History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne Volume II Part 44

406 Milman, _Hist. of Christianity_, vol. iii. p. 145.

407 Milman, _Hist. of Latin Christianity_, vol. i. pp. 290-291.

408 Ibid. vol. i. pp. 310-311.

409 Milman, _Hist. of Latin Christianity_, vol. i. pp. 314-318. Dean Milman thus sums up the history: "Monks in Alexandria, monks in Antioch, monks in Jerusalem, monks in Constantinople, decide peremptorily on orthodoxy and heterodoxy. The bishops themselves cower before them. Macedonius in Constantinople, Flavia.n.u.s in Antioch, Elias in Jerusalem, condemn themselves and abdicate, or are driven from their sees. Persecution is universal-persecution by every means of violence and cruelty; the only question is, in whose hands is the power to persecute.... Bloodshed, murder, treachery, a.s.sa.s.sination, even during the public wors.h.i.+p of G.o.d-these are the frightful means by which each party strives to maintain its opinions and to defeat its adversary."

410 See a striking pa.s.sage from Julia.n.u.s of Eclana, cited by Milman, _Hist. of Latin Christianity_, vol. i. p. 164.

411 "Nowhere is Christianity less attractive than in the Councils of the Church.... Intrigue, injustice, violence, decisions on authority alone, and that the authority of a turbulent majority, ... detract from the reverence and impugn the judgments of at least the later Councils. The close is almost invariably a terrible anathema, in which it is impossible not to discern the tones of human hatred, of arrogant triumph, of rejoicing at the d.a.m.nation imprecated against the humiliated adversary."-Ibid. vol. i. p. 202.

412 See the account of this scene in Gibbon, _Decline and Fall_, ch.

xlvii.; Milman, _Hist. of Latin Christianity_, vol. i. p. 263. There is a conflict of authorities as to whether the Bishop of Alexandria himself kicked his adversary, or, to speak more correctly, the act which is charged against him by some contemporary writers is not charged against him by others. The violence was certainly done by his followers and in his presence.

413 Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus, xxvii. 3.

414 Cyprian, _Ep._ lxi.

415 Milman, _Hist. of Christianity_, vol. ii. p. 306.

416 Ibid. iii. 10.

417 "By this time the Old Testament language and sentiment with regard to idolatry were completely incorporated with the Christian feeling; and when Ambrose enforced on a Christian Emperor the sacred duty of intolerance against opinions and practices which scarcely a century before had been the established religion of the Empire, his zeal was supported by almost the unanimous applause of the Christian world."-Milman's _Hist. of Christianity_, vol. iii. p. 159.

418 See the Theodosian laws of Paganism.

419 This appears from the whole history of the controversy; but the prevailing feeling is, I think, expressed with peculiar vividness in the following pa.s.sage:-"Eadmer says (following the words of Bede) in Colman's times there was a sharp controversy about the observing of Easter, and other rules of life for churchmen; therefore, this question deservedly excited the minds and feeling of many people, fearing lest, perhaps, after having received the name of Christians, they should run, or had run in vain."-King's _Hist. of the Church of Ireland_, book ii. ch. vi.

420 Gibbon, chap. lxiii.

421 An interesting sketch of this very interesting prelate has lately been written by M. Druon, _etude sur la Vie et les uvres de Synesius_ (Paris, 1859).

422 Tradition has p.r.o.nounced Gregory the Great to have been the destroyer of the Palatine library, and to have been especially zealous in burning the writings of Livy, because they described the achievements of the Pagan G.o.ds. For these charges, however (which I am sorry to find repeated by so eminent a writer as Dr. Draper), there is no real evidence, for they are not found in any writer earlier than the twelfth century. (See Bayle, _Dict._ art. "Greg.") The extreme contempt of Gregory for Pagan literature is, however, sufficiently manifested in his famous and very curious letter to Desiderius, Bishop of Vienne, rebuking him for having taught certain persons Pagan literature, and thus mingled "the praises of Jupiter with the praises of Christ;" doing what would be impious even for a religious layman, "polluting the mind with the blasphemous praises of the wicked." Some curious evidence of the feelings of the Christians of the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries, about Pagan literature, is given in Guinguene, _Hist. litteraire de l'Italie_, tome i. p. 29-31, and some legends of a later period are candidly related by one of the most enthusiastic English advocates of the Middle Ages. (Maitland, _Dark Ages_.)

423 Probably the best account of the intellectual history of these times is still to be found in the admirable introductory chapters with which the Benedictines prefaced each century of their _Hist.

litteraire de la France_. The Benedictines think (with Hallam) that the eighth century was, on the whole, the darkest on the continent, though England attained its lowest point somewhat later. Of the great protectors of learning Theodoric was unable to write (see Guinguene, tome i. p. 31), and Charlemagne (Eginhard) only began to learn when advanced in life, and was never quite able to master the accomplishment. Alfred, however, was distinguished in literature.

424 The belief that the world was just about to end was, as is well known, very general among the early Christians, and greatly affected their lives. It appears in the New Testament, and very clearly in the epistle ascribed to Barnabas in the first century. The persecutions of the second and third centuries revived it, and both Tertullian and Cyprian (_in Demetrianum_) strongly a.s.sert it. With the triumph of Christianity the apprehension for a time subsided; but it reappeared with great force when the dissolution of the Empire was manifestly impending, when it was accomplished, and in the prolonged anarchy and suffering that ensued. Gregory of Tours, writing in the latter part of the sixth century, speaks of it as very prevalent (_Prologue to the First Book_); and St. Gregory the Great, about the same time, constantly expresses it. The panic that filled Europe at the end of the tenth century has been often described.

