History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, by Edward Gibbon, Esq.
With notes by the Rev. H. H. Milman
Vol. 2
1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)
Chapter XXIII: Reign of Julian. -- Part
V.
The zeal of the ministers of Julian was instantly checked by
the frown of their sovereign; but when the father of his country
declares himself the leader of a faction, the license of popular
fury cannot easily be restrained, nor consistently punished.
Julian, in a public composition, applauds the devotion and
loyalty of the holy cities of Syria, whose pious inhabitants had
destroyed, at the first signal, the sepulchres of the
Galilaeans; and faintly complains, that they had revenged
the injuries of the gods with less moderation than he should have
recommended. This imperfect and reluctant confession may appear
to confirm the ecclesiastical narratives; that in the cities of
Gaza, Ascalon, Caesarea, Heliopolis, &c., the Pagans
abused, without prudence or remorse, the moment of their
prosperity. That the unhappy objects of their cruelty were
released from torture only by death; and as their mangled bodies
were dragged through the streets, they were pierced (such was the
universal rage) by the spits of cooks, and the distaffs of
enraged women; and that the entrails of Christian priests and
virgins, after they had been tasted by those bloody fanatics,
were mixed with barley, and contemptuously thrown to the unclean
animals of the city. Such scenes of religious madness exhibit the
most contemptible and odious picture of human nature; but the
massacre of Alexandria attracts still more attention, from the
certainty of the fact, the rank of the victims, and the splendor
of the capital of Egypt.
George, from his parents or his education, surnamed the
Cappadocian, was born at Epiphania in Cilicia, in a fuller's
shop. From this obscure and servile origin he raised himself by
the talents of a parasite; and the patrons, whom he assiduously
flattered, procured for their worthless dependent a lucrative
commission, or contract, to supply the army with bacon. His
employment was mean; he rendered it infamous. He accumulated
wealth by the basest arts of fraud and corruption; but his
malversations were so notorious, that George was compelled to
escape from the pursuits of justice. After this disgrace, in
which he appears to have saved his fortune at the expense of his
honor, he embraced, with real or affected zeal, the profession of
Arianism. From the love, or the ostentation, of learning, he
collected a valuable library of history rhetoric, philosophy, and
theology, and the choice of the prevailing faction promoted
George of Cappadocia to the throne of Athanasius. The entrance of
the new archbishop was that of a Barbarian conqueror; and each
moment of his reign was polluted by cruelty and avarice. The
Catholics of Alexandria and Egypt were abandoned to a tyrant,
qualified, by nature and education, to exercise the office of
persecution; but he oppressed with an impartial hand the various
inhabitants of his extensive diocese. The primate of Egypt
assumed the pomp and insolence of his lofty station; but he still
betrayed the vices of his base and servile extraction. The
merchants of Alexandria were impoverished by the unjust, and
almost universal, monopoly, which he acquired, of nitre, salt,
paper, funerals, &c.: and the spiritual father of a great
people condescended to practise the vile and pernicious arts of
an informer. The Alexandrians could never forget, nor forgive,
the tax, which he suggested, on all the houses of the city; under
an obsolete claim, that the royal founder had conveyed to his
successors, the Ptolemies and the Caesars, the perpetual
property of the soil. The Pagans, who had been flattered with the
hopes of freedom and toleration, excited his devout avarice; and
the rich temples of Alexandria were either pillaged or insulted
by the haughty prince, who exclaimed, in a loud and threatening
tone, "How long will these sepulchres be permitted to stand?"
Under the reign of Constantius, he was expelled by the fury, or
rather by the justice, of the people; and it was not without a
violent struggle, that the civil and military powers of the state
could restore his authority, and gratify his revenge. The
messenger who proclaimed at Alexandria the accession of Julian,
announced the downfall of the archbishop. George, with two of his
obsequious ministers, Count Diodorus, and Dracontius, master of
the mint were ignominiously dragged in chains to the public
prison. At the end of twenty-four days, the prison was forced
open by the rage of a superstitious multitude, impatient of the
tedious forms of judicial proceedings. The enemies of gods and
men expired under their cruel insults; the lifeless bodies of the
archbishop and his associates were carried in triumph through the
streets on the back of a camel; * and the inactivity of the
Athanasian party was esteemed a shining example of evangelical
patience. The remains of these guilty wretches were thrown into
the sea; and the popular leaders of the tumult declared their
resolution to disappoint the devotion of the Christians, and to
intercept the future honors of these
martyrs, who had been punished, like
their predecessors, by the enemies of their religion. The fears
of the Pagans were just, and their precautions ineffectual. The
meritorious death of the archbishop obliterated the memory of his
life. The rival of Athanasius was dear and sacred to the Arians,
and the seeming conversion of those sectaries introduced his
worship into the bosom of the Catholic church. The odious
stranger, disguising every circumstance of time and place,
assumed the mask of a martyr, a saint, and a Christian hero; and
the infamous George of Cappadocia has been transformed into the
renowned St. George of England, the patron of arms, of chivalry,
and of the garter.
