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OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 157 masters, a free religion and a mitigated servitude. Their domestic governors are chosen among the ancient nobility ; the patriarch, in his monastery of Canobin, still fancies himself on the throne of Antioch ; nine bishops compose his synod, and one hundred and fifty priests, who retain the liberty of marriage, are entrusted with the care of one hundred thousand souls. Their country extends from the ridge of mount Libanus to the shores of Tripoli ; and the gradual descent affords, in a narrow space, each variety of soil and climate, from the Holy Cedars, erect under the weight of snow,^"-' to the vine, the mulberry, and the olive trees of the fruitful valley. In the twelfth century, the Maronites, abjuring the Monothelite error, were reconciled to the Latin churches of Antioch and Rome,^^" and the same alliance has been frequently renewed by the ambition of the popes and the distress of the Syrians. But it may reasonably be questioned whether their union has ever been perfect or sincere ; and the learned Maronites of the college of Rome have vainly laboured to absolve their ancestors from the guilt of heresy and schism. ^^^ IV. Since the age of Constantine, the Armenians ^^- had rv. The signalised their attachment to the religion and empire of the Christians. The disorders of their country, and their ignorance 1-*^ In the last century, twenty large cedars still remained (Voyage de la Roque, torn. i. p. 68-76) ; at present they are reduced to four or hve (Volney, torn. i. p. 264). These trees, so famous in scripture, were guarded by excommunication ; the wood was sparingly borrowed for small crosses, lic. ; an annual mass was chanted under their shade ; and they were endowed by the Syrians with a sensitive power of erecting their br< nches to repel the snow, to which mount Libanus is less faithful than it is painted by Tacitus : Inter aiuores opacuin fidumque nivibus — a daring metaphor (Hist. v. 6). i-'o The evidence of William of Tyre (Hist, in Gestis Dei per Francos, 1. xxii. c. 8, p. 1022) is copied or confirmed by Jacques de Vitra (Hist. Hierosolym. 1. ii. c. 77, p. 1093, 1094). But this unnatural league expired with the power of the Franks ; and Abulpharagius (who died in 1286) considers the Maronites as a sect of Mono- thelites (Bibliot. Orient, torn. ii. p. 292). '^1 I find a description and history of the Maronites in the Voyages de la .Syne et du Mont Liban, par la Roque (2 vols, in i2mo. .Amsterdam, 1723 ; particularly torn. i. p. 42-47, p. 174-184, tom. ii. p. 10-120). In the ancient part, he copies the pre- judice., of Nairon, and the other Maronites of Rome, which .'ssemannus is afraid to renounce and ashamed to support. Jablonski (Institut. Hist. Christ, tom. iii. p. 186), Niebuhr (Voyage de I'Arabie, &c. tom. ii. p. 346, 370-381), and, above all, the judicious Volney (Voyage en Egypte et en Syrie, tom. ii. p. 8-31, Paris, 1787) may be consulted. '^2 The religion of the Armenians is briefly described by La Croze (Hist, du Christ, de I'Europe et de 1' Arm^nie, p. 269-402). He refers to the great Armenian History of Galanus (3 vols, in fol. Rome, 1650-1661), and commends the state of .Armenia in the liid volume of the Nouveaux Mf^^moires des Missions du Levant. The work of a Jesuit must have sterling merit when it is praised by La Croze.