Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/198

 180 THE DECLINE AND FALL C H A P, supplications for the safety and prosperity of the two '' emperors, his lawful sovereigns. With modest confi- dence he ])Ieaded the privilege of a citizen, in refusing to give any answer to some invidious and indeed illegal questions which the proconsul had proposed. A sen- tence of banishment was pronounced as the penalty of Cyprian's disobedience ; and he was conducted without delay to Curubis, a free and maritime city of Zeugitania, in a pleasant situation, a fertile territory, and at the distance of about forty miles from Carthage ". The exiled bishop enjoyed the conveniencies of life and the consciousness of virtue. His reputation was diffused over Africa and Italy ; an account of his behaviour was published for the edification of the christian world"; and his solitude was frequently interrupted by the let- ters, the visits, and the congratulations of the faithful. On the arrival of a new proconsul in the province, the fortune of Cyprian appeared for some time to wear a still more favourable aspect. He was recalled from ban- ishment ; and though not yet permitted to return to Carthage, his own gardens in the neighbourhood of the capital were assigned for the place of his residence p. His con- At length, exactly one year'' after Cyprian was first apprehended, Galerius Maximus, proconsul of Africa, received the imperial warrant for the execution of the christian teachers. The bishop of Carthage was sen- sible that he should be singled out for one of the first victims; and the frailty of nature tempted him to with- " See Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 3 ; Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. part, iii. p. 96 ; Shaw's Travels, p. 90; and for the adjacent country, (which is terminated by cape Bona, or the promontory of Mercury,) I'Afrique de Marmol, torn, ii. p. 494. There are the remains of an aqueduct near Curubis, or Curbis, at present altered into Gurbes ; and Dr. Shaw read an inscription which styles that city Colonia Fulvia. The deacon Pontius (in Vit. Cyprian, c. 12.) calls it " apricum et competentem locum, hospitium pro voluntate se- cretum, et quicquid apponi eis ante promissum est, qui regnum et justitiam Dei quasrunt." ° See Cyprian, Epistol. 77. edit. Fell, P Upon his conversion, he had sold those gardens for the benefit of the poor. The indulgence of God (most probably the liberality of some chris- tian friend) restored them to Cyprian. See Pontius, c. 15. 1 When Cyprian, a twelvemonth before, was sent into exile, he dreamt that he should be put to death the next day. The event made it necessary to explain that word as signifying a year. Pontius, c. 12. demnation.