions of all, or at any rate + almost all, the priests and doctors together."--_Ch._ 2, 3. + + +It is sometimes said, that what is called orthodoxy or Catholicism is +only the opinion of one or two Fathers--- fallible men, however able +they might be, or persuasive--who created a theology, and imposed it on +their generation, and thereby superseded Scriptural truth and the real +gospel. Let us see how Vincent treats such individual teachers, however +highly gifted. He is speaking in the opening sentence of the Judaizers +of the time of St. Paul:-- + + "When, therefore, such kind of men, wandering up and down through + provinces and cities to set their errors to sale, came also unto + the Galatians, and these, after they had heard them, were delighted + with the filthy drugs of heretical novelty, loathing the truth, and + casting up again the heavenly manna of the Apostolic and Catholic + doctrine: the authority of his Apostolic office so puts itself + forth as to decree very severely in this sort. 'But although (quoth + he) we or an Angel from heaven evangelize unto you beside that + which we have evangelized, be he Anathema.'[369] What meaneth this + that he saith, 'But although we?' why did he not rather say, 'But + although I?' that is to say, Although Peter, although Andrew, + although John, yea, finally, although the whole company of the + Apostles, evangelize unto you otherwise than we have evangelized, + be he accursed. A terrible censure, in that for maintaining the + possession of the first faith, he spared not himself, nor any other + of the Apostles! But this is a small matter: 'Although an Angel + from heaven (quoth he) evangelize unto you, beside that which I + have evangelized, be he Anathema,' he was not contented for keeping + the faith once delivered to make mention of man's weak nature, + unless also he included those excellent creatures the Angels.... + But peradventure he uttered those words slightly, and cast them + forth rather of human affection than decreed them by divine + direction. God forbid: for it followeth, and that urged with great + earnestness of repeated inculcation, 'As I have foretold you (quoth + he), and now again I tell you, If anybody evangelize unto you + beside that which you have received, be he Anathema.' He said not, + If any man preach unto you beside that which you have received, let + him be blessed, let him be commended, let him be received, but let + him be _Anathema_, that is, separated, thrust out, excluded, lest + the cruel infection of one sheep with his poisoned company corrupt + the sound flock of Christ."--_Ch._ 12 and 13. + + +5. + +Here, then, is a point of doctrine which must be carefully insisted on. +The Fathers are primarily to be considered as _witnesses_, not as +_authorities_. They are witnesses of an existing state of things, and +their treatises are, as it were, _histories_,--teaching us, in the first +instance, matters of fact, not of opinion. Whatever they themselves +might be, whether deeply or poorly taught in Christian faith and love, +they speak, not their own thoughts, but the received views of their +respective ages. The especial value of their works lies in their opening +upon us a state of the Church which else we should have no notion of. We +read in their writings a great number of high and glorious principles +and acts, and our first thought thereupon is, "All this must have had an +existence somewhere or other in those times. These very men, indeed, may +be merely speaking by rote, and not understand what they say; but it +matters not to the profit of their writings what they were themselves." +It matters not to the profit of their writings, nor again to the +authority resulting from them; for the _times_ in which they wrote of +course _are_ of authority, though the Fathers themselves may have none. +Tertullian or Eusebius may be nothing more than bare witnesses; yet so +much as this they have a claim to be considered. + +This is even the strict Protestant view. We are not obliged to take the +Fathers as _authorities_, only as _witnesses_. Charity, I suppose, and +piety will prompt the Christian student to go further, and to believe +that men who laboured so unremittingly, and suffered so severely in the +cause of the Gospel, really did possess some little portion of that +earnest love of the truth which they professed, and were enlightened by +that influence for which they prayed; but I am stating the strict +Protestant doctrine, the great polemical principle ever to be borne in +mind, that the Fathers are to be adduced in controversy merely as +testimonies to an existing state of things, not as authorities. At the +same time, no candid Protestant will be loth to admit, that the state of +things to which they bear witness, _is_, as I have already said, a most +grave and conclusive authority in guiding us in those particulars of our +duty about which Scripture is silent; succeeding, as it does, so very +close upon the age of the Apostles. + +Thus much I claim of consistent Protestants, and thus much I grant to +them. Gregory and the rest may have been but nominal Christians. +Athanasius himself may have been very dark in all points of doctrine, in +spite of his twenty years' exile and his innumerable perils by sea and +land; the noble Ambrose, a high and dry churchman; and Basil, a mere +monk. I do not dispute these points; though I claim "the right of +private judgment," so far as to have my own very definite opinion in the +matter, which I keep to myself. + + +6. + +Such being the plain teaching of the Fathers, and such the duty of +following it, Vincentius proceeds to speak of the misery of doubting and +change:-- + + "Which being so, he is a true and genuine Catholic that loveth the + truth of God, the Church, the body of Christ; that preferreth + nothing before the religion of God; nothing before the Catholic + faith; not any man's authority, not love, not wit, not eloquence, + not philosophy; but contemning all these things, and in faith + abiding fixed and stable, whatsoever he knoweth the Catholic Church + universally in old times to have holden, that only he purposeth + with himself to hold and believe; but whatsoever doctrine, new and + not before heard of, such an one shall perceive to be afterwards + brought in of some one man, beside all or contrary to all the + saints, let him know that doctrine doth not pertain to religion, + but rather to temptation, especially being instructed with the + sayings of the blessed Apostle St. Paul. For this is that which he + writeth in his first Epistle to the Corinthians: 'There must (quoth + he) be heresies also, that they which are approved may be made + manifest among you.' ... + + "O the miserable state of [waverers]! with what seas of cares, with + what storms, are they tossed! for now at one time, as the wind + driveth them, they are carried away headlong in error; at another + time, coming again to themselves, they are beaten back like + contrary waves; sometime with rash presumption they allow such + things as seem uncertain, at another time of pusillanimity they are + in fear even about those things which are certain; doubtful which + way to take, which way to return, what to desire, what to avoid, + what to hold, what to let go; which misery and affliction of a + wavering and unsettled heart, were they wise, is as a medicine of + God's mercy towards them. + + "Which being so, oftentimes calling to mind and remembering the + selfsame thing, I cannot sufficiently marvel at the great madness + of some men, at so great impiety of their blinded hearts, lastly, + at so great a licentious desire of error, that they be not content + with the rule of faith once delivered us, and received from our + ancestors, but do every day search and seek for new doctrine, ever + desirous to add to, to change, and to take away something from, + religion; as though that were not the doctrine of God, which it is + enough to have once revealed, but rather man's institution, which + cannot but by continual amendment (or rather correction) be + perfected."--_Ch._ 25, 26. + + +7. + +Then he takes a text, and handles it as a modern preacher might do. His +text is this:-- + + "O Timothy, keep the _depositum_, avoiding the profane novelties of + words, and oppositions of falsely-called knowledge, which certain + professing have erred about the faith." + +He dwells successively upon _Timothy_, on the _deposit_, on _avoiding_, +on _profane_, and on _novelties_. + +First, _Timothy_ and the "_deposit_:"-- + + "Who at this day is Timothy, but either generally the whole Church, + or especially the whole body of prelates, who ought either + themselves to have a sound knowledge of divine religion, or who + ought to infuse it into others? What is meant by _keep the + deposit_? Keep it (quoth he) for fear of thieves, for danger of + enemies, lest when men be asleep, they oversow cockle among that + good seed of wheat, which the Son of man hath sowed in His field. + 'Keep (quoth he) the deposit.' What is meant by this deposit? that + is, that which is committed to thee, not that which is invented of + thee; that which thou hast received, not that which thou hast + devised; a thing not of wit, but of learning; not of private + assumption, but of public tradition; a thing brought to thee, not + brought forth of thee; wherein thou must not be an author, but a + keeper; not a beginner, but a follower; not a leader, but an + observer. Keep the deposit. Preserve the talent of the Catholic + faith safe and undiminished; that which is committed to thee, let + that remain with thee, and that deliver. Thou hast received gold, + render then gold; I will not have one thing for another; do not for + gold render either impudently lead, or craftily brass; I will, not + the show, but the very nature of gold itself. O Timothy, O priest, + O teacher, O doctor, if God's gift hath made thee meet and + sufficient by thy wit, exercise, and learning, be the Beseleel of + the spiritual tabernacle, engrave the precious stones of God's + doctrine, faithfully set them, wisely adorn them, give them + brightness, give them grace, give them beauty. That which men + before believed obscurely, let them by thy exposition understand + more clearly. Let posterity rejoice for coming to the understanding + of that by thy means, which antiquity without that understanding + had in veneration. Yet for all this, in such sort deliver the same + things which thou hast learned, that albeit thou teachest after a + new manner yet thou never teach new things." + +Next, "_avoiding_:"-- + + "'O Timothy (quoth he), keep the deposit, avoid profane novelties + of words.' Avoid (quoth he) as a viper, as a scorpion, as a + basilisk, lest they infect thee not only by touching, but also with + their very eyes and breath. What is meant by _avoid_?[370] that is, + not so much as to eat with any such. What importeth this _avoid_? + 'If any man (quoth he) come unto you, and bring not this + doctrine,'[371] what doctrine but the Catholic and universal, and + that which, with incorrupt tradition of the truth, hath continued + one and the selfsame, through all successions of times, and that + which shall continue for ever and ever? What then? 'Receive him not + (quoth he) into the house, nor say God speed; for he that saith + unto him God speed, communicateth with his wicked works." + +Then, "_profane_:"-- + + "'Profane novelties of words' (quoth he); what is _profane_? Those + which have no holiness in them, nought of religion, wholly external + to the sanctuary of the Church, which is the temple of God. + 'Profane novelties of words (quoth he), of words, that is, + novelties of doctrines, novelties of things, novelties of opinions, + contrary to old usage, contrary to antiquity, which if we receive, + of necessity the faith of our blessed ancestors, either all, or a + great part of it, must be overthrown; the faithful people of all + ages and times, all holy saints, all the chaste, all the continent, + all the virgins, all the clergy, the deacons, the priests, so many + thousands of confessors, so great armies of martyrs, so many famous + and populous cities and commonwealths, so many islands, provinces, + kings, tribes, kingdoms, nations; to conclude, almost now the whole + world, incorporated by the Catholic faith to Christ their Head, + must needs be said, so many hundreds of years, to have been + ignorant, to have erred, to have blasphemed, to have believed they + knew not what." + +Lastly, "_novelties_:"-- + + "'Avoid (quoth he) profane _novelties_ of words,' to receive and + follow which was never the custom of Catholics, but always of + heretics. And, to say truth, what heresy hath ever burst forth, but + under the name of some certain man, in some certain place, and at + some certain time? Who ever set up any heresy, but first divided + himself from the consent of the universality and antiquity of the + Catholic Church? Which to be true, examples do plainly prove. For + who ever before that profane Pelagius presumed so much of man's + free will, that he thought not the grace of God necessary to aid it + in every particular good act? Who ever before his monstrous + disciple Celestius denied all mankind to be bound with the guilt of + Adam's transgression? Who ever before sacrilegious Arius durst rend + in pieces the Unity of Trinity? Who ever before wicked Sabellius + durst confound the Trinity of Unity? Who ever before cruel Novatian + affirmed God to be merciless, in that He had rather the death of a + sinner than that he should return and live? Who ever before Simon + Magus, durst affirm that God our Creator was the Author of evil, + that is, of our wickedness, impieties, and crimes; because God (as + he said) so with His own hands made man's very nature, that by a + certain proper motion and impulse of an enforced will, it can do + nothing else, desire nothing else, but to sin. Such examples are + infinite, which for brevity-sake I omit, by all which, + notwithstanding, it appeareth plainly and clearly enough, that it + is, as it were, a custom and law in all heresies, ever to take + great pleasure in profane novelties, to loath the decrees of our + forefathers, and to make shipwreck of faith, by oppositions of + falsely-called knowledge; contrariwise that this is usually proper + to all Catholics, to keep those things which the holy Fathers have + left, and committed to their charge, to condemn profane novelties, + and, as the Apostle hath said, and again forewarned, 'if any man + shall preach otherwise than that which is received,' to + anathematize him."--_Ch._ 27-34. + +From these extracts, which are but specimens of the whole Tract, I come +to the conclusion that Vincent was a very sorry Protestant. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[367] The Oxford translation of 1837 is used in the following extracts. + +[368] [He allows of it in the _Absence_ at the time of the Church's +authoritative declaration concerning the particular question in debate. +He would say, "There was no need of any Ecumenical Council to condemn +Nestorius; he was condemned by Scripture and tradition already."--1872.] + +[369] Gal. i. 8. + +[370] 1 Cor. v. 11. + +[371] 2 John 10, 11. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +WHAT SAYS THE HISTORY OF APOLLINARIS? + + +In the judgment of the early Church, the path of doctrinal truth is +narrow; but, in the judgment of the world in all ages, it is so broad as +to be no path at all. This I have said above; also, that the maintenance +of the faith is considered by the world to be a strife of words, +perverse disputings, curious questionings, and unprofitable +technicality, though by the Fathers it is considered necessary to +salvation. What they call heresy, the man of the world thinks just as +true as what they call orthodoxy, and only then wrong when +pertinaciously insisted on by its advocates, as the early Fathers +insisted on orthodoxy. Now do, or do not, Protestants here take part +with the world in disliking, in abjuring doctrinal propositions and +articles, such as the early Church fought for? Certainly they do. Well, +then, if they thus differ from the Church of the Fathers, how can they +fancy that the early Church was Protestant? + +In the Treatise I have been quoting, Vincent gives us various instances +of heresiarchs, and tells us what he thinks about them. Among others, he +speaks of Apollinaris and his fall; nor can we have a better instance +than that of Apollinaris of the grave distress and deep commiseration +with which the early Fathers regarded those whom the present Protestant +world thinks very good kind of men, only fanciful and speculative, with +some twist or hobby of their own. Apollinaris, better than any one else, +will make us understand what was thought of the guilt of heresy in times +which came next to the Apostolic, because the man was so great, and his +characteristic heresy was so small. The charges against Origen have a +manifest breadth and width to support them; Nestorius, on the other +hand, had no high personal merits to speak for him; but Apollinaris, +after a life of laborious service in the cause of religion, did but +suffer himself to teach that the Divine Intelligence in our Lord +superseded the necessity of His having any other, any human intellect; +and for this apparently small error, he was condemned. Of course it was +not small really; for one error leads to another, and did eventually in +his case; but to all appearance it was small, yet it was promptly and +sternly denounced and branded by East and West; would it be so +ruthlessly smitten by Protestants now? + +A brief sketch of his history, and of the conduct of the Church towards +him, may not be out of place in the experiments I am making with a view +of determining the relation in which modern Protestantism stands towards +primitive Christianity. + + +1. + +His father, who bore the same name, was a native of Alexandria, by +profession a grammarian or schoolmaster; who, passing from Berytus to +the Syrian Laodicea, married and settled there, and