Final Destruction of Paganism. Introduction of the Worship of Saints and Relics among the Christians
The destruction of the Pagan religion, A.D. 378-395
THE ruin of Paganism, in the age of Theodosius, is perhaps
the only example of the total extirpation of any ancient and
popular superstition, and may therefore deserve to be
considered as a singular event in the history of the human
mind. The Christians, more especially the clergy, had
impatiently supported the prudent delays of Constantine and
the equal toleration of the elder Valentinian; nor could
they deem their conquest perfect or secure as long as their
adversaries were permitted to exist. The influence which
Ambrose and his brethren had acquired over the youth of
Gratian and the piety of Theodosius was employed to infuse
the maxims of persecution into the breasts of the Imperial
proselytes. Two specious principles of religious
jurisprudence were established, from whence they deduced a
direct and rigorous conclusion against the subjects of the
empire who still adhered to the ceremonies of their
ancestors: that the magistrate is, in some measure, guilty
of the crimes which he neglects to prohibit or to punish;
and that the idolatrous worship of fabulous deities and real
daemons is the most abominable crime against the supreme
majesty of the Creator. The laws of Moses and the examples
of Jewish history (1) were hastily, perhaps erroneously,
applied by the clergy to the mild and universal reign of
Christianity.(2) The zeal of the emperors was excited to
vindicate their own honour and that of the Deity; and the
temples of the Roman world were subverted about sixty years
after the conversion of Constantine.
State of Paganism in Rome
From the age of Numa to the reign of Gratian, the Romans
preserved the regular succession of the several colleges of
the sacerdotal order. (3) Fifteen PONTIFFs exercised their supreme jurisdiction over all things and persons that were consecrated to the service of the gods; and the various
questions which perpetually arose in a loose and traditionary system were submitted to the judgment of their holy tribunal. Fifteen grave and learned AUGURS observed the face of the heavens, and prescribed the actions of heroes
according to the flight of birds. Fifteen keepers of the Sibylline books (their name of QUINDECEMVIRS was derived from their number) occasionally consulted the history of future, and, as it should seem, of contingent events. Six VESTALS devoted their virginity to the guard of the sacred fire and of the unknown pledges of the duration of Rome, which no mortal had been suffered to behold with impunity.(4) Seven EPULOS prepared the table of the gods, conducted the solemn procession, and regulated the ceremonies of the annual festival. The three FLAMENS of Jupiter, of Mars, and of Quirinus, were considered as the peculiar ministers of
the three most powerful deities, who watched over the fate
of Rome and of the universe. The KING of the SACRIFICES
represented the person of Numa and of his successors in the
religious functions, which could be performed only by royal
hands. The confraternities of the SALIANS, the LUPERCALS,
etc., practised such rites as might extort a smile of
contempt from every reasonable man, with a lively confidence
of recommending themselves to the favour of the immortal
gods. The authority which the Roman priests had formerly
obtained in the counsels of the republic was gradually
abolished by the establishment of monarchy and the removal
of the seat of empire. But the dignity of their sacred
character was still protected by the laws and manners of
their country; and they still continued, more especially the
college of pontiffs, to exercise in the capital, and
sometimes in the provinces, the rights of their
ecclesiastical and civil jurisdiction. Their robes of
purple, chariots of state, and sumptuous entertainments
attracted the admiration of the people; and they received,
from the consecrated lands and the public revenue, an ample
stipend, which liberally supported the splendour of the
priesthood and all the expenses of the religious worship of
the state. As the service of the altar was not incompatible
with the command of armies, the Romans, after their
consulships and triumphs, aspired to the place of pontiff or
of augur; the seats of Cicero(5) and Pompey were filled, in
the fourth century, by the most illustrious members of the
senate; and the dignity of their birth reflected additional
splendour on their sacerdotal character. The fifteen priests
who composed the college of pontiffs enjoyed a more
distinguished rank as the companions of their sovereign; and
the Christian emperors condescended to accept the robe and
ensigns which were appropriated to the office of supreme
pontiff. But when Gratian ascended the throne, more
scrupulous or more enlightened, he sternly rejected those
profane symbols;(6) applied to the service of the state or of
the church the revenues of the priests and vestals;
abolished their honours and immunities; and dissolved the
ancient fabric of Roman superstition, which was supported by
the opinions and habits of eleven hundred years. Paganism
was still the constitutional religion of the senate. The
hall or temple in which they assembled was adorned by the
statue and altar of Victory;(7) a majestic female standing on
a globe, with flowing garments, expanded wings, and a crown
of laurel in her outstretched hand. (8) The senators were
sworn on the altar of the goddess to observe the laws of the
emperor and of the empire; and a solemn offering of wine and
incense was the ordinary prelude of their public
deliberations.(9) The removal of this ancient monument was
the only injury which Constantius had offered to the
superstition of the Romans. The altar of Victory was again
restored by Julian, tolerated by Valentinian, and once more
banished from the senate by the zeal of Gratian.(10) But the
emperor yet spared the statues of the gods which were
exposed to the public veneration: four hundred and
twenty-four temples, or chapels, still remained to satisfy
the devotion of the people, and in every quarter of Rome the
delicacy of the Christians was offended by the fumes of
idolatrous sacrifice.(11)
Petition of the senate for the altar of Victory. A.D. 384
But the Christians formed the least numerous party in the
senate of Rome; (12) and it was only by their absence that
they could express their dissent from the legal, though
profane, acts of a Pagan majority. In that assembly the
dying embers of freedom were, for a moment, revived and
inflamed by the breath of fanaticism. Four respectable
deputations were successively voted to the Imperial court,
(13) to represent the grievances of the priesthood and the
senate, and to solicit the restoration of the altar of
Victory. The conduct of this important business was
intrusted to the eloquent Symmachus,(14) a wealthy and noble
senator, who united the sacred characters of pontiff and
augur with the civil dignities of proconsul of Africa and
praefect of the city. The breast of Symmachus was animated
by the warmest zeal for the cause of expiring Paganism; and
his religious antagonists lamented the abuse of his genius
and the inefficacy of his moral virtues. (15) The orator,
whose petition is extant to the emperor Valentinian, was
conscious of the difficulty and danger of the office which
he had assumed. He cautiously avoids every topic which might
appear to reflect on the religion of his sovereign; humbly
declares that prayers and entreaties are his only arms; and
artfully draws his arguments from the schools of rhetoric
rather than from those of philosophy. Symmachus endeavours
to seduce the imagination of a young prince, by displaying
the attributes of the goddess of Victory; he insinuates that
the confiscation of the revenues which were consecrated to
the service of the gods was a measure unworthy of his
liberal and disinterested character; and maintains that the
Roman sacrifices would be deprived of their force and
energy, if they were no longer celebrated at the expense as
well as in the name of the republic. Even scepticism is made
to supply an apology for superstition. The great and
incomprehensible secret of the universe eludes the inquiry
of man. Where reason cannot instruct, custom may be
permitted to guide; and every nation seems to consult the
dictates of prudence, by a faithful attachment to those
rites and opinions which have received the sanction of ages.
