we again inquire into the fate of Rome, which had reached, about the
close of the sixth century, the lowest period of her depression. By the
removal of the seat of empire, and the successive loss of the provinces,
the sources of public and private opulence were exhausted: the lofty
tree, under whose shade the nations of the earth had reposed, was
deprived of its leaves and branches, and the sapless trunk was left to
wither on the ground. The ministers of command, and the messengers of
victory, no longer met on the Appian or Flaminian way; and the hostile
approach of the Lombards was often felt, and continually feared. The
inhabitants of a potent and peaceful capital, who visit without an
anxious thought the garden of the adjacent country, will faintly picture
in their fancy the distress of the Romans: they shut or opened their
gates with a trembling hand, beheld from the walls the flames of their
houses, and heard the lamentations of their brethren, who were coupled
together like dogs, and dragged away into distant slavery beyond the sea
and the mountains. Such incessant alarms must annihilate the pleasures
and interrupt the labors of a rural life; and the Campagna of Rome was
speedily reduced to the state of a dreary wilderness, in which the land
is barren, the waters are impure, and the air is infectious. Curiosity
and ambition no longer attracted the nations to the capital of the
world: but, if chance or necessity directed the steps of a wandering
stranger, he contemplated with horror the vacancy and solitude of the
city, and might be tempted to ask, Where is the senate, and where are
the people? In a season of excessive rains, the Tyber swelled above its
banks, and rushed with irresistible violence into the valleys of the
seven hills. A pestilential disease arose from the stagnation of the
deluge, and so rapid was the contagion, that fourscore persons expired
in an hour in the midst of a solemn procession, which implored the
mercy of Heaven. A society in which marriage is encouraged and industry
prevails soon repairs the accidental losses of pestilence and war:
but, as the far greater part of the Romans was condemned to hopeless
indigence and celibacy, the depopulation was constant and visible, and
the gloomy enthusiasts might expect the approaching failure of the
human race. Yet the number of citizens still exceeded the measure of
subsistence: their precarious food was supplied from the harvests of
Sicily or Egypt; and the frequent repetition of famine betrays the
inattention of the emperor to a distant province. The edifices of Rome
were exposed to the same ruin and decay: the mouldering fabrics were
easily overthrown by inundations, tempests, and earthquakes: and the
monks, who had occupied the most advantageous stations, exulted in their
base triumph over the ruins of antiquity. It is commonly believed, that
Pope Gregory the First attacked the temples and mutilated the statues
of the city; that, by the command of the Barbarian, the Palatine library
was reduced to ashes, and that the history of Livy was the peculiar
mark of his absurd and mischievous fanaticism. The writings of Gregory
himself reveal his implacable aversion to the monuments of classic
genius; and he points his severest censure against the profane learning
of a bishop, who taught the art of grammar, studied the Latin poets,
and pronounced with the same voice the praises of Jupiter and those of
Christ. But the evidence of his destructive rage is doubtful and recent:
the Temple of Peace, or the theatre of Marcellus, have been demolished
by the slow operation of ages, and a formal proscription would have
multiplied the copies of Virgil and Livy in the countries which were not
subject to the ecclesiastical dictator.
Like Thebes, or Babylon, or Carthage, the names of Rome might have been
erased from the earth, if the city had not been animated by a vital
principle, which again restored her to honor and dominion. A vague
tradition was embraced, that two Jewish teachers, a tent-maker and a
fisherman, had formerly been executed in the circus of Nero, and at
the end of five hundred years, their genuine or fictitious relics were
adored as the Palladium of Christian Rome. The pilgrims of the East and
West resorted to the holy threshold; but the shrines of the apostles
were guarded by miracles and invisible terrors; and it was not without
fear that the pious Catholic approached the object of his worship.