eventually rose to +the presbyterate in the Church of that city. Apollinaris, the son, had +been born there in the early part of the fourth century, and was +educated for the profession of rhetoric. After a season of suspense, as +to the ultimate destination of his talents, he resolved on dedicating +them to the service of the Church; and, after being admitted into +reader's orders, he began to distinguish himself by his opposition to +philosophical infidelity. His work against Porphyry, the most valuable +and elaborate of his writings, was extended to as many as thirty books. +During the reign of Julian, when the Christian schools were shut up, and +the Christian youth were debarred from the use of the classics, the two +Apollinares, father and son, exerted themselves to supply the +inconvenience thence resulting from their own resources. They wrote +heroical pieces, odes, tragedies, and dialogues, after the style of +Homer and Plato, and other standard authors, upon Christian subjects; +and the younger, who is the subject of this Chapter, wrote and dedicated +to Julian a refutation of Paganism, on grounds of reason. + +Nor did he confine himself to the mere external defence of the Gospel, +or the preparatory training of its disciples. His expositions on +Scripture were the most numerous of his works; he especially excelled in +eliciting and illustrating its sacred meaning, and he had sufficient +acquaintance with the Hebrew to enable him to translate or comment on +the original text. There was scarcely a controversy of the age, prolific +as it was in heresies, into which he did not enter. He wrote against the +Arians, Eunomians, Macedonians, and Manichees; against Origen and +Marcellus; and in defence of the Millenarians. Portions of these +doctrinal writings are still extant, and display a vigour and elegance +of style not inferior to any writer of his day. + +Such a man seemed to be raised up providentially for the Church's +defence in an evil day; and for awhile he might be said resolutely and +nobly to fulfil his divinely appointed destiny. The Church of Laodicea, +with the other cities of Syria, was at the time in Arian possession; +when the great Athanasius passed through on his return to Egypt, after +his second exile (A.D. 348), Apollinaris communicated with him, and was +in consequence put out of the Church by the bishop in possession. On the +death of Constantius (A.D. 361), the Catholic cause prevailed; and +Apollinaris was consecrated to that see, or to that in Asia Minor which +bears the same name. + + +2. + +Such was the station, such the reputation of Apollinaris, at the date of +the Council thereupon held at Alexandria, A.D. 362, for settling the +disorders of the Church; and yet, in the proceedings of this celebrated +assembly, the first intimation occurs of the existence of that doctrinal +error by which he has been since known in history, though it is not +there connected with his name. The troubles under Julian succeeded, and +diverted the minds of all parties to other objects. The infant heresy +slept till about the year 369; when it gives us evidence of its +existence in the appearance of a number of persons, scattered about +Syria and Greece, who professed it in one form or other, and by the +solemn meeting of a Council in the former country, in which its +distinctive tenets were condemned. We find that even at this date it had +run into those logical consequences which make even a little error a +great one; still the name of Apollinaris is not connected with them. + +The Council, as I have said, was held in Syria, but the heresy which +occasioned it had already, it seems, extended into Greece; for a +communication, which the there assembled bishops addressed to Athanasius +on the subject, elicited from him a letter, still extant, addressed to +Epictetus, bishop of Corinth, who had also written to him upon it. This +letter, whether from tenderness to Apollinaris, or from difficulty in +bringing the heresy home to him, still does not mention his name. +Another work written by Athanasius against the heresy, at the very end +of his life, with the keenness and richness of thought which distinguish +his writings generally, is equally silent; as are two letters to friends +about the same date, which touch more or less on the theological points +in question. All these treatises seem to be forced from the writer, and +are characterized by considerable energy of expression: as if the +Catholics addressed were really perplexed with the novel statements of +doctrine, and doubtful how Athanasius would meet them, or at least +required his authority before pronouncing upon them; and, on the other +hand, as if Athanasius himself were fearful of conniving at them, +whatever private reasons he might have for wishing to pass them over. +Yet there is nothing in the history or documents of the times to lead +one to suppose that more than a general suspicion attached to +Apollinaris; and, if we may believe his own statement, Athanasius died +in persuasion of his orthodoxy. A letter is extant, written by +Apollinaris on this subject, in which he speaks of the kind intercourse +he had with the Patriarch of Alexandria, and of their agreement in +faith, as acknowledged by Athanasius himself. He claims him as his +master, and at the same time slightly hints that there had been points +to settle between them, in which he himself had given way. In another, +written to an Egyptian bishop, he seems to refer to the very epistle to +Epictetus noticed above, expressing his approbation of it. It is known, +moreover, that Athanasius gave the usual letters of introduction to +Timotheus, Apollinaris's intimate friend, and afterwards the most +extravagant teacher of his sect, on his going to the Western Bishops, +and that, on the ground of his controversial talents against the Arians. + +Athanasius died in A.D. 371 or 373; and that bereavement of the Church +was followed, among its calamities, by the open avowal of heresy on the +part of Apollinaris. In a letter already referred to, he claims +Athanasius as agreeing with him, and then proceeds to profess one of the +very tenets against which Athanasius had written. In saying this, I have +no intention of accusing so considerable a man of that disingenuousness +which is almost the characteristic mark of heresy. It was natural that +Athanasius should have exercised an influence over his mind; and it was +as natural that, when his fellow-champion was taken to his rest, he +should have found himself able to breathe more freely, yet have been +unwilling to own it. While indulging in the speculations of a private +judgment, he might still endeavour to persuade himself that he was not +outstepping the teaching of the Catholic Church. On the other hand, it +appears that the ecclesiastical authorities of the day, even when he +professed his heresy, were for awhile incredulous about the fact, from +their recollection of his former services and his tried orthodoxy, and +from the hope that he was but carried on into verbal extravagances by +his opposition to Arianism. Thus they were as unwilling to impute to him +heresy, as he to confess it. Nay, even when he had lost shame, attacked +the Catholics with violence, and formed his disciples into a sect, not +even then was he himself publicly animadverted on, though his creed was +anathematized. His first condemnation was at Rome, several years after +Athanasius's death, in company with Timotheus, his disciple. In the +records of the General Council of Constantinople, several years later, +his sect is mentioned as existing, with directions how to receive back +into the Church those who applied for reconciliation. He outlived this +Council about ten years; his sect lasted only twenty years beyond him; +but in that short time it had split into three distinct denominations, +of various degrees of heterodoxy, and is said to have fallen more or +less into the errors of Judaism. + + +3. + +If this is a faithful account of the conduct of the Church towards +Apollinaris, no one can accuse its rulers of treating him with haste or +harshness; still they accompanied their tenderness towards him +personally with a conscientious observance of their duties to the +Catholic Faith, to which our Protestants are simply dead. Who now in +England, except very high churchmen, would dream of putting a man out of +the Church for what would be called a mere speculative or metaphysical +opinion? Why could not Apollinaris be a "spiritual man," have "a +justifying faith," "apprehend" our Lord's merits, have "a personal +interest in redemption," be in possession of "experimental religion," +and be able to recount his "experiences," though he had some vagaries of +his own about the nature of our Lord's soul? But such ideas did not +approve themselves to Christians of the fourth century, who followed up +the anathemas of Holy Church with their own hearty adhesion to them. +Epiphanius speaks thus mournfully:-- + + "That aged and venerable man, who was ever so singularly dear to + us, and to the holy Father, Athanasius, of blessed memory, and to + all orthodox men, Apollinaris, of Laodicea, he it was who + originated and propagated this doctrine. And at first, when we were + assured of it by some of his disciples, we disbelieved that such a + man could admit such an error into his path, and patiently waited + in hope, till we might ascertain the state of the case. For we + argued that his youths, who came to us, not entering into the + profound views of so learned and clear-minded a master, had + invented these statements of themselves, not gained them from him. + For there were many points in which those who came to us were at + variance with each other: some of them ventured to say that Christ + had brought down His body from above (and this strange theory, + admitted into the mind, developed itself into worse notions); + others of them denied that Christ had taken a soul; and some + ventured to say that Christ's body was consubstantial with the + Godhead, and thereby caused great confusion in the East"--_Haer._ + lxxvii. 2. + +He proceeds afterwards:-- + + "Full of distress became our life at that time, that between + brethren so exemplary as the forementioned, a quarrel should at all + have arisen, that the enemy of man might work divisions among us. + And great, my brethren, is the mischief done to the mind from such + a cause. For were no question ever raised on the subject, the + matter would be most simple (for what gain has accrued to the world + from such novel doctrine, or what benefit to the Church? rather has + it not been an injury, as causing hatred and dissension?): but when + the question was raised, it became formidable; it did not tend to + good; for whether a man disallows this particular point, or even + the slightest, still it is a denial. For we must not, even in a + trivial matter, turn aside from the path of truth. No one of the + ancients ever maintained it--prophet, or apostle, or evangelist, or + commentator--down to these our times, when this so perplexing + doctrine proceeded from that most learned man aforesaid. His was a + mind of no common cultivation; first in the preliminaries of + literature in Greek education, then as a master of dialectics and + argumentation. Moreover, he was most grave in his whole life, and + reckoned among the very first of those who ever deserved the love + of the orthodox, and so continued till his maintenance of this + doctrine. Nay, he had undergone banishment for not submitting to + the Arians;--but why enlarge on it? It afflicted us much, and gave + us a sorrowful time, as is the wont of our enemy."--_Ibid._ 24. + +St. Basil once got into trouble from a supposed intimacy with +Apollinaris. He had written one letter to him on an indifferent matter, +in 356, when he himself was as yet a layman, and Apollinaris orthodox +and scarcely in orders. This was magnified by his opponent Eustathius +into a correspondence and intercommunion between the archbishop and +heresiarch. As in reality Basil knew very little even of his works, the +description which the following passages give is valuable, as being, in +fact, a sort of popular opinion about Apollinaris, more than an +individual judgment. Basil wrote the former of the two in defence of +himself; in the latter, other errors of Apollinaris are mentioned, +besides those to which I have had occasion to allude, for, as I have +said, errors seldom are found single. + + "For myself," says Basil, "I never indeed considered Apollinaris as + an enemy; nay, there are respects in which I reverence him; + however, I did not so connect myself with him as to make myself + answerable for his alleged faults, considering, too, that I have a + complaint of my own against him, on reading some of his + compositions. I hear, indeed, that he is become the most copious of + all writers; yet I have fallen in with but few of his works, for I + have not leisure to search into such, and besides, I do not easily + form the acquaintance of recent writers, being hindered by bodily + health from continuing even the study of inspired Scripture + laboriously, and as is fitting."--_Ep._ 244, Sec. 3. + +The other passage runs thus:-- + + "After Eustathius comes Apollinaris; he, too, no slight disturber + of the Church; for, having a facility in writing and a tongue which + served him on every subject, he has filled the world with his + compositions, despising the warning, 'Beware of making many books,' + because in the many are many faults. For how is it possible, in + much speaking, to escape sin?"--_Ep._ 263, Sec. 4. + +And then he goes on to mention some of the various gross errors, to +which by that time he seemed to be committed. + +Lastly, let us hear Vincent of Lerins about him:-- + + "Great was the heat and great the perplexity which Apollinaris + created in the minds of his auditory, when the authority of the + Church drew them one way, and the influence of their teacher drew + them the other, so that, wavering and hesitating between the two, + they could not decide which was to be chosen. You will say, he + ought at once to have been put aside; yes, but he was so great a + man, that his word carried with it an extraordinary credence. Who + indeed was his superior in acumen, in long practice, in view of + doctrine? As to the number of his volumes against heresies, I will + but mention as a specimen of them that great and noble work of his + against Porphyry, in not less than thirty books, with its vast + collection of arguments. He would have been among the + master-builders of the Church, had not the profane lust of + heretical curiosity incited him to strike out something new, to + pollute withal his labours throughout with the taint of leprosy, so + that his teaching was rather a temptation to the Church than an + edification."--_Ch._ 16. + +It is a solemn and pregnant fact, that two of the most zealous and +forward of Athanasius's companions in the good fight against Arianism, +Marcellus and Apollinaris, fell away into heresies of their own; nor did +the Church spare them, for all their past services. "Let him that +thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall"[missing a "."?] + + "Alas, my brother! round thy tomb, + In sorrow kneeling, and in fear, + We read the pastor's doom, + Who speaks and will not hear. + + "The gray-haired saint may fail at last, + The surest guide a wanderer prove; + Death only binds us fast + To the bright shore of love." