V. as the Persians and the Romans were at variance, CENT. It was not from the Pagans only that the Chris- ty opposed V. It does not appear, from any records of Christiani- the [x] Theodoret. Hist. Eccles. lib. v. cap. xxix. p. 245. Bayle's [y] Jos. Sim. Assemani Biblioth. Oriental. Vatican. tom. i. [z] Socrates, Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. cap. xx. p. 358. [a] Socrates, Hist. Eccles. lib. vii. cap. xiii. p. 349. cap. [b] Codex Theodos. tom. iv. p. 262. [c] Photius, Biblioth. Cod. lxxx. p. 178. V. PART I. CENT. the latter loses no opportunity of reviling the Christians, and loading them with the most unjust and bitter reproaches. But though the number of books written against Christianity was so small, yet we are not to suppose that its adversaries had laid aside the spirit of opposition. The schools of the philosophers and rhetoricians were yet open in Greece, Syria, and Egypt; and there is no doubt but that these subtle teachers laboured assiduously to corrupt the minds of the youth, and to instil into them, at least some of the principles of the ancient superstition [d]. The history of these times, and the writings of several Christians who lived in this century, exhibit evident proofs of these clandestine methods of opposing the progress of the gospel. [d] Zacharias Mitylen, De opificio Dei, p. 165. 200. edit. Barthii. PART II. The INTERNAL HISTORY of the CHURCH. CHAP. I. Concerning the state of learning and philosophy. TH V. PART II. The state of Christians, I. HOUGH, in this century, the illiterate CENT. and ignorant were advanced to eminent and important stations, both ecclesiastical and civil, yet we must not conclude from thence, that the sciences were held in universal contempt. letters The value of learning, and the excellence of the among the finer arts were yet generally acknowledged among the thinking part of mankind. Hence public schools were erected in almost all the great cities, such as Constantinople, Rome, Marseilles, Edessa, Nisibis, Carthage, Lyons, and Treves; and public instructors of capacity and genius were set apart for the education of the youth, and maintained at the expence of the emperors. Several bishops and monks contributed also to the advancement of knowledge, by imparting to others their small stock of learning and science. But the infelicity of the times, the incursions of the barbarous nations, and the scarcity of great geniuses, rendered the fruits of these excellent establishments much less than their generous founders and promoters expected. II. In the western provinces, and especially in In the west. Gaul, there were indeed some men eminently distinguished by their learning and talents, and every way proper to serve as models to the lower orders in the republic of letters. Of this we have abundant proof from the writings of Macrobius, Salvian, VOL. II. C PART II. CENT. Salvian, Vincentius, bishop of Liris, EnnoV. dius, Sidonius, Apollinaris, Claudian, Mamertus, Dracontius, and others, who, though in some respects inferior to the more celebrated authors of antiquity, are yet far from being destitute of elegance, and discover in their productions a most laborious application to literary researches of various kinds. But the barbarous nations, which either spread desolation, or formed settlements in the Roman territories, choked the growth of those genial seeds, which the hand of science had sowed in more auspicious times. These savage invaders, possessed of no other ambition than that of conquest, and looking upon military courage as the only source of true virtue and solid glory, beheld, of consequence, the arts and sciences with the utmost contempt. Wherever therefore they extended their conquests, ignorance and darkness followed their steps, and the culture of the sciences was confined to the priests and monks alone. And even among these, learning degenerated from its primitive lustre, and put on the most unseemly and fantastic form. Amidst the seduction of corrupt examples, the alarms of perpetual danger, and the horrors and devastations of war, the Sacerdotal and Monastic orders lost gradually all taste for solid science, in the place of which they substituted a lifeless spectre, an enormous phantom of barbarous erudition. They indeed kept public schools, and instructed the youth in what they called, the Seven liberal arts [d]; but these, as we learn from Augustin's account of them, consisted only of a certain number of dry, subtile, and useless precepts; and were consequently more adapted to load and perplex the memory, than to improve [d] These seven liberal arts were grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy. See Cent. VIII. Part II. Ch. II. in this volume. V. PART II. improve and strengthen the judgment. So that, CENT. towards the conclusion of this century, the sciences were almost totally extinguished; at least, what remained of them was no more than a shadowy form, without either solidity or consistence. philosophy III. The few that applied themselves to the The state of study of philosophy in this age, had not, as yet, in the west. embraced the doctrine or method of Aristotle. They looked upon the system of this eminent philosopher, as a labyrinth beset with thorns and thistles [e]; and yet, had they been able to read and understand his works, it is probable, that many of them would have become his followers. The doctrine of Plato had a more established reputation, which it had enjoyed for several ages, and was considered, not only as less subtile and difficult than that of the Stagirite, but also as more conformable to the genius and spirit of the Christian religion. Besides, the most valuable of Plato's works were translated into Latin by Victorinus, and were thus adapted to general use [f]. And Sidonius Apollinaris [g] informs us, that all those among the Latins, who had any inclination to the study of truth, fell into the Platonic notions, and followed that sage as their philosophical guide. IV. The fate of learning was less deplorable In the cast, among the Greeks and Orientals, than in the western provinces; and not only the several branches of polite literature, but also the more solid and profound sciences, were cultivated by them with tolerable success. Hence we find among them more writers of genius and learning than in other countries. C 2 [e] The passages of different writers, that prove what is here advanced, are collected by Launoius, in his book, De varia Aristotelis fortuna in Academia Parisiensi. [f] See Augustini Confessionum, lib. i. cap. ii. sect. 1. p. 105. 106. tom. i. opp. [g] See his Epistles, book iv. ep. iii. xi. book ix. ep. ix. |