If those ages have been crowned with glory and prosperity -
if the devout people has frequently obtained the blessings
which they have solicited at the altars of the gods it must
appear still more advisable to persist in the same salutary
practice, and not to risk the unknown perils that may attend
any rash innovations. The test of antiquity and success was
applied with singular advantage to the religion of Numa; and
ROME herself, the celestial genius that presided over the
fates of the city, is introduced by the orator to plead her
own cause before the tribunal of the emperors.
"Most excellent princes," says the venerable matron, "fathers of your country! pity and respect my age, which has hitherto flowed in an uninterrupted course of piety. Since I do not repent, permit me to continue in the practice of my ancient rites. Since I am born free, allow me to enjoy my domestic institutions. This religion has reduced the world under my laws. These rites have repelled Hannibal from the city, and the Gauls from the Capitol. Were my grey hairs reserved for such intolerable disgrace? I am ignorant of the new system that I am required to adopt; but I am well assured that the correction of old age is always an ungrateful and ignominious office." (16)
The fears of the people supplied what the discretion of the orator had suppressed, and the calamities which afflicted or threatened the declining empire were unanimously imputed by the Pagans to the new religion of Christ and of Constantine.
Conversion of Rome, A.D. 388, etc.
But the hopes of Symmachus were repeatedly baffled by the
firm and dexterous opposition of the archbishop of Milan,
who fortified the emperors against the fallacious eloquence
of the advocate of Rome. In this controversy Ambrose,
condescends to speak the language of a philosopher, and to
ask; with some contempt, why it should be thought necessary
to introduce an imaginary and invisible power as the cause
of those victories, which were sufficiently explained by the
valour and discipline of the legions. He justly derides the absurd reverence for antiquity, which
could only tend to discourage the :improvements of art and
to replunge the human race into their original barbarism.
From thence gradually rising to a more lofty and theological
tone, he pronounces that Christianity alone is the doctrine
of truth and salvation, and that :every mode of Polytheism
conducts its deluded votaries through the paths of error to
the abyss of eternal perdition. (17) Arguments like these,
when they were suggested by a favourite bishop, had power to
prevent the restoration of the altar of Victory; but the
same arguments fell with much more energy and effect from
the mouth of a conqueror, and the gods of antiquity were
dragged in triumph at the chariot-wheels of Theodosius.(18)
In a full meeting of the senate the emperor proposed,
according to the forms of the republic, the important
question, whether the worship of Jupiter or that of Christ
should be the religion of the Romans? The liberty of
suffrages, which he affected to allow, was destroyed by the
hopes and fears that his presence inspired; and the
arbitrary exile of Symmachus was a recent admonition that it
might be dangerous to oppose the wishes of the monarch. On a
regular division of the senate, Jupiter was condemned and
degraded by the sense of a very large majority; and it is
rather surprising that any members should be found bold
enough to declare, by their speeches and votes, that they
were still attached to the interest of an abdicated deity.
(19) The hasty conversion of the senate must be attributed
either to supernatural or to sordid motives; and many of
these reluctant proselytes betrayed, on every favourable
occasion, their secret disposition to throw aside the mask
of odious dissimulation. But they were gradually fixed in
the new religion, as the cause of the ancient became more
hopeless; they yielded to the authority of the emperor, to
the fashion of the times, and to the entreaties of their
wives and children, (20) who were instigated and governed by
the clergy of Rome and the monks of the East. The edifying
example of the Anician family was soon imitated by the rest
of the nobility: the Bassi, the Paullini, the Gracchi,
embraced the Christian religion; and
"the luminaries of the world, the venerable assembly of Catos (such are the high-flown expressions of Prudentius), were impatient to strip themselves of their pontifical garment — to cast the skin of the old serpent — to assume the snowy robes of baptismal innocence — and to humble the pride of the consular fasces before the tombs of the martyrs." (21)
The citizens, who subsisted by their own industry, and the populace, who were supported by the public liberality, filled the churches of the Lateran and Vatican with an incessant throng of devout proselytes. The decrees of the senate, which proscribed the worship of idols, were ratified by the general consent of the Romans;(22) the splendour of the Capitol was defaced, and the solitary temples were abandoned to ruin and contempt. (23) Rome submitted to the yoke of the Gospel; and the vanquished provinces had not yet lost their reverence for the name and authority of Rome.
