Chapter XXIII: Reign Of Julian.—Part III

In the midst of a rocky and barren country, the walls of
Jerusalem 59 enclosed the two mountains of Sion and Acra, within
an oval figure of about three English miles. 60 Towards the
south, the upper town, and the fortress of David, were erected on
the lofty ascent of Mount Sion: on the north side, the buildings
of the lower town covered the spacious summit of Mount Acra; and
a part of the hill, distinguished by the name of Moriah, and
levelled by human industry, was crowned with the stately temple
of the Jewish nation. After the final destruction of the temple
by the arms of Titus and Hadrian, a ploughshare was drawn over
the consecrated ground, as a sign of perpetual interdiction. Sion
was deserted; and the vacant space of the lower city was filled
with the public and private edifices of the Ælian colony, which
spread themselves over the adjacent hill of Calvary. The holy
places were polluted with mountains of idolatry; and, either from
design or accident, a chapel was dedicated to Venus, on the spot
which had been sanctified by the death and resurrection of
Christ. 61 6111 Almost three hundred years after those stupendous
events, the profane chapel of Venus was demolished by the order
of Constantine; and the removal of the earth and stones revealed
the holy sepulchre to the eyes of mankind. A magnificent church
was erected on that mystic ground, by the first Christian
emperor; and the effects of his pious munificence were extended
to every spot which had been consecrated by the footstep of
patriarchs, of prophets, and of the Son of God. 62

59 (return) [ Reland (Palestin. l. i. p. 309, 390, l. iii. p.
838) describes, with learning and perspicuity, Jerusalem, and the
face of the adjacent country.]

60 (return) [ I have consulted a rare and curious treatise of M.
D’Anville, (sur l’Ancienne Jerusalem, Paris, 1747, p. 75.) The
circumference of the ancient city (Euseb. Preparat. Evangel. l.
ix. c. 36) was 27 stadia, or 2550 _toises_. A plan, taken on the
spot, assigns no more than 1980 for the modern town. The circuit
is defined by natural landmarks, which cannot be mistaken or
removed.]

61 (return) [ See two curious passages in Jerom, (tom. i. p. 102,
tom. vi. p. 315,) and the ample details of Tillemont, (Hist, des
Empereurs, tom. i. p. 569. tom. ii. p. 289, 294, 4to edition.)]

6111 (return) [ On the site of the Holy Sepulchre, compare the
chapter in Professor Robinson’s Travels in Palestine, which has
renewed the old controversy with great vigor. To me, this temple
of Venus, said to have been erected by Hadrian to insult the
Christians, is not the least suspicious part of the whole
legend.-M. 1845.]

62 (return) [ Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. iii. c. 25-47,
51-53. The emperor likewise built churches at Bethlem, the Mount
of Olives, and the oa of Mambre. The holy sepulchre is described
by Sandys, (Travels, p. 125-133,) and curiously delineated by Le
Bruyn, (Voyage au Levant, p. 28-296.)]

The passionate desire of contemplating the original monuments of
their redemption attracted to Jerusalem a successive crowd of
pilgrims, from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and the most
distant countries of the East; 63 and their piety was authorized
by the example of the empress Helena, who appears to have united
the credulity of age with the warm feelings of a recent
conversion. Sages and heroes, who have visited the memorable
scenes of ancient wisdom or glory, have confessed the inspiration
of the genius of the place; 64 and the Christian who knelt before
the holy sepulchre, ascribed his lively faith, and his fervent
devotion, to the more immediate influence of the Divine Spirit.
The zeal, perhaps the avarice, of the clergy of Jerusalem,
cherished and multiplied these beneficial visits. They fixed, by
unquestionable tradition, the scene of each memorable event. They
exhibited the instruments which had been used in the passion of
Christ; the nails and the lance that had pierced his hands, his
feet, and his side; the crown of thorns that was planted on his
head; the pillar at which he was scourged; and, above all, they
showed the cross on which he suffered, and which was dug out of
the earth in the reign of those princes, who inserted the symbol
of Christianity in the banners of the Roman legions. 65 Such
miracles as seemed necessary to account for its extraordinary
preservation, and seasonable discovery, were gradually propagated
without opposition. The custody of the _true cross_, which on
Easter Sunday was solemnly exposed to the people, was intrusted
to the bishop of Jerusalem; and he alone might gratify the
curious devotion of the pilgrims, by the gift of small pieces,
which they encased in gold or gems, and carried away in triumph
to their respective countries. But as this gainful branch of
commerce must soon have been annihilated, it was found convenient
to suppose, that the marvelous wood possessed a secret power of
vegetation; and that its substance, though continually
diminished, still remained entire and unimpaired. 66 It might
perhaps have been expected, that the influence of the place and
the belief of a perpetual miracle, should have produced some
salutary effects on the morals, as well as on the faith, of the
people. Yet the most respectable of the ecclesiastical writers
have been obliged to confess, not only that the streets of
Jerusalem were filled with the incessant tumult of business and
pleasure, 67 but that every species of vice—adultery, theft,
idolatry, poisoning, murder—was familiar to the inhabitants of
the holy city. 68 The wealth and preëminence of the church of
Jerusalem excited the ambition of Arian, as well as orthodox,
candidates; and the virtues of Cyril, who, since his death, has
been honored with the title of Saint, were displayed in the
exercise, rather than in the acquisition, of his episcopal
dignity. 69

