the rude rabble, and with them forced his way into the church, and committed great disorders for three days together, in which many of the faithful were massacred. Seven days after this, with the perjured crew that followed him, and with a band of gladiators, to whom he had given large sums of money, he seized the Lateran church, and was there ordained. Then having bribed two magistrates of the city, he caused Ursinus, a venerable man, who had been first made bishop, to be sent into banishment, with the deacons Amantius and Lupus. The Roman people assembled together, and would have hindered Damasus from taking possession of the pontificate; but he cleared his way through them by blows and bastinadoes, and some died of the wounds which they had received. He also attempted to drive out of the city seven presbyters, who were put into prison by the magistrates; but the faithful people rescued them, and carried them into the church of Liberius. Then Damasus, with the ecclesiastics of his faction, joined to gladiators, charioteers, and rustics, armed with hatchets, swords, and clubs, besieged the church, and began a furious battle, setting fire to the doors, and bursting them open, whilst others of his partizans had clambered up, and were pelting their adversaries with tiles from the top of the edifice. Thus the Damasians forced their way in, and slew an hundred and sixty persons, men and women, and wounded several who died afterwards: but of the party of Damasus not one was slain. The people cried out for justice, and for the expulsion of Damasus; but the prelate had taken his measures so well that nothing was done against him; and it appears from the relation of which we are giving an abstract, that the ladies, who in great great cities like Rome are no inconsiderable party, făvoured the conqueror, who was admirably skilled in the arts of flattering and cajoling them; for which reason he had the honour to be called Matronarum Auriscalpius, the ear-picker of the ladies.-The strangest of the story is, that notwithstanding all these things, Damasus was a great saint, and miracles were wrought in his favour after his death. See Baronius, or his abbreviator, Spondanus, on the year 386. Either he was much altered for the better, after he had gained the see of Rome, sword in hand, or at least, after he had gained it by the violence of his partizans, or these miracles were mere fables. A conqueror obtaining the episcopal throne by breaking open churches, and shedding blood, presents not to our imagination the idea of an holy prelate. If faults had been committed on both sides, which is usually the case in contests of this kind, neither Damasus nor Ursinus ought to have been employed in the service of the church, and least of all in the service of the church of Rome. They should have retired both of them to some solitary place, to shew that they had never desired to obtain a dignity which had occasioned so scandalous a battle, and which must have given the Pagans a very bad opinion of the Roman clergy, as it appears from the remarks of Marcellinus the historian, who yet was a man of candour and moderation *." Damasus was the first pope who introduced the laudable custom of celebrating with festivity and solemnity his birth-day, on which so great a blessing was conferred upon the Christian church. His successors followed his example †. * Le Clerc, Bibl. A, & M, xxviii. 246, ↑ Basnage iii. 518. In the reign of Valentinian lived Ephraim Syrus. See in Tillemont an account of his imprisonment and deliverance, and of all the strange things that befel him and his fellow sufferers. The story is pretty enough, and more amusing than many a modern romance. Gregory Nyssen hath written an injudicious and fanatical account of this Ephraim, who seems to have been a pious humble man, an honest monk, by no means free from enthusiasm, though not so enthusiastic as many of his comrades, the monks of Mesopotamia, whose zeal was downright frenzy. Ephraim, hearing as Gregory tells us, that Apollinaris, a man of great reputation for his learning and abilities, but reckoned amongst the heterodox, had committed his writings to the care of a certain woman, made her believe that he was a friend and disciple of Apollinaris, and borrowed the books, promising to return them speedily. As soon as he had them in his possession, he glewed all the leaves together, and returned the volumes to the woman, and she to Apollinaris, who when he wanted to make use of them, found all his labours destroyed, and took it much to heart. Tillemont judges fairly, and calls this a mean and scandalous trick. He supposes that either Gregory Nyssen was not the author of the book in which this story is related; or that if he was, he had been imposed upon by hearsays, and false reports. The latter supposition is probable enough, if we consider the credulity of Gregory. The best thing recorded of Ephraim is, that he was very charitable, and by his credit and interest raised great sums to relieve the poor in times of distress. Concerning Concerning the works of Ephraim, some genuine, some ill-translated, corrupted, and interpolated, see Rivetus, Tillemont *, Lardner †, and Cave ‡. Amphilochius, A. D. 375. was made bishop of Iconium, and, as Metaphrastes assures us, was ordained by angels, who on this occasion usurped the episcopal office . Tillemont, I mention it to his honour §, rejects this story, and often speaks of Metaphrastes with due contempt. But it is worthy of observation that Combefix, no inconsiderable man in the church of Rome, recommends this wretched tale to the belief of all good souls, with a Certissimum est, et omnino credendum. A. D. 371. Gregory of Nyssa was a married man, and was made a bishop. He celebrates the wonders of Gregory Thaumaturgus, and relates many of his miracles, some of which are of a very extraordinary kind. Thus saith Du Pin, which was rather more than was safe for him to say amongst powerful bigots, and powerful hypocrites. Gregory of Nyssa went to Jerusalem, to try whether he could pacify the quarrels there amongst the Christians. He tells us, that instead of finding the virtues which might have been expected from the inhabitants of the Holy Land, he found the place to be a sink of iniquity and debauchery, the seat of envy, malice, adultery, robbery, murder, idolatry, poisoning, and bloodshed, where men assassinated others for a trifling * viii. 264. 294. † ix. 177. § ix. 617. i. 235. a trifling reward, so that in no place were murders so frequently and so easily committed. Such were the Christians of Jerusalem in the fourth century, a century so abundant in saints and in miracles! Thus he learned from experience to have no favourable opinion of pilgrimages. I was convinced, says he, that there was much less devotion and goodness to be found in the Holy Land, than in Capadocia. He therefore dissuaded some religious persons from undertaking that voyage. Jerom was of the same mind in this point, and said much the same things to Paulinus, and commended the monk Hilarion, who being born, and bred up, and settled in Palæstine, had never spent more than one single day in Jerusalem; and did that, only lest he should be thought to despise the place. This declaration of Gregory, says Cave *, hath been foolishly censured by some popish writers. Erasmus† wrote an excellent dialogue on the subject of pilgrimages. The Arians at that time were numerous at Constantinople, and the inhabitants loquacious, and addicted to disputing. This city, says Gregory |, is full of mechanics and slaves, who are all of them doctors of divinity, and preach in the shops and in the streets. If you desire a man to change a piece of silver, he informs you wherein the Son differs from the Father; if you ask the price of a loaf, you are told, by way of reply, that the Son is inferior to the Father; if you inquire whether the bath is ready, the answer is, that the Son was made out of nothing. *i. 245. + T. i. 639. See Tillemont, ix. 435. De Abrah. et Gieg. Nazianz. Grat. 33. But |