belonging to the christians, which may be naturally enough 'supposed; this is the oldest testimony we have of any edifice publicly consecrated to the worship of our holy religion, known to be such by the pagans.'

So Crevier. But I think it may be questioned whether these observations are exactly suited to this passage of Lampridius.

6

7. Once more. The same writer says of the same emperor: • Ifn any went out of the road into the grounds of any 'private person, according to the nature of the ground, he was to be beaten with sticks in his presence, or whipped with rods, or fined. And if the quality of the offender exempted him from such punishments, he would severely ' reprove him, saying: "Are you willing to have that done in your own field, which you do in another's?" And he 'would often use a saying, which he had heard from some 'Jews or christians, and which he well remembered; and ' when any one was corrected, he ordered the cryer to proclaim: "What you would not have done to yourself, that 'do not you do to another." Which saying he so highly esteemed, that he ordered it to be engraved upon his palace, and upon public buildings.'

These and other things, mentioned by Lampridius, are very honourable to this emperor.

III. His mother Mamma also is greatly commended by some christian writers. Eusebius calls her a pious and religious woman. And Orosius says, she was a christian. The main foundation of this supposition is, that as Eusebius informs us, she sent for Origen to come to her at Antioch ; which might be no more than curiosity to see and discourse with a man, who was then in great reputation for learning. Crevier therefore justly observes: She is said to have been a christian; but that fact is not sufficiently proved.' And Basnage has offered divers arguments, sufficient to overthrow that supposition.

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" Si quis de viâ in alicujus possessionem deflexisset, pro qualitate loci, aut fustibus subjiciebatur in conspectu ejus, aut virgis, aut condemnationi, aut, si hæc omnia transiret dignitas hominis, aut gravissimis contumeliis, quum diceret: Visne hoc in agro tuo fieri, quod alteri facis? Clamabatque sæpius quod a quibusdam, sive Judæis sive christianis, audierat, et tenebat. Idque per præconem, quum aliquem emendaret, dici jubebat: Quod tibi fieri non vis, alteri ne feceris.' Quam sententiam usque adeo dilexit, ut in palatio, et in publicis operibus, præscribi juberet. Id. ib. cap. 51. p. 1006.

• H. E. 1. vi. cap. 21.

P Čujus mater Mammæa, christiana, Origenem presbyterum audire curavit. Oros. 1. vii. cap. 18. 9 Hist. of the Rom. Emperors, vol. viii. p. 277.

• Ann. 222. num. iv.

CHAP. XXVI.

ULPIAN

I. His time. II. A passage of Lactantius concerning his work of the Duty of a Proconsul, in which he says, that Ulpian had collected all the edicts of former emperors against the christians. III. Observations of learned men concerning Ulpian, and his work. IV. Qu. Whether there remain, in the Pandects, any laws against the christians.

I. DOMITIUS ULPIANUS, or ULPIAN, was a native of Tyre in Phoenicia. After he had distinguished himself as a great lawyer in former reigns, he was made præfect of the prætorium by Severus Alexander, but was murdered by the prætorian soldiers, as is computed, in the year 228. I place him at the year 222, when the emperor Alexander began his reign.

b

II. Lactantius, among other cruelties practised by worshippers of idols, or heathen deities, reckons laws of princes, and decrees of lawyers, against good men, worshippers of the true God. Domitius, writing of the office ' of a proconsul, in the seventh book of that work, put together the wicked edicts, that he might show what punishments ought to be inflicted upon those who professed themselves to be worshippers of God.'

III. Herman Witsius supposeth, that Ulpian was very

a Vid. Dion. Cass. lib. 80. Eutrop. 1. viii. cap. 23. Zos. 1. i. p. 638. Spartian. de Pescennio Nigro. cap. 7. Lamprid. in Alexandro Severo. cap. 26. 31. 51. Victor. de Cæsarib. cap. 24. Tillem. L'Emp. Alexandre. art. xvii. Crevier, in his Lives of the Roman Emperors, vol. viii. p. 112, &c. Fabric. Bib. Lat. Tom. i. p. 820.

b Hoc est Deorum disciplina. Ad hæc opera cultores suos erudiunt. Hæc sacra desiderant. Quinetiam sceleratissimi homicidæ contra pios jura impia condiderunt. Nam et constitutiones sacrilegæ, et disputationes Jurisperitorum leguntur injustæ. Domitius de Officio Proconsulis, libro septimo, rescripta nefaria collegit, ut doceret, quibus pœnis affici oporteret eos qui se cultores Dei profiterentur. Lactant. Inst. 1. v. cap. 11. fin.

