<h2><SPAN name="chap37.3"></SPAN> Chapter XXXVII: Conversion Of The Barbarians To Christianity.—Part III. </h2>
<p>The different motives which influenced the reason, or the passions, of the
Barbarian converts, cannot easily be ascertained. They were often
capricious and accidental; a dream, an omen, the report of a miracle, the
example of some priest, or hero, the charms of a believing wife, and,
above all, the fortunate event of a prayer, or vow, which, in a moment of
danger, they had addressed to the God of the Christians. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.80" name="linknoteref-37.80" id="linknoteref-37.80">80</SPAN>
The early prejudices of education were insensibly erased by the habits of
frequent and familiar society, the moral precepts of the gospel were
protected by the extravagant virtues of the monks; and a spiritual
theology was supported by the visible power of relics, and the pomp of
religious worship. But the rational and ingenious mode of persuasion,
which a Saxon bishop <SPAN href="#linknote-37.81" name="linknoteref-37.81" id="linknoteref-37.81">81</SPAN> suggested to a popular saint, might sometimes
be employed by the missionaries, who labored for the conversion of
infidels. “Admit,” says the sagacious disputant, “whatever they are
pleased to assert of the fabulous, and carnal, genealogy of their gods and
goddesses, who are propagated from each other. From this principle deduce
their imperfect nature, and human infirmities, the assurance they were
born, and the probability that they will die. At what time, by what means,
from what cause, were the eldest of the gods or goddesses produced? Do
they still continue, or have they ceased, to propagate? If they have
ceased, summon your antagonists to declare the reason of this strange
alteration. If they still continue, the number of the gods must become
infinite; and shall we not risk, by the indiscreet worship of some
impotent deity, to excite the resentment of his jealous superior? The
visible heavens and earth, the whole system of the universe, which may be
conceived by the mind, is it created or eternal? If created, how, or
where, could the gods themselves exist before creation? If eternal, how
could they assume the empire of an independent and preexisting world? Urge
these arguments with temper and moderation; insinuate, at seasonable
intervals, the truth and beauty of the Christian revelation; and endeavor
to make the unbelievers ashamed, without making them angry.” This
metaphysical reasoning, too refined, perhaps, for the Barbarians of
Germany, was fortified by the grosser weight of authority and popular
consent. The advantage of temporal prosperity had deserted the Pagan
cause, and passed over to the service of Christianity. The Romans
themselves, the most powerful and enlightened nation of the globe, had
renounced their ancient superstition; and, if the ruin of their empire
seemed to accuse the efficacy of the new faith, the disgrace was already
retrieved by the conversion of the victorious Goths. The valiant and
fortunate Barbarians, who subdued the provinces of the West, successively
received, and reflected, the same edifying example. Before the age of
Charlemagne, the Christian nations of Europe might exult in the exclusive
possession of the temperate climates, of the fertile lands, which produced
corn, wine, and oil; while the savage idolaters, and their helpless idols,
were confined to the extremities of the earth, the dark and frozen regions
of the North. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.82" name="linknoteref-37.82" id="linknoteref-37.82">82</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.80" id="linknote-37.80">
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<p class="foot">
80 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.80">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.81" id="linknote-37.81">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
81 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.81">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.82" id="linknote-37.82">
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<p class="foot">
82 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.82">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p>Christianity, which opened the gates of Heaven to the Barbarians,
introduced an important change in their moral and political condition.
They received, at the same time, the use of letters, so essential to a
religion whose doctrines are contained in a sacred book; and while they
studied the divine truth, their minds were insensibly enlarged by the
distant view of history, of nature, of the arts, and of society. The
version of the Scriptures into their native tongue, which had facilitated
their conversion, must excite among their clergy some curiosity to read
the original text, to understand the sacred liturgy of the church, and to
examine, in the writings of the fathers, the chain of ecclesiastical
tradition. These spiritual gifts were preserved in the Greek and Latin
languages, which concealed the inestimable monuments of ancient learning.
