The Conduct Of The Roman Government Towards The Christians,
From The Reign Of Nero To That Of Constantine. 1111
1111 (return)
[ The sixteenth chapter I cannot help considering as a
very ingenious and specious, but very disgraceful extenuation of the
cruelties perpetrated by the Roman magistrates against the Christians.
It is written in the most contemptibly factious spirit of prejudice
against the sufferers; it is unworthy of a philosopher and of humanity.
Let the narrative of Cyprian's death be examined. He had to relate
the murder of an innocent man of advanced age, and in a station deemed
venerable by a considerable body of the provincials of Africa, put to
death because he refused to sacrifice to Jupiter. Instead of pointing
the indignation of posterity against such an atrocious act of tyranny,
he dwells, with visible art, on the small circumstances of decorum and
politeness which attended this murder, and which he relates with as much
parade as if they were the most important particulars of the event.
Dr. Robertson has been the subject of much blame for his real or
supposed lenity towards the Spanish murderers and tyrants in America.
That the sixteenth chapter of Mr. G. did not excite the same or greater
disapprobation, is a proof of the unphilosophical and indeed fanatical
animosity against Christianity, which was so prevalent during the latter
part of the eighteenth century.—Mackintosh: see Life, i. p. 244, 245.]
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.
The religious policy of the ancient world seems to have assumed a more stern and intolerant character, to oppose the progress of Christianity. About fourscore years after the death of Christ, his innocent disciples were punished with death by the sentence of a proconsul of the most amiable and philosophic character, and according to the laws of an emperor distinguished by the wisdom and justice of his general administration. The apologies which were repeatedly addressed to the successors of Trajan are filled with the most pathetic complaints, that the Christians, who obeyed the dictates, and solicited the liberty, of conscience, were alone, among all the subjects of the Roman empire, excluded from the common benefits of their auspicious government. The deaths of a few eminent martyrs have been recorded with care; and from the time that Christianity was invested with the supreme power, the governors of the church have been no less diligently employed in displaying the cruelty, than in imitating the conduct, of their Pagan adversaries. To separate (if it be possible) a few authentic as well as interesting facts from an undigested mass of fiction and error, and to relate, in a clear and rational manner, the causes, the extent, the duration, and the most important circumstances of the persecutions to which the first Christians were exposed, is the design of the present chapter. 1222
1222 (return)
[ The history of the first age of Christianity is only
found in the Acts of the Apostles, and in order to speak of the first
persecutions experienced by the Christians, that book should naturally
have been consulted; those persecutions, then limited to individuals
and to a narrow sphere, interested only the persecuted, and have been
related by them alone. Gibbon making the persecutions ascend no higher
than Nero, has entirely omitted those which preceded this epoch, and of
which St. Luke has preserved the memory. The only way to justify this
omission was, to attack the authenticity of the Acts of the Apostles;
for, if authentic, they must necessarily be consulted and quoted. Now,
antiquity has left very few works of which the authenticity is so well
established as that of the Acts of the Apostles. (See Lardner's Cred. of
Gospel Hist. part iii.) It is therefore, without sufficient reason, that
Gibbon has maintained silence concerning the narrative of St. Luke, and
this omission is not without importance.—G.]
The sectaries of a persecuted religion, depressed by fear animated with resentment, and perhaps heated by enthusiasm, are seldom in a proper temper of mind calmly to investigate, or candidly to appreciate, the motives of their enemies, which often escape the impartial and discerning view even of those who are placed at a secure distance from the flames of persecution. A reason has been assigned for the conduct of the emperors towards the primitive Christians, which may appear the more specious and probable as it is drawn from the acknowledged genius of Polytheism. It has already been observed, that the religious concord of the world was principally supported by the implicit assent and reverence which the nations of antiquity expressed for their respective traditions and ceremonies. It might therefore be expected, that they would unite with indignation against any sect or people which should separate itself from the communion of mankind, and claiming the exclusive possession of divine knowledge, should disdain every form of worship, except its own, as impious and idolatrous. The rights of toleration were held by mutual indulgence: they were justly forfeited by a refusal of the accustomed tribute. As the payment of this tribute was inflexibly refused by the Jews, and by them alone, the consideration of the treatment which they experienced from the Roman magistrates, will serve to explain how far these speculations are justified by facts, and will lead us to discover the true causes of the persecution of Christianity.
Without repeating what has already been mentioned of the reverence of the Roman princes and governors for the temple of Jerusalem, we shall only observe, that the destruction of the temple and city was accompanied and followed by every circumstance that could exasperate the minds of the conquerors, and authorize religious persecution by the most specious arguments of political justice and the public safety. From the reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius, the Jews discovered a fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome, which repeatedly broke out in the most furious massacres and insurrections. Humanity is shocked at the recital of the horrid cruelties which they committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting natives; 1 and we are tempted to applaud the severe retaliation which was exercised by the arms of the legions against a race of fanatics, whose dire and credulous superstition seemed to render them the implacable enemies not only of the Roman government, but of human kind. 2 The enthusiasm of the Jews was supported by the opinion, that it was unlawful for them to pay taxes to an idolatrous master; and by the flattering promise which they derived from their ancient oracles, that a conquering Messiah would soon arise, destined to break their fetters, and to invest the favorites of heaven with the empire of the earth. It was by announcing himself as their long-expected deliverer, and by calling on all the descendants of Abraham to assert the hope of Israel, that the famous Barchochebas collected a formidable army, with which he resisted during two years the power of the emperor Hadrian. 3
1 (return)
[ In Cyrene, they massacred 220,000 Greeks; in Cyprus,
240,000; in Egypt, a very great multitude. Many of these unhappy victims
were sawn asunder, according to a precedent to which David had given the
sanction of his example. The victorious Jews devoured the flesh, licked
up the blood, and twisted the entrails like a girdle round their bodies.
See Dion Cassius, l. lxviii. p. 1145. * Note: Some commentators, among
them Reimar, in his notes on Dion Cassius think that the hatred of
the Romans against the Jews has led the historian to exaggerate the
cruelties committed by the latter. Don. Cass. lxviii. p. 1146.—G.]
2 (return)
[ Without repeating the well-known narratives of Josephus, we
may learn from Dion, (l. lxix. p. 1162,) that in Hadrian's war 580,000
Jews were cut off by the sword, besides an infinite number which
perished by famine, by disease, and by fire.]
3 (return)
[ For the sect of the Zealots, see Basnage, Histoire des
Juifs, l. i. c. 17; for the characters of the Messiah, according to the
Rabbis, l. v. c. 11, 12, 13; for the actions of Barchochebas, l. vii. c.
12. (Hist. of Jews iii. 115, &c.)—M.]
Notwithstanding these repeated provocations, the resentment of the Roman princes expired after the victory; nor were their apprehensions continued beyond the period of war and danger. By the general indulgence of polytheism, and by the mild temper of Antoninus Pius, the Jews were restored to their ancient privileges, and once more obtained the permission of circumcising their children, with the easy restraint, that they should never confer on any foreign proselyte that distinguishing mark of the Hebrew race. 4 The numerous remains of that people, though they were still excluded from the precincts of Jerusalem, were permitted to form and to maintain considerable establishments both in Italy and in the provinces, to acquire the freedom of Rome, to enjoy municipal honors, and to obtain at the same time an exemption from the burdensome and expensive offices of society. The moderation or the contempt of the Romans gave a legal sanction to the form of ecclesiastical police which was instituted by the vanquished sect. The patriarch, who had fixed his residence at Tiberias, was empowered to appoint his subordinate ministers and apostles, to exercise a domestic jurisdiction, and to receive from his dispersed brethren an annual contribution. 5 New synagogues were frequently erected in the principal cities of the empire; and the sabbaths, the fasts, and the festivals, which were either commanded by the Mosaic law, or enjoined by the traditions of the Rabbis, were celebrated in the most solemn and public manner. 6 Such gentle treatment insensibly assuaged the stern temper of the Jews. Awakened from their dream of prophecy and conquest, they assumed the behavior of peaceable and industrious subjects. Their irreconcilable hatred of mankind, instead of flaming out in acts of blood and violence, evaporated in less dangerous gratifications. They embraced every opportunity of overreaching the idolaters in trade; and they pronounced secret and ambiguous imprecations against the haughty kingdom of Edom. 7
4 (return)
[ It is to Modestinus, a Roman lawyer (l. vi. regular.) that
we are indebted for a distinct knowledge of the Edict of Antoninus. See
Casaubon ad Hist. August. p. 27.]
5 (return)
[ See Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l. iii. c. 2, 3. The
office of Patriarch was suppressed by Theodosius the younger.]
6 (return)
[ We need only mention the Purim, or deliverance of the
Jews from he rage of Haman, which, till the reign of Theodosius, was
celebrated with insolent triumph and riotous intemperance. Basnage,
Hist. des Juifs, l. vi. c. 17, l. viii. c. 6.]
7 (return)
[ According to the false Josephus, Tsepho, the grandson of
Esau, conducted into Italy the army of Eneas, king of Carthage. Another
colony of Idumaeans, flying from the sword of David, took refuge in the
dominions of Romulus. For these, or for other reasons of equal weight,
the name of Edom was applied by the Jews to the Roman empire. * Note:
The false Josephus is a romancer of very modern date, though some of
these legends are probably more ancient. It may be worth considering
whether many of the stories in the Talmud are not history in a
figurative disguise, adopted from prudence. The Jews might dare to say
many things of Rome, under the significant appellation of Edom, which
they feared to utter publicly. Later and more ignorant ages took
literally, and perhaps embellished, what was intelligible among the
generation to which it was addressed. Hist. of Jews, iii. 131. ——The
false Josephus has the inauguration of the emperor, with the seven
electors and apparently the pope assisting at the coronation! Pref. page
xxvi.—M.]
Since the Jews, who rejected with abhorrence the deities adored by their sovereign and by their fellow-subjects, enjoyed, however, the free exercise of their unsocial religion, there must have existed some other cause, which exposed the disciples of Christ to those severities from which the posterity of Abraham was exempt. The difference between them is simple and obvious; but, according to the sentiments of antiquity, it was of the highest importance. The Jews were a nation; the Christians were a sect: and if it was natural for every community to respect the sacred institutions of their neighbors, it was incumbent on them to persevere in those of their ancestors. The voice of oracles, the precepts of philosophers, and the authority of the laws, unanimously enforced this national obligation. By their lofty claim of superior sanctity the Jews might provoke the Polytheists to consider them as an odious and impure race. By disdaining the intercourse of other nations, they might deserve their contempt. The laws of Moses might be for the most part frivolous or absurd; yet, since they had been received during many ages by a large society, his followers were justified by the example of mankind; and it was universally acknowledged, that they had a right to practise what it would have been criminal in them to neglect. But this principle, which protected the Jewish synagogue, afforded not any favor or security to the primitive church. By embracing the faith of the gospel, the Christians incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had reverenced as sacred. Nor was this apostasy (if we may use the expression) merely of a partial or local kind; since the pious deserter who withdrew himself from the temples of Egypt or Syria, would equally disdain to seek an asylum in those of Athens or Carthage. Every Christian rejected with contempt the superstitions of his family, his city, and his province. The whole body of Christians unanimously refused to hold any communion with the gods of Rome, of the empire, and of mankind. It was in vain that the oppressed believer asserted the inalienable rights of conscience and private judgment. Though his situation might excite the pity, his arguments could never reach the understanding, either of the philosophic or of the believing part of the Pagan world. To their apprehensions, it was no less a matter of surprise, that any individuals should entertain scruples against complying with the established mode of worship, than if they had conceived a sudden abhorrence to the manners, the dress, 8111 or the language of their native country. 8
8 (return)
[ From the arguments of Celsus, as they are represented and
refuted by Origen, (l. v. p. 247—259,) we may clearly discover the
distinction that was made between the Jewish people and the Christian
sect. See, in the Dialogue of Minucius Felix, (c. 5, 6,) a fair and
not inelegant description of the popular sentiments, with regard to the
desertion of the established worship.]
8111 (return)
[ In all this there is doubtless much truth; yet does not
the more important difference lie on the surface? The Christians
made many converts the Jews but few. Had the Jewish been equally
a proselyting religion would it not have encountered as violent
persecution?—M.]
The surprise of the Pagans was soon succeeded by resentment; and the most pious of men were exposed to the unjust but dangerous imputation of impiety. Malice and prejudice concurred in representing the Christians as a society of atheists, who, by the most daring attack on the religious constitution of the empire, had merited the severest animadversion of the civil magistrate. They had separated themselves (they gloried in the confession) from every mode of superstition which was received in any part of the globe by the various temper of polytheism: but it was not altogether so evident what deity, or what form of worship, they had substituted to the gods and temples of antiquity. The pure and sublime idea which they entertained of the Supreme Being escaped the gross conception of the Pagan multitude, who were at a loss to discover a spiritual and solitary God, that was neither represented under any corporeal figure or visible symbol, nor was adored with the accustomed pomp of libations and festivals, of altars and sacrifices. 9 The sages of Greece and Rome, who had elevated their minds to the contemplation of the existence and attributes of the First Cause, were induced by reason or by vanity to reserve for themselves and their chosen disciples the privilege of this philosophical devotion. 10 They were far from admitting the prejudices of mankind as the standard of truth, but they considered them as flowing from the original disposition of human nature; and they supposed that any popular mode of faith and worship which presumed to disclaim the assistance of the senses, would, in proportion as it receded from superstition, find itself incapable of restraining the wanderings of the fancy, and the visions of fanaticism. The careless glance which men of wit and learning condescended to cast on the Christian revelation, served only to confirm their hasty opinion, and to persuade them that the principle, which they might have revered, of the Divine Unity, was defaced by the wild enthusiasm, and annihilated by the airy speculations, of the new sectaries. The author of a celebrated dialogue, which has been attributed to Lucian, whilst he affects to treat the mysterious subject of the Trinity in a style of ridicule and contempt, betrays his own ignorance of the weakness of human reason, and of the inscrutable nature of the divine perfections. 11
9 (return)
[ Cur nullas aras habent? templa nulla? nulla nota
simulacra!—Unde autem, vel quis ille, aut ubi, Deus unicus, solitarius,
desti tutus? Minucius Felix, c. 10. The Pagan interlocutor goes on to
make a distinction in favor of the Jews, who had once a temple, altars,
victims, &c.]
10 (return)
[ It is difficult (says Plato) to attain, and dangerous
to publish, the knowledge of the true God. See the Theologie des
Philosophes, in the Abbe d'Olivet's French translation of Tully de
Natura Deorum, tom. i. p. 275.]
11 (return)
[ The author of the Philopatris perpetually treats the
Christians as a company of dreaming enthusiasts, &c.; and in one place
he manifestly alludes to the vision in which St. Paul was transported
to the third heaven. In another place, Triephon, who personates a
Christian, after deriding the gods of Paganism, proposes a mysterious
oath.]
It might appear less surprising, that the founder of Christianity should not only be revered by his disciples as a sage and a prophet, but that he should be adored as a God. The Polytheists were disposed to adopt every article of faith, which seemed to offer any resemblance, however distant or imperfect, with the popular mythology; and the legends of Bacchus, of Hercules, and of Aesculapius, had, in some measure, prepared their imagination for the appearance of the Son of God under a human form. 12 But they were astonished that the Christians should abandon the temples of those ancient heroes, who, in the infancy of the world, had invented arts, instituted laws, and vanquished the tyrants or monsters who infested the earth, in order to choose for the exclusive object of their religious worship an obscure teacher, who, in a recent age, and among a barbarous people, had fallen a sacrifice either to the malice of his own countrymen, or to the jealousy of the Roman government. The Pagan multitude, reserving their gratitude for temporal benefits alone, rejected the inestimable present of life and immortality, which was offered to mankind by Jesus of Nazareth. His mild constancy in the midst of cruel and voluntary sufferings, his universal benevolence, and the sublime simplicity of his actions and character, were insufficient, in the opinion of those carnal men, to compensate for the want of fame, of empire, and of success; and whilst they refused to acknowledge his stupendous triumph over the powers of darkness and of the grave, they misrepresented, or they insulted, the equivocal birth, wandering life, and ignominious death, of the divine Author of Christianity. 13
12 (return)
[ According to Justin Martyr, (Apolog. Major, c. 70-85,)
the daemon who had gained some imperfect knowledge of the prophecies,
purposely contrived this resemblance, which might deter, though by
different means, both the people and the philosophers from embracing the
faith of Christ.]
13 (return)
[ In the first and second books of Origen, Celsus treats the
birth and character of our Savior with the most impious contempt. The
orator Libanius praises Porphyry and Julian for confuting the folly of
a sect., which styles a dead man of Palestine, God, and the Son of God.
Socrates, Hist. Ecclesiast. iii. 23.]
The personal guilt which every Christian had contracted, in thus preferring his private sentiment to the national religion, was aggravated in a very high degree by the number and union of the criminals. It is well known, and has been already observed, that Roman policy viewed with the utmost jealousy and distrust any association among its subjects; and that the privileges of private corporations, though formed for the most harmless or beneficial purposes, were bestowed with a very sparing hand. 14 The religious assemblies of the Christians who had separated themselves from the public worship, appeared of a much less innocent nature; they were illegal in their principle, and in their consequences might become dangerous; nor were the emperors conscious that they violated the laws of justice, when, for the peace of society, they prohibited those secret and sometimes nocturnal meetings. 15 The pious disobedience of the Christians made their conduct, or perhaps their designs, appear in a much more serious and criminal light; and the Roman princes, who might perhaps have suffered themselves to be disarmed by a ready submission, deeming their honor concerned in the execution of their commands, sometimes attempted, by rigorous punishments, to subdue this independent spirit, which boldly acknowledged an authority superior to that of the magistrate. The extent and duration of this spiritual conspiracy seemed to render it everyday more deserving of his animadversion. We have already seen that the active and successful zeal of the Christians had insensibly diffused them through every province and almost every city of the empire. The new converts seemed to renounce their family and country, that they might connect themselves in an indissoluble band of union with a peculiar society, which every where assumed a different character from the rest of mankind. Their gloomy and austere aspect, their abhorrence of the common business and pleasures of life, and their frequent predictions of impending calamities, 16 inspired the Pagans with the apprehension of some danger, which would arise from the new sect, the more alarming as it was the more obscure. "Whatever," says Pliny, "may be the principle of their conduct, their inflexible obstinacy appeared deserving of punishment." 17
14 (return)
[ The emperor Trajan refused to incorporate a company of
150 firemen, for the use of the city of Nicomedia. He disliked all
associations. See Plin. Epist. x. 42, 43.]
15 (return)
[ The proconsul Pliny had published a general edict against
unlawful meetings. The prudence of the Christians suspended their
Agapae; but it was impossible for them to omit the exercise of public
worship.]
16 (return)
[ As the prophecies of the Antichrist, approaching
conflagration, &c., provoked those Pagans whom they did not convert,
they were mentioned with caution and reserve; and the Montanists were
censured for disclosing too freely the dangerous secret. See Mosheim,
413.]
17 (return)
[ Neque enim dubitabam, quodcunque esset quod faterentur,
(such are the words of Pliny,) pervicacian certe et inflexibilem
obstinationem lebere puniri.]
The precautions with which the disciples of Christ performed the offices of religion were at first dictated by fear and necessity; but they were continued from choice. By imitating the awful secrecy which reigned in the Eleusinian mysteries, the Christians had flattered themselves that they should render their sacred institutions more respectable in the eyes of the Pagan world. 18 But the event, as it often happens to the operations of subtile policy, deceived their wishes and their expectations. It was concluded, that they only concealed what they would have blushed to disclose. Their mistaken prudence afforded an opportunity for malice to invent, and for suspicious credulity to believe, the horrid tales which described the Christians as the most wicked of human kind, who practised in their dark recesses every abomination that a depraved fancy could suggest, and who solicited the favor of their unknown God by the sacrifice of every moral virtue. There were many who pretended to confess or to relate the ceremonies of this abhorred society. It was asserted, "that a new-born infant, entirely covered over with flour, was presented, like some mystic symbol of initiation, to the knife of the proselyte, who unknowingly inflicted many a secret and mortal wound on the innocent victim of his error; that as soon as the cruel deed was perpetrated, the sectaries drank up the blood, greedily tore asunder the quivering members, and pledged themselves to eternal secrecy, by a mutual consciousness of guilt. It was as confidently affirmed, that this inhuman sacrifice was succeeded by a suitable entertainment, in which intemperance served as a provocative to brutal lust; till, at the appointed moment, the lights were suddenly extinguished, shame was banished, nature was forgotten; and, as accident might direct, the darkness of the night was polluted by the incestuous commerce of sisters and brothers, of sons and of mothers." 19
18 (return)
[ See Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p. 101, and
Spanheim, Remarques sur les Caesars de Julien, p. 468, &c.]
19 (return)
[ See Justin Martyr, Apolog. i. 35, ii. 14. Athenagoras, in
Legation, c. 27. Tertullian, Apolog. c. 7, 8, 9. Minucius Felix, c. 9,
10, 80, 31. The last of these writers relates the accusation in the most
elegant and circumstantial manner. The answer of Tertullian is the
boldest and most vigorous.]
But the perusal of the ancient apologies was sufficient to remove even the slightest suspicion from the mind of a candid adversary. The Christians, with the intrepid security of innocence, appeal from the voice of rumor to the equity of the magistrates. They acknowledge, that if any proof can be produced of the crimes which calumny has imputed to them, they are worthy of the most severe punishment. They provoke the punishment, and they challenge the proof. At the same time they urge, with equal truth and propriety, that the charge is not less devoid of probability, than it is destitute of evidence; they ask, whether any one can seriously believe that the pure and holy precepts of the gospel, which so frequently restrain the use of the most lawful enjoyments, should inculcate the practice of the most abominable crimes; that a large society should resolve to dishonor itself in the eyes of its own members; and that a great number of persons of either sex, and every age and character, insensible to the fear of death or infamy, should consent to violate those principles which nature and education had imprinted most deeply in their minds. 20 Nothing, it should seem, could weaken the force or destroy the effect of so unanswerable a justification, unless it were the injudicious conduct of the apologists themselves, who betrayed the common cause of religion, to gratify their devout hatred to the domestic enemies of the church. It was sometimes faintly insinuated, and sometimes boldly asserted, that the same bloody sacrifices, and the same incestuous festivals, which were so falsely ascribed to the orthodox believers, were in reality celebrated by the Marcionites, by the Carpocratians, and by several other sects of the Gnostics, who, notwithstanding they might deviate into the paths of heresy, were still actuated by the sentiments of men, and still governed by the precepts of Christianity. 21 Accusations of a similar kind were retorted upon the church by the schismatics who had departed from its communion, 22 and it was confessed on all sides, that the most scandalous licentiousness of manners prevailed among great numbers of those who affected the name of Christians. A Pagan magistrate, who possessed neither leisure nor abilities to discern the almost imperceptible line which divides the orthodox faith from heretical pravity, might easily have imagined that their mutual animosity had extorted the discovery of their common guilt. It was fortunate for the repose, or at least for the reputation, of the first Christians, that the magistrates sometimes proceeded with more temper and moderation than is usually consistent with religious zeal, and that they reported, as the impartial result of their judicial inquiry, that the sectaries, who had deserted the established worship, appeared to them sincere in their professions, and blameless in their manners; however they might incur, by their absurd and excessive superstition, the censure of the laws. 23
20 (return)
[ In the persecution of Lyons, some Gentile slaves were
compelled, by the fear of tortures, to accuse their Christian master.