63 (return) [ The Itinerary from Bourdeaux to Jerusalem was
composed in the year 333, for the use of pilgrims; among whom
Jerom (tom. i. p. 126) mentions the Britons and the Indians. The
causes of this superstitious fashion are discussed in the learned
and judicious preface of Wesseling. (Itinarar. p. 537-545.)
——Much curious information on this subject is collected in the
first chapter of Wilken, Geschichte der Kreuzzüge.—M.]

64 (return) [ Cicero (de Finibus, v. 1) has beautifully expressed
the common sense of mankind.]

65 (return) [ Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 326, No. 42-50) and
Tillemont (Mém. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 8-16) are the historians and
champions of the miraculous _invention_ of the cross, under the
reign of Constantine. Their oldest witnesses are Paulinus,
Sulpicius Severus, Rufinus, Ambrose, and perhaps Cyril of
Jerusalem. The silence of Eusebius, and the Bourdeaux pilgrim,
which satisfies those who think perplexes those who believe. See
Jortin’s sensible remarks, vol. ii. p 238-248.]

66 (return) [ This multiplication is asserted by Paulinus,
(Epist. xxxvi. See Dupin. Bibliot. Eccles. tom. iii. p. 149,) who
seems to have improved a rhetorical flourish of Cyril into a real
fact. The same supernatural privilege must have been communicated
to the Virgin’s milk, (Erasmi Opera, tom. i. p. 778, Lugd. Batav.
1703, in Colloq. de Peregrinat. Religionis ergo,) saints’ heads,
&c. and other relics, which are repeated in so many different
churches. * Note: Lord Mahon, in a memoir read before the Society
of Antiquaries, (Feb. 1831,) has traced in a brief but
interesting manner, the singular adventures of the “true” cross.
It is curious to inquire, what authority we have, except of
_late_ tradition, for the _Hill_ of Calvary. There is none in the
sacred writings; the uniform use of the common word, instead of
any word expressing assent or acclivity, is against the
notion.—M.]

67 (return) [ Jerom, (tom. i. p. 103,) who resided in the
neighboring village of Bethlem, describes the vices of Jerusalem
from his personal experience.]

68 (return) [ Gregor. Nyssen, apud Wesseling, p. 539. The whole
epistle, which condemns either the use or the abuse of religious
pilgrimage, is painful to the Catholic divines, while it is dear
and familiar to our Protestant polemics.]

69 (return) [ He renounced his orthodox ordination, officiated as
a deacon, and was re-ordained by the hands of the Arians. But
Cyril afterwards changed with the times, and prudently conformed
to the Nicene faith. Tillemont, (Mém. Eccles. tom. viii.,) who
treats his memory with tenderness and respect, has thrown his
virtues into the text, and his faults into the notes, in decent
obscurity, at the end of the volume.]

