fall'n in so pat to his Treatise of the death of the Persecutors That it cannot be imagin'd he would have left it out specially when he was describing the Cruelties of the Emperor Maximian and the dreadful Punishments which God inflicted upon him Whosoever therefore shall weigh with an unprejudiced Mind this silence of Lactantius will doubtless be perswaded that the Martydom of the Thebean Legion is nothing but a Fiction Though the Sufferings of Confessors in general do afford a rich Field of Eloquence to Preachers yet it must be granted that there is no Martyrdom more capable of receiving Ornament from the Pulpit and of elevating the genius and thoughts of a Christian Orator than the Martyrdom of this Legion How comes it then to pass that of so many Fathers who have writ Homilies in the praise of Martyrs none of them have ever made use of so pathetick and powerful an Example as this would have been Ephrem a Monk of Syria wrote Encomiums on all the Martyrs of Christ about the Year 360. Gregory of Nazianzen hath handled the same Subject much about the same time We have the Sermons of St. Chrysostom upon Martyrs in general Asterius Bishop of Amasia in Pontus who lived at the beginning of the Fifth Age hath made likewise a Panegyrick on all Martyrs but none of these Fathers nor any other who treated of the same Matter have made the least mention of the Martyrdom of the Thebean Legion If any had mentioned it it must have been Maximus Bishop of Turin who died under the Reign of Honorius and Theodosius Junior For he wrote in the Country where it is supposed that this Martyrdom happened and the Memory of it would therefore have been fresh in his Days but in all his Works there is not one Word relating to it We read amongst his Writings that are yet extant a Sermon De Sanctis Martyribus which Gennadius hath taken notice of and call'd Generalem omnium Sanctorum Homiliam But in this Sermon there is not the least stroak in reference to the Thebean Legion 'T is true that amongst his Works there is another Sermon with this Title In Natali Sanctorum Taurinorum Octavii Aventitii Solutoris These are the same Saints whose Names are seen in Capital Letters on the Frontispiece of the Jesuites Church at Turin In which Church there is a Chappel where the Reliques of these Saints are kept in an Urn which Madam Chrestiene of France caused to be made on purpose with this Inscription ingraved on it Augustae Taurinorum Patronis Christiana à Francia These Saints have done many Miracles if we may believe the Vows and Offerings hung up in their Chappel but we may observe that this Sermon which we speak of is to be found amongst those of St. Ambrose of the impression of Basil in the Year 1555 with this Note in the Margent A Sermon of St. Maximus The Benedictines of Paris in their new Edition of St. Ambrose do likewise restore it to that Bishop of Turin and say that St. Maximus had been so conversant in the Works of St. Ambrose that he sometimes uttered long Passages out of them in his own Sermons the doing whereof occasioned great Confusion in the Homilies of these Two Fathers and they likewise judge St. Maximus to have been the Author of the Book of Sacraments attributed to St. Ambrose However Gennadius does not mention that Sermon in his Catalogue of Maximus's Works And Father Mabillon publishing some new Pieces of this Father in his Musaeum Italicum says that we ought to consult Gennadius to distinguish the genuine Works of this Father from those which are spurious I should be very sorry that this Sermon should be disowned to belong to Maximus for it is so principal a support to the Cause we defend that if there was any ground for what we are told of the Thebean Legion this is the very work where we should find it But if we look for it in the Body of that Sermon we shall loose our labour I have read it several times over but never could find one word in it relating in the least to the Martyrdom in question Should any pretend to make his best of the Inscription In Natali Sanctorum Taurinorum Octavii Aventitii Solutoris this Title does not import these Three Saints to have been Thebean Souldiers For those People whom the ancient Geographers called Taurini were extended far into the Cottian Alps and into Liguria so that we ought not therefore to conclude that Octavius Aventitius and Solutor were Three Saints particular to the City of Turin because they are called Sancti Taurinorum In St. Ambrose's Works printed at Basil in the Year 1555 there is Sanctorum Tauricorum In the Geographical Manuscript of Selden there is likewise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and who can tell but St. Maximus might mean some Saints whose Zeal and constancy had been remarkable amongst those People called Taurisci who are placed by some Geographers in the Fifth Rhetia If we had that Manuscript of St. Maximus mentioned by the Benedictine Monks in their new Edition of St. Ambrose we might perhaps make some other Remarks on the Title of that Sermon But without examining