Nestorians finding themselves every where excluded the Church by this Union spread abroad reports that Cyril had imbraced the Nestorian Faith and Letters are forged in his name condemning the Council of Ephesus and some new fanatick Hereticks plead his Authority for their own foolish Novelties And some over zealous Men of his own Party accuse him of too much complyance with the Hereticks and this cost Cyril some trouble and time to clear himself as well from the jealousie of his Friends as from the spite of his Enemies And so was the Catholick Church at length restored to Peace and Unity and as Cyril relates most of the Nestorians repenting of their Heresie were upon their submission restored to the Catholick Communion 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 compast the Restitution of the Churches Peace for its lasting security he enacts a Rescript in the year 435 to root the Nestorian Heresie out of all his Dominions But why no sooner says Gothofred Because says he the Emperor might suppose that the Hereticks 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 meer 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 intirely from the Party of Nestorius he would have found a very good reason why this Rescript was not sooner publisht viz. because till then Affairs were not ripe for it and if it had been publisht before this strong Party had been taken off it might have tempted them to join with the Heresie 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 Heresie 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 publick The Rescript consists of three Parts First it commands That the followers of Nestorius should be call'd by no other name than the nick-name 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 publickly burnt Thirdly that they should be debarr'd of all Meeting Places either in Publick or Private with the Penalty of Proscription of Goods upon all Offenders against any branch of this Law And because after this some Men publisht the same Opinions in new obscure and ambiguous Terms and indeavor'd to revive them under the Authority of some of the Ancients 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 injoined 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 Heresie together And things might have been much sooner and much more easily setled had they not been perplexed partly by the over-eagerness of Cyril in imposing his Anathema's 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 Hereticks 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 Controversie was determin'd by the judgment of the Church and the judgment 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 Heresie being broke and vanquisht by the Authority of the Ephesine Council and the assistance of the Imperial Power the Church injoyed Peace for the space of eighteen years and govern'd it self by its own Provincial Synods without the need of any concurrence from the Civil State till the fiery Zeal of Abbot Eutyches an over-driving stickler against Nestorius broke out in new Combustions who out of too fierce and eager opposition to the exploded Heresie 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 And for this dull and absurd Metaphysicks of a thick-skull'd Monk or as Pope Leo calls it Error qui de imperitià magis quà m de versutiâ natus est not a whimsey of subtilty but dullness must the Christian World be set in Flames and Ashes rather then 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 Eunuchs 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 opprest and opposed it From whence it was that during all his Reign it could never cope with this Heresie though by the good providence of God it was effectually vanquish't 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 Sir-name of Great 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
or Reign can shew such a number of unexceptionable Ministers of State But because the Calumny is so apparently false I shall not trouble my self 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 honors 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 meer Wickedness In the next place he was a vain-glorious Innovator that abolisht 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 Common-Wealth 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 it self 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 publick 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 Common-wealth 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 re-unite them for these reasons 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 design'd 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 it self 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 reformed 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 Authors 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 vain-glory 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 call'd 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 Authors 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 God-father 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 barr'd the pleasure of this little Fancy that is allowed to all Mankind And yet after all he has denyed himself in it more than any Prince upon Record as any Man may satisfie 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 call'd by the Founders 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 trisles no farther the Books that he entituled 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 strein'd and far fetcht Calumnies as these discover nothing but rankor at the heart and a studious design to turn all things into spite and poison 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 repeted in all the following Chapters and indeed the whole Rhapsody is nothing but Tautology Eccho 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 rob'd and ruin'd all his Subjects that dispeopled whole Provinces that layed wast 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 examinâ—d are to the purpose I leave them to the Readers judgment 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
