[1: The origin of the monastic institution has been
laboriously discussed by Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom.
i. p. 1119 - 1426) and Helyot, (Hist. des Ordres Monastiques,
tom. i. p. 1 - 66.) These authors are very learned, and tolerably
honest, and their difference of opinion shows the subject in its
full extent. Yet the cautious Protestant, who distrusts any
popish guides, may consult the seventh book of Bingham's
Christian Antiquities.]
[2: See Euseb. Demonstrat. Evangel., (l. i. p. 20, 21,
edit. Graec. Rob. Stephani, Paris, 1545.) In his Ecclesiastical
History, published twelve years after the Demonstration, Eusebius
(l. ii. c. 17) asserts the Christianity of the Therapeutae; but
he appears ignorant that a similar institution was actually
revived in Egypt.]
[3: Cassian (Collat. xviii. 5.) claims this origin for
the institution of the Coenobites, which gradually decayed till
it was restored by Antony and his disciples.]
[A: It has before been shown that the first Christian
community was not strictly coenobitic. See vol. ii. - M.]
[4: These are the expressive words of Sozomen, who
copiously and agreeably describes (l. i. c. 12, 13, 14) the
origin and progress of this monkish philosophy, (see Suicer.
Thesau, Eccles., tom. ii. p. 1441.) Some modern writers, Lipsius
(tom. iv. p. 448. Manuduct. ad Philosoph. Stoic. iii. 13) and La
Mothe le Vayer, (tom. ix. de la Vertu des Payens, p. 228 - 262,)
have compared the Carmelites to the Pythagoreans, and the Cynics
to the Capucins.]
[5: The Carmelites derive their pedigree, in regular
succession, from the prophet Elijah, (see the Theses of Beziers,
A.D. 1682, in Bayle's Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres,
Oeuvres, tom. i. p. 82, &c., and the prolix irony of the Ordres
Monastiques, an anonymous work, tom. i. p. 1 - 433, Berlin,
1751.) Rome, and the inquisition of Spain, silenced the profane
criticism of the Jesuits of Flanders, (Helyot, Hist. des Ordres
Monastiques, tom. i. p. 282 - 300,) and the statue of Elijah, the
Carmelite, has been erected in the church of St. Peter, (Voyages
du P. Labat tom. iii. p. 87.)]
[6: Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 15. Gens sola, et in toto
orbe praeter ceteras mira, sine ulla femina, omni venere
abdicata, sine pecunia, socia palmarum. Ita per seculorum millia
(incredibile dictu) gens aeterna est in qua nemo nascitur. Tam
foecunda illis aliorum vitae poenitentia est. He places them
just beyond the noxious influence of the lake, and names Engaddi
and Massada as the nearest towns. The Laura, and monastery of
St. Sabas, could not be far distant from this place. See Reland.
Palestin., tom. i. p. 295; tom. ii. p. 763, 874, 880, 890.]
[7: See Athanas. Op. tom. ii. p. 450 - 505, and the Vit.
Patrum, p. 26 - 74, with Rosweyde's Annotations. The former is
the Greek original the latter, a very ancient Latin version by
Evagrius, the friend of St. Jerom.]
[8: Athanas. tom. ii. in Vit. St. Anton. p. 452; and the
assertion of his total ignorance has been received by many of the
ancients and moderns. But Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p.
666) shows, by some probable arguments, that Antony could read
and write in the Coptic, his native tongue; and that he was only
a stranger to the Greek letters. The philosopher Synesius (p.
51) acknowledges that the natural genius of Antony did not
require the aid of learning.]
[9: Aruroe autem erant ei trecentae uberes, et valde
optimae, (Vit. Patr. l. v. p. 36.) If the Arura be a square
measure, of a hundred Egyptian cubits, (Rosweyde, Onomasticon ad
Vit. Patrum, p. 1014, 1015,) and the Egyptian cubit of all ages
be equal to twenty-two English inches, (Greaves, vol. i. p. 233,)
the arura will consist of about three quarters of an English
acre.]
[10: The description of the monastery is given by Jerom
(tom. i. p. 248, 249, in Vit. Hilarion) and the P. Sicard,
(Missions du Levant tom. v. p. 122 - 200.) Their accounts cannot
always be reconciled the father painted from his fancy, and the
Jesuit from his experience.]
[11: Jerom, tom. i. p. 146, ad Eustochium. Hist.
Lausiac. c. 7, in Vit. Patrum, p. 712. The P. Sicard (Missions
du Levant, tom. ii. p. 29 - 79) visited and has described this
desert, which now contains four monasteries, and twenty or thirty
monks. See D'Anville, Description de l'Egypte, p. 74.]
[12: Tabenne is a small island in the Nile, in the
diocese of Tentyra or Dendera, between the modern town of Girge
and the ruins of ancient Thebes, (D'Anville, p. 194.) M. de
Tillemont doubts whether it was an isle; but I may conclude, from
his own facts, that the primitive name was afterwards transferred
to the great monastery of Bau or Pabau, (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii.
p. 678, 688.)]
