Religion and Loyalty.  
The Second Part.  
OR THE History of the Concurrence of the Imperial and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Government of the Church, from the Beginning of the Reign of Jovian to the End of the Reign of Justinian.  
By SAMUEL PARKER, D.D. Archdeacon of Canterbury.  
LONDON, Printed for John Baker at the Three Pigeons in St. Paul's Churchyard, MDCLXXXV.   

TO THE READER.  
THE Church of England having acknowledged and declared His majesty's Supremacy in Causes Ecclesiastical, 
Can. 2.  to be of the same Nature and Extent with that Authority that the Christian Emperors claimed and exercised in the Primitive Church: I deemed it no unuseful piece of Service to my King and Country, to inform myself and my Fellow-Subjects out of the Records of those times of our true Duty to the Royal Supremacy. And to this end I have drawn up as exact a Chart, as my little Skill could reach, of the Primitive Practice of the Three first Centuries after the Empire became Christian. Neither have I only Surveyed and coasted the general History, but have sounded every part of it, and not only described the safe Passages and right Channels through which the abler Pilots steered their Courses: but the Shallows, the Gulfs, the Rocks, and the Sands, upon which the less Skilful or less Fortunate Shipwrackt their Governments. Neither have I presumed to make any Political Remarks of my own; but have only observed the Natural and Historical Events of Matters of Fact. And by the Experience of 300 years, in which all Experiments were tried, we are fully instructed in all the right and all the wrong Measures of Government in the Christian Church. In the Reigns of the great Constantine, Jovian, Gratian, Theodosius the Great, Arcadius, Honorius, Theodosius the younger, Marcian, Leo, Justin and Justinian, are exemplified the Natural good Effects of abetting the Power of the Church by good Laws, and their effectual Execution. In the Reigns of Julian and Valentinian we may observe the inevitable Mischiefs of Toleration and Liberty of Conscience. In the Reigns of Constantius and Valens, but especially of Zeno and Anastasius, are to be seen the fatal and bloody Consequences of pretended Moderation, or (as we phrase it) comprehension, that indeed unites all Parties, but than it is like a Whirlpool, into one common Gulf of Ruin and Confusion. This is the short account of this Undertaking, and the Historical Events of things being withal so very Natural, they will of themselves amount to a fair Demonstration of the Necessity of Discipline in the Church and Penal Laws in the State. All that I can ensure for the Performance, is its Truth and Integrity; I have faithfully and impartially perused all the most Material and Original Records both of Church and State, and out of them, and them alone have Collected the ensuing History, and if that prove true, (and for that I stand bound) the Conclusion that I aim at will make itself.   

The CONTENTS.  

SEct. I. The State of the Church under Jovian. The Hypocrisy both of the Eusebians to recover their Bishoprics, and of the Acacians to preserve theirs, in owning the Nicene Faith, page 1.  
§. II. Of Valentinian, his Edict for Liberty of Conscience. The struggle of the Eusebians against the Acacians. Their Councils at Lampsacus, and Tyana to that end. They are defeated by the juggle of the Acacians. The dishonest craft of the two Leaders, Eudoxius in the East and Auxentius in the West. p. 7.  
§. III. The Persecution of St. Basil by the Eudoxians, his discourse with the Perfect Modestus. Dear to the Emperor Valens. Valens himself no Arian, but abused by the Eudoxians, the deplorable State of the Eastern Church at that time under their Oppressions. St. Basil's misfortune in receiving Eustathius of Sebasta to communion. The death of St. Athanasius. The Heresy of Apollinaris, how suppressed, p. 27.  
§. IV. The Election of St. Ambrose to the See of Milan. The death of Valentinian, the mischiefs he brought upon the Empire by his principle of Liberty of Conscience. Themistius the Philosopher's Address to Valens in behalf of the Orthodox. The Emperor Gratian's Rescripts and effectual Proceedings against Heretics. His restitution of the Discipline of the Church. The bounds of the Imperial and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction briefly stated. The great Schism at Antioch occasioned by Julian's toleration, p. 35.  
§. V. The singular care of Theodosius the Great to settle the Church and Orthodox Faith. Vindicated in his Institution of the Communicatory Bishops. He summons the general Council at Constantinople, and confirms all their Decrees by several Imperial Rescripts. Wisely forbids all Disputes about Religion. Assists the young Valentinian against the Tyrum Maximus, and prevails with him to reverse his severe Rescript against the Catholics, p. 55.  
§. VI Valentinian made the first open breach upon the Power of the Church, in taking to himself the Power of Judicature in Matters of Faith. St. Ambrose his Sufferings upon that account. His Embassy to Maximus, his Wisdom and Courage. Maximus his Conquest of Italy, and overthrow by Theodosius. The Stars raised by the Heretics at Constantinople in the Emperor's absence. The method of lying People into Tumults. His effectual enacting and executing Laws against them, settles the Church in Peace. p. 66.  
§. VII. His Laws made without the concurrence of the Church, for reforming the Abuses of Widows and Deaconesses, the disorders of Monks, and the Abuse of Church-Sanctuary. p. 81.  
§. VIII. His Laws without the same concurrence against Manichees, Apostates, Pagans, and in behalf of the Jews, p. 89.  
§. IX. Of the Council of Aquileia. Of the Schism at Rome between Damasus and Ursicinus. Of the Schism at Alexandria between Peter and Lucius. Of the Schism at Antioch between Paulinus and Flavianus, p. 98.  
§. X. The unparallelled Immorality of the Priscillian Heresy. The Prosecution of them by Ithacius justified against Mr. B. they were executed as Malefactors and Traitors, not as Heretics. St. Martin's great indiscretion in interceding for them, p. 124.  
§. XI. The praise of Theodosius against the Calumnies of Zosimns. The Laws of his Son Arcadius against the Heretics, p. 152.  
§. XII. His Laws of Privilege to the Catholics. The several Laws of Tuition. The Law of civil Decision in the Church by Arbitration. The Laws against Appeals from the Church to the civil Power, p. 167.  
§. XIII. His Laws of Reformation of Discipline. Against the tumults of Monks, the abuse of Sanctuary; against the Johannites; against Apostates. In behalf of the Jews. The Laws of Honorius against and for the Jews. The Laws of both Emperors under the Title de Paganis, p. 180.  
§. XIV. The history and design of the Theodosian Code. Theodosius his own Novels: Of the Parabolani of Alexandria. The famous Law concerning the Churches of ●l●yricum explained, together with his other Laws, and the Laws of Valentinian the third, p. 198.  
§. XV. The History and Acts of the Council of Ephesus, against Nestorius and Imperial ratification of the Decree●●f the Church, by Marcian, p. 225.  
§. XVI. The Reign of the Emperor Leo, his Method of preserving the Peace of the Church by way of Encyclical correspondence. Pope Leo's concurrence, p. 260.  
§. XVII. Of the Emperor Leo, and the Tyrant Basiliscus. The great mischiefs of Zeno's Henoticon or Act of Comprehension. Of the Acephali, and the Haesitantes, i. e. the moderate Men. Of the numberless Schisms occasioned in the Church by this healing Instrument, p. 296.  
§. XIX. The reign of Anastasius, his outrageous zeal for the Henoticon, his persecution in pursuance of Moderation, till at last the design ended in Wars, Tumults and Rebellions, p. 335.  
§. XX. Justin's restitution of the Council of Chalcedon. The reunion of the Eastern and Western Churches thereby. The Tumults of the Scythian and Acaemetan Monks. His Laws against the Heretics, p. 349.  
§. XXI. A general vindication of the Justinian Code. A short history of both the Codes, Theodosian and Justinian. Tribonian's Integrity vindicated in his reciting the Laws of former Emperors against the accusations of Gothofred, p. 366.  
§. XXII. All Justinian's own Novels vindicated from any Invasion upon the Power of the Church, and proved to have been nothing else than Canons enacted into Laws, p. 376.  
§. XXIII. All his Actions vindicated against Alemannus and the Anecdota. The history of the Contest about the tria Capitula, with an account of the extravagant behaviour of Pope Vigilius, p. 391.  
§. XXIV. The Contest between Paul the 5th, and the state of Venice, the cause of all the displeasure of the Court of Rome against Justinian. The Anecdota proved to be spurious, and none of Procopius his writings, p. 426.  
§. XXV. Justinian vindicated from the charge of Cruelty, p. 443.  
§. XXVI. The unparallelled gentleness of his reign, the Empress Theodora, Antonia and the great Belisarius vindicated from the Calumnies of the Anecdota, p. 455.  
§. XXVII. An account of Justinian's Persian, Vandalick and Gothick Wars, p. 479.  
§. XXVIII. The reason of his siding with the Venetae against the Prasmi, i. e. the Tories against the Whigs, p. 497.  
§. XXIX. His vindication from Folly and Knavery, p. 502.  
§. XXX. Item, From Covetousness and Prodigality, p. 510.  
§. XXXI. Item, From Oppression in putting the Laws in execution, p. 523.  
§. XXXII. Item, From inconstancy and falsehood to his Friends. From Vanity, from Forgery, from Lust, from Unkindness and Over●kindness to his Clergy, p. 547.  
§. XXXIII. An Answer to the whole Rhapsody of smaller Cavils and Calumnies, p. 573.    

ERRATA.  
PAg. 2. l. 3. They kept it themselves. Read They kept it to themselves.  
P. 192. l. 2. Welly r. well. P. 200. l. 6. Hair r. hare. P. 224. l. 2. tied r. lied. P. 267. l. 8. rehearse r. rehear. P. 310. l. 8. Possessions r Possession. P. 336. l. 12. Syntax r. Sin-tax. P. 354. l. 27. upon r. up. P. 378. l. 29. and r. an. P. 394. l. 28. on●y r. on the contrary. P. 404. l. penult. Summary r. Summoning. P. 406. l. 7. Bishop's r. Bishop. P. 429. l. 19 Eusebius r. Eichelius. P. 432. l. ult. Hel●sted r. Helmsted. P. 439. l. 29. Overs●en r. Over-keen. P. 456. l. 18. Patriarchate r. Patriciate. Ibid. l. 22. Patriarchate r. Patriciate. P. 466. l. 24. Theodorus r. Theodora ' s. P. 479. l. 20. use r. vie. P. 546. l. friends r. finds. P. 550 l. penult. Solomon's r. Solomon.   

PART. I.  

SECT. I.  
UPon the death of Julian, there was another quick and sudden turn of Affairs, by the Election of Jovian a Christian to the Empire, though the change was rather made in the Emperor, than the Religion. For Christianity was so universally entertained, that Julian with all his Arts of Undermining and Persecution, could make but very little alteration in the Church, and at last left it in the very same or a much better Condition than that in which he found it. And for that reason 
(a) Invec. 1. p. 80. A.  Gregory Nazianzen derides his folly and madness in endeavouring to destroy Christianity, when it had so universally prevailed, 
(b) Am. Marcel. l. 21. c. 2.  and himself was so sensible of it, that he was forced for a time to conceal his own Religion, and as he marched out of France towards Rome, he was forced to keep Christmas at Vienna, that he might seem to be of the same Religion with his Army. And so during his reign they kept it themselves, so as to keep it in reality; 
(c) Theod. l. 4. c. 1.  for when Jovian was chosen Emperor upon his death, he refused it as being a Christian, and so unfit to command Julian's Army, whom he could not but suppose to be of the same Religion with their Master. At which a great shout was made, O Sir take no care for that, for you shall command Christian Men, and such as are educated in the Discipline and Piety of the Christian Church, for the eldest among us were trained up under Constantine, and the younger under Constantius; and as for the time of Julian, it was too short to make any alteration as to the Principles of our Religion. Upon which declaration, when he had made them repeat it several times (
(d) l. 3. c. 22.  as Socrates tells the Story) he accepts the Empire, 
(e) Sozom. l. 6. c. 3.  and immediately restores all the Revenues, Privileges and Immunities, that had been given to the Church by Constantine and his Sons, and taken away by Julian. 
(f) Greg. Naz. in laud. Athanas.  And withal restores all the banished Bishops, and particularly St. Athanasius with especial regard to his Person, to whom he writes for Instructions, in order to the settlement of the true Faith, who upon it immediately calls a Council, and to prevent the Application of the Heretics, sends him out of hand the Nicene Confession, 
(g) Athanas. de fide ad Jovian.  not only as the true old Apostolical Faith, which Arius and his followers had endeavoured to corrupt by their profane Novelties, and others, i. e. the Eusebians endeavoured to supplant, though they durst not disown it: But as the sense of the Catholic Church ever since the Nicene Council in Spain, in Britain, in France, in Italy, Dalmatia, Mysia, Macedonia, Greece, Africa, Sardinia, Cyprus, Crect, Pamphylia, Lysia, Isauria, Egypt, Lybia, Pontus, Cappadocia, and all the Eastern Churches, a very few only excepted all whose subscriptions (he says) and many others more remote, we have in our own Possession, and therefore though there are some few scattered Dissenters, that aught to be no prejudice to the Faith of the whole World. And this is another clear Confutation of that uncatholick surmise from the mistaken Sense of St. Jerom, that all the World were at that time turned Arians. But the most pleasant Scene of that time, was the Council of Antioch, 
(h) Soc. l. 3. c. 25.  when all the Arian World (if any such there were) would needs turn Orthodox; for the Eusebians, that had been supplanted by the Acacians under Constantius, finding now that they had a Christian Emperor, they petition him in his return from Persia, that the Acacians who taught the Son to be unlike the Father, might be displaced out of their Bishoprics, and themselves restored; but they receiving no kind answer from him, who understood them too well, and the Acacians, who resolved to keep their hold, finding which way his Pulse beat tamper with Meletius the Orthodox Bishop of Antioch, and dear to the new Emperor, who at that time resided there, to call a Council, and though they had in the time of Constantius deposed him for his Apostasy to the Nicene Faith, yet now in this Council they unanimously declare for it, and signify their Decree and the necessity of it to the Emperor, in that they were now convinced that there was no other stop to be put to the Arian Blasphemy, viz. that the Son was created out of nothing, and by this false and dishonest shuffling, they out-witted the old Eusebian Knaves, and riveted themselves in their new usurped Preferments. But this goes to the very heart of the poor outed Eusebians, to be thus over-reach't and supplanted, and to turn the whole Game, it drives them into their old outrage against the vir gregis the great Athanasius. 
(i) Sozom. l. 6. c. 5.  And so away post Euzoius the then deposed Bishop of Antioch, and Lucius the pretended Bishop of Alexandria, to Court, and there take their old Method of engaging some of the Eunuches into their Party, and particularly Probatius the Praepositus Cubiculi, that succeeded Eusebius in that Office, who had done so much mischief in the reign of Constantius, and having secured their Patrons, they accuse Athanasius to the Emperor upon these three Topics, First, that there had been continual Complaints against him during the whole time of his Episcopacy. Secondly, that upon the truth of those Complaints, he had been often banished by his Predecessors. Thirdly, that he was the sole Author of all the present Troubles and Disturbances in the Church. This is their old train of boldness, but the Emperor was a wise Man, and saw through their Designs, and therefore sends them away with very severe threatenings, and charges his Eunuches never to meddle with such Matters, under no less Penalty than the Rod and the Cudgel, and entertains Athanasius with all the highest expressions of Respect and Honour, and so for his short time, settled the Church both in Peace and Truth. This is the true state and story of the revival of the Arian Controversy under this Emperor, that had slept under Julian: And not 
(k) lib. 6. c▪ ●  as Sozomen suggests, the contentiousness of the Bishops, who, he says, under Julian, when the Christian Religion lay at stake, pieced together for the security of the common Cause, as 'tis the custom of all Men, to make peace and join forces against a common Enemy, but as soon as the danger is blown over, to return to their old Feuds and Animosities. The observation in general is too true, but not rightly applied to this particular case: for the ground of the quarrel here, was not the natural contentiousness of Mankind, whilst in a condition of peace, as the Historian remarks; in that the Orthodox had never pieced with any of the other Parties, either Eusebians or Acacians under Julian, but as we have already seen cashiered and condemned them both, and settled the Nicene Faith. So that under Jovian there was no new breach, but even according to Sozomen's own account, the new contest was raised by the Eusebian Bishops, that had lost their Bishoprics under Constantius, after the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia, when they were over-reach't by the Acacians. And that is the Argument of their Petition to this Emperor, that things might stand, as they were left by those Councils, and that all after acts might be nulled, i. e. that themselves might be restored to their Bishoprics. That was the present quarrel, and no dispute against the settled Faith, for they had already declared for the Nicene Confession. And therefore the Acacians upon their complaint against them for the Aëtian Heresy, immediately protest against it, to secure their Preferments. And that was all along the state of this Controversy, both before and after this time, the zeal of good Men on one side for the true Faith, and the Arts of ill Men on the other for Preferment and Court-favor. This is hitherto evident from the beginning of the quarrel of Eusebius of Nicomedia with Athanasius, and will appear as clearly in all the same Contests as long as they lasted, under the succeeding Emperors.   

§. 2. Jovian dying suddenly, no body knows of what, though several wise philosophical Conjectures are made about it by the Historians, after him Valentinian is chosen Emperor with a Nemine contradicente, being a Man, as 
(l) Lib. 26. c. 1.  Marcellinus himself confesses, of universal reputation. And he deserved it though it were only for that Princelike saying after his Election, when those that chose him, pressed him to take an Assistant in the Government, he replied, when the Empire was vacant, it was in your Power to choose me Emperor, but now I am in possession of the Crown, it is my business and none of yours, to take care of the Commonwealth. He understood the true Rights of Sovereign Power in all Monarchies whether Hereditary or Elective: and unless it be supreme and unaccountable, it is so far from being any Power at all, that it is the lowest and most abject kind of Subjection, and of a great General, he would by his being made Emperor, have only become the public Slave of the Rabble.  
But he coming to the Crown after so many sudden turns, and supposing the Empire very much distracted about Religion, by so many changes of Government, publishes an Edict for Liberty of Conscience, 
(m) de Males. et Mathemat. l. 9 v. Sozimus lib. 4.  ut unicuique quod animo imbibisset, colendi libera facultas tributa sit, that every Man may have liberty to use what Worship he will, according to those Opinions that he had sucked in. But then again soon finding himself settled in the Empire, in the very same year, anno 364, 
(n) ibid. l.  he forbids the night Sacrifices of the Heathens, but is prevailed upon to tolerate all those religious Rites that were celebrated by day. And having gained so much ground, he proceeds to countermine and blow up the Crafts of Julian, who made all his Laws with a malicious Aspect towards the Christians, and particularly that famous Law, 
(o) De Medicis et Professor. l. 5.  that no Man should be allowed to practise Physic or teach any Art or Science, but by the approbation of the Magistrates of the place with his own impeperial Consent, and by that means he shut all Christians out of any learned or ingenuous Employment, and therefore Valentinian as soon as he comes to the Crown, 
(p) ibid. l. 6.  cancels that Law, and restores all Professors of Learning to their respective Thrones. But as for the Church, the Emperor being settled, the poor hungry Eusebians, that had been so long sequestered out of their Bishoprics, resolve once more to try their Fortune, and they poor Men had hard luck to quit their Faith (as they had done under Jovian) and yet not get their Preferments. But they hope to meet with kinder usage from this Emperor 
(q) Sozim. l. 6. c. ●▪  and therefore send Hypatianus Bishop of Heraclea in an Embassy to him, to request a Council, to which he, as he was a very civil Gentleman, and obliged at that time to much complaisance, being as yet but green in his Government, replied that being but a Layman, it became not him to meddle in those Matters, and so left it to themselves to meet as they judged convenient. And that was the Maxim of his Reign to leave Church-Matters to the judgement of Churchmen, and therefore he fined Chronopius a Bishop a great sum of Money to be distributed amongst the Poor for appealing from a Synodical sentence to the secular Court.  

L. 20. Qutru. Appellat sint suscip.  Upon this they immediately huddle up a Council at Lampsacus on the Hellespont in the year 365. And here they condemn all the proceedings of Acacius, and his Party at Constantinople after the Seleucian Council, declare for the Doctrine of similitude against them, decree that the Bishops that had been deposed by them, should be restored to their Churches, as having been unjustly deprived. But yet are so tenderhearted, as to grant the Usurpers the Communion of the Church upon their Repentance (for which no doubt they were much concerned, after they had recovered their Purchases.) This being done, they according to custom signify their proceedings by an Encyclical Epistle to all Christian Churches, and fearing lest the Enemy should prevent them at Court, as they had hitherto done, they make all speedy application there. But alas Eudoxius an old crafty Courtier lay leiger there, and had so possessed the Emperor Valens, to whom his Brother Valentinian left the Estern Empire, that when they came, the Emperor commanded them to reconcile themselves to Eudoxius at their peril, and upon their persisting in their Complaints, in a fury drives them all into banishment. And now have we the same game turned up and played over again under these two Brothers, that we have already seen under the Sons of Constantine. For the Acacians or Eudoxians having seized the Emperor Valens; the poor outed Eusebians, or rather Macedonians (for by this time they were distinguished by that name) had no other Remedy left but by application to foreign Churches, and the power of the Western Emperor. And so among others 
(r) Soc. l. 4. c. 12.  they in the first place send their Legates to Liberius Bishop of Rome, but he knew the Men too well by his own sufferings, having been twice driven into banishment by their means under Constantius for no other crime than his constant adherence to the Nicene Faith, and therefore peremptorily refuses Communion with them. But alas they confidently reply that they are not the Men they were, and that they came to join with the Catholic Church against the Anomaeans, declare for the Nicene Faith, and for his full satisfaction herein, produce the Letter of the Lampsacene Council, with all their subscriptions to the Council of Nice, and defiance to the cheats of Ariminum. The old Man being transported with the joy of their Conversion, and as he dreamt, the Reunion of the Eastern and Western Churches, embraces them with both his Arms, little knowing good Man, that the bottom of their Errand was to recover their Bishoprics, and that for their sakes they had left their Faith behind them. And that is the Centre of this Controversy, between the Macedonians and the Eudoxians, not the Faith, but the preferments. They had both been of the same Party under Constantius against the Nicene Faith: yet under Jovian the Acacians had subscribed it to keep their Preferments; and now under Valens the Macedonians finding themselves by that means left in the lurch, make the same subscription to recover theirs.  

Saeculi 40 pars prima § 14.  And yet they have so much imposed upon the Historian Natalis Alexander, by the boldness of their Hypocrisy, that he reckons this Synod among the Orthodox Councils, and falls out with Baronius and Binius for esteeming them Arians, whereas in truth they were neither, but a pack of ill Men that knew no other Religion than Interest.  
But their juggling was now too late, for the Adversaries had not only got possession of their Bishoprics, which they say in all Governments is a great many Points of Law, but of the Emperor himself, which I am sure in that Government was all, as will more appear by the sequel of this Story. The Legates of the Council of Lampsacus having sped at Rome, and being armed with communicatory Letters from Liberius, they sail to Sicily, and there in a Council of Bishops make the same Declaration, and obtain the same favour, and from thence to Illyricum, where they gain synodical Letters to the Eastern Bishops, to certify or rather congratulate the happy Union of the Eastern and Western Churches by their conversion. And this they send by Elpidius a Presbyter of Rome, whom Liberius had joined with the Legates, to give them the greater reputation in the Western Churches, as Baronius thinks, or rather as Valesius conjectures with more probability, an Illyrican Bishop, for in their Epistle they recommend him as their own Legate, and chosen from among themselves. 
(s) Theod. l. 4. c. 8.  And the Emperor was so far from being concerned for the Arian cause, that he grants his Letters to recommend the Decree of the Illyrican Council, and to settle the Nicene Faith, where he declares against the Equivocations of the Homoioufians, and proves them no better than Arians. This Letter Valesius will have to have been written not by Valens, but Valentinian, who though he then resided in the West, entirely governed the Eastern Empire, Valens being wholly obedient to his Orders, and rather his Under-officer than his Sharer in the Empire. This is but a conjecture, and 'tis not likely that the Council should send into Fran●e for Imperial Letters, when they had their own Emperor so near; but if it be true, Valens was concurring in it, and that clears him of Arianism.  
By these means the Legates and their Companions get themselves restored to their Preferments in a Council at Tyana in Cappadocia. But they having gained their point could not forbear discovering their old pick against the Nicene Faith, as St. Basil informs the Western Bishops, who gave them their first reputation, 
(t) Epist. 74.  It is not the old and open Arian that does the harm, because that Heresy being condemned by the sentence of the Church, it's wickedness is known to all, but it is the sheepskin Men, that under shows of Love and Reconciliation, and upon pretence of being taken into the bosom of the Church, take advantage to worry the Flock, and seduce the less understanding. These are the Men of Mischief, that cannot be so easily prevented. And it is this sort of Deceivers that we request you to use all diligence to discover and lay open to the World, that either frankly declaring for the truth, they may own entire Communion with us; but if they will not, let them keep their Poison to themselves, and not be suffered to infect others by too careless communicating with them. And particularly cautions them against Eustathius Bishop of Sebasta in Arm●nia, the chief Agent in the Embassy from the Council of Lampsacus to the Western Church, that he was a rank Arian, and Arius his own Disciple, had been often deposed for his Debaucheries, and as often changed his Faith to recover his Bishopric, and therefore concludes that he wonders which way he could impose so far upon Liberius, as to gain communicatory Letters from him, but by what means so ever it was, he was no sooner restored by the Council of Tyana, but he fell to spitting his old poison, and persecuting the very Faith, that he had so lately professed. But all this was too late for the effectual recovery of his Bishopric, for the Emperor Valens was now engaged in other Matters, being invaded by the Goths, but before he would venture into the hazards of War, he thought it convenient to be baptised into the Christian Faith, 
(u) Soz. l. 6. c. 12.  which Office was performed by Eudoxius, who always diligently followed his Trade at Court, and the Historians say (I doubt rashly) that he administered an Oath to the Emperor at his Baptism to persecute the Catholics: whereas the Persecution that followed, was not set on foot by the Emperor, but by the Eudoxian Party, who now presuming of their old Interest in the Court, and their new one in the Prince, and his distraction in the War, fell to their old Trade of undermining, and so in a Council assembled in Caria, settle the last Antiochian or Aëtian Creed. 
(w) Hilarii frag. l. 1. pag. 40.  And about the same time Bishop Valens and his Myrmidons meet in Mysia much upon the same Errand, to establish their own particular conceit, similem dicimus filium patri secundùm scripturas, non secundùm substantiam, and endeavour to draw in Germinius, an eminent Man of the old Eusebian Faction, who had gone all along with them as far as the Tyrian Conference before Constantius, in which as himself declares, the Faith agreed upon was this, filium similem patri per omnia, ut sanctae dicunt et docent scripturae, that the Son was like the Father in all things as the Scriptures affirm, and therefore he cannot but wonder at the dissimulation of Valens and his Men, that when they themselves had subscribed this Confession of Faith, not only as the best declaration of truth, but the best expedient of Peace and Unity, they should now so zealously trouble themselves and the Christian Church, with new assertions, that the Son is partly like the Father, partly not. 
(x) Athanas. ad Episc. Afric.  But Valens and his Party are immediately condemned by a Council at Rome under Damasus. 
(y) Athanas. ep. ad Epictelum.  And divers other Councils there were in several Parts of the World upon the same occasion, to repress the recovery of the Faction. But Auxentius Bishop of Milan, who had wriggled himself into that great Bishopric, upon the deposing of Dionysius by Constantius in his Conventicle at Milan, according to the custom that I have all along observed of those times, when Men of ill designs procured the deposition of good Bishops, that themselves by bribery and the eunuchs might get into their Places. This Man was by this time become the most eminent Head of the Party in the Western Church, though he was so ill prepared for his Office by his Education, that he was not so much as instructed in the Latin Tongue, but being a crafty and insinuating knave, he had not only poisoned several Bishops of Illyricum, but had worked himself into the savour of Valentinian himself, who after his Alemanick War settled his Court at Milan. Upon this St. Hilary, who had been long acquainted with the craft and falsehood of the Man, in his extreme old age takes a Journey to Milan, to inform the Emperor what he was, and charge him with the Arian Heresy The Emperor refers the examination of the Matter to a mixed Committee of Bishops and secular Judges. But the Fox seeing himself distressed, and being resolved to save his skin, denies all, professes mighty Zeal f●r the Nicene Faith, subscribes it before the Court, and as if that were not enough, presents the Emperor himself with an orthodox Confession of Faith, and so is too hard for the good old Man; for upon it, he is acquitted and applauded at Court, and St. Hilary commanded out of the City as a mover of Sedition, as he tells the Story at large in his Book against Auxentius. And Auxentius flushed with Victory, grows insolent to the Orthodox Bishops, especially the great Eusebius of Verselles, and is much more busy than formerly in Illyricum, in so much that the fame of it reached Egypt, upon which Athanasius and the Egyptian Bishops write to Damasus to procure his deposition, who thereupon in the year 369 summons a Council of 90 French and Italian Bishops, in which Auxentius is deposed, but for all that, he kept his ground, and liked his bargain so well, that he would not easily part with it, and by the help of his Masters the Eunuches kept it to his dying day, which was five years after, and that not only in spite of the Authority of the Council, but the power of St. Ambrose, who was at that time Governor of that Province, and two others, with Consular dignity, and then resided at Milan, and though he hated the Man, yet he was not able to remove him.  
But the Council having discharged their Duty and their Office in his deposition, they write an admonishing Letter to the Bishops of Illyricum, to be more watchful against the Heresy for the time to come, and write another to the Eastern Bishops to desire their concurrence with them, which is accordingly done in a Synod of 146 Bishops, both which Letters were first published by Holstenius in in the year 1662., and are now inserted into their proper Place of the year 369 in Labbe's Collection. 
(z) Sozom. l. 6. c. 12.  And whereas a great Councils was appointed to meet at Tarsus in C●licia in the Spring following, for perfecting the settlement that was begun at Tyana; Eud●xius that had got possession of Valens in the East, as Auxentiu● had of Valentinian in the West, prevails with the Emperor to send his Letters with high threatenings, to forbid the meeting▪ and withal to write to his Governors of Provinces, that the Bishops that had been outed in the time of Constantius, and restored by the Apostate should be thrust out again, and this he strictly requires of his Officers under high Penalties, and so by this Rescript was Eudoxius revenged not only of the Orthodox Bishops, but the Macedonians too, who had been cheated out of their Bishoprics by himself and his Associates in the time of ●onstantius, and now by virtue of the Decree of the Council of Tyana demand restitution, but by this imperial Rescript are barred their claim for ever with disgrace▪ as having been justly displaced by a Christian Emperor, and restored by the Apostate for ill designs. Here still we see where the controversy pinched in this Emperor's time. A Party of Knaves had combined in the time of Constantius to cheat and supplant honest Men out of their Preferments, which having done, they as all other thiefs do, fall out among themselves, and endeavour to cheat one another, till at last the most crafty pack sweeps all. After which all the Contest is on one side to recover, and on the other to keep their Bishoprics, and for that end they stick at nothing, but all turn Ecebolians, and change their Faith as easily a● Chameleons do their Colours, with every turn of Wind and Wether. Under Jovian the Macedonians, that were the outed Party, turn Orthodox, but he dying so suddenly, they lose their opportunity, and therefore make their Applications to Valens the succeeding Emperor in those Parts, but are prevented by Eudoxius and his Eunuches, and so are forced to address themselves to foreign Churches, and by professing themselves great Zealots for the Nicene Faith, are restored by the Council of Tyana, and that being done, as they believed, again quit their Faith. So here Auxentius the head of the Acacians in the West, being called to an account for his Faith, forswears it all, and turns a Tory Nicenist, and thus both Parties only make use of the Contest to supplant each other. And that was the craft of Eudoxius here by a plausible Imperial Rescript to prevent the force of an Ecclesiastical Decree, by which he knew that himself and his Associates must have lost their Purchases. But which way soever the Game run, the good Orthodox Bishops had ever the worst of it, and here particularly the storm fell very heavy upon their heads, and Athanasius is always the first that is wet in it. He is immediately commanded to be gone, but the People vehemently interpose to keep him, and in the heat of the Contest fearing a Sedition, he privately withdraws, is diligently sought for, but cannot be found, till he is restored by the Emperor's own Letters for fear of farther mischief. 
(a) Theod. l. 4. c. 13, 14.  But all the rest that the Rescript reached, were effectually expelled, and in the first place Meletius of Antioch, Eusebius of Samosata, and Pelagius of Laodicea, who had been all along great sticklers in the scramble, only Meletius was become an honest Man 
(b) Epist. 61.  And here St. Jerom goes about to give a reason why Paulinus of Antioch, and Epiphanius of Cyprus were not displaced, viz. because of their great worth and fame in the World: but there is another reason for it plain enough, in that they had never been turned out of their Bishoprics by Constantius, and therefore were not concerned in the Rescript, neither were they Bishops till afterwards; Paulinus was not ordained till the second year of Julian by Lucifer Calaritanus, nor Epiphanius till the present Reign. 
(c) Sozom. l. 4. c. 27.  But Meletius that was Bishop with Paulinus at the same time, having from an Acacian Bishop turned Orthodox, had therefore been banished by the Eudoxian Party in the time of Constantius, and Euzoius the old Arian placed in his stead, was by virtue of this Decree removed. And though probably, as it always happens in such cases, the Rescript was executed farther than it was intended, 
(d) Epist. 10.  as St. Basil describes it, that the Bishoprics were exposed to the basest of Men, The slaves of Slaves, and particularly that his Brother 
(e) ibid.  Gregory of Nyssen, was driven from his Church, and a threepenny Slave placed in his stead, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  as he calls him. Yet it is evident that it was in good earnest no persecution of Faith, but only a trick of Eudoxius to throw all that had been of the Macedonian Faction out of their Bishoprics. And though Eusebius and Pelagius were now zealous for the Orthodox Faith, and much magnified for it by the Historians, and not only so, but by St. Basil and Gregory Nazianzen, who good Men having been retired from the World, and unacquainted with the train of Intrigues, were by their own simplicity imposed upon not to suspect their dou●lings: yet they had been ejected among the Macedonians by Constantius, for refusing to go thorough with the Acacians, and therefore must now resign to some of Eudoxius his Friends of that Party. But they having thus got the Field, 
(f) Socrat. l. 4. c. 13.  fall out again among themselves, Eunomius will now have Eudoxius openly declare himself for Aëtius, but he though he were zealous in the Cause, thought it not at that t●me seasonable, and so upon that account they again break Communion. But soon after Eudoxius dies, and this 
(g) Socrat. l. 4. c. 14. Sozom. l. 6. c▪ 13.  say the Historians raises new heats at Constantinople about the Election of his Successor, his own Party choosing Demophilus, and the Orthodox Evagrius, who was ordained by Eustathius formerly Bishop of Antioch, who, say they, then lay concealed in the City to keep up the Homousian Faith, but I doubt they mistake Eustathius of Antioch for Eustathius of Sebasta, the former was a very good Man, and was present at the Council of Nice, and therefore cannot easily be supposed to survive to this time, which was forty five years' distance, and is reported by St. Jerom and Theodorus to have died in Exile under Constantius, and it cannot be supposed that so eminent a Person should have lain unactive and concealed so long a time, or that Paulinus and M●letius would have invaded the See, if the great Eustathius, had been then living, 
V. Baro●. an. 317. N. 29. et Vales. not. in Socrat.  and therefore I suppose the Historians mean Eustathius of Sebasta, who was a proper Person to act in the present Scene, for at this time it is evident that it was not a Contest of the Faith, but the Faction, and though Eustathius had professed the Homousian Faith, it was only to recover his Bishopric, to which though he were canonically restored by the Council of Tyana, yet he was kept out of it by Eudoxius, who had cut him off among the rest by an Imperial Rescript, being in the number of those that had been ejected by Constantius. So that he lay not leiger at Constantinople, as the Historians dream in behalf of the Nicene Faith, for before this time he had disclaimed it, but only to watch Opportunities to recover his Bishopric, and therefore finding Demophilus of the Eudoxian Party set up for the Court-Bishop, he endeavours to set up Evagrius of his own Party against him. 
(h) Socrat. l. 4. c. 15. Sozom. l. 6. c. 13.  But the Eudoxians or their Patrons the Eunuches had possession of the Emperor, who therefore upon the first news of the Tumult raised about it at Constantinople, he being then at Nicomedia in Bythinia, immediately banishes both Eustathius and Evagrius, and so for the present p●ts an end to that Controversy. But however the Affairs of the Church go, the Courtiers resolve to pursue their old Game, to watch all Opportunities of deposing Bishops, and then they were sure of chapmen, and for that reason they continually blew jealousies into the Emperor's head about these Matters, as they had dealt with Constantius, for it does not appear that he had any more zeal in the Cause itself, then only to preserve the public Peace, or acted farther than as his credulity or something worse (for he was but a weak Prince, that was never able to stand upon his own legs, and when he ventured upon one trial, perished in it) was abused by their tricks and undermine.   

§. III. But for their purpose in all the Church, there was not an easier Game, as they fancied, than poor St. Basil, who being a very mortified Man, and forced from a retired life into the Wealthy Bishopric of Caesarea, was thought a very easy Prey by Modestus at that time Perfect of the Province, and the head Patron of the Eudoxian Faction, and therefore the Emperor coming to Caesarea in his Passage to Antioch, he is incited by his Courtiers against this old Man, as an open Enemy to his favourite Eudoxius. The description of the Encounter may be seen in 
(i) lib. 4. c. 19  Theodoret, but more at large, and with some difference in Gregory Nazianzens funeral Oration upon St. Basil, which though it is too lavish and panegyrical in many particulars, yet the sum of the account of this business is contained in the discourse between the old Bishop, and the Perfect Modestus, who was sent to persuade him to be reconciled to Eudoxius. Where after some conference, the Perfect falls into rage and threatening, and asks him if he stand not in awe of his Power. He replies, for what, what can you do to me? What can I do? returns he, I can proscribe you, banish you, torture you, kill you. Can you so, replies the Bishop, but if you have nothing else to threaten me with these things concern not me. What do you mean? says he. I mean, says the Bishop, that he is not obnoxious to the proscription of Goods that has none, unless you would rob me of this poor threadbare Garment and a few old Books. Banishment I know none, for the Earth is the Lords, and that is my Country; as for Tortures I have not a Body strong enough to feel them, the first stroke will put me out of pain, and as for death it would be the greatest kindness you could do me, to send me out of this feeble Carcase to my Lord and Master. At this the Perfect stands astonished, and professes that in all his life, he never heard any Man speak with such courage and assurance. Perhaps, says Basil, you never met with a true Christian Bishop till now, for if you had, he must have discoursed after this manner, if called into question about these Matters. For you must know, Sir, that we are mild and gentle in all other things, the most humble and submissive of all Men, as our Law commands us, insomuch that we dare not behave ourselves with the least pride or stubbornness, I will not say to the Emperor or you that are great Men, but to the meanest and poorest of the People. But where the Cause and the Truth of God is at stake, there we lay all other things aside, and look at him alone, Fire and Sword, wild Beasts and Fleshhooks are in his service, rather pleasure than terror to us, and therefore revile us, threaten us, do what you please, and the worst you can with us, and tell the Emperor what I say, we shall never yield nor comply with his Will, th● he threaten much more dreadful things than all these. This is the true old primitive Spirit, resolution adorned with Civility, and by it the Bishop not only overcame the Perfect, but became dear to the Emperor, who resorted to his Church, and received the holy Eucharist from his hands. From whence it is evident that this Persecution came not from the zeal of the Emperor, but was merely set on foot by the Grandees of the Faction for the sale and purchase of Sequestrations. And for these designs they make use of the Emperor's soft nature and vehement desire of Peace, and that was all that he here required of St. Basil, only to be reconciled to the Eudoxians, not to their Opinions. And though he was so well satisfied with St. Basil at this first onset, yet they would give him no rest till he condescended to their importunity for his Banishment, which was signed, but upon a sudden Sickness of his Son after it, its execution was stopped. And this is the true Interpretation of all the dismal Stories in the Historians concerning this Emperor's Ar●an Persecution; but into what a woeful condition the Eastern Church was brought by this Court-merchandizing, is described in the Letter of Meletius and his Brethren to the Western Bishops 
(k) Basil, Epist. 69.  The gravity of the Clergy is lost, the skilful Pastors have left their Flocks, whilst such as are set over them consume even the Goods of the Poor upon their own Pleasures. There is no regard had to the Canons of the Church, but an uncontrolled liberty of Sinning; for they who come to the Government of the Church by illegal ways, will do any thing to please their Masters. So that there is in reality no Government, and every-man does what is good in his own Eyes, wickedness is boundless, and the People stubborn, the Bishop's trim and dare not speak out, for having acquired their Power by Men, they are Slaves to all by whose help and Patronage they were advanced. With much more to the same purpose, from whence we fully understand the true Face of the Church, and the right State of the Controversy at that time, to displace honest Men upon pretences of Religion, only to get into their Preferments, as farther appears from their wild way of proceeding, as it is there described. Whereas no man ought to be concluded Guilty, without some show of Evidence, our Bishops are condemned only by being accused, and punished without any proof at all, some never knew their Accusers, others never saw their Judges; some were never accused at all, but conveyed away by dark Night, hurried into Banishment, and kept in perpetual Imprisonment. This was the deplorable state of the Church at that time under Valens and his Eunuches, for the redress whereof, not only Meletius, but Athanasius and St. Basil wrote to the Western Bishops, to implore the Assistance of the Western Church and Empire. Athanasius his Letters are lost, 
(l) Epist. 70.  but that of St. Basil is very remarkable for its Eloquence and Ingenuity. But at this time St. Basil labouring in the Settlement of the distracted Churches in the East, by the advice of St. Athanasius, visits the Churches in Armenia, where he unadvisedly receives that old insinuating Prevaricator, Eustathius of Sebasta to the Communion of the Catholic Church, upon his reiterated Profession of the Orthodox Faith. Up●n which Theodotus Bishop of Nicopolis, where the Reconciliation was made, who better understood the Man, though Basil was not unacquainted with his former Shuffle, falls out with him. But Eustathius like himself, finding, that by reason of that great opposition that was ma●e against him, and knowing that his Enormities were so great, that St. Basil was neither able nor willing to restore him, falls foul upon him, and loads him with so many base Calumnies, which, though St Basil at first despised for some years, it was the great work of his life to wipe off; one part of Mankind, it seems being so credulous, and another so illnatured, as easily and greedily to swallow any ill surmise, and of this he often complains, even in his own Friends, till he was at last tempted to sing the burden of our times, that there is no Faith in Man, 
(m) V. Greg. Naz. de laud. Basil.  as he often does in his Epistles, but especially in the 79th to Eustathius himself. And all this upon no other account, Good man, than because he could not compass a kind Office for an unworthy and ungrateful Man, and this found him work to his Dying day, especially, as he expresses it, with the Pride and Superciliousness of the Church of Rome.  
But among these various Transactions, the great Athanasius dies, about the year 371, or 372, perhaps sooner or later, for I am not concerned in Chronological Niceties, my Business is to trace the Tradition of Christian Truth, not to turn Hour-glasses, or watch the Motions of Pendulums. But his Fall was the occasion of great stirs in the Church, both Parties being at such a time highly concerned for a fit Successor to so great a Man, and so great a See: Peter a grave and ancient Presbyter of that Church, was by the dying recommendation of Athanasius unanimously chosen, but Euzoius the Arian Bishop of Antioch, upon the first News of the Vacancy flies to Court, to move for his Friend Lucius, who had been joined in Embassy with him to Jovian against Athanasius, and by the help of the Eunuches succeeds, and is sent to Alexandria with Magnus, a great Court-Trader in the Cause; but before they came the Praefect of the City, a zealous Heathen, had driven Peter into Banishment, and when they came, the People were so averse to the Intruder, that they were forced to place him in the See by Military Power, upon which, what bloody Tumults and Disorders followed, may be seen in all the Historians, but most accurately in Theodoret.  
Somewhat before this time arose the Heresy of Apollinaris, consisting of a great many Profane or rather wanton Novelties, the chief whereof was, That our Saviour had no other Soul, than the Divinity itself; and the Conceit, because it was a new one, began to take very much among the People, who naturally run after any thing that is strange and unusual. But it is soon quashed by the diligence of the Pastors of the Church; and that not only by Writing, though all the Learned Men of that Age appeared against it, as Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory Nyssen. St. Basil, and Epiphanius; but much more effectually by the Discipline of the Church. A Council was called at Rome by Damasus, the active and leading Bishop of his time, though he was here more particularly concerned, because he had unwarily given reputation to the Heretics, by granting them recommendatory Letters. And here every particular Article is condemned by an Express Anathema against it, 
(n) Theod. l. 5. c. 10.  and an account of their Proceedings is given by Damasus in a Synodical Epistle to the Eastern Bishops; the Epistle is of a very peculiar strain, and shows that the Gentleman began to have some thoughts of advancing the state of the Apostolic See, and it is the first, that I have observed, of that stiff strain. But however the Heresy was soon quashed by that unanimous Agreement of all Churches to suppress it every where by executing the effectual Discipline of the Church upon all its Followers. In so much that I can not call to Mind more than one Imperial Law against them at that time, and that was enacted by Arcadius in the year 397. against their secret Conventicles at Constantinople, 
de Haeret. l. 33.  they not presuming to appear in Public. And when a Sect is brought so low, as that it dares not venture to make any public Appearance, it is vanquished, and scarce worth the Notice of the Government.   

§ IV. In the year following, i. e. Anno 374. a Council was held at Valentia in France, for reforming some Abuses and Corruptions, that had crept into that Church, and restoring the force of some ancient useful Canons In the same year happened that strange Election of St. Ambrose to the Bishopric of Milan after this manner. 
(o) Theod. lib. 4. c. 6.  Upon the Death of Auxentius, the Emperor Valentinian happening to be then at M●lan, calls the Bishops together, and Exhorts them to take care to choose a Person of eminent Abilities for so great a See. They in all humility refer it to his majesty's own choice, No, says he, that is a Province not proper for me to undertake, but to you that are enlightened by the Divine Spirit, most properly belongs the Office of choosing Bishops. Upon this the Bishops take time to debate among themselves, but whilst they are consulting, the People of each Faction flock together into the Marketplace, and there, as it usually happens in popular Assemblies, from Disputing proceed to Tumult. St. Ambrose being Governor of the Place, flies according to his Office to appease the Multitude. Who no sooner appears, than they all cry out, An Ambrose, an Ambrose for their Bishop; at which he being astonished, ascends the Tribunal with an austere Countenance, as if he were resolved to put some of them to Death, but they still cry the louder. Upon that he accuses himself of such scandalous Crimes, as by the Canons of the Church render him uncapable of the Episcopal Office, but that is all one to them, neither will they believe him. And therefore in the last place, he betakes himself to flight by Night, and designs for Ticinum, but having wandered all Night, and thinking himself near his Journeys end, he found in the Morning that he had walked in a Circle, and was just entering into one of the Gates of Milan, at which being surprised, and fearing lest there should be something of the hand of God in it, he returns home and submits; they acquaint the Emperor with it for his consent, 
(p) Cod. Theodos. de Episc & Cler. l. 3.  because by the Constitution of Constantine the Great, they were forbidden to take any Officers either Civil or Military into the Clergy without it, lest the Commonwealth should be left destitute of able Men. But the Emperor is highly pleased with the Election, and is proud of his own choosing such Magistrates as are fit to be made Bishops, and through this odd concurrence of Circumstances, is he made Bishop contrary to the 
(q) Can. Apost. 80.  Canons, for he was then no more than a Catechumene, which Learned Men think may be excused by the miraculousness of the thing, as if it had been immediately brought about by the special Interposition and Authority of God himself, and for such extraordinary cases the Canon itself has provided an Exception, adding this Clause at the end of it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, unless it be done by the special favour of God. And that this was so done, all Parties concerned in it, thought they had good reason to conclude, from so great a Conjunction of Wonders. 
(r) Am. Marcel. lib. 30. C. 6  Soon after this, Valentinian dies of an Apoplexy or some sudden Death, upon which Ammianus Marcellinus reads a Lecture with as much Gravity, as if he were Precedent of the College of Physicians, as he takes all Opportunity of showing his Knowledge in all sorts of Learning, a fondness very incident to all half-learned Men. But in the mean time Valens goes on in his old road, as his Eunuches are pleased to drive him, 
(s) Epist. 140.  till Gregory Nazianzen solicits his ingenious Friend Themistius, a great Philosopher, and a great Man in the State, to take him off from his Fury, which he might the more easily do, as being unconcerned in the quarrel, and like a Gentleman he undertakes it, and in his Speech entitled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 persuades the Emperor for some time to lay aside his Bigotry for the Eudoxian Faction. And to say the truth of him, he was both a Gentleman and a Philosopher, he was first made Perfect of the City by Julian, who was possess't with a vehement Ambition of preferring Learned Men, he was always a Friend to the Catholics for their Integrity, and as much as a Man of his Temper and Principles could be, an Hater of the Eusebians of all sorts for their shuffling and dishonesty, saying in his Oration to Jovian 
(t) Soc. l. 3 c. 25.  that they Worshipped not God, but the Imperial Purple. And after the overthrow of Procopius, he out of pure good Nature intercedes with the Emperor for Mercy and Clemency to the vanquished, 
(u) Orat. 9  and withal advises him to beware of listening to Whisperers and Flatterers, by whom he means his Eudoxian Courtiers, that thrust him upon all his extravagant Actions. So now here at the request of his Friend Nazianzen, he rubs up the Emperor's good Nature in behalf of the Catholics. And for the sweetness and gentleness of his temper, he was a Favourite to all the Emperors from Julian to Theodosius the Great, between whom, notwithstanding the difference of their Religion, and the distance of their Station, there was a particular Friendship and Endearment cemented purely by the likeness of their Tempers, in so much that the Emperor Theodosius left him the Guardianship of his young Son Arcadius.  
But notwithstanding this learned Gentleman's advice to Valens, his Officers proceed in their old Track of Violence in the East, whilst his Nephew the young Emperor Gratian in the West, steers the contrary course, for being sensible of the great disorders in the Church and Commonwealth, by reason of his Father Valentinian's remissness, he thought it high time to settle things better by a stricter Government, for though Valentinian was a wise Prince, and Orthodox in the Faith, yet he was possessed with one unhappy Principle, that spoiled his reign, that indeed has been most fatal to Princes in all Ages, and that is, as 
(w) lib. 30.  Ammianus describes it. Post●emò hoc moderamine principatus inclaruit, quod inter religionum diversitates medius stetit: nec quenquam inquietavit, neque ut hoc coleretur imperavit, aut illud, neque interdictis mina●ibus subjectorum cervicem, ad id, quod ipse voluit, inclinabat; sed intemeratas reliquit has parts, ut reperit. He excelled in the moderation of his Government, in that he stood unconcerned among all the diversities of Religions, and never disturbed any Man, neither commanded this or that way of Worship, nor forced his Subjects necks to look which way he pleased, but left these Matters altogether inviolated. But by the Soldier's leave, who was not bound to be an accurate Lawyer, this is not universally true, for there is extant in the Theodosian Code 
(x) Ne Baptisma iteretur▪ l. 1.  a particular Law of his own making against the Donatists, to forbid their rebaptising upon pain of Deposition; and there is another under the title de Haereticis 
(y) l. 3.  against the Manichees, though indeed they were rather Villains than Heretics, who taught and practised all kinds of Vice and Wickedness, as the Principles of their Sect, and therefore no wonder if they were excepted out of his Clemency, but otherwise it extended equally to all. By which means the Christian Church was not only overrun with Heresies, and its discipline utterly defeated, as we have seen in the case of that wicked Man Auxentius, who though he were so justly deposed by the Judgement of the Catholic Church, yet it took no effect, because Valentinian was withheld by this Principle, from doing the Office of a Christian Emperor, in abetting the legal Decrees of the Church, and such an one he himself thought that against Auxentius. But beside this Calamity within the Church, Heathenism hereby gained great ground, and appeared publicly in the World, especially by his Edict to restore the heathen Priests to their ancient Immunities, 
* L. 75 de Decurionibus.  and for the sake of this it is, that Ammianus commends this Emperor's moderation; for it is the most certain rule of Government, that all Parties that are under most are for this Principle, because it is the only ground, that can give them advantage to mount uppermost. But the young Emperor Gratian a Prince of great Wisdom and Virtue, finding things in so great a disorder by it, he at his first coming to the Crown, takes particular care for the Church's Peace and Settlement. 
(z) de Haeret. l. 4.  And publishes a Rescript against the public Meetings of all Heretics, i. e. (as the Law itself defines it) all Parties whatsoever, that did not join in Communion with the Catholics, under punishment of Confiscation of their meeting Places, whether Fields or Houses, and because by reason of the connivance or corruption of his Officers it was not executed, he reinforces it two years after, with a threatening Injunction to his Judges, to neglect its execution at their Peril. And yet Valens perishing soon after in the East, and that part of the Empire falling to this Emperor, who left the Western Parts, that were better settled to his younger Brother Valentinian, when he came thither, he found things in such confusion by Valens his misgovernment, that he was forced to submit to the necessity of the Times, and for that reason published an Edict at Sirmium, granting the liberty of public Assemblies to all Sects, excepting only Manichees, Photinians and Eunomians. 
(a) Soc. l. 5. c. 2. Sozom. l. 7. c. 1.  This the Historians Socrates and Sozomen set down as the first act of his Government, but they were ignorant of what he had enacted in the West. 
(b) Theod. l. 5.12.  As for Theodoret, he is quite lost in the whole story, turning this act of Indulgence into a severe Law, but the apparent ground of his Mistake is, his confounding this Rescript with another of Theodosius de fide Catholicâ, 
(c) l. 2.  that bears this Emperor's Name, though enacted by Theodosius alone. For that was the custom, that though the Law were made by one Emperor, it was published in the name of all. But to proceed with Gratian, he having settled things as well as he could in the East, and returning the year after into the West, publishes 
(d) de Haeret. l. 5.  a Rescript at Milan to cancel the Sirmian indulgence, and forbid the Assemblies of all Sects that had been adjudged Heretics by the Church and Imperial Laws; thus we may see what Princes are frequently forced to do as to their Penal Laws by the necessity of the Times, and vary their Edicts as the present temper of the World will bear them. But now this Emperor having by this seasonable Law given check to the Heretics, in the next place he restores the effectual Discipline of the Church 
(e) de Epist. l. 23.  by a Rescript bearing date the year 376, that the same Custom should be observed in Ecclesiastical Affairs, as was in Civil Causes, that Controversies belonging to Religion, should be judged by the Synod of the Diocese, but all criminal Causes should be reserved to the Audience of the Secular Governors. Not to inquire at present into the particular occasion of this Law, which Gothofred conjectures was made in the controversy of punishing the Priscillianists with the Sword, it is agreeable with the practice of the Empire, and so this learned Civilian divides all Controversies into Causes ecclesiastical and political, the Ecclesiastical into Controversies of Faith or Discipline, these, he says, appertain to the Church. The political are divided into Causes pecuniary, or Causes criminal, and these, he says, appertain to the Civil Power. This I know is the common state of the bounds of Jurisdiction, and has made great confusions in Christendom, whilst both Powers contend to keep their own ground: and especially since the power over the Catholic Church was swallowed up into the papal Omnipotency, what troubles have the Popes given the Christian Emperors, for daring to intermeddle with spiritual Matters? But this Argument of the bounds of Jurisdiction I shall fully state, when I have first set down the exercise of it in matter of Fact, and therefore though I need at present only say that it is a dangerous Mistake to divide them by the different Matters about which they are conversant, when they are both conversant about the same Matters, and unless they are so, both of them will be too weak to attain the ends of their Institution. Yet because it is the fundamental Mistake on both sides, and because I may never come to finish this wide undertaking, and lastly because I find it to be the great stumbling block to the wiser and more judicious Men of the Church of Rome, I shall here a little briefly consider its consequence. 
(f) de concord. l. 2. c. 1. § 4.  The learned Petrus de Marca one of the wisest Writers of that Church affirms, and believes the bounds of these two Jurisdictions to be so plainly determined by the Matters themselves, about which they are employed, that no Man can possibly miss their true boundaries, that does not industriously overlook them, in that it is so evident that the regal Power extends only to things secular, and the Ecclesiastical to things spiritual. Whereas on the contrary nothing is more evident, than that all Actions are both Secular and Spiritual, the same Action as it relates to the peace of the World, and the Civil Government of Mankind is of a secular Nature, and as it is a moral Virtue, and required by the Law of God as a duty of Religion, so it is of a spiritual Nature. And so on the other side, those things that are esteemed Spiritual, yet as they have an influence upon the public Peace (and nothing has a greater) they must come under the cognizance of the civil Government. So that these Jurisdictions are so far from being distinguished by the Objects about which they are conversant, that they are always both equally extended to the same Objects, so as that if we limit either to one sort of Actions, we destroy both. For to take Matters spiritual in their strictest acceptation, and as they are vulgarly understood, for the Offices of divine Worship, and especially the public Devotions, that are performed by the Sacerdotal Order in the public Assemblies, yet if the Sacerdotal Power reach not beyond this to secular things, it can never reach its end, for that is to procure the future happiness of the Souls of Men, and that very much depends upon their good or bad behaviour in the Affairs of this life; so that if their spiritual Guides and Governors are barred from intermeddling in all such Matters, they are cut off from the chief part of their Office, and what remains, will be too weak to attain its end, for when Men have been never so careful in all the Offices of Religion, yet if care be not taken to regulate the Actions of humane intercourse, all their Devotion will avail them very little in the World to come. So on the other side, when the Civil Power has done all that it can, to settle and secure the quiet of the Commonwealth, by the wisest Laws of Justice and Honesty, yet if they may not take notice of what Doctrines are instilled into their Subjects by their Teachers, or what divisions or commotions are raised by them in the Church, they may soon be involved into disturbance or confusion, without any Power to relieve themselves. I am not at present concerned to prove that this is now actually done by any Party of Men, it is enough to my present purpose, that it is a possible thing to disturb the peace of Government, under Pretences or by Mistakes of Religion, or to pray and preach Men into Rebellion. And if it be so, than the consequence is unavoidable that it must be subject to the power of the Civil Magistrate, if that be any of its Office to take any care of the peace and quiet of the World. But in truth this distinction has been all along chiefly cherished by the Bishops of Rome since the time of their Usurpation: because when they had got all the spiritual Power of the Church into their own hands, their next care was to hug and keep it entire to themselves, and therefore they confined the Power of Princes wholly to Matters of State, but as for all things, that concerned the Church, they were bound with all submission to resign themselves to his Holinesses Orders, and if they presumed to gainsay any of his Edicts, though never so prejudicial to their own Affairs, it was open defiance to Holy Church, and though the Popes never proceeded any farther against him, as none of them did, till Hildebrand, yet that alone was at that time a forfeiture of the Affections of his best Subjects, i. e. all those plain and good People, that have any real love or value for their Religion. And this one thing alone gave the Popes of Rome, though they had never proceeded to the scandalous boldness of deposing Princes, an absolute Empire and Authority over all the Princes of Christendom. And it is observable that they were the high flying Popes, that were the chief sticklers for the advancement of this distinction, as appears not only from the Collection of Gratian, Distinct. 69. where it is largely exemplified, but from Petrus de Marca himself, warranting the truth of this Doctrine from the Authorities of Gelasius, Symmachus, Gregory the second, Nicolaus the first, Innocentius the third, who in their several high Contests with the Emperors, that endeavoured to check and bridle their Ecclesiastical Insolence, still bid them mind their own business, and not presume to meddle with the Church, the Government whereof was entrusted to St. Peter and his Successors. But their Adversaries have been even with them, especially the Erastian Heretics (for what greater Heresy can there be in the Church, than to take away the very Being of the Church) by distinguishing between the sacred Function, which they grant to be the proper office of the Church, and the Power over sacred things, which they annex entirely to the Civil Power, by which distinction they leave the Governors of the Church no other Power, than to administer the Offices of Religion, without any Power of punishing Offenders against the Laws of Religion, and then they have none at all, for there can be no power without a Power of inflicting Penalties. And there lies the true distinguishing point between these two Jurisdictions, not in the Matters about which their Power is employed, but in the Penalties, by which it is enforced. Thus to be short and give one example for all, whereas 
(g) Novel. 83.  Justinian leaves to the Church, the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sins committed against the Ecclesiastical Order by the Clergy, and to the State the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Sins against the Laws of the State. This division is so far from being true, that both Powers are equally concerned in both Crimes, for if any Clergyman disturb the Government, as the Donatists did by a Contest about a Canon of the Church, then though it were an Ecclesiastical sin, it concerned the Civil Government to check the Mischief by the proper Penalties of Sedition, as Honorius drove them into banishment, and thereby restored the long interrupted Peace of the Empire. And on the other hand, if any Clergyman, let him be never so regular to the Laws and Rules of the Church, shall in a state-Faction engage in a Rebellion against his Sovereign, that is properly a Political sin, the Church is bound to inflict such Penalties upon him, as are denounced by the Laws of their Religion against all Traitors and Rebels, i. e. to cast him out of their Society, and the capacity of Salvation. And that is the only difference in the case, that when the King cuts a Traitor off for this life, the Church cuts him off ●or the next, and so it is in all other Crimes, where the Prince punishes for breach of the Laws of the Land, the Church punishes proportionably for breach of the Laws of Religion. And as by the Laws of the Land the Penalty is proportionable to the Crime, so is it by the Laws of the Church: for as some Offences are Capital, and some only Penal in the State, so in the Church, some are punished by Penance, some by utter excision or cutting off from the Kingdom of Heaven, which is the same thing in its kind, as cutting off life in this World. So that the same Crimes are so far from belonging to different Judicatures, that all belong to both, the only difference is, that one punishes here, and the other hereafter. And now this one observation of the difference of Penalties in the same cause being supposed, which cannot be be avoided, without destroying or entrenching upon the Rights of Church or State, the bounds of Jurisdiction are evident enough without splitting of Causes, and it is easy enough to understand how the same Causes belong to both Jurisdictions from their different ends, without setting any restraint to either Power. And thus having in this short digression, as briefly as I could, secured this point of the Controversy, which is the main Hinge upon which depends the disingenuous Contention of both the extreme Parties, both Papal and Erastian, I now return to the course of the History, which was broke off at the year 376. 
(h) Am. Marcel. l. 31.  At which time, the Huns breaking into the Eastern Empire, and Valens being extremely distressed by them and the Goths at the same time, 
(i) in Cron.  St. Jerom and 
(k) l. 7. c. 33.  Crosius say that he repented of his former severity, and upon it recalled the Orthodox Bishops from banishment, 
(l) lib. 4.35. c. 37.  but Socrates only says, and that much more probably, that being otherwise employed he desisted, and so the banished Bishops, particularly Peter of Alexandria had opportunity of returning home And that I doubt was all, notwithstanding St. Jerom's lavish story of his Repentance, which good Father partly by his boldness, partly by his eagerness, has occasioned the greatest Mistakes in the story of the Church, and therefore when he is a single witness, his Testimony is not to be regarded in any Matter of Fact, unless when he speaks of his own knowledge, for he was an honest Man, and would not lie, yet he was so very hotheaded, that it often betrayed him into falsehoods, and therefore his single Authority ought not to be trusted, unless in Matters of his own knowledge. And by relying upon it, and that contrary to the testimony of calmer Authors great darkness has been brought upon the Records of the Church, and has particularly blemished Baronius his Annals, who has very often followed his Authority not only without, but against all other Authors, and by it run himself into a great many Mistakes against the best Records of the Church. And this I take to be one, though no material one, that Valens repented of his Persecution, and call●d back the banished Bishops, for which there is no proof but only his saying so, and they that followed his Authority, otherwise we do not find that they were solemnly recalled, till Gratian came into the East after his death, when indeed 
(k) Soc. l. ●. c. 2. Soz. l. 7. c. 1. Theod. l. 5. c. 2.  all the Historians agree that they were restored.  
In the Year 377 a Council was held at Antioch, for preventing or rather curing a Schism in that Church, that was first created by Julian's spiteful and treacherous toleration to all Sects, for by that means 3 Bishops had been set up in one Church, Meletius who was first an Acacian, but afterwards revolting to the Nicene Faith, Euzoius was put in his place by the Acacian Faction, and Paulinus set up by that hot Man Lucifer Calaritanus, who would accept of none of Meletius his repentance, in opposition to both. With Meletius the Arian Converts communicated, with Paulinus the old Orthodox, because Paulinus himself had ever been so, and as for Euzoius he presided over the Acacian Party. But he dying about this time, a Controversy arose who should be the true and proper Bishop of the Place, in which not only the People of the City made Parties, but the Bishops of other Churches. St. Basil was zealous for Meletius, Pope Damasus for Paulinus, so that it became a Controversy between the East and West. But at last this expedient was found out, that both during their lives should keep their own shares, but when ever one of them died, the survivor should govern the whole Church, and that the Schism might not be perpetuated, an Oath was administered to six of the eldest Presbyters of that Church, who were the only Candidates for the Election, to submit to the Decree, and this, for the present, ended the Quarrel. And yet when after this Meletius died, Flavianus one of the six Presbyters that had sworn never to invade the Bishopric, whilst either of the present Bishops survived, violently thrusts himself into the See, and sets up a Schism against Paulinus to the great and long disturbance of the Church, as we shall afterward see, though Theodoret 
(l) lib. 3. c. 3. et c. 23.  either out of a picque to Paulinus or partiality to Flavianus, relates the whole Matter so awkerdly, as not only to pervert, but apparently to falsify the whole Story.   

§. V. In the Year 379 is the great Theodosius taken into a partnership of the Government, who by his Wisdom settled all the distractions of the Eastern-Empire, and by his courage recovered the Western when it was lost. At first he is left to the Government of the East, as being at that time by the folly of Valens and the wickedness of the Eunuches and Eudoxians, much the most troublesome, and therefore in the next year after his being settled in the Government, he takes care for the settlement of Religion, and for that end is himself baptised by Acholius Bishop of Thessalonica, that at that time belonged to the Eastern Empire, and as the first fruits of his sacramental Vow, he immediately set out, and that probably at the good Bishop's motion, that famous, or as it is commonly styled, Golden Rescript 
(m) l. 2.  de fide Catholicâ to the divided People of Constantinople, commanding the universal Reception of the old Orthodox Faith, ut secundum Apostolicam disciplinam, evangelicamque doctrinam, Patris et Filii et Spirit●s sancti unam Deitatem sub parili Majestate, & sub piâ Trinitate credamus, that we believe one Godhead of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, all of equal Majesty in the holy Trinity, according to the Doctrine of the Apostles and Evangelists. And as for all that refused this Faith, of what Faction and Denomination soever, they were all adjudged Heretics, and the Laws against them put in force. 
(n) Soc. l. 5. c. 4.  And soon after this the great Church of Constantinople, is by his command taken from the Heretics (who had in one shape or other kept possession of it full forty years) and delivered up to the Catholics. And this was seconded by another Rescript in the year following to the Proconsul of Asia, that had been all along infested with the most numerous swarms of Heretics, in which he strictly commands all Churches to be taken away from all Bishops and Priests, that refused to subscribe the Nicene Faith, and for better security further Orders that no Man should be admitted to any Church, but such as were approved by a certain Committee of Orthodox Bishops, appointed by himself for that purpose. Here I must confess that I 
(†) Account of the Government of the Church § 20.  once thought this Law an invasion upon the Rights of the Church, by confounding the old bounds of Provinces, and destroying the Prerogatives of Metropolitans, because they were chosen without regard to either; but having now traced its history more accurately by comparing the Imperial Laws with the Records of the Church, (and indeed it is impossible to gain a full knowledge of either, without a competent knowledge of both) and so considering the time and occasion of enacting it, it plainly clears itself from any such ill suspicion. For first, if it were made before the Council of Constantinople, as some will have it, it was then but a temporary Provision, till a better settlement could be made by the approaching Council, and therefore if it had been an entrenchment upon the Church, it was not designed to be perpetual, but was taken up as the best expedient, that the necessity of the Times would admit, and all necessity is its own dispensation. But if it were enacted after the Council, and if its Date be not mistaken, and so it was, for the Council sat in May, June, July, and this bears date August, than it is only a confirmation of the Decree of the Church, that had settled the Nicene Faith. But which soever it was, this institution of the Communicatory Bishops was no alteration either of the bounds or the Rules of Discipline, for the Ecclesiastical Government of Provinces under Metropolitans stood as before, but it was only a Rule to his own Officers, not to deliver up Churches to any that did not bring Certificates from some of these Bishops, but when they brought them, they were to be admitted after the usual manner; if Presbyters, by the Bishop and his Synod of Presbyters; if Bishops, by the Metropolitan and his Synod of Bishops. Neither can any thing be inferred for equalling Diocesan Bishops or preferring them above Metropolitans, by Nectarius his being made the first Man in the Instrument, for it was no matter of power but of trust, the Emperor chose them not with any regard to their Authority, but from his knowledge of their Integrity in the Orthodox Faith, and therefore being best acquainted with Nectarius the Bishop of his own City, and his old Favourite, he naturally named him in the first place, and the rest probably by the information of others. This is all that I can find intended by this Emperor's erecting this Committee of Communicatory Bishops, it was to guide himself and his Officers, not to determine the Church. And now are we come to the great Council of Constantinople, whose main business it was to settle the Nicene Faith, and anathematise the Arian Heresy, and all the Sects that had been spawned out of it; but because the Macedonians had as we have seen above, so often owned the Nicene Faith, and particularly in the Council at Lampsacus, the good Emperor in hopes to bring them over, 
(c) Soc. l. 5. c. 8. Soz. l. 7. c. 7.  summoned them to the Council, 36 in number, but it seems they were at that time in a sullen fit, and would not be prevailed upon to stand to their former subscriptions, and so depart the Council. But the Fathers proceed, and in the first place vote the Nicene Faith unalterable, condemn all the several dissenters from it by name, make some Canons useful for the present settlement of the Church, and give an account of their proceedings to his Imperial Majesty in these words. That meeting at Constantinople in obedience to his Summons, they had preserved Peace among themselves, confirmed the Nicene Faith, anathematised all Heresies, that had been raised against it, enacted divers Canons for the due settlement of the discipline of the Church, they now request his Majesty that he would be pleased to ratify the Decrees of the Council, that as they were called together by his Imperial Letters, so he would be pleased to give an effectual conclusion to their Decrees. That was the true state of the Church under his wise reign, as it was under Constantine's, to summon them to Council by his own Authority, and leave them to the liberty of their own determinations, and then if he pleased, to enforce them by his own Imperial Laws and Penalties. And that he did to purpose, for beside the former Law of Communicatory Bishops, that was most probably published at this time, he enacted 
(p) de Haeret. l. 6.  another injoining the Nicene Faith, forbidding public Assemblies to all, that would not subscribe it, condemning the Photinians, Arians, Eunomians by name, and commanding all Churches within the Empire to be delivered up to the Orthodox Bishops, or such as kept close to the Nicene Faith. The Rescript is a plain Epitome both of the Creed and Canons of the Council, and for the most part expressed in the very same words. And because when the Churches were taken from the Heretics they attempted to build new ones, 
(q) de Haeret. l. 8.  he seconds it with another to forbid that, under pain of Confiscation. Upon this the Heretics meet in private Conventicles, or assemble Multitudes together in the Streets and Fields, which occasions 
(r) de Haeret. l. 11.12  two Laws in the year 383, to forbid all manner of Meetings in all Places whatsoever, to restrain wand'ring Bishops from preaching or ordaining successors in the Heresy, and the Execution of these Laws is enjoined the Governors of Provinces upon pain of Deposition from their places. But because the Heretics were ferretted out of all other Places, and took sanctuary in the great City of Constantinople, 
(s) ibid. l. 13.  he publishes another Rescript the year following, requiring the Magistrates to make a diligent search to find out their lurking holes, and so we hear no more of them, till the year 388, when all these Laws against them, were contracted into 
(t) ibid. 14.  one Rescript, the Emperor being provoked to renew the execution of his old Laws, by their saucy behaviour upon any cessation against them. But now leaving the Eastern parts to go to the assistance of Valentinian the younger against the Tyrant Maximus, who had driven him out of his Empire in the West, he chooses Tatianus a Man eminent for Courage, Wisdom and Conduct, to be his Praefectus Praetorio in his absence, and when he comes into Macedonia, where he meets the distressed young Emperor, and finding himself engaged in a dangerous War on his behalf, for the better security of the Peace, sends him a new sort of Rescript, 
(u) de his qui super Religione contendunt. l. 2.  strictly commanding him, that he suffer no disputes about Religion, and if any shall dare to do it, that he punish their presumption with just severity. A Law that has been found so useful and necessary to the public Peace, that it has been from time to time renewed by wise Princes in all Ages. He himself was forced four years after, to impose it upon the Egyptians and Alexandrians under pain of deportation, and no wonder, when they have been remarked in all Ages and by all Authors, as the most contentious and quarrelsome People in the World, and particularly at that time great Tumults were raised by the Anthropomorphite Monks. It was afterward renewed by the great and wise Emperor Marcian, inserted into the Laws of the Vice-Goths, the Capitulars of Charles the Great, and the Additions of his Son Lewis. And this they did not only for the security of the public Peace, but for the honour and reverence of Religion. For it cannot but bring that into great contempt, to see it bandied up and down in popular Tumults and Seditions, and therefore in the Primitive modest Times, they endeavoured to keep Matters of dispute and controversy from the notice of the People, 
(w) V. Gothofredi Notas in legem.  and distinguished between the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things fit to be preached, and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notions fit to be concealed. And it was the familiar form of Expression in their Sermons, when they came to any controversial point, to break off suddenly with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but this the learned know. Gregory Nazianzen has an excellent Sermon upon the Subject, 
(x) Orat. 26.  fit for our own conceited and capricious Times, in which the good Father is so popishly affected, as to recommend to his disputing Citizens of Constantinople, ignorance above curiosity. But this wise Emperor having settled things in as good a posture, as he could in the East, prevails at the same time with the young Valentinian, who by the instigation of his Mother Justina, had been a great Patron of the Heretics, to publish the same severe Rescript against them in the West, that himself at his first coming to the Empire had enacted in the East, and to cancel the former Law, that he had two years before made in their behalf, viz. 
(y) de fide Cathol. l. 4.  that we grant liberty of public Assemblies to all those, that believe according to that Faith, that in the time of Constantius was agreed upon at Ariminum by all the Bishops of the Roman World, and let those Men know, that presume that themselves alone ought to have liberty, that if they shall attempt any disturbance against this our Command, they shall stand guilty of High-Treason, and pay for it with their blood. This is a very high Act in behalf of all the Heretics, for by the Faith agreed upon at Ariminum is to be understood, the cheat that Valens and his Party put upon the Council, that comprehended all the different Parties whatsoever. And yet that is the Faith that is here confirmed to last forever, and whoever shall publicly oppose any that publicly promote it, shall forfeit his head. This came from the furious zeal of Justina, who prosecuted it with the same zeal and outrage, wherewith she had procured it, and it was so highly displeasing to Benevolus the Emperor's Secretary, 
(a) Ruffin. l. 2. c. 16.  that he chose rather to lose his Office and the Offer of much greater Preferments, than so much as transcribe it. And this was the Rescript, that brought so much trouble to St. Ambrose, when he refused to deliver up his Church to the Arians, and indeed it was particularly aimed at him. And the first Mover of all the Mischief was one Auxentius a Scythian, that had a great mind to that wealthy Bishopric, but partly because the Name of Auxentius was hateful to the People of that City, and partly because he was infamous for many Villainies in his own Country, he took upon him the name of Mercurin●s. But this whole business being a very remarkable transaction, and of very great consequence to my Argument, I shall set it down with the greater Nicety: that we may not only see the outward Actions themselves, but the inward Springs and Motives of the Court-Intrigues.   

