HKB

← back

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3

Edward Gibbon · 1782 (written); 1845 (revised)

passage 22 of 469 · Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part I. > Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part II. (5/11)

in brief
The text argues that orthodox Nicene theology, refined after debate over Christ, spreads successfully by extending doctrine to the Holy Spirit and by resolving schisms like Macedonians and approving Constantinople as a key council.

but the doctrine of the Nicene creed, most powerfully recommended by the merits of faith and devotion, was much better adapted to become popular and successful in a believing age.

37 (return) [ Socrates (l. v. c. 7) and Sozomen (l. vii. c. 5) relate the evangelical words and actions of Damophilus without a word of approbation. He considered, says Socrates, that it is difficult to resist the powerful, but it was easy, and would have been profitable, to submit.]

38 (return) [ See Gregory Nazianzen, tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 21, 22. For the sake of posterity, the bishop of Constantinople records a stupendous prodigy. In the month of November, it was a cloudy morning, but the sun broke forth when the procession entered the church.]

39 (return) [ Of the three ecclesiastical historians, Theodoret alone (l. v. c. 2) has mentioned this important commission of Sapor, which Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 728) judiciously removes from the reign of Gratian to that of Theodosius.]

40 (return) [ I do not reckon Philostorgius, though he mentions (l. ix. c. 19) the explosion of Damophilus. The Eunomian historian has been carefully strained through an orthodox sieve.]

← previous passage read in the full work → next passage →

topics: counsel and advisers to rulers · heresy, orthodoxy, and schism · scripture and its interpretation

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 3 · Edward Gibbon · 1782–1845