Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part III

Without the help of a personal interview, Genseric was
sufficiently acquainted with the genius and designs of his
adversary. He practiced his customary arts of fraud and delay,
but he practiced them without success. His applications for peace
became each hour more submissive, and perhaps more sincere; but
the inflexible Majorian had adopted the ancient maxim, that Rome
could not be safe, as long as Carthage existed in a hostile
state. The king of the Vandals distrusted the valor of his native
subjects, who were enervated by the luxury of the South; 51 he
suspected the fidelity of the vanquished people, who abhorred him
as an Arian tyrant; and the desperate measure, which he executed,
of reducing Mauritania into a desert, 52 could not defeat the
operations of the Roman emperor, who was at liberty to land his
troops on any part of the African coast. But Genseric was saved
from impending and inevitable ruin by the treachery of some
powerful subjects, envious, or apprehensive, of their master’s
success. Guided by their secret intelligence, he surprised the
unguarded fleet in the Bay of Carthagena: many of the ships were
sunk, or taken, or burnt; and the preparations of three years
were destroyed in a single day. 53 After this event, the behavior
of the two antagonists showed them superior to their fortune. The
Vandal, instead of being elated by this accidental victory,
immediately renewed his solicitations for peace. The emperor of
the West, who was capable of forming great designs, and of
supporting heavy disappointments, consented to a treaty, or
rather to a suspension of arms; in the full assurance that,
before he could restore his navy, he should be supplied with
provocations to justify a second war. Majorian returned to Italy,
to prosecute his labors for the public happiness; and, as he was
conscious of his own integrity, he might long remain ignorant of
the dark conspiracy which threatened his throne and his life. The
recent misfortune of Carthagena sullied the glory which had
dazzled the eyes of the multitude; almost every description of
civil and military officers were exasperated against the
Reformer, since they all derived some advantage from the abuses
which he endeavored to suppress; and the patrician Ricimer
impelled the inconstant passions of the Barbarians against a
prince whom he esteemed and hated. The virtues of Majorian could
not protect him from the impetuous sedition, which broke out in
the camp near Tortona, at the foot of the Alps. He was compelled
to abdicate the Imperial purple: five days after his abdication,
it was reported that he died of a dysentery; 54 and the humble
tomb, which covered his remains, was consecrated by the respect
and gratitude of succeeding generations. 55 The private character
of Majorian inspired love and respect. Malicious calumny and
satire excited his indignation, or, if he himself were the
object, his contempt; but he protected the freedom of wit, and,
in the hours which the emperor gave to the familiar society of
his friends, he could indulge his taste for pleasantry, without
degrading the majesty of his rank. 56

51 (return) [

Spoliisque potitus Immensis, robux luxu jam perdidit omne, Quo
valuit dum pauper erat. —Panegyr. Majorian, 330.

He afterwards applies to Genseric, unjustly, as it should seem,
the vices of his subjects.]

52 (return) [ He burnt the villages, and poisoned the springs,
(Priscus, p. 42.) Dubos (Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 475)
observes, that the magazines which the Moors buried in the earth
might escape his destructive search. Two or three hundred pits
are sometimes dug in the same place; and each pit contains at
least four hundred bushels of corn Shaw’s Travels, p. 139.]

53 (return) [ Idatius, who was safe in Gallicia from the power of
Recimer boldly and honestly declares, Vandali per proditeres
admoniti, &c: i. e. dissembles, however, the name of the
traitor.]

54 (return) [ Procop. de Bell. Vandal. l. i. i. c. 8, p. 194. The
testimony of Idatius is fair and impartial: “Majorianum de
Galliis Romam redeuntem, et Romano imperio vel nomini res
necessarias ordinantem; Richimer livore percitus, et invidorum
consilio fultus, fraude interficit circumventum.” Some read
Suevorum, and I am unwilling to efface either of the words, as
they express the different accomplices who united in the
conspiracy against Majorian.]

55 (return) [ See the Epigrams of Ennodius, No. cxxxv. inter
Sirmond. Opera, tom. i. p. 1903. It is flat and obscure; but
Ennodius was made bishop of Pavia fifty years after the death of
Majorian, and his praise deserves credit and regard.]