§. VI And first of all Auxentius challenges St. Ambrose to a dispute before the Emperor then only a Catechumen; but the Bishop disdains the Motion, that when the Faith had been so fairly determined by so many Councils, he should prostitute the divine Authority of the Church, by referring it to a secular Judicature, but chiefly by making a Catechumen supreme Judge of the Faith. But Dalmatius the Tribune is sent by the Emperor to command his appearance, upon which advising with some Bishops, that were then present with him, he returns his Answer in writing, in which with equal courage and modesty he reproves him for meddling with things that did not originally belong to his Judicature, and so proceeds to state the Power of the Emperors in Ecclesiastical Matters, from the practice of his Predecessors. And it was then but time to be hot in the Cause, this being the first open breach, that was made upon the Church; for though Constantius had often done it underhand or rather unadvisedly, yet what he did, was by the pretended Authority of Councils, but this is the first time that any Prince challenged a Power to judge of Faith by his Imperial Authority. And as it happened, it was as good a season as the Experiment could have been tried in, when the Trial fell upon such a Man as St. Ambrose, a Man of infinite Courage and Integrity, and he has distilled the very Spirit of both into his Reply, the short of it is this. 
(b) Lib. 4. Epist. 32.  Sir I hope I return you a sufficient Answer, though I come not to Court upon the Errand that I am sent for, neither let any Man judge me contumacious, when I only maintain what your Father of blessed Memory was not only wont to say in discourse, but to enact by Law, That in Causes of Faith or Ecclesiastical Discipline, he alone ought to be Judge, who is qualified for it by Right and Office. He would have Bishops judge of Bishops, nay if a Bishop were guilty of Crimes of any other nature, he was pleased to refer them also to the Ecclesiastical Judicature. But when, I beseech you, Gracious Sir, did you ever hear, that Laymen made themselves Judges of a Bishop in a Cause of Faith? No, Sir, I cannot crouch to so mean a Flattery, as to forget my Sacerdotal Trust, that I should part with it to any other, when God has committed it to my Charge. If a Bishop is to be taught by a Laic, let the Laic preach too. Believe me, Sir, it is certain both from the Holy Scriptures, and the practice of the whole Church, that in matters of Faith, Bishops are to guide Emperors, and not Emperors Bishops. Execute, if you please, your late bloody Law upon me, Ambrose is not so much worth, that for the sake of his own poor self he should prostitute not only his own Priesthood, but the dignity of all the Bishops. If there be any Controversy of Faith, know, that it is their business to decide it, as was done under the great Constantine, who prescribed nothing to the Bishops, but left them to their own liberty of Judgement, and the same was the practice under his Son Constantius, though what was well begun, was afterward perverted. For the Bishops agreed upon an Orthodox Faith, whilst some few would have the thing determined at Court, whereby they at last imposed upon the Bishops, who as soon as they understood the cheat, recalled their Sentence, and ratified the Nicene Faith. (This has a peculiar reference to the Council of Ariminum.) In short, Sir, if Auxentius desire a Council, though it is by no means fit that so many Bishops should be put to so much trouble by the petulancy of one Man, who though he were an Angel from Heaven, ought not to be regarded, if he oppose the Peace of the Church, whenever a Council is called I shall not absent myself. This is the sum of his resolute Answer, as far as it concerns my Argument, where we see that the Power of Judicature in Matters of Faith was always owned to be an unalienable Right in the Governors of the Church, and was never challenged by any Emperor before this young Prince, who was boisterously thrust upo● it by the importunity of a furious Woman and her Scythian Priest. And they having now begun the Work, resolve to go through with open force, and for that end, procure a Law for the ejectment of Catholic Bishops out of their Churches, under Penalty of Death to all those that refuse to resign them, and for the first execution of it, send a Party to seize St. Ambrose, and take possession of his Church. But the People defend the Doors. The Officers command him in the Emperor's Name to deliver up his Church and the Goods of it. At this the People are afraid that he will comply. No, says he, fear not that, I cannot forsake my Flock, and deliver it up to the Guardianship of a Woolf. If they will dispossess me by force, they may carry away my Body, but not my Mind. I am ready to submit to any thing that the Imperial Power can inflict, but as long as I can, I must and will discharge the duty of my Priestly Office. Why then are you troubled, I will never willingly forsake you; if I am forced, I must not resist; I can mourn and weep and pray, my Tears are Arms against the Goths, these are our Priestly Weapons, any other way I neither ought nor can resist. And as for delivering up the Goods of the Church, he tells the Officers, Gentlemen, if the Emperor be pleased to command any thing that is my own, I would freely present him wi●h it: but I can take away nothing out of the House of God, nor give that away which was only entrusted with me to keep. And being often pressed to a voluntary resignation, this was his constant and peremptory Answer, and withal boldly advising the Emperor to beware what he did in seizing the Goods of God, and invading the Rights of the Church. And thus things stood three whole days; St. Ambrose would not deliver up his Church, nor the Emperor durst not take it by force. And when the Courtiers persuaded him to go in Person and turn him out, he replied, I thank you for that, for if Ambrose should command you to deliver me up bound into his hands, you would obey him, and therefore for fear of farther mischief he was forced to desist, though by his proceeding so far, he brought great disgrace upon himself, in so much that the Tyrant Maximus wrote a smart Letter to him to upbraid him with the folly and dishonour of his Attempt; it is very well written, but s●mm'd up in this one short saying, Periculosè, mihi crede, divina tentantur. Believe me, it is a dangerous thing, but to touch the Ark. But this was done in order to his Invasion of Italy, to engage the Orthodox on his side, as if he had taken up Arms to vindicate their Cause, for the Rescript of Valentinian reached not St. Ambrose alone, but all Churches under the Emperor's Jurisdiction, as appears not only by the Rescript itself, but by the Tyrant's Epistle. Audivi enim novis Clementiae tuae Edictis, Ecclesiis Catholicis vim illatam fuisse, obsideri in Basilicis sacerdotes, mulctam esse propositam, paenam capitis adjectam, et legem sanctissimam sub Nomine nescio cujus legis everti. I am informed that by some new Edicts of your Grace, force has been offered to the Catholic Churches, that the Priests have been besieged in their Cathedrals, that the punishment annexed to the Law is no less than pain of Death, and that the most religious Law of the Empire is destroyed, under pretence of I know not what new Law of your own. And so the next news we hear of the Tyrant, is his declaration of open War, by which the young unadvised Emperor being in a great distress, supplicates St. Ambrose to undertake an Embassy, to dissuade the Tyrant from his Design, which he frankly and readily undertakes, 
(c) Ambros. l. 5. Epist. 27. in which Letter he gives an account of his Embassy to the Emperor,  and behaves himself in the discharge of his trust with the same liberty for his Master against the Tyrant, that he had used towards his Master for his Saviour, requires him in the name of God to submit to his Sovereign Lord the Emperor, and lays open to his face, all his shifts and pretences wherewith he would have masked his Rebellion, with that freedom and boldness, with that dexterity and quickness of Wit, as baffled the Tyrant out of all his Artifices, and laid the Villainy of his Actions open to all his Court, who were present at the Audience. And as for all Bishops that had owned communion with the Tyrant, he disowned and defied all communion with them. And in the conclusion of his Letter, advises the Emperor to beware of the Tyrant and his Practices, who under specious Pretences of peace and friendship, would lie at watch to work his destruction. But the Emperor not satisfied with the effect of Ambrose his Embassy, nor regarding his Advice, sends another Ambassador one Domninus, a very fine and artificial Courtier; that instead of the roughness of St. Ambrose, might convey himself in to the Tyrant by the neatness of his Address; but when Maximus saw what a pretty Puppet he had to manage, he treats him with all possible complaisance, and makes him giddy with kindness and flattery, 
(*) Zosimus lib. 4.  and for a demonstration of his friendship to his Master the Emperor, lends him part of his Army to assist him against the Barbarians, that at that time infested Pannonia, and so by this Compliment very civilly made himself Master of all the Passages through the Alps, which being done, he secures Domninus with all his Company, till he passed with his whole Army into Italy. Upon which sudden surprise Valentinian is forced to fly, and gets to Thessalonica, where he sends to Theodosius to acquaint him with his forlorn Condition and implore his Assistance. But Maximus meeting with no opposition sweeps all before him, and endeavours to conquer by Civility as well as the Sword, 
(d) Ambrose Ep. 26.  courts all Parties, grants liberty to all Religions, not only Christians, but Jews and Heathens, and to oblige the Catholics, that were much the most numerous Party, declares himself of their Communion, cancels the late Law of Valentinian against them, and 
(e) See his Epistles in their proper place in Labbé.  courts Siricius Bishop of Rome with wondrous pangs of Sanctity. But on the other side Theodosius finding the young Emperor in such miserable Distress, he makes all possible speed to his Assistance. And this brings us back to the Law of Valentinian against all the Heretics, which was enacted at this time, for he having so unfortunately miscarried by the Importunity of his Mother in persecuting the Catholics with such an hateful severity, and by it given so much advantage to the Tyrant, Theodosius finding him in Macedonia, in the first place, advises him with speed to damn his former Rescript, and in order to his March into Italy, to reconcile God and the People to him, to publish a severe Rescript 
(f) De Haeret. l. 15.  against all the Heretics. The very discourse between them is extant in Suidas in the Name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. And so Theodosius marches against the Tyrant, overthrows him in a moment, restores the Empire to the young Prince, 
(g) Sozom. l. 7. c. 14.  and the young Prince to the Orthodox Faith. I have been forced to take this compass for the Explication of this Law, because without this Historical account of it, its true force and meaning could not have been understood.  
But in the Absence of Theodosius from Constantinople, 
(h) Ambros. Ep. 29.  the Heretics grow saucy, burn the Bishop's Palace, make Tumults and justify all their disorders by a pretended Grant of the Emperor for Liberty of Conscience in his Absence, when he was so far from it, that he would not so much as grant Liberty of talk, but he being so far off, they might fasten their Lies upon him the more securely. And here the Method of talking the People into Tumults is very accurately described by the 
(i) Soc. l. 5. c. 13.  Historian. It is (says he) the natural Genius of some men to fain Reports, and when there is any great Transaction upon the Stage, every man believes them as himself is inclined, and withal improves the Lie with some accessional Invention for the Advantage of his own Party; and so it was at this time at Constantinople, there was a great War a great way off, about which every discontented man divulged his own Tale, always hoping and presuming the issue of things on the worst side, and when the War was not so much as begun, they describe all its turns and motions as accurately as if themselves had been Spectators of the Battle, viz. that the Tyrant had utterly routed the Emperor's Army, that such and such numbers were slain on both sides, and that the Emperor himself was taken Prisoner. Upon this the Arians, without any more to do, being enraged that their Churches, that they had so long possessed, should be taken away from them by those Men that they had so long persecuted, improve and aggravate the Story, and by telling it with so much assurance, persuade the first Authors of it, that it was really and indeed true. So that though they received it only by the report that others had raised, they now make the first Founders believe their own Lie, by assuring them that it was true of their own knowledge. And upon this the Arian Rabble take Confidence, run into Tumults, and burn down the Bishop's Palace. This is the natural way of talking People into Confusion. But the Emperor being informed of these Disorders, at the intercession of his Son Arcadius, whom he left there in his absence, forgave the Tumult, though as to their lying pretence of Liberty of Conscience, he publishes 
(k) De Haeret. l. 16.  an Edict to declare to all the World that he never granted any such indulgence, and to command them to be punished according to his known Laws. And in the year 389, he publishes 
(l) l. 17.  a Rescript particularly to outlaw the Eunomians, that were boldest of all the Factions, by which they were made uncapable either of making their own Will, or receiving any benefit from another's Will, any manner of way, directly or indirectly, by trusties, or any other Devices, but that the Estates of all such Persons should be immediately forfeited to the Crown. This Law has occasioned great Disputes among the Critics and Lawyers, being particularly made against the Eunomiani Spadones, the Eunomian Eunuches, about the meaning of which words they cannot agree, and after a great Variety of Conjectures to be seen in Gothofred's Notes upon it, he himself is confident that the word is corrupted for Histapodes, i. e. Men standing upon their Heads, it being one of the absurd Customs of that Sect, that when they rebaptised any Catholics that Apostatised to them, to Baptise them with their Heads downwards, and their Heels upward, whence they received the Nickname of Histapodes. But it is strange that we should never hear of this word but in this Law, for he brings no examples of it, and though there is Evidence of such a Custom, yet there is none of such a Word, and therefore I think there is no need of any such far-fetched Curiosity, when the words are so intelligible in their natural sense against the Court-eunuches, that had been all along the Patrons of this Faction, and so were to be restrained by this Law of forfeiture of Estates, being generally Men of great Wealth; No, says Gothofred, that was only under Constantius; yes, say I, they first set up their Trade of Simony under him, but continued it in all following Reigns, and did all that Mischief that was brought upon the Church under this Emperor's Predecessor Valens; and therefore for preventing this Disorder for the time to come in these great Courtiers, he forbids them to act at all for these Heretics under the great Penalty of Confiscation of their whole Estate. Or rather it is most probable that Eunuch was become a Proverbial Nickname to the whole Party, for the Trade between the Court Eunuches and the Eunomians was so notorious under Valens, that it might in just derision be named the Eunuchean Sect. This is, I fancy, the most easy sense of the words. In the same year he puts out 
(m) De Haeret. l. 19  another Rescript to restrain the Meetings of all sorts of Heretics in the City or Suburbs of Constantinople, Gothofred conjectures that the Suburbs are here added, because Eunomius being expelled the City, kept his Conventicles there, 
(n) Lib. 7. c. 17.  as Sozomen informs us, but that is one of Sozomen's Mistakes, for he was not at that time banished from Constantinople but Chalcedon. But his Conjectures why all sorts of Heresies and Errors ar● here named, is more probable, because at that time 
(o) Soc. l. 5. c. 20, 22, 23. Sozom. l. 7. c. 17.  the Eunomians themselves were broke into several Factions and Animosities, though this is not singular to this Law, but all the Laws of this Emperor run in the same comprehensive stile to prevent all Shifts and Evasions. In the years 392 and 394, to all the former Edicts and Penalties he publishes his Rescripts against all Ordination by Heretics under a severe Pecuniary Mulct upon the Persons both Ordaining and Ordained. The same Law that his Son Honorius at first executed against the Donatists, as we have seen in the History of that Schism. The last Law that he made about these Matters, was to abrogate the 17th Law that disabled the Eunomians from making Wills, and as he often, as well as all other Emperors, varied his Laws upon Reasons of State, so he had now some particular Reason that induced him to reverse this, and what that was, is not to be known but by Conjecture; he was then departing to the War against Eugenius, and so was willing to leave all People as easy and peaceable as he could, especially the Courtiers, if the Law referred to them, or the whole Party, whom its severity had made Malcontents. And therefore this Indulgence was in a short time after, taken away by his Son Arcadius, this Emperor dying in his return home, and before he could reverse it. But the most usual reason of their altering their Rescripts, were the various Tempers of their Ministers of State. The former Laws were enacted when Tatianus was Praefectus Praetorio, a Vigorous and an Active and an experienced Man that prosecuted them with all severity. But this was made when Rufinus succeeded to the Office, who being at his first entrance upon it more wary, though otherwise of a bold Temper, advised the Suspension of that severe Law for those nice times, and as soon as they were over, again advised its execution. And thus this great Prince broke the heart of the Faction by abetting the Sentence of the Church against them with vigorous Laws: And that had been sooner done, had they been more vigorously executed by his Judges and Officers, whose Neglect or Connivance was the reason of his so often renewing the same Law. And there indeed generally lies the greatest Miscarriages of all Governments. And of this his Son Honorius was so convinced, both by his Father's and his own Experience, that he made all his Laws effectual by annexing severe Penalties upon their non-execution.   

§ VII. But beside these Laws to back these new Decrees of the Church against Heretics and Heresies, he enacted others by his own Authority to rescue the Ancient rules of Discipline, that were grown obsolete by the abuses and corruptions of time. And first he reduces the Order of Deaconesses to their Primitive Institution, commanding in pursuance of the rule of the Apostles, and Practice of the Primitive Church, 
(p) De Episc. l. 2●.  that none be admitted into that Order under the Age of Sixty, and that too with several Limitations, that she appoint Curators or trusties for her Children, that she carry away with her none of the Plate or Jewels of the Family, and that she bequeath nothing by Will to the Church, Clergy, or Poor, though the particular occasion of this Law was that wicked Fact that Sozomen reports to have been committed at this time by a Deacon of the Church of Constantinople with one of the Deaconesses of the same Church, who had probably settled her personal Estate upon him, not for the Church's Service but her own. And in the same Rescript commands, That all Women who shave their Hair upon pretence of Religion be cast out of the Church, which was done not only in pursuance of the rule of the Apostle, and the Canons of the Church, particularly the Council of Gangra, that was then taken into the Codex of the Laws Ecclesiastical, but of the Law of Nature itself to prevent the Confusion of Sexes, the distinction being chiefly preserved by this Custom. This Rescript was published in July, but in September following the Clause disabling Deaconesses to dispose of their Movables by Will to Pious and Charitable Uses, is reversed, provided the Will be made in time of Health, and not upon their Deathbeds, when they might be too apt to be imposed upon by Superstition and the Frauds of Priests. At the first Law 
(q) An. 390. N. 70, 71.  Baronius takes fire, as if it were a violent restraint of Devotion to God, and Charity to the Poor, and an Abridgement of the Privileges of Holy Church, which therefore, he says, was soon cancelled by the Advice of St. Ambrose, that great Assertor of Ecclesiastical Liberty. But that St. Ambrose had any hand in reversing it, we have no Authority of any Historian that I know of but the Cardinal himself. But beside by his leave, such restraining Laws are requisite, nay necessary in all Commonwealths; for there is nothing so Prodigal as Superstition, and wherever there is Religion, that will creep into great numbers of the People, and therefore it concerns the Government every where, to take care that Families and the Public be not defrauded by Prodigal Zeal or under pretence of Devotion. And this abuse was so early, that when Constantine the Great made a Law to the Citizens of Rome, to enable all Persons whatsoever to give by Will to the Church, not only what Legacies, but what Lands they pleased, which was the occasion of the great Wealth of that Church, that 
(r) Lib. 2●▪ c. 3.  as Am. Marcellinus observes, was made fat with the Offerings of Widows. This Liberty the succeeding Emperors found such a consumptive profuseness from the Public, that they were forced to limit it in some cases, and in some, to stop it quite up. Valentian the Elder directed 
(s) Dé Episc. l. 20▪  a Rescript to Damasus Bishop of the City, to be read in all Churches under his Jurisdiction, to forbidden the Clergies acceptance of any Legacies from Religious Women. Which Law was variously censured by the Fathers themselves. St. Ambrose 
(t) Epist▪ 31.  complains of it as a particular Spite and Unkindness to the Church, St. Jerom approves of it, as being extorted by the Rapaciousness of the Clergy. But it continued in force till it was by name abrogated by the Emperor Marcian 
(u) Marciani Novella 5.  as too rigid and severe a restraint of Pious Uses, and an entire Liberty granted to all Widows and Religious Women to dispose of their own Estates according to the old Constantinian Law. Justinian 
(w) De Testam. l. 48.  limited the sense of it, so as that it should not extend to the wrongful disinheriting of Children, because, he says, when Princes grant such Liberties, they cannot be supposed to grant any thing contrary to the Law of Nature and the known Custom of the Empire, and therefore the Right of Inheritance belonging by both to the Children or Kindred of the Family, if the Alienation from them by such Gifts be apparent, the Government ought to stop it, and not suffer the Subjects civil Rights to be defrauded by their too religious bounty, so that these Imperial Concessions are to be limited to such cases only, in which no other Person is wronged, but if any be so, that anticipates the Grant. And in truth this Imposture (and so it is, when it is imposed by the Artifice of the Priests upon the Folly of the People, (grew so exorbitant in the times of Superstition, that almost all the States of Christendom were forced to make Statutes of Mortmain, as well as we in England, and it was such a Law, that was the ground of that famous Quarrel between Paul the Fifth and the Venetians. But though former Ages were so wise as to stay their hand when they supposed the Church had enough for itself and the Poor (for in those days they were no Parish Charge, but were the care of the Church) yet they were never so Profane and Sacrilegious, as to Strip and Plunder her, when they were pleased to imagine that she had too much. That is the peculiar Glory of our last worthy Age of Reformation, when some great Pretenders swept away its Abuses and Revenues together. Reforming Rectories, that were a competent maintenance for Men of Education, into Vicaredges, the meanness of whose Revenues cannot but expose the poor Incumbents to the contempt of the People; for be the Men what they will, or do they what they can, not only the Common People, but all men, will trample upon their Poverty. And when all is done, that is the true ground of the contempt of the Clergy: Though there are many more Reasons for it, as the Profaneness of the Age, and contempt of the Function itself, though that in a great measure first comes from the contempt of the Men and their Poverty: The wicked licentiousness of the Schismatics in venting perpetual Lies and Calumnies against all Men that are truly honest for the Church: yet the bottom of all other Contempts, and that which will make them everlasting, is this Remediless Poverty. And it is to be feared that the curse of God has, and does hang very heavy over this Nation for this wrong done to himself, and I doubt will never be removed, till some Public ●●re be taken to make him some competent Restitution; for if there be any one Sin punished with signal and remarkable Judgements from Heaven, 'tis this daring Sin of National Sacrilege, of which I shall give the peculiar Reason, when I come to show the high Obligation that is laid by God upon all Christian States to endow the Church with settled Revenues, which is so great, that without it, they cease to be Christian States. But to return to the Series of the History, as this Prince reformed by himself the abuse of Widows and Deaconesses, so did he correct the disorders of Monks, or the Professors of solitary life (for the first Monks were properly Hermit's) and enlarge or contract their Privileges according to his own Will or Pleasure, or according to the Temper of the Times. Thus whereas it had been an old Custom indulged them, to intercede with the Emperor's Judges for Mercy to Criminals and Malefactors, they grew so bold and insolent as to besiege the Courts, raise Tumults, and obstruct the whole course of Justice, of which Disorders complaint being made by the Judges, he Publishes 
(x) De M●nachis, l. 1.  a Rescript to Command them from all Cities into their Solitudes. And two years after, either upon change of Mind, or change of Affairs, or change of Councils, he cancels it. A very frequent thing that, with all Princes to alter their Laws of Privilege, as the conveniences of things altered. So the Emperor Valens, when great numbers of Men left their civil Employments to herd among the Monks for ease and idleness, 
(y) De D curionibus l. 63.  ferrets them back to their business under pain of forfeiture of Goods and Chattels. And so when Constantine the Great had granted great Immunities to the Clergy, and Exemptions from Public Burdens, great Multitudes quitted their Stations in the Commonwealth to enjoy the Privileges of the Church, 
(z) De Episc. l. 3.6.  this forced him to enact a Rescript forbidding the admission of Civil and Military Officers into Holy Orders, lest under Pretence of Religion, the Service of the State be starved and defrauded. And there are no less than 16 Laws in the Theodosian Code against this abuse of Clericatus, as they style it, they may be seen all together at one View in Gothofred's Paratitlon to the Title De Decurionibus.  
But the most observable Act of Reformation is his Law to restrain the abuse of Ecclesiastical immunity, or the Sanctuary of Christian Churches, where all sorts of Persons that escaped to them, were protected by the Clergy against the Execution of the Law, and they were grown so bold in the abuse of that Privilege, that they would not deliver them up till they had sued out their Pardon, 
9 Cod. Tit. 45. De bis qui ad Eccles. conf●g. l. 1.  and therefore this Emperor strictly forbids them to receive or conceal any Debtors, especially those of the Crown, upon penalty of paying the Debt themselves. This was the first Law that was made of this kind, though the following Emperors were very quicksighted in watching this abuse. For as such Customs naturally spring up of themselves from that respect that all Men have to their Religion, and therefore this right of Sanctuary was common to all Religions in the World, so having Superstition to back it, it as naturally runs into abuse to the subversion of Justice and Honesty, when under pretence of Mercy and Humanity, ill Men were sheltered against the Laws, and honest Men cheated of their Rights; for I do not find any case in which it was at this time excepted, but only Treason, and therefore it was often requisite to give check to its Licentiousness, as Theodosius here does in the Christian Church, 
Tacit. Annal. lib. 3.  and Tiberius was forced to do as to the Heathen Asyla.   

§. VIII. But beside these Laws made to abet the Laws of the Church, he made divers relating to Matters of Religion, which though they concerned the Church, concerned the State more, and therefore by virtue of that Authority, that he enjoyed as a Sovereign Prince antecedently to the Institution of Christianity, he made these Laws merely by his own Imperial Authority, without consulting the Church, for the Security of the Empire. And among these, the most remarkable, were the Laws against the Manichees, who though they pretended to the Name of Christians, under that pretence, warranted the Practice of all manner of Wickedness and Debauchery, and therefore were prosecuted by the Emperors of all Principles, as the common Enemies of the Peace of Mankind, but most severely by this Great and Wise Prince. Though before him 
(a) De Haeret. l. 3.  Valentinian the Elder, when he allowed Liberty to all other Sects, Christians, Jews, and Heathens, by which he embroiled and endangered the Empire, enacted against their Meetings with all manner of severity, as a debauched sort of People, not to be endured in humane Society. Or as Theodosius the younger expresses it in his Rescript 
(†) De Haeret. l. 65.  against all sorts of Heretics, in which the Manichees are named in the last place with this particular severe Character, Et qui ad imam usque scelerum nequitiam pervenerunt Manichaei, as the very dregs of all Wickedness. 
(b) De Haeret. l. 7.9.11.18.20.  And therefore they are from time to time outlawed by Theodosius from all civil Rights; and as for their Religion, 
(c) De Apoatis l. 3.  they are thrust down into the Catalogue of Apostates from the Christian Faith, and reckoned in the same rank with Jews and Heathens, and that was a Civility to Men, that were Apostates from humane Nature. Now as to such Laws as these, it is evident, that the Sovereign Power is enabled to enact them in both Capacities, both as a Sovereign, and as a Christian Sovereign; and therefore because it belonged to him to punish all Principles and Practices of Debauchery, antecedently to his Christianity, he for that reason proceeded against them without any consulting with the Church, and that is the apparent reason why the Laws of the Empire against this debauched Sect of Men are enacted purely by the Imperial Authority; whereas all their. Laws concerning Matters of Christian Faith or Discipline, still warrant themselves by the Judgement and Advice of the Church.  
But beside these Laws against these humane Beasts, he enacted divers other Laws against Apostates, Pagans, and Jews, by his own Imperial Authority. His 
(d) De Apostatis l. 1.  first Rescript against Apostates to Paganism was published in the year 381, and it was the first, that was ever published against them. For under Constantine and Constantius vast numbers of Heathens turned or pretended to turn Christians for a very obvious reason, as too much appears through the whole train of the Story: And the same Men under Julian turned Heathens again, and so had the Liberty to continue under Valentinian the Moderate; so that this was the first Emperor that had occasion to give check to the Sin of Apostasy. And indeed he alone, had Power to do it at that time; for when they turned Apostates, they were out of the Church's reach, because the utmost Punishment that the Church can inflict, is to cast them out of its Communion, which is here done by the Crime itself. And therefore such rank Offenders, are only obnoxious to the Civil Powers, for which reason, Christian Princes were usually the more severe in their Penalties against them, and here the Penalty is, as the Lawyer's Phrase it, Intestability, or disabling the Offenders from the Power of making a Will, which was under that Government in a great measure to outlaw them, or as it is expressed in the next Law, ut sint absque Jure Romano, to deprive them of the Roman Rights and Liberties, of which this was the greatest branch. For, in the Roman Empire there was no settled Inheritance of Estates, but every man disposed of his own as he pleased, by Will; so that to deprive him of this Power, was in a great measure to dispossess him of the Power over his own Estate. And that was the proper Proportion of the Penalty to the Crime, that whoever cast himself out of the Christian Church, should be cast out of the Christian Empire too.  

(e) De Haeret. l. 2.  In the year 383, he publishes another Rescript against Apostates; and in that distinguishes between Catechumenes and Christians baptised, and limits the Penalty of the former Law to the latter sort of Offenders, because they alone, were properly to be accounted Christians, whereas the Catechumenes were not as yet admitted into the Society of the Christian Church, but were only Candidates for it, and so they could not in any sense, be termed Apostates from the Church, who were really never of it. And at the same time, that Theodosius published this Rescript in the East, 
(f) De Haeret. l. 3, 4, 5.  Valentinian published another in the West, against all sorts of Apostates, not only to Paganism, but Manicheism, and Judaisme. Which he reinforced 
(g) Qui sanctum baptisma profane.  in the year 391, limiting the meaning of the Law to the Christians baptised, after the example of Theodosius, by whom he was entirely governed in all things, (who indeed was so grateful to the Prince that advanced him to the royal Dignity, that whilst he lived, he was a kind and tender Father to his Son.) but as he mitigated the Law by restraining its extent, so he enhanced its severity by doubling its Penalties, deposing the Apostate from all Honours and Dignities, as well as depriving him of the Power over his own Estate, and this without any hopes of Restitution upon Repentance, Sed nec unquam in statum pristinum revertentur; non flagitium morum obliterabitur poenitentiâ, neque umbrâ aliquâ exquisitae def●nsionis, aut Munimini● obducetur.  
But to return to Theodosius; at the same time that he restrained Apostasy by his own Imperial Authority, without any concurrence of the Power of the Church, so did he by the same Power make severe Laws against Paganism itself. 
(h) De Paganis, l. 7.  His first Law against their Sacrifices bears date the same year, and Gothofred thinks it the first that was made since the time of Constantius, which is the Interval of 25 years; and yet he could not be ignorant that even Valentinian the Elder made a severe Law against their Night Sacrifices; and therefore I suppose the Learned Lawyer's meaning is, that this was the first Law that was made in all this time against all Heathen Worship in general; 
(i) De Maleficis, l. 7.  and so it was, for there is no other beside that particular Law of Valentinian against the Night Sacrifices. And though Gratian showed not a little displeasure at Rome against their Idolatry by overthrowing some of their Altars, yet he enacted no Laws against it; whereas this great and pious Prince, is resolutely bend upon its utter Extirpation, and therefore forbids all Heathen Rites whatsoever under pain of Proscription. But having taken away their Sacrifices, he thought good to preserve their Temples, and convert them to some other public Use, and to this end, 
(k) De pag. l. 8.  he writes the next year to Palladius, enjoining them to let the Temple of Edessa lie open to the common use of the People, in the Nature of an Exchange or a Guildhall, but to be watchful that no Sacrifices be privately offered in it, and withal to be careful of preserving the Images wherewith it was adorned, for the sake of their Art and Beauty, like the Giants and Judges in Guildhall. In the year 385 he renews 
(l) De Pag. l. 9  his Law against Sacrifices upon pain of Death▪ In the year 391 Valentinian by his Advice, who was then with him at Milan, Publishes 
(m) Ibid. l. 10.  a Rescript both against Sacrifices, Temples, and Images under a great pecuniary Mulct. And himself at the same time Publishes the same Decree 
(n) Ibid. l. 11.  upon Pain of Death, by which was occasioned the utter Destruction of the Famous and Ancient Temple of Serapis. And in the year 392 he seals up all, with 
(o) Ibid. l. 12.  a peremptory Rescript against all the particular Rites of the Gentile Worship.  
And lastly, as for the Jews, he by the same Imperial Authority without the concurrence of the Church, made some Laws in their favour, to protect and defend them in their Privileges. For all the Emperors had all along indulged them the exercise of Discipline among themselves, by the Power of Excommunication: which was chiefly put in Execution by their Primates or Patriarches, that presided over all the Synagogues within a Province, after the same manner as Metropolitans do over all the Churches. These were the Supreme Judges of Scandals and Offences, and beyond them, there lay no appeal to any other Courts. But it seems some of the Emperors, Judges, and Officers (and it is much more easy to bank out the Sea, than the covetous Encroachments of this sort of Men) had broke in upon their Privileges, and usurped a Power to themselves of commanding the restitution of ejected Persons. But to restrain this disingenuous Abuse and Subversion of their Discipline, the Emperor Publishes 
(p) De Judais, l. 8.  a Rescript to all his Officers, commanding them not to control the Decrees of the Primates and Patriarches, who were by the Imperial Law permitted to be the sole Judges in Matters of their Religion. And this was no more than a just and reasonable Civility after the grant of Discipline and Jurisdiction among themselves: for that could be of no Effect, if once Offenders might gain Liberty to appeal to foreign Judicatures. And because the Jews had never been forbidden the exercise of their Religion by any Law, and yet were at that time disturbed in some Parts in the East by some overzealous Christians, to the spoiling and destruction of their Synagogues, he writes to the Governor to restrain these Disorders with all possible severity. And this was the occasion of that hot Contest between the Emperor and St. Ambrose, when he enjoined the Bishop of the place to rebuild the Synagogue, because he had encouraged the People to pull it down. In which matter I cannot but think St. Ambrose was more busy and zealous than became him, 
(q) Lib. 5. Epist. 29.  (as Men of great Spirits are apt to overdo) For what the Emperor enacted in the case, was only as Vindex disciplinae Publicae. When the Imperial Laws had given the Jews Liberty, who had Power to take it away, but the Power that granted it? And therefore if any of the Christians in a violent and tumultuary way, took to themselves the liberty of demolishing them contrary to the Imperial Charter, they stood guilty of a Scandalous Riot, both against the Laws of the Empire and the Sovereignty of the Emperor. And whether the Government did well or ill in granting the Liberty, the Subjects had no Authority to control it. They might have addressed to his Imperial Majesty, humbly representing the inconveniences of that liberty in that place, which had they done, it is not to be doubted, but this great and pious Prince, would have given them both a wise and an obliging Answer. But when in a popular Tumult and out of intemperate zeal, they shall presume to take a liberty to themselves by force to control the gracious Concessions of their Prince, I think (by the good Father's leave) that they deserved a more severe correction, than their Prince in his great Clemency was pleased to inflict upon them.   

§. IX. Having represented in one view the Laws of this great and wise Prince in Ecclesiastical Matters; we may now proceed to the remainder of the History of the Church under his Reign in the several Parts of the Empire. And the most remarkable transaction next after the great Council of Constantinople, in which the Arian Heresy with all its Branches and Of-sets were for ever lopped off from the Body of the Christian Church, was the Council of Aquileia summoned the same year, viz. Anno Dom. 381. consisting of Italian, French, African and Pannonian Bishops, that acted in the capacity of Legates from their several respective Provinces. This Council was convened by the Emperor Gratian in the West, as the Council of Constantinople was by Theodosius in the East, two Months after its breaking up, which was at the end of July, and the meeting of this, at the beginning of September. The occasion of it was this, Some of the Heretics of the Arian spawn, presuming upon the favour and patronage of the Empress Justina, complain to the Emperor of their unjust condemnation for the Arian Heresy, and petition to purge themselves in a general Council. This was vehemently opposed by St. Ambrose, as an unreasonable thing, that all the Bishops of Christendom should be perpetually forced to leave their Churches only to satify the curiosity, or (as he calls it) the scabbedness of two or three Men. But the Queen's importunity overcomes the Emperor so far, as to prevail with him for a Council, which yet he summons with that moderation, as to leave all the foreign Bishops at their own liberty to come or not. Which civility all the Bishops of the Western Church use with that respect, as to send their Legates and Representatives, and as for the Eastern Bishops, they inform his Majesty, that they had but just before assembled about the same Matter, and given in their peremptory determination. The Council being met, Palladius and Secundianus two Bishops that had been censured for the Heresy, together with Attalus a Presbyter appear: and for clearing their innocence, they are required to condemn the Position of Arius, that the Father alone is Eternal. This they refuse, but this alone will satisfy, they must either subscribe his condemnation or submit to it. But they refuse both, and appeal to a General Council, but they are answered, That it is needless that all the Bishops of the Christian World should be forced to such tedious Journeys, to censure Men that had been already so often condemned in so many Councils. And withal, that this was a General Council, all the Bishops being acquainted with it, who might have come if they pleased, that the Eastern Church had already given judgement against them in the Council of Constantinople, and that all the Western Bishops were present in this Council, either in Person or by their Legates. Then after a thousand other Tergiversations, they move for secular Judges and Moderators, the constant sanctuary of the Faction, and probably the Queen and the Eunuches had packed an Ignoramus Jury for them. But here St. Ambrose takes him up roundly, and throws off all farther patience. Et si in multis impietatibus deprehensus sit, erubescimus tamen, ut videatur, qui sacerdotium sibi vendicat, à Laicis esse damnatus. Ac per hoc, quoniam in hoc ipso damnandus est, qui Laicorum expectat sententiam, cum magis de Laicis Sacerdotes debeant judicare, juxta ea quae hodie audivimus Palladium profitentem, & juxta ea, quae condemnare nolvit, pronuncio illum sacerdotio indignum & carendum, & in loco ejus Catholicus ordinetur. Although he be convicted of many Crimes, yet it puts us to confusion, that one who pretends to the Priestly Office, should choose to submit himself to the judgement of Laics. For which alone he ought to be condemned, when as in such Matters as these, it is the peculiar Office of the Priesthood to judge of Laymen, but these have no Authority to judge of them, and therefore according to this Profession of Palladius this day, and his refusal to condemn the Heresy, I pronounce him unworthy of the Priesthood, to be deprived, and a Catholic Bishop to be placed in his stead. Which sentence against him and his Accomplices being ratified by the Council, they broke up, and acquaint the Emperor with the Result of their Proceedings. First thanking him for the gentleness of his Summons. Vt nemo de esset volens, nemo cogeretur invitus. Quâm grave autem si propter duos in side cariosos, toto in orbe essent Ecclesiae sacerdotibus destitutae? Qui etiamsi venire propter itineris prolixitatem nequiverunt, tamen omnes prope ex omnibus provinciis occidentalibus, missis adfuere legatis. That no body might be absent but by his own Will, no body might be forced against his Will. What an hard thing is it, that all the Churches in the World should be deprived of their Priests for two or three wormeaten Heretics? who though they could not come by reason of the tediousness of the Journey, yet almost all the Bishops of the Western Provinces were present by their Legates. And secondly they acquaint him with the reason of their beginning with the Epistle of Arius. Eà videlicet gratiâ, ut quoniam Arianos se negare consueverant, Arii blasphemiam aut incusando damnarent, aut astruendo defenderent, aut certè non recusarent nomen ejus, cujus impietatem perfidiamque sequerentur. For this reason, that seeing they denied themselves to be Arians, they should be forced either to condemn the Blasphemy or to own it, and not refuse to be called after his Name, whom they followed in his Impiety. That was the state of things all along, that though they were Arians, they would not own it. Thirdly they petition that he would be pleased to give Orders to his Officers to turn the Heretics out of their Churches. And lastly, thank him for his 
(r) De Haeret. l. 6.  late Law against the Meetings of the Photinians, and inform him of one at Sirmium, with a request that he would break it up. Beside this, they write two other Letters to the Emperors to petition their assistance towards quenching the Schisms on foot at that time at Rome, Alexandria and Antioch, that as Truth was, so Peace might be restored to the Church. Equidem per occidentales partes duobus in Angulis tantùm, hoc est in latere Daciae Ripensis ac Maesiae fidei obstrepi videbatur. In Orientalibus partibus cognovimus quidem, summo gaudio atque laetitiâ ejectis Arianis, qui ecclesias violenter invaserant, sacra Dei Templa per solos Catholicos frequentari. In the Western Church we found not above two obscure Bishops in the remote Corners of the Empire that opposed the Faith, in the Eastern Church all the intruding Arians were ejected, and the Churches filled with none but Catholics. And thus we see from reign to reign, that the Heresy could never lift up its Head after the Nicene Council, and it was so far from overspreading the World at this time, that there were but two Bishops in all the Western Church that were tainted with it, and though there were some more in the East, yet they were Intruders, such as came in by Violence and Court-Power, as we have seen through the whole Series of the Story. But as for the Schisms in the three great Sees, that the Council Petitions the Emperors to remove, they were at that time of a very fatal and pernicious influence over the whole Catholic Church, and therefore that I may satisfy the Reader with a complete History of all passages in this remarkable Reign, I shall as briefly as I can, give a full and comprehensive Relation of them.  
As for the Schism at Rome, it was kept up against Damasus by Vrsicinus, whose restless Spirit for a long time employed all the Power both of Church and State to suppress it. The Occasion of it was this, At the Death of Liberius, there were two Parties in the Church of Rome; his own, and the Party of Foelix, that had been substituted in his room by Constantius in the time of his Banishment, and that was the bottom of this Schism, one Party choosing Damasus, 
Anno 368.  and the other Vrsicinus; but Damasus having the Majority of Votes, carried the Election, though Vrsicinus and his Party will not yield it, till the Emperor Valentinian the Elder writes to Praetextatus the Praefect of the City, to give Damasus possession of the Cathedral; and for Security of the Peace for the future, to drive the Schismatics out of the City with Liberty to reside any where but at Rome, and with leave too, to continue in it upon promise and security of peaceable Behaviour. Upon this, 
Anno 369.  they unanimously leave the City, and settle in the Suburbs, and there keep their Meetings and Conventicles under Bishop Vrsicinus, which makes great Tumults and Disturbances both in City and Suburbs. Of which the Emperor being informed, he directs a Rescript to the Praefect, strictly charging and requiring of him, that no such Assemblies be kept within Twenty miles of the City. But the Schismatics continuing turbulent, they are banished into France, though in the year 371, the Emperor is graciously pleased to release their Confinement, and give them Leave to reside in any Part of the Empire, but the City of Rome and the Suburbicary Regions, with this Reserve, that if they transgressed their limits, they were to be punished with all possible severity, not at all as Christians, but merely as Subjects, that were Factious and Seditious in the Commonwealth. Qui si ingratâ pertinacià Statutum mansuetudinis nostrae egrediendum putaverit; eundem non jam ut Christianum, quip quem à communione Religionis mentis inquietudo disterminat, sed ut hominem factiosum, perturbatoremque publicae tranquillitatis, Legum & Religionis inimicum juris severitas persequatur. And in the same Rescript the same Decree is made against his Followers, as Baronius gives it us out of his Vatican Manuscript. 
Anno 371. N. 1, 2, 3, 4.  Upon this they are quiet all the Reign of Valentinian, but after this under Gratian and the young Valentinian, they raise greater Stirs and Tumults. So that in the year 378 they are again Condemned by a Council at Rome, though Baronius places it in the year 381, whereas it is evident from the Inscription of the Letter of the Council to the Emperors, that it was in this year of 378, for it is directed only to Gratian and Valentinian, and therefore it must have been written after the Death of Valens, and before the choice of Theodosius to the Empire. Now Valens was killed in August 378, and Theodosius chosen in the January following, and therefore it must have been transacted in that interval of time and no other. But they having done their part, they write to the Emperor Gratian to solicit him to do his, who as we find by this Letter had not been negligent in the Business, for that is the Contents of the first part of it, to return him thanks for his former Rescript. When this former Rescript, 
V. Labbé, Vol. 2. Anno 381. p. 1001.  that the Letter speaks of, was published, I know not, neither is it, that I can find, any where extant. Baronius, that first brought the former Rescripts of Valentinian the Elder out of the Vatican Manuscript, is altogether silent about it. Labbé says it was in the year 374, upon what Ground or Authority he says it, I know not, for that Law, that he refers to, in the Theodosian Code, 
Lib. 9 Tit. 29. c. 1.  is only a general Law against the Concealers of all sorts of Criminals, to make them liable to the same sort of Punishment, that is due to the Offender himself. But whenever it was Published, the Contents of it are evident from this Epistle, viz. to drive Vrsicinus into Banishment upon the Ecclesiastical Sentence against him. But for all that, Vrsicinus and his Faction grow stubborn, and are suffered through the negligence of the Governors, to spread their Schism, and in some places (as the Council here inform the Emperor) to over-awe his Judges with Tumults, threatening them with no less than Death itself; and for that Reason they request his Majesty to renew his former Rescript against them. Upon this the Emperor writes a very chiding and threatening Letter to Aquilinus, Vicarius of the City, complaining of the Negligence and Dishonesty of his Officers, qui privatae gratiae imperialia praecepta condonant, who sacrificed the Emperor's Commands to their own private concerns, and as he afterwards expresses it, Hactenus stertit iners dissimulatio Judicum, Notwithstanding all our Commands hitherto, the Judges snore and counterfeit inadvertency. And therefore he requires him under high and unusual threatenings, to put his Law in execution against them for their Banishment an Hundred miles from the City, and gives him this general Rule, Vt condemnati Judicio rectè sentientium Sa●erdotum, reditum postea vel ad Ecclesias, quas contaminaverant, non haberent, vel redintegrationem Judicii frustrà à nobis impudenti pervicacià precarentur. That when they were condemned by the regular Sentence of the Priestly Order, they should not be permitted to return to their Churches, that they had defiled, or to move for a re-hearing in the Civil Courts. And after this we hear no more of them till the Council of Aquileia in the year 381, who sent a Letter to the Emperor Gratian, first Published by Sirmond, 
† Ne inter bellicas necessit●tes obreptio importuna te●t●tur.  lest whilst he was involved in Wars he should be prevailed upon to abate of his Severity against them. And to their former Crimes of Faction and Sedition, they now inform him that they had joined Communion with the Arians, to strengthen their Party, and enable them more effectually to disturb the Peace of the Catholic Church; what was done upon it, I find not, for we hear no more of them till the Death of Damasus, and the Election of Siricius in the year 385. who was violently opposed by Vrsicinus, but Vrsicinus was utterly rejected by the People, and condemned by a Rescript of Valentinian the younger, extant only in 
(a) Ad annum 385. M. 6.  Baronius out of his Vatican Manuscript▪ and after this we never hear any more either of him or his Schism.  
The second Schism was that of Alexandria, that began immediately upon the Death of St. Athanasius, by whom upon his Deathbed Peter an ancient Presbyter of that Church, and the inseparable Companion of all his Troubles, was recommended for his Successor, and was accordingly accepted with the unanimous Suffrage both of the Clergy, the Magistrates, and the People. But he was scarce warm in his Episcopal Throne, before he is forced by the Governor of the Province to quit it to save his life, and so takes Sanctuary at Rome. He was scarce gone, but Euzoius, that had been at the beginning of the Heresy with Arius, that was the only Man that stuck to him in his Banishment, and had now at last by the help of his good Masters the Eunuches thrust himself into the great See of Antioch, and with him one Magnus, a great Officer at Court, and an eminent Instrument at that time in all the Persecutions against the Catholics, 
(b) Soc. l. 3. c. 4.  bring Lucius to Alexandria with a strong Guard and an Imperial Mandate to put him in Possession of that See. This Lucius had been often catching at the Prize, but could never seize it till now. Upon the Death of George in the Reign of Julian, he put in for it against Athanasius; and in the Reign of Jovian he and his Friend Euzoius in vain preferred Articles against him for his Ejectment, but now 
(c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Theod. l. 4. c. 22.  by the help of his Money, as Peter upbraids him, and the Procurement of the Eunuches under Valens, he takes violent Possession of it. And being an Usurper, he is forced to govern as all hated Usurpers do, and outdoes his bloody Predecessor George in Cruelty and Barbarity; a large Description of the unparallelled outrage against the Catholics by Magnus may be seen in Peter's 
(d) Lib. 4. c. 21, 22.  Letter extant in Theodoret. And so things continued in the same Posture till the year 377, when Valens was terrified with the Invasion of the Goths, that were come up to the very Walls of the City of Constantinople, at which time say the Historians he called home the banished Bishops, or rather, as others say, he and his Courtiers being otherwise employed, they take that Opportunity to return home. And so Peter comes to Alexandria with the Recommendation of Damasus the great Bishop of Rome, and is restored with universal joy of the People, and Lucius forced to fly for help to the Emperor and his Court-Patrons then at Constantinople, that was at that time little better than Besieged, and before the Emperor had any leisure to mind his Complaints, he by his own rashness came to his Unfortunate end, of being Burnt by the Enemy in a Cottage, where he had taken shelter in his Flight. And so from this time Lucius continued in Exile at Constantinople, till Demophilus the Arian Bishop that succeeded Eudoxius in that See, and all his Party, among whom 
(e) Sozom. l. 7. c. 5.  Lucius is particularly named, were turned out of the City by Theodosius the Great in the year 380. At which time Peter dies, and Timotheus succeeds him, for Lucius now having but small hopes left of recovering his Bishopric under such an Orthodox Emperor, made no attempt for it. And now comes the great Council of Constantinople, where the Nicene Faith is established for ever, and in pursuance of it 
(f) De Haeret. l. 6.  an Imperial Law made to take away all Churches through the Empire from the Heretics of all Denominations. For which the Council of Aquileia soon after sitting in the West, send him the forementioned Letter of thanks, farther imploring his assistance for the Settlement of the Church, and this of Alexandria in particular, where the present Bishop was overwhelmed with inveterate Schisms and Dissensions. In order to which they move his Majesty, that he would be pleased to call a Council at Alexandria, particularly to determine who of the Heretics should be received to the Communion of the Church, and upon what terms, which they thought in such a vast number of Offenders, too invidious a work for the Bishop to undertake by his own Authority. What followed upon it I know not. For 
(g) Extrav. de Episcopali Judicio, l. 3.  the Rescript of this Emperor to the Praefect Optatus to give Timotheus full Power of Judicature in Ecclesiastical Causes, and to be assistant to him is apparently forged (for there was no such Praefect as Optatus at that time) as well as all the other Laws under the Subdititious Title De Episcopali Judicio, the unanswerable proofs of it may be seen in Gothofred's Extravagans. But probably without any farther care, things settled of themselves under so wise a Reign, for Timotheus sat peaceably in his See to his dying day, without any disturbance that we read of from his Enemies. When they saw the Church defended by such an Emperor, they were content to sit still, for Men are not wont to make their Attempts, where they have no hope of Success. But still we see by the whole progress of this Alexandrian Schism, that the Disorders of the Church proceeded not from itself, but the Dishonesty of the Court Eunuches.  
The last great Schism of that Age, that the Council of Aquileia mentions in their Letter to the Emperor, was that at Antioch, which began sooner, and lasted longer than either of the other. How the matter was composed between Paulinus and Meletius, we have seen above, that upon the Death of one of them, the Survivor should have the Government of the whole Church. But upon the Death of Meletius, Flavianus sets up against Paulinus, and his own Oath too, for he had abjured the Bishopric as long as either of them should live. And he makes so many Friends as to keep it till the great Council of Constantinople, and have it confirmed to him by the Authority of the Council, where the Business was transacted by a Seditious Party with such disorderly Heats and Tumults, as almost put the great Gregory Nazianzen out of love with Councils, whose angry words upon a particular occasion against the abuse of some in his time, are peevishly and absurdly applied by our Innovators against the use of Councils in general. The Ecclesiastical Abridger almost runs mad for joy of his Satirical Expressions, and though as an Orator the good Father represented his Complaints and Invectives bigger than the life (for that is the use of that sort of Eloquence) R. B. has pretty well improved it with a scurvy Translation, and made it look more like railing than handsome satire. But what would you have of a mere Abridger of Binius, poor Man, he never looks into the secret of the Story, and the connexion of things, but he finds in Binius that such a Council was held such a year, and out of him he gives a crude Epitome seasoned with some malicious Reflections against the Bishops, and so has done. But alas, if he had but had any insight into the Series of the Story, and understood the Mystery of the Eusebian Faction, by whom all these Disturbances were raised in the Church, it would have spoiled the Malice of all the Abridgement. For whereas his whole design is to load the whole Body of Bishops with the Miscarriages of the Church in all Ages, it is evident all along, that the Body of the Bishops laboured against all those Miscarriages that he has ignorantly and maliciously charged upon them, and that all those Disorders committed in the Church from the time of Constantine to the time of this present Council, were the Acts and Contrivances of some wicked men that crept into the Church by Simony and Court-favour, and were enabled to do all that mischief that they did in it, in spite of the Opposition of the Good Bishops, by the Power of the Eunuches. So that all these Disorders were so far from being the Acts of the Ecclesiastical Power, that they were the mere effects of its Oppression. And such were these very Men that laboured to raise this Tumult in the Council, as is evident from Nazianzen's own account of them, and that in short is this. He at first earnestly endeavoured to persuade them to acquiesce in the former Agreement, and to have but a little-Patience, in that Paulinus was a very old Man, had one foot in the Grave, and could not long stand in their way upon the other. But he is hissed down by the factious Party, as a Betrayer of the Supreme Prerogative of the Eastern Church, that (they said) ought to be preferred above the Western, because our Saviour was Born in that part of the Empire. For that was the pretence of their Zeal in this foul Matter, that Paulinus had been ordained by Lucifer Calaritanus a Western Bishop, which they will needs have to be a dishonourable Intrusion upon the Eastern Church, and therefore in despite to that Usurpation, they will set up Flavianus, and by their noise and clamour tyre the old Bishops into a compliance, but Gregory Nazianzen quits the Council through mere indignation, and seeing how things were like to go, and what troubles he was like to encounter in that great See, he soon after resigns his Bishopric of Constantinople. Of which the Faction make their advantage of playing over their old Game for creating a Division between the Eastern and Western Church. An Artifice, as we have seen, first started by Eusebius of Nicomedia, and ever after kept on foot by the Faction. For the Western Church had been all along true and faithful to the Orthodox Faith, and happy in a succession of Orthodox Emperors, and therefore the Easterling Merchants that hitherto made a trade of their Religion, and changed their Faith with their Interest, greedily seized all Opportunities of breaking with the West, where the Faith was fixed and settled, because such a settlement would break the Court-Exchange for Preferments upon every Turn of Affairs. And such Eceboliuses were the Bishops that raised and promoted this disorder. They had ever changed their Faith with the Times, and as they had bought their Bishoprics of the Courtiers under Constantius and Valens, so were they resolved to keep them under Theodosius. And therefore finding his Resolution to stand by the Nicene Faith, they readily vote with the Council for its establishment, but to prevent the establishment of the Church, they start this new and unseasonable Controversy about the Ordination of Paulinus, to keep up the division between the East and West. Their wriggling and changing of Faith, and their buying and selling of Preferments, is admirably described by Gregory himself in the Poem of his own Life, upon his resignation, from whence I have chiefly collected this whole Story.  

* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, etc.  You are welcome Chapmen, how often soever you may have bartered your Faith, now 'tis high Fair-time, let no Man depart without a good pennyworth.  
And now let R. B. here set his Presbyterian hand, as his custom is, to point out this Character of this profane Faction against all the good Catholic Bishops, with his cold Exclamation. Are not these lamentable descriptions of the Bishops of those happy Times and excellent Councils? But no multiplying-Glass like Malice, unless, perhaps Ignorance. Upon this Hinge all along turned this Controversy, it was not kept up by any zeal for the Arian Heresy, but the Heresy itself was only pretended to keep up divisions in the Church, and by that means a good Exchange was kept up at Court for the sale of Church-Preferments upon every turn of Times. And so here upon Gregory's Resignation, every Man hoped for a good pennyworth, but the Courtiers were grown too cunning, and it being so valuable a prize, instead of sharing with the Churchmen by Simony, seize the Bishopric for themselves, Nectarius an unlearned Man, but a great Courtier, I know not by what art, but I am sure by too much interposition of the Emperor, being against all the Canons of the Church hoist into it. And it is the great blemish of that Prince's reign, though it may perhaps be some excuse that he stretched a point to serve a Friend. But the Western Church is startled at these irregular Proceedings, and upon them Pope Damasus a resolute Man, and one of the first that valued himself upon the great Authority of the Apostolic See, moves the Emperors Gratian and Theodosius to grant a General Council at Rome for the better settlement of things. But the Eastern Bishops balk their appearance upon pretence that they cannot be so long absent from their Flocks, having been assembled the year before at Constantinople, and therefore send only their Legates with a Copy of the Acts of the Council. With which the Council at Rome were so 〈◊〉 satisfied, 〈◊〉 with very little 〈…〉 adjudged the See of Antioch to Paulinus alone, and yet forbore to denounce the sentence of Deposition against Flavianus, for fear the Faction should take the advantage that they watched for, to break off Communion with them. In order to which it is probable that they raised the Bishop of Constantinople to so great an height of dignity, as to take place and precedency next to the Bishop of Rome, who upon the account of the Grandeur of the Imperial City had all along held the greatest esteem in the Christian Church. And by virtue of this Decree of the Council at Rome, Paulinus takes and keeps possession of his Bishopric to his dying day, and is succeeded in it by Evagrius. Of the legality of his Succession against the claim of Flavianus, see St. Ambrose his 78 th' Epistle, that runs parallel so luckily with 
(l) l. 5. c. 23▪  Theodoret's partial story, as to discover all its particular flaws and daubings: For says Theodoret, after this they would never let Flavianus be at quiet, but tired the Emperor with Complaints against him, till he undertook his defence himself, and by it so satisfied the Western Bishops, that they promised reconciliation to him, upon which he sent his Legates to treat the Peace, which was at last agreed on in the time of Innocent the first. But according to St. Ambrose his account, who was an Actor in the business, the Story runs thus. The Emperor upon the Complaint of Siricius, that succeeded Damasus, against Flavianus, refers the Cause to a Council at Capua, but Flavianus refuses to appear, and moves for an Eastern Synod. But the Bishops at the Council being aware of this old device of dividing between East and West, immediately vote Communion with all Bishops of the Eastern Church, that owned the Nicene Faith, of whatsoever side in this Controversy, to cut off that old pretence of Schism, upon which Flavianus relied. Upon it he peremptorily refuses all appearance, and upon that they refer it to Theophilus' Bishop of Alexandria and the Egyptian Bishops, but he shuns the reference and takes shelter at Court. Upon which the good Father thus expostulates. Frustra ergo tantorum sacerdotum fusus labour. Iterum ad hujus seculi Judicia revertendum? Iterum ad Rescripta? Iterum vexabuntur Sacerdotes senes, transfretabunt maria? Iterum invalidi corpore patriam peregrino mutabunt solo? Iterum sacrosancta Altaria deserentur, ut in longinquum proficiscamur? Iterum pauperum turbae Episcoporum, quibus ante onerosum paupertas non erat, externae opis egentes compellentur inopiam gemere, aut certè victum inopum itineris usurpare? Interea solus exlex Flavianus, (ut illi videtur) non venit, quando omnes convenimus. But soon after this 
(i) Soz. l. 7. c. 15.  Evagrius dies, and Flavianus bestirs himself that no Successor should be chosen, but yet for all that the People would not be reconciled to him. And St. Chrysostom coming at this time to the Throne of Constantinople, 
(l) Soz. l. 8. c. 3.  he prevails with Theophilus of Alexandria to join with him in an Embassy to Rome, to reconcile Flavianus to the Western Church, and by that means to remove those heart-burnings, that were kept up between the Eastern and Western Bishops upon that account. Which was done with some success, for it abates the Schism, though it does not end it. And so things stood till the death of Flavianus in the year 404, who is succeeded by Porphyrius, 
(l) Pallad. dial.  a Bishop of the Court-mould, of as bad a Character, and as true an Huckster, as ever was bred up in the shop of the Nicomedian Eusebius. He procured both the banishment of his Competitor and his own Ordination by money, and when he had once got into his See, he governed by force of Arms, and gets 
(m) de his qui super Religione contendunt. l. 6.  an Imperial Rescript from the young Emperor Arcadius, commanding the Bishops to communicate with him upon pain of deposition. And this became a profitable Fair at Court, many of the Eastern Bishops rather choosing to be deposed, than to defile their Consciences by allowing Communion with so vile a Man. But at length the Wretch dies in the 408. And Alexander is unanimously chosen, who put an end to the Schism, that had lasted 45 years. And thus we see from whence almost all the Schisms and Disorders of the Church proceeded, merely from the Ambition of ill Churchmen, supported against the Church's Authority by the Power of the Court. This was the great Plague of the Church after the Emperors became Christian, and we shall find all along that the Church was either oppressed or protected, according as the Emperor himself watched against this abuse of his Courtiers. And to defend the Church from it, was in all Ages the highest Act of the Imperial Protection. And this we have here seen at large by the example of this great Prince's reign, who was himself careful of the Churc●●● Li●erties, and as far as he could 〈…〉 suffered no Court-merchandise in it. And yet many Enormities were committed, and that even in the great Council of Constantinople itself, in the case of Flavianus, but that was by reason of ill Men, that were got into the Church by this ill practice, under his Predecessors Valens and Constantius.   

§. X. The last remarkable transaction that I shall take notice of in this reign, was the Heresy of the Priscillianists, and the concurrence of the Powers both of Church and State for its suppression. For though the Emperor Theodosius was not concerned in it, yet it being upon the Stage in the time of his Reign, I shall take it into the Story of his time. The matter of Fact is described with most accuracy by Sulpitius Severus, who lived at the same time, though he lived not long enough to see the end of the Heresy, for he concludes his history with the four hundredth year of our Lord in the time of Honorius, whereas this blasphemous Heresy was not utterly rooted out till some time after. And setting aside his gross defect of judgement, and his excess of partiality on the wrong side, which yet is so enormous that it cannot impose upon any Readers understanding, unless such an one as Mr. B—'s is, perverted by rank malice, the Heresy is so described both by himself and divers others of the Ancients, as shows the necessity of suppressing it not only by the Civil Magistrate, but the Civil Sword. For by all accounts of it, it was no better than a mere Cento of all the Blasphemies of the Gnostics and the Manichees, together with some new secret and obscure Sacraments among themselves, and the religious practice of all sorts of Villainy and Dishonesty. That is the compendium of it, as it is set down by St. Austin. 
(n) De Haere●●bus.   

Priscillianus instituit, maximè Gnosticorum & Manichaeorum dogmata permixta sectantur. Quamvis et ex aliis Haeresibus in eas sordes, tanquam in sentinam quandam horribili confusione confluxerint. Propter occultandas autem contaminationes et turpitudines suas, habent in suis dogmatibus et haec verba. Jura, perjura, secretum prodere noli.  The Priscillianists, that were founded by Priscillian in Spain, held chiefly the Opinions of the Gnostics and the Manichees, though they drew together the dregs of all Heresies as into a common sink of uncleanness, and for the concealing of their horrible brutishness among themselves, have set up this among their Principles, Swear or forswear, but be sure not to betray the Secret.  

Epist. ad C●esiphontem.  Or as St. Jerom adds to the Character, that as they devoted themselves wholly to Lust, so in their unclean Embraces they were wont to sing this Stanza of the Prince of Poets.  
Tum Pater omnipotens, faecundis imbribus aether,  
Conjugis in gremium latè descendit, et omnes  
Magnus alit, magno commixtus corpore, foetus.  
The very lake of Sodom, and I might add of Geneva too, they as well as their Masters, the Gnostics and Manichees being branded by all the Ancients for the Atheistical Principle of Fatality. This Heresy was first brought out of Egypt into Spain by one Marcus, and by him Priscillian a Man of a sharp Wit but infinite Vanity was poisoned, who by his eloquence and neatness of address soon dispersed the contagion over all Spain, and especially among the Female sex, who, as Sulpitius expresses it, being always greedy of Novelties, 
Ad hoc mulieres novarum rerum cupidae, fluxâ fide, et ad omnia curioso ingenio, catervatim ad eum confluebant.  of unsettled Principles, and of wanton Fancies, flocked after him in whole shoals of Proselytes. And it took with that success, that the Plague got among the Bishops themselves, Instantius and Salvianus, both Bishops, being seduced into the Party, and initiated into the Secret, which being discovered by Adigynus Bishop of Corduba to Ithacius Bishop of Emerita, he with Idacius prosecuted them with all severity, not only by ecclesiastical Process, but before the Civil Magistrate, as they supposed, to nip the mischief in the bud, but as the Historian thinks, 
arbitrantes posse inter initia malum comprimi.  with too much fury, or with more zeal than discretion, by which, he says, they were rather exasperated than reclaimed. But for my part, I cannot understand how men of such lewd and desperate principles, that destroy the natural modesty and the common faith of mankind, can ever be pursued with too much violence. Such men as these are not proceeded against as Heretics in the Faith, but as Apostates from humane Nature, as Thiefs, Robbers, Cutthroats, and Banditi, that declare open hostility to the Peace of the World. But the Historian was led into his soft-natured Opinion by the Authority of St. Martin, a weak and unlearned man, of great devotion, but very little understanding, who interceded with great zeal to save the Lives of the Malefactors, and if he had begged them of the Government as an Act of Mercy, it might not have been altogether unbecoming the tenderness of a Religious man, but when he required it as a duty of his Superiors to keep hands off from such vile Offenders, he only showed the pertness of his humour and the weakness of his Understanding. But first of all, they are proceeded against by the Censure of the Church in the Council of Caesar Augusta (i e. Caragosa, the Metropolis of Arragon in Spain) in the Year 380, in which the Bishops are deposed, and the Laymen excommunicated, and the Sentence signified to all foreign Churches, to prevent their receiving them into Communion. And withal several Canons are enacted against the particular customs and practices of the Heretics: As first, That Women be not permitted to preach in Public, as Agape one of the first of the Sect, a wanton and immodest Woman had done, and others after her Example, and this privilege no doubt was the great Lure that drew the talking Sex so thick into the Faction. The next Canon is made against fasting on the Festivals of the Church, and that cross-grained temper was common to all the Fanatique Heretics in all Ages, to do every thing in contradiction to the established Laws and known Customs of the Church, as we have seen above by the Canons of the Council of Gangra against the Eutactans or Eustathians. The next Canon is to anathematise those who receive the holy Eucharist without eating it: For that was the common Practice of those profane Wretches, that they might avoid discovery, to seem to communicate with the Catholics even in this great Sacrament, but that they might not be guilty of joining in true and real communion, secretly to convey it away, and so turn it into occasional Communion, as we call it. And to the like purposes are the other Canons. The Heretics being thus condemned in Council, they make Priscillian the Bishop of their Sect, upon which Ithacius and Idacius apply themselves to the secular Magistrate, and at length gain a Rescript from the Emperor Gratian to banish them, not only from all Cities, but out of the Empire itself. For the words in Sulpitius, extra omnes terras, can signify no less, though 
(o) Notae in leg. 35. de Episcopis.  Gothofred surmises that their meaning reaches no farther than the Territories belonging to that particular City that they inhabited: As when any man was banished from Rome, he was banished an hundred miles from it, because so far its Territory or Suburbicary Diocese extended. As in the case of Vrsicinus, who when he was driven out of Rome, was confined to keep at that distance. But I would fain know of the learned Civilian, where he ever met with this sense and construction of extra omnes Terras, when put absolutely, though he knows it was a common phrase to express the whole Empire. And so it must be taken here, for the men were condemned to banishment for propagating wicked and debauched Principles; and if that were only out of the Province in which they lived, that would be but a means to spread the Contagion over all the Country. And therefore the Priscillianists upon the Publication of the Rescript were not only forced to quit their own particular Provinces, but Spain itself, and farther their Prosecutors were not concerned to pursue them. But having quitted Spain, they betake themselves to Italy, and there endeavour to clear their Innocence to Damasus Bishop of Rome, and Ambrose Bishop of Milan, but they are so wise, as to refuse so much as to see or hear them. Upon that they are forced to betake themselves to the standing shift of all Heretics, to buy off the Laws of the Church with the Courtiers. And to this end they bribe Macedonius the Magister Officiorum, who thereupon prevails with the Emperor to reverse his Rescript against them, whereupon they return home with triumph, and rebribe Volventius the Governor so powerfully, that he forces Ithacius to fly his Country. Who thereupon betakes himself to Gregorius the Emperor's Praefectus Praetorio in France, to whom Volventius was subject as his Vicarius, and acquaints him with the disorders in Spain, and upon the information he immediately commands his Spanish Vicarius to send the Heretics to him, and in the mean time, whilst they were upon their Journey, informs the Emperor of all their wicked pranks.  
But all in vain, 
Sed id frustra fuit: quia per libidinem & potentiam paucorum, cuncta ibi venalia erant. Igitur Haeretici, suis Artibus, grandi pecuniâ Macedonio datâ, obtinent, ut imperiali Autoritate Praefecto erepta cognitio, Hispaniarun Vicario deferatur. Sulp. Sever. l. 2. p. 445.  for by reason of the exorbitant power and wantonness of a few men at Court, all things were there exposed to sale, and therefore the Heretics after their old custom with a great Sum of Money bribed their old Patron Macedonius, to persuade the Emperor to take the cognisance of the matter from the Praefectus Praetorio, and refer it back to his Vice●rius in Spain.  
Which was accordingly done, and a Messenger sent by Macedonius to seize Ithacius and carry him Prisoner into Spain, though at that time he escaped his hands. In the Year 385. the Tyrant Maximus rebels, and overcomes Gratian in France, and after his Victory coming to Treives, where Ithacius then resided, he immediately makes his address to him against the Heretics, who storms at them, and immediately commands the Governors of France and Spain, to convey them safe to a Synod at Bordeaux, in which Instantius is deposed. But Priscillian appeals from the Judgement of the Council to the Emperor, and accordingly himself and all his Partisans are carried before him at Treives; where St. Martin being at that time, he advises Ithacius to desist from his Prosecution, and Maximus to spare their blood, 
Namque tum Martinus apud Treveros constitutus, non desinebat increpare Ithacium, ut ab accusatione desistent; Maximum orare, ut sanguine infoelicium abstireret: satis supérque sufficere, ut Episcopali sententiâ Haeretici judicati, Ecclesiis pellerentur: novum esse et inauditum nefas, ut causam Ecclesiae judex seculi judicaret.  because it was more than enough that they were condemned by the Episcopal Sentence, and deprived of their Churches, and that it was a new and unheard of Profaneness, that a Secular Judge should give Sentence in an Ecclesiastical cause.  
In which Advice the good man has betrayed great Ignorance of affairs, and great Weakness of understanding: Ignorance, in that it was so far from being a novelty or profaneness, for Princes to enact penal Laws in Ecclesiastical causes, after the Judgement of the Church, that it was ever looked upon as a piece of their duty to abet it, if they approved it, with secular Laws and Penalties. And weakness, in that he thought deposition from their Bishoprics a sufficient punishment for such men, as Sulpitius himself says were not worthy to live. 
Homines luce indignissimi.  And if they were not so, how could he find fault, as he there does, with the ill example of putting them to death? 
Pessimo exemplo necati.  For they were not proceeded against as mere Heretics, but as Villains, and therefore it was a great meanness of Understanding in St. Martin, to think an Ecclesiastical Censure a sufficient punishment for such men, as had renounced, not only the honesty, but the modesty of humane Nature, and that was their crime, as appears by the condemnation of Priscillian. For though St. Martin whilst he continued at Treives kept off their Trial, yet he was no sooner gone, than Maximus referred the Examination of the whole matter to Evodius, of whom Sulpitius gives several Characters; 
C. 23.  here he is vir acer et severus, in the life of St. Martin, Vir quo nihil unquam justius fuit. But before him upon a double hearing Priscillian is convicted of all the Crimes laid to his charge, 
Qui Priscillianum gemino judicio auditum, convictumque maleficii, nec diffidentem obscaenis se studuisse doctrinis, nocturnos etiam turpium saeminarum eg●sse conventus, nudumque orare solitum, nocentem pronunciavit.  and himself confesses that he taught Doctrines of uncleanness, that he kept night-Conventicles with lewd Women, and that he was wont to pray naked before them Upon which he is condemned. And a Narrative of the Proceedings delivered to the Emperor. Who was so satisfied with the Evidence of the Testimony and so disgusted with the foulness of the Confession, that he immediately beheaded Priscillian with some of the Ringleaders and banished the rest, and he thought the Matter so foul, that he had not confidence to express it, as he affirms in his Letter to Pope Siricius.  

