Page:1909historyofdec04gibbuoft.djvu/116

88 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xxxvii of the North, who had submitted, with some reluctance, to believe that all their ancestors were in hell, 87 were astonished and exasperated to learn that they themselves had only changed the mode of their eternal condemnation. Instead of the smooth applause which Christian kings are accustomed to expect from their loyal prelates, the orthodox bishops and their clergy were in a state of opposition to the Arian courts ; and their indiscreet opposition frequently became criminal, and might sometimes be dangerous. 88 The pulpit, that safe and sacred organ of sedition, resounded with the names of Pharaoh and Holofernes ; 89 the public discontent was inflamed by the hope or promise of a glorious deliverance ; and the seditious saints were tempted to promote the accomplishment of their own predictions. Notwithstanding these provocations, the General Catholics of Gaul, Spain, and Italy enjoyed, under the reign of the Arians, the free and peaceful exercise of their religion. Their haughty masters respected the zeal of a numerous people, resolved to die at the foot of their altars ; and the example of their devout constancy was admired and imitated by the Barbarians themselves. The conquerors evaded, however, the disgraceful reproach, or confession, of fear, by attributing their toleration to the liberal motives of reason and humanity ; and, while they affected the language, they imperceptibly imbibed the spirit, of genuine Chris- tianity. Arian per- The peace of the church was sometimes interrupted. The the van- Catholics were indiscreet, the Barbarians were impatient ; and dais • . the partial acts of severity or injustice which had been recom- mended by the Arian clergy were exaggerated by the orthodox writers. The guilt of persecution may be imputed to Euric, king of the Visigoths ; who suspended the exercise of eccle- siastical, or, at least, of episcopal, functions, and punished the popular bishops of Aquitain with imprisonment, exile, and con- 87 Radbod, king of the Frisons, was so much scandalized by this rash declara- tion of a missionary that he drew back his foot after he had entered the baptismal font. See Fleury, Hist. Eccl^s. torn. ix. p. 167. 88 The epistles of Sidonius, bishop of Clermont, under the Visigoths, and of Avitus, bishop of Vienna, under the Burgundians, explain, sometimes in dark hints, the general dispositions of the Catholics. The history of Clovis and Theodoric will suggest some particular facts. 89 Genseric confessed the resemblance by the severity with which he punished such indiscreet allusions. Victor Vitensis, 1, 7, p. 10.