56 (return) [ Sidonius gives a tedious account (l. i. epist. xi.
p. 25-31) of a supper at Arles, to which he was invited by
Majorian, a short time before his death. He had no intention of
praising a deceased emperor: but a casual disinterested remark,
“Subrisit Augustus; ut erat, auctoritate servata, cum se
communioni dedisset, joci plenus,” outweighs the six hundred
lines of his venal panegyric.]

It was not, perhaps, without some regret, that Ricimer sacrificed
his friend to the interest of his ambition: but he resolved, in a
second choice, to avoid the imprudent preference of superior
virtue and merit. At his command, the obsequious senate of Rome
bestowed the Imperial title on Libius Severus, who ascended the
throne of the West without emerging from the obscurity of a
private condition. History has scarcely deigned to notice his
birth, his elevation, his character, or his death. Severus
expired, as soon as his life became inconvenient to his patron;
57 and it would be useless to discriminate his nominal reign in
the vacant interval of six years, between the death of Majorian
and the elevation of Anthemius. During that period, the
government was in the hands of Ricimer alone; and, although the
modest Barbarian disclaimed the name of king, he accumulated
treasures, formed a separate army, negotiated private alliances,
and ruled Italy with the same independent and despotic authority,
which was afterwards exercised by Odoacer and Theodoric. But his
dominions were bounded by the Alps; and two Roman generals,
Marcellinus and Aegidius, maintained their allegiance to the
republic, by rejecting, with disdain, the phantom which he styled
an emperor. Marcellinus still adhered to the old religion; and
the devout Pagans, who secretly disobeyed the laws of the church
and state, applauded his profound skill in the science of
divination. But he possessed the more valuable qualifications of
learning, virtue, and courage; 58 the study of the Latin
literature had improved his taste; and his military talents had
recommended him to the esteem and confidence of the great Ætius,
in whose ruin he was involved. By a timely flight, Marcellinus
escaped the rage of Valentinian, and boldly asserted his liberty
amidst the convulsions of the Western empire. His voluntary, or
reluctant, submission to the authority of Majorian, was rewarded
by the government of Sicily, and the command of an army,
stationed in that island to oppose, or to attack, the Vandals;
but his Barbarian mercenaries, after the emperor’s death, were
tempted to revolt by the artful liberality of Ricimer. At the
head of a band of faithful followers, the intrepid Marcellinus
occupied the province of Dalmatia, assumed the title of patrician
of the West, secured the love of his subjects by a mild and
equitable reign, built a fleet which claimed the dominion of the
Adriatic, and alternately alarmed the coasts of Italy and of
Africa. 59 Aegidius, the master-general of Gaul, who equalled, or
at least who imitated, the heroes of ancient Rome, 60 proclaimed
his immortal resentment against the assassins of his beloved
master. A brave and numerous army was attached to his standard:
and, though he was prevented by the arts of Ricimer, and the arms
of the Visigoths, from marching to the gates of Rome, he
maintained his independent sovereignty beyond the Alps, and
rendered the name of Aegidius, respectable both in peace and war.
The Franks, who had punished with exile the youthful follies of
Childeric, elected the Roman general for their king: his vanity,
rather than his ambition, was gratified by that singular honor;
and when the nation, at the end of four years, repented of the
injury which they had offered to the Merovingian family, he
patiently acquiesced in the restoration of the lawful prince. The
authority of Aegidius ended only with his life, and the
suspicions of poison and secret violence, which derived some
countenance from the character of Ricimer, were eagerly
entertained by the passionate credulity of the Gauls. 61

57 (return) [ Sidonius (Panegyr. Anthem. 317) dismisses him to
heaven:—Auxerat Augustus naturae lege Severus—Divorum numerum.
And an old list of the emperors, composed about the time of
Justinian, praises his piety, and fixes his residence at Rome,
(Sirmond. Not. ad Sidon. p. 111, 112.)]