Quid adhuc proximè proditum sit Manichaeos sceleris admittere, non argumentis, neque suspicionibus dubiis vel incertis, sed ipsorum confessione inter Judicia prolatis, malo quòd ex gestis ipsis tua sanctitas, quam ex nostro ore cognoscat: quia hujusmodi non modo factu turpia, verùm etiam foeda dictu, prol●qui sine rubore non possumus.  What discovery was lately made of the wickedness of the Manichees, for so the Priscillianists were at first vulgarly called, not from doubtful or uncertain Suspicions, but from their own Confessions, I had rather that your Holiness should be informed from the Acts themselves than my Mouth, because I have not confidence to say such things, as are too foul not only to be acted but spoken. And I think the most merciful Prince could scarce have been less severe to such a Crew of debauched Ranters: They are the worst sort of Men, that turn Religion into open wickedness, and practise all the lewd and dishonest things, that the worst of Men can act, with the confidence and authority of a divine Commission. I am sure it was no more severe than what was done by the great Theodosius himself in his Laws against the Manichees, 
(p) De Haeret. l. 9  in one of which he distinguishes between the Contemplative and the Practical Heretics; the first he outlaws, but as for the others, known by the names of Eucratitae, Saccophori, Hydroparastatae, and I know not what savage Sects more, he brings them under the sentence of death. And is withal so severe, as to appoint an Inquisition for their discovery; and in truth no care can be too great nor punishment too severe, when Men under pretences of a stricter Piety, bring in the practice of all sorts of uncleanness and immorality. And that was the case of these brutish Wretches, they pretended to singular mortification, and under it acted all the Wickedness, that humane Nature was capable of committing. And therefore in such Cases as these it was a great mistake in St. Martin, to think a Censure of the Church sufficient punishment, and to dissuade the Prince from drawing the temporal Sword against them, when if ever it is necessary, it is certainly most so, when Men pervert Religion to the subversion of humane Society. And then if they are executed, it is not for their Heresy against the Faith, but their Treason against the State, and such Traitors all such Men are that teach such Doctrines, as destroy the Faith of Mankind, and the Peace of humane Society. And therefore how blame-worthy soever Ithacius might be in his own life or manner of prosecuting, (and Sulpitius gives him a very ill Character as to both) no wise Man could ever have blamed him, so severely as he has done, as to the prosecution itself, and no good Man could have been too active in bringing such brutal Wretches to their due punishment. And therefore it was at best, but an indiscreet action (supposing the truth of the Indictment, which Sulpitius himself allows) in Theognostus and his Followers in separating Communion from him for prosecuting, though in a cause of blood. When what he did in that case, he was obliged to do as a Member of the Commonwealth and antecedently to his holy Orders, which certainly to whatsoever degree of Gentleness they may oblige a Man, they cannot cancel that duty, that by nature he owes to his Country. And it is no better than Julian's Sarcastic Abuse of our Saviour's Laws to apply his Precepts of Mercy and Forgiveness against the just execution of Laws, as if his Religion were set up (as the Apostate profanely objected to it,) only for the subversion of Civil Government. The duty that he commands is a point of Prudence as well as Virtue, that Men preserve the temper of their Minds in all the intercourses of life: they may prosecute a Malefactor to the Gallows without strangling themselves with spite and revenge, but only for the same ends, for which the Government, that owes him no malice, inflicts the Penalty of the Law upon him. A Man may hang a Thief, and forgive him too. And therefore it was no better than a rash and weak action of Theognostus, St. Martin and their Adherents in general to condemn Ithacius his prosecution of the Priscillianists, as if it had been inconsistent with the meekness of a Christian, but much more the exemplary mercy of a Bishop. It is indeed an Office that no good-natured Man can ever be fond of, and less becomes a Clergyman than any other; but yet it is not unlawful, nor the breach of any Precept of our Religion, and therefore he could not be justly condemned for it; nay it was so far from being a Sin, that it was a duty both in him and all other good Subjects to take care of the preservation of the Commonwealth, by endeavouring to remove such plague-sores out of it. And therefore Maximus did but do him justice to call a Synod at Tr●ives to absolve him from the Excommunication of Theognostus, and if he had beside that, punished Theognostus for endeavouring to intercept and obstruct public Justice, I cannot see but that he had acted as became a good and a wise Governor. At least I am sure it is much less decent for a Clergyman to patronise wicked Men against the Laws than to prosecute them, provided they have reputation enough (which the Civil Law requires, and all other Laws ought to do) to qualify them for Evidences. If indeed these had been Malefactors of an ordinary size, it might not have been unbecoming a Bishop to interpose for mercy, but Men that were made up of nothing but Villainy, were beyond the reach of compassion, and no Man, in whatsoever station he was placed, aught to spare their prosecution. And therefore it was no better than Monkish stubbornness in St. Martin, to refuse communion with the Prosecutors after the judgement of the Council; and though he was at last induced to communicate with the Council itself by Maximus, who bought that condescension of him, by giving him the Lives of two of his Friends, that had been loyal Officers under Gratian (though our crude Abridger says, that it was for the sake of a great Priscillianist) yet upon it he quitted the Council, and could have no peace till he received absolution from an Angel, after which he would never more communicate with the Bishops, and that I take to be no better than Monkish Enthusiasm. These affectations of mercy are very popular things, and easily seize Men possess't and tainted with mortified Vanity, for there is generally the height of pride and ostentation, under the pomps and shows of Humility. And this I doubt was St. Martin's case, who though he was a devout Man, yet he was altogether unlearned and indiscreet and most miserably overrun with the Scurvy of Enthusiasm, and not understanding the true nature of Pride (as none of that sort of Men do) he was apparently acted by it in all his singularities to the very height of a Cynical vanity, that is the rankest sort of Insolence in the World. And this is too evident from his Story, as it is told by 
(q) De vitâ Martini c. 23.  Sulpitius himself. To give one instance for all, when he was treated by the Emperor, who invited all his Nobles to the Entertainment, he carried one of his Presbyters along with him, and the Emperor being very proud that he had reconciled to himself and his ill Cause, a Man so much adored by the People, treats him with all the flatteries of Civility, seats him next himself, and places his Presbyter in the midst of his Nobles, that was the highest Place at the Table. A Cup is brought to the Emperor according to custom to drink in the first place, he commands it to be given to St. Martin, expecting at least that he would have returned the Compliment, but he without any farther formality very fairly takes off his draught, and so delivers the Cup to his Presbyter, as the best Man in the Company next to himself. And this piece of rudeness the Emperor was forced to applaud, because his Interest at that time obliged him to flatter the holy Man, though otherwise, as far as I can discern, it seems very much to exceed the saucy Answer of Diogenes to Alexander the great, when he offered him whatever he would ask, thrusting him aside with a Prithee friend stand out of my Sun. This Cynical Vanity is very incident to Monkish Men, and there are few of them that escape the itch, but when it is predominant and meets with success and applause in the World, as it did in this good Man, it becomes downright Enthusiasm and perfect drunkenness, whence came his so frequent Visions, and converse with Angels, and encounters with Devils, and a great number of strange things that he told of himself, the poor Man seriously believing his own dreams and deliriums for want of animal Spirits, to have been true and real transactions. But to let that pass, whether there were any touch of vanity in this intercession for the Priscillianists, or not, I am sure there was very little discretion. Baronius would excuse him from the reason, upon which he proceeded, viz. the abuse that would follow upon an inquisition of the Heretics, which Maximus intended in Spain. That I confess was one reason (and I think) a good one too, for dissuading the Emperor from sending the Inquisitors, such Persons being so very apt to abuse their trust, as he had already found by experience, but the general ground that he stood upon was this, that they ought not to be punished by imperial Laws, but only by the Censures of the Church, and that it was no less than an act of unheard of profaneness in the Emperor to proceed against them. That reason is general, and extends to all proceedings abstracting from the abuse, and so Sulpitius Severus confesses in the very place where he gives that reason in the life of St. Martin, as well as in the history it s●lf as it is set down above.  

Pia enim erat solicitudo Martino, ut non solum Christianos, qui sub illà erant occasione vexandi, sed ipsos etiam haereticos liberaret.  For St. Martin was possess't with a religious care, 
Dial 3.  that not only the good Christians, that might have been prosecuted under that pretence, but the Heretics themselves might escape the Prosecution. So that when Priscillian had confess't such foul things at his Trial, as are recorded by Sulpitius, and were not to be endured in any heathen Commonwealth, yet because he called himself a Christian, he was not according to St. Martin's Politics to be punished according to the merits of his Crimes, and that is the thing that Maximus himself informs him of, that they were condemned by the common Rules of Justice and ordinary proceedings of Courts, 
Dial 3.  
Haereticos jure damnatos, more judiciorum publicorum, potiusquam insectationibus sacerdotum.  rather than the prosecutions of the Bishops. And yet even 
r Epist. l. 7. sp. 58.  St. Ambrose himself seems to be against cutting them off with the Civil Sword, but at that distance of place, it is to be supposed that he understood not their Offences, but only took them for a new sort of Heretics, as is clear from the Epistle itself. And in point of Heresy all Men would be tender of sanguinary Laws, and so most of the ancient Fathers were, who though they were for Laws penal, yet they were for such only, as reached not men's lives. But the case of the Priscillianists was of another kind, they were not Heretics from the Faith, but Apostates from humane nature, and the common Faith of Mankind. And therefore if St Ambrose had understood the secrets of the Sect, he would never have opposed cutting off such unheard of Crimes with the Civil Sword, that were not to be endured under any Government, without any regard to religion. And therefore when the heathen Orator Pacatus in his Panegyric to Theodosius the Great, aggravates this prosecution of the Bishops as unbecoming their Function, his design was only to cast an Odium upon them, and their Religion, otherwise it was no piece of inhumanity to prosecute such enormous Crimes as were proved by the very Confessions of the Offenders themselves; 
Quid hoc majus poterat intendere accusator Sacerdos? Fuit enim, fuit et hoc delatorum genus, qui Nominibus antistites, revera autem satellites atque adeo carnifices, non contenti avitis evolvisse patrimoniis, calumniabantur in sanguinem, et vitas premebant reorum jam pauperum, etc.  and that the Orator himself though an heathen, nay though an Atheist, aught to have been as vehement in their prosecution, as he represents the Bishops to have been, though it were not only to preserve the present Peace and Government of the World, and that is every Man's concern for his own particular safety. And as for Sulpitius Severus his angry remark upon it, that it gave Priscillian the advantage and reputation of Martyrdom, and by that means gave new life and confidence to the Party, it is a weaker surmise than all the rest. For though Martyrdom in a good Cause is a very popular Argument, yet in a bad one it soon sinks into the dishonour of a just Execution. And though it is no hard matter to bear it up a little time among the People to support the honour of a Faction, as was done by the Donatists of old and our Regicides of late, yet when they have done all, such foul things will sink by the weight of their own Wickedness. And so did this, for after this time we hear no more of them in the Imperial Laws. For though there are some Laws enacted against the Priscillianists by Honorius and Theodosius the younger, among the whole rout of Heretics, especially the 40 th' and 65 th' de Haereticis, yet these related not to the followers of Pris●illian in Spain, but to a branch of the old Gnostick Heresy, that (as 
† 2. Var. 175.  Pancirolus and 
* Ad annum 428. p. 531.  Baronius observe) had their name from Priscilla, and was synonymous with the old name of Phryges'. So that this severity of Maximus was so far from animating the Party, (as Sulpitius injudicovisly suggests,) that for all their great noise of triumph, it struck it dead. For though lewd Men will venture upon strange and extravagant things, where they have any presumption of impunity, yet when they find their lives at stake for the debauched frolic, that quickly spoils the jest. And that was the case here, the lewd Heresy was really chopped off with the Author. And though Sulpitius complains that it lasted 15 years, yet it lasted no longer, and was the most short-lived of all the Heresies, whereas the Gnostics and the Manichees, of both which it was compounded, continued some Ages because not prosecuted with the same severity. And this too might have ended sooner, had it not been protected by the indiscretion of St. Martin and some others, that either did not, or would not understand the true state of the Controversy. Which after all accounts of it is best stated by Pope Leo in his Epistle to Turibius Bishop of Asturicum. In whose time the Vermin began to appear again in a remote corner of Spain or Portugal, 
Epist. 93. v. Labbès Concil. vol. 3. p. 1409.  as they did again afterwards, but never more, in the time of Pope Vigilius, as appears by his Letter concerning them to Eutherius or Profuturus a Bishop in those Parts. Pope Leo's Epistle determines the Matter thus— Meritò Patres nostri, sub quorum temporibus haeresis haec nefanda prorupit, per totum mundum instanter egêre, ut impius furor ab universà Ecclesià pelleretur: quando etiam Mundi principes ita hanc sacrilegam amentiam detestati sunt, ut auctorem ejus ac plerosque dicipulos legum publicarum ense prosternerent. Videban● enim omnem curam h●nesta●is auferri, omnem conjugi●rum copulam solvi, simulque divinum jus humanumque subverti, si hujusmodi hominibus usquam vivere cum tali professione licuisset. Our Ancestors, in whose time this profane Heresy sprung up, took all possible care to root the madness out of the Christian World, when at the same time the secular Princes so abhorred its outrageous wickedness, that they put to de●th with the Sword the Author of it, together with his chiefest Proselytes; for they were sensible that by it, all the Obligations to honesty were destroyed, all the sacred bands of Marriage dissolved, all Laws both Divine and Humane subverted, if these Men were allowed to live any where with the profession of their debauched Principles. This is the true state of the case, and yet it is the only great instance of cruelty, that R. B. is perpetually bellowing out against the bloody, the persecuting, the turbulent, the destroying, the proud, the contentious, the ambitious, the hereticating, the merciless, the furious, the confounding, and the God-damn-you Prelates, and fire brands of the World. For these are the most usual Titles of honour, that this Man of meekness and healing is pleased to bestow upon the reverend Bishops of the ancient, as well as the present Church. But though he is pleased to throw them out at random among the whole Order, yet when he comes to particulars, his whole Catalogue of Bonners and bloody Bishops is nothing but this story of Ithacius and the Priscillianists continually repeated in his fourscore books and upwards, and by repeating one tale so often has made it so many stories. But poor Richard transcribes in so much haste, that he has not leisure to examine and weigh his Records, no nor for the most part (which is much worse) to construe them; for though he is very abounding with his in specie, he is very defective in his In speech, and has of late blessed and obliged the World with such heaps of historical Ignorance, as cannot but be a full satisfaction to the Age, that Presbytery and skill in antiquity, are inconsistent things. But as for this particular outcry about Ithacius, if he had but in the least understood the true state of the case, he could never have prevailed with himself to triumph over its cruelty, with so much transport and insolence as he has done, in so much that he seems to be more pleased with their Execution, than the bloody Prelates themselves, only because it serves him for a Common Place of railing at them, and that is the sweetest gratification to his healing Spirit. But what were these poor silly harmless Heretics that were so barbarously butchered by these inhuman Prelates? Were they mere Heretics in a point of Faith, as the Arians were? Were they mere Schismatics from the Communion of the Church, as the Donatists were? No, but they were a rout of Villains that under the pretence of a greater Purity, taught all the lewdness and wickedness that humane Nature could commit, and daily reduced their Doctrine to practice among themselves. So that their Crime was not any heresy against the Christian Faith, as this crude Rhapsodist supposes, but an Apostasy from humane Nature, and subversion of humane Society, and an utter debauching of humane Kind. Now when such Monsters of Men, that were implacable Enemies to the Peace of the World, arose within the Neighbourhood of some Christian Bishops, I cannot see how they could any way have excused themselves to God and their Country, if they had not endeavoured a speedy stop of the Contagion. For this concerned them not as Christian Bishops, but as Men and Members of the Commonwealth which it was apparent that these men's Principles utterly subverted, and therefore for that very reason were they bound to let the Government know its danger. And though their Office as Christian Bishops obliged them to mercy, yet not to such foolish mercy as would undo the World. And that was their case, they did not prosecute Heretics, but Rebels and Traitors. And that Office I think as much becomes a Bishop, if he loves his King and his Country as another Man. But it seems there is no cruelty so terrible in the Eye of a Presbyter, as to bring Rebels to their due punishment. And it looks like strange confidence that Men who have confess't themselves Men of Blood, and cut honest men's Throats for their Loyalty, should complain of the cruelty of executing Villains for their Rebellion. So that in the Result of all, and granting the truth of the whole Story, the conclusion will amount to no more than this, That the difference between the Prelatical and Presbyterian Ithacians is, That the one is for gleaning up a few Malefactors to preserve a Nation, the other is for reaping the whole field, and that is the true through Presbyterian Reformation.   

§. XI. Theodosius dies in the year 395. after an happy and glorious reign, having cleared the Eastern Empire of Goths, Persians and Arians, and twice recovered the Western from the Usurpation of Tyrants, Maximus and Eugenius, and le●t both Church and State in a settled and prosperous Condition, insomuch that it is but a due and just Character, that is given of him by Bar●nius. Nullus unquam Romanorum Imperatorum, 
Ad annum 395. N. 2.8.  qui non hereditario jure parenti Augusto successerit, ita legitimè, ita opporrune, ita fructuosè atque fideliter ad regimen Romani est cooptatus Imperii. That none of the Roman Emperors, that came not to the Crown by inheritance and lineal Succession, were ever taken into a share of that Power, that managed it with more skill or honesty, and to the greater benefit of the Empire. And yet he can no more escape the Barkings of Zosimus (as Photius calls them) than all the other Christian Emperors, but his Calumnies consist not in ill Stories, but in ill Characters, that are as well confuted by his whole History of this great Princes actions, as by Paulinus his Apologetic, and St. Ambrose his Funeral Oration, to which I refer the Reader, and shall only give this Character out of a more knowing Author, because contemporary, and an Eye witness of his Actions, and though a more impartial, yet no bribed Author, because an heathen too as well as Zosinus, and that is Aurelius Victor who concludes his History with this Character of him, having compared him to Trajan he adds that He was a Prince courteous, merciful and familiar, thinking himself to be distinguished from other Men only by the Imperial Robe: bountiful to all Men, but to a degree of prodigality to good Men, he loved Men of Integrity, and honoured Learning, if without craft, he bestowed his great bounty with a greater mind. He loved his Subjects, and loaded them with Honours, Wealth and Kindnesses, especially those that he had found faithful to him in any distress. And yet he had so great a detestation of those Vices, for which Trajan is blamed, luxury and love of triumph, that he never raised Wars, but found them, and strictly forbid all luxury and extravagance at his Table, and was so tender of continence and modesty, that he forbid the Marriage of Cousin-germen as well as Sisters. He was competently learned, he was inquisitive and curious to know the Monuments and Actions of his Ancestors, and expressed an high indignation against such, who by their Pride or Cruelty had attempted any thing against the public Liberty, as Cinna, Marius and Silvius, and all Tyrants whatsoever, especially if false and ungrateful. He was apt to be offended at a base Action, but soon appeased, and therefore in a little respite he would soften harsh Commands; and he had that virtue by Nature, that Augustus learned of the Philosopher, who observing him to be somewhat too passionate, advised him, that he might do nothing rash and cruel, whenever he found himself begin to be angry, to repete the Greek Alphabet, that his sudden Passion being diverted, it would in a short time cool. But that which is more miraculous and unusual, he grew better by his Prosperity and great Victories. For whereas the Tyrants had robbed the Subjects of great sums of Money, he reimbursed them out of his own Exchequer, whereas the most gentle Princes thought it enough to leave them their bare Estates and harrassed Lands. But now as for smaller Matters, and things acted within the Court, which because they are more secret, more invite men's curiosity: He honoured his Uncle as a Father, his Nephews he loved as Sons, he was a Father to all his Relations: he loved neat eating, but hated extravagance. He was facetious in his discourse, but so as to keep up his gravity: a kind Father and a loving Husband: moderate in his exercise which was chiefly in walking at leisure times, he governed his Appetite by his Health, and so died in Peace at Milan in the 50 th' year of his Age. This is the Man that the rude Historian is not ashamed to accuse of destroying the Roman Commonwealth by his Luxury, Negligence and Oppression, both without giving any one instance of any of those Vices, and against his own history, by which it is evident, that he was the Saviour of the Empire. But Theodosius was a true lover of his Religion, and that exasperated the Zeal and Malice of this bigoted Pagan. Insomuch that notwithstanding the unparallelled success of his Arms, the highest Character that he can give of him, is that only, that he was no ill Soldier, though this civility he soon after eats again, by saying that he destroyed the military Forces and brought them to nothing, so that it seems he vanquished all his Enemies without an Army, or which is as likely, as he reports it, that he conquered all the Barbarians by their own Renegadoes without any Order or Discipline.  
After him succeed his two Sons, Arcadius in the East, and Honorius in the West, who finding things so well settled by their Father, it was enough for them to preserve them in the same posture, in which they found them. But though he had pretty well quelled all the other Heretics, especially the Arian spawn, yet the Donatists in afric had escaped his just severity, and therefore Honorius undertakes them, and how they were at last reduced and utterly destroyed, we have already seen in the history of that Schism. So that the main Transaction of this reign is already dispatched, and what remains, will not require much difficulty, their other Ecclesiastical Laws being for the most part only ratifications of their Father's Rescripts, and by their persisting in the same way of Government, and Theodosius the younger following in the same tract, they brought the Church to a better settlement, than it ever attained in any other Age. And in the first place, 
from the 24 to the 36.  there are 12 Laws of Arcadius extant in the Theodosian Code, against Heretics, enacted in the first five years of his Reign, that were nothing but Enforcements of former Rescripts, but chiefly his Fathers, that had not been executed through the negligence or treachery of Officers.  
His first Law was enacted in the year 394 in his Father's life-time, and when he was absent in the War against Eugenius, and the occasion of it was the connivance of the Judges, as he declares in the Law itself, by which all the Imperial Constitutions were defeated and in effect evacuated. Against which abuse of Government, this Constitution is particularly enacted, and that was the Calamity of the Church in all Ages, to be oppressed by the Courtiers at home, and betrayed by the Judges abroad. For as we have observed, that after the disposal of Preferments in the Church came into the Court, the Eunuches under careless Princes, turned the Church into an excise of Simony; so 'tis observable, that though Laws were continually enacted against all sorts of Dissenters and Recusants, yet it was the complaint of every Reign, that they lost their effect by the remissness or dishonesty of the under-Officers, who cared not to carry any thing through for the benefit of the Church, but when they saw it coming to any Degree of settlement, they let fall the execution of those Laws, by which it might have been brought to perfection. And till smart Fines and Penalties were set upon the heads of the Governors and Judges themselves, the Imperial Laws in behalf of the Church, lost the force of their obligation, and that was the true Reason why most of the Rescripts of the former Emperors came to no more effect, because their Officers cared not to put them in effectual execution. And though they durst not at first, and whilst they were fresh, wholly slight their Authority, yet in time, when ever the Emperors were diverted to other thoughts and cares, they let them sink into contempt and oblivion. And that was the true reason, why the same Emperors were forced from time to time to renew the same Laws, and of this Theodosius himself was at last sensible. But from this time forward that these young Emperors, made the Judges themselves Parties upon the Non-execution of any of their Laws, they had their true force and did their business, and by this method they vanquished that stubborn Schism of the Donatists, 
De Haereticis l. 25.  that had for so many years baffled all the Power of the Empire. The next Law of Arcadius was made at his first entrance upon the Government, by which he confirms all his Father's Rescripts against the Heretics, and cancels all private and special Indulgences to them, and particularly as to the Eunomians or Anomaeans he revives the former Law of Intestability, which his Father a little before his death upon the straight of Eugenius his Rebellion, had revoked. 
l. 27.  And so did this Emperor himself in the very same year, by a Rescript to Caesarius, who was made Praefectus Praetorio by Eutropius the Eunuch after the murder of Rufinus, changing his Councils with the change of Ministers of State. And that was another unhappy miscarriage of several of the Emperors, especially whilst raw and unexperienced at their first coming to the Government, that they were not constant to themselves and their own Measures; for that brought contempt, not only upon the Laws, but upon their own Understandings, and frequent change of Opinion argues both fickleness of Mind and want of Consideration. And though when once a Law is made, though it may not be so convenient, as might have been expected, it is better to bear with it, than lightly to reverse it, the reverence that Resolution brings to the Authority of the Government will be an ample compensation for the inconvenience of the Law. His next Law is made to give force to all his Royal Father's Laws against the Meetings of Heretics, 
L. 26.  and to put them in execution without reserves and limitations, whether the Conventicles were held by Bishops or any other Ecclesiastical Order. Which last clause was probably added, 
Lib. 8. c. 1.  as Gothofred very well observes, against the Macedonians at Constantinople, who as Sozo●en relates, had no Bishop of Constantinople at that time, but from the time of Eudoxius who deprived them of their Churches under Constantius, were under all the succeeding Emperors governed only by Presbyters. Upon this Aurelian, Proconsul of the lesser Asia, where the Heretics had always chiefly nested (though their swarms were never numerous) inquires of him in the case of Euresius, what his Majesty intended by the name of Heretic. 
L. 28.  To which he returns this short and smart Answer, That it comprehended all that departed from the Catholic Church, though in never so small a Matter. The meaning of this Law has very much puzzled the Canonists, or rather they have puzzled themselves about it, it being their Trade, because it is their gain, to create obscurity and raise variety of Opinions about all Laws. Otherwise the true meaning of this Law is sufficiently evident from the Words themselves and the occasion of its enacting, viz. that all departure from the Catholic Church as such, is Heresy. The Heretics even of the Arian Faction, were subdivided into divers Parties and distinguished by such Niceties, that it was hard to understand their different Metaphysics, and therefore the Emperor to make short work of it, and without perplexing his Laws with Entities and Quiddities, plainly defines, that be they what they will, if they are not Catholics, to him they are Heretics. The occasion both of the Inquiry and the Law was Euresius a Luciferian Bishop, who coming about that time out of some other Part of the World into the Pro-consular Asia, but not joining Communion with the Catholics, nor yet holding any different Opinion from them▪ the Inquiry was, Whether he ought to be comprehended in the Catalogue of Heretics. Yes, says the Emperor, if he be not a Catholic, that is enough: It concerns not us to inquire into his particular Fancy, his mere dissenting, be the difference never so small, is to us and in the Eye of the Law, Heresy. This was truly Imperial, and became the Greatness of a Sovereign Prince. He knew not what Euresius was, nor would he inquire, as long as he dissented from the Catholic Church, whatever was the ground of his Quarrel, it was all one to his Government. Now the singular conceit of the Luciferians was this, that they were overzealous in the Catholic Faith to the subversion of Catholic discipline; and because the Catholic Bishops received the Heretical Clergy upon their repentance to communion in their Clerical Capacity, they broke off Communion with them. So that though they were in propriety of Speech only Schismatics, yet the Emperor will trouble himself with none of those Niceties, and be they what they will, they are in the sense of his Law, Heretics. This is the plain meaning of this intricated Rescript, and though it may seem somewhat severe to punish all Opinions alike, and make no difference between the least and the greatest Heresies: yet if we consider the design of the Imperial Laws, they can make none, for it is the Church, that is the proper Judge of the Heresy itself, so as to proportion the Punishment to the Crime. But when that is done, the Civil Power only comes in to abet its Sentence, for the settlement of Peace in Church and State. That is his proper care and province, so that if the peace of either be any way broke, that is the Crime that he is properly concerned to punish. And indeed the less the difference, the greater the fault, for what it wants in pretence, it exceeds in peevishness▪ and that is of all others the rankest Affront to Government, it carries open contempt in the Crime, 'tis disdain as well as disobedience, and a plain spitting in the very face of Authority. The same year this young Prince issues out an Order to Marcellus the Magister Officiorum, 
L. 29.  to make inquiry after Heretics in the Army or any Place of Trust, particularly the Court and the Guards, and if he discovered any, not only to disband or displace them, but to banish their Officers, by whose connivance they had crept in, out of the Walls of Constantinople. And in the year following he interdicts all Meetings of all Heretics not only in Churches, but in Vestrys, 
L. 30.  Church-Prisons, and all other Places by Night or by Day, by which little shifts they thought to elude the Laws of Theodosius the Great, that only prohibited their Meetings in Churches. And the execution of this Law is enjoined with a severe Pecuniary Mulct upon Clearchus Perfect of Constantinople to whom it was directed, and upon his Under-Officers, that had hitherto winked at such illegal Meetings, if by his or their connivance such shufflings with the Law should for the time to come be made use of to evacuate its Obligation.  
At this time the Eunomians raised new Tumults by new Divisions among themselves: 
Soc. l. 5. c. 24. Soz. l. 7. c. 27.  One Theophronius having got a little smattering in Aristotle's Logic, set up a new Metaphysics of his own, and was opposed by Eurychius an illiterate Tradesman. And this made a new feud not only among themselves, but the old Eunomians, and upon it the Emperor enacts two Rescripts in the years 396, and 397, to banish all their Leaders first from all Cities, and then out of the whole Empire, or as they express it, c●●tibus humanis, from the conversation of all Mankind. So endless a folly is metaphysical niceness in Divinity, if once indulged the wantonness of its own curiosity. And upon the same account the Macedonians subdivided into two new Factions, Dorotheus heading one, and Marianus the other, there is no end of scabs and scratching, when once Men are overrun with the itch of Disputation. 
L. 34.  But upon what account unless the stubbornness of the Faction I know not, his next and last Edict against them commands their perpetual silence in all Places, and the burning of all their Books, and both upon no less Penalty than Death itself. This Law being of so severe a strain, was no doubt made upon some special Provocation, as generally capital and sanguinary Laws were, particularly the 51 and 56 of Honorius against the Donatists, and therefore being made in some sudden transport of Passion, we do not find that they were ever put in execution, for the Emperors never put Men to death for mere Heresy, the Circumcellians were hanged as highway Robbers, the Priscillianists and practical Manichees were put to death as Debauchers of Mankind, but otherwise the Imperial Laws reached not men's lives in case of Heresy, it being a standing rule of the Fathers, that their punishments ought to be such, as to leave the Offenders in a capacity of repentance. Nay they were so far from touching men's lives, that they rarely or never, that I remember, inflicted any bodily punishments. Their usual Penalties were proscription of Goods, confiscation of Estates, forfeiture of the Meeting Houses, deprivation of the Privileges of a Roman Citizen, incapacity of bearing Office in Church or State, intestability, and last of all, banishment of the Preachers and all that concealed them: which last, as it proved the most easy and effectual punishment for the extirpation of any Heresy, so it was least odious and grievous to the People, extending not to the generality, but only to a small handful of Men. This Law with another at the tail of it, inflicting severe Penalties upon all Officers that neglect its execution, is strong enough to master the most headstrong Faction in the World. And with this sort of Law does this young Emperor conclude all his Laws against the Eunomians. 
●. 36.  In the year 399 he remits the usual punishment of Intestability, and beside the infliction of the other common Punishments, relys chiefly upon the deportation of the Preacher, and so after that, we hear no more of them in his reign, and as by this means he rooted the Eunomians out of the East, so did Honorius vanquish the Donatists in the West, for all the following Rescripts of this reign under this Title de Haereticis, are his Constitutions against that Sect, of which we have had an account already.   

§. XII. But beside these Penal Laws against Heretics, Honorius enacted divers Laws of Privilege to the Catholics: No wonder then if (as the Historians observe) the Heretics flocked so fast into the Church under the reign of these two Princes, 
Sozom. l. 8. c. 1.  when they followed nothing but Sunshine and Court-favor. And therefore seeing that these Princes were resolved to tread in their great Father's steps, and to annex the Preferments of the Church to the Orthodox Faith, they had no other hopes left, than to tack about to it: and when they could not after all their pains make the Church come to them, it is not to be supposed that Gentlemen of their yielding and waxen temper, would be so stout as not to bend to that. And so at length this powerful Faction, that had so long embroiled the Christian World with Wars and Tumults of Wars from the very time of Constantine the Great, now began to forsake themselves. And those very few that stuck to the Cause rather out of peevishness than Principle, relied only upon their remains of Court Interest for their support, as we are informed by Synesius concerning some of them that came into his little Diocese of Ptolemais, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  to debauch the Church there, setting up Quintianus for their Bishop, backed, as they boasted by Court-power, so that it seems though the Emperors had declared against them, they were so far from wanting Friends there, that they were proud of their strength. 
 At his first coming to the Crown he confirms all manner of Privileges granted by any of his Predecessors to the Church, and commands his Officers that they diligently perform the duty of Tuition: i. e. that they defend and protect the Privileges of the Church against all Invasions, and if it were requisite from Violence. And therefore this Office was both Civil and Military. Civil Tuition was the standing Office of the Civil Magistrate to protect the Church in its Privileges: The Military was a lawful Guard allowed by the Civil Magistrate to defend any Public Assembly from violence, 
 and therefore this kind of Tuition was not granted in the Contests of private Men (and there is an express Law of Theod●si●s the Great to restrain it) but only to Public Societies, as to the Jews to guard their Synagogues, and to the Navicularii, 
〈…〉 l. 6.  i. e. those Officers that carried away the Tribute Corn from other Places to Rome or Constantinople, who were constrained to have Guards for their defence against the fury of the hungry Rabble: and to the Christian Churches to protect them from the Assaults and Outrages of Heretics, though this was rarely put in Execution anywhere but in Africa, where it was necessary to defend the Christian Assemblies against the Troops of the Circumcellians. 
De Episcopis l. 31.  And this Emperor was at last forced to restrain their fanatic Violence by Capital punishments, requiring withal of all his Officers to put it in execution by virtue of their Office without the Complaint or Information of the Bishop, because his Function obliged him to acts of Mercy; and if the Offenders made any resistance, they were empowered to fall upon them with the Emperor's Forces, whose assistance they were by this Rescript authorised to demand in his Majesty's Name. This was a brisk Law, but nothing more gentle than this, could make any impression upon Men of their temper and bloody Principles. And here the clause commanding the Officers to proceed against them without staying for the Bishop's complaint, cui sanctitas ignoscendi solam gloriam reliquit, is very remarkable, because it becomes Bishops in such Cases to spare men's lives, 
Ad Don●tum Epist. 127.  and therefore St. Austin tells the Proconsul of Africa, that if he put the Donatists to death, they should cease their Information against them. But this is quite different from the Case of the Priscillianists, because these are particular Offences and Miscarriages against particular Men, whereas their fault was a general Offence against Mankind; in the one the Crime lay in the Action, that may be forgiven, because but transient; in the other it lay in the principle, that cannot, because perpetual. So that though it may be a decent Act of Mercy in a Bishop to interceded for pardon to a criminal Action, yet to do it for a debauched Principle, were to make himself Patron of the Wickedness. 
De Episcopis l. 30.  But to proceed, in the year 397, he publishes a Law against the Mutilation of the Privileges of the Church, and this the Emperors were often forced to do, because their Officers and Governors were apt to oppress them. Especially where the Church was wealthy, and the Governors heathen, as Theodorus was to whom this Rescript was directed, they were very forward to hook them in towards bearing their share in those public burdens, from which they were exempted by Law. And in the year 399 the same Law is repeated with a pecuniary Mulct, 
Ibid. l. 34.  not only upon the Offender that commits the Crime, but upon the Judge that connives at it. 
De Religione l. 1.  And in the same year another Rescript is published to refer Ecclesiastical Causes to the Ecclesiastical judgement, but contentious about Civil Rights to the Secular Courts. And there are many more Laws of the same strain in the Imperial Code, the meaning whereof is, not wholly to limit the Judgement of all Ecclesiastical Causes to the Church, and of all Civil Causes to the Secular Courts, because most Causes, as I have shown above, appertain to both: But their plain intention is, that Causes purely Ecclesiastical, or Offences against the Canons, Rubrics and Orders of the Church, for the preservation of Peace and Decency, or Offences against the Rule of Faith, shall be judged by the Church alone, and as for civil Controversies, they are to receive their decision only from Civil Courts. For the final power of Decision, is all the Authority that can be used in that case, but though the Church has none of that, yet it has a Power to judge of the same Actions, as far as they concern the Laws of their Religion, or as Theodosius the younger expresses it, Christianam sanctitatem. And though when one Man stands convict of having defrauded another, they have not Power to right the Person wronged, or to enforce a Restitution, yet they have a Power to pass sentence upon the injury as a breach of the Christian Law, and that sentence will have its effect. So that though they have not a Civil Authority in Civil Causes, yet they have an Ecclesiastical, that is distinguished not by the Matter, but the Penalty of the Law. But the true and proper meaning of these Laws is best understood by the occasion upon which they were enacted, and the occasion of this was, that the Emperors had empowered Bishops to decide Controversies by arbitration and the consent of Parties, which they in process of time challenge as their right, and derive their Authority for it, from Apostolical Law, as was done by the African Fathers at this time, petitioning the Emperor, That if any Persons will choose to have their Controversies decided by the Church, 
Cod. African. 59  
Vt si qui fortè in Ecclesiâ quam libet causam, jure Apostolico Ecclesiis imposito, agere voluerint, et fortasse decisum Clericorum uni parti displicuerit, non liceat Clericum in judicium ad testimo●ium devocari eum, qui cognitor vel praesens fuerit, ut nulla ad testimonium decendum Ecclesiastici cujuslibet persona pulsetur.  according to Apostolical Law, and one Party shall appeal from the Award, that the Priest, who was the Judge shall not be cited to the temporal Courts by him, to give in any account or testimony of the proceedings.  
To which Petition the Emperor returns this Law as a just denial, though that neither does, nor can take away their Power of Ecclesiastical Censures, that they received from our Saviour, but of civil Decision that was granted them by the favour and indulgence of Princes, and when once they pretended to an higher Commission for it, it was but time to clip their pretences. 
De Episcopis, l. 35.  But in the year 400 he published a very remarkable Rescript in defence of the true power and discipline of the Church against all Appeals from their Sentence even to the Imperial Throne itself Whoever shall be deposed from his Office in the Church by a Synod of Bishops, if he shall presume against the modesty of the Church, and the Peace of the Empire, to resume that Office to himself, from which he is deposed, he shall according to the Law of Gratian of blessed Memory, be banished an hundred Miles from the City that he infested, for it is but fit that he should be banished their Assemblies, who is cut off from their Society. And be it farther enacted by the force of this Law, That no such Persons apply themselves to our Secretaries to procure our Rescripts in their behalf, and if they shall by stealth obtain any, all Rescripts granted to such Persons as are deposed from their Priesthood, are hereby declared null and void. And lastly let such Persons, upon whose favour they rely, take notice, that they shall not escape the punishment due to such as shall undertake the protection of such Men, as are already cast by the judgement of God. This Law of stopping all Appeals from the Church, was of all others most necessary for the preservation of discipline in it, and therefore it was always with greatest care established by the Canons against all Invasions, and observed with the greatest tenderness by all the wisest Emperors. And we have seen through the whole series of this History, that from the very time that Princes took upon them the protection of the Church, the only thing that debauched and defeated the Efficacy of its Discipline, was Church-mens taking sanctuary at Court against the Authority of their Superiors. And the mischiefs of this abuse having been so often experienced, it was but high time to take it quite away, insomuch that the Emperor was pleased to tie up his own hands from untying any sentence of the Church. As for the occasion of this Law, there are many conjectures about it, but I think the most probable is that of Gothofred, that it was made at the Petition of the African Fathers, who were actually sitting at that time to restore the ancient and effectual discipline of the Church, and reform the Abuses and Corruptions that were crept or were creeping into it, and so among others, implore the Emperor that he would be pleased to stop all ways of appeal to Persons that stood legally condemned by the sentence of the Church, and to enjoin this to all his Officers, as they word it, interpositâ poenâ damni pecuniae atque honoris. And this Petition the Emperor grants with that frankness, as to take away this abused Power of Appeals, not only from his Judges, but himself, and damn their Authority by this Rescript once for all and for ever. In the year 401 he exempts those of the Clergy, 
De Episcopis l. 36.  that were forced to trade to get a Livelihood, from the payment of all Customs, the same Law that was made by Constantius in the year 343. So that it seems the Church was not as yet endowed with sufficient Revenues to maintain itself, when some of the Clergy were forced to traffic for bread. Tho' they were afterward forbidden all manner of Trade by Valentinan the third, 
Novilla 12.  when it seems the Church was grown rich enough to subsist upon its own stock. In the year 407 he not only confirms all the ancient Privileges and Immunities of the Clergy, 
De Episcopis l. 38.  but he grants them a new sort of Tuition, viz. Secular Advocates for the management of all their Secular Affairs, but lest by this means the Church should be cheated by these trusties, the Bishops of the Province are required to survey their Accounts. This Law was made at the Petition of the African Fathers in the fourth Council of Africa, and is extant in their Code Canon 97. And it was done for this end, that the Clergy might not be forced to appear in Law-Courts, and leave their Functions to follow Law-Suits. And this is the first time that Laymen were taken into the concerns of the Church, and that not to intermeddle with any thing of its discipline and jurisdiction, but only as their Stewards and Solicitors. And this Emperor was so kind to them, as to follow this Rescript with another, 
De denunc. Rescript. l. 7.  commanding that the Advocates of the Church should be put to no delays in the Common-Law-Courts, but admitted to Audience at their first appearance. 
De Episcopis l. 40.  In the year 412 he recites the particular Privileges granted to the Clergy, and commands all his Officers to keep them inviolable upon pain of perpetual Banishment. The Privileges he enumerates are these six,  
(1) Exemption from Offices.  
(2) From repairing of Highways.  
(3) From extraordinary Taxes.  
(4) From building of Bridges.  
(5) From maintaining the public Carriages.  
(6) From the Gold-Contribution, which was a particular Tax imposed at that time. In short they were excused from all Payments but their Canonical Tribute, the rate of which was known, and customary. For their Lands were never exempt from Taxes, and the proportion that they paid was called the Canonical Contribution, and whatever Officer demanded more than their standing rate, he was by this Rescript banished for ever as a sacrilegious Person. In the same year he publishes another Rescript, forbidding the accusation of Clergymen before any Judge but the Bishops, 
Ibid. l. 41.  and if any Person of what degree and quality soever, shall bring an Indictment against them, and be not able to make it good, he shall be branded with public Infamy, as the Person accused must have been, if found guilty. This Rescript notwithstanding its general words that the Clergy ought to be accused before the Bishops and not else where, the Lawyers will have to be understood of Ecclesiastical and not Civil Crimes, but this proceeds from their common Prejudice, that I have noted above, that only Ecclesiastical Offences fall under the Judicature of the Church, but Civil and Political Crimes are restrained to the cognisance of the State, whereas both are punishable by both, with those different Penalties that are proper to the different Jurisdictions. And as for this Law in particular, it cannot be understood of any other but Civil Crimes, and this is evidently proved by those very Arguments, that are alleged by Gothofred himself to appropriate it to Ecclesiastical Miscarriages. First that they are such Crimes as are punished by the shame of Deposition, and therefore most properly Civil Crimes, for there were very few Ecclesiastical Offences so great, as to deserve so high a Punishment, and those few that did so, as in the case of Schism and Heresy, were always appropriated to the Ecclesiastical Judicature, before this Rescript, and therefore not by it. And this appears more pregnantly from his second reason, the cause of enacting this Law, viz. that Laymen and even Persons of the greatest Quality, being apt upon slight provocations to bear spite to the Clergy, would be apt enough to waylay their Reputation with popular defamations and false reports. So that the apparent design of the Law was to prevent these scandalous Informations, before the Secular Judges, and restrain them from so much as taking them, till they had been first examined by the Ecclesiastical Judicature. And in the last place this is still more evident from the particular occasion of this Law, that Heros a worthy Man Bishop of Arles had been thrust out by Constantius a great Court-Officer there▪ and afterwards Emperor for six Months, upon a tumultuary Accusation and Patroclus an infamous Person placed in his stead, and therefore to prevent the like Disorders for the time to come, it was but seasonable to enact this Law, to restrain Secular Governors from receiving accusations against the Clergy, till they have been first heard by the Provincial Synod. So that this Law does not exempt the criminal Actions of the Clergy from the Civil Courts, as Gothofred imagines, when he objects that it is against the Jus Commune, but only limits the exercise of their Jurisdiction, viz. that they neither receive nor proceed in such Causes, till the Judgement of the Church had been passed upon them, and after that, they were at liberty to punish them according to Law. This is the fairest and most ingenuous sense that I can make of this Law.  
These are the chief Laws of these Emperors in the Church, the Penal Laws against the Heretics, and the Laws of Privilege to the Catholics.   

§. XIII. But beside these, there were divers others enacted either to abet the Discipline of the Church, by removing Abuses that were crept in upon its ancient Constitutions, or by backing its present Decrees with the Imperial Authority. Or else to set in order such Matters of Religion, that though they related to the Church, were yet without its Jurisdiction, i. e. those Laws that concern Jews. Heathens and Apostates, in all which they followed the example of their Royal Father Theodosius. And first they take care of the due and regular Ordination of the Clergy. Constantine the Great had been forced to forbid his Officers both Civil and Military to be admitted into Holy Orders, and the same Decree was frequently renewed by his Successors, with alterations and limitations as the Prince thought most convenient for the present time, that the State might not be defrauded or endamaged by too much bounty to the Church, and when Men flocked so fast into it, it was but requisite to lock its doors upon such as were already useful to the Commonwealth. Which Constantine did with a peremptory and universal Law, but Valentinian the first with this limitation, That any Person, who had an Office in the State, might be admitted into the Church, so that he provided an able Person to supply his former Office. But before this time the Privilege of Clergy had taken place, and the Bishop was empowered to redeem any Criminal from Justice, or Debtor from Goal, if he judged him qualified for doing Service in the Church, that was grown into such an abuse, that the Monks took them away by force and tumult, to the hindrance of Public Justice, and the subversion of private men's rights. For when they were once entered into a Monastery or into Orders, their Crimes were cancelled and their Debts paid, to redress which abuse Arcadius enacts a severe Law in the year 398, 
Lib. 9 Tit. 40. de pae●is. l. 16.  as his Father 
* Ibid l. 15.  Theodosius had done before him, against these violent interpositions of the Monks, and threatens the Bishops that if any such Riots were made by the Monks under their Jurisdictions, 
De Episcopis l. 32.  and not punished by them, the fault should lie at their Doors, and commands them for the time to come, that whenever they wanted Clerks, they should take them from the Colleges of Monks, if they found them clear of all Debts both Public and Private, otherwise as they ought not to have been admitted into the Monasteries, so he now commands that they shall not be admitted into Orders. And this Law was but agreeable to the Constitution of things in those Times, when the Monasteries, as now our Universities, were the proper Seminaries of the Church. These Laws, viz l. 16 de paenis, and l. 32. de Episcopis, were at first but one, however they came afterward to be distracted, and placed under such distant Titles, and therefore the first breaks off with an etc. where the second begins, thus. Ex quor●m [Monachorum] numero rectius, si quos sortè sibi deesse arbitrantur, Clericos ordinabunt, etc. With which Words the second Law begins, and then adds, non obnoxios publicis privatisque rationibus cum invidiâ teneant, sed habeant jam probatos. Now both Laws being joined together, their history and their use are very apparent, but when separated, it is difficult to find out their meaning, especially of the latter, that was only made in pursuance of the former. To both which ought to be added the third Law in the Title de his qui ad Ecclesias confugiunt, by which the Privilege of Protection by the right of Ecclesiastical Immunity is utterly stopped up to all Persons engaged in public or private Debts, which I think was as necessary a piece of Reformation, as the former part of the Law against the Tumults of the Monks. For what can be a greater dishonour to the Church, than to be turned into a Sanctuary against Common Justice? Though most Men are very much offended at the unkindness of the Law, and the Historians remark an unlucky Judgement upon the Author of it, Eutropius, at that time in high favour with the Emperor, but soon after falling into disgrace, he was the first Man upon whom it was executed, flying for Sanctuary to the Church of Constantinople, and hiding himself under the Communion Table, in which posture he was in an elegant, but I doubt, a very unseasonable Oration, rated and upbraided by St. Chrysostom for his rudeness to the Church, and so is dragged out by the heels, and immediately haled to Execution, and as Sozomen adds, his Law was immediately abrogated and erased out of the Public Register. But that is one of his many dreams, when we find it carefully recorded and confirmed for ever by the Emperor's Son in the Theodosian Code. 
Ibid. l. 2.  And a Law not unlike this we find in the same Title made the year before against the Ecclesiastical protection of Jews from their Creditors, upon their pretence of conversion to the Christian Faith: which it seems was a common cheat at that time, for which reason there are divers Imperial Laws to prevent it, and command the Clergy to receive no Converts, till they have cleared themselves of all Crimes and Debts: a very good Rule, and an Example worthy the imitation of our Church. 
De Episcopis l. 33.  The next Rescript is of a peculiar strain, and too strict out of his overgreat care to prevent Confusion, viz. that wherever there are Churches in Villages, the Clerks that serve them, shall not be ordained from other Villages, but out of that Village where the Church is, in which they Officiate, lest thereby they rob their Neighbours. What particular Reason he had to enact this Law at that time I know not, but it looks very odd and severe, that every Village must be supplied with a Pastor out of itself; and not very wise, when our Savior's observation is so very true, That a Prophet has least honour in his own Country, and it is evident that every Preacher has least Authority in his native Place, where the Vices and the Follies of his youth are remembered. And therefore I cannot but think it would have been somewhat a wiser Law rather to have restrained all Men from accepting a Benefice in the Place of their Nativity.  
His next Rescripts are made in the particular case of St. Chrysostom, who being deposed from his Bishopric of Constantinople by the Council sub quercu, and that as I have elsewhere proved, too justly for so good a Man; the sentence was ratified by the Emperor, and because the People raised Tumults upon it, he is banished, and the very same day happens a great fire at Constantinople, that burned down both the Cathedral and the Senate-house. This is laid to the Johannites, as they nicknamed the followers of St. Chrysostom; and upon it many of the Clergy are imprisoned for suspicion of the Fact, but no proof being found against them by the Perfect Studius, the Emperor directs a Rescript to him to set them at liberty, 
De Episcopis l. 37.  to give over all farther Inquisition after the fire, to prevent all Meetings and Conventicles of Chrysostom's Faction, and to banish all out lying or rather trespassing Bishops and Clerks from the City, who had in great numbers resorted thither from all Parts to join in with the Factions, and by that means the Tumults were raised to that height, that the Emperor was forced to command their expulsion for the preservation of the Public Peace. But though this seasonable Banishment of the foreign Clergy slaked, yet it broke not up the fury of the Tumults, that were partly kept up by the Inhabitants of the City, and partly by the expulsed Mutineers in other Parts of the Empire, and therefore it is followed with other Laws to suppress both. And first all Swordmen are forbidden to frequent the Conventicles of the Johannites under pain of cashiering and Proscription of Goods, 
De his qui ●uper religione contendunt l. 4.  that sort of Men being most likely to engage into Quarrels upon occasion of such Meetings. In the next place all Servants are restrained with a pecuniary Mulct upon their Masters, 
Ibid l. 5.  and the Bankers, and all Members of the City-Companies, with a round Fine upon the Company that suffered such Members. And because the Clergy that were banished Constantinople, set up their Conventicles, especially in Thrace, Egypt, and the East (properly so called) a third Rescript is issued out, That all Persons should be expelled all Churches, who refused to communicate with Arsacius, Theophilus and Porphyrius, the three sovereign Bishops of those Dioceses, Arsacius of Constantinople for Thrace, Theophilus of Alexandria for Egypt, and Porphyrius of Antioch for the East. Under the Title of Apostates we have but one Law in this Reign, and that was enacted by Arcadius upon the punishment of Intestability, 
De Apostatis l. 7.  as was done by Theodosius the Great; but this Law of Arcadius was made with so many favourable concessions, that it seems to have been contrived for no other end, than to take away the severity of the fo●mer Theodosian Law. For whereas that takes away all disposal of their Estates, this allows the settlement, if made upon Father or Mother, Son or Daughter, Brother or Sister, Niece or Nephew, but no farther, and that was far enough, for Men were seldom without some of these Relations, and when they had them, they as seldom cared to settle their Fortunes upon any other Persons.  
But he was much more kind to the Jews, taking upon himself the Patronage of their old Privileges and granting new ones. 
De Judaeis l. 10.  His first Law gives Authority to their Governors to set Market-prizes upon their Goods, because the Christian Officers out of hatred to the Jews set their Prizes so low, that they took away their lawful Gains. His next forbids all contumelious language in public against their Patriarches. His third commands all his Governors of Provinces to protect them and their Synagogues from all violence of the People. 
Ibid l. ●1.  
L. 12.  His fourth restores and confirms to the Patriarches and Clergy, 
L. 13.  the Privilege of Exemption à Muneribus curialibus from Public Offices, that had been granted by former Emperors, Constantine, Constantius, 
L. 15.  Valentinian and Valens, but had been since taken away by Gratian and Valentinian the younger. In his fifth Law he renews the same, together with an addition of all those Privileges that had been granted by his Royal Father. To which may be added his Grant to them impowring them to determine all their Lawsuits by the arbitration of their Patriarches, 
Cod. 2. Tit. 1. de Ju●isdictione l. 10.  if both Parties consented to it, enacted the same year, in which he granted the same Power to Christian Bishops.  
But as indulgent as Arcadius was to them in the East, they were at first treated ruggedly enough by Honorius in the West, 
De Judaeis l. 14.  who first of all forbid the payment of the Crown-gold to the Patriarch of the Jews and his Apostles, i. e. his Assessors, where he resided, and the Collectors of it in the several Provinces. This Tribute had been ever paid from the destruction of Jerusalem, though it is now intercepted by Honorius with expressions of high displeasure: He calls it a cheat, and the Patriarch a Thief, and orders his Apostles to be punished by his Judges as Pickpockets. But all this was done more out of spite to his Brother Arcadius than to the Jews; for the two Brothers had first by the instigation of Rufinus, and afterward of Eutropius Consul this year, conceived a mortal hatred against each other, and therefore because the Patriarch of the Jews resided in the Eastern Empire under the Government of Arcadius, Honorius thought it unworthy his Majesty (as he declares in his Rescript) to suffer one of his Brother's Subjects to exercise so high a Power over his Subjects as to impose Taxes and Tributes upon them. And for the same reason when Arcadius granted the Jewish Clergy exemption from all Offices in the year 398, Honorius forbids the execution of that Law within his Dominions as prejudicial to his Government, 
De Decurionibus l. 158.  and commands them, and all Men of whatsoever condition, to undergo their share of the public Burdens. And therefore five years after, viz. in the year 404, when the Brothers were reconciled, 
De Judaeis l. 17.  Honorius in token of his Reconciliation cancels this Rescript, and restores them to this and all the other Privileges, that had been granted them by any of his Predecessors, and from this time forward he was the most indulgent of all the Emperors to the Jews. But his next Law is of a peculiar Nature, against a certain new Sect of Jews, that he calls Caelicolae in the year 409, 
De Judaeis l. 19  commanding them, because they pretended to be Christians, to join Communion with the Catholic Church within a years time, otherwise to be obnoxious to all the Laws against Heretics, and forbids them making any Converts for the time to come, as they would not incur the guilt of High-Treason. Now what these Caelicolae were, or why so named, 'tis difficult to find, because we no where meet with any mention of them but in this Emperor's time, nor any description of them, but in this Rescript, unless once in St. Austin, as Gothofred observes, and though it is found in Justinian in the Law of Constantius against the Jews, yet as he observes, it must have been foisted in afterward from this Law, because we hear of no such Sect any where else till this time, and Honorius never mentions them but with the Title of a new upstart Sect. And as for the other two Laws in which they occur, viz. 43 d and 44 th' de Haereticis, he only names them in the rout of other Heretics, and therefore all that can be guessed at them, is from this Law, where they are described to be pretenders to Christianity, but Jews in reality. So that they seemed to have been a sort of Mongrel Christians, such as the Nazarites were of old, confounding both Religions together, and observing the Sacraments of both, i. e. they were both circumcised as Jews, and baptised as Christians, being such another hotchpotch out of both Religions, as was afterward made by Mahumetanism. But how the name of Caelicolae came to be appropriated to them, I cannot find the least foot-step for a probable conjecture. How the Name came to be in former Times given to the Jewish Nation in general, I am pretty well satisfied, viz. not allowing any Images and Representations of the Deity, they were Sarcastically represented by the heathen Poets, as if they had addressed all their Devotions to the Clouds and Sky. But how it came to be appropriated to this particular Sect as distinct from the other Jews, I believe is scarce capable of a guess, there being no other Record of them, than what I have mentioned, in which we only find the Name, but no reason of it, and as the Sect began, so it ended under this Reign; for we hear no more of it, whether it sunk by its own absurdity, or the severity of the Law against it.  

De Judaeis l. 20.  His next Rescript to the Jews in the year 412 is a confirmation of all their ancient Privileges, in the free use of their Sabbaths, their Synagogues, their Festivals, and all the other Rites of their Religion. Of the same nature and to the same purpose, is his third Law under the Title de feriis, and the eighth under the Title de Executoribus, and were no doubt but one and the same Law at first, as divers others were, though afterwards torn into several Parcels, to reduce them to their proper heads, by the Collectors of the Code. There remains but one Law more of this Emperor under this Title enacted in the year 416, 
De Judaeis l. 23▪  and that is to redress that common abuse of counterfeit Converts to Christianity from among the Jews, only to avoid their Crimes and their Debts, commanding all his Governors to seek out all such Impostors in all Places, and for the honour of Christianity, to turn them out of the Church, and return them back to their own Religion. And this was done at the request of the Jewish Governors, to whom the Rescript is directed, thereby to give them Authority to demand the execution of it of his Officers in his name. Which was a much higher favour than if he had sent his Rescript immediately to the Officers themselves, because by this means the execution of this Law was put into the Jews own hands. To all which Laws we may add one more under the next Title ne Christianum Mancipium Judaeus habeat, 
L. 3.  that is very singular, and shows this Emperor's great kindness to the Jews, and that is to give them the liberty of keeping Christian Slaves and Servants, which was forbidden by all the Emperors both before and after him, and for that reason it is I suppose that Trebonian has wholly left it out of the Justinian Collection.  
Under the Title de Paganis there are three Laws of Arcadius, 
L. 13.  viz. 13, 14, 16, and five of Honorius, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20. The first Law of Arcadius was enacted at his first coming to the Empire in the year 395, and was only a Ratification of all his Royal Father's Laws both against Pagans and Heretics with very severe comminations upon his Officers, that neglected their speedy and vigorous Execution, no less than death itself, in supercapitali supplicio judicamus Officia [i. e. Officiales] coercenda quae statuta neglexerint. 
L. 14.  By a second Rescript in the year following all Privileges whatsoever heretofore granted to the Heathen Priests, are utterly abolished. 
L. 16.  And by a Rescript in the year 399 all their Temples still remaining in Villages in the Province of Syria Phaenice, are commanded to be pulled down, but not without Tumult, many of the Monks, who were usually most busy at that Work, being wounded and slain by the Country People. In the same year Honorius takes away their Sacrifices and Temples in France and Spain, 
L. 15.  but so as to preserve their public Ornaments, after the example of his Father Theodosius in the eighth Law of this Title. And in the same year also he being petitioned by the African Fathers in their fifth Council to remove all the Relics of Idolatry, that as he had already taken away their Sacrifices, so he would be pleased to abolish their public Festivals, quae ab errore Gentili attracta sunt, i. e. that were Customs at first derived from the old Heathenism, 
L. 17,  to this he returns a peremptory denial, That though it was his Royal Pleasure that the profane Rites should be taken away, yet he would not have the People deprived of their Solemnities of mirth according to ancient and immemorial Custom. And whereas the same Fathers moved, that the Heathen Temples still remaining in Villages and more remote Parts of the Country might be destroyed, the Emperor denies that too, 
L. 18.  the Idols he will have removed, but not the Buildings themselves demolished. But in the year 408 the Emperor is of another mind, 
L. 19  being inflamed to it, by a particular Provocation. For Stilic●o being slain that year, both the Heathens and the Donatists (as we have seen in their History) grow insolent, and give out that all the Laws that had been enacted against them were only Stilico's without the Emperor's Consent, which being signified to the Emperor by the African Fathers with a repetition of their former Requests, he upon it, grants all that they ask and more, and nothing less will serve his turn than the utter extirpation of Paganism. Upon it he takes away all their Revenues, and settles them upon his Army, destroys their Images and their Altars, turns their public Temples to other public Uses, commands the private Chapels to be demolished by the Owners, takes away the solemn Festivals, and imposes the execution of this Law upon his Officers under the Penalty of a very severe Fine. 
L. 20.  His last Rescript was enacted in the year 415, in which he permits the Heathen Games yearly exhibited by the Priests in their Metropoles or great Cities, upon condition that the Priests return home to their own Habitations as soon as the Solemnity is ended. Secondly he sequesters all Revenues belonging to the Temples, to his own and to the Church's use. Thirdly he removes all their Heathen Images from the Baths, and all other public Places. And lastly he inflicts Capital Punishments upon the Ringleaders in their Sacrifices and superstitious Processions. And thus by these several Penal Laws under these several Titles, and against these several Factions, he so settled the Peace of the Church and Empire, that though he lived ten years after, for he died not till the year 425, he had no necessity of making any more news Laws about these old Matters, for when things are once settled in their right Method, the World jogs on in good order of its own accord. So that it was really this reign, that vanquished all the inveterate disorders of the Church, that utterly rooted out the Schism of the Donatists, and broke the heart of the Heresy of the Arians, for it was at this time that it received its fatal blow, though afterward it made some weak Essays and fainting gaspings to recover life. Neither do I remember that after this time he had occasion of making any other Laws about Ecclesiastical Matters, but one Law of Discipline in the year 420, 
De Episcopis l. 44.  to recover the obsolete force of an Ecclesiastical Canon, strictly forbidding all Clergymen to cohabit with any Women, unless their own Mothers, Sisters or Daughters, and commanding all that had been married before they entered into Orders, to retain their Wives after it. The first part of which Law was made in pursuance of the Nicene Canon, that had been frequently renewed both by the Ecclesiastical and Civil Law, by reason of a common Abuse, that was crept into the Church, that Men professing Caelibacy took Women into their Houses commonly called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beloved Sisters to minister to their necessities, and join with them in their Devotions, by which odd kind of liberty they brought great and just Scandal upon the Church, and for that reason we meet with continual Complaints in all the Ancients against them. The other part of the Law against the Clergies divorce upon pretence of stricter Sanctity, is taken from the sixth Apostolical Canon, so that it is evident from this Law that the Caelibacy of the Clergy was not at this time enjoined, though afterward it crept into the Church by insensible degrees, till it was at length imposed rather by the Authority of Custom than Law.   

§. XIV. But the management of the Civil Policy of this Reign in Church-Matters, as happy as it was, it was not so happy, as the Ecclesiastical Government, that runs parallel with it, was deplorable. For in this very Period of time happened such a fatal Revolution in the Church, like those great Deluges and Conflagrations, that Plato dreams of, by which old Worlds are destroyed and new ones made, as swept away the whole frame of the ancient Church, and swallowed up all its power in the exorbitant Usurpation of one Bishop. For now it was, that the old Constitution of the Catholic Church, as it had stood from the time of our Saviour and his Apostles, divided into Provincial Jurisdictions, and those again uni●ed into a Catholic Communion with an equality of Power among themselves, was gulfed up in the unlimited and universal Supremacy of one single Bishop over all. This was first challenged by Innocent the first, who began to reign in the year 402, and was ever after eagerly pursued by his Successors, at which great change of things it might be convenient to make a stand, and take a sad view of the dismal Ruins, under which the Primitive Church with all its liberties lay buried for many Ages. But as it is too great a Work for this place, so being a Matter purely Ecclesiastical, and wholly transacted within the Church itself, it would not be very proper: For the design of this Work, is to give an account of those Transactions of the Church, in which the State was concerned, and thereby to exemplify the exercise of the Civil Jurisdiction within it, without invading the Churches own original Authority. And therefore this Matter being wholly transacted within the Church, without any interposition of the State, it belongs not to this Argument, and for that reason I shall at present wave it, not forgetting that I am under an Obligation to Baronius of an hunting match for the painted Ha●r●▪ In the mean time I proceed, And as for the Laws of Theodosius, they are to be divided into two Parts, those that were enacted before the compiling of the Theodosian Code, that are taken into the body of the Code itself under their several Titles, and those that were made after it, that are annexed as an Appendix under the name of Novels. The Code was composed in the year 438 and the 30 th' year of his Reign out of the Rescripts of Christian Princes of both Empires, from Constantine the Great to that time, containing the Records of 127 years, from the year of our Lord 312 to the year 438, taking in the Laws of 16 Princes; Constantine and his three Sons, Julian, Jovian, Valentinian, Valens, Gratian, Valentinian the younger, Theodosius the Great, Arcadius, Honorius, Theodosius the Younger, and his contemporary Emperors Constantius and Valentinian the third. It was drawn up by eight Commissioners chosen out of his chief Officers and Ministers of State, whose Names are recorded in the Emperor's Novel for ratifying the whole Code. His design was to make the Law more easy, certain and intelligible for the time to come. That Men may not wait for formidable Answers, 
Nou. 1.  
Ne Jurisperitorum ulterius severitate mentitâ, dissimulatâ scientiâ, velut ab ipsis adytis expectarentur formidanda responsa: cum liquido pateat quo pondere donatio deferatur, quâ actione petatur haereditas, quibus verbis stipulatio colligetur, ut certum vel incertum debitum sit exigendum, quae singula prudentium detecta vigiliis, in apertum lucemque deducta sunt splendore Numinis nostri radiante.  as it were of a profound Oracle from the formal superciliousness and falsely pretended Learning of the Lawyers, when it is made so easy to understand how a Deed of Gift is to be drawn up, what way an Inheritance ought to be sued for, how a conveyance is to be made, what Debts are certain or uncertain, all which are drawn out of obscurity and placed in the light by this work of our Sacred Majesty. And indeed this Reformation of Laws when they grow numerous, intricate, and perplexing, is one of the noblest acts of Government: for all Laws in process of time naturally degenerate into so much niceness and curiosity, as to be of no use, at last, than only to defeat the very end for which they were instituted at first, viz. the security of men's Rights and Properties. And when they are come to that pass, as to perplex and involve, rather than fix and clear their Titles, they are then, nothing but snare, cheat and vexation, which of all Governments is incomparably the most intolerable. The most heavy Arbitrary Government is much more easy to the Subject, than legal Oppression; for when Men oppress without Law, they are usually restrained within some bounds by Modesty, because then the whole blame of it must light upon themselves, but when they have Law or pretence of Law, to abet their Oppressions, then is the Abuse both boundless and shameless, and how barbarously soever the poor People may be oppressed, the Law must bear the blame of all, whilst the Oppressor runs away with all the profit. And therefore it is but a weak distinction that is vulgarly made between Arbitrary Government and Government by Law, for either may or may not be arbitrary as they are executed. A Government without Law may tie itself to the Rules of Justice, and a Government by Law may turn all the Laws into fraud and oppression, and when they do so, they are guarded and fortified in their Tyranny by the Law. So that whereas there are two sorts of Arbitrary Government, one without Law, another with it, the case of the first is very hard and deplorable, when Men have no security from the Government for their Rights beside its own good Will. But the case of the second is intolerable, both because it takes off the grand restraints of modesty and discretion, which all Men are under that have no other rule to justify their Actions beside the Justice and Equity of the Actions themselves, and withal because it leaves Men at liberty under the shelter and formality of Law to do all the dishonest things in the World with confidence and a good grace. And therefore the wisest Princes in all Ages have not been more careful to make good Laws for the security of the Subject's Rights, than to see to their fair and easy execution. For when Suits are made tedious, difficult and chargeable, and Men are generally forced to pay more for Justice than Justice is worth, the Law serves no other end than to rob them of their Rights, and when my neighbour has taken away one half of my Estate, if I will seek to right myself by Law, I must spend the other, so that if I get the Victory, and that is uncertain, I get nothing, if I lose it I am utterly undone. The removing of this great Abuse, which length of time had brought upon the Imperial Law, was the Emperor's great design in this magnificent Work, which though it have its defects, is yet an excellent and useful body of Laws, and has met with great acceptance in all Ages and civilised Nations. And even the barbarous People themselves, when they vanquished the Empire, submitted to its Laws, as we shall particularly see in the Laws of the Goths and Franks. I have here dropped in this short account of the Theodosian Code, both because it came in my way under this Emperor's reign, and because every Reader might understand the great Authority of this Book, upon which we rely so much through this whole discourse.  
But now I proceed to his own particular Laws. His first in the Title de Episcopis in the year 416 was made for the regulation of the Parabolani of Alexandria, 
●. 42.  a sort of Monks, that practised Physic, especially in times of the Plague or other contagious Diseases; therein laying aside all regard to their own safety, whence they had the name of Parabolani, i. e. desperate or fearless Men, hence in St. Paul's description of Epaphroditus his great Zeal for the Gospel, he tells the Philippians, among other Praises, 
Chap. 2. v. 30.  that for the sake of Christ he had been near unto death, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neglecting his own life, or as an old Latin Interpreter renders it, parabolatus est animam suam, he parabolated his own life. Now these Men taking upon themselves such a popular piece of Charity, they, as it naturally falls out in such Cases, grew insolent, and became very troublesome to the Government, raised Tumults, thrust themselves into Public Affairs, and will have all things governed by their own Will and Pleasure. Upon this the Alexandrians Petition the Emperor to restrain their outrage, and he for a remedy against the Mischief for the time to come, makes a Law consisting of these seven heads:  
First, to forbid their intermeddling with any Proceedings in the Emperor's Courts.  
Secondly, to reduce them to the number of 500  
Thirdly, to enact that none should be capable of admission into the Order, but poor Men.  
Fourthly, that they should be chosen by the Citizens.  
And Fifthly, approved and confirmed by the Governor.  
Sixthly, that they refrain from all Public Meetings and Courts of Justice, unless as they are forced to appear as Parties.  
And lastly, that as vacant Places fell, for the time to come they should be filled up by the Governor.  
The occasion and history of this Law, is described at large by Socrates. 
Lib. 7. c. 13, 14.  There had been an old grudge between Orestes the Perfect, and Cyril the Bishop of Alexandria, because as the Perfect thought the Bishop's great Power in that City seemed to abate of and check with the Authority of the Emperor's Vice-Roys, and because he knew that Cyril watched his Government, but it happened once, that whilst the Governor was present at a Public Show to prevent a Tumult of the Jews, there were present, several of Cyril's Friends, and among the rest one Hierax a zealous Schoolmaster, who was seized and punished for a Spy, upon this St. Cyril threatens the Jews, and upon his threatenings, their Rabble enter into a Conspiracy to destroy the Christians, and in the Night raise an outcry that one of their Churches was on fire, and as the Christians run from all Parts to quench it, they with Protestant Flails murder them in the Tumult, upon which Cyril the next day turned them all out of Town, and the People plundered their Goods. This fretted Orestes to the heart, so that though Cyril used all means of reconciliation with him, he vowed an eternal and implacable Enmity. Upon this Animosity the Monks of Nitria, as the Historian has it, but whatever they were, they must by the circumstances of Time and Place be the same Men, that this Law calls Parabolani, make Tumults in the Streets, affront and assault the Perfect in his Chariot, and one of them breaks his head with a stone, who being taken is wracked to death by him, but honourably buried by Cyril. Upon which complaint is made to the Emperor from both sides, but he takes his Governor's part, and for that end makes this Law to put these Ecclesiastical Men under his Government, who had hitherto been subject to no Authority but the Bishop's. Though 16 or 17 Months after being again reconciled to Cyril, 
De Episcopis l. 43.  he puts them wholly under his Jurisdiction, restores the Power of Election and Substitution into his hands, and increases their number to six hundred.  
His next Law enacted in the year 421 relates only to the Churches of Illyricum. 
De Episcopis l. 45.  We command that all Innovation ceasing, the ancient Canons and Customs, that have hitherto prevailed, be observed through all the Provinces of Illyricum, and if any Doubt or any Controversy arise, it shall be determined by the Synod of Bishops, but not without consulting the most reverend Archbishop of Constantinople, that aught to enjoy the Prerogative of old Rome. There is no one piece of Antiquity that has been more canvassed and controverted than this Law among learned Men, and yet to this day it lies undiscovered in the dark, and no wonder, whilst the Records of it lay buried in Rubbish. It were tedious to recite the several Conjectures of Photius, Baronius, Perron, de Marca, blondel, Gothofred, and divers others, because they are all but mere Guesses without any bottom to support them. But since their time, the Records have been brought to light by the learned Holstenius, who first published them to the World out of a Vatican Manuscript in the year 1662. And they agree so punctually with all the Records of that time, as by it, setting aside the Authority of the Manuscript itself, to justify and in reality demonstrate their own Credit. Now the short of the Story is this, That the Bishops of Rome and Constantinople were at that time contending for Supremacy of Jurisdiction, and Illyricum being situated in the Confines of both Empires, was naturally the Seat of War. For though all Illyricum had in former times belonged to the Western Empire, yet it was divided by Theodosius the Great, and one half of it laid to the Eastern, and upon that, the Bishop of Constantinople claims Jurisdiction over it, Constantinople then pretending to the same Prerogative in the East, that Rome enjoyed in the West. This pretence was set up immediately after the Council of Constantinople, that only gave it pre-eminence of honour next to old Rome, and that they fairly construed Equality of Jurisdiction, whereas on the other side the Romanists challenged Supremacy of Power over those Churches, by prescription from the time of Innocent the first, 
H●lst●n Ep▪ 5:  who had set up the Bishop of The●saloni●● as his Legate over all Illyricum, and to justify his Innovation, pleads Prescription from Damasus, but that is according to the constant Custom of the Man, rank Forgery, when Damasus never in the least pretended to any such Power, but only kept up Correspondence with Acholius Bishop of Thessalonica, as the chief Metropolitan in those parts, without any Intimation of any such Relation between them. 
V. The particular occasion of this Contest by Perigene his Election to the See of Corinth, Vales. Annot. in Soc. p. 90.  But Rufus, who was then Bishop of Thessalonica, having received such a Supremacy of Power from his Master Innocent, was faithful to his Master's Interest, and so continued till the very time of this Rescript, and fight it out manfully against the Usurpation of the Constantinopilitans. Now the point of War, as it was managed by the Bishop of Constantinople was this, that Illyricum ought to be wholly governed by its own Synod of Bishops. But as by Rome, that the Bishop of Thessalonica ought to have, and exercise a Supremacy of Jurisdiction over them. And so it stood at the time of this Rescript, Boniface the first, then Bishop of Rome, in the year 419, which was but two years before the date of the Rescript, commending his Courage and great Service to the Apostolic See; and this Victory was so great, that as Boniface himself attests, the greatest part of the Illyrican Bishops came over to his side. But Atticus then Bishop of Constantinople more a Lawyer then a Divine, and therefore chiefly governed and overruled the Church by Imperial Authority, who had baffled an Excommunication of Pope Innocent with the Emperor's Rescript, and by it seized a Jurisdiction over the Province of Hellespont, as I have elsewhere shown, finding Illyricum in danger to be lost, procures this crafty Rescript from the Emperor against Rufus, and under pretence of asserting the Laws and Liberties of the Church, by preserving the Supreme Power of Provincial Synods, takes the Supremacy of all to himself, in that nothing was to be done or concluded by them without his consent. And here the confidence of these men is very remarkable in pleading Antiquity on both sides, notwithstanding the Innovation of both, was so very notorious: But this served the turn well enough against the Adversary, as here by this Rescript to Abolish all Innovation, the Power of the Bishop of Thessalonica was utterly destroyed, and when that was done, Atticus having gained the Bishops to his own side by it, knew how to do his own work. This fires Pope Boniface, for as the Rescript was published in June, so in the March following he sends a Letter to Rufus full of Thundering and Lightning, 
Epist. 8.  Commanding him in St. Peter's name to maintain his Ground and Power against the Attempts of saucy and pragmatical Innovators, exhorting him to defy the Storm and fear no danger, after the example of his Master St. Peter, who would stand by him, and carry him through all difficulties against those Violators of the Canons and the Church's Rights, and concludes with a Command to him to disperse the approaching Synod, that it seems had been appointed upon the publication of the Rescript, because the matter about which they were to consult, had been already determined by the Apostolic See. 
Epist. 9  And beside this, he writes a threatening Letter to the Bishops to submit to Rufus and St. Peter; and so he has the confidence to tell them, that he was Constituted Head of the Catholic Church by our Lord, and so acknowledged by the Nicene Council, and therefore whoever divides from him, is thereby cut off from the Communion of the Church. And yet for all that, it grieves him to hear of some, that have contrary to the Law of God and the Church forsaken the Apostolical See, to join with a pitiful Somebody, that has no Power at all, as they will find by searching the Records of former times. And so commands them to repent and return for fear of what may follow, and submit themselves to Rufus, whose Power was no new thing, but as it had been granted by the Ancients, so it was to remain for ever, or in short, as he concludes, Cesset novella praesumptio. And this is seconded with a longer Epistle to the same purpose. And thus did these bold Usurpers with equal impudence lay claim to antiquity on either side, when all the World knew the Innovation of both; but that was all one to them, because it would beat the Enemy from settling in the Possession, and then themselves might gain an opportunity of leaping into it. Neither did Pope Boniface think it enough to make use of his own Authority in the Case, but he engages the Emperor Honorius on his side, and prevails with him to write a smart Letter to Theodosius for reversing the late Innovations in Illyricum. And that he promised to perform, but of its own accord it came to nothing; for when two Parties, that are both in the wrong, contend for a right, it cannot be adjudged to either without injustice to a third Party, whose real Right it is; And thus when these Emperors went about to remove Innovation on either side, it lay in both their ways, which way soever they moved. And how they went on to wrangle from Age to Age, for the Usurpation on both sides, with the confident Plea of Antiquity and the Precedents of their Ancestors, may be seen more at large in Holstenius his Collection, my present Business is to discover the true meaning of this hidden Law, from the present Contest between Boniface and Atticus, which as without it, it is not to be understood, so by it, we understand not only the sense of the Law itself, but the foul subreptions of both the Usurpers.  

