secure of impunity, had often marched at the head of their congregation,
to attack and demolish the fortresses of the prince of darkness. The
consecrated lands, which had increased the patrimony of the sovereign or
of the clergy, were clearly defined, and easily restored. But on these
lands, and on the ruins of Pagan superstition, the Christians had
frequently erected their own religious edifices: and as it was necessary
to remove the church before the temple could be rebuilt, the justice
and piety of the emperor were applauded by one party, while the other
deplored and execrated his sacrilegious violence. After the ground was
cleared, the restitution of those stately structures which had been
levelled with the dust, and of the precious ornaments which had been
converted to Christian uses, swelled into a very large account of
damages and debt. The authors of the injury had neither the ability nor
the inclination to discharge this accumulated demand: and the impartial
wisdom of a legislator would have been displayed in balancing
the adverse claims and complaints, by an equitable and temperate
arbitration. But the whole empire, and particularly the East, was thrown
into confusion by the rash edicts of Julian; and the Pagan magistrates,
inflamed by zeal and revenge, abused the rigorous privilege of the Roman
law, which substitutes, in the place of his inadequate property, the
person of the insolvent debtor. Under the preceding reign, Mark, bishop
of Arethusa, had labored in the conversion of his people with arms more
effectual than those of persuasion. The magistrates required the full
value of a temple which had been destroyed by his intolerant zeal: but
as they were satisfied of his poverty, they desired only to bend his
inflexible spirit to the promise of the slightest compensation. They
apprehended the aged prelate, they inhumanly scourged him, they tore his
beard; and his naked body, anointed with honey, was suspended, in a net,
between heaven and earth, and exposed to the stings of insects and the
rays of a Syrian sun. From this lofty station, Mark still persisted to
glory in his crime, and to insult the impotent rage of his persecutors.
He was at length rescued from their hands, and dismissed to enjoy the
honor of his divine triumph. The Arians celebrated the virtue of their
pious confessor; the Catholics ambitiously claimed his alliance; and the
Pagans, who might be susceptible of shame or remorse, were deterred from