390

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

XXL

The revoltand furyof the do-natist cir-cumcel-lions, .

A. D. 345,&c.

the slave of his own passions, and of those ofhis eunuchs. “ Many were imprisoned, and“ persecuted, and driven into exile. Whole“ troops of those who were styled heretics were“ massacred, particularly at Cyzicus , and at Sa-“ mosata. In Papldagonia, Bithynia, Galatia ,“ and in many other provinces, towns and villa-“ ges were laid waste, and utterly destroyed/”

While the flames of the arian controversy con-sumed the vitals of the empire, the African pro-vinces were infested by their peculiar enemiesthe savage fanatics, who, under the name of cir-cumcellions, formed the strength and scandal ofthe donatist party . 1 The severe execution of thelaws of Constantine had excited a spirit of dis-content and resistance; the strenuous efforts ofhis son Constans , to restore the unity of thechurch, exasperated the sentimentsofmutual ha-tred, which had first occasioned the separation ;and the methods of force and corruption em-ployed by the two imperial commissioners, Pauland Macarius , furnished the schismatics with aspecious contrast between the maxims of theapostles and the conduct of their pretendedsuccessors." The peasants who inhabited the

‘ Julian Epistol. Iii, p. 436, edit. Spanlicim.

' See Optatns Milevitanns (particularly iii, 4), with tlic donatist his-tory, by M. Dttpin, and the oiiginal pieces at the end of his edition.The numerous circuinstances vvhicii Augustin lias mentioned, of thefury of the circnmrcllions against others, and against themselves, havebeen laboriously collected by Tilleniont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi, p. 147-165 ; and he lias often, though without design, exposed the injurieswhich bad provoked those fanatics.

“ It is amusing enough to observe the language of opposite parties,when they speak of the same men and things. Gratus, bishop of Car-thage .