XXI. cution of that important design. In the use, as CHAP. well as in the acquisition, of power, the tyrant George disregarded the laws of religion, of justice, and of humanity; and the same scenes of violence and scandal which had been exhibited in the capital, were repeated in more than ninety episcopal cities of Egypt. Encouraged by success, Constantius ventured to approve the conduct of his ministers. By a public and passionate epistle, the emperor congratulates the deliverance of Alexandria from a popular tyrant, who deluded his blind votaries by the magic of his eloquence; expatiates on the virtues and piety of the most reverend George, the elected bishop; and aspires, as the patron and benefactor of the city, to surpass the fame of Alexander himself. But he solemnly declares his unalterable resolution to pursue with fire and sword the seditious adherents of the wicked Athanasius, who, by flying from justice, has confessed his guilt, and escaped the ignominious death which he had so often deserved." ' viour. Athanasius had indeed escaped from the most His behaimminent dangers; and the adventures of that extraordinary man deserve and fix our attention. On the memorable night when the church of St. Theonas was invested by the troops of Syrianus, the archbishop, seated on his throne, expected, with calm and intrepid dignity, the approach of death. While the public devotion was inter u Athanas. tom. i, p. 694. The emperor, or his arian secretaries, while they express their resentment, betray their fears and esteem of Athanasius. CHAP. rupted by shouts of rage and cries of terror, he XXI. animated his trembling congregation to express their religious confidence, by chanting one of the psalms of David, which celebrates the triumph of the God of Israel over the haughty and impious tyrant of Egypt. The doors were at length burst open; a cloud of arrows was discharged among the people; the soldiers, with drawn swords, rushed forwards into the sanctuary; and the dreadful gleam of their armour was reflected by the holy luminaries which burnt round the altar. Athanasius still rejected the pious importunity of the monks and presbyters, who were attached to his person; and nobly refused to desert his episcopal station, till he had dismissed in safety the last of the congregation. The darkness and tumult of the night favoured the retreat of the archbishop; and though he was oppressed by the waves of an agitated multitude, though he was thrown to the ground, and left without sense or motion, he still recovered his undaunted courage, and eluded the eager search of the soldiers, who were instructed by their arian guides, that the head of Athanasius would be the most acceptable present to the emperor. From that moment the primate of Egypt disappeared from the eyes of his enemies, and remained above six years concealed in impenetrable obscurity." These minute circumstances are curious, as they are literally transcribed from the protest, which was publicly presented three days afterwards by the catholics of Alexandria. See Athanas: tom. i, p. 867. The jansenists have often compared Athanasius and Arnauld, and have expatiated with pleasure on the faith and zeal, the merit and exile, XXI. A. D. The despotic power of his implacable enemy CHAP. filled the whole extent of the Roman world; and the exasperated monarch had endeavoured, by a His retreat, very pressing epistle to the christian princes of 356-362. Ethiopia, to exclude Athanasius from the most remote and sequestered regions of the earth. Counts, prefects, tribunes, whole armies, were successively employed to pursue a bishop and a fugitive; the vigilance of the civil and military powers were excited by the imperial edicts; liberal rewards were promised to the man who should produce Athanasius, either alive or dead; and the most severe penalties were denounced against those who should dare to protect the public enemy. But the deserts of Thebais were now peopled by a race of wild, yet submissive fanatics, who preferred the commands of their abbot to the laws of their sovereign. The numerous disciples of Antony and Pachomius received the fugitive primate as their father, admired the patience and humility with which he conformed to their strictest institutions, collected every word which dropt from his lips as the genuine effusions of inspired wisdom, and persuaded themselves, that their prayers, their fasts, and their vigils, were less meritorious than the zeal which they expressed, dex exile of those celebrated doctors. This concealed parallel is very terously managed by the Abbé de la Bleterie, Vie de Jovien, tom. i, p. 130. z Hinc jam toto orbe profugus Athanasius, nec ullus ei tutus ad latendum super-erat locus. Tribuni, Præfecti, Comites, exercitus quoque, ad pervestigandum eum moventer edictis imperialibus ; præmia delatoribus proponuntur, si quis eum vivum, si id minus, caput certe Athanasii detulisset. Rufin. i, c. 16. XXI. CHAP. and the dangers which they braved, in the defence of truth and innocence. The monasteries of Egypt were seated in lonely and desolate places, on the summit of mountains, or in the islands of the Nile; and the sacred horn or trumpet of Tabenne was the well-known signal which assembled several thousand robust and determined monks, who, for the most part, had been the peasants of the adjacent country. When their dark retreats were invaded by a military force, which it was impossible to resist, they silently stretched out their necks to the executioner; and supported their national character, that tortures could never wrest from an Egyptian the confession of a secret which he was resolved not to disclose. The archbishop of Alexandria, for whose safety they eagerly devoted their lives, was lost among a uniform and well-disciplined multitude; and on the nearer approach of danger, he was swiftly removed, by their officious hands, from one place of concealment to another, till he reached the formidable deserts, which the gloomy and credulous temper of superstition had peopled with dæmons and savage monsters. The retirement of Athanasius, which ended only with the life of Constantius, was spent, for the most part, in the society of the monks, who faithfully served him as guards, as secretaries, and as messengers; a Gregor, Nazianzen. tom. i, Orat. xxi, p. 384, 385. See Tille mont, Mem. Eccles, tom. vii, p. 176-410; 820-880. b Et nulla tormentorum vis inveniri adhuc potuit; quæ obdurato illius tractûs latroni invito elicere potuit ; ut nomen proprium dicat. Ammian. xxii, 16, and Valesius ad locum. XXI. but the importance of maintaining a more inti- CHAP. mate connection with the catholic party tempted him, whenever the diligence of the pursuit was abated, to emerge from the desert, to introduce himself into Alexandria, and to trust his person to the discretion of his friends and adherents. His various adventures might have furnished the subject of a very entertaining romance. He was once secreted in a dry cistern, which he had scarcely left before he was betrayed by the treachery of a female slave; and he was once concealed in a still more extraordinary asylum, the house of a virgin, only twenty years of age, and who was celebrated in the whole city for her exquisite beauty. At the hour of midnight, as she related the story many years afterwards, she was surprised by the appearance of the archbishop in a loose undress, who, advancing with hasty steps, conjured her to afford him the protection which he had been directed by a celestial vision to seek under her hospitable roof. The pious maid accepted and preserved the sacred pledge which was entrusted to her prudence and courage. Without imparting the secret to any one, she instantly.conducted Athanasius into her most secret chamber, and watched over his safety with the tenderness of a friend, and the assiduity of a servant. As long as the danger continued, she regularly supplied him with books and provisions, washed his feet, ma e Rufin. 1. i, c. 18; Sozomen, 1. iv, c. 10. This and the fol lowing story will be rendered impossible, if we suppose that Athanasius always inhabited the asylum which he accidentally, or occasion. ally, had used. VOL. III. |