was continued the "golden chain of Platonism," of which Maximus of Epnesus, Chrysanthus of Lydia, and Eusebius of Myndus, were the brightest links. Under the patronage of Julian, 361, the school of Alexandria was re-opened, and a new one founded at Athens. Hypatia, the daughter of Theon, filled with honour the chair of Ammonius and Plotinus; but when she had fallen a victim to a furious mob, 415, and the pagan school of Alexandria had perished with her, Athens became the centre of this new philosophy.

Proclus, who succeeded Syrianus in 450, was a man of varied learning. In his teaching he united the ideas of Plato with the forms of Aristotle; but the necessity of adapting his opinions to the popular taste compelled him to blend his philosophy with oriental myths, orphic revelations, supposed oracles, and mystic reveries. The school lingered a short time after his decease, until it was closed by an edict of Justinian I. in 529. The Neo-Platonists were tolerated, but their sect became extinct with the pagal. religion. They were succeeded by the peripatetics, whose opinions prevailed in the church until the rise of the scholastic philosophy in the eighth century.

II. SACRED LITERATURE.-The necessity of defending the Christian religion against its numerous enemies, and the desire of making proselytes among the enlightened spirits of the times, induced the doctors of the church to study the religion they were so eager to propagate, the idolatry which they were sworn to destroy, and the pagan Philosophy, whose errors must either be exposed or rendered subservient to the doctrines of the gospel. Hence arose Ecclesiastical Literature. The Christian school of Alexandria did not become celebrated until the Stoic Pantænus, a converted pagan, ascended the professorial chair, at the end of the second century. His successor Clement endeavoured to systematize religion; maintaining, that as God had disseminated the elements of truth among the different philosophic sects, it was a Christian's duty to unite these scattered fragments, and thus strengthen piety by banishing falsehood. The genius and extensive learning of Origen, d. 254, were employed in defence of this system; but he defiled the purity of the faith he meant to defend, and introduced a dangerous method, whence afterwards arose that philosophical theology, which, under the name of the Scholastic, played so great a part in the middle ages.

Justin Martyr, d. 166, and Tertullian, d. 220, rank as the chief defenders of Christianity. They published, the one in Greek and the other in Latin, eloquent and bold Apologies for the new religion. St. Irenæus led the church back from the doctrines of literal and occult meanings, contending that the interpretation of the Holy Scriptures should always be conformable to tradition. The Old Testament had been early translated into the vulgar tongue; and from the second century we read of versions in Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopian, and Latin, the authors of which are unknown.

From the third century we meet with works specially consecrated to the explanation of the Christian doctrines. The earliest of these is by St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of Neo-Cæsarea, who lived till 268. St. Cyril of Jerusalem followed him in the next century. While they explained and defended the faith against the attacks of heretics, they endeavoured to render it useful by founding on it a system of evangelical morality. Tertullian, and after him the learned Cyprian of Carthage, 250, first wrote on the connexion of morals with the religion of our Saviour. The fourth century from Constantine to Theodosius-is the Golden Age of ecclesiastical literature. Athanasius, d. 371, Chrysostom, d. 407, Ambrose, d. 398, and Augustin, d. 430, preached the purest morality in the most eloquent language. Their genius alone rose superior to the fall of the empire, and they were the architects of that great religious edifice which was founded upon its ruins.

Greek Fathers.-The name of Fathers of the Church has been given to those authors who, from the first ages of Christianity, devoted their talents to the defence and exposition of the faith. The East and the West alike produced men of genius who, uniting extensive learning to piety and courage, added new glory to the literature of Greece and Rome, while they imagined themselves performing the simple duties of Christians and ministers of the divine word

The patronage of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, was less efficacious in behalf of his faith than the talents and indefatigable activity of Athanasius, who destroyed the heresy of Arius at the council of Nice. In the bishop's chair, as well as in exile, he was ever a zealous defender of the Trinitarian doctrine and of religious unity. Eusebius, d. 340, the father of ecclesiastical history, although not strictly orthodox, was serviceable to religion by his Preparation and Evangelical Demonstration. His great work, describing the propagation of Christianity, the vicissitudes of the church, the struggles of its teachers, and the miracles of its martyrs, was translated into Latin by Rufinus, the adversary of Jerome. Basil was called from the deserts of the Thebais to fill the episcopal chair at Cæsarea, 350. Theological disputes occupied the greater part of his life; his homilies are moral treatises, in which the tenderest sensibility is conveyed in a style sparkling with images and rich in allegory. His brother, Gregory of Nyssa, by his philosophy and his energy against heretics and schismatics, obtained from his contemporaries the title of Pater Patrum. Gregory of Nazianzum possessed a more elevated genius and more brilliant eloquence. When hatred, excited by his censures and by a domineering spirit, which he could not repress, had raised powerful enemies against him, he resigned his see without regret, but not without pain, and the farewell of the bishop was the masterpiece of the orator. Chrysostom of Antioch, d. 407, by his clear and easy eloquence, by his rich and bold imagery, by his power of reasoning joined to grandeur of ideas and tenderness of sentiment, may be com pared with Demosthenes or Cicero. He is the chief of the orators of that primitive period. Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, whose intolerance was so fatal to the arts and philosophy, brought into the bosom of the church Synesius of Ptolemais, afterwards bishop of his native city, 430. The latter celebrated in prose and verse the great truths of Christianity, and the beauties of religious morals. Cyril of Jerusalem, d. 386, the most skilful teacher of his age; Epiphanius of Salamis, who combated the sectarians with more zeal than learning; Cyril of Alexandria, d. 444, the first doctor of the East, with many others, shed honour on the age of the Theodosian emperors. John of Damascus, d. 750, who was the last in those parts, monopolized all the literary glory of the eighth century. By his application of the peripatetic forms of demonstration to the Christian doctrines, he became the founder of the Scholastic philosophy.

