THE DECLINE AND PALL

286

CHAP.

XX.

the painful celibacy* which was imposed as avirtue, as a duty, and at length as a positiveobligation. The religions of antiquity, whichestablished a separate order of priests, dedicat-ed a holy race, a tribe or family, to the perpe-tual service of the gods.* Such institutionswere founded for possession, rather than con-quest. The children of the priests enjoyed, withproud and indolent security, their sacred inhe-ritance ; and the fiery spirit of enthusiasm wasabated by the cares, the pleasures, and the en-dearments of domestic life. But the Christiansanctuary was open to every ambitious candi-date, who aspired to its heavenly promises, ortemporal possessions. The office of priests, likethat of soldiers or magistrates, was strenuouslyexercised by those men, whose temper andabilities had prompted them to embrace the ec-clesiastical profession, or who had been selectedby a discerning bishop, as the best qualified topromote the glory and interest of the church.

* The celibacy of the clergy during the first five or six centuries, isa subject of disripli e, and indeed of controversy, which has been verydiligently examined See in particular Thomas>in, Discipline de J'Eg-lisc, tom. i, l. ii, c. lx, Ixi, p. 880-902, and Bingham's Antiquities, 1. iv,c. 5. By each of the>e U-aim d but partial critics, one half of the truthis produced, and the other is concealed.

b Diodorus Siculus attests and approves the hereditary succession ofthe priesthood among the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Indians(I. i, p. 84 ; I. ii, p. 142-163, edit. Wesseling). The magi are describ-ed by Ainmianus as a very numerous family : u Per smcula multa adu pixsens tm& tidenique prosapia multitudo creata, Deorum culfibusu dedicata (xxiii, 6).” Ansomus celebrates the Stirps Druidarum (DeProfessorib. Burdigal. iv)$ but we may infer from the remark of Caesar(vi. 13), that, in the Celtic hierarchy, some room was left for choice andemulation