The church of Lyons, writing to their brethren of Asia, treat the horrid
charge with proper indignation and contempt. Euseb. Hist. Eccles. v. i.]
21 (return)
[ See Justin Martyr, Apolog. i. 35. Irenaeus adv. Haeres. i.
24. Clemens. Alexandrin. Stromat. l. iii. p. 438. Euseb. iv. 8. It would
be tedious and disgusting to relate all that the succeeding writers have
imagined, all that Epiphanius has received, and all that Tillemont
has copied. M. de Beausobre (Hist. du Manicheisme, l. ix. c. 8, 9) has
exposed, with great spirit, the disingenuous arts of Augustin and Pope
Leo I.]
22 (return)
[ When Tertullian became a Montanist, he aspersed the morals
of the church which he had so resolutely defended. "Sed majoris est
Agape, quia per hanc adolescentes tui cum sororibus dormiunt, appendices
scilicet gulae lascivia et luxuria." De Jejuniis c. 17. The 85th canon
of the council of Illiberis provides against the scandals which too
often polluted the vigils of the church, and disgraced the Christian
name in the eyes of unbelievers.]
23 (return)
[ Tertullian (Apolog. c. 2) expatiates on the fair and
honorable testimony of Pliny, with much reason and some declamation.]
History, which undertakes to record the transactions of the past, for the instruction of future ages, would ill deserve that honorable office, if she condescended to plead the cause of tyrants, or to justify the maxims of persecution. It must, however, be acknowledged, that the conduct of the emperors who appeared the least favorable to the primitive church, is by no means so criminal as that of modern sovereigns, who have employed the arm of violence and terror against the religious opinions of any part of their subjects. From their reflections, or even from their own feelings, a Charles V. or a Lewis XIV. might have acquired a just knowledge of the rights of conscience, of the obligation of faith, and of the innocence of error. But the princes and magistrates of ancient Rome were strangers to those principles which inspired and authorized the inflexible obstinacy of the Christians in the cause of truth, nor could they themselves discover in their own breasts any motive which would have prompted them to refuse a legal, and as it were a natural, submission to the sacred institutions of their country. The same reason which contributes to alleviate the guilt, must have tended to abate the vigor, of their persecutions. As they were actuated, not by the furious zeal of bigots, but by the temperate policy of legislators, contempt must often have relaxed, and humanity must frequently have suspended, the execution of those laws which they enacted against the humble and obscure followers of Christ. From the general view of their character and motives we might naturally conclude: I. That a considerable time elapsed before they considered the new sectaries as an object deserving of the attention of government. II. That in the conviction of any of their subjects who were accused of so very singular a crime, they proceeded with caution and reluctance. III. That they were moderate in the use of punishments; and, IV. That the afflicted church enjoyed many intervals of peace and tranquility. Notwithstanding the careless indifference which the most copious and the most minute of the Pagan writers have shown to the affairs of the Christians, 24 it may still be in our power to confirm each of these probable suppositions, by the evidence of authentic facts.
24 (return)
[ In the various compilation of the Augustan History, (a
part of which was composed under the reign of Constantine,) there are
not six lines which relate to the Christians; nor has the diligence of
Xiphilin discovered their name in the large history of Dion Cassius.
* Note: The greater part of the Augustan History is dedicated to
Diocletian. This may account for the silence of its authors concerning
Christianity. The notices that occur are almost all in the lives
composed under the reign of Constantine. It may fairly be concluded,
from the language which he had into the mouth of Maecenas, that Dion was
an enemy to all innovations in religion. (See Gibbon, infra, note 105.)
In fact, when the silence of Pagan historians is noticed, it should be
remembered how meagre and mutilated are all the extant histories of the
period—M.]
1. By the wise dispensation of Providence, a mysterious veil was cast over the infancy of the church, which, till the faith of the Christians was matured, and their numbers were multiplied, served to protect them not only from the malice but even from the knowledge of the Pagan world. The slow and gradual abolition of the Mosaic ceremonies afforded a safe and innocent disguise to the more early proselytes of the gospel. As they were, for the greater part, of the race of Abraham, they were distinguished by the peculiar mark of circumcision, offered up their devotions in the Temple of Jerusalem till its final destruction, and received both the Law and the Prophets as the genuine inspirations of the Deity. The Gentile converts, who by a spiritual adoption had been associated to the hope of Israel, were likewise confounded under the garb and appearance of Jews, 25 and as the Polytheists paid less regard to articles of faith than to the external worship, the new sect, which carefully concealed, or faintly announced, its future greatness and ambition, was permitted to shelter itself under the general toleration which was granted to an ancient and celebrated people in the Roman empire. It was not long, perhaps, before the Jews themselves, animated with a fiercer zeal and a more jealous faith, perceived the gradual separation of their Nazarene brethren from the doctrine of the synagogue; and they would gladly have extinguished the dangerous heresy in the blood of its adherents. But the decrees of Heaven had already disarmed their malice; and though they might sometimes exert the licentious privilege of sedition, they no longer possessed the administration of criminal justice; nor did they find it easy to infuse into the calm breast of a Roman magistrate the rancor of their own zeal and prejudice. The provincial governors declared themselves ready to listen to any accusation that might affect the public safety; but as soon as they were informed that it was a question not of facts but of words, a dispute relating only to the interpretation of the Jewish laws and prophecies, they deemed it unworthy of the majesty of Rome seriously to discuss the obscure differences which might arise among a barbarous and superstitious people. The innocence of the first Christians was protected by ignorance and contempt; and the tribunal of the Pagan magistrate often proved their most assured refuge against the fury of the synagogue. 26 If indeed we were disposed to adopt the traditions of a too credulous antiquity, we might relate the distant peregrinations, the wonderful achievements, and the various deaths of the twelve apostles: but a more accurate inquiry will induce us to doubt, whether any of those persons who had been witnesses to the miracles of Christ were permitted, beyond the limits of Palestine, to seal with their blood the truth of their testimony. 27 From the ordinary term of human life, it may very naturally be presumed that most of them were deceased before the discontent of the Jews broke out into that furious war, which was terminated only by the ruin of Jerusalem. During a long period, from the death of Christ to that memorable rebellion, we cannot discover any traces of Roman intolerance, unless they are to be found in the sudden, the transient, but the cruel persecution, which was exercised by Nero against the Christians of the capital, thirty-five years after the former, and only two years before the latter, of those great events. The character of the philosophic historian, to whom we are principally indebted for the knowledge of this singular transaction, would alone be sufficient to recommend it to our most attentive consideration.
25 (return)
[ An obscure passage of Suetonius (in Claud. c. 25) may
seem to offer a proof how strangely the Jews and Christians of Rome were
confounded with each other.]
26 (return)
[ See, in the xviiith and xxvth chapters of the Acts of the
Apostles, the behavior of Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, and of Festus,
procurator of Judea.]
27 (return)
[ In the time of Tertullian and Clemens of Alexandria, the
glory of martyrdom was confined to St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. James.
It was gradually bestowed on the rest of the apostles, by the more
recent Greeks, who prudently selected for the theatre of their preaching
and sufferings some remote country beyond the limits of the Roman
empire. See Mosheim, p. 81; and Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiastiques,
tom. i. part iii.]
In the tenth year of the reign of Nero, the capital of the empire was afflicted by a fire which raged beyond the memory or example of former ages. 28 The monuments of Grecian art and of Roman virtue, the trophies of the Punic and Gallic wars, the most holy temples, and the most splendid palaces, were involved in one common destruction. Of the fourteen regions or quarters into which Rome was divided, four only subsisted entire, three were levelled with the ground, and the remaining seven, which had experienced the fury of the flames, displayed a melancholy prospect of ruin and desolation. The vigilance of government appears not to have neglected any of the precautions which might alleviate the sense of so dreadful a calamity. The Imperial gardens were thrown open to the distressed multitude, temporary buildings were erected for their accommodation, and a plentiful supply of corn and provisions was distributed at a very moderate price. 29 The most generous policy seemed to have dictated the edicts which regulated the disposition of the streets and the construction of private houses; and as it usually happens, in an age of prosperity, the conflagration of Rome, in the course of a few years, produced a new city, more regular and more beautiful than the former. But all the prudence and humanity affected by Nero on this occasion were insufficient to preserve him from the popular suspicion. Every crime might be imputed to the assassin of his wife and mother; nor could the prince who prostituted his person and dignity on the theatre be deemed incapable of the most extravagant folly. The voice of rumor accused the emperor as the incendiary of his own capital; and as the most incredible stories are the best adapted to the genius of an enraged people, it was gravely reported, and firmly believed, that Nero, enjoying the calamity which he had occasioned, amused himself with singing to his lyre the destruction of ancient Troy. 30 To divert a suspicion, which the power of despotism was unable to suppress, the emperor resolved to substitute in his own place some fictitious criminals. "With this view," continues Tacitus, "he inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those men, who, under the vulgar appellation of Christians, were already branded with deserved infamy. They derived their name and origin from Christ, who in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the sentence of the procurator Pontius Pilate. 31 For a while this dire superstition was checked; but it again burst forth; 3111 and not only spread itself over Judaea, the first seat of this mischievous sect, but was even introduced into Rome, the common asylum which receives and protects whatever is impure, whatever is atrocious. The confessions of those who were seized discovered a great multitude of their accomplices, and they were all convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the city, as for their hatred of human kind. 32 They died in torments, and their torments were imbittered by insult and derision. Some were nailed on crosses; others sewn up in the skins of wild beasts, and exposed to the fury of dogs; others again, smeared over with combustible materials, were used as torches to illuminate the darkness of the night. The gardens of Nero were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was accompanied with a horse-race and honored with the presence of the emperor, who mingled with the populace in the dress and attitude of a charioteer. The guilt of the Christians deserved indeed the most exemplary punishment, but the public abhorrence was changed into commiseration, from the opinion that those unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not so much to the public welfare, as to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant." 33 Those who survey with a curious eye the revolutions of mankind, may observe, that the gardens and circus of Nero on the Vatican, which were polluted with the blood of the first Christians, have been rendered still more famous by the triumph and by the abuse of the persecuted religion. On the same spot, 34 a temple, which far surpasses the ancient glories of the Capitol, has been since erected by the Christian Pontiffs, who, deriving their claim of universal dominion from an humble fisherman of Galilee, have succeeded to the throne of the Caesars, given laws to the barbarian conquerors of Rome, and extended their spiritual jurisdiction from the coast of the Baltic to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
28 (return)
[ Tacit. Annal. xv. 38—44. Sueton in Neron. c. 38. Dion
Cassius, l. lxii. p. 1014. Orosius, vii. 7.]
29 (return)
[ The price of wheat (probably of the modius,) was reduced
as low as terni Nummi; which would be equivalent to about fifteen
shillings the English quarter.]
30 (return)
[ We may observe, that the rumor is mentioned by Tacitus
with a very becoming distrust and hesitation, whilst it is greedily
transcribed by Suetonius, and solemnly confirmed by Dion.]
31 (return)
[ This testimony is alone sufficient to expose the
anachronism of the Jews, who place the birth of Christ near a century
sooner. (Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l. v. c. 14, 15.) We may learn
from Josephus, (Antiquitat. xviii. 3,) that the procuratorship of Pilate
corresponded with the last ten years of Tiberius, A. D. 27—37. As to
the particular time of the death of Christ, a very early tradition
fixed it to the 25th of March, A. D. 29, under the consulship of the two
Gemini. (Tertullian adv. Judaeos, c. 8.) This date, which is adopted by
Pagi, Cardinal Norris, and Le Clerc, seems at least as probable as the
vulgar aera, which is placed (I know not from what conjectures) four
years later.]
3111 (return)
[ This single phrase, Repressa in praesens exitiabilis
superstitio rursus erumpebat, proves that the Christians had already
attracted the attention of the government; and that Nero was not the
first to persecute them. I am surprised that more stress has not been
laid on the confirmation which the Acts of the Apostles derive from
these words of Tacitus, Repressa in praesens, and rursus erumpebat.—G.
——I have been unwilling to suppress this note, but surely the
expression of Tacitus refers to the expected extirpation of the religion
by the death of its founder, Christ.—M.]
32 (return)
[ Odio humani generis convicti. These words may either
signify the hatred of mankind towards the Christians, or the hatred of
the Christians towards mankind. I have preferred the latter sense, as
the most agreeable to the style of Tacitus, and to the popular error, of
which a precept of the gospel (see Luke xiv. 26) had been, perhaps, the
innocent occasion. My interpretation is justified by the authority of
Lipsius; of the Italian, the French, and the English translators of
Tacitus; of Mosheim, (p. 102,) of Le Clerc, (Historia Ecclesiast. p.
427,) of Dr. Lardner, (Testimonies, vol. i. p. 345,) and of the Bishop
of Gloucester, (Divine Legation, vol. iii. p. 38.) But as the word
convicti does not unite very happily with the rest of the sentence,
James Gronovius has preferred the reading of conjuncti, which is
authorized by the valuable MS. of Florence.]
33 (return)
[ Tacit. Annal xv. 44.]
34 (return)
[ Nardini Roma Antica, p. 487. Donatus de Roma Antiqua, l.
iii. p. 449.]
But it would be improper to dismiss this account of Nero's persecution, till we have made some observations that may serve to remove the difficulties with which it is perplexed, and to throw some light on the subsequent history of the church.
1. The most sceptical criticism is obliged to respect the truth of this extraordinary fact, and the integrity of this celebrated passage of Tacitus. The former is confirmed by the diligent and accurate Suetonius, who mentions the punishment which Nero inflicted on the Christians, a sect of men who had embraced a new and criminal superstition. 35 The latter may be proved by the consent of the most ancient manuscripts; by the inimitable character of the style of Tacitus by his reputation, which guarded his text from the interpolations of pious fraud; and by the purport of his narration, which accused the first Christians of the most atrocious crimes, without insinuating that they possessed any miraculous or even magical powers above the rest of mankind. 36 2. Notwithstanding it is probable that Tacitus was born some years before the fire of Rome, 37 he could derive only from reading and conversation the knowledge of an event which happened during his infancy. Before he gave himself to the public, he calmly waited till his genius had attained its full maturity, and he was more than forty years of age, when a grateful regard for the memory of the virtuous Agricola extorted from him the most early of those historical compositions which will delight and instruct the most distant posterity. After making a trial of his strength in the life of Agricola and the description of Germany, he conceived, and at length executed, a more arduous work; the history of Rome, in thirty books, from the fall of Nero to the accession of Nerva. The administration of Nerva introduced an age of justice and propriety, which Tacitus had destined for the occupation of his old age; 38 but when he took a nearer view of his subject, judging, perhaps, that it was a more honorable or a less invidious office to record the vices of past tyrants, than to celebrate the virtues of a reigning monarch, he chose rather to relate, under the form of annals, the actions of the four immediate successors of Augustus. To collect, to dispose, and to adorn a series of fourscore years, in an immortal work, every sentence of which is pregnant with the deepest observations and the most lively images, was an undertaking sufficient to exercise the genius of Tacitus himself during the greatest part of his life. In the last years of the reign of Trajan, whilst the victorious monarch extended the power of Rome beyond its ancient limits, the historian was describing, in the second and fourth books of his annals, the tyranny of Tiberius; 39 and the emperor Hadrian must have succeeded to the throne, before Tacitus, in the regular prosecution of his work, could relate the fire of the capital, and the cruelty of Nero towards the unfortunate Christians. At the distance of sixty years, it was the duty of the annalist to adopt the narratives of contemporaries; but it was natural for the philosopher to indulge himself in the description of the origin, the progress, and the character of the new sect, not so much according to the knowledge or prejudices of the age of Nero, as according to those of the time of Hadrian. 3 Tacitus very frequently trusts to the curiosity or reflection of his readers to supply those intermediate circumstances and ideas, which, in his extreme conciseness, he has thought proper to suppress. We may therefore presume to imagine some probable cause which could direct the cruelty of Nero against the Christians of Rome, whose obscurity, as well as innocence, should have shielded them from his indignation, and even from his notice. The Jews, who were numerous in the capital, and oppressed in their own country, were a much fitter object for the suspicions of the emperor and of the people: nor did it seem unlikely that a vanquished nation, who already discovered their abhorrence of the Roman yoke, might have recourse to the most atrocious means of gratifying their implacable revenge. But the Jews possessed very powerful advocates in the palace, and even in the heart of the tyrant; his wife and mistress, the beautiful Poppaea, and a favorite player of the race of Abraham, who had already employed their intercession in behalf of the obnoxious people. 40 In their room it was necessary to offer some other victims, and it might easily be suggested that, although the genuine followers of Moses were innocent of the fire of Rome, there had arisen among them a new and pernicious sect of Galilaeans, which was capable of the most horrid crimes. Under the appellation of Galilaeans, two distinctions of men were confounded, the most opposite to each other in their manners and principles; the disciples who had embraced the faith of Jesus of Nazareth, 41 and the zealots who had followed the standard of Judas the Gaulonite. 42 The former were the friends, the latter were the enemies, of human kind; and the only resemblance between them consisted in the same inflexible constancy, which, in the defence of their cause, rendered them insensible of death and tortures. The followers of Judas, who impelled their countrymen into rebellion, were soon buried under the ruins of Jerusalem; whilst those of Jesus, known by the more celebrated name of Christians, diffused themselves over the Roman empire. How natural was it for Tacitus, in the time of Hadrian, to appropriate to the Christians the guilt and the sufferings, 4211 which he might, with far greater truth and justice, have attributed to a sect whose odious memory was almost extinguished! 4. Whatever opinion may be entertained of this conjecture, (for it is no more than a conjecture,) it is evident that the effect, as well as the cause, of Nero's persecution, was confined to the walls of Rome, 43 that the religious tenets of the Galilaeans or Christians, 431 were never made a subject of punishment, or even of inquiry; and that, as the idea of their sufferings was for a long time connected with the idea of cruelty and injustice, the moderation of succeeding princes inclined them to spare a sect, oppressed by a tyrant, whose rage had been usually directed against virtue and innocence.
35 (return)
[ Sueton. in Nerone, c. 16. The epithet of malefica, which
some sagacious commentators have translated magical, is considered
by the more rational Mosheim as only synonymous to the exitiabilis of
Tacitus.]
36 (return)
[ The passage concerning Jesus Christ, which was inserted
into the text of Josephus, between the time of Origen and that
of Eusebius, may furnish an example of no vulgar forgery. The
accomplishment of the prophecies, the virtues, miracles, and
resurrection of Jesus, are distinctly related. Josephus acknowledges
that he was the Messiah, and hesitates whether he should call him a man.
If any doubt can still remain concerning this celebrated passage, the
reader may examine the pointed objections of Le Fevre, (Havercamp.
Joseph. tom. ii. p. 267-273), the labored answers of Daubuz, (p. 187-232,
and the masterly reply (Bibliotheque Ancienne et Moderne, tom. vii. p.
237-288) of an anonymous critic, whom I believe to have been the learned
Abbe de Longuerue. * Note: The modern editor of Eusebius, Heinichen, has
adopted, and ably supported, a notion, which had before suggested
itself to the editor, that this passage is not altogether a forgery, but
interpolated with many additional clauses. Heinichen has endeavored
to disengage the original text from the foreign and more recent
matter.—M.]
37 (return)
[ See the lives of Tacitus by Lipsius and the Abbe de
la Bleterie, Dictionnaire de Bayle a l'article Particle Tacite, and
Fabricius, Biblioth. Latin tem. Latin. tom. ii. p. 386, edit. Ernest.
Ernst.]
38 (return)
[ Principatum Divi Nervae, et imperium Trajani, uberiorem,
securioremque materiam senectuti seposui. Tacit. Hist. i.]
39 (return)
[ See Tacit. Annal. ii. 61, iv. 4. * Note: The perusal of
this passage of Tacitus alone is sufficient, as I have already said, to
show that the Christian sect was not so obscure as not already to have
been repressed, (repressa,) and that it did not pass for innocent in the
eyes of the Romans.—G.]
40 (return)
[ The player's name was Aliturus. Through the same channel,
Josephus, (de vita sua, c. 2,) about two years before, had obtained the
pardon and release of some Jewish priests, who were prisoners at Rome.]
41 (return)
[ The learned Dr. Lardner (Jewish and Heathen Testimonies,
vol ii. p. 102, 103) has proved that the name of Galilaeans was a very
ancient, and perhaps the primitive appellation of the Christians.]
42 (return)
[ Joseph. Antiquitat. xviii. 1, 2. Tillemont, Ruine des
Juifs, p. 742 The sons of Judas were crucified in the time of Claudius.
His grandson Eleazar, after Jerusalem was taken, defended a strong
fortress with 960 of his most desperate followers. When the battering
ram had made a breach, they turned their swords against their wives
their children, and at length against their own breasts. They dies to
the last man.]
4211 (return)
[ This conjecture is entirely devoid, not merely of
verisimilitude, but even of possibility. Tacitus could not be deceived
in appropriating to the Christians of Rome the guilt and the sufferings
which he might have attributed with far greater truth to the followers
of Judas the Gaulonite, for the latter never went to Rome. Their revolt,
their attempts, their opinions, their wars, their punishment, had
no other theatre but Judaea (Basn. Hist. des. Juifs, t. i. p. 491.)
Moreover the name of Christians had long been given in Rome to the
disciples of Jesus; and Tacitus affirms too positively, refers too
distinctly to its etymology, to allow us to suspect any mistake on his
part.—G. ——M. Guizot's expressions are not in the least too strong
against this strange imagination of Gibbon; it may be doubted
whether the followers of Judas were known as a sect under the name of
Galilaeans.—M.]
43 (return)
[ See Dodwell. Paucitat. Mart. l. xiii. The Spanish
Inscription in Gruter. p. 238, No. 9, is a manifest and acknowledged
forgery contrived by that noted imposter. Cyriacus of Ancona, to flatter
the pride and prejudices of the Spaniards. See Ferreras, Histoire
D'Espagne, tom. i. p. 192.]
431 (return)
[ M. Guizot, on the authority of Sulpicius Severus, ii. 37,
and of Orosius, viii. 5, inclines to the opinion of those who extend the
persecution to the provinces. Mosheim rather leans to that side on this
much disputed question, (c. xxxv.) Neander takes the view of Gibbon,
which is in general that of the most learned writers. There is indeed no
evidence, which I can discover, of its reaching the provinces; and the
apparent security, at least as regards his life, with which St. Paul
pursued his travels during this period, affords at least a strong
inference against a rigid and general inquisition against the Christians
in other parts of the empire.—M.]