About the same time that Julian was informed of the tumult of
Alexandria, he received intelligence from Edessa, that the proud
and wealthy faction of the Arians had insulted the weakness of
the Valentinians, and committed such disorders as ought not to be
suffered with impunity in a well-regulated state. Without
expecting the slow forms of justice, the exasperated prince
directed his mandate to the magistrates of Edessa, by which he
confiscated the whole property of the church: the money was
distributed among the soldiers; the lands were added to the
domain; and this act of oppression was aggravated by the most
ungenerous irony. "I show myself," says Julian, "the true friend
of the Galilaeans. Their admirable
law has promised the kingdom of heaven to the poor; and they will
advance with more diligence in the paths of virtue and salvation,
when they are relieved by my assistance from the load of temporal
possessions. Take care," pursued the monarch, in a more serious
tone, "take care how you provoke my patience and humanity. If
these disorders continue, I will revenge on the magistrates the
crimes of the people; and you will have reason to dread, not only
confiscation and exile, but fire and the sword." The tumults of
Alexandria were doubtless of a more bloody and dangerous nature:
but a Christian bishop had fallen by the hands of the Pagans; and
the public epistle of Julian affords a very lively proof of the
partial spirit of his administration. His reproaches to the
citizens of Alexandria are mingled with expressions of esteem and
tenderness; and he laments, that, on this occasion, they should
have departed from the gentle and generous manners which attested
their Grecian extraction. He gravely censures the offence which
they had committed against the laws of justice and humanity; but
he recapitulates, with visible complacency, the intolerable
provocations which they had so long endured from the impious
tyranny of George of Cappadocia. Julian admits the principle,
that a wise and vigorous government should chastise the insolence
of the people; yet, in consideration of their founder Alexander,
and of Serapis their tutelar deity, he grants a free and gracious
pardon to the guilty city, for which he again feels the affection
of a brother.
After the tumult of Alexandria had subsided, Athanasius,
amidst the public acclamations, seated himself on the throne from
whence his unworthy competitor had been precipitated: and as the
zeal of the archbishop was tempered with discretion, the exercise
of his authority tended not to inflame, but to reconcile, the
minds of the people. His pastoral labors were not confined to the
narrow limits of Egypt. The state of the Christian world was
present to his active and capacious mind; and the age, the merit,
the reputation of Athanasius, enabled him to assume, in a moment
of danger, the office of Ecclesiastical Dictator. Three years
were not yet elapsed since the majority of the bishops of the
West had ignorantly, or reluctantly, subscribed the Confession of
Rimini. They repented, they believed, but they dreaded the
unseasonable rigor of their orthodox brethren; and if their pride
was stronger than their faith, they might throw themselves into
the arms of the Arians, to escape the indignity of a public
penance, which must degrade them to the condition of obscure
laymen. At the same time the domestic differences concerning the
union and distinction of the divine persons, were agitated with
some heat among the Catholic doctors; and the progress of this
metaphysical controversy seemed to threaten a public and lasting
division of the Greek and Latin churches. By the wisdom of a
select synod, to which the name and presence of Athanasius gave
the authority of a general council, the bishops, who had unwarily
deviated into error, were admitted to the communion of the
church, on the easy condition of subscribing the Nicene Creed;
without any formal acknowledgment of their past fault, or any
minute definition of their scholastic opinions. The advice of the
primate of Egypt had already prepared the clergy of Gaul and
Spain, of Italy and Greece, for the reception of this salutary
measure; and, notwithstanding the opposition of some ardent
spirits, the fear of the common enemy promoted the peace and
harmony of the Christians.
The skill and diligence of the primate of Egypt had improved
the season of tranquillity, before it was interrupted by the
hostile edicts of the emperor. Julian, who despised the
Christians, honored Athanasius with his sincere and peculiar
hatred. For his sake alone, he introduced an arbitrary
distinction, repugnant at least to the spirit of his former
declarations. He maintained, that the Galilaeans, whom he
had recalled from exile, were not restored, by that general
indulgence, to the possession of their respective churches; and
he expressed his astonishment, that a criminal, who had been
repeatedly condemned by the judgment of the emperors, should dare
to insult the majesty of the laws, and insolently usurp the
archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria, without expecting the orders
of his sovereign. As a punishment for the imaginary offence, he
again banished Athanasius from the city; and he was pleased to
suppose, that this act of justice would be highly agreeable to
his pious subjects. The pressing solicitations of the people soon
convinced him, that the majority of the Alexandrians were
Christians; and that the greatest part of the Christians were
firmly attached to the cause of their oppressed primate. But the
knowledge of their sentiments, instead of persuading him to
recall his decree, provoked him to extend to all Egypt the term
of the exile of Athanasius. The zeal of the multitude rendered
Julian still more inexorable: he was alarmed by the danger of
leaving at the head of a tumultuous city, a daring and popular
leader; and the language of his resentment discovers the opinion
which he entertained of the courage and abilities of Athanasius.