58 (return) [ Tillemont, who is always scandalized by the virtues
of infidels, attributes this advantageous portrait of Marcellinus
(which Suidas has preserved) to the partial zeal of some Pagan
historian, (Hist. des Empereurs. tom. vi. p. 330.)]

59 (return) [ Procopius de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 6, p. 191. In
various circumstances of the life of Marcellinus, it is not easy
to reconcile the Greek historian with the Latin Chronicles of the
times.]

60 (return) [ I must apply to Aegidius the praises which Sidonius
(Panegyr Majorian, 553) bestows on a nameless master-general, who
commanded the rear-guard of Majorian. Idatius, from public
report, commends his Christian piety; and Priscus mentions (p.
42) his military virtues.]

61 (return) [ Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 168. The
Pere Daniel, whose ideas were superficial and modern, has started
some objections against the story of Childeric, (Hist. de France,
tom. i. Preface Historique, p. lxxvii., &c.:) but they have been
fairly satisfied by Dubos, (Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 460-510,)
and by two authors who disputed the prize of the Academy of
Soissons, (p. 131-177, 310-339.) With regard to the term of
Childeric’s exile, it is necessary either to prolong the life of
Aegidius beyond the date assigned by the Chronicle of Idatius or
to correct the text of Gregory, by reading quarto anno, instead
of octavo.]

The kingdom of Italy, a name to which the Western empire was
gradually reduced, was afflicted, under the reign of Ricimer, by
the incessant depredations of the Vandal pirates. 62 In the
spring of each year, they equipped a formidable navy in the port
of Carthage; and Genseric himself, though in a very advanced age,
still commanded in person the most important expeditions. His
designs were concealed with impenetrable secrecy, till the moment
that he hoisted sail. When he was asked, by his pilot, what
course he should steer, “Leave the determination to the winds,
(replied the Barbarian, with pious arrogance;) they will
transport us to the guilty coast, whose inhabitants have provoked
the divine justice;” but if Genseric himself deigned to issue
more precise orders, he judged the most wealthy to be the most
criminal. The Vandals repeatedly visited the coasts of Spain,
Liguria, Tuscany, Campania, Lucania, Bruttium, Apulia, Calabria,
Venetia, Dalmatia, Epirus, Greece, and Sicily: they were tempted
to subdue the Island of Sardinia, so advantageously placed in the
centre of the Mediterranean; and their arms spread desolation, or
terror, from the columns of Hercules to the mouth of the Nile. As
they were more ambitious of spoil than of glory, they seldom
attacked any fortified cities, or engaged any regular troops in
the open field. But the celerity of their motions enabled them,
almost at the same time, to threaten and to attack the most
distant objects, which attracted their desires; and as they
always embarked a sufficient number of horses, they had no sooner
landed, than they swept the dismayed country with a body of light
cavalry. Yet, notwithstanding the example of their king, the
native Vandals and Alani insensibly declined this toilsome and
perilous warfare; the hardy generation of the first conquerors
was almost extinguished, and their sons, who were born in Africa,
enjoyed the delicious baths and gardens which had been acquired
by the valor of their fathers. Their place was readily supplied
by a various multitude of Moors and Romans, of captives and
outlaws; and those desperate wretches, who had already violated
the laws of their country, were the most eager to promote the
atrocious acts which disgrace the victories of Genseric. In the
treatment of his unhappy prisoners, he sometimes consulted his
avarice, and sometimes indulged his cruelty; and the massacre of
five hundred noble citizens of Zant or Zacynthus, whose mangled
bodies he cast into the Ionian Sea, was imputed, by the public
indignation, to his latest posterity.

