to lament this circumstance. The truly episcopal duties of devotion and charity are usually performed in silent unobtrusiveness; and the highest interests, and the truest happiness of the human race, have commonly been best promoted by those of whom Fame has made least mention. But this long period of comparative obscurity was at length terminated by the name of Leo, surnamed the Great. That prelate ascended the chair of St. Peter in the year 440, and occupied it for one and twenty years. At his accession, he found the Eastern Church still agitated by the receding tempest of the Nestorian controversy; and the heresy of Eutyches, which immediately succeeded, introduced fresh disorders, which continued to disturb his long pontificate. In the West, the success of the barbarians in Africa and Gaul presented a new and extensive field for ecclesiastical exertion; while we are taught, at the same time, to believe that the internal lustre of his Church was darkened and endangered by the prevalence of the Manichæan heresy. The zeal of St. Leo was directed to all these points; and, perhaps, if he had evinced less eagerness in the discovery* and pursuit of his domestic adversaries, the very circumstance of their existence might never have been known But, in justice, we are equally bound to praise his firm co-operation with the Eastern Church for the peaceful repression (had such been possible) of the perverse notions which perplexed and divided it; nor are there wanting many salutary expositions of doctrine and reasonable rules of discipline, scattered throughout his numerous writings †.

to us.

The circumstances of the times were favourable to another object, which, with Leo, indeed, may possibly have been secondary, though it occupied the foremost place in the attention of so many of his successors -the aggrandisement of the Roman See. In the East, it happened about that time that the Patriarch of Constantinople, by the assumption of some additional power‡, had alienated the Bishops of Alexandria and Antioch, and that these last appealed to Rome for succour and justice. Of course, the authority which such appeal might seem to imply was at no time recognised by the Patriarch-it was even decided, during this very pontificate, by the twenty-ninth Canon of the Council of Chalcedon§,

Baronius (chiefly ad ann. 443) gives several proofs, from the Chronicon of Prosper and St. Leo's own writings, of the diligence of that Prelate in tearing those heretics from their hiding-places, and publishing their infamy. It also appears that until that period it had been usual for all Christians to direct their prayers to the East; but as this form was with the Manichæans essential, with the orthodox only matter of ceremony, he directed the latter to discontinue the practice, in order that the perverse might be distinguished and detected by their perseverance. There is also a passage (in his 95th epistle) in which he advocates the unsheathing of the temporal sword in vindication of the doctrines of the Church. Profuit diu ista districtio ecclesiasticæ lenitati, quæ, etsi sacerdotali contenta judicio cruentas refugit ultiones, severis tamen Christianorum principum constitutionibus adjuvatur, dum ad spirituale nonnunquam recurrunt remedium, qui timent corporale supplicium.'

One hundred and forty-one Epistles and ninety-six Sermons still remain to us, though several of both are lost. Upon the whole they indicate great talents, and an improved and exercised mind. Respecting their genuineness, see Dupin, t. iii. p. 2.

Mosh. cent. v., p. ii., c. ii.

§ Held in 451. The substance of the enactment is as follows:- That the Fathers did reasonably accord its privileges to Antient Rome, because it was the imperial city; and for the same reason the hundred and fifty Bishops here assembled have decided that New Rome, which is honoured with the empire and the senate, shall have the same advantages with Antient Rome in the ecclesiastical constitution, and be the second after it'-meaning, obviously, that the two Sees were to be independent in power and equal in privilege; but that in rank and precedence the superiority was due to the more ancient. This Canon has given birth to the most voluminous contentions. Fleury, liv. xxviii. sect. 30. Baron, ann. 451. Sect. 148.

that the See of New Rome should have the same advantages with that of Antient Rome in the ecclesiastical constitution;' but, nevertheless, the influence of the latter was extended, for the moment at least, among the subjects of the former, by the dissensions which severed them from their Head. And, again, the accidents which placed the Bishop of Rome in familiar and almost independent correspondence with the Emperor, could not fail to exalt his name and elevate his dignity. In the western provinces, the increase of Papal authority was owing to other causes ; the declining power, the indolence and the absence of the Emperors, left little civil control over the authority of the Bishop who presided in the imperial city; and the incursions and triumphs of the barbarians rather contributed to advance than to restrain his rising dominion. For the chiefs of the invaders, whose principal solicitude was to give stability to their government, when they perceived the great deference paid by the multitude to the hierarchy, while they courted the inferior members of that body, naturally offered the most obsequious respect to the highest in rank. From these and similar causes a variety of advantages spontaneously flowed, and they were seized and perpetuated by the genius and ambition of Leo.