De Epist. 46, 47.  There remain but two other Laws under this Title Enacted by Valentinian the Third, to confirm all Privileges granted by any of his Predecessors to the Clergy, and particularly to Abolish the Act of John the Tyrant, who upon the death of Honorius invaded the Western Empire, and took away all exemptions of the Clergy from the Secular Courts, for which Gothofred suspects him to have been an Arian though without any other ground then this, that it had been the constant Custom of the Arians to take Sanctuary at Court against the Church under bad Reigns, but whatever he were his Law is here Canceled by this Emperor, then but a Child and upon a very childish reason; that it was not lawful that the Ministers of God should be subject to the Judgement of Temporal Powers, which is such a Contradiction to all the Doctrines of the Fathers, and to all the Laws of the preceding Emperors, who in all their Rescripts declared all such Grants of Privilege to be mere Acts of Grace and Favour, that this Rescript could be nothing else then the subreption of some Clergyman, who taking advantage of the times, the Childhood of the Prince, than not above 7 years of Age, the weakness of a Woman his Mother Placidia, who then Governed all, but chiefly from their fears under their late great distress to which they were reduced by the Tyrant, took this opportunity of enhancing the Privileges of his Order to the claim of a Divine Right. I know Gothofred would soften this Law as if it referred only to Ecclesiastical, not to Civil Causes, first because in his 12th Novel afterwards he made that distinction. That is to say, as he grew older he grew wiser, and so corrected this childish Oversight, but otherwise the reason given for this Law is general, that it is not fit that the Ministers of God should be answerable to Secular Powers. Secondly, that the Tyrant had removed all Causes, Ecclesiastical as well as Civil, from the Church to the Secular Courts, which he infers from the word Indiscretion. But if we will stand to the Practice of the Empire, this Law can relate only to Civil Causes, notwithstanding that ambiguous word, for Ecclesiastical Causes were all along left to the Church either in pretence or reality, but Civil Causes reserved by some Emperors to their own Courts, and by some granted to the Judgement of the Church itself as an Act of Favour, and therefore it must be understood of the Cancelling of these Acts of Grace by the Tyrant, when the same favour is restored, especially when backed, by that general reason, that it is not fit that the Ministers of God should be accountable to the Secular Powers, because by the Practice of the Empire, they were not for the discharge of the Ministerial Office, and therefore this Law cannot relate to their duty as Priests, but as Citizens, to refer them in all such Causes, as some former Emperors had out of kindness done, to the Ecclesiastical Judicature.  
All the Laws of these Emperors under the following Titles are scarce any thing else then the Ratifications of the Rescripts of former Emperors, especially of Theodosius the Great, and his Son Honorius, against the small Remainders, that were left of Heretics, Jews, and Heathens. And as for the Heretics in particular, they were reduced to an inconsiderable handful of Men, never able to make any Head against the Catholic Church, that was never after this time troubled with any of the old Schisms and Heresies. Though it was assaulted with new ones, and so it must be, as long as the Taint of Vanity is left in Humane Nature; but as fast as it sprung up, they were cut off by the same Method of Government. So that by the reiterated experiments of so many Emperors here Recorded in this Code, we find the true Efficacy of Penal Laws against all the extravagant wantonness of Schism and Singularity. Under the Title de Haereticis, there are ten Laws of Theodosius the Younger, beside two other under the Title of Ne sanctum Baptisma iteretur, and three of Valentinian the Third, but they are only Recapitulations of former Laws, to glean up the small scatter that were left of the Ancient Schisms and Heresies. The most remarkable of them all is the 65th Law by Theodosius in the year 428, that is an Epitome of all the former Laws, by which he sweeps away at once 23 Sects, by enjoining the Execution of the former Laws against them, upon the Judges under the same Penalty that the Law inflicts upon the Offenders. Quae omnia ita custodiri decernimus, ut nulli Judicum liceat delatum ad se crimen, minori aut nulli coercitioni mandare, nisi ipse id pati velit, quod aliis dissimulando concesserit.  
Under the Title de Apostatis there is only one Law of Valentinian to tie the Punishment of Intestability upon Apostates with more severity in the year 426, to which may be added the like Law against the Jews under that Title, under which are extant seven more of Theodosius the Younger; 
L. 28. l. 18.  the first is very particular forbidding the Jews upon their great Festival of Aman to burn the Holy Cross in show of their Contempt of the Christian Religion. For that had been their Custom ever since their deliverance by Hester from the Conspiracy of Haman, to Celebrate that day with extraordinary extravagance of Joy and Mirth, and among other Customary Solemnities, they were wont to burn the Effigies of Haman, and his Gallows with mighty Triumph and Acclamation. But it seems they had at this time changed the Gallows for a Cross, thereby to reflect Contempt upon our Saviour and his Religion: And for that very reason are they forbid that Custom under Penalty of forfeiting all their other Liberties. The following Laws under this Title, viz. l. 21, 22▪ 25, 26, 27. were only enacted to defend them and their Synagogues from the violence of the Rabble, only the 27 th' is made to restrain the Insolence of Gamaliel the Patriarch in the year 415, upon which followed the dissolution of that Office among the Jews. For four years after, in the year 419, he published a Rescript, the last under that Title, 
L. 29.  commanding the Jewish Governors to refund all the Crown-Gold, that they had collected since the abolition of their Patriarches, and withal commanding all his own Officers for the time to come to collect the same Tribute for the use of his own Exchequer. And so ended the succession of Jewish Patriarches, that had continued from their dispersion to this very day, by what accident, 'tis uncertain, but it was probably occasioned by the great Misdemeanours of Patriarch Gamaliel, who as we find by the 22 d Law had highly abused the Emperor's favour to the Oppression of the Christians themselves. To these Laws may be added two more under the next Title, 
L. 4.5.  ne Christianum Mancipium Judaeus habeat, forbidding Jews to keep Christian Slaves upon pain of death.  
Under the Title de Paganis, there are only five Laws of Theodosius to renew the Laws in force against them, upon supposition that there are any Pagans remaining in the Empire, as it is expressed in his second Law. 
L. 22.  Paganos, qui supersunt, quanquam jam nullos esse credamus, promulgatarum legum jamdudum praescripta compescant. And thus was this body of Imperial Laws finished and consigned, that has ever since been the Standard of Law to most parts of the Christian World, and from it we are fully instructed in the proper method of curing Schisms and Heresies, viz. by abetting the Discipline of the Church with Penal Laws effectually executed upon the Offenders. This, after all the Experiments that were tried by several Emperors, was found the only proper Remedy against all the Distempers of the Church, as Theodosius himself observes in his third Novel concerning all sorts of Dissenters. Quos si ad sanitatem mentis egregiae lege medicâ revocare conemur, severitatis culpam ipsi praestabunt, qui durae frontis obstinato piaculo locum veniae non relinquunt. If we endeavour to reduce these Men by sharp Physic to sobriety of Mind, they themselves must bear the blame as well as the Punishment of our Severity, that by their wicked obstinacy stop up all Avenues of Mercy or Pardon. That is the true state of the Case, there is always a natural stubbornness mixed with Schism, and nothing but smart can cure it. And this is the thing, that makes it so necessary to add Penal Laws to the Discipline of the Church, thereby to staunch that peevishness, that without it will naturally fly out into all the follies and wildness of humane Nature. And all Princes, that either out of their own natural Curiosity to try the experiment, or being forced by the necessity of the times, have taken off the Penal Laws, or suspended their execution, have soon been convinced of their mistake by the fatal Consequences, that it has brought upon their Government.  
As for the Laws that were enacted by these Emperors after the sealing of the Code, and for that reason called Novels or new Laws, 
Tit. 3.  there are two of Theodosius and three of Valentinian. The first of Theodosius is only a revival of his own 56 th' Law de Haereticis, commanding the execution of all Laws against Jews, Heathens and Heretics. 
Tit. 21.  His next Law takes away all manner of exemptions from Public Taxes, and among others those granted to the Clergy by his Predecessors, which the Emperor excuses by the pressing difficulty of the present time, though it is evident that granting or withdrawing such favours, are mere Acts of the Prerogative Royal. The third Law placed in the Novels of Theodosius, belongs not to him but to Valentinian the third, directed to his Perfect in France, and is of a peculiar Nature from all the other Laws in the whole Code, being indeed not so properly an Imperial as a Papal Rescript, and extorted by the Importunity of an assuming Pope to justify his own Proceedings. There had been an old Contest between the Bishops of Arles and Vienna for the Metropolitical Superiority, for though it had always belonged to Vienna, yet Patroclus a very ill Man getting into the Bishopric of Arles by Court-tampering, usurps it to himself, and is backed in it by Pope Zosimus with the pretended Authority of ancient Canons. But this is contradicted by his two next Successors, Boniface and Celestine upon the very same Plea of ancient Canons: And that was the custom of all Popes at that time, following the dance of Innocent the first, to make the Canons speak what themselves pleased, and when they pleased to speak Contradictions. But in the time of Leo the great, Hilarius Bishop of Arles and a mettlesom Man, would not be content with his Metropolitical Authority, but sets up for a Patriarchal Supremacy over all France and Independency upon Rome. This transports that proud and jealous Pope beyond all bounds of revenge and outrage, and upon it he writes in great fury to the Bishops of France, to depose him from his Metropolitical Authority, and cancels all Acts of his Government in that capacity. And as for the Grant of his Predecessor Zosimus to that See, he has the confidence to pretend that it was only temporary and personal, though by it he imposed as grossly upon Zosimus, as Zosimus himself did upon the ancient Canons; and to ratify all, he procures this Imperial Rescript commanding absolute Obedience to all his Commands, and in effect erecting an universal Supremacy for him. But the matter, the stile, and the spirit of the Rescript, too much betray the rough hand of Leo himself in it. And it was no hard Matter for so bold a Man to extort what he pleased from such a softly Prince. And yet this very same Man, when Hilarius died, got Ravennius a very weak Man to succeed him, and then restored the Metropolitical Authority to him and his See: and thus did these Men set up and pull down as served the ends of their own Ambition, and all out of pure Reverence to the ancient Canons. And to speak a plain truth plainly, they merely lied themselves into their universal Supremacy, as I shall show more at large not only from this instance of Arles, but from two other great transactions on foot at the very same time, that is, their Usurpation over the Churches of afric and Illyricum. And though in the first, they were shamefully baffled by the Africans, who exposed their gross and scandalous Forgeries to the World, yet it shows that they trusted to nothing so much at the time of their usurpation as the Sovereign Power of lying. But to keep to our present business. His next Law is to confirm all the Rescripts of former Emperors Pagan as well as Christian, 
Tit. 2.  to outlaw the Manichees. This Law was made upon the discovery and confession of some very foul matter by one of the Ringleaders of that Sect, what the Fact was, it was not thought decent to express, and it is only in general thus described. Quorum incesta perversitas Religionis nomine Lupanaribus quoque ignota vel pudenda committit, such a foul incest under pretext of Religion that it was not so much as named in the public Stews. His next Law is against the Robbers of Tombs and Sepulchers, it is a very severe one, and one of the most eloquent for the stile in the whole Collection. Servants and poor People convicted of it are punished with death. Men of fortune with forfeiture of half their Estates and all their Honours, Clergymen with deposition from their Orders, and perpetual banishment. And as for all Governors, that shall neglect the execution of this Law, they forfeit both Estate and Honor. His last Law is to regulate the Bishop's Courts, and to revive some Laws of former Emperors relating to the Clergy, it gives the Bishop's power of Judicature, praeeunte vinculo compromissi, by way of Arbitration, but no otherwise. It allows Bishops and Presbyters to appear in the Civil Courts by their Proxies for all Causes unless Personal Crimes, and lastly it prescribes what Persons may, or may not be received into Holy Orders, according to several forementioned Rescripts of former Emperors.   

§. XV. But the most material Law of this reign is still behind, and that is the Law to confirm the Decrees of the great Council of Ephesus, that was both called and ratified by Theodosius the Younger, which I have reserved to this place, to treat of it by itself, because as it is the greatest transaction of this Reign, so is it another eminent Instance of the right Concurrence of the Powers of Church and State in the determination of Ecclesiastical Controversies, and enacting of Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons. All the old Schisms and Heresies being vanquished by the Methods already described, such is the wantonness of Humane Wit, that it fell upon contriving new Conceits, for its own sport and entertainment. There is such a natural Vanity in some men's Tempers, that they can scarce live without singularities and innovations; from whence comes that necessity of Heresies, that St Paul speaks of; they are the certain effects of Pride and Pedantry, and as long as there are and will be born in all Ages Men of that Complexion, nothing can hinder them from venting their own novel and homespun Metaphysics. And therefore it cannot be expected that the Church should be altogether free from Heresies, for that cannot be done without an alteration of Humane Nature, it is enough that it is furnished with means to stop and cure the Disease, whenever it breaks out in the body of the Church, as we have seen great numbers of Botches dispersed and reduced to nothing by the right exercise and concurrence of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction. And after this time it is observable that Heresies were not so long-lived, for now the Method of their cure being understood by experience (which when all is done, is the best Art of Physic) it was so soon dispatched, that they rarely survived their Author; and after one sentence effectually executed, they scarce ever put the Government to a second trouble, as will appear by the following History. 
Soc. lib. 7. c. 29. Evag. l. 1. c. 2.  Nestorius' being chosen to the swelling Throne of Constantinople, by Theodosius the Younger out of the Church of Antioch, to avoid or rather end a violent competition at home, he brings along with him one Anastasius, a Presbyter, his inseparable Friend and Companion, 
Annot. in Evag. l. 1. c. 2.  and Valesius is pleased to be so critical as to affirm that he was his Syncellus, an Office in the Palaces of Patriarches, who had power to choose what Presbyters they pleased, to cohabit with them, who were therefore styled Syncelli or Concellanei. But I doubt this learned Man here derives this Office too high, for we find no footsteps of any such State in the Records of the Church till after the Institution of Patriarchates by the Council of Chalcedon, and then we have frequent mention of it in History, though nothing but deep silence before. But whatever he were, whereas the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Mother of God had been so familiarly given to the Virgin Mary by the Ancients, that it was by custom become her proper Title and always annexed to her name, against this Anastasius inveighs in a Sermon, and affirms that she ought not to be styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the Mother of God, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mother of Man. But the People having been accustomed to the Word, put themselves into Tumults in its defence, whereas Nestorius in stead of correcting his Presbyter, justifies his Doctrine, and to mollify the roughness of the expression, and appease the Dissension, whilst some cried up the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and others the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, invents the middle word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as himself gives an account of his own Opinion in his Apology to the Perfect of Egypt in the time of his Banishment. 
Apud Evag. l. 1. cap. 7.  And to justify his Conceit, he starts a new Notion, that our Saviour was compounded of two Persons, one Divine, and one Humane, that only the humane was born of the Virgin Mary, to which the Divine was united after his Nativity. These Novelties put the whole City into an Uproar, and he being a Man of a furious and a fiery Temper, instead of appeasing the Tumult, as any Man of discretion would have done, like a mad Man he resolves to encounter, and overcome it by the mere strength of Fury and Violence, and this raises the Contest into perfect Outrage, so that as Socrates truly enough describes it, 
Lib. 7. c. 32.33.  it was turned into a Midnight scuffle, in which both Parties fought in the dark, not knowing where they aimed their Blows, or what they affirmed, or what they denied, the People on one side unjustly charging Nestorius with the Heresy of Paulus Samosatenus; and Nestorius on the other side being an ignorant unlearned Man, a mere popular Preacher, and altogether unacquainted with the Writings of the Ancients, and for that reason rashly rejecting this old Word, as an upstart Novelty, and being withal a very proud and supercilious Man, he would rather run himself into any wild Assertions, than confess any the least Mistake. This seems to have been the true and impartial account of the rise of this Heresy, though Baronius according to his great Faculty of straining all things into far-fetched Guesses, 
Ad Annum 428.  is zealous to derive it from Paulus Samosatenus. But where or whensoever it first began, the noise of it at this time flies from Constantinople, 
Cyrilli Epis●▪ 1▪  into foreign Parts. And first Cyril of Alexandria endeavours to antidote his own Province against the Poison, that some of his Monks had already sucked in from Nestorius his Agents, which he sent into other Parts to propagate his Heresy. After this to check it before it spread too far, he writes to the Emperor Theodosius, and to the Empresses Pulcheria and Eudocia distinct and large confutations of it. 
Act. Concil. Ephes. part. 1. cap. 3▪ 4.5.  But Nestorius was a Courtier, and no doubt so much the dearer to the Emperor as his Creature, for he rather created, then made him Bishop of that great Throne; And having the Emperor's Ear, he exasperates him against Cyril, (though he named him not) as appears from the sour Answer that he returned him, 
Ibid. c. 31.  in which he charges him as a disturber of the peace of the Church, loads him with envy at the Honour that Nestorius had by his savour, and interprets it as a reflection upon himself, to prefer a man so high, that Cyril represents so ill, and looks upon his writing three several Letters, to himself, his Queen, and his Sister, as a design to make division among them; and lastly tells him, That it is saucy and pragmatical for a man at so great a distance to inform him of his own affairs, and what was done at his own doors. But after all he graciously forgives all these Misdemeanours, and refers the examination of the cause to a Council of Bishops, who he says were the only fit Judges of it, and to their determination he promised to stand, and he was as good as his word. After these Attempts upon their Majesties, 
Ibid. c. 6.  Cyril tries in the next place to reclaim the Man himself by a Civil Letter, in which he desires him for the love of God to stop such wild Propositions that were vented abroad under pretence of his Authority, as that Christ was not God, but only the Organ and Vehicle of the Divinity, and tells him that the Church was put into disturbance by such loose, profane and licentious Expressions, and not by any thing (as Nestorius had been pleased to suggest) that himself had done to oppose them, and so passionately expostulates with him, that he should be so unkind and so unjust as to load him to their Imperial Majesties, with the odious Character of the Master of Disturbance. 
Ibid. c. 7.  To all which he returns him a very short and surly Answer, and that he might not interpret any Answer at all for too great a Civility, he tells him over and over, that it was extorted from him by the importunity of his Messenger Lampo. At this time some of Cyril's Clergy that he had deposed for their Scandalous Misdemeanours and Debaucheries, 
Cap. 8▪  endeavour to make this Breach wider by carrying false Stories and Calumnies against him to Constantinople, but that for the present Cyril sets aside, and entreats him with all manner of Friendship and Civility, as he loved the Truth of God and the Peace of his Church, to consider the strange Consequences of his Opinion. 
Cap. 9▪  To this he prevails with himself at length to return him an haughty Answer, and scorning (as he expresses it) to take notice of the contumelious and scurrilous Language of his wonderful Letters, proceeds to dispute the Point with great Contempt of his Ignorance, but much greater exposing of his own. And at last assures him that all the ill Stories that had been brought to Alexandria from Constantinople, were carried by some Clergymen, that had been deposed for no less Crime than the Manichaean Heresy. And that was not improbable, for it is evident through the whole Story of the Christian Church, that all Schisms and Animosities were ever promoted by the obnoxious Clergy, that so in the Tumult themselves might escape Scot-free from the severity of its Discipline. But these heats not being so well understood at their first Eruption, 
Cap. 10.  some of St. Cyril's friends write to him to forbear his warm and vehement Contests with Nestorius, in Answer to which he removes the blame of all from himself upon Nestorius, who had justified Dorotheus, that had denounced before him a public Anathema against all that affirmed the Virgin-Mary to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which he says was no less than Anathematising both the Present and the Ancient Church, whereas on the other side himself had Acted with so much temper, that he had hitherto forborn to Anathematise their Assertion, and had only advised them to forbear damning all the Fathers. But because he continued Vigorous and Resolute in his Prosecution of this Profane Novelty, 
Cap. 11.  they spread abroad Reports, that it was done out of mere Envy to the Greatness of Nestorius, and his own love of Contention, of which he being informed by a moderate friend, he protests that by his natural humour of all things in the World he abhors nothing more than wrangling, and that for the sake of Peace, he would freely sacrifice all that is dear to him, but the Truth of God; and that, as for Nestorius, though he had received many injuries from him, he was so far from bearing him any ill Will, that what he did was out of kindness to him, only to put him upon clearing himself from those errors in the Faith, that were vulgarly, and he hoped falsely charged upon him, which if he would be pleased to do, himself should be very glad of his Friendship. But the Quarrel advances, whilst Anastasius pretending Peace undertakes to prove in a Discourse before the Clergy of Constantinople, that Cyril in his Book against him was at last of the same Opinion with himself. 
Cap. 12.  Upon this Cyril writes to them to convict him of manifest leasing and impudence, 
Cap. 13.  and upon that the Clergy of Constantinople draw up a Schedule to parallel the Assertions of Nestorius with the Doctrines of Paulus Sam●satenus, as the Father of this Heresy, (from whence Suidas, 
Ad 〈◊〉 428. p. 530.  and from him Baronius rashly suppose him to have descended of his Offspring) and when they had so done, they by common consent publish it in their Churches, which could not but be an unpardonable Provocation to his Proud and Violent Spirit, and indeed it was a just ground of displeasure against them, it being a false and unjust Charge against their own Bishop. But Cyril finding by his furious temper that he was not to be reclaimed, endeavours to engage all the Bishops of the most eminent Churches against him, 
Cap. 14.  and first he writes to Celestine the great Bishop of Rome, to inform him of the whole matter and beg his Assistance and Advice, Celestine immediately takes very high offence at Nestorius, Condemns him in Council, 
Cap. 15.  and by the Authority of the Apostolic See deposes him, if he repent not within 10 days, and writes to John of Antioch, Rufus of Thessalonica, Juv●nal of Jerusalem, and Flavianus of Philippi to desire their Concurrence to his Sentence. And no doubt he took the Complaint so much the more greedily, as being glad of any opportunity to take down the Proud and Aspiring Prelates of that See, of whom he had too much reason to be jealous at that time, when they had made several Attempts to mount the Throne of the Imperial City above the Apostolical Chair itself. But now Nestorius perceiving the Clouds to gather, and that a Storm was like to overtake him by Cyril's Activity, he follows him with his Letters to Celestine, though pretended to be written upon another occasion, 
Cap. 16, 17.  viz. Concerning the Pelagian Bishops that had been cast out of the Western Church for their Heresy, but were then at Constantinople filling all People's Ears with Complaints of their unjust Sentence, and daily soliciting both the Emperor and himself for restitution, and therefore desires to let him know their Crime, that he may rid both his Royal Master and himself from their Importunity. After this his own Controversy is brought in as it were by way of Postscript, to prevent false Reports against him, and soon after he sends him larger discourses in his own Justification. Upon which he returns him a very stately and supercilious Answer (as if he were particularly pleased in insulting over a Bishop of Constantinople) cutting him off from the Communion of the Catholic Church, 
Cap. 18.  allowing him only 10 days from the time of the Receipt of the Instrument, to redeem himself from the Fatal Decree, by a public and open Repentance. And as for the Cause of the Pelagians, he rates him very smartly for giving them any Countenance or Entertainment, and reflects suspicious of that Heresy upon him for his presuming to interpose in their behalf, however it is not time for him to intercede for others, but to take speedy care of himself. 
Cap. 19  This being done, he certifies his Sentence to the Clergy and People of Constantinople, letting them know that if Nestorius did not recant within 10 days, they should no longer own him for their Bishop. And the same thing is done by his several Epistles to the forementioned Bishops, all which is seconded by Cyril, who was glad to fortify himself with the Authority of the Apostolic See, and therefore he sends by the same Messenger that first brought Celestine's Letter to himself, a particular account to them and to Acacius of Beraea of all the fair means that had been used for reclaiming Nestorius before they proceeded to this severity, who all agree with him against Nestorius, 
Cap. 23.  as it is evident by Acacius his Answer to it, this he particularly assures him for himself, and John of Antioch, who upon it writes a very kind and prudent Letter to his old Friend Nestorius, 
Cap. 25.  conjuring him by all the Ties of Friendship, not to disturb his own and the Church's Peace by contending about a word, whilst himself professed to own the sense of it. And withal tells him, that if he would suffer himself to be persuaded to disclaim the Controversy, it would be so far from the dishonour of a Recantation, that it would be an eminent Act of Wisdom and Greatness of Mind, to forego Contentions and his own Opinions, that were not necessary to the Faith, for the Peace of the Church, and this he writes as the unanimous sense of divers Bishops that were his Friends. This Letter might probably have made some impression upon his great Spirit, had not Cyril spoilt all by his own over eagerness, for now finding himself so well backed, he would not be satisfied with the mere quitting his opinion, but he must be obliged to anathematise it too, and accordingly tenders him 12 anathemas to subscribe, which though they were Theological Verities, were, I think, too nice to be imposed as Articles of Faith and necessary conditions of the Peace of the Church. And I am withal very apt to think, that if this new Imposition had not made the breach wider, it might have been made up, for both Nestorius and Anastasius seemed by this time not to have been very fond of their Cause, if they could any way have quitted it with honour. But this new Imposition of Cyril so inflames his Choleric Nature, that he now forgets all Temper, and encounters anathemas with anathemas, and throws himself into an utter incapacity of Reconciliation upon the Terms of Pope Celestine, and that which is worse, it gave him the advantage and reputation of a Party, for John of Antioch was so offended at their rigour, 
Liberati Brev. cap. 4.  that it made him side with Nestorius against Cyril: and it was this that inflamed the Zeal of Theodoret, who as appears by his Epistles to Sporadius and Irenaeus, was before and after this time no Friend to the opinions of Nestorius, but an irreconcilable Enemy to Cyril and his anathemas, and therefore though he were one of those Bishops that had subscribed John of Antioch's Epistle to Nestorius, he could never after brook this Imposition of Cyril. But now Nestorius having gained this advantage by this over Pursuit, rallies with greater fierceness, and rages with greater Cruelty than ever, especially against his own Clergy, and upon it they Address to the Emperor with a Petition for Redress against his oppressions, 
Cap. 30.  and for a general Council to settle the Peace of the Church, which he immediately grants, and so Summons a Council to Ephesus in the 24th Year of his Reign, and in the Year of our Lord 431. And sends Candidianus one of his great Officers to the Synod to keep good order in it, and not, 
Cap. 35.  as he declares in his Letter to the Council, to intermeddle with the determination of Questions or Controversies, that should be debated about matters of the Christian Faith, because it is not lawful for any man, that is not admitted into the Order of the Holy Bishops, to interpose himself in Ecclesiastical Affairs and Debates: And so bids them proceed to a peaceable decision of the present Controversy, and no other, and as he gives them full Liberty and Freedom of Debate, so he assures them that whatever they agreed upon, he would ratify. The Bishops met at the time appointed to the number of above 200, M. Mercator, 
In praefat. ad Symb. Theod.  who himself was present there, says precisely 274. Only Capreolus Bishop of Carthage writes to the Council to have the African Bishops excused, who could not Travel at that time because of the Incursion of the Vandals over the whole Country: so that there were none wanting but only John of Antioch and his Eastern Bishops, and after he had made the Council wait 16 days, he at last sends them word not to stay for him, because his coming would be altogether uncertain. It was easy for him to foresee which way the Council would incline, and therefore he was unwilling to be present at the Condemnation of his old Friend. And so the Council suggest to the Emperor, that he sided with Nestorius' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 
Act. 5.  〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or as they express it in their Letter to Celestine, that he avoided the Council either out of Friendship to Nestorius, because he had been a Clerk of his Church▪ or because he was overcome by the persuasions of others, though the true reason was the disgust that he had taken against the anathemas, and a Compact between him and Nestorius by them to disturb and perplex the Proceedings of the Council, as will appear by the Event. For when the Council proceeded upon it, Nestorius refuses to appear till the coming of John of Antioch, but they after 3 Summons and 3 days patience, go on to Judgement, and upon hearing the whole Evidence, he is Condemned and Deposed by the Unanimous Vote of the Council, and his Condemnation is proclaimed through the City by the public Crier, and fixed up in Writing in the Chief Places of Resort to the great joy of the People. And an Account of their Proceedings is with all possible speed certified to the Emperor, beseeching his Majesty to keep the Condemned Doctrine of Nestorius out of all Churches, cause his Books to be burnt in all places with such Penalties upon Offenders, as he should think fit in his Royal displeasure to inflict, and so the Apostolical Faith will ●e protected and preserved by your Imperial Power. But this Letter was delayed by Candidianus who sided with Nestorius against the Council, which Cyril suspecting informs the Clergy of Constantinople of the▪ real truth to prevent false News, and it was but necessary, for before the Letter came to the Emperor's hands, 
Act. 4.  Nestorius and ten other Bishops that stuck to him had sent him a fair Story of the illegal and violent proceedings of the Council.  
But as for all Letters from the Council, 
Act. 6.  they were diligently intercepted, and as the Clergy of Constantinople inform the Council, all ships were searched, and the highways beset, so that no Person that came from the Council was suffered to pass to the City, whilst correspondence was free and open to the Enemy, and this was done with that strange diligence that the Messengers who brought the Letter from the Council to them, could find no other way of conveying it into the City then by a begger-Man, that had it closed up within a walking Cane.  

Liberati Brev. c. 6.  But when John of Antioch comes to Ephesus a few days after the Sentence, he protests against it, requiring them upon pain of Deposition and Excommunication to acquiesce in the Nicene Faith, to piece no Novelties to it, and to reject Cyril's heretical anathemas, and by the encouragement and persuasion of Candidianus, rakes together a little Council of forty three Bishops, whereof the greatest part had been deposed, and some were merely titular, for re-hearing the Cause. And here he is solemnly informed by Candidianus himself, that he was ordered by the Emperor not to open his Commission but in full Council, and that when Cyril and Memnon and their Associates combined to meet before the arrival of the Eastern Bishops▪ he forbid them in the Emperor's Name, but they forced him to comply for fear of a Sedition, and that he left the Council and protested against their Proceedings, and that when he found the sentence of Deposition set up against Nestorius, he caused it to be pulled down, and knew nothing of it till he was informed by its publication in the Marketplace. And yet being farther asked whether they entered upon the Examination of the merits of the Cause before they past sentence, he replies (like a raw and unexperienced Evidence) that they made no Inquiry at all, and this he attests as an Eye witness, though he had all along declared, that he was absent from the Council, and knew nothing of the Sentence till it was published in the City.  
But though the contradiction of the Testimony did not convict itself of falsehood, yet the Acts of the Council would, the particular Votes and Debates of the several Bishops, as they were taken by the Notaries, standing there upon perpetual Record. But upon th●s the Conventicle de●ose Cyril and Memnon, anathematise the Anathemas, and all that refuse to anathemati●e them, and certify to the Emperor the deposition of Cyril and Memnon in the name of the Council. Though Socrates is here so far mistaken as to impute that to Nestorius, 
Lib. 7. c. 34.  which was now done by John of Antioch, viz. that himself and his sma●l Council of 10, had deposed Cyril and Memnon immediately upon t●e Sentence of the Council against him. But the Schismatics having charmed the Emperor by their Letter, and by his Precedent Candidianus who sung the Chorus to their Song, the● sing over the same Tune in several Addresses to the Clergy, the Senate, and the People of Constantinople, and to clinch all, to the Empress and Princess Royal. But about this time arrived the ●ope's Legates with Letters from his Holiness to the Council, that f●r the greater State are only to be read in the Latin Tongue, and afterward by way of Condescension in the Greek at the Petition of the Fathers, though they were writ●en in both Languages, this was one of the most early Affectations of Lordly State in the Papacy. The next day they require all the Acts of the Council to be read over, as their Master Celestine had given them in command, which being done, they by the Sovereign Authority of St. Peter and his Successors in the Apostolic See give validity to the Sentence, without which state of the Papal Veult Le Roy, it could have had no effect. But the Council were glad of their Concurrence, to balance it against the opposition of John of Antioch, and upon it they write a second Letter to the Emperor, 
Act. 3.  informing him of the agreement both of the Eastern and Western Church in the Sentence against Nestorius, and request him not to credit th● Letters, that after the sentence of t●e Catholic Church so fully declared in Council, were threatened to be sent abroad by some Men, tha● preferred their friendship to Nestorius before the Peace of the Church. After this Cyril and Memnon move the Council to call John of Antioch to account for the injury that he had done to them in their Deposition, and to the whole Council in controlling its sentence. Upon this they send some of their number to cite John to appear, but by the favour of Candidianus he has his Guards as well as Nestor●us, and by them the Bishops are affronted and repulsed, and finally refusing to appear, he and his Associates are condemned and deposed, and their deposition certified to the Emperor and Pope Celestine. But the Schismatics had the Courtiers to back them, and therefore are so far from submitting to the Sentence of the Council, that they both defy that, and depose the Council itself, and send their Complaints to the Emperor of the violent courses used against them as if they were in continual danger of their Lives, and ply the Courtiers with dismal stories of barbarous usage, beg them by all the motives of Humanity to rescue them from their dismal condition. But their complaints to the Emperor being vouched by Candidianus, the Emperor sends Letters to the Council by Palladius to null all their Acts, for which the Schismatics you may be sure, return their letter of humble thanks, applauding the Wisdom and Goodness of his Imperial Majesty. But the Council finding hereby that the Emperor had been abused with false tales, write to him by Palladius to assure his Majesty of the truth of those Acts that they had sent him, and whereas Candidianus had given him other Information out of his friendship to Nestorius, they assure him that he was altogether ignorant of the Proceedings of the Council, and had not so much as ever seen the Books in which their Acts were entered. That the Bishops, who joined with Nestorius were either such as had been already deposed, or such as knew themselves obnoxious to the Discipline of the Church, and so must have been deposed, though they had continued with the Council. And as for their complaints of Violence they were so far from truth, that all the Guards attended Nestorius and his Party, that Irenaeus broke into the Council in a tumultuary way, and with Military force to the great danger of their Lives, and humbly petition his Majesty that five of the Council might attend him to give him farther Information in the presence of Candidianus. Upon this Irenaeus, who was a Courtier, that accompanied Candidianus to the Council out of mere zeal for Nestorius, is posted away to Constantinople by the schismatical Party with fresh Certificates of the wild and disorderly behaviour of Cyril and Memnon. Neither was he remiss in his Embassy, and so improved their Tales by word of Mouth, that though he had been prevented by Messengers from the Council, who came three days before him, and had prepossessed the greatest part of the People, and staggered the Emperor himself, yet he so satisfied him with his Relation of the whole Matter, that he confirmed the deposition of Cyril and Memnon, as well as Nestorius. And sends John his Comes Sacrorum, another favourer of Nestorius, to see it put in execution, who finding the City in a Tumult about those three Persons, he commits them all to prison, and then takes upon him to preach Peace and Reconciliation to the Bishops, and censures them very severely for being so implacable in their Quarrels, as he is pleased to call their resolution for the Orthodox Faith, and the Discipline of the Church. And setting aside the cause of truth in the case, it was an unpardonable Affront to the Discipline of the Church, that when the Controversy had been determined, and the Heretics deposed by the sentence of so great a Council, this unlearned Courtier should presume to set aside their Authority, and as if they stood upon equal ground after the sentence of the Church was passed, advise both Parties to shake hands and be friends, and because the Bishops scorned to put such a childish slur upon their own Authority, and the discipline of the Church, as to admit Offenders to communion without Canonical satisfaction, call them implacable Prelates. 
Act. 6.  But now the Council finding that both the Emperor and themselves had been abused, in that the Letter of the Nestorians to the Emperor about the deposition of Cyril and Memnon was written in the name of the Council, and the Emperor's Letter to confirm their deposition as well as that of Nestorius, was directed both to the Council and the Conventicle, as if they had been but one body of Men, they write two Letters to him, to inform him of the Imposture, but they are intercepted by the Courtiers, who still persist to lay all the blame of all these heats and disorders upon the Council itself. In which Office Count John was most busy at his return home, thinking himself affronted by the Council, when they would not prostitute the sacred Discipline of the Church to his illiterate device of Peace and Comprehension. But the Council having no return from the Emperor to their Letters, and suspecting their suppression, they write to the Clergy of Constantinople to inform the Emperor by Address of all the Abuses that were put upon his Majesty and the Council. But this falls short, for the next Letter that we have, is from the Clergy of Constantinople to the Council, complaining of the want of Correspondence, all Passages both by Sea and Land being blocked up, and declaring that they were ready to do any service that the Council would be pleased to command them. By which the Council perceive that the first came not to their lands, and therefore send a second to the same effect, that came safe, and upon it they petition the Emperor, and inform h●m of the true state of the whole Matter, and the Emperor being puzzled with all these cross Stories, orders Commissioners from both Parties to repair to Constantinople, that he might understand the real Truth of the Controversy. Eight Commissioners are sent on each side, and the Legates of the Council are commanded in their Instructions to insist upon the deposition of Nestorius, and nothing else, as the Article of Peace. And the Legates from the Conventicle on the other side are commanded to insist upon the abolition of Cyril's anathemas as Heretical, Schismatical, and unwarrantable Additions to the Nicene Faith. But when they came, they were not admitted into the City for fear of Tumults by the Monks, the Schismatics were dismissed to Chalcedon, and indeed the business was over eight days before their arrival, when the Emperor understanding the Cheat that had been hitherto put upon him, condemned Nestorius to perpetual Banishment, and set Cyril and Memnon at liberty. And though the Legates of the Conventicle pressed him with three Petitions, one upon the neck of another for a Conference, he would not for a long time grant it. But at last their importunity prevails, and as themselves boast, they shock the Emperor, for though he would hear nothing in behalf of Nestorius, yet he was offended at Cyril's anathemas, that were represented with too much advantage by the adverse Party as unwarrantable additions to the Nicene Faith, of which the Emperor was very jealous, and that was the point that put him upon some Demur. Nestorius' stood condemned by him from the first sentence of the Council, but on the other side Cyril's anathemas were offensive, as his own private additions to the settled Faith. And therefore Nestorius his Friends let fall his Cause, and only pursue the condemnation of the anathemas, and that Plea was too plausible with the Emperor, for though they might be Theological Verities, they were no Articles of Faith, not being expressed in the Nicene Creed, and yet so they were made by being imposed upon the Church under the Penalty of an Anathema. And here stuck the pinch of the Controversy all the time that it depended at Court, that the Nestorians pressed for the examination of the anathemas, which the Cyrillians at last endeavoured to balk, and insist only upon the Heresy and Condemnation of Nestorius, and having the Emperor sure on their side in that point, they were sure to carry the Cause at last, for he being tired with the Disputes about the anathemas, le's that Controversy fall, and only abets the Sentence of the Council against Nestorius with his own sentence of banishment, and commands the Bishops to choose a Successor into the See, who electing Maximianus are dismissed without any determination of the other Controversy. And as if the sentence of the Council and the Confirmation of the Emperor had been invalid without it, Pope Celestine sends his Pontifical Rescript to confirm all, by the Authority of St. Peter. Longius quidem sumus positi, 
Act. part. 3. cap. 20.  sed per s●licitudinem totum propius intuemur. Omnes habet beati Petri Apostoli cura presents, non nos ante Deum nostrum de hoc possumus excusare quod scimus.  
In all this Contest the greatest Loser next to Nestorius, who lost all, was John of Antioch, who being run down in Council, his confining Adversaries take that advantage to beat him out of his late Usurpations. The Bishops of Cyprus, over whom he had extended his Jurisdiction, make their Complaints to the Council, by whose Decree he is expelled the Island. And whereas he had usurped over the Provinces of Arabia and Phaenice, upon which Juvenal the new Bishop of Jerusalem, a brisk and ambitious Man had cast his Eye and made some inroads of Usurpation, he now thinks by the advantage of the animosity between Cyril and John of Antioch to have it confirmed to him in Council, and this was the thing that made him so active there, for which reasons he was nominated one of the eight Commissioners to the Emperor. Which Design is plainly suggested to the Emperor, by John and his Party in their first Petition from Chalcedon. It is evident, Sir, (say they) that some among them have contrived and carried on this wicked design for their own ends, and your Majesty will see them, when they have carried through their Treachery, to divide the Spoils of the Church among themselves. And though Juvenal of Jerusalem took upon him to ordain some of of us, we held our peace, notwithstanding that we ought to have contended for the Canons, lest we should have seemed to contend for our own Ambition. Neither are we ignorant of his Designs and Devices at this very time upon the second Phaenice and Arabia. So that it seems he had made some overtacts of his design in Council, but Cyril detested and damned the Motion, as Pope Leo in his 16 th' Epistle tells us, That Cyril himself informed him by Letter. But though he could not carry it in Council, he got at last both those Provinces, and the three Palestines beside, and kept them till the Council of Chalcedon, when both Parties, being conscious to themselves of their having no right to the whole Child, consent to its division, the three Palestines falling to Juvenal; Phaenice and Arabia to Maximus of Antioch.  
But though the Nestorian Controversy was ended, the quarrel was not, that run very high between those two great Prelates, Cyril of Alexandria and John of Antioch, and their greatness drew great numbers of Bishops after them to the great disorder and disturbance of the Church, and great grief of the Emperor, 
Liberati Brev. cap. 8.  who therefore advises with Maximian and other Bishops how to redress the mischief; they answer, that there is no remedy but John of Antioch's subscribing the condemnation of Nestorius and his Heresy. 
Act. part. 3. cap. 24.  Upon this the Emperor writes to John by Aristolaus commanding him to meet Cyril at Nicomedia, and be reconciled to him upon pain of his displeasure. And this Letter he seconds with another to the famous Monk Simeon Stylites, Acacius Bishop of Beraea, 
Ibid. c. 25, 26.  and the Bishops of all the Eastern Provinces to persuade John to return to the Peace and Unity of the Church. Upon this a Council meets at Beraea, and agree upon this Proposal, that they would condemn Nestorius upon condition, that Cyril would call in all his own Writings about the Controversy. But this being refused, and John being wrought upon, 
C. 27.  either by the Emperor's threatenings or the importunity of his friends, declares his assent to the Decree of the Ephesine Council, Anathematises the Heresy of Nestorius, subscribes his deposition, and approves the ordination of Maximinian. But for the greater solemnity of the business, and to salve the dishonour of an absolute submission, he sends Paul Bishop of Emesa as his Legate to Alexandria to treat with Cyril about terms of Peace, and sends by him a Confession of Faith, which if Cyril would accept, he was his humble Servant. Now the Confession being Orthodox, and having nothing in it of his own, but only the form of Words, it was as easily accepted as offered: and so after all this contention about nothing but mutual misunderstanding, 
C. 34.  are they at last reconciled, as both Cyril objects to the Antiochians in his Letter of Reconciliation, and Theodoret to the Cyrillians in his Letter to Andrew the Monk. But though they were agreed, the Contest is still kept up by some men's zeal, and other men's malice. The Nestorians finding themselves every where excluded the Church by this Union, 
C. 35.  spread abroad reports that Cyril had embraced the Nestorian Faith, and Letters are forged in his name condemning the Council of Ephesus, and some new fanatic Heretics plead his Authority for their own foolish Novelties. And some over zealous Men of his own Party accuse him of too much compliance with the Heretics, and this cost Cyril some trouble and time to clear himself as well from the jealousy of his Friends, as from the spite of his Enemies. And so was the Catholic Church at length restored to Peace and Unity, and as Cyril relates, 
C. 44.  most of the Nestorians repenting of their Heresy, were upon their submission restored to the Catholic Communion. 
C. 41. 4●.  And to perfect the work Pope Sixtus writes to both the Bishops to commend them both for his white Boys, quia ad beatum Apostolum Petrum fraternitas universa convenit. And thus the Emperor having at last compassed the Restitution of the Church's Peace, for its lasting security, he enacts a Rescript in the year 435 to root the Nestorian Heresy out of all his Dominions. But why no sooner, says Gothofred? Because, says he, the Emperor might suppose that the Heretics had been reclaimed by the sentence of the Council, but now finding that they continued to spread abroad their Books and Opinions, he thought it high time to stop the mischief by this severe Rescript. This may be true, though it is mere guess, but if this learned Man had observed the contest between Cyril and John of Antioch, and that it was 2 or 3 years after the Council before the Emperor could gain John and his Eastern Bishops entirely from the Party of Nestorius, he would have found a very good reason why this Rescript was not sooner published, viz. because till then, Affairs were not ripe for it, and if it had been published before this strong Party had been taken off, it might have tempted them to join with the Heresy in good earnest. But now when they had declared against it, and Nestorius his own small Party was left alone, it was seasonable to prevent its growth by the Execution of this smart Law, and it did the work effectually, for though for a time the Ghost of the Heresy skulkt up and down in other shapes and other languages, yet it could never after get so much courage or confidence, as to appear in its own form in public. The Rescript consists of three Parts. First it commands, That the followers of Nestorius should be called by no other name than the nickname of Simonians, from Simon Magus, as if he were the Author of their Sect, as Constantine the Great named the Arians Porphyrians. Secondly, that all his Books and all other Books whatsoever contrary to the Decrees of the Ephesine Council should be brought in, and publicly burnt. Thirdly, that they should be debarred of all Meeting Places either in Public or Private, with the Penalty of Proscription of Goods upon all Offenders against any branch of this Law. And because after this, some Men published the same Opinions in new obscure and ambiguous Terms, and endeavoured to revive them under the Authority of some of the Ancients, 
V. Liberat● Breviar. c. 10.  particularly Theodorus Mopsuestenus, and Diodorus Tarsensis in their Writings against Eunomius and Apollinaris, he publishes another Rescript in the year 448 against all such Attempts under the same Penalties. The execution of both which Rescripts, being enjoined in good earnest by the Praetorian Praefects upon their Judges and Under-Officers, soon did their own work. And thus ended the Council and the Heresy together. And things might have been much sooner and much more easily settled, had they not been perplexed, partly by the over-eagerness of Cyril in imposing his anathemas as Articles of Faith, which made John of Antioch and his Party fly off, so that he was forced to quit that imposition, before they could be reconciled. But chiefly by the dishonesty of the Courtiers, who took part with the Heretics against the Authority of the Church, and abused the Emperor with false tales and reports, but otherwise all the proceedings in this Matter were fair and regular: the Controversy was determined by the judgement of the Church, and the judgement of the Church abetted by the Power of the Empire, and that is the true and proper concurrence of both Jurisdictions in framing Ecclesiastical Laws.   

§. XVI. The Nestorian Heresy being broke and vanquished by the Authority of the Ephesine Council, and the assistance of the Imperial Power, the Church enjoyed Peace for the space of eighteen years, and governed itself by its own Provincial Synods, without the need of any concurrence from the Civil State, till the fiery Zeal of Abbot Eutyches, an overdriving stickler against Nestorius, broke out in new Combustions, who out of too fierce and eager opposition to the exploded Heresy, as it usually happens to Men of furious Tempers, runs headlong into the contrary extreme. So that whereas Nestorius held that the Divinity and Humanity in our Saviour were two distinct Persons as well as Natures, he teaches that though they were two distinct Natures before the Incarnation, yet after it they were blended into one. 
Epist. ad ●ulcber. 11.  And for this dull and absurd Metaphysics of a thick-skulled Monk (or as Pope Leo calls it, Error qui de imperitià magis quam de versutiâ natus est▪ not a whimsy of subtlety but dullness) must the Christian World be set in Flames and Ashes rather than part with the honour of the deep Invention, so that it brought much more perplexing trouble and disturbance to the Christian Church then the Nestorian Dream. For though that was not overcome without great difficulty through the Treachery of the Eunuches and the Courtiers, yet Theodosius being now grown old and desirous of ease, he submitted to their Power, especially the Eunuch Chrysaphius, who as he was his particular Favourite, so was he Eutyches his particular Friend, and he so managed the Emperor as Eusebius did Constantius, and Eudoxius Valens, that instead of assisting the Church with his Imperial Power, he oppressed and opposed it. From whence it was that during all his Reign, it could never cope with this Heresy, though by the good providence of God it was effectually vanquished under his Successor Marcian, who came to the Crown both by the Marriage of Pulcheria Sister of Theodosius, and the Choice of the Senate and the Army; one of the greatest Princes in the Imperial Succession, and the man that next to Constantine and Theodosius might have deserved the Surname of Great 
* Marcellinus Comes in his Character of Theodosius. Omnibus Orientalibus Principibus praeponendus, nisi quod Marcianum tertium post se principem imitatorem habuerit. . A Prince of great Conduct, Courage, Prudence, and Piety, a Lover of Justice and Honesty, a strict observer of the Laws of the Church and the Empire, and who by his wise management left all things in such a quiet posture, as perhaps no other Reign can equal, when the Successor came in, not by Inheritance but Election.  
And therefore I shall give the most exact account that I can, of the Ecclesiastical Transactions of his Reign, it being so clear an Exemplification of my design, to show the right and the wrong ways of exerting the Civil Power in Matters of the Church. In the Year 449, Flavianus Bishop of Constantinople, who succeeded P●oclus, that succeeded Maximianus, held a Council of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Bishops then Resident in the City, for which reason in the Acts of the Council, it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the sojourning Synod, according to the new and corrupt Custom of the Bishops of that City upon their Usurpation over the Rights of Metropolitans, to receive Appeals from the Legal Sentence, and determine them in the Synod of these Indwelling Bishops, who attended at Court for their own Affairs and Preferments. A device that the Bishops of Constantinople were forced to make use of, because that See being at first but an inferior Bishopric, and subject to its own Metropolitan of H●raclea, it could not pretend to a Power of Convening Synods, and therefore they seize this opportunity of consulting with the Bishops Resident in the City without any Summons, and this by Time and a little Custom became a standing Synod superior to the Provincial Synods. And that was the particular occasion of this present Council under Flavianus, viz. A Contest of Florentius the Metropolitan of the Lydian Sardis, 
Liberat. Brev. c. 11.  with John and Cossinus two Bishops of his Province, who had Appealed from their Metropolitan to Flavianus and his Court-Conclave, though they upon hearing of the Cause were so civil (and that was not usual either with them or any other Usurpers) as to judge it on the side of the Metropolitan. But that matter being fairly and easily dispatched, 
Actio prima.  Eusebius the Bishop of Dorylaeum a City of Phrygia Salutaris, and a man eminent for Piety and Learning▪ rises up and accuses his old Friend Eutyches (having long in vain endeavoured, as he declares to the Council, to reclaim him by private advice or discourse) ●f holding and teaching Heretical Opinions, or a different Faith from that delivered from the Apostles, and received by the Nicene Fathers, and delivers up the Articles of his Charge in Writing. Upon this Eutyches is summoned to appear, and is after three Citations, and all the shifts of delay, unkenelled out of his Monastery, and stripped of his Orders. But the great Eunuch Chrysaphius was his friend, and before the Heretic would appear, he flies to him for help and protection, and he prevails with the Emperor to send Florentius a Courtier and one of his Creatures, with a Rabble of Monks and a Guard of Soldiers along with Eutyches to the Council, but for all that upon a full hearing and debating of the Cause, he is again deposed, and eased of his Abbey. Upon this he makes his Address to Pope Leo, procures the Emperor's Letters in his behalf, and among his many other Grievances, makes that acceptable Complaint▪ That his Appeal to the Apostolical See was rejected by the Bishop of Constantinople. Leo was glad of any opportunity to exert his universal Pastorship, but much more to break the Power of that Rival See, and therefore he greedily takes the Judgement of the Cause to himself, writes a very huffing Letter to Flavianus, rates him severely for not acquainting his Holiness with his Proceedings, but much more tartly for denying an Appeal to the Apostolical See, and peremptorily Commands him to return all the Acts of the Council to himself as the only Supreme Judge, or as he expresses himself in his Answer to the Emperor, Ad praedictum autem Episcopum dedi literas, quibus mihi displicere cognosceret, quòd ea quae in tantâ causâ gesta fuerant, etiam nunc silentio reticeret, cum studere debuerit primitus nobis cuncta reserare. Flavianus knowing the Spirit of the Man, and being afraid of giving him any Provocation, returns him a very civil and submissive Answer together with the Acts of the Council, humbly requests his Concurrence and Approbation, and assures him that Eutyches had never made any Appeal to his Holiness, and therefore had abused him with a palpable falsehood. Leo upon this Information and the perusal of the Acts is satisfied, 
Act. 11.  and agrees to the Condemnation of Eutyches, and returns Flavianus that Famous Epistle in confutation of the Eutychian Heresy, that was afterward so magnified by the Council of Chalcedon, as to be made of equal Authority with the Decrees of the General Councils. Upon this Eutyches flies a second time to his friends at Court, and complains that the Acts of the Council had been falsified by Flavianus, and upon that the Bishops that were present at the Council, were resummoned, and are required to give in their Answer to the Interrogatories upon Oath, but this they unanimously refuse as an affront to their Order, because, as Basil Bishop of Seleucia replied, it was never yet heard of that an Oath was offered to Bishops, and therefore upon their word they vouch the truth and sincerity of the Record, and declare that Eutyches never made any offer of Appeal to the Bishops of Rome and Alexandria, as he pretended in his Bill of Complaint. In short, the Acts themselves being examined and compared with Eutyches his own Copy, exhibited by his Procurators (for he refused to appear in Person) they were found to agree so exactly in all particulars, as not only to put himself but his friends out of Countenance. And therefore finding no shelter either at home or at Rome, he betakes himself to Alexandria, and there engages Dioscorus who succeeded Cyril in that See, on his side. And he being a man of an ungovernable temper, and willing to put an affront upon the great Bishop of Constantinople (according to the practice of those times, for the Top-Bishops to endeavour to check each others greatness) embraces the Quarrel with all possible Zeal, and pursues it with as indefatigable diligence, earnestly solicits the Emperor for a General Council to rehear● the Cause of Eutyches, which he represents to him as nothing else then an opposition to the Nestorian Heresy, 
V. Theodos. Lit. ad Juven. Act. 1.  and so the Emperor himself took it. And though Flavianus and Leo opposed it with all their Zeal and Power, yet Eutyches having the Eunuch's favour, and the Emperors own aversation against Nestorius to back him, he prevails, and a second Council is summoned to Ephesus 19 years after the first, consisting of 130 Bishops, and the Presidency of the Council is by Chrysaphius his Power with the Emperor determined to Dioscorus by special Commission. Pope Leo is invited, but his Answer is, That he neither would nor could come, he could not, because at that time Rome was distressed by the Huns, and he would not, because it was not becoming the State of the Apostolic Chair to appear in any Council, but however he sends his Legates with Letters to the Council (little suspecting those Irregularities that ensued, but by the Artifice of Dioscorus they were not so much as suffered to be read, and upon it the Legates quit the Council, and upon that all things are carried with Tumult and Violence by Dioscorus of Alexandria, Juvenal of Jerusalem, Thalassius of Caesarea, and Barsumas a debauched Abbot, who was particularly summoned by the Emperor, and his Vote made equal with the Bishop's contrary both to the Canons and the Custom of the Church, as appears by the Subscriptions to the late Council of Constantinople under Flavianus against Eutyches, Action the 7th, where the Bishops subscribe in this Form, IN Bishop subscribe as Judge, and the Abbots in this only, IN Presbyter and Abbot subscribe the Condemnation. And beside all these Irregularities, Count Elpidius, who was sent by the Emperor to preside and keep good order, favouring Eutyches out of Compliance with Chrysaphius took the Judgement of the Council to himself, so as to hinder all Canonical Proceedings, and that soon run the whole matter into Tumult and Confusion, Barsumas and his Monks breaking into the Council, beating some, imprisoning others, and forcing others to subscribe a Blank for Eutyches his Absolution, and so Eutyches is absolved, Flavianus and Eusebius of Dorilaeum Condemned, and imprisoned too together with the Pope's Legates, only Hilarus escaping by Flight. And to confirm all these unpriestly and unchristian Enormities, Chrysaphius procures an Imperial Rescript, which we shall find afterwards reversed by the Emperor Marcian. But within three days after the Scuffle Flavianus dies in Goal of the Wounds given him by Barsumas and his Myrmidons, and to him succeeds Anatolius, though he cannot pass at Rome without absolute submission to Pope Leo his Epistles, and the Catholic Church, as if they were the same thing. But Dioscorus having carried things with so high an hand and bold success, returns home flushed and drunk with Victory, and in one of his Fits excommunicates Pope Leo himself. But the only effect of all these disorders and disturbances in the Church at that time, was the advancement of the Papal Greatness, for as this Pope never failed to exert his Power to the utmost, so every success raised his Throne to a greater height, and he so managed this advantage, as to bring the design of the Papal Supremacy, as it was laid by Innocent the First to its full perfection. For though the Title of Head of the Universal Church was not gained till Boniface the Third, yet Pope Leo went away with the Power, and as will appear by the Event, exercised a real Supremacy over the Catholic Church. For being informed of these wild disorders, he immediately calls a Council, and writes to the Emperor to Conjure him by the Holy Trinity, and as he will answer it at the Divine Tribunal, to null all the Acts of that Profane Council, and by Virtue of an Appeal, that Flavianus made to himself before his death, demands a General Council to be held in Italy. And this he seconds with another to his Sister Pulcheria, begging her intercession with the Emperor. And the Emperor Valentinian with his Mother Placidia, and his Queen Eudoxia happening to visit Rome at that time, Leo so plies them with rueful Stories of the late Ephesine Persecution, that he dissolves the Women into Tears, and engages all their Zeal to intercede with Theodosius for an Italian Council, and this they all do out of that dutiful respect to the Supremacy of St. Peter, to whom Leo tells them, that our Saviour and all Antiquity had ever given the Sacerdotii Principatus, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, as they express it in their several Epistles. But the Emperor was so prepossessed by his Eunuches, and his Zeal against Nestorius, that no importunity could prevail upon him, the thing being already Canonically determined, as he replies to the Empress in answer to her Letrer of Intercession, and by an Imperial Rescript ratifies the deposition of Flavianus as guilty of the Nestorian Heresy, and justifies all the Proceedings against him at Ephesus, but if we may rely upon the Crude Reports of Nicephorus and some later Writers (which I never do) he repented before his death and sent Chrysaphius into Banishment, however that was, no public satisfaction was made to the Church till after his death, when Marcian reversed all the Acts of the Council together with the Rescript of Theodosius by which it was confirmed, restored the banished Bishops, and removed the Body of Flavianus to Constantinople, and for the complete settlement of the Church summoned a Council of 630 Bishops in the Year 451, first at Nice, and afterward at the request of the Fathers, at Chalcedon.  
For these being sensible of the Abuses that had been put upon the Church, by the Imperial Delegates in several Councils, they were desirous that the Emperor himself might, if there happened any Contest about their Proceedings, interpose by his own immediate Authority; he being then detained by urgent Affairs of State at Constantinople, and Chalcedon being no more than a Miles distance on the other side the Thracian Bosphorus. And by this putting themselves into his Imperial Majesties own Protection, they in a great measure secured the Liberties of the Church, and rescued it from the long continued Abuses of the Court-Debauchees; insomuch that though the Emperor sent many of his Chief Officers of State to manage and moderate in Council, yet they never presumed to conclude any thing, till himself was present at the 6th Session. But the Council being met at the Emperor's Summons, Pope Leo sends his Legates and his Letters, in which he is pleased to take notice of his Majesty's particular Respect to the Apostolic See, in that he did not Summon, but only invite him to the Council, when he was not obliged to appear in Person, or as Hilarus, one of his Delegates, afterwards pleads in the Council itself, that it was without Precedent and against all Prescription for a Pope of Rome to appear in Council. 
Act. 1. p. 122. in Labbè.  But his Holiness not being obliged to execute the Office of Supremacy in Person, he sends his Legates or Curates as his Representatives to preside over and manage the Council. And the Council being opened, Paschasinus, that was the Foreman of the Embassy, moves in his Master's name, the Bishop of Rome, the head of all Churches, that Dioscorus of Alexandria may be called to the Bar, and not suffered to sit as Judge in Council, otherwise himself and his Brethren were commanded by their Commission to remonstrate. Here the Judges require his Accusation. To this Lucentius, another Legate, replies, That his Crime was too evident, in that he had presumed to assume to himself the Authority of a Judge, and passed sentence, not only without, but against the judgement of the Apostolic See, which as it never ought to be done, so it never had been done; and for this reason he is not admitted to sit upon the Bench, but is turned down to the Bar, and his Indictment is exhibited by Eusebius of Dorilaeum. But its Prosecution was at present superseded by Theodoret's appearing in Council, that occasioned a Tumult of the Egyptian, Illyrican and Palestine Bishop, against him, and the Eastern, Pontic, Asiatic and Thracian Bishops for him, upon the account of the Animosity between him and Cyril about the anathemas. From hence they fall to the Examination of the Acts of the Ephesine Council, where the forgeries, the frauds, the violent and illegal Proceedings of Dioscorus, Juvenal, and their Associates against Flavianus and Eusebius are at large most shamefully exposed to the World, but their punishment is referred to the Emperor, and so ends the first Action.  
In the second they proceed to treat of the settlement of the Faith, where they establish the Nicene Faith against Arius, the Ephesine against Nestorius, and the Epistle of Pope Leo to Flavianus against Eutyches, as necessary Expositions of the Faith. In the third Session (which Valesius says aught to have been the second) comes on the Trial of Dioscorus, who upon divers Accusations brought into the Council against him, and after three Citations refusing to appear, is deposed. It is pretty to observe in this sentence, how under this swelling Pope the Acts and Forms of Court were innovated for the advantage of the Papal Power. The Libels or Petitions against the Offender are addressed in the first place to the Ecumenical Archbishop and Patriarch of Rome, and then to the Council itself. And then none must denounce the Sentence, but his own Legates, and that too must be done, not in the name of the Council, but in the Name and by the Authority of Pope Leo and St. Peter, and this being done, the Council signify their sentence to the Emperor and Empress, where again they give all the glory of the Action to Pope Leo. In the fourth Action, beside repeating the former Decrees, a Committee is appointed to debate farther concerning the Faith, and Leo's Epistle, which they represent to the Council as agreeable in all particulars to the Nicene Faith. After that, the Judges acquaint the Fathers that the Emperor is pleased to refer back the sentence against the Accomplices of Dioscorus to themselves, but they tacking about, and following the dance of that shameless Ecebolian Juvenal of Jerusalem, and subscribing the Epistle of Pope Leo, are reconciled and admitted to sit. In the next place the Egyptian Bishops refuse to subscribe either the Condemnation of Eutyches and Dioscorus, or the confirmation of Leo's Epistle, during the Vacancy of the Arch bishopric of Alexandria upon the deposition of Dioscorus, it being both against the Canons and the Custom of their Church, to act any thing without the consent of their Archbishop. But this the Council interpret a mere shift and tergiversation, to escape the subscription to their Decrees, and therefore insist upon it before their dismission. And tell them withal, that the Canon was valid as to the ordinary Affairs of their own Province, but aught to be anticipated and superseded by the determinations of general Councils, that include and overrule all Provincial Jurisdictions. In answer to this they declare their own readiness to subscribe, but dare not for fear of the People when they return home, who they knew would lay violent hands upon them, for betraying the Rights of the great Alexandrian Metropolitan. And after long drawing on either side, the matter is adjusted by the mediation of the Secular Judges, that their subscription should be respited till the election of a new Archbishop, which was accepted by Paschasinus the Pope's Legate, upon this condition that they would give Security by Oath or Sureties not to depart the City till that was done, which being readily performed it ended the Controversy. After this follows the Petition of the Eutychian Monks of Constantinople to the Emperor, which he referred to the Council, as he did all other Addresses, but it being in behalf of Dioscorus against the Council, and particularly their own Bishop Anatolius, from whom they threaten to divide Communion, if they persist in their Sentence against Dioscorus, they are taught by Aëtius the archdeacon of Constantinople in a Praemunire against the 4 th' and 5 th' Canons of the Council of Antioch, whereby all Presbyters are actually excommunicated, that presume to separate from their own Bishop. But before they can be farther heard in Council, they are required to subscribe the Epistle of Pope Leo against Eutyches and his profane Novelties, which refusing they are deposed from their Orders and expelled their Monasteries. The Imperial, or (as the Council phrases it) the external Power, according to the holy Laws of their Ancestors, backing their Decree against the Contumacious. This Action is shut up with a very fair decision of a Controversy between Photius Bishop of Tyre, and Eustathius Bishop of Beryte, who being a subject Bishop to Photius had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by subreption procured a Rescript in the time of Theodosius the Younger, to bring part of the Province into subjection to himself, and by force and threatening extorts Photius his consent to it. But this great Council now sitting, Photius Petitions the Emperor to write to the Council to redress his wrong, which is easily granted, where the cause being debated, Eustathius confesses the Canon against him, but pleads the Imperial Rescript against that. But this Plea is utterly rejected both by the Judges and the Bishops, to whom the Judges referred its final judgement, who determined it upon this rule, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. The Imperial pragmatics are of no force against the Canons. Upon this Eustathius pleads the Authority of Anatolius, and a Synod of his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, or Bishops sojourning at Constantinople who had proceeded so far in this contest, as to excommunicate Photius, though uncited and unheard; upon this the Judges refer it to the Council, Whether that were a legal Synod; to which Anatolius pleads, That it was so by Custom, though not by Law: But against this the 4 th' Canon of Nice is urged, that no Bishop can be ordained without the consent of his Metropolitan, which Eustathius having done, by whatsoever other Authority, it was an open breach of that Canon, and so adjudged by the Council, to whom the Secular Judges entirely lest the Judicature, as proper to their Jurisdiction, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, (as they declare) to give the final Sentence about these Matters, which being done by the Council in behalf of Photius, it is thus confirmed by the Judges, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Let the Decrees of the Council stand established forever. And upon it Cecropius Bishop of Sebastopolis is encouraged to move, That all Imperial pragmatics for the Alteration of the settled bounds of Provinces may be taken away forever, as bringing certain disturbance and confusion upon the Government of the Church; which being seconded by the Synod, is confirmed by the Consent of the Judges.  
In the 5 th' Action after many Debates, the Judges having no mind to the Imposition of Leo's Epistle, the Fathers proceed to the settlement of the Faith, and having first approved the Creeds of the three other general Councils, they add a 4 th' of their own framing against Eutyches, not that they intended to make a new Creed; but as a necessary declaration of the ancient Faith against his upstart Heresy. The sixth Action is one of the most remarkable Instances of the right use of the Imperial Power in the Christian Church, that we have upon record in all the Histories of it. For the Council being fully agreed about the settlement of the Faith in the last Session, in this the Emperor with his Empress attended by a great Train of Nobles, comes to confirm their Decrees, as he professes in his Speech to the Holy Fathers. Nos enim ad sidem confirmandam, non ad potentiam aliquam exercendam ex●mplo religiosi Principis Constantini Synodo interesse voluimus. He came into the Council not to make, but confirm and ratify their Decrees, by his Imperial Power. And therefore having the Acts of the last Session read before him, with the Subscriptions of all the Bishops to the Confession of Faith, he there immediately enacts this Penal Law to enforce the observation of their Decree. The Catholic Faith being declared by the holy Synod according to the Tradition of the Fathers, we think it both decent and our duty to cut off for the time to come all farther Debates about it. If therefore any private Citizen, Soldier or Clergyman shall hereafter make any disturbance by attempting any public Disputation about the Faith, the Citizen shall be banished, the Soldier disbanded, and the Clerk deposed, and be obnoxious to further punishment at our Royal Pleasure. And thus having with so much Prudency and Decency exerted his Imperial Authority in Controversies of Faith, 〈◊〉 not at all to interpose his own Power in making the determination, but to embrace and confirm the resolution of the Holy Fathers, the proper Judges in the Case, in the next place he exerts his Authority in matters of Discipline. For having observed some defects in the Clergy, both against the ancient Canons and the Imperial Laws, he propounds it to the Council that they would take care to provide for their Reformation. And this, he declares, he does out of mere Respect and Honour to their Function, as thinking it more decent that they should be canonically determined in Council, then enacted and enforced by his own Imperial Laws. And as it was a civil Decency, so it was no more, for the Abuses that he complained of, were such as concerned the Peace of the Empire, as well as the Church, as the Tumults and Disorders of the Monks, frequent Instances whereof as we have met with through the whole progress of this Story, so were they the Masters of these present Revels. And certainly such Disorders concerned his own Imperial Power, if the Peace of the Empire did so. As for his other two Proposals, the first against the trading, and the second against the wand'ring of the Clergy, they were properly subject to the Imperial Power, because though these and the like irregularities were first forbidden by the Ecclesiastical Canons, yet they had before this time been often restrained by the Imperial Laws, as we have seen above out of the Theodosian Code. After this the Emperor in Compliment to the memory of the Holy Martyr St. Euphemia, in whose Church the Council was held, gives the City of Chalcedon the honour of a Titular Metropolis, securing all the Rights of Metropolitical Power to the Metropolitan of Nicomedia. And here some say the Council ended, the Father's having dispatched the whole work, for which they were summoned, the following Sessions being only taken up with casual and personal Controversies, and therefore by some of the Ancients they are made distinct Councils, and this latter part in some of their Writings goes under the name of the 5 th' Council.  
The seventh Session is spent in confirming the Agreement or Concordate between Juvenal of Jerusalem and Maximus of Antioch about dividing their Usurpations. How Juvenal that had been all along such an active Confederate with Dioscorus, and stood guilty of the same Crimes, came to meet with so much favour, is easy enough to conceive, being a great Court-Parasite, and Church-trimmer, and so by his cringings and flatteries had wriggled himself into the good Opinion of the Fathers. In the 8 th' Action Theodoret is restored to his Church, upon his anathematising Nestorius and his Heresy; and that was a very easy matter for him to do, when he had all along done the same, having only opposed the unseasonable imposition of Cyril's anathemas. The 9 th' and 10 th' Actions were taken up with the case of Ibas Bishop of Edessa, who had been accused to the Emperor Theodosius by some Eutychians, as guilty of the Nestorian Heresy, and by him the cause was referred to a Synod at Beryte, in which he anathematised Nestorius and all his Doctrines, and was cleared of his Indictment. But in the violent Council of Ephesus he was again accused by Eutyches himself, and without being heard, deposed and imprisoned. But now upon his Petition is heard in this Council, and after the examination of all Records and Witnesses, he is again found clear of the Nestorian Heresy, all the Accusation being grounded upon his opposition to Cyril's anathemas. And the true State and Account of that Controversy between Cyril and Nestorius, and the Eastern Bishops against both, is best described by Ibas himself in his Famous Epistle to Maris Persa, recorded among the Acts of the 10th Session. The subject of the 11th and 12th Actions was a Contest between Bassianus and Stephanus for the Bishopric of Ephesus, but they being both uncanonically ordained, are both deposed. Upon this occasion the asiatics move that the new Bishop may be Consecrated at Ephesus according to the Canons. No, say the Constantinopolitans, but in this City according to Custom, as they falsely pretended for all their Usurpations, to do illegal things, and then make them a Precedent to warrant their illegal doings. This occasions a new Contest about the Prerogative of the Bishop of Constantinople to ordain other Metropolitans; but he and his Party being conscious to themselves of the weakness of their own pretence, they let fall the Controversy. The most observable passage in this Action, next to the Contest itself, and the Constantinopolitan Plea to justify their Usurpation by illegal Custom against Canon, is the Plea of Bassianus to make good the Title to his Bishopric, viz. That he was Consecrated by the Bishops of the Province, and his Consecration allowed and confirmed by the Emperor, and that is an instance of the Custom of those times, that the Prince's Approbation was necessary to the Instalment of a Bishop, though the Power of Election was placed in the Provincial Synod. Upon what reason of State this Power of the Prince was grounded, I shall show, when I come to argue the reason of the thing, at present I only allege this as an instance of the practice. And of the same nature is the next Action, of a Case setting up a new Custom and the pretence of an Imperial Rescript against Canon and Ancient Practice. For whereas Nicomedia had ever been the Metropolis of Bythinia, the Emperors Valentinian and Valens had conferred the Title and Honour of a Metropolis upon the City of Nice, reserving the Metropolitan Power to Nicomedia. Upon occasion and pretence of this Grant Anastasius Bishop of Nice usurps to himself the Power of Jurisdiction over some part of the Province, and particularly Basilonopolis; of this Eunomius Bishop of Nicomedia and Metropolitan of Bythinia makes his Complaint to the Council: and they to adjust the Ecclesiastical Canons and the Imperial Rescript, grant the Honour of a Metropolis to Nice, but so as to reserve the Power entire to Nicomedia. Hereupon Aëtius the Archdeacon of Constantinople, (who lay at catch for all opportunities to advance the Grandeur of that See,) interposes a provision that this Decree may not be interpreted to the disadvantage of the Bishop of Constantinople, of whose Power to ordain the Bishops of Basilonopolis he was ready to produce divers Precedents. But this was rejected by the Fathers, as being, whether true or false as to matter of Fact, contrary to the Canons, so that hitherto they were not able to fasten any of the Constantinopolitan Usurpations upon the Authority of the Council.  
The next Transaction is to correct and rectify another Irregularity of that pilfering See in the Controversy between Athanasius and Sabinianus, for the Bishopric of Perrha. For whereas Athanasius had been Canonically deposed by his own Metropolitan, he repairs to Constantinople and makes his Complaints to Proclus, who according to his Custom greedily embraces his Appeal, and writes to Domnus Archbishop of Antioch in his behalf, who upon it calls a Council to review the former Judgement; which he had in great kindness committed to Panolbius, that was an intimate friend to Athanasius, and upon enquiry finds that Athanasius was so conscious to himself of the Crimes laid to his Charge, that he never durst stand his Trial, and to avoid it, had resigned his Bishopric, and withal was so diffident of his Cause at the second hearing, that he durst not so much as appear, under pretence that Domnus his Metropolitan was his Enemy, and so is again deposed. And yet for all this he is so restless as to bring his old Complaints even to this Great Council, and they taking a full Examination of all the former Proceedings, find that they can afford him no Relief, and yet because he had an excuse for his Non-appearance at his last Trial, viz. The enmity between him and Domnus, they were so tender as not to give final Sentence against him, but refer the effectual Judgement of the Cause to Maximus the present Bishop of Antioch, against whom he could make no Exception.  
Hitherto the Proceedings of the Council were fair and regular enough, but in the next Session, in which they draw up their Canons, the Clergy of Constantinople with some others that they had packed together▪ being not above a third part of the Council, put a slur upon the whole Council, for whereas 27 Canons were Voted and Subscribed by all the Fathers, after the rising of the Council, the Judges, and the Legates, they Vote another Canon granting an exorbitant and illegal Power to the Bishop of Constantinople over the Metropolitans of three whole Dioceses, and clap that to the Canons of the Council; but with what ingenuity it was done, and how worthily defended, when the Abuse was complained of in the next meeting, and how slightly the Business was carried by the Judges, and what fierce and bloody Wars it occasioned in the Church between the two Great Prelates of Rome and Constantinople, I have already elsewhere represented, and therefore shall forbear any farther Account of it here, where my main design is to give an account of the History of the right Concurrence of the distinct Powers of Church and State in its Government. And setting aside this last Action, that was carried by fraud and stealth, this Council seems to have been more decent and regular in its Proceedings then any other whatsoever since the Council of Nice, and had this advantage above the rest, that it was not left to the superintendency of one or two Courtiers, but was committed to the Care and Conduct of a great number of Persons of Honour and Quality, who behaved themselves with all the decency of temper, prudence, and civility. For as they managed the order of proceedings and interlocutions with great Art, cutting off all impertinency and unnecessary talk; so they never interposed the Authority of their own Judgement in any matter, but entirely referred every thing little or great to the determination of the Bishops, and were so complimental in their respect to the Church, that they would not presume to be so much as present at those Sessions, in which the Confession of Faith was drawn up, that being only a work proper to those who were Commissionated to it by our Saviour himself. And when it was finished the Emperor declares, That it was not established by his own, but by the Councils Authority, that he came to own and confirm what they had Enacted▪ and so requires all his Subjects to acquiesce in what was settled by their Authority, under severe Penalties to be inflicted by his own. In all which all Partie● seemed to have observed all the Rules not only of Justice but of decency, and to have shown that Civility to the Church● that all men, though there were no other Obligation, then mere good manners, owe to the Religion that themselves profess. And though the Clergy of Constantinople and their Confederates were guilty of great and shameless disingenuity in the last Session, not only breaking, but perverting and falsifying the Canons of the Church, yet the Emperor and Judges cannot be very much blamed, who were Strangers to these matters, and took the motion to be nothing else then a Compliment of particular respect and honour to the Imperial City, and as such they pass it, that as the Ancient Canons had given pre-eminence to the Bishop of old Rome out of respect to the dignity of the head City, so new Rome being now advanced to an Equality with it in the Empire, it was but fit to raise it to the same degree of honour in the Church. And that had been no great harm, had it been done without robbing other Churches of their just Rights and Privileges, which though the Clergy understood, the Laics did not, because what was here settled by Law, they had always seen practised by Custom, and therefore had no reason to look upon it as an Innovation. But as for the Eutychian Heresy, that was the proper business of this Council, it being so fairly Condemned by the Ecclesiastical Judgement, they according to Form and Custom send the Relation to the Emperor for his Royal Confirmation, wherein they do not so much acquaint him with their Decree, (with which he had been before acquainted, having confirmed it in the 6th Session) as justify their Authority to make it, and it is a very rational discourse of the true use of Councils and their Authoritative determinations in the Christian Church. It is not (say they) to make new Doctrines of Faith, but to protect the old Truths against the wantonness of Innovators; so that if all men would be content with the Ancient Faith, it would be needless for the Church to make any new Declarations, but when men leave the old Track of Religion, to lose themselves in their own new contrived Labyrinths, and corrupt the plain and simple Truth with over nice and curious Inventions, it is then necessary for the Church to stop their Vanity, by its Authoritative Declaration of the Truth itself. Not as if there were something defective in the Faith, and the Church were always adding to it, but to make such wholesome Provisions, as it judges most convenient against all Innovated Doctrines. And this they exemplify by ●ll the Decrees of the several Councils against the Profane Novelties of Arius, P●●tinus, Macedonius, and Nestorius, and show that they were only Fences to guard and defend the simplicity of the Ancient Faith against the petulant Assaults of these several Heretics, and that they declare to be the ground of their present determination against Eutyches, that it was only a Declaration of the old Truth against a new Heresy. And much more to this purpose, and it is the true State of the Authority of Councils, to make Decrees, to stop the vanities and singularities of Innovators; and when they are made, they become obligatory by their own Authority, and nothing can hinder or take off their Obligation, but an apparent contrariety to the Divine Law. So that it neither concerns nor becomes the Subject to make a strict and Philosophical search after the truth of the Decree, it is enough to him that it is not apparently false. In all other Cases the Authority of the Church is sufficient to justify his Obedience before God, by whose Providence they were placed under their Government. And the want of this just Civility to Superiors has in all Ages been the true Original of all disturbances in the Christian Church. And this was the sense of the Emperor himself, who immediately upon the Receipt of this Report from the Fathers, publishes an Edict to the talking Citizens of Constantinople, forbidding all farther disputations about the Christian Faith, in that all Controversies were now determined by the Authority of the Council; against which, he says, it were profaneness and sacrilege for any man to presume to set up his own Opinion, and no less madness then to gr●pe after more Light at noon day; and therefore after this clear discovery of the ●ruth, whoever will not acquiesce in it, but makes farther Enquiry, he can neither seek nor find any thing but falsehood. And for this reason all farther disputes are peremptorily forbidden as an insolent and intolerable affront to the Sacred Authority of the Council, and this is enacted under the forementioned Penalties, that he declared in the 6th Session for the Confirmation of their Exposition of Faith, Deposition of the Clergy, Disbanding of Soldiers, and Banishment of Citizens.  
And this was afterward alleged as a proper instance by Facundus Hermianensis to the Emperor Justinian, 
Lib. 12. c. 2.  against the condemnation of the tria capitula after they had been tried and acquitted by the Council of Chalcedon, with this remark upon it. The Emperor Marcian judged it no less than Profaneness and Sacrilege to review the Sacerdotal Judgement, and therefore that being once passed, it was an end of all Controversy. Here behold a Prince indeed, a true Father of the Commonwealth, and a true Son of the Church, that does not dictate, but follow Ecclesiastical Decrees, declaring by his Edict, That whoever after the settlement of the truth, shall pretend to make any farther inquiry, can seek for nothing but Error. For this saying forever blessed be his Memory all the World over, who not only recovered the sinking Empire, but also restored lasting Peace to the poor distracted Church.  
This Edict was reinforced by a second a Month after, and Copies of it sent to all the several Praefecti-praetorio for its more effectual Execution. And they are both revived in a third Rescript, published the year following, in which this Heresy, and all the ways of propagating it, are suppressed by all the punishments against all other Heretics: So that it is in reality a neat Compendium of all the Laws under the Title de Haereticis in the Theodosian Code. And because the bastard Council of Ephesus under Dioscorus, in which Flavianus, Eusebius, Theodoret, and many other Catholic Bishops were condemned, had been ratified by a Rescript of Theodosius, he here cancels its full force as to all the Sufferers that were surviving. And because the Eutychian Itch was got among the Monks of Jerusalem and Alexandria to the raising of botches and tumults, especially at Jerusalem by the disorderly behaviour of one Theodosius, who made himself Bishop of the place, the Emperor and Empress write to them to desist at their farther peril. But it seems some were stubborn and irreclaimable (and no sort of Men so obstinate as those that live remote from the Conversation of the World) and therefore in the year 455 the Emperor renews his former Rescript, particularly to be put in Execution at Alexandria, where the Heresy most reigned, and that is the last time that he appeared against them. And thus in four years' time by protecting the Church in its due Authority, and by abetting their Decrees with Penal Laws, and by seeing his own Laws put in effectual Execution, he put an end to this powerful and prevailing Heresy, though it had gained both the Eunuches and the Empire to its side.   