The vain and ambitious mind of Julian might aspire to restore the
ancient glory of the temple of Jerusalem. 70 As the Christians
were firmly persuaded that a sentence of everlasting destruction
had been pronounced against the whole fabric of the Mosaic law,
the Imperial sophist would have converted the success of his
undertaking into a specious argument against the faith of
prophecy, and the truth of revelation. 71 He was displeased with
the spiritual worship of the synagogue; but he approved the
institutions of Moses, who had not disdained to adopt many of the
rites and ceremonies of Egypt. 72 The local and national deity of
the Jews was sincerely adored by a polytheist, who desired only
to multiply the number of the gods; 73 and such was the appetite
of Julian for bloody sacrifice, that his emulation might be
excited by the piety of Solomon, who had offered, at the feast of
the dedication, twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and
twenty thousand sheep. 74 These considerations might influence
his designs; but the prospect of an immediate and important
advantage would not suffer the impatient monarch to expect the
remote and uncertain event of the Persian war. He resolved to
erect, without delay, on the commanding eminence of Moriah, a
stately temple, which might eclipse the splendor of the church of
the resurrection on the adjacent hill of Calvary; to establish an
order of priests, whose interested zeal would detect the arts,
and resist the ambition, of their Christian rivals; and to invite
a numerous colony of Jews, whose stern fanaticism would be always
prepared to second, and even to anticipate, the hostile measures
of the Pagan government. Among the friends of the emperor (if the
names of emperor, and of friend, are not incompatible) the first
place was assigned, by Julian himself, to the virtuous and
learned Alypius. 75 The humanity of Alypius was tempered by
severe justice and manly fortitude; and while he exercised his
abilities in the civil administration of Britain, he imitated, in
his poetical compositions, the harmony and softness of the odes
of Sappho. This minister, to whom Julian communicated, without
reserve, his most careless levities, and his most serious
counsels, received an extraordinary commission to restore, in its
pristine beauty, the temple of Jerusalem; and the diligence of
Alypius required and obtained the strenuous support of the
governor of Palestine. At the call of their great deliverer, the
Jews, from all the provinces of the empire, assembled on the holy
mountain of their fathers; and their insolent triumph alarmed and
exasperated the Christian inhabitants of Jerusalem. The desire of
rebuilding the temple has in every age been the ruling passion of
the children of Israel. In this propitious moment the men forgot
their avarice, and the women their delicacy; spades and pickaxes
of silver were provided by the vanity of the rich, and the
rubbish was transported in mantles of silk and purple. Every
purse was opened in liberal contributions, every hand claimed a
share in the pious labor, and the commands of a great monarch
were executed by the enthusiasm of a whole people. 76

70 (return) [ Imperii sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens
propagare Ammian. xxiii. 1. The temple of Jerusalem had been
famous even among the Gentiles. _They_ had many temples in each
city, (at Sichem five, at Gaza eight, at Rome four hundred and
twenty-four;) but the wealth and religion of the Jewish nation
was centred in one spot.]

71 (return) [ The secret intentions of Julian are revealed by the
late bishop of Gloucester, the learned and dogmatic Warburton;
who, with the authority of a theologian, prescribes the motives
and conduct of the Supreme Being. The discourse entitled _Julian_
(2d edition, London, 1751) is strongly marked with all the
peculiarities which are imputed to the Warburtonian school.]

72 (return) [ I shelter myself behind Maimonides, Marsham,
Spencer, Le Clerc, Warburton, &c., who have fairly derided the
fears, the folly, and the falsehood of some superstitious
divines. See Divine Legation, vol. iv. p. 25, &c.]

73 (return) [ Julian (Fragment. p. 295) respectfully styles him,
and mentions him elsewhere (Epist. lxiii.) with still higher
reverence. He doubly condemns the Christians for believing, and
for renouncing, the religion of the Jews. Their Deity was a
_true_, but not the _only_, God Apul Cyril. l. ix. p. 305, 306.]

74 (return) [ 1 Kings, viii. 63. 2 Chronicles, vii. 5. Joseph.
Antiquitat. Judaic. l. viii. c. 4, p. 431, edit. Havercamp. As
the blood and smoke of so many hecatombs might be inconvenient,
Lightfoot, the Christian Rabbi, removes them by a miracle. Le
Clerc (ad loca) is bold enough to suspect to fidelity of the
numbers. * Note: According to the historian Kotobeddym, quoted by
Burckhardt, (Travels in Arabia, p. 276,) the Khalif Mokteder
sacrificed, during his pilgrimage to Mecca, in the year of the
Hejira 350, forty thousand camels and cows, and fifty thousand
sheep. Barthema describes thirty thousand oxen slain, and their
carcasses given to the poor. Quarterly Review, xiii.p.39—M.]

75 (return) [ Julian, epist. xxix. xxx. La Bleterie has neglected
to translate the second of these epistles.]

76 (return) [ See the zeal and impatience of the Jews in Gregory
Nazianzen (Orat. iv. p. 111) and Theodoret. (l. iii. c. 20.)]

