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133 Now Nisibin, an important city of Mesopotamia on the Mygdonius (Hulai). Its name was changed under the Macedonian dynasty to Antiochia Mygdonica. Frequently taken and retaken it was ultimately ceded by Jovian to Sapor a.d. 363.
134 "poliouxoj" is an epithet of the protecting delty of a city, as of Athens "IIallaj poliouxoj&Eaxute\" Ar. Eq. 581.
135 Born in the city of which he was afterwards bishop, Jacobus early acquired fame by his ascetic austerity. While on a journey into Persia with the object at once of confirming his own faith and that of the Christian sufferers under the persecution of Sapor II, he was supposed to work wonders, of which the following, related by Theodoretus, is a specimen. Once upon a time he saw a Persian judge delivering an unjust sentence. Now a huge stone happening to be lying close by, he ordered it to be crushed and broken into pieces, and so proved the injustice of the sentence. The stone was instantly divided into innumerable fragments, the spectators were panic-stricken, and the judge in terror revoked his sentence and delivered a righteous judgment. On the see of his native city falling vacant Jacobus was made bishop. The "Religious History" describes him as signalling his episcopate by the miracle attributed by Gregory of Nyssa in Gregory the Wonder-Worker, and by Sozomen (vii. 27) to Epiphanius. As in the "Nuremberg Chronicle," the same woodcut serves for Thales, Nehemiah, and Dante, so a popular miracle was indiscriminately assigned to saint after saint. "Once upon a time he came to a certain village, - the spot I cannot name, - and up come some beggars putting down one of their number before him as though dead, and begging him to supply some necessaries for the funeral. Jacobus granted their petition, and on behalf of the apparently dead man began to pray to God to forgive him the sins of his lifetime and grant him a place in the company of the just. Even while he was speaking, away flew the soul of the man who had up to this moment shammed death, and coverings were provided for the corpse. The holy man proceeded on his journey. and the inventors of this play told their recumbent companion to get up. But now they saw that he did not hear, that the pretence had become a reality, and that what a moment ago was a live man's mask was now a dead man's face. So they overtake the great Jacobus, bow down before him, roll at his feet and declare that they would not have played their impudent trick but for their poverty, and implored him to forgive them and restore the dead man's soul. So Jacobus in imitation of the philanthropy of the Lord granted their prayer, exhibited his wonder working power, and through his prayer restored the lite which his power hail taken away."
At Nicaea Theodoret describes Jacobus as a "champion" of the orthodox "phalanx." (Relig. Hist. 1114.) At the state dinner given by Constantine to the Nicene Fathers, "James of Nisibis (so ran the Eastern tale - Biblioth. Pat. clv.) saw angels standing round the Emperor, and underneath his purple robe discovered a sackcloth garment. Constantine, in return, saw angels ministering to James, placed his seat above the other bishops, and said: `There are three pillars of the world, Antony in Egypt, Nicolas of Myra, James in Assyria. 0'" Stanley, Eastern Church, Lect. V.
136 Ammianus Marcellinus 23. 4. 10. thus describes the "9Elepolij mhxanh." "An enormous testudo is strengthened by long planks and fitted with iron bolts. This is covered with hides and fresh wicker-work. Its upper parts are smeared with mud as a protection against fire and missiles. To its front are fastened three-pronged spear points made exceedingly sharp, and steadied by iron weights, like the thunderbolts of painters anti potters. Thus whenever it was directed against anything these stings were shot out to destroy. The huge mass was moved on wheels and ropes from within by a considerable body of troops, and advanced with a mighty impulse against the weaker part of a town wall. Then unless the defenders prevailed against it the walls were beaten in and a wide breach made."
138 According to Sozomen, Sebaste; but Socrates (II. 44) makes him bishop of the Syrian Beroea Gregory of Nyssa (Orat: In Fun Mag: Meletii) puts on record "the sweet calm look the radiant smile, the kind hand seconding the kind voice"
139 On Acacius ot Caesarea vide note on page 70. At the Synod of Seleucia in 359 he started the party of the Homoeans, and was deposed. In the reign of Jovian they inclined to Orthodoxy; in that of Valens to Arianism (cf. Soc. iv. 2). Acacius was a benefactor to the Public Library of Caesarea (Hieron. Ep. ad Marcellam (141). Baronius places his death in 366.
