/>
Arianism, while Valentinian held aloof from doctrinal controversy. On the

death of Valentinian I, his sons Gratian (murdered at Lyons, 383) and

Valentinian II (murdered at Vienne by Arbogast, 392), succeeded to the

Empire. Under them the policy of toleration ceased, heathenism was

proscribed. In the East under Theodosius, appointed colleague of Gratian

in 379, the same policy was enforced. Arianism was now put down with a

strong hand in both parts of the Empire.





(a) Ammianus Marcellinus, Roman History, XXX, 9, § 5.





The religious policy of Valentinian I.





Ammianus Marcellinus is probably the best of the later Roman

historians, and is the chief authority for much of the secular

history from 353 to 378, in which period he is a source of the

first rank, writing from personal observation and first-hand

information. Ammianus was himself a heathen, but he seems not to

have been embittered by the persecution to which his faith had

been subjected. He was a man of a calm and judicial mind, and his

judgment is rarely biassed, even when he touches upon

ecclesiastical matters which, however, he rarely does.





Valentinian was especially remarkable during his reign for his moderation

in this particular--that he kept a middle course between the different

sects of religion, and never troubled any one, nor issued any orders in

favor of one kind of worship rather than another; nor did he promulgate

any threatening edicts to bow down the necks of his subjects to the form

of worship to which he himself was inclined; but he left these parties

just as he found them, without making any alterations.





(b) Codex Theodosianus, XII, 1, 75; A. D. 371.





In this edict Valentinian I confirms the immunities of the heathen

priesthood which had been restored by Julian. The heathen

priesthood is here shown to continue as still open to aspirants

after political honors and conferring immunities upon those who

attained it. The curial had to pass through the various offices in

fixed order before he attained release from burdens which had been

laid upon him by the State's system of taxation.





Let those be held as enjoying immunity who, advancing by the various

grades and in due order, have performed their various obligations and have

attained by their labor and approved actions to the priesthood of a

province or to the honor of a chief magistracy, gaining this position not

by favor and votes obtained by begging for them, but with the favorable

report of the citizens and commendation of the public as a whole, and let

them enjoy the repose which they shall have deserved by their long labor,

and let them not be subject to those acts of bodily severity in punishment

which it is not seemly that honorati should undergo.





(c) Theodoret. Hist. Ec., IV, 21; V, 20. (MSG, 82:1181.)





The following statement of Theodoret might seem to have been

inspired by the general hatred which was felt for the violent

persecutor and pronounced Arian, Valens. Nevertheless the

statement is supported by references to the conditions under

Valens made by Libanius in his Oratio pro Templis, addressed to

the Emperor Theodosius.





IV, 21. At Antioch Valens spent considerable time, and gave complete

license to all who under cover of the Christian name, pagans, Jews, and

the rest preached doctrines contrary to those of the Gospel. The slaves of

this error even went so far as to perform pagan rites, and thus the

deceitful fire which after Julian had been quenched by Jovian, was now

rekindled by permission of Valens. The rites of the Jews, of Dionysus and

Demeter were no longer performed in a corner as they would have been in a

pious reign, but by revellers running wild in the forum. Valens was a foe

to none but to them that held the apostolic doctrine.



V, 20. Against the champions of the apostolic decrees alone he persisted

in waging war. Accordingly, during the whole period of his reign the altar

fire was lit, libations and sacrifices were offered to idols, public

feasts were celebrated in the forum, and votaries initiated in the orgies

of Dionysus ran about in goatskins, mangling dogs in Bacchic frenzy.





(d) Symmachus, Memorial to Valentinian II; Ambrose, Epistula 17.

(MSL, 16:1007.)





A petition for the restoration of the altar of Victory in the

Senate House at Rome.





Symmachus, prefect of the city, had previously appealed to Gratian

to restore the altar which had been removed. The following

petition, of which the more impressive parts are given, was made

in 384, two years after the first petition. The opening paragraph

refers to the former petition. The memorial is found among the

Epistles of Ambrose, who replies to it.





1. As soon as the most honorable Senate, always devoted to you, knew what

crimes were made amenable to law, and saw that the reputation of late

times was being purified by pious princes, following the example of a

favorable time, it gave utterance to its long-suppressed grief and bade me

be once again the delegate to utter its complaints. But through wicked men

audience was refused me by the divine Emperor, otherwise justice would not

have been wanting, my lords and emperors of great renown, Valentinian,

Theodosius, and Arcadius, victorious, triumphant, and ever august.



