OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

399

they attacked in the open field, but with unsuc- chap.cessful valour, an advanced guard of the imperial ,„***),.cavalry. The donatists who were taken inarms, received, and they soon deserved, thesame treatment which might have been shewnto the wild beasts of the desert. The captivesdied, without a murmur, either by the sword,the axe, or the fire; and the measures of retalia-tion were multiplied in a rapid proportion, whichaggravated the horrors of rebellion, and exclud-ed the hope of mutual forgiveness. In the be-ginning of the present century, the example ofthe circumcellions has been renewed in the per-secution, the boldness, the crimes, and the en-thusiasm of the camisards; and if the fanatics ofLanguedoc surpassed those of Numidia,hy theirmilitary achievements, the Africans maintainedtheir fierce independence with more resolutionand perseverance.*

Such disorders are the natural effects of re]i- Their reI5>gious tyranny; but the rage of the donatists g'?"*

J ^ ° suicides.

was inflamed by a frenzy of a very extraordi-nary kind ; and which, if it really prevailedamong them in so extravagant a degree, cannotsurely be paralleled in any country, or in anyage. Many of these fanatics were possessedwith the horror of life, and the desire of mar-tyrdom ; and they deemed it of little momentby what means, or by what hands, they pe-rished, if their conduct was sanctified by theintention of devoting themselves to the glory

* The Histoire des Camisards, in 3 vols. 12mo. Villefrauche, 1760,may be recommended as accurate and impartial. It requires someattention to discover the religion of the author. '