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tary service,1 suited, like the rest, to persons of some distinction.

Anastasius, being informed of the circumstance, laid the matter before the senate, and justly declaring it to be an abomination and unparalleled defilement, decreed that it should be utterly abolished; and committed to the flames the papers which were vouchers for its collection. With the desire also of making this measure a complete sacrifice to God, and of preventing any of his successors from reviving the ancient shame, he puts on the appearance of vexation, and accuses himself of inconsiderateness and excessive folly, saying that in the too eager pursuit of novelty he had neglected the interests of the commonwealth, and had rashly and thoughtlessly abolished so important a revenue, which had been established in former times and confirmed by so long a continuance, without duly weighing the impending dangers, or the expenses necessary for the maintenance of the army, that living bulwark of the empire, nor yet for the service of God. Accordingly, without betraying his secret thoughts, he proclaims his desire to restore the before-mentioned revenue; and having summoned those who had been in charge of the levy, he told them that he repented of the step, but knew not what course to take, or how to rectify his error, now that the papers had been burnt which could be vouchers for the particulars of its exaction. And while they on their part lamented the abolition of the levy, not in semblance but in reality, on account of the unrighteous gain which had thence accrued to them, and were professing the same perplexity as the emperor, he urged and exhorted them to employ every mode of search, in the endeavour to procure from among documents preserved in various quarters, a statement of the entire levy. Supplying each individual with money, he despatched him to collect materials. enjoining him to bring every paper which threw light upon this matter wherever it might be found; that by means of the utmost circumspection and minute attention, a statement of the business might be again put together. Accordingly, on the return of those who were engaged in the execution of these orders, Anastasius put on a pleased and gladsome appearance, and was in reality rejoiced in having compassed the object on which he was bent. He also made particular in

1 See Euseb. Eccl. Hist. b. x. ch. 8.

quiries both how they were discovered and in whose possession, and whether anything of the same kind was still remaining; and on their affirming that they had expended great pains upon the collection, and swearing by the emperor himself, that no other paper which could be a voucher was preserved throughout the whole empire, Anastasius again lighted up a great pile with the papers thus produced, and drenched the ashes with water, with the intention of removing every trace of this levy; so that there might appear neither dust, nor ashes, nor any remnant whatever of the business, through imperfect combustion.

In order, however, that, while we are thus extolling the abolition of this impost, we may not seem to be ignorant how much has been written under passionate feelings on the subject by former authors, let me produce these matters, and show their falsehood, and that more especially from their own statements.

CHAP. XL.-FALSEHOODS OF THE HISTORIAN ZOSIMUS.

ZOSIMUS, a follower of the accursed and foul religion of the Greeks, in his anger against Constantine, because he was the first emperor that had adopted Christianity, abandoning the abominable superstition of the Greeks, says, that he was the person who devised the tax called Chrysargyrum, and enacted that it should be levied every five years. He has on many

other grounds also reviled that pious and magnificent monarch; for he affirms that he contrived many other intolerable proceedings against every class of persons; that he miserably destroyed his son Crispus, and made away with his wife Fausta by enclosing her in an overheated bath; and that, after having in vain endeavoured to procure purification from murders so detestable at the hands of the priests of his own religion, (for they plainly declared its impossibility,) he met with an Egyptian who had come from Iberia; and, having been assured by him that the faith of the Christians had the power of blotting out every sin, he embraced what the Egyptian had imparted to him, and thenceforward abandoning the faith of his fathers, he made the commencement of his impiety. The falsehood of these assertions I will forth

with show, and in the first place treat of the matter of the Chrysargyrum.

CHAP. XLI.-REFUTATION OF ZOSIMUS.

THOU sayest, O evil and malignant demon, that Constantine, wishing to raise a city equal to Rome, first made a commencement of so vast a place by laying strong foundations and erecting a lofty wall between Troas and Ilium; but when he had discovered in Byzantium a more suitable site, he in such fashion encircled the place with walls, so far extended the former city, and embellished it with buildings so splendid, as hardly to be surpassed by Rome itself, which had received gradual increase through so long a course of years. Thou sayest also that he made a distribution of provisions at the public cost to the people of Byzantium, and bestowed a very large sum of gold upon those who had accompanied him thither, for the erection of private houses. Again, thou writest to the following effect that on the decease of Constantine, the imperial power came into the hands of Constantius, his only surviving son after the death of his two brothers; and that when Magnentius and Vetranio had assumed the sovereignty, he wrought upon the latter by persuasives and when both armies had been mustered, Constantius, addressing them first, reminded the soldiers of the generosity of his father, with whom they had served through many wars, and by whom they had been distinguished by the most liberal gifts; and that the soldiers, on hearing this, stripped Vetranio of his imperial robe, and made him descend from the tribunal into a private station; and that he suffered no unkindness at the hands of Constantius, who has shared with his father in so much of thy calumny. How thou canst then maintain that the same person could be so liberal, so munificent, and at the same time so paltry and sordid, as to impose so accursed a tax, I am utterly unable to comprehend.