Latin Fathers.-Arnobius, and Lactantius, "the Christian Cicero," flourished in the reign of Constantine; the one feebly defended his religion against the Pagans, the other acquired just renown by his Divine Institutions.-Hilary of Poitiers was the champion of Athanasius in Gaul. During his Phrygian exile, into which he was driven by an Arian prince, he published his twelve books On the Trinity, in which he combats all the heresies relating to the Son of God and the Holy Ghost.-Ambrose, d. 398, was prætor of Milan, when the universal acclamation raised him to the bishopric. He defended with inflexible courage the privilege of Catholic worship against the Arians, who were protected by Valentinian II. His virtuous tolerance forbade him to communicate in the Holy Sacrament with the fanatical bishops who had demanded the blood of Priscilian. He taught the chants, of whose use the Latin church had till then been ignorant; but the majestic hymn, Te Deum, which bears his name, is the work of a monk of the sixth century.-Jerome, d. 420, opened at Rome the first asylum for misery and infirmity; but his virtues were no protection against calumny. In his retreat at Bethlehem he undertook the translation of the Holy Scriptures, a task for which he was well qualified by his profound study of Hebrew, and his vast knowledge of sacred archæology. The church adopted his version, known as the Vulgate, and his Commentaries are an authority among divines. He translated and continued the Chronicle of Eusebius; wrote a Biography of ecclesiastical authors, and the Lives of the Fathers of the Desert.-Augustin, bishop of Hippo, d. 430, successively professor at Čarthage, Rome, and Milan, was rescued from his errors by St. Ambrose. He raised himself to the first rank among the Latin Fathers by his City of God, an immense repertory of profane and theological erudition, in which the author, fter having in some measure crushed paganism fragment by fragment, applies

imself to re-establish by invincible proofs the truth of the Christian religion. In 411, he defended the doctrines of Original Sin and Divine Grace, against Pelagius. At the court of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, Dionysius the Little, d. 536, created a new science of Chronology. He introduced the computation of time from the Incarnation, a mode which was slowly adopted by the whole Christian world. He also, by the publication of a code of Canons, laid the foundation of ecclesiastical jurisprudence. His book of Pontifical Decretals, or letters, was disfigured by the impostures of the forger Isidore of Seville, 636. The authentic decretals do not commence before the pontificate of Siricius, 383.-The age to which Boethius and Cassiodorus belong was worthily brought to a close by Pope Gregory, d. 604, and Bishop Fortunatus of Poitiers.

III. PROFANE LEARNING in the West.-The ruin of learning in the Western Empire was more rapid and entire than in the Eastern, for the complete desolation of the former by barbarians destroyed both its language and literature. During the Theodosian period, while the poetic riches of the East consisted in miserable epigrams or inscriptions, the West produced Ausonius, 380, Prudentius, 400, Sidonius Apollinaris, d. 488, and others, none of whom was devoid of talent.-Claudian, 395, was the last bard of paganism, superior to all who had preceded him for two centuries, and equalled by none who came after him.-Priscian the grammarian, 380, translated or composed, at Constantinople, three didactic poems,-on Geography, on Weights and Measures, and on Astronomy. Fortunatus was the poet laureate of the different Merovingian courts. Eleven works of miscellanies and a translation in hexameter verse of the Life of St. Martin, by Sulpicius Severus, place him at the head of the versifiers of his day.

History.-Ammianus Marcellinus, 370, was far superior to the inflated compilers of the Augustan History, and was the last author in the West deserving the name of historian. The chroniclers who come next are the only writers of this period who merit special attention.--Gildas, a fugitive monk who sought refuge in the wilds of Armorica, wrote in a mournful strain, in which truth and fiction are almost inextricably confused, the particulars of the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Another British monk, the venerable Bede, d. 735, composed the ecclesiastical history of England in Latin, and a long treatise on the Six Ages of the World.-Gregory of Tours, d. 595, completed the annals of the Franks down to 593.

Philosophy.-The .ast and greatest philosopher of Latin antiquity was a follower of the Athenian Platonic school, Boethius, d. 526. He translated the Arithmetic of Nicomachus, the Geometry of Euclid, the Poetics of Aristotle, and various treatises by Archimedes and Plato. His great work, the Consolation of Philosophy, was the production of his captivity; it is a dialogue composed of mingled prose and verse.