It was fatal to touch, it was dangerous to behold, the bodies of the
saints; and those who, from the purest motives, presumed to disturb the
repose of the sanctuary, were affrighted by visions, or punished with
sudden death. The unreasonable request of an empress, who wished to
deprive the Romans of their sacred treasure, the head of St. Paul,
was rejected with the deepest abhorrence; and the pope asserted, most
probably with truth, that a linen which had been sanctified in the
neighborhood of his body, or the filings of his chain, which it was
sometimes easy and sometimes impossible to obtain, possessed an equal
degree of miraculous virtue. But the power as well as virtue of the
apostles resided with living energy in the breast of their successors;
and the chair of St. Peter was filled under the reign of Maurice by the
first and greatest of the name of Gregory. His grandfather Felix had
himself been pope, and as the bishops were already bound by the laws of
celibacy, his consecration must have been preceded by the death of his
wife. The parents of Gregory, Sylvia, and Gordian, were the noblest
of the senate, and the most pious of the church of Rome; his female
relations were numbered among the saints and virgins; and his own
figure, with those of his father and mother, were represented near three
hundred years in a family portrait, which he offered to the monastery of
St. Andrew. The design and coloring of this picture afford an honorable
testimony that the art of painting was cultivated by the Italians of the
sixth century; but the most abject ideas must be entertained of their
taste and learning, since the epistles of Gregory, his sermons, and his
dialogues, are the work of a man who was second in erudition to none of
his contemporaries: his birth and abilities had raised him to the office
of prÊfect of the city, and he enjoyed the merit of renouncing the pomps
and vanities of this world. His ample patrimony was dedicated to the
foundation of seven monasteries, one in Rome, and six in Sicily; and
it was the wish of Gregory that he might be unknown in this life, and
glorious only in the next. Yet his devotion (and it might be sincere)
pursued the path which would have been chosen by a crafty and ambitious
statesman. The talents of Gregory, and the splendor which accompanied
his retreat, rendered him dear and useful to the church; and implicit
obedience has always been inculcated as the first duty of a monk. As
soon as he had received the character of deacon, Gregory was sent to
reside at the Byzantine court, the nuncio or minister of the apostolic
see; and he boldly assumed, in the name of St. Peter, a tone of
independent dignity, which would have been criminal and dangerous in the
most illustrious layman of the empire. He returned to Rome with a just
increase of reputation, and, after a short exercise of the monastic
virtues, he was dragged from the cloister to the papal throne, by the
unanimous voice of the clergy, the senate, and the people. He alone
resisted, or seemed to resist, his own elevation; and his humble
petition, that Maurice would be pleased to reject the choice of the
Romans, could only serve to exalt his character in the eyes of the
emperor and the public. When the fatal mandate was proclaimed, Gregory
solicited the aid of some friendly merchants to convey him in a basket
beyond the gates of Rome, and modestly concealed himself some days among
the woods and mountains, till his retreat was discovered, as it is said,
by a celestial light.
The pontificate of Gregory the _Great_, which lasted thirteen years, six
months, and ten days, is one of the most edifying periods of the history
of the church. His virtues, and even his faults, a singular mixture
of simplicity and cunning, of pride and humility, of sense and
superstition, were happily suited to his station and to the temper of
the times. In his rival, the patriarch of Constantinople, he condemned
the anti-Christian title of universal bishop, which the successor of
St. Peter was too haughty to concede, and too feeble to assume; and
the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Gregory was confined to the triple
character of Bishop of Rome, Primate of Italy, and Apostle of the West.
