Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/140

 118 THE DECLINE AND FALL laboured to appease the resentment, and to conciliate the favour, of the emperor. The feeble son of Arcadius was alternately swayed by his wife and sister, by the eunuchs and women of the palace ; superstition and avarice were their ruling passions ; and the orthodox chiefs were assiduous in their endeavours to alarm the former and to gratify the latter. Constantinople and the suburbs were sanctified with frequent monasteries, and the holy abbots, Dalmatius and Eutyches/-' had devoted their zeal and fidelity to the cause of Cyril, the worship of Mary, and the unity of Christ. From the first moment of their monastic life, the}' had never mingled with the world, or trod the profane ground of the city. But in this awful moment of tlir danger of the church, their vow was superseded by a more sublime and indispensable duty. At the head of a long order of monks and hei'mits, who carried burning tapers in their hands and chaunted litanies to the mother of God, they pro- ceeded from their monasteries to the palace. The people was edified and inflamed by this extraordinary spectacle, and the trembling monarch listened to the prayers and adjurations of the saints, wlio boldly jn-onounced that none could hope for salvation unless they embraced the ])erson and the creed of the orthodox successor of Athanasius. At the same time every avenue of the throne was assaulted with gold. Under the decent names of ciilogim and hi'iiedictious, the courtiers of both sexes were bribed according to the measure of their ])ower and rapacious- ness. But their incessant demands despoiled the sanctuaries of Constantinople and Alexandria ; and the authority of the patriarch was unable to silence the just murmur of his clergy, that a debt of sixty thousand j)ounds had already been con- tracted to supjiort the expense of this scandalous corruption.'" Pulcheria, who relieved her brother from the weight of an emjiire, was the firmest pillar of orthodoxy ; and so intimate was the alliance between the thunders of the synod and the ■"* Eiityches. the heiesiarch Eutyches, is honourably named by Cyril as a friend, a saint, and the strenuous defender of the faith. His brother, the abbot Dalmatius, is likewise employed to bind the emperor and all his chamberlains ferrihili conjura- iioiie. Synodicon, c. 203, in Concil. torn. iv. p. 467. "'" Clerici qui hie sunt contristantur, quod ecclesia Alexandrina nudata sit hujus causa turbelce : et debet prajter ilia qua? hinc transniissa sint aiiri lihras inille ■ (jiii?i:^eriias. Et nunc el scriptum est ut prusstet ; sed de tua ecclesia pi cesta avaritire quorum nosti, &.C. This curious and original letter, from Cyril's archdeacon to his creature the new bishop of Constantinople, has been imaccountably preserved ill an old Latin version (Synodicon, c. 203; Concil. torn. iv. p. 465-468). The mask is almost dropped, and the saints speak the honest language of interest and confederacy.