ge of the charity--or the sentiment--of
wealthy ladies had become so prevalent among the clergy that the
government had been compelled to regard it as an abuse to be severely
legislated against. By his enemies, Bishop Damasus himself was nicknamed
Auriscalpius Matronarum (the ladies' ear scratcher). An edict on the
subject was addressed by Valentinian to this bishop who was directed to
have it read in the churches of his diocese. It must have been a
humiliating document for the clerics of the time to listen to in the
presence of their congregations. It admonished them not to frequent the
houses of virgins and widows. The habit had become popular for wealthy
and devout ladies to choose some monk or priest as their individual and
private spiritual director. That the confidence reposed in the latter
was often abused is indicated by the edict which prohibited him from
profiting by any gift or legacy from his spiritual protegee; the same
abuse is also frankly acknowledged in the writings of the Fathers. As we
have seen in the case of Jerome and Paula, such a relationship might be
perfectly innocent, though somewhat hysterical. Human nature is the same
in all ages; and, given a woman whose sentimental nature predisposed her
to seek an indemnification in spiritual companionship for those ordinary
delights which, by pious vows, she had denied herself; an ecclesiastic,
frail in principle, but apt to cloak his designs with the sanctity of
ghostly affection and disinterested charity, and the result is not
unlikely to be disastrous to the reputation of the lady and, also, to
the expectations of her heirs. The law of Valentinian, forbidding these
women to make clerics their legatees, precluded the former from the
comfort of an ostentatious guaranty of their piety, and stigmatized the
disinterestedness of the latter.

Such, then, was the condition of the Roman Empire at the time when the
causes leading to its decline were nearing their culmination. After
Julian's death under the assassin's hand, Jovian followed in a brief
reign. Then Valentinian came to the throne. In this emperor is witnessed
that astonishing mixture of vice and virtue, barbarous cruelty and
Christian belief which characterized that period. It was an age of
bitter warfare; every human force was engaged in deadly contention; both
the Church and the Empire were fighting for their lives. The latter
could scarcely keep off the hordes of barbarians which were swarming and