History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne Volume II Part 39

199 Eden, vol. i. pp. 83-87.

200 Ibid. pp. 101-103.

201 Ibid. pp. 127-130.

202 Morighini, _Inst.i.tutions pieuses de Rome_.

203 Eden, _History of the Labouring Cla.s.ses_, i. 83.

204 Locke discussed the great increase of poverty, and a bill was brought in suggesting some remedies, but did not pa.s.s. (Eden, vol.

i. pp. 243-248.)

205 In a very forcible letter addressed to the Irish Catholic clergy.

206 This tract, which is extremely valuable for the light it throws upon the social condition of England at the time, was written in opposition to a bill providing that the poor in the poor-houses should do wool, hemp, iron, and other works. Defoe says that wages in England were higher than anywhere on the Continent, though the amount of mendicancy was enormous. "The reason why so many pretend to want work is, that they can live so well with the pretence of wanting work.... I affirm of my own knowledge, when I have wanted a man for labouring work, and offered nine s.h.i.+llings per week to strolling fellows at my door, they have frequently told me to my face they could get more a-begging."

_ 207 Reforma degl' Inst.i.tuti pii di Modena_ (published first anonymously at Modena). It has been reprinted in the library of the Italian economists.

_ 208 Essay on Charity Schools._

209 Magdalen asylums have been very vehemently a.s.sailed by M. Charles Comte, in his _Traite de Legislation_. On the subject of Foundling Hospitals there is a whole literature. They were violently attacked by, I believe, Lord Brougham, in the _Edinburgh Review_, in the early part of this century. Writers of this stamp, and indeed most political economists, greatly exaggerate the forethought of men and women, especially in matters where the pa.s.sions are concerned. It may be questioned whether one woman in a hundred, who plunges into a career of vice, is in the smallest degree influenced by a consideration of whether or not charitable inst.i.tutions are provided for the support of aged penitents.

_ 210 Apol._ ch. xlii.

211 On these penances, see Bingham, _Antiq._ book vii. Bingham, I think, justly divides the history of asceticism into three periods. During the first, which extends from the foundation of the Church to A.D.

250, there were men and women who, with a view to spiritual perfection, abstained from marriage, relinquished amus.e.m.e.nts, accustomed themselves to severe fasts, and gave up their property to works of charity; but did this in the middle of society and without leading the life of either a hermit or a monk. During the second period, which extended from the Decian persecution, anchorites were numerous, but the custom of a common or cn.o.bitic life was unknown.

It was originated in the time of Constantine by Pachomius.

212 This is expressly stated by St. Jerome (_Vit. Pauli_).

213 See on this subject some curious evidence in Neander's _Life of Chrysostom_. St. Chrysostom wrote a long work to console fathers whose sons were thus seduced to the desert.

214 On this tradition see Champagny, _Les Antonins_, tome i. p. 193.

_ 215 Ep._ cxxiii.

216 Euseb. _Eccl. Hist._ ii. 23.

217 Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, ch. x.x.xvii.; a brief but masterly sketch of the progress of the movement.

218 Palladius, _Hist. Laus._ x.x.xviii.

219 Jerome, Preface to the Rule of St. Pachomius, -- 7.

220 Ca.s.sian, _De Cn.o.b. Inst._ iv. 1.

221 Rufinus, _Hist. Monach._ ch. v. Rufinus visited it himself.

222 Palladius, _Hist. Laus._ lxxvi.

223 Rufinus, _Hist. Mon._ vii.

224 There is a good deal of doubt and controversy about this. See a note in Mosheim's _Eccl. Hist._ (Soame's edition), vol. i. p. 354.

225 Most of the pa.s.sages remaining on the subject of the foundation of monachism are given by Thoma.s.sin, _Discipline de l'eglise_, part i.

livre iii. ch. xii. This work contains also much general information about monachism. A curious collection of statistics of the numbers of the monks in different localities, additional to those I have given and gleaned from the _Lives of the Saints_, may be found in Pitra (_Vie de St. Leger_, Introd. p. lix.); 2,100, or, according to another account, 3,000 monks, lived in the monastery of Banchor.