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AND WHAT SAY JOVINIAN AND HIS COMPANIONS? + + +1. + +Vincentius wrote in the early part of the fifth century, that is, three +good centuries and more after the death of St. John; accordingly, we +sometimes hear it said that, true though it be, that the Catholic +system, as we Anglicans maintain it, existed at that time, nevertheless +it was a system quite foreign to the pure Gospel, though introduced at a +very early age; a system of Pagan or Jewish origin, which crept in +unawares, and was established on the ruins of the Apostolic faith by the +episcopal confederation, which mainly depended on it for its own +maintenance. In other words, it is considered by some persons to be a +system of priestcraft, destructive of Christian liberty. + +Now, it is no paradox to say that _this_ would be a sufficient answer to +such a speculation, were there no other, viz., that no answer _can_ be +made to it. I say, supposing it could not be answered at all, that fact +would be a fair answer. All discussion must have data to go upon; +without data, neither one party can dispute nor the other. If I +maintained there were negroes in the moon, I should like to know how +these same philosophers would answer me. Of course they would not +attempt it: they would confess they had no grounds for denying it, only +they would add, that I had no grounds for asserting it. They would not +prove that I was wrong, but call upon me to prove that I was right. +They would consider such a mode of talking idle and childish, and +unworthy the consideration of a serious man; else, there would be no end +of speculation, no hope of certainty and unanimity in anything. Is a man +to be allowed to say what he will, and bring no reasons for it? Even if +his hypothesis fitted into the facts of the case, still it would be but +an hypothesis, and might be met, perhaps, in the course of time, by +another hypothesis, presenting as satisfactory a solution of them. But +if it would not be necessarily true, though it were adequate, much less +is it entitled to consideration before it is proved to be +adequate--before it is actually reconciled with the facts of the case; +and when another hypothesis has, from the beginning, been in the +possession of the field. From the first it has been believed that the +Catholic system is Apostolic; convincing reasons must be brought against +this belief, and in favour of another, before that other is to be +preferred to it. + +Now the new and gratuitous hypothesis in question does not appear, when +examined, even to harmonize with the facts of the case. One mode of +dealing with it is this:--Take a large view of the faith of Christians +during the centuries before Constantine established their religion. Is +there any family likeness in it to Protestantism? Look at it, as +existing during that period in different countries, and is it not one +and the same, and a reiteration of itself, as well as singularly unlike +Reformed Christianity? Hermas with his visions, Ignatius with his +dogmatism, Irenaeus with his praise of tradition and of the Roman See, +Clement with his allegory and mysticism, Cyprian with his "Out of the +Church is no salvation," and Methodius with his praise of Virginity, all +of them writers between the first and fourth centuries, and witnesses +of the faith of Rome, Africa, Gaul, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, +certainly do not represent the opinions of Luther and Calvin. They +stretch over the whole of Christendom; they are consistent with each +other; they coalesce into one religion; but it is not the religion of +the Reformation. When we ask, "Where was your Church before Luther?" +Protestants answer, "Where were you this morning before you washed your +face?" But, if Protestants can clean themselves into the likeness of +Cyprian or Irenaeus, they must scrub very hard, and have well-nigh +learned the art of washing the blackamoor white. + + +2. + +If the Church system be not Apostolic, it must, some time or other, have +been introduced, and then comes the question, when? We maintain that the +known circumstances of the previous history are such as to preclude the +possibility of any time being assigned, ever so close upon the Apostles, +at which the Church system did not exist. Not only cannot a time be +shown when the free-and-easy system now in fashion did generally exist, +but no time can be shown in which it can be colourably maintained that +the Church system was brought in. It will be said, of course, that the +Church system was gradually introduced. I do not say there have never +been introductions of any kind; but let us see what they amount to here. +Select for yourself your doctrine, or your ordinance, which you say was +introduced, and try to give the history of its introduction. +Hypothetical that history will be, of course; but we will not scruple at +that;--we will only ask one thing, that it should cut clean between the +real facts of the case, though it bring none in its favour; but it will +not be able to do even this. The rise of the doctrine of the Holy +Trinity, of the usage of baptizing infants, of the eucharistic offering, +of the episcopal prerogatives, do what one will, can hardly be made +short of Apostolical times. This is not the place to prove all this; but +so fully is it felt to be so, by those who are determined not to admit +these portions of Catholicism, that in their despair of drawing the line +between the first and following centuries, they make up their minds to +intrude into the first, and boldly pursue their supposed error into the +very presence of some Apostle or Evangelist. Thus St. John is sometimes +made the voluntary or involuntary originator of some portions of our +creed. Dr. Priestley, I believe, conjectures that his amanuensis played +him false, as regards his teaching upon the sacred doctrine which that +philosopher opposed. Others take exceptions to St. Luke, because he +tells us of the "handkerchiefs, or aprons," which "were brought from St. +Paul's body" for the cure of diseases. Others have gone a step further, +and have said, "Not Paul, but Jesus." Infidel, Socinian, and Protestant, +agree in assailing the Apostles, rather than submitting to the Church. + + +3. + +Let our Protestant friends go to what quarter of Christendom they will, +let them hunt among heretics or schismatics, into Gnosticism outside the +Church, or Arianism within it, still they will find no hint or vestige +anywhere of that system which they are now pleased to call Scriptural. +Granting that Catholicism be a corruption, is it possible that it should +be a corruption springing up everywhere at once? Is it conceivable that +at least no opponent should have retained any remnant of the system it +supplanted?--that no tradition of primitive purity should remain in any +part of Christendom?--that no protest, or controversy, should have been +raised, as a monument against the victorious error? This argument, +conclusive against modern Socinianism, is still more cogent and striking +when directed against Puritanism. At least, there _were_ divines in +those early days who denied the sacred doctrine which Socinianism also +disowns, though commonly they did not profess to do so on authority of +tradition; but who ever heard of Erastians, Supralapsarians, +Independents, Sacramentarians, and the like, before the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries? It would be too bold to go to prove a negative: I +can only say that I do not know in what quarter to search for the +representatives, in the early Church, of that "Bible religion," as it is +called, which is now so much in favour. At first sight, one is tempted +to say that all errors come over and over again; that this and that +notion now in vogue has been refuted in times past. This is indeed a +general truth--nay, for what I know, these same bold speculatists will +bring it even as an argument for their not being in error, that +Antiquity says nothing at all, good or bad, about their opinions. I +cannot answer for the extent to which they will throw the _onus +probandi_ on us; but I protest--be it for us, or be it against us--I +cannot find this very religion of theirs in ancient times, whether in +friend or foe, Jew or Pagan, Montanist or Novatian; though I find surely +enough, and in plenty, the general characteristics, which are +conspicuous in their philosophy, of self-will, eccentricity, and love of +paradox. + +So far from it, that if we wish to find the rudiments of the Catholic +system clearly laid down in writing, those who are accounted least +orthodox will prove as liberal in their information about it as the +strictest Churchman. We can endure even the heretics better than our +opponents can endure the Apostles. Tertullian, though a Montanist, gives +no sort of encouragement to the so-called Bible Christians of this day; +rather he would be the object of their decided abhorrence and disgust. +Origen is not a whit more of a Protestant, though he, if any, ought, +from the circumstances of his history, to be a witness against us. It is +averred that the alleged revolution of doctrine and ritual was +introduced by the influence of the episcopal system; well, here is a +victim of episcopacy, brought forward by our opponents as such. Here is +a man who was persecuted by his bishop, and driven out of his country; +and whose name after his death has been dishonourably mentioned, both by +Councils and Fathers. He surely was not in the episcopal conspiracy, at +least; and perchance may give the latitudinarian, the anabaptist, the +Erastian, and the utilitarian, some countenance. Far from it; he is as +high and as keen, as removed from softness and mawkishness, as ascetic +and as reverential, as any bishop among them. He is as superstitious (as +men now talk), as fanatical, as formal, as Athanasius or Augustine. +Certainly, there seems something providential in the place which Origen +holds in the early Church, considering the direction which theories +about it are now taking; and much might be said on that subject. + +Take another instance:--There was, in the fourth century, a party of +divines who were ecclesiastically opposed to the line of theologians, +whose principles had been, and were afterwards, dominant in the Church, +such as Athanasius, Jerome, and Epiphanius; I mean, for instance, +Eusebius, Cyril of Jerusalem, and others who were more or less connected +with the Semi-Arians. If, then, we see that in all points, as regards +the sacraments and sacramentals, the Church and its ministers, the form +of worship, and other religious duties of Christians, Eusebius and Cyril +agree entirely with the most orthodox of their contemporaries, with +those by party and country most separated from them, we have a proof +that that system, whatever it turns out to be, was received before their +time--_i.e._ before the establishment of Christianity under Constantine; +in other words, that we must look for the gradual corruption of the +Church, if it is to be found, not when wealth pampered it, and power and +peace brought its distant portions together, but while it was yet poor, +humble, and persecuted, in those times which are commonly considered +pure and primitive. Again, the genius of Arianism, as a party and a +doctrine, was to discard antiquity and mystery; that is, to resist and +expose what is commonly called priestcraft. In proportion, then, as +Cyril and Eusebius partook of that spirit, so far would they be in their +own cast of mind indisposed to the Catholic system, both considered in +itself and as being imposed on them. + +Now, have the writers in question any leaning or tenderness for the +theology of Luther and Calvin? rather they are as unconscious of its +existence as of modern chemistry or astronomy. That faith is a closing +with divine mercy, not a submission to a divine announcement, that +justification and sanctification are distinct, that good works do not +benefit the Christian, that the Church is not Christ's ordinance and +instrument, and that heresy and dissent are not necessarily and +intrinsically evil: notions such as these they do not oppose, simply +because to all appearance they never heard of them. To take a single +passage, which first occurs, in which Eusebius, one of the theologians +in question, gives us his notion of the Catholic Church:-- + + "These attempts," he says, speaking of the arts of the enemy, "did + not long avail him, Truth ever consolidating itself, and, as time + went on, shining into broader day. For while the devices of + adversaries were extinguished at once, confuted by their very + activity,--one heresy after another presenting its own novelty, the + former specimens ever dissolving and wasting variously in manifold + and multiform shapes,--the brightness of the Catholic and only true + Church went forward increasing and enlarging, yet ever in the same + things and in the same way, beaming on the whole race of Greeks and + barbarians with the awfulness, and simplicity, and nobleness, and + sobriety, and purity of its divine polity and philosophy. Thus the + calumny against our whole creed died with its day, and there + continued alone our discipline, sovereign among all, and + acknowledged to be pre-eminent in awfulness and sobriety, in its + divine and philosophical doctrines; so that no one of this day + dares to cast any base reproach upon our faith, nor any such + calumny such as it was once customary for our enemies to + use."--_Hist._ iv. 7. + +Or to take a passage on a different subject, which almost comes first to +hand, from St. Cyril, another of this school of divines:-- + + "Only be of good cheer, only work, only strive cheerfully; for + nothing is lost. Every prayer of thine, every psalm thou singest is + recorded; every alms-deed, every fast is recorded; every marriage + duly observed is recorded; continence kept for God's sake is + recorded; but the first crowns in record are those of virginity and + purity; and thou shalt shine as an Angel. But as thou hast gladly + listened to the good things, listen without shrinking to the + contrary. Every covetous deed of thine is recorded; every fleshly + deed, every perjury, every blasphemy, every sorcery, every theft, + every murder. All these things are henceforth recorded, if thou do + these after baptism; for thy former deeds are blotted out."--_Cat._ + xv. 23. + +Cyril and Eusebius, I conceive, do not serve at all better than Origen +to show that faith is a feeling, that it makes a man independent of the +Church, and is efficacious apart from baptism or works. I do not know +any ancient divines of whom more can be made. + + +4. + +Where, then, is primitive Protestantism to be found? There is one chance +for it, not in the second and third centuries, but in the fourth; I mean +in the history of Aerius, Jovinian, and Vigilantius,--men who may be +called, by some sort of analogy, the Luther, Calvin, and Zwingle, of the +fourth century. And they have been so considered both by Protestants and +by their opponents, so covetous, after all, of precedent are innovators, +so prepared are Catholics to believe that there is nothing new under the +sun. Let me, then, briefly state the history and tenets of these three +religionists. + +1. Aerius was an intimate friend of Eustathius, bishop of Sebaste, in +Armenia, whose name has already occurred above. Both had embraced a +monastic life; and both were Arians in creed. Eustathius, being raised +to the episcopate, ordained his friend presbyter, and set him over the +almshouse or hospital of the see. A quarrel followed, from whatever +cause; Aerius left his post, and accused Eustathius of covetousness, as +it would appear, unjustly. Next he collected a large number of persons +of both sexes in the open country, where they braved the severe weather +of that climate. A congregation implies a creed, and Aerius founded or +formed his own on the following points: 1. That there was no difference +between bishop and presbyter. 2. That it was judaical to observe Easter, +because Christ is our Passover. 3. That it was useless, or rather +mischievous, to name the dead in prayer, or to give alms for them. 4. +That fasting was judaical, and a yoke of bondage. If it be right to +fast, he added, each should choose his own day; for instance, Sunday +rather than Wednesday and Friday: while Passion Week he spent in +feasting and merriment. And this is pretty nearly all we know of +Aerius, who flourished between A.D. 360 and 370. + +2. Jovinian was a Roman monk, and was condemned, first by Siricius at +Rome, then by St. Ambrose and other bishops at Milan, about A.D. 390. He +taught, 1. That eating with thanksgiving was just as good as fasting. 2. +That, _caeteris paribus_, celibacy, widowhood, and marriage, were on a +level in the baptized. 3. That there was no difference of rewards +hereafter for those who had preserved their baptism; and, 4. That those +who had been baptized with full faith could not fall; if they did, they +had been baptized, like Simon Magus, only with water. He persuaded +persons of both sexes at Rome, who had for years led a single life, to +desert it. The Emperor Honorius had him transported to an island on the +coast of Dalmatia; he died in the beginning of the fifth century. + +3. Vigilantius was a priest of Gaul or Spain, and flourished just at the +time Jovinian died: he taught, 1. That those who reverenced relics were +idolaters; 2. That continence and celibacy were wrong, as leading to the +worst scandals; 3. That lighting candles in churches during the day, in +honour of the martyrs, was wrong, as being a heathen rite; 4. That +Apostles and Martyrs had no presence at their tombs; 5. That it was +useless to pray for the dead; 6. That it was better to keep wealth and +practice habitual charity, than to strip one's-self of one's property +once for all; and 7. That it was wrong to retire into the desert. This +is what we learn of these three (so-called) reformers, from the writings +of Epiphanius and Jerome. + +Now you may say, "What can we require more than this? Here we have, at +the time of a great catastrophe, Scriptural truth come down to us in the +burning matter which melted and preserved it, in the persecuting +language of Epiphanius and Jerome. When corruptions began to press +themselves on the notice of Christians, here you find three witnesses +raising their distinct and solemn protest in different parts of the +Church, independently of each other, in Gaul, in Italy, and in Asia +Minor, against prayers for the dead, veneration of relics, candles in +the day-time, the merit of celibacy, the need of fasting, the observance +of days, difference in future rewards, the defectibility of the +regenerate, and the divine origin of episcopacy. Here is pure and +scriptural Protestantism." Such is the phenomenon on which a few remarks +are now to be offered. + + +5. + +1. I observe then, first, that this case so presented to us, does not +answer the purpose required. The doctrine of these three Protestants, if +I am to be forced into calling them so, is, after all, but negative. We +know what they protested _against_, not what they protested _for_. We do +not know what the system of doctrine and ritual was which they +substituted for the Catholic, or whether they had any such. Though they +differed from the ancients, there is no proof that they agreed with the +moderns. Parties which differ from a common third, do not necessarily +agree with each other; from two negative propositions nothing is +inferred. For instance, the moral temper and doctrinal character of the +sixteenth century is best symbolized by its views about faith and +justification, to which I have already referred, and upon the duty of +each individual man drawing his own creed from the Scriptures. This is +its positive shape, as far as it may be considered positive at all. Now +does any one mean to maintain that Aerius, Jovinian, or Vigilantius, +held justification by faith only in the sense of John Wesley, or of +John Newton? Did they consider that baptism was a thing of nought; that +faith did everything; that faith was trust, and the perfection of faith +assurance; that it consisted in believing that "I am pardoned;" and that +works might be left to themselves, to come as they might, as being +_necessary_ fruits of faith, without our trouble? Did they know anything +of the "apprehensive" power of faith, or of man's proneness to consider +his imperfect services, done in and by grace, as adequate to purchase +eternal life? There is no proof they did. Let then these three +protesters be ever so cogent an argument