to his obscure solitude of Cappadocia; where he employed the remainder
of his life, about eight years, in the exercises of poetry and
devotion. The title of Saint has been added to his name: but the
tenderness of his heart, and the elegance of his genius, reflect a
more pleasing lustre on the memory of Gregory Nazianzen.

It was not enough that Theodosius had suppressed the insolent reign of
Arianism, or that he had abundantly revenged the injuries which the
Catholics sustained from the zeal of Constantius and Valens. The
orthodox emperor considered every heretic as a rebel against the
supreme powers of heaven and of earth; and each of those powers might
exercise their peculiar jurisdiction over the soul and body of the
guilty. The decrees of the council of Constantinople had ascertained
the true standard of the faith; and the ecclesiastics, who governed
the conscience of Theodosius, suggested the most effectual methods of
persecution. In the space of fifteen years, he promulgated at least
fifteen severe edicts against the heretics; more especially against
those who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity; and to deprive them of
every hope of escape, he sternly enacted, that if any laws or
rescripts should be alleged in their favor, the judges should consider
them as the illegal productions either of fraud or forgery. The penal
statutes were directed against the ministers, the assemblies, and the
persons of the heretics; and the passions of the legislator were
expressed in the language of declamation and invective. I. The
heretical teachers, who usurped the sacred titles of Bishops, or
Presbyters, were not only excluded from the privileges and emoluments
so liberally granted to the orthodox clergy, but they were exposed to
the heavy penalties of exile and confiscation, if they presumed to
preach the doctrine, or to practise the rites, of their accursed
sects. A fine of ten pounds of gold (above four hundred pounds