ing to lead the life of hemits, had lost their senses, and afterwards had recovered them.*. The loss is not to be questioned; the recovery may well be questioned. Gelasius, who was made pope in the year following, had the effrontery to send an epistle to the emperor Anastasius, in which he claimed to himself and to his see infallibility, or something very like it. He was a persecutor of the Pelagians, and a scribbler against them. He pretended to advance the papal authority even above general councils. But we must remember, says Fleury †, that he who speaks thus is a pope. In an ancient sacramentarium, a kind of liturgy, or common-prayer-book, ascribed to this pope, the Nicene creed hath not the addition of Filioque; but it is only said of the Holy Ghost, that he proceedeth from the Father: which, as Fleury observes, shews the antiquity of that book. + A. D. 493. Theodoric was in many respects a great and an excellent prince. We may believe Petavius, who was not disposed to commend heretics: "Odoacer being conquered, Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, became master of Italy. -And at first he reigned in such a manner, that he deserved to be compared to the very best of the Roman emperors.Though, with his countrymen, he was of the Arian sect, yet he faithfully continued and protected all the rights and liberties of the Roman church. But as he grew old, he inclined to cruelty and barbarity ||.' * • Fleury, vii. 50. E e 4 vii. 75. Basnage, iii. 585. He He put to death two judges, for having procrastinated causes that were brought before them. A woman of quality complained to him that she had been three years at law with a senator, and could not get the cause decided. He sent for the judges, and told them that if they did not speedily finish the affair, he would put them to death. They, after an hearing of two days, gave sentence for the woman; who went and returned thanks to the king. He then called the judges before him, and said, Why did protract a suit for three ed in two days? years, which you you have finish After this, he ordered them both to be beheaded; which severity put an end to such delays Alaric, king of the Visigoths in Spain, treated also the Consubstantialists with great humanity. Hilderic, king of the Vandals, though he had promised his predecessor Thrasamond, that he would never open the churches of the Catholics in Afric, and restore them their privileges, yet changed his mind, and recalled their exiled bishops, and gave them leave to assemble; but yet he would not join himself to their communion. At the same time, Theodoric was no less favourable to them in Italy, On the contrary, Hormisda the pope persecuted the Manichæans, and caused them to be whipped, and then banished; and Justin the emperor oppressed all the heretics in his dominions. He began to treat the Arians cruelly; but Theodoric protected them, by threatening that he would use reprisals. Gundabund, king of the Vandals, succeeded Hun "He ordered a burying-place at Carthage to be restored to the Catholics, and recalled their bishop Eugenius from banishment. He opened their churches, which had been shut up, and at the request of Eugenius, he gave leave to all the presbyters to return home *.' Thus these Barbarian and Arian princes shewed clemency to the Catholics, who probably would have shewed none to the Arians, if their power had been equal to their inclinations, At this time Arianism was the flourishing and ruling religion in the west, in Aquitain, Burgundy, Italy, Spain, and Afric†. A. D. 496. Clodoveus, or Clovis, king of the Franks, was baptized at which time, says Hincmar, suddenly a light brighter than the sun filled the church, and a voice was heard, saying, Peace be with you: it is I be not afraid abide in my love. Then a most fragrant odour perfumed the whole place; and a dove came, and brought in her bill a vial full of chrism, with which his majesty was anointed. This was, as Baronius excellently observes, A miracle worthy of the apostolical times. The Sancta Ampulla is still preserved, and reverenced by the godly; and the Abbé Vertot was not ashamed to write a Dissertation in defence of it. Middleton hath made some remarks on this miracle. Archbishop Hincmar, says Fleury |, so late as in the year 869, is the first voucher for the truth of the Suncta Ampulla, the Holy Vial. Hence, I think, and from Fleury's Fleury's silence when he relates the baptism of Clovis, it may be concluded that he had not such a portion of faith as Baronius, and that he believed nothing of this miracle. The same may be said of Daniel, who wrote the History of France. The conversion of Clovis, says Vertot, was not less a masterly stroke of policy, than a miracle of grace; and this prince, after his baptism, did not reign in Gaul because he was the strongest, but because the clergy had disposed the people to receive him as their lawful Sovereign *. Clovis, in honour to whose piety this miracle was wrought, was a Christian, it seems: but a strange sort of Christian. He retained all the ferocity and barbarity that he had when he was a Pagan. Restless, ambitious, and sanguinary, as most conquerors are, he murdered kings and princes who were his near relations. If there be any truth in the story (which I do not believe) I would suppose, with Mosheim †, that the ecclesiastics, who attended at the king's baptism, had trained up a tame dove to fly to the font, with a phial hung to her neck. Why not? We had here a Canary-bird, who could perform greater feats, and play as many ingenious tricks as his predecessors, the Little Horse, and the Chein Savant, to the astonishment of the spectators. A. D. 498. Olympius, an Arian, being in the bath at Constantinople, and disputing there with some of the contrary party, used very profane expres * sions Mem. de l'Acad. T. iv. 306. Basnage, iii. 593. Le Clerc, Bibl. Chois. xxvii. 37. P. 196. sions concerning the Trinity. Immediately he was punished by an angel, who flung three pails of scalding water upon him; and he expired in a miserable condition. Basnage* adopts this miracle. The voucher for it is one who did not see it, Victor Tununensis, who might possibly be born at that time, but flourished several years after. St John Damascene also relates it; but this saint is a noted liar, and he lived long afterwards. However, Jack, to do him justice, did not make it; he found it upon record. If it be not a mere fiction, the angel might possibly be one of the servants at the bath, who, it may be, clapped a pair of paper wings upon his shoulders, to give himself an angelic appearance. At this time Laurentius and Symmachus were elected popes by two opposite factions, which filled the city of Rome with tumults and massacres. A. D. 494. Anastasius, the emperor, abolished an infamous tax upon beggars and bawdy-houses. Rem ad decus et glorium insignem patravit Anastasius, remoto infami tributo, quod Chrysargyrum vocabatur. Impositum erat is qui stirpe collatitia victitabant, et mulierculis quæ corpore quæstum fuciebunt, et masculis qui muliebria passi et naturam ipsam et rempublicam ignominia afficiebant. Qua collatione licitum cuivis erat incestam libidinem perpetrare. Neque novum illud pensitandi genus, cum imperante Caligula solveretur.-Pendebatur et regnante Alexandro Severo, quod tamen ærario suo optimus Princeps inferri noluit, &c. † são |