No More Learning

9. p. 384.

{105}

of the heathens* concerning them. Lucian** says they not only despised
death, but many of them voluntarily offered themselves to it, out of a
persuasion that they should be made immortal and live forever. This he
reckons folly, and therefore gives them the name of [--------], 'The
miserable wretches, that threw away their lives,' In which sense
Porphyry*** also styles, the Christian religion, [--------] the
barbarous boldness. ' As Arrjus Antoninus**** terms the professors of
it, [--------], The stupid wretches, that had such a mind to die; and
the heathen in Minucius(v), homines deploratae ac desperate factionis,
'the men of the forlorn and desperate faction. ' All which agrees with
the name Biothanati, or Biaeothanati, as Baronius(vi) understands
it* Though it may signify not only self-murderers, but (as a learned
critic(xii) notes) men that expect to live after death. In which sense
the heathens probably might use it likewise to ridicule the Christian
doctrine of the resurrection; on which, they

* Arrius Antonin. ap. Tertul. ad Scap. c. 4. Tiberias, in
Joh. Malela Chronic.

** Lucian. de Mort Peregrin.

*** Porphyr. ap. Euseb. Hist Eccl. 1. 6. c 19.

**** Tertul. ibid.

(v) Minuc. Octav. p. 25.

(vi) Baron, an. 138. n. 5.

(vii) Suicer. Thesaur. Ecclesiast 1. 1. p. 690.

{106}

knew, all their fearless and undaunted courage was founded. For so
the same heathen in Minucius endeavours to expose at once both their
resolution and their belief: "O strange folly, and incredible madness! "
says he; "they despise all present torments, and yet fear those that are
future and uncertain: they are afraid of dying after death, but in the
mean time do not fear to die. So vainly do they flatter themselves,
and allay their fears, with the hopes of some reviving comforts after
death. " For one of these reasons then they gave them the name of
_Biothanati_,

which word expressly occurs in some of the acts of the ancient martyrs.
Baronius observes* out of Bede's Martyrology, that when the seven sons
of Symphorosa were martyred under Hadrian, their bodies were all cast
into one pit together, which the temple-priests named from them, _Ad
Septem Biothanatos_, 'The grave of the seven Biothanati. '

For the same reasons they gave them the names of _Parabolarii and
Desperati_, 'The bold and desperate men. ' The Parabolarii, or Parabolani
among the Romans were those bold adventurous men, who hired out
themselves to fight with wild beasts upon the stage or amphitheatre,
whence they had also the name of _Bestiarii, and Confectores_. Now
because the

* Baron, an. 138. n. 5.

{107}

Christians were put to fight for their lives in the same manner, and
they rather chose to do it than deny their religion, they therefore got
the name of _Paraboli and Parabolani_: which, though it was intended as
a name of reproach and mockery, yet the Christians were not unwilling to
take to themselves, being one of the truest characters that the heathens
ever gave them. And therefore they sometimes gave themselves this name
by way of allusion to the Roman Paraboli. As in the Passion of Abdo
and Senne* in the time of Valerian, the martyrs who were exposed to be
devoured by wild beasts in the amphitheatre, are said to enter, '_ut
audacissimi Parabolani_,' as most resolute champions, that despised
their own lives for their religion's sake. But the other name of
_Desperati_ they rejected as a calumny, retorting it back upon their
adversaries, who more justly deserved it. "Those," says Lactantius***,
"who set a value upon their faith, and will not deny their God, they
first torment and butcher with all their might, and then call them
desperados, because they will not spare their bodies: as if any thing
could be more desperate, than to torture and tear in pieces those whom
you cannot but know to be innocent. "

* Acta Abdon. et Sennes ap. Suicer.

** Lact. Instil, lib. 5. c. 9. Desperates vocant, quia
corpori suo minime parcunt, &c.

{108}

Tertullian mentions another name, which was likewise occasioned by their
sufferings. The martyrs which were burnt alive, were usually tied to
a board or stake of about six foot long, which the Romans called
_semaxis_; and then they were surrounded or covered with faggots of
small wood, which they called _sarmenia_. From this their punishment,
the heathens, who turned every thing into mockery, gave all Christians
the despiteful name of _Sarmentitii_ and _Semaxii_*.

The heathen in Minucius*** takes occasion also to reproach them under
the name of the sculking generation, or the men that loved to prate in
corners and the dark. The ground of which scurrilous reflection was only
this, that they were forced to hold their religious assemblies in the
night to avoid the fury of the persecutions. Which Celsus**** himself
owns, though otherwise prone enough to load them with hard names and
odious reflections.

The same heathen in Minucius gives them one

* Tertul. Apol. t, 50. Licet nunc Sarmentitios et Semaxios
appelletis, quia ad stipitem dimidii axis re-vincti,
sarmentorum ambitu exurimur.

