of Carthage chides the lenity of his colleague,) "if such irregularities
are suffered, there is an end of Episcopal Vigor; [149] an end of the
sublime and divine power of governing the Church, an end of Christianity
itself." Cyprian had renounced those temporal honors, which it is
probable he would never have obtained; but the acquisition of
such absolute command over the consciences and understanding of a
congregation, however obscure or despised by the world, is more truly
grateful to the pride of the human heart, than the possession of the
most despotic power, imposed by arms and conquest on a reluctant people.
[Footnote 1491]: Gibbon has been accused of injustice to the character of
Cyprian, as exalting the "censures and authority of the church above the
observance of the moral duties." Felicissimus had been condemned by a
synod of bishops, (non tantum mea, sed plurimorum coepiscorum, sententia
condemnatum,) on the charge not only of schism, but of embezzlement of
public money, the debauching of virgins, and frequent acts of adultery.
His violent menaces had extorted his readmission into the church,
against which Cyprian protests with much vehemence: ne pecuniae
commissae sibi fraudator, ne stuprator virginum, ne matrimoniorum
multorum depopulator et corruptor, ultra adhuc sponsam Christi
incorruptam praesentiae suae dedecore, et impudica atque incesta
contagione, violaret. See Chelsum's Remarks, p. 134. If these
charges against Felicissimus were true, they were something more than
"irregularities," A Roman censor would have been a fairer subject of
comparison than a consul. On the other hand, it must be admitted that
the charge of adultery deepens very rapidly as the controversy becomes
more violent. It is first represented as a single act, recently
detected, and which men of character were prepared to substantiate:
adulterii etiam crimen accedit. quod patres nostri graves viri
deprehendisse se nuntiaverunt, et probaturos se asseverarunt. Epist.
xxxviii. The heretic has now darkened into a man of notorious and
general profligacy. Nor can it be denied that of the whole long epistle,
very far the larger and the more passionate part dwells on the breach
of ecclesiastical unity rather than on the violation of Christian
holiness.--M.]

[Footnote 149: Cyprian Epist. 69.]

[Footnote 1491: This supposition appears unfounded: the birth and the
talents of Cyprian might make us presume the contrary. Thascius
Caecilius Cypri