Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/161

OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE 139 some effort of military force ; ^'•' the distant barbarians tran- scribed the creed of the Vatican; and, in the period of a century, the schism of the three chapters expired in an obscure angle of the Venetian province. i*^'^ But the religious discontent of the Italians had already promoted the conquests of tlie Lombards, and the Romans themselves were accustomed to suspect the faith, and to detest the government, of their Byzantine tyrant. Justinian was neither steady nor consistent in the nice Heresy or jirocess of fixing his volatile opinions and those of his subjects. aId.'sm" In his youth, he was offended by the slightest deviation from Sioeet^sm"]*"' 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. This phcmtasllc ojjinion was announced in the last edicts of Justinian ; and at the moment of his seasonable departure the clergy had refused to subscribe, the prince was prepared to persecute, and the people were resolved to suffer or resist. A bishop of Treves, secure beyond the limits of his power, addressed the monarch of the East in the language of authority and affection. " Most gracious Justinian, remember your bap- tism and your creed ! Let not your grey haii's be defiled with heresy. Recall your fathers from exile, and your followers from perdition. You cannot be ignorant that Italy and Gaul, Spain and Africa, already deplore your fall, and anathematize your name. Unless, without delay, you destroy what you have taught ; unless you exclaim with a loud voice, I have erred, I have sinned, anathema to Nestorius, anathema to Eutyches, you deliver your soul to the same flames in which Umj will eternally burn." He died and made no sign.^"^ His death ^^ See the complaints of Liberatus and Victor, and the exhortations of pope Pe'agius to the conqueror and exarch of Italy. Schisma . . . per potestates pubacas opprimatur, &c. (Concil. torn. vi. p. 467, &c.). An army was detained to suppress the sedition of an Illyrian city. See Procopius (de Bell. Goth. 1. iv. c. 25) : iLrircp ti'SKa (T4,i(riv iivToli ol Xpicrriai'ol 5ia^ia'xoiTai. He Seems to promise an ecclesiastical history. It would have been curious and impartial. !•*" The bishops of the patriarchate of Aquileia were reconciled by pope Honorius, A.D. 638 (Muratori, Annali d'ltalia, toni. v. p. 376) ; but they again relapsed, and the schism was not finally extinguished till 698. Fourteen years before, the church of Spain had overlooked the vth general council with contemptuous silence (xiii. Concil. Toletan. in Concil. tom. vii. p. 487-494). 101 Nicetius, bishop of Treves (Concil. torn. vi. p. 511-513). He himself, like most of the Galilean prelates (Gregor. Epist. 1. vii. ep. 5, in Concil. tom. vi. p. 1007), was separated from the communion of the four patriarchs, by his refusal to