against the Catholic creed, +this does not bring them a whit nearer to the Protestant; though in fact +there is nothing to show that their protest was founded on historical +grounds, or on any argument deeper than such existing instances of +superstition and scandal in detail as are sure to accumulate round +revelation. + +Further, even if a modern wished, he would not be able to put up with +even the negative creed of these primitive protesters, whatever his +particular persuasion might be. Their protest suits no sect whatever of +this day. It is either too narrow or too liberal. The Episcopalian, as +he is styled, will not go along with Aerius's notions about bishops; nor +will the Lutheran subscribe to the final perseverance of the saints; nor +will the strict Calvinist allow that all fasting is judaical; nor will +the Baptist admit the efficacy of baptism: one man will wonder why none +of the three protested against the existence of the Church itself; +another that none of them denied the received doctrine of penance; a +third that all three let pass the received doctrine of the Eucharist. +Their protestations are either too much or too little for any one of +their present admirers. There is no one of any of the denominations of +this day but will think them wrong in some points or other; that is all +we know about them; but if we all think them wrong on some points, is +that a good reason why we should take them as an authority on others? + +Or, again, do we wish to fix upon what _can_ be detected in their creed +of a positive character, and distinct from their protests? We happen to +be told what it was in the case of one of them. Aerius was an Arian; +does this mend matters? Is there any agreement at all between him and +Luther here? If Aerius is an authority against bishops, or against set +fasts, why is he not an authority against the Creed of St. Athanasius? + +2. What has been last said leads to a further remark. I observe, then, +that if two or three men in the fourth century are sufficient, against +the general voice of the Church, to disprove one doctrine, then still +more are two or three of an earlier century able to disprove another. +Why should protesters in century four be more entitled to a hearing than +protesters in century three? Now it so happens, that as Aerius, +Jovinian, and Vigilantius in the fourth protested against austerities, +so did Praxeas, Noetus, and Sabellius in the third protest against the +Catholic or Athanasian doctrine of the Holy Trinity. A much stronger +case surely could be made out in favour of the latter protest than of +the former. Noetus was of Asia Minor, Praxeas taught in Rome, Sabellius +in Africa. Nay, we read that in the latter country their doctrine +prevailed among the common people, then and at an earlier date, to a +very great extent, and that the true faith was hardly preached in the +churches. + +3. Again, the only value of the protest of these three men would be, of +course, that they _represented_ others; that they were exponents of a +state of opinion which prevailed either in their day or before them, +and which was in the way to be overpowered by the popular corruptions. +What are Aerius and Jovinian to me as individuals? They are worth +nothing, unless they can be considered as organs and witnesses of an +expiring cause. Now, it does not appear that they themselves had any +notion that they were speaking in behalf of any one, living or dead, +besides themselves. They argued against prayers for the departed from +reason, and against celibacy, hopeless as the case might seem, from +Scripture. They ridiculed one usage, and showed the ill consequence of +another. All this might be very cogent in itself, but it was the conduct +of men who stood by themselves and were conscious of it. If Jovinian had +known of writers of the second and third centuries holding the same +views, Jovinian would have been as prompt to quote them as Lutherans are +to quote Jovinian. The protest of these men shows that certain usages +undeniably existed in the fourth century; it does not prove that they +did not exist also in the first, second, and third. And how does the +fact of their living in the fourth century prove there were Protestants +in the first? What we are looking for is a Church of primitive heretics, +of baptists and independents of the Apostolic age, and we must not be +put off with the dark and fallible protests of the Nicene era. + +Far different is the tone of Epiphanius in his answer to Aerius:-- + + "If one need refer," he says, speaking of fasting, "to the + constitution of the Apostles, why did they there determine the + fourth and sixth day to be ever a fast, except Pentecost? and + concerning the six days of the Pascha, why do they order us to take + nothing at all but bread, salt, and water?... Which of these + parties is the rather correct? this deceived man, who is now among + us, and is still alive, or they who were witnesses before us, + possessing before our time the tradition in the Church, and they + having received it from their fathers, and those very fathers + again having learned it from those who lived before them?... The + Church has received it, and it is unanimously confessed in the + whole world, before Aerius and Aerians were born."--_Haer._ 75, + Sec. 6. + +4. Once more, there is this very observable fact in the case of each of +the three, that their respective protests seem to have arisen from some +personal motive. Certainly what happens to a man's self often brings a +thing home to his mind more forcibly, makes him contemplate it steadily, +and leads to a successful investigation into its merits. Yet still, +where we know personal feelings to exist in the maintenance of any +doctrine, we look more narrowly at the proof for ourselves; thinking it +not impossible that the parties may have made up their minds on grounds +short of reason. It is natural to feel distrust of controversialists, +who, to all appearance, would not have been earnest against a doctrine +or practice, except that it galled themselves. Now it so happens that +each of these three Reformers lies open to this imputation. Aerius is +expressly declared by Epiphanius to have been Eustathius's competitor +for the see of Sebaste, and to have been disgusted at failing. _He_ is +the preacher against bishops. Jovinian was bound by a monastic vow, and +_he_ protests against fasting and coarse raiment. Vigilantius was a +priest; and, therefore, _he_ disapproves the celibacy of the clergy. No +opinion at all is here ventured in favour of clerical celibacy; still it +is remarkable that in the latter, as in the two former cases, private +feeling and public protest should have gone together. + + +6. + +These distinct considerations are surely quite sufficient to take away +our interest in these three Reformers. These men are not an historical +clue to a lost primitive creed, more than Origen or Tertullian; and much +less do they afford any support to the creed of those moderns who would +fain shelter themselves behind them. That there were abuses in the +Church then, as at all times, no one, I suppose, will deny. There may +have been extreme opinions and extreme acts, pride and pomp in certain +bishops, over-honour paid to saints, fraud in the production of relics, +extravagance in praising celibacy, formality in fasting; and such errors +would justify a protest, which the Catholic Fathers themselves are not +slow to make; but they would not justify that utter reprobation of +relics, of celibacy, and of fasting, of episcopacy, of prayers for the +dead, and of the doctrine of defectibility, which these men +avowed--avowed without the warrant of the first ages--on grounds of +private reason, under the influence of personal feeling, and with the +accompaniment of but a suspicious orthodoxy. It does certainly look as +if our search after Protestantism in Antiquity would turn out a simple +failure;--whatever Primitive Christianity was or was not, it was not the +religion of Luther. I shall think so, until I find Ignatius and Aerius, +in spite of their differences about bishops, agreeing in his doctrine of +justification; until Irenaeus and Jovinian, though at daggers drawn about +baptism, shall yet declare Scripture to be the sole rule of faith; until +Cyprian and Vigilantius, however at variance about the merit of +virginity, uphold in common the sacred right and duty of private +judgment. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AND WHAT DO THE APOSTOLICAL CANONS SAY? + + +1. + +Such, then, is the testimony borne in various ways by Origen, Eusebius, +and Cyril, by Aerius, Jovinian, and Vigilantius, to the immemorial +reception among Christians of those doctrines and practices which the +private judgment of this age considers to be unscriptural. I have been +going about from one page to another of the records of those early +times, prying and extravagating beyond the beaten paths of orthodoxy, +for the chance of detecting some sort of testimony in favour of our +opponents. With this object I have fallen upon the writers aforesaid; +and, since they have been more or less accused of heterodoxy, I thought +there was at least a chance of their subserving the cause of +Protestantism, which the Catholic Fathers certainly do not subserve; but +they, though differing from each other most materially, and some of them +differing from the Church, do not any one of them approximate to the +tone or language of the movement of 1517. Every additional instance of +this kind does but go indirectly to corroborate the testimony of the +Catholic Church. + +It is natural and becoming in all of us to make a brave struggle for +life; but I do not think it will avail the Protestant who attempts it in +the medium of ecclesiastical history. He will find himself in an element +in which he cannot breathe. The problem before him is to draw a line +between the periods of purity and alleged corruption, such, as to have +all the Apostles on one side, and all the Fathers on the other; which +may insinuate and meander through the dove-tailings and inosculations of +historical facts, and cut clean between St. John and St Ignatius, St. +Paul and St. Clement; to take up a position within the shelter of the +book of Acts, yet safe from the range of all other extant documents +besides, And at any rate, whether he succeeds or not, so much he must +grant, that if such a system of doctrine as he would now introduce ever +existed in early times, it has been clean swept away as if by a deluge, +suddenly, silently, and without memorial; by a deluge coming in a night, +and utterly soaking, rotting, heaving up, and hurrying off every vestige +of what it found in the Church, before cock-crowing; so that "when they +rose in the morning" her true seed "were all dead corpses"--nay, dead +and buried--and without grave-stone. "The waters went over them; there +was not one of them left; they sunk like lead in the mighty waters." +Strange antitype, indeed, to the early fortunes of Israel!--then the +enemy was drowned, and "Israel saw them dead upon the sea-shore." But +now, it would seem, water proceeded as a flood "out of the serpent's +mouth," and covered all the witnesses, so that not even their dead +bodies "lay in the streets of the great city." Let him take which of his +doctrines he will,--his peculiar view of self-righteousness, of +formality, of superstition; his notion of faith, or of spirituality in +religious worship; his denial of the virtue of the sacraments, or of the +ministerial commission, or of the visible Church; or his doctrine of the +divine efficacy of the Scriptures as the one appointed instrument of +religious teaching; and let him consider how far Antiquity, as it has +come down to us, will countenance him in it. No; he must allow that the +alleged deluge has done its work; yes, and has in turn disappeared +itself; it has been swallowed up in the earth, mercilessly as itself was +merciless. + + +2. + +Representations such as these have been met by saying that the extant +records of Primitive Christianity are scanty, and that, _for what we +know_, what is not extant, had it survived, would have told a different +tale. But the hypothesis that history _might_ contain facts which it +does _not_ contain, is no positive evidence for the truth of those +facts; and this is the present question; what is the _positive_ evidence +that the Church ever believed or taught a Gospel substantially different +from that which her extant documents contain? All the evidence that is +extant, be it much or be it little, is on our side: Protestants have +none. Is none better than some? Scarcity of records--granting for +argument's sake there is scarcity--may be taken to account for +Protestants having no evidence; it will not account for our having some, +for our having all that is to be had; it cannot become a positive +evidence in their behalf. That records are few, does not show that they +are of none account. + +Accordingly, Protestants had better let alone facts; they are wisest +when they maintain that the Apostolic system of the Church was certainly +lost;--lost, when they know not, how they know not, without assignable +instruments, but by a great revolution lost--of _that_ there can be no +doubt; and then challenge us to prove it was not so. "Prove," they seem +to say, "if you can, that the real and very truth is not so entirely hid +in primitive history as to leave not a particle of evidence betraying +it. This is the very thing which misleads you, that all the arguments +are in your favour. Is it not possible that an error has got the place +of the truth, and has destroyed all the evidence but what witnesses on +its side? Is it not possible that all the Churches should everywhere +have given up and stifled the scheme of doctrine they received from the +Apostles, and have substituted another for it? Of course it is; it is +plain to common sense it may be so. Well, we say, what _may be_, _is_; +this is our great principle: we say that the Apostles considered +episcopacy an indifferent matter, though Ignatius says it is essential. +We say that the table is not an altar, though Ignatius says it is. We +say there is no priest's office under the Gospel, though Clement affirms +it. We say that baptism is not an enlightening, though Justin takes it +for granted. We say that heresy is scarcely a misfortune, though +Ignatius accounts it a deadly sin; and all this, because it is our +right, and our duty, to interpret Scripture in our own way. We uphold +the pure unmutilated Scripture; the Bible, and the Bible only, is the +religion of Protestants; the Bible and our own sense of the Bible. We +claim a sort of parliamentary privilege to interpret laws in our own +way, and not to suffer an appeal to any court beyond ourselves. We know, +and we view it with consternation, that all Antiquity runs counter to +our interpretation; and therefore, alas, the Church was corrupt from +_very_ early times indeed. But mind, we hold all this in a truly +Catholic spirit, not in bigotry. We allow in others the right of private +judgment, and confess that we, as others, are fallible men. We confess +facts are against us; we do but claim the liberty of theorizing in spite +of them. Far be it from us to say that we are certainly right; we only +say that the whole early Church was certainly wrong. We do not impose +our belief on any one; we only say that those who take the contrary +side are Papists, firebrands, persecutors, madmen, zealots, bigots, and +an insult to the nineteenth century." + +To such an argument, I am aware, it avails little to oppose historical +evidence, of whatever kind. It sets out by protesting against all +evidence, however early and consistent, as the testimony of fallible +men; yet at least, the imagination is affected by an array of facts; and +I am not unwilling to appeal to the imagination of those who refuse to +let me address their reason. With this view I have been inquiring into +certain early works, which, or the authors of which, were held in +suspicion, or even condemned by the ruling authorities of the day, to +see if any vestige of an hypothetical Protestantism could be discovered +in them; and, since they make no sign, I will now interrogate a very +different class of witnesses. The consent of Fathers is one kind of +testimony to Apostolical Truth; the protest of heretics is another; now +I will come, thirdly, to received usage. To give an instance of the last +mentioned argument, I shall appeal to the Apostolical Canons, though a +reference to them will involve me in an inquiry, interesting indeed to +the student, but somewhat dry to the general reader. + + +3. + +These Canons, well known to Antiquity, were at one time supposed to be, +strictly speaking, Apostolical, and published before A.D. 50. On the +other hand, it has been contended that they are later than A.D. 450, and +the work of some heretics. Our own divines take a middle course, +considering them as published before A.D. 325, having been digested by +Catholic authorities in the course of the two preceding centuries, or at +the end of the second, and received and used in most parts of +Christendom. This judgment has since been acquiesced in by the +theological world, so far as this--to suppose the matter and the +enactments of the Canons to be of the highest antiquity, even though the +edition which we possess was not published so early as Bishop Beveridge, +for instance, supposes. At the same time it is acknowledged by all +parties, that they, as well as some other early documents, have suffered +from interpolation, and perhaps by an heretical hand. + +They are in number eighty-five,[372] of which the first fifty are +considered of superior authority to the remaining thirty-five. What has +been conjectured to be their origin will explain the distinction. It was +the custom of the early Church, as is well known, to settle in Council +such points in her discipline, ordinances, and worship, as the Apostles +had not prescribed in Scripture, as the occasion arose, after the +pattern of their own proceedings in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts; +and this, as far as might be, after their unwritten directions, or after +their practice, or at least, after their mind, or as it is called in +Scripture, their "minding" or "spirit." Thus she decided upon the +question of Easter, upon that of heretical baptism, and the like. And, +after that same precedent in the Acts, she recorded her decisions in +formal decrees, and "delivered them for to keep" through the cities in +which her members were found. The Canons in question are supposed to be +some of these decrees, of which, first and nearest to the Apostles' +times, or in the time of their immediate successors, were published +fifty; and in the following age, thirty-five more, which had been +enacted in the interval. They claim, then, to be, first, the recorded +judgment of great portions of the Ante-Nicene Church, chiefly in the +eastern provinces, upon certain matters in dispute, and to be of +authority so far as that Church may be considered a representative of +the mind of the Apostles; next, they profess to embody in themselves +positive decisions and injunctions of the Apostles, though without +clearly discriminating how much is thus directly Apostolical, and how +much not. I will here attempt to state some of the considerations which +show both their antiquity and their authority, and will afterwards use +them for the purpose which has led me to mention them. + + +4. + +1. In the first place, it would seem quite certain that, as, on the one +hand, Councils were held in the primitive Church, so, on the other, +those Councils enacted certain Canons. When, then, a Collection presents +itself professing to consist of the Ante-Nicene Canons, there is nothing +at all to startle us; it only professes to set before us that which we +know anyhow must have existed. We may conjecture, if we please, that the +fact that there were Canons may have suggested and encouraged a +counterfeit. Certainly; but though the fact that there were Canons will +account for a counterfeit, it will not account for those original Canons +being lost; on the contrary, what is known to have once existed as a +rule of conduct, is likely to continue in existence, except under +particular circumstances. Which of the two this existing Collection is, +the genuine or the counterfeit, must depend on other considerations; but +if these considerations be in favour of its genuineness, then this +antecedent probability will be an important confirmation. + +Canons, I say, must have existed, whether these be the real ones or no; +and the circumstance that there were real ones existing must have tended +to make it difficult to substitute others. It would be no easy thing in +our own Church to pass off another set of Articles for the Thirty-nine, +and to obliterate the genuine. Canons are public property, and have to +be acted upon by large bodies. Accordingly, as might be expected, the +Nicene Council, when enacting Canons of its own, refers to certain +Canons as already existing, and speaks of them in that familiar and +indirect way which would be natural under the circumstances, just as we +speak of our Rubrics or Articles. The Fathers of that Council mention +certain descriptions of persons whom "_the Canon_ admits into holy +orders;" they determine that a certain rule shall be in force, +"according to the Canon which says so and so;" they speak of a +transgression of the Canon, and proceed to explain and enforce it. Nor +is the Nicene the only Council which recognizes the existence of certain +Canons, or rules, by which the Church was at that time bound. The +Councils of Antioch, Gangra, Constantinople, and Carthage, in the same +century, do so likewise; so do individual Fathers, Alexander, +Athanasius, Basil, Julius, and others. + +Now here we have lighted upon an important circumstance, whatever +becomes of the particular Collection of Canons before us. It seems that +at the Nicene Council, only two centuries and a quarter after St. John's +death, about the distance of time at which we live from the Hampton +Court Conference, all Christendom confessed that from time immemorial it +had been guided by certain ecclesiastical rules, which it considered of +authority, which it did not ascribe to any particular persons or synods +(a sign of great antiquity), and which writers of the day assigned to +the Apostles. I suppose we know pretty well, at this day, what the +customs of our Church have been since James the First's time, or since +the Reformation; and if respectable writers at present were to state +some of them,--for instance, that it is and has been the rule of our +Church that the king should name the bishops, that Convocation should +not sit without his leave, or that Easter should be kept according to +the Roman rule,--we should think foreigners very unreasonable who +doubted their word. Now, in the case before us, we find the Church +Catholic, the first time it had ever met together since the Apostles' +days, speaking as a matter of course of the rules to which it had ever +been accustomed to defer. + +If we knew no more than this, and did not know what the rules were; or +if, knowing what they were, we yet decided, as we well might, that the +particular rules are not of continual obligation; still, the very +circumstance that there _were_ rules from time immemorial would be a +great fact in the history of Christianity. But we do know, from the +works of the Fathers, the _subjects_ of these Canons, and that to the +number of thirty or forty of them; so that we might form a code, as far +as it goes, of primitive discipline, quite independent of the particular +Collection which is under discussion. However, it is remarkable that all +of these thirty or forty are found in this Collection, being altogether +nearly half the whole number, so that the only question is, whether the +rest are of that value which we know belongs to a great proportion of +them. It is worth noticing, that _no_ Ecclesiastical Canon is mentioned +in the historical documents of the primitive era which is not found in +this Collection, for it shows that, whoever compiled it, the work was +done with considerable care. The opponents to its genuineness bring, +indeed, several exceptions, as they wish to consider them; but these +admit of so satisfactory an explanation as to illustrate the proverb, +that _exceptio probat regulam_. + +Before going on to consider the whole Collection, let us see in what +terms the ancient writers speak of those particular Canons to which they +actually refer. + +(1.) Athanasius speaks as follows:--"Canons and forms," he says, when +describing the extraordinary violences of the Arians, "were not given to +the Churches in this day, but were _handed down_ from our fathers well +and securely. Nor, again, has the faith had its beginning in this day, +but has passed on even to us from the Lord through His disciples. Rouse +yourselves, then, my brethren, to prevent that from perishing unawares +in the present day _which has been observed in the Churches from ancient +times down to us_, and ourselves from incurring a responsibility in what +has been intrusted to us."--_Ep. Encycl._ 1. It is remarkable, in this +extract, that St. Athanasius accurately distinguishes between the Faith +which came from Christ, and the Canons received from the Fathers of old +time: which is just the distinction which our divines are accustomed to +make. + +(2) Again: the Arians, by simoniacal dealings with the civil power, had +placed Gregory in the see of Alexandria. Athanasius observes upon +this:--"Such conduct is both _a violation of the Ecclesiastical Canons_, +and forces the heathen to blaspheme, as if appointments were made, not +by Divine ordinance, but by merchandise and secular influence."--_Ibid._ +2. + +(3) Arsenius, bishop of Hypsela, who had been involved in the +Meletian[373] schism, and had acted in a hostile way towards Athanasius, +at length reconciled himself to the Church. In his letter to Athanasius +he promises "to be obedient to _the Ecclesiastical Canon_, according to +ancient usage, and never to put forth any regulation, whether about +bishops or any other public ecclesiastical matter, without the sanction +of his metropolitan, but to _submit to all the established +Canons_."--_Apol. contr. Arian._ 69. + +(4) In like manner, St. Basil, after speaking of certain crimes for +which a deacon should be reduced to lay communion, proceeds, "_for it is +an ancient Canon_, that they who lose their degree should be subjected +to this kind of punishment only."--_Ep._ 188. Again: "_The Canon_ +altogether excludes from the ministry those who have been twice +married." + +(5) When Arius and his abettors were excommunicated by Alexander of +Alexandria, they betook themselves to Palestine, and were re-admitted +into the Church by the bishops of that country. On this, Alexander +observes as follows:--"A very heavy imputation, doubtless, lies upon +such of my brethren as have ventured on this act, in that it is _a +violation of the Apostolical Canon_."--_Theod. Hist._ i. 4. + +(6) When Eusebius declined being translated from the see of Caesarea to +Antioch, Constantine complimented him on his "observance of the +commandments of God, _the Apostolical Canon_, and the rule of the +Church,"--_Vit. Constant._ iii. 61,--which last seems to mean the +regulation passed at Nicaea. + +(7) In like manner, Julius, bishop of Rome, speaks of a violation of +"_the Apostles' Canons_;" and a Council held at Constantinople, A.D. +394, which was attended by Gregory Nyssen, Amphilochius, and Flavian, of +a determination of "_the Apostolical Canons_." + +It will be observed that in some of these instances the Canons are +spoken of in the plural, when the particular infraction which occasions +their mention relates only to one of them. This shows they were +collected into a code, if, indeed, that need be proved; for, in truth, +that various Canons should exist, and be in force, and yet not be put +together, is just as unlikely as that no collection should be made of +the statutes passed in a session of Parliament. + +With this historical information about the existence, authority, and +subject-matter of certain Canons in the Church from time immemorial, we +should come to many anti-Protestant conclusions, even if the particular +code we possess turned out to have no intrinsic authority. And now let +us see how the matter stands on this point as regards this code of +eighty-five Canons. + + +5. + +2. If this Collection existed _as_ a Collection in the time of the above +writers and Councils, then, considering they allude to nearly half its +Canons, and that no Canons are anywhere producible which are not in it, +and that they do seem to allude to a Collection, and that no other +Collection is producible, we certainly could not avoid the conclusion +that they referred to _it_, and that, therefore, in quoting parts of it +they sanction the whole. If no book is to be accounted genuine except +such parts of it as happen to be expressly cited by other writers,--if +it may not be regarded as a whole, and what is actually cited made to +bear up and carry with it what is not cited,--no ancient book extant can +be proved to be genuine. We believe Virgil's AEneid to be Virgil's, +because we know he wrote an AEneid, and because particular passages which +we find in it, and in no other book, are contained, under the name of +Virgil, in subsequent writers or in criticisms, or in accounts of it. We +do not divide it into rhapsodies, _because_ it only exists in fragments +in the testimony of later literature. For the same reason, if the +Canons before us can be shown to have existed as one book in +Athanasius's time, it is natural to conceive that they are the very book +to which he and others refer. All depends on this. If the Collection was +made after his time, of course he referred to some other; but if it +existed in his time, it is more natural to suppose that there was one +Collection than two distinct ones, so similar, especially since history +is silent about there being two. + +However, I conceive it is not worth while to insist upon so early a +formation of the existing Collection. Whether it existed in Athanasius's +time, or was formed afterwards, and formed by friend or foe, heretic or +Catholic, seems to me immaterial, as I shall by-and-by show. First, +however, I will state, as candidly as I can, the arguments for and +against its antiquity _as_ a Collection. + +Now there can be no doubt that the early Canons were formed into one +body; moreover, certain early writers speak of them under the name of +"the Apostles' Canons," and "Apostolical Canons." So far I have already +said. Now, certain collectors of Canons, of A.D. (more or less) 550, and +they no common authorities, also speak of "the Apostolical Canons," and +incorporate them into their own larger collections; and these which they +speak of are the very body of Canons which we now possess under the +name. We know it, for the digest of these collectors is preserved. No +reason can be assigned why they should not be speaking of the _same_ +Collection which Gregory Nyssen and Amphilochius speak of, who lived a +century and a half before them; no reason, again, why Nyssen and +Amphilochius should not mean the same as Athanasius and Julius, who +lived fifty to seventy years earlier than themselves. The writers of +A.D. 550 might be just as certain that they and St. Athanasius quoted +the same work, as we, at this day, that our copy of it is the same as +Beveridge's, Pearson's, or Ussher's. + +The authorities at the specified date (A.D. 550) are three--Dionysius +Exiguus, John of Antioch, patriarch of Constantinople, and the Emperor +Justinian. The learning of Justinian is well known, not to mention that +he speaks the opinion of the ecclesiastical lawyers of his age. As to +John of Antioch and Dionysius, since their names are not so familiar to +most of us, it may be advisable to say thus much--that John had been a +lawyer, and was well versed both in civil and ecclesiastical +matters,--hence he has the title of Scholasticus; while Dionysius is the +framer of the Christian era, as we still reckon it. They both made +Collections of the Canons of the Church, the latter in Latin, and they +both include the Apostolical Canons, as we have them, in their editions; +with this difference, however (which does not at present concern us), +that Dionysius published but the first fifty, while John of Antioch +enumerates the whole eighty-five. + +Such is the main argument for the existence of our Collection at the end +of the third century; viz., that, whereas _a_ Collection of Apostolic +Canons is acknowledged at that date, _this_ Collection is acknowledged +by competent authorities to be that Apostolic record at the end of the +fifth. However, when we inspect the language which Dionysius uses +concerning them, in his prefatory epistle, we shall find something which +requires explanation. His words are these, addressed to Stephen, bishop +of Salona:--"We have, in the first place, translated from the Greek what +are called the Canons of the Apostles; _which, as we wish to apprise +your holiness, have not gained an easy credit from very many persons_. +At the same time, some of the decrees of the [Roman] pontiffs, at a +later date, seem to be taken from these very Canons." Here Dionysius +must only mean, that they were not received as Apostolic; for that they +were received, or at least nearly half of them, is, as I have said, an +historical fact, whatever becomes of the Collection as a Collection. He +must mean that a claim had been advanced that they were to be received +as part of the apostolic _depositum_; and he must be denying that they +had more than _ecclesiastical_ authority. The distinction between divine +and ecclesiastical injunctions requires little explanation: the latter +are imposed by the Church for the sake of decency and order, as a matter +of expedience, safety, propriety, or piety. Such is the rule among +ourselves, that dissenting teachers conforming must remain silent three +years before they can be ordained; or that a certain form of prayer +should be prescribed for universal use in public service. On the other +hand, the appointment of the Sacraments is apostolic and divine. So, +again, that no one can be a bishop unless consecrated by a bishop, is +apostolic; that three bishops are necessary in consecration, is +ecclesiastical; and, though ordinarily an imperative rule, yet, under +circumstances, admits of dispensation. Or again, it has, for instance, +in this day been debated whether the sanctification of the Lord's-day is +a divine or an ecclesiastical appointment. Dionysius, then, in the above +extract, means nothing more than to deny that the Apostles enacted these +Canons; or, again, that they enacted them _as_ Apostles; and he goes on +to say that the Popes had acknowledged the _ecclesiastical_ authority of +some of them by embodying them in their decrees. At the same time, his +language certainly seems to show as much as this, and it is confirmed by +that of other writers, that the Latin Church, though using them +separately as authority, did not receive them as a Collection with the +implicit deference which they met with in the East; indeed, the last +thirty-five, though two of them were cited at Nicaea, and one at +Constantinople, A.D. 394, seem to have been in inferior account. The +Canons of the General Councils took their place, and the Decrees of the +Popes. + + +6. + +This, then, seems to be the state of the case as regards the Collection +or Edition of Canons, whether fifty or eighty-five, which is under +consideration. Speaking, not of the Canons themselves, but of this +particular edition of them, I thus conclude about it--that, whether it +was made at the end of the third century, or later, there is no +sufficient proof that it was strictly of authority; but that it is not +very material that it should be proved to be of authority, nay, or even +to