[435] Hom. xviii. in Genes., vol. iv. p. 150.
[436] The use of silk seems from its first introduction into the Empire to have been regarded as the ne plus ultra of luxury. It was condemned by Pliny, vi. 20, xi. 21. Elagabalus was the first man as well as the first Emperor who ventured to wear a material hitherto confined to female dress. See Gibbon, vol. vii. c. 40, and his interesting account of the introduction of silk-worms from China to Constantinople by some Persian monks in the reign of Justinian.
[437] In Matt. Hom. xlix., vol. vii. p. 501
[438] In Psalm. xlviii., vol. v. p. 514.
[439] Hom. i. de Lazaro, c. 8.
[440] In Gen. Hom. xli., p. 382.
[441] In Joan. Hom. lxii., p. 340, and Hom. lxix., p. 380.
[442] In Act. Apost. p. 147 et seq.
[443] Hom. xx. in Act. Apost. p. 162. This set of fifty-five Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, of which much use is made in this chapter, was delivered in A.D. 400, between Easter and Whitsuntide, in which interval it was customary to read through the Acts in the Lessons for the day: vide Bingham, vol. iv. These homilies are among the least polished of Chrysostom’s productions. Erasmus, who translated them into Latin, was thoroughly disappointed and out of humour with them, and even doubts their authenticity. In a letter to Tonstal, Bp. of Durham, he declares that he could have written better matter himself even when “ebrius ac stertens.” But most persons familiar with Chrysostom’s productions will agree with Montfaucon and Savile that these homilies could have flowed only from that golden vein, though the ore is not so much refined as usual, and that some passages are in his very best style. None of his homilies, except those on the Statues and St. Matthew, contain more curious revelations of the manners and customs of the age.
[444] In Act. Apost. pp. 74 and 98.