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History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2

Edward Gibbon · Written 1782; revised 1845 (for the later edition context of the modern title page)

passage 254 of 558 · Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To > Chapter XXI: Persecution Of Heresy, State Of The Church.—Part I. (2/9)

1 (return) [ Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. iii. c. 63, 64, 65, 66.]

2 (return) [ After some examination of the various opinions of Tillemont, Beausobre, Lardner, &c., I am convinced that Manes did not propagate his sect, even in Persia, before the year 270. It is strange, that a philosophic and foreign heresy should have penetrated so rapidly into the African provinces; yet I cannot easily reject the edict of Diocletian against the Manichæans, which may be found in Baronius. (Annal Eccl. A. D. 287.)]

3 (return) [ Constantinus enim, cum limatius superstitionum quæroret sectas, Manichæorum et similium, &c. Ammian. xv. 15. Strategius, who from this commission obtained the surname of Musonianus, was a Christian of the Arian sect. He acted as one of the counts at the council of Sardica. Libanius praises his mildness and prudence. Vales. ad locum Ammian.]

4 (return) [ Cod. Theod. l. xvi. tit. 5, leg. 2. As the general law is not inserted in the Theodosian Code, it probable that, in the year 438, the sects which it had condemned were already extinct.]

5 (return) [ Sozomen, l. i. c. 22. Socrates, l. i. c. 10. These historians have been suspected, but I think without reason, of an attachment to the Novatian doctrine. The emperor said to the bishop, “Acesius, take a ladder, and get up to heaven by yourself.” Most of the Christian sects have, by turns, borrowed the ladder of Acesius.]

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History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2 · Edward Gibbon · 1782–1845