In proof that Constantine did not destroy Fausta or Crispus, nor was on that account initiated by an Egyptian into our mysteries, listen to the history of Eusebius Pamphili, who was contemporary with Constantine and Crispus, and had intercourse with them. For what thou writest, so far from being truth, was not even contemporary hearsay, since thou livedst

long after, in the time of Arcadius and Honorius-to which period thou hast brought down thy history or even after their time. Eusebius, in the eighth book of his Ecclesiastical History,2 has the following words: "After no very long interval, the emperor Constantine, having maintained a disposition remarkable for gentleness in respect to his whole life, kindliness towards his subjects, and favour towards the Divine word, closes his life by the common laws of nature, leaving behind him, as emperor and Augustus in his own room, a legitimate son, Constantius." And further on he says: "His son Constantius, having at the very commencement of his reign been proclaimed supreme emperor and Augustus by the armies, and long before by God himself, the universal Sovereign, showed himself an imitator of his father's piety as respects our faith." And at the end of the history3 he expresses himself in the following terms: "The mighty, victorious Constantine, distinguished by every religious excellence, in conjunction with his son Crispus, a sovereign highly beloved of God, and resembling his father in all things, obtained his rightful possession of the East." Eusebius, who survived Constantine, would never have praised Crispus in these terms, if he had been destroyed by his father. Theodoret, in his History, says that Constantine partook in the saving baptism at Nicomedia, near the close of his life, and that he had deferred the rite till this period, from a desire that it should be performed in the river Jordan.

Thou sayest, O most detestable and polluted one, that the Roman empire from the time of the appearance of Christianity fell away and was altogether ruined: either because thou hast not read any of the older writings, or because thou art a traitor to the truth. For, on the contrary, it clearly appears that the Roman power increased together with the spread of our faith. Consider, for instance, how, at the very time of the sojourn of Christ our God among mankind,5

1 Zosimus brought down his work to the taking of Rome by Alaric; according to Suidas, he lived in the reign of Anastasius.

2 Compare ch. 13, from which the reader will be able to correct Evagrius here.

3 Ibid. b. x. ch. 9.

4 See Theod. Eccl. Hist. b. i. ch. 32.

5 Macedonia had been subdued by the Romans, and the Albani, Iberi, and Colchi had been conquered by them long before the birth of Christ.

the greater part of the Macedonians were crushed by the Romans, and Albania, Iberia, the Colchians, and Arabians were subjugated. Caius Cæsar also, in the hundred and eighty-first Olympiad, subdued in great battles the Gauls, Germans, and Britons, and thereby added to the Roman empire the inhabitants of five hundred cities; as has been recorded by historians. He also was the first who attained to sole sovereignty since the establishment of consuls, thereby preparing a way for the previous introduction of a reverence for monarchy, after the prevalence of polytheism and popular rule, on account of the monarchy of Christ which was immediately to appear. A further acquisition was also forthwith made of the whole of Judæa and the neighbouring territories; so that it was at this time that the first registration1 took place; in which Christ also was enrolled, in order that Bethlehem might fulfil the prophecy relating to it; for thus had the prophet Micah spoken respecting that place: "And thou, Bethlehem, territory of Judah, art by no means least among the princes of Judah, for from thee shall come forth a governor who shall feed my people Israel." Also after the nativity of Christ3 our God, Egypt was added to the Roman dominion; Augustus Cæsar, in whose time Christ was born, having completely overthrown Antony and Cleopatra; who also killed themselves. Upon which Cornelius Gallus is appointed by Augustus governor of Egypt, being the first who ruled that country after the Ptolemies; as has been recorded by historians. To what extent the territories of the Persians were curtailed by Ventidius, Corbulo the general of Nero, Severus, Trajan, Carus, Cassius, Odenatus of Palmyra, Apollonius, and others; and how often Seleucia and Ctesiphon were taken, and Nisibis changed sides; and how Armenia and the neighbouring countries were added to the Roman empire; these matters have been narrated by thyself, as well as by others.

I had, however, nearly forgotten to notice what thou thyself writest respecting the achievements of Constantine, how nobly and courageously he swayed the Roman empire, while professing our religion, and what befell Julian, thy hero and the

1 See Euseb. Eccl. Hist. b. i. ch. 5, note.
3 Evagrius is mistaken here, for Egypt was

a province about A. D. 20.

2 Mic. v. 2.

reduced into the form of

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