140 Tria ta nooumena,wseni de dialegomeqa "Tria sunt quae intelliguntur, sed tanquam unum alloquimur." The narrative of Sozomen (iv. 28) enables us to supply what Theodoret infelicitously omits. It was when an Arian archdeacon rudely put his hand over the bishop's mouth that Meletius indicated the orthodox doctrine by his fingers. When the archdeacon at his wits' end uncovered the mouth and seized the hand of the confessor, "with a loud voice he the more clearly proclaimed his doctrine."
141 The Euripus, the narrow channel between Euboea and the mainland, changes its current during eleven days in each month, eleven to fourteen times a day cf. Arist. Eth. N. ix. 6.3. "metarrei wsper Euripoj."
145 Constantius died at Mopsucrene, on the Cydnus, according to Socrates and the Chron. Alex., on Nov. 3, 361. Socrates (ii. 47) ascribes his illness to chagrin at the successes of Julian, and says that he died in the 46th year of his age and 39th of his reign, having for thirteen years been associated iu he empire with his Father. Ammianus (xxi. 15, 2) writes, "Venit Tarsum, ubi leviore febri contactus, ratusque itinerario motu imminutae valetudinis excuti posse discrimen, petiit per vias difficiles Mopsucrenas, Cillciae ultimam hinc pergentibus stationem, sub Tauri montis radicibus positam: egredique sequuto die conatus, invalenti morbi gravitate detentus est: paulatimque urente calore nimio venas, ut ne tangi quidem corpus eius posset in modum foculi fervens, cum usus deficeret medelarum, ultimum spirans deflebat exitium; mentisque sensu tum etiam integro, successorem suae potestatis statuisse dicitur Julianum. Deinde anhelitu iam pulsatus letali conticuit diuque cum anima colluctatus iam discessura, abiit e vita III. Non. Octobrium, (i.e. Oct. 5 - a different date from that given by others) imperii vitaeque anno quadragesimo et mensibus paucis." His Father having died in 337, Constantius really reigned 24 years alone, and if we include the 13 years which Socrates reckons in the lifetime of Constantine, we only reach 37. He was born on Aug. 6, 317, and was therefore a little over 44 at his death.
"Constantius was essentially a little man, in whom his father's vices took a meaner form." "The peculiar repulsiveness of Constantius is not due to any flagrant personal vice, but to the combination of cold-blooded treachery with the utter want of any inner nobleness of character. Yet he was a pious emperor, too, in his way. He loved the ecclesiastical game, and was easily won over to the Eusebian side."
Gwatkin. "The Arian Controversy." p. 63.
1 On the murder of the Princes of the blood Gallus was first sent alone to Tralles or Ephesus, (Soc. iii. 1,) and afterwards spent some time with his brother Julian in Cappadocia in retirement, but with a suitable establishment. On their relationship to Constantius vide Pedigree in the prolegomena.
2 The massacre "involved the two uncles of Constantius, seven of his cousins, of whom Dalmatius and Hannibalianus were the most illustrious, the patrician Optatus, who had married a sister of the late Emperor, and the praefect Abcavius." "If it were necessary to aggravate the horrors of this bloody scene we might add that Constantius himself had espoused the daughter of his uncle Julius, and that he had bestowed his sister in marriage on his cousin Hannibalianus." "Of so numerous a family Gallus and Julian alone, the two youngest children of Julius Constantius, were saved from the hands of the assassins, till their rage, satiated with slaughter, had in some measure subsided." Gibbon, Chap. xviii. Theodoretus follows the opinion of Athanasius and Julian in ascribing the main guilt to Constantius, but, as Gibbon points out, Eutropius and the Victors "use the very qualifying expressions;" "sinente potius quam jubente;" "incertum quo suasore;" and "vl militum." Gregory of Nazianzus (Or. iv. 21) ascribes the preservation of both Julian and his brother Gallus to the clemency and protection of Constantius.