[13: See in the Codex Regularum (published by Lucas
Holstenius, Rome, 1661) a preface of St. Jerom to his Latin
version of the Rule of Pachomius, tom. i. p. 61.]
[14: Rufin. c. 5, in Vit. Patrum, p. 459. He calls it
civitas ampla ralde et populosa, and reckons twelve churches.
Strabo (l. xvii. p. 1166) and Ammianus (xxii. 16) have made
honorable mention of Oxyrinchus, whose inhabitants adored a small
fish in a magnificent temple.]
[15: Quanti populi habentur in urbibus, tantae paene
habentur in desertis multitudines monachorum. Rufin. c. 7, in
Vit. Patrum, p. 461. He congratulates the fortunate change.]
[16: The introduction of the monastic life into Rome and
Italy is occasionally mentioned by Jerom, tom. i. p. 119, 120, 199.]
[17: See the Life of Hilarion, by St. Jerom, (tom. i. p.
241, 252.) The stories of Paul, Hilarion, and Malchus, by the
same author, are admirably told: and the only defect of these
pleasing compositions is the want of truth and common sense.]
[18: His original retreat was in a small village on the
banks of the Iris, not far from Neo-Caesarea. The ten or twelve
years of his monastic life were disturbed by long and frequent
avocations. Some critics have disputed the authenticity of his
Ascetic rules; but the external evidence is weighty, and they can
only prove that it is the work of a real or affected enthusiast.
See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles tom. ix. p. 636 - 644. Helyot, Hist.
des Ordres Monastiques tom. i. p. 175 - 181]
[19: See his Life, and the three Dialogues by Sulpicius
Severus, who asserts (Dialog. i. 16) that the booksellers of Rome
were delighted with the quick and ready sale of his popular
work.]
[20: When Hilarion sailed from Paraetonium to Cape
Pachynus, he offered to pay his passage with a book of the
Gospels. Posthumian, a Gallic monk, who had visited Egypt, found
a merchant ship bound from Alexandria to Marseilles, and
performed the voyage in thirty days, (Sulp. Sever. Dialog. i. 1.)
Athanasius, who addressed his Life of St. Antony to the foreign
monks, was obliged to hasten the composition, that it might be
ready for the sailing of the fleets, (tom. ii. p. 451.)]
[21: See Jerom, (tom. i. p. 126,) Assemanni, Bibliot.
Orient. tom. iv. p. 92, p. 857 - 919, and Geddes, Church History
of Aethiopia, p. 29 - 31. The Abyssinian monks adhere very
strictly to the primitive institution.]
[22: Camden's Britannia, vol. i. p. 666, 667.]
[23: All that learning can extract from the rubbish of
the dark ages is copiously stated by Archbishop Usher in his
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, cap. xvi. p. 425 - 503.]
[24: This small, though not barren, spot, Iona, Hy, or
Columbkill, only two miles in length, aud one mile in breadth,
has been distinguished, 1. By the monastery of St. Columba,
founded A.D. 566; whose abbot exercised an extraordinary
jurisdiction over the bishops of Caledonia; 2. By a classic
library, which afforded some hopes of an entire Livy; and, 3. By
the tombs of sixty kings, Scots, Irish, and Norwegians, who
reposed in holy ground. See Usher (p. 311, 360 - 370) and
Buchanan, (Rer. Scot. l. ii. p. 15, edit. Ruddiman.)]
[25: Chrysostom (in the first tome of the Benedictine
edition) has consecrated three books to the praise and defence of
the monastic life. He is encouraged, by the example of the ark,
to presume that none but the elect (the monks) can possibly be
saved (l. i. p. 55, 56.) Elsewhere, indeed, he becomes more
merciful, (l. iii. p. 83, 84,) and allows different degrees of
glory, like the sun, moon, and stars. In his lively comparison
of a king and a monk, (l. iii. p. 116 - 121,) he supposes (what
is hardly fair) that the king will be more sparingly rewarded,
and more rigorously punished.]
[26: Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise tom. i. p. 1426 -
1469) and Mabillon, (Oeuvres Posthumes, tom. ii. p. 115 - 158.)
The monks were gradually adopted as a part of the ecclesiastical
hierarchy.]
[27: Dr. Middleton (vol. i. p. 110) liberally censures
the conduct and writings of Chrysostom, one of the most eloquent
and successful advocates for the monastic life.]
[28: Jerom's devout ladies form a very considerable
portion of his works: the particular treatise, which he styles
the Epitaph of Paula, (tom. i. p. 169 - 192,) is an elaborate and
extravagant panegyric. The exordium is ridiculously turgid: "If
all the members of my body were changed into tongues, and if all
my limbs resounded with a human voice, yet should I be
incapable," &c.]
[29: Socrus Dei esse coepisti, (Jerom, tom. i. p. 140,
ad Eustochium.) Rufinus, (in Hieronym. Op. tom. iv. p. 223,) who
was justly scandalized, asks his adversary, from what Pagan poet
he had stolen an expression so impious and absurd.]
