CHAPTER V.

THE POLITICAL LITERATURE OF THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS

OF THE CHURCH.

THERE is no branch of human knowledge so rich to the philosophic thinker, as that which embraces the laws which regulate and control the different aspects and phases of public opinion, on great political principles and truths. The materials on which the mind has to operate are scattered in such apparent and hopeless confusion, that they seem to bid defiance to any mental effort made to reduce them to a manageable or useful end. It is much easier for the natural philosopher to develope the history of the earth's formation in the rocky strata, and classify the various orders of animated nature, or for the astronomer to reduce the motions of the heavenly orbs to the laws of celestial mechanics, than to trace out those events and circumstances in human affairs, which have guided the successive generations of men to the unity of truth, and the consolidation of opinion. Though the difficulty be unquestionably great in the way of the philosophical politician and legislator, it is not, however, insurmountable. Boundless as the fertility of mind is, it is still kept within a visible horizon.

The primary powers and affinities of mind, the homogeneous character of intellectual instruction, and those powerful impulses of human feeling which heave the breasts of social communities, all point to general results, and conspire to guide the thinking understanding in treasuring up the records of past experience, and to make them subservient to its further instruction and progress. Men are directed, as it were, by the unerring power of instinct to mark the ascending and returning wave of general tendencies. They view from age to age the kindred movements, sentiments, and opinions of political communities; and here, as in other departments of nature, there are certain archetypal forms, and elementary influences, which constitute the necessary and prescribed conditions on which the speculative reason can employ itself. This same law is manifested in every other kind of literature, as well as in political. There is the same archetypal stamp on the Epic and Dramatic genius. of every age and country; the same relationship between the philosophy of India and that of ancient Greece; and the disquisitions of Plato, and the mystical vagaries of the Alexandrian School, find their counterparts in the speculations of modern times. philosopher is like the enterprising mariner, ploughing the ocean in quest of new regions, whose utmost and final efforts must, however, be confined to the narrow globe he is circumnavigating.

The

But limited as the range of political literature undoubtedly is, it occupies an arena sufficiently wide to puzzle, at first sight, the most ardent enquirer. The mass of materials presented to the judgment, in any given period of history, is so vast, that to seize

upon scientific unity, and separate it from mere historical detail, is no ordinary mental achievement. The primary and essential are borne down by the pressure of the temporary and unimportant; and to gain the former we are compelled to labour long and hard at clearing away the latter.

At no period of the history of the world, were there more antagonistic influences in full activity in European society, than for several centuries after the Christian era. These were seasons of great and radical transition. Christian polity was weak and feeble in these its early manifestations; it had not yet assumed a self-conscious intelligence and action. It hung over the nations like a faint and nebulous cloud. And as it gained more firmness and strength, it was irresistibly drawn into external conflict with political cruelty, profound ignorance, and immoralities of the deepest turpitude. Christianity had likewise to establish itself as a spiritual agency, before its social and political principles could be fairly brought before the minds of men; but when this, its chief mission, was in some measure executed, these principles began to mingle more freely with public opinion, and to form part of the current of mental thought, and private and public education. Slow, however, was the progress of planting, in the mind of the world, the seeds of a new science, and tardy, likewise, was the germination of these seeds into full life and vigour. They were only scattered here and there, as it were by stealth, by the hands of the sowers; and mankind benefitted only irregularly and partially from the fruits of the harvest.

There was a great falling off in those displays characteristic of early times, of Roman patriotism and

love of freedom, from the commencement of the long peace, luxury, and prosperity, under the Antonines, till about the year 180. Political sentiment and feeling lay prostrate under an insuperable apathy. The people sank from one stage of degeneration and indifference to another, till every vestige of public spirit was obliterated from their hearts and understandings. Such a state of torpor was more inimical to human improvement than positive barbarity. Longinus, represents the genius and public spirit of the citizens in the following century, as cramped and contracted; their minds becoming like the limbs of children which have been confined by bandages. Even the profession of arms fell from its high estate; and the strength of the Roman army lay in the sinews of its foreign mercenaries.*

It was this condition of the Roman people which greatly accelerated their downfall before the bold and energetic hordes of barbarians. The progress of their attacks on the power of Rome, was nearly as follows. The Gothic tribes were the most distinguished of those invaders, and occupied that portion of country which lay nearest, in a direct line, to the capital of the empire. In the reign of Aurelian, (270-275) the province of Decia was relinquished to them, and the river Danube constituted their northern boundary. A century after their settlement, those Goths were in turn invaded by the Huns, who have been commonly supposed to be tribes of wandering marauders from the distant parts of the Chinese empire. The eastern section of the Gothic tribes, called Astrogoths were

* Longinus, de Sublim: cop. 43; Schmidt, Hist. des Allemand's, tom 1 p. 300; Gibbon, Dicline and Fall, vol 1.

conquered by the Huns; and the western, or Visigoths obtained permission from the Emperor Valens, in 376, to form a settlement on the southern banks of the Danube. This was called Moesia; and it was from hence that the famous Alaric, two years afterwards proceeded, and entered and plundered the city of Rome itself. But, about the year 412, these conquering tribes were induced to retire into Gaul, where they occupied the southern provinces ;-then the most important and fertile part of the country. The following year the Burgundians, who had settled on the banks of the Rhine for fifty years, entered the eastern provinces of Italy. The dominion of the Goths was also extended over the provinces of Spain, and the Vandals abandoned them for the Roman settlements in Africa. In the year 453, the Astrogoths, in attempting to recover their independence, received from the Roman Empire a grant of the country of Pannonia. This is described by the Gothic writers as a rich and populous region, containing many large cities, and its inhabitants displaying considerable refinements, intelligence, and public spirit.

After the first century of the establishment of these several German tribes on an exterior province of the Roman Empire, it so happened that another portion of the same people, who had taken possession of the southern districts of Gaul and Spain, were brought into closer alliance and friendship with them. This intercourse subsisted for upwards of thirty years; during which time they had acquired some degree of knowledge, and made some advances in the arts and refinements of social life.

In the meanwhile, however, considerable movements