It is somewhat remarkable that the flames of war consumed, almost at the same time, the temple of Jerusalem and the Capitol of Rome; 44 and it appears no less singular, that the tribute which devotion had destined to the former, should have been converted by the power of an assaulting victor to restore and adorn the splendor of the latter. 45 The emperors levied a general capitation tax on the Jewish people; and although the sum assessed on the head of each individual was inconsiderable, the use for which it was designed, and the severity with which it was exacted, were considered as an intolerable grievance. 46 Since the officers of the revenue extended their unjust claim to many persons who were strangers to the blood or religion of the Jews, it was impossible that the Christians, who had so often sheltered themselves under the shade of the synagogue, should now escape this rapacious persecution. Anxious as they were to avoid the slightest infection of idolatry, their conscience forbade them to contribute to the honor of that daemon who had assumed the character of the Capitoline Jupiter. As a very numerous though declining party among the Christians still adhered to the law of Moses, their efforts to dissemble their Jewish origin were detected by the decisive test of circumcision; 47 nor were the Roman magistrates at leisure to inquire into the difference of their religious tenets. Among the Christians who were brought before the tribunal of the emperor, or, as it seems more probable, before that of the procurator of Judaea, two persons are said to have appeared, distinguished by their extraction, which was more truly noble than that of the greatest monarchs. These were the grandsons of St. Jude the apostle, who himself was the brother of Jesus Christ. 48 Their natural pretensions to the throne of David might perhaps attract the respect of the people, and excite the jealousy of the governor; but the meanness of their garb, and the simplicity of their answers, soon convinced him that they were neither desirous nor capable of disturbing the peace of the Roman empire. They frankly confessed their royal origin, and their near relation to the Messiah; but they disclaimed any temporal views, and professed that his kingdom, which they devoutly expected, was purely of a spiritual and angelic nature. When they were examined concerning their fortune and occupation, they showed their hands, hardened with daily labor, and declared that they derived their whole subsistence from the cultivation of a farm near the village of Cocaba, of the extent of about twenty-four English acres, 49 and of the value of nine thousand drachms, or three hundred pounds sterling. The grandsons of St. Jude were dismissed with compassion and contempt. 50
44 (return)
[ The Capitol was burnt during the civil war between
Vitellius and Vespasian, the 19th of December, A. D. 69. On the 10th of
August, A. D. 70, the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the hands of
the Jews themselves, rather than by those of the Romans.]
45 (return)
[ The new Capitol was dedicated by Domitian. Sueton. in
Domitian. c. 5. Plutarch in Poplicola, tom. i. p. 230, edit. Bryant. The
gilding alone cost 12,000 talents (above two millions and a half.) It
was the opinion of Martial, (l. ix. Epigram 3,) that if the emperor had
called in his debts, Jupiter himself, even though he had made a general
auction of Olympus, would have been unable to pay two shillings in the
pound.]
46 (return)
[ With regard to the tribute, see Dion Cassius, l. lxvi. p.
1082, with Reimarus's notes. Spanheim, de Usu Numismatum, tom. ii. p.
571; and Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l. vii. c. 2.]
47 (return)
[ Suetonius (in Domitian. c. 12) had seen an old man of
ninety publicly examined before the procurator's tribunal. This is what
Martial calls, Mentula tributis damnata.]
48 (return)
[ This appellation was at first understood in the most
obvious sense, and it was supposed, that the brothers of Jesus were the
lawful issue of Joseph and Mary. A devout respect for the virginity
of the mother of God suggested to the Gnostics, and afterwards to the
orthodox Greeks, the expedient of bestowing a second wife on Joseph.
The Latins (from the time of Jerome) improved on that hint, asserted the
perpetual celibacy of Joseph, and justified by many similar examples
the new interpretation that Jude, as well as Simon and James, who were
styled the brothers of Jesus Christ, were only his first cousins. See
Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiat. tom. i. part iii.: and Beausobre, Hist.
Critique du Manicheisme, l. ii. c. 2.]
49 (return)
[ Thirty-nine, squares of a hundred feet each, which, if
strictly computed, would scarcely amount to nine acres.]
50 (return)
[ Eusebius, iii. 20. The story is taken from Hegesippus.]
But although the obscurity of the house of David might protect them from the suspicions of a tyrant, the present greatness of his own family alarmed the pusillanimous temper of Domitian, which could only be appeased by the blood of those Romans whom he either feared, or hated, or esteemed. Of the two sons of his uncle Flavius Sabinus, 51 the elder was soon convicted of treasonable intentions, and the younger, who bore the name of Flavius Clemens, was indebted for his safety to his want of courage and ability. 52 The emperor for a long time, distinguished so harmless a kinsman by his favor and protection, bestowed on him his own niece Domitilla, adopted the children of that marriage to the hope of the succession, and invested their father with the honors of the consulship.
51 (return)
[ See the death and character of Sabinus in Tacitus, (Hist.
iii. 74 ) Sabinus was the elder brother, and, till the accession of
Vespasian, had been considered as the principal support of the Flavium
family]
52 (return)
[ Flavium Clementem patruelem suum contemptissimoe
inertice.. ex tenuissima suspicione interemit. Sueton. in Domitian. c.
15.]
But he had scarcely finished the term of his annual magistracy, when, on a slight pretence, he was condemned and executed; Domitilla was banished to a desolate island on the coast of Campania; 53 and sentences either of death or of confiscation were pronounced against a great number of who were involved in the same accusation. The guilt imputed to their charge was that of Atheism and Jewish manners; 54 a singular association of ideas, which cannot with any propriety be applied except to the Christians, as they were obscurely and imperfectly viewed by the magistrates and by the writers of that period. On the strength of so probable an interpretation, and too eagerly admitting the suspicions of a tyrant as an evidence of their honorable crime, the church has placed both Clemens and Domitilla among its first martyrs, and has branded the cruelty of Domitian with the name of the second persecution. But this persecution (if it deserves that epithet) was of no long duration. A few months after the death of Clemens, and the banishment of Domitilla, Stephen, a freedman belonging to the latter, who had enjoyed the favor, but who had not surely embraced the faith, of his mistress, 5411 assassinated the emperor in his palace. 55 The memory of Domitian was condemned by the senate; his acts were rescinded; his exiles recalled; and under the gentle administration of Nerva, while the innocent were restored to their rank and fortunes, even the most guilty either obtained pardon or escaped punishment. 56
53 (return)
[ The Isle of Pandataria, according to Dion. Bruttius
Praesens (apud Euseb. iii. 18) banishes her to that of Pontia, which was
not far distant from the other. That difference, and a mistake, either
of Eusebius or of his transcribers, have given occasion to suppose two
Domitillas, the wife and the niece of Clemens. See Tillemont, Memoires
Ecclesiastiques, tom. ii. p. 224.]
54 (return)
[ Dion. l. lxvii. p. 1112. If the Bruttius Praesens,
from whom it is probable that he collected this account, was the
correspondent of Pliny, (Epistol. vii. 3,) we may consider him as a
contemporary writer.]
5411 (return)
[ This is an uncandid sarcasm. There is nothing to connect
Stephen with the religion of Domitilla. He was a knave detected in the
malversation of money—interceptarum pecuniaram reus.—M.]
55 (return)
[ Suet. in Domit. c. 17. Philostratus in Vit. Apollon. l.
viii.]
56 (return)
[ Dion. l. lxviii. p. 1118. Plin. Epistol. iv. 22.]
II. About ten years afterwards, under the reign of Trajan, the younger Pliny was intrusted by his friend and master with the government of Bithynia and Pontus. He soon found himself at a loss to determine by what rule of justice or of law he should direct his conduct in the execution of an office the most repugnant to his humanity. Pliny had never assisted at any judicial proceedings against the Christians, with whose name alone he seems to be acquainted; and he was totally uninformed with regard to the nature of their guilt, the method of their conviction, and the degree of their punishment. In this perplexity he had recourse to his usual expedient, of submitting to the wisdom of Trajan an impartial, and, in some respects, a favorable account of the new superstition, requesting the emperor, that he would condescend to resolve his doubts, and to instruct his ignorance. 57 The life of Pliny had been employed in the acquisition of learning, and in the business of the world.
Since the age of nineteen he had pleaded with distinction in the tribunals of Rome, 58 filled a place in the senate, had been invested with the honors of the consulship, and had formed very numerous connections with every order of men, both in Italy and in the provinces. From his ignorance therefore we may derive some useful information. We may assure ourselves, that when he accepted the government of Bithynia, there were no general laws or decrees of the senate in force against the Christians; that neither Trajan nor any of his virtuous predecessors, whose edicts were received into the civil and criminal jurisprudence, had publicly declared their intentions concerning the new sect; and that whatever proceedings had been carried on against the Christians, there were none of sufficient weight and authority to establish a precedent for the conduct of a Roman magistrate.
57 (return)
[ Plin. Epistol. x. 97. The learned Mosheim expresses
himself (p. 147, 232) with the highest approbation of Pliny's moderate
and candid temper. Notwithstanding Dr. Lardner's suspicions (see Jewish
and Heathen Testimonies, vol. ii. p. 46,) I am unable to discover any
bigotry in his language or proceedings. * Note: Yet the humane Pliny put
two female attendants, probably deaconesses to the torture, in order to
ascertain the real nature of these suspicious meetings: necessarium
credidi, ex duabus ancillis, quae ministrae dicebantor quid asset veri
et per tormenta quaerere.—M.]
58 (return)
[ Plin. Epist. v. 8. He pleaded his first cause A. D. 81;
the year after the famous eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, in which his
uncle lost his life.]
The answer of Trajan, to which the Christians of the succeeding age have frequently appealed, discovers as much regard for justice and humanity as could be reconciled with his mistaken notions of religious policy. 59 Instead of displaying the implacable zeal of an inquisitor, anxious to discover the most minute particles of heresy, and exulting in the number of his victims, the emperor expresses much more solicitude to protect the security of the innocent, than to prevent the escape of the guilty. He acknowledged the difficulty of fixing any general plan; but he lays down two salutary rules, which often afforded relief and support to the distressed Christians. Though he directs the magistrates to punish such persons as are legally convicted, he prohibits them, with a very humane inconsistency, from making any inquiries concerning the supposed criminals. Nor was the magistrate allowed to proceed on every kind of information. Anonymous charges the emperor rejects, as too repugnant to the equity of his government; and he strictly requires, for the conviction of those to whom the guilt of Christianity is imputed, the positive evidence of a fair and open accuser. It is likewise probable, that the persons who assumed so invidiuous an office, were obliged to declare the grounds of their suspicions, to specify (both in respect to time and place) the secret assemblies, which their Christian adversary had frequented, and to disclose a great number of circumstances, which were concealed with the most vigilant jealousy from the eye of the profane. If they succeeded in their prosecution, they were exposed to the resentment of a considerable and active party, to the censure of the more liberal portion of mankind, and to the ignominy which, in every age and country, has attended the character of an informer. If, on the contrary, they failed in their proofs, they incurred the severe and perhaps capital penalty, which, according to a law published by the emperor Hadrian, was inflicted on those who falsely attributed to their fellow-citizens the crime of Christianity. The violence of personal or superstitious animosity might sometimes prevail over the most natural apprehensions of disgrace and danger but it cannot surely be imagined, 60 that accusations of so unpromising an appearance were either lightly or frequently undertaken by the Pagan subjects of the Roman empire. 6011
59 (return)
[ Plin. Epist. x. 98. Tertullian (Apolog. c. 5) considers
this rescript as a relaxation of the ancient penal laws, "quas Trajanus
exparte frustratus est:" and yet Tertullian, in another part of his
Apology, exposes the inconsistency of prohibiting inquiries, and
enjoining punishments.]
60 (return)
[ Eusebius (Hist. Ecclesiast. l. iv. c. 9) has preserved
the edict of Hadrian. He has likewise (c. 13) given us one still more
favorable, under the name of Antoninus; the authenticity of which is
not so universally allowed. The second Apology of Justin contains some
curious particulars relative to the accusations of Christians. *
Note: Professor Hegelmayer has proved the authenticity of the edict of
Antoninus, in his Comm. Hist. Theol. in Edict. Imp. Antonini. Tubing.
1777, in 4to.—G. ——Neander doubts its authenticity, (vol. i. p. 152.)
In my opinion, the internal evidence is decisive against it.—M]
6011 (return)
[ The enactment of this law affords strong presumption,
that accusations of the "crime of Christianity," were by no means so
uncommon, nor received with so much mistrust and caution by the ruling
authorities, as Gibbon would insinuate. —M.]
The expedient which was employed to elude the prudence of the laws, affords a sufficient proof how effectually they disappointed the mischievous designs of private malice or superstitious zeal. In a large and tumultuous assembly, the restraints of fear and shame, so forcible on the minds of individuals, are deprived of the greatest part of their influence. The pious Christian, as he was desirous to obtain, or to escape, the glory of martyrdom, expected, either with impatience or with terror, the stated returns of the public games and festivals. On those occasions the inhabitants of the great cities of the empire were collected in the circus or the theatre, where every circumstance of the place, as well as of the ceremony, contributed to kindle their devotion, and to extinguish their humanity. Whilst the numerous spectators, crowned with garlands, perfumed with incense, purified with the blood of victims, and surrounded with the altars and statues of their tutelar deities, resigned themselves to the enjoyment of pleasures, which they considered as an essential part of their religious worship, they recollected, that the Christians alone abhorred the gods of mankind, and by their absence and melancholy on these solemn festivals, seemed to insult or to lament the public felicity. If the empire had been afflicted by any recent calamity, by a plague, a famine, or an unsuccessful war; if the Tyber had, or if the Nile had not, risen beyond its banks; if the earth had shaken, or if the temperate order of the seasons had been interrupted, the superstitious Pagans were convinced that the crimes and the impiety of the Christians, who were spared by the excessive lenity of the government, had at length provoked the divine justice. It was not among a licentious and exasperated populace, that the forms of legal proceedings could be observed; it was not in an amphitheatre, stained with the blood of wild beasts and gladiators, that the voice of compassion could be heard. The impatient clamors of the multitude denounced the Christians as the enemies of gods and men, doomed them to the severest tortures, and venturing to accuse by name some of the most distinguished of the new sectaries, required with irresistible vehemence that they should be instantly apprehended and cast to the lions. 61 The provincial governors and magistrates who presided in the public spectacles were usually inclined to gratify the inclinations, and to appease the rage, of the people, by the sacrifice of a few obnoxious victims. But the wisdom of the emperors protected the church from the danger of these tumultuous clamors and irregular accusations, which they justly censured as repugnant both to the firmness and to the equity of their administration. The edicts of Hadrian and of Antoninus Pius expressly declared, that the voice of the multitude should never be admitted as legal evidence to convict or to punish those unfortunate persons who had embraced the enthusiasm of the Christians. 62
61 (return)
[ See Tertullian, (Apolog. c. 40.) The acts of the martyrdom
of Polycarp exhibit a lively picture of these tumults, which were
usually fomented by the malice of the Jews.]
62 (return)
[ These regulations are inserted in the above mentioned
document of Hadrian and Pius. See the apology of Melito, (apud Euseb. l
iv 26)]
III. Punishment was not the inevitable consequence of conviction, and the Christians, whose guilt was the most clearly proved by the testimony of witnesses, or even by their voluntary confession, still retained in their own power the alternative of life or death. It was not so much the past offence, as the actual resistance, which excited the indignation of the magistrate. He was persuaded that he offered them an easy pardon, since, if they consented to cast a few grains of incense upon the altar, they were dismissed from the tribunal in safety and with applause. It was esteemed the duty of a humane judge to endeavor to reclaim, rather than to punish, those deluded enthusiasts. Varying his tone according to the age, the sex, or the situation of the prisoners, he frequently condescended to set before their eyes every circumstance which could render life more pleasing, or death more terrible; and to solicit, nay, to entreat, them, that they would show some compassion to themselves, to their families, and to their friends. 63 If threats and persuasions proved ineffectual, he had often recourse to violence; the scourge and the rack were called in to supply the deficiency of argument, and every art of cruelty was employed to subdue such inflexible, and, as it appeared to the Pagans, such criminal, obstinacy. The ancient apologists of Christianity have censured, with equal truth and severity, the irregular conduct of their persecutors who, contrary to every principle of judicial proceeding, admitted the use of torture, in order to obtain, not a confession, but a denial, of the crime which was the object of their inquiry. 64 The monks of succeeding ages, who, in their peaceful solitudes, entertained themselves with diversifying the deaths and sufferings of the primitive martyrs, have frequently invented torments of a much more refined and ingenious nature. In particular, it has pleased them to suppose, that the zeal of the Roman magistrates, disdaining every consideration of moral virtue or public decency, endeavored to seduce those whom they were unable to vanquish, and that by their orders the most brutal violence was offered to those whom they found it impossible to seduce. It is related, that females, who were prepared to despise death, were sometimes condemned to a more severe trial, 6411 and called upon to determine whether they set a higher value on their religion or on their chastity. The youths to whose licentious embraces they were abandoned, received a solemn exhortation from the judge, to exert their most strenuous efforts to maintain the honor of Venus against the impious virgin who refused to burn incense on her altars. Their violence, however, was commonly disappointed, and the seasonable interposition of some miraculous power preserved the chaste spouses of Christ from the dishonor even of an involuntary defeat. We should not indeed neglect to remark, that the more ancient as well as authentic memorials of the church are seldom polluted with these extravagant and indecent fictions. 65
63 (return)
[ See the rescript of Trajan, and the conduct of Pliny. The
most authentic acts of the martyrs abound in these exhortations. Note:
Pliny's test was the worship of the gods, offerings to the statue of the
emperor, and blaspheming Christ—praeterea maledicerent Christo.—M.]
64 (return)
[ In particular, see Tertullian, (Apolog. c. 2, 3,) and
Lactantius, (Institut. Divin. v. 9.) Their reasonings are almost the
same; but we may discover, that one of these apologists had been a
lawyer, and the other a rhetorician.]
6411 (return)
[ The more ancient as well as authentic memorials of the
church, relate many examples of the fact, (of these severe trials,)
which there is nothing to contradict. Tertullian, among others, says,
Nam proxime ad lenonem damnando Christianam, potius quam ad leonem,
confessi estis labem pudicitiae apud nos atrociorem omni poena et omni
morte reputari, Apol. cap. ult. Eusebius likewise says, "Other virgins,
dragged to brothels, have lost their life rather than defile their
virtue." Euseb. Hist. Ecc. viii. 14.—G. The miraculous interpositions
were the offspring of the coarse imaginations of the monks.—M.]
65 (return)
[ See two instances of this kind of torture in the Acta
Sincere Martyrum, published by Ruinart, p. 160, 399. Jerome, in his
Legend of Paul the Hermit, tells a strange story of a young man, who
was chained naked on a bed of flowers, and assaulted by a beautiful and
wanton courtesan. He quelled the rising temptation by biting off his
tongue.]
The total disregard of truth and probability in the representation of these primitive martyrdoms was occasioned by a very natural mistake. The ecclesiastical writers of the fourth or fifth centuries ascribed to the magistrates of Rome the same degree of implacable and unrelenting zeal which filled their own breasts against the heretics or the idolaters of their own times.
It is not improbable that some of those persons who were raised to the dignities of the empire, might have imbibed the prejudices of the populace, and that the cruel disposition of others might occasionally be stimulated by motives of avarice or of personal resentment. 66 But it is certain, and we may appeal to the grateful confessions of the first Christians, that the greatest part of those magistrates who exercised in the provinces the authority of the emperor, or of the senate, and to whose hands alone the jurisdiction of life and death was intrusted, behaved like men of polished manners and liberal education, who respected the rules of justice, and who were conversant with the precepts of philosophy. They frequently declined the odious task of persecution, dismissed the charge with contempt, or suggested to the accused Christian some legal evasion, by which he might elude the severity of the laws. 67 Whenever they were invested with a discretionary power, 68 they used it much less for the oppression, than for the relief and benefit of the afflicted church. They were far from condemning all the Christians who were accused before their tribunal, and very far from punishing with death all those who were convicted of an obstinate adherence to the new superstition. Contenting themselves, for the most part, with the milder chastisements of imprisonment, exile, or slavery in the mines, 69 they left the unhappy victims of their justice some reason to hope, that a prosperous event, the accession, the marriage, or the triumph of an emperor, might speedily restore them, by a general pardon, to their former state. The martyrs, devoted to immediate execution by the Roman magistrates, appear to have been selected from the most opposite extremes. They were either bishops and presbyters, the persons the most distinguished among the Christians by their rank and influence, and whose example might strike terror into the whole sect; 70 or else they were the meanest and most abject among them, particularly those of the servile condition, whose lives were esteemed of little value, and whose sufferings were viewed by the ancients with too careless an indifference. 71 The learned Origen, who, from his experience as well as reading, was intimately acquainted with the history of the Christians, declares, in the most express terms, that the number of martyrs was very inconsiderable. 72 His authority would alone be sufficient to annihilate that formidable army of martyrs, whose relics, drawn for the most part from the catacombs of Rome, have replenished so many churches, 73 and whose marvellous achievements have been the subject of so many volumes of Holy Romance. 74 But the general assertion of Origen may be explained and confirmed by the particular testimony of his friend Dionysius, who, in the immense city of Alexandria, and under the rigorous persecution of Decius, reckons only ten men and seven women who suffered for the profession of the Christian name. 75
66 (return)
[ The conversion of his wife provoked Claudius Herminianus,
governor of Cappadocia, to treat the Christians with uncommon severity.
Tertullian ad Scapulam, c. 3.]
67 (return)
[ Tertullian, in his epistle to the governor of Africa,
mentions several remarkable instances of lenity and forbearance, which
had happened within his knowledge.]
68 (return)
[ Neque enim in universum aliquid quod quasi certam formam
habeat, constitui potest; an expression of Trajan, which gave a very
great latitude to the governors of provinces. * Note: Gibbon altogether
forgets that Trajan fully approved of the course pursued by Pliny. That
course was, to order all who persevered in their faith to be led to
execution: perseverantes duci jussi.—M.]
69 (return)
[ In Metalla damnamur, in insulas relegamur. Tertullian,
Apolog. c. 12. The mines of Numidia contained nine bishops, with a
proportionable number of their clergy and people, to whom Cyprian
addressed a pious epistle of praise and comfort. See Cyprian. Epistol.
76, 77.]
70 (return)
[ Though we cannot receive with entire confidence either the
epistles, or the acts, of Ignatius, (they may be found in the 2d volume
of the Apostolic Fathers,) yet we may quote that bishop of Antioch
as one of these exemplary martyrs. He was sent in chains to Rome as a
public spectacle, and when he arrived at Troas, he received the pleasing
intelligence, that the persecution of Antioch was already at an end. *
Note: The acts of Ignatius are generally received as authentic, as are
seven of his letters. Eusebius and St. Jerome mention them: there are
two editions; in one, the letters are longer, and many passages appear
to have been interpolated; the other edition is that which contains the
real letters of St. Ignatius; such at least is the opinion of the wisest
and most enlightened critics. (See Lardner. Cred. of Gospel Hist.) Less,
uber dis Religion, v. i. p. 529. Usser. Diss. de Ign. Epist. Pearson,
Vindic, Ignatianae. It should be remarked, that it was under the reign
of Trajan that the bishop Ignatius was carried from Antioch to Rome,
to be exposed to the lions in the amphitheatre, the year of J. C. 107,
according to some; of 116, according to others.—G.]
71 (return)
[ Among the martyrs of Lyons, (Euseb. l. v. c. 1,) the
slave Blandina was distinguished by more exquisite tortures. Of the five
martyrs so much celebrated in the acts of Felicitas and Perpetua, two
were of a servile, and two others of a very mean, condition.]
72 (return)
[ Origen. advers. Celsum, l. iii. p. 116. His words deserve
to be transcribed. * Note: The words that follow should be quoted. "God
not permitting that all his class of men should be exterminated:"
which appears to indicate that Origen thought the number put to death
inconsiderable only when compared to the numbers who had survived.
Besides this, he is speaking of the state of the religion under
Caracalla, Elagabalus, Alexander Severus, and Philip, who had not
persecuted the Christians. It was during the reign of the latter that
Origen wrote his books against Celsus.—G.]