** Minuc. Octav. p. 25. Latebrosa et lucifugax natio, in
publicum muta, in angulis garrula.

*** Origen. c. Cel. lib. 1. p. 5.

{109}

scurrilous name more, which it is not very easy to guess the meaning of.
He calls them _Plautinians_*,--_homines Plautinæ prosapiæ_. Rigaltius**
takes it for a ridicule upon the poverty and simplicity of the
Christians, whom the heathens commonly represented as a company of
poor ignorant mechanics, bakers, tailors, and the like; men of the same
quality with Plautus, who, as St. Jerome*** observes, was so poor, that
at a time of famine he was forced to hire out himself to a baker to
grind at his mill, during which time he wrote three of his Plays in the
intervals of his labour. Such sort of men Coecilius says the Christians
were; and therefore he styles Octavius in the dialogue, _homo Plautinæ
prosapiæ et pistorum præcipuus_, 'a Plautinian, a chief man among the
illiterate bakers,' but no philosopher. The same reflection is often
made by Celsus. "You shall see," says he****, "weavers, tailors,fullers,
and the most illiterate and rustic fellows, who dare not speak a word
before wise men, when they can get a company of children and silly women
together, set up to teach strange paradoxes amongst

* Minuc. p. 37. Quid ad hæc audet Octavius homo Plautinæ
Prosapiæ, ut Pistorum præcipuus ita postremus
Philosophorum?

** Rigalt. in loc.

*** Hieron. Chronic, an. 1. Olymp. 145.

**** Origen. c Cels. lib. 3. p. 144.

{110}

them. " "This is one of their rules," says he again*,--"Let no man that
is learned, wise, or prudent come among us; but if any be unlearned, or
a child, or an ideot, let him freely come. So they openly declare, that
none but fools and sots, and such as want sense, slaves, women, and
children, are fit disciples for the God they worship***. "

Nor was it only the heathens that thus reviled them, but commonly every
perverse sect among the Christians had some reproachful name to cast
upon them. The Novatian party called them _Cornelieans_*** because they
communicated with Cornelius bishop of Rome, rather than with Novatianus
his antagonist. They also termed them _Apostates, Capitolins,
Synedrians_, because**** they charitably decreed in their synods to
receive apostates, and such as went to the Capitol to sacrifice, into
their communion again upon their sincere repentance. The Nestorians(v)
termed the orthodox _Cyrillians_; and the Arians(vi) called them
_Eustathians_ and

* Origen. c. Cels. lib. 3. p. 137. f See the preceding
translation of Celsus, p. 19. f Eulog. ap. Phot. Cod. 280. §
Facian. Ep. 2. ad Sympronian. || Ep. Legat. Schismat ad suos
in Epheso in Act. Con. Ephes. Con. t S. p. 746. f Sozora,
lib, 6. c. 21.

{111}

_Paulinions_, from Eustathius and Paulin us bishops of Antioch. As also
_Homousians_, because they kept to the doctrine of the [--------], which
declared the Son of God to be of the same substance with the Father.
The author of the _Opus Imperfection_ on St. Matthew, under the name
of Chrysostom*, styles them expressly, _Hæresis Homoousianorum_,'
the heresy of the Homoousians. ' And so Serapion in his conflict with
Arnobius** calls them _Homousianates_,which the printed copy reads
corruptly _Homuncionates_, which was a name for the Nestorians.

The Cataphrygians or Montanists commonly called the orthodox
[--------], 'carnal'; because they rejected the prophecies and pretexted
inspirations of Montanus, and would not receive his rigid laws about
fasting, nor abstain from second marriages, and observe four Lents in a
year, &c. This was Tertullian's ordinary compliment to the Christians in
all his books** written after he was fallen into the errors of Montanus.
He calls his own party the _spiritual_, and the orthodox the _carnal_:
and

* Opus Imperf. Horn. 48.

** Conflict. Arnob. et Serap. ad cakem Irenæi, p. 519.

*** Tertul. adv. Prax. c. 1. Nos quidem agnitio Paracleti
disjunxit à Psychicis. Id. de Monogam. c. 1. Haeretici
nuptias auferunt, Psychici ingerunt. See also c. 11. and 16.

{112}

some of his books* are expressly entitled, _Adversus Psychicos_. Clemens
Alexandrinus** observes, the same reproach was also used by other
heretics beside the Montanists. And it appears from Irenæus, that this
was an ancient calumny of the Valentînîans, who styled themselves
the _spiritual_ and the _perfect_, and the orthodox the _secular and
carnal_***, who had need of abstinence and good works, which were not
necessary for them that were perfect.

The Millenaries styled them _Allegorists_, because they expounded the
prophecy of the saints reigning a thousand years with Christ, (Rev. xx.
4. ) to a mystical and allegorical sense. Whence Euseubius**** observes
of Nepos the Egyptian bishop, who wrote for the Millenium, that he
entitled his book, [--------], 'A confutation of the Allegorists. '

Aetius the Arian gives them the abusive name of [--------]; by which he
seems to intimate, that their religion was but temporary, and would

* De Jejuniis adv. Psychicos. De Pudicitia, &c.