425 Maitland's _Dark Ages_, p. 403.

426 This pa.s.sion for sc.r.a.ping MSS. became common, according to Montfaucon, after the twelfth century. (Maitland, p. 40.) According to Hallam, however (_Middle Ages_, ch. ix. part i.), it must have begun earlier, being chiefly caused by the cessation or great diminution of the supply of Egyptian papyrus, in consequence of the capture of Alexandria by the Saracens, early in the seventh century.

427 Bede, _H. E._ iv. 24.

428 Mariana, _De Rebus Hispaniae_, vi. 7. Mariana says the stone was in his time preserved as a relic.

429 Odericus Vitalis, quoted by Maitland (_Dark Ages_, pp. 268-269). The monk was restored to life that he might have an opportunity of reformation. The escape was a narrow one, for there was only one letter against which no sin could be adduced-a remarkable instance of the advantages of a diffuse style.

430 Digby, _Mores Catholici_, book x. p. 246. Matthew of Westminster tells of a certain king who was very charitable, and whose right hand (which had a.s.suaged many sorrows) remained undecayed after death (A.D. 644).

431 See Haureau, _Hist. de la Philosophie scolastique_, tome i. pp.

24-25.

432 On the progress of Roman civilisation in Britain, see Tacitus, _Agricola_, xxi.

433 See the Benedictine _Hist. litter. de la France_, tome i. part ii.

p. 9.

434 A biographer of St. Thomas Aquinas modestly observes:-"L'opinion generalement repandue parmi les theologiens c'est que la _Somme de Theologie_ de St. Thomas est non-seulement son chef-d'uvre mais aussi celui de l'esprit humain." (!!)-Carle, _Hist. de St.-Thomas d'Aquin_, p. 140.

435 See Viardot, _Hist. des Arabes en Espagne_, ii. 142-166. Prescott's _Ferdinand and Isabella_, ch. viii. Viardot contends that the compa.s.s-which appears to have been long known in China-was first introduced into Europe by the Mohammedans; but the evidence of this appears inconclusive.

436 Herder.

437 "Impius ne audeto placare donis iram Deorum."-Cicero, _De Leg._ ii.

9. See, too, Philost. _Apoll. Tyan._ i. 11.

438 There are three or four instances of this related by Porphyry, _De Abstin. Carnis_, lib. ii.

439 Muratori, _Antich. Italiane_, diss. lxvii.

440 See, on the causes of the wealth of the monasteries, two admirable dissertations by Muratori, _Antich. Italiane_, lxvii., lxviii.; Hallam's _Middle Ages_, ch. vii. part i.

441 "Lors de l'etabliss.e.m.e.nt du christianisme la religion avoit essentiellement consiste dans l'enseignement moral; elle avoit exerce les curs et les ames par la recherche de ce qui etoit vraiment beau, vraiment honnete. Au cinquieme siecle on l'avoit surtout attachee a l'orthodoxie, au septieme on l'avoit reduite a la bienfaisance envers les couvens."-Sismondi, _Hist. des Francais_, tome ii. p. 50.

442 Mr. Hallam, speaking of the legends of the miracles of saints, says: "It must not be supposed that these absurdities were produced as well as nourished by ignorance. In most cases they were the work of deliberate imposture. Every cathedral or monastery had its tutelar saint, and every saint his legend, fabricated in order to enrich the churches under his protection, by exaggerating his virtues, his miracles, and consequently his power of serving those who paid liberally for his patronage."-_Middle Ages_, ch. ix. part i. I do not think this pa.s.sage makes sufficient allowance for the unconscious formation of many saintly myths, but no impartial person can doubt its substantial truth.

443 Sismondi, _Hist. des Francais_, tome ii. pp. 54, 62-63.

444 Milman's _Hist. of Latin Christianity_, vol. ii. p. 257.

445 Durandus, a French bishop of the thirteenth century, tells how, "when a certain bishop was consecrating a church built out of the fruits of usury and pillage, he saw behind the altar the devil in a pontifical vestment, standing at the bishop's throne, who said unto the bishop, 'Cease from consecrating the church; for it pertaineth to my jurisdiction, since it is built from the fruits of usuries and robberies.' Then the bishop and the clergy having fled thence in fear, immediately the devil destroyed that church with a great noise."-_Rationale Divinorum_, i. 6 (translated for the Camden Society).

A certain St. Launomar is said to have refused a gift for his monastery from a rapacious n.o.ble, because he was sure it was derived from pillage. (Montalembert's _Moines d'Occident_, tome ii. pp.

350-351.) When prost.i.tutes were converted in the early Church, it was the rule that the money of which they had become possessed should never be applied to ecclesiastical purposes, but should be distributed among the poor.

_ 446 Verba Seniorum_, Prol. -- 172.

447 This vision is not related by St. Gregory himself, and some Catholics are perplexed about it, on account of the vision of another saint, who afterwards asked whether Trajan was saved, and received for answer, "I wish men to rest in ignorance of this subject, that the Catholics may become stronger. For this emperor, though he had great virtues, was an unbaptised infidel." The whole subject of the vision of St. Gregory is discussed by Champagny, _Les Antonins_, tome i. pp. 372-373. This devout writer says, "Cette legende fut acceptee par tout le moyen-age, _indulgent pour les paens ill.u.s.tres_ et tout dispose a les supposer chretiens et sauves."

448 See the solemn a.s.severation of the care which he took in going only to the most credible and authorised sources for his materials, in the Preface to the First Book of _Dialogues_.

_ 449 Dial._ iv. 36.

450 Ibid. iv. 30.

451 Ibid. iv. 35.