73 (return)
[ If we recollect that all the Plebeians of Rome were not
Christians, and that all the Christians were not saints and martyrs, we
may judge with how much safety religious honors can be ascribed to bones
or urns, indiscriminately taken from the public burial-place. After ten
centuries of a very free and open trade, some suspicions have arisen
among the more learned Catholics. They now require as a proof of
sanctity and martyrdom, the letters B.M., a vial full of red liquor
supposed to be blood, or the figure of a palm-tree. But the two former
signs are of little weight, and with regard to the last, it is observed
by the critics, 1. That the figure, as it is called, of a palm, is
perhaps a cypress, and perhaps only a stop, the flourish of a comma
used in the monumental inscriptions. 2. That the palm was the symbol of
victory among the Pagans. 3. That among the Christians it served as the
emblem, not only of martyrdom, but in general of a joyful resurrection.
See the epistle of P. Mabillon, on the worship of unknown saints, and
Muratori sopra le Antichita Italiane, Dissertat. lviii.]
74 (return)
[ As a specimen of these legends, we may be satisfied with
10,000 Christian soldiers crucified in one day, either by Trajan or
Hadrian on Mount Ararat. See Baronius ad Martyrologium Romanum;
Tille mont, Mem. Ecclesiast. tom. ii. part ii. p. 438; and Geddes's
Miscellanies, vol. ii. p. 203. The abbreviation of Mil., which may
signify either soldiers or thousands, is said to have occasioned some
extraordinary mistakes.]
75 (return)
[ Dionysius ap. Euseb l. vi. c. 41 One of the seventeen
was likewise accused of robbery. * Note: Gibbon ought to have said,
was falsely accused of robbery, for so it is in the Greek text. This
Christian, named Nemesion, falsely accused of robbery before the
centurion, was acquitted of a crime altogether foreign to his character,
but he was led before the governor as guilty of being a Christian, and
the governor inflicted upon him a double torture. (Euseb. loc. cit.) It
must be added, that Saint Dionysius only makes particular mention of
the principal martyrs, [this is very doubtful.—M.] and that he says,
in general, that the fury of the Pagans against the Christians gave
to Alexandria the appearance of a city taken by storm. [This refers to
plunder and ill usage, not to actual slaughter.—M.] Finally it should
be observed that Origen wrote before the persecution of the emperor
Decius.—G.]
During the same period of persecution, the zealous, the eloquent, the ambitious Cyprian governed the church, not only of Carthage, but even of Africa. He possessed every quality which could engage the reverence of the faithful, or provoke the suspicions and resentment of the Pagan magistrates. His character as well as his station seemed to mark out that holy prelate as the most distinguished object of envy and danger. 76 The experience, however, of the life of Cyprian, is sufficient to prove that our fancy has exaggerated the perilous situation of a Christian bishop; and the dangers to which he was exposed were less imminent than those which temporal ambition is always prepared to encounter in the pursuit of honors. Four Roman emperors, with their families, their favorites, and their adherents, perished by the sword in the space of ten years, during which the bishop of Carthage guided by his authority and eloquence the councils of the African church. It was only in the third year of his administration, that he had reason, during a few months, to apprehend the severe edicts of Decius, the vigilance of the magistrate and the clamors of the multitude, who loudly demanded, that Cyprian, the leader of the Christians, should be thrown to the lions. Prudence suggested the necessity of a temporary retreat, and the voice of prudence was obeyed. He withdrew himself into an obscure solitude, from whence he could maintain a constant correspondence with the clergy and people of Carthage; and, concealing himself till the tempest was past, he preserved his life, without relinquishing either his power or his reputation. His extreme caution did not, however, escape the censure of the more rigid Christians, who lamented, or the reproaches of his personal enemies, who insulted, a conduct which they considered as a pusillanimous and criminal desertion of the most sacred duty. 77 The propriety of reserving himself for the future exigencies of the church, the example of several holy bishops, 78 and the divine admonitions, which, as he declares himself, he frequently received in visions and ecstacies, were the reasons alleged in his justification. 79 But his best apology may be found in the cheerful resolution, with which, about eight years afterwards, he suffered death in the cause of religion. The authentic history of his martyrdom has been recorded with unusual candor and impartiality. A short abstract, therefore, of its most important circumstances, will convey the clearest information of the spirit, and of the forms, of the Roman persecutions. 80
76 (return)
[ The letters of Cyprian exhibit a very curious and original
picture both of the man and of the times. See likewise the two lives of
Cyprian, composed with equal accuracy, though with very different views;
the one by Le Clerc (Bibliotheque Universelle, tom. xii. p. 208-378,)
the other by Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. iv part i. p.
76-459.]
77 (return)
[ See the polite but severe epistle of the clergy of Rome to
the bishop of Carthage. (Cyprian. Epist. 8, 9.) Pontius labors with the
greatest care and diligence to justify his master against the general
censure.]
78 (return)
[ In particular those of Dionysius of Alexandria, and
Gregory Thaumaturgus, of Neo-Caesarea. See Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. l.
vi. c. 40; and Memoires de Tillemont, tom. iv. part ii. p. 685.]
79 (return)
[ See Cyprian. Epist. 16, and his life by Pontius.]
80 (return)
[ We have an original life of Cyprian by the deacon Pontius,
the companion of his exile, and the spectator of his death; and we
likewise possess the ancient proconsular acts of his martyrdom. These
two relations are consistent with each other, and with probability; and
what is somewhat remarkable, they are both unsullied by any miraculous
circumstances.]
When Valerian was consul for the third, and Gallienus for the fourth time, Paternus, proconsul of Africa, summoned Cyprian to appear in his private council-chamber. He there acquainted him with the Imperial mandate which he had just received, 81 that those who had abandoned the Roman religion should immediately return to the practice of the ceremonies of their ancestors. Cyprian replied without hesitation, that he was a Christian and a bishop, devoted to the worship of the true and only Deity, to whom he offered up his daily supplications for the safety and prosperity of the two emperors, his lawful sovereigns.
With modest confidence he pleaded the privilege of a citizen, in refusing to give any answer to some invidious and indeed illegal questions which the proconsul had proposed. A sentence of banishment was pronounced as the penalty of Cyprian's disobedience; and he was conducted without delay to Curubis, a free and maritime city of Zeugitania, in a pleasant situation, a fertile territory, and at the distance of about forty miles from Carthage. 82 The exiled bishop enjoyed the conveniences of life and the consciousness of virtue. His reputation was diffused over Africa and Italy; an account of his behavior was published for the edification of the Christian world; 83 and his solitude was frequently interrupted by the letters, the visits, and the congratulations of the faithful. On the arrival of a new proconsul in the province the fortune of Cyprian appeared for some time to wear a still more favorable aspect. He was recalled from banishment; and though not yet permitted to return to Carthage, his own gardens in the neighborhood of the capital were assigned for the place of his residence. 84
81 (return)
[ It should seem that these were circular orders, sent at
the same time to all the governors. Dionysius (ap. Euseb. l. vii. c. 11)
relates the history of his own banishment from Alexandria almost in the
same manner. But as he escaped and survived the persecution, we must
account him either more or less fortunate than Cyprian.]
82 (return)
[ See Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 3. Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq.
part iii. p. 96. Shaw's Travels, p. 90; and for the adjacent country,
(which is terminated by Cape Bona, or the promontory of Mercury,)
l'Afrique de Marmol. tom. ii. p. 494. There are the remains of an
aqueduct near Curubis, or Curbis, at present altered into Gurbes; and
Dr. Shaw read an inscription, which styles that city Colonia Fulvia. The
deacon Pontius (in Vit. Cyprian. c. 12) calls it "Apricum et competentem
locum, hospitium pro voluntate secretum, et quicquid apponi eis ante
promissum est, qui regnum et justitiam Dei quaerunt."]
83 (return)
[ See Cyprian. Epistol. 77, edit. Fell.]
84 (return)
[ Upon his conversion, he had sold those gardens for the
benefit of the poor. The indulgence of God (most probably the liberality
of some Christian friend) restored them to Cyprian. See Pontius, c. 15.]
At length, exactly one year 85 after Cyprian was first apprehended, Galerius Maximus, proconsul of Africa, received the Imperial warrant for the execution of the Christian teachers. The bishop of Carthage was sensible that he should be singled out for one of the first victims; and the frailty of nature tempted him to withdraw himself, by a secret flight, from the danger and the honor of martyrdom; 8511 but soon recovering that fortitude which his character required, he returned to his gardens, and patiently expected the ministers of death. Two officers of rank, who were intrusted with that commission, placed Cyprian between them in a chariot, and as the proconsul was not then at leisure, they conducted him, not to a prison, but to a private house in Carthage, which belonged to one of them. An elegant supper was provided for the entertainment of the bishop, and his Christian friends were permitted for the last time to enjoy his society, whilst the streets were filled with a multitude of the faithful, anxious and alarmed at the approaching fate of their spiritual father. 86 In the morning he appeared before the tribunal of the proconsul, who, after informing himself of the name and situation of Cyprian, commanded him to offer sacrifice, and pressed him to reflect on the consequences of his disobedience. The refusal of Cyprian was firm and decisive; and the magistrate, when he had taken the opinion of his council, pronounced with some reluctance the sentence of death. It was conceived in the following terms: "That Thascius Cyprianus should be immediately beheaded, as the enemy of the gods of Rome, and as the chief and ringleader of a criminal association, which he had seduced into an impious resistance against the laws of the most holy emperors, Valerian and Gallienus." 87 The manner of his execution was the mildest and least painful that could be inflicted on a person convicted of any capital offence; nor was the use of torture admitted to obtain from the bishop of Carthage either the recantation of his principles or the discovery of his accomplices.
85 (return)
[ When Cyprian; a twelvemonth before, was sent into exile,
he dreamt that he should be put to death the next day. The event made it
necessary to explain that word, as signifying a year. Pontius, c. 12.]
8511 (return)
[ This was not, as it appears, the motive which induced
St. Cyprian to conceal himself for a short time; he was threatened to be
carried to Utica; he preferred remaining at Carthage, in order to suffer
martyrdom in the midst of his flock, and in order that his death might
conduce to the edification of those whom he had guided during life.
Such, at least, is his own explanation of his conduct in one of his
letters: Cum perlatum ad nos fuisset, fratres carissimi, frumentarios
esse missos qui me Uticam per ducerent, consilioque carissimorum
persuasum est, ut de hortis interim recederemus, justa interveniente
causa, consensi; eo quod congruat episcopum in ea civitate, in qua
Ecclesiae dominicae praeest, illie. Dominum confiteri et plebem
universam praepositi praesentis confessione clarificari Ep. 83.—G]
86 (return)
[ Pontius (c. 15) acknowledges that Cyprian, with whom he
supped, passed the night custodia delicata. The bishop exercised a
last and very proper act of jurisdiction, by directing that the younger
females, who watched in the streets, should be removed from the dangers
and temptations of a nocturnal crowd. Act. Preconsularia, c. 2.]
87 (return)
[ See the original sentence in the Acts, c. 4; and in
Pontius, c. 17 The latter expresses it in a more rhetorical manner.]
As soon as the sentence was proclaimed, a general cry of "We will die with him," arose at once among the listening multitude of Christians who waited before the palace gates. The generous effusions of their zeal and their affection were neither serviceable to Cyprian nor dangerous to themselves. He was led away under a guard of tribunes and centurions, without resistance and without insult, to the place of his execution, a spacious and level plain near the city, which was already filled with great numbers of spectators. His faithful presbyters and deacons were permitted to accompany their holy bishop. 8711 They assisted him in laying aside his upper garment, spread linen on the ground to catch the precious relics of his blood, and received his orders to bestow five-and-twenty pieces of gold on the executioner. The martyr then covered his face with his hands, and at one blow his head was separated from his body. His corpse remained during some hours exposed to the curiosity of the Gentiles: but in the night it was removed, and transported in a triumphal procession, and with a splendid illumination, to the burial-place of the Christians. The funeral of Cyprian was publicly celebrated without receiving any interruption from the Roman magistrates; and those among the faithful, who had performed the last offices to his person and his memory, were secure from the danger of inquiry or of punishment. It is remarkable, that of so great a multitude of bishops in the province of Africa, Cyprian was the first who was esteemed worthy to obtain the crown of martyrdom. 88
8711 (return)
[ There is nothing in the life of St. Cyprian, by Pontius,
nor in the ancient manuscripts, which can make us suppose that the
presbyters and deacons in their clerical character, and known to be
such, had the permission to attend their holy bishop. Setting aside all
religious considerations, it is impossible not to be surprised at the
kind of complaisance with which the historian here insists, in favor of
the persecutors, on some mitigating circumstances allowed at the
death of a man whose only crime was maintaining his own opinions with
frankness and courage.—G.]
88 (return)
[ Pontius, c. 19. M. de Tillemont (Memoires, tom. iv. part
i. p. 450, note 50) is not pleased with so positive an exclusion of any
former martyr of the episcopal rank. * Note: M. de. Tillemont, as an
honest writer, explains the difficulties which he felt about the text of
Pontius, and concludes by distinctly stating, that without doubt there
is some mistake, and that Pontius must have meant only Africa Minor
or Carthage; for St. Cyprian, in his 58th (69th) letter addressed
to Pupianus, speaks expressly of many bishops his colleagues, qui
proscripti sunt, vel apprehensi in carcere et catenis fuerunt; aut qui
in exilium relegati, illustri itinere ed Dominum profecti sunt; aut qui
quibusdam locis animadversi, coeleses coronas de Domini clarificatione
sumpserunt.—G.]
It was in the choice of Cyprian, either to die a martyr, or to live an apostate; but on the choice depended the alternative of honor or infamy. Could we suppose that the bishop of Carthage had employed the profession of the Christian faith only as the instrument of his avarice or ambition, it was still incumbent on him to support the character he had assumed; 89 and if he possessed the smallest degree of manly fortitude, rather to expose himself to the most cruel tortures, than by a single act to exchange the reputation of a whole life, for the abhorrence of his Christian brethren, and the contempt of the Gentile world. But if the zeal of Cyprian was supported by the sincere conviction of the truth of those doctrines which he preached, the crown of martyrdom must have appeared to him as an object of desire rather than of terror. It is not easy to extract any distinct ideas from the vague though eloquent declamations of the Fathers, or to ascertain the degree of immortal glory and happiness which they confidently promised to those who were so fortunate as to shed their blood in the cause of religion. 90 They inculcated with becoming diligence, that the fire of martyrdom supplied every defect and expiated every sin; that while the souls of ordinary Christians were obliged to pass through a slow and painful purification, the triumphant sufferers entered into the immediate fruition of eternal bliss, where, in the society of the patriarchs, the apostles, and the prophets, they reigned with Christ, and acted as his assessors in the universal judgment of mankind. The assurance of a lasting reputation upon earth, a motive so congenial to the vanity of human nature, often served to animate the courage of the martyrs.
The honors which Rome or Athens bestowed on those citizens who had fallen in the cause of their country, were cold and unmeaning demonstrations of respect, when compared with the ardent gratitude and devotion which the primitive church expressed towards the victorious champions of the faith. The annual commemoration of their virtues and sufferings was observed as a sacred ceremony, and at length terminated in religious worship. Among the Christians who had publicly confessed their religious principles, those who (as it very frequently happened) had been dismissed from the tribunal or the prisons of the Pagan magistrates, obtained such honors as were justly due to their imperfect martyrdom and their generous resolution. The most pious females courted the permission of imprinting kisses on the fetters which they had worn, and on the wounds which they had received. Their persons were esteemed holy, their decisions were admitted with deference, and they too often abused, by their spiritual pride and licentious manners, the preeminence which their zeal and intrepidity had acquired. 91 Distinctions like these, whilst they display the exalted merit, betray the inconsiderable number of those who suffered, and of those who died, for the profession of Christianity.
89 (return)
[ Whatever opinion we may entertain of the character or
principles of Thomas Becket, we must acknowledge that he suffered
death with a constancy not unworthy of the primitive martyrs. See Lord
Lyttleton's History of Henry II. vol. ii. p. 592, &c.]
90 (return)
[ See in particular the treatise of Cyprian de Lapsis, p.
87-98, edit. Fell. The learning of Dodwell (Dissertat. Cyprianic. xii.
xiii.,) and the ingenuity of Middleton, (Free Inquiry, p. 162, &c.,)
have left scarcely any thing to add concerning the merit, the honors,
and the motives of the martyrs.]
91 (return)
[ Cyprian. Epistol. 5, 6, 7, 22, 24; and de Unitat.
Ecclesiae. The number of pretended martyrs has been very much
multiplied, by the custom which was introduced of bestowing that
honorable name on confessors. Note: M. Guizot denies that the letters
of Cyprian, to which he refers, bear out the statement in the text. I
cannot scruple to admit the accuracy of Gibbon's quotation. To take only
the fifth letter, we find this passage: Doleo enim quando audio quosdam
improbe et insolenter discurrere, et ad ineptian vel ad discordias
vacare, Christi membra et jam Christum confessa per concubitus illicitos
inquinari, nec a diaconis aut presbyteris regi posse, sed id agere ut
per paucorum pravos et malos mores, multorum et bonorum confessorum
gloria honesta maculetur. Gibbon's misrepresentation lies in the
ambiguous expression "too often." Were the epistles arranged in a
different manner in the edition consulted by M. Guizot?—M.]
The sober discretion of the present age will more readily censure than admire, but can more easily admire than imitate, the fervor of the first Christians, who, according to the lively expressions of Sulpicius Severus, desired martyrdom with more eagerness than his own contemporaries solicited a bishopric. 92 The epistles which Ignatius composed as he was carried in chains through the cities of Asia, breathe sentiments the most repugnant to the ordinary feelings of human nature. He earnestly beseeches the Romans, that when he should be exposed in the amphitheatre, they would not, by their kind but unseasonable intercession, deprive him of the crown of glory; and he declares his resolution to provoke and irritate the wild beasts which might be employed as the instruments of his death. 93 Some stories are related of the courage of martyrs, who actually performed what Ignatius had intended; who exasperated the fury of the lions, pressed the executioner to hasten his office, cheerfully leaped into the fires which were kindled to consume them, and discovered a sensation of joy and pleasure in the midst of the most exquisite tortures. Several examples have been preserved of a zeal impatient of those restraints which the emperors had provided for the security of the church. The Christians sometimes supplied by their voluntary declaration the want of an accuser, rudely disturbed the public service of paganism, 94 and rushing in crowds round the tribunal of the magistrates, called upon them to pronounce and to inflict the sentence of the law. The behavior of the Christians was too remarkable to escape the notice of the ancient philosophers; but they seem to have considered it with much less admiration than astonishment. Incapable of conceiving the motives which sometimes transported the fortitude of believers beyond the bounds of prudence or reason, they treated such an eagerness to die as the strange result of obstinate despair, of stupid insensibility, or of superstitious frenzy. 95 "Unhappy men!" exclaimed the proconsul Antoninus to the Christians of Asia; "unhappy men! if you are thus weary of your lives, is it so difficult for you to find ropes and precipices?" 96 He was extremely cautious (as it is observed by a learned and picus historian) of punishing men who had found no accusers but themselves, the Imperial laws not having made any provision for so unexpected a case: condemning therefore a few as a warning to their brethren, he dismissed the multitude with indignation and contempt. 97 Notwithstanding this real or affected disdain, the intrepid constancy of the faithful was productive of more salutary effects on those minds which nature or grace had disposed for the easy reception of religious truth. On these melancholy occasions, there were many among the Gentiles who pitied, who admired, and who were converted. The generous enthusiasm was communicated from the sufferer to the spectators; and the blood of martyrs, according to a well-known observation, became the seed of the church.
92 (return)
[ Certatim gloriosa in certamina ruebatur; multique avidius
tum martyria gloriosis mortibus quaerebantur, quam nunc Episcopatus
pravis ambitionibus appetuntur. Sulpicius Severus, l. ii. He might have
omitted the word nunc.]
93 (return)
[ See Epist. ad Roman. c. 4, 5, ap. Patres Apostol. tom.
ii. p. 27. It suited the purpose of Bishop Pearson (see Vindiciae
Ignatianae, part ii. c. 9) to justify, by a profusion of examples and
authorities, the sentiments of Ignatius.]
94 (return)
[ The story of Polyeuctes, on which Corneille has founded
a very beautiful tragedy, is one of the most celebrated, though not
perhaps the most authentic, instances of this excessive zeal. We should
observe, that the 60th canon of the council of Illiberis refuses the
title of martyrs to those who exposed themselves to death, by publicly
destroying the idols.]
95 (return)
[ See Epictetus, l. iv. c. 7, (though there is some doubt
whether he alludes to the Christians.) Marcus Antoninus de Rebus suis,
l. xi. c. 3 Lucian in Peregrin.]
96 (return)
[ Tertullian ad Scapul. c. 5. The learned are divided
between three persons of the same name, who were all proconsuls of
Asia. I am inclined to ascribe this story to Antoninus Pius, who was
afterwards emperor; and who may have governed Asia under the reign of
Trajan.]
97 (return)
[ Mosheim, de Rebus Christ, ante Constantin. p. 235.]
But although devotion had raised, and eloquence continued to inflame, this fever of the mind, it insensibly gave way to the more natural hopes and fears of the human heart, to the love of life, the apprehension of pain, and the horror of dissolution. The more prudent rulers of the church found themselves obliged to restrain the indiscreet ardor of their followers, and to distrust a constancy which too often abandoned them in the hour of trial. 98 As the lives of the faithful became less mortified and austere, they were every day less ambitious of the honors of martyrdom; and the soldiers of Christ, instead of distinguishing themselves by voluntary deeds of heroism, frequently deserted their post, and fled in confusion before the enemy whom it was their duty to resist. There were three methods, however, of escaping the flames of persecution, which were not attended with an equal degree of guilt: first, indeed, was generally allowed to be innocent; the second was of a doubtful, or at least of a venial, nature; but the third implied a direct and criminal apostasy from the Christian faith.
98 (return)
[ See the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, ap. Euseb. Hist.
Eccles. Liv. c. 15 * Note: The 15th chapter of the 10th book of the
Eccles. History of Eusebius treats principally of the martyrdom of St.
Polycarp, and mentions some other martyrs. A single example of weakness
is related; it is that of a Phrygian named Quintus, who, appalled at
the sight of the wild beasts and the tortures, renounced his faith. This
example proves little against the mass of Christians, and this chapter
of Eusebius furnished much stronger evidence of their courage than of
their timidity.—G——This Quintus had, however, rashly and of his own
accord appeared before the tribunal; and the church of Smyrna condemn
"his indiscreet ardor," coupled as it was with weakness in the hour of
trial.—M.]