Private Confession.

One innovation in the discipline of the Church was introduced by that Pontiff, which deserves more attentive notice than is usually directed to it. It had been the custom for the more grievous offenders to make the confession of their sins publicly, in the face of the congregation; or at least for the ministers occasionally to proclaim before the whole assembly the nature of the confessions which they had received. Leo strongly discouraged that practice; and permitted, and even enjoined with some earnestness, that confession should rather be private, and confided to the priest alone. The evil most obviously proceeding from this relaxation was the general increase, or, at least, the more indecent practice, of the mortal sins, and especially (as Mosheim † has observed) of that of incontinence; unless, indeed, we are to suppose that the original publicity of confession was abandoned, from its being no longer practicable in a numerous body and a corrupt age. But another consequence which certainly flowed from this measure, and which, in the eye of an ambitious Churchman, might counterbalance its demoralizing effect, was the vast addition of influence which it gave to the clergy. When he delivered over the conscience of the people into the hands of the priests,-when he consigned the most secret acts and thoughts of individual imperfection to the torture of private inquisition and scrutiny,-Leo the Great had indeed the glory of laying the first and corner-stone of the Papal edifice-that on which it rose and rested, and without which the industry of his successors would have been vainly exerted, or (as is more probable) their boldest projects would never have been formed.

From the name of St. Leo we may proceed without interruption to that of Justiniant; who ascended the throne of Constantinople in the year 527, and occupied it for nearly forty years. This Emperor is most honourably known

Justinian.

* Some Epistles are still extant, addressed by St. Leo to the Emperor Theodosius, on the subject of the Eastern controversies.

+ Cent. v. p. 2. ch. iv. The epistle containing this ordinance is the 136th, addressed (on March 6, 459) to the Bishop of the March of Ancona and Abruzzo. Dupin, Nouv. Biblioth. tom. iii. par. ii.

Of the jurisdiction of the clergy, which was the most acknowledged exercise of their power, and the most direct cause of their influence, it will be better to defer all mention until we come to treat of the acts of Charlemagne.

by his legislative labours, and the digest of a code of laws, which, in a later age, obtained general and durable reception throughout Europe, and which are not in all places obsolete at this moment. A different and secondary description of celebrity is reflected on him by the success of his generals, Belisarius and Narses, against the invaders of the West; but, for our own part, we are not disposed to think, that he would have made any addition to the extent, or improvement in the nature, in his reputation, had he deserted the pacific duties for which he was well qualified, to place himself at the head of armies without disposition or experience for command. He deputed to his soldiers the sanguinary task of conquest, and confined his own talents to those offices which he justly considered to be more truly imperial. Among the first and favourite of these he placed the regulation of the religious affairs of his subjects. His own faith was distinguished by the most rigid orthodoxy; and his theological studies had at least conducted him to sound doctrinal conclusions. But he had studied with more success the tenets, than the history, of his religion; or he would have learnt from the sad experience of two centuries, that neither the canons of councils, nor the oppression of civil power, are sufficient to restrain the wanderings of human opinion. He devoted a large portion of his long reign to the extinction of heresy; he waged war with equal fury† against the remnant of the Arians, the Nestorians, and the Eutychians; he expelled them from their churches, which he transferred, together with their public possessions, to the Catholics; and, finally, he descended to individual persecution, and confiscated the private property of many. Whatever ambiguous excuses may be found for his other proceedings, the guilt of this last robbery is usually attributed to his sordid avarice. In spite of those measures (shall we not rather say, in consequence of them?), the fifth General Council (assembled at Constantinople during his reign) conferred upon him the title of The Most Christian Emperor, not foreseeing that, by one of those strange dispositions of Providence which seem to mock at human calculation and consistency, the very monarch whom they had exalted by that glorious distinction— due, indeed, to the purity of his faith, but forfeited by his intemperance and bigotry, was destined to die a heretic! A foolish dispute had been raised at that time, whether the body of Christ on earth was or was not liable to corruption; and this divided Oriental Christians into the two seets of Corruptibles and Incorruptibles. The latter were obviously involved in the heresy of the Phantastics; and yet Justinian, in the blindness of old age, adopted that opinion; and it is even believed, that he was preparing to persecute all who differed from him, when he fell sick and died.