Destruction of the temples in the provinces, A.D. 381 etc
The filial piety of the emperors themselves engaged them to
proceed with some caution and tenderness in the reformation
of the eternal city. Those absolute monarchs acted with less
regard to the prejudices of the provincials. The pious
labour, which had been suspended near twenty years since the
death of Constantius,(24) was vigorously resumed, and finally
accomplished, by the zeal of Theodosius. Whilst that warlike
prince yet struggled with the Goths, not for the glory, but
for the safety of the republic, he ventured to offend a
considerable party of his subjects, by some acts which might
perhaps secure the protection of Heaven, but which must seem
rash and unseasonable in the eye of human prudence. The
success of his first experiments against the Pagans
encouraged the pious emperor to reiterate and enforce his
edicts of proscription: the same laws which had been
originally published in the provinces of the East, were
applied, after the defeat of Maximus, to the whole extent of
the Western empire; and every victory of the orthodox
Theodosius contributed to the triumph of the Christian and
catholic faith.(25) He attacked superstition in her most
vital part, by prohibiting the use of sacrifices, which he
declared to be criminal as well as infamous; and if the
terms of his edicts more strictly condemned the impious
curiosity which examined the entrails of the victims,(26)
every subsequent explanation tended to involve in the same
guilt the general practice of immolation which essentially
constituted the religion of the Pagans. As the temples had
been erected for the purpose of sacrifice, it was the duty
of a benevolent prince to remove from his subjects the
dangerous temptation of offending against the laws which he
had enacted. A special commission was granted to Cynegius,
the Praetorian praefect of the East, and afterwards to the
counts Jovius and Gaudentius, two officers of distinguished
rank in the West, by which they were directed to shut the
temples, to seize or destroy the instruments of idolatry, to
abolish the privileges of the priests, and to confiscate the
consecrated property for the benefit of the emperor, of the
church, or of the army. (27) Here the desolation might have stopped: and the naked edifices, which were no longer
employed in the service of idolatry, might have been
protected from the destructive rage of fanaticism. Many of
those temples were the most splendid and beautiful monuments
of Grecian architecture: and the emperor himself was
interested not to deface the splendour of his own cities, or
to diminish the value of his own possessions: Those stately
edifices might be suffered to remain, as so many lasting
trophies of the victory of Christ. In the decline of the
arts, they might be usefully converted into magazines,
manufactures, or places of public assembly: and perhaps,
when the walls of the temple had been sufficiently purified
by holy rites, the worship of the true Deity might be
allowed to expiate the ancient guilt of idolatry. But as
long as they subsisted, the Pagans fondly cherished the
secret hope that an auspicious revolution, a second Julian,
might again restore the altars of the gods: and the
earnestness with which they addressed their unavailing
prayers to the throne(28) increased the zeal of the Christian
reformers to extirpate, without mercy, the root of
superstition. The laws of the emperors exhibit some symptoms
of a milder disposition: (29) but their cold and languid
efforts were insufficient to stem the torrent of enthusiasm
and rapine, which was conducted, or rather impelled, by the
spiritual rulers of the church. In Gaul, the holy Martin,
bishop of Tours, (30) marched at the head of his faithful
monks to destroy the idols, the temples, and the consecrated
trees of his extensive diocese; and, in the execution of
this arduous task, the prudent reader will judge whether
Martin was supported by the aid of miraculous powers or of
carnal weapons. In Syria, the divine and excellent
Marcellus, (31) as he is styled by Theodoret, a bishop
animated with apostolic fervour, resolved to level with the
ground the stately temples within the diocese of Apamea. His
attack was resisted by the skill and solidity with which the
temple of Jupiter had been constructed. The building was
seated on an eminence: on each of the four sides the lofty
roof was supported by fifteen massy columns, sixteen feet in
circumference; and the large stones of which they were
composed were firmly cemented with lead and iron. The force
of the strongest and sharpest tools had been tried without
effect. It was found necessary to undermine the foundations
of the columns, which fell down as soon as the temporary
wooden props had been consumed with fire; and the
difficulties of the enterprise are described under the
allegory of a black daemon, who retarded, though he could
not defeat, the operations of the Christian engineers.
Elated with victory, Marcellus took the field in person
against the powers of darkness; a numerous troop of soldiers
and gladiators marched under the episcopal banner, and he
successively attacked the villages and country temples of
the diocese of Apamea. Whenever any resistance or danger was
apprehended, the champion of the faith, whose lameness would
not allow him either to fight or fly, placed himself at a
convenient distance, beyond the reach of darts. But this
prudence was the occasion of his death; he was surprised and
slain by a body of exasperated rustics; and the synod of the
province pronounced, without hesitation, that the holy
Marcellus had sacrificed his life in the cause of God. In
the support of this cause, the monks, who rushed with
tumultuous fury from the desert, distinguished themselves by
their zeal and diligence. They deserved the enmity of the
Pagans; and some of them might deserve the reproaches of
avarice and intemperance, which they indulged at the expense
of the people, who foolishly admired their tattered
garments, loud psalmody, and artificial paleness.(32) A small
number of temples was protected by the fears, the venality,
the taste, or the prudence of the civil and ecclesiastical
governors. The temple of the Celestial Venus at Carthage,
whose sacred precincts formed a circumference of two miles,
was judiciously converted into a Christian church;(33) and a
similar consecration had preserved inviolate the majestic
dome of the Pantheon at Rome. (34) But in almost every
province of the Roman world, an army of fanatics, without
authority and without discipline, invaded the peaceful
inhabitants; and the ruin of the fairest structures of
antiquity still displays the ravages of those barbarians who
alone had time and inclination to execute such laborious
destruction.
