Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/214

 196 TIIK DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, which mcreased the calamities of the enii)irc, restored Y Y* r ... ^ peace to the cliurch ; and the christians ol)tained the free exercise of their rchgion, by an edict addressed to the bishops, and conceived in such terms as seemed to acknowledge their office and ])ublic character'. The ancient laws, without being formally repealed, were suffered to sink into oblivion ; and (excepting only some hostile intentions which are attributed to the em- peror Aurelian'') the disciples of Christ passed above forty years in a state of prosperity, far more dangerous to their virtue than the severest trials of persecution. Paul of Sa- The story of Paul of Samosata, who filled the me- niosata, iis trgpolitan see of Antioch, while the east was in the A. D. 260. hands of Odenathus and Zenobia, may serve to illus- trate the condition and character of the times. The wealth of that prelate was a sufficient evidence of iiis guilt, since it was neither derived from the inheritance of his fathers, nor acquired by the arts of honest in- dustry. But Paul considered the service of the church as a vei-y lucrative profession'. His ecclesiastical juris- diction was venal and rapacious; he extorted frequent contributions from the most opulent of the faithful, and converted to his own use a considerable part of the public revenue. By his pride and luxury, the christian religion was rendered odious in the eyes of the gentiles. His council chamber and his throne, the splendour with which he appeared in public, the sup- pliant crowd who solicited his attention, the multitude of letters and petitions to which he dictated his an- ' Eusebius (1. vii. c. 13.) gives us a Greek veision of this Latin edict, which seems to have been very concise. By another edict, he directed that the armeteria should be restored to the christians. ^ Euseb. 1. vii. c. 30; Lactantius de M. P. c. 6 ; Hieronym. in Cliron. p. 177 ; Orosius, 1. vii. c. 23. Their language is in general so ambiguous and incorrect, that we are at a loss to determine how far Aurelian had car- ried his intentions before he was assassinated. Most of the moderns (except Dodwell, Dissertat. Cyprian, xi. 64.) have seized the occasion of gaining a few extraordinary martyrs. ' Paul was better pleased with the title o( ducenarius than with that of bishop. The ducenarius was an imperial procurator, so called from his sa- lary of two hundred seitertia, or one thousand six hundred pounds a year. Si'e Salmasius ad Hist. August, p. 124. Some critics suppose, that the bishop of Antioch had actually obtained such an office from Zenobia, while others consider it only as a figurative expression of his pomp and insolence.