He frequently ascended the pulpit, and kindled, by his rude, though
pathetic, eloquence, the congenial passions of his audience: the
language of the Jewish prophets was interpreted and applied; and the
minds of a people, depressed by their present calamities, were directed
to the hopes and fears of the invisible world. His precepts and
example defined the model of the Roman liturgy; the distribution of the
parishes, the calendar of the festivals, the order of processions, the
service of the priests and deacons, the variety and change of sacerdotal
garments. Till the last days of his life, he officiated in the canon
of the mass, which continued above three hours: the Gregorian chant has
preserved the vocal and instrumental music of the theatre, and the rough
voices of the Barbarians attempted to imitate the melody of the Roman
school. Experience had shown him the efficacy of these solemn and
pompous rites, to soothe the distress, to confirm the faith, to mitigate
the fierceness, and to dispel the dark enthusiasm of the vulgar, and he
readily forgave their tendency to promote the reign of priesthood and
superstition. The bishops of Italy and the adjacent islands acknowledged
the Roman pontiff as their special metropolitan. Even the existence, the
union, or the translation of episcopal seats was decided by his absolute
discretion: and his successful inroads into the provinces of Greece,
of Spain, and of Gaul, might countenance the more lofty pretensions
of succeeding popes. He interposed to prevent the abuses of popular
elections; his jealous care maintained the purity of faith and
discipline; and the apostolic shepherd assiduously watched over the
faith and discipline of the subordinate pastors. Under his reign, the
Arians of Italy and Spain were reconciled to the Catholic church, and
the conquest of Britain reflects less glory on the name of CÊsar, than
on that of Gregory the First. Instead of six legions, forty monks were
embarked for that distant island, and the pontiff lamented the austere
duties which forbade him to partake the perils of their spiritual
warfare. In less than two years, he could announce to the archbishop of
Alexandria, that they had baptized the king of Kent with ten thousand
of his Anglo-Saxons, and that the Roman missionaries, like those of
the primitive church, were armed only with spiritual and supernatural
powers. The credulity or the prudence of Gregory was always disposed to
confirm the truths of religion by the evidence of ghosts, miracles, and
resurrections; and posterity has paid to _his_ memory the same tribute
which he freely granted to the virtue of his own or the preceding
generation. The celestial honors have been liberally bestowed by the
authority of the popes, but Gregory is the last of their own order whom
they have presumed to inscribe in the calendar of saints.
Their temporal power insensibly arose from the calamities of the times:
and the Roman bishops, who have deluged Europe and Asia with blood, were
compelled to reign as the ministers of charity and peace. I. The church
of Rome, as it has been formerly observed, was endowed with ample
possessions in Italy, Sicily, and the more distant provinces; and her
agents, who were commonly sub-deacons, had acquired a civil, and even
criminal, jurisdiction over their tenants and husbandmen. The successor
of St. Peter administered his patrimony with the temper of a vigilant
and moderate landlord; and the epistles of Gregory are filled with
salutary instructions to abstain from doubtful or vexatious lawsuits;
to preserve the integrity of weights and measures; to grant every
reasonable delay; and to reduce the capitation of the slaves of
the glebe, who purchased the right of marriage by the payment of an
arbitrary fine. The rent or the produce of these estates was transported
to the mouth of the Tyber, at the risk and expense of the pope: in the
use of wealth he acted like a faithful steward of the church and the
poor, and liberally applied to their wants the inexhaustible resources
of abstinence and order. The voluminous account of his receipts and
disbursements was kept above three hundred years in the Lateran, as
the model of Christian economy. On the four great festivals, he divided
their quarterly allowance to the clergy, to his domestics, to the
monasteries, the churches, the places of burial, the almshouses, and
the hospitals of Rome, and the rest of the diocese. On the first day of
every month, he distributed to the poor, according to the season, their
stated portion of corn, wine, cheese, vegetables, oil, fish, fresh
provisions, clothes, and money; and his treasurers were continually
summoned to satisfy, in his name, the extraordinary demands of indigence
and merit. The instant distress of the sick and helpless, of strangers
and pilgrims, was relieved by the bounty of each day, and of every hour;
nor would the pontiff indulge himself in a frugal repast, till he had
sent the dishes from his own table to some objects deserving of his
compassion. The misery of the times had reduced the nobles and matrons
of Rome to accept, without a blush, the benevolence of the church: three
thousand virgins received their food and raiment from the hand of their
benefactor; and many bishops of Italy escaped from the Barbarians to the
hospitable threshold of the Vatican. Gregory might justly be styled
the Father of his Country; and such was the extreme sensibility of his
conscience, that, for the death of a beggar who had perished in the
streets, he interdicted himself during several days from the exercise
of sacerdotal functions. II. The misfortunes of Rome involved the
apostolical pastor in the business of peace and war; and it might be
doubtful to himself, whether piety or ambition prompted him to supply
the place of his absent sovereign. Gregory awakened the emperor from
a long slumber; exposed the guilt or incapacity of the exarch and his
inferior ministers; complained that the veterans were withdrawn from
Rome for the defence of Spoleto; encouraged the Italians to guard their
cities and altars; and condescended, in the crisis of danger, to name
the tribunes, and to direct the operations, of the provincial troops.
