rational discourse of the true use of Councils and their Authoritative determinations in the Christian Church It is not say they to make new Doctrines of Faith but to protect the old Truths against the wantonness of Innovators so that if all men would be content with the Ancient Faith it would be needless for the Church to make any new Declarations but when men leave the old Track of Religion to loose themselves in their own new contrived Labyrinths and corrupt the plain and simple Truth with over nice and curious Inventions it is then necessary for the Church to stop their Vanity by its Authoritative Declaration of the Truth it self Not as if there were something defective in the Faith and the Church were always adding to it but to make such wholesome Provisions as it judges most convenient against all Innovated Doctrines And this they exemplifie by â—ll the Decrees of the several Councils against the Prophane Novelties of Arius Pâ—â—tinus Macedonius and Nestorius and shew that they were only Fences to guard and defend the simplicity of the Ancient Faith against the petulâ—nt Assaulâ—s of these several Hereticks and that they declare to be the ground of their present determination against Eutyches that it was only a Declaration of the old Truth against a new Heresie And much more to this purpose and it is the true State of the Authority of Councils to make Decrees to stop the vanities and singularities of Innovators and when they are made they become obligatory by their own Authority and nothing can hinder or take off their Obligation but an apparent contrariety to the Divine Law So that it neither concerns nor becomes the Subject to make a strict and Philosophical search after the truth of the Decree it is enough to him that it is not apparently false In all other Cases the Authority of the Church is sufficient to justifie his Obedience before God by whose Providence they were placed under their Government And the want of this just Civility to Superiors has in all Ages been the true Original of all disturbances in the Christian Church And this was the sence of the Emperor himself who immâ—dâ—ately upon the Receipt of this Report from the Fathers publishes an Edict to the talking Citizens of Constantinople forbidâ—ing all farther disputations about the Christian Faith in that all Controversies were now determined by the Authority of the Council against which he says it were prophaneness and sacriledge for any man to presume to set up his own Opinion and no less madness then to grâ—pe after more Light at noon day and therefore after this clear discovery of the â—ruth whoever will not acquiesce in it but makes farther Enquiry he can neither seek nor find any thing but falshood And for this reason all farther disputes are peremptorily forbidden as an insolent and intolerable affront to the Sacred Authority of the Council and this is enacted under the forementioned Penalties that he declared in the 6th Session for the Confirmation of their Exposition of Faith Deposition of the Clergy Disbanding of Souldiers and Banishment of Citizens And this was afterward alledged as a proper instance by Facundus Hermianensis to the Emperor Justinian against the condemnation of the tria capitula after they had been tryed and acquitted by the Council of Calcedon with this remark upon it The Emperor Marcian judged it no less than Prophaneness and Sacriledg to review the Sacerdotal Judgment and therefore that being once pass't it was an end of all Controversie Here behold a Prince indeed a true Father of the Common-Wealth and a true Son of the Church that does not dictate but follow Ecclesiastical Decrees declaring by his Edict That whoever after the settlement of the truth shall pretend to make any farther inquiry can seek for nothing but Error For this saying forever blessed be his Memory all the World over who not only recover'd the sinking Empire but also restored lasting Peace to the poor distracted Church This Edict was reinforced by a second a Month after and Copies of it sent to all the several Praefecti-praetorio for its more effectual Execution And they are both revived in a third Rescript published the year following in which this Heresie and all the ways of propagating it are supprest by all the punishments against all other Heretiques So that it is in reality a neat Compendium of all the Laws under the Title de Haereticis in the Theodosian Code And because the bastard Council of Ephesus under Dioscorus in which Flavianus Eusebius Theodoret and many other Catholick Bishops were condemn'd had been ratified by a Rescript of Theodosius he here cancels its full force as to all the Sufferers that were surviving And because the Eutychian Itch was got among the Monks of Jerusalem and Alexandria to the raising of botches and tumults especially at Jerusalem by the disorderly behavior of one Theodosius who made himself Bishop of the place the Emperor and Empress write to them to desist at their farther peril But it seems some were stubborn and irreclaimable and no sort of Men so obstinate as those that live remote from the Conversation of the World and therefore in the year 455 the Emperor renews his former Rescript particularly to be put in Execution at Alexandria where the Heresie most reign'd and that is the last time that he appear'd against them And thus in four years time by protecting the Church in its due Authority and by abetting their Decrees with Penal Laws and by seeing his own Laws put in effectual Execution he put an end to this powerful and prevailing Heresie though it had gain'd both the Eunuchs and the Empire to its side § XVII And thus this great Prince this pattern of Government to all his Successors as Evagrius stiles him having settled all things both in Church and State two years after dyes and is succeeded in the year 457 by Leo who was chosen by the unanimous Vote both of the Senate and the Army a Prince says Nicephorus that would have carried the Election in the most flourishing times of the old Common-Wealth when only worth gave right and title to Preferm%nt a Man of that strict and severe Vertue that he must have been chosen Augustus by the Cato's themselves But as great a Man as he was he found it an hard task to keep things in that good order in which they were left by his Predecessor For no sooner came the news of Marcian's death to Alexandria that Metropolis of Sedition but a few of the Eutychian Party among whom were only two Bishops accompanied with the City-rabble make Timotheus Aelurus their Bishop and most inhumanely murther Proterius at Divine service who had been chosen to that See by the Bishops of the Province upon the deposition of Dioscorus and not content with his blood they treat the dead body with all the circumstances of rudeness and barbarity Upon this Complaints are carried to the Emperor by both Parties
ancient Canons And that was the custom of all Popes at that time following the dance of Innocent the first to make the Canons speak what themselves pleased and when they pleased to speak Contradictions But in the time of Leo the great Hilarius Bishop of Arles and a mettlesom Man would not be content with his Metropolitical Authority but sets up for a Patriarchal Supremacy over all France and Independency upon Rome This transports that proud and jealous Pope beyond all bounds of revenge and outrage and upon it he writes in great fury to the Bishops of France to depose him from his Metropolitical Authority and cancels all Acts of his Government in that capacity And as for the Grant of his Predecessor Zosimus to that See he has the confidence to pretend that it was only temporary and personal though by it he imposed as grosly upon Zosimus as Zosimus himself did upon the ancient Canons and to ratifie all he procures this Imperial Rescript commanding absolute Obedience to all his Commands and in effect erecting an universal Supremacy for him But the matter the stile and the spirit of the Rescript too much betray the rough hand of Leo himself in it And it was no hard Matter for so bold a Man to extort what he pleased from such a softly Prince And yet this very same Man when Hilarius dyed got Ravennius a very weak Man to succeed him and then restored the Metropolitical Authority to him and his See and thus did these Men set up and pull down as served the ends of their own Ambition and all out of pure Reverence to the ancient Canons And to speak a plain truth plainly they meerly lyed themselves into their universal Supremacy as I shall shew more at large not only from this instance of Arles but from two other great transactions on foot at the very same time that is their Usurpation over the Churches of Africk and Illyricum And though in the first they were shamefully baffled by the Africans who exposed their gross and scandalous Forgeries to the World yet it shews that they trusted to nothing so much at the time of their usurpation as the Sovereign Power of lying But to keep to our present business His next Law is to confirm all the Rescripts of former Emperors Pagan as well as Christian to out-law the Manichees This Law was made upon the discovery and confession of some very foul matter by one of the Ring-leaders of that Sect what the Fact was it was not thought decent to express and it is only in general thus described Quorum incesta perversitas Religionis nomine Lupanaribus quoque ignota vel pudenda committit such a foul incest under pretext of Religion that it was not so much as named in the publick Stews His next Law is against the Robbers of Tombs and Sepulchres it is a very severe one and one of the most eloquent for the stile in the whole Collection Servants and poor People convicted of it are punisht with death Men of fortune with forfeiture of half their Estates and all their Honors Clergy-Men with deposition from their Orders and perpetual banishment And as for all Governors that shall neglect the execution of this Law they forfeit both Estate and Honor. His last Law is to regulate the Bishops Courts and to revive some Laws of former Emperors relating to the Clergy it gives the Bishops power of Judicature praeeunte vinculo compromissi by way of Arbitration but no otherwise It allows Bishops and Presbyters to appear in the Civil Courts by their Proxies for all Causes unless Personal Crimes and lastly it prescribes what Persons may or may not be received into Holy Orders according to several fore-mention'd Rescripts of former Emperors § XV. But the most material Law of this reign is still behind and that is the Law to confirm the Decrees of the great Council of Ephesus that was both call'd and ratified by Theodosius the Younger which I have reserved to this place to treat of it by it self because as it is the greatest transaction of this Reign so is it another eminent Instance of the right Concurrence of the Powers of Church and State in the determination of Ecclesiastical Controversies and enacting of Ecclesiastical Laws and Canons All the old Schisms and Heresies being vanquisht by the Methods already described such is the wantonness of Humane Wit that it fell upon contriving new Conceits for its own sport and entertainment There is such a natural Vanity in some Mens Tempers that they can scarce live