§. XVII. And thus this great Prince, this pattern of Government to all his Successors, as Evagrius styles him, having settled all things both in Church and State, two years after dyes, and is succeeded in the year 457 by Leo, who was chosen by the unanimous Vote both of the Senate and the Army; a Prince, says Nicephorus, that would have carried the Election in the most flourishing times of the old Commonwealth, when only worth gave right and title to Preferm%nt, a Man of that strict and severe Virtue, that he must have been chosen Augustus by the Cato's themselves. But as great a Man as he was, he found it an hard task to keep things in that good order, in which they were left by his Predecessor. For no sooner came the news of Marcian's death to Alexandria, that Metropolis of Sedition, 
Evag. l. 2. c. 8.  but a few of the Eutychian Party, among whom were only two Bishops, accompanied with the City-rabble, make Timotheus Aelurus their Bishop, 
Liberati Brev. c. 14.  and most inhumanely murder Proterius at Divine service, who had been chosen to that See by the Bishops of the Province upon the deposition of Dioscorus, and not content with his blood, they treat the dead body with all the circumstances of rudeness and barbarity: Upon this Complaints are carried to the Emperor by both Parties, 
Ibid. c. 15.  with Petitions on one side for abrogating, and on the other for confirming the Council of Chalcedon. The Emperor considering of the Matter, refers it to the Judgement of the Church, and being unwilling to put the poor aged Bishops to the tedium of long Journeys for assembling in Council, he takes a more compendious, but no less effectual course: directing his Letters to all the Metropolitans of the Christian Church within the Empire, requiring their impartial Judgement of both Controversies, without fear or favour, or ill-will, having only the fear of God before their Eyes, and as they would one day answer it to the divine Majesty, viz. the Ordination of Timotheus Ael●rus, and the ratification of the Council of Chalcedon. And this brought forth that famous volume of Encyclical Epistles, that make up the third part of the Council of Chalcedon, and that are so often and so much commended by the Ancients, Liberatus, Facundus Hermianensis, Evagrius, Victor Tunonensis and Cassiodorus, at whose persuasion, 
Divin. Lect. ●. 11.  as himself informs us, Epiphanius a learned Man translated them into the Latin Tongue, and that is the only Copy of them that is now extant. An excellent Collection it is of Ecclesiastical Antiquity, and a true representation of the ancient Unity and Communion of the Catholic Church, without the formality of a general Council. The Authority of the determination is the same, consisting in the Concord of Bishops, and the Resolution itself much more easy and expedient. For it required much time and expense to assemble Councils, it put infirm old Men to long and tedious Journeys, it robbed most Churches for a time of their Guides, by the absence of their leading Prelates, whereas by this way of Encyclical Correspondence the dispatch was equally speedy and effectual. For the Result of all their Answers was the approbation of the Synod of Chalcedon, and the deposition of Timotheus, there being but one Dissenter, and he but half an one, and that was Amphilochius Bishop of Sida, 
Apud. Photium Cod. 230.  who at first disallowed the Council of Chalcedon, but earnestly pressed the deposition of Timotheus, though wit●●n a little time he was brought to subscribe the Council, as Eulogius Bishop of Alexandria reports, who withal says, that there were no less than one thousand six hundred subscriptions returned to the Emperor, which if true, it is a much greater number, than all the four General Councils put together amount to.  
Upon this transaction the Remark of Facundus is very smart and acute, 
Lib. 12. c. 3.  Behold here the true Liberty of the Church in those days, when the most Christian King did not oversaw the Priests of God with his temporal Power, but on the contrary armed and warned them against all such fear by the overruling fear of God. Neither did he suggest any thing of his own thoughts, lest it should be suspected that their Answer was suited to his Royal Will, and this he did, not only out of respect to the Discipline of the Christian Church, but because he very well knew that no forced Decrees were of any Authority in themselves, for when a Sentence is forced, it is not his Sentence by whom it is pronounced. And the cause that carries it, gains nothing by it, but the advantage lies on the side of the Party condemned, for it is evident, that he was not at liberty to judge aright, whose Judgement is forced, for a forced Judgement is none at all. And therefore this Emperor of blessed Memory preserved the Peace of the Church, because he would not presume to establish any Doctrines by his own Authority, and usurp that Power that is proper to the Priesthood alone. Whereas had he prescribed to the Council, and they merely lacquied to his instructions, it is evident that one Layman, that was no competent Judge of those Matters, really passed the judgement, and not those who were the only proper Judges of the Cause. And withal he very well understood, that forced Councils never came to any good effect, as the Council of Ariminum under Constantius, and the false Council of Ephesus under Dioscorus. And therefore though himself could have passed a right sentence, yet he would not, because he would not render the Sentence of the Church suspected, and by that means evacuate its Authority.  
But as the whole Eastern Church agreed in this business, so no Man was more active, not to say more imperious, in it than Pope Leo, who was ever for carrying all things through with an high hand, and having raised himself to the height of Authority, resolved to keep it up. For it was no small point of Grandeur that he gained, when he procured that his own private Epistle should be imposed upon the Catholic Church, and made equal with the Decrees of General Councils. But that which advanced him to the top-round of Power, was his signal Victory over Constantinople and the Eastern Bishops, when he forced them to eat and reverse their 28 th' Canon, made Anatolius submit and beg his pardon, brought the Emperor Marcian himself almost upon his Knees, and forced him to renounce his own Imperial Rescript, though made in favour of his own Imperial City. This great success could not but swell his mind, that was already but too great of itself, and thereupon he takes the supreme and indeed single management of all things into his own hands. And when no Man, no not the Emperor himself dares withstand his Commands, so severe and peremptory were they, that for a good time he kept the Eutychian Cause sufficiently low and humble. And to say the truth, setting aside his by-design of advancing the Grandeur of his own See, he acted nothing, that was not only warrantable but justly praiseworthy. For when once a Controversy is decided by the Authority of the Church, no Christian Bishop can be too vigorous in his proceedings against all th●t refuse submission to the Decree. Here Peace and Government lie at stake as well as Truth, and unless they are preserved, the Church is lost, and the Society dissolved into mere Tumult and Confusion. Whilst Controversies are on foot and have not received the Judgement of the Church, we may allow Men to be moderate or eager in their Disputes about them, according to the variety of their apprehensions or natural Tempers. But after the Church has interposed its Authority, there all moderation is at best but Treachery, and the Reverence due to its commands will call forth every honest Man's utmost zeal in its defence. And that was the case here that the Eutychians moved for a review by a new Council: No, says Pope Leo, that were to offer an Affront to the Authority of the Church in the great Council of Chalcedon, and instead of putting an end to Schisms and Contentions, to make them perpetual for the humour and pleasure of every peevish talker. 
Epist. 25.  Nam cum nihil sit convenientius fidei defendendae, quam his quae per omnia instruente spiritu sancto, irreprehensibiliter definita sunt, inhaerere; ipsi videbimur bene statuta convellere, et Autoritates, quas Ecclesia Vniversalis amplexa est, ad arbitrium haereticae petitionis infringere; atque ita nullum colligendis ecclesiis modum ponere, sed datâ licentiâ rebellandi, dilatare magis quam sopire certamina. For when the most proper means for securing the Faith is, that we acquiesce in those things that are legally settled by the direction of the Holy Ghost, otherwise we shall but destroy what is already well settled, and affront that Authority that has been owned by the Catholic Church, for the humour of every petulant Heretic, and so shall have no means left to preserve the Church's Peace; but opening a gap to all rebellion, we shall rather propagate than quel Contentions, and so concludes, ' that when a thing is once determined by the Authority of the Universal Church, Quis est nisi aut Antichristus aut Diabolus, qui pulsare audeat inexpugnabilem firmitatem? qui in malitiâ suâ inconvertibilis perseverans per vasa irae et suae apta fallaciae, falso diligentiae nomine, dum veritatem se mentitur inquirere, mendacia desiderat seminare. Who but these great Enemies to Christianity the Devil and Antichrist, would dare to shake the settled foundation, who presevering stubborn in his Malice, by his Vessels of Wrath, that are apt Tools for his Craft, under a false pretence of a greater diligence, whilst he counterfeits to search after truth, sows his Tares And therefore when the Heretics only moved for a conference, and the Emperor being inclined to a request, as he thought, so easy, No, says Pope Leo, this is as great an Affront to the Chalcedon Fathers, as to grant them a new Council, 
Epist. 78.  Evidenter agnoscitis quod magnis haereticorum audetur i●sidiis, ut inter Eutychetis Dioscorique discipulos, et eum quem Apos●olica sedes direxerit, diligentior, tanquam n●hil ante fuerit definitum, tractatus habeatur; et quod totius mundi Catholici Sacerdotes in sanctâ Calcedonensi Synodo probant, gaudentque firmatum, in injuriam etiam sacratissimi Concilii Nicaeni efficiatur infi●mum. Your Majesty cannot but observe the crafty attempts of Heretics, that there should be a farther Debate between the Heretics and us, as if there had been nothing already determined, and the settlement made by the Holy Council of Chalcedon to the great joy of the Catholic Church all the World over, should be slited to a dishonourable reflection upon the Council of Nice itself. And whereas the Emperor desired him to send Commissioners, he offers to send them, not to dispute with the Heretics, that he scorns, but to put the Sentence of the Church in effectual execution against them. Which was accordingly done, and Timotheus Aelurus was deposed, banished and imprisoned, and when he petitioned for leave to come to Constantinople, there to make a public declaration against the Eutychian Heresy, to this Pope Leo says No again, for though that may set him right as to his Faith, yet it can never wash away the guilt of his wicked and bloody Actions, the Absolution whereof requires some other expiation than fair Confessions, and therefore he enjoins Gennadius then Bishop of Constantinople, not so much as to admit him into his presence at his peril, as he had not long before schooled his Predecessor Anatolius for being too remiss against the Heretics, and suffering one Atticus a Presbyter publicly to dispute the Eutychian Controversy, after the determination of the great Council. The sum of all is, that the matter was already decided by the Authority of the Church, and after that there remains no liberty of Dispute. And therefore instead of indulging that, he advises the Emperor to exert his Imperial Power in defence of the Faith, and that when the Church had done its part in declaring it, it was now his duty to maintain it against the Assaults of restless Spirits. cum enim Clementiam tuam Dominus tantâ Sacramenti Illuminatione ditaverit, debes incunctanter advertere, Regiam Potestatem tibi non solùm ad Mundi regimen, sed maximè ad Ecclesiae praesidium esse collatam: ut ausus nefarios comprimendo, et quae bene sunt statuta defendas, et veram pacem his, quae sunt turbata, restituas, etc. Seeing your Majesty is, by the Grace of God, endued with so good an Understanding, you ought out of hand to consider that Your Royal Power was given you from above, not only for the Government of the Empire, but chiefly for the Protection of the Church, that by suppressing seditious Attempts, you may defend what is already established, and restore Peace, where things are in disorder. That is the true state of the use of Regal Power in the Government of the Church, to protect and assist it in the free exercise of its own legislative Authority, not to assume and annex it to the Imperial Crown. It would be an endless thing to transcribe all the Passages to the same purpose, out of the several Returns made to the Emperor from the Eastern Bishops, they all move upon this one hinge, that what was determined by the Church was Sacred Law, and therefore no review or farther dispute of the Resolution of the Chalcedon Council. And thus was this stubborn Controversy laid, and the Church settled in Peace and Unity all this Emperor's Reign. But beside these Laws of Discipline to enforce the Authority of the Church, he made divers other Laws in behalf of the Church, that were mere acts of his Royal Grace and Favor, bestowing several Privileges and Immunities upon Churches and Churchmen. Thus he granted the right of Sanctuary to all Religious houses, 
Cod. Justin. C. de his qui confugiunt ad Ecclesias.  so as to punish its violation with no less Penalty than Death. Another Law he enacted to forbid all Plays and profane Sports on holidays, and to protect Men from Lawsuits, 
Leg. Ult. de Feriis.  Arrests and Vexations at times dedicated to the Service of God, 
L. 15 de Episc. Audientiâ. L. 31 de Episc. et Clericis ibid. L. 33.  upon pain of forfeiture of Estate. And a third Law to forbid all but Christians to plead in Courts, a fourth against the Sacrilege of Simony, and a fifth to exempt the Clergy from being forced to appear before Secular Courts, beside a great many other Privileges granted to particular Churches.   

§. XVIII. But he dying after he had Reigned 17 Years and 6 Months in the Year 474, his Son-in-Law Zeno unhappily succeeds, to the great loss both of Church and State, a man altogether unfit for Government, being not only a weak, a careless, and a dissolute Prince, but one that affected to expose himself to the contempt of the World by making his Follies and Debaucheries public, esteeming it a poor and sneaking thing to conceal his wickedness, but brave and Princelike to be wicked in sight of the Sun. And consequent to this strange folly he was a shameless Oppressor of his Subjects, robbing and defrauding them, and wherever he could by any indirect shifts seizing any thing into his hands, and no wonder, when Millions of Worlds are not sufficient to defray the Charges of an unbounded Luxury. These practices so turned the hearts of his Subjects against him, as to encourage Basiliscus, his Uncle in Law, to invade his Empire, in which distress he was so deserted, that without being able to make any defence or resistance, he had no Remedy but to betake himself to flight, and lie concealed in his own Country of Isauria. And so the whole Empire was left as a naked prey to the Tyrant, and being an apparent Usurper, he was forced to take cross measures to his Predecessors, and in pursuance of his design recalls Timotheus Aelurus from Banishment, and by his advice and persuasion issues forth an Encyclical Epistle to the whole Christian World, to Anathematise the Novelties, as he styles them, of the Council of Chalcedon, and is not ashamed to warrant his illegal Proceedings by the example of Constantine the Great and Theodosius the younger. Imperial Constitutions he might have found enough to ratify the Sentence of the Church, but for an Emperor to pass an Anathema by his own mere Authority upon any Opinion, much more against a solemn Decree of the Church, was a rudeness and presumption without Precedent as well as Law, and no man that was not a Clown as well as a Tyrant would ever have attempted it. But as profane a piece of Buffonery as it was, it is owned by the Eutychian Faction in a Council at Ephesus, and that too under the profane Title of a Divine and Apostolical Epistle. But it is as vehemently opposed by Acacius and his Monks of Constantinople, till the People tumultuate in defence of their Bishop against the Tyrant, so as to force him to quit the City, who in revenge takes away all the Privileges of the Church and City. But being informed of Zeno's marching from Isauria in the Head of an Army, he begs pardon, and to appease Acacius and the Clergy of the City, he publishes his Antencyclical Epistles, as they are called, to reverse and cancel the former, and restore the Authority of the Council of Chalcedon (And what will not Usurpers do to keep possession?) but all in vain: for at Zeno's approach to the City he is utterly deserted, and deposed with more ease than he had usurped, is put to death at Acusus or Cucusus in Cappadocia, and his Encyclical Epistle cancelled and burnt. Upon this the very same Bishops of the Eutychian, or rather the then thriving Party, that had subscribed it at the late Cabal or Conventicle at Ephesus, and there declared it to be their own voluntary Act without any force or compulsion, are now most forward to write to Acacius to condemn it, and protest before God and the World, that what they had done was forced upon them against their own Judgements. And thus were things wheeled about into the same posture, in which Leo had left them, but this poor dissolute Prince had not skill to make use of any advantage, and instead of fixing upon the same Foundation of that settlement, that was laid to his hands, blows it up, and for his own ease, as he dreamt, and for the satisfaction of all Parties, publishes by the contrivance of Petrus Moggus and his Eutychian Friends at Court, and some say of Acacius himself, an healing Instrument of Union or Comprehension, commonly known by the name of Henoticon, designed to please all Parties, and couched in such comprehensive and ambiguous terms, that they might all challenge it to themselves against each other: viz. Setting up the Nicene Faith as the only condition of Church-Communion, and thereby tacitly but effectually condemning the Council of Chalcedon without taking any notice of it. So weak was this Prince as to flatter himself, that this slender Artifice was a Cement strong enough to repair all the Breaches in the Christian Church, when it really served no Bodies turn but Petrus Moggus and his Eutychians, for he having a strong Inclination to the rich Bishopric of Alexandria, of which he could not be capable till the terms of Conformity, that were settled by the Council of Chalcedon, were taken off: which being done by this slight, the Church Doares were again left open to the Eutychian Heretics, and all things reduced to the same disorder and confusion that they were in, before they were settled by the Authority of the Church. 
Lib. 12. c. 4.  And so Facundus here argues upon it with his usual acuteness: Who can endure the Arbitrary Proceedings of the Emperor Zeno to Enact in Contempt of the Divine Authority of the Church, in which Action his precipitate Power did not consider what it ought to do, but what it was able to do; neither did he understand that confusion never makes Unity. For if Unity be to be compassed, not by the Conversion of Heretics, but mixing their Contagion with the Communion of the Church, why are the Acephali alone, and not all the other Parties of Heretics received into the Church without renouncing their errors, and submitting to the Church's Sentence against them? But the Emperor when he invites them to return to the Communion of the Church, he gives them the Title of Orthodox. But this becomes the wisdom and circumspection of that man, that can be so insipid as to think of invading the Office of the Priests. He calls them Orthodox, when at the same time he confesses them to be separate from the Communion of the Church. If they continue Orthodox after their separation, to what purpose does he exhort them to return to their Mother the Church. But he would have them unite Communions. But he understands not that there can be but one Communion. And if they are not of one Communion with the Church, they are of none at all. I pray for what advantage should they return to the Church, when they are of the Orthodox Communion without it? But what an abuse of Secular Power is this, and worse than all the rest, that the Holy Catholic Church and those that preside over it, should every where be obliged to believe only as he believes, as if the Faith of all Churches depended only upon his pleasure, and it were not lawful for any man to believe any thing than as the Emperor commands? It were much better that he would contain himself with in his own Limits, then to transgress them to the ruin of many without the gain of any. For we know that even Mechanics have their Shops and Warehouses proper to their own Trade. We never hear the Anvil beating or the Fire glowing in the Weavers Workhouse, nor the Tailor taking measure of the height and proportion of Buildings, because they very well know that those things▪ belong to those that are instructed in those Trades. What is the Divine Law only to be despised and profaned, so as not to need its proper Schools for instruction, but that every man should pretend to understand it, without any competent Education in it. In short, the only effect of all these disorderly Proceedings is, that these Violators of the Church's Peace divide among themselves as well as from the Church, as in this particular Case we have by sad experience found a long and fatal Schism, till the Divine Providence cured the wound by your Majesty's Care and Power (speaking to Justinian) and therefore great Sir in the name of God persevere in so good a work, that has been accepted with the joy of the whole Christian World, and blot not out its glory by deserting it, etc. And that is the natural and inevitable Event of all trimming tricks, that instead of reconciling Parties, as 'tis pretended, it only lets them loose to worry one another. And withal, first adds to the insolence of that Party that had been tied up, the contempt of that Authority that restrained it, and then kindles the rage and indignation of the other Party that had gained the upperhand, and lastly, that which is worst of all, it makes breaches for new Divisions And so it happened here, Peter Mongus having by this device got possession of his Bishopric, he endeavours to trim and comply with both Parties, and by it incurs the hatred of both, losing his own without winning the other: And they communicating neither with the Catholics nor with their own Bishop, became a new Sect, called Acephali, i. e. Men without an Head, so natural is it for all shufflings in Government to end in Anarchy and Confusion: It was this wise way of quacking to cure the wounds of the Church by Irenicum Plasters and comprehensive Weapon-salves, that brought the breach between the Eastern and Western Churches to an incurable Eresipulus, or Fire of Contention over the Face of the Christian Church. For Petrus Moggus being by that means received by Acacius not only to Catholic Communion, but advanced to a Top-Bishoprick, contrary not only to the ancient Canons, but to the late Decree of the Council of Chalcedon: Acacius is upon it called to account by Pope Simplicius, and persisting in his Treachery, is excommunicated in a Council at Rome, and that laid the ground of all those Contests, that followed after upon the Acacian Schism (as the Romanists style it) to the final Separation of both Churches. And what else can be expected from such a daubing Cement of Peace, to unite men in the same Communion as leaves them under all their differences and contrarieties of Opinion, a contradiction in the nature of the thing; for if they are in good earnest, they will pursue their differences, if they are not, indulgence is needless, and they are to be reclaimed another way: but whether they are, or are not, if they are allowed their liberty, every man will be of his own mind, and an enemy to every man that is not, and the result of all is, that how much soever they descent among themselves, they shall be forced to counterfeit an agreement, but dissembling is no Tye. And therefore after such devices the next thing that we always hear of, is, that the breach is made much wider. And thus here beside the Contest between Acacius and Simplicius, Petrus Moggus falls out with both, and instead of taking the Catholics into his comprehensive Embrace, in a short time, finding they would not quit their Principles and the Council of Chalcedon, raises a severe Persecution against them, and peremptorily refuses all Communion to all that adhere to the Council, and upon it the Church of Alexandria continued in a State of Schism through a long Succession of Bishops into the next Century, till the Pacisicators again fell out among themselves, and subdivided into new and fiercer Factions and Animosities. And not only that Church, to which the healing Henoticon was particularly directed, but the whole Catholic Church was every where dissolved into irreconcilable Wars and Confusions. But as sad as the event of the Henoticon proved, there is one pleasant Passage to be observed about it, that whereas before there were but two Factions in the Church, i. e. for and against the Council of Chalcedon, this created a third, called the Haesitantes or Neuters, that were neither for, nor against the Council, and as both Parties hated these more than they did one another, as Traitors to both; so they again under pretence of indifferency and moderation, requited them with all the violence of Persecution, and when they had got the Emperor Anastasius, a serious Prince, into their hands, they stirred him up to prosecute both the extreme Parties with a more than ordinary severity, as we shall see more at large when we come to his Reign. But first let us take a view of the particular Mischiefs, that it soon produced under Zeno himself, who too after all his trimming was forced at last to turn Persecutor.  
By whom the Henoticon was contrived, it is not easy to determine with any certainty, I know it is generally laid upon Acacius, but I suspect that Report to have been raised by his Enemies at Rome only to blast his Reputation. But though there is no clear Evidence that it was his contrivance, yet it is undeniable that he gave it too great acceptance, and by that means gave too just advantage to the Bishops of Rome to insult over him. For though their private Design was to beat down the growing greatness of the See of Constantinople, yet he deserved the utmost severity, that they could use against him, by betraying the Discipline and Authority of the Christian Church so dishonourably, as to receive such Persons into its Communion, that had been cast out of it by no less Judgement than the Sentence of a General Council, and that upon no better Warrant than a Mandate from Court. And that I take to be the Shop in which the wise Contrivance was forged between the Courtiers, out of an Itch to be tampering with Church-work, and the outed Eutychians either to recover their Preferments, or usurp other men's; and through the whole sequel of the Story we shall find the old Eusebian Game playing over again. But whoever was the Author of it, it was cunningly enough contrived to impose upon the World, and serve the Eutychian Cause without owning it. 
Lib. 3. c. 14.  The best copy of it is the Greek in Evagrius. The Latin Version in Liberatus is false and barbarous, perverting the sense for want of sufficient skill in both Languages. It established the Nicene Faith as owned by the following Councils, it condemned both Nestorius and Eutyches by name, and though it says nothing of the Council of Chalcedon itself, it established the Faith of the Council, but without regard to its Authority, and the Emperor himself declares, That as for his own part he embraced the Council of Chalcedon, though he would not have it imposed upon the Catholic Church. So that at the bottom, the whole design of the Project was only to take off the Authority of that Council, and then the Eutychians were at liberty to play their Game and drive their own Bargains, and so the Markets were soon set up in the greatest Sees, and the chief Chapmen were Peter Moggus at Alexandria, and Peter ●ullo at Antioch. 
Liberati Brev. c. 10.  Upon the death of Timotheus Aelurus, who poisoned himself upon Zeno's recovering the Empire, Peter Moggus was chosen his Successor by the Eutychian Faction, but is deposed by the Emperor's own Command, and Timotheus Salophasiolus their Lawful Bishop, is restored. This Timotheus was chosen to the See of Alexandria upon the deposition of Timotheus Aelurus by the Emperor Leo, was ejected by Basiliscus, restored by Zeno, and after 23 years from the date of his Election dies. And his keeping that See so long did not a little contribute to the Disorders of that Church, he being a softly and unactive Man, that would never put the Discipline of the Church, nor the Imperial Laws in execution against the Heretics, and though Complaints of his remissness were carried to the Emperor, and though the Emperor sent him particular Orders to break up their Conventicles, he could not be prevailed upon to act, but instead of that suffered himself to be prevailed with upon pretence of Peace and reconciling, 
V. Simplicii Epist. 11.  to put Dioscorus himself into the Dyptiches, and by this gentleness he became very popular among the factious Alexandrians, insomuch that as he at any time passed through the Streets, the Rabble were wont to salute him with this outcry, viz. That though we cannot communicate with thee, yet we cannot but love thee. And the silly Man was so charmed with this childish Rattle, that he parted with his Episcopal Authority to purchase it, and by this means it was that the Faction grew so great in that City. And certain it is that the Courtiers of Popularity are of all Men most unfit for Government in the Church, they will certainly betray their Trust and their Duty to the applause of the People. But upon his death in the year 482 the Clergy of Alexandria elect Joannes Talaia, who is rejected by the Emperor's Command, and who but Petrus Moggus put in his stead? This the Historians say was done by the instigation of Acacius out of a private picque against Talaia for neglecting to send Synodical Epistles according to custom, to signify his election to him, 
Liberat. c. 17.  as he had done to the other great Sees. But however, outed he was upon pretence of enormous Crimes, Perjury and Simony, in that he had obliged himself under Oath never to accept of that Bishopric, and yet for all that, had purchased it with Money, 
Lib. 3. c. 12.  as Evagrius reports from Zacharias Rhetor the Eutychian Historian. 
C. 17.  And Liberatus says that he was Treasurer of the Church of Alexandria, and out of the Church's Treasure purchased the Bishopric of Count ilus, at that time a powerful Man at Court. It is certain, that that was the occasion of the miscarriage of his Synodical Letters to Acacius, they being enclosed in others directed to his Patron ilus, who happening to be absent at that time as far as Antioch, the Messenger thought himself obliged to continue his Journey forward for the safe delivery of his Letters, in which Interval of time Acacius being a very proud man, was pleased to conceive his Jealousy against Joannes Talaia, and procure his deposition upon the forementioned Articles, and then treats with Petrus Moggus and his Court-Patrons, and receives him to communion upon his acceptance of the Emperor's instrument of Union, but that was to please the Emperor, for in private he obliged him to receive the faith and authority of the Council of Chalcedon, as himself like a time-rigling Knave, as the Historian calls him declares over and over in his Apologetical Epistle to Acacius, 
Evag. l. 3. c. 17.  to vindicate himself from the calumny of his having contrary to his Faith renounced the Council. And the same shuffling Arts are observed of him by Liberatus, 
Cap. 18.  that he prevaricated with both Parties, pretending to Acacius to communicate with the Synod, and to the Alexandrians to defy it. And the Emperor Zeno himself assures Pope Foelix, that he was not admitted to his Bishopric but upon his owning the Council of Chalcedon, in an Epistle extant in Liberatus. 
Cap. 20.  But when the wicked man had gained his point, he forswears all his subscriptions, anathematises the Council and Leo's Epistle, blots Proterius and Salophasiolus out of the Diptychs, and puts in Dioscorus and Timotheus Aelurus. And now here do we find by virtue of this Imperial Instrument of Union the whole Christian World involved in a Civil War, one Party asserting the Council of Chalcedon, another anathematising it, a third despising both, and trampling upon all the Discipline of the Church in defence of a Court-irregularity. But the quarrel run highest between the two powerful Bishops of Rome and Constantinople; for Acacius Bishop of Constantinople, having the Court and the Emperor to back him, bids defiance not only to the Pope, but to the Catholic Church and all its Laws. For though himself was the first man that had appeared against Petrus Moggus, and convicted him of manifest Heresy, and certified his conviction to Pope Simplicius, yet now without any due satisfaction receives him not only to Communion, but prefers him to one of the highest dignities in the Christian Church. And though after all these obliging strains of Courtesy Moggus discovered his obstinacy by anathematising the Council and changing the Diptychs, Acacius winks hard and will not see it, but stands by him to the last drop of blood, calls all the Power of the Court into his assistance, to support him against the Discipline and Authority of the Church, slites he admonitions of the greatest Bishops in it, Imprisons their Legates, defies their Sentence, lives and dies excommunicate, and all this for a Man that himself could not but know to be a stubborn Heretic. The full account of all these transactions, beside the Relations of the Historians Liberatus and Evagrius, is to be seen in the Letters of Pope Simplicius and Foelix, the Breviculus Hist●riae Eutychianistarum, and the Acts produced in the Cause of Acacius at the Council at Rome, all which are printed together in their proper place and order of time in Labbe's Councils. The first correspondence about this matter against Petrus Moggus was (as I have already intimated) opened by Acacius himself in his Epistle to Simplicius, 
Inter Epist. Simplic. an●●nonam.  informing him that upon the death of Timotheus Aelurus, one Petrus Moggus an excommunicate Person, being a Thief and a Son of Darkness, had at midnight stolen into the Throne of Alexandria, having only one Companion to attend him, by which Act of madness he made himself obnoxious to greater Punishments, than had been hitherto pronounced against him, but however he was defeated of his Design, for Timotheus Salophasiolus being restored to his Throne, this foolish thief durst never show his head more. In answer to this, 
Epist. 9.10.11, 12.  Simplicius returns divers congratulatory Letters, not only to Acacius, but the Emperor Zeno, exhorting him to banish Moggus out of the City. 
Epist. 14.15.  But in the next Letters, he complains of the neglect of his Advice, and suspects warping and luke warmness in Acacius, and the next news we hear is, that upon the death of Timotheus, Petrus Moggus is by the power of Acacius advanced to the See of Alexandria. Of which when Simplicius sends him Letters of Complaint, 
Ep. 17.18.  one after another, he would never vouchsafe him any Answer, and so Simplicius dying the cudgels are immediately taken up by his Successor Foelix the 3 d, and the first Act of his Government is to call a Council, 
Foelicis Ep. 1.  in which a Synodical Letter of Admonition is written to Acacius, chiding him for his sullenness to Simplicius, charging him with Pride and ill-manners towards the Apostolic See, advising him to use his Interest with the Emperor to rectify the late Misdemeanours at Alexandria in the election of Moggus, otherwise he must be thought an Apostate from his own Principles, and a Renegado to the Heretics; for not to proceed against wicked Men, when it is in a Man's power to curb them, is to give them protection, and he incurs suspicion of secret friendship, who gives over his opposition to a manifest impiety. And in t●e same Council another long and pathetical Letter is drawn up to the Emperor, and sent by the same Legates Vitalis and Micenus, conjuring him to keep fast to his old Principles against the Heretics, and galling him in the same Dilemma, in which they had involved Acacius, viz. That if he stood firm to the Council of Chalcedon, he must renounce the Heretics, and therefore if he did not oppose them, he protected them against the Council, and that was manifest opposing it. But the Emperor was big with his new Project of comprehension, and was deaf to all advice against it, and Acacius being secure of him, he slites Foelix his Letters, imprisons his Legates, and draws them in, to join Communion with himself and Moggus. Upon the news whereof another Council is immediately summoned at Rome, where the sentence of Deposition and Excommunication is denounced against him. But he being warm and safe at Court slites the force of all Ecclesiastical Discipline and requites Foelix in his own coin, striking his name out of the Diptychs, and persisted in the exercise of his own Function to his dying day, which was 4 years after the Sentence, that was decreed in the year 484, and he died in the year 488.  
This was the effect of this shrewd Instrument of Comprehension, in these three head Churches of Rome, Constantinople and Alexandria, nothing less than a total breach of Communion, and one of the fiecrest Schisms that ever befell the Christian Church, and though the Peace between them was patched up about 34 years after, by the Power and Activity of Pope Hormisdas, yet they were never heartily reconciled to this very day. As for Acacius it is a dispute what he was, some indict him of Heresy or Church-treason, others only of high Misdemeanours, though as for my own part after all strains of Candour, I cannot but think him guilty of both, or I fear something worse, the want of a serious sense of Religion. To free him from the high charge of Heresy, it is pleaded that he never in the least owned the Eutychian Faith, that he ever declared against it, that he was never charged with it by the Ancients, and that in the Sentence against him at Rome, where all his Crimes were strictly enough enumerated, this is no Article against him. But yet for all this I see not how he can be absolved from it, for in the Eye of the Law, and indeed the common sense of the World, all Communion with Heretics is and aught to be judged Heresy, as in all Civil Laws all consulting with Traitors is deemed Treason. For it concerns not the Government to fish out every Man's Opinion or motive of his Practice, that can judge only by overtacts, and then to communicate with Heretics is Heresy, and to consult with Traitor's Treason. But much more in this particular Case, in which all Communion with the Heretics had been Canonically declared Heresy by the Church in the great Council of Chalcedon, and without it the sentence of the Church had been of no force, for that can reach no farther than their outward Communion. So that after all, the Henoticon was so far from compromising the Controversies, as it pretended, and I believe, designed, that it only reversed and contradicted the Decree of the Church, and by an Imperial Rescript declared that to be no Heresy, that had been judged so by the Council, and that I take it, is plain bidding defiance to it and its Authority.  
As for the other Crimes charged upon him, they are enormous enough, his very friendship with such ill Men as Moggus and Fullo, shows he had but very little sense of Honesty, or indeed of Reputation, otherwise he would have loathed and defied Men of such rank Practices. But the leading Sin, that betrayed him into all his other Miscarriages was his Pride and Ambition▪ and to gratify that, it is plain that he stuck not to subvert all the Discipline of the Christian Church. For finding the Emperor Zeno fond of his Henoticon, he at least frankly complied with it, to the subversion of the first and fundamental Law of all Church-Communion, in receiving Heretics into it without Canonical Repentance and Satisfaction. And this is suggested in the Decree of the Council at Rome against him, that he preferred the Emperor's favour above his own Faith; and than it is no matter to what Religion such perfidious Men pretend, when it is too apparent that they have really none at all. And the case of the Church at this time was much the same, as it was under the Reigns of Constantius and Valens: ill Men got into the Court, and from thence crept into the Church, and to gain Preferments for themselves flattered the Prince into an exorbitant use of his Power, against the true and regular Discipline of it. And that would at once give them interest at Court, and make vacancies in the Church for themselves, and this weak Prince was so drunkenly fond of this little Project, that he would throw away the best Preferments in the Church upon any Parasite, that would but seem to hug his fondling-Ape, by which means great numbers of very bad Men came into the best Churches. But one of the greatest Instances of it is the great Church of Antioch, we have already seen the other three leading Churches brought into a Civil War among themselves, but here it came to blows and cutting of Throats, that I shall very briefly describe as another observable Example of the good Effects of this gracious Instrument of Accommodation. Petrus Fullo a Monk had been expelled his Monastery for the Eutychian Heresy in the time of the Emperor Leo, flies to Chalcedon, and being a talkative Man is soon driven thence for the same Cause, and so takes shelter at Constantinople, and there insinuates himself into the favour of the Princess Ariadne, and by her recommends himself to the Patronage of her husband Zeno, and having gained that, he endeavours to dis-place Martyrius Bishop of Antioch, Zeno being then Governor of the Place, but Martyrius making his Application to the Emperor Leo, he is restored, and an Edict published against the tumults of Monks. But the Monks so little regard the Emperor's Authority, that upon it they increase their fury against the good Bishop, till at length he being quite tired out quits his Bishopric, into which Petrus Fullo immediately leaps, and is as soon thrust out by the Emperor, but is restored by Basiliscus, and again displaced by Zeno, excommunicated by Acacius, and Stephanus chosen to the See, who being barbarously murdered, another Stephanus is chosen, and contrary to the Canons consecrated by Acacius at Constantinople, and Petrus Fullo the Author of all these Disorders is banished into Pontus, and Stephanus dying Calendio succeeds with the same illegal Consecration, but falling into dis-favor with Acacius, partly for siding with Pope Foelix against himself and Petrus Moggus, and partly for being too stiff for the Council of Chalcedon, he procures his ejectment by Imperial Power upon an Accusation of Treason, and Petrus Fullo after all these turns is placed by Acacius his own Interest in that great See. And thus we see both the old Trade of Ejectments and Sequestrations returned by prostituting the Discipline and Authority of the Christian Church to the Power of Court-Favourites, and the whole World shattered into numberless Schisms and Heresies. For when once the Authority of the Church and the Law is trodden down, there is no other effectual stop against the rovings of fancy and wantonness, and it is certain that men who differ in Opinion will never agree, as long as they have liberty to differ. And thus was it here, when this unskilful Prince had once broken up the Pale of the Church as it was fixed by the Council of Chalcedon and fenced by his Predecessors, he could never after restrain the People from running into all the wild Conceits, that Frenzy and Madness could blow into their Heads. And whereas he only designed to unite the Eutychians to the Communion of the Church, he divided the Communion of the Church into a thousand new Factions. The Acephali, Severiani, Theopaschitae, Currupticolae, Phantasiastae, Agnóetae, Tritheitae, beside the horrible feuds between the Scythian and Acaemetan Monks. The Acephali began at Alexandria, being Eutychians that separated from Moggus vyon his owning the Council of Chalcedon, out of these were spawned the Severiani at Antioch, so called from Severus, who had ravished that See, and made himself Captain of the Acephali by Anathematising the Council, but of him we shall give an Account under the next Reign, as under the Reign of Justinian they subdivided into the Factions of the Gaianitae and Theodosiani, and the Heresy being transplanted by Jacobus Syrus into Armenia, thence came the Jacobitae. The Theopaschitae were the Disciples of Petrus Fullo, who to the Eutychian Heresy added, that the Divinity in our blessed Saviour was Crucified and Buried. The Corrupticolae were the followers of Severus at Alexandria after his Banishment from Antioch, affirming our Saviour's Body liable to decay, and therefore to have been really repaired by nourishment; but this was opposed by Julianus of Halicarnassus, a Bishop of the same Party, and flying to Alexandria for the same Cause, who affirmed that our Saviour never took any sustenance, but only seemed so to do, and therefore were called Phantasiastae, and between these two the Rabble of the City were disputed into Tumults and Outrages. And out of the Corrupticolae sprang the Agnoitae, that from the Corruptibility of our Saviour's Body, were pleased to infer some ignorance in his Soul. The Tritheitae were the followers of Philoponus, who was so far transported in the heat of disputation, as to assert three distinct Natures peculiar to each Person in the Holy Trinity, and one common to them all, to which he was betrayed by his Aristotelian Philosophy, of which he was an extravagant Admirer, that teaches that there is one and the same general humane nature really common to all men, and another particular nature appropriated to each individual. And thus when all the Lords People were permitted the liberty of Prophesying, every man took up his own Parable and believed his own Dream, the Ass as well as the Prophet, till the Church was shattered into so many chips and fragments, that it was never after reunited, as we shall see by the Progress of these Mischiefs, that I have here only briefly represented. And thus this luxurious Prince having ruined the Church by so many years' licentiousness, only because his laziness would not be at the pains to see it governed, after he had Reigned 18 years dies of a Debauch.   

§. XIX. Zeno being dead Ariadne bestows both herself and the Crown upon Anastasius a small Officer about the Court, and at his first coming to the Crown he was forced by Euphenius Bishop of Constantinople to declare for the Council of Chalcedon; For the Bishop suspecting his Religion, refused to Crown him till he had made a public profession of his Christian Faith, which he registered and laid up in the Archives of his Church, as a Testimony against him, if he should ever relapse to the Haesitantes, as he afterward did and turned a vehement Persecutor in pursuance of moderation, banishing any man either for owning or disowning the Council of Chalcedon. But of that afterwards, for at first having got the Crown Imperial upon his Head, he endeavours to make himself popular, and for that end in the first place he takes off that heavy and scandalous Tax called the Chrysargyrum. It was a Tax by Poll not only upon Men, Women and Children, but upon all Beasts and Cattle both of profit and pleasure even to Dogs and Cats. This was by immemorial Custom (though Zosimus is pleased to impute its Contrivance to Constantine the Great) collected every fourth year, and being a Customary Impost without any Formality of Law to warrant it, it was no doubt with severity enough exacted by the Officers, not so much for the profit of the Crown as their own. And this made it extreme heavy to the Subject, but that which made it Scandalous was its being a Rent-Charge upon the Stews and public Houses of Debauchery, granting (as Evagrius describes it) a Licence to all their wickedness upon a certain Rate of Excise. 
L. 3. c. 39  And for that reason it was commonly called Aurum paenosum, the Syntax or Commutation Money, which being so offensive to the People, and so foul in itself, as seeming to grant a Liberty to all manner of wickedness upon the reserve of a Pension to the Government; upon that account as it was a just, so was it a plausible Action in this Emperor to contrive its Abrogation. And he did it with that Art and Diligence as to destroy not only the Exchequer-Records, but the Collectors Books; For counterfeiting a Repentance of his Folly in parting with so fair a Revenue, he Summons in all the Collectors to bring in their Court-Rolls for retrieving a new Register out of them, this they greedily comply with in hopes to recover their several Offices in the Collection, which being done he consumes all their Books in a public Bonfire, to prevent his Successors from ever recovering any of its Memoires, and so ended this barbarous Imposition, unbecoming, as the Historian observes, not only any Christian but any Heathen Commonwealth. But soon finding this too great a retrenchment of his Revenue in Money, he is forced to supply it another way as heavy upon the Subject. That whereas the Provinces had hitherto paid their Tribute in kind, he exacts it by way of Composition in Money, and whereas hitherto it had been managed by the Magistrates of Cities, who used their Neighbours kindly, he farmed it out to his Collectors, and they to be sure would lose nothing that was to be got, but setting aside their oppression, it proved a very great oppression in itself to the poor Farmers, for though they might have plenty enough of Corn and cattle to spare, yet they had scarcity enough of Money, and for that very reason out of mere humanity and compassion this way of Taxing had been often forbidden by divers of the preceding Emperors.  
As for the State of the Church under his Reign, it gives us a true Character of the Conequences of Comprehension, as it is described by Evagrius. 
L. 3. c. 30.  That being excessively desirous of Peace, he would permit no Innovation, and laboured all manner of ways that the Church should every where remain without disturbance, and that all his Subjects should enjoy perfect Peace without brawling and contention. And for that end the Council of Chalcedon was in those days neither openly abetted nor rejected. But every Bishop followed his own conceit; some stickling with all their might for all the determinations of the Council, not allowing the alteration of the least Syllable in its Decrees, and refusing with the greatest disdain to communicate with any that rejected any part of it: others on the contrary did not only reject but anathematised the Council and all that adhered to it; others again cried up Zeno's Henoticon, and though these two Parties differed among themselves about the Eutychian Controversy, yet both Parties agreed against the Council, some being seduced by the Imperial Letters, others by the pretence of Peace. So that all the Churches in the Christian World were rend into numberless Schisms and Factions, and the Communion of the Bishops shattered all in pieces. Hence arose infinite Quarrels between the Eastern, Western and African Churches; the Eastern refusing Communion with the Western and African, and they on the other side denying them the same Civility. And not only so, but the business was carried on to an higher degree of folly, for none of them agreed among themselves, the Eastern Bishops breaking Communion at home, neither did the Western and African Bishops, though they both joined against the Eastern, communicate themselves, or with any other Foreign Churches whatsoever. All which the Emperor perceiving he deposed all Innovating Bishops, all that stuck to the Council, and all that Anathematised it, and so cast Euphenius and after him Macedonius out of the See of Constantinople, and Flavianus out of the See of Antioch. A goodly Account this of the natural effects of this wise Project of Peace and Moderation, to set all the World in a flame without redress, till at last the Peacemaker himself is forced to quit his own pretence, grows angry, and violent in proceeding against all that refuse to comply with his own Will, and it is a very obvious observation of this sort of men, that when they are disappointed in their Project, they grow moody and sullen, and are of all others the most revengeful and implacable to all that differ from them. And as for these dire effects of love and meekness no Man need to wonder at them, because the design itself is no better than casting away all manner of Discipline and Government, without which all Societies soon fall into War and Anarchy. Neither do these Mischiefs end in the Church, but they break out into Tumults and Rebellions in the Commonwealth, as we shall see anon in the Rebellion of Vitalian.  
But though all Christendom were actually in Arms, the Fight was hottest and the Contest run highest at Rome and Constantinople between Euphemianus and Gelasius, who, though they agreed in the Orthodox Faith, could never be reconciled in the point of Discipline concerning Acacius, and those Bishops that communicated with the Eutychian Heretics after they were condemned by the Council. Gelasius will listen to no terms of Reconciliation, till the Acacian Schismatics are thrown out of the Dyptiches, and Euphemianus on the contrary importunes him to condescend from the strictness of Discipline for the sake of Peace and Unity, and assures him that his Severity could have no other effect in the Eastern Church but to make the breach wider. But for all that Gelasius stops his Ears at all motions of condescension, 
Epist. 1.  and by virtue of the Authority of St. Peter will abate nothing of the settled Discipline of the Church, upon any account or pretence whatsoever: And therefore advises him, as he hoped ever to recover the favour of the Apostolic See, to anathematise Acacius as well as Eutyches. And to the same purpose he writes to Faustus' Ambassador to Theodorick King of the Goths, and at that time Master of Rome and Italy▪ than residing at Constantinople, upon a treaty of Peace between his Master and the Emperor. 
Epist. 4.  Though in it he all along betrays his great concern to be more for the Grandeur of his own See, than the Discipline of the Catholic Church. However Faustus labours to the utmost of his Power to gratify his Holiness, but all in vain, for they are resolved at Constantinople never to deliver up a Bishop of their own, much less so stout a Champion as Acacius, to the ambition of Rome. And even the Emperor himself storms at him for his unyielding obstinacy, upon which his Majesty is accosted with a Letter in a very high stile, demanding his Obedience to the Apostolic See, discoursing at large the pre-eminence of the Pontifical Power above the Regal. 
Epist. 14.  And this he follows with a Circular Epistle directed to the Bishops of Dardania, wherein he magnifies the Sovereign Authority of his own See above the whole Catholic Church, in such high strains, as were indeed nothing less than an open challenge of an absolute Monarchy over it. And therefore Acacius dying in Rebellion against his Highness' Predecessors, neither himself nor any that communicate with him aught to be received into Grace and Favor. And in the same lofty language he directs his Mandate to the Eastern Bishops upon the same Argument: 
Epist. 15.  And not content with this, he issues out his Proclamation to the whole Christian World, to declare the validity of the Sentence against Acacius and his Accomplices.  
To him succeeds Anastasius in the Papacy, who, though stiff enough, sinks much below the height and rigour of his Predecessor, 
Epist. 1.  and condescends to send his Legates, and tender an humble Address to the Emperor for Peace and Reconciliation, and insists upon no other terms than only the suppression of the name of Acacius. But now the Emperor instead of yielding to any Rules of Discipline, finding he had a coming Pope, endeavours to draw him to the Henoticon, and obliges one Festus a Senator of Rome then at Constantinople to undertake it, but before his return home the Pope died in the year 498. And he is with great difficulty succeeded by Symmachus, for Festus to carry on his Design of Comprehension, set up against him one Laurentius, a Man that he very well knew would do any thing to comply with the Emperor's Will for the advancement of his own Ends. And that gave Being to one of the most furious Schisms, that ever happened in that Church; not only the People and the Clergy, but the Senators themselves, being engaged in each Party even to Blood and Slaughter. And the Quarrel grew so high, that King Theodorick was at last forced to repair to the City with his Army to prevent a Civil War, and at length after great pains by the Assistance of a Council at Rome, commonly called the Synodus Palmaris, gave Symmachus Possession.  
And at Constantinople Tumults became so furious that above 3000 of the Orthodox Christians were murdered at one time at Divine Service by the Soldiers, as was affirmed, by the Emperor's Instigation. And upon it Symmachus writes to him to reprove him for the cruelty of the Action, and require him to forbear all farther Communion with Heretics, but he grows more violent, and so is excommunicated, but that transports him to that indecency of Passion, that he condescends to write Libels against the Pope, that are answered again with sufficient rudeness, the Pope telling him in plain terms, that he is as good a Man as himself. Upon this the Emperor loses all patience, and so with as great an Extravagance on the other side, publishes a fraudulent Rescript, that no Man shall be capable of any Preferment in Church or State, 
Cod. de Episc. Audientià l. 19.20.  unless he take the Sacrament upon it, that he will be true to the Orthodox Faith, and what he meant by that, is too too evident from his present wild behaviour about the Henoticon, and so the Rescript is interpreted by Theodorus Lector. And sometime after, i. e. in the year 510, 
Cod. de Haeret. l. 10.  he publishes another Rescript to incapacitate all that were not Orthodox in his own sense, for all Ecclesiastical Preferment. And at the same time endeavours with all his might to remove Macedonius from the See of Constantinople, though he had been placed there by himself upon the banishment of Euphemius, 
Theodorus Lector lib. 2.  till at length the barbarous Rabble and Soldiers again broke in with Clubs and Staffs upon the Catholics, as they were at Divine Service in the Church of Archangel, adding after the Trisagion this form of Words, who was Crucified for us. This came to blows and tumults, that were chiefly managed by Severus the Monk, of whose goodly Virtues more anon, and Julian Bishop of Halicarnassus, a Man much of the same Kidney, till a vast Rabble of the Orthodox joined in a Body together, and as is the manner of Tumults, cried one and all, so that the Emperor was forced to engarrison himself within his own Palace, and was taking Ship to secure himself by flight, but that bethinking himself to send for Macedonius and sweeten him with some good Words, by his means (who good Man was much more troubled at the Disorders than the Emperor himself) appeased the Tumult, and for his reward of so good a piece of Service, he was immediately conveyed away by night, kept in close Prison, and one Timotheus placed in his See.  
And the same Method of Moderation was put in practice every where in the Eastern Church, and among the rest the great Flavianus of Antioch was banished, and Severus the Monk, that mortified Man, who had long watched for the See of Constantinople, placed in his stead. He was first bred to the Law, where he might, if he would but give his Mind to it, learn all the shifts of fraud and oppression, from thence he betook himself to a Monastery, to accomplish himself with all the slites of Hypocrisy, being expelled thence, he at last betakes himself to Court, to make all his other good Qualities useful and practicable by a sufficient stock of Impudence, and what cannot that Man do, that is made up of so good a warp of knavery, so well wooft with Hypocrisy, lined through with immodesty? Thus accoutred to Court the demure Man comes, and finding which way the Weathercock of Preferment stood, soon insinuates himself into the favour of the Religious Empress, and that was an easy passage to the Emperor, whom he soon got into his possession, and put him upon his severe Courses in pursuance of moderation, only to make some good vacancy for himself. He had heaved twice at the Bishopric of Constantinople in the Expulsion of Euphemius and Macedonius, but finding it would not take there, he is content with Antioch, and so procures the expulsion of Flavianus, for his not quitting the Council. And though the Emperor according to the Tenor of his Henoticon, obliged him by Oath never to anathematise it, yet he could not forbear doing it publicly in the Church at the very time of his Consecration. Neither does his zeal and fury confine itself to his own Church, but he vents it in other Dioceses, and particularly procures the banishment of Elyas Bishop of Jerusalem, who had with many Conflicts and for many Years weathered it against the Emperor's own folly. But at last his Enormities grew so intolerable, and his contempt of the Canons so scandalous, that notwithstanding all his power at Court, he is solemnly excommunicated by a Council at Constantinople at the Emperor's own doors, and such was the rudeness of his Tongue as well as his Actions, that after the death of Anastasius, it was condemned by the Emperor Justin at the instigation of the Courtiers, to be cut out for a Penance for its foul language, had he not saved both that and himself by ●light. 'Tis still we see this sort of precious Saints, that are for promoting the dissettlement and oppression of the Church for their own ambitious Ends.  
But things being every where in such confusion, and the People under such discontents, this gives both a pretence and an opportunity to Vitalian General of the Army to revolt, and he (God knows his heart) takes up Arms only to right and restore the banished Bishops, and at last yields to a Peace upon condition that the Emperor would call a free Council at Heraclea, for the settlement of the Church and the restitution of the Bishops, and the Emperor to make good the Article summons about 200 to the place appointed, but dismisses them without any Debate. Upon this Vitalian threatens and arms again, but is at present bought off with a round sum of Money. And now the Emperor finding at last into what straits he had brought himself and his Government by his violent moderation, he grows weary of it, and writes to Pope Hormisdas, who succeeded Symmachus, to request his assistance for the resettlement of the Church. But this Pope was both a stout and a crafty Man, and would hear of no other terms of Peace but entire submission to the Council of Chalcedon, Pope Leo's Letter, and the condemnation of Acacius: And the poor tired Emperor is ready to yield all except the last, and by his Resolution in defence of Acacius luckily recovered the love of his Citizens, among whom there was none of their Bishops whose Memory was more valuable than that of Acacius. And therefore in that point he begs his Pardon, and having by that Artifice secured the People to himself, he now ventures to disband Vitalian, and puts Ruffinus in the head of his Army. And the Pope sending a second Embassy to him the year following against Acacius, the Emperor now defies him, charges him with rudeness and incivility, and tells him, that for the time to come he will have no intercourse with a Man so utterly void of good Manners, as to yield nothing to his Royal Will. And so ended his reign, for though the Romish Writers tell strange Tragedies of I know not what bloody Persecution that ensued upon it, they rely merely upon the monkish and fabulous Historians of later Times, without any Authority from the Ancients and more timely Records, and therefore are of no Credit.   

§. XX. Anastasius after 27 years' reign dying▪ Justinus, who at first had been but a common Soldier, succeeds by the choice of the People, and the Guards, whose Votes he had bought with the Money that Amantius the Eunuch (the great Patron of the Heretics under Anastasius, and the main instrument of all the Mischiefs against the Church in his reign) had entrusted with him to bribe their Voices for Theocritus, to whom he designed the Empire, as Evagrius reports from Zacharias Rhetor the partial Eutychian Historian, 
Lib. 4. c. 2.  whereas Justin himself protests in his first Letter to Pope Hormisdas, That the Empire was forced upon him by the Senate and the Army, without his own seeking and against his own Will. And he seems to have been a Man of that plainness and simplicity through the whole course of his life, that his Protestation may, if in that case any Man's may, be trusted, and it is no great wonder, if he were not very forward to accept the Government, when he could not but be conscious to himself of his unfitness for it, being a Person of no Education, only having the good fortune by his Courage to raise himself from a common Soldier to the chief Command in the Army.  
This Emperor at his first coming to the Crown finding all things in confusion by the irregular actings of Zeno and Anastasius against the Council of Chalcedon, publishes an Edict commanding subscription to it by all the Clergy, the restitution of the banished Bishops, and expulsion of the Intruders. Among whom Severus of Antioch bearing the blackest Character, 
Evag. lib. 4. c. 4.  and being the most busy Promoter of the Faction suffered in the first place. But though he were very carefully watched and way-layed by Irenaeus the Perfect of the East, he made his escape to Alexandria, where the Heretics had kept possession to that very time, Athanasius succeeding to Petrus Moggus, to him Joannes Mela, to him Joannes Machiota, to him Dioscorus the younger, to him Timotheus in the year 519, all Henotical Men. 
Liberati Brev. c. 19  In this time it was that Severus came to Alexandria, and was very welcome to him, as Julianus Bishop of Halicarnassus had been before him, but these two disputing Gentlemen meeting together, could not long agree. Severus setting up the Sect of the Corrupticolae, and Julianus of the Phantasiastae, but Themistius a Deacon of that Church divides from both, and found'st a new Schism of the Agnoetae. But now the Emperor having in some measure settled the Eastern Church, he labours for its reunion with the Western, and for that end writes to the stiff Pope Hormisdas, to offer Proposals of Peace and Reconciliation, after a rupture of 34 years, that began in the year 484, when Acacius and Foelix excommunicated each other; and after many Treaties, Embassies and Inter-messages, the Peace is concluded in the year following, viz. anno 519. And Acacius is now at last given up and sacrificed to his revenge, without which the Pope let them know at first, that it was in vain to treat of Peace upon any other conditions. Neither will he be satisfied with the sentence against Acacius alone, but all his Successors must be expunged out of the Dyptiches only for keeping him in, and so must his two Patrons, the Emperors Zeno and Anastasius, and this being done the Peace is concluded with great joy on all sides, and Hormisdas writes to the Emperor to exhort him to proceed in the same good work in other Places, especially at Alexandria and Antioch. But things were so much out of order, and Men were grown so unruly by the latitude and licentiousness of the late Times, that they would rather raise Tumults than lay down their Disputes, though the greatest Disorders were raised at Constantinople itself by the Scythian Monks, a spawn of the Henotical Liberty, and this run to that height of Sedition, that it awed the Emperor himself, engaged the greatest Men in the Empire into Parties, inflamed the Church of Africa, and set Rome itself on fire. In the year 518 they first broke out under the Patronage of Vitalian, and the Conduct of Maxentius a witty and learned Man, and they must have this Proposition, that one of the Holy Trinity was crucified in the flesh, imposed upon the Catholic Church as a necessary Article of Faith. But the Novelty and Ambiguity of the expression was offensive to all Men, that were for acquiescing in the Council of Chalcedon, and so they fell to disputing pellmell, Victor a Deacon of that Church being head of the opposite Party, and followed by the Acaemetan Monks, as indeed all the feuds of the Christian Church were every where carried on by that idle sort of Men, that had little else to do than to wrangle. But the Pope's Legates coming to Constantinople this present year 519, the Scythian Monks present them an Address in their own defence, in which they embrace all the 4 Councils, anathematise all the Heretics, only they must have their own new Proposition added to the determinations of the Church. But the Legates wholly shift the business, as being limited by their Commission from intermeddling with any Matter that was not expressed in it. Upon this the zealous Monks repair to Rome to besiege the Pope himself with their importunity, and as Vitalian had espoused their Cause, so Justinian appeared against it, and writes a sharp Letter to Hormisdas against the petulancy of the Monks, though afterward he became not only their Patron but their Advocate, earnestly soliciting the Pope in their behalf, but he not well knowing at that distance what to make of all this Contest, adjourns its examination till the return of the Legates. In the mean time there being then a famous Society of African Bishops in Sardinia, that were banished their own Country by Thrasamond King of the Vandals, a zealous Arian, and at that time Master of Africa, to these the Monks apply themselves, and present them a Confession of their Faith, wherein declaring to the height against the Pelagian Heresy, they thereby ensnare their Affections, who had been the greatest Champions against it, in so much that Fulgentius himself writes an Apology in their behalf. But upon the return of the Legates, the Monks knowing that they were none of their friends, they hang up●● their Remonstrance in the most public Places of the City to raise Sedition among the People, and so betake themselves to flight. Of their unruly behaviour at Rome Hormisdas has given an account in his Letter to Possessor an African Bishop, that they were a sort of vain, proud, petulant Men, that under shows of mortification kept up the height of Pride and Insolence, and were swollen to that degree of Arrogance, that they would have the whole Christian World to truckle to their imperious dictates, and instead of obedience, that aught to be the peculiar glory of Monasteries, set up obstinacy and stubbornness, etc. this Letter is answered by Maxentius, (whose Works are extant in the Bibliotheca Patrum) where his great Holiness is treated with rudeness enough. At Thessalonica one of the Pope's own Legates was murdered in a Tumult, in defence of their intruding Bishop Dorotheus. At Jerusalem John an Eutychian had by the help of Severus of Antioch thrust out Elyas, and usurped the Chair to himself, but the Times being changed, so is his Faith, and he becomes a zealous defender of the Council against the Heretics, and upon it is very acceptable to the People, who sue to the Emperor for the pardon of all his former Misdemeanours without any farther process or solemnity of Discipline. And in the same manner are popular Addresses and Petitions brought from all parts in behalf of their Bishops, that had been of the Acacian Faction (who by the Terms of the Concordate between the Pope and the Emperor were all Condemned Men) to keep those that were dead in the Dyptiches, and those that were living in their Sees: in short, that Peace may be settled without too much triumph over the condescending Party. This so perplexes the Emperor that he refers it wholly to Pope Hormisdas, who was now grown to that Authority in the Christian Church, that he alone transacted all things in it. And therefore to him the Emperor dispatches his Ambassadors, to soften him to the mildest terms of Peace, for fear of Tumults if he should stand upon too much severity. And to prepare him for it, his Majesty Petitions his Holiness by Letter, that he would be satisfied with the Execution of the Names of Acacius, Petrus Moggus, Timotheus Aelurus, Dioscorus, and Petrus Fullo, but as for all others that died in the Schism to let them pass in silence. And as for the Cause of the Scythian Monks that was by this time spread over all the Eastern Church, he proposes that they may be indulged the Liberty of their Opinion, because though it might be too curious, yet it was harmless and agreeable to the Orthodox Faith. This motion is seconded by several Letters from Justinian, who indeed governed all, and by others from a Council at Constantinople, and by others from Epiphanius Bishop of the City. But Hormisdas is inflexible, will yield nothing to their importunity; and let the Event be what it will, and let the People rebel if they will, nothing of the Discipline of the Church can be abated: And to receive Schismatics into its Communion, instead of reconciling Parties, it will only expose its Authority to contempt, or as he expresses it in his Letter to Epiphanius, Nosti, frater Charissime, quae ecclesiasticam servent vincula concordiam, quae nos ab Haereticorum tueantur insidiis, per quae etiam Canonum custodiatur Auctoritas. His in robore suo omni circumspectione servatis, remedia sperantibus conferantur. And writing to the Emperor, he begs that his Majesty would not think him more austere than his Predecessors for standing upon higher terms, they insisting only upon the name of Acacius, and assures him that it is not stubbornness, but the sad experience of those grievous Scandals, that had followed upon the unhappy rupture, that made him the more severe. At the beginning of the Schism there might have been room for some condescension, but the mischiefs, that have followed by so long and stubborn a continuance of it, especially their affront to the great Council of Chalcedon, cannot be pardoned or expiated without some public satisfaction. But yet that he may not be too hardhearted, he leaves it to the Conscience and Discretion of Epiphanius, to receive such as he believes true Penitents, or seduced out of Ignorance and Simplicity, but so as to oblige him to return all their Libels of Confession to himself at Rome. And as for the Cause of the Scythian Monks, he will by no means admit their Proposition because of its Novelty; and when the same thing was less ambiguously expressed by the Scriptures and the Ancients, as that the Son of God suffered in the Flesh, he would allow of no new Phrases, that would but give occasion to new disputes and farther divisions. Haec si quemadmedum a Patribus constituta sunt, servant, credant, non definita transcendent, à quo tramite qui decli●ant, ipsi sibi nebulam dubitationis offundunt. And therefore he will have all men acquiesce in the definition of the Council; and for the same reason though he will not directly condemn the Proposition of Heresy, yet he damns it as a needless, a peevish, and an over curious Novelty. And here the Modern Writers of the Church of Rome are at a great loss how to reconcile this Sentence of Horm s●●as with that of Pope John the Second, who expressly anathematised the Acaemetan Monks for denying it, and vouched it for an Article of the Christian Faith, and constant Tradition of the Christian Church. But the present Historian Natalis Alexander thinks he clears the difficulty by proving against Baronius that Hormisdas did not condemn the Scythian Monks of Heresy, 
Saec. Sext. diss. 2.  and therefore though John the Second past that Sentence upon the contrary Opinion, it was no contradiction. The observation is good, but the Evasion bad; for Baronius, as his manner is, here stretches beyond his Records, when he endeavours to draw them into the List of Heretics; and yet for all that the Contradiction is as palpable, as if their Sentence had been for Heresy. For when one Pope shall Condemn a Proposition as a needless and profane Novelty, and another shall abet it as a constant Tradition of the Christian Church, and so much an Article of Faith, as to anathematise all that oppose it, is I think a contradiction too tough to be reconciled by infallibility itself.  
As for the behaviour of Hormisdas in this whole business, it may seem too stiff and rigorous, but setting aside his design to trample down his Rival at Constantinople, and taking upon himself the single Authority of governing the Christian Church, his severity was but seasonable and necessary at that time. For ever since the unhappy Publication of the Henoticon, and the Schism of Acacius, the Discipline of the Church was wholly laid aside by the Acacian Party, and that could not be restored to its effectual exercise, without bringing the Offenders against it to a public Confession of their fault. Neither indeed without that, was it lawful by the Canons of the Church to receive any man, that had been Canonically judged a Schismatic, to Communion. And as for the Scythian Monks, though their Proposition were true, as in one sense it might be, when they applied the Crucifixion not immediately to the Divinity itself, but to the flesh in which the Divinity resided. Yet however it was in the first place as they express it in general terms, capable of too harsh a sense. Secondly, it was without Authority, when private Persons will take upon themselves the confidence to impose upon the Christian Church. Thirdly, it was an unmannerly reflection upon the Council of Chalcedon, as if that had not made sufficient provision against the late Heresy, but stood in need to be patched out by this new Addition. And for these reasons I cannot see but that it was justly censured and rejected by this Pope, though otherwise and in most other Cases he was a man of much too stiff and unyielding a Temper. The rest of the Acts of his Reign are lost, for though he lived two years after, yet after this time we have no remaining Records of his Transactions.  
But the Emperor having cleared the Church of these wanton Schisms, that owed their Birth merely to the liberty granted by his Predecessors, he now proceeds to root up all the ancient Heresies that it seems had peep't above ground again by having been so long neglected. And it is certain that there is no setting limits to liberty of opinion, for if men are once allowed the wantonness of Philosophising as they please, there is nothing so absurd that somebody will not assert. And here from this particular Case we may observe the woeful effects of a few years' indulgence and licentiousness, when all these wild Heresies that the several Emperors had from time to time rooted up by effectual Laws, now take root and spring up again, and probably had they not been timely prevented by this Emperor and his Successor, they might have grown to as great an head as ever they did in former times. But they are cut up all together at one blow by one Law, 
Cod. lib. 1. Tit. 5. l. 12.  viz. That the Manichees be every where destroyed and put to death, and that the rest of the Heretics (and an Heretic is every man that is not Orthodox) together with Heathens, Jews, and Samaritans, bear no Office in the Commonwealth. And if any shall presume to do it, he is to be severely fined, excepting only the Gothick Arians, because they are our Confederates. Where we may observe, that the punishment of the Manichees is Capital, but that of the other sort of Heretics Pecuniary, because Manicheism was not mere Heresy, but downright Debauchery, and that of the blackest Dye, teaching men the practice of all wickedness from the Principles of Religion. And therefore this Heresy was as severely proceeded against by Heathen as by Christian Emperors, as we may see by a Rescript of Dioclesian and Maximinian in the Gregorian Code against the Manichees, 
Lib. 12. Tit. Vlt.  those new and unheard of Monsters in the Roman Empire, that were first spawned in Persia, where they committed all manner of wickedness, raised Tumults and Seditions among the People, and caused great slaughters in every City.  
And as for the exception of the Arian Goths, it could not well be avoided at that time, both because the Emperor was Confederate with their Powerful King Theodorick, whose displeasure would then have been very dangerous to the State of the Empire: and because he would not provoke him to use any Severity against the Catholics in the West, he being then King of Italy, and had hitherto been so far from all thoughts of Persecution, that he protected the Church in all its Rights and Liberties, and abetted its power with as Religious care and respect as any Emperor had ever done. It is reported by Baronius and those that follow him that Justin afterwards reversed this Indulgence to the Goths, and put the Laws against the Arians so severely in Execution, that Theodorick forced Pope John the First to go his Ambassador to Constantinople to take him off from his severity, and because he did not, or would not effect it, cast him into Prison at his return home, where he died. This is the common Tale, but I doubt it wants Authority. For as for Anastasius the Librarian, who is the chief Author upon whom the learned Annalist relies, he is a very late and fabulous Writer, living in the 9th Century, and that under Pope Nicolaus the first, that great Father of Lies, whose whole business it was to corrupt the Records of the Church for the advancement of his own See, and as he for that reason imposed upon the World the forged Decretals of the Popes from Clement down to Cyricius, so his Librarian extracted the History of that Interval out of those Forgeries. And though he had or might have had better Records of the following Popes, yet I know not by what fate it comes to pass, his Story is altogether as ill-told, and is no better than rank Legend. But so it was that he lived in a dark and barbarous Age, when the Records of the Church were buried under heaps of Tales and Fables, and men only studied to outstretch one another in the strangeness of their Reports. And therefore I cannot but wonder that a man of Labbés Learning and Judgement should follow him as the best Author of the Papal History, when it is so inconsistent with all those Records, that himself has examined and published, of every Pope's Actions. As for the Letters of Pope John to the Italian Bishops about this business, they are apparently spurious. Gregory Turonensis indeed tells a Story somewhat like it, but then he has it only upon Report, at a great distance of place, and that a very crude one, and different from other Records, for he says nothing of the Embassy to Constantinople, which was the only considerable transaction of this Pope's Reign, but only says that he was told that the cause of his Imprisonment was that Theodorick putting all the Catholics in Italy to the Sword (it is strange that no Historian of that time should make any mention of it) Pope John went to him to persuade him from so bloody a Persecution, for which in a rage he threw him into Prison. As for the Story of Gregory the Great, it is so childish and such mere Legend, that out of respect to so great a man, I will not recite it. All that certainly appears is this, that there was at that time some misunderstanding between Justin and Theodorick, for that was the Accusation upon which the Great Boëtius was then put to death, that he held correspondence with Justin. And that Pope John was sent by Theodorick to treat with the Emperor, but what was his particular Errand is not recorded, but whatever it was, it seems he managed it so as to fall into the King's displeasure, and this is all that we have of that Pope's Actions, and this Emperor's reign.   