often deposed for his Debaucheries and as often changed his Faith to recover his Bishoprick 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 Bishoprick for the Emperor Valens was now ingaged in other Matters being invaded by the Goths but before he would venture into the hazards of War he thought it convenient to be baptized into the Christian Faith which Office was performed by Eudoxius who always diligently followed his Trade at Court and the Historians say I doubt rashly that he administred an Oath to the Emperor at his Baptism to persecute the Catholicks 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 And about the same time Bishop Valens and his Mirmidons meet in Mysia much upon the same Errand to establish their own particular conceit similem dicimus filium patri secundùm scripturas non secundùm substantiam and indeavor to draw in Germinius an eminent Man of the old Eusebian Faction who had gon 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 Faâ—her 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 But Valens and his Party are immediately condemned by a Council at Rome under Damasus 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 wrigled himself into that great Bishoprick 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 Eunuches 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 poison'd several Bishops of Illyricum but had workt himself into the savour of Valentinian himself who after his Alemanick War setled his Court at Milan Upon this St. Hilary who had been long acquainted with the craft and false-hood 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 mixt Committee of Bishops and secular Judges But the Fox seeing himself distrest and being resolved to save his skin denyes all professes mighty Zeal fâ—r the Nicene Faith subscribes it before the Court and as if that were not enough presents the Emperour 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 flusht 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 reacht 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 Eunuchs 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 thô 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 admâ—nishing 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 And whereas a great Coâ—ncil was appointed to meet at Tarsus in Câ—licia in the Spring following for perfecting the settlement that was begun at Tyana Eudâ—xius that had got possession of Valens in the East as Auxentiuâ— had of Valentinian in the West prevails with the Emperor to send his Letters with high threatnings 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 Bishopricks by himself and his Associates in the time of â—onstantius and now by vertue of the Decree of the Council of Tyana demand restitution but by this imperial Rescript are barr'd 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 pincht in this Emperor's time A Party of Knaves had combin'd in the time of Constantius to cheat and supplant honest Men out of their Preferments which having done they as all other thieves do fall out among themselves and indeavor to cheat one another till at last the most crafty pack sweeps all After
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 falsly charged upon him which if he would be pleased to do himself should be very glad of his Friendship But the Quarrel advances whil'st 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 Upon this Cyril writes to them to convict him of manifest leasing and impudence and upon that the Clergy of Constantinople draw up a Schedule to parallel the Assertions of Nestorius with the Doctrines of Paulus Samâ—satenus as the Father of this Heresie from whence Suidas and from him Baronius rashly suppose him to have descended of his Off-spring 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 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 and by the Authority of the Apostolick See deposes him if he repent not within 10 days and writes to John of Antioch Rufus of Thessalonica Juvâ—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 it self 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 viz. Concerning the Pelagian Bishops that had been cast out of the Western Church for their Heresie but were then at Constantinople filling all Peoples 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 Controversie 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 Catholick Church allowing him only 10 days from the time of the Receipt of the Instrument to redeem himself from the Fatal Decree by a publick 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 Heresie 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 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 fortifie himself with the Authority of the Apostolick 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 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 conjuring him by all the Tyes of Friendship not to disturb his own and the Churches Peace by contending about a word whilest himself professed to own the sense of it And withal tells him that if he would suffer himself to be perswaded to disclaim the Controversie 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 