Page:Illustrations of the history of medieval thought and learning.djvu/49

Rh was swaddled in them; ships, for he ofttimes sailed in them; assess, for he rode thereon. There is no end to his mockery. He excuses himself for it by the bitterness of the facts he has to withstand. (ibid. p. 178 G, H.) ''Ridiculous these things all are, and to be mourned rather than written. We are compelled to allege foolishness against the foolish; against hearts of stone we must cast not the arrows of the word, not sage reasons, but volleys of stones.'' Thus he traverses and assails the whole circle of the popular religion of the Latin world. About pilgrimages alone he is more reserved. The fashionable pilgrimage to Rome he cannot indeed approve, but he admits that (ibid. p. 189 A.) it does not hurt every one, nor benefit every one. But for the peculiar claims of the see of saint Peter he has nothing but derision. (ibid. p. 193 G: cf. Dungal 211 B.) The authority of the apostle ceased with his death: his successors possess it just so far as their lives are apostolic. (Apol., ap. Jon. 195 H sq.) ''He is not to be called apostolic who sits in the seat of the apostle, but he who fills the office of the apostle. Of them that hold that place and fulfil not its office the Lord hath said, (Matth. xxiii. 2 sq.) The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: all therefore whatsoever they say unto you, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say and do not''. With equal clearness Claudius (Enarr. in Galat. i. p. 142 E.) expresses the distinction between the ideal church and the imperfect copy which represents it on earth.

It was probably opinions like these last which saved Claudius from any rebuke from the emperor for the greater part of his career. They pass almost without question even in the controversy raised by the publication of his Apologetic. His other views, too, if they went further than those accepted at the court, were at all events errors