[30: Nunc autem veniunt plerumque ad hanc professionem
servitutis Dei, et ex conditione servili, vel etiam liberati, vel
propter hoc a Dominis liberati sive liberandi; et ex vita
rusticana et ex opificum exercitatione, et plebeio labore.
Augustin, de Oper. Monach. c. 22, ap. Thomassin, Discipline de
l'Eglise, tom. iii. p. 1094. The Egyptian, who blamed Arsenius,
owned that he led a more comfortable life as a monk than as a
shepherd. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 679.]
[31: A Dominican friar, (Voyages du P. Labat, tom. i. p.
10,) who lodged at Cadiz in a convent of his brethren, soon
understood that their repose was never interrupted by nocturnal
devotion; "quoiqu'on ne laisse pas de sonner pour l'edification
du peuple."]
[32: See a very sensible preface of Lucas Holstenius to
the Codex Regularum. The emperors attempted to support the
obligation of public and private duties; but the feeble dikes
were swept away by the torrent of superstition; and Justinian
surpassed the most sanguine wishes of the monks, (Thomassin, tom.
i. p. 1782 - 1799, and Bingham, l. vii. c. iii. p. 253.)
Note: The emperor Valens, in particular, promulgates a law
contra ignavise quosdam sectatores, qui desertis civitatum
muneribus, captant solitudines secreta, et specie religionis cum
coetibus monachorum congregantur. Cad. Theod l. xii. tit. i.
leg. 63. - G.]
[33: The monastic institutions, particularly those of
Egypt, about the year 400, are described by four curious and
devout travellers; Rufinus, (Vit. Patrum, l. ii. iii. p. 424 -
536,) Posthumian, (Sulp. Sever. Dialog. i.) Palladius, (Hist.
Lausiac. in Vit. Patrum, p. 709 - 863,) and Cassian, (see in tom.
vii. Bibliothec. Max. Patrum, his four first books of Institutes,
and the twenty-four Collations or Conferences.)]
[34: The example of Malchus, (Jerom, tom. i. p. 256,)
and the design of Cassian and his friend, (Collation. xxiv. 1,)
are incontestable proofs of their freedom; which is elegantly
described by Erasmus in his Life of St. Jerom. See Chardon,
Hist. des Sacremens, tom. vi. p. 279 - 300.]
[35: See the Laws of Justinian, (Novel. cxxiii. No. 42,)
and of Lewis the Pious, (in the Historians of France, tom vi. p.
427,) and the actual jurisprudence of France, in Denissart,
(Decisions, &c., tom. iv. p. 855,) &c.]
[36: The ancient Codex Regularum, collected by Benedict
Anianinus, the reformer of the monks in the beginning of the
ninth century, and published in the seventeenth, by Lucas
Holstenius, contains thirty different rules for men and women.
Of these, seven were composed in Egypt, one in the East, one in
Cappadocia, one in Italy, one in Africa, four in Spain, eight in
Gaul, or France, and one in England.]
[37: The rule of Columbanus, so prevalent in the West,
inflicts one hundred lashes for very slight offences, (Cod. Reg.
part ii. p. 174.) Before the time of Charlemagne, the abbots
indulged themselves in mutilating their monks, or putting out
their eyes; a punishment much less cruel than the tremendous vade
in pace (the subterraneous dungeon or sepulchre) which was
afterwards invented. See an admirable discourse of the learned
Mabillon, (Oeuvres Posthumes, tom. ii. p. 321 - 336,) who, on
this occasion, seems to be inspired by the genius of humanity.
For such an effort, I can forgive his defence of the holy tear of
Vendeme (p. 361 - 399.)]
[38: Sulp. Sever. Dialog. i. 12, 13, p. 532, &c.
Cassian. Institut. l. iv. c. 26, 27. "Praecipua ibi virtus et
prima est obedientia." Among the Verba seniorum, (in Vit. Patrum,
l. v. p. 617,) the fourteenth libel or discourse is on the
subject of obedience; and the Jesuit Rosweyde, who published that
huge volume for the use of convents, has collected all the
scattered passages in his two copious indexes.]
[39: Dr. Jortin (Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol.
iv. p. 161) has observed the scandalous valor of the Cappadocian
monks, which was exemplified in the banishment of Chrysostom.]
[40: Cassian has simply, though copiously, described the
monastic habit of Egypt, (Institut. l. i.,) to which Sozomen (l.
iii. c. 14) attributes such allegorical meaning and virtue.]
[41: Regul. Benedict. No. 55, in Cod. Regul. part ii. p. 51.]
[42: See the rule of Ferreolus, bishop of Usez, (No. 31,
in Cod. Regul part ii. p. 136,) and of Isidore, bishop of
Seville, (No. 13, in Cod. Regul part ii. p. 214.)]