62 (return) [ The naval war of Genseric is described by Priscus,
(Excerpta Legation. p. 42,) Procopius, (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c.
5, p. 189, 190, and c. 22, p. 228,) Victor Vitensis, (de
Persecut. Vandal. l. i. c. 17, and Ruinart, p. 467-481,) and in
three panegyrics of Sidonius, whose chronological order is
absurdly transposed in the editions both of Savaron and Sirmond.
(Avit. Carm. vii. 441-451. Majorian. Carm. v. 327-350, 385-440.
Anthem. Carm. ii. 348-386) In one passage the poet seems inspired
by his subject, and expresses a strong idea by a lively image:—

Hinc Vandalus hostis Urget; et in nostrum numerosa classe
quotannis Militat excidium; conversoque ordine Fati Torrida
Caucaseos infert mihi Byrsa furores]

Such crimes could not be excused by any provocations; but the
war, which the king of the Vandals prosecuted against the Roman
empire was justified by a specious and reasonable motive. The
widow of Valentinian, Eudoxia, whom he had led captive from Rome
to Carthage, was the sole heiress of the Theodosian house; her
elder daughter, Eudocia, became the reluctant wife of Hunneric,
his eldest son; and the stern father, asserting a legal claim,
which could not easily be refuted or satisfied, demanded a just
proportion of the Imperial patrimony. An adequate, or at least a
valuable, compensation, was offered by the Eastern emperor, to
purchase a necessary peace. Eudoxia and her younger daughter,
Placidia, were honorably restored, and the fury of the Vandals
was confined to the limits of the Western empire. The Italians,
destitute of a naval force, which alone was capable of protecting
their coasts, implored the aid of the more fortunate nations of
the East; who had formerly acknowledged, in peace and war, the
supremacy of Rome. But the perpetual divisions of the two empires
had alienated their interest and their inclinations; the faith of
a recent treaty was alleged; and the Western Romans, instead of
arms and ships, could only obtain the assistance of a cold and
ineffectual mediation. The haughty Ricimer, who had long
struggled with the difficulties of his situation, was at length
reduced to address the throne of Constantinople, in the humble
language of a subject; and Italy submitted, as the price and
security of the alliance, to accept a master from the choice of
the emperor of the East. 63 It is not the purpose of the present
chapter, or even of the present volume, to continue the distinct
series of the Byzantine history; but a concise view of the reign
and character of the emperor Leo, may explain the last efforts
that were attempted to save the falling empire of the West. 64

63 (return) [ The poet himself is compelled to acknowledge the
distress of Ricimer:—

Præterea invictus Ricimer, quem publica fata Respiciunt, proprio
solas vix Marte repellit Piratam per rura vagum.

Italy addresses her complaint to the Tyber, and Rome, at the
solicitation of the river god, transports herself to
Constantinople, renounces her ancient claims, and implores the
friendship of Aurora, the goddess of the East. This fabulous
machinery, which the genius of Claudian had used and abused, is
the constant and miserable resource of the muse of Sidonius.]

64 (return) [ The original authors of the reigns of Marcian, Leo,
and Zeno, are reduced to some imperfect fragments, whose
deficiencies must be supplied from the more recent compilations
of Theophanes, Zonaras, and Cedrenus.]

