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 Galilæans;
and faintly complains, that they had revenged the injuries of the
gods with less moderation than he should have recommended. 117
This imperfect and reluctant confession may appear to confirm the
ecclesiastical narratives; that in the cities of Gaza, Ascalon,
Cæsarea, 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. 118 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.

117 (return) [ Julian. Misopogon, p. 361.]

118 (return) [ See Gregory Nazianzen, (Orat. iii. p. 87.) Sozomen
(l. v. c. 9) may be considered as an original, though not
impartial, witness. He was a native of Gaza, and had conversed
with the confessor Zeno, who, as bishop of Maiuma, lived to the
age of a hundred, (l. vii. c. 28.) Philostorgius (l. vii. c. 4,
with Godefroy’s Dissertations, p. 284) adds some tragic
circumstances, of Christians who were _literally_ sacrificed at
the altars of the gods, &c.]

George, 119 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, 120 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 Cæsars, 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; 12011 and the inactivity of the Athanasian party
121 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. 122 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. 123 The odious
stranger, disguising every circumstance of time and place,
assumed the mask of a martyr, a saint, and a Christian hero; 124
and the infamous George of Cappadocia has been transformed 125
into the renowned St. George of England, the patron of arms, of
chivalry, and of the garter. 126

119 (return) [ The life and death of George of Cappadocia are
described by Ammianus, (xxii. 11,) Gregory of Nazianzen, (Orat.
xxi. p. 382, 385, 389, 390,) and Epiphanius, (Hæres. lxxvi.) The
invectives of the two saints might not deserve much credit,
unless they were confirmed by the testimony of the cool and
impartial infidel.]

120 (return) [ After the massacre of George, the emperor Julian
repeatedly sent orders to preserve the library for his own use,
and to torture the slaves who might be suspected of secreting any
books. He praises the merit of the collection, from whence he had
borrowed and transcribed several manuscripts while he pursued his
studies in Cappadocia. He could wish, indeed, that the works of
the Galiæans might perish but he requires an exact account even
of those theological volumes lest other treatises more valuable
should be confounded in their less Julian. Epist. ix. xxxvi.]

12011 (return) [ Julian himself says, that they tore him to
pieces like dogs, Epist. x.—M.]

121 (return) [ Philostorgius, with cautious malice, insinuates
their guilt, l. vii. c. ii. Godefroy p. 267.]

122 (return) [ Cineres projecit in mare, id metuens ut clamabat,
ne, collectis supremis, ædes illis exstruerentur ut reliquis, qui
deviare a religione compulsi, pertulere, cruciabiles pœnas,
adusque gloriosam mortem intemeratâ fide progressi, et nunc
Martyres appellantur. Ammian. xxii. 11. Epiphanius proves to the
Arians, that George was not a martyr.]

123 (return) [ Some Donatists (Optatus Milev. p. 60, 303, edit.
Dupin; and Tillemont, Mém. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 713, in 4to.) and
Priscillianists (Tillemont, Mém. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 517, in
4to.) have in like manner usurped the honors of the Catholic
saints and martyrs.]

124 (return) [ The saints of Cappadocia, Basil, and the
Gregories, were ignorant of their holy companion. Pope Gelasius,
(A. D. 494,) the first Catholic who acknowledges St. George,
places him among the martyrs “qui Deo magis quam hominibus noti
sunt.” He rejects his Acts as the composition of heretics. Some,
perhaps, not the oldest, of the spurious Acts, are still extant;
and, through a cloud of fiction, we may yet distinguish the
combat which St. George of Cappadocia sustained, in the presence
of Queen _Alexandria_, against the _magician Athanasius_.]

125 (return) [ This transformation is not given as absolutely
certain, but as _extremely_ probable. See the Longueruana, tom.
i. p. 194. ——Note: The late Dr. Milner (the Roman Catholic
bishop) wrote a tract to vindicate the existence and the
orthodoxy of the tutelar saint of England. He succeeds, I think,
in tracing the worship of St. George up to a period which makes
it improbable that so notorious an Arian could be palmed upon the
Catholic church as a saint and a martyr. The Acts rejected by
Gelasius may have been of Arian origin, and designed to ingraft
the story of their hero on the obscure adventures of some earlier
saint. See an Historical and Critical Inquiry into the Existence
and Character of Saint George, in a letter to the Earl of
Leicester, by the Rev. J. Milner. F. S. A. London 1792.—M.]

126 (return) [ A curious history of the worship of St. George,
from the sixth century, (when he was already revered in
Palestine, in Armenia at Rome, and at Treves in Gaul,) might be
extracted from Dr. Heylin (History of St. George, 2d edition,
London, 1633, in 4to. p. 429) and the Bollandists, (Act. Ss.
Mens. April. tom. iii. p. 100-163.) His fame and popularity in
Europe, and especially in England, proceeded from the Crusades.]