3. It is our task to watch on behalf of your clemency. For by what is it

more suitable that we defend the institutions of our ancestors, and the

rights and destiny of our country, than by the glory of these times, which

is all the greater when you understand that you may not do anything

contrary to the custom of your ancestors? We request, then, the

restoration of that condition of religious affairs which was so long of

advantage to the State. Let the rulers of each sect and of each opinion be

counted up; a late one [Julian] practised the ceremonies of his ancestors,

a later [Valentinian I], did not abolish them. If the religion of old

times does not make a precedent, let the connivance of the last

[Valentinian and Valens] do so.



4. Who is so friendly with the barbarians as not to require an altar of

Victory?



5. But even if the avoidance of such an omen(113) were not sufficient, it

would at least have been seemly to abstain from injuring the ornaments of

the Senate House. Allow us, we beseech you, as old men to leave to

posterity what we received as boys. The love of custom is great. Justly

did the act of the divine Constantius last for a short time. All

precedents ought to be avoided by you, which you know were soon

abolished.(114)



6. Where shall we swear to obey your laws and commands? By what religious

sanctions shall the false mind be terrified, so as not to lie in bearing

witness? All things are, indeed, filled with God, and no place is safe for

the perjured, but to be bound in the very presence of religious forms has

great power in producing a fear of sinning. That altar preserves the

concord of all; that altar appeals to the good faith of each; and nothing

gives more authority to our decrees than that our order issues every

decree as if we were under the sanction of an oath. So that a place will

be opened to perjury, and my illustrious princes, who are defended by a

public oath, will deem this to be such.



7. But the divine Constantius is said to have done the same. Let us rather

imitate the other actions of that prince [Valentinian I], who would have

undertaken nothing of the kind, if any one else had committed such an

error before him. For the fall of the earlier sets his successor right,

and amendment results from the censure of a previous example. It was

pardonable for your clemency's ancestor in so novel a matter not to guard

against blame. Can the same excuse avail us, if we imitate what we know to

have been disapproved?



8. Will your majesties listen to other actions of this same prince, which

you may more worthily imitate? He diminished none of the privileges of the

sacred virgins, he filled the priestly offices with nobles. He did not

refuse the cost of the Roman ceremonies, and following the rejoicing

Senate through all the streets of the Eternal City, he beheld the shrines

with unmoved countenance, he read the names of the gods inscribed on the

pediments, he inquired about the origin of the temples, and expressed

admiration for their founders. Although he himself followed another

religion, he maintained these for the Empire, for every one has his own

customs, every one his own rites. The divine Mind has distributed

different guardians and different cults to different cities. As souls are

separately given to infants as they are born, so to a people is given the

genius of its destiny. Here comes in the proof from advantage, which most

of all vouches to man for the gods. For, since our reason is wholly

clouded, whence does the knowledge of the gods more rightly come to us,

than from the memory and records of successful affairs? Now if a long

period gives authority to religious customs, faith ought to be kept with

so many centuries, and our ancestors ought to be followed by us as they

happily followed theirs.



9. Let us now suppose that we are present at Rome and that she addresses

you in these words: "Excellent princes, fathers of your country, respect

my years to which pious rites have brought me. Let me use the ancestral

ceremonies, for I do not repent of them. Let me live after my own fashion,

for I am free. This worship subdued the world to my laws, these sacred

rites repelled Hannibal from the walls, and the Senones from the capitol.

Have I been reserved for this, that when aged I should be blamed? I will

consider what it is thought should be set in order, but tardy and

discreditable is the reformation of old age."



10. We ask, therefore, peace for the gods of our fathers and of our

country. It is just that what all worship be considered one. We look on

the same stars, the sky is common, the same world surrounds us. What

difference does it make by what paths each seeks the truth? We cannot

attain to so great a secret by one road; but this discussion is rather for

persons at ease; we offer now prayers, not conflict.(115)





(e) Ambrose, Epistula 18. (MSL, 16:1013.)





Reply of Ambrose to the Memorial of Symmachus.