§. XXI. For he dying, after he had reigned nine years, in his extreme old Age, before his death saw his Nephew Justinian fixed in the actual possession of the Imperial Throne by the choice of the Senate, one of the greatest Princes in the whole Succession, whether we regard the Success of his Arms, the Magnificence of his Buildings, or the Wisdom of his Laws, the three greatest Ornaments of any Prince's Reign. And yet Envy, and one ill-natured Libel of a malcontent Courtier (if it be his) has been able (such is the ill-nature of Mankind) to slur all the Miracles of his reign. But I find that the ground of all the late displeasure against this great Prince was (as some Men suppose) his too busy intermeddling in Church-Matters: this is the thing that is taken unkindly by the Churchmen at Rome, as an invasion of their Province. But others on the contrary top him up for a Pattern to all Princes to keep the Jurisdiction of the Church in their own hands against all the pretences of ecclesiastics. But as it falls out, and aught so to do, they are both equally mistaken; for Justinian never attempted any thing in the Church, that was not warranted by continued Precedents of his best Predecessors. He only protected the Power of the Church in the exercise of its Jurisdiction, as they did, but never claimed it to himself, howsoever he might err (as sometimes he did) in the execution of his Office. And whereas they load him so severely for presuming to make so many Novels, or Laws of his own about Religion, the whole charge is founded merely upon ignorance and mistake, they being all known Canons of the Church, before ever he enacted them into Laws. And therefore he is no more to be blamed than the best of his Predecessors, unless it be for his too pious and watchful care to preserve the Discipline of the Christian Church. So that it is no less than high ingratitude in the Clergy of Rome to requite so great a Benefactor to the Cause of Religion, with nothing but unkind Censures and foul Calumnies. But the ground of all their present Quarrel is his taking down the pride of one of their most haughty Popes, Vigilius, though by their own confession one of the worst of Men, and that too was done at a time, when their Holinesses had been accustomed to trample upon the state of the Imperial Majesty itself. And if in these contentions the Emperor fell into any indecencies, that cannot be justified, yet he ought not only in good Manners, but in justice, to be excused, because it is evident from the Design of his whole Reign, that his only aim was to resettle the long-disturbed Peace of the Church, and if at any time he failed in his Measures, his Integrity ought by all the rules of Candour to atone for the defect of his Politics. But whether all his Acts of Government in the Church are justifiable, or not, I dare insure for all his Laws, and for that I shall here account, to finish the parallel between the Ecclesiastical and Imperial Laws in this Matter; because by this Prince the Imperial Law was brought to its full Perfection. And after that it will be needless to inquire into the practice of succeeding Princes, who received either the Theodosian or Justinian Body of Laws, as the sixth and standing rule of the Imperial Government.  
Though of the two the Theodosian Code met with much the better Fortune, for that having had ninety Years possession both in the Eastern and Western Empire, it was not easily removed, especially when it had been received by the barbarous People that invaded and conquered some Parts of the Empire, as the only established Law of the Romans. And so it was by that great, wise and prosperous Prince Theodorick King of the Goths, who enacted its obligation upon his own People in a compendious Edict drawn out of it, consisting of 154 heads, extant in Cassiodorus. But Alaric his Successor and Grandchild by his Daughter Amalesuntha, that greatest of Women, made a new body of Institutes out of it, vulgarly known by the name of the Breviary of Anianus, not that Anianus composed it, but because he by his Office compared and examined the Original Copy that was laid up among the Crown-Records, and subscribed his Approbation, from thence in after-Ages it came to bear his Name. But after the Goths, the Lombard's, the Franks, the Burgundians, and other People of Germany, overrun the Western Empire, and these when they came to settle, blended the Theodosian Laws with their own ancient Customs, from whence came the Feudal Law, that to this day carries the greatest sway▪ in the Government of all the European Nations. But as for the Justinian Law, that was received only in the Eastern Empire, and there it had scarce reigned 300 years, when it was thrust out of Authority by the Basilica of Leo the Philosopher, who added to the Justinian Collection the Novels of all the succeeding Emperors down to his own time. But in the West it was never so much as heard of for 600 years after the death of Justinian; there are not so much as any footsteps of it in the Capitulars of Charles the Great, or any other European Laws. Neither were they ever made public to the Western World till the time of that great Prince Lotharius the second Emperor and Duke of Saxony, 
V. Marquardi Freheri Praefat ad L●unclavium.  who reigned not till the year 1125. And he first brought it to light at the persuasion and by the assistance of Irnerius the most learned Man in that Age, from which time forward, it has kept possession together with the Feudal Law, not only in the Schools and Universities but in the Government of the Empire.  
But as for the Law itself, it consists of two parts, the Code and the Novels, that is, Laws made by himself after the publication of the Code, and these are again to be subdivided into Laws concerning Faith, and Laws concerning Discipline, in both which he has behaved himself with as much decency and respect to the Church, as any of his most admired Predecessors. As for the Code, it is a Collection of former Laws with some additions of his own: Of the former Laws we have treated in order, under the several Reigns in which they were enacted, and therefore need say nothing of them here, but only to vindicate the Integrity of this Record. Because the learned Gothofred to enhance the value of his Theodosian Code, 
Proleg. c. 4.  that indeed can never be overvalued, has made very great Complaint of the unfaithfulness of Tribonian in reciting the Laws of former Emperors. But I must confess that I cannot discern any such enormous Faults, that may deserve the hard title of Tribonianis Facinora, as he styles them. He has indeed cut off all superfluities and unnecessary Prefaces, he has filled off all temporary and antiquated Laws, he has avoided, as much as conveniently he could, the repetition of the same Laws under several Emperors to the same purpose, otherwise I can see no Alteration but for the better. I shall not enter upon a particular collation of Laws with Gothofred, that would be too wide a digression from my Undertaking, and therefore I shall only examine that Specimen of the Tribonianis Facinora, that himself has here given in the Laws relating to the Subject of Religion. His first instance is in the 6 th' Law under the Title de Haereticis, and that is the Law of Theodosius the Younger against the Nestorians, that they should be called Simonians, as Constantine the Great caused the Arians to be styled Porphyrians. And the Original Law itself runs thus. Quemadmodum Ariani Lege divae memoriae Constantini ob similitudinem impietatis, Porphyriani à Porphyrio nuncupantur; sic ubique participes nesariae sectae Nestorii Simonianis vo venture. But in the Justinian Code after Ariani is foisted in ab Ario, and instead of Simonianis 'tis written Nestoriani, as if the Arians were to be denominated from Arius, the Porphyrians from Porphyrius, and the Nestorians from Nestorius. But granting this mistake, it is no facinus, no sin of Malice, and then beside it is too gross an Escape for a Man of Tribonian's Learning to make at that time, the Law of Constantine being then so known and common, and therefore a Man of Gothofred's Candour and Ingenuity ought to have imputed it to the ignorance of Transcribers in later Times, after the Book had lain so long buried in dust and rubbish; In other like Cases learned Men are always wont to impute such Mistakes of Ignorance rather to the misfortune of the Copy, than to the fault of the Author himself, if a Man of known learning, especially when it might be corrected by other authentic Copies, that met with better fortune, as this is both by the Theodosian Code itself, and Photius his Nomocanon. But in the times of Ignorance, it was but any ignorant hands clapping either into the Text, or rather the Margin, the word ab Ario, and there is the whole mistake. And after all I see not why it might not be done by the first Publisher Irnerius himself, who, as Vrspergensis informs us, corrected the Copy and interposed some Words of his own, and in that dark Age it was very easy for a Man very learned, as the times went, to fall into such a Mistake, when all the Ancient Records of the Imperial Law had lain so long neglected.  
And the same easy mistake is his second Instance in the Law of Valentinian concerning the Age of Deaconesses, viz. that they should not be admitted into that order till they were 60 years of Age according to the Precept of the Apostle, whereas in the Justinian Code the number is sunk from 60 to 50. But the mistake of figures by Transcribers is so very easy, that it ought to be supposed, wherever it is discovered, and it is not improbable that Irnerius his own hand was in this too, for he finding the time set by Justinian's own Novel to be but 50 years, it was natural for him, who knew nothing of the Theodosian Code, to conclude that it ought to be so here. The third and last instance of Tribonian's prevarication is a much leaner exception then either of the two former, viz. the Rescript of Valentinian the Younger against Apostates, which Gothofred says reached only Apostates from Christianity to Heathenism, whereas Tribonian has perverted the sense of it by foisting in those words, de Haereticâ superstitione, as if the Rescript aimed at all sorts of Heretics, that deserted the Catholic Church. But that these words were foisted in, I see no ground to suspect, or if they were, they might come in from other hands as well as Tribonian's. But however the meaning of the Law is so plain, that I cannot but wonder how so accurate and diligent an Observator, and one of such exquisite Learning as Gothofred was, should overlook it; for the Law itself expressly refers to a former Rescript, enacted by the same Emperor, and that is the Law immediately preceding in the Theodosian Code, and the only Law made before this by this Emperor, in which he explains what is here meant by Apostates, of which he there makes three sorts, viz. to Heathenism, to Judaisme and to Manicheism, and therefore this Law that was enacted eight years after in pursuance to that, must be understood of those three several sorts of Apostates and none other. And it was no impropriety to call the Manichees Heretics, for though they were worse than Jews and Heathens, yet they were only accused of Heresy, because they pretended to Christianity. Neither was it any Solecism to impute heretical Superstition to the other two Sects, for though they were not usually accused of Heresy, yet when the word Superstition was joined with it, by which they then vulgarly understood any false Religion, it comprehended Pagan and Jewish as well as Christian Heretics. These are all the Instances that this diligent and learned Man has alleged upon this Argument in his Chapter the Tribonianis Facinoribus, and I think I may now safely leave it to the Reader to judge, Whether the Proof be not very much too slender to fill up the Body of the Charge. But when I have vindicated the faithfulness of this great Man in this great Work, it will not be altogether improper to do that right to his Memory, who has deserved so highly of all Posterity, as to clear him from a Calumny or two, that have been so unjustly dashed upon his Reputation. 
De Bello Persico lib. 1. cap. 25.  Procopius himself magnifies him for all kind of Virtues, and charges him with no other blemish than too much love of Money. And as for Suidas, that is the only Man that has blackened his Memory, as he is a Writer of very mean Authority of himself, so his Story here is plainly felo de se, when he says, that Tribonian was a zealous Pagan, a tale so improbable in itself, against a Man that has taken so much faithful pains to do service to Christianity, that it would require some very strong proof to make it but merely credible.   

§. XXII. But now having vindicated the Integrity of the Justinian Code, as to the Laws of his Predecessors, we may proceed to the examination of his own. And his Laws of Religion take up the first thirteen Titles of the first Book, and are of two sorts, concerning Faith, and concerning Discipline. His Laws concerning Faith are far from being numerous, only three of his Predecessors and three of his own, and all in pursuance of the Decrees and Definitions of the Church, and those of his own are not so properly Laws, as Confessions and Declarations of his own Faith sent to some Christian Bishops for their satisfaction, and are nothing else than an owning or ratification of the four General Councils, by whose Authority (as he declares) the Apostolical Faith was conveyed down through all Ages to his own time, and for that reason he receives both the Nicene Faith, because it was delivered down from the Apostles, and the several Expositions of it by the following Councils. Not as if that had been defective in perspicuity, but because the Enemies of the truth had endeavoured to subvert it, some one, and some another way, therefore it was necessary for the Church in the following Councils to explain and defend its truth by Testimonies of Scripture, and to anathematise all the Authors of profane Novelties. And for this very reason he lets all his Subjects know, that there is no living for any Man within his Dominions, that does not submit to the Authority of these Councils. In all which he expresses so much Civility and Respect to the Jurisdiction of the Church, that there is not an higher declaration of it in all the Imperial Laws, so free is he in this matter from that imputation so confidently charged upon him by the Italians, 
In Praefat. ●d Procopium.  as Alemannus expresses it, ad Religionis dogmata definienda ecclesiasticasque sanciendas leges effusa licentia, a bold and saucy tampering with the Christian Faith, which he was so far from ever attempting, that no Prince ever declared more vehemently against that sacrilegious abuse of the Imperial Authority. In the three following Titles de Sacrosanctis Ecclesiis; de Episcopis et Clericis; de Episcopali Audientiâ; all the Laws enacted by himself are only so many Charters of Privilege to the Church, that express an high sense of Piety and Devotion, and are withal contrived with so much prudence, that whoever would go about to find fault with them, must lay aside his Understanding as well as his Integrity. And yet these are all the Laws of his own enacting in the Code, for under all the following Titles he has only collected the Laws of his Predecessors without adding any of his own.  
In his Novels, as mighty and Ecclesiastical Legislator as he is taken to be, his Laws of Religion are not so very numerous, and those that are, only revive Ecclesiastical Canons or Ecclesiastical Customs, but are no new Institutions. And any attempt of that kind was so far from finding any entertainment in his thoughts, that he ever shunned it with all manner of tenderness, and declares upon all occasions that his Laws only wait (as he is pleased to express himself) upon the Canons of the Church. The first Novel upon this Argument is the Third, Enacted Anno 535▪ in the 9th Year of his Reign, where he Enacts that in all Cathedral Churches the Clergy be stinted to a certain number, but I hope no man can be so weak as to think that this was never Enacted before that time. The next is the 5th, de Monachis, in which he only keeps the Monks to the Rules of their Institution, but makes no new Rules of his own: The 6th regulates the other Clergy according to the Canons of the Fathers, as he declares in the Preface to it, and there occurs nothing in it, but what had been often commanded both by the Ecclesiastical and Imperial Law. The 7th forbids all Alienations of the Goods of the Church. The 9th gives the Church the Privilege of prescribing for one hundred Years, whereas the Plea of Possession against all other Prescription was limited to 30, and this he presents as a Religious Oblation to Almighty God. These were all published in the same Year. In the 11th he raises the place of his birth to the honour of an Archbishopric or Patriarchate, to which he subjects Six Provinces, that had hitherto belonged to the Archbishop of Thessalonica, and justifies his Power of doing it, because the dignity of the Church naturally followed that of the State, and therefore his Imperial Majesty having established a new Civil Prefecture in that City, that gave it a new Prerogative in the Church: for as in former times when the Prefecture of Illyricum was fixed at Sirmium, than the Episcopal Primacy resided there, but when afterward those Parts were invaded and laid waist by Attila King of the Huns, Appennius the Perfect was forced to retire to Thessalonica, the Archiepiscopal Dignity followed him thither, Et Thessalonicensis Episcopus non suâ Authoritate, sed sub umbrâ praefecturae meruit aliquam praerogativam, i. e. And the Bishop of Thessalonica obtained the Prerogative not by Virtue of his own Authority but under the shelter of the Civil Prefecture. And therefore the Emperor having instituted a new praefectus praetorio in his own City, upon the Recovery of that part of the Empire that had been lost, it was but fit and decent that upon that occasion it should be made an Archiepiscopal See: And to it he subjected all Dacia and Pannonia; Dacia then containing Transilvania, Valachia, and Moldavia: Pannonia the lower Hungary, the upper Austria, Carinthia and Carniola, as they are now divided. And this being done he obtains of Pope Vigilius to grant the new Archbishop his Legantine Dignity in those Provinces. But here Baronius storms, and says he extorted it by force and cruelty after the great falling out about the tria Capitula, and that it was not honest to rob other Churches to enrich and advance his own. But his passion has run him into a continued Train of mistakes. For first the Grant of Vigilius was made at his first coming to the See, as appears by Justinian's 131 st. Novel, in which it is mentioned, that bears date in the Year 541, whereas there was no Quarrel between the Pope and the Emperor, till after Vigilius his Journey to Constantinople, which was not till the Year 547, neither did he suffer any force till the Year 551, as Baronius himself very well knows, who has placed the Story of that Persecution in the History of that Year. Neither secondly did the Pope grant the Metropolitical Dignity, but only the Legantine Power, the first was established before by the Emperor, and more than that, an Archiepiscopal or Patriarchal Supremacy, for at that time those words were synonymous to express the new Jurisdiction above Metropolitans. Nor Thirdly, were the Ancient and Original Rights of Thessalonica defrauded, but only that part of the Empire that was newly Recovered, and formerly belonged to Sirmium, was settled in its Ancient State under the Metropolis of Justiniana. But lastly, the Cardinal has little reason to complain of robbing Peter to pay Paul, if he would but reflect upon the Actions of the Popes about that time, who with Force and Arbitrary Power both against Canons and immemorial Custom transferred the Metropolitical Power from Vienna to Arles, and that without any other reason, then to make a Precedent and give a cast of their absolute Supremacy, disposing of the Affairs of Christendom not by the Laws of the Church, but according to their own Arbitrary Will and Pleasure. Whereas the Law of Justinian was sounded upon the universal Practice of the Church, as it was settled by the Apostles themselves, by whom its Jurisdiction was every where accommodated to the convenience of Civil Government▪ And therefore this City being made both a Civil Metropolis, and the Seat of a Praefectus Praetorio, it was but natural both according to the Canons and the Customs of those times, to make it an Ecclesiastical Patriarchate, which then answered to the Diocesan Jurisdiction of the Civil Prefects over several Provinces.  
The 16th Novel is a Repetition of the Third, to limit the number of the Clergy in Cathedral Churches, particularly applied to the Church of Constantinople. The 36th and 37th are enacted upon his Recovery of Africa from the Vandals, to restore the Discipline, the Revenues and the Privileges of the African Church, to suppress all kind of Heretics with all manner of severity, and the execution of all former Laws upon them, and to bestow all their Churches upon the Catholics, and to grant them the right of Sanctuary in all Cases, excepting the Crimes of Rape and Murder. The 40th 〈…〉 particular Grant or Dispensation to the Church of Jerusalem called the Resurrection-Church for the sale of certain Lands. The Forty second is a Confirmation of the Sentence against Anthimus as guilty of the Eutychian Heresy, according to known Custom, as he declares in his Preface, that as often as any of the Clergy were judged unworthy of the Priesthood by the Sacerdotal Sentence, the Royal Power should join with the Authority of their Decree: that so both Powers, Divine and Humane, agreeing, a good correspondence might be kept between both, and so the World be well governed. The Forty Third is a revival of a Rescript of the Emperor Anastasius, to limit the Exemption of Taxes upon the Revenues of the Church, which grew so very great, as to defraud its contribution to the Civil Government, and to that purpose he excuses only one thousand Tenements in the City of Constantinople belonging to that Church, but requires all other Estates that were purchased since the Edict of Anastasius, to contribute in their just proportion to the public Burdens of the Commonwealth. The 45 th' subjects all Jews and Heretics to the public Burdens, but interdicts them all Privileges. The 46 th ●●ctifies the 7 th', that forbid all Clergy-m●● he alienation of their Lands, which Law some of them so scandalously abused, as to run in debt without any obligation to pay their Creditors. In which cases, especially of Debts to the Crown, he permits the sale of Church-Lands to defray Church-debts; and that I take it is no Law of Religion, otherwise than as it is an act of Civil Justice. The 55 th' is only an interpretation of the several Laws against the alienation of Church-Revenues, viz. to allow their sale by way of Exchange, so it be done without fraud or fiction. The 56 th' is a revival of the Laws and Canons against Simony, of which it seems there were great Complaints at that time. The 57 th' is a revival of a Law of the Emperor Leo, enacting that if a Clerk forsake his Cure, the Bishop take care to have it supplied, and that no Patron or Founder of a Church present his Clerk to it without the Bishop's approbation. The 58 th' forbids the erecting of Chapels in private Families to the defrauding of the public Churches, and though it allows them for Prayers, yet by no means for administration of the holy Sacraments. The 59 th' is a confirmation of the gifts of Constantine and Anastasius to the Church of Constantinople for Burials without Fees and Charges, which it seems, notwithstanding the Revenue that was settled by those Emperors for that purpose, were at that time demanded by the Clergy of that Church. The 65 th' is a dispensation to the Church of Mysia, to sell certain Lands for the redemption of Captives. The 67 th' provides that no Churches be built without the Bishop's consent, and that Bishops reside within their own Dioceses. The 76 th' only reforms Abuses among the Monks. The 77 th' restrains Sodomy and Blasphemy. The 79 th' refers all the Lawsuits of Monks and Nuns to the determination of the Bishop. The 83 d enacts the same privilege for the whole body of the Clergy. The 86 th' empowers any Subject to appeal from the Secular Judge of the Province to the Bishop, who is required to examine the Proceedings, and authorised, if the Appellant desire it, to sit in Commission with him, and if upon his Complaint the Judge refuse to do Justice, he is commanded to inform the Emperor against him. This is a Law that the ecclesiastics had no reason to complain of as a diminution of their Authority, when in effect it put the whole Government of the Empire into their hands: Though the Judges had but too much reason to take offence at it, in having spies set over all their Actions, and all spies are apt to be too busy and officious. The 109 th' revives the Laws of his Predecessors Leo and Justin against all sorts of Heretics of what Sect soever, and whereas by Law Daughters Portions were to be paid before any other Debts, he debars all Female Heretics of that Privilege. The 111 th' is an amendment of the 9 th' Novel, that gave the Church the privilege of pleading against all Prescription less than 100 years, whereas other Subjects were allowed that Plea no higher than 30 years, but the Inconveniences were found so great by reason of the great distance of time, exceeding the term of Man's life, that in this Novel he brings it down to the compass of 40 years. The 120 th' is a revival of his former Laws against the alienation of church-good. The 123 d. is a compendium of the Canons of the Church for the regulation of the Clergy, but chiefly Bishops. But it consists of so many particulars, and is of that great length, containing no less than 44 Chapters, that it would be too tedious to repete it hear, though it is highly worth the Readers perusal, being a very judicious Collection of the best Laws of the Church in that matter. The 129 th' grants the Samaritans, because they now behaved themselves modestly and peaceably, the power of making Wills, which he had taken from them by a former Law, 
V. Chronicon Alexa●drinum p. 775.  upon occasion of their Tumults in Palestine, as may be seen in the life of St. Saba, who was sent Ambassador from those parts to the Emperor Justinian at the beginning of his Reign to complain of their Violences. The 131st is a very famous Law, and a kind of recapitulation of all his former Laws concerning Church-Matters, and therefore contains nothing new in it. The 132 d is against the Conventicles of Heretics of all Herds. The 133 d reduces Monks to the observation of the Laws of the Church, and the Rules of their Order. The 137 th' re●ulates Ordinations of the Clergy by the canon's. The 146 th' is an indulgence of Liberty to the Jews: and these are all the Laws enacted by this Emperor about Religion, for those few that follow, were made by his Successor Justin, though they are placed under this Prince's name by mistake. Now I pray what is there in all this that is not warrantable in a Prince? What is there, that is not highly praiseworthy? What is there, that is not warranted by Precedents of his Predecessors, unless it be this, That he exceeded them all in his care and kindness to the Church? What then can be the meaning of those ungrateful Men, who requite him with nothing but Calumnies and unkind reflections for being too busy in Church-Matters, unless it be this, That they care not that Princes should inspect and observe the Neglects and Disorders of the Clergy? 
Anno 528.  I am sure Baronius betrays great dis-ingenuity, in loading him so heavily as he has done, when yet at the same time he is forced to excuse him, first from the necessity of the times for recovering the Discipline of the Church, for the Canons having lain neglected all the time of Zeno, Basiliscus and Anastasius, that obliged him to be the more active to recover their Authority, and if he were so, why does the Cardinal charge him with pragmaticalness against the Power of the Church? Secondly from Justinian's own declaration, that runs through all his Laws, that he does not take upon himself the Authority of enacting Ecclesiastical Laws, but of abetting them, and putting them in execution by secular Penalties: 
Anno 534.  a fault that would be very commendable in all Princes. But some distance after the great Cardinal so far forgets his displeasure against this great Emperor, that upon his sending an Embassy to Pope John the second against the Acaemetan Monks, he writes a Panegyric upon his decent and regular Proceedings in the Church, in that he always acted by the Authority of his Bishops with the consent of the Pope. Adeo ut nihil his sanctius rectiusque perfici potuerit ab Orthodoxo Imperatore, qui Catholicae fidei patrocinium studio indefesso susceperit. And beside this he might have remembered, what himself says in the year following, ought never to be forgot, Pope Agapetus his high Commendation of the Emperor's acting in Church-Matters, in his Epistle to the Emperor: Firmamus, laudamus, amplectimur: non quia Laicis Auctoritatem praedicationis admittimus, sed quia studium fidei vestrae Patrum nostrorum regulis conveniens confirmamus atque roboramus. 
Anno 535.  Another excuse he has made, that with him outweighs all the rest, that he was under the Government of a wicked Woman kneaded up of no less than six she-Devils, Eve, Dalilah and Herodias, Allecto, Megaera and Tisiphone (and there is not one Lady in all his story, if she be out of his favour, that he does not compound of some or all of these Ingredients.) And concludes that he might have been the greatest Prince that ever swayed Sceptre, had it not been for this Penelope or six-fold Devil, who made it her business to cross and control him in all his Designs, and unravel as fast as he could wind up in all his great Undertake. So true is that of the Preacher, It is better to dwell with a Lion or a Dragon than with a wicked Woman.   

§. XXIII. And thus having vindicated his Laws from the Cavils of these ungratful Men, I come now to vindicate his Person and his Actions from their more disingenuous Aspersions. And here lies the main ground of the Quarrel against him, not his meddling too much with Church-Matters but with Churchmen. He would not suffer himself as some of his Predecessors did, to be outhufft by the Papal Insolence, but brought Vigilius one of the proudest of them all to compliance and submission, and that is a Crime never to be forgiven. And for want of better or rather worse Information against him, they are content to take up with a scandalous Libel, i. e. Procopius' Anecdota. Baronius was grieved to the heart, that he could not find it, because from thence, he says, it would appear, what the Humour, what the Wisdom, what the Piety of Justinian was, when his sauciness against ecclesiastics was such, as no good or pious Prince could be guilty of. But Alemannus a Convert from the poor Greek Church, and one of the Cardinal's Successors (as he proudly entitles himself) in the Office of Apostolical Librarian, chancing it seems to light upon it as he was brushing the old Manuscripts in the Vatican, is transported with joy, and is all on fire to oblige holy Church with the publication of so useful a Work, that the World might now see what manner of Man this same Justinian was, who treated a Bishop so rudely as he did the good Pope Vigilius, and not only so, but he has helped out the original Copy in his Latin Translation, and what Procopius relates only as a flying Report, he makes bold to set down as a known and certain truth. And among many other strong strains of disingenuity, he has been so injudicious, as to undertake to make out the truth of this Libel by Procopius his own History, that was published to the World in Justinian's own time, approved of by himself, and the Author advanced for it to the highest Preferments in the Empire. Now that Man that will seriously go about to prove a Panegyric to be a satire, only shows that he is a little too much in good earnest▪ But before I prove the falsehood of these Slanders, it will be convenient to show the occasion of raising them, and that was the great heats in the Controversy about the tria capitula, in which the Emperor created to himself a great number of Enemies by his zeal and resolution on that side that he unhappily took to. I shall therefore first set down the progress of that Story, that was the only false step of his Reign, but so unluckily made, that he could never wholly recover himself again, before I engage the Librarian and his supposed Author. This Emperor then having appeared so zealously in behalf of the Orthodox Faith, having declared so severely against all Heretics by several Edicts, and particularly published a Rescript against the singularities of Origen upon complaint of the Palestine Monks, set on by Pelagius the Pope's Legate at the Court of Constantinople, in spite to Theodorus Bishop of Caesarea his Rival in Court-favor, but a great Admirer of Origen, having appointed a Conference at Constantinople in the year 533 to reconcile the Acephali to the Church and the Council of Chalcedon, in which he expresses a very high Passion for the resettlement of Peace and Unity. Having been so bold as to consent to the deposition of Anthimus Bishop of Constantinople and the Queen's Favourite, at the instigation of Pope Agapetus for suspicion of the Eutychian Heresy, and after that to confirm the Decree of the Council under Mennas against him by adding Banishment to his Deposition. And being now upon a design of publishing a Rescript against the Acephali in behalf of the Council of Chalcedon, upon this Theodorus a friend to Eutyches as well as Origen, 
Liberati Brev. c. 24. Evag. l. 4. c. 38.  having insinuated himself into the Court by the Empress, and being endeared to the Emperor by his great Officiousness, partly to be revenged of Pelagius for the Affront to his Master Origen, and partly to divert the good Emperor from his Design against the Acephali, craftily persuades him that he might spare his Pains, and reconcile them to the Council at a cheaper rate. If three Offensive things were taken out of its Acts, i. e. if the Writings of Theodorus Mopsuestenus Master to Nestorius, if the Epistle of Ibas Bishop of Edessa to Maris Persa, and if the Book of Theodoret against Cyr●l's anathemas might be condemned of Heresy, though they had been absolved by the Council. The Motion was plausible to the Emperor, and he thought it a very easy Method to reconcile all Parties, only by suppressing the Writings of two or three private Men, so that the Authority of the Decrees of the Council itself stood unshaken as before; for though the Council did not condemn, yet it did not commend but on●y acquit them, and therefore it was not directly concerned in their suppression. And Theodorus finding that by this Device he had decoyed the Emperor into his snare, that he might secure him from a Relapse, prevails with him in the absence of his Rival Pelagius, who was then at Rome, to publish an Edict of Condemnation by his own Authority, but drawn up, as Facundus Hermianensis tells the Emperor, not by himself, but Theodorus and his Accomplices, that so having once publicly appeared in the Cause, that would be an obligation upon him to persevere in it against all opposition, otherwise he understood the gentleness of his Temper so well, that when he saw the Mischiefs and Inconveniences that followed upon it, he would quit the Cause, and leave them in the lurch to answer for their Affront to the Council of Chalcedon. And the better to secure themselves, the Edict was as craftily composed as it was contrived. All the Councils were confirmed, all the Heresies of all denominations condemned, only in the tail of all, these three particular Authors were apocryphised. And that the good Emperor's design was merely Peace and Concord, is very observable from the conclusion of all. Si quis igitur post ejusmodi rectam confessionem, et haereticorum condemnationem, salvo manente pio intellectu, de nominibus, vel syllabis, vel dictionibus contendens, separat se à sanctâ Dei Ecclesiâ, tanquam non in rebus, sed in solis nominibus et dictionibus positâ nobis pietate: talis utpote dissensionibus gaudens, rationem pro semetipso, et pro deceptis et decipiendis ab eo reddet magno Deo, et Salvatori nostro Jesu Christo in die Judicii. By which it is evident that the Emperor accepted the Model, after the security and settlement of the Christian Faith against all sorts of Heretics, as the only remedy expedient at that time against contention and curiosity, without any design against the Council of Chalcedon or any other determinations of the Church, but on the contrary rather with a religious and entire submission to their Decrees; and for this reason it is approved and subscribed, though not without reluctancy, by all the four Eastern Patriarches, and most eminent Prelates of the Eastern Church.  
Whereas on the other side the Western and African Bishops concluded it a direct reflection upon the Wisdom and Authority of the Council itself, to condemn those Writings of Heresy, that it had upon a fair Trial acquitted. And thus by this unhappy Legerdemain of that false and juggling Man Theodorus, under which the Emperor suspected no ill Design, instead of finishing the settlement of the Church, after so fair a progress that he had made in it (for it was he that governed and managed all things in his Uncle Justin's reign) he brings all things back into the same Tumult and Confusion, into which they were brought by the Henoticon. It was but a slight and a very remote breach, as one would think, upon the Church's Authority, yet it broke down all Bounds of Discipline and Government, that it seems is a thing so tender, that it can endure no tampering, and unless it be made sacred and inviolable, it loses all its force: And so this great Emperor after this slight Wound, in a matter in which it was so little concerned, could scarce make it up again by the Authority of a General Council. Though I must confess that the occasion of raising the Quarrel so high was the turbulent spirit of Pope Vigilius, who as he was guilty of all other Wickedness, exceeded in Pride, as appears not only from the Historian, but the Sentence of Excommunication against him by Pope Silverius in the time of that Pope's banishment. 
Liberati brev. c. 22.  Quip qui nequissimi spiritûs audaciâ, ambitionis phrenesin concipiens, in illius Apostolici Medici, cui animas ligandi solvendique collata et concessa potestas est, versaris contumeliam, novumque scelus erroris in Apostolicâ sede rursus niteris inducere; et in morem Simonis, cujus discipulum te ostendis operibus, datâ pecuniâ, meque repulso, qui favente Domino, tribus jam jugiter emensis temporibus ei praesideo, tempora mea niteris invadere. That by the instigation of the Devil being mad with pride he rebelled against St. Peter and his Authority, committing a new and unheard of sin in the Apostolic See itself, and following the example of Simon Magus, whose Disciple he showed himself to be by his works, by purchasing my Bishopric with Money, and expelling me out of it for these three years. And if we may believe the angry Africans; he bought the Apostolic See of the Empress Theodora, whose Creature he was, and procured the banishment of Pope Silverius by forging treasonable Letters to the Goths in his name, and when Justinian suspecting some Abuse, recalled him home, this wicked Man caused him to be murdered by two of his own Servants. So that it is a just Character that is given of him by Baronius himself. Cedit huic Novati Impietas, Pertinacia Vrsicini, Laurentii Praesumptio, ac denique aliorum omnium schismaticorum Antistitum superbia, artogantia, atque facinerosa temeritas, &c▪ He outstripped Novatus in wickedness, Vrsicinus in stubbornness, Laurentius in impudence, and all Schismatics that ever were, in pride, insolence and presumption. But however by a train of wickedness mounting himself into the Apostolic See, according to his Simoniacal Articles with Theodora, he enters into league with the Henotical Bishops, sends an Encyclical Letter to them, extant in Liberatus, to assure them that he was really of their Communion, but desires that it may be kept secret, and that they would seem to suspect him more than ever, that he might have the better opportunity of doing effectual service to the Cause. This is the substance of the Letter, but Baronius and the Roman Writers suspect it to have been forged, because in all his following scuffles about the tria capitula, he was never upbraided with it. But what wonder is that, when the thing was to be kept secret, though it might, and it seems did come to the knowledge of some, as appears by Liberatus, an Actor in the business, who procured and published a Copy of it. But he having secured possession of his Throne by the death of Silverius, he now writes a flattering Epistle to the Emperor for the Council of Chalcedon, damns all the Heretics, disclaims all correspondence with the Acephali, assures him that he will live and die by the Council, and requests him not to believe any Information whatsoever against him to the contrary. But after all he is so crafty, as to send his main Message about the best means for settlement of the Church by word of Mouth, to balk, as much as it was possible, the full discovery of himself. All which atheistical hypocrisy Baronius takes great pains to impute to his miraculous Conversion only by virtue of St. Peter's Chair.  
But the Emperor having published his Rescript against the tria capitula, and finding storms gathering upon it, sends to Vigilius who●e private sense he understood, to repair to Constantinople with his advice, and thither he comes, being ready to seize any opportunity to show his Power, but instead of joining in free Council with the Bishops, in effect takes the whole judgement to himself. Of his fraudulent behaviour in that whole transaction Facundus, 
In libello ad●. M●cianum.  who was an Eye-witness, and indeed the chief Transactor in it, has given us a particular account, viz. That when he dissembled ignorance of the whole Controversy, and Facundus offered his service to give him full information, he having aforehand obliged himself by promise to give sentence against the Capitula, and designing to excuse himself with pretence of Ignorance, shamelessly refuses the proffer, cuts off all farther proceedings, and desires the Bishops that sat with him to give in their Answers singly in writing. For they being newly come to Constantinople to consult with his Holiness, and being not pre-engaged by any subscription, were by this Artifice overreached to give in their Answer against the Capitula and the Council. And to prevent their drawing back, they are obliged to do it, not by Vote, but by Writing. And when he had received their several Answers, away he carries them to Court, and there delivers them into the hands of the Acephali to be laid up among the former subscriptions that had been made against the Council. And that he might not be thought a Traitor by his own Party (for he hitherto pretended to side with the Orthodox) he pretends that he would not keep them himself, lest hereafter there should be found in the Registry of the Church of Rome so many Subscriptions against the Council. As if (says Facundus) he could not as well have torn or burnt them, or returned them back to the Authors, from whom he ought never to have received, much less to have extorted them, if he had been at all concerned that nothing should be done in prejudice of the Council. And thus (says he) by this his customary dissimulation, counterfeiting a zeal in behalf of the Council, he effectually promotes the designs of its Enemies. And what could do it more than that 70 Bishops sitting in Council with the great Bishop of Rome, should beside those many more that had before subscribed, prejudg the Controversy? 
Anno 547.  All this prevarication Baronius out of his infinite zeal to the Apostolic See endeavours to excuse, because before Vigilius heard the Cause he supposed that the condemnation of the tria capitula reflected upon the Authority of the Council, but now upon hearing the reasons on both sides, and being satisfied that it was unconcerned in the Controversy, he grew more moderate and indifferent, and for Peace sake inclined to comply with the Emperor and the Eastern Bishops. But what ever Apology this may be for his change of mind, it is no excuse for his juggling and underhand dealing; and withal as for his change of mind, by the Cardinal's good leave, to condemn writings of Heresy by an Imperial Rescript, that had been cleared of the Charge by the Sentence of a General Council, is plainly to subvert, not the Authority of that Council alone, but of the whole Catholic Church. This was the blot of Justinian's Reign, that no Candour can cover, nor Excuse wipe off. And his Holiness by his time-serving compliance with it, did but give a cast of his old dishonesty, when by the Cardinal's own account he exceeded all Mankind in Wickedness, and proves that he was still acted by his six-fold Female Devil Theodora, (as he calls her) who was the great stickler in the design in favour of the Eutychians; because whether the condemnation of the tria capitula were in itself any direct reflection upon the Council or not, those that promoted it, were resolved to make that use of it. And that was the true ground of the zeal of the African Bishops against it, as Facundus himself declared to Vigilius at the Conference. Ego enim fateor simpliciter beatitudini vestrae, non pro Theo●ori Mop●suesteni damnatione me à contradicentiae communione subtraxisse: 
In libello ad. 〈◊〉.  hoc enim vel si approbandum non sit, ferendum tamen existimo, nec tantam esse causam judico, pro quâ deberemus à communione multiplici segregari: sed quòd ex Personâ Theodori Epistolam Ibae Nestorianianam probare conati sunt, & quòd ex Epistolâ Ibae Synodum Calcedonensem, à quâ suscepta est, improbare: nam quae alia causa fuisse dicenda est, ut post centum & viginti suae defunctionis annos damnaretur cum dogmatibus suis Episcopus in Ecclesiae pace defunctus. I confess freely to your Holiness, that I am not concerned about the Condemnation of Theodorus, for though it be not to be approved, yet it may be born, neither do I think the thing of that weight, that we need to divide Communion about it, but because from a Sentence against the Person of Theodorus, they endeavour to charge the Epistle of Ibas with Nestorianism, in which his Writings are commended, and then from the Epistle of Ibas to strike at the Council itself, by whom it was allowed; for what other Cause can be imagined of all this stir, that a Bishop who died in the Peace of the Churchy, should be brought to Judgement above one Hundred and Twenty Years after his death? And that was the reason that the Africans were so resty, which Vigilius finding, and withal his own Clergy offended, he again shrinks back, and in a Consult with Theodorus and Mennas' suspends all disputes and determinations to the Summary of a General Council, which they were certain by their united Interest to obtain of the Emperor. But this continual shuffling and prevarication provokes the adverse Party beyond all bounds and patience, and they now unanimously discard him for a man of no faith and honesty, that chopped all points of the Compass, as the Weathercock stood for his own convenience, now standing point blank for the Council, then veering to the quite contrary point for the Acephali, and now again standing neuter, and wavering between both. But all this trimming and counter-trimming, and shifting backward and forward, 
Anno 547.  St. Gregory and Baronius plead was then necessary for the Peace of the Church, at a time when the heats were run so high to both extremes. I will grant that both Parties might be too blame. But what can we think of him that is first furious on one side, and then turns Traitor to his own Party, and then when he sees that will not pass, quits both? If this be Ecclesiastical Prudence, I would fain know what is Ecclesiastical Honesty. And therefore it is no wonder that his own Clergy, and particularly his own Favourites, that he chose for his Companions to Constantinople, Rusticus and Sebastianus, were so offended at the gross dishonesty of his Proceedings, as to renounce him and his Communion, and to certify his Apostasy and Prevarication to all the Bishops of the Western Church, as Vigilius himself has left it upon Record in his Sentence of Excommunication against them for their Rebellion against their Bishops. But it is much less to be admired that it should provoke the Choler of the honest Africans, that were not used to the Italian Craft: and that is a clear justification of the tartness of Liberatus, Victor Tunonensis, but especially Facundus Hermianensis, the wisest man of the Party, in their Writings both against him and the Cause, when the whole Business was transacted, with nothing but open fraud and prevarication. And that is the reason often assigned by Facundus to justify the br●ach of Communion with Vigilius and his Party, Quod Praevaricatorum communio vitanda sit.  
But now it is observable, that at this time the Empress Theod●ra dies, that had managed all the motions of this Puppet-Pope ever since his coming to Court. I am not ignorant that Gregory the Great says, that they were fallen out, and that she died under his Sentence of Excommunication; 
Lib. 2. Epist. 36.  but he writes so lavishly in this Cause, and so without all manner of proof, and so different from all other Records, that his Testimony ought scarce to be taken upon Oath; and to speak a blunt but an honest truth, no man that has read his Legend-Dialogues, can with the utmost stretch of Candour or Charity salve the Honour or Reputation of his Integrity. But now the Empress being gone, and Vigilius finding himself deserted by his own Clergy, and the Bishops dissatisfied in all parts, revives his old Expedient of a General Council. But Theodorus being now throughly acquainted with the Genius of the Man, and so suspecting some new shuffle, persuades the Emperor to stand by his own Rescript against the tria Capitula: And here the Contest runs so high between these two honest Gentlemen, that at last it came to an open breach. And Vigilius finding his Adversary too strong for him at Court-Interest▪ betakes himself to Church-weapons, and in a rage stabs him with the Sentence of Excommunication, and that for this real reason, among some other formal pretences, Nam usque ad hoc animum Christianissimum Principis falsis suggestionibus perduxisti, ut Clementia ejus, quae in suis hostibus pia semper apparuit, contra nos graviter moveretur. And because Mennas' Bishop of Constantinople joined with Theodorus in his Crime, he is joined with him in his Sentence, together with all the Metropolitans and Micropolitans of his Diocese. And that Quibble is intended for a smart Gird to all those Metropolitans, that were so poor-spirited, as to submit themselves to the private Bishop of Constantinople. But finding himself overtopped at Court, he takes Oars for Chalcedon, and there pretends that he was forced to secure his life by taking Sanctuary in the Church of St. Euphemi●, as he had done before in the Church of St. Peter at Constantinople. But here Baronius works another Miracle, (and all his Gospel concerning this debauched Pope is mere Legend of his own Contrivance) in that the Emperor should not send his Guards to seize his Holiness, but some of his Privy-Council to invite him back, and give Oath for his Security. But though I must confess it was no Miracle, yet considering the peevishness of the man▪ it was a kind of wonder, and a very high proof that the Emperor was a very civil Gentlemen, that could command his passion so as to d●gest the most provoking folly, and out of mere respect to his place and office, treat him with that civility that by that time Custom had made due to so great a Bishop. And that is all the wonder that I can discern in this Affair, that the Emperor had manners, though the Pope had none. But behold a wonder indeed, his Holinesses Return to the Imperial Civility, upon the approach of the Lords only to court him home, he clings about the Altar, as if they had come to cut his Throat, there declares that he will trust neither their own nor their Master's Oath, and that he will never condescend to enter into any Treaty, till his Majesty has revoked his Rescript, and all other Acts about the tria Capitula, and sends an Encyclical Epistle into all Parts of Christendom, to inform them what violence had been offered to his Person by the Imperial Power, and by it raises such Tumults and Commotions every where, that the Emperor is forced to submit, suppress his Edict, and leave the whole business to the determination of a General Council. And so Theodorus and Mennas' finding themselves deserted by the Emperor, they are forced to tack about, and with all humility tender their Submissions and Protestations to his Holiness, to sue out his pardon, and upon it this goodly Trium-virate are once more pieced together. And at this the good Cardinal cries out, the Finger of the Lord in defence of the Apostolic Rock. It is true indeed that the divine Providence co-operates with us in all our Actions in order to its own ends, but the whole mystery of this great business is no more than this, that some Knaves that had crept into the Church by Court-favor, fall out among themselves for Court-factions, till at last one side finding itself to be forsaken, sues to be reconciled to the prevailing Party, and that is all the Miracle that the Cardinal has magnified at so high a rate, as to apply to it all the Prophecies of the Old Testament concerning our Savior's being a Rock and a Cornerstone.  
But here Mennas' dyes, and one Eutychius a Monk, that had insinuated himself into the Court by great shows of Mortification, succeeds. He was a Man, that of all things defied all ambitious thoughts and designs of Preferment, and yet was perpetually dreaming that he should one day be the great Bishop of Constantinople, and by virtue of his own real dreams, and one pretended by the Emperor, who knew him to be zealous in his Cause, and withal very manageable, he is advanced to that high dignity. And so it is that none gallop so fast to Preferment in the Church, as those that creep to it. And after his Instalment the first thing he does is to submit himself to Vigilius, and so does Apollinaris of Alexandria upon the death of Zoilus, whose Bishopric he had usurped, and thus are Hypocrites and ill-Men always on the right side. But Vigilius finding himself Master of the field, and having forced all his Enemies, even the Emperor himself to submit, is resolved to show his Authority. And in the first place he contends with the Emperor about the place of the Council; one will have it in the East, and the other in the West, but at last they agree upon Constantinople, upon condition that an equal number of Eastern and Western Bishops be summoned. But before the Council meets the Emperor desires the Pope to give his own Opinion, and that was an hard task to put him upon declaring himself, and therefore he desires to be excused, but the Emperor presses so importunately upon him, as to provoke his Choler, and to be revenged he turns cross-grained, and so affronts his tria capitula, and when the Council meets, is sick and sullen, refuses to join with them, and no Courtship either of the Council or the Emperor himself can draw him to any compliance, but on the contrary he commands the Council not to presume to determine any thing, till he had declared his own Judgement. And that he does at large in an Instrument sent to the Emperor, that he calls his Constitutum, in which though he condemns and confutes the Writings themselves, yet he will allow no sentence against the Persons, because they died in the Communion of the Catholic Church, and had been absolved by the Council of Chalcedon, and at last concludes with this peremptory threatening. His igitur à nobis cum omni undique cautelà atque diligentiâ propter servandam inviolabilem reverentiam praedictarum Synodorum et earundem venerabilia constituta dispositis, statuimus et decernimus, nulli ad ordines et dignitates ecclesiasticas pertinenti licere quicquam contrarium his quae praesenti asseruimus vel statuimus constituto de saepe dictis tribus capitulis aut conscribere, vel proferr, aut componere, vel docere, aut aliquam post praesentem definitionem movere ulteriùs quaestionem, etc. But the Council regard neither him nor his threatenings, and so condemn the tria Capitula, and to expose him for an egregious Prevaricator, publish to the World his own several Declarations against them. Upon which Baronius has a very pleasant observation, that this they were forced to, because they knew their Decree would be of no force without the Authority of the Pope. What Inferences will not Zeal and Partiality make, when they produced his own testimony against himself, to convict him of manifest prevarication, to conclude that this was done out of dutiful respect to his Authority, by which, if they had regarded it, they stood all at this very time deposed from their Holy Orders. But things being carried so disorderly on all sides, the Council came to nothing, and the Emperor after he had once made a breach upon the Authority of the Church, could never heal it again, for the Heretics instead of being reconciled, made advantage of it against the Authority of the Church itself (as Leontius a Writer of that Age informs us) who argued thus upon it, 
De Sect. Act. 6.  aut boni scilicet erant aut mali, si boni, cur●anathematizatis? Si mali, cur à Synodo recepti sunt? And as for the Catholics, some were for an expedient of Peace against the Authority of the Council, and others for the Authority of the Council against trimming for Peace. But the Emperor having proceeded so far in the business, is now resolved to carry it through his own way, and all that will not comply, are deposed and banished, and this lights chiefly upon the Illyrican and African Bishops, but they were soon reduced by the Emperor's severity, whereas the Bishops in the Western Empire, that was then under the Franks, set up a formed Schism, especially in the Parts about Venice and Istria, that lasted for many years, and cost both the Church and the Empire a long train of trouble and vexation.  
But as for Pope Vigilius when he saw there was no way of escape but by compliance, though he loved his Will too much, yet he loved his Bishopric much more, therefore after all his stubbornness he comes in, and fairly subscribes, and approves the Decree of the Council. But here the Roman Writers are again at a great loss to salve his Reputation, but I think it would be more for their own to let him alone. For before he was in lawful possession of St. Peter's Chair they own him to have been a Villain, and withal confess that he got into it by Simony, Sacrilege and Murder. But that being done, out of duty and gratitude to his Patroness Theodora, he beats down the Council of Chalcedon; but seeing the Emperor resolute in his Design, he turns a fury on that side, and publishes his Judicatum to damn the tria Capitula, and then in a little time suspends his own Sentence till the meeting of the Council; when the Council meets he contradicts them in his Constitutum: But because he saw the Emperor in good earnest against him, and the African Bishop's beginning to scour out of their Bishoprics, he fairly comes in and renounces the Constitutum, yet after all these turns of prevarication since the time of his sitting in St. Peter's Chair, we must have him to be a very honest Man, notwithstanding that he all the while stands guilty of the same Impieties that he did before. In my Opinion they would much better consult the honour of St. Peter's Chair by confessing him so ill a Man, that even his sitting in that could not mend him, or rather that he never had legal Possession of it, but was all his life-time a mere Usurper, for by the Canons a Man that comes into a Bishopric by Simony, renders himself uncapable of it forever. So that if they would leave him under his own disgrace, it would be no dishonour to St. Peter's Chair, but when they are at such mighty pains to prove that it was not defiled by his sitting in it, it leaves wise Men under a suspicion that some indecent uncleanness was left behind.  
But however the discovery of his last Conversion which was first brought to light by Petrus de Marca, and was dated within six Months after the rising of the Council, clears that great and enormous difficulty, that has so long puzzled us to make out, how this Council should be so received in the Church among the General Councils without the Pope's Authority. But whether the Recantation were spurious or genuine (and that is still in the dark) it will not salve the business, for if it were genuine, it is only a confession of his old Wickedness, and that he was managed in it by the Devil after he sat in St. Peter's Chair, but what the real Devil was, that tempted him, is too evident from his shifting sides, as his Interest lay. Though the greatest demonstration of it is his Plea, that he had hitherto erred for want of information and right understanding of the Controversy: whereas it is too notorious from the whole progress of it, that no Man could be better acquainted with it than himself, and whoever reads his Judicatum upon it at the conference at his first coming to Constantinople, and his Constitutum sent to the Council seven years after, will never of all Excuses allow that of ignorance. If it be spurious, then if the Apology were good for any thing, 'tis lost. And I must confess it seems somewhat incredible to me, that so public an Instrument concerning so great an Affair should be altogether unknown to his immediate Successors, that were so deeply engaged in the Controversy against the Schismatics, especially Pelagius the second and Gregory the Great, who never produced its Authority against them, but most of all Gregory, who transmitted the Acts of the Council to Queen Theodelinda. But though the writing be forged, it is plain enough that he actually complied as Eustathius a Cotemporary Writer affirms in the life of Eutychius, and Liberatus broadly suggests, when he says that Vigilius suffered much in the Cause, though he were not crowned, which was then the proper Phrase for Apostasy. But that he was received into the Emperor's Favour appears from the Imperial Grant of certain Privileges to the Citizens of Rome, that was sent by Vigilius to endear him to the City, though in his return home he died of the Stone in Sicily, and is succeeded by Pelagius the first, who though he had been banished by Justinian whilst he was Apocrisiary at Constantinople to Vigilius, upon account of his zeal in defence of the tria Capitula, yet before he is admitted to the Papacy he both owns the Authority of the Council of Chalcedon, and condemns the Capitula, and after incites Narses then Governor of Italy, to reduce the Schismatics of Venice and Istria by the Secular Power, and the same was done by all his Successors till the Schism died. So that in short it was not the Pope that determined the Council, but the Council that determined the Pope: and if it was confirmed by Vigilius, as that does not make the Council good, so it is only another proof of the shuffling dishonesty of the Man. If it were not confirmed by him, but by his Successors, and that was the only Plea in its behalf before De Marca's discovery, 
Vide B●●ron. anno 553.  than it is not the Pope that makes or unmakes a General Council, for if so, than this was none because rejected by the present Pope Vigilius, and yet it was one by the approbation of his Successors. Though when all is done, the Notion of a General Council is but a Notion, for there was never any such thing in reality, and all those that bear that name were more properly Councils of the Eastern Empire, there being very few Western Bishops present at them. And they were only called General Councils in opposition to Provincial, and ought rather to have been styled Imperial, as summoned by the Emperor himself, whereas other lesser Councils were summoned by the Bishops themselves. And that places this Council in the same rank with the other four, because it was summoned out of all parts of the Empire, and not confined to Provinces and Dioceses, as the Metropolitical or Patriarchal Councils were. But that the Summons of the Bishop of Rome was necessary to the calling of a General Council, and his confirmation of their Decrees necessary to their Validity is one great branch of the Papal Usurpation, as I hope in its due place to prove at large against Petrus de Marca.  
But to proceed in the business of this present Council, all Parties concerned in it labour to clear themselves of all blame, and lay all the burden of these Disorders upon other men's shoulders, but though it may seem a severe, yet it is an impartial Judgement, that they were all too faulty. As for the Emperor's own part, it is evident that the publication of his Imperial Edict was an illegal act, because against the Authority of a Council owned by himself, though had he understood it so, he would never have done it, but he was persuaded that it was no reflection upon the Council itself, because it was no contradiction to any of their own direct Decrees, but only concerned the Opinions of some private Persons, that the Council thought not fit to condemn at that time, though seeing what use the Eutychians made of it, he supposed it now useful to the settlement of the Church without any Affront to the Council, it being only to change Counsels with change of Affairs. This was all the Emperor's meaning, and it could have done no great mischief, had it not been abused by the craft of Theodorus and his Acephali, who persuaded him that it could be no abatement to the Authority of the Council, and yet when it was done, used it as an Argument to subvert it.  
And then as for those that fought so furiously as the Africans did for the honour of the Council against the tria Capitula, though the honour of the Council was remotely concerned in it, yet because it was not so apprehended or intended by the Emperor, they might and ought in duty to have complied with his Royal Pleasure, only adding a Sa vo to the honour of the Council, that had been easily granted, and that would have disappointed the craft of the E●tychians, and caught them in a snare of their own setting, and they must either have owned the Council, or put off their Vizard. So that which side soever was in the right, they were all in the wrong, when they made a Schism in the Church about it, for the thing was not Tanti in itself as to warrant the breach of Catholic Communion. Though at last the bottom of all these unhappy Quarrels was founded in St. Cyril's overdoing anathemas against Nestorianism, that yet he endeavoured to impose upon the Catholic Church, as so many Articles of Faith: Which because Theodoret and Ibas supposed to be too hard an Imposition, the Eutychians took advantage of, to represent them as Favourers of the Nestorian Heresy, though it is plain from the tenor of all their Writings, that they were as little guilty of that as Cyril himself, but were cautious of spoiling the Cause by too much niceness of Speculation, and thought it sufficient to condemn the Heresy itself, without imposing his private anathemas as necessary Conditions of Peace and Articles of Christian Faith upon the Catholic Church. And this was, if we pursue it to its head, the true Case of the tria Capitula, and St. Cyril was so well convinced of it at last, that he let fall his anathemas, 
Facundus Herm. l. 6. c. 5. In Historiâ secuil 6 ti dissert. 4.  and allowed the Epistle of Ibas that condemned them of rashness. Natalis Alexander has written a long dissertation to prove that the tria capitula were justly condemned, but I find very light weight in the Arguments. For as for Theodorus and the several Fragments alleged out of him by Marius Mercator and the Council itself, I can discern no designed Nestorianism in them, and at worst they seem no worse than unwary Expressions before the starting of the Controversy in his zeal against the Heresy of Apollinaris, and so he is excused by St. Cyril himself in his Epistle to John of Antioch. And as for the sixty Capitula collected by Vigilius out of his Writings and charged with blasphemy in his Constitutum, it is plain that he draws blood of his Premises to wring out his Conclusion. And in real truth Churchmen were by this time (as Baronius himself complains in this very case) grown too nice and speculative in Matters of Faith, and were not content with the simplicity of the old Tradition, but were every day starting new Points of subtlety, in so much that it was a very difficult thing for a Man to express himself so warily, as to avoid the exceptions of one or other Party. And this Facundus Hermianensis insists upon, beside his vindication of particular Passages from their perverse Glosses through his whole third Book, which this late learned Author either aught to have answered, or to have let the Argument alone, 
Lib. 12. c. 1.  and withal shows that there are none of the Ancients, who lived before the birth of the Heresy, out of whom he is not able to allege as offensive Passages, as any that they have culled out of the Writings of Theodorus. And therefore it is not fairly done of our Historian to conclude against the tria Capitula so severely as he has done, without examining the Arguments of Facundus in their defence, when he has so long since prevented all his Objections. But more particularly when he has written so many learned and accurate Books in defence of Theodorus and his Writings, and the several Passages objected against him by his Adversaries, I must confess it looks somewhat odd that this Writer should overlook all these large Discourses, 
Lib. 3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11.  and only cast his Eye upon one straggling Passage, that was casually cast in upon another Man's Cause, as he has done out of the 7 th' Book and 6 th' Chapter, for that is all that he citys out of Facundus in the Cause of Theodorus. But it was wisely done to take so little notice of that acute Writer, that has for ever baffled the Cause of the tria Capitula, and as he was never answered then, so I am sure he never can be now, I mean as to the main design of his Discourse abstracted from his African heat, that for a time run him beyond his Argument into a needless Schism.  
As for that part o● the Argument against Theodorus that he was put out of the Diptychs of his own Church, I answer that it is certain that he was kept in all Theodoret's time, i. e. to the year 457. but when he was put out and by whom is uncertain, 
Dissert. de 5 tâ Sy●odo c. 6.  and it is very probably conjectured by the learned Jesuit Garnerius, that it was done by Petrus Fullo and the Eutychians in the Reigns of Basiliscus or Zeno, when all things were in confusion, and the Eutychians under the Conduct of Fullo committed whatever Disorders they pleased, and then it was that they might with ease suppress the old Diptychs, and in their room coin new ones, and so put out Theodorus, that they accused of Nestorianism, and put in Cyril, whom the Eutychians boasted to be Head and Father of their Party. The only proof against Theodoret is taken from his Writings and Actings against St. Cyril in opposing his 12 anathemas: But this, as I have shown above, is founded upon mere mistake, as if his Zeal in the case had been engaged in behalf of the Nestorian Heresy, whereas it was only levelled against the Bigotry of Cyril in imposing his own nice Propositions upon the Catholic Church. And when Cyril recalled them or rather let them fall, they were friends, and Theodoret was as ready to anathematise the Nestorian Heresy, as himself ever was in the greatest heat or huff of the Controversy. And the case of Ibas was the same, nothing but his zeal against the rigour of Cyril's anathemas, as is evident from the whole Tenor of the Epistle itself. And therefore in the Result of all, I cannot but think that this packed Council (and so it was) would have done better to have let these Men lie quiet in their Graves, when they had been Canonically discharged upon fair Trial by the great Council of Chalcedon, though they had been guilty of those misprisions of Heresy, for which their Ashes were now arraigned and condemned. But yet when a needless Decree was made against them, I cannot but think too that the dissenting Bishops would have been much better advised to let it pass, rather than to have raised a Schism in the Church about it. And so, as far as we can find by the Records of the Church, the Illyricans and Africans did in a short time, though the Schismatics in the Western Church kept up the separation with great zeal and fury into after-ages: And thus having given a true and impartial account of this Transaction of Justinian, that created him so many enemies both in his own time, and afterward as long as the unhappy Schism lasted, I now come to a particular Examination of the several Accusations against him by the supposed Procopius, but real Alemannus. And when I have vindicated this greatest of Princes from their unmannerly slanders, it will be time to put a Conclusion to this work, and to end it with his life, because with it ends the Body of the Imperial Law.   

§. XXIV. And though this may at first sight seem to be no more than a private Controversy concerning the reputation of one man, that has been dead above this 1200 years, and so at best but an entertainment of curiosity rather than any useful enquiry for the benefit of our own Age: Yet granting it were so, it is a duty that all men owe to those great Persons that in their times were Benefactors to the World, Fathers and Patrons to all Posterity, leaving them a better World than themselves found, to preserve their Monuments from dust, but much more from dirt, not only to honour their names, but vindicate their honours from all unworthy aspersions. And if any man may challenge this respect, it is Justinians right, who as will appear by his Story, was as great, not to say a greater (only to avoid envy) a Benefactor to Mankind, as any Prince in the whole Succession. He delivered Christendom from the Incursions of the Barbarians, and when he found it not so properly invaded as besieged and in a great measure possessed by them, he not only subdued them all to the Empire, but which was a much greater work, to Civility and the Christian Faith, and by that means he left the Peace of the World much better secured, and its manners much more improved than they were before. His next Improvement of the Creation were his numberless and prodigious Buildings, by which he lest the World more habitable than he found it: neither do I speak merely of that vast number of great Cities that he built, but of his great care to make Commerce easy and pleasant, and remove the difficulties of travelling, by building Bridges, making Highways, founding Publick-houses for the reception of Strangers in all convenient places; in these kind of works he was so munificent in all places, that he might not improperly be styled the Founder of the Roman Empire, that as it were turned those vast Dominions into one City. A Third Benefit to Posterity is his excellent Body of Laws and Rules of Government gathered out of the Records of that wise State for about 1300 Years. A work so glorious in itself that it had been often attempted by the greatest men, 
V. Guineti Justinianus Magnus cap. 3.  not only those of the more ancient Commonwealth, but of the most polite and emproved Age, it entertained the ambitious thoughts both of Caesar and Cicero. But in vain, so great a work was preserved for the glory of Justinian, and though if we consider the remote Antiquity of the Laws, the seeming inconsistency among themselves, and the immense bulk of Books and Records in so long a Tract of time, the undertaking must have seemed an impossible thing to any other man, yet he pursued it with that diligence as to bring the greatest work that was ever undertaken, to perfection in a little time. Now for all these good Deeds that he has done to all Posterity, I think no man, that pretends to any thing of gratitude or ingenuity, can excuse himself from the obligation of doing honour, but much more right to his Memory. But beside all this his Cause is become the Controversy of all Christendom, because the Power that he challenged and exercised in the Christian Church, for which he is so much condemned by the Court of Rome, is one of the inseparable Branches of Sovereignty, and was always challenged by all Christian Emperors, so that if the Princes of Christendom should suffer themselves to be stripped of it, they are thereby outed of one half of their Empire. And the true rise of the Court of Rome's displeasure against him, was not upon the account of any of his own Actions, but a late Contest; viz. The Famous Quarrel between Paul the 5th and the State of Venice (as Eusebius has very well observed) about these three Articles; 
Praesat. n. 50.  

(1.) The Power of the Civil Magistrate to judge the Clergy in Criminal Causes.  
(2.) The Decree of the Senate to prohibit the erecting of new Churches or Religious Houses without the Consent of the State.  
(3.) Their Statute of Mortmain against settling Lands upon the Church without the same Consent.    
How high this Quarrel run is vulgarly known; but it was so managed by the Learned Men that appeared in behalf of the Senate as to refer its whole decision to the Justinian Law, whereas the Pope on the contrary challenged a Superiority over all Laws, and would submit to no Rule but his own Authority. Now the reason why the Venetian Advocates insisted so stubbornly upon the Justinian Code, was not only for the advantage of those several Precedents, that we have seen above to warrant the proceedings of the State in the several matters of the present Controversy; but chiefly because the Code of the Canons of the Universal Church were taken into the Justinian Code and made part of the Imperial Law; and if they could but bring the Pope any way under the Canons, that would carry their Cause, for it not only proved in behalf of the State, that the power of prohibiting Ecclesiastical Laws to be imposed upon their Subjects without their Consent, was a right challenged by all Christian Princes, but owned by the Church in the General Councils, it being the known Custom of the Fathers to send their Decrees to their Imperial Majesties for Approbation, before they presumed (to publish them) to the World or impose them upon the Church.  
This is the Argument insisted upon by Jacobus Leschasserius a Learned Civilian at Paris in his Apology in behalf of the Senate, who recommends the Justinian Code as the Bulwark of the Liberties of Christendom. And this little Treatise first gave the hint to Christophorus Justellus, to publish the Code of the Canons of the Universal Church. Now when the Court of Rome had for so many Ages been used to an absolute and unlimited Authority, it could not but gawl and fret their proud Spirits, to hear of being brought into subjection to Imperial Laws, and for that reason they set themselves with all the Arts of Malice to beat down the Credit and Reputation of the Justinian Code, till at length from his Laws they proceeded to vent their Revenge upon his Person: and that was the thing that gave so much joy and transport to Alemannus his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: that now the World might see what kind of man this Justinian was, who was so profane as to take upon him a power of meddling with Sacred Things, and controlling Popes themselves. But the indignity of so base a design soon provoked Learned Men to expose it to the World with that scorn, that it deserved. The first that appeared in the Cause (that I know of) was a Learned Man of our own Nation in the Year 1626., viz. Dr. Rive Advocate to his late Majesty, a Gentleman equally eminent both for Learning and Loyalty, in a little, but a very ingenious Treatise upon the Argument, Entitled Imperatoris Justiniani desensio adversus Alemannum. The Book, which is great pity, is hard to be procured, neither indeed had the Learned Author the advantage of some considerable Records, that are now brought to light, and though he was a Learned Man not only in his own Profession, but all other Polite Learning, yet I find that he was not so well acquainted with the Records of the Church, as to be able to state that matter aright. And therefore he is altogether mistaken in that part of his defence, especially as to the Controversy of the tria Capitula, but he followed the common opinion as it was stated by the Romanists against the Africans, as I think all Writers have done to this very day. But otherwise he has with great eloquence and strength of reason cleared the reputation of this great Prince from all their dull and dirty aspersions, and Convicted the whole design of wilful Malice and apparent Forgery.  
In the same undertaking he is followed 〈◊〉 Eichelius▪ Professor at Heltusted in Franconia, in the Year 1654., who has after the Germane Fashion of writing for Marts improved the little Treatise into a great Book, by transcribing those Quotations at length, which the other only referred to. And though both the substance and the wit of his Book are too grossly borrowed, and that sometimes in the very same words, without owning his Author, yet he was a Learned man, and has added a great many useful Remarks of History from his own observation, has prosecuted the design more at large, and demonstrated the disingenuity of the Procopian Author from these 11 Topics.  

