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CHAP. XXXI.

ALEXANDER SEVERUS, EMPEROR. AN EXAMPLE OF DEVOUT PAGANISM.-PROTECTION OF THE JEWS AND CHRISTIANS.END OF ALEXANDER AND HIS MOTHER.-SECOND PERSIAN EMPIRE. -THE MANICHEAN HERESY. TEMPORARY PROSPERITY OF THE JEWS.

IN A. D. 222, Alexander, surnamed Severus, was only fourteen years of age when he succeeded Heliogabalus, so that his mother, Mammea, continued to guide him, and surrounded him with counsellors of her own choice. She was wiser, however, than her sister. Somias had displeased the haughty Romans by taking her seat in the senate-house, subscribing all the decrees, and voting as a regular member of the assembly; but Mammea secretly ruled by retaining the strongest influence over her son's mind, and concealed her power by allowing a law to be passed which excluded women from the senate-house for ever, in the strongest terms; devoting to the infernal gods any one who should attempt again to introduce them into the assembly.

He rose

Ulpian, a wise and humane minister, was the chief of the counsellors appointed by Mammea to assist her son in the cares of government, and with such help the young emperor appeared to rule as wisely as Trajan or Adrian. The daily life of Alexander, during the first seven years of his reign, is described as the perfection of devout Paganism. early, and spent some time in a kind of domestic temple, adjoining his palace, which was filled with the statues of the chief gods, the worthiest emperors, and other great persons; and amongst these, Abraham, and even Christ, was introduced. From the meditations, or worship, suggested by these images, Alexander went to the councils of the state, as he had been well taught that the service of mankind should follow that of the gods. After a slight refreshment, he returned to business and remained with his secretaries till the evening, reading and answering the multitudes of letters and papers sent from all parts of the empire. The fatigue of business was occasionally relieved by the pleasures of study, and by the gymnastic exercises in which Alexander, who was tall, strong, and active,

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excelled all his companions. His table was served in a frugal manner, and his guests were the most learned and virtuous of the heathens, with whom he held serious conversation; and the recital of some admired composition occupied the time usually engaged by singers or dancers. Alexander's dress was simple, and his manners courteous; his palace was open to all his subjects, but a crier standing at the door frequently repeated, according to the custom at Athens during the Eleusinian mysteries, "Let none enter these holy walls unless he is conscious of a pure and innocent mind."

Alexander favoured the Jews so much that he obtained the name of Archisynagogus (head of the synagogue); and, as a proof of his respect for the Christians, it is said, that when a tavern-keeper once came to claim a piece of ground on which they had built a place of meeting, the emperor refused it, saying, it was better God should be served there in any manner, than that it should be used as a tavern.

He also took up the precept, "Do as you would be done by;" he had it inscribed on the walls of his palace and other public buildings, and desired a crier to repeat it aloud when any criminal was about to be punished.

In the appointment of provincial governors, this amiable emperor used to say he should make as strict inquiry into their characters and qualifications as the Jews and Christians did with regard to their teachers and rulers, for as men's lives and properties were entrusted to them, it was of great importance they should be well-known. Alexander is considered one of the best moral characters among the heathens; and, from the above facts, it appears he had understanding enough to value that degree of righteousness with which he was acquainted. Some of the more superficial among the Christians were, perhaps, deceived by his conduct; for it is observed by the ecclesiastical historian, Eusebius, that Mammea was a most godly and religious woman;" as if godliness, or the religion of God, consisted in correct morality, without any love of God in the heart, or the life of God in the soul.

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It does not appear that Alexander, or his mother, ever received the doctrine of Christ, though they might have had many opportunities of hearing of the way of salvation. When they were at Antioch, in A. D. 229, with the army that came there on account of an invasion of the Persians, Origen paid

DEATH OF ALEXANDER SEVerus.

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them a visit, at their request, as they had heard of his fame as a philosopher. But it is not probable they received from him the simple truths of the gospel, though his mixture of Gentilism with Christianity might have easily been the means of adding them to the number of the nominal converts, who accepted his teaching on account of his talents. The influence of Mammea was for some years useful to her son; but she sought to carry it too far by removing from him every one whom she thought likely to be her rival. Alexander had married the daughter of a senator by her consent; but when she saw that she was, by their means, losing the first place in his affections, she persuaded him to condemn his father-in-law to death under the pretence that he was aiming at sovereign power; and shortly afterwards, on some other ground, she obliged him to banish his wife to Africa.

During Alexander's absence in the East, the Prætorians became angry with Ulpian as the spy of their proceedings and the reformer of their excesses, and, at the emperor's return, they required the death of this minister. The citizens were attached to him, and defended their beloved prefect: the angry Prætorians threatened a general massacre and set some houses on fire; and their fury did not abate till they had killed Ulpian at the feet of the emperor, whilst he was trying to cover him with his purple robe and to obtain his pardon.