The temple of Serapis at Alexandria
In this wide and various prospect of devastation, the
spectator may distinguish the ruins of the temple of
Serapis, at Alexandria. (35) Serapis does not appear to have
been one of the native gods, or monsters, who sprung from
the fruitful soil of superstitious Egypt.(36) The first of
the Ptolemies had been commanded, by a dream, to import the
mysterious stranger from the coast of Pontus, where he had
been long adored by the inhabitants of Sinope; but his
attributes and his reign were so imperfectly understood,
that it became a subject of dispute whether he represented
the bright orb of day, or the gloomy monarch of the
subterraneous regions. (37) The Egyptians, who were
obstinately devoted to the religion of their fathers,
refused to admit this foreign deity within the walls of
their cities.(38) But the obsequious priests, who were
seduced by the liberality of the Ptolemies, submitted,
without resistance, to the power of the god of Pontus: an
honourable and domestic genealogy was provided; and this
fortunate usurper was introduced into the throne and bed of
Osiris,(39) the husband of Isis, and the celestial monarch of
Egypt. Alexandria, which claimed his peculiar protection,
gloried in the name of the city of Serapis. His temple,(40)
which rivalled the pride and magnificence of the Capitol,
was erected on the spacious summit of an artificial mount,
raised one hundred steps above the level of the adjacent
parts of the city, and the interior cavity was strongly
supported by arches, and distributed into vaults and
subterraneous apartments. The consecrated buildings were
surrounded by a quadrangular portico; the stately halls and
exquisite statues displayed the triumph of the arts; and the
treasures of ancient learning were preserved in the famous
Alexandrian library, which had arisen with new splendour
from its ashes. (41) After the edicts of Theodosius had
severely prohibited the sacrifices of the Pagans, they were
still tolerated in the city and temple of Serapis; and this
singular indulgence was imprudently ascribed to the
superstitious terrors of the Christians themselves: as if
they had feared to abolish those ancient rites which could
alone secure the inundations of the Nile, the harvests of
Egypt, and the subsistence of Constantinople.(42)
Its final destruction, A.D. 389
At that time (43) the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria was
filled by Theophilus, (44) the perpetual enemy of peace and
virtue; a bold, bad man, whose hands were alternately
polluted with gold and with blood. His pious indignation was
excited by the honours of Serapis; and the insults which he
offered to an ancient chapel of Bacchus convinced the Pagans
that he meditated a more important and dangerous enterprise.
In the tumultuous capital of Egypt, the slightest
provocation was sufficient to inflame a civil war. The
votaries of Serapis, whose strength and numbers were much
inferior to those of their antagonists, rose in arms at the
instigation of the philosopher Olympius, (45) who exhorted
them to die in the defence of the altars of the gods. These
Pagan fanatics fortified themselves in the temple, or rather
fortress, of Serapis; repelled the besiegers by daring
sallies and a resolute defence; and, by the inhuman
cruelties which they exercised on their Christian prisoners,
obtained the last consolation of despair. The efforts of the
prudent magistrate were usefully exerted for the
establishment of a truce till the answer of Theodosius
should determine the fate of Serapis. The two parties
assembled without arms, in the principal square; and the
Imperial rescript was publicly read. But when a sentence of
destruction against the idols of Alexandria was pronounced,
the Christians sent up a shout of joy and exultation, whilst
the unfortunate Pagans, whose fury had given way to
consternation, retired with hasty and silent steps, and
eluded, by their flight or obscurity, the resentment of
their enemies. Theophilus proceeded to demolish the temple
of Serapis, without any other difficulties than those which
he found in the weight and solidity of the materials, but
these obstacles proved so insuperable that he was obliged to
leave the foundations, and to content himself with reducing
the edifice itself to a heap of rubbish, a part of which was
soon afterwards cleared away, to make room for a church
erected in honour of the Christian martyrs. The valuable
library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and near
twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves
excited the regret and indignation of every spectator whose
mind was not totally darkened by religious prejudice.(46) The
compositions of ancient genius, so many of which have
irretrievably perished, might surely have been excepted from
the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and instruction of
succeeding ages; and either the zeal or the avarice of the
archbishop(47) might have been satiated with the rich spoils
which were the reward of his victory. While the images and
vases of gold and silver were carefully melted, and those of
a less valuable metal were contemptuously broken and cast
into the streets, Theophilus laboured to expose the frauds
and vices of the ministers of the idols: their dexterity in
the management of the loadstone; their secret methods of
introducing an human actor into a hollow statue; and their
scandalous abuse of the confidence of devout husbands and
unsuspecting females.(48) Charges like these may seem to
deserve some degree of credit, as they are not repugnant to
the crafty and interested spirit of superstition. But the
same spirit is equally prone to the base practice of
insulting and calumniating a fallen enemy; and our belief is
naturally checked by the reflection that it is much less
difficult to invent a fictitious story than to support a
practical fraud. The colossal statue of Serapis (49) was
involved in the ruin of his temple and religion. A great
number of plates of different metals, artificially joined
together, composed the majestic figure of the deity, who
touched on either side the walls of the sanctuary. The
aspect of Serapis, his sitting posture, and the sceptre
which he bore in his left hand, were extremely similar to
the ordinary representations of Jupiter. He was