But the martial spirit of the pope was checked by the scruples of
humanity and religion: the imposition of tribute, though it was employed
in the Italian war, he freely condemned as odious and oppressive; whilst
he protected, against the Imperial edicts, the pious cowardice of the
soldiers who deserted a military for a monastic life If we may credit
his own declarations, it would have been easy for Gregory to exterminate
the Lombards by their domestic factions, without leaving a king, a duke,
or a count, to save that unfortunate nation from the vengeance of their
foes As a Christian bishop, he preferred the salutary offices of peace;
his mediation appeased the tumult of arms: but he was too conscious of
the arts of the Greeks, and the passions of the Lombards, to engage his
sacred promise for the observance of the truce. Disappointed in the hope
of a general and lasting treaty, he presumed to save his country without
the consent of the emperor or the exarch. The sword of the enemy was
suspended over Rome; it was averted by the mild eloquence and seasonable
gifts of the pontiff, who commanded the respect of heretics and
Barbarians. The merits of Gregory were treated by the Byzantine court
with reproach and insult; but in the attachment of a grateful people, he
found the purest reward of a citizen, and the best right of a sovereign.
Chapter XLVI: Troubles In Persia.--Part I.
Revolutions On Persia After The Death Of Chosroes On
Nushirvan.--His Son Hormouz, A Tyrant, Is Deposed.--
Usurpation Of Baharam.--Flight And Restoration Of Chosroes
II.--His Gratitude To The Romans.--The Chagan Of The Avars.--
Revolt Of The Army Against Maurice.--His Death.--Tyranny Of
Phocas.--Elevation Of Heraclius.--The Persian War.--Chosroes
Subdues Syria, Egypt, And Asia Minor.--Siege Of
Constantinople By The Persians And Avars.--Persian
Expeditions.--Victories And Triumph Of Heraclius.
The conflict of Rome and Persia was prolonged from the death of Crassus
to the reign of Heraclius. An experience of seven hundred years might
convince the rival nations of the impossibility of maintaining their
conquests beyond the fatal limits of the Tigris and Euphrates. Yet
the emulation of Trajan and Julian was awakened by the trophies of
Alexander, and the sovereigns of Persia indulged the ambitious hope of
restoring the empire of Cyrus. Such extraordinary efforts of power and
courage will always command the attention of posterity; but the events
by which the fate of nations is not materially changed, leave a faint
impression on the page of history, and the patience of the reader would
be exhausted by the repetition of the same hostilities, undertaken
without cause, prosecuted without glory, and terminated without effect.
The arts of negotiation, unknown to the simple greatness of the senate
and the CÊsars, were assiduously cultivated by the Byzantine princes;
and the memorials of their perpetual embassies repeat, with the same
uniform prolixity, the language of falsehood and declamation, the
insolence of the Barbarians, and the servile temper of the tributary
Greeks. Lamenting the barren superfluity of materials, I have studied to
compress the narrative of these uninteresting transactions: but the just
Nushirvan is still applauded as the model of Oriental kings, and the
ambition of his grandson Chosroes prepared the revolution of the East,
which was speedily accomplished by the arms and the religion of the
successors of Mahomet.