whether the Titles of St. Maximus's Sermons be ancient and writ by himself here is a Proof that Octavius Aventitius and Solutor were not Thebean Souldiers and such a Proof that nothing can be replied against it The Counterfeit St. Eucherius does not mention any of those in his Relation but saith that in his time none of them were known by Name except them following viz. Mauritius Exuperius Candidus Victor and another Victor who suffered Death at Soleur with Vrsus adding that the Names of the others were unknown to him but were written in the Book of Life As we believe the Author of the Acts of the Thebean Souldiers more modern than St. Maximus this sufficeth to convince us that the Three Saints whose Piety this Bishop of Turin did formerly celebrate were not Thebean Souldiers But to prevent all cavilling about the time in which St. Eucherius might have written we shall produce other Writers who lived some Ages after St. Maximus Ado died about the Year of our Lord 875. This Ado who was Arch-bishop of Vienna hath collected all the Names of the Thebean Souldiers that were heard of in his Time thirteen whereof he reckons in his Martyrology to wit Mauritius Exuperius Candidus Molossus Victor Innocentius Vetalis Gerion Victor Orsus Alexander Secundus and Antoninus Amongst which we find not either Octavius Aventitius or Solutor Now Vienna being but fifty Leagues distant from Turin had these Saints whose Memory was celebrated in Piedmont been generally thought to have been Theb. Souldiers there is no Likelihood that Ado would have left them out of his Catalogue This reason is yet more confirmed by Vsuard's silence upon it who was a Monk of St. Germains and contemporary with Ado He formed the design of making a Martyrology both
both the Court and City of Turin have been Ancient Worshippers of the Thebean Souldiers GReat Honour and Reverence have been paid for a long time at Turin to the Thebean Souldiers And the general Opinion is that they have signaliz'd themselves there by a great number of Miracles Hyacinto Ferrero a Jesuit relates that by their means Constantine the Great got that memorable Victory which opened him the way both to Rome and to the Empire He saith that when he considers that the Battel was Fought in the Neighbourhood of Turin he cannot but believe that the Flying Squadron which was then seen in the Air and cry'd to Constantine n'andiamo a soccorso di Costantino were those Thebean Souldiers slain by Maximian who were Arm'd by Heav'n on this occasion to cause the true Christian Religion to Triumph which that Tyrant had endeavoured to destroy If after the rise of Constantine to the Empire Paganism began to fall and if the Progress of the Gospel in Turin went so successfully on and with so much rapidity that in a short time several Churches and a Bishop with a numerous Clergy were seen there All this adds the same Author was owing to the Blood Miracles and Prayers of the Thebean Souldiers He relates afterwards two or three Adventures in which the Thebean Souldiers have visibly shewed their watchful care over Turin and how intent they were to procure Blessings from Heaven upon this City He saith that the Romish Religion was in extream danger at Turin at the time when the Famous Claudius Bishop of that See endeavoured to abolish the Adoration of the Cross and of the Sacred Images and the Worshipping of Martyrs And likewise several Years after when L'Ediguieres entred into Piedmont with an Army of Calvinists but that the Thebean Souldiers by the Merits of their Martyrdom and the Efficacy of their Prayers removed the danger and preserved that Religion there But here is something yet more wonderful The same Jesuite relates that a General of the Emperour Charles the V. besieged Turin in the Year 1537. and had taken it infallibly by the secret Intelligences he had there had he caused his Souldiers to Scale it at any other place than that which is call'd now the Bastion of St. George But that unluckily for him the Reliques of the Thebean Souldiers rested then near the same Bastion and that when his Men went to get up they were frighted by the Sparkling Arms and threatning looks of these Holy Martyrs who miraculously appeared for the defence of the City And perhaps Cardinal de la Rovere spoke of this Miracle in a Sermon which he Preached before Emmanuel Philibert in a certain Solemnity in Honour of the Thebean Souldiers These are the Saints Great Prince said he who have preserved to you your Loyal City of Turin and have averted from it the desolations of War These are the Saints O City of Turin who are the Towers and Bulwarks which have been and shall be thy Defence to the end that thou mayst remain still a peaceable and a Triumphant Place to thy Prince Grant us O ye glorious Saints that we may always cry out with joy and Devotion Jacta est Pax in virtute vestra abundantia in Turribus vestris Charles Emmanuel the First could not possibly have given a greater Testimony of his Devotion to those Saints than by freely giving up to the Valesians