distinguished from Jupiter by the basket, or bushel, which
was placed on his head; and by the emblematic monster which
he held in his right hand; the head and body of a serpent
branching into three tails, which were again terminated by
the triple heads of a dog, a lion, and a wolf. It was
confidently affirmed that, if any impious hand should dare
to violate the majesty of the god, the heavens and the earth
would instantly return to their original chaos. An intrepid
soldier, animated by zeal, and armed with a weighty
battle-axe, ascended the ladder; and even the Christian
multitude expected with some anxiety the event of the
combat.(50) He aimed a vigorous stroke against the cheek of
Serapis; the cheek fell to the ground; the thunder was still
silent, and both the heavens and the earth continued to
preserve their accustomed order and tranquillity. The
victorious soldier repeated his blows: the huge idol was
overthrown and broken in pieces; and the limbs of Serapis
were ignominiously dragged through the streets of
Alexandria. His mangled carcase was burnt in the
amphitheatre, amidst the shouts of the populace; and many
persons attributed their conversion to this discovery of the
impotence of their tutelar deity. The popular modes of
religion, that propose any visible and material objects of
worship, have the advantage of adapting and familiarising
themselves to the senses of mankind; but this advantage is
counterbalanced by the various and inevitable accidents to
which the faith of the idolater is exposed. It is scarcely
possible that, in every disposition of mind, he should
preserve his implicit reverence for the idols, or the
relics, which the naked eye and the profane hand are unable
to distinguish from the most common productions of art or
nature; and, if, in the hour of danger, their secret and
miraculous virtue does not operate for their own
preservation, he scorns the vain apologies of his priests,
and justly derides the object and the folly of his
superstitious attachment.(51) After the fall of Serapis, some
hopes were still entertained by the Pagans that the Nile
would refuse his annual supply to the pious masters of
Egypt; and the extraordinary delay of the inundation seemed
to announce the displeasure of the river-god. But this delay
was soon compensated by the rapid swell of the waters. They
suddenly rose to such an unusual height as to comfort the
discontented party with the pleasing expectation of a
deluge; till the peaceful river again subsided to the
well-known and fertilising level of sixteen cubits, or about
thirty English feet(52)
The Pagan religion is prohibited, A.D. 390.
The temples of the Roman empire were deserted or destroyed;
but the ingenious superstition of the Pagans still attempted
to elude the laws of Theodosius, by which all sacrifices had
been severely prohibited. The inhabitants of the country,
whose conduct was less exposed to the eye of malicious
curiosity, disguised their religious under the appearance of
convivial meetings. On the days of solemn festivals they
assembled in great numbers under the spreading shade of some
consecrated trees; sheep and oxen were slaughtered and
roasted; and this rural entertainment was sanctified by the
use of incense and by the hymns which were sung in honour of
the gods. But it was alleged that, as no part of the animal
was made a burnt-offering, as no altar was provided to
receive the blood, and as the previous oblation of salt
cakes and the concluding ceremony of libations were
carefully omitted, these festal meetings did not involve the
guests in the guilt or penalty of an illegal sacrifice.(53)
Whatever might be the truth of the facts or the merit of the
distinction,(54) these vain pretences were swept away by the last edict of Theodosius, which inflicted a deadly wound on the superstition of the Pagans. (55) This prohibitory law is expressed in the most absolute and comprehensive terms.
"It is our will and pleasure," says the emperor, "that none of our subjects, whether magistrates or private citizens, however exalted or however humble may be their rank and condition, shall presume in any city or in any place to worship an inanimate idol by the sacrifice of a guiltless victim."
The act of sacrificing and the practice of divination by the entrails of the victim are declared (without any regard to the object of the inquiry) a crime of high treason against the state, which can be expiated only by the death of the guilty. The rites of Pagan superstition which might seem less bloody and atrocious are abolished as highly injurious to the truth and honour of religion; luminaries, garlands, frankincense, and libations of wine are specially enumerated and condemned; and the harmless claims of the domestic genius, of the household gods, are included in this rigorous proscription. The use of any of these profane and illegal ceremonies subjects the offender to the forfeiture of the house or estate where they have been performed; and if he has artfully chosen the property of another for the scene of his impiety, he is compelled to discharge, without delay, a heavy fine of twenty-five pounds of gold, or more than one thousand pounds sterling. A fine not less considerable is imposed on the connivance of the secret enemies of religion who shall neglect the duty of their respective stations, either to reveal or to punish the guilt of idolatry. Such was the persecuting spirit of the laws of Theodosius, which were repeatedly enforced by his sons and grandsons, with the loud and unanimous applause of the Christian world.(56)
Oppressed,
In the cruel reigns of Decius and Diocletian Christianity
had been proscribed, as a revolt from the ancient and
hereditary religion of the empire; and the unjust suspicions
which were entertained of a dark and dangerous faction were
in some measure countenanced by the inseparable union and
rapid conquests of the catholic church. But the same excuses
of fear and ignorance cannot be applied to the Christian
emperors, who violated the precepts of humanity and of the
Gospel. The experience of ages had betrayed the weakness as
well as folly of Paganism; the light of reason and of faith
had already exposed to the greatest part of mankind the
vanity of idols; and the declining sect, which still adhered
to their worship, might have been permitted to enjoy in