Immediately after the receipt of the Memorial of Symmachus by

Valentinian II, a copy was sent to Ambrose, who wrote a reply or

letter of advice to Valentinian, which might be regarded as a

counter-petition. In it he enters upon the arguments of Symmachus.

Although he could not present the same pathetic figure of an old

man pleading for the religion of his ancestors, his arguments are

not unjust, and dispose satisfactorily of the leading points made

by Symmachus. The line of reasoning represents the best Christian

opinion of the times on the matter of the relation of the State to

heathenism.





3. The illustrious prefect of the city has in a memorial set forth three

propositions which he considers of force--that Rome, he says, asks for her

rites again, that pay be given to her priests and vestal virgins, and that

a general famine followed upon the refusal of the priests' stipends.



7. Let the invidious complaints of the Roman people come to an end. Rome

has given no such charge. She speaks other words. "Why do you daily stain

me with the useless blood of the harmless herd? Trophies of victory depend

not upon the entrails of the flock, but on the strength of those who

fight. I subdued the world by a different discipline. Camillus was my

soldier who slew those who had taken the Tarpeian rock, and brought back

to the capitol the standards taken away; valor laid low those whom

religion had not driven off. Why do you bring forward the rites of our

ancestors? I hate the rites of Neros. Why should I speak of emperors of

two months,(116) and the ends of rulers closely joined to their

commencements. Or is it, perchance, a new thing for barbarians to cross

their boundaries? Were they, too, Christians whose wretched and

unprecedented cases, the one a captive emperor(117) and under the

other(118) the captive world,(119) made manifest that their rites which

promised victory were false? Was there then no altar of Victory?"



8. By one road, says he, one cannot attain to so great a secret. What you

know not, that we know by the voice of God. And what you seek by fancies

we have found out from the very wisdom and truth of God. Your ways,

therefore, do not agree with ours. You implore peace for your gods from

the Emperor, we ask peace for our emperors themselves from Christ.



10. But, says he, let the ancient altars be restored to their images, and

their ornaments to the shrines. Let this demand be made of one who shares

in their superstitions; a Christian emperor has learned to honor the altar

of Christ alone. Has any heathen emperor raised an altar to Christ? While

they demand the restoration of things which have been, by their own

example they show us how great reverence Christian emperors ought to pay

to the religion which they follow, since heathen ones offered all to their

superstitions.



We began long since, and now they follow those whom they excluded. We

glory in yielding our blood, an expense moves them. We have increased

through loss, through want, through punishment; they do not believe that

their rites can continue without contribution.



11. Let the vestal virgins, he says, retain their privileges. Let those

speak thus who are unable to believe that virginity can exist without

reward, let those who do not trust virtue, encourage it by gain. But how

many virgins have their promised rewards gained for them? Hardly are seven

vestal virgins received. See the whole number whom the fillet and chaplets

for the head, the robes of purple dye, the pomp of the litter surrounded

by a company of attendants, the greatest privileges, immense profits, and

a prescribed time for virginity have gathered together.



12. Let them lift up the eyes of soul and body, let them look upon a

people of modesty, a people of purity, an assembly of virginity. Not

fillets are the ornament of their heads, but a veil common in use but

ennobled by chastity; the enticement of beauty not sought out, but laid

aside; none of those purple insignia, no delicious luxuries, but the

practice of fasts; no privileges, no gains; all other things, in fine, of

such a kind that one would think them restrained from desire whilst

practising their duties. But whilst the duty is being practised the desire

for it is aroused. Chastity is increased by its own sacrifice. That is not

virginity which is bought with a price, and not kept through a desire for

virtue; that is not purity which is bought by auction for money or which

is bid for a time.



16. No one has denied gifts to shrines and legacies to soothsayers; their

land only has been taken away, because they did not use religiously that

which they claimed in right of religion. Why did not they who allege our

example practise what we did? The Church has no possessions of her own

except the faith. Hence are her returns, her increase. The possessions of

the Church are the maintenance of the poor. Let them count up how many

captives the temples have ransomed, what food they have contributed for

the poor, to what exiles they have supplied the means of living. Their

lands, then, have been taken away, but not their rights.



23. He says the rites of our ancestors ought to be retained. But why,

seeing that all things have made a progress toward what is better? The

day shines not at the beginning, but as time proceeds it is bright with

increase of light and grows warm with increase of heat.