I. A modern inquisitor would hear with surprise, that whenever an information was given to a Roman magistrate of any person within his jurisdiction who had embraced the sect of the Christians, the charge was communicated to the party accused, and that a convenient time was allowed him to settle his domestic concerns, and to prepare an answer to the crime which was imputed to him. 99 If he entertained any doubt of his own constancy, such a delay afforded him the opportunity of preserving his life and honor by flight, of withdrawing himself into some obscure retirement or some distant province, and of patiently expecting the return of peace and security. A measure so consonant to reason was soon authorized by the advice and example of the most holy prelates; and seems to have been censured by few except by the Montanists, who deviated into heresy by their strict and obstinate adherence to the rigor of ancient discipline. 100
II.The provincial governors, whose zeal was less prevalent than their avarice, had countenanced the practice of selling certificates, (or libels, as they were called,) which attested, that the persons therein mentioned had complied with the laws, and sacrificed to the Roman deities. By producing these false declarations, the opulent and timid Christians were enabled to silence the malice of an informer, and to reconcile in some measure their safety with their religion.101 A slight penance atoned for this profane dissimulation. 1011
III. In every persecution there were great numbers of unworthy Christians who publicly disowned or renounced the faith which they had professed; and who confirmed the sincerity of their abjuration, by the legal acts of burning incense or of offering sacrifices. Some of these apostates had yielded on the first menace or exhortation of the magistrate; whilst the patience of others had been subdued by the length and repetition of tortures. The affrighted countenances of some betrayed their inward remorse, while others advanced with confidence and alacrity to the altars of the gods. 102 But the disguise which fear had imposed, subsisted no longer than the present danger. As soon as the severity of the persecution was abated, the doors of the churches were assailed by the returning multitude of penitents who detested their idolatrous submission, and who solicited with equal ardor, but with various success, their readmission into the society of Christians. 103 1031
99 (return)
[ In the second apology of Justin, there is a particular
and very curious instance of this legal delay. The same indulgence was
granted to accused Christians, in the persecution of Decius: and Cyprian
(de Lapsis) expressly mentions the "Dies negantibus praestitutus." *
Note: The examples drawn by the historian from Justin Martyr and Cyprian
relate altogether to particular cases, and prove nothing as to the
general practice adopted towards the accused; it is evident, on the
contrary, from the same apology of St. Justin, that they hardly ever
obtained delay. "A man named Lucius, himself a Christian, present at an
unjust sentence passed against a Christian by the judge Urbicus, asked
him why he thus punished a man who was neither adulterer nor robber,
nor guilty of any other crime but that of avowing himself a Christian."
Urbicus answered only in these words: "Thou also hast the appearance
of being a Christian." "Yes, without doubt," replied Lucius. The judge
ordered that he should be put to death on the instant. A third, who came
up, was condemned to be beaten with rods. Here, then, are three examples
where no delay was granted.——[Surely these acts of a single passionate
and irritated judge prove the general practice as little as those quoted
by Gibbon.—M.] There exist a multitude of others, such as those of
Ptolemy, Marcellus, &c. Justin expressly charges the judges with
ordering the accused to be executed without hearing the cause. The words
of St. Cyprian are as particular, and simply say, that he had appointed
a day by which the Christians must have renounced their faith; those who
had not done it by that time were condemned.—G. This confirms the
statement in the text.—M.]
100 (return)
[ Tertullian considers flight from persecution as an
imperfect, but very criminal, apostasy, as an impious attempt to elude
the will of God, &c., &c. He has written a treatise on this subject,
(see p. 536—544, edit. Rigalt.,) which is filled with the wildest
fanaticism and the most incoherent declamation. It is, however, somewhat
remarkable, that Tertullian did not suffer martyrdom himself.]
101 (return)
[ The libellatici, who are chiefly known by the writings
of Cyprian, are described with the utmost precision, in the copious
commentary of Mosheim, p. 483—489.]
1011 (return)
[ The penance was not so slight, for it was exactly the
same with that of apostates who had sacrificed to idols; it lasted
several years. See Fleun Hist. Ecc. v. ii. p. 171.—G.]
102 (return)
[ Plin. Epist. x. 97. Dionysius Alexandrin. ap. Euseb.
l. vi. c. 41. Ad prima statim verba minantis inimici maximus fratrum
numerus fidem suam prodidit: nec prostratus est persecutionis impetu,
sed voluntario lapsu seipsum prostravit. Cyprian. Opera, p. 89. Among
these deserters were many priests, and even bishops.]
103 (return)
[ It was on this occasion that Cyprian wrote his treatise
De Lapsis, and many of his epistles. The controversy concerning the
treatment of penitent apostates, does not occur among the Christians of
the preceding century. Shall we ascribe this to the superiority of their
faith and courage, or to our less intimate knowledge of their history!]
1031 (return)
[ Pliny says, that the greater part of the Christians
persisted in avowing themselves to be so; the reason for his consulting
Trajan was the periclitantium numerus. Eusebius (l. vi. c. 41) does not
permit us to doubt that the number of those who renounced their faith
was infinitely below the number of those who boldly confessed it. The
prefect, he says and his assessors present at the council, were alarmed
at seeing the crowd of Christians; the judges themselves trembled.
Lastly, St. Cyprian informs us, that the greater part of those who had
appeared weak brethren in the persecution of Decius, signalized
their courage in that of Gallius. Steterunt fortes, et ipso dolore
poenitentiae facti ad praelium fortiores Epist. lx. p. 142.—G.]
IV. Notwithstanding the general rules established for the conviction and punishment of the Christians, the fate of those sectaries, in an extensive and arbitrary government, must still in a great measure, have depended on their own behavior, the circumstances of the times, and the temper of their supreme as well as subordinate rulers. Zeal might sometimes provoke, and prudence might sometimes avert or assuage, the superstitious fury of the Pagans. A variety of motives might dispose the provincial governors either to enforce or to relax the execution of the laws; and of these motives the most forcible was their regard not only for the public edicts, but for the secret intentions of the emperor, a glance from whose eye was sufficient to kindle or to extinguish the flames of persecution. As often as any occasional severities were exercised in the different parts of the empire, the primitive Christians lamented and perhaps magnified their own sufferings; but the celebrated number of ten persecutions has been determined by the ecclesiastical writers of the fifth century, who possessed a more distinct view of the prosperous or adverse fortunes of the church, from the age of Nero to that of Diocletian. The ingenious parallels of the ten plagues of Egypt, and of the ten horns of the Apocalypse, first suggested this calculation to their minds; and in their application of the faith of prophecy to the truth of history, they were careful to select those reigns which were indeed the most hostile to the Christian cause. 104 But these transient persecutions served only to revive the zeal and to restore the discipline of the faithful; and the moments of extraordinary rigor were compensated by much longer intervals of peace and security. The indifference of some princes, and the indulgence of others, permitted the Christians to enjoy, though not perhaps a legal, yet an actual and public, toleration of their religion.
104 (return)
[ See Mosheim, p. 97. Sulpicius Severus was the first
author of this computation; though he seemed desirous of reserving the
tenth and greatest persecution for the coming of the Antichrist.]
The apology of Tertullian contains two very ancient, very singular, but at the same time very suspicious, instances of Imperial clemency; the edicts published by Tiberius, and by Marcus Antoninus, and designed not only to protect the innocence of the Christians, but even to proclaim those stupendous miracles which had attested the truth of their doctrine. The first of these examples is attended with some difficulties which might perplex a sceptical mind. 105 We are required to believe, that Pontius Pilate informed the emperor of the unjust sentence of death which he had pronounced against an innocent, and, as it appeared, a divine, person; and that, without acquiring the merit, he exposed himself to the danger of martyrdom; that Tiberius, who avowed his contempt for all religion, immediately conceived the design of placing the Jewish Messiah among the gods of Rome; that his servile senate ventured to disobey the commands of their master; that Tiberius, instead of resenting their refusal, contented himself with protecting the Christians from the severity of the laws, many years before such laws were enacted, or before the church had assumed any distinct name or existence; and lastly, that the memory of this extraordinary transaction was preserved in the most public and authentic records, which escaped the knowledge of the historians of Greece and Rome, and were only visible to the eyes of an African Christian, who composed his apology one hundred and sixty years after the death of Tiberius. The edict of Marcus Antoninus is supposed to have been the effect of his devotion and gratitude for the miraculous deliverance which he had obtained in the Marcomannic war. The distress of the legions, the seasonable tempest of rain and hail, of thunder and of lightning, and the dismay and defeat of the barbarians, have been celebrated by the eloquence of several Pagan writers. If there were any Christians in that army, it was natural that they should ascribe some merit to the fervent prayers, which, in the moment of danger, they had offered up for their own and the public safety. But we are still assured by monuments of brass and marble, by the Imperial medals, and by the Antonine column, that neither the prince nor the people entertained any sense of this signal obligation, since they unanimously attribute their deliverance to the providence of Jupiter, and to the interposition of Mercury. 106 During the whole course of his reign, Marcus despised the Christians as a philosopher, and punished them as a sovereign. 1061
105 (return)
[ The testimony given by Pontius Pilate is first mentioned
by Justin. The successive improvements which the story acquired (as
if has passed through the hands of Tertullian, Eusebius, Epiphanius,
Chrysostom, Orosius, Gregory of Tours, and the authors of the several
editions of the acts of Pilate) are very fairly stated by Dom Calmet
Dissertat. sur l'Ecriture, tom. iii. p. 651, &c.]
106 (return)
[ On this miracle, as it is commonly called, of the
thundering legion, see the admirable criticism of Mr. Moyle, in his
Works, vol. ii. p. 81—390.]
1061 (return)
[ Gibbon, with this phrase, and that below, which admits
the injustice of Marcus, has dexterously glossed over one of the most
remarkable facts in the early Christian history, that the reign of the
wisest and most humane of the heathen emperors was the most fatal to the
Christians. Most writers have ascribed the persecutions under Marcus to
the latent bigotry of his character; Mosheim, to the influence of the
philosophic party; but the fact is admitted by all. A late writer (Mr.
Waddington, Hist. of the Church, p. 47) has not scrupled to assert, that
"this prince polluted every year of a long reign with innocent blood;"
but the causes as well as the date of the persecutions authorized or
permitted by Marcus are equally uncertain. Of the Asiatic edict recorded
by Melito. the date is unknown, nor is it quite clear that it was an
Imperial edict. If it was the act under which Polycarp suffered, his
martyrdom is placed by Ruinart in the sixth, by Mosheim in the ninth,
year of the reign of Marcus. The martyrs of Vienne and Lyons are
assigned by Dodwell to the seventh, by most writers to the seventeenth.
In fact, the commencement of the persecutions of the Christians appears
to synchronize exactly with the period of the breaking out of the
Marcomannic war, which seems to have alarmed the whole empire, and the
emperor himself, into a paroxysm of returning piety to their gods, of
which the Christians were the victims. See Jul, Capit. Script. Hist
August. p. 181, edit. 1661. It is remarkable that Tertullian (Apologet.
c. v.) distinctly asserts that Verus (M. Aurelius) issued no edicts
against the Christians, and almost positively exempts him from the
charge of persecution.—M. This remarkable synchronism, which explains
the persecutions under M Aurelius, is shown at length in Milman's
History of Christianity, book ii. v.—M. 1845.]
By a singular fatality, the hardships which they had endured under the government of a virtuous prince, immediately ceased on the accession of a tyrant; and as none except themselves had experienced the injustice of Marcus, so they alone were protected by the lenity of Commodus. The celebrated Marcia, the most favored of his concubines, and who at length contrived the murder of her Imperial lover, entertained a singular affection for the oppressed church; and though it was impossible that she could reconcile the practice of vice with the precepts of the gospel, she might hope to atone for the frailties of her sex and profession by declaring herself the patroness of the Christians. 107 Under the gracious protection of Marcia, they passed in safety the thirteen years of a cruel tyranny; and when the empire was established in the house of Severus, they formed a domestic but more honorable connection with the new court. The emperor was persuaded, that in a dangerous sickness, he had derived some benefit, either spiritual or physical, from the holy oil, with which one of his slaves had anointed him. He always treated with peculiar distinction several persons of both sexes who had embraced the new religion. The nurse as well as the preceptor of Caracalla were Christians; 1071 and if that young prince ever betrayed a sentiment of humanity, it was occasioned by an incident, which, however trifling, bore some relation to the cause of Christianity. 108 Under the reign of Severus, the fury of the populace was checked; the rigor of ancient laws was for some time suspended; and the provincial governors were satisfied with receiving an annual present from the churches within their jurisdiction, as the price, or as the reward, of their moderation. 109 The controversy concerning the precise time of the celebration of Easter, armed the bishops of Asia and Italy against each other, and was considered as the most important business of this period of leisure and tranquillity. 110 Nor was the peace of the church interrupted, till the increasing numbers of proselytes seem at length to have attracted the attention, and to have alienated the mind of Severus. With the design of restraining the progress of Christianity, he published an edict, which, though it was designed to affect only the new converts, could not be carried into strict execution, without exposing to danger and punishment the most zealous of their teachers and missionaries. In this mitigated persecution we may still discover the indulgent spirit of Rome and of Polytheism, which so readily admitted every excuse in favor of those who practised the religious ceremonies of their fathers. 111
107 (return)
[ Dion Cassius, or rather his abbreviator Xiphilin, l.
lxxii. p. 1206. Mr. Moyle (p. 266) has explained the condition of the
church under the reign of Commodus.]
1071 (return)
[ The Jews and Christians contest the honor of having
furnished a nurse is the fratricide son of Severus Caracalla. Hist. of
Jews, iii. 158.—M.]
108 (return)
[ Compare the life of Caracalla in the Augustan History,
with the epistle of Tertullian to Scapula. Dr. Jortin (Remarks on
Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 5, &c.) considers the cure of
Severus by the means of holy oil, with a strong desire to convert it
into a miracle.]
109 (return)
[ Tertullian de Fuga, c. 13. The present was made during
the feast of the Saturnalia; and it is a matter of serious concern
to Tertullian, that the faithful should be confounded with the most
infamous professions which purchased the connivance of the government.]
110 (return)
[ Euseb. l. v. c. 23, 24. Mosheim, p. 435—447.]
111 (return)
[ Judaeos fieri sub gravi poena vetuit. Idem etiam de
Christianis sanxit. Hist. August. p. 70.]
But the laws which Severus had enacted soon expired with the authority of that emperor; and the Christians, after this accidental tempest, enjoyed a calm of thirty-eight years. 112 Till this period they had usually held their assemblies in private houses and sequestered places. They were now permitted to erect and consecrate convenient edifices for the purpose of religious worship; 113 to purchase lands, even at Rome itself, for the use of the community; and to conduct the elections of their ecclesiastical ministers in so public, but at the same time in so exemplary a manner, as to deserve the respectful attention of the Gentiles. 114 This long repose of the church was accompanied with dignity. The reigns of those princes who derived their extraction from the Asiatic provinces, proved the most favorable to the Christians; the eminent persons of the sect, instead of being reduced to implore the protection of a slave or concubine, were admitted into the palace in the honorable characters of priests and philosophers; and their mysterious doctrines, which were already diffused among the people, insensibly attracted the curiosity of their sovereign. When the empress Mammaea passed through Antioch, she expressed a desire of conversing with the celebrated Origen, the fame of whose piety and learning was spread over the East. Origen obeyed so flattering an invitation, and though he could not expect to succeed in the conversion of an artful and ambitious woman, she listened with pleasure to his eloquent exhortations, and honorably dismissed him to his retirement in Palestine. 115 The sentiments of Mammaea were adopted by her son Alexander, and the philosophic devotion of that emperor was marked by a singular but injudicious regard for the Christian religion. In his domestic chapel he placed the statues of Abraham, of Orpheus, of Apollonius, and of Christ, as an honor justly due to those respectable sages who had instructed mankind in the various modes of addressing their homage to the supreme and universal Deity. 116 A purer faith, as well as worship, was openly professed and practised among his household. Bishops, perhaps for the first time, were seen at court; and, after the death of Alexander, when the inhuman Maximin discharged his fury on the favorites and servants of his unfortunate benefactor, a great number of Christians of every rank and of both sexes, were involved in the promiscuous massacre, which, on their account, has improperly received the name of Persecution. 117 1171
112 (return)
[ Sulpicius Severus, l. ii. p. 384. This computation
(allowing for a single exception) is confirmed by the history of
Eusebius, and by the writings of Cyprian.]
113 (return)
[ The antiquity of Christian churches is discussed by
Tillemont, (Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. iii. part ii. p. 68-72,)
and by Mr. Moyle, (vol. i. p. 378-398.) The former refers the first
construction of them to the peace of Alexander Severus; the latter, to
the peace of Gallienus.]
114 (return)
[ See the Augustan History, p. 130. The emperor Alexander
adopted their method of publicly proposing the names of those persons
who were candidates for ordination. It is true that the honor of this
practice is likewise attributed to the Jews.]
115 (return)
[ Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. l. vi. c. 21. Hieronym. de
Script. Eccles. c. 54. Mammaea was styled a holy and pious woman, both
by the Christians and the Pagans. From the former, therefore, it was
impossible that she should deserve that honorable epithet.]
116 (return)
[ See the Augustan History, p. 123. Mosheim (p. 465) seems
to refine too much on the domestic religion of Alexander. His design
of building a public temple to Christ, (Hist. August. p. 129,) and the
objection which was suggested either to him, or in similar circumstances
to Hadrian, appear to have no other foundation than an improbable
report, invented by the Christians, and credulously adopted by an
historian of the age of Constantine.]
117 (return)
[ Euseb. l. vi. c. 28. It may be presumed that the success
of the Christians had exasperated the increasing bigotry of the Pagans.
Dion Cassius, who composed his history under the former reign, had
most probably intended for the use of his master those counsels of
persecution, which he ascribes to a better age, and to and to the
favorite of Augustus. Concerning this oration of Maecenas, or rather of
Dion, I may refer to my own unbiased opinion, (vol. i. c. 1, note 25,)
and to the Abbe de la Bleterie (Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxiv. p.
303 tom xxv. p. 432.) * Note: If this be the case, Dion Cassius must
have known the Christians they must have been the subject of his
particular attention, since the author supposes that he wished his
master to profit by these "counsels of persecution." How are we to
reconcile this necessary consequence with what Gibbon has said of the
ignorance of Dion Cassius even of the name of the Christians?
(c. xvi. n. 24.) (Gibbon speaks of Dion's silence, not of his
ignorance.—M) The supposition in this note is supported by no proof; it
is probable that Dion Cassius has often designated the Christians by the
name of Jews. See Dion Cassius, l. lxvii. c 14, lxviii. l—G. On this
point I should adopt the view of Gibbon rather than that of M Guizot.—M]
1171 (return)
[ It is with good reason that this massacre has been
called a persecution, for it lasted during the whole reign of Maximin,
as may be seen in Eusebius. (l. vi. c. 28.) Rufinus expressly confirms
it: Tribus annis a Maximino persecutione commota, in quibus finem et
persecutionis fecit et vitas Hist. l. vi. c. 19.—G.]
Notwithstanding the cruel disposition of Maximin, the effects of his resentment against the Christians were of a very local and temporary nature, and the pious Origen, who had been proscribed as a devoted victim, was still reserved to convey the truths of the gospel to the ear of monarchs. 118 He addressed several edifying letters to the emperor Philip, to his wife, and to his mother; and as soon as that prince, who was born in the neighborhood of Palestine, had usurped the Imperial sceptre, the Christians acquired a friend and a protector. The public and even partial favor of Philip towards the sectaries of the new religion, and his constant reverence for the ministers of the church, gave some color to the suspicion, which prevailed in his own times, that the emperor himself was become a convert to the faith; 119 and afforded some grounds for a fable which was afterwards invented, that he had been purified by confession and penance from the guilt contracted by the murder of his innocent predecessor. 120 The fall of Philip introduced, with the change of masters, a new system of government, so oppressive to the Christians, that their former condition, ever since the time of Domitian, was represented as a state of perfect freedom and security, if compared with the rigorous treatment which they experienced under the short reign of Decius. 121 The virtues of that prince will scarcely allow us to suspect that he was actuated by a mean resentment against the favorites of his predecessor; and it is more reasonable to believe, that in the prosecution of his general design to restore the purity of Roman manners, he was desirous of delivering the empire from what he condemned as a recent and criminal superstition. The bishops of the most considerable cities were removed by exile or death: the vigilance of the magistrates prevented the clergy of Rome during sixteen months from proceeding to a new election; and it was the opinion of the Christians, that the emperor would more patiently endure a competitor for the purple, than a bishop in the capital. 122 Were it possible to suppose that the penetration of Decius had discovered pride under the disguise of humility, or that he could foresee the temporal dominion which might insensibly arise from the claims of spiritual authority, we might be less surprised, that he should consider the successors of St. Peter, as the most formidable rivals to those of Augustus.
118 (return)
[ Orosius, l. vii. c. 19, mentions Origen as the object of
Maximin's resentment; and Firmilianus, a Cappadocian bishop of that age,
gives a just and confined idea of this persecution, (apud Cyprian Epist.
75.)]
119 (return)
[ The mention of those princes who were publicly
supposed to be Christians, as we find it in an epistle of Dionysius of
Alexandria, (ap. Euseb. l. vii. c. 10,) evidently alludes to Philip and
his family, and forms a contemporary evidence, that such a report had
prevailed; but the Egyptian bishop, who lived at an humble distance
from the court of Rome, expresses himself with a becoming diffidence
concerning the truth of the fact. The epistles of Origen (which were
extant in the time of Eusebius, see l. vi. c. 36) would most probably
decide this curious rather than important question.]
120 (return)
[ Euseb. l. vi. c. 34. The story, as is usual, has
been embellished by succeeding writers, and is confuted, with much
superfluous learning, by Frederick Spanheim, (Opera Varia, tom. ii. p.
400, &c.)]
121 (return)
[ Lactantius, de Mortibus Persecutorum, c. 3, 4. After
celebrating the felicity and increase of the church, under a long
succession of good princes, he adds, "Extitit post annos plurimos,
execrabile animal, Decius, qui vexaret Ecclesiam."]
122 (return)
[ Euseb. l. vi. c. 39. Cyprian. Epistol. 55. The see
of Rome remained vacant from the martyrdom of Fabianus, the 20th of
January, A. D. 259, till the election of Cornelius, the 4th of June, A.
D. 251 Decius had probably left Rome, since he was killed before the end
of that year.]
The administration of Valerian was distinguished by a levity and inconstancy ill suited to the gravity of the Roman Censor. In the first part of his reign, he surpassed in clemency those princes who had been suspected of an attachment to the Christian faith. In the last three years and a half, listening to the insinuations of a minister addicted to the superstitions of Egypt, he adopted the maxims, and imitated the severity, of his predecessor Decius. 123 The accession of Gallienus, which increased the calamities of the empire, restored peace to the church; and the Christians obtained the free exercise of their religion by an edict addressed to the bishops, and conceived in such terms as seemed to acknowledge their office and public character. 124 The ancient laws, without being formally repealed, were suffered to sink into oblivion; and (excepting only some hostile intentions which are attributed to the emperor Aurelian 125 the disciples of Christ passed above forty years in a state of prosperity, far more dangerous to their virtue than the severest trials of persecution.
123 (return)
[ Euseb. l. vii. c. 10. Mosheim (p. 548) has very clearly
shown that the praefect Macrianus, and the Egyptian Magus, are one and
the same person.]
124 (return)
[ Eusebius (l. vii. c. 13) gives us a Greek version of this
Latin edict, which seems to have been very concise. By another edict, he
directed that the Coemeteria should be restored to the Christians.]
125 (return)
[ Euseb. l. vii. c. 30. Lactantius de M. P. c. 6. Hieronym.
in Chron. p. 177. Orosius, l. vii. c. 23. Their language is in general
so ambiguous and incorrect, that we are at a loss to determine how far
Aurelian had carried his intentions before he was assassinated. Most of
the moderns (except Dodwell, Dissertat. Cyprian. vi. 64) have seized the
occasion of gaining a few extraordinary martyrs. * Note: Dr. Lardner
has detailed, with his usual impartiality, all that has come down to us
relating to the persecution of Aurelian, and concludes by saying,
"Upon more carefully examining the words of Eusebius, and observing the
accounts of other authors, learned men have generally, and, as I think,
very judiciously, determined, that Aurelian not only intended, but did
actually persecute: but his persecution was short, he having died soon
after the publication of his edicts." Heathen Test. c. xxxvi.—Basmage
positively pronounces the same opinion: Non intentatum modo, sed
executum quoque brevissimo tempore mandatum, nobis infixum est in
aniasis. Basn. Ann. 275, No. 2 and compare Pagi Ann. 272, Nos. 4, 12,
27—G.]