sence of divers Bishops that were his Friends This Letter might probably have made some impression upon his great Spirit had not Cyril spoyled all by his own over eagerness for now finding himself so well back't he would not be satisfied with the meer quitting his opinion but he must be obliged to anathematise it too and accordingly tenders him 12 Anathema's 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 seem'd 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 enflames his Cholerick Nature that he now forgets all Temper and encounters Anathema's with Anathema's 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 that it made him side with Nestorius against Cyril and it was this that enflamed 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 irreconcileable Enemy to Cyril and his Anathema's 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 then ever especially against his own
willful 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 German 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 grosly 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 Topicks 1. That he writes many things impossible in themselves 2. Many things contradicted by Co-Temperary 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 mens 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 wrests 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 mans 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 thâ—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 my self or the Reader with any later Writers as they have done such as Zonaras Nicephorus Cedrenus c. but shall meerly relye upon Co-temporaries 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 shew the falshood of the Libel it self and the Malice of its Abettors In the first place we have all the reason in the World to reject the Book it self as a spurious Pamphlet dishonestly fathered upon Procopius when we find it never so much as mention'd 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 streâ—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 Critick 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 vouch't by any more Ancient Testimony and then his own can be of no Credâ—t especially considering the humour of the man who was a meer Collector without choice or judgment 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 imbraces it contrary to the fundamental Law of the Criticks without any ancient Testimony to certifie 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 appear'd once in the World till 500 years after the death of its pretended Author is a Civility that the Criticks 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 it self 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 suppress't all or none and not to have publisht the sharper Invective to gain the Emperor's favor 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 it self 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 conveigh down the glory of their Actions to all future Ages who can easily suffer himself to believe that the same Man should endeavor 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 it self as to be able to out-shine all detraction For what Man can believe that he ruin'd the Roman Empire that recover'd so many Cities Provinces and Kingdoms to it that conquer'd so many barbarous Nations and plainly recover'd 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 concern'd 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 it self 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 candor 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 buffoonry and affected rudeness the whole work is contrived it seems to me impossible that they should both be the Off-spring 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 um 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 least judgment 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 Vertues of a Man whom himself knew to exceed all Mankind in the studious practice of all wickedness For that is the Burthen 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 panegyrick and abound with quite contrary Characters were not written till the 36 th year Now is it not very credible that when Procopius was fall'n 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 co-temporaries but most of all from the nature and the circumstances of the Actions themselves And as for the Librarians spiteful endeavors 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-natur'd 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 easie way of confuting them for whilst they lye confused together they are not so easily discern'd or exposed but when parted like false Witness every Lye betrays it self § 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 out-done all the Tyrants that ever were 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 Mens 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 reign'd 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 deliver'd 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 endeavour'd to master Africk and Italy that he might throw those Nations together with the Provinces subject to himself into one