The inability of Alexander to punish this crime, and his weakness after the loss of Ulpian, led to many other tumults. The legions in different parts of the empire rebelled against the discipline of their officers, and slew many of them. Dion Cassius, general in Pannonia, much noted as an historian, only escaped destruction by receiving a timely recall to Rome, with an appointment to the consulship. A revolt in Germany at length called Alexander again to lead forth an army; but the continued control of his mother brought upon him the contempt of the soldiers, and this was artfully increased by Maximin, one of the boldest generals, who desired to reign. The folly of Mammea was therefore ruinous to herself and to her son; for they were both murdered together in the camp stationed on the banks of the Rhine, A.D. 235.

The singular history of the establishment of the Second Persian empire belongs to this period; and I have forborne to give any details of the war carried on by Alexander

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Severus till I could acquaint you with it. It will be remembered, that Persia came under the dominion of the Seleucidæ, the Macedonian kings of Syria; but at length their harsh government led their Persian subjects to revolt, and many wars and revolutions followed, till Syria was swallowed up in the Roman empire. At that time Persia had been seized by the Parthians, a people of Scythian origin, whose independence of Rome has often been mentioned; and whose kingdom was thus extended from India to the frontiers of Syria. Artabanus, the last of the line of Parthian kings, had in his service Ardeshir, or Artaxerxes, a bold Persian soldier; and this man being sent into exile for some offence revenged himself by stirring up his countrymen to revolt. He then placed himself at their head, saying he was a descendant of their ancient kings, and, as such, had a right to deliver them from the slavery in which they had been held ever since the death of Darius, a period of five hundred years. The Parthians were defeated in three successive battles, in the last of which Artabanus was slain, and the spirit of the nation broken for ever. The Persians, after their long servitude, again came into power, and the second Persian empire became almost as famous as the first. Artaxerxes and his successors were called the Sassanides, from Sassan, one of his ancestors; and it is supposed that their kingdom nearly equalled modern Persia in extent, and in the number of its inhabitants. After regulating the government of his new empire, Artaxerxes sought to extend it, under pretence of punishing all who had triumphed over his countrymen in their degraded condition. He obtained some victories over the rude Scythians and feeble Indians, and then turned towards the Romans, as stronger and more ancient enemies. After the resignation of Trajan's eastern conquests there had been forty years of peace, till some provocation led to the dreadful war, already spoken of, in the reign of Marcus Antoninus. Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian kings, rose again with greater strength after it had been destroyed by the lieutenants of Verus, and withstood a long siege before it was taken by Alexander Severus; and on the latter occasion, it is said, 100,000 of its inhabitants were led into captivity. Even after these calamities Ctesiphon became the winter residence of the Persian kings, and succeeded Babylon and Seleucia as one of the capitals of the East.

REIGN OF ARTAXERXES.

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The Roman generals had raised many monuments of victory in Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria; and it was only Macrinus who, during his short reign, purchased deliverance from a dangerous situation at an immense expense.

Artaxerxes styled himself, according to the eastern fashion, the great king, and the king of kings; and sent an embassy of four hundred of the finest Persians, well mounted, richly dressed, and with shining arms, requiring the Romans to restore to him all the countries which belonged to his ancestor Cyrus, and to keep within the limits of Europe. This proud demand was answered by the Roman legions, whom Alexander Severus led into the East, as I have already mentioned, in a. D. 229; and though it is supposed that Artaxerxes generally had the advantage, the young emperor, on his return to Rome, made an oration in the senate, describing his victories as little inferior to those of Alexander the Great.

Artaxerxes reigned fourteen years, and succeeded in restoring the ancient Persian religion as well as the government. The Parthian princes had been attached to the Grecian idolatry, and always persecuted the followers of Zoroaster: but the Magi, under the protection of Artaxerxes, became more powerful than ever, and the revival of their doctrines had a poisonous effect upon the infant churches of the East. The early mixture of Paganism and Judaism with Christianity, we have already noticed: we must now observe its corruption, through the reception of some of the principles of Magianism. Mani, an Eclectic philosopher, who admired some of the doctrines of the Persian priests, hoped to unite the fire-worshippers and the Christians together by combining their different views. He took up the oriental idea of two principles, light and darkness, and built upon it the most extravagant and anti-scriptural system of religious doctrine. He was at first excommunicated by the Persian Christians as a heretic, and condemned by the Magi for attempting to reform the religion of Zoroaster: but his opinions were received by great numbers in Persia, Syria, Greece, Africa, and Spain; and the Manichean heresy was added to many others that corrupted the Church. It is said, that Mani was at last condemned to death by Sapor, the son and successor of Artaxerxes.

It remains for me to speak of the state of the Jews during our present period. The Eastern Jews reached the height of

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