27. We, too, inexperienced in age, have an infancy of our senses, but,

changing as years go by, lay aside the rudimentary conditions of our

faculties.



28. Let them say, then, that all things ought to have remained in their

first dark beginnings; that the world covered with darkness is now

displeasing because it has brightened with the rising of the sun. And how

much more pleasant is it to have dispelled the darkness of the mind than

that of the body, and that the rays of faith should have shone than that

of the sun. So, then, the primeval state of the world, as of all things,

has passed away that the venerable old age of hoary faith might follow.



30. If the old rites pleased, why did Rome also take up foreign ones? I

pass over the ground hidden with costly buildings, and shepherds' cottages

glittering with degenerate gold. Why, that I may reply to the very matter

which they complain of, have they eagerly received the images of captured

cities, and conquered gods, and the foreign rites of alien superstition?

Whence, then, is the pattern of Cybele washing her chariots in a stream

counterfeiting the Almo? Whence were the Phrygian prophets and the deities

of unjust Carthage, always hateful to the Romans? And he whom the Africans

worship as Celestis, the Persians as Mithra, and the greater number as

Venus, according to a difference of name, not a variety of deities?



31. They ask to have her altar erected in the Senate House of the city of

Rome, that is where the majority who meet together are Christians! There

are altars in all the temples, and an altar also in the Temple of Victory.

Since they delight in numbers, they celebrate their sacrifices everywhere.

To claim a sacrifice on this one altar, what is it but to insult the

faith? Is it to be borne that a heathen should sacrifice and a Christian

be present? Shall there not be a common lot in that common assembly? The

faithful portion of the Senate will be bound by the voices of those who

call upon the gods, by the oaths of those who swear by them. If they

oppose they will seem to exhibit their falsehood, if they acquiesce, to

acknowledge what is a sacrilege.





(f) Codex Theodosianus, XVI, 10, 12; A. D. 392.





Decree of Theodosius prohibiting heathen worship as a crime of the

same character as treason.





The following decree may be said to have permanently forbidden

heathenism, at least in the East, though as a matter of fact many

heathen not only continued to practise their rites in defiance of

the law or with the connivance of the authorities, but also

received appointments at the court and elsewhere. The law was

never repealed. In course of time heathenism disappeared as a

religious system.





XVI, 10, 12. Hereafter no one of whatever race or dignity, whether placed

in office or discharged therefrom with honor, powerful by birth or humble

in condition and fortune, shall in any place or in any city sacrifice an

innocent victim to a senseless image, venerate with fire the household

deity by a more private offering, as it were the genius of the house, or

the Penates, and burn lights, place incense, or hang up garlands. If any

one undertakes by way of sacrifice to slay a victim or to consult the

smoking entrails, let him, as guilty of lese-majesty, receive the

appropriate sentence, having been accused by a lawful indictment, even

though he shall not have sought anything against the safety of the princes

or concerning their welfare. It constitutes a crime of this nature to wish

to repeal the laws, to spy into unlawful things, to reveal secrets, or to

attempt things forbidden, to seek the end of another's welfare, or to

promise the hope of another's ruin. If any one by placing incense

venerates either images made by mortal labor, or those which are enduring,

or if any one in ridiculous fashion forthwith venerates what he has

represented, either by a tree encircled with garlands or an altar of cut

turfs, though the advantage of such service is small, the injury to

religion is complete, let him as guilty of sacrilege be punished by the

loss of that house or possession in which he worshipped according to the

heathen superstition. For all places which shall smoke with incense, if

they shall be proved to belong to those who burn the incense, shall be

confiscated. But if in temples or public sanctuaries or buildings and

fields belonging to another, any one should venture this sort of

sacrifice, if it shall appear that the acts were performed without the

knowledge of the owner, let him be compelled to pay a fine of twenty-five

pounds of gold, and let the same penalty apply to those who connive at

this crime as well as those who sacrifice. We will, also, that this

command be observed by judges, defensors, and curials of each and every

city, to the effect that those things noted by them be reported to the

court, and by them the acts charged may be punished. But if they believe

anything is to be overlooked by favor or allowed to pass through

negligence, they will lie under a judicial warning. And when they have

been warned, if by any negligence they fail to punish they will be fined

thirty pounds of gold, and the members of their court are to be subjected

to a like punishment.