The immortal productions of Virgil, Cicero, and Livy, which were
accessible to the Christian Barbarians, maintained a silent intercourse
between the reign of Augustus and the times of Clovis and Charlemagne. The
emulation of mankind was encouraged by the remembrance of a more perfect
state; and the flame of science was secretly kept alive, to warm and
enlighten the mature age of the Western world.</p>
<p>In the most corrupt state of Christianity, the Barbarians might learn
justice from the law, and mercy from the gospel; and if the knowledge of
their duty was insufficient to guide their actions, or to regulate their
passions, they were sometimes restrained by conscience, and frequently
punished by remorse. But the direct authority of religion was less
effectual than the holy communion, which united them with their Christian
brethren in spiritual friendship. The influence of these sentiments
contributed to secure their fidelity in the service, or the alliance, of
the Romans, to alleviate the horrors of war, to moderate the insolence of
conquest, and to preserve, in the downfall of the empire, a permanent
respect for the name and institutions of Rome. In the days of Paganism,
the priests of Gaul and Germany reigned over the people, and controlled
the jurisdiction of the magistrates; and the zealous proselytes
transferred an equal, or more ample, measure of devout obedience, to the
pontiffs of the Christian faith. The sacred character of the bishops was
supported by their temporal possessions; they obtained an honorable seat
in the legislative assemblies of soldiers and freemen; and it was their
interest, as well as their duty, to mollify, by peaceful counsels, the
fierce spirit of the Barbarians. The perpetual correspondence of the Latin
clergy, the frequent pilgrimages to Rome and Jerusalem, and the growing
authority of the popes, cemented the union of the Christian republic, and
gradually produced the similar manners, and common jurisprudence, which
have distinguished, from the rest of mankind, the independent, and even
hostile, nations of modern Europe.</p>
<p>But the operation of these causes was checked and retarded by the
unfortunate accident, which infused a deadly poison into the cup of
Salvation. Whatever might be the early sentiments of Ulphilas, his
connections with the empire and the church were formed during the reign of
Arianism. The apostle of the Goths subscribed the creed of Rimini;
professed with freedom, and perhaps with sincerity, that the Son was not
equal, or consubstantial to the Father; <SPAN href="#linknote-37.83"
name="linknoteref-37.83" id="linknoteref-37.83">83</SPAN> communicated these
errors to the clergy and people; and infected the Barbaric world with a
heresy, <SPAN href="#linknote-37.84" name="linknoteref-37.84" id="linknoteref-37.84">84</SPAN> which the great Theodosius proscribed and
extinguished among the Romans. The temper and understanding of the new
proselytes were not adapted to metaphysical subtilties; but they
strenuously maintained, what they had piously received, as the pure and
genuine doctrines of Christianity. The advantage of preaching and
expounding the Scriptures in the Teutonic language promoted the apostolic
labors of Ulphilas and his successors; and they ordained a competent
number of bishops and presbyters for the instruction of the kindred
tribes. The Ostrogoths, the Burgundians, the Suevi, and the Vandals, who
had listened to the eloquence of the Latin clergy, <SPAN href="#linknote-37.85"
name="linknoteref-37.85" id="linknoteref-37.85">85</SPAN> preferred the more
intelligible lessons of their domestic teachers; and Arianism was adopted
as the national faith of the warlike converts, who were seated on the
ruins of the Western empire. This irreconcilable difference of religion
was a perpetual source of jealousy and hatred; and the reproach of
Barbarian was imbittered by the more odious epithet of Heretic. The heroes
of the North, who had submitted, with some reluctance, to believe that all
their ancestors were in hell, <SPAN href="#linknote-37.86"
name="linknoteref-37.86" id="linknoteref-37.86">86</SPAN> were astonished and
exasperated to learn, that they themselves had only changed the mode of
their eternal condemnation. Instead of the smooth applause, which
Christian kings are accustomed to expect from their royal prelates, the
orthodox bishops and their clergy were in a state of opposition to the
Arian courts; and their indiscreet opposition frequently became criminal,
and might sometimes be dangerous. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.87"
name="linknoteref-37.87" id="linknoteref-37.87">87</SPAN> The pulpit, that safe
and sacred organ of sedition, resounded with the names of Pharaoh and
Holofernes; <SPAN href="#linknote-37.88" name="linknoteref-37.88" id="linknoteref-37.88">88</SPAN> the public discontent was inflamed by the
hope or promise of a glorious deliverance; and the seditious saints were
tempted to promote the accomplishment of their own predictions.