the Town of St. Mauricius and other places which they had Usurped from him during the Wars between his Grandfather and Francis the First upon Condition that the Valesians should give him leave to Convey to Turin the Corps of St. Mauricius Chief of the Thebean Legion one of whose Arms he had already gotten out of Bohemia whither it was Transported in the Year of 1250. by King Ottocarus the Fifth And 't was perhaps about that time that St. Mauricius his Lance spoken of by Chromer was brought to Cracovia where it lyes yet exposed to publick Veneration I question very much whether France would now give up Pignerol to the House of Savoy though that House should proffer in Exchange il Santo sudario or the Holy Shroud notwithstanding the great Zeal it ptetends to have for the Romish Religion and though this Holy Shroud is look't upon as the most Precious Relique of that Religion But Charles Emmanuel in the Devotion he had for the Thebean Souldiers did nothing but tread in the steps of Emmanuel Philibert his Father When the Reliques of these Saints were conveyed from the Church of the Blessed Virgin into that of the Jesuites where they do rest to this Day Emmanuel Philibert honoured the Ceremony with his presence and was at a great expence towards the Magnificence of it And this wise Prince knowing well that Saints without Power are ordinarily neglected and that the giving of Indulgences is a means for them to gain a good Reputation obtained a considerable share of them from Gregory the Thirteenth for all those who by Offerings and Prayers should shew their Devotion to the Thebean Souldiers His Bull was obtained in the Year 1574. And the Pope expresses in it that he grants these Indulgences upon consideration of the singular Devotion which both the Duke of Savoy and the People of Turin do pay to the Thebean Souldiers Charles Emmanuel had so great a Zeal for the glory of the Thebean Souldiers that he imparted to Spain some of their Reliques to the intent they might partake of their Merits and Intercession He charged Charles Broglia Archbishop of Turin with his Orders concerning it as appears by the Copy of the Certificate which according to the Custom of the Roman Church was put up with the Reliques and was Signed in the Month of September 1603. This Archbishop saith in the same Certificate that he himself hath taken a Rib of St. Mauricius's Body one of St. Secundus's great Toes three Bones of the Fingers of Solutor Adventor and Octavius and a Leg-bone of one of St. Gerion's Companions Charles Emmanuel caused these Reliques to be put in a Silver-gilt Shrine all set with precious Stones and dispatch'd Leonardo Roncassio his first Secretary of State to present it to Margaret of Austria Queen of Spain All these things plainly shew the great respect and Devotion that both the Court and City of Turin have long paid to the Martyrs of the Thebean Legion CHAP. III. That it is worth ones Labour to examine the Passion of the Thebean Souldiers though it passes for current amongst all sorts of Christian Societies WE shall now endeavour to prove that there were never any such Persons as these Thebean Souldiers and that the Relation of their Martyrdom said to have been writ by Eucherius Bishop of Lions is altogether false and Counterfeit Avia Pieridum peragro loca nullius ante Trita Solo. This matter is quite new and was never handled for ought I know by any Author before Though after so many Books written there is
Beatitude the History which I have written of the Passion of our Martyrs I feared least the Memorable Events of their glorious Martyrdom should have been buried in Oblivion both by long tract of time and the negligence of Men. I have endeavoured to know the truth from those who are able to inform me of it who have assured me that they had the thing from Isaac Bishop of Geneva much after the same manner as I have related it And I believe these things came to the knowledge of Isaac by the means of the most Blessed Bishop Theodorus who lived in the former Ages Viro anterioris temporis And now whereas others from divers places and even from the remotest Provinces offer Gold Silver and several other things to the Honour of our Saints we present them with our writings if so be you vouchsafe to approve of them and I beg for their sakes the remission of all my sins and for the future the continual assistance of my perpetual Patrons Remember us likewise in your Prayers when you come before God and do attend the Services of the Saints There are several things very observable in this Letter First that he who wrote it saith that he is the Author of the Passion of the Agaunian Souldiers Secondly that the Monastery of Agaunum was Built a long time before and was in great repute in the World since Offerings were sent thither from all parts Thirdly that this Theodorus who is called there a Man of the former Ages is in all probability the same Theodorus Bishop of Sion whereof we have spoken on the occasion of the Council of Agaunum which shews this Letter was