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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 27 the Trinitarian cause. ""^ The circumstantial narrative has been composed by the fi-iends and admirers of Basil ; and, as soon as we have stripped away a thick coat of rhetoric and miracle, we shall be astonished by the unexpected mildness of the Arian tyrant, who admired the firmness of his character, or was apprehensive, if he employed violence, of a general revolt in the province of Cappadocia. The archbishop, who asserted, with inflexible pride,"'* the truth of his opinions and the dignity of his rank, was left in the free possession of his conscience and his throne. The emperor devoutly assisted at the solemn sei-vice of the cathedral ; and, instead of a sentence of banishment, subscribed the donation of a valuable estate for the use of an hospital which Basil had lately founded in the neighbourhood of CEesarea."^ 3. I am not able to discover that any law (such as Theodosius afterwards enacted against the Arians) was pub- lished by Valens against the Athanasian sectaries ; and the edict which excited the most violent clamours may not appear so extremely reprehensible. The emperor had observed that several of his subjects, gratifying their lazy disposition under the pretence of religion, had associated themselves with the monks of Egypt ; and he dii-ected the count of the East to drag them from their solitude ; and to compel those deserters of society to accept the fair alternative of renouncing their tem- poral possessions or of discharging the public duties of men and citizens. '^^ The ministers of Valens seem to have extended the sense of this penal statute, since they claimed a right of enlisting the young and able-bodied monks in the Imperial armies. A detachment of cavalry and infantry, consisting of three thousand men, marched from Alexandria into the adjacent desert of 73Tillemont, whom I follow and abridge, has extracted (M(5m. Eccl^s. torn. viii. p. 153-167) the most authentic circumstances from the Panegyrics of the two Gregories: the brother, and the friend, of Basil. The letters of Basil himself (Dupin, Bibliotheque Ecclt^siastique, torn. ii. p. 155-180) do not present the image of a very lively persecution. ^■1 Basilius Csesariensis episcopus Cappadocias clarus habetur. . . qui multa continentiae et ingenii bona uno superbise malo perdidit. This irreverent passage is perfectly in the style and character of St. Jerom. It does not appear in Scaliger's edition of his Chronicle ; but Isaac Vossius found it in some old Mss. which had not been reformed by the monks [ad ann. 2392, cp. note in Migne's edition, 8, p. 699]. ''^This noble and charitable foundation (almost a new city) surpassed in merit, if not in greatness, the pyramids, or the walls of Babylon. It was principally intended for the reception of lepers (Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. xx. [=43] P- 439 [c- 63])- '■8 Cod. Theodos. 1. xii. tit. i. leg. 63. Godefroy (tom. iv. p. 409-413) performs the duty of a commentator and advocate. Tillemont (M{§m. p:ccl^s. torn. viii. p. 808) supposes a second law to excuse his orthodox friends, who had misrepresented the edict of Valens and suppressed the liberty of choice.