Notwithstanding these provocations, the Catholics of Gaul, Spain, and
Italy, enjoyed, under the reign of the Arians, the free and peaceful
exercise of their religion. Their haughty masters respected the zeal of a
numerous people, resolved to die at the foot of their altars; and the
example of their devout constancy was admired and imitated by the
Barbarians themselves. The conquerors evaded, however, the disgraceful
reproach, or confession, of fear, by attributing their toleration to the
liberal motives of reason and humanity; and while they affected the
language, they imperceptiby imbibed the spirit, of genuine Christianity.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.83" id="linknote-37.83">
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<p class="foot">
83 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.83">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.84" id="linknote-37.84">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
84 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.84">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.85" id="linknote-37.85">
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<p class="foot">
85 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.85">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.86" id="linknote-37.86">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
86 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.86">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.87" id="linknote-37.87">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
87 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.87">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.88" id="linknote-37.88">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
88 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.88">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Genseric confessed the
resemblance, by the severity with which he punished such indiscreet
allusions. Victor Vitensis, l. 7, p. 10.]</p>
<p>The peace of the church was sometimes interrupted. The Catholics were
indiscreet, the Barbarians were impatient; and the partial acts of
severity or injustice, which had been recommended by the Arian clergy,
were exaggerated by the orthodox writers. The guilt of persecution may be
imputed to Euric, king of the Visigoths; who suspended the exercise of
ecclesiastical, or, at least, of episcopal functions; and punished the
popular bishops of Aquitain with imprisonment, exile, and confiscation. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.89" name="linknoteref-37.89" id="linknoteref-37.89">89</SPAN>
But the cruel and absurd enterprise of subduing the minds of a whole
people was undertaken by the Vandals alone. Genseric himself, in his early
youth, had renounced the orthodox communion; and the apostate could
neither grant, nor expect, a sincere forgiveness. He was exasperated to
find that the Africans, who had fled before him in the field, still
presumed to dispute his will in synods and churches; and his ferocious
mind was incapable of fear or of compassion. His Catholic subjects were
oppressed by intolerant laws and arbitrary punishments. The language of
Genseric was furious and formidable; the knowledge of his intentions might
justify the most unfavorable interpretation of his actions; and the Arians
were reproached with the frequent executions which stained the palace and
the dominions of the tyrant. Arms and ambition were, however, the ruling
passions of the monarch of the sea. But Hunneric, his inglorious son, who
seemed to inherit only his vices, tormented the Catholics with the same
unrelenting fury which had been fatal to his brother, his nephews, and the
friends and favorites of his father; and even to the Arian patriarch, who
was inhumanly burnt alive in the midst of Carthage. The religious war was
preceded and prepared by an insidious truce; persecution was made the
serious and important business of the Vandal court; and the loathsome
disease which hastened the death of Hunneric, revenged the injuries,
without contributing to the deliverance, of the church. The throne of
Africa was successively filled by the two nephews of Hunneric; by
Gundamund, who reigned about twelve, and by Thrasimund, who governed the
nation about twenty-seven, years. Their administration was hostile and
oppressive to the orthodox party. Gundamund appeared to emulate, or even
to surpass, the cruelty of his uncle; and, if at length he relented, if he
recalled the bishops, and restored the freedom of Athanasian worship, a
premature death intercepted the benefits of his tardy clemency. His
brother, Thrasimund, was the greatest and most accomplished of the Vandal
kings, whom he excelled in beauty, prudence, and magnanimity of soul. But
this magnanimous character was degraded by his intolerant zeal and
deceitful clemency. Instead of threats and tortures, he employed the
gentle, but efficacious, powers of seduction. Wealth, dignity, and the
royal favor, were the liberal rewards of apostasy; the Catholics, who had
violated the laws, might purchase their pardon by the renunciation of
their faith; and whenever Thrasimund meditated any rigorous measure, he
patiently waited till the indiscretion of his adversaries furnished him
with a specious opportunity. Bigotry was his last sentiment in the hour of
death; and he exacted from his successor a solemn oath, that he would
never tolerate the sectaries of Athanasius. But his successor, Hilderic,
the gentle son of the savage Hunneric, preferred the duties of humanity
and justice to the vain obligation of an impious oath; and his accession
was gloriously marked by the restoration of peace and universal freedom.