3 Tertullian (De Praesc. 41) is the earliest authority for the office of Anagnostes, Lector, or Reader, as a distinct order in the Church. Henceforward it appears as one of the minor orders, and is frequently referred to by Cyprian (Epp. 29. 38, etc.). By one of Justinian's novels it was directed that no one should be ordained Reader before the age of eighteen, but previously young boys were admitted to the office, at the instance of their parents, as introductory to the higher functions of the sacred ministry. Dict. Christ. Ant. 1. 80.
4 Sozomen (v. 2) tells us that when the princes were building a chapel for the martyr Mamas, the work of Gallus stood, but that of Julian tumbled down. A more famous instance of the care of Gallus for the christian dead is the story of the translation of the remains of the martyr Babylas from Antioch to Daphne, referred to by our author (iii. 6) as well as by Sozomen v. 19, and by Rufinus x. 35. cf. Bishop Lightfoot, Ap. Fathers II. i. 42.
5 Gallus was made Caesar by the childless Constantius in 350, in about his 25th year. "Fuit" says Am. Marcellinus (xiv. II. 28) "forma conspicuus bona, decente filo corporis, membrorumque recta compage, flavo capillo et molli, barba licet recens emergente lanugine tenera." His government at Antioch was not successful, and at the instigation of the Eunuch Eusebius he was executed in 354 at Pola, a town already infamous for the murder of Crispus.
7 The accession of Julian was made known in Alexandria at the end of Nov. 361, and the Pagans at once rose against George, imprisoned him, and at last on Dec. 24, brutally beat and kicked him to death. The Arians appointed a successor-Lucius, but on Feb. 22 Athanasius once more appeared among his faithful flock, and lost no time in getting a Council for the settlement of several moot points of discipline and doctrine, which Theodoret proceeds to enumerate.
8 i.e. of Vercellae. Vide p. 76. From Scythopolis he had been removed to Cappadocia, and thence to the Thebaid, whence he wrote a letter, still extant, to Gregory, bp. of Elvira in Spain.
9 Valesius supposes Hilary of Poictiers to be mentioned here, though he recognises the difficulty of the "o ek thj 'Italiaj," and would alter the text t meet it. Possibly this is the Hilary who is said to have been bishop of Pavia from 358 to 376, and may be the "Sanctus Hilarius" of Aug. Cont. duas Epist. Pelag iv. 4. 7. cf. article Ambrosiaster in Dict. Christ. Biog.
10 cf. p. 76, note. Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari, had first been relegated in 355 to Eleutheropolis, (a town of the 3d C., in Palestine, about 20 m. west of Jerusalem) whence he wrote the controversial pamphlets still extant. He vigorously abused Constantius, to whom he paid the compliment of sending a copy of his work. The emperor appears to have retorted by having him removed to the Thebaid, whence he returned in 361.
11 cf. p. 41. Eustathius died about 337, at Philippi, - probably about six years after his deposition. Alexander, an ascetic (cf. post, V. Ch. 35) did not become bishop of Antioch till 413.
12 The raison d'etre of the Luciferians as a distinct party was their unwillingness to accept communion with men who had ever lapsed into Arianism. Jerome gives 371 as the date of Lucifer's death. "To what extent he was an actual schismatic remains obscure." St. Ambrose remarks that "he had separated himself from our communion," (de excessu Satyri 1127, 47) and St. Augustine that "he fell into the darkness of schism, having lost the light of charity." (Ep. 185 n. 47.) But there is no mention of any separation other than Lucifer's own repulsion of so many ecclesiastics; and Jerome in his dialogue against the Luciferians (§20) calls him "beatus and bonus pastor." J. Ll. Davies in Dict. Christ. Biog. s. v.
13 Corybantes, the name of the priests of Cybele, whose religious service consisted in noisy music and wild armed dances, is a word of uncertain origin. The chief seat of their rites was Pessinus in Galatia.