Yet, on this occasion, the joint efforts of power and enthusiasm
were unsuccessful; and the ground of the Jewish temple, which is
now covered by a Mahometan mosque, 77 still continued to exhibit
the same edifying spectacle of ruin and desolation. Perhaps the
absence and death of the emperor, and the new maxims of a
Christian reign, might explain the interruption of an arduous
work, which was attempted only in the last six months of the life
of Julian. 78 But the Christians entertained a natural and pious
expectation, that, in this memorable contest, the honor of
religion would be vindicated by some signal miracle. An
earthquake, a whirlwind, and a fiery eruption, which overturned
and scattered the new foundations of the temple, are attested,
with some variations, by contemporary and respectable evidence.
79 This public event is described by Ambrose, 80 bishop of Milan,
in an epistle to the emperor Theodosius, which must provoke the
severe animadversion of the Jews; by the eloquent Chrysostom, 81
who might appeal to the memory of the elder part of his
congregation at Antioch; and by Gregory Nazianzen, 82 who
published his account of the miracle before the expiration of the
same year. The last of these writers has boldly declared, that
this preternatural event was not disputed by the infidels; and
his assertion, strange as it may seem is confirmed by the
unexceptionable testimony of Ammianus Marcellinus. 83 The
philosophic soldier, who loved the virtues, without adopting the
prejudices, of his master, has recorded, in his judicious and
candid history of his own times, the extraordinary obstacles
which interrupted the restoration of the temple of Jerusalem.
“Whilst Alypius, assisted by the governor of the province, urged,
with vigor and diligence, the execution of the work, horrible
balls of fire breaking out near the foundations, with frequent
and reiterated attacks, rendered the place, from time to time,
inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen; and the
victorious element continuing in this manner obstinately and
resolutely bent, as it were, to drive them to a distance, the
undertaking was abandoned.” 8311 Such authority should satisfy a
believing, and must astonish an incredulous, mind. Yet a
philosopher may still require the original evidence of impartial
and intelligent spectators. At this important crisis, any
singular accident of nature would assume the appearance, and
produce the effects of a real prodigy. This glorious deliverance
would be speedily improved and magnified by the pious art of the
clergy of Jerusalem, and the active credulity of the Christian
world and, at the distance of twenty years, a Roman historian,
careless of theological disputes, might adorn his work with the
specious and splendid miracle. 84

77 (return) [ Built by Omar, the second Khalif, who died A. D.
644. This great mosque covers the whole consecrated ground of the
Jewish temple, and constitutes almost a square of 760 _toises_,
or one Roman mile in circumference. See D’Anville, Jerusalem, p.
45.]

78 (return) [ Ammianus records the consults of the year 363,
before he proceeds to mention the _thoughts_ of Julian. Templum.
... instaurare sumptibus _cogitabat_ immodicis. Warburton has a
secret wish to anticipate the design; but he must have
understood, from former examples, that the execution of such a
work would have demanded many years.]

79 (return) [ The subsequent witnesses, Socrates, Sozomen,
Theodoret, Philostorgius, &c., add contradictions rather than
authority. Compare the objections of Basnage (Hist. des Juifs,
tom. viii. p. 156-168) with Warburton’s answers, (Julian, p.
174-258.) The bishop has ingeniously explained the miraculous
crosses which appeared on the garments of the spectators by a
similar instance, and the natural effects of lightning.]

80 (return) [ Ambros. tom. ii. epist. xl. p. 946, edit.
Benedictin. He composed this fanatic epistle (A. D. 388) to
justify a bishop who had been condemned by the civil magistrate
for burning a synagogue.]

81 (return) [ Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 580, advers. Judæos et
Gentes, tom. ii. p. 574, de Sto Babyla, edit. Montfaucon. I have
followed the common and natural supposition; but the learned
Benedictine, who dates the composition of these sermons in the
year 383, is confident they were never pronounced from the
pulpit.]

82 (return) [ Greg. Nazianzen, Orat. iv. p. 110-113.]

83 (return) [ Ammian. xxiii. 1. Cum itaque rei fortiter instaret
Alypius, juvaretque provinciæ rector, metuendi globi flammarum
prope fundamenta crebris assultibus erumpentes fecere locum
exustis aliquoties operantibus inaccessum; hocque modo elemento
destinatius repellente, cessavit inceptum. Warburton labors (p.
60-90) to extort a confession of the miracle from the mouths of
Julian and Libanius, and to employ the evidence of a rabbi who
lived in the fifteenth century. Such witnesses can only be
received by a very favorable judge.]