(1.) That he writes many things impossible in themselves.  
(2.) Many things contradicted by Cotemperary Writers.  
(3.) By himself.  
(4.) That what he vehemently commends in his other Writings, he here as vehemently inveighs against.  
(5.) That what came to pass by chance or by other men's default, he imputes to Justinian.  
(6.) That he blames many commendable Actions.  
(7.) That he praises what he ought to blame.  
(8.) That he exaggerates things indifferent to the disadvantage of Justinian.  
(9) That he wrists many of Justinians bravest Actions to an ill sense.  
(10.) That he picks up all trifling Reports of the Vulgar against him.  
(11.) That he writes divers things of great moment, that are no where attested by any Co-Temporary Writers.   
All which are, I think, sufficient to over-whelm the Reputation of any Writer, and yet they are all so visible through the whole Vein of this Libel, as to expose themselves to every man's view without searching for them. But though this Author has quitted himself in the Historical Part of his Book, as became a Learned Man, yet he being an Erastian by principle, he has all along failed in his observations upon Matter of Fact, proceeding every where in that Fundamental mistake about Justinian, as if he had pretended to give not only his Ratification but the first Validity to the Laws of the Church. And therefore though I shall gratefully accept and acknowledge any assistance, that th●se Learned Men have given me, I shall be forced to make my own observations, especially as to those things that concern Religion, in which they are both mistaken. And as for the Historical Part, I shall not trouble myself or the Reader with any later Writers as they have done, such as Zonaras, Nicephorus, Cedrenus, etc. but shall merely rely upon Cotemporaries, or such as lived upon the next Confines of the Age, that they write of; as I have carefully done through this whole History. And such are in the Age that we are now treating of, Procopius himself, Agathius, Marcellinus Comes, Facundus Hermianensis, Liberatus Diaconus, Cassiodorus, Jornandes, Victor Tunonensis, Gregorius Turonensis, Evagrius Scholasticus under Mauritius, and the Chronicon Alexandrinum under Heraclius. And from them, though the greatest part of them were either enemies or disobliged Persons, I doubt not but to show the falsehood of the Libel itself and the Malice of its Abettors.  
In the first place we have all the reason in the World to reject the Book itself as a spurious Pamphlet dishonestly fathered upon Procopius, when we find it never so much as mentioned by any of the Ancients, or by any Writer whatsoever for many Ages after his own time. And yet it is next to impossible but that they must have taken notice of a work of such a peculiar stre●n, if it had been extant in their time, especially when his other Writings were so well known in his own and all following Ages. Evagrius who writ in the same Age, though some time after, viz. under Mauritius, commends his other Histories without any mention of this Agathias Scholasticus that both Epitomised, and continued his History, and Johannes Scholasticus, that writ not long after the death of Justinian knew nothing of this work, though both were so well acquainted with his other Writings. Photius that diligent and judicious Critic gives an high Character of his other works, but is utterly silent about this. In short the first Author that makes any mention of it, is that crude and injudicious Rhapsodist Suidas who lived not till the 11th Century, 500 Years after Procopius, but he comes too late, not being vouched by any more Ancient Testimony, and then his own can be of no Credit, especially considering the humour of the man, who was a mere Collector without choice or judgement, setting down whatsoever came to his hands without examining into the truth of the Record, so that it seems this Libel being forged before his time he embraces it, contrary to the fundamental Law of the Critics without any ancient Testimony to certify its legitimacy. Alemannus pleads that the reason why it was so long unknown, was because Procopius was forced to suppress it for the security of his own life. That might be a good reason for Procopius his own time, but certainly not for the long interval of so many Ages, as from the sixth Century to the eleventh. And to give any credit to a Book, that never appeared once in the World till 500 years after the death of its pretended Author, is a Civility that the Critics would never allow in any Case, neither do I know it ever challenged unless in this. I know indeed Books may have been buried five hundred or a thousand years, but then they have always had some ancient Testimonies that there were once such Books written by such Authors, and upon no other terms were they ever received, and this was the case of St. Clement's Epistle. But however this Vatican Plea for suppressing▪ Procopius his Book for his own safety may be consistent with itself, I am sure it is very inconsistent with the pretence that he has undertaken to make good, viz. that it may be all proved out of Procopius his other Writings, in which he tells many more and many worse Stories than in this little Epitome: And yet they were not only seen but approved by the Emperor himself. But if so, he ought either to have suppressed all or none, and not to have published the sharper Invective to gain the Emperor's favour, and keep back the milder to avoid his displeasure. These are pretty consistent Dreams, that could never have come into any Man's head, but in a Vatican Nap.  
But beside the want of sufficient Certificates to warrant the reception of the Book, the thing is so very unlikely in itself, that Procopius should write so dirty a Libel both against Justinian and Belizarius, that it would require very strong proof only to make it a thing credible. For when he had through his whole life been so infinitely obliged by both; when he had been raised by Justinian from a low Condition to the highest Preferments in the Empire; when he had ever kept the most entire and intimate friendship with Belizarius; and lastly when he made it the great work of his life, both before and after the writing of this Book to consecrate their Fames, and convey down the glory of their Actions to all future Ages, who can easily suffer himself to believe that the same Man should endeavour to spoil all this by a railing Lampoon? Though whenever or by whomsoever it was forged, it is no wonder that it was laid to Procopius, according to the custom of all Lampoons, to fasten them upon Authors, that of all Men living were most unlikely to write them. To these we may add some other unlucky Objections suggested by Alemannus himself in his Preface. As that the Glory of Justinian's Actions is so bright in itself, as to be able to outshine all detraction. For what Man can believe that he ruin'd the Roman Empire, that recovered so many Cities, Provinces and Kingdoms to it, that conquered so many barbarous Nations, and plainly recovered the Empire, that had been almost lost and tottering for many years, to its full force and Power? One would think that the Man who makes the Objection, should be concerned to rid himself some way or other of it, and yet he fairly dismisses it with all Civility, because (he says) it is at this time a thing only existing in History An admirable Vatican reason this! but so it is, whenever Men are over-seen and eager in their pursuit of Revenge, that they always leave their Sense and Understanding behind them.  
And whereas some Men conclude Procopius to be Father of the Bastard, from the likeness of its features to his other Books, I should from the same argument draw the contrary conclusion. For though it is no hard matter for any Man to imitate or rather steal another Man's stile as to forms and schemes of Speech, by making it familiar to himself with constant reading. Yet the Spirit and the Genius of an Author is a thing very rarely imitable, and that too plainly discovers itself in this counterfeit Procopius; for if we compare the Anecdota with his other Books, and observe what perspicuity and neatness of Method, what gravity, what candour, what ingenuous freedom runs through all his other Writings: And on the contrary in what confusion and indigested heaps things are laid together in this Libel, with what silliness and malice, with what buffonery and affected rudeness the whole work is contrived, it seems to me impossible that they should both be the Offspring of the same Man. And therefore it is but a true and a sharp censure, that is given of it by Balthasar Bonifacius in his Epistle to Molinus. In summâ sic statuo esse in hâc, cujuscunque illa sit Auctoris, rhyparographiâ, loquentiae satis, licentiae nimis, insolentiae plus nimio, multum livoris, plus odii, plurimum inscitiae, pa 'em ordinis, minus facundiae, minimum judicii, nihil memoriae, minus nihilo sinceritatis. In fine, my Opinion is, that in this rhapsody, whosesoever it is, is to be found babble enough, rudeness too much, arrogance more than enough, much spite, more hatred, but most ignorance, little order, less eloquence, lest judgement, nothing of memory, but less than nothing of honesty. From all which enormous defects, it is but reasonable to conclude with him, that the true Procopius so eminent for all the contrary perfections could never be the Author of the Libel. And indeed the folly of the design makes it no less incredible than the meanness of the performance, for if Procopius upon some affront at Court resolved to revenge himself by this Libel, yet to own it and publish it to the World in his own name, was a ranker piece of spite against himself, than against his Royal Master; for it not only blasts the Credit of all his other Writings, but it leaves himself a base and unworthy Parasite upon Record, who spent all his Wit and Life, in magnifying the Virtues of a Man, whom himself knew to exceed all Mankind in the studious practice of all wickedness: For that is the Burden of the Libel. Neither is it to be less suspected from the time in which it pretends to have been brought forth, viz. in the 32 year of the reign of Justinian, as the Author often declares, whereas Procopius his Books de aedificiis that are all panegyrics and abound with quite contrary Characters, were not written till the 36 th' year. Now is it not very credible that when Procopius was fallen out so bitterly with his great Patron after all the Obligations in the World, as he is in this Libel, he should afterwards be transported into so much kindness as he expresses in those books, without blasting and retracting his own slanders. Or if we can reconcile the possibility of the thing, yet however the books de aedificiis are an unanswerable confutation of the anecdota, and not only convict the characters of Malice, but the Matters of Fact of false hood. So that granting Procopius to be the true Father, I will prove him guilty of rank falshhood through the whole tale both from his own Writings before and after, from the testimony of his cotemporaries, but most of all from the nature and the circumstances of the Actions themselves. And as for the Librarians spiteful endeavours to improve the malice of the Libel, I shall discover so much baseness in the Attempt, as to leave him under that disgrace that is due to such ill-natured Pedants, that will be gnawing at the Reputations of great Men. And to this purpose I shall reduce this confused heap of Calumnies to certain heads as the most easy way of confuting them, for whilst they lie confused together they are not so easily discerned or exposed, but when parted, like false Witness, every Lie betrays itself.   

§. XXV. The first crime that he lays to the Emperor's Charge, is the worst that a Sovereign Prince can be guilty of, and that is cruelty, which the Author of the Libel aggravates in every Page, at that extravagant rate, as if he had outdone all the Tyrants that ever were, 
Cap. 6 of Maltretus Edition.  in blood and slaughter. For he was the Author of so many and so great Calamities to the Romans, as exceeded all the Miseries of all former Ages, he made nothing of siezing other men's Estates, he broke out into numberless slaughters, so that he counted it a trifle to destroy innumerable Multitudes of innocent Persons. The great devouring Plague that I described in my former Books, and that reigned through almost all parts of the habitable. World, spared as many as it destroyed. But no Man escaped Justinian's cruelty, who was sent as a Plague from Heaven to sweep all away. Some he was so kind as to destroy, but others he granted their lives, to suffer all the miseries of want and poverty, making them much more miserable than the others, when they would be content to be delivered from the Evils that they endured by any the most exquisite Tortures. Neither did he think it enough to destroy the whole Roman Empire, but he endeavoured to master afric and Italy, that he might throw those Nations together with the Provinces subject to himself into one common ruin. 
Cap. 12.  And again. Justinian and Theodora seemed to me and all oth●rs of the Senatorian Order, not of the race of Mankind, but the worst breed of Devils, and the very Plagues of Humane kind, that consulted together how they might destroy the Universe with most expedition, and for that reason assumed Humane shapes, being as it were half-Man, half Devil, and so overturned the whole World. And this may be proved by the great enormity of their Wickedness, in which these Devils infinitely outstripped all the villainy that Mankind is capable of acting. For though there have been divers Tyrants in former Ages, that were cruel beyond all bounds of Barbarity, that dispeopled whole Cities, Provinces and Kingdoms, yet these were the first that utterly destroyed the Race of Mankind, and laid waste the universal World. And once more (not to be too tedious, this Story of mowing down the Inhabitants of the whole World, being the Subject of every Page) That Justinian was in reality no Man, 
Cap. 18.  but the Devil in the shape of a Man, is evident from those unparallelled Mischiefs that he brought upon Mankind: for the height of all Wickedness is to be taken from the depth of it Authors Villainy. But for that it were more easy to compute the Sand upon the Seashore, than all the Nations destroyed by Justinian. And as for my own part, I am able to reckon up two hundred and ten Millions of Men, that were offered Victims to his Barbarity. A very fair reckoning this, were the particulars well cast up, for by the sum total one could expect to hear of no less than the old Pranks of Caligula, Nero and Commodus, of Phalaris his ten thousand bulls, and Pharaohs ten millions of Brick-Kills, of the outrages of the thirty Tyrants, and the fury of the ten persecutions: of firing the City, assassinating the Senate, putting whole Provinces to the Sword? but what do I speak of all these trifles of Cruelty, if compared to the destruction of the whole habitable World? for that is the Chorus to all our Tragedies, that he did not only cut the throats of all the Inhabitants of the Roman Empire, but buried the whole World in one common ruin. What not one Man left alive? the whole Race at once destroyed? How then came the face of the Earth to be peopled again? by Deucalion's Stones, or Cadmus' Teeth? Oh no, says Alemannus, these are only certain Schemes of Speech, that the learned call hyperbolical Expressions. It may be so, but we, that are unlearned, cannot distinguish them from impudent Lies and Impossibilities. For if every Man living were not destroyed, than the tale, as it is told, is all fable, but if the destruction were universal, than the question returns how the Earth ever came to be reinhabited, without those Absurdities that we commonly call poetical Hyperboles. But not to be too severe upon the licence of Lampoons, we will grant that possibly the Hydra or the Dragon might spare some few alive; but in compensation let us compute how many millions of his Subjects he devoured at every meal. Where lay the Cities? where the Provinces? where the Nations, that he so universally dispeopled? How great a part of the Empire he recovered, we know from his Wars with the Goths and Vandals in Italy and afric, but that he ever destroyed any one Province, is news to this very day. How many stately Cities he built is recorded by Procopius, but if he ever reduced either any of them or any other to Ashes, he would have done well to have told us in his own defence, if he could but have alleged any one Example. What strange way of writing history is this to tell us of such vast numbers of Cities, Provinces and Nations destroyed, without specifying but one Village? But though he might not mow down whole Cities and Provinces at a stroke, yet he might commit such vast numbers of outrages at divers times and in divers places, as might amount to the two hundred and ten millions of lives. That may be, but as vast as the Empire was, I doubt it would scarce afford pasture enough for so great a Butchery. But if it would, I would only know where, when and by whom these vast Oceans of blood were shed. He reigned 39 years by himself, and governed nine years more under his Uncle Justin, in all which time if we inquire of our Libeler the Catalogue of his Executions, Why, to be short, Amantius and Vitalvanus were put to death. They were so, but what are two Men above two hundred millions of Men! This is the privilege of hyperbolical Historians. But seeing this is all our Martyrology, let us inquire into the merits of the Cause, for it is that, they say, and not the suffering that makes the Martyr, and by that we shall easily discern that these unheard of Cruelties were so far from that, that they were not only necessary Acts of Government, but of common Justice too.  
Amantius had been the Author of all the Severities against the Catholics under Anastasius, insomuch that at the Coronation of the Emperor Justin the People cried out for his blood. But that was not the cause of his death, 
Act. 1. Concil. contra Anthinum.  but his endeavour to set up Theocritus against him in the Empire, for which as they were both justly put to death, 
Evag. l. 4. c. 2.  so was it an Action necessary to the preservation of the Government itself. But as the Author of the Libel tells the Story, he discovers himself to be no true Procopius; for first he says that Amantius was put to death by Justinian, whereas he was immediately executed by Justin at his first coming to the Crown, as appears not only from all the co-temporary Historians, Marcellinus Comes, Jornandes, Evagrius, Victor Tunonensis, but from the matter of Fact itself, he being taken off for setting up Theocritus for the title of the Crown against Justin. But when he farther adds the Cause of his death, he utterly betrays the Imposture of the whole Libel, viz. that he had been too saucy in his language to John Bishop of Constantinople, whereas there was no such Bishop of that name in all the long Reign of Justinian, till the last year of his life. But here for a Reconciler commend me to the Apostolical Librarian, 
Praefat.  that when there were two Patriarches of Constantinople, one that died in the first year of Justin surnamed Cappadox, and another that came to that See in the last year of Justinian surnamed Scholasticus; to make sure of a John in his reign, he pieces up one Bishop of these two Men, and says that Procopius meant Johannes Scholasticus Cappadox, though Cappadox was dead near 50 years before Scholasticus was consecrated, and four Bishops of other Names were ranged in the Diptychs between them, Epiphanius, Anthimus, Mennas and Eutychius. And yet the learned Librarian is so strangely or rather so wilfully ignorant, as to make that the grand Article against Justinian, that he was the Man, who first granted the Title of Ecumenical Bishop to this Joannes Scholasticus Cappadox, and this he affirms not only without any Testimony from Records, but against the most obvious and known story of those times; by which it is evident that this Title was first challenged and granted to another Johannes surnamed Jejunator or John the mortified under Mauritius. But however when it is certain not only from Record, but from matter of Fact itself that Amantius was put to death, for endeavouring to depose the Emperor, if Procopius himself imputed it to a little foul Language, it argued great malice, but if it were done by any other counterfeit Author, it argues great ignorance in the Affairs of those Times. And indeed the Author has every where betrayed so much of that, as plainly discovers himself to be no true Procopius. And such is his story in his 6 th' Chapter of Justin's being analphabetus, void of all Learning, not able to write his own name, which he proves from the invention of the Printing Plate with his name in it, that he stamped upon all his Commissions, because he could not write. This is all the Authority for this wild Story, and we never hear any thing of it, till Suidas transcribed it hence, and yet it is strange that none of the Historians of that Time, should ever take notice of a thing so very strange in the Empire, had it been true. But however this story of the printing Plate is a very unlucky discovery of the ass' ears under Procopius his skin, when it is so well known, that it was the custom of all the Roman Emperors, to stamp their names to their Commissions for expedition. And this Alemannus himself confesses was the ancient usage, and describes the forms of it out of Pluta●ch and Ausonius, and shows that it was used by Justinian himself▪ though it was in aftertimes disused by the Grecian ●mperors. Now for any Man to go about to prove that Justin could not write his own Name, because he had it engraven on a printing Plate, when all other Emperors used the same Instrument, it clearly demonstrates his ignorance of the Customs of those times, and proves him some unlearned Greek, that lived after the disusage of that Custom in that Empire. And as for Justin's acting so little, and Justinian's acting so much in the public Affairs, Procopius himself in his first Book de Bello Vandalico, imputes it to no other cause than his extreme old age, and not to any want either of natural Parts or ingenuous Education, as this malicious and ignorant Libeler has done, who sticks not to call him a fool and a blockhead. And it was no doubt a sign of his being so, when he raised himself from so low a fortune into the Imperial Throne, and when he was in it, governed so well, as we have seen in the History of his Reign. But here again commend me to the Ingenuity of Alemannus, that citys the very passage in the Book de bello Vandalico, which imputes Justin's inability for business to nothing but his extreme old Age, to confirm this passage that lays it wholly upon his natural incapacity and blockishness.  
But having convicted this story of the Murder of Amantius for an unmannerly word, of extreme malice and ignorance, let us now examine the other hundred Millions of instance in the death of Vitalian, and there we shall find as strong strains of the same malice and ignorance as in the Amantian Fable. For first he is so miserably informed as to place this transaction immediately after the death of Amantius, whereas he was for a good time one of the greatest Favourites of the Emperor Justin, and kept up an intimate Friendship with Justinian, and joined with him in transacting that great Business of uniting the Eastern and Western Churches with Pope Hormisdas, as appears by Justinian's Epistles to that Pope; and therefore the death of Vitalian did not follow the Execution of Amantius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a short time after, as if it were the next Action, as this Author expresses it, for it was not done till the third year of Justin's Reign, and for that reason Evagrius when he tells this Story immediately after that of Amantius, he adds, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but this was done afterwards: by which it is evident that this Author was utterly ignorant of the right order of the Transactions of that time. But the true Story of Vitalian is this, That he had often steined himself with Rebellion against his Master Anastasius, and had caused the slaughter of many Thousands of Citizens for his own Ambition, but the Emperor was at last too hard for him, so that whilst he reigned the Rebel lived in Exile, 
* Marcel. Com. Chronicon.  but was restored by Justin, taken into great favour, advanced to great honour, first made Master of the Militia and afterward Consul, but he seizing all opportunities of encouraging Faction and Sedition, and heading the Tumults of the Scythian Monks at Constantinople, he perished some way or other in the Attempt, but the manner of his death is not certainly known; Marcellinus Comes only says, that he was stabbed within the Palace with sixteen wounds, Evagrius says from Zacharias the Eutychian, that he was trapan'd by Justin and Justinian, and if it were so, yet that Partial Historian against those Emperors has set down two very good reasons to justify it, first that it was to cure his insatiable Thirst after the Crown, which they saw nothing but his own Blood could quench, and secondly, to punish him for all that Train of Mischief and Treason, that he had practised against the Roman Empire. But Victor Tunensis both a co-temporary and a disobliged Writer▪ ●●ing one of those African Bishops that were banished for their Zeal against the Tria Capitula, only says that it was reported that his Throat was cut within the Palace, by the Faction of Justinian; so that it seems he could get no certain knowledge of it, whether it were done by the Emperor's command, or by a Tumult of the Guards, and that is most likely; for Soldiers of Loyal Principles are never wont to forgive (as indeed they never ought) revolting Rebels. But which way soever it was brought about, it was a just Execution of one of the vilest men living, that had often embroiled the Empire in bloody Wars, that had called in the barbarous People to invade it, that had besieged Constantinople itself, and had utterly destroyed it, had not Proclus fired his Fleet, as Archimedes did that of Marcellus, with burning Glasses. These two just and unavoidable Executions, are the only too bloody Actions by which this Prince outstripped the cruelty of all the Tyrants that ever were in any Age or Nation, and destroyed more People than an Universal Plague, not only cutting the Throats of all the Inhabitants of the Roman Empire, but dispeopling the whole Creation.   

§. XXVI. But what were there no Acts of Mercy in his Reign? nay what if there were nothing but Acts of Mercy? what if no other Reign can vie Acts of Clemency with it? And for the issue of that Challenge I will farther Challenge both the Libeler and the Librarian to find any one Offender in all his Reign, that did not meet with more mercy than justice, or to find me in all Records from the beginning of Mankind so many instances of a great and generous Nature in any one Prince. With what barbarity were his Confederates assassinated, and with what fury was his own Empire beset, by Gilimer King of the Vandals, and Vitigis King of the Goths, yet when by the Event of War, they were made his Prisoners, with what Princelike respect did he treat them? Instead of any revengeful usage they enjoyed the Wealth and State of Princes; Vit gis chose to continue at Court, Gilimer had the grant of vast Revenues for himself and his Relations in Gaul, and was courted to accept of the dignity of a Patriarchate, but rendered himself uncapable of it, by refusing to quit the Arian Heresy. Johannes Cappadox, a man that Justinian had obliged above all men, having made him both Patriarchate, Consul, and Perfect of the City, in which last Office the Empire being insured to him by the Magicians, he is foolishly drawn in to conspire the death and destruction of the Emperor, and is undeniably Convicted of it, 
De Bello Persico, lib. 1. c. 25.  yet after all this discovery this wicked man (and Procopius gives a blacker Character of him then of any man in his whole History) is so far from being put to death, that he is only put into a Monastery, and that with such vast wealth, and so many advantages of life, that as Procopius observes, if he had been endowed with Wit enough to estimate his happiness by the measures of Reason, not of Ambition, he would have valued his Misfortune, as the most happy thing that ever befell him. But now to compare the truth and the ingenuity of the open and the secret Histories concerning this unhappy man, by the first it is proved that he was guilty of all manner of wickedness and oppression, an Atheist and a Villain, that designed the Crown for his own Head by the Murder of his Royal Master, and that certainly is enough to put any Subject out of all capacity of mercy. And yet in the Anecdota his fall is imputed merely to Theodora's Revenge, for endeavouring to alienate the Emperor's Affections from her. And if it were so, that was so ill an Office, that (if any thing could) would warrant the lawfulness of it. But whether there were, or were not any thing of Pique in the Case, it is certain that he had discovered his Ambition to supplant his Master, and if after that the Empress by slight over-reach't him, whatever private design she might have in it, it was in itself an eminent act of duty. And by this we may judge both of the Wisdom and the Petulancy of this Libeler, when he snarls at an Action so commendable in itself, and so commended by Procopius himself in his relation of it. In short, when Procopius had painted this Man in such black Characters, in common discretion he ought not, he could not have made his Prosecution a Crime; for setting aside the Empresses disgust, by Procopius his own report from the deposition of the Witnesses, he deserved death for his Treason, and then after that, what ever motives she might have to prosecute, no Man could have any just ground to blame the Prosecution. And yet after all the good Emperor spared the Traitor's blood, and only condemned him to say his Prayers, and sue out his pardon in Heaven, as he in great mercy had granted it here on earth. But so blind was the importunity of the Man, that he rushed into farther Disorders, till he was at last turned loose to beg Bread and Farthings, which story was in the Legend Age of Christianity fastened I know not by whom upon the great Belizarius. But now considering the heinousness of this unhappy Man's Offences, Theodora and Antonina, who entrapped him, as great Furies as they are represented for it by the Libel, are not less to be commended for their honesty in the design, than the dexerity of their Wit in its management. Neither upon the whole Matter do I find them to have been such instruments of Cruelty, as they are made not only by this Libel, but the common vogue. It is evident that they were Ladies of great Art and Subtilty, that had great power over their Husbands, and by that means great share in the Government, in which as they had opportunity of doing many other good Offices, so the discovery of this Traitor was none of the least. And as for Theodora, how black soever she is painted in this Libel, I cannot find but that she bears a very fair Character in all other Writers both for Wisdom, Piety and Charity. Procopius himself gives an high commendation of her Wisdom in his first Book de bello Persico: 
Lib. 1. cap. 9  And in his Books de Aedificiis reckons up many of her foundations for pious and charitable Uses, especially that of destroying the public Stews▪ and building and endowing religious Houses for the maintenance of lewd People taken out of them, there to repent of the Wickedness of their former lives, and sequester themselves to Prayer and Devotion. And as for her good-nature he has left this Character of it upon Record, 
De Bello Gothico, l. 3. c. 31.  that it was in her temper to relieve and protect the oppressed, and therefore she forced Artabanes, a great favourite with the Emperor, to receive his injured Wife, a piece of Justice that laid the foundation of a Conspiracy against the Emperor's life, as we shall see afterward. And as much as that Age abounded with Writers, none of them have left any ill character or ill story of her upon Record, unless in the point of Religion, that she favoured the Acephali and the Eutychians. So that whereas this Libel reports that she was at first a Player, a common Strumpet, the most infamous Prostitute of the City, 'tis as probably true as the other tale of her being a Witch, and having carnal copulation with the Devil. And it is very likely that so wise a Prince should take a Woman of such public infamy into his Bed and his Bosom, but if he did, it is much more so, that when the thing was so universally known in the whole Empire, and out of it too, (for such Reports stop no where) that yet not any the least footsteps of it should appear in any Writer either of the same or the adjoining Ages. There were at that time several Historians, that lived out of the Dominions of Justinian, as Jornandes, Cassiodorus, Paulus Diaconus, who might have spoke out with freedom and without danger, and yet they are altogether silent. There were many angry and disobliged Writers, as all the Africans, who suffered in the Cause of the tria capitula, and their African Blood would have been tempted at least to make some remote Reflections upon a thing so foul and foolish. Evagrius did not write till the Justinian Family was extinct, and it is too evident, for what reason I know not, unless it be that he followed an Eutychian Historian, that he had no kindness for it, and yet he knows nothing of the matter. Now that a thing of so strange a nature, of so great concernment, so known, so public in all parts of the World should never be so much as mentioned or intimated in such a great variety of Writers, it must require a very greedy Faith to swallow it. But Alemannus, as his custom is, vouches the story out of Almoin a French historian, that lived not till near three hundred years after the death of Justinian, and accordingly he gives such a false and fabulous account of the whole reign, as only proves his barbarous ignorance of all the transactions of that time.  
As for the treatment of Pope Silverius, it was foul enough, but as far as the Empress was concerned in the Plot, I cannot see, that she was farther chargeable with any thing than the Eutychian or rather Acephalan Heresy. She was a Patroness of the Party, and as most Women are, zealous to advance her own Sect, and that no doubt made her willing to be rid of Pope Silverius, who would not be wrought to any compliance with her or condescension to her Faction. But as for the forging of Letters in his Name to the Goths, if there were any truth in the story, it was none of her Action, Rome being the Scene of it, whereas she always resided at Constantinople. But for my own part I care not to be too credulous in the Reports of those times, when Men were so factious and partial in their Relations. Though that such Letters there were either true or counterfeit 'tis certain, but whether, uncertain. The Africans affirm that they were forged, and that is easily said, when Men are wrangling for a baffled Party, but upon what ground they say it, 'tis utterly in the dark, and will now never come to light, Silverius dying before it ever came to Trial. Neither is it so improbable that he should side with the King of the Goths, for the sake of his great Master Theodorick, by whose favour he had been advanced into the Papal Chair. 
De Bello Gothico l. 1. c. 11.  That he was solicited to it by Vitigis we are assured by the true Procopius, but that he gave his consent, he cannot tell, but rather on the contrary that he sided with Belizarius, and persuaded the Citizens to open their Gates to him, 
C. 14.  but whether out of fear or favour, was known to himself alone. Though the first motive of fear is most probable, as Procopius tells the story, 
C. 25.  that Belizarius being after his entrance into Rome strictly besieged by the Goths, he sent away all that were useless or suspected, and among these Silverius himself. And that I take to be all the mystery of his Banishment, and all the black circumstances added by the Africans to be their own choleric Surmises, out of whom this malicious Rhapsodist borrowed most of his Fables, and then improved them with his own Venom.  
And lastly as for the barbarous murder of the great Queen Amalasuntha, which this Author says, was contrived by Theodora to prevent her designed Journey to Constantinople out o● envy and jealousy of her beauty; for which end she employed Peter the Emperor's Ambassador to Theodatus, to persuade him to put her to death. But beside that this story has the ill fortune to have no Vouchers, and that on the contrary 'tis crossed by all co-temporary Writers, it is here told so awkerdly, as plainly to give itself the Lye. And if the Pamphleteer had consulted Procopius himself, 
De Bello Goth. l. 1. c. 4.  he would have told him, that though the Queen had once designed for Constantinople, yet at this time she was so very far from any such thought, that she had taken the whole burden of the Government upon herself, and though she had admitted her Kinsman Theodatus to a partnership of the Pomp and Title of Majesty, she by an Oath of Allegiance from him reserved all the Power to herself. And as for Peter the Ambassador, he had so little hand in persuading the Tyrant to the Villainy, that he had not so much as ever seen him, when it was committed, being at that time on his Journey, and staying at Apollonia for farther Orders from his Master: by whose command, when he came to Rome he declared an eternal War against the Goths in revenge of her Majesty's de●th. And the Emperor was (as he always was) as good as his word, for he never left them till he had utterly destroyed both their Government, and their Nation. We see here how hard a thing it is to file a Lie so square, as that it shall light even on all sides, for this Libeler is so unfortunate, as to cross with Procopius himself in every part and circumstance of his story; and to betray his Forgeries as much by his innocent as malicious Mistakes, and what could be more unhappy than for the same Man to tell us that Peter after his Arrival at Rome persuaded Theodatus to murder Amalasuntha, and yet tell us that she was murdered before he set foot upon Italian Ground.  
So much for Theodora, the next Fury is Antonina, the inseparable Companion of all her Wickedness, who therefore ought to be cleared and acquitted by her discharge; but for her commendation I must add, that she is every where celebrated by Procopius for a Woman of prodigious Wit, to which he very much ascribes Belizarius his success in his Wars, in which she never left him, but when she stayed at Court to watch the Motions of Joannes Cappadox, who out of mere malice and envy lay at catch for his destruction, and how neatly she tripped up the great Statesman, we have seen above, though the Reader may see it more largely described by Procopius himself. So little design of Cruelty had this Lady in the overthrow of Cappadox, 
De Bello Persico lib. 1. cap. 25.  that she did no more than what was necessary for her Husband's security, an Action that I think no Man can deem a fault in a Court-lady. And as for those many and shameless Adulteries, that the Pamphlet loads her with, it is but a single testimony of we know not whom, no such thing being in the least suggested against her by any other Writer. But this sort of tales are proper materials for Lampoons, for as it is hard to prove them, so is it as hard to disprove them, and withal they take most easily with the Ill-nature of Mankind, though without undeniable proof they ought to be rejected as the standing Topics of Calumny. But that Belizarius should imprison her for her Lewdness, and yet be so very strangely fond of her, as this inconsistent Scribbler tells the Tale, is a thing so incredible in itself, that scarce any Testimony can have credit enough to give it reputation. And it is of the same stamp with Theodorus being a Player and a common Strumpet, that a thing so notorious and public as this should never be mentioned by any other Writer, especially in an Age so abounding with Historians of contrary Factions. But to proceed in the history of Justinian's Cruelty: 
De Bello Goth. 〈◊〉 c. 31▪ ●2▪  There was one Artabanes, that the Emperor had raised from a mean Condition to the highest Honours in the Empire, and would have given him his own Sister in marriage, had not the Banes been forbidden by a former Wife. But he to revenge the disappointment conspires with one Arsaces against the Emperor's life. This Arsaces had been convicted of High-Treason; and conspiracy with the Goths, for which, when he was legally condemned, he was not so much as fined or banished, but only whipped to shame him out of the folly of his Design. These draw in other Conspirators, till at last the Plot is fully discovered to the Emperor, and confessed by themselves; and yet is he so far from putting any of them to death, that he only put them out of their Preferments, and enacted nothing more severely against them than an honourable Confinement, imprisoning them in his own Palace, and not in a Common Goal. And not long after we find Artabanes received into favour, made Viceroy of Thrace, 
Ibid. cap▪ 39  and Lord High Admiral in the Expedition against Totilas the Goth, when he invaded Sicily. But as generous as he was towards his own Enemies, he was wont to infuse a stronger tincture of Justice in the punishment of other Men's Wrongs: Thus when Gubazas' King of the Colchi or Lazi, his Confederate, was murdered by a Conspiracy of the Principal Officers of the Roman Army, and complaint of the Villainy brought to the Emperor, he refers the examination of the Matter to a fair Trial, as we may see in Agathias, who has set down an exact Narrative of the Plead on all sides; 
Lib. 4.  and after a full hearing, the Offenders being found guilty, they were executed according to Law. Only Martinus for his many former good Services was reprieved from Execution, though put out of all Employment and confined to a retired life. For though, as the Historian sets it down, he ought to have suffered with John and Rusticus his Associates, yet the Emperor out of regard to his many Victories, and the great conduct that he had showed in all dangers, thought it best to remit the strictness of Law, and temper its rigour with some mixture of Mercy, and therefore he gave him his life, but deprived him of all Command, and thought it sufficient to punish so great a Man with disgrace, though he had so deep a share in ●o great a Wickedness. These are the bloody Acts of a De●il and a wild beast in humane shape, always busy in the destruction of Mankind, as he is in every Page styled in this dull and insipid Libel. But before we quit this Head it will be proper to vindicate both Belizarius, and the Emperor's demeanour towards him. For how it comes to pass I know not, but it has long passed among the Writers of later Ages, that he was banished for High-Treason, had his Eyes pulled out, and forced to beg upon the Highway, so that da Obolum Belizario is become one of the most common Pulpet-Texts. And yet it is all pure Fable and Romance, not only without any Authority from Ancient Records, but against the undoubted Reports of Co-temporary Writers, especially Procopius and Agathias who have followed the History of his good Fortune to the end of his life, but most of all from his last expedition in his extreme old Age against the Huns, by which the Historian says, he gained more honour than by all his former Victories, 
Agathias l. 5.  and then it is certain that he was not reduced to the condition of a blind Beggar; so that this Story is to be rejected as mere Fable without any farther Confutation. But because this great man has fallen under the lash of this rude Satirist, we must do right to the memory of the greatest man upon Record: for though Procopius has done it to purpose in the History of his Actions, that as he describes them, are not to be paralleled by any of the Ancient Greeks or Romans, yet this counterfeit represents him as a mean, contemptible, and cowardly wretch, the very laughingstock of the common People, and that he fell into disgrace with the Emperor after his Conquest of Gilimer and Vitigis, out of envy to that vast Treasury, of which he defrauded the Exchequer; that he walked the Streets of Constantinople sad and solitary, expecting to be stabbed by every man that met him: that after he was restored to favour he lost Italy by his covetousness, and so again became the object of public contempt, with a great many more strains of the same Civility and Eloquence. And thus is this mighty Hero, this great wonder of the World, so Glorious for all his Virtues, 
V. Procop. ●● Bello 〈◊〉. lib. 3. cap. 1.  Greatness and Constancy of Mind, Conduct and Skill in War, singular Temper and Clemency, Bounty and Liberality, Faith and Loyalty shrunk into a thing as contemptible as a Knight Errand in Burlesque▪ But of all Liars this Romancer is the most unhappy that I ever met with, and is so unfortunate as to contradict the true Historians not only in his Characters, but undeniable matters of Fact. For at what time and upon what occasion did he fall into this disgrace? If we may believe our Author▪ it was after the Conquest of Gil●mer and Vitigis, for not delivering up his spoils into the Emperor's Treasury. But what says the true Procopius the Eye-Witness and Companion of all his Fortunes. 
De Bello Goth. l. 3. c. 1.  When he was offered the Kingdom of Italy by the vanquished Goths, he flatly refused it as an Act of Treason against his Royal Master, immediately repaired to Constantinople with Vitigis and all his Wealth, and all the Treasure of King Theodorick, with which the Emperor was so surprised, it being the greatest that ever was amassed together in one heap, that he made a solemn invitation of the Senate to view and admire it. And though at this time he gave not Belizarius a public Triumph, as he did at his return out of Africa, yet he was the wonder and the praise of all men, having obtained two such Victories, as never any man did before him, brought two Captive Kings to Constantinople, and above all men's expectation delivered into the hands of the Romans both the Families and the Treasuries of Gezarick and Theodorick (than whom never were greater Princes among the Barbarians) and restored the Wealth taken from the Enemies to the Commonwealth▪ and in a little time restored one half of the lost Empire to the other. So that at Constantinople he was the delight of all men's eyes; the People thought they could never gaze enough upon him, and his appearance in public was like a Pompous Triumph, always attended with a mighty Train of Goths, Vandals and Moors. After this follows a long Character of all his Virtues, especially his incredible Bounty to his Soldiers, which the Reader may peruse at leisure, it being too long to be transcribed. And then as for the infinite wealth that he brought out of afric, and delivered into the Emperor's Exchequer, 
De Bello Vandal. lib. 3. c. 9  it is set down by Procopius in the description of his Triumph, as the greatest Treasury in the World: And among the rest were the Vessels and Furniture of Solomon's Temple, that Titus brought to Rome, and Gizerick carried away when he sacked it, and the Emperor to avoid the Misprision of Sacrilege, thought it his duty to return them to the Christian Churches at Jerusalem. Now if we compare this Account of Procopius with the Anecdota concerning the same Time and Action, how could the Wit of Mankind have better way-layed the Malice of this Scribbler? For this was no part of secret History, no closet- or bedchamber Transaction, but all such public show as was not capable to be belied. And therefore when Procopius writes it to his own age, to thousands of Eye-witnesses, that Belizarius was worshipped both by the Prince and the People for that vast Treasure that he brought into the Chequer, what can we conclude of the secret Historian, that has the confidence and the ignorance, as to obtrude such an incredible Flame upon all Posterity, that he was the contempt of all Men, deserted by his Friends, sad and solitary, and that the occasion of all this disgrace was embezelling the Emperor's Treasury. Compare but these two Reports together of one and the same thing that was not acted in secret, but upon the most public Stage in the World, and from that alone we may learn what Faith is to be given to this goodly Romance.  
And lastly as for the ill-success of his second Expedition into Italy, which the Libel lays entirely upon his ill Conduct, he has here some little truth to help out his malice: For it is true that his second expedition was not so successful as his other Wars, but whose fault was that? Every Man's rather than Belizarius. For at his first Expedition against Vitigis, he left Italy in a settled State of Peace and Safety: 
De Bello Goth. lib. 3. à capite tertio ad decimum.  but in his absence at the Persian Wars, it was lost by the negligence of other Captains, upon this Belizarius is recalled from Persia (where he had in a very short time broke all the strength of the great King Chosroes,) and is posted away with all speed into Italy without Men or Money. The last is confessed by the Libel itself, that upon that account charges him with Covetousness and Oppression. And it is not to be doubted, but that the Contributions of the Inhabitants must have been very heavy. But it was not in Belizarius his power to ease them, for he came to defend their Country, and having no other Supplies, they must either maintain the Charges of the War or submit to the Enemy. But alas he was not able to act or attempt any thing for want of Forces, 
De Bello Goth. l. 3. c. 10.  as Procopius himself informs us, that he could not make up a body of 4000 Men, and those but raw Soldiers and unarmed, 
C. 12.  that he had picked up in his passage through Thrace and Illyricum. Upon this he writes to the Emperor for Men, Money and Arms, and tells him plainly that Belizarius his mere presence in Italy was not of force enough to recover it, and therefore supplies he must have, particularly the Soldiers, that were immediately under his own Command. For that was his custom in all his Wars to lead 7000 of his best Horse in Person, 
Cap. 1.  and it was chiefly by their courage that he obtained all his great Victories. But no relief coming, Totilas carries all before him, and lays siege to Rome itself, till Narses came with new Forces: At whose arrival Belizarius had raised the siege with 500 Men, had he not been betrayed by Bessa the Governor of the City, who when the whole Gothish Army was put into disorder within his sight, refused to sally out, though he had 3000 Men in the Garrison. Upon this Belizarius moves forward with his whole Army, and being much inferior in force, he made it up with Art and Stratagem, and managed his first On set with that Conduct and Dexterity, that he had given an utter Defeat to the Gothish Army, notwithstanding that the Governor never sallied out in all the Engagement: though he could not complete his Victory, being forced to make a sudden Retreat by the rashness of one of his Commanders: who being left behind to secure the Treasure and Ammunition, and hearing of the great Victory, he resolved to have a share in the honour of it; and so leaves his Post, falls upon a Party of the Enenemy, is routed, and not only the whole Baggage is in their power, but the security of Belizarius his retreat is cut off. And for that reason he was forced to leave his Victory unfinished; and the City being very ill defended by the Governor, and betrayed by some of the Guards, who in the Night set open the Gates to the Besiegers, it became an easy Prey to the Enemy. And yet Totilas was so shockt with this rough Encounter, that he dispatches to the Emperor Letters to request Peace. In the mean time Belizarius goes on with success, and upon it Totilas in a rage resolves to destroy Rome, but desists upon a Letter from Belizarius partly civil and partly threatening, and marches away with the Body of his Army towards Ravenna. Whereupon Belizarius surprises Rome, and makes all possible haste to repair the Fortifications, but before he could set up the Gates. Totilas' returns with all his Forces, and in two general Assaults is beat off with prodigious Slaughter, and forced to retreat with great fear and consternation; in so much that the Goths broke down-all the Bridges over the Tiber, lest the Romans should pursue them, and so Belizarius went on to repair the Walls and the Gates, and when he had finished, sent the Keys of the City for a Present to the Emperor. And the Emperor in requital sends him fresh Supplies; but Belizarius sailing to Tarentum for their reception, is driven by storm into Croto, and in his absence his land-Army engage the Enemy, at first with good success, but at last for want of good Conduct they are utterly routed. Upon the news of this irreparable loss he sails for Sicily, there receives some Recruits, and attempts to raise the Siege of Ruscia, but is again defeated by another storm, upon which he changes his Councils, and new Models his Army, 
Cap▪ 30.  and at this very nick of time is he called back by the Emperor to Command in the Persian War, that was then very pressing on that side of the Empire. This is all the ill conduct that this great General was guilty of in this Expedition; it was not indeed so honourable as his other Wars, because not so successful, but where the Miscarriages lay we have seen in the Premises, from whence it appears that Belizarius was so far from committing any Faults, that it was his greatest work through the whole War to retrieve other men's losses. 
De Bello Goth. lib. 4. c. 21.  And therefore he is received by the Emperor and the Court with all possible expressions of Honour, and all Men contend who shall give him most homage, to the great contentment and satisfaction of the Emperor. And that was the only true reason why he commanded not in the third Expedition against the Goths, because the Emperor could not part with him from his own Person, and so he continued at Court all the remainder of his life in the height of favour and glory, till in his extreme old Age he rescued the Empire from the Huns, and set in that glorious Action. So dull a Fable is this of our Rhapsodist, that he was the object of public contempt ever after his return from Italy. But though to blast a Man's good Fortune be an action barbarous enough, yet to blot out his Virtues, and place the blackest Vices in their stead, so as to turn a Man of the greatest Honour in the World into a false and perjured Villain, is a depth of malice below (if it were possible) the bottomless pit itself. And among all the Evils under the Sun, I think this a deplorable one from this Example, that the Reputations of the greatest Men lie so much at the mercy and in the power of every ill-natured Pedant, to dispose of them as they please to Posterity. Though it is some comfort again, that the Actions of great Men are too big and bright to be eclypsed by the interposition of every trifling Meteor. And that is ours in the case of Belizarius, whose Glory will for ever outshine and baffle all the Attempts of Envy and Malice both in figure and brightness. And if we compare the true story of Belizarius his Actions with the little blind tales of this barbarous Pasquil, it must for ever leave the Author of it under the most scornful indignation of all Men that have any regard for Worth or Honor.   

§. XXVII. And thus having done a little justice to the memory of this great Man, the greatest perhaps in history, unless the great Scipio Africanus may be his parallel, to use some comparison with him: we may now proceed in his Master's Cause, and having already cast up the small retail of his Cruelties, let us a little reckon for his wholesale Executions: And here the sum total in short is the Whole Empire and the Whole World. But here who would not lift up Hands and Eyes to Heaven, to find a Man so utterly bereft of all Sense and Modesty, as to charge the utter subversion of the Empire upon that Prince, whom he had before represented as immediately raised up by the divine Providence for its Recovery? Whether it were a true or a Perkin Procopius, he must rave and not know what he says, when he talks of Justinian's losing the Empire, that Charge being the most unluckily fastened upon him, of any one Prince in the whole Succession. I may safely challenge any Man to produce me any three Men either of the old Commonwealth or the new Empire, that did more service to their Country than this Prince alone. The other great Men that were honoured with the Titles of Fathers and Protectors of their Country, only saved it from the Invasion of a single Enemy, or perhaps two or three, but he beat back the incursions of the whole barbarous World from all Points of the Compass, and recovered the greatest part of the Empire long since lost: And though it were overwhelmed with Multitudes of Enemies on all sides, yet he left it in a greater and a much firmer state than ever it was before at its greatest glory. In short, let any Man read Procopius his eight Books of the success of his Wars, and parallel the undeniable greatness of those Actions, if he can, out of all the Records even of the Roman State itself. If any Man can equal the Fortune of his Arms, it is Caesar, but as for the glory of their Wars, there is this one unhappy difference, that all Caesars aimed at the subversion of the settled Government, and all Justinians at its Preservation, or rather Restitution. So that as Agathias observes towards the conclusion of his History, 
Pag. 157.  he was the first Man of all the Emperors that reigned at Constantinople, that could in good earnest pretend to the stile of King of the Romans both in Title and Reality. But seeing this Procopian Libel is pretended by its Author to have been written in the 32 year of Justinian's Reign, pray let us take a short view of his great Actions for the Empire both before and after that time. And this is best done out of Procopius himself, the first from his eight Books of History, that were finished in the 26 th' year of that Reign: the second out of his Books De Aedificiis, that were composed in the 36 th' year. To these if we add Agathias, who continues Procopius his History to the end of the Reign, we shall then have a complete Prospect of that universal Desolation, that Justinian brought upon his Empire.  
The greatest Match for the Romans in the World were the Persians, upon whom, though it was often attempted by the Ambition of their greatest Captains, they could never make any considerable Impression; but rather were for the most part sent home with loss and shame. And yet this powerful and warlike Nation Justinian at the entrance upon the Government, so amazed with the Prowess of his Arms, Conduct of his Captains, and Courage of his Soldiers, that even after a great Victory on the Persian side, 
De Bello Persico lib. 1. c. 22.  they were brought in the 6 th' year of his Reign, to sign an overlasting Peace between the Crowns, an Article that I know not, whether it were ever obtained by the Romans before that time. This gave the Emperor opportunity to employ his Arms in afric and Italy, with what success we shall see when we come to those Wars, but it was so great that it provoked Chosroes the great King of the Persians, 
Lib. 2. c. 2.  out of pure Envy to the glory and fortune of Justinian, to break the Peace, as Procopius relates it, to which he subjoins this Remark: That Chosroes and his Confederate Kings were angry at that, which of all good Qualities was most commendable in a gallant Prince, his care to enlarge the bounds and the glory of his Empire. They might as justly have blamed Cyrus or Alexander for their great Actions. And yet this was the very same man, that our ingenious Author says was sent into the World for the destruction of the Roman Empire. 
Ibid. c. 9  But Chosroes being a Man of a false Nature, crafty, apt to make Promises and seal them with an Oath, which for Interest he would as readily break as take; he contrary both to his Faith and the Law of Nations, surprises the Romans though his Confederates with an unproclaimed War; so that the Emperor being unprepared for a speedy resistance, and his Armies being then employed in Italy, he was for the present forced to buy Peace upon dishonourable Terms. But the next Campaign having finished the War with Vitigis, he sends Belizarius, though with no great Army, and after several Engagements Chosroes his proud Spirit is so taken down, as to condescend to sue for Peace, and upon it sends his Ambassador to Belizarius with a further design to discover what Captain he was, and what strength he had. But Belizarius only returns him this resolute and careless Answer, That Chosroes did by no means treat like a Prince with his Imperial Majesty; for Princes, if they have any Quarrel with their Neighbours, are wont first to send their Complaints and Demands, and if they can obtain no satisfaction, then to betake themselves to Arms, whereas Chosroes had contrary to his Faith broken into the Heart of the Roman Dominions, and therefore it was too late for him to offer at any Treaty of Peace. And with this short and peremptory Answer, and with some Stratagems of flight he dismisses the Ambassador, who upon his return persuades Chosroes to be gone with all speed, it being a vain thing to think of fight a Captain of that Conduct and Courage. Upon this Chosroes immediately steals away, and when he was got over Euphrates, where he thought himself pretty secure from the Romans, he again sends his Ambassadors to Belizarius to move for Cessation of all farther Hostility, which upon Hostages given was at length granted, and he suffered to return home without any Pursuit, Belizarius not having Forces enough to intercept his passage. This Action, as the Historian affirms, was so prodigious, that it exceeded all his former Victories, and his bringing those two mighty Kings, Gilimer and Vitigis, Captives to Constantinople, appeared not so glorious as this brave 〈…〉. And it looks like Miracle, that when the Romans were skulked within their own Fortresses, and Chosroes with a numerous Army had overrun their Dominions, Belizarius as it were riding Post with a small Body of Men should so suddenly stop the Career of the Persians, and force Chosroes out of fear either of the great Courage or good Fortune of the man, to retire with a pretence of Peace, but in good earnest to run away. And yet this Prince, as we have his Character from Agathias, 
Lib. 4.  who has drawn it from his Actions, as they are described by Procopius and himself, was the greatest of all the Persian Kings, even Cyrus the Son of Cambyses, Darius the Son of Histaspes, and Xerxes that marched over Seas, and sailed over Mountains. And what is as considerable, beside his own Forces he had the Assistance of the Goths, and the revolted Armenians, but most of all the Moors in the West, and the Huns in the East, who at that time and in divers places broke into the Empire like violent Land-floods, and were as furiously driven back into their Dens and lurking Holes. But Chosroes his great Spirit could not digest this dishonourable Repulse, and therefore he makes a fourth Invasion, though as he pretended, not upon the Romans, but the Christians of the City of Edessa, to revenge the Affront that they had put upon him in his second Expedition when he carried all before him. The Story is very remarkable, especially out of the mouth of a man so curious and inquisitive as Procopius. Chosroes being informed that it was a received Opinion among the Christians, that our Blessed Saviour had foretell in his Letter to Agbarus, that the City of Edessa should never be Conquered; for that reason in his Triumphant Return home he resolves to take it, only to prove him a false Prophet. And here the Historian relates the Correspondence between our Saviour and Agbarus out of the Records of the City agreeable to the Story of Eusebius, and in farther Confirmation of of it, adds that this Prophecy, That the City should never be vanquished, was not to be ●ound in the Ancient Copies, but was only an old Tradition of the Christians, that the vulgar believed to be in the Letter itself, and for that reason they reposited it in the Gates of the City, to make them impregnable. Chosroes sets down within a days Journey of the place, and moves early with his whole Army to beset it, but having wandered in a Maze all day, finds himself at evening in the same place that he left in the Morning, and so a second time, but when at last he came to the City, he was suddenly struck with a Rheumatism, and is so scared with it as to raise the Siege upon it. But being a Bigoted Pagan he was prevailed upon by his Priests and Magicians to wipe off this Dishonour, as if himself and his Gods had been Conquered by the God of the Christians, and therefore he vows to plow up the City, and make Slaves of all its Inhabitants, but all in vain, he is baffled in every Skirmish, and is so shamefully beaten in a general Assault, that neither himself nor his men had any heart to make any farther Attempt, and though he had often refused any Terms of Treaty, yet now to s●lve his honour he takes a small Sum of Money of the Citizens to raise the Siege. And from thence he turns his Forces upon the Lazi that were under the protection of the Romans, but is in all Engagements so sound beaten, that he is at last forced to sue for Peace, and so we hear no more of him till we hear of his inglorious end, which happened not till after the death both of Justinian and his Nephew Justin, and it happened thus as Agathias relates it: 
Lib. 4.  That Mauritius (who was afterward Emperor) General of the Army in the East under Tiberius making an inroad into his Country, and bearing all before him with Fire and Sword, and Chosroes beholding the sad spectacle, but not being able to make timely resistance, bursts with grief, after he had reigned 42 Years. This short Epitome I hope is sufficient to satisfy the Impartial Reader, that the Roman Empire lost neither Power nor Honour in this Persian War.  
Now let us take a short view of the Vandalick and Gothick Wars, by which our Pasquil affirms, that he ruined both Africa and Italy, and we shall find that he lost those Country's just as the Christian Army lost the Christian Empire last Campaigne, or rather as we hope they may this, by recovering all Europe out of the Enemy's hands. For that was all the loss that Justinian brought upon the Empire by those two Wars, that he entirely restored those two great Branches to it, that had for many years been possessed by the Barbarians. It was lost by that weak Prince Valentinian the Third to Gizerichus King of the Vandals, 
De Bello Vandal. lib. 1. cap. 3.  who enjoyed it 39 years, and was settled in it by Articles of Peace between him and the Emperor Zeno, that were successively ratified by Anastasius and Justin. But he at length dying, 
Cap. 7.  by his Will settled the Kingdom upon his own Lineal Succession of the Male Line, which was observed for 5 Successions, till Ildericus the lawful H●ir was seized and imprisoned by Gilimer that was next of Blood, and the News of it coming to Justinian he resents it with great indignation, 
Cap. 9  and immediately demands the Restitution of his Friend and Allye, which being denied, he declares War against the Traitor, and this our worthy Libel calls a Breach of the Treaty of Peace between Gizericus and Zeno, when the War was entered into purely in its defence against an Usurper. And what was the Success of this War is vulgarly known, the Vandals that had kept Africa 45 years, were utterly beat out of it in 3 Months, and their King carried Captive to Rome. And if the Reader would know Procopius his own Judgement of it, it was plainly this. All past Ages have seen many things come to pass beyond Humane Expectation, and so will all Ages to come, as long as the State of Humane Affairs continues in the same posture. And some things have been brought about, that were supposed impossible, and when they have been so, they have astonished the undertakers themselves. But whether any thing happened like this Transaction I remember not. For what a Prodigious thing is it, that 5000 Strangers (that was the Number of all the Horse that Belizarius brought with him, by whom alone the Vandals were vanquished) when they had not one Port to land in, should in such a Moment of Time overthrow the Grandchild of the Great King Gizerick, and make an entire Conquest of a Kingdom of so great Wealth and Strength? And this in my weak Opinion may very well pass for a Miracle both of Fortune and Virtue. And as for the Gothick War in Italy, as it had the same Cause, so had it the same Event: It was undertaken in defence of a Confederate Prince, and ended in the Conquest and Captivity of the Usurper. But of this we have given an Account already, as far as Belizarius Acted in it, but because the War was not ended, when he was recalled, let us now see its last Event which our Author says was the utter devastation of Italy. Belizarius being recalled, the War is Committed to Narses, the only Captain equal to him for Conduct, Courage, Bounty, Justice, and Clemency; and so he made as quick a dispatch in Italy, as Belizarius had done in afric. He vanquished that Great Captain Totilas in one pitched Battle, and Teias his Successor in another, though they had called in the Franks to their Assistance, and made such incredible slaughters of them, that both the Nations were almost utterly extinguished, and at last condescends to grant Peace to the small Remainders, upon condition of quitting Italian Ground forever, and so drove them out of the Country like a Flock of Sheep: so far Procopius to the 26th year of the Reign of Justinian. But the Goths unwilling to lose their present Possessions in Italy, (as Agathias continues the History) draw in the Franks and the Almans to join Forces against the Romans, 
Lib. 2.  and bring an Army into the Field of Seventy Two Thousand Men, who were all cut in pieces in the first Battle, and that was the end of the War. All which is elegantly enough summed up by his Nephew Justin, in his Speech to the Ambassadors of the King of the Avares, 
Sub quo Vandalici ceciderunt strage Tyranni, 
Corippi lib. 3.   
Edomitique Getae, pubes Alemanica, Franci,  
Totque aliae gentes, famosaque regna per orbem  
Ardua sub nostris flectentia colla triumphis  
Suscepere jugum, mentes animosque dedere  
Servitio, nobisque manent ex hoste fideles.   
This is the true Relation of Justinian's Wars, which whether we consider their Cause, their management, or their success, were the most justifiable and most glorious Wars that were ever waged from the beginning of the World. They were not wantonly undertaken, but either in defence of himself or his injured Allies, whom he was bound to assist in Justice as well as Humanity. They were managed with all the strictness of Discipline, and by all the Rules of Mercy and Clemency no Plunder committed, no Violence offered to any of the Inhabitants, no not to an Enemy unarmed; insomuch that when Gilimer's Ambassadors, that were sent to the King of the Vice-Goths, fell unawares into the Power of Belizarius, he treated them with Civility, and sent them home with safety. And lastly, as for their success, no Reign can equal them, neither did he only stop the War for the present, but for ever, by rooting up as well as cutting down-all the Enemies of his Country. In short, when a very great part of it had for many years groaned under the Tyranny of Barbarians, he restored it entirely to its Ancient Liberties. And yet this is the Devil, the Plague, the Fury, that was sent into the World in an Humane shape, for the utter destruction of the Roman Empire. And thus having justified Justinian's Wars from all suspicion of injustice or cruelty, let us briefly consider those other Actions, by which he laid waste and depopulated the Roman Empire, and that is best described in his Books de Aedificiis, that were written four years after this counterfeit Libel, and that is a very unhappy stumble of this barbarous Writer, the ill timing of his Libel. If he had written it after all the other Books of Procopius, it might have had some seeming pretence to a secret History. But a Libel placed between two Panegyrics looks very awkerdly, and gives itself the Lie. Now the Character, that is given to Justinian in the Introduction to the Books de Aedificiis, is but an Epitome of his eight Books of History: that he recovered the shattered Empire to its ancient splendour and greatness from the Barbarians, and whereas Themistocles could only boast that he could make a little City great, he added great and vast Kingdoms to his Dominions, and divers large Provinces that were cut off from the Empire, he reunited to it, and built numberless new Cities. And whereas the Church was torn in pieces with infinite Schisms and Factions, he settled it in Peace and Unity. He freed the Laws from confusion and obscurity, and made the administration of Justice plain and easy: he was merciful to his Enemies, bountiful to all Men, as much solicitous to preserve happiness of life to his Subjects, as the Government of the Empire to himself. He every where guarded the Frontiers, and compassed in the whole Empire with new Fortifications, to fence out the barbarous People that he had driven out. Among the Princes of old Cyrus bears one of the greatest Names for his Virtues, but whether Xenophon's description of him be altogether real or in a great measure Poetical I know not; But as for Justinian I am sure he was a Father to his Country indeed, and if we observe the course of his Reign, that of Cyrus will appear but a trifle to it. And this is best proved by his Actions, for who can doubt of his Greatness, when he sees the Empire so vastly enlarged, or of his Clemency when he sees so many of those very Men, that had conspired against his life, not only to enjoy their own Lives and Estates, but to be advanced to the greatest Commands in the Imperial Army, and to no less than Consular Dignity in the State? A pretty Character this of an humane Devil, that came into the World to eat up all Mankind. But if we take a view of all his Buildings, useful or stately Structures, he will seem to deserve under God, the Title of the Founder of the habitable World. And indeed his Foundations were so magnificent and so numerous, that it is scarce credible that they should all be the works of one Man, neither were they Designs for Pomp or Pleasure, but for the use and convenience of Mankind. He wasted not his Money upon Pyramids or Amphitheatres, but laid it out upon Churches, Hospitals, Monasteries, Fortifications, Castles, Bridges, Highways, Aqueducts, Seamoles, etc. These useful Structures our Libeler blushes not to style mad and extravagant Buildings. Though beside his prodigious Works for Charity and Devotion, the greatest part of his Structures were upon the Confines, in defence of the Empire against future Invasions. On the Persian side he fortified the frontier and important City of Daras, repaired the Walls of Amidas, walled about Rhapdium, so as to make it impregnable, and built so many strong Castles at all convenient Passes, as were able every where to stop the Impressions of the Persians, he re-edified the Walls of Theodosiopolis, Constantina and Circesium, all strong Garrisons, and every where planted Castles at a convenient distance between his Garrisons: he repaired the Walls of Edessa, and fenced it in against the Inundations of the River Scirtus, he built divers Cities and Castles in Euphratesia, he rebuilt and fortified the City of Antioch, that had been demolished by Chosroes in his base second Expedition, he repaired the Cities of Calcis, Cyrus and Palmyra. All which were in effect one entire Fortification against the Persians; and as he walled in the Empire on that side, so he did on all other Parts, especially about Armenia and Illyricum, that were the common Inlets of the Barbarians. Where the number of Fortresses and Castles either newly founded or rebuilt is scarce to be computed. It would amaze a Man only to read the Catalogues of the Names as they are set down by Procopius in his third and fourth Books. This I hope may suffice both to show in what way and method Justinian ruined and depopulated the Roman Empire, and to expose the Ingenuity of this little Scribbler to lay that to the Charge of this great Prince, not only without alleging any particular Instances to make good the general Assertion, but against the Evidence of such infinite Matter of Fact through his whole reign.   

§. XXVIII. The next grand Miscarriage of this Prince's Government was his siding with the Faction of the Venetae, not only not punishing their Murders and Acts of Violence, but encouraging them, insomuch that they every where committed all kinds of Villainy with safety and impunity, to the endangering of the Empire itself by Tumults and Seditions. This is the sum of the Indictment. But to traverse it home, we must know that there was an old Game derived from the Grecians representing a Contest between the Sea and the Earth for Victory, they that played on the Earth's side wore green Colours, representing the Verdure of the Fields, they that wrestled for the Sea wore bluish; if the green Ribbon-Men overcame, that was an Omen of a plentiful Crop for the ensuing year: if the blue Men were Masters of the Field, that was a fore-boding of good Wether at Sea, and good Success in Merchandise. This trifling in process of time came to too much good earnest in the Commonwealth, and the Parties became dangerous state-Factions, that often embroiled the Government. In the time of the Emperor Anastasius they burned down the City of Constantinople; but the most famous Tumult that they ever raised, was under Justinian, and it endangered his Crown much more than the Attempts of all his foreign Enemies put together. 
De Bello Persico lib. 1. cap. 24.  The Factions were come to the utmost outrage of Hostility, and it was now a kind of an open War through the whole Empire, it was an ordinary thing to stab one another in the Streets, though he that escaped in the duel was certain to be punished with death. And they were so barbarous in their folly, that it extinguished all natural Affection, and the nearest Relations would not scruple to cut each other's Throats, it was perfect and downright madness, though if the Government went about to suppress them, notwithstanding the rage of their Animosities, they would then unite and join Forces against it. And therefore Justinian at his first coming to the Crown resolves to bridle these insufferable Tumults and Affronts to Authority, and for that reason he publishes very severe Laws against all Disorders at the public Games, 
Chronicon Alex.  which for some considerable time overawed their fury; but it happened in the 6 th' or 7 th' year of his reign, that as some of the Officers were carrying some Offenders of both Factions to the Jail, the People fell into a Tumult for their rescue, in which some say both Parties were engaged, and no doubt but it was, as all Tumults are, a mixed multitude, but the chief Actors were the Prasini, and therefore the Author of the Chronicon Alexandrinum, who is the most particular Writer in this story, makes it the action of that Party, and ascribes the Emperor's deliverance from their fury to the loyalty of the Venetae, and if so, the Emperor could not owe them too much kindness, to whose Loyalty he owed both his Life and Empire. But the Rabble being embodied together took for their Word Victory, put to the Sword all that will not join with them, set the City on fire, and industriously destroy the most stately Buildings in it, besiege the Emperor's Palace, and demand Justice against evil Counsellors, and after five days fury set up Hypatius Nephew to the Emperor Anastasius in the Imperial Throne, assault the the Emperor's Palace, and put him into that danger, and his Friends into that consternation, that he was advised by his Privy Council to fly by Sea for his own security, but the Council was overruled by the courage of Theodora, and because the Speech expresses an extraordinary and more than masculine greatness of mind; I will set it down. It is not (my Lords) material at this time, whether it become the modesty of a Woman to act the Man's part amongst Men, ●nd upbraid their cowardice by her courage. For when things are reduced to the utmost extremity of danger, all the nicer considerations of Decency are super-seded, and nothing is to be thought on but the most honourable way of encountering or escaping the present danger. And as for that, my Opinion is, that though we could save ourselves by flight, it would by no means be expedient to our Affairs. All Men are born under a Necessity of dying, but the Man that has once worn a Crown is bound to scorn to live an Exile, and outlive his own Majesty. God forbid that any Man should ever see Theodora live to be stripped of this Royal Purple, or that she should survive one hour after her being saluted Empress. As for you (great Sir) if you think good to make your escape, I grant it may be done with ease, you have both Treasure and Shipping at hand, but consider whether you may not fall into the Traitor's hands, and suffer an ignoble death from your own Rebel Subjects. You may do, Sir, as you please, but I will act by that brave old saying, that the best Inscription upon a Monument is, Here lies the King, and that an Imperial Robe is the best winding sheet. This brave resolution of the Empress infused both shame and courage into the Council, and they all unanimously resolve to die upon the Place rather than to consult their safety by flight. Upon this result those two great Soldiers Belizarius and Mundus sally out from different Parts of the Palace upon the Rabble in the Forum, who at the sight of naked Swords, immediately trust to their heels, and are slaughtered without resistance. Hypa●ius is siezed upon in his Throne, and carried Prisoner to the Emperor, and is next day executed for his Treason, though his forfeited Estate, according to the Emperor's usual Clemency, was restored to his Relations. This is the short account of this wild Tumult; and if the Venetae served his Imperial Majesty against the Rebels, it is a great Crime in a Prince to be kind to those that stood fast to their Master, and to their own duty at a time of greatest distress, even when his own Guards had deserted him, for when Belizarius commanded them to follow him, they refused it. Now at such a straight as this, when the Venetae flocked in to his relief, it was an obligation so high, that it could never be forgotten, and therefore that they were the Emperor's Favourites, is an objection only fit for a Traitor's Mouth: But nothing so unpleasant to Rebels as to see Loyalty rewarded. And as the Venetae were dutiful Subjects to their Prince, so the Prasini were looked upon as disaffected to the Government, and for that reason they were countenanced and encouraged by the Enemies of the State, particularly by the greatest of all, 
De Bello Pers. lib. 2. cap. 11.  Chosroes, who at the City of Apamaea, appointed the public Games on purpose, to declare himself Leader and Patron of the Faction, so that in a word, the two Factions were in good earnest nothing else than the Whig and Tory of that Age.   

§. XXIX. And thus having routed our Satyrist's main Battle, all his following Attempts will appear like the weak Skirmishes of a vanquished Enemy, and such as deserve more to be slighted than encountered, being little else than the same general Characters and Calumnies repeated, and so are already answered. But because I am resolved not to leave one spot of dirt upon the sacred memory of this mighty Prince, and to expose the folly and rudeness of this Pasquil to the utmost degree of contempt, I will trace all his smaller strokes of Malice, and prove every line of it mere poison, spite and fiction. Of this kind of rubbish than is the eighth Chapter compounded, viz. that Justinian was a natural Fool, the perfect resemblance of the dulness and stupidity of an Ass, a poor Wretch to be led up and down in a string, and to complete the conceit, having his Ears always in the same posture and motion with Ass' ears. That he made Ducks and Drakes with the public Revenue, spending it either in extravagant Presents made to the Huns, or making prodigious but useless Moles against the Sea: And that to defray the Charges of these prodigal Undertake, he plundered and ruined all his Subjects. That he was like Domitian not only in Manners but Features, as appears by Domitian's Statue at the ascent to the Capitol. That he was a crafty Knave and a great Master of the Art of Dissembling; that in him the two extremes of Folly and Dishonesty met even as a Peripatetic Philosopher taught in ancient time, that some Colours are compounded of the two contraries, so are some men's natures; in short, he was all Fool and all Knave. What a Scavenger's dirt-Cart is this, loaded with all the filth and nastiness of the Town, a Fool, an Ass, a Sot, a Thief, a Knave? But let us briefly examine the Particulars in order. And in the first place the Character contradicts itself, that the same man should be a natural Fool and yet a crafty Knave, a great Master of the Art of Dissembling, which I am sure no Cudden can manage. Yes but some men (as the Philosopher holds) are made of extremes, as some colours are of black and white. This arguing from similitudes rarely proves any thing but the want of good Arguments, otherwise this blind Scribbler would have seen that he does not Compound but Reconcile the Extremes; if he had made Justinian a middle sort of man, it might have been sense, though not truth, but when he makes him perfect Fool and perfect Knave, it very much resembles the late Famous Description of Don John, at once a very black and yet a very fair man. For these Characters are not less inconsistent with each other than those Complexions. I will grant all Knaves to be Fools, but if they are Crafty Knaves, they cannot be Natural Fools, and if they are Natural Fools they can never make Crafty Knaves. I have read of a Renowned Pedant of Greece (to vie one Philosopher against an other) that went about to inform the World in this useful piece of Philosophy, that Snow was Charcoal, and Charcoal Snow. For my part rather than be put to the trouble of disputing it with him, I would grant that to be possible, but that both should be both, I could never endure the impudence of the Assertion. And yet that is our Author's Case in this Character of the same Man's being mere Knave and mere Fool; a stupid Ass, and a man of a very sharp Wit, a natural Sot, and a man of admirable Parts; expressions that occur every where through all parts of the Libel. But next, why a Fool? what one instance of his Folly? Why this, that he did not more resent the Affronts offered him by the Rabble in the Circus. This dull pretence is worse than a flat Lie: As if any man but a natural Fool would have contended with a Rabble in such a mad sit of Outrage as they were in at that time; and Justinian if he had been a wise man, instead of securing himself in his Palace, would have exposed his Person to their dirt and stones and unlimited fury. Well fare our secret Historian for a lucky Fool-finder. But what other proofs of his Folly? was it his reforming the Laws? Was it his skill in Theological Learning, that is attested by Victor Tunonensis, who entertained disputation with him 15 days about the tria Capitula, together with Procopius, Liberatus, and Eustathius, all of them Co-temporary Writers? So vain a Dream was that, that obtained so long at the first Restauration of Learning, that he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, occasioned by a false Translation of Suidas against the Greek Copy itself, putting Justinian for Justin, of whom Suidas relates it, and with what probability I have shown above, but as for Justinian there is not so much as the shadow of any ground to lay it to his Charge, beside that dull and evident mistake of a Translator. But on the contrary he carried away the Title of Doctissimus in his own time, that is frequently given him by Theodatus King of the Goths, and the Fathers of the 5th General Council, all these are pregnant Proofs of a natural Fool. But what shall we say to his Administration of public Affairs, when the Empire never flourished more under any Prince than his Government, when he not only preserved and emproved what he was possessed of, but recovered all that had been lost and secured it to his Successors, by fortifying it on all sides against the Incursions of all Enemies. If these are the sports and projects of a Fool, I would be informed by our worthy Historian what undertake are becoming a wise man. But as for the Learned Librarian whilst he goes about to stop this hole of his Author, he has made a much wider mistake of his own, by excusing it that the Author only intends this Character not of the vigour of Justinian's Age, but of his Dotage. This excuse if it were true is very key-cold, but it is enough that the Comment contradicts the Text, for the Author speaks plainly of the Emperor's natural Constitution and habitual course of his life, and therefore to Apologise for such a false Character by applying it to the time of dotage, is to confess his Author a false Calumniator, for dotage is no natural folly. But if he had doted, what then? Is it not base and disingenuous to upbraid a Great Man with the natural infirmities of extreme old Age? He lived to the utmost bounds of Nature, and if he outlived himself, can any man of sense or manners, think it decent or ingenuous to brand him to all Posterity, with the mark of a Fool and an Ass? But then beside this the excuse is false, for the Anecdota are pretended to have been written Seven Years before Justinian's death, in which Interval of Time he performed many great Actions, as may be seen at large in Agathias de rebus Justiniani, & Procopius de Aedificiis. And yet Alemannus after h●s rate of pertinent Quotation citys Agathias on his side, for relating that the Emperor in his extreme old Age chose to quit the designs of War, and betake himself to Artifice and stratagem not to destroy the Enemies of the Empire by hazardous Battles, but by dividing them among themselves, by which Wisdom he destroyed the Nation of the Huns only by making and enflaming dissensions among themselves, and so freed the Empire of one of its greatest Plagues forever. This great reach of Policy is the last Act that we hear of in his life and that was no Act of Folly, though Alemannus is so great a Fool himself as to allege it to prove the Emperor one, nay worse than this, 
Praefat. Pag. 3.  he has suffered his passion to be transported to that degree of Malice, as to allege it in confirmation of the Anecdota, as an instance of the Emperor's Craft and Treachery beyond the common Capacity of Humane Nature, De illius fraudibus atque fallaciis uberius quam Procopius scripsit Agathias Myrrhinaeus; nam & arts & Epistolarum exempla profert, quibus Hunnorum ducibus ad invidiam & odia excitatis, & ad civilia bella crudelissimo dissidio inflammatis, eam gentem penitùs abolevit. This it is to have a good Will to a Cause, every thing will serve for a weapon to strike an Enemy. What he did afterward, and how he died, is unknown to us, all the Ancients, which is strange, being utterly silent in it. Some Modern Writers say he died mad, but they mistake him for his Nephew and Successor Justin, who run mad with the ill Success of his Wars against the Persians, but as for Justinian there is nothing certain concerning him after the end of Agathias his History, and that is about two years before his death, unless it be that he retired from the Affairs of this Life, to prepare himself for the next, as Corippus informs us, 
Nulla fuit jam cura senis, 
Lib. 2.  jam frigidus omnis  
Alterius vitae solo fervebat amore,  
In coelum mens omnis erat, jam corporis hujus  
Immemor, hanc mundi faciem transisse putabat.   
This is spoken in the Person of his Successor Justin, to excuse the Miscarriages of his Uncle's Reign, that they were the defects of his old Age, when he gave over his Care of the Public. And yet Baronius and Alemannus make use of the Authority of Co●ippus to prove that Justinian run his Exchequer deep in debt to his Subjects▪ when this was not done till Justinian had resigned the Government into other men's hands. But Alemannus is so ingenuous, as to leave this Note upon this passage, how dully the Poet endeavours to turn his stupidity into devotion, Ex quibus intelligas quam frigidè Corippus eam stoliditat●● in sanctimoniam accipiat ac interpretetur, but if the Text be dull, the Comment is much more so, without any ground or pretext, to conclude his Devotion to have been nothing but Dotage and Folly.   