peace and obscurity the religious customs of their
ancestors. Had the Pagans been animated by the undaunted
zeal which possessed the minds of the primitive believers,
the triumph of the church must have been stained with blood;
and the martyrs of Jupiter and Apollo might have embraced
the glorious opportunity of devoting their lives and
fortunes at the foot of their altars. But such obstinate
zeal was not congenial to the loose and careless temper of
Polytheism. The violent and repeated strokes of the orthodox
princes were broken by the soft and yielding substance
against which they were directed; and the ready obedience of
the Pagans protected them from the pains and penalties of
the Theodosian Code. (57) Instead of asserting that the authority of the gods was superior to that of the emperor, they desisted, with a plaintive murmur, from the use of
those sacred rites which their sovereign had condemned. If
they were sometimes tempted by a sally of passion, or by the
hopes of concealment, to indulge their favourite
superstition, their humble repentance disarmed the severity
of the Christian magistrate, and they seldom refused to
atone for their rashness by submitting, with some secret
reluctance, to the yoke of the Gospel. The churches were
filled with the increasing multitude of these unworthy
proselytes, who had conformed, from temporal motives, to the
reigning religion; and whilst they devoutly imitated the
postures and recited the prayers of the faithful, they
satisfied their conscience by the silent and sincere
invocation of the gods of antiquity.(58) If the Pagans wanted
patience to suffer, they wanted spirit to resist; and the
scattered myriads, who deplored the ruin of the temples,
yielded, without a contest, to the fortune of their
adversaries. The disorderly opposition(59) of the peasants of
Syria and the populace of Alexandria to the rage of private
fanaticism was silenced by the name and authority of the
emperor. The Pagans of the West, without contributing to the
elevation of Eugenius, disgraced by their partial attachment
the cause and character of the usurper. The clergy
vehemently exclaimed that he aggravated the crime of
rebellion by the guilt of apostasy; that, by his permission,
the altar of Victory was again restored; and that the
idolatrous symbols of Jupiter and Hercules were displayed in
the field against the invincible standard of the cross. But
the vain hopes of the Pagans were soon annihilated by the
defeat of Eugenius; and they were left exposed to the
resentment of the conqueror, who laboured to deserve the
favour of Heaven by the extirpation of idolatry.(60)
and finally extinguished, A.D. 390-420 etc
A nation of slaves is always prepared to applaud the
clemency of their master who, in the abuse of absolute
power, does not proceed to the last extremes of injustice
and oppression. Theodosius might undoubtedly have proposed
to his Pagan subjects the alternative of baptism or of
death; and the eloquent Libanius has praised the moderation
of a prince who never enacted, by any positive law, that all
his subjects should immediately embrace and practise the
religion of their sovereign. (61) The profession of Christianity was not made an essential qualification for the enjoyment of the civil rights of society, nor were any
peculiar hardships imposed on the sectaries who credulously
received the fables of Ovid and obstinately rejected the
miracles of the Gospel. The palace, the schools, the army,
and the senate were filled with declared and devout Pagans;
they obtained, without distinction, the civil and military
honours of the empire. Theodosius distinguished his liberal
regard for virtue and genius by the consular dignity which
he bestowed on Symmachus,(62) and by the personal friendship which he expressed to Libanius; (63) and the two eloquent apologists of Paganism were never required either to change
or to dissemble their religious opinions. The Pagans were
indulged in the most licentious freedom of speech and
writing; the historical and philosophic remains of Eunapius,
Zosimus,(64) and the fanatic teachers of the school of Plato,
betray the most furious animosity, and contain the sharpest
invectives, against the sentiment and conduct of their
victorious adversaries. If these audacious libels were
publicly known, we must applaud the good sense of the
Christian princes, who viewed with a smile of contempt the
last struggles of superstition and despair. (65) But the
Imperial laws which prohibited the sacrifices and ceremonies
of Paganism were rigidly executed; and every hour
contributed to destroy the influence of a religion which was
supported by custom rather than by argument. The devotion of
the poet or the philosopher may be secretly nourished by
prayer, meditation, and study; but the exercise of public
worship appears to be the only solid foundation of the
religious sentiments of the people, which derive their force
from imitation and habit. The interruption of that public
exercise may consummate, in the period of a few years, the
important work of a national revolution. The memory of
theological opinions cannot long be preserved without the
artificial helps of priests, of temples, and of books.(66)
The ignorant vulgar, whose minds are still agitated by the
blind hopes and terrors of superstition, will be soon
persuaded by their superiors to direct their vows to the
reigning deities of the age; and will insensibly imbibe an
ardent zeal for the support and propagation of the new
doctrine, which spiritual hunger at first compelled them to
accept. The generation that arose in the world after the
promulgation of the Imperial laws was attracted within the
pale of the Catholic church: and so rapid, yet so gentle,
was the fall of Paganism, that only twenty-eight years after
the death of Theodosius the faint and minute vestiges were
no longer visible to the eye of the legislator.(67)
The worship of the Christian martyrs
The ruin of the Pagan religion is described by the sophists as a dreadful and amazing prodigy, which covered the earth with darkness and restored the ancient dominion of chaos and of night. They relate in solemn and pathetic strains; that the temples were converted into sepulchres, and that the holy places, which had been adorned by the statues of the gods, were basely polluted by the relics of Christian martyrs.
