Ancient Legionary Soldiers. (From Titus's Cuhnnu at Komc.)
LEGION
530
LEHABIM
the remainder of his army. Another account, fciving substantially the same version of this event, embellishes it bv what seems to have taken place about the year 28G, although it mentions a pope Marcelliuus as having advised them rather to submit to death than to act against the dictates of their conscience, while this Mar- cellinus only became pope ten years after the above time. This second version appears to be but a rear- rangement of the legend of Eucherius, just as there have been others until the time of the Keformation (by Pe- trus Canisius and Gulielmus Baldesanus). This legend was first treated as untrue in Magdeburg; then Jean Armand Duljourdieu, a French Reformed minister at London, midertook to prove that the number of the le- gion did not by any means amount to GGGG (the figures given in the second version). This led to a protracted controversy. The silence of the leading early ecclesias- tical historians — Eusebius, Lactantius, Sulpicius Seve- rus, and Orosius — over the event some have advanced to prove that it is simply a fable, but their silence does not, in our mind, go far to disprove it. Eusebius says little of the Western martyrs, yet mentions that an of- ficer picked out the Christians in the Roman army be- fore the beginning of the great persecution, and gave them the choice of renouncing their religion or of leav- ing the arm}', adding that many Christians were killed by his orders. The others either do not mention the martyrs of that period, or were by other circumstances prevented from becoming acquainted with much of their history. On the other hand, Ambrose (f 397) says, " Ev- ery city prides itself that has had one martyr; how much more, then, can jNIilan pride herself, who had a whole army of divine soldiers V" Eucherius takes this as an allusion to the Theban legion. Another testi- monj' to the same effect is contained in St.Victricius's work, De laudibus martijrum (390). The third is the discovery of a shield in the bed of the Arve, near Ge- neva, representing the Thebans, with the inscription Larffitds D. M. Valentiniani A Ufjunti. A fourth is found in the life of St. Romanus (520), who mentions, among others, his journey to Agaunum {Custra martijrum), probably between the j^ears 460 and 470. It also cor- roborates Eucherius's figures (6600). The fifth is that of Avitus, archbishop of Vienna, a breastplate originally belonging to whom is yet kept in the convent : this dates from the year 517. A sixth is given in the Vita of Victor of Marseilles. It is most probable, however, that while the legend rests on a foundation of facts, these facts were generalized and amplified, so that a number of Christian soldiers in the Roman army became a le- gion first of 6600, then of G666. Those who deny the truth of the legend take their stand on its similarity with that of a certain Simeon Metaphrastes, according to whom, also, one Jlauritius, under the same emperor, is said to have suffered martyrdom with Fhotinus, Theo- dorus, riiilippus, and sixtj'-seven others, all of the mili- tary order. Rut, aside from the name of Mauritius, all the others have diiferent names, while the details of the event also vary. Among the writers who have con- tested the truthfidness of the legend concerning the Tiieban legion, the most important are Dubourdieu^ Hot- finger, Movie, Burnet, and INIosheim; it has been de- fended by George Ilickes, JM. Felix de Balthasar {De- fcnse de Id Ler/ion Thebk-nne, Lucerne, 17G0, 8vo), Dom Joseph de Lisle (Dj/'cn.se de la Verite du Martyre de la Letjion^ Thebeenne, 1737, Svo). Rossignoli (Historia di San Maiirizio), and 1'. de Rivaz {Erlaircigsements sitr les Marti/res de la IJr/ioii Thebeenne, Paris, 1779, 8vo). See llerzog, Real-Encijklopd.di(', vol. ix, s. v. Mauritius. See IMAUKirifs.
Legion, Thundering (LerpofidnniHitrir). the ti- tle of a lioman legion in the time of the emperor" Marcus Aurelins, which, after the expalsion of the J^Farcomanni and (^uadi from Hungary, while the emperor Aurclius was pursiung tliese (ierman tribes Mith a detachment of his forces (A.D. 174), was shut up in a valley sun-ound- cd on every side by high mountains, and both bv the
heat of the weather and the want of water was suffering more cruelly than from the attacks of the enemy, when suddenly, in this crisis, a shower of rain reanimated the Roman soldiers, while at the same time a storm of hail, attended with thunder, assailed the enemy, who were then easily repulsed and conquered. Both heathen and Christian authors agree in their relation of the principal circumstances of this event. The adherents of each religion saw in it the infiuence of the prayers of their brethren. According to Dio Cassius {Excerpta Xiphilin. I, Ixxi, cap. 8), the miracle was wrought by an Egyp- tian sorcerer in the train of the emperor; according to Capitolinus (^Vila Marc. Aurel. cap. 24), it was the ef- fect of the emperor's prayers ; but according to Tertul- lian {Apologet. cap. 5; Ad Scopul. cap. 4) and Eusebius {Hist, Eccles. lib. v, cap. 5), it was brought about by the prayers of the Christians in his army ; hence the legion to which these Christians belonged was denominated fuliniiiatrix. The letter of the emperor Marcus Aureli- us, commonly printed in Greek in the first Apology of Justin ]\Iartyr, gives the same account with the Cliris- tian writers, but it is spurious. The marble pillar erect- ed at Rome in honor of Marcus Aurelius, and still stand- ing, represents this deliverance of the Roman army — the Roman soldiers catching the falling rain, and a war- rior praying for its descent. It is not, however, to be considered as a memorial of any influence exercised by the Christians in that event. See iMUman, History of Christianity, ii, 145 sq. ; Mosheim, Eccles. Hist. I, bk. i, cent, ii, part i, chap, i, § 9 ; Presseuse, History of Early Christianity, p. 129. (J. II. W.)