Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/242

 22i THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, encd by the pencil of an artful orator, that we are natu- rally induced to enquire into a fact of a more distinct and stubliorn kind ; the numl)er of persons who suf- fered death in consequence of the edicts published by Diocletian, his associates, and his successors. The recent legendaries record whole armies and cities, wWch were at once swept away by the undistinguish- ing rage of persecution. The more ancient writers content themselves with pouring out a liberal effusion of loose and tragical invectives, without condescending to ascertain the precise number of those persons who were permitted to seal with their blood their belief of the gospel. From the history of Eusebius, it may however be collected, that only nine bishops were punished with death ; and we are assured, by his par- ticular enumeration of the martyrs of Palestine, that no more than ninety-two christians were entitled to that honourable appellation". As we are unacquainted with the degree of episcopal zeal and courage which pre- vailed at that time, it is not in our power to draw any useful inferences from the former of these facts : but the latter may serve to justify a very important and probable conclusion. According to the distribution of Roman provinces, Palestine may be considered as the sixteenth part of the eastern empire y; and since there ^ Eusebius de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13. He closes his narration by as- suring us, that these were the martyrdoms inflicted in Palestine, during the uhole course of the persecution. The fifth chapter of his eighth book, which relates to the province of Thebais in Ejypt, may seem to contradict our moderate computation ; but it will only lead us to admire the artful ma- nagement of the historian. Choosing for the scene of the most exquisite cruelty, the most remote and sequestered country of the Roman empire, he relates, that in Thebais, from ten to one hundred persons had frequently suf- fered martyrdom in the same day. But when he proceeds to mention his own journey into Egypt, his language insensibly becomes more cautious and moderate. Instead of a large, but definite number, he speaks of many christians (TrXitovg;) and most artfully selects two ambiguous words (loro- p^auj^iiv, and inrofiHvdi'Tag) which may signify either what he had seen, or what he had heard ; either the expectation, or the execution, of the pun- 'shment. Having thus provided a secure evasion, he commits the equivo- cal passage to his readers and translators; justly conceiving that their piety would induce them to prefer the most favourable sense. There was perhaps some malice in the remark of Theodorus Metocliita, that all who, like Eu- sebius, had been conversant with the Egyptians, delighted in an obscure and intricate style. See Valesius ad loc. •' When Palestine was divided into three, the prefecture of the east con-