[43: Some partial indulgences were granted for the hands
and feet "Totum autem corpus nemo unguet nisi causa infirmitatis,
nec lavabitur aqua nudo corpore, nisi languor perspicuus sit,"
(Regul. Pachom xcii. part i. p. 78.)]
[B: Athanasius (Vit. Ant. c. 47) boasts of Antony's holy
horror of clear water, by which his feet were uncontaminated
except under dire necessity - M.]
[44: St. Jerom, in strong, but indiscreet, language,
expresses the most important use of fasting and abstinence: "Non
quod Deus universitatis Creator et Dominus, intestinorum
nostrorum rugitu, et inanitate ventris, pulmonisque ardore
delectetur, sed quod aliter pudicitia tuta esse non possit." (Op.
tom. i. p. 32, ad Eustochium.) See the twelfth and twenty- second
Collations of Cassian, de Castitate and de Illusionibus
Nocturnis.]
[45: Edacitas in Graecis gula est, in Gallis natura,
(Dialog. i. c. 4 p. 521.) Cassian fairly owns, that the perfect
model of abstinence cannot be imitated in Gaul, on account of the
aerum temperies, and the qualitas nostrae fragilitatis,
(Institut. iv. 11.) Among the Western rules, that of Columbanus
is the most austere; he had been educated amidst the poverty of
Ireland, as rigid, perhaps, and inflexible as the abstemious
virtue of Egypt. The rule of Isidore of Seville is the mildest;
on holidays he allows the use of flesh.]
[46: "Those who drink only water, and have no nutritious
liquor, ought, at least, to have a pound and a half (twenty-four
ounces) of bread every day." State of Prisons, p. 40, by Mr.
Howard.]
[47: See Cassian. Collat. l. ii. 19 - 21. The small
loaves, or biscuit, of six ounces each, had obtained the name of
Paximacia, (Rosweyde, Onomasticon, p. 1045.) Pachomius, however,
allowed his monks some latitude in the quantity of their food;
but he made them work in proportion as they ate, (Pallad. in
Hist. Lausiac. c. 38, 39, in Vit. Patrum, l. viii. p. 736, 737.)]
[48: See the banquet to which Cassian (Collation viii.
1) was invited by Serenus, an Egyptian abbot.]
[49: See the Rule of St. Benedict, No. 39, 40, (in Cod.
Reg. part ii. p. 41, 42.) Licet legamus vinum omnino monachorum
non esse, sed quia nostris temporibus id monachis persuaderi non
potest; he allows them a Roman hemina, a measure which may be
ascertained from Arbuthnot's Tables.]
[50: Such expressions as my book, my cloak, my shoes,
(Cassian Institut. l. iv. c. 13,) were not less severely
prohibited among the Western monks, (Cod. Regul. part ii. p. 174,
235, 288;) and the rule of Columbanus punished them with six
lashes. The ironical author of the Ordres Monastiques, who
laughs at the foolish nicety of modern convents, seems ignorant
that the ancients were equally absurd.]
[51: Two great masters of ecclesiastical science, the P.
Thomassin, (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. iii. p. 1090 - 1139,)
and the P. Mabillon, (Etudes Monastiques, tom. i. p. 116 - 155,)
have seriously examined the manual labor of the monks, which the
former considers as a merit and the latter as a duty.]
[52: Mabillon (Etudes Monastiques, tom. i. p. 47 - 55)
has collected many curious facts to justify the literary labors
of his predecessors, both in the East and West. Books were
copied in the ancient monasteries of Egypt, (Cassian. Institut.
l. iv. c. 12,) and by the disciples of St. Martin, (Sulp. Sever.
in Vit. Martin. c. 7, p. 473.) Cassiodorus has allowed an ample
scope for the studies of the monks; and we shall not be
scandalized, if their pens sometimes wandered from Chrysostom and
Augustin to Homer and Virgil.]
[53: Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. iii. p.
118, 145, 146, 171 - 179) has examined the revolution of the
civil, canon, and common law. Modern France confirms the death
which monks have inflicted on themselves, and justly deprives
them of all right of inheritance.]
[54: See Jerom, (tom. i. p. 176, 183.) The monk Pambo
made a sublime answer to Melania, who wished to specify the value
of her gift: "Do you offer it to me, or to God? If to God, He
who suspends the mountain in a balance, need not be informed of
the weight of your plate." (Pallad. Hist. Lausiac. c. 10, in the
Vit. Patrum, l. viii. p. 715.)]
[55: Zosim. l. v. p. 325. Yet the wealth of the Eastern
monks was far surpassed by the princely greatness of the
Benedictines.]
[56: The sixth general council (the Quinisext in Trullo,
Canon xlvii in Beveridge, tom. i. p. 213) restrains women from
passing the night in a male, or men in a female, monastery. The
seventh general council (the second Nicene, Canon xx. in
Beveridge, tom. i. p. 325) prohibits the erection of double or
promiscuous monasteries of both sexes; but it appears from
Balsamon, that the prohibition was not effectual. On the
irregular pleasures and expenses of the clergy and monks, see
Thomassin, tom. iii. p. 1334 - 1368.]
