CHAP. XX.
sense and object of these sublime predictions, which have been so unworthily applied to the infant son of a consul, or a triumvir[1]: but if a more splendid, and in deed specious interpretation of the fourth eclogue contributed to the conversion of the first christian emperor, Virgil may deserve to be ranked among the most successful missionaries of the gospel[2].
Devotion and privileges of Constantine. The awful mysteries of the christian faith and worship were concealed from the eyes of strangers, and even of catechumens, with an affected secrecy, which served to excite their wonder and curiosity[3]. But the severe rules of discipline which the prudence of the bishops had instituted, were relaxed by the same prudence in favour of an imperial proselyte, whom it was so important to allure, by every gentle condescension, into the pale of the church; and Constantine was permitted, at least by a tacit dispensation, to enjoy most of the privileges, before he had contracted any of the obligations, of a christian. Instead of retiring from the congregation when the voice of the deacon dismissed the profane multitude, he prayed with the faithful, disputed with the bishops, preached on the most sublime and intricate subjects of theology, celebrated with sacred rites the vigil of Easter, and publicly declared himself not only a partaker, but, in some measure, a priest and hierophant of the christian mysteries[4]. The pride of Constantine might assume, and his services
- ↑ The different claims of an elder and younger son of Pollio, of Julia, of Drusus, of Marcellus, are found to be incompatible with chronology, history, and the good sense of Virgil,
- ↑ See Lowth de Sacra Poesi Hebrceorum, Praelect. xxi. p. 289—293. In the examination of the fourth eclogue, the respectable bishop of London has displayed learning, taste, ingenuity, and a temperate enthusiasm, which exalts his fancy without degrading his judgement.
- ↑ The distinction between the public and the secret parts of divine service, the missa catechumenorum, and the missa fidelium, and the mysterious veil which piety or policy had cast over the latter, are very judiciously explained by Thiers, Exposition du Saint Sacrement, 1. i. c. 8—12. p. 59—91: but as, on this subject, the papists may reasonably be suspected, a protestant reader will depend with more confidence on the learned Bingham, Antiquities, 1. x. c. 5.
- ↑ See Eusebius in Vit. Const. 1. iv. c. 15—32, and the whole tenor of Constanline's sermon. The faitli and devotion of the emperor has furnished Baronius with a specious argument in favour of his early baptism.