Since the death of the younger Theodosius, the domestic repose of
Constantinople had never been interrupted by war or faction.
Pulcheria had bestowed her hand, and the sceptre of the East, on
the modest virtue of Marcian: he gratefully reverenced her august
rank and virgin chastity; and, after her death, he gave his
people the example of the religious worship that was due to the
memory of the Imperial saint. 65 Attentive to the prosperity of
his own dominions, Marcian seemed to behold, with indifference,
the misfortunes of Rome; and the obstinate refusal of a brave and
active prince, to draw his sword against the Vandals, was
ascribed to a secret promise, which had formerly been exacted
from him when he was a captive in the power of Genseric. 66 The
death of Marcian, after a reign of seven years, would have
exposed the East to the danger of a popular election; if the
superior weight of a single family had not been able to incline
the balance in favor of the candidate whose interest they
supported. The patrician Aspar might have placed the diadem on
his own head, if he would have subscribed the Nicene creed. 67
During three generations, the armies of the East were
successively commanded by his father, by himself, and by his son
Ardaburius; his Barbarian guards formed a military force that
overawed the palace and the capital; and the liberal distribution
of his immense treasures rendered Aspar as popular as he was
powerful. He recommended the obscure name of Leo of Thrace, a
military tribune, and the principal steward of his household. His
nomination was unanimously ratified by the senate; and the
servant of Aspar received the Imperial crown from the hands of
the patriarch or bishop, who was permitted to express, by this
unusual ceremony, the suffrage of the Deity. 68 This emperor, the
first of the name of Leo, has been distinguished by the title of
the Great; from a succession of princes, who gradually fixed in
the opinion of the Greeks a very humble standard of heroic, or at
least of royal, perfection. Yet the temperate firmness with which
Leo resisted the oppression of his benefactor, showed that he was
conscious of his duty and of his prerogative. Aspar was
astonished to find that his influence could no longer appoint a
præfect of Constantinople: he presumed to reproach his sovereign
with a breach of promise, and insolently shaking his purple, “It
is not proper, (said he,) that the man who is invested with this
garment, should be guilty of lying.” “Nor is it proper, (replied
Leo,) that a prince should be compelled to resign his own
judgment, and the public interest, to the will of a subject.”69
After this extraordinary scene, it was impossible that the
reconciliation of the emperor and the patrician could be sincere;
or, at least, that it could be solid and permanent. An army of
Isaurians 70 was secretly levied, and introduced into
Constantinople; and while Leo undermined the authority, and
prepared the disgrace, of the family of Aspar, his mild and
cautious behavior restrained them from any rash and desperate
attempts, which might have been fatal to themselves, or their
enemies. The measures of peace and war were affected by this
internal revolution. As long as Aspar degraded the majesty of the
throne, the secret correspondence of religion and interest
engaged him to favor the cause of Genseric. When Leo had
delivered himself from that ignominious servitude, he listened to
the complaints of the Italians; resolved to extirpate the tyranny
of the Vandals; and declared his alliance with his colleague,
Anthemius, whom he solemnly invested with the diadem and purple
of the West.

65 (return) [ St. Pulcheria died A.D. 453, four years before her
nominal husband; and her festival is celebrated on the 10th of
September by the modern Greeks: she bequeathed an immense
patrimony to pious, or, at least, to ecclesiastical, uses. See
Tillemont, Mémoires Eccles. tom. xv p. 181-184.]

66 (return) [ See Procopius, de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 4, p.
185.]

67 (return) [ From this disability of Aspar to ascend the throne,
it may be inferred that the stain of Heresy was perpetual and
indelible, while that of Barbarism disappeared in the second
generation.]

68 (return) [ Theophanes, p. 95. This appears to be the first
origin of a ceremony, which all the Christian princes of the
world have since adopted and from which the clergy have deduced
the most formidable consequences.]

69 (return) [ Cedrenus, (p. 345, 346,) who was conversant with
the writers of better days, has preserved the remarkable words of
Aspar.]

70 (return) [ The power of the Isaurians agitated the Eastern
empire in the two succeeding reigns of Zeno and Anastasius; but
it ended in the destruction of those Barbarians, who maintained
their fierce independences about two hundred and thirty years.]

