alternative, a precious circumstance, is preserved
by John Malala, (tom. ii. p. 63, edit. Venet. 1733,) who deserves
more credit as he draws towards his end. After numbering the heretics,
Nestorians, Eutychians, &c., ne expectent, says Justinian, ut digni
venia judicen tur: jubemus, enim ut...convicti et aperti haeretici
justae et idoneae animadversioni subjiciantur. Baronius copies and
applauds this edict of the Code, (A.D. 527, No. 39, 40.)]

[Footnote 85: See the character and principles of the Montanists, in
Mosheim, Rebus Christ. ante Constantinum, p. 410--424.]

[Footnote 86: Theophan. Chron. p. 153. John, the Monophysite bishop of
Asia, is a more authentic witness of this transaction, in which he was
himself employed by the emperor, (Asseman. Bib. Orient. tom. ii. p.
85.)]

[Footnote 87: Compare Procopius (Hist. Arcan. c. 28, and Aleman's Notes)
with Theophanes, (Chron. p. 190.) The council of Nice has intrusted the
patriarch, or rather the astronomers, of Alexandria, with the annual
proclamation of Easter; and we still read, or rather we do not
read, many of the Paschal epistles of St. Cyril. Since the reign of
Monophytism in Egypt, the Catholics were perplexed by such a foolish
prejudice as that which so long opposed, among the Protestants, the
reception of the Gregorian style.]

[Footnote 88: For the religion and history of the Samaritans, consult
Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, a learned and impartial work.]

[Footnote 89: Sichem, Neapolis, Naplous, the ancient and modern seat
of the Samaritans, is situate in a valley between the barren Ebal, the
mountain of cursing to the north, and the fruitful Garizim, or mountain
of cursing to the south, ten or eleven hours' travel from Jerusalem. See
Maundrel, Journey from Aleppo &c.]

[Footnote 90: Procop. Anecdot. c. 11. Theophan. Chron. p. 122.
John Malala Chron. tom. ii. p. 62. I remember an observation, half
philosophical. half superstitious, that the province which had been
ruined by the bigotry of Justinian, was the same through which the
Mahometans penetrated into the empire.]

[Footnote 91: The expression of Procopius is remarkable. Anecdot. c.
13.]

With these sentiments, it was incumbent on him, at least, to be always
in the right. In the first years of his administration, he signalized
his zeal as the disciple and patron of orthodoxy: the reconciliation of
the Greeks and Latins established the tome of St. Leo as the creed of
the emperor and the empire