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c Cujus collectionis hanc credibile est fuisse occasionem. Ulpianus Alex andrum Severum regebat, et ejus nomine Proconsulibus in provincias ituris mandata dabat. Sed quum videret abs christianis non alienum, ab eorum sanguine certe abhorrentem, vix impelli posse, uti iis exterminandis aliquid ediceret; videtur vetera impiorum tyrannorum rescripta Proconsulibus ob

averse to the christians; but the emperor was favourable to them. He saw that Alexander would never enact any laws against them, which should bring them into any danger of their lives; Ulpian therefore put together the laws which had been made against the christians in former 'times, that the proconsuls might see how they might treat • them.'

Tillemont thinks that work was published before the reign of Alexander. Basnage likewise is of opinion, that e this work was composed some good while before in the time of Septimius Severus. Nor can he believe that Ulpian would publish such a thing in the time of Alexander, when it would be far from being acceptable.

Crevier expresseth himself after this manner: Ulpian has been praised by all the pagans without exception, and 'without reserve. The christians have reproached him with 'carrying his aversion so far, as, contrary to the inclination ' of his sovereign, who did not dislike them, to collect all • the edicts which former emperors had published against 'them. Let us pity a blindness, in which he was confirmed even by his regard for the laws, which he had so much 'studied.'

So Crevier. But a part of those remarks depends upon a supposition that these books of the Duty of a Proconsul were published in the time of Alexander; which, as we have just seen, is far from being certain.

As for Ulpian's having been praised by all the pagans,' (which Crevier repeats after Tillemont,) it is acknowledged that he has been commended by several heathen authors, and the confidence placed in him by Alexander is much to his honour. Nevertheless bys Dion Cassius, or by Xiphilinus from him, he is said to have killed Flavian and Chrestus, that he might succeed them. And Zosimus, giving an account of Ulpian's death, says, The soldiers

jecisse, ut ex iis suum in hoc genere officium æstimarent. Wits. se Legion. Fulmin. num. lxv.

e Quæ collectanea edidisse

d Ubi supra, note a. existimamus, imperante Severo, cum Papiniano in consiliis fuit. Regnante quidem Alexandro, nil perniciei christianis machinatus est Ulpianus, quos Mammææ et filio ejus acceptos esse noverat. Ad dominorum ergo suorum studia sese composuit aulicus homo. Nec Alexandri Mammææque gratiam retinuisset, si ecclesiam, cui favebant, ad sanguinem usque persecutus fuisset. Basnag. ann. 228. num. iii. f As before, p. 46.

5 Τον δε δη Φλαβιανον, τον τε Χρηςον αποκτεινας, ίνα αυτες διαδέξηται, και αυτος 8 πολλω ύσερον ὑπο των δορυφόρων, επιθεμένων οἱ νυκτος, κατεσφαγη. Dio. Cass. 1. 80. p. 1369.

h Εν ύποψις δε τοις ςρατοπέδοις γενομενος, (τας δε αιτίας ακριβως εκ εχω

were much offended with him; the reason he could not say exactly, because the accounts were different.'

IV. There are in the Pandects several fragments of his, which by some learned men are understood to relate to the christians. I shall here allege one or two.

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1. In a treatise of his concerning Courts of Justice were these words. They may be reckoned physicians, who undertake the cure of the body, or of any particular distemper, in the ears, the throat, the teeth; but, if they use incantations, or invocations, or, to use the common word of impostors, exorcisms; these are no sort of medicine, although there are people who boast of having received benefit by them.'

Whether Ulpian here refers to Jews or christians, or heathens, I cannot certainly say. Bingham says: Some think the order (of exorcists) was as old as Tertullian, because Ulpian the great lawyer who lived in Tertullian's time, in one of his books speaks of exorcising as a thing used by impostors, by whom, probably, he means the christians. Gothofred thinks, he means the Jewish exor'cists, who were commonly impostors indeed.'

