immediate judgements.

Let us now

turn to the hiftory of this period. In the reign of Valentinian and Valens we find the prelude to the fall of the empire, (which according to Mr. Gibbon, ch. 26. may juftly be dated from the reign of Valens,) in the permiffion granted to the Goths to pafs the Danube, and the exertions made by the officers of Valens, That not a fingle barbarian 16 of those who were referved to fubvert "the foundations of Rome, fhould be "left on the oppofite fhore. The whole

66

66

If

mafs of people which compofed this "formidable emigration, must have "amounted to near a million of perfons of both fexes and of all ages." then we view this multiude as reprefented by the hiftorian before their paffage covering," a space of many miles along "the banks of the river; and with "outftretched arms, and pathetic lamentations,

E

"mentations, loudly deploring their paft misfortunes and their prefent danger;" and after their paffage, first becoming, from the ill ufage of the imperial officers, clamorous, and then commencing hoftilities, which continued feveral years, and in which the emperour hisfelf was flain, and the extenfive provinces from Conftantinople to the Julian Alps being ravaged by the barbarians exhibited a moft diftressful scene of rapes, maffacres, and conflagrations; We fhall not be at a lofs for the voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, nor even for the earthquake that followed the fall of the cenfer,-and yet for a literal accomplishment of this laft, we have the further teftimony of the writer who unintentionally contributes fo much to the elucidation of these predictions. "In the fecond year of the "reign of Valantinian and Valens, on

"the

the morning of the twenty-firft of July, the greatest part of the Roman world. "was fhaken by a violent and deftru&tive

earthquake, the impreffion was com"municated to the waters; the fhores "of the Mediterranean were left dry,

66

by the fudden retreat of the fea; "great quantities of fifh were caught

66

with the hand; large veffels were "ftranded on the mud; and a curious fpectator amufed his eye, or rathér his fancy, by contemplating the vari86 ous appearance of vallies and moun"tains which had never fince the forma"tion of the globe, been exposed to the "fun. But the tide foon returned with "the weight of an immenfe and irre"fiftible deluge, which was feverely "felt on the coast of Sicily, of Dalma"tia, of Greece, and of Egypt: large "boats were tranfported, and lodged

66

on the roofs of the houfes, or at the "diftance

E 2

66

"diftance of two miles from the fhore: the people with their habitations, were fwept away by the waters: and the city of Alexandria annually commemorated the fatal day, on which fifty "thoufand perfons loft their lives in "the inundation." (ch. 26.) But while the attendant circumftances of the fall of the cenfer are thus verrified by history, the acceptance of the prayers previously offered is no lefs fo, in the profperous reign of Theodofius the great, during which the impending ruin. of the empire was delayed for fixteen years and of whom, Mr. Gibbon has left us the following eulogium; "The "genius of Rome expired with Theo"dofius, the laft of the fucceffors of Auguftus and Conftantine who appeared in the field at the head of their armies, and whofe authority was univerfally

66

66

66

66

verfally acknowledged throughout the "whole extent of the empire."

As I have ventured to apply the cenfer's being filled with fire from the altaras an emblem that the fucceeding troubles 'fhould at leaft be forwarded by those who miniflered at the altar; it may be expected that I fhould bring fome proofs of the ill-conduct, either of the clergy in general, or at least of the heads of the churches in that age. Therefore, although every one acquainted with ecclefiaftical hiftory knows how greatly corruption had at this period fpread among the facred order, and the prevalence of herefies is itself a fufficient proof of it; (fince they were moftly fet on foot by ecclefiaftics.) I yet will lay before the reader, two paffages of the hiftory of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire on this fubject

E 3