The story of Paul of Samosata, who filled the metropolitan see of Antioch, while the East was in the hands of Odenathus and Zenobia, may serve to illustrate the condition and character of the times. The wealth of that prelate was a sufficient evidence of his guilt, since it was neither derived from the inheritance of his fathers, nor acquired by the arts of honest industry. But Paul considered the service of the church as a very lucrative profession. 126 His ecclesiastical jurisdiction was venal and rapacious; he extorted frequent contributions from the most opulent of the faithful, and converted to his own use a considerable part of the public revenue. By his pride and luxury, the Christian religion was rendered odious in the eyes of the Gentiles. His council chamber and his throne, the splendor with which he appeared in public, the suppliant crowd who solicited his attention, the multitude of letters and petitions to which he dictated his answers, and the perpetual hurry of business in which he was involved, were circumstances much better suited to the state of a civil magistrate, 127 than to the humility of a primitive bishop. When he harangued his people from the pulpit, Paul affected the figurative style and the theatrical gestures of an Asiatic sophist, while the cathedral resounded with the loudest and most extravagant acclamations in the praise of his divine eloquence. Against those who resisted his power, or refused to flatter his vanity, the prelate of Antioch was arrogant, rigid, and inexorable; but he relaxed the discipline, and lavished the treasures of the church on his dependent clergy, who were permitted to imitate their master in the gratification of every sensual appetite. For Paul indulged himself very freely in the pleasures of the table, and he had received into the episcopal palace two young and beautiful women as the constant companions of his leisure moments. 128
126 (return)
[ Paul was better pleased with the title of Ducenarius,
than with that of bishop. The Ducenarius was an Imperial procurator, so
called from his salary of two hundred Sestertia, or 1600l. a year. (See
Salmatius ad Hist. August. p. 124.) Some critics suppose that the bishop
of Antioch had actually obtained such an office from Zenobia, while
others consider it only as a figurative expression of his pomp and
insolence.]
127 (return)
[ Simony was not unknown in those times; and the clergy
some times bought what they intended to sell. It appears that the
bishopric of Carthage was purchased by a wealthy matron, named Lucilla,
for her servant Majorinus. The price was 400 Folles. (Monument. Antiq.
ad calcem Optati, p. 263.) Every Follis contained 125 pieces of silver,
and the whole sum may be computed at about 2400l.]
128 (return)
[ If we are desirous of extenuating the vices of Paul, we
must suspect the assembled bishops of the East of publishing the most
malicious calumnies in circular epistles addressed to all the churches
of the empire, (ap. Euseb. l. vii. c. 30.)]
Notwithstanding these scandalous vices, if Paul of Samosata had preserved the purity of the orthodox faith, his reign over the capital of Syria would have ended only with his life; and had a seasonable persecution intervened, an effort of courage might perhaps have placed him in the rank of saints and martyrs. 1281
Some nice and subtle errors, which he imprudently adopted and obstinately maintained, concerning the doctrine of the Trinity, excited the zeal and indignation of the Eastern churches. 129
From Egypt to the Euxine Sea, the bishops were in arms and in motion. Several councils were held, confutations were published, excommunications were pronounced, ambiguous explanations were by turns accepted and refused, treaties were concluded and violated, and at length Paul of Samosata was degraded from his episcopal character, by the sentence of seventy or eighty bishops, who assembled for that purpose at Antioch, and who, without consulting the rights of the clergy or people, appointed a successor by their own authority. The manifest irregularity of this proceeding increased the numbers of the discontented faction; and as Paul, who was no stranger to the arts of courts, had insinuated himself into the favor of Zenobia, he maintained above four years the possession of the episcopal house and office. 1291 The victory of Aurelian changed the face of the East, and the two contending parties, who applied to each other the epithets of schism and heresy, were either commanded or permitted to plead their cause before the tribunal of the conqueror. This public and very singular trial affords a convincing proof that the existence, the property, the privileges, and the internal policy of the Christians, were acknowledged, if not by the laws, at least by the magistrates, of the empire. As a Pagan and as a soldier, it could scarcely be expected that Aurelian should enter into the discussion, whether the sentiments of Paul or those of his adversaries were most agreeable to the true standard of the orthodox faith. His determination, however, was founded on the general principles of equity and reason. He considered the bishops of Italy as the most impartial and respectable judges among the Christians, and as soon as he was informed that they had unanimously approved the sentence of the council, he acquiesced in their opinion, and immediately gave orders that Paul should be compelled to relinquish the temporal possessions belonging to an office, of which, in the judgment of his brethren, he had been regularly deprived. But while we applaud the justice, we should not overlook the policy, of Aurelian, who was desirous of restoring and cementing the dependence of the provinces on the capital, by every means which could bind the interest or prejudices of any part of his subjects. 130
1281 (return)
[ It appears, nevertheless, that the vices and
immoralities of Paul of Samosata had much weight in the sentence
pronounced against him by the bishops. The object of the letter,
addressed by the synod to the bishops of Rome and Alexandria, was to
inform them of the change in the faith of Paul, the altercations and
discussions to which it had given rise, as well as of his morals and the
whole of his conduct. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. vii c. xxx—G.]
129 (return)
[ His heresy (like those of Noetus and Sabellius, in the
same century) tended to confound the mysterious distinction of the
divine persons. See Mosheim, p. 702, &c.]
1291 (return)
[ "Her favorite, (Zenobia's,) Paul of Samosata, seems to
have entertained some views of attempting a union between Judaism and
Christianity; both parties rejected the unnatural alliance." Hist.
of Jews, iii. 175, and Jost. Geschichte der Israeliter, iv. 167. The
protection of the severe Zenobia is the only circumstance which may
raise a doubt of the notorious immorality of Paul.—M.]
130 (return)
[ Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. l. vii. c. 30. We are entirely
indebted to him for the curious story of Paul of Samosata.]
Amidst the frequent revolutions of the empire, the Christians still flourished in peace and prosperity; and notwithstanding a celebrated aera of martyrs has been deduced from the accession of Diocletian, 131 the new system of policy, introduced and maintained by the wisdom of that prince, continued, during more than eighteen years, to breathe the mildest and most liberal spirit of religious toleration. The mind of Diocletian himself was less adapted indeed to speculative inquiries, than to the active labors of war and government. His prudence rendered him averse to any great innovation, and though his temper was not very susceptible of zeal or enthusiasm, he always maintained an habitual regard for the ancient deities of the empire. But the leisure of the two empresses, of his wife Prisca, and of Valeria, his daughter, permitted them to listen with more attention and respect to the truths of Christianity, which in every age has acknowledged its important obligations to female devotion. 132 The principal eunuchs, Lucian 133 and Dorotheus, Gorgonius and Andrew, who attended the person, possessed the favor, and governed the household of Diocletian, protected by their powerful influence the faith which they had embraced. Their example was imitated by many of the most considerable officers of the palace, who, in their respective stations, had the care of the Imperial ornaments, of the robes, of the furniture, of the jewels, and even of the private treasury; and, though it might sometimes be incumbent on them to accompany the emperor when he sacrificed in the temple, 134 they enjoyed, with their wives, their children, and their slaves, the free exercise of the Christian religion. Diocletian and his colleagues frequently conferred the most important offices on those persons who avowed their abhorrence for the worship of the gods, but who had displayed abilities proper for the service of the state. The bishops held an honorable rank in their respective provinces, and were treated with distinction and respect, not only by the people, but by the magistrates themselves. Almost in every city, the ancient churches were found insufficient to contain the increasing multitude of proselytes; and in their place more stately and capacious edifices were erected for the public worship of the faithful. The corruption of manners and principles, so forcibly lamented by Eusebius, 135 may be considered, not only as a consequence, but as a proof, of the liberty which the Christians enjoyed and abused under the reign of Diocletian. Prosperity had relaxed the nerves of discipline. Fraud, envy, and malice prevailed in every congregation. The presbyters aspired to the episcopal office, which every day became an object more worthy of their ambition. The bishops, who contended with each other for ecclesiastical preeminence, appeared by their conduct to claim a secular and tyrannical power in the church; and the lively faith which still distinguished the Christians from the Gentiles, was shown much less in their lives, than in their controversial writings.
131 (return)
[ The Aera of Martyrs, which is still in use among the
Copts and the Abyssinians, must be reckoned from the 29th of August, A.
D. 284; as the beginning of the Egyptian year was nineteen days earlier
than the real accession of Diocletian. See Dissertation Preliminaire a
l'Art de verifier les Dates. * Note: On the aera of martyrs see the
very curious dissertations of Mons Letronne on some recently discovered
inscriptions in Egypt and Nubis, p. 102, &c.—M.]
132 (return)
[ The expression of Lactantius, (de M. P. c. 15,)
"sacrificio pollui coegit," implies their antecedent conversion to the
faith, but does not seem to justify the assertion of Mosheim, (p. 912,)
that they had been privately baptized.]
133 (return)
[ M. de Tillemont (Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. v. part
i. p. 11, 12) has quoted from the Spicilegium of Dom Luc d'Archeri a
very curious instruction which Bishop Theonas composed for the use of
Lucian.]
134 (return)
[ Lactantius, de M. P. c. 10.]
135 (return)
[ Eusebius, Hist. Ecclesiast. l. viii. c. 1. The reader
who consults the original will not accuse me of heightening the picture.
Eusebius was about sixteen years of age at the accession of the emperor
Diocletian.]
Notwithstanding this seeming security, an attentive observer might discern some symptoms that threatened the church with a more violent persecution than any which she had yet endured. The zeal and rapid progress of the Christians awakened the Polytheists from their supine indifference in the cause of those deities, whom custom and education had taught them to revere. The mutual provocations of a religious war, which had already continued above two hundred years, exasperated the animosity of the contending parties. The Pagans were incensed at the rashness of a recent and obscure sect, which presumed to accuse their countrymen of error, and to devote their ancestors to eternal misery. The habits of justifying the popular mythology against the invectives of an implacable enemy, produced in their minds some sentiments of faith and reverence for a system which they had been accustomed to consider with the most careless levity. The supernatural powers assumed by the church inspired at the same time terror and emulation. The followers of the established religion intrenched themselves behind a similar fortification of prodigies; invented new modes of sacrifice, of expiation, and of initiation; 136 attempted to revive the credit of their expiring oracles; 137 and listened with eager credulity to every impostor, who flattered their prejudices by a tale of wonders. 138 Both parties seemed to acknowledge the truth of those miracles which were claimed by their adversaries; and while they were contented with ascribing them to the arts of magic, and to the power of daemons, they mutually concurred in restoring and establishing the reign of superstition. 139 Philosophy, her most dangerous enemy, was now converted into her most useful ally. The groves of the academy, the gardens of Epicurus, and even the portico of the Stoics, were almost deserted, as so many different schools of scepticism or impiety; 140 and many among the Romans were desirous that the writings of Cicero should be condemned and suppressed by the authority of the senate. 141 The prevailing sect of the new Platonicians judged it prudent to connect themselves with the priests, whom perhaps they despised, against the Christians, whom they had reason to fear. These fashionable Philosophers prosecuted the design of extracting allegorical wisdom from the fictions of the Greek poets; instituted mysterious rites of devotion for the use of their chosen disciples; recommended the worship of the ancient gods as the emblems or ministers of the Supreme Deity, and composed against the faith of the gospel many elaborate treatises, 142 which have since been committed to the flames by the prudence of orthodox emperors. 143
136 (return)
[ We might quote, among a great number of instances, the
mysterious worship of Mythras, and the Taurobolia; the latter of which
became fashionable in the time of the Antonines, (see a Dissertation of
M. de Boze, in the Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ii.
p. 443.) The romance of Apuleius is as full of devotion as of satire. *
Note: On the extraordinary progress of the Mahriac rites, in the West,
see De Guigniaud's translation of Creuzer, vol. i. p. 365, and Note 9,
tom. i. part 2, p. 738, &c.—M.]
137 (return)
[ The impostor Alexander very strongly recommended the
oracle of Trophonius at Mallos, and those of Apollo at Claros and
Miletus, (Lucian, tom. ii. p. 236, edit. Reitz.) The last of these,
whose singular history would furnish a very curious episode, was
consulted by Diocletian before he published his edicts of persecution,
(Lactantius, de M. P. c. 11.)]
138 (return)
[ Besides the ancient stories of Pythagoras and Aristeas,
the cures performed at the shrine of Aesculapius, and the fables related
of Apollonius of Tyana, were frequently opposed to the miracles of
Christ; though I agree with Dr. Lardner, (see Testimonies, vol. iii. p.
253, 352,) that when Philostratus composed the life of Apollonius, he
had no such intention.]
139 (return)
[ It is seriously to be lamented, that the Christian
fathers, by acknowledging the supernatural, or, as they deem it, the
infernal part of Paganism, destroy with their own hands the great
advantage which we might otherwise derive from the liberal concessions
of our adversaries.]
140 (return)
[ Julian (p. 301, edit. Spanheim) expresses a pious joy,
that the providence of the gods had extinguished the impious sects,
and for the most part destroyed the books of the Pyrrhonians and
Epicuraeans, which had been very numerous, since Epicurus himself
composed no less than 300 volumes. See Diogenes Laertius, l. x. c. 26.]
141 (return)
[ Cumque alios audiam mussitare indignanter, et dicere
opportere statui per Senatum, aboleantur ut haec scripta, quibus
Christiana Religio comprobetur, et vetustatis opprimatur auctoritas.
Arnobius adversus Gentes, l. iii. p. 103, 104. He adds very properly,
Erroris convincite Ciceronem... nam intercipere scripta, et publicatam
velle submergere lectionem, non est Deum defendere sed veritatis
testificationem timere.]
142 (return)
[ Lactantius (Divin. Institut. l. v. c. 2, 3) gives a very
clear and spirited account of two of these philosophic adversaries
of the faith. The large treatise of Porphyry against the Christians
consisted of thirty books, and was composed in Sicily about the year
270.]
143 (return)
[ See Socrates, Hist. Ecclesiast. l. i. c. 9, and Codex
Justinian. l. i. i. l. s.]
Although the policy of Diocletian and the humanity of Constantius inclined them to preserve inviolate the maxims of toleration, it was soon discovered that their two associates, Maximian and Galerius, entertained the most implacable aversion for the name and religion of the Christians. The minds of those princes had never been enlightened by science; education had never softened their temper. They owed their greatness to their swords, and in their most elevated fortune they still retained their superstitious prejudices of soldiers and peasants. In the general administration of the provinces they obeyed the laws which their benefactor had established; but they frequently found occasions of exercising within their camp and palaces a secret persecution, 144 for which the imprudent zeal of the Christians sometimes offered the most specious pretences. A sentence of death was executed upon Maximilianus, an African youth, who had been produced by his own father 1441 before the magistrate as a sufficient and legal recruit, but who obstinately persisted in declaring, that his conscience would not permit him to embrace the profession of a soldier. 145 It could scarcely be expected that any government should suffer the action of Marcellus the Centurion to pass with impunity. On the day of a public festival, that officer threw away his belt, his arms, and the ensigns of his office, and exclaimed with a loud voice, that he would obey none but Jesus Christ the eternal King, and that he renounced forever the use of carnal weapons, and the service of an idolatrous master. The soldiers, as soon as they recovered from their astonishment, secured the person of Marcellus. He was examined in the city of Tingi by the president of that part of Mauritania; and as he was convicted by his own confession, he was condemned and beheaded for the crime of desertion. 146 Examples of such a nature savor much less of religious persecution than of martial or even civil law; but they served to alienate the mind of the emperors, to justify the severity of Galerius, who dismissed a great number of Christian officers from their employments; and to authorize the opinion, that a sect of enthusiastics, which avowed principles so repugnant to the public safety, must either remain useless, or would soon become dangerous, subjects of the empire.
144 (return)
[ Eusebius, l. viii. c. 4, c. 17. He limits the number of
military martyrs, by a remarkable expression, of which neither his Latin
nor French translator have rendered the energy. Notwithstanding the
authority of Eusebius, and the silence of Lactantius, Ambrose,
Sulpicius, Orosius, &c., it has been long believed, that the Thebaean
legion, consisting of 6000 Christians, suffered martyrdom by the order
of Maximian, in the valley of the Pennine Alps. The story was first
published about the middle of the 5th century, by Eucherius, bishop of
Lyons, who received it from certain persons, who received it from Isaac,
bishop of Geneva, who is said to have received it from Theodore, bishop
of Octodurum. The abbey of St. Maurice still subsists, a rich monument
of the credulity of Sigismund, king of Burgundy. See an excellent
Dissertation in xxxvith volume of the Bibliotheque Raisonnee,
p. 427-454.]
1441 (return)
[ M. Guizot criticizes Gibbon's account of this incident.
He supposes that Maximilian was not "produced by his father as a
recruit," but was obliged to appear by the law, which compelled the sons
of soldiers to serve at 21 years old. Was not this a law of Constantine?
Neither does this circumstance appear in the acts. His father had
clearly expected him to serve, as he had bought him a new dress for the
occasion; yet he refused to force the conscience of his son. and when
Maximilian was condemned to death, the father returned home in joy,
blessing God for having bestowed upon him such a son.—M.]
145 (return)
[ See the Acta Sincera, p. 299. The accounts of his
martyrdom and that of Marcellus, bear every mark of truth and
authenticity.]
146 (return)
[ Acta Sincera, p. 302. * Note: M. Guizot here justly
observes, that it was the necessity of sacrificing to the gods, which
induced Marcellus to act in this manner.—M.]
After the success of the Persian war had raised the hopes and the reputation of Galerius, he passed a winter with Diocletian in the palace of Nicomedia; and the fate of Christianity became the object of their secret consultations. 147 The experienced emperor was still inclined to pursue measures of lenity; and though he readily consented to exclude the Christians from holding any employments in the household or the army, he urged in the strongest terms the danger as well as cruelty of shedding the blood of those deluded fanatics. Galerius at length extorted 1471 from him the permission of summoning a council, composed of a few persons the most distinguished in the civil and military departments of the state.
The important question was agitated in their presence, and those ambitious courtiers easily discerned, that it was incumbent on them to second, by their eloquence, the importunate violence of the Caesar. It may be presumed, that they insisted on every topic which might interest the pride, the piety, or the fears, of their sovereign in the destruction of Christianity. Perhaps they represented, that the glorious work of the deliverance of the empire was left imperfect, as long as an independent people was permitted to subsist and multiply in the heart of the provinces. The Christians, (it might specially be alleged,) renouncing the gods and the institutions of Rome, had constituted a distinct republic, which might yet be suppressed before it had acquired any military force; but which was already governed by its own laws and magistrates, was possessed of a public treasure, and was intimately connected in all its parts by the frequent assemblies of the bishops, to whose decrees their numerous and opulent congregations yielded an implicit obedience. Arguments like these may seem to have determined the reluctant mind of Diocletian to embrace a new system of persecution; but though we may suspect, it is not in our power to relate, the secret intrigues of the palace, the private views and resentments, the jealousy of women or eunuchs, and all those trifling but decisive causes which so often influence the fate of empires, and the councils of the wisest monarchs. 148
147 (return)
[ De M. P. c. 11. Lactantius (or whoever was the author of
this little treatise) was, at that time, an inhabitant of Nicomedia;
but it seems difficult to conceive how he could acquire so accurate a
knowledge of what passed in the Imperial cabinet. Note: * Lactantius,
who was subsequently chosen by Constantine to educate Crispus, might
easily have learned these details from Constantine himself, already of
sufficient age to interest himself in the affairs of the government,
and in a position to obtain the best information.—G. This assumes the
doubtful point of the authorship of the Treatise.—M.]
1471 (return)
[ This permission was not extorted from Diocletian; he
took the step of his own accord. Lactantius says, in truth, Nec tamen
deflectere potuit (Diocletianus) praecipitis hominis insaniam; placuit
ergo amicorum sententiam experiri. (De Mort. Pers. c. 11.) But this
measure was in accordance with the artificial character of Diocletian,
who wished to have the appearance of doing good by his own impulse and
evil by the impulse of others. Nam erat hujus malitiae, cum bonum quid
facere decrevisse sine consilio faciebat, ut ipse laudaretur. Cum autem
malum. quoniam id reprehendendum sciebat, in consilium multos advocabat,
ut alioram culpao adscriberetur quicquid ipse deliquerat. Lact. ib.
Eutropius says likewise, Miratus callide fuit, sagax praeterea et
admodum subtilis ingenio, et qui severitatem suam aliena invidia vellet
explere. Eutrop. ix. c. 26.—G.——The manner in which the coarse and
unfriendly pencil of the author of the Treatise de Mort. Pers. has drawn
the character of Diocletian, seems inconsistent with this profound
subtilty. Many readers will perhaps agree with Gibbon.—M.]
148 (return)
[ The only circumstance which we can discover, is the
devotion and jealousy of the mother of Galerius. She is described by
Lactantius, as Deorum montium cultrix; mulier admodum superstitiosa. She
had a great influence over her son, and was offended by the disregard of
some of her Christian servants. * Note: This disregard consisted in the
Christians fasting and praying instead of participating in the
banquets and sacrifices which she celebrated with the Pagans. Dapibus
sacrificabat poene quotidie ac vicariis suis epulis exhibebat.
Christiani abstinebant, et illa cum gentibus epulante, jejuniis hi
et oratiomibus insisteban; hine concepit odium Lact de Hist. Pers. c.
11.—G.]
The pleasure of the emperors was at length signified to the Christians, who, during the course of this melancholy winter, had expected, with anxiety, the result of so many secret consultations. The twenty-third of February, which coincided with the Roman festival of the Terminalia, 149 was appointed (whether from accident or design) to set bounds to the progress of Christianity. At the earliest dawn of day, the Praetorian praefect, 150 accompanied by several generals, tribunes, and officers of the revenue, repaired to the principal church of Nicomedia, which was situated on an eminence in the most populous and beautiful part of the city. The doors were instantly broke open; they rushed into the sanctuary; and as they searched in vain for some visible object of worship, they were obliged to content themselves with committing to the flames the volumes of the holy Scripture. The ministers of Diocletian were followed by a numerous body of guards and pioneers, who marched in order of battle, and were provided with all the instruments used in the destruction of fortified cities. By their incessant labor, a sacred edifice, which towered above the Imperial palace, and had long excited the indignation and envy of the Gentiles, was in a few hours levelled with the ground. 151
149 (return)
[ The worship and festival of the god Terminus
are elegantly illustrated by M. de Boze, Mem. de l'Academie des
Inscriptions, tom. i. p. 50.]
150 (return)
[ In our only MS. of Lactantius, we read profectus; but
reason, and the authority of all the critics, allow us, instead of
that word, which destroys the sense of the passage, to substitute
proefectus.]
151 (return)
[ Lactantius, de M. P. c. 12, gives a very lively picture
of the destruction of the church.]