** Clem. Alex. Strom, lib. 4. p. 511.

*** Iren. lib. 1. c 1. p. 29.
Nobis quidem, quos Psychicos
vocant, et de sæculo esse dicunt, necessarian) con-
tinentiam, &c.

**** Euseb. lib. 7. c. 24.

{113} ,

shortly have an end; whereas the character was much more applicable to
the Arians themselves, whose faith was so lately sprung up in the
world; as the author of the dialogues _de Trinitate_, under the name of
Athanasius, who confutes Aetius *, justly retorts upon him.

The Manichees, as they gave themselves the most glorious names of
_Electi, Macarii, Catharistæ_, mentioned by St. Austin**; so they
reproached the Catholics with the most contemptible name of _Simplices_,
'ideots,' which is the term that Manichæus himself used in his
dispute*** with Archelaus, the Mesopotamian bishop, styling the
Christian teachers, _Simpliciorum magistri_, 'guides of the simple;'
because they could not relish his execrable doctrine concerning two
principles of good and evil.

The Apollinarians were no less injurious to the Catholics, in fixing on
them the odious name of _Anthropolatræ_, 'man-worshippers'; because they
maintained that Christ was a perfect man, and had a reasonable soul and
body, of the same nature with ours; which Apollinarius denied. Gregory

* Athan. Dial. 2. de Trinit. t. 2. p. 193.

** Aug. de Hær. c. 46.

*** Archel. Disp. adv. Manichaeum adcalcem Sozomen. Ed.
Vales, p. 197.

{114}

Nazianzen* takes notice of this abuse, and sharply replies to it;
telling the Apollinarians, that they themselves much better deserved the
name of _Sarcolatræ_, 'flesh-worshippers': for if Christ had no human
soul, they must be concluded to worship his flesh only.

The Origenians, who denied the truth of the resurrection, and asserted
that men should have only aerial and spiritual bodies in the next world,
made jests upon the Catholics, because they maintained the contrary,
that our bodies should be the same individual bodies, and of the same
nature that they are now, with flesh and bones, and all the members in
the same form and structure, only altered in quality, not in substance.
For this they gave them the opprobrious names of _Simplices_ and
_Philosarcæ**, 'ideots' and 'lovers of the flesh'; _Carnei, Animales,
Jumenta_, 'carnal, sensual, animals'; _Lutei, 'earthy', Pilosiotæ***,
which Erasmus's edition reads

* Naz. Ep. 1. ad Cledon.

** Hieron. Ep. 61. ad Pammach. t. 2. p. 171. Nos Simplices
et Philosarcas dicere, quod eadem ossa, et sanguis, et caro,
id est, vultus et membra, totiusque compago corporis
resurgat in novissima die.

*** Id. Ep. 65, ad Pam. et Ocean, de Error. Orig. p. 192.
Pelusiotas (leg. Pilosiotas) nos appellant, et Luteos,
Animalesque, et Cameos, quod non recipiamus ea quae Spiritus
sunt.

{115}

corruptly _Pelusiotæ_, instead of _Pilonotæ_; which seems to be a name
formed from _pili_, (hair); because the Catholics asserted, that the
body would rise perfect in all its parts, even with the hair itself to
beautify and adorn it.

But of all others the Luciferians gave the church the rudest language;
styling her the brothel-house, and synagogue of Antichrist and Satan;
because she allowed those bishops to retain their honour and places, who
were cajoled by the Arians to subscribe the fraudulent confession of
the Council of Ariminum. The Luciferian in St. Jerome runs out in this
manner against the church; and St. Jerome says, he spake but the sense
of the whole party, for this was the ordinary style and language of all
the rest. --Hieron. Dial. adv. Lucifer, t. ii. p. 135. "

Thus far Bingham: to whose extracts may appropriately be added, what the
Emperor Julian says reproachfully of the Christians, in the fragments
which Cyril has preserved of his Treatise against them. "You do not take
notice (says he) whether any mention is made by the Jews of holiness;
but you emulate their rage and their bitterness, overturning temples and
altars, and cutting the throats, not only of those who remain firm in
paternal

{116}

institutes, but also of those heretics who are equally erroneous with
yourselves, and who do not lament a dead body [i. e. the body of Christ]
in the same manner as you do*. For neither Jesus nor Paul exhorted you
to act in this manner. But the reason is, that neither did they expect
that you would ever arrive at the power which you have obtained. For
they were satisfied if they could deceive maidservants and slaves, and
through these married women, and such men as Cornelius and Sergius;
among whom if you can mention one that was at that time an illustrious
character, (and these things were transacted under the reign of Tiberius
or Claudius) believe that I am a liar in all things**. "

* Julian here alludes to the contests between the Arians and
Trinitarians.

** Vid. Cyril, apud Spanh.

THE END.







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