written at least in the Seventh Century since that otherwise this Theodorus could not be called Vir anterioris Temporis Fourthly that it mentions one Isaac Bishop of Geneva who is not to be found in the Catalogue which Leti and Mr. Spon have made of the Bishops of that place and which they have taken out of an Ancient Bible of that City Fifthly that whereas in the Bibliotheca Patrum Printed at Lions this Letter is placed immediately after the Passion of the Martyrs of Agaunum the Editors who have taken care to advertise the Readers that the Passion written by Surius was not altogether Authentick do not give the least caution about this Letter which is visibly later by some Ages than St. Eucherius Sixthly that this Letter is inserted at full length by Baronius in his Annals as an irrefragable proof that St. Eucherius is the Author of the Acts of the Agaunian Martyrs seeing it is brought there to serve as a Preface to it Seventhly that after you have read this Letter when you come to the Acts of the Thebean Martyrs you cannot perceive any difference You find there much the same Matters Style and way of Expression in both of them Eighthly that this Letter in all the Editions of the St. Eucherius's Works is prefixed as a Dedication to the Commentaries on Genesis which have been composed by the Monks two Hundred Years after St. Eucherius as appears by some places of the Morals of Gregory the Great being inserted in them Ninthly that the Author of the Commentaries upon Genesis and the Book of Kings is very probably the Author of this Letter And that he who wrote the Letter composed likewise the Passion of the Agaunian Martyrs Which leads us to this Observation that perhaps we seek abroad for what we may find at home I mean that perhaps the Acts of the Thebean Legion may be the growth of this Land and the Work of some English Writer See how the pretended St. Eucherius speaks in his Commentary upon the Book of Kings The Blessed Pope Gregory Armed with an Evangelical Eloquence governed then in our days the Romish Church when the most Reverend Fathers Austin and Paulinus and their Companions came into England and Preached the word of God to a People who had been Infidels for so many Ages These words have given occasion to the Learned Jesuite Andreas Schottus to think that the Author of these Commentaries I mean the pretended St. Eucherius was not a French but an Englishman I do not know but one might strengthen yet this Conjecture by an Expression which we have observed in the Acts of the Agaunian Martyrs 'T is said there that Mauricius who commanded the Thebean Legion exhorted the Senators of the Souldiers to suffer Martyrdom Senatores militum For though this Office is not altogether unknown and strange in the Roman Militia and that St. Jerom speaks of it in his Letter to Pammachius nevertheless you will hardly find it in those Authors who write about military employments Whereas this Expression was common then amongst the English who used to give it to those persons who held the first rank not so much in consideration of their Age as for their Wisdom and merit One may see in Mr. du Cange the Examples he alledges of it taken from the Laws both of King Edward the Confessor and of Kenulphus King of the Mercians CHAP. IX That in Father Chifflet's Copy as well as in that of Surius the Commander of a Legion is called by a Name not then in use and that there is a fault in the number of the Legionary Souldiers BUT it matters not much to know whether the Author of the Passion of the Thebean Souldiers was English of French These two Warlike Nations will scarcely fall out with one another for the Honour of having given him to the World We must pass now to other Remarks 'T is not only the difference in the Style which shews that the Acts of the Martyrdom of the Thebean Legion are not of the true St. Eucherius but there are yet other manifest proofs of it It appears from the Instructions which St. Eucherius gave to his Son Salonius that this Father knew the use and propriety of Hebrew but if he was the Author of the aforesaid Passion he must needs have been very ignorant even of Latin terms though his Letter upon the contempt of the World shews that he was a great Master of it In the Edition of Surius and of Chifflet St. Mauricius who Commanded the Thebean Legion is called Primicerius Legionis Can one imagine that the true St. Eucherius did not know that the Commander of a Legion was called Praefectus Legionis Let any Body examine carefully all the Old Tombs and Monuments which can give us any light into the Names and Titles of Military Offices from Augustus's time to that of Justinian let any Body read the Notitia Imperii with Pancirole's Notes let any Body turn over the Codes of Theodosius and of Justinian in which there are so many Laws concerning the Civil as well as the Military Offices of the Empire let any Body look over all the Inscriptions of those times which are commonly so full of Titles and you will no where find that the Commander of a Legion was ever called Primicerius