without singularities and innovations from whence comes that necessity of Heresies that St Paul speaks of they are the certain effects of Pride and Pedantry and as long as there are and will be born in all Ages Men of that Complexion nothing can hinder them from venting their own novel and home-spun Metaphysicks And therefore it cannot be expected that the Church should be altogether free from Heresies for that cannot be done without an alteration of Humane Nature it is enough that it is furnisht with means to stop and cure the Disease whenever it breaks out in the body of the Church as we have seen great numbers of Botches dispersed and reduced to nothing by the right exercise and concurrence of the Civil and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction And after this time it is observable that Heresies were not so long-lived for now the Method of their cure being understood by experience which when all is done is the best Art of Physick it was so soon dispatch't that they rarely survived their Author and after one sentence effectually executed they scarce ever put the Government to a second trouble as will appear by the following History Nestorius being chosen to the swelling Throne of Constantinople by Theodosius the Younger out of the Church of Antioch to avoid or rather end a violent competition at home he brings along with him one Anastasius a Presbyter his inseparable Friend and Companion and Valesius is pleased to be so critical as to affirm that he was his Syncellus an Office in the Pallaces of Patriarchs who had power to choose what Presbyters they pleased to cohabit with them who were therefore stil'd Syncelli or Concellanei But I doubt this learned Man here derives this Office too high for we find no foot-steps of any such State in the Records of the Church till after the Institution of Patriarchates by the Council of Calcedon and then we have frequent mention of it in History though nothing but deep silence before But whatever he were whereas the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Mother of God had been so familiarly given to the Virgin Mary by the Ancients that it was by custom become her proper Title and always annext to her name against this Anastasius inveighs in a Sermon and affirms that she ought not to be stil'd 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mother of God but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Mother of Man But
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
thought it sufficient to condemn the Heresie it self without imposing his private Anathema's as necessary Conditions of Peace and Articles of Christian Faith upon the Catholick Church And this was if we pursue it to its head the true Case of the tria Capitula and St. Cyril was so well convinced of it at last that he let fall his Anathema's and allowed the Epistle of Ibas that condemn'd them of rashness Natalis Alexander has written a long dissertation to prove that the tria capitula were justly condemn'd but I find very light weight in the Arguments For as for Theodorus and the several Fragments alledged out of him by Marius Mercator and the Council it self I can discern no designed Nestorianism in them and at worst they seem no worse than unwary Expressions before the starting of the Controversie in his zeal against the Heresie of Apollinaris and so he is excused by St. Cyril himself in his Epistle to John of Antioch And as for the sixty Capitula collected by Vigilius out of his Writings and charged with blasphemy in his Constitutum it is plain that he draws blood of his Premises to wring out his Conclusion And in real truth Church-men were by this time as Baronius himself complains in this very case grown too nice and speculative in Matters of Faith and were not content with the simplicity of the old Tradition but were every day starting new Points of subtilty in so much that it was a very difficult thing for a Man to express himself so warily as to avoid the exceptions of one or other Party And this Facundus Hermianensis insists upon beside his vindication of particular Passages from their perverse Glosses through his whole third Book which this late learned Author either ought to have answer'd or to have let the Argument alone and withal shews that there are none of the Ancients who lived before the birth of the Heresie out of whom he is not able to alledg as offensive Passages as any that they have cull'd out of the Writings of Theodorus And therefore it is not fairly done of our Historian to conclude against the tria Capitula so severely as he has done without examining the Arguments of Facundus in their defence when he has so long since prevented all his Objections But more particularly when he has written so many learned and accurate Books in defence of Theodorus and his Writings and the several Passages objected against him by his Adversaries I must confess it looks somewhat odd that this Writer should over-look all these large Discourses and only cast his Eye upon one stragling Passage that was casually cast in upon another Man's Cause as he has done out of the 7 th Book and 6 th Chapter for that is all that he cites out of Facundus in the Cause of Theodorus But it was wisely done to take so little notice of that acute Writer that has for ever bafled the Cause of the tria Capitula and as he was never answer'd then so I am sure he never can be now I mean as to the main design of his Discourse abstracted from his African heat that for a time run him beyond his Argument into a needless Schism As for that part o◠the Argument against Theodorus that he was put out of