every Melchite, in their eyes, was a stranger, every CHAP. Jacobite a citizen; the alliance of marriage, the offices XLVII. of humanity, were condemned as a deadly sin; the natives renounced all allegiance to the emperor; and his orders, at a distance from Alexandria, were obeyed only under the pressure of a military force. A A generous effort might have redeemed the religion and liberty of Egypt, and her six hundred monasteries might have poured forth their myriads of holy warriors, for whom death should have no terrors, since life had no comfort or delight. But experience has proved the distinction of active and passive courage; the fanatic who endures without a groan the torture of the rack or the stake, would tremble and fly before the face of an armed enemy. The pusillanimous temper of the Egyptians could only hope for a change of masters; the arms of Chosroes depopulated the land, yet under his reign the Jacobites enjoyed a short and precarious respite. The victory of Heraclius renewed and aggravated the persecution, and the patriarch again escaped from Alexandria to the desert. In his flight, Benjamin was encou- Benjamin, raged by a voice, which bad him expect, at the end of the Jacoten years, the aid of a foreign nation, marked like the arch, Egyptians themselves with the ancient rite of circumci- 625-661, sion. The character of these deliverers, and the nature of the deliverance, will be hereafter explained; and I shall step over the interval of eleven centuries to observe the present misery of the Jacobites of Egypt. The populous city of Cairo affords a residence or rather a shelter for their indigent patriarch, and a remnant of ten bishops: forty monasteries have survived the inroads of the Arabs; and the progress of servitude and apostacy has reduced the Coptic nation to the despicable number of twenty-five or thirty thousand families148; a race of illiterate beggars, whose only consolation is derived from the superior wretchedness of the Greek patriarch and his diminutive congregation11. 148 This number is taken from the curious Recherches sur les Egyptiens et les Chinois (tom. ii. p. 192, 193.) and appears more probable than the 600,000 ancient, or 15,000 modern, Copts of Gemelli Carreri. Cyril Lucar, the protestant patriarch of Constantinople, laments that those heretics were ten times more numerous than his orthodox Greeks, ingeniously applying the moans av dexades devolato owool of Homer (Iliad ii. 128.) the most perfect expression of contempt (Fabric. Lux Evangelii, 740). 149 The history of the Copts, their religion, manners, &c. may be found bite patri A. D. CHAP. VI. THE NIANS AND NU- VI. The Coptic patriarch, a rebel to the Cæsars, or a slave to the khalifs, still gloried in the filial obedience of the kings of Nubia and Ethiopia. He repaid their homage by magnifying their greatness; and it was boldly asserted that they could bring into the field an hundred thousand horse, with an equal number of camels150; that their hand could pour out or restrain the waters of the Nile151; and the peace and plenty of Egypt was obtained, even in this world, by the intercession of the patriarch, In exile at Constantinople, Theodosius recommended to his patroness the conversion of the black nations of Nubia152, from the tropic of Cancer to the confines of Abyssinia. Her design was suspected and emulated by the more orthodox emperor. The rival missionaries, a Melchite and a Jacobite, embarked at the same time; but the empress, from a motive of love or fear, was more effectually obeyed; and the Catholic priest was detained by the president of Thebais, while the king of Nubia and his court were hastily baptised in the faith of Dioscorus. The tardy envoy of Justinian was received and dismissed with honour; but when he accused the heresy and treason of the Egyptians, the negro convert was instructed to reply that he would never abandon his brethren the true believers, to the persecuting ministers of the Synod of in the Abbé Renaudot's motley work, neither a translation nor an original: 150 About the year 737. See Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 221, 222. Elmacin, Hist. Saracen. p. 99. 151 Ludolph, Hist. Ethiopic. et Comment. 1. i. c. 8. Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alex. p. 480, &c. This opinion, introduced in:o Egypt and Europe by the artifice of the Copts, the pride of the Abyssinians, the fear and ignorance of the Turks and Arabs, has not even the semblance of truth. The rains of Ethiopia do not, in the increase of the Nile, consult the will of the monarch. If the river approaches at Napata, within three days' journey of the Red Sea (see d'Anville's Maps), a canal that should divert its course would demand, and most probably surpass, the power of the Cæsars. 152 The Abyssinians, who still preserve the features and olive complexion of the Arabs, afford a proof that two thousand years are not sufficient to change the colour of the human race. The Nubians, an African race, are pure negroes, as black as those of Senegal or Congo, with flat noses, thick lips, and woolly hair (Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. v. p. 117. 143, 144. 166. 219. edit. in 12mo, Paris, 1769). The ancients beheld, without much attention, the extraordinary phenomenon which has exercised the philosophers and theologians of modern times. Chalcedon. During several ages, the bishops of Nu- CHAP. bia were named and consecrated by the Jacobite patri- XLVII. arch of Alexandria: as late as the twelfth century, Christianity prevailed; and some rites, some ruins, are still visible in the savage towns of Sennaar and Dongola's. But the Nubians at length executed their threats of returning to the worship of idols; the climate required the indulgence of polygamy, and they have finally preferred the triumph of the Koran to the abasement of the Cross. A metaphysical religion may ap. pear too refined for the capacity of the negro race : yet a black or a parrot might be taught to repeat the words of the Chalcedonian or Monophysite creed. Abyssinia, Christianity was more deeply rooted in the Abyssian Church of empire; and, although the correspondence has been A. D. 530, sometimes interrupted above seventy or an hundred &c. years, the mother-church of Alexandria retains her colony in a state of perpetual pupilage. Seven bishops once composed the Ethiopic synod: had their number amounted to ten, they might have elected an independent primate, and one of their kings was ambitious of promoting his brother to the ecclesiastical throne. But the event was foreseen, the increase was denied; the episcopal office has been gradually confined to the abuna's, the head and author of the Abyssinian priesthood; the patriarch supplies each vacancy with an Egyptian monk; and the character of a stranger appears more venerable in the eyes of the people, less dangerous in those of the monarch. In the sixth century, when the schism of Egypt was confirmed, the rival chiefs, with their patrons, Justinian and Theodora, strove to outstrip each other in the conquest of a remote and independent province. The industry of the empress was again victorious, and the pious Theodora 153 Asseman. Bibliot. Orient. tom. i. p. 329. 154 The Christianity of the Nubians, A. D. 1153, is attested by the sheriff al Edrisi, falsely described under the name of the Nubian geographer (p. 18.) who represents them as a nation of Jacobites. The rays of the historical light that twinkle in the history of Renaudot (p. 178. 220-224. 281286. 405 434. 451. 464.) are all previous to this æra. See the modern state in the Lettres Edifiantes (Recueil, iv.) and Busching (tom. ix. p. 152-159, par Berenger.) * 155 The abuna is improperly dignified by the Latins with the title of pa triarch. The Abyssinians acknowledge only the four patriarchs, and their chief is no more than a metropolitan or national primate (Ludolph. Hist. Ethiopic. et Comment. l. iii. c. 7.) The seven bishops of Renaudot (p. 511.) who existed A D. 1131, are unknown to the historian. 1 XLVII. tuguese in 1525 2550, &c. CHAP. has established in that sequestered church the faith and discipline of the Jacobites. Encompassed on all sides by the enemies of their religion, the Ethiopians slept near a thousand years, forgetful of the world, by whom The Por they were forgotten. They were awakened by the PortuAbyssinia, guese, who, turning the southern promontory of Africa, A. D. appeared in India and the Red Sea, as if they had descended through the air from a distant planet. In the first moments of their interview, the subjects of Rome and Alexandria observed the resemblance, rather than the difference, of their faith; and each nation expected the most important benefits from an alliance with their Christian brethren. In their lonely situation, the Ethiopians had almost relapsed