Legionis The Reason of the Name is that whereas formerly they made use of a Paper prepared with Wax therefore they called Primicerii those of their respective Orders who were set down first in the Publick Registers Hence it is that so many of that Name are to be found amongst the divers Orders of Dignities and Magistrates of the Empire There was the Primicerius of the Imperial Chamber of the Wardrobe of the Liberalities of Notaries of the Court of Accounts of the Golden Mace of the Singing-School of the Servants of the Judges of the Readers and of many others whose Names are seen in the Notitia or State of the Empire This term was also received into the Church in the following Ages The dignity of Primicerius is very considerable in the Clergy of Venice And in the Collection of the Councils by Mr. Baluze this Name is given to one Peter a Priest of Alexandria The Church writers have sometimes made use of it Metaphorically calling St. Stephen Primicer of Martyrs and St. Peter the Primicer of the Apostles and at last this term hath been appropriated to these Priests who carry Wax Tapers before Princes and Prelates But as for the Military Officers I confess I cannot well understand what rank and command the Primicerii had there Lipsius and Salmasius don't give us much light thereupon in their Books of the Roman-Militia 'T is true that Goltzius in his Catalogue of Military Dignities makes mention of Primicerius Castrensis But all the Learned do agree that what Goltzius does relate ought not always to be rely'd upon for he writ this as well as the rest of his Books upon other Peoples word and without having seen himself the Medals and Inscriptions which he goes upon If Goltzius hath been mistaken we have found out methinks the cause of his Errour In the Notice or State of the Empire in the Chapter of the Civil and Military Dignities in the West we see one Primicerius Sacri Cubiculi Primicerius Notariorum Castrensis Sacri Palatii c. And perhaps he thought that before Castrensis ought to be understood Primicerius which might give occasion to the Dignity of Primicerius Castrensis set down in his Catalogue But had he minded another Chapter wherein an account is given of the Offices which were sub dispositione viri spectabilis Castrensis he would have observed that this Dignity Castrensis related chiefly to the Sacred-House which was the Emperour's Palace 'T is true indeed that Vegetius speaks of one Primicerius who after he had been a Prefect and in the Praetorship was raised to an Honourable and gainful Military Dignity His Commentators are silent upon this place which yet seems difficult enough But Mr. de Valois does not leave us quite in the dark about this matter in his Notes upon Ammian Marcelline For this Historian having spoken of one Valentinus who was made a Tribune after he had been Primicerius of that Body which was called Protectores Mr. de Valois observeth that from Primicer of Protectors it was usual to be made a Tribune And 't is true that Ammianus Marcellinus speaks in his thirteenth Book of one Gratian who after he had been made Primicer of the Protectors and Tribune was made superintendant to the Military Affairs in Africa Which place does explain that other in a Collection of the Acts of Constantine where 't is said that Constantius Nephew to Claudius the Emperour after he had been first a Protector then a Tribune was at least created President of Dalmatia But we don't find in all this that in St. Eucherius time the Commander of a Legion was called Primicerius Legionis For it is only in the last Ages that it was given to all those who had any Command Mathew Paris in the Year 1240. speaks of an Army where it was demanded who was the Primicerius of it that is who commanded it So that as the term Commander in English is very general and may be applyed to those who either do command a Company or a Regiment or are Governours of Towns and Provinces so likewise in the last Ages in the which 't is likely the Passion of the Thebean Souldiers hath been Forged the quality of a Primicer had a very large signification I am tempted to say specially amongst the English and from thence to make another conjecture viz. That the Author of the Acts of Agaunum was an Englishman We did just now cite Mathew Paris who was a great Ornament to this Nation in the twelfth Century There is an Act in the History of the English Monasteries in the which the Kings Edmond and Edgar qualifie themselves Kings and Primicers of all England Primicerii totius Albionis Therefore this Primicerian Quality being so general at that time 't is no wonder that William of Tyre who lived about Fifty Years before Matthew Paris does mention some Legionary Primicers Honourable Men saith he bearing Ensigns went before the Army as if they had been the Primicers of Legions If it can be inferred from these words that the Legionary Primicers were the Signiferi or Ensign-bearers of those times one ought to confess that in William of Tyre his time things were