the Dypticks of his own Church I answer that it is certain that he was kept in all Theodoret's time i. e. to the year 457. but when he was put out and by whom is uncertain and it is very probably conjectur'd by the learned Jesuite Garnerius that it was done by Petrus Fullo and the Eutychians in the Reigns of Basiliscus or Zeno when all things were in confusion and the Eutychians under the Conduct of Fullo committed whatever Disorders they pleased and then it was that they might with ease suppress the old Dypticks and in their room coin new ones and so put out Theodorus that they accused of Nestorianism and put in Cyril whom the Eutychians boasted to be Head and Father of their Party The only proof against Theodoret is taken from his Writings and Actings against St. Cyril in opposing his 12 Anathema's But this as I have shewen above is founded upon meer mistake as if his Zeal in the case had been ingaged in behalf of the Nestorian Heresie whereas it was only levell'd against the Bigotry of Cyril in imposing his own nice Propositions upon the Catholick Church And when Cyril recall'd them or rather let them fall they were friends and Theodoret was as ready to anathematise the Nestorian Heresie as himself ever was in the greatest heat or huff of the Controversie And the case of Ibas was the same nothing but his zeal against the rigor of Cyril's Anathema's as is evident from the whole Tenor of the Epistle it self And therefore in the Result of all I cannot but think that this packt Council and so it was would have done better to have let these Men lie quiet in their Graves when they had been Canonically discharged upon fair Trial by the great Council of Calcedon though they had been guilty of those mis-prisions of Heresie for which their Ashes were now arraign'd and condemn'd But yet when a needless Decree was made against them I cannot but think too that the dissenting Bishops would have been much better advised to let it pass rather than to have raised a Schism in the Church about it And so as far as we can find by the Records of the Church the Illyricans and Africans did in a short time though the Schismaticks in the Western Church kept up the separation with great zeal and fury into after-ages And thus having given a true and impartial account of this Transaction of Justinian that created him so many enemies both in his own time and afterward as long as the unhappy Schism lasted I now come to a particular Examination of the several Accusations against him by the supposed Procopius but real Alemannus And when I have vindicated this greatest of Princes from their unmannerly slanders it will be time to put a Conclusion to this work and to end it with his life because with it ends the Body of the Imperial Law § XXIV And though this may at first sight seem to be no more then a private Controversie concerning the reputation of one man that has been dead above this 1200 years and so at best but an entertainment of curiosity rather then any useful enquiry for the benefit of our own Age Yet granting it were so it is a duty that all men owe to those great Persons that in their times were Benefactors to the World Fathers and Patrons to all Posterity leaving them a better World then themselves found to preserve their Monuments from dust but much more from dirt not only to honour their names but vindicate their honours from all unworthy aspersions And if any man may challenge this respect it is Justinians right who as will appear by his Story was as great
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
own Nation by which Artifice the Empire was deliver'd from its greatest Plague to all future Ages Now can any Man be so disingenuous as to cry out here what need of this Expence or can any Man assign me an Instance of Money better laid out for the good of the Common-Wealth than to destroy so great an Enemy for ever without the loss of a Subject And therefore though the People of Constantinople at first murmur'd against it to see the Barbarians depart loaded with so much Wealth yet when they saw the Event they could not enough praise and admire the Emperor's great Conduct and Wisdom § XXXI The next Topick of Calumny is oppression and continual fleecing of the Subject but without any instance to abet the Charge and therefore I need at present only oppose to it the contrary Character that is given of this Prince by his Successor Quem non hominem pietate benignâ Continuit fovit monuit nutrivit amavit Et tamen innocuo plures voluere nocere Non caret invidiâ regni locus But I shall not concern my self to wipe it off till we come to his allegation of Particulars in the 11 th Chapter and there we shall see that all the ground of this pretended Crime was the Emperor's putting the Laws in execution against Jews Heathens Samaritans Sodomites and the whole herd of Hereticks which our ingenuous Author is pleased to surmise was not done out of any regard to Religion but out of pure love to Fines and Confiscations But in the next place he was very like Domitian in the shape and features of his Body who being torn in pieces by the Assassinates the Senate decreed that there should be no Statue or any other Monument erected to his Memory but his Empress being a vertuous Lady and extremely beloved of all Men they gave her leave to ask what she pleased and it should be granted She begs her Lords Body and leave withal to erect only one Statue of Brass to his Memory This is granted and she to leave a Monument of the Assassinates Cruelty to Posterity gathers the fragments of the Body and unites them into one Spectacle of horror from whence was taken his