226 The three princ.i.p.al are the _Historia Monachorum_ of Rufinus, who visited Egypt A.D. 373, about seventeen years after the death of St.

Antony; the _Inst.i.tutiones_ of Ca.s.sian, who, having visited the Eastern monks about A.D. 394, founded vast monasteries containing, it is said, 5,000 monks, at Ma.r.s.eilles, and died at a great age about A.D. 448; and the _Historia Lausiaca_ (so called from Lausus, Governor of Cappadocia) of Palladius, who was himself a hermit on Mount Nitria, in A.D. 388. The first and last, as well as many minor works of the same period, are given in Rosweyde's invaluable collection of the lives of the Fathers, one of the most fascinating volumes in the whole range of literature.

The hospitality of the monks was not without drawbacks. In a church on Mount Nitria three whips were hung on a palm-tree-one for chastising monks, another for chastising thieves, and a third for chastising guests. (Palladius, _Hist. Laus._ vii.)

_ 227 Vita Pauli._ St. Jerome adds, that some will not believe this, because they have no faith, but that all things are possible for those that believe.

_ 228 Vita St. Hilarion._

229 See a long list of these penances in Tillemont, _Mem. pour servir a l'Hist. eccles._ tome viii.

_ 230 Vitae Patrum_ (Pachomius). He used to lean against a wall when overcome by drowsiness.

_ 231 Vitae Patrum_, ix. 3.

232 Sozomen, vi. 29.

233 E.g. St. Antony, according to his biographer St. Athanasius.

234 "Il y eut dans le desert de Scete des solitaires d'une eminente perfection.... On pretend que pour l'ordinaire ils pa.s.soient des semaines entieres sans manger, mais apparemment cela ne se faisoit que dans des occasions particulieres."-Tillemont, _Mem. pour servir a l'Hist. eccl._ tome viii. p. 580. Even this, however, was admirable!

235 Palladius, _Hist. Laus._ cap. xx.

236 "Primum c.u.m accessisset ad eremum tribus continuis annis sub cujusdam saxi rupe stans, semper oravit, ita ut nunquam omnino resederit neque Jacuerit. Somni autem tantum caperet, quantum stans capere potuit; cib.u.m vero nunquam sumpserat nisi die Dominica.

Presbyter enim tunc veniebat ad eum et offerebat pro eo sacrificium idque ei solum sacramentum erat et victus."-Rufinus, _Hist. Monach._ cap. xv.

237 Thus St. Antony used to live in a tomb, where he was beaten by the devil. (St. Athanasius, _Life of Antony._)

238 ?s???. See on these monks Sozomen, vi. 33; Evagrius, i. 21. It is mentioned of a certain St. Marc of Athens, that, having lived for thirty years naked in the desert, his body was covered with hair like that of a wild beast. (Bollandists, March 29.) St. Mary of Egypt, during part of her period of penance, lived upon gra.s.s.

(_Vitae Patrum._)

_ 239 Life of Antony._

240 "II ne faisoit pas aussi difficulte dans sa vieillesse de se laver quelquefois les piez. Et comme on temoignoit s'en etonner et trouver que cela ne repondoit pas a la vie austere des anciens, il se justifioit par ces paroles: Nous avons appris a tuer, non pas notre corps mais nos pa.s.sions."-Tillemont, _Mem. Hist. eccl._ tome xv. p.

148. This saint was so very virtuous, that he sometimes remained without eating for whole weeks.

241 "Non appropinquavit oleum corpusculo ejus. Facies vel etiam pedes a die conversionis suae nunquam diluti sunt."-_Vitae Patrum_, c. xvii.

242 "In facie ejus puritas animi noscebatur."-Ibid. c. xviii.

243 Socrates, iv. 23.