very much altered and that nothing can be concluded from this expression that may authorize that in the Relation of the Agaunian Martyrs unless one would confess that they suffered Martyrdom about the time of William of Tyre to wit many Ages after the true St. Eucherius But let us examine what Surius Copy and that of Father Chifflet tells us of the number of the Thebean Souldiers That of Surius saith that in the Emperour Maximian's Army there was a Legion of Souldiers called Thebeans and that a Legion was made up of Six Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty six Souldiers according to the custom of the Ancient Romans In Father Chifflet's Manuscript the number of Sixty and six and what is said of the custom of the Ancient Romans is cut off being said only there that a Legion was then made up of Six Thousand and Six Hundred Men. If by the custom of the Ancient Romans spoken of both in Surius and Baronius's Copy was meant the Military Discipline anciently established by Romulus 't is certain that in his time the Legions were composed only of three Thousand Foot and some Horse And let one look over all the times in which that Common-wealth flourished from the expulsion of Kings to Julius Caesar one shall observe many changes in the number of the Souldiers which composed the Legions and that it was sometimes lesser and sometimes greater according to the Exigencies and Revolutions of the Empire But it will be a hard matter to prove that there hath been a time in which the Legions had precisely the number of Souldiers specify'd in those two Copies Livy saith indeed that it was a priviledge of the Legions which were in Macedonia to be composed
more exact and copious than any that had appear'd before For he thought that St. Jerom and Beda had handled this matter too carelesly and it is even reported That the Emperor Charles the Bald to whom he dedicated his Book had set him at work And therefore it is more likely that he did every thing answerable to the Zeal of his Age for Martyrs and Reliques Which notwithstanding his diligence and all the care he took could effect no more than the Discovery which he made of two other Theb. Souldiers namely Cassius and Florentius who are also recorded by Helinand But further had it passed for current at that time that the three Saints in St. Maximus's Sermon were Theb. Souldiers 't is very improbable that they could have escaped the diligent Search of Vsuard If after this any one should alledge to us the Lives of Saints as the Legends of Octavius Aventitius and Soluter we have no other Answer for them but that there are none so blind as they that will not see But since it hath so fallen out that Maximus his Sermon hath given us an occasion to speak of St. Ambrose we ought not to pass by without some Reflection the Silence of this Father in this particular viz. concerning the Theb. Legion and their Martyrdom though in an hundred places of his Works he speaks of Saints and famous Martyrs in general The time he lived was not long after that wherein it is supposed that the Theb. Legion was cut off He was Bishop at Milan not very far distant from Agaunum where this Martyrdom is said to have happened and he had conversed sometimes with Theodorus Bishop of Octodurum or Martigni where Agaunum is situated Both these Bishops were present at the Council of Aquileia assembled to give a decision in the cause of Palladius and Secundianus Arrian Bishops in Illyria They met again at Milan where Theodorus signed the Letter which St. Ambrose and the other Bishops wrote to Pope Siricius concerning the condemnation of Jovinian who had uttered blasphemous Expressions against the Virginity of the Blessed Mother of God And though the false St. Eucherius in the Letter already related does write to the Bishop Salvius That Theodorus whom he calls vir anterioris Temporis had informed Isaac Bishop of Geneva of all the circumstances of the Martyrdom of the Thebean Legion it does not appear that he ever spoke of it to St. Ambrose seeing there is not the least notice tak'n of it in all the Works of this Father But let us come now to another sort of Writers and ask the Fathers who have composed Chronologies or Church-Histories These perhaps will tell us something of the Martyrdom of the Theb. Legion for this is not so inconsiderable a Transaction as can be suppos'd to have been overlook'd or lost amongst the Croud of those great Events which they had to relate It is a memorable matter of Fact worthy of their Pens and to be recommended to Posterity for it is the Martyrdom of a whole Legion and the most Famous Historians of the Church either liv'd at the time of this suppos'd Martyrdom or wrote about a hundred Years after I mean Eusebius Socrates Sozomen Theodoret Evagrius Jerom Orosius Sulpitius Severus If this Martyrdom were true it is impossible that they should have been ignorant of it and had they known it 't is not to be imagin'd they would all have conspired together to leave us in the dark about it To begin with Eusebius