Statue that to this day stands at the descent or foot of the Capitol What pains are here taken to hale in a pitiful piece of Malice For what if Justinian had the ill luck to be like Domitian what follows but that Domitian had the good luck to be like Justinian But not to honor so mean a Calumny with any Answer the story it self is all fable and ignorance for there is no such Report in any of the ancient Greek or Latin Historians Suetonius Dio Cassius Philostratus Sextus Aurelius who are very nice and particular in the Story relate it quite another way in all circumstancâ—s They say nothing of his being cut in pieces but only that he was kill'd with seaven Wounds Nothing of his Bodies being begg'd by the Empress Domitia but that it was buried by Phillis the Chamber-Maid nothing of her erecting a Statue as a Monument of the barbarous Cruelty of the Conspirators but that she her self was the head and Contriver of the whole Conspiracy Where then this barbarous Writer could pick up the Fable I cannot divine unless it be that he lived in an Age when it was the fashion to debauch all the ancient History with Fable and Romance But all this says Alemannus detracts nothing from the truth of the Procopian report because the Ancients do not contradict it But all this say I demonstrates it to be a palpable false-hood because they do nothing but contradict it Yet however he says the thing is evidently proved by the brazen Statue extant in the Authors own time But this pieces exactly with all the rest of the story for there never was any such Statue seen before or since And yet such a remarkable thing could never have escaped the observation of other Writers if it had continued so long a time in so eminent a place So that the Statue is so far from proving the rest that it disproves it self and only proves that the Founder of the Tale lived in a barbarous Age when Men scribled any thing without being accountable for the truth of their Reports But beside all this 't is very likely and becoming Romantick tale that when a Man has been hewed and chopt to bits they should again be so pieced together that from thence any Man should be so subtile-sighted as to discern the exact shape of his Body and Features of his Face And yet that we must suppose in this story of the great resemblance between Domitian and Justinian Though when all is done we are still harping upon the burden of Don John for if we compare their several descriptions as they are drawn by Suetonius and our pretended Procopius Domitian was a very tall and a very fat man but Justinian of a middle stature and a moderate habit of body But however if he resemble him not in shape he did so in Rapine and Cruelty as for example he it was that was the first Prince that punish't Hereticks with temporal Penalties Enacting Dracho's Laws against those innocent Dissenters Montanists Sabbatians Arians Nestorians Manichees Jews Sodomites Pagans and Astrologers only to enrich himself by seizing the forfeitures of their Estates This indeed is a Tragical Story but so like the Author himself that it would have been great pity if it had been omitted And though it is more then enough confuted by the account that I have given above of this Princes Ecclesiastical Laws yet because the passage is of a remarkable strein and so well stuft with lucky mistakes I will be at the pains to transcribe it to satisfie the Reader that it is impossible that it could ever have been written by any man that was not an utter stranger to all the Affairs of that Age. Thus then the black Tragedy begins There are in the Roman Empire divers Sects of Christians commonly call'd Heresies as Montanists Sabatians and several others that poysoned the People All these he commanded to quit their own Sentiments threatning the obstinate among other Penalties with the great punishment of Intestability In the Temples of these Hereticks especially those of the Arian Sect were treasured up incredible heaps of Wealth so that neither the whole Senate it self nor any other eminent Body of the Roman Empire could compare with these Churches for abundance of Wealth and Riches All their Furniture and Ornaments were of Gold Silver and precious Stones of value not to be estimated and number not to be computed beside vast Purchases and Estates in all parts of the World no Prince having ever before this time given them any disturbance so that they were able to relieve and maintain out of their common stock great numbers of the Orthodox Christians The Treasures of these wealthy Churches were seized on and made a Prey to the Emperor to the utter undoing of
which he has no better defence than that Theophanes thought they were too severe so that himself could not but detest them And yet Theophanes says no such thing but only that they were severely punisht without any intimation of dislike much lesss of abhorrence But it was executed upon two Thracian Bishops to the great scandal of the Church whereas Constantine the Great would rather have cover'd them in the Fact with his Imperial Robe That was a great Complement of that great Emperor and 't is likely enough that if the Crime had been known to himself alone such was his generous Nature that he would never have divulged it But that was not Justinian's case for the Crime was become publick before it came to his knowledg and after that it had been a Scandal with a witness to let it pass unpunisht But that after all is the thing that gauls at the Court of Rome that a Secular Prince should challenge any Power to correct Ecclesiastical Persons which though it has long obtain'd as an unquestionable Rule in