tors by making statues and pictures of them, drapαpuκάκλως, ἐθνικῇ συνηθείᾳ, indiscreetly and according to Pagan custom; which shews that he was no friend to holy images, and to image-worship, and that he foresaw the bad use which would soon be made of these representations. E. H. vii. 18. See also S. Basnage Ann. i. 307.

Nicephorus reviles Eusebius as an enemy to holy images, as an Arian, and worse than an Arian, on account of this wicked letter of his to Constantia. Clerc, Bibl. A. et M. xxiv. 3.

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Le

"The second general council of Constantinople, "assembled by Constantine, whom the image-mongers impudently called Copronymus, had condemned "images, and had made use of a passage from the history of the apostle St John by Leucius, of which "here is the substance:

"A Christian called Lycomedes, had got a portrait "made of this apostle, who seeing a picture in the "house of his disciple, and not knowing whom it re

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presented, said to Lycomedes, What is the mean"ing of this image, and for whom of your gods is it "made? I see that you have not yet entirely renoun

ced the customs of the Gentiles. Lycomedes an"swered, I acknowledge only one God, namely, him "who hath restored life to me and to my wife. But, if, after that God, one may call gods, those good men who are our benefactors, you yourself are the god whom that image represents. It is you whom "I crown, it is you whom I love, and whom I ho"nour, as the faithful guide who hath conducted me "to the source of all blessings. You banter me, my "son, said St John, you are not in earnest, and you "cannot make me believe that this is my picture,

"Then

"Then Lycomedes having reached a looking-glass

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gave it to St John, who discerning his own coun"tenance, and comparing it with the picture, As the "Lord liveth, said he, it is true that this image re"sembles me, but, my son, you have done a wrong thing.

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"The bishops of the second Nicene council in"veigh, as we may suppose, against the author of "this relation, and against those who had dared to "make use of it. And indeed the witness was good "for nothing, he was an heretic and an impostor. "But as to the story itself, there is nothing in it con"trary to the apostolical spirit, or to the faith and practice of the ancient church. If it be not true, "it carries no small appearance of truth, and nothing "brings it into suspicion, but the relater. That is "more than can be said of an heap of authorities "and testimonies urged by these Nicene bishops, "where the facts are evidently false, the books certainly spurious, and the authors most impudent and "audacious liars. This will appear a little rough, "but it is very true, and there is no occasion to use "any ceremony with such disingenuous and dis"honest men." Beausobre, Hist. de Man. i. 389. See also Fleury H. E. T. ix. p. 543.

Eusebius subjoined to his Ecclesiastical History an Oration of Constantine. It was composed in Latin by the emperor, and translated into Greek by a very bad hand. It is also full of faults: tot mendis inquinata est, says Valesius, ut pene satius fuerit eam non ex

tare.

The Pagans, says Constantine in this Oration, may be convinced of the divinity of Jesus Christ, rep TOTS

ἑαυτῶν λόγοὶς πιςεύωσιν. Si quidem suorum sermonibus fidem velint adhibere.

He appeals to the testimony of the Erythræan Sibyl, and therefore I believe it should beτοῖς ἑαυτῶν λογίοις if they will give credit to their own oracles. c. 18.

Thus much concerning Eusebius; to which it may be proper to join a few remarks on the ecclesiastical historians who are his usual companions, Socrates, Sozomen, &c.

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"Reading, in his edition of the ecclesiastical his"torians, has joined to the notes of Valesius such "observations of modern authors as he had picked up here and there. They might as well have been placed at the end of the book, since they are much "inferior to those of Valesius, both for stile and mat"ter, and appear with the same disadvantage as an ordinary painting placed by the work of an emi"nent master.

"Valesius dedicated his word to the Clergy of "France, from whom he had a pension. He was sadly afraid of offending certain persons, who hold "this maxim, That when an opinion serves to sup

port a good cause, it may be piously believed, and "it must not be attacked, be it ever so false and "foolish." Le Clerc, Bibl. A. et M. T. xvi. The misfortune is, that these certain persons, are to be found, and to be felt, not only in the church of Rome, but every where else.

Socrates was born early in the fifth century, and educated at Constantinople. He professed the law, and pleaded at the bar, and thence was called Scholasticus, the name which was then given to Advocates. He wrote an ecclesiastical history with much accuracy and judiciousness, and with much plainness and simplicity

plicity of style, avoiding all rhetorical flourishes. He is suspected by some of having been a Novatian, but Valesius defends him, and acquits him of the charge, Vit. Socr. Yet he certainly entertained a very favourable opinion of that sect. See vi. 21. and the notes of Valesius. He was a prudent, cool, and moderate man, who made no scruple to commend what he thought commendable in Christians of all parties, and though he calls the society of the orthodox the church, yet he did not believe that all they who separated themselves from it were therefore profligate people and reprobates. As he was a lawyer, says Le Clerc, he had learned and acquired from the course of his studies a moderation and an equity rarely to be found in the ecclesiastics of that time. Upon all occasions he declares himself openly against persecution *, and appears a true friend to liberty, civil and religious. Only in the affair of miracles he was too easy of belief, and hath disgraced himself and his history by relating some foolish stories of the marvellous kind.

Hermias Sozomenus was also a lawyer. His style is rather more elegant than that of Socrates; but in judgment he is not equal to him. Being of a family which had excessively admired the monks, and himself born and bred up in Palæstine, and educated at the feet of those Gamaliels, he contracted a superstitious and trifling turn of mind, and an amazing cre

dulity

* Julian, says he, did not attack the Christians with the cruelty of a Diocletian, and yet he may truly be said to have persecuted them; for I call it persecution to molest in any manner those who' lead quiet and peaceable lives. διωγμὸν δὲ λέγω, τὸ ὁποσοῦν ταράτ δεν τοὺς ἡσυχάζοντας. 1. 12.

dulity for monkish miracles, and in this respect became, magnus nugarum helluo. He speaks of the benefit which himself had received from the intercession of Michael the arch-angel. ii. 3.

He and Socrates were contemporaries, and lived in the time of Theodosius Junior. As historians, they so often and so largely coincide, that the one must have transcribed the other, and there is reason to think that Socrates wrote first, and that Sozomen was the copist. See Valesius Vit. Soz.

S. Basnage concludes that these two lawyers could not have had much practice and many briefs, since they found time to write ecclesiastical histories. Sozomeno in ea arte constituto multum oti ex causarum penuria contigisse eo liquet, quod ad Historiam scriben lum se converterit. Ann. iii. 395. His argument is both uncivil and inconclusive.

"Theodoret is, in my opinion, one of the most "valuable of the fathers. He is learned, he reasons

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"well, especially in his dialogues against the Greek "heresies of his times: he is a good literal interpreter "of the scriptures. I cannot help admiring his pru"dence and his moderation, when I consider that he "ended his ecclesiastical history at the time when "the Nestorian quarrels began, in which he was so deeply interested. But I fear, his zeal against "heretics imposed upon him almost as much as his admiration for the heroes of the Ascetic life, with whom he was charmed. Monasteries have undoubtedly sent forth great men into the world; but these disciples of the monks contracted there in their youth a superstitious disposition, which is hardly ever thrown off; and the weak side of this

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VOL. II.

"able