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, 127 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 Galilæans. 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. 128

127 (return) [ Julian. Epist. xliii.]

128 (return) [ Julian. Epist. x. He allowed his friends to
assuage his anger Ammian. xxii. 11.]

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. 129 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, 130 the fear of the common enemy promoted the peace and
harmony of the Christians. 131

129 (return) [ See Athanas. ad Rufin. tom. ii. p. 40, 41, and
Greg. Nazianzen Orat. iii. p. 395, 396; who justly states the
temperate zeal of the primate, as much more meritorious than his
prayers, his fasts, his persecutions, &c.]

130 (return) [ I have not leisure to follow the blind obstinacy
of Lucifer of Cagliari. See his adventures in Tillemont, (Mém.
Eccles. tom. vii. p. 900-926;) and observe how the color of the
narrative insensibly changes, as the confessor becomes a
schismatic.]

131 (return) [ Assensus est huic sententiæ Occidens, et, per tam
necessarium conilium, Satanæ faucibus mundus ereptus. The lively
and artful dialogue of Jerom against the Luciferians (tom. ii. p.
135-155) exhibits an original picture of the ecclesiastical
policy of the times.]

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. 132 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 Galilæans, 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, præfect 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.” 133 The death of Athanasius was not _expressly_
commanded; but the præfect 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 Galilæan school were contained in the single person
of Athanasius. 134 13411

132 (return) [ Tillemont, who supposes that George was massacred
in August crowds the actions of Athanasius into a narrow space,
(Mém. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 360.) An original fragment, published
by the Marquis Maffei, from the old Chapter library of Verona,
(Osservazioni Letterarie, tom. iii. p. 60-92,) affords many
important dates, which are authenticated by the computation of
Egyptian months.]

133 (return) [ I have preserved the ambiguous sense of the last
word, the ambiguity of a tyrant who wished to find, or to create,
guilt.]

134 (return) [ The three epistles of Julian, which explain his
intentions and conduct with regard to Athanasius, should be
disposed in the following chronological order, xxvi. x. vi. * See
likewise, Greg. Nazianzen xxi. p. 393. Sozomen, l. v. c. 15.
Socrates, l. iii. c. 14. Theodoret, l iii. c. 9, and Tillemont,
Mém. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 361-368, who has used some materials
prepared by the Bollandists.]

13411 (return) [ The sentence in the text is from Epist. li.
addressed to the people of Alexandria.—M.]

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, 135 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. 136 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 Cæsarea 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. 137 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. 138 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. 139 Every calumny 140
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. 141

135 (return) [ See the fair confession of Gregory, (Orat. iii. p.
61, 62.)]

136 (return) [ Hear the furious and absurd complaint of Optatus,
(de Schismat Denatist. l. ii. c. 16, 17.)]

137 (return) [ Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iii. p. 91, iv. p. 133. He
praises the rioters of Cæsarea. See Sozomen, l. v. 4, 11.
Tillemont (Mém. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 649, 650) owns, that their
behavior was not dans l’ordre commun: but he is perfectly
satisfied, as the great St. Basil always celebrated the festival
of these blessed martyrs.]

138 (return) [ Julian determined a lawsuit against the new
Christian city at Maiuma, the port of Gaza; and his sentence,
though it might be imputed to bigotry, was never reversed by his
successors. Sozomen, l. v. c. 3. Reland, Palestin. tom. ii. p.
791.]

139 (return) [ Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 93, 94, 95. Orat. iv. p.
114) pretends to speak from the information of Julian’s
confidants, whom Orosius (vii. 30) could not have seen.]

140 (return) [ Gregory (Orat. iii. p. 91) charges the Apostate
with secret sacrifices of boys and girls; and positively affirms,
that the dead bodies were thrown into the Orontes. See Theodoret,
l. iii. c. 26, 27; and the equivocal candor of the Abbé de la
Bleterie, Vie de Julien, p. 351, 352. Yet _contemporary_ malice
could not impute to Julian the troops of martyrs, more especially
in the West, which Baronius so greedily swallows, and Tillemont
so faintly rejects, (Mém. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 1295-1315.)]

141 (return) [ The resignation of Gregory is truly edifying,
(Orat. iv. p. 123, 124.) Yet, when an officer of Julian attempted
to seize the church of Nazianzus, he would have lost his life, if
he had not yielded to the zeal of the bishop and people, (Orat.
xix. p. 308.) See the reflections of Chrysostom, as they are
alleged by Tillemont, (Mém. Eccles. tom. vii. p. 575.)]