History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne Volume II Part 42

326 See on these abuses Mosheim, _Eccl. Hist._ (Soame's ed.), vol. i. p.

463; Cave's _Primitive Christianity_, part i. ch. xi.

327 Cave's _Primitive Christianity_, part i. ch. vii.

_ 328 Ep._ lxi.

329 Evagrius describes with much admiration how certain monks of Palestine, by "a life wholly excellent and divine," had so overcome their pa.s.sions that they were accustomed to bathe with women; for "neither sight nor touch, nor a woman's embrace, could make them relapse into their natural condition. Among men they desired to be men, and among women, women." (_H. E._ i. 21.)

330 These "mulieres subintroductae," as they were called, are continually noticed by Cyprian, Jerome, and Chrysostom. See Muller, _De Genio aevi Theodosiani_, and also the _Codex Theod._ xvi. t.i.t. ii. lex 44, with the Comments. Dr. Todd, in his learned _Life of St. Patrick_ (p. 91), quotes (I shall not venture to do so) from the _Lives of the Irish Saints_ an extremely curious legend of a kind of contest of sanct.i.ty between St. Scuthinus and St. Brendan, in which it was clearly proved that the former had mastered his pa.s.sions more completely than the latter. An enthusiast named Robert d'Arbrisselles is said in the twelfth century to have revived the custom. (Jortin's _Remarks_, A.D. 1106.)

331 St. Jerome gives (_Ep._ lii.) an extremely curious picture of these clerical flatterers, and several examples of the terms of endearment they were accustomed to employ. The tone of flattery which St.

Jerome himself, though doubtless with the purest motives, employs in his copious correspondence with his female admirers, is to a modern layman peculiarly repulsive, and sometimes verges upon blasphemy. In his letter to Eustochium, whose daughter as a nun had become the "bride of Christ," he calls the mother "Socrus Dei," the mother-in-law of G.o.d. See, too, the extravagant flatteries of Chrysostom in his correspondence with Olympias.

332 "Pudet dicere sacerdotes idolorum, mimi et aurigae et scorta haereditates capiunt; solis clericis et monachis hoc lege prohibetur, et prohibetur non a persecutoribus, sed a principibus Christianis.

Nec de lege conqueror sed doleo cur meruerimus hanc legem." _Ep._ lii.

333 See Milman's _Hist. of Early Christianity_, vol. ii. p. 314.

334 This was one cause of the disputes between St. Gregory the Great and the Emperor Eustace. St. Chrysostom frequently notices the opposition of the military and the monastic spirits.

335 Hieron. _Ep._ cxxviii.

336 St. Greg. Nyss. _Ad eund. Hieros_. Some Catholic writers have attempted to throw doubt upon the genuineness of this epistle, but, Dean Milman thinks, with no sufficient reason. Its account of Jerusalem is to some extent corroborated by St. Jerome. (_Ad Paulinum_, _Ep._ xxix.)

337 "Praeterea non taceo charitati vestrae, quia omnibus servis Dei qui hic vel in Scriptura vel in timore Dei probatissimi esse videntur, displicet quod bonum et honestas et pudicitia vestrae ecclesiae illuditur; et aliquod levamentum turpitudinis esset, si prohiberet synodus et principes vestri mulieribus et velatis feminis illud iter et frequentiam, quam ad Romanam civitatem veniendo et redeundo faciunt, quia magna ex parte pereunt, paucis remeantibus integris.

Perpaucae enim sunt civitates in Longobardia vel in Francia aut in Gallia in qua non sit adultera vel meretrix generis Anglorum, quod scandalum est et turpitudo totius ecclesiae vestrae."-(A.D. 745) _Ep._ lxiii.

338 See Milman's _Latin Christianity_, vol. ii. p. 8.

339 Tillemont, _Hist. eccl._ tome xi. p. 547.

340 This was enjoined in the rule of St. Paphnutius. See Tillemont, tome x. p. 45.

341 "Omnimodis monachum fugere debere mulieres et episcopos."-Ca.s.sian, _De Cn.o.b. Inst._ xi. 17.

342 We also find now and then, though I think very rarely, intellectual flashes of some brilliancy. Two of them strike me as especially noteworthy. St. a.r.s.enius refused to separate young criminals from communion though he had no hesitation about old men; for he had observed that young men speedily get accustomed and indifferent to the state of excommunication, while old men feel continually, and acutely, the separation. (Socrates, iv. 23.) St. Apollonius explained the Egyptian idolatry with the most intelligent rationalism. The ox, he thought, was in the first instance wors.h.i.+pped for its domestic uses; the Nile, because it was the chief cause of the fertility of the soil &c. (Rufinus, _Hist. Mon._ cap.

vii.)

