: (Concil. tom. iv. p. 1449.) Evagrius and Liberatus present
only the placid face of the synod, and discreetly slide over these
embers, suppositos cineri doloso.]

Far different was the temper of the Greeks and Egyptians under the
orthodox reigns of Leo and Marcian. Those pious emperors enforced with
arms and edicts the symbol of their faith; [67] and it was declared by
the conscience or honor of five hundred bishops, that the decrees of
the synod of Chalcedon might be lawfully supported, even with blood.
The Catholics observed with satisfaction, that the same synod was odious
both to the Nestorians and the Monophysites; [68] but the Nestorians
were less angry, or less powerful, and the East was distracted by
the obstinate and sanguinary zeal of the Monophysites. Jerusalem was
occupied by an army of monks; in the name of the one incarnate nature,
they pillaged, they burnt, they murdered; the sepulchre of Christ was
defiled with blood; and the gates of the city were guarded in tumultuous
rebellion against the troops of the emperor. After the disgrace and
exile of Dioscorus, the Egyptians still regretted their spiritual
father; and detested the usurpation of his successor, who was introduced
by the fathers of Chalcedon. The throne of Proterius was supported by a
guard of two thousand soldiers: he waged a five years' war against the
people of Alexandria; and on the first intelligence of the death of
Marcian, he became the victim of their zeal. On the third day before
the festival of Easter, the patriarch was besieged in the cathedral,
and murdered in the baptistery. The remains of his mangled corpse were
delivered to the flames, and his ashes to the wind; and the deed was
inspired by the vision of a pretended angel: an ambitious monk, who,
under the name of Timothy the Cat, [69] succeeded to the place and
opinions of Dioscorus. This deadly superstition was inflamed, on either
side, by the principle and the practice of retaliation: in the pursuit
of a metaphysical quarrel, many thousands [70] were slain, and the
Christians of every degree were deprived of the substantial enjoyments
of social life, and of the invisible gifts of baptism and the holy
communion. Perhaps an extravagant fable of the times may conceal an
allegorical picture of these fanatics, who tortured each other and
themselves. "Under the consulship of Venantius and Celer," says a grave
bishop, "the people of Alexandria, and all Egypt, were seized with a
stran