The virtues of Anthemius have perhaps been magnified, since the
Imperial descent, which he could only deduce from the usurper
Procopius, has been swelled into a line of emperors. 71 But the
merit of his immediate parents, their honors, and their riches,
rendered Anthemius one of the most illustrious subjects of the
East. His father, Procopius, obtained, after his Persian embassy,
the rank of general and patrician; and the name of Anthemius was
derived from his maternal grandfather, the celebrated præfect,
who protected, with so much ability and success, the infant reign
of Theodosius. The grandson of the præfect was raised above the
condition of a private subject, by his marriage with Euphemia,
the daughter of the emperor Marcian. This splendid alliance,
which might supersede the necessity of merit, hastened the
promotion of Anthemius to the successive dignities of count, of
master-general, of consul, and of patrician; and his merit or
fortune claimed the honors of a victory, which was obtained on
the banks of the Danube, over the Huns. Without indulging an
extravagant ambition, the son-in-law of Marcian might hope to be
his successor; but Anthemius supported the disappointment with
courage and patience; and his subsequent elevation was
universally approved by the public, who esteemed him worthy to
reign, till he ascended the throne. 72 The emperor of the West
marched from Constantinople, attended by several counts of high
distinction, and a body of guards almost equal to the strength
and numbers of a regular army: he entered Rome in triumph, and
the choice of Leo was confirmed by the senate, the people, and
the Barbarian confederates of Italy. 73 The solemn inauguration
of Anthemius was followed by the nuptials of his daughter and the
patrician Ricimer; a fortunate event, which was considered as the
firmest security of the union and happiness of the state. The
wealth of two empires was ostentatiously displayed; and many
senators completed their ruin, by an expensive effort to disguise
their poverty. All serious business was suspended during this
festival; the courts of justice were shut; the streets of Rome,
the theatres, the places of public and private resort, resounded
with hymeneal songs and dances: and the royal bride, clothed in
silken robes, with a crown on her head, was conducted to the
palace of Ricimer, who had changed his military dress for the
habit of a consul and a senator. On this memorable occasion,
Sidonius, whose early ambition had been so fatally blasted,
appeared as the orator of Auvergne, among the provincial deputies
who addressed the throne with congratulations or complaints. 74
The calends of January were now approaching, and the venal poet,
who had loved Avitus, and esteemed Majorian, was persuaded by his
friends to celebrate, in heroic verse, the merit, the felicity,
the second consulship, and the future triumphs, of the emperor
Anthemius. Sidonius pronounced, with assurance and success, a
panegyric which is still extant; and whatever might be the
imperfections, either of the subject or of the composition, the
welcome flatterer was immediately rewarded with the præfecture
of Rome; a dignity which placed him among the illustrious
personages of the empire, till he wisely preferred the more
respectable character of a bishop and a saint. 75

71 (return) [

Tali tu civis ab urbe Procopio genitore micas; cui prisca propago
Augustis venit a proavis.

The poet (Sidon. Panegyr. Anthem. 67-306) then proceeds to relate
the private life and fortunes of the future emperor, with which
he must have been imperfectly acquainted.]

72 (return) [ Sidonius discovers, with tolerable ingenuity, that
this disappointment added new lustre to the virtues of Anthemius,
(210, &c.,) who declined one sceptre, and reluctantly accepted
another, (22, &c.)]

73 (return) [ The poet again celebrates the unanimity of all
orders of the state, (15-22;) and the Chronicle of Idatius
mentions the forces which attended his march.]

74 (return) [ Interveni autem nuptiis Patricii Ricimeris, cui
filia perennis Augusti in spem publicae securitatis copulabator.
The journey of Sidonius from Lyons, and the festival of Rome, are
described with some spirit. L. i. epist. 5, p. 9-13, epist. 9, p.
21.]

75 (return) [ Sidonius (l. i. epist. 9, p. 23, 24) very fairly
states his motive, his labor, and his reward. “Hic ipse
Panegyricus, si non judicium, certa eventum, boni operis,
accepit.” He was made bishop of Clermont, A.D. 471. Tillemont,
Mem. Eccles. tom. xvi. p. 750.]

