emperor to make this law. If so, I will add a conjecture to theirs. Perhaps Damasus gave this advice, that the inferior clergy of his diocese might not grow too wealthy and independent, and less submissive to his will and pleasure, and that none might be great and rich besides himself and his successors. The bishoprick of Rome, even at that time, was a noble post, as Damasus well knew, who possessed it, and who had fought for it, but not a good fight. Upon which occasion Ammianus Marcellinus hath made some proper remarks: Damasus & Ursinus supra humanum modum ad rapiendam Episcopatus sedem ardentes, scissis studiis asperrime conflictabantur, adusque mortis vulnerumque discrimina adjumentis utriusque progressis: que nec corrigere sufficiens Juventius, nec mollire, coactus vi magna, secessit in suburbanum. Et in concertatione superaverat Dımasus, parte quæ ei facebat instante.-Constatque in Basilica Sicinini, ubi ritús Christiani est Conventiculum, uno die centum triginta septem reperta cadavera peremtorum; efferatamque diu plebem ægre postea delenitam. Neque ego abnuo, ostentationem rerum considerans Urbanarum, hujus rei cupidos ob impetrandum quod appetunt omni contentione laterum jurgari debere: cum id adepti, futuri sint ita securi, ut ditentur oblationibus matronarum, procedantque vehiculis insidentes, circumspecte vestiti, epulas curantes profusas, adeo ut eorum convivia regales superent mensas, Qui esse poterant Beati revera, si magnitudine Urbis despecta, quam vitiis opponunt, ad imitationem Antistitum quorumdam provincialium viverent; quos tenuitas edendi potandique parcissime, vilitas etiam indumentorum, & supercilia humum spectantia, per petua petuo Numini verisque ejus cultoribus ut puros commendant & verecundos *. Theodoret pays high compliments † to the memory of Damasus. Δάμασος παμπόλλοις ἀρετῆς κοσμέμενος είδε σιν. Αξιεπαινέτῳ βίῳ κοσμάμενος, και πάντα λέγειν και πράττειν υ ̓Αποςολικῶν δοΓμάτων αἱρέμενος.—Δάμασος ὁ πανεύφημος. -Ο θαυμάσιος Δάμασος. Vir omni genere virtutis ornatus.-Sanctitate vitae conspicuus, & qui pro Apostolica doctrina nihil non dicere atque agere paratus esset.-Laudatissimus Damasus.~~ Admirandus Damasus. He reckons Damasus and Ambrose amongst the most strenuous defenders of the faith, and confuters of heretics. Now let us see some of the exploits of our Θαυμάσιος. In the year 366, Damasus and Ursinus fought for the bishoprick of Rome. The party of Damasus was victorious, and many were slain in the contest. He was made bishop, when he was sixty years old; a time of life in which a man who had a grain of philosophy, not to say of Christianity, would be extremely indifferent about preferments and promotions, and not think of purchasing them in such a manner. Saint Basil gives Saint Damasus a very unfavourable character, and taxes him with pride and insolence, and contempt of other ecclesiastics, as inferior to himself in station and dignity. He says that there was no gaining his favour but by sordid submissions and flatteries beneath a man of honour. He cannot refrain from venting his chagrin upon this occasion, T 4 ii. 22. iv. 30. v. 2. 9. 23. * xxvii. 3. and and from saying that his brother Gregory was of all persons the most unfit to be sent a deputy to Rome, because he had too little of the courtier, and was too frank, and blunt, and simple to enter into a conference with a proud Pope, whose exaltation had turned his head, and who could not bear plain dealing and honest freedom. It is diverting enough to see how Tillemont mumbles and softens all this *. Damasus with a view to extend his jurisdiction in the east, appointed the bishop of Thessalonica to be vicar of the holy see, and the pope's deputy †. We cannot see, says Tillemont, what right he had to do this. Can you not see it? He had the same right that an highwayman hath to take a purse. He was however, to do the man justice, a most active and vigilant prelate, the terror and the Scourge of all heretics and schismatics, whom he harassed, excommunicated, and drove into banishment; and when they assembled together, he used to send his ecclesiastics, with constables and other ruffians, to beat them and dislodge them. So say his adversaries, and what they say was true in all probability. Yet he wrote in defence of Symmachus, a man of quality, and of considerable abilities, a steady and bigotted Pagan, who was falsely accused of having oppressed some of the Christians. He had the wit to pay much honour and respect to Jerom, and to consult him as his master and teacher; and Jerom, who was a warm friend as well as a warm foe, repaid these favours with compliments and commendations. In a letter to Jerom, he declares that he could not endure to read the works of Lactantius, because they were too prolix, and not godly enough. Such was his taste! He composed some pastoral letters, and books of devotion, and pious poems. The Latin church hath canonized him; and therefore Tillemont calls him Saint Damasus but Du Pin calls him Pope Damasus, judging, I suppose, that title to be good enough for him *. A stone †, it is said, was found in Catalonia, with this inscription, which, I think, hath the air of a modern forgery: HIC NATVS DAMASVS PONTIFEX ROMANVS DISCIPVLVS ET MONACHVS S. HIERONYMI PRESBYTERI, QVI OBIIT ERA CAESARIS Cccccv. Prætextatus, a man of quality, and a Pagan, who died consul elect, used to say to Damasus, Make me bishop of Rome, and I will be a Christian as soon as you please. Homo sacrilegus, says Jerom, & idolorum cultor solebat ludens Beato Papa Damaso dicere,-Facite me Romance Urbis Episcopum, & protinus ero Christianus. Ammianus Marcellinus gives this Prætextatus a very good character, and represents him as an excellent magistrate. The writer of the Life of Damasus says that he wrought many miracles; but Faustinus and Marcellinus have recorded his exploits of another kind: "Marcellinus Concerning Damasus, see Socrates iv. 29. Marcellinus xxvii. Tillemont ix. Le Clerc Bibl, A. & M. xxviii. 246. Basnage iii. 13, 19, 20. Watchler, de Cancellariis Veterum. ‡ xxvii. 9. 1 any "Marcellinus and Faustinus, two presbyters of the church of Rome, presented to the presented to the emperors Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius, a complaint against Damasus, which is published in the Opera Sirmundi. These presbyters inform the emperors that under Constantius the orthodox were persecuted, and Athanasius condemned; that Liberius, bishop of Rome, together with three other prelates, refusing to consent to his condemnation, were sent into banishment; that Liberius setting out to the place whither he was ordered to go, Damasus, his deacon, made as though he would accompany him, but left him, as they were upon the way, and went back to Rome; that on the same day on which Liberius departed, all the clergy of Rome, namely, the presbyters, Felix the archdeacon, and Damasus the deacon, and all who had function in the church being assembled, in the presence of the Roman people, sware that they would not chuse another bishop whilst Liberius was living; that nevertheless some of the clergy, against their promise and their oath, and against all decency, chose Felix the archdeacon, who was ordained in the room of Liberius, to the great dissatisfaction of all the peo ple; that after three years, Liberius being recalled, the people received him with much joy, and drove Felix out of the city. After these things, say they, Liberius died, having forgiven those ecclesiastics who had rebelled against him. Then those presbyters and deacons, and the brethren who had been faithful to Liberius during his exile, proceeded to an election in the Julian church, and chose Ursinus, who was consecrated by Paul, bishop of Tibur. Upon this, Damasus, who had always been making interest for the bishoprick, hired and drew together the charioteers and the |