[57: I have somewhere heard or read the frank confession
of a Benedictine abbot: "My vow of poverty has given me a hundred
thousand crowns a year; my vow of obedience has raised me to the
rank of a sovereign prince." - I forget the consequences of his
vow of chastity.]
[58: Pior, an Egyptian monk, allowed his sister to see
him; but he shut his eyes during the whole visit. See Vit.
Patrum, l. iii. p. 504. Many such examples might be added.]
[59: The 7th, 8th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 34th, 57th, 60th,
86th, and 95th articles of the Rule of Pachomius, impose most
intolerable laws of silence and mortification.]
[60: The diurnal and nocturnal prayers of the monks are
copiously discussed by Cassian, in the third and fourth books of
his Institutions; and he constantly prefers the liturgy, which an
angel had dictated to the monasteries of Tebennoe.]
[61: Cassian, from his own experience, describes the
acedia, or listlessness of mind and body, to which a monk was
exposed, when he sighed to find himself alone. Saepiusque
egreditur et ingreditur cellam, et Solem velut ad occasum tardius
properantem crebrius intuetur, (Institut. x. l.)]
[62: The temptations and sufferings of Stagirius were
communicated by that unfortunate youth to his friend St.
Chrysostom. See Middleton's Works, vol. i. p. 107 - 110.
Something similar introduces the life of every saint; and the
famous Inigo, or Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, (vide
d'Inigo de Guiposcoa, tom. i. p. 29 - 38,) may serve as a
memorable example.]
[63: Fleury, Hist. Ecclesiastique, tom. vii. p. 46. I
have read somewhere, in the Vitae Patrum, but I cannot recover
the place that several, I believe many, of the monks, who did not
reveal their temptations to the abbot, became guilty of suicide.]
[64: See the seventh and eighth Collations of Cassian,
who gravely examines, why the demons were grown less active and
numerous since the time of St. Antony. Rosweyde's copious index
to the Vitae Patrum will point out a variety of infernal scenes.
The devils were most formidable in a female shape.]
[65: For the distinction of the Coenobites and the
Hermits, especially in Egypt, see Jerom, (tom. i. p. 45, ad
Rusticum,) the first Dialogue of Sulpicius Severus, Rufinus, (c.
22, in Vit. Patrum, l. ii. p. 478,) Palladius, (c. 7, 69, in Vit.
Patrum, l. viii. p. 712, 758,) and, above all, the eighteenth and
nineteenth Collations of Cassian. These writers, who compare the
common and solitary life, reveal the abuse and danger of the
latter.]
[66: Suicer. Thesaur. Ecclesiast. tom. ii. p. 205, 218.
Thomassin (Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 1501, 1502) gives a
good account of these cells. When Gerasimus founded his
monastery in the wilderness of Jordan, it was accompanied by a
Laura of seventy cells.]
[67: Theodoret, in a large volume, (the Philotheus in
Vit. Patrum, l. ix. p. 793 - 863,) has collected the lives and
miracles of thirty Anachorets. Evagrius (l. i. c. 12) more
briefly celebrates the monks and hermits of Palestine.]
[68: Sozomen, l. vi. c. 33. The great St. Ephrem
composed a panegyric on these or grazing monks, (Tillemont, Mem.
Eccles. tom. viii. p. 292.)]
[69: The P. Sicard (Missions du Levant, tom. ii. p. 217
- 233) examined the caverns of the Lower Thebais with wonder and
devotion. The inscriptions are in the old Syriac character,
which was used by the Christians of Abyssinia.]
[70: See Theodoret (in Vit. Patrum, l. ix. p. 848 -
854,) Antony, (in Vit. Patrum, l. i. p. 170 - 177,) Cosmas, (in
Asseman. Bibliot. Oriental tom. i. p. 239 - 253,) Evagrius, (l.
i. c. 13, 14,) and Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. xv. p. 347 -
392.)]
[71: The narrow circumference of two cubits, or three
feet, which Evagrius assigns for the summit of the column is
inconsistent with reason, with facts, and with the rules of
architecture. The people who saw it from below might be easily
deceived.]
[72: I must not conceal a piece of ancient scandal
concerning the origin of this ulcer. It has been reported that
the Devil, assuming an angelic form, invited him to ascend, like
Elijah, into a fiery chariot. The saint too hastily raised his
foot, and Satan seized the moment of inflicting this chastisement
on his vanity.]
[73: I know not how to select or specify the miracles
contained in the Vitae Patrum of Rosweyde, as the number very
much exceeds the thousand pages of that voluminous work. An
elegant specimen may be found in the dialogues of Sulpicius
Severus, and his Life of St. Martin. He reveres the monks of
Egypt; yet he insults them with the remark, that they never
raised the dead; whereas the bishop of Tours had restored three
dead men to life.]
[74: On the subject of Ulphilas, and the conversion of
the Goths, see Sozomen, l. vi. c. 37. Socrates, l. iv. c. 33.
