CHAP. VI.-ACCOUNT OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES BY WHICH JULIAN WAS LED, THROUGH ENVY AND NOT FROM BENEVOLENCE, TO REFRAIN FROM PUBLICLY SLAYING THE CHRISTIANS.

JULIAN'S avowal of his own impiety filled the cities with sedition. Those who were addicted to the worship of idols were emboldened to open their idolatrous temples, and to celebrate those detestable mysteries which deserve to be for ever buried in oblivion. They kindled fire on their altars, polluted the earth by the blood of their victims, and the air by the smoke and odour of the sacrifices. Being agitated by the demons whom they adored, they ran furiously about the marketplaces like the Corybantes. They assaulted and insulted all the holy men, and omitted no kind of reproach and invective which could be cast upon them. Those who professed religion, being unable to bear with their impiety, reviled them in return, and inveighed against the errors which they had embraced. Incensed at these rebukes, they took advantage of the protection afforded them by the emperor, to retort by the infliction of irreparable injuries. This detestable emperor, instead of establishing peace, as he ought to have done, excited the people against each other, and winked at the crimes perpetrated by the more audacious members of society against those who were the most gentle. He bestowed the highest civil and military offices upon the most cruel and impious of his subjects. These officers, though they did not compel the Christians by open force to sacrifice to idols, yet treated them with every species of indignity. The privileges accorded to the clergy by Constantine the Great were abolished.

CHAP. VII.-ATTACKS MADE ON THE CHRISTIANS BY THE PAGANS WHO HAD BEEN RAISED TO POWER BY JULIAN.

ALTHOUGH the audacious actions committed by the idolaters, at this period, were so numerous that it seems requisite that a whole book should be devoted to the narration of them, I shall select a few from the number to relate here. At Askelon and at Gaza, which are both cities of Palestine, they seized men truly worthy of the priesthood, and women who had vowed perpetual virginity, and after having torn open their stomachs, they filled them with barley, and threw them to the pigs to be devoured. In Sebaste, a city of the same province, they

opened the coffin of John the Baptist, burnt his bones, and flung away the ashes. Who can relate without tears the detestable action which they perpetrated in Phoenicia ? In Heliopolis, a city near Libanus, dwelt Cyril a deacon. Acting under the impulse of ardent zeal, he had here, during the reign of Constantius, destroyed many of the idols. These impious men not only killed him in remembrance of this act, but after having ripped up his stomach they ate his liver. This atrocious deed did not elude the observation and the punishment of Divine Justice. All those who took part in it lost their teeth, which fell out one after the other. Then they lost their tongues, which decayed in their mouths: at length, they also lost their eyes, and thus perceived the power of religion by their sufferings. At Emessa, a city of the same region, the idolaters desecrated a church which had been recently erected, and dedicated it to Bacchus Androgynes, and placed within it the ridiculous hermaphrodite statue of that idol. At Dorostolis, a celebrated city of Thrace, Emilius, an undaunted champion of the faith, was thrown into the flames by Capitolinus, governor of the province. It would require the descriptive powers of Eschylus and of Sophocles to relate the tragical sufferings endured by Marcus, bishop of Arethusa. He had during the reign of Constantius destroyed an idolatrous temple, and erected a Christian church in its stead: the inhabitants of the city, therefore, on learning the bent of Julian's mind, openly avowed their hostility against their bishop. He at first, according to the precept of the gospel, attempted to save himself by flight; but hearing that some individuals had been arrested instead of him, he returned, and delivered himself up to his executioners. These men showed no pity for his age, nor respect for his virtues. Notwithstanding his holy course of life and his admirable mode of teaching, they seized him, stripped him naked, and lacerated him with scourgings. They then threw him into the fœtid sewers, and, after drawing him out, they delivered him to the youths of the city, commanding them to pierce him with the points of their writing implements.1 After these cruel inflictions, they thrust him into a basket, anointed him with a kind of pickle, and with honey, and, suspending him where the heat was most excessive, left him to the attacks of wasps and bees. These sufferings were

1 · Γραφίς.

inflicted by his torturers, in order to compel him either to rebuild the temple which he had demolished, or else to furnish money for its re-erection. But all the torments which he underwent did not induce him to promise what was demanded. It then occurred to the citizens, that poverty might probably be the cause of his refusing the money, and they offered to reduce the sum specified to one half the amount. But although he was supended in the air, his flesh punctured with the points of writing implements, and stung by wasps and bees, he did not manifest the slightest sense of pain; and he even ridiculed the evil men around him, and told them that they were crawling on the earth while he was elevated towards heaven. At length they moderated their demands to a very inconsiderable sum of money. He replied that it would be as impious to give an obolus as to give the whole sum. Being thus defeated in their attempts, they released him, but not without the highest admiration of his fortitude. They were converted, and learnt from his lips the doctrines of religion.