Our censures on the religious policy of Justinian, though at variance

The crampet of Gibbon (upon the whole a humane historian) is too often and too loudly sounded in celebration of military prowess, and the pomp of camps, and the virtues of heroes-the favourite themes of vulgar minds, and the easiest incentives to vulgar enthusiasm.

He appears to have taken pains to search for them-a detestable exaggeration of persecution. He assailed with the same ardour both pagans and astrologers; and his severities against the Samaritans, who had obtained a place in the long list of heretics, excited and justified their rebellion; and it was not suppressed without horrible carnage. On the other hand, he exerted himself with equal vigour against various forms of impiety and immorality (Fleury, liv. xxxii. sect. 27.); and was no less zealous in the conversion of the Heruli and other barbarian tribes to the belief in the Gospel, than in oppressing all who did not interpret that Gospel as he did.

The history of Henry VIII. of England furnishes an instance at first sight very similar to this.

with the usual language of ecclesiastical historians, require no justification-but it is proper to clear that Emperor from the more odious imputation of having created the system, which he so zealously administered. The sentence of banishment pronounced by Constantine against Arius and his followers, however speedily regretted and revoked, was the grand and authoritative precedent to which every Catholic persecutor of after-times appealed with pride and confidence. That which was an experiment—an injudicious and fruitless experiment, with Constantine, became a principle or a habit with most of his successors, each of whom enacted such penalties as seemed suited to repress the errors of the day; but it was reserved to Theodosius II. to complete the work, and to confirm and embody the scattered edicts of bigotry and despotism. There is no space here to enumerate the severe laws against heretics, which may be found in the Theodosian Code*; it may suffice to say, that they extended to almost every denomination of dissent, and menaced the contumacious with confiscation, intestation, exile, as the ordinary punishments—while the last and inexpiable penalty' was suspended over the most formidable innovators. More than this-that Emperor actually appointed Inquisitors for the detection of certain specified offenders, and enjoined the most diligent and penetrating search† for the purpose of unmasking them. It has been observed, that Pope Leo the Great adopted this method for the extinction of the Manichæans; and it is some excuse for the eagerness of the Bishop that the mighty footsteps of the Emperor lay traced before him. It would not be just to attach to his name very deeply the guilt of intolerance; nor would we defraud even Justinian himself of such plea as may be found for him in the penal system previously established, in the spirit of the times, in the practice of his predecessors. Yet should we distinguish—a

*The following are extracts :-Quid sensibus excæcatos Judæos, Samaritas, Paganos, et cætera hæreticorum genera portentorum audere cognoscimus? Quod si ad sanitatem mentis egregio legum edicto revocare conemur, severitatis culpam ipsi præstabunt; qui duræ frontis obstinato piaculo locum veniæ non relinquunt. Quamobrem, cum sententia veteri desperatis morbis nulla sit abhibenda curatio, tandem, ne ferales sectæ in vitam, immemores nostri sæculi velut indiscreta confusione, licentius evagentur, hac victura in omne ævum lege sancimus-Neminem Judæum, neminem Samaritam, neutra lege constantem, ad honores et dignitates accedere; nulli administrationem patere civilis obsequii, nec defensoris fungi saltem officio. Nefas quippe credimus, ut supernæ majestati et Romanis legibus inimici, ultoresque etiam nostrarum legum surreptivæ jurisdictionis habeantur obtentu et acquisitæ dignitatis auctoritate muniti adversum Christianos, et ipsos plerumque sacræ Religionis Antistites, velut insultantes fidei nostræ judicandi vel pronuntiandi quid velint, habeant potestatem, &c. Again :-Hinc prospicit nostra Clementia Paganorum quoque et gentilium immanitates vigiliam nostram debere sortiri, qui naturali vesania et licentia pertinaci religionis tramite dissidentes nefarios sacrificiorum ritus occultis exercere quodammodo solitudinibus designantur-quos non promulgatarum legum mille terrores, non denuntiati exitii poena compescant, ut si emendari non possint mole saltem criminum et illuvie victimarum discerent abstinere. Sed prorsus ea furoris peccatur audacia, &c. &c. Leg. Novell. Div. Theod. A. Lib. These enactments of the first, confirmed by the second Theodosius, are in every sense barbarous.