The next day the general edict of persecution was published; 152 and though Diocletian, still averse to the effusion of blood, had moderated the fury of Galerius, who proposed, that every one refusing to offer sacrifice should immediately be burnt alive, the penalties inflicted on the obstinacy of the Christians might be deemed sufficiently rigorous and effectual. It was enacted, that their churches, in all the provinces of the empire, should be demolished to their foundations; and the punishment of death was denounced against all who should presume to hold any secret assemblies for the purpose of religious worship. The philosophers, who now assumed the unworthy office of directing the blind zeal of persecution, had diligently studied the nature and genius of the Christian religion; and as they were not ignorant that the speculative doctrines of the faith were supposed to be contained in the writings of the prophets, of the evangelists, and of the apostles, they most probably suggested the order, that the bishops and presbyters should deliver all their sacred books into the hands of the magistrates; who were commanded, under the severest penalties, to burn them in a public and solemn manner. By the same edict, the property of the church was at once confiscated; and the several parts of which it might consist were either sold to the highest bidder, united to the Imperial domain, bestowed on the cities and corporations, or granted to the solicitations of rapacious courtiers. After taking such effectual measures to abolish the worship, and to dissolve the government of the Christians, it was thought necessary to subject to the most intolerable hardships the condition of those perverse individuals who should still reject the religion of nature, of Rome, and of their ancestors. Persons of a liberal birth were declared incapable of holding any honors or employments; slaves were forever deprived of the hopes of freedom, and the whole body of the people were put out of the protection of the law. The judges were authorized to hear and to determine every action that was brought against a Christian. But the Christians were not permitted to complain of any injury which they themselves had suffered; and thus those unfortunate sectaries were exposed to the severity, while they were excluded from the benefits, of public justice. This new species of martyrdom, so painful and lingering, so obscure and ignominious, was, perhaps, the most proper to weary the constancy of the faithful: nor can it be doubted that the passions and interest of mankind were disposed on this occasion to second the designs of the emperors. But the policy of a well-ordered government must sometimes have interposed in behalf of the oppressed Christians; 1521 nor was it possible for the Roman princes entirely to remove the apprehension of punishment, or to connive at every act of fraud and violence, without exposing their own authority and the rest of their subjects to the most alarming dangers. 153
152 (return)
[ Mosheim, (p. 922—926,) from man scattered passages of
Lactantius and Eusebius, has collected a very just and accurate
notion of this edict though he sometimes deviates into conjecture and
refinement.]
1521 (return)
[ This wants proof. The edict of Diocletian was executed
in all its right during the rest of his reign. Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l
viii. c. 13.—G.]
153 (return)
[ Many ages afterwards, Edward J. practised, with great
success, the same mode of persecution against the clergy of England. See
Hume's History of England, vol. ii. p. 300, last 4to edition.]
This edict was scarcely exhibited to the public view, in the most conspicuous place of Nicomedia, before it was torn down by the hands of a Christian, who expressed at the same time, by the bitterest invectives, his contempt as well as abhorrence for such impious and tyrannical governors. His offence, according to the mildest laws, amounted to treason, and deserved death. And if it be true that he was a person of rank and education, those circumstances could serve only to aggravate his guilt. He was burnt, or rather roasted, by a slow fire; and his executioners, zealous to revenge the personal insult which had been offered to the emperors, exhausted every refinement of cruelty, without being able to subdue his patience, or to alter the steady and insulting smile which in his dying agonies he still preserved in his countenance. The Christians, though they confessed that his conduct had not been strictly conformable to the laws of prudence, admired the divine fervor of his zeal; and the excessive commendations which they lavished on the memory of their hero and martyr, contributed to fix a deep impression of terror and hatred in the mind of Diocletian. 154
154 (return)
[ Lactantius only calls him quidam, et si non recte,
magno tamer animo, &c., c. 12. Eusebius (l. viii. c. 5) adorns him with
secular honora Neither have condescended to mention his name; but the
Greeks celebrate his memory under that of John. See Tillemont, Memones
Ecclesiastiques, tom. v. part ii. p. 320.]
His fears were soon alarmed by the view of a danger from which he very narrowly escaped. Within fifteen days the palace of Nicomedia, and even the bed-chamber of Diocletian, were twice in flames; and though both times they were extinguished without any material damage, the singular repetition of the fire was justly considered as an evident proof that it had not been the effect of chance or negligence. The suspicion naturally fell on the Christians; and it was suggested, with some degree of probability, that those desperate fanatics, provoked by their present sufferings, and apprehensive of impending calamities, had entered into a conspiracy with their faithful brethren, the eunuchs of the palace, against the lives of two emperors, whom they detested as the irreconcilable enemies of the church of God.
Jealousy and resentment prevailed in every breast, but especially in that of Diocletian. A great number of persons, distinguished either by the offices which they had filled, or by the favor which they had enjoyed, were thrown into prison. Every mode of torture was put in practice, and the court, as well as city, was polluted with many bloody executions. 155 But as it was found impossible to extort any discovery of this mysterious transaction, it seems incumbent on us either to presume the innocence, or to admire the resolution, of the sufferers. A few days afterwards Galerius hastily withdrew himself from Nicomedia, declaring, that if he delayed his departure from that devoted palace, he should fall a sacrifice to the rage of the Christians.
The ecclesiastical historians, from whom alone we derive a partial and imperfect knowledge of this persecution, are at a loss how to account for the fears and dangers of the emperors. Two of these writers, a prince and a rhetorician, were eye-witnesses of the fire of Nicomedia. The one ascribes it to lightning, and the divine wrath; the other affirms, that it was kindled by the malice of Galerius himself. 156
155 (return)
[ Lactantius de M. P. c. 13, 14. Potentissimi quondam
Eunuchi necati, per quos Palatium et ipse constabat. Eusebius (l.
viii. c. 6) mentions the cruel executions of the eunuchs, Gorgonius and
Dorotheus, and of Anthimius, bishop of Nicomedia; and both those writers
describe, in a vague but tragical manner, the horrid scenes which were
acted even in the Imperial presence.]
156 (return)
[ See Lactantius, Eusebius, and Constantine, ad Coetum
Sanctorum, c. xxv. Eusebius confesses his ignorance of the cause of this
fire. Note: As the history of these times affords us no example of any
attempts made by the Christians against their persecutors, we have no
reason, not the slightest probability, to attribute to them the fire in
the palace; and the authority of Constantine and Lactantius remains to
explain it. M. de Tillemont has shown how they can be reconciled.
Hist. des Empereurs, Vie de Diocletian, xix.—G. Had it been done by a
Christian, it would probably have been a fanatic, who would have avowed
and gloried in it. Tillemont's supposition that the fire was first
caused by lightning, and fed and increased by the malice of Galerius,
seems singularly improbable.—M.]
As the edict against the Christians was designed for a general law of the whole empire, and as Diocletian and Galerius, though they might not wait for the consent, were assured of the concurrence, of the Western princes, it would appear more consonant to our ideas of policy, that the governors of all the provinces should have received secret instructions to publish, on one and the same day, this declaration of war within their respective departments. It was at least to be expected, that the convenience of the public highways and established posts would have enabled the emperors to transmit their orders with the utmost despatch from the palace of Nicomedia to the extremities of the Roman world; and that they would not have suffered fifty days to elapse, before the edict was published in Syria, and near four months before it was signified to the cities of Africa. 157
This delay may perhaps be imputed to the cautious temper of Diocletian, who had yielded a reluctant consent to the measures of persecution, and who was desirous of trying the experiment under his more immediate eye, before he gave way to the disorders and discontent which it must inevitably occasion in the distant provinces. At first, indeed, the magistrates were restrained from the effusion of blood; but the use of every other severity was permitted, and even recommended to their zeal; nor could the Christians, though they cheerfully resigned the ornaments of their churches, resolve to interrupt their religious assemblies, or to deliver their sacred books to the flames. The pious obstinacy of Felix, an African bishop, appears to have embarrassed the subordinate ministers of the government. The curator of his city sent him in chains to the proconsul. The proconsul transmitted him to the Praetorian praefect of Italy; and Felix, who disdained even to give an evasive answer, was at length beheaded at Venusia, in Lucania, a place on which the birth of Horace has conferred fame. 158 This precedent, and perhaps some Imperial rescript, which was issued in consequence of it, appeared to authorize the governors of provinces, in punishing with death the refusal of the Christians to deliver up their sacred books. There were undoubtedly many persons who embraced this opportunity of obtaining the crown of martyrdom; but there were likewise too many who purchased an ignominious life, by discovering and betraying the holy Scripture into the hands of infidels. A great number even of bishops and presbyters acquired, by this criminal compliance, the opprobrious epithet of Traditors; and their offence was productive of much present scandal and of much future discord in the African church. 159
157 (return)
[ Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiast. tom. v. part i. p. 43.]
158 (return)
[ See the Acta Sincera of Ruinart, p. 353; those of Felix
of Thibara, or Tibiur, appear much less corrupted than in the other
editions, which afford a lively specimen of legendary license.]
159 (return)
[ See the first book of Optatus of Milevis against the
Donatiste, Paris, 1700, edit. Dupin. He lived under the reign of
Valens.]
The copies as well as the versions of Scripture, were already so multiplied in the empire, that the most severe inquisition could no longer be attended with any fatal consequences; and even the sacrifice of those volumes, which, in every congregation, were preserved for public use, required the consent of some treacherous and unworthy Christians. But the ruin of the churches was easily effected by the authority of the government, and by the labor of the Pagans. In some provinces, however, the magistrates contented themselves with shutting up the places of religious worship. In others, they more literally complied with the terms of the edict; and after taking away the doors, the benches, and the pulpit, which they burnt as it were in a funeral pile, they completely demolished the remainder of the edifice. 160 It is perhaps to this melancholy occasion that we should apply a very remarkable story, which is related with so many circumstances of variety and improbability, that it serves rather to excite than to satisfy our curiosity. In a small town in Phrygia, of whose names as well as situation we are left ignorant, it should seem that the magistrates and the body of the people had embraced the Christian faith; and as some resistance might be apprehended to the execution of the edict, the governor of the province was supported by a numerous detachment of legionaries. On their approach the citizens threw themselves into the church, with the resolution either of defending by arms that sacred edifice, or of perishing in its ruins. They indignantly rejected the notice and permission which was given them to retire, till the soldiers, provoked by their obstinate refusal, set fire to the building on all sides, and consumed, by this extraordinary kind of martyrdom, a great number of Phrygians, with their wives and children. 161
160 (return)
[ The ancient monuments, published at the end of Optatus,
p. 261, &c. describe, in a very circumstantial manner, the proceedings
of the governors in the destruction of churches. They made a minute
inventory of the plate, &c., which they found in them. That of the
church of Cirta, in Numidia, is still extant. It consisted of two
chalices of gold, and six of silver; six urns, one kettle, seven lamps,
all likewise of silver; besides a large quantity of brass utensils, and
wearing apparel.]
161 (return)
[ Lactantius (Institut. Divin. v. 11) confines the calamity
to the conventiculum, with its congregation. Eusebius (viii. 11) extends
it to a whole city, and introduces something very like a regular siege.
His ancient Latin translator, Rufinus, adds the important circumstance
of the permission given to the inhabitants of retiring from thence.
As Phrygia reached to the confines of Isauria, it is possible that the
restless temper of those independent barbarians may have contributed to
this misfortune. Note: Universum populum. Lact. Inst. Div. v. 11.—G.]
Some slight disturbances, though they were suppressed almost as soon as excited, in Syria and the frontiers of Armenia, afforded the enemies of the church a very plausible occasion to insinuate, that those troubles had been secretly fomented by the intrigues of the bishops, who had already forgotten their ostentatious professions of passive and unlimited obedience. 162
The resentment, or the fears, of Diocletian, at length transported him beyond the bounds of moderation, which he had hitherto preserved, and he declared, in a series of cruel edicts, 1621 his intention of abolishing the Christian name. By the first of these edicts, the governors of the provinces were directed to apprehend all persons of the ecclesiastical order; and the prisons, destined for the vilest criminals, were soon filled with a multitude of bishops, presbyters, deacons, readers, and exorcists. By a second edict, the magistrates were commanded to employ every method of severity, which might reclaim them from their odious superstition, and oblige them to return to the established worship of the gods. This rigorous order was extended, by a subsequent edict, to the whole body of Christians, who were exposed to a violent and general persecution. 163
Instead of those salutary restraints, which had required the direct and solemn testimony of an accuser, it became the duty as well as the interest of the Imperial officers to discover, to pursue, and to torment the most obnoxious among the faithful. Heavy penalties were denounced against all who should presume to save a prescribed sectary from the just indignation of the gods, and of the emperors. Yet, notwithstanding the severity of this law, the virtuous courage of many of the Pagans, in concealing their friends or relations, affords an honorable proof, that the rage of superstition had not extinguished in their minds the sentiments of nature and humanity. 164
162 (return)
[ Eusebius, l. viii. c. 6. M. de Valois (with some
probability) thinks that he has discovered the Syrian rebellion in
an oration of Libanius; and that it was a rash attempt of the tribune
Eugenius, who with only five hundred men seized Antioch, and might
perhaps allure the Christians by the promise of religious toleration.
From Eusebius, (l. ix. c. 8,) as well as from Moses of Chorene, (Hist.
Armen. l. ii. 77, &c.,) it may be inferred, that Christianity was
already introduced into Armenia.]
1621 (return)
[ He had already passed them in his first edict. It
does not appear that resentment or fear had any share in the new
persecutions: perhaps they originated in superstition, and a specious
apparent respect for its ministers. The oracle of Apollo, consulted
by Diocletian, gave no answer; and said that just men hindered it from
speaking. Constantine, who assisted at the ceremony, affirms, with an
oath, that when questioned about these men, the high priest named the
Christians. "The Emperor eagerly seized on this answer; and drew against
the innocent a sword, destined only to punish the guilty: he instantly
issued edicts, written, if I may use the expression, with a poniard;
and ordered the judges to employ all their skill to invent new modes of
punishment. Euseb. Vit Constant. l. ii c 54."—G.]
163 (return)
[ See Mosheim, p. 938: the text of Eusebius very plainly
shows that the governors, whose powers were enlarged, not restrained, by
the new laws, could punish with death the most obstinate Christians as
an example to their brethren.]
164 (return)
[ Athanasius, p. 833, ap. Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiast. tom v
part i. 90.]
Diocletian had no sooner published his edicts against the Christians, than, as if he had been desirous of committing to other hands the work of persecution, he divested himself of the Imperial purple. The character and situation of his colleagues and successors sometimes urged them to enforce and sometimes inclined them to suspend, the execution of these rigorous laws; nor can we acquire a just and distinct idea of this important period of ecclesiastical history, unless we separately consider the state of Christianity, in the different parts of the empire, during the space of ten years, which elapsed between the first edicts of Diocletian and the final peace of the church.
The mild and humane temper of Constantius was averse to the oppression of any part of his subjects. The principal offices of his palace were exercised by Christians. He loved their persons, esteemed their fidelity, and entertained not any dislike to their religious principles. But as long as Constantius remained in the subordinate station of Caesar, it was not in his power openly to reject the edicts of Diocletian, or to disobey the commands of Maximian. His authority contributed, however, to alleviate the sufferings which he pitied and abhorred. He consented with reluctance to the ruin of the churches; but he ventured to protect the Christians themselves from the fury of the populace, and from the rigor of the laws. The provinces of Gaul (under which we may probably include those of Britain) were indebted for the singular tranquillity which they enjoyed, to the gentle interposition of their sovereign. 165 But Datianus, the president or governor of Spain, actuated either by zeal or policy, chose rather to execute the public edicts of the emperors, than to understand the secret intentions of Constantius; and it can scarcely be doubted, that his provincial administration was stained with the blood of a few martyrs. 166
The elevation of Constantius to the supreme and independent dignity of Augustus, gave a free scope to the exercise of his virtues, and the shortness of his reign did not prevent him from establishing a system of toleration, of which he left the precept and the example to his son Constantine. His fortunate son, from the first moment of his accession, declaring himself the protector of the church, at length deserved the appellation of the first emperor who publicly professed and established the Christian religion. The motives of his conversion, as they may variously be deduced from benevolence, from policy, from conviction, or from remorse, and the progress of the revolution, which, under his powerful influence and that of his sons, rendered Christianity the reigning religion of the Roman empire, will form a very interesting and important chapter in the present volume of this history. At present it may be sufficient to observe, that every victory of Constantine was productive of some relief or benefit to the church.
165 (return)
[ Eusebius, l. viii. c. 13. Lactantius de M. P. c. 15.
Dodwell (Dissertat. Cyprian. xi. 75) represents them as inconsistent
with each other. But the former evidently speaks of Constantius in the
station of Caesar, and the latter of the same prince in the rank of
Augustus.]
166 (return)
[ Datianus is mentioned, in Gruter's Inscriptions, as
having determined the limits between the territories of Pax Julia, and
those of Ebora, both cities in the southern part of Lusitania. If we
recollect the neighborhood of those places to Cape St. Vincent, we may
suspect that the celebrated deacon and martyr of that name had been
inaccurately assigned by Prudentius, &c., to Saragossa, or Valentia.
See the pompous history of his sufferings, in the Memoires de Tillemont,
tom. v. part ii. p. 58-85. Some critics are of opinion, that the
department of Constantius, as Caesar, did not include Spain, which still
continued under the immediate jurisdiction of Maximian.]
The provinces of Italy and Africa experienced a short but violent persecution. The rigorous edicts of Diocletian were strictly and cheerfully executed by his associate Maximian, who had long hated the Christians, and who delighted in acts of blood and violence. In the autumn of the first year of the persecution, the two emperors met at Rome to celebrate their triumph; several oppressive laws appear to have issued from their secret consultations, and the diligence of the magistrates was animated by the presence of their sovereigns. After Diocletian had divested himself of the purple, Italy and Africa were administered under the name of Severus, and were exposed, without defence, to the implacable resentment of his master Galerius. Among the martyrs of Rome, Adauctus deserves the notice of posterity. He was of a noble family in Italy, and had raised himself, through the successive honors of the palace, to the important office of treasurer of the private Jemesnes. Adauctus is the more remarkable for being the only person of rank and distinction who appears to have suffered death, during the whole course of this general persecution. 167
167 (return)
[ Eusebius, l. viii. c. 11. Gruter, Inscrip. p. 1171, No.
18. Rufinus has mistaken the office of Adauctus, as well as the place
of his martyrdom. * Note: M. Guizot suggests the powerful cunuchs of the
palace. Dorotheus, Gorgonius, and Andrew, admitted by Gibbon himself to
have been put to death, p. 66.]
The revolt of Maxentius immediately restored peace to the churches of Italy and Africa; and the same tyrant who oppressed every other class of his subjects, showed himself just, humane, and even partial, towards the afflicted Christians. He depended on their gratitude and affection, and very naturally presumed, that the injuries which they had suffered, and the dangers which they still apprehended from his most inveterate enemy, would secure the fidelity of a party already considerable by their numbers and opulence. 168 Even the conduct of Maxentius towards the bishops of Rome and Carthage may be considered as the proof of his toleration, since it is probable that the most orthodox princes would adopt the same measures with regard to their established clergy. Marcellus, the former of these prelates, had thrown the capital into confusion, by the severe penance which he imposed on a great number of Christians, who, during the late persecution, had renounced or dissembled their religion. The rage of faction broke out in frequent and violent seditions; the blood of the faithful was shed by each other's hands, and the exile of Marcellus, whose prudence seems to have been less eminent than his zeal, was found to be the only measure capable of restoring peace to the distracted church of Rome. 169 The behavior of Mensurius, bishop of Carthage, appears to have been still more reprehensible. A deacon of that city had published a libel against the emperor. The offender took refuge in the episcopal palace; and though it was somewhat early to advance any claims of ecclesiastical immunities, the bishop refused to deliver him up to the officers of justice. For this treasonable resistance, Mensurius was summoned to court, and instead of receiving a legal sentence of death or banishment, he was permitted, after a short examination, to return to his diocese. 170 Such was the happy condition of the Christian subjects of Maxentius, that whenever they were desirous of procuring for their own use any bodies of martyrs, they were obliged to purchase them from the most distant provinces of the East. A story is related of Aglae, a Roman lady, descended from a consular family, and possessed of so ample an estate, that it required the management of seventy-three stewards. Among these Boniface was the favorite of his mistress; and as Aglae mixed love with devotion, it is reported that he was admitted to share her bed. Her fortune enabled her to gratify the pious desire of obtaining some sacred relics from the East. She intrusted Boniface with a considerable sum of gold, and a large quantity of aromatics; and her lover, attended by twelve horsemen and three covered chariots, undertook a remote pilgrimage, as far as Tarsus in Cilicia. 171
168 (return)
[ Eusebius, l. viii. c. 14. But as Maxentius was vanquished
by Constantine, it suited the purpose of Lactantius to place his death
among those of the persecutors. * Note: M. Guizot directly contradicts
this statement of Gibbon, and appeals to Eusebius. Maxentius, who
assumed the power in Italy, pretended at first to be a Christian, to
gain the favor of the Roman people; he ordered his ministers to cease
to persecute the Christians, affecting a hypocritical piety, in order to
appear more mild than his predecessors; but his actions soon proved that
he was very different from what they had at first hoped. The actions
of Maxentius were those of a cruel tyrant, but not those of a persecutor:
the Christians, like the rest of his subjects, suffered from his vices,
but they were not oppressed as a sect. Christian females were exposed to
his lusts, as well as to the brutal violence of his colleague Maximian,
but they were not selected as Christians.—M.]
169 (return)
[ The epitaph of Marcellus is to be found in Gruter,
Inscrip. p 1172, No. 3, and it contains all that we know of his history.
Marcellinus and Marcellus, whose names follow in the list of popes, are
supposed by many critics to be different persons; but the learned Abbe
de Longuerue was convinced that they were one and the same. Veridicus
rector lapsis quia crimina flere Praedixit miseris, fuit omnibus hostis
amarus. Hinc furor, hinc odium; sequitur discordia, lites, Seditio,
caedes; solvuntur foedera pacis. Crimen ob alterius, Christum qui in
pace negavit Finibus expulsus patriae est feritate Tyranni. Haec
breviter Damasus voluit comperta referre: Marcelli populus meritum
cognoscere posset.——We may observe that Damasus was made Bishop of
Rome, A. D. 366.]
170 (return)
[ Optatus contr. Donatist. l. i. c. 17, 18. * Note: The
words of Optatus are, Profectus (Roman) causam dixit; jussus con reverti
Carthaginem; perhaps, in pleading his cause, he exculpated himself,
since he received an order to return to Carthage.—G.]
171 (return)
[ The Acts of the Passion of St. Boniface, which abound in
miracles and declamation, are published by Ruinart, (p. 283—291,) both
in Greek and Latin, from the authority of very ancient manuscripts.
Note: We are ignorant whether Aglae and Boniface were Christians at the
time of their unlawful connection. See Tillemont. Mem, Eccles. Note on
the Persecution of Domitian, tom. v. note 82. M. de Tillemont proves
also that the history is doubtful.—G. ——Sir D. Dalrymple (Lord
Hailes) calls the story of Aglae and Boniface as of equal authority with
our popular histories of Whittington and Hickathrift. Christian
Antiquities, ii. 64.—M.]