Theodoret, l. iv. c. 37. Philostorg. l. ii. c. 5. The heresy of
Philostorgius appears to have given him superior means of
information.]
[C: This is the Moeso-Gothic alphabet of which many of
the letters are evidently formed from the Greek and Roman. M.
St. Martin, however contends, that it is impossible but that some
written alphabet must have been known long before among the
Goths. He supposes that their former letters were those
inscribed on the runes, which, being inseparably connected with
the old idolatrous superstitions, were proscribed by the
Christian missionaries. Everywhere the runes, so common among all
the German tribes, disappear after the propagation of
Christianity. S. Martin iv. p. 97, 98. - M.]
[75: A mutilated copy of the four Gospels, in the Gothic
version, was published A.D. 1665, and is esteemed the most
ancient monument of the Teutonic language, though Wetstein
attempts, by some frivolous conjectures, to deprive Ulphilas of
the honor of the work. Two of the four additional letters
express the W, and our own Th. See Simon, Hist. Critique du
Nouveau Testament, tom ii. p. 219 - 223. Mill. Prolegom p. 151,
edit. Kuster. Wetstein, Prolegom. tom. i. p. 114.
Note: The Codex Argenteus, found in the sixteenth century at
Wenden, near Cologne, and now preserved at Upsal, contains almost
the entire four Gospels. The best edition is that of J. Christ.
Zahn, Weissenfels, 1805. In 1762 Knettel discovered and
published from a Palimpsest MS. four chapters of the Epistle to
the Romans: they were reprinted at Upsal, 1763. M. Mai has since
that time discovered further fragments, and other remains of
Moeso-Gothic literature, from a Palimpsest at Milan. See
Ulphilae partium inedi arum in Ambrosianis Palimpsestis ab Ang.
Maio repertarum specimen Milan. Ito. 1819. - M.]
[76: Philostorgius erroneously places this passage under
the reign of Constantine; but I am much inclined to believe that
it preceded the great emigration.]
[77: We are obliged to Jornandes (de Reb. Get. c. 51, p.
688) for a short and lively picture of these lesser Goths. Gothi
minores, populus immensus, cum suo Pontifice ipsoque primate
Wulfila. The last words, if they are not mere tautology, imply
some temporal jurisdiction.]
[78: At non ita Gothi non ita Vandali; malis licet
doctoribus instituti meliores tamen etiam in hac parte quam
nostri. Salvian, de Gubern, Dei, l. vii. p. 243.]
[79: Mosheim has slightly sketched the progress of
Christianity in the North, from the fourth to the fourteenth
century. The subject would afford materials for an
ecclesiastical and even philosophical, history]
[80: To such a cause has Socrates (l. vii. c. 30)
ascribed the conversion of the Burgundians, whose Christian piety
is celebrated by Orosius, (l. vii. c. 19.)]
[81: See an original and curious epistle from Daniel,
the first bishop of Winchester, (Beda, Hist. Eccles. Anglorum, l.
v. c. 18, p. 203, edit Smith,) to St. Boniface, who preached the
gospel among the savages of Hesse and Thuringia. Epistol.
Bonifacii, lxvii., in the Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. xiii.
p. 93]
[82: The sword of Charlemagne added weight to the
argument; but when Daniel wrote this epistle, (A.D. 723,) the
Mahometans, who reigned from India to Spain, might have retorted
it against the Christians.]
[83: The opinions of Ulphilas and the Goths inclined to
semi- Arianism, since they would not say that the Son was a
creature, though they held communion with those who maintained
that heresy. Their apostle represented the whole controversy as
a question of trifling moment, which had been raised by the
passions of the clergy. Theodoret l. iv. c. 37.]
[84: The Arianism of the Goths has been imputed to the
emperor Valens: "Itaque justo Dei judicio ipsi eum vivum
incenderunt, qui propter eum etiam mortui, vitio erroris arsuri
sunt." Orosius, l. vii. c. 33, p. 554. This cruel sentence is
confirmed by Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 604 - 610,) who
coolly observes, "un seul homme entraina dans l'enfer un nombre
infini de Septentrionaux, &c." Salvian (de Gubern. Dei, l. v p.
150, 151) pities and excuses their involuntary error.]
[85: Orosius affirms, in the year 416, (l. vii. c. 41,
p. 580,) that the Churches of Christ (of the Catholics) were
filled with Huns, Suevi, Vandals, Burgundians.]
[86: Radbod, king of the Frisons, was so much
scandalized by this rash declaration of a missionary, that he
drew back his foot after he had entered the baptismal font. See
Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. ix p. 167.]
[87: The epistles of Sidonius, bishop of Clermont, under
the Visigotha, and of Avitus, bishop of Vienna, under the
Burgundians, explain sometimes in dark hints, the general
dispositions of the Catholics. The history of Clovis and
Theodoric will suggest some particular facts]
[88: Genseric confessed the resemblance, by the severity
with which he punished such indiscreet allusions. Victor
Vitensis, l. 7, p. 10.]