+ Summa exploratione rimetur, ut, quicunque in unum Pascha diem non obsequenti religione convenerint, tales indubitanter, quales hac lege damnamus, habeantur.' This seems to have been levelled against the remains of the Quartadecimans. The Encratites, Saccophori, and Hydroparastatæ, are the names which are threatened summo supplicio et inexpiabili poena.' A law was also enacted to prevent the meetings of the Tascodragita-a denomination of persons who made their prayers inwardly and silently, compressing their noses and lips with their hands, lest any sound should transpire." Basnage, iii. 82. Jortin, vol. iv. ad ann. 381. That any danger either to Church or State could for an instant have been apprehended from such abject and pitiful enthusiasm might have been pronounced impossible, if the history of persecution in every age, howsoever modified and disguised by time and circumstance, did not incessantly attest it to be both credible and probable.

churchman may be more leniently censured if he enforce the laws already enacted for the protection of his Church, and calculated, as he may ignorantly imagine, for that purpose. But a legislator should look more deeply into the records of history and the constitution of human nature; and if, among the venerable statutes of his ancestors he observes one which is founded in manifest injustice, which in its immediate operation occasions confusion and misery, and which in its general efficacy has been proved by long experience to miss the end proposed-to re-enact and perpetuate that statute is not error, but deep and inexpiable crime.

III. We shall conclude this Chapter with a few remarks respecting the literature and morality of the period on which we are employed: for though it may seem impossible to treat so extensive a subject in such contracted limits with adequate fulness, or even with profitable precision, there would be still greater ground of reproach were we to neglect it altogether.

Decline of
Literature.

The decline of Roman literature between the age of Augustus and that of the Antonines, in chasteness and delicacy of thought and expression, and even the decay of the language itself, are instantly perceptible to the classical reader; yet was it still animated by some of the fire of ancient genius: it had availed itself of the progress of science and the increased knowledge of man, and it applied that knowledge with immortal success to history as well as philosophy; but from the reign of Antoninus to that of Diocletian the fall was sudden and precipitate. In the barren records of the third century we find no names of good, few even of indifferent writers; and if the works of the ancients were more generally diffused and studied than formerly (which seems uncertain), theywere at least much less diligently imitated, and not an effort was made to surpass them. It is of importance to remark this fact; because there have been some so unjust in their hostility to revelation, or so perverse in their estimation of history, as to attribute the decay of literature to the prevalence and influence of the Christian religion. This charge is very far removed from truth-indeed it is easy to show that literature had already fallen into deep and irretrievable ruin, before Christianity began to exercise any control over the refinements of society. At the beginning of the third century, during the parting struggles of learning, the Christians, numerous as they were, and irresistible in strength, were principally confined to the lower and middle ranks; and even at the beginning of the last persecution, though they held some high offices in the court of Justinian, it will scarcely be asserted that they formed a sufficient proportion of the higher and educated classes to affect in any great degree the literary character of the empire. A very general moral improvement they had undoubtedly introduced among the lower orders: some influence on the civilization of the people, and even on the policy of the government, they may also have exercised; but complete revolutions in national literature do not originate in those quarters; and even had it been otherwise, we have seen, that more than a century before that period, the downfall of taste and learning had been irrevocably decreed. While they speculate on the secondary causes of singular phænomena,

*The effect which Christianity may have produced on the literature of the Roman Empire in the third century, bears some resemblance in character (though it was far inferior in degree) to that exerted by Puritanism on the literature of our own country. And if it be true, that the immediate influence of both was, to a certain extent, hostile, their ultimate operation was certainly to invigorate and renovate. Some of the Fathers of the fourth and fifth centuries write better than any profane author after Tacitus.

K