but, with a prophetic spirit foretold the death of the emperor, and that
he should be tormented in the other life. Enraged at what he heard,
Julian commanded that the body of Basil should be torn every day in
seven different parts, till his skin and flesh were entirely mangled.
This inhuman sentence was executed with rigour, and the martyr expired
under its severities, on the 28th day of June, A. D. 362.

Donatus, bishop of Arezzo, and Hilarinus, a hermit, suffered about the
same time; also Gordian, a Roman magistrate. Artemius, commander in
chief of the Roman forces in Egypt, being a christian, was deprived of
his commission, then of his estate, and lastly of his head.

The persecution raged dreadfully about the latter end of the year 363;
but, as many of the particulars have not been handed down to us, it is
necessary to remark in general, that in Palestine many were burnt alive,
others were dragged by their feet through the streets naked till they
expired; some were scalded to death, many stoned, and great numbers had
their brains beaten out with clubs. In Alexandria, innumerable were the
martyrs who suffered by the sword, burning, crucifixion, and being
stoned. In Arethusa, several were ripped open, and corn being put into
their bellies, swine were brought to feed therein, which, in devouring
the grain, likewise devoured the entrails of the martyrs, and, in
Thrace, Emilianus was burnt at a stake; and Domitius murdered in a cave,
whither he had fled for refuge.

The emperor, Julian the apostate, died of a wound which he received in
his Persian expedition, A. D. 363, and even while expiring, uttered the
most horrid blasphemies. He was succeeded by Jovian, who restored peace
to the church.

After the decease of Jovian, Valentinian succeeded to the empire, and
associated to himself Valens, who had the command in the east, and was
an Arian, of an unrelenting and persecuting disposition.

_Persecution of the Christians by the Goths and Vandals._

Many Scythian Goths having embraced Christianity about the time of
Constantine the Great, the light of the gospel spread itself
considerably in Scythia, though the two kings who ruled that country,
and the majority of the people continued pagans. Fritegern, king of the
West Goths, was an ally to the Romans, but Athanarick, king of the East
Goths, was at war with them. The christians, in the dominions of the
former, lived unmolested, but the latter, having been defeated by