[89: Such are the contemporary complaints of Sidonius,
bishop of Clermont (l. vii. c. 6, p. 182, &c., edit. Sirmond.)
Gregory of Tours who quotes this Epistle, (l. ii. c. 25, in tom.
ii. p. 174,) extorts an unwarrantable assertion, that of the nine
vacancies in Aquitain, some had been produced by episcopal
martyrdoms]
[90: The original monuments of the Vandal persecution
are preserved in the five books of the history of Victor
Vitensis, (de Persecutione Vandalica,) a bishop who was exiled by
Hunneric; in the life of St. Fulgentius, who was distinguished in
the persecution of Thrasimund (in Biblioth. Max. Patrum, tom. ix.
p. 4 - 16;) and in the first book of the Vandalic War, by the
impartial Procopius, (c. 7, 8, p. 196, 197, 198, 199.) Dom
Ruinart, the last editor of Victor, has illustrated the whole
subject with a copious and learned apparatus of notes and
supplement (Paris, 1694.)]
[91: Victor, iv. 2, p. 65. Hunneric refuses the name of
Catholics to the Homoousians. He describes, as the veri Divinae
Majestatis cultores, his own party, who professed the faith,
confirmed by more than a thousand bishops, in the synods of
Rimini and Seleucia.]
[92: Victor, ii, 1, p. 21, 22: Laudabilior ...
videbatur. In the Mss which omit this word, the passage is
unintelligible. See Ruinart Not. p. 164.]
[93: Victor, ii. p. 22, 23. The clergy of Carthage
called these conditions periculosoe; and they seem, indeed, to
have been proposed as a snare to entrap the Catholic bishops.]
[94: See the narrative of this conference, and the
treatment of the bishops, in Victor, ii. 13 - 18, p. 35 - 42 and
the whole fourth book p. 63 - 171. The third book, p. 42 - 62,
is entirely filled by their apology or confession of faith.]
[95: See the list of the African bishops, in Victor, p.
117 - 140, and Ruinart's notes, p. 215 - 397. The schismatic
name of Donatus frequently occurs, and they appear to have
adopted (like our fanatics of the last age) the pious
appellations of Deodatus, Deogratias, Quidvultdeus, Habetdeum, &c.
Note: These names appear to have been introduced by the
Donatists. - M.]
[96: Fulgent. Vit. c. 16 - 29. Thrasimund affected the
praise of moderation and learning; and Fulgentius addressed three
books of controversy to the Arian tyrant, whom he styles piissime
Rex. Biblioth. Maxim. Patrum, tom. ix. p. 41. Only sixty
bishops are mentioned as exiles in the life of Fulgentius; they
are increased to one hundred and twenty by Victor Tunnunensis and
Isidore; but the number of two hundred and twenty is specified in
the Historia Miscella, and a short authentic chronicle of the
times. See Ruinart, p. 570, 571.]
[97: See the base and insipid epigrams of the Stoic, who
could not support exile with more fortitude than Ovid. Corsica
might not produce corn, wine, or oil; but it could not be
destitute of grass, water, and even fire.]
[98: Si ob gravitatem coeli interissent vile damnum.
Tacit. Annal. ii. 85. In this application, Thrasimund would have
adopted the reading of some critics, utile damnum.]
[99: See these preludes of a general persecution, in
Victor, ii. 3, 4, 7 and the two edicts of Hunneric, l. ii. p. 35,
l. iv. p. 64.]
[100: See Procopius de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 7, p. 197,
198. A Moorish prince endeavored to propitiate the God of the
Christians, by his diligence to erase the marks of the Vandal
sacrilege.]
[101: See this story in Victor. ii. 8 - 12, p. 30 - 34.
Victor describes the distress of these confessors as an
eye-witness.]
[102: See the fifth book of Victor. His passionate
complaints are confirmed by the sober testimony of Procopius, and
the public declaration of the emperor Justinian. Cod. l. i. tit.
xxvii.]
[103: Victor, ii. 18, p. 41.]
[104: Victor, v. 4, p. 74, 75. His name was
Victorianus, and he was a wealthy citizen of Adrumetum, who
enjoyed the confidence of the king; by whose favor he had
obtained the office, or at least the title, of proconsul of
Africa.]
[105: Victor, i. 6, p. 8, 9. After relating the firm
resistance and dexterous reply of Count Sebastian, he adds, quare
alio generis argumento postea bellicosum virum eccidit.]
[106: Victor, v. 12, 13. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom.
vi. p. 609.]
[107: Primate was more properly the title of the bishop
of Carthage; but the name of patriarch was given by the sects and
nations to their principal ecclesiastic. See Thomassin,
Discipline de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 155, 158.]
[108: The patriarch Cyrila himself publicly declared,
that he did not understand Latin (Victor, ii. 18, p. 42:) Nescio
Latine; and he might converse with tolerable ease, without being
capable of disputing or preaching in that language. His Vandal
clergy were still more ignorant; and small confidence could be
placed in the Africans who had conformed.]