The execution of the sentence was still delayed, by the caution
or negligence of Ecdicius, praefect of Egypt, who was at
length awakened from his lethargy by a severe reprimand. "Though
you neglect," says Julian, "to write to me on any other subject,
at least it is your duty to inform me of your conduct towards
Athanasius, the enemy of the gods. My intentions have been long
since communicated to you. I swear by the great Serapis, that
unless, on the calends of December, Athanasius has departed from
Alexandria, nay, from Egypt, the officers of your government
shall pay a fine of one hundred pounds of gold. You know my
temper: I am slow to condemn, but I am still slower to forgive."
This epistle was enforced by a short postscript, written with the
emperor's own hand. "The contempt that is shown for all the gods
fills me with grief and indignation. There is nothing that I
should see, nothing that I should hear, with more pleasure, than
the expulsion of Athanasius from all Egypt. The abominable
wretch! Under my reign, the baptism of several Grecian ladies of
the highest rank has been the effect of his persecutions." The
death of Athanasius was not expressly
commanded; but the praefect of Egypt understood that it was
safer for him to exceed, than to neglect, the orders of an
irritated master. The archbishop prudently retired to the
monasteries of the Desert; eluded, with his usual dexterity, the
snares of the enemy; and lived to triumph over the ashes of a
prince, who, in words of formidable import, had declared his wish
that the whole venom of the Galilaean school were contained
in the single person of Athanasius.
I have endeavored faithfully to represent the artful system by which Julian proposed to obtain the effects, without incurring the guilt, or reproach, of persecution. But if the deadly spirit of fanaticism perverted the heart and understanding of a virtuous prince, it must, at the same time, be confessed that the real sufferings of the Christians were inflamed and magnified by human passions and religious enthusiasm. The meekness and resignation which had distinguished the primitive disciples of the gospel, was the object of the applause, rather than of the imitation of their successors. The Christians, who had now possessed above forty years the civil and ecclesiastical government of the empire, had contracted the insolent vices of prosperity, and the habit of believing that the saints alone were entitled to reign over the earth. As soon as the enmity of Julian deprived the clergy of the privileges which had been conferred by the favor of Constantine, they complained of the most cruel oppression; and the free toleration of idolaters and heretics was a subject of grief and scandal to the orthodox party. The acts of violence, which were no longer countenanced by the magistrates, were still committed by the zeal of the people. At Pessinus, the altar of Cybele was overturned almost in the presence of the emperor; and in the city of Caesarea in Cappadocia, the temple of Fortune, the sole place of worship which had been left to the Pagans, was destroyed by the rage of a popular tumult. On these occasions, a prince, who felt for the honor of the gods, was not disposed to interrupt the course of justice; and his mind was still more deeply exasperated, when he found that the fanatics, who had deserved and suffered the punishment of incendiaries, were rewarded with the honors of martyrdom. The Christian subjects of Julian were assured of the hostile designs of their sovereign; and, to their jealous apprehension, every circumstance of his government might afford some grounds of discontent and suspicion. In the ordinary administration of the laws, the Christians, who formed so large a part of the people, must frequently be condemned: but their indulgent brethren, without examining the merits of the cause, presumed their innocence, allowed their claims, and imputed the severity of their judge to the partial malice of religious persecution. These present hardships, intolerable as they might appear, were represented as a slight prelude of the impending calamities. The Christians considered Julian as a cruel and crafty tyrant; who suspended the execution of his revenge till he should return victorious from the Persian war. They expected, that as soon as he had triumphed over the foreign enemies of Rome, he would lay aside the irksome mask of dissimulation; that the amphitheatre would stream with the blood of hermits and bishops; and that the Christians who still persevered in the profession of the faith, would be deprived of the common benefits of nature and society. Every calumny that could wound the reputation of the Apostate, was credulously embraced by the fears and hatred of his adversaries; and their indiscreet clamors provoked the temper of a sovereign, whom it was their duty to respect, and their interest to flatter. They still protested, that prayers and tears were their only weapons against the impious tyrant, whose head they devoted to the justice of offended Heaven. But they insinuated, with sullen resolution, that their submission was no longer the effect of weakness; and that, in the imperfect state of human virtue, the patience, which is founded on principle, may be exhausted by persecution. It is impossible to determine how far the zeal of Julian would have prevailed over his good sense and humanity; but if we seriously reflect on the strength and spirit of the church, we shall be convinced, that before the emperor could have extinguished the religion of Christ, he must have involved his country in the horrors of a civil war.