343 Palladius, _Hist. Laus._ cap. xix.

344 Rufinus, _Hist. Monach._ cap. xxix.

345 Tillemont, _Hist. eccl._ tome viii. pp. 583, 584.

346 Ibid. p. 589.

347 Theodoret, _Philoth._ cap. iii.

_ 348 Verba Seniorum._

349 Theodoret, _Philoth._ cap. ii.

350 Tillemont, tome viii. pp. 594-595.

351 Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ viii. 1. Many anecdotes of elephants are collected viii. 1-12. See, too, Dion Ca.s.sius, x.x.xix. 38.

352 Pliny, viii. 40.

353 Donne's _Biathanatos_. p. 22. This habit of bees is mentioned by St.

Ambrose. The pelican, as is well known, afterwards became an emblem of Christ.

354 Plin. _Hist. Nat._ x. 6.

355 A long list of legends about dogs is given by Legendre, in the very curious chapter on animals, in his _Traite de l'Opinion_, tome i.

pp. 308-327.

356 Pliny tells some extremely pretty stories of this kind. (_Hist.

Nat._ ix. 8-9.) See, too, Aulus Gellius, xvi. 19. The dolphin, on account of its love for its young, became a common symbol of Christ among the early Christians.

357 A very full account of the opinions, both of ancient and modern philosophers, concerning the souls of animals, is given by Bayle, _Dict._ arts. "Pereira E," "Rorarius K."

358 The Jewish law did not confine its care to oxen. The reader will remember the touching provision, "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk" (Deut. xiv. 21); and the law forbidding men to take a parent bird that was sitting on its young or on its eggs. (Deut.

xxii. 6, 7.)

359 "Cujus tanta fuit apud antiquos veneratio, ut tam capital esset bovem necuisse quam civem."-Columella, lib. vi. in prom. "Hic socius hominum in rustico opere et Cereris minister. Ab hoc antiqui ma.n.u.s ita abstinere voluerunt ut capite sanxerint si quis occidisset."-Varro, _De Re Rustic._ lib. ii. cap. v.

360 See Legendre, tome ii. p. 338. The sword with which the priest sacrificed the ox was afterwards p.r.o.nounced accursed. (aelian, _Hist.

Var._ lib. viii. cap. iii.)

361 Diog. Laert. _Xenocrates_.

362 There is a story told by Herodotus (i. 157-159) of an amba.s.sador who was sent by his fellow-countrymen to consult an oracle at Miletus about a suppliant who had taken refuge with the Cymaeans and was demanded with menace by his enemies. The oracle, being bribed, enjoined the surrender. The amba.s.sador on leaving, with seeming carelessness disturbed the sparrows under the portico of the temple, when the voice from behind the altar denounced his impiety for disturbing the guests of the G.o.ds. The amba.s.sador replied with an obvious and withering retort. aelian says (_Hist. Var._) that the Athenians condemned to death a boy for killing a sparrow that had taken refuge in the temple of aesculapius.

363 Quintilian, _Inst._ v. 9.

364 In the same way we find several chapters in the _Zendavesta_ about the criminality of injuring dogs; which is explained by the great importance of shepherd's dogs to a pastoral people.

365 On the origin of Greek c.o.c.k-fighting, see aelian, _Hist. Var._ ii.

28. Many particulars about it are given by Athenaeus. Chrysippus maintained that c.o.c.k-fighting was the final cause of c.o.c.ks, these birds being made by Providence in order to inspire us by the example of their courage. (Plutarch, _De Repug. Stoic._) The Greeks do not, however, appear to have known "c.o.c.k-throwing," the favourite English game of throwing a stick called a "c.o.c.k-stick" at c.o.c.ks. It was a very ancient and very popular amus.e.m.e.nt, and was practised especially on Shrove Tuesday, and by school-boys. Sir Thomas More had been famous for his skill in it. (Strutt's _Sports and Pastimes_, p. 283.) Three origins of it have been given:-1st, that in the Danish wars the Saxons failed to surprise a certain city in consequence of the crowing of c.o.c.ks, and had in consequence a great hatred of that bird; 2nd, that the c.o.c.ks (_galli_) were special representatives of Frenchmen, with whom the English were constantly at war; and 3rd, that they were connected with the denial of St.

Peter. As Sir Charles Sedley said:-

"Mayst thou be punished for St. Peter's crime, And on Shrove Tuesday perish in thy prime."

Knight's _Old England_, vol. ii. p. 126.

_ 366 De Natura Rerum_, lib. ii.

_ 367 Life of Marc. Cato._