of whom those who favour him least as Joseph Scaliger do yet agree that with great care he hath search'd into the Original Pieces concerning the Foundation of the First Sees the succession of their Bishops the Persecutions moved by enraged Pagans against the Primitive Christian Religion the many Conflicts of the Blessed Martyrs for its Defense and the Victories which their Faith and constancy have obtained over Infidelity and Errour St. Jerom or whosoever is the Author of the Letter to Chromatius and Heliodorus agrees with the Remarks of President Cousin upon the care and diligence of Eusebius in collecting the Acts of the Martyrs It is said in that Letter that the Emperour Constantine at his arrival at Cesarea permitted Eusebius to ask him whatever he had most a mind to and that Eusebius desired him to command that they should send him from all the Courts and Tribunals of Judicature throughout the Empire all the Processes Tryals and Sentences concerning Martyrs that so he might be particularly inform'd of their right Names Qualities and Numbers and also of the different kinds of their Torments and Death and of the Provinces Towns and Days of their Excecutions and lastly with what Patience and Courage they had suffered their Torments Therefore Antipater Bishop of Bostra in Arabia thinking to obscure the Glory and Reputation of Eusebius said in his confutation of Origen's Apology I allow Eusebius to be excellently vers'd in History and that there is nothing in the Monuments of Antiquity which he is unacquainted with but the Emperours Authority favouring his design it was an easy thing for him to gather up whatever Writings were scattered all over the World So that Eusebius having so many ways of being imformed of the Truth of the Agaunian Martyrdom no body can deny but he is a well qualify'd Witness to be call'd and heard upon this Matter of Fact And so much the rather because he not only was alive at the time of this Martyrdom but of age to know what was then transacted In the first Book of Constantine's Life he saith that in his youth he first saw this Prince in Palestina in the Retinue of the Emperour Dioclesian And in the Third Book of his Church History speaking of Dionysius of Alexandria he saith that it was in his time that he was raised to the Honour of the Episcopal Chair seeing therefore that it is agreed on all hands that Dionysius of Alexandria dyed in the twelfth Year of the Empire of Gallienus's Reign Eusebius his Birth must necessarily precede the Death of this Prince The Learned Doctor Cave conjectures that he was born about the Year 270. As to the time of Gallienus's Death we are under great uncertainties Cardinal Baronius placeing it in the Year 269 upon the Testimony of Eusebius who will have him to have Reigned but fifteen years but Antonio Pagi is of a different opinion and thinks he lived some few Years longer and this upon the Authority of a Medal of Gallienus spoken of by Mezabarba with this Inscription P. M. TR. PO. XVI CON. VII So that it appears to be a difficult thing to assign precisely the time of Eusebius his birth But it is not our business here to cast the Horoscope of this Father or to make an exact Calculation of the time of his Nativity it is sufficient to our purpose that the circumstances here specify'd will make it appear that Eusebius was at least fifteen or sixteen Years old when Maximian went into
Gaule in the Year 285 the very time wherein the Theb. Legion was suppos'd to have been Massacred We are then much in the right to produce Eusebius in this cause as a Witness very fit to inform us about the Truth of Falsehood of the Martyrdom of the Theb. Legion But in all his Works there is not one Word spok'n either of this Legion or of this Martyrdom However he had often a fair opportunity to speak of it seeing that his whole Ecclesiastical History is chiefly filled up with long accounts of the Persecutions and Conflicts of Martyrs His Eighth Book is nothing but an ample Narrative both of Dioclesian and Maximians Cruelties and of all the great Examples of Zeal and Constancy which the Christians of all Orders and Conditions soever gave in those times If any ancient Writer had occasion to speak of the Theb. Legion without doubt it was Eusebius but since he hath said nothing of it his silence is an Historical Demonstration that it is only a meer Fable To this we might add that the same silence is observed by Socrates Sozomen Theodoret and Evagrius who have now and then pick'd up some Facts that are wanting in Eusebius That St. Jerom who hath followed Eusebius in his Chronology and carefully collected those things that have escaped his knowledge saith nothing of the Theb. Legion That Sulpitius Severus whose Ecclesiastical History goes beyond the Aera of Martyrs and who is so much noted for his great credulity and fondness of opinion about Saints and Miracles had not heard of it at the beginning of the fifth Age That we find it not in Paulus Orosius who speaks of the Bagauds of Amandus and Aelianus of