have been made in early times. Give us the Canons themselves, and we +shall be able to prove the point for which I am adducing them, even +though they were not at first formed into a collection. They are, one by +one, witnesses to us of a state of things. + +Indeed, it must be confessed, that probability is against this +Collection having ever been regarded as an authority by the ancient +Church. It was an _anonymous_ Collection; and, as being anonymous, +seemed to have no claim upon Christians. They would consider that a +collection or body of Canons could only be imposed by a _Council_; and +since the Council could not be produced which imposed this in +particular, they had no reason to admit it. They might have been in the +practice of acting upon this Canon, and that, and the third, and so on +to the eighty-fifth, from time immemorial, and that as Canons, not as +mere customs, and might confess the obligation of each: and yet might +say, "We never looked upon them as a _code_," which should be something +complete and limited to itself. The true sanction of each was the +immemorial observance of each, not its place in the Collection, which +implied a competent framer. Moreover, in proportion as General Councils +were held, and enacted Canons, so did the vague title of mere usage, +without definite sanction, become less influential, and the ancient +Canons fell into disregard. And what made this still more natural was +the circumstance that the Nicene Council did re-enact a considerable +number of those which it found existing. It substituted then a definite +authority, which, in after ages, would be much more intelligible than +what would have by that time become a mere matter of obscure antiquity. +Nor did it tend to restore their authority, when their advocates, +feeling the difficulty of their case, referred the Collection to the +Apostles themselves: first, because this assertion could not be +maintained; next, because, if it could, it would have seemingly deprived +the Church of the privilege of making Canons. It would have made those +usages divine which had ever been accounted only ecclesiastical. It +would have raised the question whether, under such circumstances, the +Church had more right to add to the code of really Apostolic Canons than +to Scripture; discipline, as well as doctrine, would have been given by +direct revelation, and have been included in the fundamentals of +religion. + +If, however, all this be so, it follows that we are not at liberty to +argue, from one part of this Collection having been received, that +therefore every other was also; as if it were one authoritative work. No +number of individual Canons being proved to be of the first age will +tend to prove that the remainder are of the same. It is true; and I do +not think it worth while to contest the point. For argument-sake I will +grant that the bond, which ties them into one, is not of the most +trustworthy and authoritative description, and will proceed to show that +even those Canons which are not formally quoted by early writers ought +to be received as the rules of the Ante-Nicene Church, independently of +their being found in one compilation. + + +7. + +3. I have already said that nearly half of the Canons, as they stand in +the Collection, are quoted as Canons by early writers, and thus placed +beyond all question, as remains of the Ante-Nicene period: the following +arguments may be offered in behalf of the rest:-- + +(1) They are otherwise known to express _usages_ or _opinions_ of the +Ante-Nicene centuries. The simple question is, whether they had been +reflected on, recognized, converted into principles, enacted, obeyed; +whether they were the unconscious and unanimous result of the one +Christian spirit[374] in every place, or were formal determinations from +authority claiming obedience. This being the case, there is very little +worth disputing about; for (whether we regard them as being religious +practices or as religious antiquities) if uniform custom was in favour +of them, it does not matter whether they were enacted or not. If they +were not, their universal observance is a still greater evidence of +their extreme antiquity, which, in that case, can be hardly short of the +Apostolic age; and we shall refer to them in the existing Collection, +merely for the sake of convenience, as being brought together in a short +compass. + +Nay, a still more serious conclusion will follow, from supposing them +not to be enactments--much more serious than any I am disposed to draw. +If it be maintained that these observances, though such, did not arise +from injunctions on the part of the Church, then, it might be argued, +the Church has no power over them. As not having imposed, she cannot +abrogate, suspend, or modify them. They must be referred to a higher +source, even to the inspired Apostles; and their authority is not +ecclesiastical, but divine. We are almost forced, then, to consider them +as enactments, even when they are not recognized by ancient writers as +such, lest we should increase the authority of some of them more than +seems consistent with their subject-matter. + +Again, if such Canons as are not appealed to by ancient writers are +nevertheless allowed to have been really enacted, on the ground of our +finding historically that usage corresponds to them; it may so be that +others, about which the usage is not so clearly known, are real Canons +also. There is a _chance_ of their being genuine; for why, in drawing +the line, should we decide by the mere accident of the usage admitting +or not admitting of clear historical proof? + +(2) Again, all these Canons, or at least the first fifty, are composed +in uniform style; there is no reason, as far as the internal evidence +goes, why one should be more primitive than another, and many, we know, +were certainly in force as Canons from the earliest times. + +(3) This argument becomes much more cogent when we consider _what_ that +style is. It carries with it evident marks of primitive simplicity, some +of which I shall instance. The first remark which would be made on +reading them relates to their brevity, the breadth of the rules which +they lay down, and their plain and unartificial mode of stating them. An +instance of this, among others which might be taken, is supplied by a +comparison of the 7th of them with one of a number of Canons passed at +Antioch by a Council held A. D. 341, and apparently using the +Apostolical Canons as a basis for its own. The following, read with the +words in brackets, agrees, with but slight exceptions, with the +Antiochene Canon, and, without them, with the Apostolical:-- + +"All who come [to church] and hear the [holy] Scriptures read, but do +not remain to prayer [with the people,] and [refuse] the holy communion +[of the Eucharist, these] must be put out of the Church, as disorderly, +[until, by confession, and by showing fruits of penitence, and by +entreaty, they are able to gain forgiveness."] + +(4) Now this contrast, if pursued, will serve to illustrate the +antiquity of the Apostolical Canons in several ways, besides the +evidence deducible from the simplicity of their structure. Thus the word +"metropolitan" is introduced into the thirty-fifth Canon of Antioch; no +such word occurs in the Apostolical Canon from which it is apparently +formed. There it is simply said, "the principal bishop;" or, literally, +the primus. This accords with the historical fact, that the word +metropolitan was not introduced till the fourth century. The same remark +might be made on the word "province," which occurs in the Canon of +Antioch, not in the other. This contrast is strikingly brought out in +two other Canons, which correspond in the two Collections. Both treat of +the possessions of the Church; but the Apostolical Canon says simply, +"the interests of the Church," "the goods of the Church;" but the +Antiochene, composed after Christianity had been acknowledged by the +civil power, speaks of "the revenue of the Church," and "the produce of +the land." + +Again, when attempts have been made to show that certain words are +contained in the Canons before us which were not in use in the +Ante-Nicene times, they have in every case failed in the result, which +surely may be considered as a positive evidence in favour of their +genuineness. For instance, the word "clergy," for the ministerial body, +which is found in the Apostolical Canons, is also used by Origen, +Tertullian, and Cyprian. The word "reader," for an inferior order in the +clergy, is used by Cornelius, bishop of Rome; nay, by Justin Martyr. +"Altar," which is used in the Canons, is the only word used for the +Lord's table by St. Cyprian, and, before him, by Tertullian and +Ignatius. "Sacrifice" and "oblation," for the consecrated elements, +found in the Canons, are also found in Clement of Rome, Justin Irenaeus, +and Tertullian. + +This negative evidence of genuineness extends to other points, and +surely is of no inconsiderable weight. We know how difficult it is so to +word a forgery as to avoid all detection from incongruities of time, +place, and the like. A forgery, indeed, it is hardly possible to suppose +this Collection to be, both because great part of it is known to be +genuine, and because no assignable object would be answered by it; but +let us imagine the compiler hastily took up with erroneous traditions, +or recent enactments, and joined them to the rest. Is it possible to +conceive, under such circumstances, that there would be no anachronisms +or other means of detection? And if there are none such, and much more +if the compiler, who lived perhaps as early as the fourth century, found +none such (supposing we may assume him willing and qualified to judge of +them), nay, if Dionysius Exiguus found none such, what reasons have we +for denying that they are the produce of those early times to which they +claim to belong? Yet so it is; neither rite, nor heresy, nor observance, +nor phrase, is found in them which is foreign to the Ante-Nicene +period. Indeed, the only reason one or two persons have thrown suspicion +on them has been an unwillingness on their part to admit episcopacy, +which the Canons assert; a necessity which led the same parties to deny +the genuineness of St. Ignatius' epistles.[375] + +(5) I will make one more remark:--First, these Canons come to us, not +from Rome, but from the East, and were in a great measure neglected, or +at least superseded in the Church, after Constantine's day, especially +in the West, where Rome had sway; these do not embody what are called +"Romish corruptions." Next, there is ground for suspecting that the +Collection or Edition which we have was made by heretics, probably +Arians, though they have not meddled with the main contents of them. +Thus, while the neglect of them in later times separates them from +Romanism, the assent of the Arians is a second witness, in addition to +their recognition by the first centuries, in evidence of their +Apostolical origin. Those first centuries observe them; contemporary +heretics respect them; only later and corrupt times pass them by. May +they not be taken as a fair portrait, as far as they go, of the +doctrines and customs of Primitive Christianity? + + +8. + +I do wish out-and-out Protestants would seriously lay to heart where +they stand when they would write a history of Christianity. Are there +any traces of Luther before Luther? Is there anything to show that what +they call the religion of the Bible was ever professed by any persons, +Christians, Jews, or heathen? Again, are there any traces in history of +a process of change in Christian belief and practice, so serious, or so +violent, as to answer to the notion of a great corruption or perversion +of the Primitive Religion? Was there ever a time, what was the time, +when Christianity was not that which Protestants protest against, as if +formal, unspiritual, self-righteous, superstitious, and unevangelic? If +that time cannot be pointed out, is not "the Religion of Protestants" a +matter, not of past historical fact, but of modern private judgment? +Have they anything to say in defence of their idea of the Christianity +of the first centuries, except that that view of it is necessary to +their being Protestants. "Christians," they seem to say, "_must_ have +been in those early times different from what the record of those times +shows them to have been, and they must, as time went on, have fallen +from that faith and that worship which they had at first, though history +is quite silent on the subject, _or else_ Protestantism, which is the +apple of our eye, is not true. We are driven to hypothetical facts, or +else we cannot reconcile with each other phenomena so discordant as +those which are presented by ancient times and our own. We claim to +substitute _a priori_ reasoning for historical investigation, by the +right of self-defence and the duty of self-preservation." + +I have urged this point in various ways, and now I am showing the light +which the Canons of the Apostles throw upon it. There is no reasonable +doubt that they represent to us, on the whole, and as far as they go, +the outward face of Christianity in the first centuries;--now will the +Protestant venture to say that he recognizes in it any likeness of his +own Religion? First, let him consider what is conveyed in the very idea +of Ecclesiastical Canons? This: that Christians could not worship +according to their fancy, but must think and pray by rule, by a set of +rules issuing from a body of men, the Bishops, over whom the laity had +no power whatever. If any men at any time have been priest-ridden, such +was the condition of those early Christians. And then again, what +becomes of the Protestant's watchword, "the Bible, the whole Bible, and +nothing but the Bible," if a set of Canons might lawfully be placed upon +their shoulders, as if a second rule of faith, to the utter exclusion of +all free-and-easy religion? and what room was there for private +judgment, if they had to obey the bidding of certain fallible men? and +what is to be done with the great principle, "Unity, not Uniformity," if +Canons are to be recognized, which command uniformity as well as unity? + +So much at first sight; but when we go on to examine what these Canons +actually contain, their incompatibility with the fundamental principles +of Protestantism becomes still more patent. I will set down some +instances in proof of this. Thus, we gather from the Canons the +following facts about Primitive Christianity:--viz., that, + +1. There was a hierarchy of ordained ministers, consisting of the three +orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. + +2. Their names were entered on a formal roll or catalogue. + +3. There were inferior orders, such as readers and chanters. + +4. Those who had entered into the sacred orders might not afterwards +marry. + +5. There were local dioceses, each ruled by a Bishop. + +6. To him and him only was committed the care of souls in his diocese. + +7. Each Bishop confined himself to his own diocese. + +8. No secular influence was allowed to interfere with the appointment of +Bishops. + +9. The Bishops formed one legislative body, and met in Council twice a +year, for the consideration of dogmatic questions and points in +controversy. + +10. One of them had the precedence over the rest, and took the lead; +and, as the priests and people in each diocese obeyed their Bishop, so +in more general matters the Bishops deferred to their Primus. + +11. Easter and Pentecost were great feasts, and certain other days +feasts also. There was a Lent Fast; also a Fast on Easter Eve; and on +Wednesdays and Fridays. + +12. The state of celibacy was recognized. + +13. Places of worship were holy. + +14. There was in their churches an altar, and an altar service. + +15. There was a sacrifice in their worship, of which the materials were +bread and wine. + +16. There were oblations also of fruits of the earth, in connection with +the sacrifice. + +17. There were gold and silver vessels in the rite, and these were +consecrated. + +18. There were sacred lamps, fed with olive oil, and incense during the +holy rite. + +19. Baptism was administered in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. + +20. Excommunication was inflicted on Christians who disgraced their +profession. + +21. No one might pray, even in private, with excommunicated persons, +except at the cost of being excommunicated himself. + +22. No one might pray with heretics, or enter their churches, or +acknowledge their baptism, or priesthood. + + +9. + +These rules furnish us with large portions, and the more important, of +the outline of the religion of their times; and are not only definitive +in themselves, but give us the means of completing those parts of it +which are not found in them. Considered, then, as a living body, the +primitive Christian community was distinguished by its high sacerdotal, +ceremonial, mystical character. Which among modern religious bodies was +it like? Was it like the Wesleyans? was it like the Society of Friends? +was it like the Scotch Kirk? was it like any Protestant denomination at +all? Fancy any model Protestant of this day in a state of things so +different from his own! With his religious societies for the Church, +with his committees, boards, and platforms instead of Bishops, his +_Record_ and _Patriot_ newspapers instead of Councils, his concerts for +prayer instead of anathemas on heresy and schism, his spoutings at +public meetings for exorcisms, his fourths of October for festivals of +the Martyrs, his glorious memories for commemorations of the dead, his +niggard vestry allowances for gold and silver vessels, his gas and +stoves for wax and oil, his denunciations of self-righteousness for +fasting and celibacy, and his exercise of private judgment for +submission to authority--would he have a chance of finding himself at +home in a Christianity such as this? is it his own Christianity? + + * * * * * + +I end, then, as I began:--If Protestantism