In the useless altercations, that precede and justify the quarrels of
princes, the Greeks and the Barbarians accused each other of violating
the peace which had been concluded between the two empires about four
years before the death of Justinian. The sovereign of Persia and India
aspired to reduce under his obedience the province of Yemen or Arabia
Felix; the distant land of myrrh and frankincense, which had escaped,
rather than opposed, the conquerors of the East. After the defeat of
Abrahah under the walls of Mecca, the discord of his sons and brothers
gave an easy entrance to the Persians: they chased the strangers
of Abyssinia beyond the Red Sea; and a native prince of the ancient
Homerites was restored to the throne as the vassal or viceroy of the
great Nushirvan. But the nephew of Justinian declared his resolution to
avenge the injuries of his Christian ally the prince of Abyssinia, as
they suggested a decent pretence to discontinue the annual _tribute_,
which was poorly disguised by the name of pension. The churches of
Persarmenia were oppressed by the intolerant spirit of the Magi; they
secretly invoked the protector of the Christians, and, after the pious
murder of their satraps, the rebels were avowed and supported as the
brethren and subjects of the Roman emperor. The complaints of Nushirvan
were disregarded by the Byzantine court; Justin yielded to the
importunities of the Turks, who offered an alliance against the common
enemy; and the Persian monarchy was threatened at the same instant by
the united forces of Europe, of ∆thiopia, and of Scythia. At the age
of fourscore the sovereign of the East would perhaps have chosen the
peaceful enjoyment of his glory and greatness; but as soon as war became
inevitable, he took the field with the alacrity of youth, whilst the
aggressor trembled in the palace of Constantinople. Nushirvan, or
Chosroes, conducted in person the siege of Dara; and although that
important fortress had been left destitute of troops and magazines, the
valor of the inhabitants resisted above five months the archers, the
elephants, and the military engines of the Great King. In the mean while
his general Adarman advanced from Babylon, traversed the desert, passed
the Euphrates, insulted the suburbs of Antioch, reduced to ashes the
city of Apamea, and laid the spoils of Syria at the feet of his master,
whose perseverance in the midst of winter at length subverted the
bulwark of the East. But these losses, which astonished the provinces
and the court, produced a salutary effect in the repentance and
abdication of the emperor Justin: a new spirit arose in the Byzantine
councils; and a truce of three years was obtained by the prudence of
Tiberius. That seasonable interval was employed in the preparations
of war; and the voice of rumor proclaimed to the world, that from
the distant countries of the Alps and the Rhine, from Scythia, MÊsia,
Pannonia, Illyricum, and Isauria, the strength of the Imperial cavalry
was reÎnforced with one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers. Yet the
king of Persia, without fear, or without faith, resolved to prevent
the attack of the enemy; again passed the Euphrates, and dismissing the
ambassadors of Tiberius, arrogantly commanded them to await his arrival
at CÊsarea, the metropolis of the Cappadocian provinces. The two armies
encountered each other in the battle of Melitene: the Barbarians,
who darkened the air with a cloud of arrows, prolonged their line, and
extended their wings across the plain; while the Romans, in deep and
solid bodies, expected to prevail in closer action, by the weight of
their swords and lances. A Scythian chief, who commanded their right
wing, suddenly turned the flank of the enemy, attacked their rear-guard
in the presence of Chosroes, penetrated to the midst of the camp,
pillaged the royal tent, profaned the eternal fire, loaded a train of
camels with the spoils of Asia, cut his way through the Persian host,
and returned with songs of victory to his friends, who had consumed the
day in single combats, or ineffectual skirmishes. The darkness of the
night, and the separation of the Romans, afforded the Persian monarch an
opportunity of revenge; and one of their camps was swept away by a rapid
and impetuous assault. But the review of his loss, and the consciousness
of his danger, determined Chosroes to a speedy retreat: he burnt, in his
passage, the vacant town of Melitene; and, without consulting the safety
of his troops, boldly swam the Euphrates on the back of an elephant.
After this unsuccessful campaign, the want of magazines, and perhaps
some inroad of the Turks, obliged him to disband or divide his forces;
the Romans were left masters of the field, and their general Justinian,
advancing to the relief of the Persarmenian rebels, erected his standard
on the banks of the Araxes. The great Pompey had formerly halted within
three days' march of the Caspian: that inland sea was explored, for
the first time, by a hostile fleet, and seventy thousand captives were
transplanted from Hyrcania to the Isle of Cyprus. On the return of
spring, Justinian descended into the fertile plains of Assyria; the
flames of war approached the residence of Nushirvan; the indignant
monarch sunk into the grave; and his last edict restrained his
successors from exposing their person in battle against the Romans.
Yet the memory of this transient affront was lost in the glories of a
long reign; and his formidable enemies, after indulging their dream of
conquest, again solicited a short respite from the calamities of war.