Maximian's Expedition into Gaule and greedily swallows any thing that does but serve his turn whether well grounded or no as Monsieur Dupin observes and sometimes even debaseth the Dignity of History so much as to insert into it meer popular Reports according to Vossius's Judgment However the Fable of the Theb. Legion being not yet brought into the World in the Reign of the Emperours Arcadius and Honorius wherein he lived we do not see he hath adorned the Seven Books of his History with the recital of it It remains then only for us to examin whether according to the Principles of the Doctors of the Romish Church we may not infer a good Conclusion from this Negative Argument John Launoy a Doctor of Paris in his Dissertation upon the Authority of Negative Arguments lays down this Rule that we may reasonably conclude the untruth of a Fact from it 's not being attested either by contemporary Writers or by any Author within two hundred Years after He confesses That this Space of two hundred Years is indeed too long but that he feared if he had chalked out a shorter he should thereby have drawn upon himself the reproaches and calumnies of most People who are not willing that too strict a Search should be made after Truth But what if Mr. de Launoy had been so very complaisant to the Monks and the Admirers of Fables and Legends as to throw 'em in t'other fifty Years yet this would not in the least have weakened the strength of our Argument since that 't is almost Three hundred Years after Maximian's Expedition into Gaule that not one Writer hath spoken of the Martyrdom of the Theb. Legion 'T is true that upon the Superstitious Party of the Popish Church's being alarm'd by Mr. de Launoy's Book because they saw that the Method in it was like to pull down a great number of their Saints and would bring into contempt their Miracles and Reliques John Baptist Thiers a Divine of Paris endeavour'd to re assure them by a Dissertation in answer to that of Mr de Launoy which indeed he did not think worth his while to answer or to shew the vanity of his Arguments and Evasions Now this is the Tenet of John Baptist of Thiers We grant that a negative Argument ought to be of some force in Historical Accounts when in matter of very ancient Facts the Argument is taken from the general silence of Grave Learned and Diligent Writers who were not lightly wrought upon but prudent in their Judgment and Choice and who have succeeded one another during many Ages Where notwithstanding that all his Words be exactly measured and fitted to his design viz. to render negative Arguments of no use by putting them under impossible conditions c. yet nevertheless we desire no other concessions than what he himself grants For the Fact here in question is very Ancient and no body can deny but the Writers here spoken of are some of the most Grave Learned and Diligent that ever appeared in the Church and that for a continued succession of two or three Ages and yet not one of them but is wholly silent upon the Martyrdom of the Theb. Legion Now after this long silence on the one side let us see who those were who first open'd their Mouths on the other and who should these be but two Authors who lived towards the end of the sixth Century namely Gregory of Tours and Venantius Honorius Fortunatus the latter of which was a Poet and consequently more likely to make use of their old Privilege in the Verse Pictoribus atque Poetis He hath Translated into Verse an Abridgment of St. George's Legend which Baronius confesses to have been originally writ by the Arrians Seeing then that this Poet was so grosly mistaken in attributing the Character of a Saint to one who was an Arrian and a wicked Man may we not think but his credulity might have been likewise imposed upon concerning another matter of Fact of an older date than this was And as for Gregory of Tours Mr. Dupin observes that he was very credulous and easy in the matter of Miracles and made no scruple of recounting uncertain and fabulous Histories Which agrees with what Abbot Hilduinus wrote concerning him to the Emperor Lewis We ought to Pardon the Simplicity of this Pious Man for having written several things contrary to the Truth of History not indeed out of any crafty design of imposing upon the World but meerly through his credulity And seeing that Fortunatus took a journey to Tours where he hoped to have been cured of his sore eyes by the intercession of St. Martin and that he had a great esteem and affection for Gregory it is very likely that he received all that he knew concerning the Theb. Legion from this good Bishop Now to let you see the very Foundation on which Gregories own belief of this matter was establish'd I shall only transcribe the Place where he speaks of it in the Tenth Book of his History of France I found saith he a little Chest in St. Martin's Treasury in which our Fathers had deposited the Reliques of the Agaunian Martyrs as I was informed by some very aged Priests The very Seal which their Piety had put to it was