"The monks" (a race of filthy animals, to whom; Eunapius is tempted to refuse the name of men) "are the authors of the new worship, which, in. the place of those deities who are conceived by the understanding, has substituted the meanest and most contemptible slaves. The heads, salted and pickled, of those infamous malefactors, who for the multitude of their crimes have suffered a just and ignominious death; their bodies, still marked by the impression of the lash and the scars of those tortures which were inflicted by the sentence of the magistrate; such" (continues Eunapius) "are the gods which the earth produces in our days; such are the martyrs, the supreme arbitrators of our prayers and petitions to the Deity, whose tombs are now consecrated as the objects of the veneration of the people." (68)
Without approving the malice, it is natural enough to share the surprise of the sophist, the spectator of a revolution which raised those obscure victims of the laws of Rome to the rank of celestial and invisible protectors of the Roman empire. The grateful respect of the Christians for the martyrs of the faith was exalted, by time and victory, into religious adoration; and the most illustrious of the saints and prophets were deservedly associated to the honours of the martyrs. One hundred and fifty years after the glorious deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Vatican and the Ostian road were distinguished by the tombs, or rather by the trophies, of those; spiritual heroes.(69) In the age which followed the conversion of Constantine, the emperors, the consuls, and the generals of armies devoutly visited the sepulchres of a tent-maker and a fisherman;(70) and their venerable bones were deposited under the altars of Christ, on which the bishops of the royal city continually offered the unbloody sacrifice. (71) The new capital of the Eastern world, unable to produce any ancient and domestic trophies, was enriched by the spoils of dependent provinces. The bodies of St. Andrew, St. Luke, and St. Timothy had reposed near three hundred years in the obscure graves from whence they were transported, in solemn pomp, to the church of the apostles, which the magnificence of Constantine had founded on the banks of the Thracian Bosphorus.(72) About fifty years afterwards the same banks were honoured by the presence of Samuel, the judge and prophet of the people of Israel. His ashes, deposited in a golden vase, and covered with a silken veil, were delivered by the bishops into each other's hands. The relics of Samuel were received by the people with the same joy and reverence which they would have shown to the living prophet; the highways, from Palestine to the gates of Constantinople, were filled with an uninterrupted procession; and the emperor Arcadius himself, at the head of the most illustrious members of the clergy and senate, advanced to meet his extraordinary guest, who had always deserved and claimed the homage of kings. (73) The example of Rome and Constantinople confirmed the faith and discipline of the catholic world. The honours of the saints and martyrs, after a feeble and ineffectual murmur of profane reason,(74) were universally established; and in the age of Ambrose and Jerome something was still deemed wanting to the sanctity of a Christian church, till it had been consecrated by some portion of holy relics, which fixed and inflamed the devotion of the faithful.
General Reflections
In the long period of twelve hundred years, which elapsed between the reign of Constantine and the reformation of Luther, the worship of saints and relics corrupted the pure and perfect simplicity of the Christian model; and some symptoms of degeneracy may be observed even in the first generations which adopted and cherished this pernicious innovation.
1 Fabulous martyrs and relics.
1. The satisfactory experience that the relics of saints
were more valuable than gold or precious stones (75)
stimulated the clergy to multiply the treasures of the
church. Without much regard for truth or probability, they
invented names for skeletons, and actions for names. The
fame of the apostles, and of the holy men who had imitated
their virtues, was darkened by religious fiction. To the
invincible band of genuine and primitive martyrs they added
myriads of imaginary heroes, who had never existed, except
in the fancy of crafty or credulous legendaries; and there
is reason to suspect that Tours might not be the only
diocese in which the bones of a malefactor were adored
instead of those of a saint.(76) A superstitious practice,
which tended to increase the temptations of fraud and
credulity, insensibly extinguished the light of history and
of reason in the Christian world.
2 Miracles
2. But the progress of superstition would have been much
less rapid and victorious if the faith of the people had not
been assisted by the seasonable aid of visions and miracles
to ascertain the authenticity and virtue of the most
suspicious relics. In the reign of the younger Theodosius,
Lucian,(77) a presbyter of Jerusalem, and the ecclesiastical minister of the village of Caphargamala, about twenty miles from the city, related a very singular dream, which, to
remove his doubts, had been repeated on three successive
Saturdays. A venerable figure stood before him, in the
silence of the night, with a long beard, a white robe, and a
gold rod; announced himself by the name of Gamaliel; and
revealed to the astonished presbyter, that his own corpse,
with the bodies of his son Abibas, his friend Nicodemus, and
the illustrious Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian
faith, were secretly buried in the adjacent field. He added,
with some impatience, that it was time to release himself
and his companions from their obscure prison; that their
appearance would be salutary to a distressed world; and that
they had made choice of Lucian to inform the bishop of
Jerusalem of their situation and their wishes. The doubts
and difficulties which still retarded this important
discovery were successively removed by new visions; and the
ground was opened by the bishop in the presence of an
innumerable multitude; The coffins of Gamaliel, of his son,
and of his friend, were found in regular order; but when the
fourth coffin, which contained the remains of Stephen, was
shown to the light, the earth trembled, and an odour such as
that of Paradise was smelt, which instantly cured the
various diseases of seventy-three of the assistants. The
companions of Stephen were left in their peaceful residence
of Caphargamala; but the relics of the first martyr were
transported, in solemn procession, to a church constructed
in their honour on Mount Sion; and the minute particles of
those relics, a drop of blood, (78) or the scrapings of a
bone, were acknowledged, in almost every province of the
Roman world, to possess a divine and miraculous virtue. The
grave and learned Augustin,(79) whose understanding scarcely
admits the excuse of credulity, has attested the innumerable
prodigies which were performed in Africa by the relics of
St. Stephen; and this marvellous narrative is inserted in
the elaborate work of the City of God, which the bishop of
Hippo designed as a solid and immortal proof of the truth of
Christianity. Augustin solemnly declares that he has
selected those miracles only which were publicly certified
by the persons who were either the objects, or the
spectators, of the power of the martyr. Many prodigies were
omitted or forgotten; and Hippo had been less favourably
treated than the other cities of the province. And yet the
bishop enumerates above seventy miracles, of which three
were resurrections from the dead, in the space of two years,
and within the limits of his own diocese.(80) If we enlarge
our view to all the diocese, and all the saints, of the
Christian world, it will not be easy to calculate the
fables, and the errors, which issued from this inexhaustible
source. But we may surely be allowed to observe that a
miracle, in that age of superstition and credulity, lost its
name and its merit, since it could scarcely be considered as
a deviation from the ordinary and established: laws of
nature.