[109: Victor, ii. 1, 2, p. 22.]
[110: Victor, v. 7, p. 77. He appeals to the ambassador
himself, whose name was Uranius.]
[111: Astutiores, Victor, iv. 4, p. 70. He plainly
intimates that their quotation of the gospel "Non jurabitis in
toto," was only meant to elude the obligation of an inconvenient
oath. The forty-six bishops who refused were banished to
Corsica; the three hundred and two who swore were distributed
through the provinces of Africa.]
[112: Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspae, in the Byzacene
province, was of a senatorial family, and had received a liberal
education. He could repeat all Homer and Menander before he was
allowed to study Latin his native tongue, (Vit. Fulgent. c. l.)
Many African bishops might understand Greek, and many Greek
theologians were translated into Latin.]
[113: Compare the two prefaces to the Dialogue of
Vigilius of Thapsus, (p. 118, 119, edit. Chiflet.) He might amuse
his learned reader with an innocent fiction; but the subject was
too grave, and the Africans were too ignorant.]
[114: The P. Quesnel started this opinion, which has
been favorably received. But the three following truths, however
surprising they may seem, are now universally acknowledged,
(Gerard Vossius, tom. vi. p. 516 - 522. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles.
tom. viii. p. 667 - 671.) 1. St. Athanasius is not the author of
the creed which is so frequently read in our churches. 2. It
does not appear to have existed within a century after his death.
3. It was originally composed in the Latin tongue, and,
consequently in the Western provinces. Gennadius patriarch of
Constantinople, was so much amazed by this extraordinary
composition, that he frankly pronounced it to be the work of a
drunken man. Petav. Dogmat. Theologica, tom. ii. l. vii. c. 8,
p. 687.]
[115: 1 John, v. 7. See Simon, Hist. Critique du
Nouveau Testament, part i. c. xviii. p. 203 - 218; and part ii.
c. ix. p. 99 - 121; and the elaborate Prolegomena and Annotations
of Dr. Mill and Wetstein to their editions of the Greek
Testament. In 1689, the papist Simon strove to be free; in 1707,
the Protestant Mill wished to be a slave; in 1751, the Armenian
Wetstein used the liberty of his times, and of his sect.
Note: This controversy has continued to be agitated, but
with declining interest even in the more religious part of the
community; and may now be considered to have terminated in an
almost general acquiescence of the learned to the conclusions of
Porson in his Letters to Travis. See the pamphlets of the late
Bishop of Salisbury and of Crito Cantabrigiensis, Dr. Turton of
Cambridge. - M.]
[116: Of all the Mss. now extant, above fourscore in
number, some of which are more than 1200 years old, (Wetstein ad
loc.) The orthodox copies of the Vatican, of the Complutensian
editors, of Robert Stephens, are become invisible; and the two
Mss. of Dublin and Berlin are unworthy to form an exception. See
Emlyn's Works, vol. ii. p 227 - 255, 269 - 299; and M. de Missy's
four ingenious letters, in tom. viii. and ix. of the Journal
Britannique.]
[117: Or, more properly, by the four bishops who
composed and published the profession of faith in the name of
their brethren. They styled this text, luce clarius, (Victor
Vitensis de Persecut. Vandal. l. iii. c. 11, p. 54.) It is quoted
soon afterwards by the African polemics, Vigilius and
Fulgentius.]
[118: In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Bibles
were corrected by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, and by
Nicholas, cardinal and librarian of the Roman church, secundum
orthodoxam fidem, (Wetstein, Prolegom. p. 84, 85.)
Notwithstanding these corrections, the passage is still wanting
in twenty-five Latin Mss., (Wetstein ad loc.,) the oldest and the
fairest; two qualities seldom united, except in manuscripts.]
[119: The art which the Germans had invented was applied
in Italy to the profane writers of Rome and Greece. The original
Greek of the New Testament was published about the same time
(A.D. 1514, 1516, 1520,) by the industry of Erasmus, and the
munificence of Cardinal Ximenes. The Complutensian Polyglot cost
the cardinal 50,000 ducats. See Mattaire, Annal. Typograph. tom.
ii. p. 2 - 8, 125 - 133; and Wetstein, Prolegomena, p. 116 -
127.]
[120: The three witnesses have been established in our
Greek Testaments by the prudence of Erasmus; the honest bigotry
of the Complutensian editors; the typographical fraud, or error,
of Robert Stephens, in the placing a crotchet; and the deliberate
falsehood, or strange misapprehension, of Theodore Beza.]
[121: Plin. Hist. Natural. v. 1. Itinerar. Wesseling,
p. 15. Cellanius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. part ii. p. 127.
This Tipasa (which must not be confounded with another in
Numidia) was a town of some note since Vespasian endowed it with
the right of Latium.]
[122: Optatus Milevitanus de Schism. Donatist. l. ii. p. 38.]