CHAPTER XXIII

EXACTION OF TRIBUTE IN ANTIOCH. DEMOLITION OF THE STATUES OF THE EMPEROR. EMBASSY HEADED BY FLAVIAN THE ARCHBISHOP

THE continuance of the war having compelled the rulers to impose fresh taxes on the people, a sedition was excited at Antioch in Syria; the statues of the emperor and of the empress were thrown down and dragged through the city, and as is usual on such occasions, the enraged multitude uttered every insulting epithet that passion could suggest. The emperor, determining to avenge this insult by the death of the principal conspirators, the whole city was filled with terror at the announcement of his intended vengeance. The rage of the citizens had subsided, and had given place to repentance; and, as if already subjected to the threatened punishment, they abandoned themselves to grief and lamentation, and sang psalms of supplication to God to turn away the anger of the emperor. They deputed Flavian their bishop on an embassy to Theodosius, but on his arrival, finding that the resentment of the emperor at what had occurred was unabated, he had recourse to the following artifice. He caused some young men to sing the psalms of supplication and contrition at the table of the emperor, which the inhabitants of Antioch had composed in reference to their condition. It is said that the compassion of the emperor was excited; his wrath was subdued, and as his heart yearned over the city, he shed tears on the cup which he held in his hand. It is reported, that on the night before the sedition occurred, a spectre was seen in the form of a woman of prodigious height and terrible aspect, pacing through the city with a whip in her hand similar to that which is used in goading on the beasts brought forward at the public theatres. It might have been inferred that the sedition was excited by the agency of some evil and malicious demon. There is no doubt but that much bloodshed would have ensued, had not the wrath of the emperor been stayed by his respect for the entreaties of a bishop.