Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 3 | Page 9

Eudoxus and Damophilus. Their diocese enjoyed
a free importation of vice and error from every province of the empire;
the eager pursuit of religious controversy afforded a new occupation to
the busy idleness of the metropolis; and we may credit the assertion of
an intelligent observer, who describes, with some pleasantry, the effects
of their loquacious zeal. "This city," says he, "is full of mechanics and
slaves, who are all of them profound theologians; and preach in the
shops, and in the streets. If you desire a man to change a piece of silver,
he informs you, wherein the Son differs from the Father; if you ask the
price of a loaf, you are told by way of reply, that the Son is inferior to
the Father; and if you inquire, whether the bath is ready, the answer is,
that the Son was made out of nothing." ^25 The heretics, of various
denominations, subsisted in peace under the protection of the Arians of
Constantinople; who endeavored to secure the attachment of those
obscure sectaries, while they abused, with unrelenting severity, the
victory which they had obtained over the followers of the council of
Nice. During the partial reigns of Constantius and Valens, the feeble
remnant of the Homoousians was deprived of the public and private
exercise of their religion; and it has been observed, in pathetic language,
that the scattered flock was left without a shepherd to wander on the
mountains, or to be devoured by rapacious wolves. ^26 But, as their
zeal, instead of being subdued, derived strength and vigor from
oppression, they seized the first moments of imperfect freedom, which
they had acquired by the death of Valens, to form themselves into a
regular congregation, under the conduct of an episcopal pastor. Two
natives of Cappadocia, Basil, and Gregory Nazianzen, ^27 were
distinguished above all their contemporaries, ^28 by the rare union of
profane eloquence and of orthodox piety.
These orators, who might sometimes be compared, by themselves, and
by the public, to the most celebrated of the ancient Greeks, were united
by the ties of the strictest friendship. They had cultivated, with equal
ardor, the same liberal studies in the schools of Athens; they had retired,

with equal devotion, to the same solitude in the deserts of Pontus; and
every spark of emulation, or envy, appeared to be totally extinguished
in the holy and ingenuous breasts of Gregory and Basil. But the
exaltation of Basil, from a private life to the archiepiscopal throne of
Caesarea, discovered to the world, and perhaps to himself, the pride of
his character; and the first favor which he condescended to bestow on
his friend, was received, and perhaps was intended, as a cruel insult.
^29 Instead of employing the superior talents of Gregory in some
useful and conspicuous station, the haughty prelate selected, among the
fifty bishoprics of his extensive province, the wretched village of
Sasima, ^30 without water, without verdure, without society, situate at
the junction of three highways, and frequented only by the incessant
passage of rude and clamorous wagoners. Gregory submitted with
reluctance to this humiliating exile; he was ordained bishop of Sasima;
but he solemnly protests, that he never consummated his spiritual
marriage with this disgusting bride. He afterwards consented to
undertake the government of his native church of Nazianzus, ^31 of
which his father had been bishop above five-and-forty years. But as he
was still conscious that he deserved another audience, and another
theatre, he accepted, with no unworthy ambition, the honorable
invitation, which was addressed to him from the orthodox party of
Constantinople. On his arrival in the capital, Gregory was entertained
in the house of a pious and charitable kinsman; the most spacious room
was consecrated to the uses of religious worship; and the name of
Anastasia was chosen to express the resurrection of the Nicene faith.
This private conventicle was afterwards converted into a magnificent
church; and the credulity of the succeeding age was prepared to believe
the miracles and visions, which attested the presence, or at least the
protection, of the Mother of God. ^32 The pulpit of the Anastasia was
the scene of the labors and triumphs of Gregory Nazianzen; and, in the
space of two years, he experienced all the spiritual adventures which
constitute the prosperous or adverse fortunes of a missionary. ^33 The
Arians, who were provoked by the boldness of his enterprise,
represented his doctrine, as if he had preached three distinct and equal
Deities; and the devout populace was excited to suppress, by violence
and tumult, the irregular assemblies of the Athanasian heretics. From
the cathedral of St. Sophia there issued a motley crowd "of common

beggars, who had forfeited their claim to pity; of monks, who had the
appearance of goats or satyrs; and of women, more terrible