The throne of that virtuous, though feeble monarch, was usurped by his
cousin Gelimer, a zealous Arian: but the Vandal kingdom, before he could
enjoy or abuse his power, was subverted by the arms of Belisarius; and the
orthodox party retaliated the injuries which they had endured. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.90" name="linknoteref-37.90" id="linknoteref-37.90">90</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.89" id="linknote-37.89">
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<p class="foot">
89 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.89">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.90" id="linknote-37.90">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
90 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.90">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.)]</p>
<p>The passionate declamations of the Catholics, the sole historians of this
persecution, cannot afford any distinct series of causes and events; any
impartial view of the characters, or counsels; but the most remarkable
circumstances that deserve either credit or notice, may be referred to the
following heads; I. In the original law, which is still extant, <SPAN href="#linknote-37.91" name="linknoteref-37.91" id="linknoteref-37.91">91</SPAN>
Hunneric expressly declares, (and the declaration appears to be correct,)
that he had faithfully transcribed the regulations and penalties of the
Imperial edicts, against the heretical congregations, the clergy, and the
people, who dissented from the established religion. If the rights of
conscience had been understood, the Catholics must have condemned their
past conduct or acquiesced in their actual suffering. But they still
persisted to refuse the indulgence which they claimed. While they trembled
under the lash of persecution, they praised the laudable severity of
Hunneric himself, who burnt or banished great numbers of Manichæans; <SPAN href="#linknote-37.92" name="linknoteref-37.92" id="linknoteref-37.92">92</SPAN>
and they rejected, with horror, the ignominious compromise, that the
disciples of Arius and of Athanasius should enjoy a reciprocal and similar
toleration in the territories of the Romans, and in those of the Vandals.
<SPAN href="#linknote-37.93" name="linknoteref-37.93" id="linknoteref-37.93">93</SPAN>
II. The practice of a conference, which the Catholics had so frequently
used to insult and punish their obstinate antagonists, was retorted
against themselves. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.94" name="linknoteref-37.94" id="linknoteref-37.94">94</SPAN> At the command of Hunneric, four hundred and
sixty-six orthodox bishops assembled at Carthage; but when they were
admitted into the hall of audience, they had the mortification of
beholding the Arian Cyrila exalted on the patriarchal throne. The
disputants were separated, after the mutual and ordinary reproaches of
noise and silence, of delay and precipitation, of military force and of
popular clamor. One martyr and one confessor were selected among the
Catholic bishops; twenty-eight escaped by flight, and eighty-eight by
conformity; forty-six were sent into Corsica to cut timber for the royal
navy; and three hundred and two were banished to the different parts of
Africa, exposed to the insults of their enemies, and carefully deprived of
all the temporal and spiritual comforts of life. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.95"
name="linknoteref-37.95" id="linknoteref-37.95">95</SPAN> The hardships of ten
years’ exile must have reduced their numbers; and if they had complied
with the law of Thrasimund, which prohibited any episcopal consecrations,
the orthodox church of Africa must have expired with the lives of its
actual members. They disobeyed, and their disobedience was punished by a
second exile of two hundred and twenty bishops into Sardinia; where they
languished fifteen years, till the accession of the gracious Hilderic. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.96" name="linknoteref-37.96" id="linknoteref-37.96">96</SPAN>
The two islands were judiciously chosen by the malice of their Arian
tyrants. Seneca, from his own experience, has deplored and exaggerated the
miserable state of Corsica, <SPAN href="#linknote-37.97"
name="linknoteref-37.97" id="linknoteref-37.97">97</SPAN> and the plenty of
Sardinia was overbalanced by the unwholesome quality of the air. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.98" name="linknoteref-37.98" id="linknoteref-37.98">98</SPAN>
III. The zeal of Genseric and his successors, for the conversion of the
Catholics, must have rendered them still more jealous to guard the purity
of the Vandal faith. Before the churches were finally shut, it was a crime
to appear in a Barbarian dress; and those who presumed to neglect the
royal mandate were rudely dragged backwards by their long hair. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.99" name="linknoteref-37.99" id="linknoteref-37.99">99</SPAN>
The palatine officers, who refused to profess the religion of their
prince, were ignominiously stripped of their honors and employments;
banished to Sardinia and Sicily; or condemned to the servile labors of
slaves and peasants in the fields of Utica. In the districts which had
been peculiarly allotted to the Vandals, the exercise of the Catholic
worship was more strictly prohibited; and severe penalties were denounced
against the guilt both of the missionary and the proselyte. By these arts,
the faith of the Barbarians was preserved, and their zeal was inflamed:
they discharged, with devout fury, the office of spies, informers, or
executioners; and whenever their cavalry took the field, it was the
favorite amusement of the march to defile the churches, and to insult the
clergy of the adverse faction. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.100"
name="linknoteref-37.100" id="linknoteref-37.100">100</SPAN> IV. The citizens
who had been educated in the luxury of the Roman province, were delivered,
with exquisite cruelty, to the Moors of the desert. A venerable train of
bishops, presbyters, and deacons, with a faithful crowd of four thousand
and ninety-six persons, whose guilt is not precisely ascertained, were
torn from their native homes, by the command of Hunneric. During the night
they were confined, like a herd of cattle, amidst their own ordure: during
the day they pursued their march over the burning sands; and if they
fainted under the heat and fatigue, they were goaded, or dragged along,
till they expired in the hands of their tormentors. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.101" name="linknoteref-37.101" id="linknoteref-37.101">101</SPAN>
These unhappy exiles, when they reached the Moorish huts, might excite the
compassion of a people, whose native humanity was neither improved by
reason, nor corrupted by fanaticism: but if they escaped the dangers, they
were condemned to share the distress of a savage life. V. It is incumbent
on the authors of persecution previously to reflect, whether they are
determined to support it in the last extreme. They excite the flame which
they strive to extinguish; and it soon becomes necessary to chastise the
contumacy, as well as the crime, of the offender. The fine, which he is
unable or unwilling to discharge, exposes his person to the severity of
the law; and his contempt of lighter penalties suggests the use and
propriety of capital punishment. Through the veil of fiction and
declamation we may clearly perceive, that the Catholics more especially
under the reign of Hunneric, endured the most cruel and ignominious
treatment. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.102" name="linknoteref-37.102" id="linknoteref-37.102">102</SPAN> Respectable citizens, noble matrons, and
consecrated virgins, were stripped naked, and raised in the air by
pulleys, with a weight suspended at their feet. In this painful attitude
their naked bodies were torn with scourges, or burnt in the most tender
parts with red-hot plates of iron. The amputation of the ears the nose,
the tongue, and the right hand, was inflicted by the Arians; and although
the precise number cannot be defined, it is evident that many persons,
among whom a bishop <SPAN href="#linknote-37.103" name="linknoteref-37.103" id="linknoteref-37.103">103</SPAN> and a proconsul <SPAN href="#linknote-37.104"
name="linknoteref-37.104" id="linknoteref-37.104">104</SPAN> may be named, were
entitled to the crown of martyrdom. The same honor has been ascribed to
the memory of Count Sebastian, who professed the Nicene creed with
unshaken constancy; and Genseric might detest, as a heretic, the brave and
ambitious fugitive whom he dreaded as a rival. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.105"
name="linknoteref-37.105" id="linknoteref-37.105">105</SPAN> VI. A new mode of
conversion, which might subdue the feeble, and alarm the timorous, was
employed by the Arian ministers. They imposed, by fraud or violence, the
rites of baptism; and punished the apostasy of the Catholics, if they
disclaimed this odious and profane ceremony, which scandalously violated
the freedom of the will, and the unity of the sacrament. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.106" name="linknoteref-37.106" id="linknoteref-37.106">106</SPAN>
The hostile sects had formerly allowed the validity of each other’s
baptism; and the innovation, so fiercely maintained by the Vandals, can be
imputed only to the example and advice of the Donatists. VII. The Arian
clergy surpassed in religious cruelty the king and his Vandals; but they
were incapable of cultivating the spiritual vineyard, which they were so
desirous to possess. A patriarch <SPAN href="#linknote-37.107"
name="linknoteref-37.107" id="linknoteref-37.107">107</SPAN> might seat himself
on the throne of Carthage; some bishops, in the principal cities, might
usurp the place of their rivals; but the smallness of their numbers, and
their ignorance of the Latin language, <SPAN href="#linknote-37.108"
name="linknoteref-37.108" id="linknoteref-37.108">108</SPAN> disqualified the
Barbarians for the ecclesiastical ministry of a great church; and the
Africans, after the loss of their orthodox pastors, were deprived of the
public exercise of Christianity. VIII. The emperors were the natural
protectors of the Homoousian doctrine; and the faithful people of Africa,
both as Romans and as Catholics, preferred their lawful sovereignty to the
usurpation of the Barbarous heretics. During an interval of peace and
friendship, Hunneric restored the cathedral of Carthage; at the
intercession of Zeno, who reigned in the East, and of Placidia, the
daughter and relict of emperors, and the sister of the queen of the
Vandals. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.109" name="linknoteref-37.109" id="linknoteref-37.109">109</SPAN> But this decent regard was of short
duration; and the haughty tyrant displayed his contempt for the religion
of the empire, by studiously arranging the bloody images of persecution,
in all the principal streets through which the Roman ambassador must pass
in his way to the palace. <SPAN href="#linknote-37.110"