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 Judgment 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 astonish't the undertakers themselves But whether any thing hap'ned 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 vanquish't when they had not one Port to land in should in such a Moment of Time over-throw the Grand-Child 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 Vertue 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 recall'd let us now see its last Event which our Author says was the utter devastation of Italy Belizarius being recall'd 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 Africk He vanquish't that Great Captain Totilas in one pitch't Battel and Teias his Successor in another though they had call'd in the Franks to their Assistance and made such incredible slaughters of them that both the Nations were almost utterly extinquish't 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 joyn Forces against the Romans and bring an Army into the Field of Seventy Two Thousand Men who were all cut in pieces in the first Battel and that was the end of the War All which is elegantly enough summ'd up by his Nephew Justin in his Speech to the Ambassadors of the King of the Avares Sub quo Vandalici ceciderunt strage Tyranni 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 Allyes 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 groan'd 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 wast 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 Panegyricks looks very awkerdly and gives it self 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 recover'd the shatter'd Empire to its ancient splendor 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 re-united 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 easie 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 compass't 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 Vertues 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
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 false-hood 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 Publisht 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. Contrâ—â— Sâ—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 it self The Supremacy of Soveraign Powers over it Duty of passive Obedience or Non-resistance 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 Can. 2. (a) Invec 1. p. 80. A. (b) Am. Marcel l. 21. c. 2. (c) Theod. l. 4. c. 1. (d) l. 3. c. 22. (e) Sozom. l. 6. c. 3. (f) Greg. Naz. in laud. Athanas (g) Athanas de fide ad Jovian (h) Soc. l. 3. c. 25. (i) Sozom. l. 6. c. 5. (k) lib. 6. c â— (l) Lib. 26. c. 1. (m) de Males et Mathemat l. 9. v. Sozimus lib. 4. (n) ibid. l. (o) De Medicis et Professor l. 5. (p) ibid. l. 6. (q) Sozim l. 6. c. â— L. 20. Qutru Appellat sint suscip (r) Soc. l. 4. c. 12. Saeculi 40 pars prima § 14. (s) Theod. l. 4. c. 8. (t) Epist. 74. (u) Soz. l. 6. c. 12. (w) Hilarii frag l. 1. pag. 40. (x) Athanas ad Episc Afric (y) Athanas ep ad Epictelum (z) Sozom. l. 6. c. 12. (a) Theod. l. 4. c. 13 14. (b) Epist. 61. (c) Sozom. l. 4. c. 27. (d) Epist. 10. (e) ibid. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 (f) Socrat. l. 4. c. 13. (g) Socrat. l. 4. c. 14. Sozom. l. 6. c 13. V. Baroâ— an 317. N. 29. et Vales. not in Socrat (h) Socrat. l. 4. c. 15. Sozom. l. 6. c. 13. (i) lib. 4. c. 19. (k) Basil Epist. 69. (l) Epist. 70. (m) V. Greg. Naz. de laud. Basil. (n) Theod. l. 5. c. 10. de Haeret. l. 33. (o) Theod. lib. 4. c. 6. (p) Cod. Theodos. de Episc Cler. l. 3. (q) Can. Apost 80. (r) Am. Marcel lib. 30. C. 6 (s) Epist. 140. (t) Soc. l. 3 c. 25. (u) Orat. 9 (w) lib. 30. (x) Ne Baptisma iteretur l. 1. (y) l. 3. * L. 75 de Decurionibus (z) de Haeret l. 4. (a) Soc. l. 5. c. 2. Sozom l. 7. c. 1. (b) Theod. l. 5.12 (c) l. 2. (d) de Haeret l. 5. (e) de Epist l. 23. (f) de concord l. 2. c. 1. § 4. (g) Novel 83. (h) Am. Marcel l. 31. (i) in Cron. (k) l. 7. c. 33. (l) lib. 4.35 c. 37. (k) Soc. l. â— c. 2. Soz. l. 7. c. 1. Theod. l. 5. c. 2. (l) lib. 3. c. 3. et c. 23. (m) l. 2. (n) Soc. l. 5. c. 4. (†) Account of the Government of the Church § 20. (c) Soc. l. 5. c. 8. Soz. l. 7. c. 7. (p) de Haeret l. 6. (q) de Haeret l. 8. (r) de Haeret l. 11.12 (s) ibid. l. 13. (t) ibid. 14. (u) de his qui super Religione contendunt l. 2. (w) V. Gothofredi Notas in legem (x) Orat. 26. (y) de fide Cathol l. 4. (a) Ruffin l. 2. c. 16. (b) Lib. 4. Epist. 32. (c) Ambros. l. 5. Epist. 27. in which Letter he gives an account of his Embassy to the Emperor (*) Zosimus lib. 4. (d) Ambrose Ep. 26. (e) See his Epistles in their proper place in Labbé (f) De Haeret l. 15. (g) Sozom. l. 7. c. 14. (h) Ambros. Ep. 29. (i) Soc. l. 5. c. 13. (k) De Haeret l. 16. (l) l. 17. (m) De Haeret l. 19. (n) Lib. 7. c. 17. (o) Soc. l. 5. c. 20 22 23. Sozom. l. 7. c. 17. (p) De Episc l. 2â— (q) An. 390. N. 70 71. (r) Lib. 2â— c. 3. (s) Dé Episc l. 20 (t) Epist 31. (u) Marciani Novella 5. (w) De Testam l. 48. (x) De Mâ—nachis l. 1. (y) De D curionibus l. 63. (z) De Episc l. 3.6 9 Cod. Tit. 45. De bis qui ad Eccles confâ—g l. 1. Tacit. Annal lib. 3. (a) De Haeret l. 3. (†) De Haeret l. 65. (b) De Haeret l. 7.9.11.18.20 (c) De Apoatis l. 3. (d) De Apostatis l. 1. (e) De Haeret l. 2. (f) De Haeret l. 3 4 5. (g) Qui sanctum baptisma prophan (h) De Paganis l. 7. (i) De Maleficis l. 7. (k) De pag. l. 8. (l) De Pag. l. 9. (m) Ibid. l. 10. (n) Ibid. l. 11. (o) Ibid. l. 12. (p) De Judais l. 8. (q) Lib. 5. Epist. 29. (r) De Haeret l. 6. Anno 368. Anno 369. Anno 371. N. 1 2 3 4. V. Labbé Vol. 2. Anno 381. p. 1001. Lib. 9. Tit. 29. c. 1. †Ne inter bellicas necessitâ—tes obreptio importuna teâ—tâ—tur (a) Ad annum 385. M. 6. (b) Soc. l. 3. c. 4. (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theod. l. 4. c. 22. (d) Lib. 4. c. 21 22. (e) Sozom. l. 7. c. 5. (f) De Haeret l. 6. (g) Extrav de Episcopali Judicio l. 3. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. (l) l. 5. c. 23 (i) Soz. l. 7. c. 15. (l) Soz. l. 8. c. 3. (l) Pallad dial (m) de his qui super Religione contendunt l. 6. (n) De Haereâ—â—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