Philology. While learning became more and more neglected, there were found a few men who devoted their time and abilities to the preservation of the remains of antiquity, to the explanation of its masterpieces, and to the teaching of a language which soon degenerated into a barbarous idiom. The Saturnalia of Macrobius, 395, in the style of the Attic Nights of Gellius, is a valuable work, although written without method or taste. He compiled a commentary of great value on the Dream of Scipio.-Servius, the most celebrated of the commentators on Virgil, lived at the beginning of the fifth century.Cassiodorus wrote on Orthography, and has left a treatise on the Seven Liberal Arts. The most complete grammar of antiquity is the Eight Parts of Speech. by Priscian of Cæsarea, 500.

IV. PROFANE LEARNING in the East.

Poetry.-Nonnus of Panopolis, 400, the restorer of hexameter verse, com posed an epic poem, the Dionysiacs, on the exploits of Bacchus.-Quintus of Smyrna, surnamed Calaber, from the MS. found in Calabria, wrote a servile imitation of the Iliad, bringing it down to the taking of Troy.-The epigram alone was cultivated with success during the reigns of Justinian and Heraclius. Romance. At the end of the fourth century, fictions similar to our modern romances appear, a kind of writing unknown to classical antiquity, and destined

to become, in the middle ages and in modern times, the living picture of the manners of the day. The Golden Ass of Apuleius-the epithet is derived from the elegance of its style-was a successful attempt among the Latins. In 390, Heliodorus of Emesa composed the history of Theagenes and Chariclea, far superior to all contemporary works, except the Loves of Daphnis and Chloe, by Longus, the forerunner of Paul and Virginia. Achilles Tatius, 300, wrote the Loves of Clitophon and Leucippe.

History. The vast collection of the Byzantine historians contains few works meriting our esteem. Zosimus, 430, in his prejudiced History of the Cæsars, endeavoured to trace the causes of the decline of the empire.-Procopius of Cæsarea, 555, wrote a history of his own times in a manner at once clear and precise; but his elegance of style did not preclude bad taste.

Geography.-As the Byzantines added nothing to the opinions of the ancients, so they rarely explained them. Stephanus, 500, wrote a kind of Geographical Dictionary, which has not come down to us.

Philology.-The Greek language which had not yet fallen into decay, did not produce many grammarians. The Grammar of Dionysius of Thrace was the class-book of the teachers. At Alexandria, Hesychius published his Glossary about the end of the fourth century. Stobæus is the author of a collection of extracts, compiled for the education of his son, and selected from more than 500 writers. A few commentaries were written upon the Latin laws of Byzantium, and the name of Tribonian, 545, occurs among the names of the jurisprudentialists.

All

Mathematics.-The exact sciences were cultivated by the Platonists. our knowledge of the mathematical acquirements of antiquity is due to the school of Alexandria. Hypatia, the learned daughter of Theon, applied the rigorous method of geometry to speculative knowledge. Diophantus first taught the calculation of indeterminate quantities, and thus created Algebra. Proclus wrote on astronomy and the sphere, and composed a commentary on Euclid and Ptolemy.

END OF PART I.-ANCIENT HISTORY.

PART SECOND.

THE HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

FROM THE FALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE, a. d. 476, to THE ERA OF THE REFORMATION, AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

THE Roman empire had recovered under Theodosius its unity and greatness; but after the death of this prince it began to decline, and finally disappeared in the fall of the capital of Italy. This crisis was brought on as much by accidental circumstances, as by the concurrence and reciprocal action of permanent causes. The despotism of the emperors, a natural consequence of political anarchy and military power, preserved the characters of its twofold origin, namely, corruption and violence. The Antonines had vainly endeavoured to restore national and political virtue; the populace having descended to the lowest degree of abasement, while the philosophy of Epicurus had fixed an indelible stain on the higher ranks. Christianity could alone arrest the almost general licentiousness; but the designs of Providence still exposed it to fiery trials, and its day of triumph had not yet arrived. Diocletian, by his divisions of the sovereignty, and Constantine, by the removal of the seat of empire to Byzantium, prepared the way for the two separate monarchies of the East and the West, and opened the road into Italy for the barbarians. The appearance of the Huns in the north of Europe drove the savage tribes of Germany across the Roman frontiers. These warlike nations braved the power of the emperors under the walls of Rome and Constantinople; imposed on them burdensome tributes; entered in whole tribes into the legions; and finally dismembering half of the empire, broke up the whole social state with its imperfect civilisation, to establish on its ruins the foundations of the existing political system.

Of the ten centuries embraced in that period of history entitled the Middle Ages, five were occupied by the restless movements of the various barbarians, who were partially checked by the strong hand of Charlemagne. In the sixth age, that is, about A. D. 1000, repose and silence pervaded all Europe; the decay of literature and civilisation extended gradually; while institutions, laws, customs, and languages, began to assume their local peculiarities. Amidst the minute territorial divisions that took place, there was still found one bond of unity in the church, whose members kept up a communication with the remotest districts, all preaching the same doctrines, animating with the same spirit the almost innumerable societies throughout which they were scattered, and combining all nations in one common and holy enterprise. 173)

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