CHAP. VIII.-LAWS ENACTED AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS.

MANY other crimes were perpetrated about this time by the irreligious against the pious, both at sea and on land; for the ungodly emperor had enacted laws against religion. The first of these laws prohibited the children of Galileans, for this was the name he gave to Christians, from being instructed in poetry, rhetoric, or philosophy. "For we," said he, "are, according to the old proverb, smitten by our own wings; for our authors furnish weapons to carry on war against us." It was enjoined by the other law, that the Galileans should be expelled from the army.

CHAP. IX.-BANISHMENT AND FLIGHT OF ST. ATHANASIUS.

Ar this juncture Athanasius, that heroic combatant and champion of truth, was again exposed to another perilous conflict. The demons, not being able to resist the power of the teaching and of the prayers of Athanasius, furnished their own agents with invectives against him. Among other stateThis coin was worth about five farthings and a half.

ments which they laid before the patron of impiety, to induce him to expel Athanasius, they told him, that if the bishop were suffered to remain unmolested, there would not be one Pagan left, for that he led them all to espouse his own sentiments. Julian acceded to their petition, and commanded that Athanasius should not only be banished, but that he should be put to death. The followers of Athanasius were struck with horror at this announcement; but he said to them, "This commotion will quickly terminate: it is a cloud which appears and then vanishes away." He however retired when he heard of the arrival of those sent to carry the edict into execution; and finding a vessel lying near the bank of the stream, he embarked and sailed to Thebes. Those who had been commanded to kill him, on being apprized of his escape, pursued him with all their might. One of his friends, however, distanced them in the pursuit; and, on his communicating the intelligence, those who were with Athanasius besought him to disembark, and to flee to the desert. He, however, directed the helmsman to steer straight to Alexandria. While they were pursuing this course, the officer who was intrusted with the command of slaying him overtook him, and asked him where Athanasius was. "He is near," replied he; and passed on. He reached Alexandria, and remained there in concealment during the rest of Julian's life.

CHAP. X.-EVENTS RELATING TO THE DAPHNEAN APOLLO,

AND TO ST. BABYLAS.

JULIAN, being desirous of declaring war against the Persians, sent his most faithful friends to consult all the principal oracles of the Roman empire. He went himself to the Pythian Apollo of Daphne, beseeching him to reveal to him the future. The soothsayer replied, that it would be required first to remove the dead bodies which were lying in the neighbourhood to some other region, for that they obstructed the deliverance of the oracles; and that, upon their removal, the future would be disclosed. The remains of the triumphant martyr, Babylas, and of the young men who were slain with him, were at this period lying in the neighbourhood. was evident that the delivery of the deceitful oracles was prevented by the presence of those holy corpses. This was

It

clearly perceived by Julian, who, from the religion in which he had been formerly instructed, had learnt the power of the martyrs. On this account he would not remove any of the corpses himself, but commanded the followers of Christ to carry away the remains of these triumphant martyrs. The whole body of Christians accordingly repaired with great exultation to the sacred grove, placed these remains in a car drawn by two horses, and thus conveyed them to the city. All the Christians followed, singing the psalms of David, and at every interval repeating these words, "Let all those who adore graven images be confounded." The Christians regarded this removal of the martyrs as a triumph gained over

the demons.

CHAP. XI.-FIDELITY OF THEODORE.

JULIAN, unable to bear the humiliation which this procedure cast upon him, commanded the next day that the leaders of the procession should be arrested. Salustius, who was at this period a vice-governor, and who had enlisted in the service of impiety, persuaded the tyrant not to grant to the Christians the glory of martyrdom, which they so earnestly desired. But when he perceived that the emperor was unable to curb his fury, he commanded the arrest of a young man deeply imbued with divine zeal, who was then walking in the market-place. He had him stretched on the rack in the presence of all the people, and ordered his shoulders to be torn with scourging, and his sides with nails. To this treatment he was subjected from the dawn of day until its close. He was then bound with iron chains and cast into prison. The next morning Salustius informed Julian of these inflictions, described the fortitude of the young man, and said, that such cruelties were degrading to their own party, and conferred glory on the Christians. This impious emperor was induced by these arguments to desist from further acts of vengeance; and he released Theodore (for this was the name of the young and generous defender of the truth) from prison. Some persons having afterwards asked the young man whether he did not suffer extreme anguish while subjected to

This story, as Valesius remarks, is taken from the 10th book of Rufinus, who borrowed it originally from Theodorus.