The Greeks ambitiously commend the piety and catholic faith of
the emperor whom they gave to the West; nor do they forget to
observe, that when he left Constantinople, he converted his
palace into the pious foundation of a public bath, a church, and
a hospital for old men. 76 Yet some suspicious appearances are
found to sully the theological fame of Anthemius. From the
conversation of Philotheus, a Macedonian sectary, he had imbibed
the spirit of religious toleration; and the Heretics of Rome
would have assembled with impunity, if the bold and vehement
censure which Pope Hilary pronounced in the church of St. Peter,
had not obliged him to abjure the unpopular indulgence. 77 Even
the Pagans, a feeble and obscure remnant, conceived some vain
hopes, from the indifference, or partiality, of Anthemius; and
his singular friendship for the philosopher Severus, whom he
promoted to the consulship, was ascribed to a secret project, of
reviving the ancient worship of the gods. 78 These idols were
crumbled into dust: and the mythology which had once been the
creed of nations, was so universally disbelieved, that it might
be employed without scandal, or at least without suspicion, by
Christian poets. 79 Yet the vestiges of superstition were not
absolutely obliterated, and the festival of the Lupercalia, whose
origin had preceded the foundation of Rome, was still celebrated
under the reign of Anthemius. The savage and simple rites were
expressive of an early state of society before the invention of
arts and agriculture. The rustic deities who presided over the
toils and pleasures of the pastoral life, Pan, Faunus, and their
train of satyrs, were such as the fancy of shepherds might
create, sportive, petulant, and lascivious; whose power was
limited, and whose malice was inoffensive. A goat was the
offering the best adapted to their character and attributes; the
flesh of the victim was roasted on willow spits; and the riotous
youths, who crowded to the feast, ran naked about the fields,
with leather thongs in their hands, communicating, as it was
supposed, the blessing of fecundity to the women whom they
touched. 80 The altar of Pan was erected, perhaps by Evander the
Arcadian, in a dark recess in the side of the Palantine hill,
watered by a perpetual fountain, and shaded by a hanging grove. A
tradition, that, in the same place, Romulus and Remus were
suckled by the wolf, rendered it still more sacred and venerable
in the eyes of the Romans; and this sylvan spot was gradually
surrounded by the stately edifices of the Forum. 81 After the
conversion of the Imperial city, the Christians still continued,
in the month of February, the annual celebration of the
Lupercalia; to which they ascribed a secret and mysterious
influence on the genial powers of the animal and vegetable world.

The bishops of Rome were solicitous to abolish a profane custom,
so repugnant to the spirit of Christianity; but their zeal was
not supported by the authority of the civil magistrate: the
inveterate abuse subsisted till the end of the fifth century, and
Pope Gelasius, who purified the capital from the last stain of
idolatry, appeased by a formal apology, the murmurs of the senate
and people. 82

76 (return) [ The palace of Anthemius stood on the banks of the
Propontis. In the ninth century, Alexius, the son-in-law of the
emperor Theophilus, obtained permission to purchase the ground;
and ended his days in a monastery which he founded on that
delightful spot. Ducange Constantinopolis Christiana, p. 117,
152.]

77 (return) [ Papa Hilarius... apud beatum Petrum Apostolum,
palam ne id fieret, clara voce constrinxit, in tantum ut non ea
facienda cum interpositione juramenti idem promitteret Imperator.
Gelasius Epistol ad Andronicum, apud Baron. A.D. 467, No. 3. The
cardinal observes, with some complacency, that it was much easier
to plant heresies at Constantinople, than at Rome.]

78 (return) [ Damascius, in the life of the philosopher Isidore,
apud Photium, p. 1049. Damascius, who lived under Justinian,
composed another work, consisting of 570 praeternatural stories
of souls, daemons, apparitions, the dotage of Platonic Paganism.]

79 (return) [ In the poetical works of Sidonius, which he
afterwards condemned, (l. ix. epist. 16, p. 285,) the fabulous
deities are the principal actors. If Jerom was scourged by the
angels for only reading Virgil, the bishop of Clermont, for such
a vile imitation, deserved an additional whipping from the
Muses.]

80 (return) [ Ovid (Fast. l. ii. 267-452) has given an amusing
description of the follies of antiquity, which still inspired so
much respect, that a grave magistrate, running naked through the
streets, was not an object of astonishment or laughter.]

81 (return) [ See Dionys. Halicarn. l. i. p. 25, 65, edit.
Hudson. The Roman antiquaries Donatus (l. ii. c. 18, p. 173, 174)
and Nardini (p. 386, 387) have labored to ascertain the true
situation of the Lupercal.]

82 (return) [ Baronius published, from the MSS. of the Vatican,
this epistle of Pope Gelasius, (A.D. 496, No. 28-45,) which is
entitled Adversus Andromachum Senatorem, caeterosque Romanos, qui
Lupercalia secundum morem pristinum colenda constituebant.
Gelasius always supposes that his adversaries are nominal
Christians, and, that he may not yield to them in absurd
prejudice, he imputes to this harmless festival all the
calamities of the age.]