into the savage life. Their vessels, which had traded to Ceylon, scarcely presumed to navigate the rivers of Africa; the ruins of Axume were deserted, the nation was scattered in villages, and the emperor, a pompous name, was content, both in peace and war, with the immoveable residence of a camp. Conscious of their own indigence, the Abyssinians had formed the rational project of importing the arts and ingenuity of Europe'; and their ambassadors at Rome and Lisbon were instructed to solicit a colony of smiths, carpenters, tilers, masons, printers, surgeons, and physicians, for the use of their country. But the public danger soon called for the instant and effectual aid of arms and soldiers to defend an unwarlike people from the Barbarians who ravaged the inland country, and the Turks and Arabs who advanced from the sea-coast in more formidable array. Ethiopia was saved by four hundred and fifty Portuguese, who displayed in the field the native valour of Europeans, and the artificial powers of the musket and cannon. In a moment of terror, the emperor had promised to reconcile himself and his subjects to the Catholic faith; a Latin pa 156 I know not why Assemannus (Bibliot. Orient. tom. ii. p. 384 ) should call in question these probable missions of Theodora into Nubia and Ethiopia. The slight notices of Abyssinia till the year 1500 are supplied by Renaudot (p. 336-341. 381, 382. 405. 443, &c. 452. 456. 463. 475, 480. 511. 525. 559-564.) from the Coptic writers. The mind of Ludolphus was a perfect blank. 157 Ludolph. Hist. Æthiop. 1. iv. c. 5. The most necessary arts are now exercised by the Jews, and the foreign trade is in the hands of the Armenians. What Gregory principally admired and envied was the industry of Europe-artes et opificia. XLVII. triarch represented the supremacy of the pope's; the CHAP. empire, enlarged in a tenfold proportion, was supposed to contain more gold than the mines of America; and the wildest hopes of avarice and zeal were built on the willing submission of the Christians of Africa. suits. 1557. But the vows which pain had extorted, were forsworn Mission of on the return of health. The Abyssinians still adhered the Je with unshaken constancy to the Monophysite faith; A. D. their languid belief was inflamed by the exercise of dispute; they branded the Latins with the names of Ariaus and Nestorians, and imputed the adoration of four gods, to those who separated the two natures of Christ. Fremona, a place of worship, or rather of exile, was assigned to the Jesuit missionaries. Their skill in the liberal and mechanic arts, their theological learning, and the decency of their manners, inspired a barren esteem; but they were not endowed with the gift of miracles 159, and they vainly solicited a reinforcement of European troops. The patience and dexterity of forty years, at length obtained a more favourable audience, and two emperors of Abyssinia were persuaded that Rome could ensure the temporal and everlasting happiness of her votaries. The first of these royal converts lost his crown and his life; and the rebel army was sanctified by the abuna, who hurled an anathema at the apostate, and absolved his subjects from their oath of fidelity. The fate of Zadenghel was revenged by the courage and fortune of Susneus, who ascended the throne under the name of Segued, and more vigorously prosecuted the pious enterprise of his kinsman. After the amusement of some unequal combats between the Jesuits and his illiterate priests, the emperor declared himself a proselyte to the synod of Chalcedon, presuming that his clergy and people would embrace without delay the religion of their prince. The liberty of choice was succeeded by a law, 158 John Burmudez, whose relation, printed at Lisbon, 1569, was translated into English by Purchas (Pilgrims, 1. vii. c. 7. p. 1149, &c.), and from thence into French by La Croze (Christianisme d'Ethiopie, p. 92-265). The piece is curious; but the author may be suspected of deceiving Abyssinia, Rome, and Portugal. His title to the rank of patriarch is dark and doubtful (Ludolph. Comment. No. 101. p. 473). 159 Religio Romana... nec precibus patrum nec miraculis ab ipsis editis suffulciebatur, is the uncontradicted assurance of the devout emperor Susneus to his patriarch Mendez (Ludolph. Comment. No. 126. p. 529); and such assurances should be preciously kept as an antidote against any marvellous legends. |