Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/106

80 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap xxxvii cross ; but his most familiar practice was that of bending his meagre skeleton from the forehead to the feet ; and a curious spectator, after numbering twelve hundred and forty-four repetitions, at length desisted from the endless account. The progress of an ulcer in his thigh 73 might shorten, but it could not disturb, this celestial life ; and the patient Hermit expired without descending from his column. A prince who should capriciously inflict such tortures would be deemed a tyrant ; but it would surpass the power of a tyrant to impose a long and miserable existence on the reluctant victims of his cruelty. This voluntary martyrdom must have gradually destroyed the sensibility both of the mind and body ; nor can it be presumed that the fanatics, who torment themselves, are susceptible of any lively affection for the rest of mankind. A cruel unfeeling temper has distinguished the monks of every age and country : their stern indifference, which is seldom mollified by personal friendship, is inflamed by religious hatred ; and their merciless zeal has strenuously administered the holy office of the Inquisi- tion. Miracles The monastic saints, who excite only the contempt and ship of the pity of a philosopher, were respected, and almost adored, by the prince and people. Successive crowds of pilgrims from Gaul and India saluted the divine pillar of Simeon ; the tribes of Saracens disputed in arms the honour of his benediction ; the queens of Arabia and Persia gratefully confessed his super- natural virtue; and the angelic Hermit was consulted by the younger Theodosius, in the most important concerns of the church and state. His remains were transported from the mountain of Telenissa, by a solemn procession of the patriarch, the master-general of the East, six bishops, twenty-one counts or tribunes, and six thousand soldiers ; and Antioch revered his bones, as her glorious ornament and impregnable defence. The fame of the apostles and martyrs was gradually eclipsed by these recent and popular Anachorets ; the Christian world fell prostrate before their shrines ; and the miracles ascribed to their relics exceeded, at least in number and duration, the 73 1 must not conceal a piece of ancient scandal concerning the origin of this ulcer. It has been reported that the Devil, assuming an angelic form, invited him to asoend, like Elijah, into a fiery ohariot. The saint too hastily raised his foot, and Satan seized the moment of inflicting this ohastisement on his vanity.