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

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

passage 25 of 469 · Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part I. > Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part II. (8/11)

↪ you wandered here via “Nectarius abolished confession” — the connecting lines are tinted below

in brief

Theodosius’s persecution policy is described as a system of edicts against Trinitarian dissenters, including exile, confiscation, bans on worship meetings, civil stigma, disqualification from office, and even death for specific groups like Manichaeans and Audians.

i. p. 528,) in which he takes a solemn leave of men and angels, the city and the emperor, the East and the West, &c., is pathetic, and almost sublime.]

46 (return) [ The whimsical ordination of Nectarius is attested by Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 8;) but Tillemont observes, (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 719,) Apres tout, ce narre de Sozomene est si honteux, pour tous ceux qu’il y mele, et surtout pour Theodose, qu’il vaut mieux travailler a le detruire, qu’a le soutenir; an admirable canon of criticism!]

47 (return) [ I can only be understood to mean, that such was his natural temper when it was not hardened, or inflamed, by religious zeal. From his retirement, he exhorts Nectarius to prosecute the heretics of Constantinople.]

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topics: crime and punishment · equity, mercy, and pardon · religious persecution and toleration

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