330. lettres be said to have experienced a much A.D. better fate; the commentaries* of Ulpian, in the reign of Constantine, evince a corruption of style so palpable, as to induce a modern critic† to question the period of their composition. Themistius, a senator under Constantius, has however left a body of discourses, political, ethical, and didactic, remarkable for elegance, judgment, and erudition; and Libanius of Antioch,§ an opponent of christianity, a pupil of the schools of Athens and Constantinople, and subsequently a teacher of eloquence in both, and in the city of his birth, as well as at Nice and Nicomedia, has been characterised as the best orator whom Byzantium has produced. His essays and declamations breathe an unusual spirit of erudition and refinement; and even his oppo Proclus, Musæus the grammarian, or Tryphiodorus, (whom I have mentioned before, n. p. 84.) who flourished about this period, scarcely deserve the epithet of poets. On the Philippics of Demosthenes. + Chapman. See Demosthenis Philippica oratio prima et Olynthiacæ tres, Gr. et Lat. cum comment. Ulpiani, curâ Rich. Mounteney. Cant. 1781. 8vo. Fabricius, l. v. c. xliv. sec. v. p. 484. § Born about 314 A. D. Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxv. Harles, The eulogium of Schoell is somewhat opposed to the opinion of Gibbon, see Decline and Fall, &c. c. xxiv. Fa bricius, 1. v. c. xliii. Boeclerus, sec. P. C. iv. p. 73. Har- nents, whilst they censure his imagined defects, are compelled to admit, that in a barbarous age, he preserved the Grecian purity of manners, language, and religion.* But these individuals, A.D. together with the learned Synesius,† form but bright exceptions in the universal decline of the period, nor can the labours of Proæresius; and Himerius,§ or Ammianus Marcellinus || suffice to redeem its sinking reputation. The name of 378. * Gibbon, ib. Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxv. + Born at Cyrene in 378 A. D. and in 410 consecrated Bishop of Ptolemais. He has left some Hymns and other verses, a fragment on Government, and several works connected with literature and philosophy. Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxii. c. xcii. Boeclerus, sec. P. C. v. p. 75. Harles, c. iv. p. 702. Fabricius, l. v. c. xvii. 2. A sophist in the reign of Julian, born at Cæsarea. He was a professor in the schools of Athens, and master of Basil and Gregory of Nazianzum. Harles, c. iv. p. 692. Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxvii. § Successor to Proæresius in the chair of Athens. He was born at Prusa, in 315; about thirty-four of his discourses and declamations, of which twenty-four are perfect, remain. "Son style," says Schoell, "est affecté, rempli d'emphase, et surchargé d'érudition." 1. vi. c. lxxv. Harles, sec. v. p. 482. || Independently of his Roman history, which is written in Latin, Ammianus cultivated the belles lettres, and has left a Commentary, in his native language, on the Life and Genius of Thucydides, together with some minor fragments of little merit or importance. ¶ Voltaire, Melanges philos. v. ii. du Siècle de Constant. p. 295. 361. the emperor Julian alone stands in bold relief A.D. during this era of debasement. Gifted with unwonted talents, and spurred on by an ambition of originality as well as distinction, he succeeded in rendering himself the most extraordinary individual of his age. The profundity of his learning, which might have rendered his writings pedantic or obscure, was tempered by a vivid imagination and a lively wit; and whilst his studies included an infinity of subjects, metaphysics, and morality, theology, poetry, and politics, there was none that did not acquire a charm from the graceful touches of his pen. The historians of the fourth and fifth centuries are neither numerous nor remarkable for genius. Of Praxagoras, who wrote a Life of Constantine the Great, we know nothing save from a feeble extract preserved by Photius; and the valuable Chronicle of Eusebius† now exists merely in the Latin version of St. Jerome, whilst his Ecclesiastical History, though candid and impartial as regards the character of the author, is of questionable accuracy as to many facts which it recounts. Zosimus, of whose origin or * Harles, sec. v. p. 479. Gibbon, c. xxi. xxii. xxiii. Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxii. c. lxxvi. + Born in Palestine about A.D. 264, died A.D. 340, Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxxii. c. lxxxix. Boeclerus, sec. P. C. iv. p. 68. Harles, c. iv. p. 687. Fabricius, 1. v. c. iv. 361 A.D. life no memorials are now remaining, composed 500. in the fifth century his History of the Empire, from Augustus to Theodosius the younger. His design was to continue the work of Polybius, by an account of the decline of the Roman power, as the former had already commemorated the circumstances of its rise; but as amongst the causes of the decay he had the temerity to specify the introduction of a new religion, his veracity has been vigorously impugned, and not without effect, by the supporters of Christianity. As a compiler, his labours evince intense industry without proportionate judgment, but as a writer, his style (save in the later and unfinished portions of his works) is clear, polished, and when occasion requires it, eloquent and impassioned.* A.D. 527. The literary interest of the sixth century is concentrated almost exclusively in the acts and reign of Justinian, whose measures unfortunately were in the last degree unfavourable to the growth of learning or the advancement of science. Religious polemics, which had already assumed an all-engrossing influence, were under his patronage promoted, till, in the warmth of theological debate, the importance of the vital * Harles, sec. v. p. 504. Schoell, 1. vi. c. lxxxiii. Gibbon, c. xvii. n. Berington, b. i. p. 86. Boeclerus, sec. P. C. v. p. 79. Fabricius, l. v. c. v. 21. 527. principles of Christianity was merged in that A.D. of the ill-defined attributes with which fanaticism or priestcraft had invested it. In proportion as the subject of discussion receded from mortal comprehension, the disputations of the rival parties became rancorous and bitter;* argument was spun into fine-drawn subtleties, till the contending factions, entangled each in the meshes of its own involved theories, gave rise to new sects and schisms, and even Justinian himself, after a life of polemical turmoil, died in the estimation of the Church, a heretic.† Whilst his generals were employed in foreign warfare and distant expeditions, the attention * Hallam, Hist. Mid. Ages, c. vi. p. 511. + Rizo, Cours, &c. p. 16. "Justinian," says Gibbon, was neither steady nor consistent in fixing his volatile opinions and those of his subjects. In his youth he was offended by the slightest deviation from the orthodox line; in his old age he transgressed the measure of temperate heresy, and the Jacobites not less than the Catholics were scandalized by his declaration, that the body of Christ was incorruptible, and that his manhood was never subject to any wants and infirmities, the inheritance of our mortal flesh."-Gibbon, c. xlvii. This "phantastic opinion" was broached in one of the last edicts of Justinian, and when admonished at the moment of his departure by the Bishop of Treves, to abjure the heresy and recant his errors, he died impenitent and unrelenting. |