that Court yet I have proved through the whole series of this History that it was both claim'd by all the Emperors and acknowledg'd by all the Popes and Councils But beside as for this story of Theophanes concerning the two Bishops by my Rules of critick Law I must pass it for meer fable because destitute of timely and sufficient Testimony For so I cannot but esteem the Reports of all Writers that live at too great a distance of time from the matter of Fact And that is the case of this little Story there are no foot-steps of any Record of it either in that or the next Ages whereas Theophanes that was its first Founder reports it not till above 250 years after it was done and then what reason have we to believe him in a matter of Fact that had been so many years beyond the memory of Mankind any more than if he had lived at twice the distance of time For when a thing is once got out of the reach of the memory of Man an hundred and a thousand years are the same thing And then it is never to be admitted to any capacity of belief without some more credible and timely Records And for that reason I have industriously neglected all the latter Greek Historians as to any matter of Fact done at any considerable distance from their own Age. For if they are voucht by any more ancient Authority that is proof enough without them if they are not their own is none at all And the truth is they are so much addicted to the humor of patching Fables to the ancient Records of the Church that whatever we find in them not reported before them we ought for that reason to conclude it meer Fable and Fiction But in the last place which way will he bring off his Author in finding fault with the severity of this Law for reaching such as were Offenders before its publication when the Law declares it self to have been only enacted in pursuance of the known establisht Laws of the Empire especially the famous Law of Constantiâ—s and Constans that was ever after in force What a childish piece of malice then is it in this Author to insinuate as if this Law had taken hold upon Offenders at a time when there was no known Law against them As for the Law against Astrologers our Librarian has so much wit as not to touch it and to leave his Author in the lurch to answer for himself For these Men commonly call'd Astrologers that is such as profess to read all Mens Fates in the Stars were ever lookt upon as the most mischievous and most dangerous Traitors to the Government and any Man that has but cast an eye upon the Imperial Story cannot but know that there never was any one Act of Treason contrived against the Prince's Life or Govâ—rnment without their encouragement or direction as in the present case Joannes Cappadox was put upon his Treason against Justinian by their instigation And for this reason it was ever punisht with the greatest severity by all Princes as well Heathen as Christian. Under the heathen Emperors down from Caesar himself by banishment under the Christian from Constantine by death And yet this wretched Satyrist is so infatuated as to inveigh against it as a new piece of Cruelty in Justinian only for setting them in a disgraceful posture upon Camels and so whipping them through the City when by the Law they ought to have been executed But upon occasion of this fierce censure of the counterfeit Procopius upon the Emperor's prosecuting of Heathens and Hereticks it is become a dispute what Religion the true Procopius adhered to or whether to any at all Alemannus will have him an Atheist Rivius and Eichelius a bigotted Pagan but they are both apparently too severe and equally in the wrong when through all his Writings he expresses so high a sense of honor and kindness for the Christian Religion especially in his last Books de Aedificiis that are for the most part a Panegyrick upon Justinian's great zeal to advance and propagate the Christian Faith And let the Reader only peruse the first Book of that History and he will soon be satisfied of the Author 's own sense of Religion But they say that he was only a counterfeit Christian for Interest and Preferment But this they may say if they please of any Man as well as Procopius But he has dropt some loose and slite Expressions of the Christian Religion and both Parties instance in the passage out of his Books de Bello Gothico wherein he expresses a great dislike of the Controversies on foot at that time that is the violent heats about the tria Capitula Which it is evident from his own description of them that he did not in the least understand but supposed them to have been too curious and philosophical Inquiries into the Secrets of the divine Nature whereas he says it is satisfaction enough to him that God Almighty govern'd the World with a wise and good Providence and as for other more nice Speculations every Man might for him quietly enjoy his own Opinion This though it be very false Politicks as we have seen by the Henoticon and our own late too dear bought Experience yet it is neither Atheism nor Paganism For a good and wise Providence that governs the World is the only Principle opposed to Atheism and though it may thô very hardly be consistent with philosophick Paganism yet it is the fundamental Article of Christianity Now the dispute as he states it was not between the two Religions but about an Argument common to both viz. as he supposed the Nature of God and like a Gentleman he frankly declares his Opinion against all bigottry in these nice and obscure Controversies and thinks that Men ought not to inquire farther into the divine Nature than the Wisdom and Goodness of his Providence This is