8311 (return) [ Michaelis has given an ingenious and sufficiently
probable explanation of this remarkable incident, which the
positive testimony of Ammianus, a contemporary and a pagan, will
not permit us to call in question. It was suggested by a passage
in Tacitus. That historian, speaking of Jerusalem, says, [I omit
the first part of the quotation adduced by M. Guizot, which only
by a most extraordinary mistranslation of muri introrsus sinuati
by “_enfoncemens_” could be made to bear on the question.—M.]
“The Temple itself was a kind of citadel, which had its own
walls, superior in their workmanship and construction to those of
the city. The porticos themselves, which surrounded the temple,
were an excellent fortification. There was a fountain of
constantly running water; _subterranean excavations under the
mountain; reservoirs and cisterns to collect the rain-water_.”
Tac. Hist. v. ii. 12. These excavations and reservoirs must have
been very considerable. The latter furnished water during the
whole siege of Jerusalem to 1,100,000 inhabitants, for whom the
fountain of Siloe could not have sufficed, and who had no fresh
rain-water, the siege having taken place from the month of April
to the month of August, a period of the year during which it
rarely rains in Jerusalem. As to the excavations, they served
after, and even before, the return of the Jews from Babylon, to
contain not only magazines of oil, wine, and corn, but also the
treasures which were laid up in the Temple. Josephus has related
several incidents which show their extent. When Jerusalem was on
the point of being taken by Titus, the rebel chiefs, placing
their last hopes in these vast subterranean cavities, formed a
design of concealing themselves there, and remaining during the
conflagration of the city, and until the Romans had retired to a
distance. The greater part had not time to execute their design;
but one of them, Simon, the Son of Gioras, having provided
himself with food, and tools to excavate the earth descended into
this retreat with some companions: he remained there till Titus
had set out for Rome: under the pressure of famine he issued
forth on a sudden in the very place where the Temple had stood,
and appeared in the midst of the Roman guard. He was seized and
carried to Rome for the triumph. His appearance made it be
suspected that other Jews might have chosen the same asylum;
search was made, and a great number discovered. Joseph. de Bell.
Jud. l. vii. c. 2. It is probable that the greater part of these
excavations were the remains of the time of Solomon, when it was
the custom to work to a great extent under ground: no other date
can be assigned to them. The Jews, on their return from the
captivity, were too poor to undertake such works; and, although
Herod, on rebuilding the Temple, made some excavations, (Joseph.
Ant. Jud. xv. 11, vii.,) the haste with which that building was
completed will not allow us to suppose that they belonged to that
period. Some were used for sewers and drains, others served to
conceal the immense treasures of which Crassus, a hundred and
twenty years before, plundered the Jews, and which doubtless had
been since replaced. The Temple was destroyed A. C. 70; the
attempt of Julian to rebuild it, and the fact related by
Ammianus, coincide with the year 363. There had then elapsed
between these two epochs an interval of near 300 years, during
which the excavations, choked up with ruins, must have become
full of inflammable air. The workmen employed by Julian as they
were digging, arrived at the excavations of the Temple; they
would take torches to explore them; sudden flames repelled those
who approached; explosions were heard, and these phenomena were
renewed every time that they penetrated into new subterranean
passages. This explanation is confirmed by the relation of an
event nearly similar, by Josephus. King Herod having heard that
immense treasures had been concealed in the sepulchre of David,
he descended into it with a few confidential persons; he found in
the first subterranean chamber only jewels and precious stuffs:
but having wished to penetrate into a second chamber, which had
been long closed, he was repelled, when he opened it, by flames
which killed those who accompanied him. (Ant. Jud. xvi. 7, i.) As
here there is no room for miracle, this fact may be considered as
a new proof of the veracity of that related by Ammianus and the
contemporary writers.—G. ——To the illustrations of the extent of
the subterranean chambers adduced by Michaelis, may be added,
that when John of Gischala, during the siege, surprised the
Temple, the party of Eleazar took refuge within them. Bell. Jud.
vi. 3, i. The sudden sinking of the hill of Sion when Jerusalem
was occupied by Barchocab, may have been connected with similar
excavations. Hist. of Jews, vol. iii. 122 and 186.—M. ——It is a
fact now popularly known, that when mines which have been long
closed are opened, one of two things takes place; either the
torches are extinguished and the men fall first into a swoor and
soon die; or, if the air is inflammable, a little flame is seen
to flicker round the lamp, which spreads and multiplies till the
conflagration becomes general, is followed by an explosion, and
kill all who are in the way.—G.]

84 (return) [ Dr. Lardner, perhaps alone of the Christian
critics, presumes to doubt the truth of this famous miracle.
(Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 47-71.)]

The silence of Jerom would lead to a suspicion that the same
story which was celebrated at a distance, might be despised on
the spot. * Note: Gibbon has forgotten Basnage, to whom Warburton
replied.—M.