name="linknoteref-37.110" id="linknoteref-37.110">110</SPAN> An oath was
required from the bishops, who were assembled at Carthage, that they would
support the succession of his son Hilderic, and that they would renounce
all foreign or transmarine correspondence. This engagement, consistent, as
it should seem, with their moral and religious duties, was refused by the
more sagacious members <SPAN href="#linknote-37.111" name="linknoteref-37.111" id="linknoteref-37.111">111</SPAN> of the assembly. Their refusal, faintly
colored by the pretence that it is unlawful for a Christian to swear, must
provoke the suspicions of a jealous tyrant.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.91" id="linknote-37.91">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
91 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.91">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.92" id="linknote-37.92">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
92 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.92">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Victor, ii, 1, p. 21,
22: Laudabilior... videbatur. In the Mss which omit this word, the passage
is unintelligible. See Ruinart Not. p. 164.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.93" id="linknote-37.93">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
93 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.93">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.94" id="linknote-37.94">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
94 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.94">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.95" id="linknote-37.95">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
95 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.95">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.96" id="linknote-37.96">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
96 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.96">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.97" id="linknote-37.97">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
97 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.97">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.98" id="linknote-37.98">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
98 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.98">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.99" id="linknote-37.99">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
99 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.99">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.100" id="linknote-37.100">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
100 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.100">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.101" id="linknote-37.101">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
101 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.101">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See this story in
Victor. ii. 8-12, p. 30-34. Victor describes the distress of these
confessors as an eye-witness.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.102" id="linknote-37.102">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
102 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.102">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.103" id="linknote-37.103">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
103 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.103">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Victor, ii. 18, p.
41.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.104" id="linknote-37.104">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
104 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.104">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.105" id="linknote-37.105">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
105 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.105">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.106" id="linknote-37.106">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
106 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.106">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Victor, v. 12, 13.
Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 609.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.107" id="linknote-37.107">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
107 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.107">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.108" id="linknote-37.108">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
108 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.108">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.109" id="linknote-37.109">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
109 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.109">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Victor, ii. 1, 2, p.
22.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.110" id="linknote-37.110">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
110 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.110">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Victor, v. 7, p. 77.
He appeals to the ambassador himself, whose name was Uranius.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-37.111" id="linknote-37.111">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
111 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-37.111">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />