The Government And Death Of Jovian.--Election Of Valentinian, Who Associates His Brother Valens, And Makes The Final Division Of The Eastern And Western Empires.--Revolt Of Procopius.--Civil And Ecclesiastical Administration.--Germany.--Britain.--Africa.--The East.-- The Danube.--Death Of Valentinian.--His Two Sons, Gratian And Valentinian II., Succeed To The Western Empire. Chapter XXVI: Progress of The Huns.--Part I. Part II. Part III. Part IV. Part V. Manners Of The Pastoral Nations.--Progress Of The Huns, From China To Europe.--Flight Of The Goths.--They Pass The Danube. --Gothic War.-- Defeat And Death Of Valens.--Gratian Invests Theodosius With The Eastern Empire.--His Character And Success. --Peace And Settlement Of The Goths. Chapter XVI--Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To Constantine.--Part I. The Conduct Of The Roman Government Towards The Christians, From The Reign Of Nero To That Of Constantine. If we seriously consider the purity of the Christian religion, the sanctity of its moral precepts, and the innocent as well as austere lives of the greater number of those who during the first ages embraced the faith of the gospel, we should naturally suppose, that so benevolent a doctrine would have been received with due reverence, even by the unbelieving world; that the learned and the polite, however they may deride the miracles, would have esteemed the virtues, of the new sect; and that the magistrates, instead of persecuting, would have protected an order of men who yielded the most passive obedience to the laws, though they declined the active cares of war and government. If, on the other hand, we recollect the universal toleration of Polytheism, as it was invariably maintained by the faith of the people, the incredulity of philosophers, and the policy of the Roman senate and emperors, we are at a loss to discover what new offence the Christians had committed, what new provocation could exasperate the mild indifference of antiquity, and what new motives could urge the Roman princes, who beheld without concern a thousand forms of religion subsisting in peace under their gentle sway, to inflict a severe punishment on any part of their subjects, who had chosen for themselves a singular but an inoffensive mode of faith and worship.