§. XXX. The next Link in this Emperors long Chain of Virtues is twisted up of the most oppressive Covetousness and the most profuse Prodigality, and it is the second part of the Character of Don John, a man made up of nothing but Contradictions, a natural Fool and a crafty Knave; a griping Extortioner, and a careless Prodigal. But the Libeler it seems is resolved to say all the ill things of him, that are to be said of all the ill men in the World, and therefore has in his crude and indigested way amassed together all the Common-Places of Rudeness and Calumny. But though profuseness be inconsistent with Covetousness, yet because it is not so with oppression, but is rather supported by it, being a bottomless-pit that devours all things, therefore we will consider these Vices apart, and examine what instances of either are to be found in the Reign of Justinian. First then as for Prodigality, it is a Childish kind of Vice that wastes itself in wanton and unnecessary expenses. Now I pray what were the trifles upon which this Emperor laid out the public Revenues? What! he exhausted it in Presents to the Barbarians, and in putting shackles upon the Ocean. But was this all? If it were not, then is it a malicious slander in the Author of the Anecdota to overlook all his other magnificent works, and insist so impetuously upon it, as if these two had been the only sinks of all these immense expenses. And this thing alone lays open both the Malice and the Folly of the Man; for no man of any Sense or Modesty could either have dared to record it, or expect to gain belief to it, when it is so apparently contradicted not only by the whole History of the Justinian Reign, but by the very Libel itself. For when he makes mention of the Wars with the Persians, the Goths, and the Vandals, I would know whether nothing were expended in defraying the Charges of those great Expeditions. And if they cost any thing, than all the public Treasury was not exhausted in Gifts to the Barbarians, and unprofitable Sea-walls. But for our better satisfaction, let us briefly audit his Accounts, and then we shall find that no Prince ever did so great things for the Commonwealth, with so little Charge to the Subject: so hard a thing is it to defend him from the Malice of his Enemies without writing panegyrics upon all his Actions, so Heroic and Glorious was the whole Course of his Reign. At present to say nothing of his many great and successful Wars, that could not but require an immense Treasury to maintain them, though as they were managed, they more than paid their own Charges, as I shall show anon. The vast number of his Allies put him to prodigious expenses, especially in the Circumstances of his Reign: For he being a great Lover of his Religion spared neither Cost nor Pains for its Propagation, and he gave himself one great advantage in it by his Bounty and Courtesy to Ambassadors, and Gentlemen of Foreign Nations, who repairing from all parts to Constantinople, to see the grandeur of that Court then famous through all the World, and being overcome by the great kindness and urbanity of the Prince, they returned home with a kind of transported opinion of the Christian civility. And the good Emperor, the better to compass his pious designs, sent some of his best-bred Clergy to wait upon them home, who by the Modesty and Neatness of their Address riveted such an Interest at Court, as easily made way for the entertainment of the Christian Faith. And by this means he reform the barbarous People with much more fineness than Constantine did the Empire. For when that great Prince had once declared for the Christian Faith, all Orders and Professions of men naturally flocked into it for Interest and Preferment, whereas this great Prince won and vanquished several Nations not at all subject to his Empire by nothing but the Power of Courtesy and Civility. The first that were reduced, were the Blemmyes and Nobatae two barbarous African Nations, 
De bello 〈◊〉 lib. 1. cap. 19  situated on the other side the Nile, that to that tim● worshipped the old Egyptian Idols, Isis, Osiris, and Priapus, and kept up that inhuman Custom of humane Sacrifices; all whose Temples were demolished by Justinian, their Priests Cashiered and imprisoned, and their obscene Images sent to Constantinople, and there destroyed, and that put an end to that old Superstition. The next were the Eruli, 
De Bello Gothico. lib. 2. cap. 14.  seated on the North side the Ister, these exceeded the former in the barbarity of their manners, for beside the Humane Sacrifices to their Gods, it was a Religious Custom among them to cut the Throats of all old and sick People, and the duty of Wives to hang themselves at their Husband's Graves. These People in the time of Anastasius being vanquished by the Long-beards, seated themselves on this side the Ister, and submitted to the Jurisdiction of the Empire, without any Change of their Religion; but Justinian so wrought upon them as to bring them over to the profession of the Christian Faith, though such was the innate petulancy of the Nation, that it was little to its Credit, because though they took up a new Religion, they for the most part kept up their old manners. 
De Bello Gothico lib. 4. cap. 3.  The third were the Abasgi inhabiting at the Foot of the Mountain Caucasus, a barbarous sort of People that worshipped Trees for Gods, though the worst barbarity practised among them was the Custom of their Princes to make all their handsome Youths Eunuches and sell them to the Romans. But Justinian finding the Court full of Boys of this Nation, sends Euphrates a grave Eunuch to prevail with the Prince for the time to come, to lay aside this barbarous Custom, and embrace the civility of the Christian Faith, and succeeding in it, he sent a Christian Bishop to instruct and govern them, and built for their use a Cathedral Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. 
De Bello Gothico lib▪ 4. cap. 4.  These were followed by the Tetraxitae inhabiting upon the River Tanais, where it discharges itself into the Lake Maeotis, who being a wild and barbarous sort of Christians, and hearing that the great Christian Emperor had sent a Bishop to the Abasgi, they request the same favour of him for themselves, a Request that was no doubt with more ease granted than it was asked. The next are the Inhabitants about Pentapolis in Lybia, 
De A●●isiciis lib. 5● cap. 2.  that worshipped Jupiter Ammon and Alexander the Great, these the Emperor with great pains, reclaimed from their Superstition to the Christian Faith, and built for them a Temple consecrated to the Virgin Mary. And what is the hardest of all, 
I●id.  he over-came the stubbornness of the Jews, who though they had an ancient Temple in the Cit● of Borium, founded, as Tradition we●● by King Solomon, they were prevailed upon to quit their old Religion, and transform their Temple into a Christian Church. The next are the Maurusians and Gadabitans in afric, 
De Ae●ificiis lib. 6. cap. 4.  who retained the old barbarous Superstition of Greece, whom he brought off to Christianity, and encompassed their City of Sabaratha with Walls, and founded a Church in it for the Service of God. To these may be added the Iberians who are commended by Procopius as the best of the Christian Converts, 
De Bello Pers. lib. 1. cap. 12.  and them the Emperor protected from the fury of the barbarous Persians, and with great sums of Money hired the Huns to come to their assistance. 
De Aedificiis lib. 3. cap. 6.  And to mention no more, the conversion of the Zany seems more remarkable than all the rest; they inhabited a barren Country on the North of Armenia, were subject to no settled Government, but lived like herds of beasts, worshipped Trees and Birds for their Gods, and subsisted upon nothing but plunder and robbery, but being vanquished by Justinian, who was the first that ever mastered them, they embraced the Christian Faith, and at the same time cast off their barbarous Manners, and the Empeeror, to secure their perseverance, built them a stately Church. These correspondencies I hope are no children's Rattles, for beside their great piety in bringing over so many barbarous People to the Christian Faith, it was a mighty Point of State to unite Religion as well as Interest, that being the strongest Cement of all Allyances. So that laying all this together, the Emperor's generous bounty to all Strangers, his religious care of all his Allies, his bestowing magnificent Churches upon all converted Nations, it is at once an undeniable proof of his Prudence and Piety, and as great a reproof to all charges of profuseness and prodigality. This is the first sum of his Accounts, which I am sure the Reader, if he be either a good Christian or a wise Man, cannot but sign with approbation and applause.  
The next head of Accounts to be cast up are his immense Buildings, though that account is already stated above, and may be done much more particularly out of Procopius de Aedificiis, from whom it evidently appears, not only what incredible sums of Money he expended, but to what good purpose, all his Works being contrived for the benefit of Mankind and the security of the Empire. But yet however let us examine those heavy grievances against which this Tribunitian Sophists inveighs with so much rage and keenness. And first, as for his Fences against the Sea, there is not one by Procopius his own account, that was not absolutely necessary against the most dangerous and sweeping Inundations. 
De Aedificiis lib. 5. cap. 5.  Thus the City Tarsus had been lately drowned by the River Cydnus, against which Calamity the Emperor provided so effectually by Bridges and Walls, and diverting part of the Water into other Channels, as to take off the force of those Inundations, and for the time to come to secure the Inhabitants from that danger. And the same was the case of the City of Juliopolis against the River Siberis, 
Ibid. cap. 4.  that the Emperor upon news of the destruction of great numbers of Men by its sudden Inundation, provided against the mischief forever by strong Bridges and impregnable Walls. 
Ibid. cap. 2.  Of the same nature was the River Dracho at Helenopolis in Bythinia, 
Ibid. 7. c. 2.3.7.  and of the River Scyrtus at Edessa in Mesopotamia, and of the River Chorde at Dara, to which may be added the prodigious Bridges over Sangaris and Mirmex. 
Lib. 1. cap 11.  But the most famous Structure of this kind was the new Haven in the Heraeum the Suburbs of Constanstinople, by which he secured the City from Inundations, and the Ships from Tempests. And to this Alemannus says, that his Author had particular regard in this passage: but if he had, then that is a very fair cast of his Author's Ingenuity, to raise so rude a clamour against so useful a Work. But I pray why is it to be understood of this in particular? Because, says he, Procopius in his first Book de Aedificiis in his waggish way under pretence of praising it has jeered it, to prepare his way for exposing it the more broadly in the Anecdota. But again I pray how has he jeered it? Why, he says, that it was a work truly becoming a great Prince, and was built by Justinian's own skill and industry, who himself attended to every thing, but the dibursements of Money. From whence our learned Commentator ingenuously infers that he built it without taking care to defray its Charges. Whereas the Historian's apparent design is to magnify both the greatness of the Works and of the Emperor; The works, he says, were so great, that he could not express them, but that in short as great as they were, the Emperor himself had the management of all things, but defraying the Expenses. Now from hence to draw Alemannus his Inference, that he wholly neglected them, is nothing but a contradiction to his Author, who commends the Emperor for sparing neither pains nor money, only he left the money-part to other men's management, but took the work itself into his own hands. As indeed he was Architect as well as Founder of all his own Buildings. He sent for the most famous Artists from all Parts of the World, among whom the most eminent were Anthemius of Tral●is, Isidorus of Milesia, Chryses of Alexandria, but as great Men as they were reputed in their Way, they were outdone by the Emperor in Skill and Contrivance; for he drew up the Models himself, and they were little more than hi● Workmen that followed his directions: 
De Aedificiis lib. 1. ●ap▪ ●.  Insomuch that when they despaired of finishing the Church of Sancta Sophia (a Structure, they say, equal to the Temple of Solomon for magnificence and beauty) by reason of its great height and great weight upon it, so that some of the Pillars and Arches began to fail, he gave them such directions how to carry on the Work, that they made it firm and brought it to perfection. Neither secondly does Procopius affirm this of that particular Structure in the Heraeum, but of all the Emperor's Buildings, in which he concerned himself as to every part but the disbursements of Money: And that was an equal commendation of his ingenuity and generosity. Neither thirdly was it an hint to prepare the way for this broad story in the Anecdota, when that was written so many years after this, so unhappy is this Vatican Tinker, that when ever he goes about to patch up his Authors Mistakes, he makes them wider. And in truth the Books de Aedificiis are an everlasting Monument both of the greatness and the usefulness of Justinian's Foundations; that neither time nor malice nor envy will ever be able to impair. But to return to the Author himself, when he concludes this woeful ditty of expending so much Money in giving bounds to the Sea, with this serious Remark, that he in vain wrestled with the fury of the Waves only out of vainglory to vanquish the Sea itself. The malice is i'll as the touch of a dead Man's hand, without life or satire, all phlegm and dullness, just as if a Man designing an Invective against the State of Venice, should seriously declaim against them for defrauding the Sea of its true and ancient Rights, just such is the complaint against Justinian, that he should attempt to set new bounds and confinements to the Ocean.  
As for the other bottomless pit of Expenses, viz. gifts to the Barbarians, every Man knows, that when a Man is pressed with Enemies on all sides, there is no fight them all without the silver Weapon, and to buy Peace of some is the most speedy way to vanquish all. And this was the Policy of Justinian, he was content to buy Peace of the Persians, when he undertook the Vandalick War, and when that was done, he soon forced them to buy Peace of him, and thus by fight his Enemies singly, and fencing off the rest, he at last Mastered all. A policy both just and laudable in itself, practised by the greatest and wisest Princes, and indeed it is impossible to wage War without it, and therefore this exception of buying off the Barbarians i● not less dull and peevish than that of banking out the Sea.  
And as for the great gifts to the Huns, that our Author particularly complains of, we have already seen how well they were bestowed; the Empire had been harrassed by their continual Incursions ever since the time of Valens, and they were so very numerous, that it was an endless work to destroy them; so that as fast as one Army was cut off, another was poured in. And therefore the Emperor takes a wiser course to divide them among themselves, and to supply both Parties with Money to destroy each other: And he managed them with that Art and Vigour, that the Huns themselves left not the very name of their own Nation, by which Artifice the Empire was delivered from its greatest Plague to all future Ages. Now can any Man be so disingenuous as to cry out here, what need of this Expense; or can any Man assign me an Instance of Money better laid out for the good of the Commonwealth, than to destroy so great an Enemy for ever without the loss of a Subject? And therefore though the People of Constantinople at first murmured against it, to see the Barbarians depart loaded with so much Wealth, yet when they saw the Event, they could not enough praise and admire the Emperor's great Conduct and Wisdom.   

§. XXXI. The next Topick of Calumny is oppression and continual fleecing of the Subject; but without any instance to abet the Charge, and therefore I need at present only oppose to it the contrary Character that is given of this Prince by his Successor, 
Quem non hominem pietate benignâ  
Continuit, fovit, monuit, nutrivit, amavit,  
Et tamen innocuo plures voluere nocere?  
Non caret invidiâ regni locus.   
But I shall not concern myself to wipe it off, till we come to his allegation of Particulars in the 11 th' Chapter, and there we shall see that all the ground of this pretended Crime was the Emperor's putting the Laws in execution against Jews, Heathens, Samaritans, Sodomites, and the whole herd of Heretics, which our ingenuous Author is pleased to surmise, was not done out of any regard to Religion, but out of pure love to Fines and Confiscations. But in the next place he was very like Domitian in the shape and features of his Body, who being torn in pieces by the Assassinates, the Senate decreed that there should be no Statue or any other Monument erected to his Memory; but his Empress being a virtuous Lady, and extremely beloved of all Men, they gave her leave to ask what she pleased, and it should be granted. She begs her Lord's Body, and leave withal to erect only one Statue of Brass to his Memory. This is granted, and she to leave a Monument of the Assassinates Cruelty to Posterity, gathers the fragments of the Body, and unites them into one Spectacle of horror, from whence was taken his Statue, that to this day stands at the descent or foot of the Capitol. What pains are here taken to hale in a pitiful piece of Malice? For what if Justinian had the ill luck to be like Domitian, what follows but that Domitian had the good luck to be like Justinian? But not to honour so mean a Calumny with any Answer, the story itself is all fable and ignorance, for there is no such Report in any of the ancient Greek or Latin Historians. Suetonius, Dio Cassius, Philostratus, Sextus Aurelius, who are very nice and particular in the Story, relate it quite another way in all circumstances. They say nothing of his being cut in pieces, but only that he was killed with seven Wounds; Nothing of his Bodies being begged by the Empress Domitia, but that it was buried by Phillis the Chambermaid, nothing of her erecting a Statue as a Monument of the barbarous Cruelty of the Conspirators, but that she herself was the head and Contriver of the whole Conspiracy. Where then this barbarous Writer could pick up the Fable, I cannot divine, unless it be that he lived in an Age, when it was the fashion to debauch all the ancient History with Fable and Romance. But all this, says Alemannus, detracts nothing from the truth of the Procopian report, because the Ancients do not contradict it. But all this, say I, demonstrates it to be a palpable falsehood, because they do nothing but contradict it. Yet however (he says) the thing is evidently proved by the brazen Statue extant in the Authors own time. But this pieces exactly with all the rest of the story, for there never was any such Statue seen before or since. And yet such a remarkable thing could never have escaped the observation of other Writers if it had continued so long a time in so eminent a place. So that the Statue is so far from proving the rest, that it disproves itself, and only proves that the Founder of the Tale lived in a barbarous Age, when Men scribbled any thing without being accountable for the truth of their Reports. But beside all this 'tis very likely and becoming Romantic tale, that when a Man has been hewed▪ and chopped to bits, they should again be so pieced together, that from thence any Man should be so subtile-sighted as to discern the exact shape of his Body and Features of his Face. And yet that we must suppose in this story of the great resemblance between Domitian and Justinian. Though when all is done we are still harping upon the burden of Don John, for if we compare their several descriptions, as they are drawn by Suetonius and our pretended Procopius, Domitian was a very tall and a very fat man, but Justinian of a middle stature, and a moderate habit of body. But however if he resemble him not in shape, he did so in Rapine and Cruelty: as for example, he it was that was the first Prince that punished Heretics with temporal Penalties, Enacting Dracho's Laws against those innocent Dissenters, Montanists, Sabbatians, Arians, Nestorians, Manichees, Jews, Sodomites, Pagans, and Astrologers, only to enrich himself by seizing the forfeitures of their Estates. This indeed is a Tragical Story, but so like the Author himself, that it would have been great pity if it had been omitted. And though it is more then enough confuted by the account, that I have given above of this Princes Ecclesiastical Laws, yet because the passage is of a remarkable strain, and so well stuffed with lucky mistakes, I will be at the pains to transcribe it, to satisfy the Reader that it is impossible that it could ever have been written by any man that was not an utter stranger to all the Affairs of that Age. Thus then the black Tragedy begins. There are in the Roman Empire divers Sects of Christians, commonly called Heresies, as Montanists, Sabatians, and several others that poisoned the People. All these he commanded to quit their own Sentiments, threatening the obstinate among other Penalties with the great punishment of Intestability. In the Temples of these Heretics, especially those of the Arian Sect were treasured up incredible heaps of Wealth: so that neither the whole Senate itself, nor any other eminent Body of the Roman Empire could compare with these Churches for abundance of Wealth and Riches. All their Furniture and Ornaments were of Gold, Silver and precious Stones of value not to be estimated and number not to be computed, beside vast Purchases and Estates in all parts of the World; no Prince having ever before this time given them any disturbance; so that they were able to relieve and maintain out of their common stock great numbers of the Orthodox Christians. The Treasures of these wealthy Churches were seized on and made a Prey to the Emperor, to the utter undoing of vast numbers of Subjects. And his Officers prowling up and down into all parts, forced upon all Men the change of the Religion, in which they were educated. The Country People thought this Inquisition too oppressive, and from that thought proceed to think of making resistance against it, but are sacrificed by the Imperial Inquisitors: Others out of superstitious madness cut their own Throats, and vast numbers deserted their native Country. The followers of Montanus in Phrygia locking up themselves in their Churches, set fire on them and perished together with them, and from this time forward there was nothing to be seen throughout the whole Roman Empire but Slaughters and Desolations. And the same Law being executed upon the Samaritans, it occasioned wild Tumults in Palestine, but those of my Native City of Caesarea counterfeited themselves Christians, to escape the severity of the Laws, though some of the more honest sort proved real Converts. But the greater part disdained to be hectored out of the Religion of their Forefathers, in mere spite rather than turn Christians, turned Manichees and Pagans. Till at last the Boors rise in Arms against the Emperor, and chose Julian the Son of Sabaris for their Leader, but after a long and doubtful fight with the Imperial Forces are vanquished and their General slain, there being, as 'tis credibly reported, no less than an hundred thousand Men slain in the Battle. The best Estates being thrown up by the Farmers, the Landlords, that were Christians, were the greatest Losers, who though they received no Rents were forced to pay heavy annual Taxes to the Emperor; that were exacted without mercy or abatement. This being done, in the next place he turns his Fury upon the Heathens, cutting their Throats and siezing their Estates, and they that counterfeited Christianity only to escape the fury of the Inquisition, were watched so diligently, as some time or other to be snapped at their old profane Rites and Sacrifices. How he treated the Christians we shall declare afterward. In the next place he prohibited Sodomy, punishing the Offenders not from the date of the Law, but from any time before. And these he punished, though none prosecuted, upon no other Evidence than the Testimony of a Boy or a Servant, and that extorted, against his own Master. And those that were found Guilty were punished with the loss of their Privy Members. Though at first this severity did not extend to all, but only to the Prasini, and the Men of great Estates, or those that were cast out of favour. Then he was much offended with the Astrologers or Fortune-tellers, and upon that account disgracefully whipped divers grave and honest Men through the City. Upon all which accounts vast crowds of People betook themselves not only to the Barbarians, but to the farthest distant Countries. So that in every City you might observe Strangers, that were fled from home, to hide and shelter themselves, as if their own Country had been laid waist by some common Enemy. How Justinian's reign was all ruin and desolation to the Roman Empire we have seen above; so that when he recovered those two great branches of it, Africa and Italy from the barbarous People, that great reckoning is discounted as an universal Destruction. But now he cannot so much as punish an Heretic, no not a Sodomite without the same subversion of the Roman Empire. As for the Laws themselves in general, and the wisdom of enacting them, and the good effect of putting them in execution, they are able to justify themselves against such mean and impotent Cavils. And I know not how this Author could more have betrayed his folly, malice and ignorance than by blaming such wise, such useful and such necessary Laws to that height of aggravation, as if to punish Arians, Manichees, Sodomites, were of no less consequence than the subversion of the Roman Empire. And therefore at present I shall not trouble myself to answer a Cavil, that sinks and breaks by the weight of its own folly, but shall content myself with proving the Author of it a perfect stranger to the Records and Transactions of those times. For I pray what could have been contrived more absurd than the story of the infinite Wealth of the Arian Heretics, by reason of that undisturbed Peace and Quiet, that they had enjoyed under all former Emperors? When it is so undeniably evident that the Sect was long before that time so reduced by the severity of former Emperors, that by that time it had scarce any thing left but the name within the Empire. And for this reason he never enacted any particular Rescripts against them, nor, as I remember, makes so much as any mention of them, unless in those general declarations of his Faith, in which he enters his Protestation against all the Heresies, that either than were or ever had been: So unfortunate is this barbarous Writer in this Tale of the infinite Wealth of the Arians. But behold the strange dexterity of the Vatican Librarian at an excuse, Procopius, he says, does not deny that the Arians were prosecuted by former Emperors, but that they were not so publicly fined in all Cities, but rather punished only as it were by stealth and upon certain occasions. But I say Procopius here says, as plainly as words can express, that they were not punished at all, and therefore when Alemannus says that he does not say it, for civility sake, I will say no more than that he says an untruth. Nay it is not only destitute of, but contrary to the most known and undoubted truth itself, when the former Emperors pursued them with that rigour and severity, that if Justinian had designed to set up an Inquisition, he would have wanted Objects to vent his Cruelty upon. There were only a few straggling Goths of that Sect at that time, and these were particularly excepted out of the first Commission for prosecuting all other Heretics: so ill a Butcher is our Vatican Commentator at patching up Apologies.  
But though he has every where betrayed his want of Skill, yet he has no where failed more unfortunately than in this Paragraph, composed of no other materials than Excuses, that apparently contradict the Author's on sense. Thus when the Author says, that none of the former Emperors ever inflicted any Penalties at all upon Heretics, the meaning of that, says he, is not that he did not inflict any at all, but not so much. And now again when the Author blames Justinian for the attempt itself: No, no, says Alemannus, he only blames him for the wrong manner of putting it in execution. But this is a direct Affront to the Author's own Words, for though he afterward endeavours to aggravate the folly of the Design by its ill consequences, yet his first and main displeasure is vented against the Design itself, as absurd, illegal, and without Precedent, as is undeniably evident from the passage itself. But still his hardest task is to bring off his Author from his angry Censure of the Laws against Sodomy; for which he has no better defence than that Theophanes thought they were too severe, so that himself could not but detest them. And yet Theophanes says no such thing, but only that they were severely punished, without any intimation of dislike, much lesss of abhorrence. But it was executed upon two Thracian Bishops to the great scandal of the Church, whereas Constantine the Great would rather have covered them in the Fact with his Imperial Robe. That was a great Compliment of that great Emperor, and 'tis likely enough, that if the Crime had been known to himself alone, such was his generous Nature, that he would never have divulged it. But that was not Justinian's case, for the Crime was become public before it came to his knowledge, and after that, it had been a Scandal with a witness to let it pass unpunished. But that after all, is the thing, that gauls at the Court of Rome, that a Secular Prince should challenge any Power to correct Ecclesiastical Persons, which though it has long obtained as an unquestionable Rule in that Court, yet I have proved through the whole series of this History, that it was both claimed by all the Emperors, and acknowledged by all the Popes and Councils. But beside, as for this story of Theophanes concerning the two Bishops, by my Rules of critic Law, I must pass it for mere fable, because destitute of timely and sufficient Testimony. For so I cannot but esteem the Reports of all Writers, that live at too great a distance of time from the matter of Fact. And that is the case of this little Story, there are no footsteps of any Record of it either in that or the next Ages, whereas Theophanes, that was its first Founder, reports it not till above 250 years after it was done; and than what reason have we to believe him in a matter of Fact, that had been so many years beyond the memory of Mankind, any more than if he had lived at twice the distance of time? For when a thing is once got out of the reach of the memory of Man, an hundred and a thousand years are the same thing. And then it is never to be admitted to any capacity of belief without some more credible and timely Records. And for that reason I have industriously neglected all the latter Greek Historians, as to any matter of Fact done at any considerable distance from their own Age. For if they are vouched by any more ancient Authority, that is proof enough without them; if they are not, their own is none at all. And the truth is they are so much addicted to the humour of patching Fables to the ancient Records of the Church, that whatever we find in them not reported before them, we ought for that reason to conclude it mere Fable and Fiction. But in the last place, which way will he bring off his Author in finding fault with the severity of this Law, for reaching such as were Offenders before its publication? 
141.  when the Law declares itself to have been only enacted in pursuance of the known established Laws of the Empire, especially the famous Law of Constanti●s and Constans, that was ever after in force. What a childish piece of malice than is it in this Author to insinuate, as if this Law had taken hold upon Offenders, at a time when there was no known Law against them? As for the Law against Astrologers, our Librarian has so much wit as not to touch it, and to leave his Author in the lurch to answer for himself. For these Men commonly called Astrologers, that is, such as profess to read all men's Fates in the Stars, were ever looked upon as the most mischievous and most dangerous Traitors to the Government: and any Man that has but cast an eye upon the Imperial Story, cannot but know that there never was any one Act of Treason contrived against the Prince's Life or Government, without their encouragement or direction: as in the present case Joannes Cappadox was put upon his Treason against Justinian by their instigation. And for this reason it was ever punished with the greatest severity by all Princes, as well Heathen as Christian. Under the heathen Emperors down from Caesar himself, by banishment, under the Christian from Constantine, by death. And yet this wretched Satirist is so infatuated as to inveigh against it as a new piece of Cruelty in Justinian, only for setting them in a disgraceful posture upon Camels, and so whipping them through the City, when by the Law they ought to have been executed.  
But upon occasion of this fierce censure of the counterfeit Procopius upon the Emperor's prosecuting of Heathens and Heretics, it is become a dispute what Religion the true Procopius adhered to, or whether to any at all. Alemannus will have him an Atheist; Rivius and Eichelius a bigoted Pagan, but they are both apparently too severe and equally in the wrong: when through all his Writings he expresses so high a sense of honour and kindness for the Christian Religion, especially in his last Books de Aedificiis, that are for the most part a Panegyric upon Justinian's great zeal to advance and propagate the Christian Faith. And let the Reader only peruse the first Book of that History, and he will soon be satisfied of the Author's own sense of Religion. But they say, that he was only a counterfeit Christian for Interest and Preferment. But this they may say, if they please, of any Man as well as Procopius. But he has dropped some loose and slight Expressions of the Christian Religion, and both Parties instance in the passage out of his Books de Bello Gothico, 
Lib. 1. cap. 3.  wherein he expresses a great dislike of the Controversies on foot at that time, that is, the violent heats about the tria Capitula. Which it is evident from his own description of them, that he did not in the least understand, but supposed them to have been too curious and philosophical Inquiries into the Secrets of the divine Nature; whereas (he says) it is satisfaction enough to him, that God Almighty governed the World with a wise and good Providence, and as for other more nice Speculations, every Man might for him, quietly enjoy his own Opinion. This though it be very false Politics, as we have seen by the Henoticon, and our own late too dear bought Experience, yet it is neither Atheism nor Paganism; For a good and wise Providence that governs the World, is the only Principle opposed to Atheism; and though it may (though very hardly) be consistent with philosophic Paganism, yet it is the fundamental Article of Christianity. Now the dispute, as he states it, was not between the two Religions, but about an Argument common to both, viz. as he supposed, the Nature of God, and like a Gentleman, he frankly declares his Opinion against all bigotry in these nice and obscure Controversies, and thinks that Men ought not to inquire farther into the divine Nature than the Wisdom and Goodness of his Providence. This is apparently the sense of that offensive passage, though perhaps too loosely expressed. And as for the Opinion itself, it has too long had too great a vogue amongst our modern Statesmen, viz. that it is below the Wisdom of the State, to concern itself in Men's various fancies about Religion, but rather to leave them to the folly of their own Apprehensions: and this they suppose the best security of the Public Peace, when every Man is indulged the liberty of his own little Conceit. But this is a very unbiased Prospect only providing for the present, whereas if they would look home to the natural issue of the thing, it tears the Nation into implacable Factions and Animosities. For it is certain the People will be zealous for their Religion, so that if they differ, it is unavoidable but that they will quarrel, and hence it has ever come to pass that all Schisms in the Church have ever concluded in Factions in the State. So that here it is not material, Whether these Controversies are of any moment or not (as these Gentlemen would state the Matter) but the thing to be first considered is, Whether to indulge or suppress them be the most effectual way to secure the Public Peace, the first may do it for a short time, but the last does it forever. For Men will not be overfond of disputing with a Rod at their backs, and when they receive a lash for every Syllogism. This I take to be the true state of the Controversy about Procopius, that in this point he was (as too many great and wise Men have been) out in his Politics, but not in his Religion. But in the last place, say they, he frequently makes use of the old Pagan terms and phrases, as Fortune, Fate, Genii, public Genius, Omens, Oracles. He does so, but all learned Men know that these were long since become Terms of Art, and even vulgar expressions. Beside that Procopius was an Orator, and familiarly conversant in all the Eloquence of the Ancients, and therefore it is no wonder that he endeavoured to imitate their Style in familiar Phrases and forms of Expression. Though after all he never used them in their proper sense, but by way of Metaphor and Allusion with a quas● in their meaning, as they have ever been used in all Ages, and are so to this day. And therefore as we find that Procopius has ever expressed great kindness to the Christian Faith, so we have no reason from any thing, that occurs in his Writings to suspect his sincerity in it.  
But what though there were no cruelty in executing the Laws against Dissenters, and what if Justinian's practice was warranted by the Precedents of his Predecessors, yet they spoiled not a good work as he did, by doing it merely for covetousness. For that, says our ingenuous Author and his more ingenuous Commentator, was the only thing that set him upon the Project to squeeze all their Estates into his own Coffers. This at best is no better than ill-natured surmise, and betrays the malignity of the Man, for how can he look into any other Man's secret Intentions? and if he cannot, to pass such sour judgement upon them, can proceed from nothing but Malice and Ill-will. But as ill-luck will have it here too, the matter of Fact itself lies cross to his ill-nature: for whereas most of his Predecessors siezed the Fines and Forfeitures into their own Exchequer, Justinian settles them upon the Church; thus when in the leading Law of Arcadius and Honorius all Churches of Heretics, and all Goods and Endowments belonging to them, are confiscated or forfeited fisco nostro to our Exchequer, in the same Law, as 'tis recited in the Justinian Code, instead of Fisco Nostro we read Ecclesiae Catholicae, i. e. they are forfeited to the use of the Catholic Churches. So little design of Covetousness had this great Emperor in his zeal against Heretics, that he remitted the Forfeitures due to himself by Law, and settled them upon pious and charitable uses. So that in all particulars our Author might better have vented his poison and ill-nature upon any Man than Justinian; who of all the great Men that ever lived will the least endure to be abused. But because his Covetousness is aggravated in every page of the Libel as a most insatiable gulf, so that the whole Roman Empire was not sufficient to supply its cravings, though he used all the ways of Rapine and Oppression to fill his Exchequer, I will show in two or three Instances that he was so far from laying new Burdens upon the Subject, that he took off old, settled and legal Taxes of mighty value to himself, only because he thought them too hard and heavy upon his Subjects. The first was the Lex Papia, and all the Branches of the Law de Caducis added to it, by which if a man had no Heirs of his own begetting, or if the next Heirs died before their Actual Livery and Seisin of the Estate, all such Estates came to the Imperial Crown, which in so vast an Empire could not but arise to a Prodigious Revenue, and yet he abrogated all these Laws for the ease of his Subjects, as he declares in the Preface to his own Law. Such is our Clemency, that though all Bona Caduca are due to our Exchequer, yet are we pleased to remit them all, notwithstanding our Royal Prerogative; preferring the common benefit of our good Subjects before our own private Advantage, & esteeming their Interest to be most our own.  
The second Law was that of the Publicatio Bonorum or the Sale of the Goods and Chattels of all sorts of Malefactors, whether Executed, Outlawed, or Banished; and that was a greater Revenue than the former, and yet because it looked harsh to this just and tender Prince, he takes it quite away, and settles all forfeited Estates upon the next of Kin. The third was that old and standing Practice of the Sale of all Offices, by which the Emperor had a certain Sum; not for the Office, but his Suffrage, in the same manner as if one should purchase a Bishopric by buying a Conjedelire. But this corrupt Custom he scorns, and cashieres it as a base and un-Prince-like practice, Because (as he expresses it) Justice we know will be done, if we can any way oblige our Prefects and Governors of Provinces to administer Justice with clean hands, abstain from Bribery, and be content with their Pensions out of the Exchequer. But this cannot otherways be brought about, unless they may enter upon their places without charge, giving nothing to the Prince upon pretence of Suffrage, or to any other Officer whatsoever. For we are well aware that though it lops off too great a branch of our Revenue, yet it will redound to the unspeakable benefit of our good Subjects, to be preserved from the oppression of our Officers, and both the Empire and the Exchequer will flourish the more by a thriving People. And if this Rule were once settled, it is unimaginable of what advantage it would be to the public. Now is it not probable that this Prince who cancelled all these Laws, though not unjust in themselves, only because he thought them somewhat too harsh and heavy, should rob, plunder, and undo vast Multitudes of his Subjects without Law, without Mercy, nay without Pretence, ●s the Anecdote clamour in every Page, as indeed the whole Libel is nothing but Echo and Cuckoo.  
But there remains one Enquiry, that is so obvious for the Reader to make, from what friends he could have Supplies to defray all the Charges of his expensive Reign, how he could maintain so many and so great Wars? How he could build such vast numbers of Cities and infinite other structures? how he could maintain so many and so chargeable Correspondencies? This at first view seems very strange, but the account being well stated, it will not appear so strange as easy. For first he was a very great Husband, and wasted nothing in Luxury, the great Pane of Prince's Courts. In the next place he retrenched all the exorbitant Expenses of the Theatres and public shows, as our Author often complains. Thirdly, the standing Revenue and ordinary Taxes of so vast an Empire, as they were of an immense value, so were they frugally managed and expended. But that which makes the wonder quite to vanish▪ are the infinite Treasures taken in his Wars from the Goths and Vandals, that had plundered all Europe, and laid all together, in two heaps, one in afric, and the other in Italy: that were (if we may trust Procop●us) the greatest Treasures that ever were in the World, all which came entirely into Justinians Coffers. Now if we lay all these things together, we may easily see which way this great Emperor was Enabled to do these great things, without squeezing and fleecing his Subjects.   

§. XXXII. The next Royal Virtue is inconstancy and falsehood to his Friends, as well as Cruelty to his Enemies. Instances of his Cruelty we have seen in the several Acts of his Mercy towards his most implacable Enemies; but as for his Friends, as no man ever made a better choice, so never was any man more constant and entire in the preservation of his Friendship. So that when he had once taken a man into his Bosom, nothing but Treason could displace him, nor that in some Cases, as we have seen in the Instance of Artabanes. How immovable was his Friendship to Belizarius, notwithstanding all the boisterous attempts of Court-envy to shock it? 
De Bello Persico, lib. 1. cap. 12.  he received him to favour in his Youth, and persevered in his kindness to his last breath, and through the whole course of his life heaped more honours upon him, than ever were conferred by any Prince upon a Subject. After the Vandalick War Belizarius was accused by some of his Captains of High Treason and Designs of Tyranny, 
De Bello Vand. l. 2. c. 8.  for by that term Procopius always expresses Usurpation, upon which he immediately repairs to Constantinople to clear himself, though the Emperor gave so little Credit to the Information, as to leave it to Belizarius his own choice either to continue in the Government of afric, or to return home with his Spoils and Captives. 
Ibid. cap. 9  And choosing the last the Emperor gave him the honour of a Public Triumph and Honour that had been disused for at least 600 years, and never before this time granted by Christians to Subjects unless of the Blood-Royal. And not long after he is made Consul, and in the year of his Consulship honoured with a second Triumph after the fashion of the Consuls in the old Commonwealth, when they returned from the Conquest of any Province or Nation. After this he is immediately sent General into Sicily against the Goths, 
De Bello Goth. l. 1. c. 5.  and in a trice scours them out of the Island, and in the last day of his Consulship, enters Syracuse with Triumphal Pomp, and so was ever after General in all the Emperor's Wars without the least frown of Jealousy or distrust, though the Imperial Crown had been twice offered him in the head of a successful Army, and he had him in that great esteem, that for many years he would never spare him from his own Person, but enjoyed the pleasure of his friendship to his dying day. The next man in favour was Narses, because next in Virtue. A Gentleman of that high Character for Piety, for Courage, for Mercy, For Loyalty, for Gallantry, for Magnanimity, for every Thing that is Great and Good, that by mere worth he must have eclyp'st any man but Belizarius. And his Reputation was so impregnable, that it was above the Attaques of Envy, insomuch that there is nothing left of him upon Record, but the height of Praise and Panegyric. Procopius, Agathias, Marcellinus Comes, Evagrius, Paulus Diaconus seem to vie who shall speak the greatest things of him: But to say no more, his shining and unblemished Virtues placed him second, if not equal to Belizarius in his Master's favour. His Character in Corippus runs thus, 

Corippi. 3.  E●i●el excelsus super omnia Vertice Narses  
Ag●nina, & Augustam altu praefulgurat Aulam  
Comptus Casarie, formlique insignes & ore.  
Aureus omnis erat, cultuque habituque modestus,  
Et morum probitate placeus, virtute verendus,  
Fulmineus, cautus, vigilans noctesque di●sque  
Pro rerum Dominis & honora luco c●ruscus.   
From which passage we may conclude that Belizarius died before Justinian, because Narses is described as the chief Attendant at the Coronation of Justin the younger without any mention of Belizarius, which could not have been, had he been then surviving. But to proceed, it were an endless work to give the great Characters of all the Favourites of his Court. What thinks our Author of Sittas' the Emperor's Fellow Soldier in his Uncle Justins' Reign, that twice overthrew the Persians, and by his great Civility brought over the T●ani to Christianity? what thinks he of Solomon's Successor to Belizarius in the Government of Africa, which he managed with great Wisdom, and perishing unfortunately by an Ambush of the Moors, was not less bemoaned by his Prince than by his Patron Belizarius, by whose Interest he was preferred to that great Employment? What of that great Soldier Mundus, who after many brave Services perished at last by his own excess of Courage in revenge of his Son's death, after his Victory of the Goths at Salona, to the great grief of his Imperial Majesty? In short, what thinks he of Phocas and Bassus, of Basilides, and Strategius, of Proclus and Rufinus, of Marcellus, and Justinus, and Tribonianus, and Procopius himself, who I am sure, of all men had least reason to complain of the Emperor's Inconstancy to his Favourites, who was advanced from honour to honour, till he came to the Prefecture of the City, that is the highest Preferment in all the Empire? 
Sceleratissimos quosque semper ad dignitates ne magistratus evexit. Aleman. Praefat. p. 9  Of the same nature is the next Charge of Preferring ill men to places of the greatest Trust and Dignity, i. e. all those great men, that we have but now recited, men of that unparalleled Worth and Honour, that no Age or Reign can show such a number of unexceptionable Ministers of State. But because the Calumny is so apparently false, I shall not trouble myself to answer it, but only ask the Author and his Alemannus what he thinks of Procopius himself, upon whom the Emperor was perpetually heaping his honours. If he advanced Men only for being more wicked than others (as the Libel reports) then how great a Villain was this Procopius, whom he raised from the lowest to the highest round of Fortune? But if Procopius were an honest Man, that is a proof that the Emperor in the choice of his Ministers of State had regard to some other Qualifications than mere Wickedness.  

Cap. 11.  In the next place he was a vainglorious Innovator, that abolished old Laws and Customs, and enacted new ones, changing every thing in the Government, not for any advantage to the State, but only to stamp his own name upon every thing in the Commonwealth. This Charge, if it were true, is very mean and childish: for what if he were too desirous of Glory, that is a Passion incident to all great Men, and is in itself a natural effect of Greatness of Mind? and therefore to aggravate a Fancy so common to all great Men, as a singular Enormity in Justinian, is a piece of Malice only to be despised. And yet nothing is more evident than that this great Prince was acted, not by an Itch of Glory but by an eager zeal for the public Good. And first a for the body of his Laws, I scorn to vindicate so great and so useful work from so mean a Calumny, that it was only a design of Ostentation, and of no use to the Commonwealth. And then as for his new modelling of the Provincial Governments, it was only a reduction of the State to its primitive Constitution under the ancient Romans. For whereas there were from the time of Constantine two supreme Officers in every Province, one civil, the other military, to break the too great power of the Praefecti Praetorio, which being done Justinian now thought good to reunite them, for these reasons, 
Novel. 24, etc.  both because they were always at variance about the bounds of Power, not for the Subject's good, but their own; and because in the contest the Civil Power, by which Justinian designed to govern, was oppressed and born down by military force, to the great grievance of his Subjects. And therefore to avoid these Mischiefs of a Government divided within itself, he restores the old Roman Praetor, in whom alone the entire power of the Province was seated; as himself gives an account of his design in his 24 th' Novel of the Praetor of 〈◊〉, where he first began to put the Model in practice, and after it reform all the other Provinces. In short whatever Alterations he made in the State of the Empire, he always gives an account of the usefulness and necessity of the thing in the Preface to the Law. And therefore if Alemannus would have made any real advantage of his Author's Tale, instead of relying wholly upon its blind Authority, he ought to have disproved Justinian's reasons of State; for otherwise they stand upon Record as a Conviction against his Author, that the Emperor made no Alterations without good reason. But he inscribed his own Name upon all things, says our Author, i. e. says Alemannus, upon Cities, Towns, Ports, Letters, Books, Scholars, Crowns, Magistrates, Military Officers; such, says he, was his excessive thirst after vainglory. But if this be a Vice, it would be happy for Mankind, if all Princes were tainted with the same Itch of leaving a great Name and a good Memory behind them. If he had done (as many great Men have) ill things to perpetuate his Fame, that had not been more a crime than a folly. But when all his Works were for the benefit of Mankind, then if they were called after his own Name, it was only a just Monument of the Author's bounty and greatness. But what could be more childish than to find fault with such an innocent Custom, of fixing the Author's Names upon their own magnificent Works, when it has ever been the constant practice of all Mankind▪ Alexander the Great, they say, built 12 great Cities, and was Godfather to them all. And I pray what Emperor ever built or rebuilt any City, that did not fix his own Name upon it? why then should this Prince alone be barred the pleasure of this little Fancy, that is allowed to all Mankind? And yet after all he has denied himself in it more than any Prince upon Record, as any Man may satisfy himself, that will peruse the Books de Aedificiis; but to be short Evagrius says he built 150 Cities, and yet Alemannus out of all these can find no more than 18 Justiniana's, of Towns but one, of Ports none but that at Constantinople, that Procopius says the Inhabitants out of gratitude called by the Founder's name, Palaces but one, though there was scarce a City in the Empire, in which he did not erect some magnificent Building. But to follow these trifles no farther, the Books that he entitled by his own Name were his Body of Laws; and he had no doubt done very wisely to publish them to the World, without declaring by whose Authority they were enacted. Such strained and far fetched Calumnies as these discover nothing but rancour at the heart, and a studious design to turn all things into spite and poison.  

Cap. 12.  In the next Chapter we are at last served up with some particular Instances of injustice and oppression, especially by fraud and forging of Wills to the utter ruin of innumerable Families, and this as well as all the other Calumnies is repeated in all the following Chapters, and indeed the whole Rhapsody is nothing but Tautology, Echo and Repetition of the black Character in the 6 th' and 8 th' Chapters; that he was a Tyrant, a Man of Blood, a thief that robbed and ruined all his Subjects, that dispeopled whole Provinces, that laid waste the whole Empire, in a word, a Man wicked beyond the common capacity of Humane Nature. This is the substance of every invective against Justinian, but it is very rare to meet with any Instance to make good any part of the Character. And how pertinent those that we have already examined, are to the purpose, I leave them to the Readers judgement. And before I have done, I doubt not but to demonstrate this whole Libel to be the most foolish, most malicious, most ignorant Lampoon, that was ever contrived against any Man's Reputation. And as for this story of plundering his Subjects, in illegal ways to enrich himself, it is as consistent as all the other Fables, when he remitted so many great branches of his settled Revenue, only to ease and enrich his Subjects, as we have seen above in his abolishing the Lex Papia, and all the Laws de caducis. What a contradiction in the nature of things is this, that he should so frankly give up such vast proportions of his lawful Revenue, and yet out of a mere covetous humour turn Pickpocket, and enrich himself by private pilfering. This story is so remote from so cross to the common sense of Mankind, and the practice of Humane Nature, that it interdicts its own belief: For it is impossible in the nature of things that the same Man, who did one, could ever be induced to do the other. And thus this Calumny, as well as all the rest only enhances the glory of Justinian; who was so far from cheating his Subjects of their Estates and Inheritances, that of all Princes he took the greatest care to secure their Rights. And whereas the practice of the Laws had been a long time corrupted with tricks and subtleties for the advantage of the Exchequer, he cut them all off, and made such wise and strict Rules concerning Wills and Testaments, as secured the right Heir of his Estate against all Pretenders, but most of all against the Crown itself, abrogating all manner of Forfeitures to it. And in truth there are no greater Instances of Justice and clear dealing than his Laws de Testamentis: he has done the utmost that Man can do to prevent Frauds, and if the practice of the Courts were reduced to the simplicity of his Laws, we should rarely hear of Suits about Wills and Testaments. Even that one Law of setting aside all Forms in the Case, and enquiring only into the plain and honest proof of the Will of the Testator, as it would stifle most Controversies, so it would shut out all delays, for dilatory Proceedings are never founded upon the merits of the Cause, but only upon formalities. Now 'tis hugely credible that this very Man, who dealt so very fairly with the World in this matter, that was so solicitous to secure every Man's right, and that for that end out off such vast Revenues from himself, should be so bereft of common Sense, as to go about 〈◊〉 enrich himself by the most scandalous fraud and rapine. 'Tis a madness not incident to humane Nature to part with a just and settled Revenue, and at the same time make himself odious to all the World by the most barbarous Acts of Oppression.  
Especially if we reflect upon the inconsiderable numbers of oppressed Persons that this Author is able to muster up under all his reign, only eight, and 'tis very credible that he should for-go the vast profit that came without envy or regret from the Laws de caducis, because he did not make them, but found them in force from his Predecessors, and yet incur the hatred of his Subjects by such a mean oppression, and in comparison to the other of no value at all▪ for what were these eight men's Estates, how great soever, if compared to the infinite Forfeitures throughout the whole Roman Empire? The absurdity of every circumstance in the Tale stairs the Author of it in the face: but most of all when by these eight Persons he would prove that this was his constant practice all the World over. And of these eight he gives us only the names of five without any circumstance of matter of Fact, and in the other three he sets down the Story so perversely, as to make one part of the same Tale a flat contradiction to the other. The first is the story of Zeno, whom he on purpose sent Governor into Egypt, who loading a Ship with a vast treasury of Gold, Silver and precious Stones, that was to follow him, Justinian prevails with some of Zeno's best friends to cast all the Goods overboard in the Haven of Constantinople, and then to fire the Ship, and make Zeno believe that all the Goods perished in it, who dying not long after the Emperor siezed all his Goods by virtue of a forged Will, as 'tis reported. This as 'tis reported is a very saint end for an Accusation, for if it have no other proof but report, than it is a Tale without a Witness, and that is mere Tale. But beside this, as Dr. Rive ingeniously replies, were I to plead this Cause before a Court of Judicature I should not doubt to make out by a multitude of clear and pregnant Proofs, that the Tale itself could never have dropped from the Mouth, I will not say of a learned or skilful Accuser, but of any Man of common Sense. For stories ought to be like Pictures, if not true yet at least probable, but this is all defiance to the very possibility of things. That so great a Treasure should be cast away so privately in the most frequented Port in the World, that neither the Master of the Ship, nor the Seamen, nor the Passengers, nor the Servants should perceive it, no not any of his own Servants that he left on board to see the Goods conveyed. But when he had got the Goods into his own Possession by this device, what need had he to entitle himself to them by a forged Will? The fire gave him full possession of all, because the Estate was supposed to be lost, but after that to produce a Will to a lost Estate is only to betray the former Cheat. This is the substance of the learned Advocates Plea. So great an improbability supported by so weak a foundation as mere Report, must needs sink into nothing of its own accord. The next Instance is Basilius a wealthy Man, who dying in the Garrison of Daras, the Governor forged a Will, by which the whole Estate was left to the Emperor. But if another forged the Will are so great a distance (for Daras was the last Town of the Empire upon the Confines of Persia,) what is that to the Emperor, how can any Man say that he was privy to it? But if you say 'tis likely. I think it is more likely, than that the Governor should contrive it merely for the Emperor's profit without any advantage to himself, if he had given himself any share in the Estate or any good Legacy, the thing might have passed, but to make no advantage of it to himself, when it was wholly in his own power, is a thing not credible of a Knave, nor indeed of any Man; nothing more certain than that saying, Nemo gratuitò fit improbus. 
Cap. 29.  The third instance is in the case of Anatolius a rich Senator who dying without Issue Male, by the old Custom the 4 th' part of the Estate ought to devolve to the Senate, but Justinian makes a Law that only the fourth part shall go to the Heirs, and the other three to his Exchequer. This is pure forgery, for there never were any such Laws heard of by any Man but himself. There was indeed a Law somewhat like it in another Case enacted by Theodosius and Valentinian of the Curiales, that if their Heirs did not continue in the Society, they should leave a fourth part of the Estate to their use. But of an old Law of forfeiting a fourth part of a Senator's Estate to the Senate, or of this new one of siezing three parts to the Emperor, no Man ever dreamt, but this ignorant Barbarian. These are the grand Articles of this foul Accusation, and what credit they ought to have I may now safely leave to the Verdict even of an Ignoramus Jury. The remainder of this Chapter is nothing but raving, for who but a mad Man would seriously report that Justinian and Theodora were Devils in good earnest, that his Mother had carnal Copulation with a Daemon that was his Father, that he was often s●en to walk up and down without his head upon his Shoulders, and that Theodora familiarly lay with Devils? Happy is the Man that can be fond of such a pleasant Historian. And yet Alemannus is in so good humour, as not only to believe it all, but to adorn it with large and learned Commentaries. Never was Author and Commentator better met. It is pity but he should have written Notes upon the Legend of St. Silvester, and the Dragon, that his Predecessor Baronius sets up as the best account of the Reign of Constantine against all the Records both of the Church and the Empire. Into such absurdities will fanatic Zeal drive the wisest and most learned Men. But above all the rest, his grave Apology to justify this prudentissimus Scriptor (as he styles him) in his folly, is most pleasant, viz. that it is a common Form of Speech in all Author's profane and sacred, to give the title of Devil to Men eminently wicked, as our Saviour calls Judas a Devil. That any Man's understanding should be sunk so low, as to satisfy itself with such trifles as these. When the wise Author says expressly, That he was no Metaphorical Devil, but a Devil in reality, and the Son of a Devil in good earnest. And there if his learned Advocate cannot prevail with himself to believe it, notwithstanding his excuse he leaves his wise Author in the lurch to answer for the possibility of his Legend. Had I been in his stead to plead the Cause, I would have alleged the Precedents of Alexander the Great, and Scipio Africanus, the two greatest Men of Greece and Rome, who●e Mothers are reported to have told the same story of being gallanted by Incubuses; for though they are equally incredible, yet they have the Authority of Ancient Tale, and have been frequently related by grave Historians, and this if set off with a serious Countenance, might have been taking and plausible, but to raise a silly Metaphorical Devil to supply the room of a real one, it is such a Rag of Excuse as utterly spoils the Story, and makes it look much more ridiculous than the naked Lie itself.  
But if he were not a Devil with a cloven foot, yet he was a Devil of Lust, and though he were very temperate and abstemious, yet he outdid a satire in wantonness. But what Instance? what Proofs? what one Example? That a man should exceed all Mankind in the licentiousness of his Lust, and yet no one Act of it ever be discovered. This Vice is not so discreet as to sec●re itself with that Secrecy that it designs, but especially in Princes it cannot avoid being public. The crafty Augustus, as demurely as he looked, and as severe Laws as he made against it, was publicly known to have been one of the most notorious Sinners of the Age. But as for Justinian, as he was more severe in his Laws against this Vice, than any of his Predecessors, so he was never charged with any one Breach of them. The Wife, the Daughter, the Servant that he debauched, are to this day nameless. Whose Bed did he ever defile, whose Modesty did he ever attempt? was he ever so much as suspected of Love to any but his Empress? What rudeness then, what Malice, what Impudence is it in this Scribbler to cast dirt upon such an eminent and unblemished Chastity, without so much as attempting to allege any one proof or example of it? and that alone is a demonstration of its falsehood, for if he could have charged him with any one Fact, we know he owed him not so much kindness as to conceal it. But as he introduces the Calumny, he makes it more absurd, viz. That though he were very much given to fasting and watching, yet he was a Devil for Lust. These things hang very well together, a man much given all his life-time to watching and fasting, and yet the very Priapus of the Age, an insatiable satire, and exceeding the natural capacity of Makind in Lust. This is another fair contradiction, and as consistent as his being black and white, tall and low, prodigal and covetous, an Ass and a Fox, a natural Fool and a crafty Knave, so blind a thing is Malice when it is over eager in the pursuit of its rage.  
The next Twins of Virtue are his great kindness to, and great oppression of the Orthodox Christian Clergy. His favour to them was so exorbitant, 
Cap. 13.  that he would protect them in their frauds and oppressions, whenever they invaded other men's Rights, and whenever the Cause was brought before him, he always judged on the side of the ecclesiastics. And so preposterous was his Piety that he Committed all his rapines to enrich and endow the Christian Churches, though but just now they were all swept into his own Coffers. But with what cruelty he oppressed the Christian Clergy the Author has several times promised to relate, but it seems having a Treacherous Memory, as we find by the inconsistencies of his Tale, he at last forgot it, notwithstanding he has so often rubbed it up in Cap. 10, 11, 26, 27. An ill Memory (they say) is very inconvenient for some sort of men, but a false one is very useful, it is an easy matter to excuse any ill-natured Story under pretence of forgetfulness, and as easy to stab any innocent man's reputation only by suggesting some vile thing of him, as by broad direct slander. But here behold our Vatican Apologist at his old knack of excuse-making. His Author, he says, had it all the while in his head, but unluckily forgot to let it out, and intended no doubt, the hard usage of the Pope's Silverius and Vigilius, and the African Bishops in the Contest about the tria Capitula. This excuse Dr. Rive caps with this Story, of a Jockey not less happy in a forgetful Memory, who putting a Pad-Nag into a Friends hands upon Reputation, after the Bargain was ended, the Buyer seriously asked him (as the Custom is) what faults he had, to which he replies, that he knew only two, that he paced too easily, and eat too much; upon this home he goes with great joy of his Bargain, but he had not gone far, when he found both Horse and Rider in the Ditch; upon this taking a stricter Survey, he finds his Palfrey stone-blind, returns to his Jockey and inveighs against him for so unfriendly a Cheat, who replies thus upon him: If, Sir, I had then thought of it, that the Horse had lost both his Eyes, I would have scorned to have put him into so good a Friends hands, but thinking of something else at that time, it was quite out of my mind. Just such is the Memory of the Author in declaring Justinian's faults and offences amongst the Clergy, he would have told what strange havoc he made amongst them, but that as often as he came to mention it, it flipt out of his Memory. Of all his faults this was the greatest, it added Sacrilege to Oppression; his hard usage of other Sects is capable of a defence; but for a Prince to rob and trample down his own Clergy, 'tis the height of Barbarity, and therefore to leave it out in the Description of his Vices is the exact Story of the blind Horse. But he intended the ill usage of Pope Silverius, Vigilius, and the African Bishops in the Controversy of the tria Capitula. This is pure conjecture, especially the guess of the tria Capitula, which it is evident from the accounted that Procopius has given of the disputes of those times, that he did nor understand. But however I have already discoursed both that, and the Case of Silverius and Vigilius, and that will be answer enough to Alemannus his foul surmise of their barbarous treatment. Only I would advise him and the Roman Courtiers once more not to concern the Apostolic Chair in the Vindication of Vigilius, but rather to thrust him out of the List into the Catalogue of the Anti Popes, both because it is confessed on all hands that he got into the Chair by Usurpation, when it was full already; and because his Actions were so foul, that no Wit, no Apology, no Candour can wipe off the Scandal. As for the Reverse of this Calumny, the Emperor's exorbitant kindness and indulgence to the Christian Clergy, I must confess it was very great to a degree of fondness; we have seen above in his Novels what Endowments and Privileges he settled upon the Church, what care he took to secure their settled Revenues, and to protect them against the oppression of great men. But that he ever run into any Act of Injustice out of Zeal and partiality to their Interest, we have no one Instance upon Record, the only thing that can be pretended is his Grant to the Church of Emesa, of the Prescription of an hundred years, which as this Author tells the Story, 
Cap. 28.  was a very lewd act of Fraud and Oppression, but then the cheat was put upon the Emperor, as well as upon the Subjects that suffered by it. It is this, one Mammianus, a Man of a noble Family and vast Wealth, had long before made the Church of Emesa his Heir. But it happened that under Justinian one Priscus was employed to take the census of the Families of that City; who being dexterous at imitating other men's hands, and diligently observing the hands of some of the Ancestors of some of the most wealthy Families, he draws upon them Bills and Bonds for great sums of Money to Mammianus, these he communicates to the Procurators of the Church, but because the Law of only 30 years' prescription lay against them; they repair to the Emperor to relieve them in so pious and charitable a Suit, and he being satisfied with the piety of the Case is easily prevailed upon to grant to them and all other Churches a power of looking back to 100 years, whereas before 30 years' prescription was a legal Bar to any claim▪ Upon this they put all their counterfeit Bonds in suit to the utter ruin of the best Families in the City. But Longinus a wise and an honest Man that the Emperor sent thither with a particular Commission to be Judge in this particular Cause, suspecting some cheat by the vast Sums of Money that were challenged, he therefore takes Priscus to task, commands him to bring in all his Bonds, but he refusing it, because that would put an end to the Plot he in a rage beats him, who upon it fearing that he had discovered his Cheat, confesses all; and the Emperor being informed of it, and finding by this example the inconvenience of this Law, that there would be no stopping of Frauds in behalf of the Church-Estates if they might be allowed to claim against so many years' prescription, he repeals it, and because he would not utterly spoil his Courtesy, he takes it down from an hundred to forty years, and that was ten years more than any other Plaintiff was allowed. Now which way can the Emperor be blamed in all this Transaction, he had no ground to suspect the imposture, and then it was evident that great sums due to the Church had been basely embezel'd, and to prevent such Abuses for the time to come he takes off the usual limits of Prescription in Pleas of this Nature. And yet this impudent Libeler is so foolishly malicious, as contrary to the circumstances of his own story, to insinuate, as if the Emperor himself were privy to the design. Which if he were, how durst Longinus have so disgracefully exposed it, who if his Master had any such Plot must have been privy to it, because without him it could not be managed? and therefore when he so rudely spoiled it, that shows both his own and his Master's ignorance of it, and he was so far from incurring his displeasure, that he was not long after advanced to the Prefecture of the City: If we may trust our Author, for otherwise I find no such Man as Longinus in all Justinian's Reign, and therefore cannot but suspect the whole story to be mere fiction. But granting its truth, the Emperor is innocent, and when our Author suggests that he was privy to it, he ought to have told us how himself came to know the Secret, and so indeed he ought to have done through his whole history, but to tell us that such prodigious things were done in the dark and with great secrecy, and give us no account how he came to know them, is but a very poor way of vouching for an history. These are the grand Articles of this Libel against this great Prince, for the following Chapters are little else than the same Rhapsody repeated, and things are heaped together so confusedly, so without art and decency, as plainly proves, that so elegant a Writer as Procopius could never have writ it, but that the true Author was some unpolisht and unlearned Barbarian.   

§. XXXIII. But though we have little else than mere repetition remaining, yet there are some few scraps behind, that discover the Author's malice and ignorance, upon these I shall make some brief reflections and so conclude. And first what can we think of his ascribing all the public Calamities of the Age, as Inundations of Rivers, destructions of Cities by earthquakes and Plagues, to the Emperor and his ill Genius? This Malice is too childish even to be despised, and it is hard to determine whether it have in it more of spite or folly, though it has so much of both as forever to destroy that Man's credit, that could prevail with himself to make and vent such an accusation against any Man's reputation; such a River over-flowed, and at such a time it thundered, who can we think was the cause of it but the Emperor and his evil Genius? O A●emannus▪ that thou shouldest satisfy thyself with such a Wretch as this! Is this stuff to put into an indictment? can you think to beat down the Emperor's towering reputation by such Tales as these? you had been much better advised, when you first found your Vatican Manuscript, instead of publishing it to the World with so much satisfaction of Revenge upon the Emperor, to have buried it in some secret Corner, where it should never have been discovered, for now you have only brought down reproach and disgrace upon your own head by opposing such a barbarous Pamphlet to the Glory of all his Actions, and have withal provoked more ingenuous Men to revive the Memory of his great Name, and make the unparallelled Actions of his Reign though 1100 years old, shine as bright and look as fresh, as if they had been the Wonders and mighty Works of our own Age. But however if the Emperor had an ill Genius to bring these Miseries upon the World, I am sure he had a good one too to make amends, and what breaches the one made upon any part of the Empire, the other repaired, and left it not in the power of the bad Genius of any of his Successors to commit the same Riots again. As the Barbarian might have learned from the Books de Aedificiis, had he been duly acquainted with Procopius his genuine Writings.  
But in the next place from Prodigies, 
Cap. 19  this Grub-street Historiographer, descends to Dreams. Once upon a time a certain Gentleman thought he saw in his sleep the Emperor standing in the middle of the Sea, and that he drank it all dry, and then the Rivers, and then the Kennels, and Common-Shoars, and yet was not satisfied, and then the Gentleman awaked. Did he so? But was the Author awake when he writ this Story, and Alemannus when he published it to the World, to deter (as the Preface declares) Tyrants in after-Ages from imitating Justinian's wicked Actions, when they see how their own Wickedness will be displayed to Posterity? This dream I doubt will be of very little use to that purpose. But he set up Monopolies. 
Cap. 2●.  What then? some Monopolies are beneficial to the Public, and therefore if our Author would have made a serious Accusation of it, he ought to have showed in what Particulars: to monopolise Commodities of common use and necessary to the life of Man is a great Oppression upon the People, and brings them into the Estate of the hungry Egyptians under Pharaoh's Monopoly of Corn. But when it is limited to things of Pleasure and Luxury, it is a confinement to men's Vices, and gives check to their Follies. This Author gives but one Instance of his Complaint, 
Cap. 25.  and that is in the Merchandise of Silks, the Emperor imposing it upon the Company of Persian and Tyrian Merchants not to vend them, but upon a certain high price upon Penalty of Proscription of Goods. This was a Law highly useful to the Commonwealth, for it not only cured the meaner sort of People of their silken Vanity, but it stopped a great Revenue that went annually out of the Empire into the Enemy's Country, i. e. the Persians. And to prevent that Mischief for the time to come, 
De Bello Goth. l. 4. c. 17.  he sent certain Monks into India to discover the Mystery of Silks, who returned loaden with a whole Cargo of Silkworms Eggs, and by that means he set up that Manufacture within the Empire itself, but how it was established we no where read.  
But he set up two new Officers in the City, 
Cap. 20.  because the old Magistrates were not enough to execute his Rapine and Cruelty. One was called the Praetor of the People, to prevent Fires and punish Burglaries; the other Quaestor, to make inquiry after Sodomy, Adulteries and false Religions. What then! were not these useful Offices in the Commonwealth? If they were, what malice is it in this Author to impute the design of their Institution merely to Rapine? But still his Ignorance keeps pace with his Malice; for the Praetor was no new Office, but as ancient as Augustus, and by him styled Praefect of the Watch, but Justinian will have him go by the name of Praetor, because that was the most honourable Title for all Offices among the ancient Romans; and this Restitution of that old Word, this ignorant Writer every where mistakes for the institution of a new Office. But as for the other Office of Questor, for punishing the Vices mentioned, it is but another fair cast of his ignorance, for there is no such thing extant in the whole body of the Imperial Law, nor any where else. There was indeed the Office of a Quaestor to find out lazy People that would follow no Employment, and force them to work. This Office, this barbarous Scribbler ignorantly ascribes to the fore mentioned Vices: so utterly unacquainted is he with the true State of Affairs at that time. But he put unfit Men into that great trust of City Quaestor, to the great oppression of his Subjects, as Tribonian, Junilus and Constantinus. But of his great care in the choice of his Officers we have discoursed above, and if among so great a number of good ones, some few proved corrupt, that is a Misfortune not to be avoided in this World. Though this is all Tale, for Tribonian was admired for all his Virtues and good Qualities, only he loved Money too well. Junilus is a Man never heard of but in this Author, and it is likely that he should be in so great an Office as this, seven years, and never be so much as mentioned in any Record, no, not in one Imperial Rescript. To him succeeds Constantinus a very young Man, not yet so much as called to the Bar. But this out-bids all the rest: For Constantinus was Secretary of State, and one of the Commissioners for compiling the Code in the third year of Justinian, whereas Tribonian enjoyed the Prefects Office many years to his dying day, which Alemannus computes to be in the 21st year of that Reign; to him succeeds Junilus, who enjoys the Office seven years; now if Constantinus, who followed both, were so young a Man, that he was not of age to practise the Law, I would only know of the unlearned Author and his learned Commentator, of what Age he might be in the third year of Justinian, when he was Secretary of State, and so eminent for his Skill in the Law, that he was made one of the Commissioners for its Reformation.  
But beside the old Revenue of the Crown he imposed a new heavy Tax commonly called the Aerial Tribute, 
Cap. 21.  as if it dropped out of the Air, coming neither from Law nor Custom, this was collected by the Praefecti Praetorio, and that they might squeeze his Subjects to purpose, he put the worst Men into that Office, and when they had enriched themselves by oppression, he siezed all their Wealth into his own Coffers. This is pure Romance, for there is not the least mention of any such Tribute in any other Author or Record, and though Alemannus (as himself declares) searched all the Vatican Manuscripts in quest of it, yet he could never trace any Footsteps of it in Antiquity. And it is very likely that such a singular Oppression should pass so unobserved in such a writing Age, as never to be so much as suggested by any Author but this Barbarian. And as for the Praefecti Praetorio, that belongs to the old Topick of corrupt Officers and Ministers of State, and therefore needs no particular Answer, and though Alemannus reckons up 17 or 18 in his reign, yet he can find no more ill Men than Joannes Cappadox, Petrus Barsames and Addaeus, who was put into the Office in the last year of the Emperor's life, when he was past business. Though beside these he says there are divers others to be found in Evagrius, Agathias, Procopius his other Books, Theophanes and Suidas. That is his standing figure when he has reckoned up all the names that he can rake together, to tell us of great numbers of People that shall be nameless. And whereas the Author adds, that it was the Emperor's constant Custom to drain these great Officers, when they were well gorged, by some sham-Accusation; it is so far from truth that he never prosecuted any of them but Joannes Cappadox, and when he put him from Court, he suffered him to carry his Wealth along with him.  
But he oppressed the honest labouring Farmers. 
Cap. 23.  As how? why first by never remitting their customary Tribute. Very good, but if it were due by Custom, than it could be no oppression. And if it be thought to be too hard upon the Subject, yet I find that the ablest Princes were most averse to the abatement of their Land-Taxes, and there are several peremptory Rescripts against it, and therefore if Justinian were so too, he might justify himself by the Examples of some of his wisest Predecessors, especially considering the vast Expenses of his Wars, and that a great part of the Empire paid Contributions to their Enemies. And yet the suggestion is as false as foolish, when he remitted the ordinary Taxes to the Inhabitants of Palestine upon the Insurrection of the Samaritans, and made two Christian Bishops his Surveyors and Judges to determine what abatement was fit and reasonable. And in the great Plague at Constantinople, 
De Bello Goth. l. 2.  in which the Rich were reduced to the same state with the Poor, their Servants and Attendants being swept away, he appoints an Officer to take care of all the sick, and to supply all that wanted, with Money, and that was a greater kindness than mere abatement of just deuce. But secondly he imposed the Corn-Tax for the maintenance of his Army, and forced the poor country People to carry it to the Camp. But alas, this was an old Tax long before Justinian's time, and there are so many Laws about it in the Imperial History, that nothing but mere barbarous Ignorance could have derived its beginning from Justinian; and accordingly Alemannus has vouched it by the Authority of that Ecclesiastic Romance of Simeon Metaphrastes. 
Cap. 24.  In the next place the Soldiers were oppressed, and that divers ways, first he set Mustermasters over them, and deducted the 12 th' part of every Soldiers Pay for their Salary. This is pure ignorance, for that Office was ever in the Army, and its Salary settled without any deduction from the Soldiers, as appears from his 130 Novel. Secondly the Companies were not full, that is a common Fault, but than it was the fault of the Officers not the Emperor, who allowed them full Pay, and then the surplusage of the vacant Places came into their own Pockets. Thirdly he dismissed his old Soldiers without maing any Provision for them. This is likely that he should so wholly neglect them, when he built so many Hospitals for the maintenance of Aged People, in which it is not to be doubted but his super-annuated Soldiers that had been useful to the Commonwealth, were preferred in the first place. Fourthly he left the Frontiers every where unguarded. As we may see by those innumerable Garrisons and Fortifications that he built round the Empire, to keep out the Incursions of the Barbarians. It is pretty observable that when in the whole list of Emperors there were three very eminent for guarding the Frontiers, that is Constantine, Theodosius the Great, and Justinian, that these should be particularly branded for leaving them defenceless. It is the head-topick of Zosimus his fanatic Invectives against Constantine and Theodosius the Great, and here it is the very Chorus of all our Rhapsodists mournful Ditties. And yet there was scarce a Garrison upon the Frontiers, that was not built by one of these Princes, though Justinian stopped every Passage and Inroad so advantageously, that he made the whole Empire but one entire Fortification to itself. Fifthly from those of the Militia, that refused to go to the Wars he withdrew their Pay. An heavy Oppression this not to reward idle People, that refuse to serve their Country. Sixthly he defrauded his Guards of their ●ay. But why? because, says our Author, they were useless. But if they were, they deserved no Pay. Lastly he withdrew the quinquennial Donative. If he did, first to withhold a Gift is no Robbery, and secondly he did wisely not to dispense his Rewards promiscuously, but according to men's deserts, and to this purpose he created a new Officer called Extraordinary Quaestor of the Army, to reward such as did any signal piece of Service, and his Donatives being great and generous, it made every Soldier forward to signalise himself.  
In the next place he oppressed Merchants, 
Cap. 25.  and spoiled the freedom of Trade. That is to say, when he had built that convenient Port at Constantinople that commanded the Haven, he took an account of all Ships outward bound, that they might not export the Commodities of the Empire, but especially Arms to its barbarous Enemies. That is the particular grievance of this Complaint, the next is the regulation of the silk-trade from Persia, which we have discoursed above.  
The next that were undone were the Lawyers, 
Cap. 26.  by lessening their Fees and shortening their Proceedings. Then it seems their Fees were grown too high, and their Proceedings too dilatory, and then it was a great kindness to the Subjects to reform them. Though Dr. Rive is my Author, that before Justinian's time the Lawyers never received any Fees from the Client, but were maintained by Pensions from the public. But he suppressed the very Physicians and Professors of Learning, i. e. because he enacted so many kind Laws on their behalf under the Title de Medicis et Professoribus. But then he abolished the old Circensian Games and all the other Heathen sports for ever. Then he made a Reformation, that all good Men had ever desired from the first settlement of Christianity in the World. Lastly he oppressed the Poor. As appears by those prodigious Provisions that he made, that there should be no such thing as Poverty within the Empire; but for the Readers satisfaction or rather amazement in this matter, I must refer him to the Books de Aedificiis. And now I hope I have sufficiently vindicated the Reputation of this matchless Prince against all the malicious Calumnies both of the Libel and the Librarian, so as to make it appear that it could never be written by Procopius, but by some Man in the barbarous Ages, that was ignorant of the Customs and Transactions of that Time, and that the whole Work is nothing but an heap of ignorance, malice and falsehood. And is proved so by the best and most undoubted Records of that Age. And I know not what can be done more for the Discovery and Conviction of an Imposture.   
FINIS.   


Books lately Published by the Author.  
DIsputationes de Deo et Providentiâ divinâ. 

I. An Philosophorum ulli, et quinam Athei fuerunt.  
II. A rerum finibus Deum esse demonstratur.  
III. Epicuri et Cartesii Hypotheses de Universi Fabricatione evertuntur.  
IV. Mundum neque prorsus infectum, neque necessitate factum; sed solo Opificis consilio extructum fuisse demonstratur.  
V. A generis humani Ortu, et Corporis humani structurâ Deum esse demonstratur.  
VI Contr●● S●epticorum & Academicorum disciplinam, potissimùm Ciceronis de Quaestionibus Academicis libros, et Cartesii Meditationes Metaphysicas disputatur.    
The divine right of the Law of Nature and the Christian Religion.  
The Case of the Church of England stated.  
An Account of the Government of the Christian Church for the first six Hundred years.  
Religion and Loyalty, or a Demonstration of the Power of the Christian Church within itself. The Supremacy of Sovereign Powers over it. Duty of passive Obedience, or Nonresistance to all their Commands.  
Religion and Loyalty. Part the 2 d. or the History of the Concurrence of the Imperial and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the Government of the Church from the beginning of the Reign of Jovian to the end of the Reign of Justinian.