3 Revival of polytheism.
3. The innumerable miracles, of which the tombs of the
martyrs were the perpetual theatre, revealed to the pious
believer the actual state and constitution of the invisible
world; and his religious speculations appeared to be founded
on the firm basis of fact and experience. What ever might be
the condition of vulgar souls in the long interval between
the dissolution and the resurrection of their bodies, it was
evident. that the superior spirits of the saints and martyrs
did not consume that portion of their existence in silent
and inglorious sleep. (81) It was evident (without presuming to determine the place of their habitation, or the nature of their felicity) that they enjoyed the lively and active
consciousness of their happiness, their virtue, and their
powers; and that they had already secured the possession of
their eternal reward. The enlargement of their intellectual
faculties surpassed the measure of the human imagination;
since it was proved by experience that they were capable of
hearing and understanding the various petitions of their
numerous votaries, who, in the same moment of time, but in
the most distant parts of the world, invoked the name and
assistance of Stephen or of Martin. (82) The confidence of
their petitioners was founded on the persuasion that the
saints, who reigned with Christ, cast an eye of pity upon
earth; that they were warmly interested in the prosperity of
the Catholic church; and that the individuals who imitated
the example of their faith and piety were the peculiar and
favourite objects of their most tender regard. Sometimes,
indeed, their friendship might be influenced by
considerations of a less exalted kind: they viewed with
partial affection the places which had been consecrated by
their birth, their residence, their death, their burial, or
the possession of their relics. The meaner passions of
pride, avarice, and revenge, may be deemed unworthy of a
celestial breast; yet the saints themselves condescended to
testify their grateful approbation of the liberality of
their votaries; and the sharpest bolts of punishment were
hurled against those impious wretches who violated their
magnificent shrines, or disbelieved their supernatural
power.(83) Atrocious, indeed, must have been the guilt, and strange would have been the scepticism, of those men, if they had obstinately resisted the proofs of a divine agency,
which the elements, the whole range of the animal creation,
and even the subtle and invisible operations of the human
mind, were compelled to obey.(84) The immediate, and almost instantaneous, effects, that were supposed to follow the prayer, or the offence, satisfied the Christians of the
ample measure of favour and authority which the saints
enjoyed in the presence of the Supreme God; and it seemed
almost superfluous to inquire whether they were continually
obliged to intercede before the throne of grace, or whether
they might not be permitted to exercise, according to the
dictates of their benevolence and justice, the delegated
powers of their subordinate ministry. The imagination, which
had been raised by a painful effort to the contemplation and
worship of the Universal Cause, eagerly embraced such
inferior objects of adoration as were more proportioned to
its gross conceptions and imperfect faculties. The sublime
and simple theology of the primitive Christians was
gradually corrupted: and the MONARCHY of heaven, already
clouded by metaphysical subtleties, was degraded by the
introduction of a popular mythology which tended to restore
the reign of polytheism.(85)
4 Introduction of Pagan ceremonies.
4. As the objects of religion were gradually reduced to the
standard of the imagination, the rites and ceremonies were
introduced that seemed most powerfully to affect the senses
of the vulgar. If, in the beginning of the fifth century,(86) Tertullian, or Lactantius, (87) had been suddenly raised from
the dead, to assist at the festival of some popular saint or
martyr,(88) they would have gazed with astonishment and indignation on the profane spectacle which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual worship of a Christian congregation.
As soon as the doors of the church were thrown open, they
must have been offended by the smoke of incense, the perfume
of flowers, and the glare of lamps and tapers, which
diffused, at noon-day, a gaudy, superfluous, and, in their
opinion, a sacrilegious light. If they approached the
balustrade of the altar, they made their way through the
prostrate crowd, consisting, for the most part, of strangers
and pilgrims, who resorted to the city on the vigil of the
feast; and who already felt the strong intoxication of
fanaticism, and, perhaps, of wine. Their devout kisses were
imprinted on the walls and pavement of the sacred edifice;
and their fervent prayers were directed, whatever might be
the language of their church, to the bones, the blood, or
the ashes of the saint, which were usually concealed, by a
linen or silken veil, from the eyes of the vulgar. The
Christians frequented the tombs of the martyrs, in the hope
of obtaining, from their powerful intercession, every sort
of spiritual, but more especially of temporal, blessings.
They implored the preservation of their health, or the cure
of their infirmities; the fruitfulness of their barren
wives, or the safety and happiness of their children.
Whenever they undertook any distant or dangerous journey,
they requested that the holy martyrs would be their guides
and protectors on the road; and if they returned without
having experienced any misfortune, they again hastened to
the tombs of the martyrs, to celebrate, with grateful
thanksgivings, their obligations to the memory and relics of
those heavenly patrons. The walls were hung round with
symbols of the favours which they had received; eyes, and
hands, and feet, of gold and silver: and edifying pictures,
which could not long escape the abuse of indiscreet or
idolatrous devotion, represented the image, the attributes,
and the miracles of the tutelar saint. The same uniform
original spirit of superstition might suggest, in the most
distant ages and countries, the same methods of deceiving
the credulity, and of affecting the senses of mankind:(89)
but it must ingenuously be confessed that the ministers of
the catholic church imitated the profane model which they
were impatient to destroy. The most respectable bishops had
persuaded themselves that the ignorant rustics would more
cheerfully renounce the superstitions of Paganism, if they
found some resemblance, some compensation, in the bosom of
Christianity. The religion of Constantine achieved, in less
than a century, the final conquest of the Roman empire: but
the victors themselves were insensibly subdued by the arts of their vanquished rivals.(90)