Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/452

 434 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, est deacon, was seated below the rails of the sanctuary, . and confounded with the rest of the faithful multitude". The emperor might be saluted as the father of his people, but he owed a filial duty and reverence to the fathers of the church ; and the same marks of respect which Constantine had paid to the persons of saints and confessors, were soon exacted by the pride of the epis- copal order P. A secret conflict between the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions embarrassed the operations of the Roman government ; and a pious emperor was alarmed by the guilt and danger of touching with a profane hand the ark of the covenant. The separation of men into the two orders of the clergy and of the laity was, indeed, familiar to many nations of antiquity ; and the priests of India, of Persia, of Assyria, of Judea, of Ethiopia, of Egypt, and of Gaul, derived from a celestial origin the temporal power and possessions which they had acquired. These venerable institutions had gradually assimilated themselves to the manners and government of their respective countries''; but the opposition or contempt of the civil power served to cement the discipline of the primitive church. The christians had been obliged to elect their own magi- strates, to raise and distribute a peculiar revenue, and to regulate the internal policy of their republic by a code of laws, which were ratified by the consent of the people, and the practice of three hundred years. Something of a contrary practice had insensibly prevailed in the church of Constantinople ; hut the rigid Ambrose commanded Theodosius to retire below the rails, and taught him to know the difference between a king and a priest. See Theodoret, I. v. c. 18. P At the table of the emperor Maxiraus, Martin, bishop of Tours, re- ceived the cup from an attendant, and gave it to the presbyter his com- panion, before he allowed the emperor to drink ; the empress waited on Martin at table. Sulpicius Severus, in Vit. Sancti Martin, c. 23. and Dia- logue ii. 7. Yet it may be doubted, whether these extraordinary compli- ments were paid to the bishop or the saint. The honours usually granted to the former character may be seen in Bingham's Antiquities, 1. ii. c. 9 ; and Vales, ad Theodoret, 1. iv. c. 6. See the haughty ceremonial which Leontius, bishop of Tripoli, imposed on the empress. Tillemont, Hist, des Empeieurs, tom. iv. p. 754 ; Patres Apostol. torn. ii. p. 179. 1 Plutarch, in his treatise of Isis and Osiris, informs us, that the kings of Egypt, who were not already priests, were initiated, after their election, into the sacerdotal order.