dulity
of his antagonists. [69] 1. The silence of Valentinian may suggest a
probable argument that the partial severities, which were exercised in
the name and provinces of his colleague, amounted only to some obscure
and inconsiderable deviations from the established system of religious
toleration: and the judicious historian, who has praised the equal
temper of the elder brother, has not thought himself obliged to contrast
the tranquillity of the West with the cruel persecution of the East.
[70] 2. Whatever credit may be allowed to vague and distant reports, the
character, or at least the behavior, of Valens, may be most distinctly
seen in his personal transactions with the eloquent Basil, archbishop
of Caesarea, who had succeeded Athanasius in the management of the
Trinitarian cause. [71] The circumstantial narrative has been composed
by the friends and admirers of Basil; and as soon as we have stripped
away a thick coat of rhetoric and miracle, we shall be astonished by the
unexpected mildness of the Arian tyrant, who admired the firmness of his
character, or was apprehensive, if he employed violence, of a general
revolt in the province of Cappadocia. The archbishop, who asserted, with
inflexible pride, [72] the truth of his opinions, and the dignity of his
rank, was left in the free possession of his conscience and his throne.
The emperor devoutly assisted at the solemn service of the cathedral;
and, instead of a sentence of banishment, subscribed the donation of
a valuable estate for the use of a hospital, which Basil had lately
founded in the neighborhood of Caesarea. [73] 3. I am not able to
discover, that any law (such as Theodosius afterwards enacted against
the Arians) was published by Valens against the Athanasian sectaries;
and the edict which excited the most violent clamors, may not appear so
extremely reprehensible. The emperor had observed, that several of
his subjects, gratifying their lazy disposition under the pretence of
religion, had associated themselves with the monks of Egypt; and he
directed the count of the East to drag them from their solitude; and
to compel these deserters of society to accept the fair alternative
of renouncing their temporal possessions, or of discharging the public
duties of men and citizens. [74] The ministers of Valens seem to have
extended the sense of this penal statute, since they claimed a right
of enlisting the young and ablebodied monks in the Imperial armies. A
det