is another name for +Christianity, then the Martyrs and Bishops of the early Church, the men +who taught the nations, the men who converted the Roman Empire, had +themselves to be taught, themselves to be converted. Shall we side with +the first age of Christianity, or with the last? + +FOOTNOTES: + +[372] This account is for the most part taken from Bishops Beveridge and +Pearson. + +[373] The Egyptian Meletius, from which this schism has its name, must +not be confounded with Meletius of Antioch. + +[374] The [Greek: ekklesiastikon phronema]. + +[375] Vid. the parallel case of the Ignatian Epistles in the Author's +Essays, vol. i, p. 266. + + + + +NOTE ON P. 366. + + +Lately the relics of St. Ambrose have been discovered in his Church at +Milan, as were the relics of St. Gervasius and St. Protasius several +years since. On this subject I received a month since a letter from a +friend, who passed through Milan, and saw the sacred remains. I will +quote a portion of his letter to me:-- + + + "_Sept. 17, 1872._ + + "I am amazed at the favour which was shown me yesterday at the + Church of St. Ambrogio. I was accidentally allowed to be present at + a private exposition of the relics of St. Ambrose and the Saints + Gervasius and Protasius. I have seen complete every bone in St. + Ambrose's body. There were present a great many of the clergy, + three _medici_, and Father Secchi, who was there on account of his + great knowledge of the Catacombs, to testify to the age, etc., of + the remains. It was not quite in chance, for I wanted to go to + Milan, solely to venerate St. Ambrose once more, and to thank him + for all the blessings I have had as a Catholic and a Priest, since + the day that I said Mass over his body. The churches were shut when + I arrived; so I got up early next morning and went off to the + Ambrosian. I knelt down before the high altar, and thought of all + that had happened since you and I were there, twenty-six years ago. + As I was kneeling, a cleric came out; so I asked him to let me into + the _scurolo_, which was boarded up all round for repairs. He took + me there, but he said: 'St. Ambrose is not here; he is above; do + you wish to see him?' He took me round through the corretti into a + large room, where, on a large table, surrounded by ecclesiastics + and medical men, were three skeletons. The two were of immense + size, and very much alike, and bore the marks of a violent death; + their age was determined to be about twenty-six years. When I + entered the room, Father Secchi was examining the marks of + martyrdom on them. Their throats had been cut with great violence, + and the neck vertebrae were injured on the inside. The _pomum + Adami_ had been broken, or was not there; I forget which. This bone + was quite perfect in St. Ambrose; his body was wholly uninjured; + the lower jaw (which was broken in one of the two martyrs) was + wholly uninjured in him, beautifully formed, and every tooth, but + one molar in the lower jaw, quite perfect and white and regular. + His face had been long, thin, and oval, with a high arched + forehead. His bones were nearly white; those of the other two were + very dark. His fingers long and very delicate; his bones were a + marked contrast to those of the two martyrs. + + "The finding, I was told, was thus:--In the ninth century the + Bishop of Milan translated the relics of St. Ambrose, which till + then had laid side by side with the martyrs in one great stone + coffin of two compartments, St. Gervase being, according to the + account, nearest to St. Ambrose. He removed St. Ambrose from this + coffin into the great porphyry urn which we both saw in the + _scurolo_; leaving the martyrs where they were. In 1864 the + martyrs' coffin was opened, and one compartment was found empty, + except a single bone, the right-ankle bone, which lay by itself in + that empty compartment. This was sent to the Pope as all that + remained of St. Ambrose; in the other compartment were the two + skeletons complete. St. Ambrose's urn was not opened till the other + day, when it was removed from its place for the alterations. The + bones were found perfect all but the ankle bone. They then sent for + it to Rome, and the President of the Seminary showed me how it + fitted exactly in its place, having been separated from it for nine + centuries. + + "The Government seems very desirous to make a handsome restoration + of the whole chapel, and the new shrine will be completed by May + next." + +Thus far my friend's letter. + +I have not been able in such historical works as are at my command to +find notice of Archbishop Angelbert's transferring St. Ambrose's body +from the large coffin of the martyrs to the porphyry urn which has been +traditionally pointed out as the receptacle of the Saint, and in which +he was recently found. That the body, however, recently disinterred +actually was once in the coffin of the martyrs is evidenced by its +right-ankle bone being found there. Another curious confirmation arises +from my friend's remark about the missing tooth, when compared with the +following passage from Ughelli, Ital. Sacr. t. iv. col. 82:-- + +"Archbishop Angelbert was most devout to the Church of St. Ambrose, and +erected a golden altar in it, at the cost of 30,000 gold pieces. The +occasion of this gift is told us by Galvaneus, among others, in his +Catalogue, when he is speaking of Angelbert. His words are +these:--'Angelbert was Archbishop for thirty-five years, from A.D. 826, +and out of devotion he extracted a tooth from the mouth of St. Ambrose, +and placed it in his [episcopal] ring. One day the tooth fell out from +the ring; and, on the Archbishop causing a thorough search to be made +for it, an old woman appeared to him, saying, "You will find the tooth +in the place from which you took it." On hearing this, the Archbishop +betook himself to the body of St. Ambrose, and found it in the mouth of +the blessed Ambrose. Then, to make it impossible for anything in future +[or anything else, de caetero] to be taken from his body, he hid it under +ground, and caused to be made the golden altar of St. Ambrose, etc. + +Castellionaeus in his Antiquities of Milan (apud Burman. Antiqu. Ital. t. +3, part 1. col. 487) tells us that the Archbishop lost his relic "as he +was going in his pontifical vestments to the Church of St. Lawrence on +Palm Sunday. He found he had lost it in the way thither, for, on taking +off his gloves, he saw it was gone." + +It would seem from my friend's letter that either the Archbishop took +away the tooth a second time, or the miracle of its restoration did not +take place. + +It should be added that the place in which Angelbert hid the sacred +relics was so well known, that in the twelfth century Cardinal Bernard, +Bishop of Parma, was allowed to see and venerate them,--Vid. Puricelli's +Ambros. Basil. Descriptio. c. 58 and c. 352, ap. Burman. Thesaur. +Antiqu. 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With 10 Portraits. 8vo. 10s. 6d. +_net_. + + CONTENTS.--Arthur James Balfour--Three Notable Editors: Delane, + Hutton, Knowles--Some Characteristics of Henry Sidgwick--Robert, + Earl of Lytton--Father Ignatius Ryder--Sir M. E. Grant Duff's + Diaries--Leo XIII.--The Genius of Cardinal Wiseman--John Henry + Newman--Newman and Manning--Appendix. + + +SOME PAPERS OF LORD ARUNDELL OF WARDOUR, 12th BARON, COUNT OF THE HOLY +ROMAN EMPIRE, Etc. With a Preface by the Dowager LADY ARUNDELL OF +WARDOUR. With Portrait. 8vo. 8s. 6d. _net_. + + +THE THREE SISTERS OF LORD RUSSELL OF KILLOWEN. Sketches of Convent Life. +By the Rev. MATTHEW RUSSELL, S.J. With Portrait and other Illustrations. +8vo. + + +ESSAYS. By the Rev. FATHER IGNATIUS DUDLEY RYDER. Edited by FRANCIS +BACCHUS, of the Oratory, Birmingham. With Frontispiece. 8vo. 9s. _net_. + + CONTENTS.--A Jesuit Reformer and Poet--Revelations of the + After-World--Savonarola--M. Emery, Superior of St. Sulpice, + 1789-1811--Auricular Confession--The Pope and the Anglican + Archbishops--Ritualism, Roman Catholicism, and Converts--On Certain + Ecclesiastical Miracles--The Ethics of War--The Passions of the + Past--Some Memories of a Jail Chaplain--Purcell's Life of Cardinal + Manning. + + APPENDIX.--Some Notes on Ryder's Controversy with Ward. + + + * * * * * + + +The Beginnings of the Church. + +A Series of Histories of the First Century. + +By the Abbe CONSTANT FOUARD, Honorary Cathedral Canon, Professor of the +Faculty of Theology at Rouen, etc., etc. + + +THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD. A Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. +With an Introduction by CARDINAL MANNING. With 3 Maps. Two vols. Crown +8vo. 14s. Popular Edition. 8vo. 1s. _net_. Paper Covers. 6d. _net_. + + +ST. PETER AND THE FIRST YEARS OF CHRISTIANITY. With 3 Maps. Crown 8vo. +9s. + + +ST. PAUL AND HIS MISSIONS. With 2 Maps. Crown 8vo. 9s. + +Popular Edition, 8vo. 1s. _net_. Paper Covers. 6d. _net_. + + +THE LAST YEARS OF ST. PAUL. With 5 Maps and Plans. Crown 8vo. 9s. + + +ST. JOHN AND THE CLOSE OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE. Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. + + + Lives of the Friar Saints. + + Editors for the Franciscan Lives: + + The Very Rev. Fr. OSMUND, O.F.M., Provincial, and + C. M. ANTONY. + + Editors for the Dominican Lives: + + The Rev. Fr. BEDE JARRETT, O.P., and C. M. ANTONY. + +Fcap. 8vo. Cloth, 1s. 6d. per volume; Leather, 2s. 6d. _net_ per volume. + +THE HOLY FATHER has expressed through the Very Rev. Fr. Thomas Esser, +O.P., Secretary of the Congregation of the Index, his great pleasure and +satisfaction that the series has been undertaken, and wishes it every +success. He bestows "most affectionately" His Apostolic Blessing upon +the Editors, Writers, and Readers of the whole series. + + F. OSMUND, O.F.M., Provincial, + F. BEDE JARRETT, O.P., + C. M. ANTONY, + + _Editors._ + + * * * * * + +DOMINICAN. + +ST. THOMAS AQUINAS. Of the Order of Preachers (1225-1274). A +Biographical Study of the Angelic Doctor. By Fr. PLACID CONWAY, O.P. +With 5 Illustrations. + +ST. VINCENT FERRER, O.P. By Fr. STANISLAUS HOGAN, O.P. With 4 +Illustrations. + +ST. PIUS V. Pope of the Holy Rosary. By C.M. ANTONY. With Preface by the +Very Rev. Monsignor BENSON. With 4 Illustrations. + + * * * * * + +FRANCISCAN. + +ST. BONAVENTURE. The Seraphic Doctor. Minister General of the Franciscan +Order, Cardinal Bishop of Albano. By Fr. LAURENCE COSTELLOE. O.F.M. With +6 Illustrations. + +ST. ANTONY OF PADUA. The Miracle Worker (1195-1231). By C. M. ANTONY. +With 4 Illustrations. + +ST. JOHN CAPISTRAN. By Fr. VINCENT FITZGERALD, O.F.M. With 4 +Illustrations. + +And it is hoped that the following will be published:-- + +ST. ANTONINUS OF FLORENCE. By Fr. BEDE JARRETT, O.P. + +ST. RAYMOND OF PENNAFORT. By Fr. THOS. SCHWERTNER, O.P. + +ST. LOUIS BERTRAND. By the Rev. Mother MARY REGINALD, O.S.D. + +ST. BERNARDINE OF SIENA. By Miss M. WARD. + +ST. LEONARD OF PORT-MAURICE. By Fr. ALEXANDER MURPHY, O.F.M. + +ST. PETER OF ALCANTARA. By EGBERT CARROL, O.F.M. + + + * * * * * + + +History. + +MEMOIRS OF THE SCOTTISH CATHOLICS DURING THE XVIIth AND XVIIIth +CENTURIES. Selected from hitherto inedited MSS. by WILLIAM FORBES LEITH, +S.J. With 20 Illustrations. 2 vols. Medium 8vo. 7s. 6d. _net_. + +THE INQUISITION: a Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power +of the Church. By the Abbe E. VACANDARD. Translated from the French by +the Rev. BERTRAND L. CONWAY, C.S.P. Crown 8vo. 6s. _net_. + +THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BISHOP CHALLONER, 1691-1781. By EDWIN H. BURTON, +D.D., F.R.Hist.S., Vice-President of St. Edmund's College, Ware. With 34 +Portraits and other Illustrations. 2 vols, 8vo. 25s. _net_. + +THE DAWN OF THE CATHOLIC REVIVAL IN ENGLAND, 1781-1803. By Right Rev. +Monsignor BERNARD WARD, F.R.Hist.S., President of St. Edmund's College, +Ware. With 38 Illustrations. 2 vols. 8vo. 25s. _net_. + +THE EVE OF CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. Being the History of the English +Catholics during the first Thirty Years of the Nineteenth Century. By +the same Author. With Portraits and other Illustrations. 3 vols. 8vo. + + Vol. I. and II.--1803-1820. 21s. _net_. + + Vol. III. _In preparation._ + +THE DAWN OF MODERN ENGLAND: Being a History of the Reformation in +England, 1509-1525. By CARLOS LUMSDEN, Barrister-at-Law. 8vo. 9s. _net_. + +PSYCHOLOGY OF POLITICS AND HISTORY. By the Rev. J. A. DEWE, M.A. Crown +8vo. 5s. _net_. + +A SMALLER SOCIAL HISTORY OF ANCIENT IRELAND. By P. W. JOYCE, LL.D., +M.R.I.A. With 13 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. _net_. + +A SHORT HISTORY OF IRELAND, from the Earliest Times to 1608. By the same +Author. With Map. Crown 8vo. 10s. 6d. + +THE STORY OF ANCIENT IRISH CIVILISATION. By the same Author. Fcp. 8vo. +1s.6d. _net_. + +THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF IRISH NAMES OF PLACES. By the same Author. 2 +vols. Crown 8vo. 5s. each. + +THE WONDERS OF IRELAND; and other Papers on Irish Subjects. 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Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. _net_. + +Acting Edition. 6d. _net_. + + +THE COST OF A CROWN: a Story of Douay and Durham. A Sacred Drama in +Three Acts. By the same Author. With 9 Illustrations by G. J. PIPPET. +Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. _net_. + + +THE MAID OF ORLEANS. By the same Author. With 14 Illustrations by +GABRIEL PIPPET. Crown 8vo. 3s. _net_. + +Acting Edition. 6d. _net_. + + +STORIES ON THE ROSARY. By LOUISE EMILY DOBREE. Parts I., II., III. Crown +8vo. 1s. 6d. each. + + +A TORN SCRAP BOOK. Talks and Tales illustrative of the "Our Father". By +GENEVIEVE IRONS. With a Preface by the Very Rev. Monsignor R. HUGH +BENSON. Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. + + +BALLADS OF IRISH CHIVALRY. By ROBERT DWYER JOYCE, M.D. Edited, with +Annotations, by his brother, P. W. JOYCE, LL.D. With Portrait of the +Author and 3 Illustrations. 8vo. Cloth gilt, 2s. _net_. Paper covers, +1s. _net_. + + +OLD CELTIC ROMANCES. Twelve of the most beautiful of the Ancient Irish +Romantic Tales. Translated from the Gaelic. By P. W. 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Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + CONTENTS:--_Advent_: Self-denial the Test of Religious + Earnestness--Divine Calls--The Ventures of Faith--Watching. + _Christmas Day_: Religious Joy. _New Year's Sunday_: The Lapse of + Time--_Epiphany_: Remembrance of Past Mercies--Equanimity--The + Immortality of the Soul--Christian Manhood--Sincerity and + Hypocrisy--Christian Sympathy. _Septuagesima_: Present Blessings. + _Sexagesima_: Endurance, the Christian's Portion. _Quinquagesima_: + Love, the One Thing Needful. _Lent_: The Individuality of the + Soul--Life, the Season of Repentance--Bodily Suffering--Tears of + Christ at the Grave of Lazarus--Christ's Privations, a Meditation + for Christians--The Cross of Christ the Measure of the World. _Good + Friday_: The Crucifixion. _Easter Day_: Keeping Fast and Festival. + _Easter Tide_: Witnesses of the Resurrection--A Particular + Providence as revealed in the Gospel--Christ Manifested in + Remembrance--The Invisible World--Waiting for Christ. _Ascension_: + Warfare the Condition of Victory. _Sunday after Ascension_: Rising + with Christ. _Whitsun Day_: The Weapons of Saints. _Trinity + Sunday_: The Mysteriousness of Our Present Being. _Sundays after + Trinity_: Holiness Necessary for Future Blessedness--The Religious + Use of Excited Feelings--The Self-wise Inquirer--Scripture a Record + of Human Sorrow--The Danger of Riches--Obedience without Love, as + instanced in the Character of Balaam--Moral Consequences of Single + Sins--The Greatness and Littleness of Human Life--Moral Effects of + Communion with God--The Thought of God the Stay of the Soul--The + Power of the Will--The Gospel Palaces--Religion a Weariness to the + Natural Man--The World our Enemy--The Praise of Men--Religion + Pleasant to the Religious--Mental Prayer--Curiosity a Temptation to + Sin--Miracles no Remedy for Unbelief--Jeremiah, a Lesson for the + Disappointed--The Shepherd of our Souls--Doing Glory to God in + Pursuits of the World. + + +FIFTEEN SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, between 1826 +and 1843. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + CONTENTS.--The Philosophical Temper, first enjoined by the + Gospel--The Influence of Natural and Revealed Religion + respectively--Evangelical Sanctity the Perfection of Natural + Virtue--The Usurpations of Reason--Personal Influence, the Means of + Propagating the Truth--On Justice as a Principle of Divine + Governance--Contest between Faith and Sight--Human Responsibility, + as independent of Circumstances--Wilfulness, the Sin of Saul--Faith + and Reason, contrasted as Habits of Mind--The Nature of Faith in + Relation to Reason--Love, the Safeguard of Faith against + Superstition--Implicit and Explicit Reason--Wisdom, as contrasted + with Faith and with Bigotry--The Theory of Developments in + Religious Doctrine. + + +SERMONS BEARING UPON SUBJECTS OF THE DAY. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + CONTENTS.--The Work of the Christian--Saintliness not Forfeited by + the Penitent--Our Lord's Last Supper and His First--Dangers to the + Penitent--The Three Offices of Christ--Faith and Experience--Faith + unto the World--The Church and the World--Indulgence in Religious + Privileges--Connection between Personal and Public + Improvement--Christian Nobleness--Joshua a Type of Christ and His + Followers--Elisha a Type of Christ and His Followers--The Christian + Church a Continuation of the Jewish--The Principles of Continuity + between the Jewish and Christian Churches--The Christian Church an + Imperial Power--Sanctity the Token of the Christian + Empire--Condition of the Members of the Christian Empire--The + Apostolic Christian--Wisdom and Innocence--Invisible Presence of + Christ--Outward and Inward Notes of the Church--Grounds for + Steadfastness in our Religious Profession--Elijah the Prophet of + the Latter Days--Feasting in Captivity--The Parting of Friends. + + +DISCOURSES TO MIXED CONGREGATIONS. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + CONTENTS.--The Salvation of the Hearer the Motive of the + Preacher--Neglect of Divine Calls and Warnings--Men not Angels--The + Priests of the Gospel--Purity and Love--Saintliness the Standard of + Christian Principle--God's Will the End of Life--Perseverance in + Grace--Nature and Grace--Illuminating Grace--Faith and Private + Judgment--Faith and Doubt--Prospects of the Catholic + Missioner--Mysteries of Nature and of Grace--The Mystery of Divine + Condescension--The Infinitude of Divine Attributes--Mental + Sufferings of our Lord in His Passion--The Glories of Mary for the + Sake of Her Son--On the Fitness of the Glories of Mary. + + +SERMONS PREACHED ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + CONTENTS.--Intellect the Instrument of Religious Training--The + Religion of the Pharisee and the Religion of Mankind--Waiting for + Christ--The Secret Power of Divine Grace--Dispositions for + Faith--Omnipotence in Bonds--St. Paul's Characteristic Gift--St. + Paul's Gift of Sympathy--Christ upon the Waters--The Second + Spring--Order, the Witness and Instrument of Unity--The Mission of + St. Philip Neri--The Tree beside the Waters--In the World but not + of the World--The Pope and the Revolution. + + +2. TREATISES. + + +THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + CONTENTS.--Faith considered as the Instrumental Cause of + Justification--Love considered as the Formal Cause of + Justification--Primary Sense of the term "Justification"--Secondary + Senses of the term "Justification"--Misuse of the term "Just" or + "Righteous"--The Gift of Righteousness--The Characteristics of the + Gift of Righteousness--Righteousness viewed as a Gift and as a + Quality--Righteousness the Fruit of our Lord's Resurrection--The + Office of Justifying Faith--The Nature of Justifying Faith--Faith + viewed relatively to Rites and Works--On Preaching the + Gospel--Appendix. + + +THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + +THE IDEA OF A UNIVERSITY DEFINED AND ILLUSTRATED. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + I. In Nine Discourses delivered to the Catholics of Dublin; II. In + Occasional Lectures and Essays addressed to the members of the + Catholic University. + + +UNIVERSITY TEACHING considered in nine discourses. Being the First Part +of "The Idea of a University Defined and Illustrated". With a Preface by +the Rev. JOHN NORRIS. Fcp. 8vo. Gilt Top. 2s. _net_. Leather, 3s. _net_. + + +A GRAMMAR OF ASSENT. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + +3. HISTORICAL. + + +HISTORICAL SKETCHES. Three vols. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. each. + + VOL. I.--The Turks in their Relation to Europe--Marcus Tullius + Cicero--Apollonius of Tyana--Primitive Christianity. + + VOL. II.--The Church of the Fathers--St. + Chrysostom--Theodoret--Mission of St. Benedict--Benedictine + Schools. + + VOL. III.--Rise and Progress of Universities (originally published + as "Office and Work of Universities")--Northmen and Normans in + England and Ireland--Mediaeval Oxford--Convocation of Canterbury. + + +THE CHURCH OF THE FATHERS. Reprinted from "Historical Sketches". Vol. +II. With a Preface by the Rev. JOHN NORRIS. Fcp. 8vo. Gilt Top. 2s. +_net_. Leather, 3s. _net_. + + +4. ESSAYS. + + +TWO ESSAYS ON MIRACLES. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + +DISCUSSIONS AND ARGUMENTS. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + 1. How to accomplish it. 2. The Antichrist of the Fathers. 3. + Scripture and the Creed. 4. Tamworth Reading-room. 5. Who's to + Blame? 6. An Argument for Christianity. + + +ESSAYS, CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL. Two vols., with notes. Crown 8vo. 7s. + + 1. Poetry. 2. Rationalism. 3. Apostolic Tradition. 4. De la + Mennais. 5. Palmer on Faith and Unity. 6. St. Ignatius. 7. + Prospects of the Anglican Church. 8. The Anglo-American Church. 9. + Countess of Huntingdon. 10. Catholicity of the Anglican Church. 11. + The Antichrist of Protestants. 12. Milman's View of Christianity. + 13. Reformation of the XI. Century. 14. Private Judgment. 15. + Davison. 16. Keble. + + +5. THEOLOGICAL. + + +THE ARIANS OF THE FOURTH CENTURY. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + +SELECT TREATISES OF ST. ATHANASIUS. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 7s. + + +TRACTS: THEOLOGICAL and ECCLESIASTICAL. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + 1. Dissertatiunculae. 2. On the Text of the Seven Epistles of St. + Ignatius. 3. Doctrinal Causes of Arianism. 4. Apollinarianism. 5. + St. Cyril's Formula. 6. Ordo de Tempore. 7. Douay Version of + Scripture. + + +6. POLEMICAL. + + +THE VIA MEDIA OF THE ANGLICAN CHURCH. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. each. + + Vol. I. Prophetical Office of the Church. Vol. II. Occasional + Letters and Tracts, including No. 90 of "Tracts for the Times". + + +DIFFICULTIES OF ANGLICANS. Two vols. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. each. Vol. I. +Twelve Lectures. Vol. II. Letters to Dr. Pusey concerning the Blessed +Virgin, and to the Duke of Norfolk in defence of the Pope and Council. + + +PRESENT POSITION OF CATHOLICS IN ENGLAND. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + +APOLOGIA PRO VITA SUA, being a History of his Religious Opinions. + +Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. + +Pocket Edition. Fcp. 8vo. Cloth, 2s. 6d. _net_. Leather, 3s. 6d. _net_. + +Popular Edition. 8vo. Sewed, 6d. _net_. + + _The "Pocket" Edition and the "Popular" Edition of this book + contain a letter, hitherto unpublished, written by Cardinal Newman + to Canon Flanagan in 1857, which may be said to contain in embryo + the "Apologia" itself._ + + +7. LITERARY. + + +VERSES ON VARIOUS OCCASIONS. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Pocket Edition. Fcp. 8vo. +Cloth, 2s. _net_. Leather, 3s. _net_. + + +THE DREAM OF GERONTIUS. 16mo. Sewed, 6d. Cloth, 1s. _net_. + +With Introduction and Notes by MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN, D.D., LL.D. With +Portrait. Crown 8vo. 1s. 6d. + +Presentation Edition, with an Introduction specially written for this +Edition by E. B(L). With Photogravure Portrait of Cardinal Newman, and 5 +other Illustrations. Large Crown 8vo, bound in cream cloth, with gilt +top. 3s. _net_. + +Complete Facsimile of the original Fair Copy and of portions of the +first rough draft. Imperial folio, bound in White Parchment, with gilt +top and silk ties. 31s. 6d. _net_. + + _This issue is restricted to 525 copies, of which 500 are for + sale._ + + +LOSS AND GAIN: The Story of a Convert. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + +CALLISTA: A Tale of the Third Century. Cr. 8vo. 3s. 6d. + + +8. DEVOTIONAL. + + +MEDITATIONS AND DEVOTIONS. Part I. Meditations for the Month of May. +Novena of St. Philip. Part II. The Stations of the Cross. Meditations +and Intercessions for Good Friday. Litanies, etc. Part III. Meditations +on Christian Doctrine. Conclusion. Crown 8vo. 5s. _net_. + +Also in Three Parts as follows. Fcap. 8vo. 1s. _net_ each. + +Part I. THE MONTH OF MAY. + +Part II. STATIONS OF THE CROSS. + +Part III. MEDITATIONS ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. + + * * * * * + + +THE LIFE OF JOHN HENRY CARDINAL NEWMAN. Based on his Private Journals +and Correspondence. By WILFRID WARD. With 15 Portraits and Illustrations +(2 Photogravures). 8vo. 36s. _net_. + + +LETTERS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF JOHN HENRY NEWMAN DURING HIS LIFE IN THE +ENGLISH CHURCH. With a brief Autobiography. Edited, at Cardinal Newman's +request, by ANNE MOZLEY. 2 vols. Crown 8vo. 7s. + + +ADDRESSES TO CARDINAL NEWMAN, WITH HIS REPLIES, 1879-81. Edited by the +Rev. W. P. NEVILLE (Cong. Orat.). With Portrait Group. Oblong crown 8vo. +6s. _net_. + + +NEWMAN MEMORIAL SERMONS: Preached at the Opening of the Newman Memorial +Church, The Oratory, Birmingham, 8th and 12th December, 1909. By Rev. +Fr. JOSEPH RICKABY. S.J., and Very Rev. Canon McINTYRE, Professor of +Scripture at St. Mary's College, Oscott. 8vo. Paper covers. 1s. _net_. + + + + +INDEX. + + + _Page_ + + _Adventures of King James II. of England_ 11 + + Antony (C. M.) _St. Antony of Padua_ 9 + ---- ---- _St. Pius V._ 9 + + Arundell (Lord) _Papers_ 8 + + _Assisi_ (_St. Francis of_) A Biography, by J. Joergensen 8 + + + Balfour (Mrs. Reginald) _The Life and Legend of the Lady Saint Clare_ 7 + + Barnes (A. S.) _The Origin of the Gospels_ 3 + + Barrett (E. Boyd) _Motive Force and Motivation-Tracks_ 5 + + Barry (W.) _The Tradition of Scripture_ 3 + + Batiffol (P.) _Credibility of the Gospel_ 5 + ---- ---- _History of the Roman Breviary_ 5 + ---- ---- _Primitive Catholicism_ 5 + + Benson (R. H.) _Christ in the Church_ 4 + ---- ---- _Cost of a Crown_ 14 + ---- ---- _Friendship of Christ_ 4 + ---- ---- _Mystery Play_ 14 + ---- ---- _The Maid of Orleans_ 14 + ---- ---- _Non-Catholic Denominations_ 3 + ---- ---- _The Child's Rule of Life_ 4 + + Boedder (B.) _Natural Theology_ 2 + + Bosch (Mrs. H.) _Bible Stories told to "Toddles"_ 12 + ---- ---- _When "Toddles" was Seven_ 12 + + Bougaud (Mgr.) _History of St. Vincent de Paul_ 7 + + Brown (H.) _Handbook of Greek Composition_ 13 + ---- ---- _Homeric Study_ 13 + ---- ---- _Latin Composition_ 13 + ---- (S. J.) _A Reader's Guide to Irish Fiction_ 15 + + Burton (E. H.) _Life and Times of Bishop Challoner_ 10 + ---- ---- and Myers (E.) _The New Psalter and Breviary Reform_ 3 + + + Carrol (F.) _St. Peter of Alcantara_ 9 + + _Catholic Church from Within_ 4 + + _Challoner, Life and Times of Bishop_ 10 + + Chapman (J.) _Bishop Gore and Catholic Claims_ 4 + ---- ---- _The Study of the Fathers_ 3 + + _Chisel, Pen, and Poignard_ 11 + + _Christ, A Life of, for Children_ 12 + + Clarke (R. F.) _Logic_ 2 + + _Class-Teaching (The) of English Composition_ 13 + + Coffey (P.) _The Science of Logic_ 5 + + Conway (P.) _St. Thomas Aquinas_ 9 + + Corcoran (T.) _Studies in the History of Classical Teaching_ 13 + + Costelloe (L.) _St. Bonaventure_ 9 + + Cronin (M.) _The Science of Ethics._ Vol. I. 6 + + _Curious Case of Lady Purbeck_ 11 + + + Delehaye (H.) _The Legends of the Saints_ 3 + + _Delecta Biblica_ 13 + + De Montalembert (Count) _Life of St. Elizabeth of Hungary_ 7 + + Devas (C. S.) _Political Economy_ 2 + ---- ---- _The Key to the World's Progress_ 6 + + _De Vere (Aubrey), Memoir of_, by Wilfrid Ward 7 + + Dewe (J. A.) _Psychology of Politics and History_ 10 + + De Wulf (M.) _History of Medieval Philosophy_ 5 + ---- ---- _Scholasticism, Old and New_ 5 + + _Digby, Life of Sir Kenelm_ 11 + + Dobree (L. E.) _Stories on the Rosary_ 14 + + Drane (A. T.) _History of St. Catherine of Siena_ 7 + ---- ---- _Memoir (Mother Francis Raphael)_ 7 + + Dwight (T.) _Thoughts of a Catholic Anatomist_ 6 + + + Emery (S. L.) _The Inner Life of the Soul_ 4 + + + _Falklands_ 11 + + _First Duke and Duchess of Newcastle-on-Tyne_ 11 + + Fitz-Gerald (V.) _St. John Capistran_ 9 + + Fitzgerald (K.) _Parlez-vous Francais_ 13 + + Fortescue (A.) _The Mass_ 3 + + Fouard (Abbe) _St. John and the Close of the Apostolic Age_ 8 + ---- ---- _St. Paul and his Missions_ 8 + ---- ---- _St. Peter_ 8 + ---- ---- _The Christ the Son of God_ 8 + ---- ---- ---- _Last Years of St. Paul_ 8 + + _Fountain of Life (The)_ 13 + + Francis (M. E.) _Christian Thal_ 16 + ---- ---- _Dorset Dear_ 16 + ---- ---- _Fiander's Widow_ 16 + ---- ---- _Lychgate Hall_ 16 + ---- ---- _The Manor Farm_ 16 + ---- ---- _Yeoman Fleetwood_ 16 + + _Friar Saint Series_ 9 + + + Gerard (J.) _The Old Riddle and the Newest Answer_ 6 + + Gerrard (T. J.) _Cords of Adam_ 5 + + _Grammar Lessons_, by the Principal of St. Mary's Hall, Liverpool 13 + + + Hedley (J. C.) _The Holy Eucharist_ 3 + + Hogan (S.) _St. Vincent Ferrer_ 9 + + Hughes (T.) _History of the Society of Jesus in North America_ 11 + + Hunter (S. J.) _Outlines of Dogmatic Theology_ 5 + + + _Index to The Month_ 6 + + Irons (G.) _A Torn Scrap Book_ 14 + + + Jarrett (B.) _St. Antoninus of Florence_ 9 + + Joppen (C.) _Historical Atlas of India_ 13 + + Joergensen (J.) _St. Francis of Assisi_ 8 + + Joyce (G. H.) _Principles of Logic_ 13 + ---- (P. W.) _Ancient Irish Music_ 14 + ---- ---- _Child's History of Ireland_ 12 + ---- ---- _English as we Speak it in Ireland_ 12 + ---- ---- _Grammar of the Irish Language_ 12 + ---- ---- _Handbook of School Management_ 12 + ---- ---- _History of Ireland for Australian Catholic Schools_ 12 + ---- ---- _Irish Peasant Songs_ 14 + ---- ---- _Old Celtic Romances_ 14 + ---- ---- _Old Irish Folk Music_ 14 + ---- ---- _Origin and History of Irish Names of Places_ 10 + ---- ---- _Outlines of the History of Ireland_ 12 + ---- ---- _Reading Book in Irish History_ 12 + ---- ---- _Short History of Ireland_ 10 + ---- ---- _Social History of Ireland_ 10 + ---- ---- _Story of Irish Civilisation_ 10 + ---- ---- _Wonders of Ireland_ 10 + + ---- (R. D.) _Ballads of Irish Chivalry_ 14 + + + Kane (R.) _The Plain Gold Ring_ 5 + ---- ---- _The Sermon of the Sea_ 5 + + Keating (T. P.) _Science of Education_ 13 + + + Leith (W. F.) _Memoirs of the Scottish Catholics_ 10 + + _Lives of the Friar Saints_ 9 + + Lumsden (C.) _The Dawn of Modern England_ 10 + + + Maxwell-Scott (Hon. Mrs.) _Life of the Marquise de la Rochejaquelein_ 7 + + McNabb (V.) _Infallibility_ 4 + + Maher (M.) _Psychology_ 2 + + _Marshal Turenne_ 11 + + Maturin (B. W.) _Laws of the Spiritual Life_ 4 + ---- ---- _Self-Knowledge and Self-Discipline_ 4 + ---- ---- _The Price of Unity_ 4 + + Miles (G. H.) _Christine and other Poems_ 15 + ---- ---- _Review of Hamlet_ 15 + ---- ---- _Said the Rose_ 15 + + Montalembert (Count de) _St. Elizabeth of Hungary_ 7 + + _Month, The_ 6 + + Moyes (J.) _Aspects of Anglicanism_ 4 + + Mulhall (M. M.) _Beginnings, or Glimpses of Vanished Civilizations_ 10 + ---- ---- _Explorers in the New World before and after Columbus_ 7 + + Murphy (A.) _St. Leonard of Port-Maurice_ 9 + + Myers (E.) _The Breviary_ 3 + + + Newman (Cardinal) _Addresses to, 1879-81_ 21 + ---- ---- _Apologia pro Vita sua_ 20 + ---- ---- _Arians of the Fourth Century_ 19 + ---- ---- _Callista, an Historical Tale_ 20 + ---- ---- _Church of the Fathers_ 19 + ---- ---- _Critical and Historical Essays_ 19 + ---- ---- _Development of Christian Doctrine_ 18 + ---- ---- _Difficulties of Anglicans_ 20 + ---- ---- _Discourses to Mixed Congregations_ 18 + ---- ---- _Discussions and Arguments_ 19 + ---- ---- _Dream of Gerontius_ 20 + ---- ---- Maurice Francis Egan, D.D., LL.D., With Notes by 20 + ---- ---- ---- ---- Facsimile Edition 20 + ---- ---- ---- ---- Presentation Edition 20 + ---- ---- _Essays on Miracles_ 19 + ---- ---- _Grammar of Assent_ 18 + ---- ---- _Historical Sketches_ 19 + ---- ---- _Idea of a University_ 18 + ---- ---- _Justification_ 18 + ---- ---- _Letters and Correspondence_ 21 + ---- ---- _Life_, by Wilfrid Ward 7, 21 + ---- ---- _Loss and Gain_ 20 + ---- ---- _Meditations and Devotions_ 21 + ---- ---- _Memorial Sermons_ 21 + ---- ---- _Oxford University Sermons_ 17 + ---- ---- _Parochial Sermons_ 17 + ---- ---- _Present Position of Catholics_ 20 + ---- ---- _Select Treatises of St. Athanasius_ 19 + ---- ---- _Selections from Sermons_ 17 + ---- ---- _Sermons on Subjects of the Day_ 17 + ---- ---- _Sermons Preached on Various Occasions_ 18 + ---- ---- _Theological Tracts_ 19 + ---- ---- _University Teaching_ 18 + ---- ---- _Verses on Various Occasions_ 20 + ---- ---- _Via Media_ 20 + + + O'Malley (A.) and Walsh (J. J.) _Pastoral Medicine_ 6 + + + _Pryings among Private Papers_ 11 + + + _Quick and Dead_ 13 + + + Reginald (M.) _St. Louis Bertrand_ 9 + + Rickaby (John) _First Principles of Knowledge_ 2 + ---- ---- _General Metaphysics_ 2 + ---- (Joseph) _Moral Philosophy_ 2 + ---- ---- and McIntyre (Canon) _Newman Memorial Sermons_ 21 + + _Rochester and other Literary Rakes_ 11 + + Roche (W.) _The House and Table of God_ 4 + + Rockliff (E.) _An Experiment in History Teaching_ 13 + + Rose (V.) _Studies on the Gospels_ 5 + + Russell (M.) _Among the Blessed_ 6 + ---- ---- _At Home with God_ 6 + ---- ---- _The Three Sisters of Lord Russell of Killowen_ 8 + + Ruville (A. Von) _Back to Holy Church_ 4 + ---- ---- _Humility the True Talisman_ 4 + + Ryder (I.) _Essays_ 8 + + + Scannell (T. B.) _The Priest's Studies_ 3 + + Schwertner (T.) _St. Raymond of Pennafort_ 9 + + Serbati (A.) _Theodicy_ 5 + + Sheehan (P. A.) _Blindness of Dr. Gray_ 16 + ---- ---- _Early Essays and Lectures_ 16 + ---- ---- _Glenanaar_ 16 + ---- ---- _Lisheen_ 16 + ---- ---- '_Lost Angel of a Ruined Paradise_' 16 + ---- ---- _Luke Delmege_ 16 + ---- ---- _Parerga_ 16 + ---- ---- _The Queen's Fillet_ 16 + ---- ---- _The Intellectuals_ 16 + + Smith (S. F.) _The Instruction of Converts_ 3 + + STONYHURST PHILOSOPHICAL SERIES 2 + + Stuart (J. E.) _The Education of Catholic Girls_ 13 + + + Thurston (H.) _Lent and Holy Week_ 4 + ---- ---- _The Christian Calendar_ 3 + + + Vacandard (E.) _The Inquisition_ 10 + + + Walker (L. J.) _Theories of Knowledge_ 2 + + Ward (B.) _Dawn of the Catholic Revival in England_ 10 + ---- ---- _Eve of Catholic Emancipation_ 10 + ---- (M.) _St. Bernardine of Siena_ 9 + ---- (Wilfrid) _Aubrey de Vere, a Memoir_ 7 + ---- ---- _Life of Cardinal Newman_ 7, 21 + ---- ---- _Ten Personal Studies_ 8 + ---- ---- _The Life of Cardinal Wiseman_ 7 + ---- (Mrs. Wilfrid) _Great Possessions_ 15 + ---- ---- _One Poor Scruple_ 15 + ---- ---- _Out of Due Time_ 15 + ---- ---- _The Job Secretary_ 15 + ---- ---- _The Light Behind_ 15 + + WESTMINSTER LIBRARY (THE) 3 + + Wiseman (Cardinal) Life, by Wilfrid Ward 7 + + Wyatt-Davies (E.) _History of England for Catholic Schools_ 12 + ---- ---- _Outlines of British History_ 12 + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORICAL SKETCHES, VOLUME I (OF +3)*** + + +******* This file should be named 21859.txt or 21859.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/8/5/21859 + + + +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. 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