2. From the third book of his work, Concerning the Duty of a Proconsul, are cited these words: The1 deified Severus and Antoninus have permitted those who follow the Jewish superstition to enjoy magistracies. But they imposed upon them some conditions, which did not prejudice their superstition.'

the

When Ulpian wrote that book of his work, as Schulting m says, Antoninus Caracalla was living. Therefore blessed, or deified, is to be understood of Septimius Severus only, and not to be applied to both the emperors here mentioned.

Whether by the Jewish superstition,' be here meant the διεξελθειν, διαφορα γαρ ίςορηκασι περι της αυτε προαιρεσεως) αναιρειται. Ζos. 1. i. p. 638.

Medicos fortassis quis accipiet etiam eos, qui alicujus partis corporis, vel certi doloris sanitatem pollicentur; ut, puta, si auricularum, si fistulæ, vel dentium; non tamen, si incantavit, si imprecatus est, si (ut vulgari verbo impostorum utar) exorcizant. Non sunt ista medicinæ genera, tametsi sint, qui hos sibi profuisse cum prædicatione adfirment. D. lib. 1. Tit. 13. l. i. sect. 3. De extraordinariis Cognitionibus, &c.

* Bingham's Antiquities, &c. B. 3. ch. iv. sect. 3.

1 Eis qui judaïcam superstitionem sequantur, D. Severus et Antoninus honores adipisci permiserunt; sed et necessitates eis imposuerunt, quæ superstitionem eorum non læderent. De Decurionibus, &c. D. L. 1. Tit. 2. 1. iii. sect. 3.

m

Adeoque legendum Divus Severus, et Antoninus, non Divi, ut habet Florentinus. Schulting. Jurispr. Vet. p. 552.

Jewish religion only, or whether the christians also were intended, has been doubted.

3. However, it may not be improper for me, before I conclude this chapter concerning Ulpian, to observe, that some learned lawyers are of opinion, that" in our Corpus Juris, or Collection of ancient Roman laws, there is not preserved one edict against the christians, nor any thing that is against them.

And says Witsius in the place to which we referred just now: The books of Ulpian concerning the Duty of a • Proconsul are not now extant. But there are in the Pan'dects many fragments of them: in which, however, there ' is not one word about the christians. From the third book of that work is cited a law of Severus and Antoninus, allowing the Jews to possess magistracies; but it is not at 'all probable, that christians are here included. The design of Ulpian was to collect the laws against the christians; 'the same malignity of temper would induce him to sup'press every thing that was favourable to them.'

That being our case, we must submit to it. Through a mistaken friendship, and misguided zeal, all edicts against the christians have been suppressed, and none of them admitted into the Pandects.

Since, therefore, the collections of Ulpian, so far as they related to the christians, are entirely lost, we can only make some general reflections upon them; which every reader is able to do. I have cited the passage of Lactantius, and have also alleged the observations of divers learned moderns relating to this subject, and need not add any thing more. I shall only say, that if ever the seventh book' of that work of Ulpian should be found, it would be a great

n Istud addo, in Corpore Juris nostro nullum contra christianos edictum, imo nihil, quod illis adversum existimari certo possit, inveniri. In quâ sententiâ etsi Balduinus non fuit, sed Ulpianum cumprimis accusat, quod christianos, 1. i. sect. 3. ff. de extraordin. cognit. exorcistas appellavit; sunt tamen viri docti, qui plane alterius commatis homines eo homine comprehendi existimant. N. H. Gundling. Præf. ad Balduin. Comm. de Constant. Imp. Leg. Ecc. et Civilibus, p. 16, 17.

• Non exstant quidem hi de Officio Proconsulis libri Domitii. Multa tamen in Pandectis supersunt eorum fragmenta: sed in his nullum verbum de christianis. Unus locus exstat ex libro tertio, ubi laudatur hoc, de quo disputamus, Severi et Antonini rescriptum, quo Judæis permittitur honores adipisci. Hæc cum retulisset Balduinus, ita infit: An Ulpianus, quo magis christianos ureret, hoc commemoravit? Ut Julianus Imperator odio christianorum favisse 'Judæis dicitur.' Quum ergo totus in eo fuerit Ulpianus, ut ea quæ adversa christianis erant, ad eos vexandos colligeret, faventia vero maligne supprimeret, non est probabile, hoc, quod de Judæis prodere voluit, ad christianos pertinere. Wits. ut supra, num. lxii.