14 Qiaswtai. lit. The "club-fellows," or "members of a religious brotherhood."
15 Sebaste was a name given to Samaria by Herod the Great in honour of Augustus. cf. Rufinus H. E. xi. 28 and Theophanes, Chronographia i. 117. Theodoretus claims to have obtained some of the relics of the Baptist for his own church at Cyrus (Relig. Hist. 1245). On the development of the tradition of the relics, cf. Dict. Christ. Ant. i. 883. A magnificent church was built by Theodosius (Soz. vii. 21 and 24) in a suburb of Constantinople, to enshrine a head discovered by some unsound monks. The church is said by Sozomen (vii. 24) to be "at the seventh milestone," on the road out of Constantinople, and the place to be called Hebdomon or "seventh." I am indebted to the Rev. H. F. Tozer for the suggestion that Hebdomon was a promontory on the Propontis, to the west of the extreme part of the city, where the Cyclobion was, and where the Seven Towers now are; and that the Seven Towers being about six Roman miles from the Seraglio Point, which is the apex of the triangle formed by the city, the phrase at the seventh milestone is thus accounted for. Bones alleged to be parts of the scull are still shewn at Amiens. The same emperor built a church for the body on the site of the Serapeum at Alexandria.
16 Heliopolis, the modern Baalbec, the "City of the Sun," was built at the west foot of Anti-Libanus, near the sources of the Orontes.
17 On the Orontes; now Homs. Here Aurelian defeated Zenobia in 273.
18 Durostorum, now Silistria, on the right bank of the Danube.
19 Valesius (note on Soz. v. 10) would distinguish this Marcus of Arethusa from the Arian Marcus of Arethusa, author of the creed of Sirmium (Soc. H. E. ii. 30), apparently on insufficient grounds (Dict. Christ. Biog. s. v.). Arethusa was a town not far from the source of the Orontes.
21 The sharp iron stilus was capable of inflicting severe wounds. Caesar, when attacked by his murderers, "caught Casca's arm and ran it through with his pen." Suetonius.
22 garon, garum, was a fish-pickle. cf. the barbarous punishment of the skafeusij,inficted among others on Mithridates, who wounded Cyrus at Cunaxa. (Plut. Artaxerxes.)
23 cf. Aristophanes (Aves 808) "tad' oux up' allwn alla toij autwn pteroij."
24 The crowning outrage which moved Julian to put out the edict of exile was the baptism by the bishop of some pagan ladies. The letter of Julian (Ep. p. 187) fixed Dec. 1st, 362, as the limit of Athanasius' permission to stay in Egypt, but it was on Oct. 23d (Fest. Ind.) that the order was communicatedto him.
25 The story may be compared with that of Napoleon on the return from Elba in Feb. 1815, when on being hailed by some passing craft with an enquiry as to the emperor's health, he is said to have himself taken the speaking trumpet and replied "Quite well."
26 He concealed himself at Choeren, (? El Careon) near Alexandria, and went thence to Memphis, whence he wrote his Festal Letter for 363. Julian died June 26, 363.
27 Babylas, bishop of Antioch from 238 to 251, was martyred in the Decian persecution either by death in prison (Euseb. H. E. vi. 39 meta thn omologian en desmwthriw metallacantoj) or by violence. (Chrys. des. B.c. gentes) "Babylas had won for himself a name by his heroic courage as bishop of Antioch. It was related of him that on one occasion when the emperor Philip, who was a Christian, had presented himself one Easter Eve at the time of prayer, he had boldly refused admission to the sovereign, till he had gone through the proper discipline of a penitent for some offence committed. (Eus. II. E. vi. 34.) He acted like a good shepherd, says Chrysostom, who drives away the scabby sheep, lest it should infect the flock." Bp. Lightfoot, Ap. Fathers II. i. p. 40-46.
28 "The Daphnean Sanctuary was four or five miles distant from the city." "Rufinus says six, but this appears to be an exaggeration." Bp. Lightfoot l. c.