The sanguinary temper of Galerius, the first and principal author of the persecution, was formidable to those Christians whom their misfortunes had placed within the limits of his dominions; and it may fairly be presumed that many persons of a middle rank, who were not confined by the chains either of wealth or of poverty, very frequently deserted their native country, and sought a refuge in the milder climate of the West. 1711 As long as he commanded only the armies and provinces of Illyricum, he could with difficulty either find or make a considerable number of martyrs, in a warlike country, which had entertained the missionaries of the gospel with more coldness and reluctance than any other part of the empire. 172 But when Galerius had obtained the supreme power, and the government of the East, he indulged in their fullest extent his zeal and cruelty, not only in the provinces of Thrace and Asia, which acknowledged his immediate jurisdiction, but in those of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, where Maximin gratified his own inclination, by yielding a rigorous obedience to the stern commands of his benefactor. 173 The frequent disappointments of his ambitious views, the experience of six years of persecution, and the salutary reflections which a lingering and painful distemper suggested to the mind of Galerius, at length convinced him that the most violent efforts of despotism are insufficient to extirpate a whole people, or to subdue their religious prejudices. Desirous of repairing the mischief that he had occasioned, he published in his own name, and in those of Licinius and Constantine, a general edict, which, after a pompous recital of the Imperial titles, proceeded in the following manner:—
1711 (return)
[ A little after this, Christianity was propagated to the
north of the Roman provinces, among the tribes of Germany: a multitude
of Christians, forced by the persecutions of the Emperors to take
refuge among the Barbarians, were received with kindness. Euseb. de Vit.
Constant. ii. 53. Semler Select. cap. H. E. p. 115. The Goths owed their
first knowledge of Christianity to a young girl, a prisoner of war;
she continued in the midst of them her exercises of piety; she fasted,
prayed, and praised God day and night. When she was asked what good
would come of so much painful trouble she answered, "It is thus that
Christ, the Son of God, is to be honored." Sozomen, ii. c. 6.—G.]
172 (return)
[ During the four first centuries, there exist few traces
of either bishops or bishoprics in the western Illyricum. It has been
thought probable that the primate of Milan extended his jurisdiction
over Sirmium, the capital of that great province. See the Geographia
Sacra of Charles de St. Paul, p. 68-76, with the observations of Lucas
Holstenius.]
173 (return)
[ The viiith book of Eusebius, as well as the supplement
concerning the martyrs of Palestine, principally relate to the
persecution of Galerius and Maximin. The general lamentations with which
Lactantius opens the vth book of his Divine Institutions allude to their
cruelty.] "Among the important cares which have occupied our mind for
the utility and preservation of the empire, it was our intention to
correct and reestablish all things according to the ancient laws and
public discipline of the Romans. We were particularly desirous of
reclaiming into the way of reason and nature, the deluded Christians who
had renounced the religion and ceremonies instituted by their fathers;
and presumptuously despising the practice of antiquity, had invented
extravagant laws and opinions, according to the dictates of their fancy,
and had collected a various society from the different provinces of our
empire. The edicts, which we have published to enforce the worship of
the gods, having exposed many of the Christians to danger and distress,
many having suffered death, and many more, who still persist in their
impious folly, being left destitute of any public exercise of religion,
we are disposed to extend to those unhappy men the effects of our wonted
clemency. We permit them therefore freely to profess their private
opinions, and to assemble in their conventicles without fear or
molestation, provided always that they preserve a due respect to the
established laws and government. By another rescript we shall signify
our intentions to the judges and magistrates; and we hope that our
indulgence will engage the Christians to offer up their prayers to the
Deity whom they adore, for our safety and prosperity for their own, and
for that of the republic." 174 It is not usually in the language of
edicts and manifestos that we should search for the real character or
the secret motives of princes; but as these were the words of a dying
emperor, his situation, perhaps, may be admitted as a pledge of his
sincerity.
174 (return)
[ Eusebius (l. viii. c. 17) has given us a Greek version,
and Lactantius (de M. P. c. 34) the Latin original, of this memorable
edict. Neither of these writers seems to recollect how directly
it contradicts whatever they have just affirmed of the remorse and
repentance of Galerius. Note: But Gibbon has answered this by his just
observation, that it is not in the language of edicts and manifestos
that we should search * * for the secre motives of princes.—M.]
When Galerius subscribed this edict of toleration, he was well assured that Licinius would readily comply with the inclinations of his friend and benefactor, and that any measures in favor of the Christians would obtain the approbation of Constantine. But the emperor would not venture to insert in the preamble the name of Maximin, whose consent was of the greatest importance, and who succeeded a few days afterwards to the provinces of Asia. In the first six months, however, of his new reign, Maximin affected to adopt the prudent counsels of his predecessor; and though he never condescended to secure the tranquillity of the church by a public edict, Sabinus, his Praetorian praefect, addressed a circular letter to all the governors and magistrates of the provinces, expatiating on the Imperial clemency, acknowledging the invincible obstinacy of the Christians, and directing the officers of justice to cease their ineffectual prosecutions, and to connive at the secret assemblies of those enthusiasts. In consequence of these orders, great numbers of Christians were released from prison, or delivered from the mines. The confessors, singing hymns of triumph, returned into their own countries; and those who had yielded to the violence of the tempest, solicited with tears of repentance their readmission into the bosom of the church. 175
175 (return)
[ Eusebius, l. ix. c. 1. He inserts the epistle of the
praefect.]
But this treacherous calm was of short duration; nor could the Christians of the East place any confidence in the character of their sovereign. Cruelty and superstition were the ruling passions of the soul of Maximin. The former suggested the means, the latter pointed out the objects of persecution. The emperor was devoted to the worship of the gods, to the study of magic, and to the belief of oracles. The prophets or philosophers, whom he revered as the favorites of Heaven, were frequently raised to the government of provinces, and admitted into his most secret councils. They easily convinced him that the Christians had been indebted for their victories to their regular discipline, and that the weakness of polytheism had principally flowed from a want of union and subordination among the ministers of religion. A system of government was therefore instituted, which was evidently copied from the policy of the church. In all the great cities of the empire, the temples were repaired and beautified by the order of Maximin, and the officiating priests of the various deities were subjected to the authority of a superior pontiff destined to oppose the bishop, and to promote the cause of paganism. These pontiffs acknowledged, in their turn, the supreme jurisdiction of the metropolitans or high priests of the province, who acted as the immediate vicegerents of the emperor himself. A white robe was the ensign of their dignity; and these new prelates were carefully selected from the most noble and opulent families. By the influence of the magistrates, and of the sacerdotal order, a great number of dutiful addresses were obtained, particularly from the cities of Nicomedia, Antioch, and Tyre, which artfully represented the well-known intentions of the court as the general sense of the people; solicited the emperor to consult the laws of justice rather than the dictates of his clemency; expressed their abhorrence of the Christians, and humbly prayed that those impious sectaries might at least be excluded from the limits of their respective territories. The answer of Maximin to the address which he obtained from the citizens of Tyre is still extant. He praises their zeal and devotion in terms of the highest satisfaction, descants on the obstinate impiety of the Christians, and betrays, by the readiness with which he consents to their banishment, that he considered himself as receiving, rather than as conferring, an obligation. The priests as well as the magistrates were empowered to enforce the execution of his edicts, which were engraved on tables of brass; and though it was recommended to them to avoid the effusion of blood, the most cruel and ignominious punishments were inflicted on the refractory Christians. 176
176 (return)
[ See Eusebius, l. viii. c. 14, l. ix. c. 2—8. Lactantius
de M. P. c. 36. These writers agree in representing the arts of Maximin;
but the former relates the execution of several martyrs, while the
latter expressly affirms, occidi servos Dei vetuit. * Note: It is
easy to reconcile them; it is sufficient to quote the entire text of
Lactantius: Nam cum clementiam specie tenus profiteretur, occidi servos
Dei vetuit, debilitari jussit. Itaque confessoribus effodiebantur oculi,
amputabantur manus, nares vel auriculae desecabantur. Haec ille moliens
Constantini litteris deterretur. Dissimulavit ergo, et tamen, si quis
inciderit. mari occulte mergebatur. This detail of torments inflicted on
the Christians easily reconciles Lactantius and Eusebius. Those who died
in consequence of their tortures, those who were plunged into the sea,
might well pass for martyrs. The mutilation of the words of Lactantius
has alone given rise to the apparent contradiction.—G. ——Eusebius.
ch. vi., relates the public martyrdom of the aged bishop of Emesa, with
two others, who were thrown to the wild beasts, the beheading of Peter,
bishop of Alexandria, with several others, and the death of Lucian,
presbyter of Antioch, who was carried to Numidia, and put to death in
prison. The contradiction is direct and undeniable, for although
Eusebius may have misplaced the former martyrdoms, it may be doubted
whether the authority of Maximin extended to Nicomedia till after the
death of Galerius. The last edict of toleration issued by Maximin and
published by Eusebius himself, Eccl. Hist. ix. 9. confirms the statement
of Lactantius.—M.]
The Asiatic Christians had every thing to dread from the severity of a bigoted monarch who prepared his measures of violence with such deliberate policy. But a few months had scarcely elapsed before the edicts published by the two Western emperors obliged Maximin to suspend the prosecution of his designs: the civil war which he so rashly undertook against Licinius employed all his attention; and the defeat and death of Maximin soon delivered the church from the last and most implacable of her enemies. 177
177 (return)
[ A few days before his death, he published a very ample
edict of toleration, in which he imputes all the severities which the
Christians suffered to the judges and governors, who had misunderstood
his intentions.See the edict of Eusebius, l. ix. c. 10.]
In this general view of the persecution, which was first authorized by the edicts of Diocletian, I have purposely refrained from describing the particular sufferings and deaths of the Christian martyrs. It would have been an easy task, from the history of Eusebius, from the declamations of Lactantius, and from the most ancient acts, to collect a long series of horrid and disgustful pictures, and to fill many pages with racks and scourges, with iron hooks and red-hot beds, and with all the variety of tortures which fire and steel, savage beasts, and more savage executioners, could inflict upon the human body. These melancholy scenes might be enlivened by a crowd of visions and miracles destined either to delay the death, to celebrate the triumph, or to discover the relics of those canonized saints who suffered for the name of Christ. But I cannot determine what I ought to transcribe, till I am satisfied how much I ought to believe. The gravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius himself, indirectly confesses, that he has related whatever might redound to the glory, and that he has suppressed all that could tend to the disgrace, of religion. 178 Such an acknowledgment will naturally excite a suspicion that a writer who has so openly violated one of the fundamental laws of history, has not paid a very strict regard to the observance of the other; and the suspicion will derive additional credit from the character of Eusebius, 1781 which was less tinctured with credulity, and more practised in the arts of courts, than that of almost any of his contemporaries. On some particular occasions, when the magistrates were exasperated by some personal motives of interest or resentment, the rules of prudence, and perhaps of decency, to overturn the altars, to pour out imprecations against the emperors, or to strike the judge as he sat on his tribunal, it may be presumed, that every mode of torture which cruelty could invent, or constancy could endure, was exhausted on those devoted victims. 179 Two circumstances, however, have been unwarily mentioned, which insinuate that the general treatment of the Christians, who had been apprehended by the officers of justice, was less intolerable than it is usually imagined to have been. 1. The confessors who were condemned to work in the mines were permitted by the humanity or the negligence of their keepers to build chapels, and freely to profess their religion in the midst of those dreary habitations. 180 2. The bishops were obliged to check and to censure the forward zeal of the Christians, who voluntarily threw themselves into the hands of the magistrates. Some of these were persons oppressed by poverty and debts, who blindly sought to terminate a miserable existence by a glorious death. Others were allured by the hope that a short confinement would expiate the sins of a whole life; and others again were actuated by the less honorable motive of deriving a plentiful subsistence, and perhaps a considerable profit, from the alms which the charity of the faithful bestowed on the prisoners. 181 After the church had triumphed over all her enemies, the interest as well as vanity of the captives prompted them to magnify the merit of their respective sufferings. A convenient distance of time or place gave an ample scope to the progress of fiction; and the frequent instances which might be alleged of holy martyrs, whose wounds had been instantly healed, whose strength had been renewed, and whose lost members had miraculously been restored, were extremely convenient for the purpose of removing every difficulty, and of silencing every objection. The most extravagant legends, as they conduced to the honor of the church, were applauded by the credulous multitude, countenanced by the power of the clergy, and attested by the suspicious evidence of ecclesiastical history.
178 (return)
[ Such is the fair deduction from two remarkable passages
in Eusebius, l. viii. c. 2, and de Martyr. Palestin. c. 12. The prudence
of the historian has exposed his own character to censure and suspicion.
It was well known that he himself had been thrown into prison; and it
was suggested that he had purchased his deliverance by some dishonorable
compliance. The reproach was urged in his lifetime, and even in
his presence, at the council of Tyre. See Tillemont, Memoires
Ecclesiastiques, tom. viii. part i. p. 67.]
1781 (return)
[ Historical criticism does not consist in rejecting
indiscriminately all the facts which do not agree with a particular
system, as Gibbon does in this chapter, in which, except at the last
extremity, he will not consent to believe a martyrdom. Authorities are
to be weighed, not excluded from examination. Now, the Pagan historians
justify in many places the detail which have been transmitted to us by
the historians of the church, concerning the tortures endured by
the Christians. Celsus reproaches the Christians with holding their
assemblies in secret, on account of the fear inspired by their
sufferings, "for when you are arrested," he says, "you are dragged to
punishment: and, before you are put to death, you have to suffer all
kinds of tortures." Origen cont. Cels. l. i. ii. vi. viii. passing.
Libanius, the panegyrist of Julian, says, while speaking of the
Christians. "Those who followed a corrupt religion were in continual
apprehensions; they feared lest Julian should invent tortures still more
refined than those to which they had been exposed before, as mutilation,
burning alive, &c.; for the emperors had inflicted upon them all these
barbarities." Lib. Parent in Julian. ap. Fab. Bib. Graec. No. 9, No.
58, p. 283—G. ——This sentence of Gibbon has given rise to several
learned dissertation: Moller, de Fide Eusebii Caesar, &c., Havniae,
1813. Danzius, de Eusebio Caes. Hist. Eccl. Scriptore, ejusque tide
historica recte aestimanda, &c., Jenae, 1815. Kestner Commentatio de
Eusebii Hist. Eccles. conditoris auctoritate et fide, &c. See also
Reuterdahl, de Fontibus Historiae Eccles. Eusebianae, Lond. Goth., 1826.
Gibbon's inference may appear stronger than the text will warrant, yet
it is difficult, after reading the passages, to dismiss all suspicion of
partiality from the mind.—M.]
179 (return)
[ The ancient, and perhaps authentic, account of the
sufferings of Tarachus and his companions, (Acta Sincera Ruinart, p.
419—448,) is filled with strong expressions of resentment and contempt,
which could not fail of irritating the magistrate. The behavior of
Aedesius to Hierocles, praefect of Egypt, was still more extraordinary.
Euseb. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 5. * Note: M. Guizot states, that the
acts of Tarachus and his companion contain nothing that appears dictated
by violent feelings, (sentiment outre.) Nothing can be more painful than
the constant attempt of Gibbon throughout this discussion, to find some
flaw in the virtue and heroism of the martyrs, some extenuation for the
cruelty of the persecutors. But truth must not be sacrificed even to
well-grounded moral indignation. Though the language of these martyrs is
in great part that of calm de fiance, of noble firmness, yet there are
many expressions which betray "resentment and contempt." "Children
of Satan, worshippers of Devils," is their common appellation of the
heathen. One of them calls the judge another, one curses, and declares
that he will curse the Emperors, as pestilential and bloodthirsty
tyrants, whom God will soon visit in his wrath. On the other hand,
though at first they speak the milder language of persuasion, the cold
barbarity of the judges and officers might surely have called forth one
sentence of abhorrence from Gibbon. On the first unsatisfactory answer,
"Break his jaw," is the order of the judge. They direct and witness the
most excruciating tortures; the people, as M. Guizot observers, were so
much revolted by the cruelty of Maximus that when the martyrs appeared
in the amphitheatre, fear seized on all hearts, and general murmurs
against the unjust judge rank through the assembly. It is singular, at
least, that Gibbon should have quoted "as probably authentic," acts so
much embellished with miracle as these of Tarachus are, particularly
towards the end.—M. * Note: Scarcely were the authorities informed of
this, than the president of the province, a man, says Eusebius, harsh
and cruel, banished the confessors, some to Cyprus, others to different
parts of Palestine, and ordered them to be tormented by being set to
the most painful labors. Four of them, whom he required to abjure
their faith and refused, were burnt alive. Euseb. de Mart. Palest. c.
xiii.—G. Two of these were bishops; a fifth, Silvanus, bishop of
Gaza, was the last martyr; another, named John was blinded, but used
to officiate, and recite from memory long passages of the sacred
writings—M.]
180 (return)
[ Euseb. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13.]
181 (return)
[ Augustin. Collat. Carthagin. Dei, iii. c. 13, ap.
Tillanant, Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. v. part i. p. 46. The
controversy with the Donatists, has reflected some, though perhaps a
partial, light on the history of the African church.]
The vague descriptions of exile and imprisonment, of pain and torture, are so easily exaggerated or softened by the pencil of an artful orator, 1811 that we are naturally induced to inquire into a fact of a more distinct and stubborn kind; the number of persons who suffered death in consequence of the edicts published by Diocletian, his associates, and his successors. The recent legendaries record whole armies and cities, which were at once swept away by the undistinguishing rage of persecution. The more ancient writers content themselves with pouring out a liberal effusion of loose and tragical invectives, without condescending to ascertain the precise number of those persons who were permitted to seal with their blood their belief of the gospel. From the history of Eusebius, it may, however, be collected, that only nine bishops were punished with death; and we are assured, by his particular enumeration of the martyrs of Palestine, 182 that no more than ninety-two Christians were entitled to that honorable appellation. 1821 As we are unacquainted with the degree of episcopal zeal and courage which prevailed at that time, it is not in our power to draw any useful inferences from the former of these facts: but the latter may serve to justify a very important and probable conclusion. According to the distribution of Roman provinces, Palestine may be considered as the sixteenth part of the Eastern empire: 183 and since there were some governors, who from a real or affected clemency had preserved their hands unstained with the blood of the faithful, 184 it is reasonable to believe, that the country which had given birth to Christianity, produced at least the sixteenth part of the martyrs who suffered death within the dominions of Galerius and Maximin; the whole might consequently amount to about fifteen hundred, a number which, if it is equally divided between the ten years of the persecution, will allow an annual consumption of one hundred and fifty martyrs. Allotting the same proportion to the provinces of Italy, Africa, and perhaps Spain, where, at the end of two or three years, the rigor of the penal laws was either suspended or abolished, the multitude of Christians in the Roman empire, on whom a capital punishment was inflicted by a judicia, sentence, will be reduced to somewhat less than two thousand persons. Since it cannot be doubted that the Christians were more numerous, and their enemies more exasperated, in the time of Diocletian, than they had ever been in any former persecution, this probable and moderate computation may teach us to estimate the number of primitive saints and martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the important purpose of introducing Christianity into the world.
1811 (return)
[ Perhaps there never was an instance of an author
committing so deliberately the fault which he reprobates so strongly
in others. What is the dexterous management of the more inartificial
historians of Christianity, in exaggerating the numbers of the martyrs,
compared to the unfair address with which Gibbon here quietly dismisses
from the account all the horrible and excruciating tortures which fell
short of death? The reader may refer to the xiith chapter (book
viii.) of Eusebius for the description and for the scenes of these
tortures.—M.]
182 (return)
[ Eusebius de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13. He closes his
narration by assuring us that these were the martyrdoms inflicted in
Palestine, during the whole course of the persecution. The 9th chapter
of his viiith book, which relates to the province of Thebais in Egypt,
may seem to contradict our moderate computation; but it will only lead
us to admire the artful management of the historian. Choosing for the
scene of the most exquisite cruelty the most remote and sequestered
country of the Roman empire, he relates that in Thebais from ten to one
hundred persons had frequently suffered martyrdom in the same day. But
when he proceeds to mention his own journey into Egypt, his language
insensibly becomes more cautious and moderate. Instead of a large, but
definite number, he speaks of many Christians, and most artfully selects
two ambiguous words, which may signify either what he had seen, or
what he had heard; either the expectation, or the execution of the
punishment. Having thus provided a secure evasion, he commits the
equivocal passage to his readers and translators; justly conceiving that
their piety would induce them to prefer the most favorable sense. There
was perhaps some malice in the remark of Theodorus Metochita, that all
who, like Eusebius, had been conversant with the Egyptians, delighted in
an obscure and intricate style. (See Valesius ad loc.)]
1821 (return)
[ This calculation is made from the martyrs, of whom
Eusebius speaks by name; but he recognizes a much greater number.
Thus the ninth and tenth chapters of his work are entitled, "Of
Antoninus, Zebinus, Germanus, and other martyrs; of Peter the monk. of
Asclepius the Maroionite, and other martyrs." [Are these vague contents
of chapters very good authority?—M.] Speaking of those who suffered
under Diocletian, he says, "I will only relate the death of one of
these, from which, the reader may divine what befell the rest." Hist.
Eccl. viii. 6. [This relates only to the martyrs in the royal
household.—M.] Dodwell had made, before Gibbon, this calculation and
these objections; but Ruinart (Act. Mart. Pref p. 27, et seq.) has
answered him in a peremptory manner: Nobis constat Eusebium in historia
infinitos passim martyres admisisse. quamvis revera paucorum nomina
recensuerit. Nec alium Eusebii interpretem quam ipsummet Eusebium
proferimus, qui (l. iii. c. 33) ait sub Trajano plurimosa ex fidelibus
martyrii certamen subiisse (l. v. init.) sub Antonino et Vero
innumerabiles prope martyres per universum orbem enituisse affirmat. (L.
vi. c. 1.) Severum persecutionem concitasse refert, in qua per omnes
ubique locorum Ecclesias, ab athletis pro pietate certantibus, illustria
confecta fuerunt martyria. Sic de Decii, sic de Valeriani,
persecutionibus loquitur, quae an Dodwelli faveant conjectionibus
judicet aequus lector. Even in the persecutions which Gibbon has
represented as much more mild than that of Diocletian, the number of
martyrs appears much greater than that to which he limits the martyrs of
the latter: and this number is attested by incontestable monuments. I
will quote but one example. We find among the letters of St. Cyprian one
from Lucianus to Celerinus, written from the depth of a prison, in which
Lucianus names seventeen of his brethren dead, some in the quarries,
some in the midst of tortures some of starvation in prison. Jussi sumus
(he proceeds) secundum prae ceptum imperatoris, fame et siti necari, et
reclusi sumus in duabus cellis, ta ut nos afficerent fame et siti et
ignis vapore.—G.]
183 (return)
[ When Palestine was divided into three, the praefecture of
the East contained forty-eight provinces. As the ancient distinctions of
nations were long since abolished, the Romans distributed the provinces
according to a general proportion of their extent and opulence.]
184 (return)
[ Ut gloriari possint nullam se innocentium poremisse, nam
et ipse audivi aloquos gloriantes, quia administratio sua, in hac paris
merit incruenta. Lactant. Institur. Divin v. 11.]
We shall conclude this chapter by a melancholy truth, which obtrudes itself on the reluctant mind; that even admitting, without hesitation or inquiry, all that history has recorded, or devotion has feigned, on the subject of martyrdoms, it must still be acknowledged, that the Christians, in the course of their intestine dissensions, have inflicted far greater severities on each other, than they had experienced from the zeal of infidels. During the ages of ignorance which followed the subversion of the Roman empire in the West, the bishops of the Imperial city extended their dominion over the laity as well as clergy of the Latin church. The fabric of superstition which they had erected, and which might long have defied the feeble efforts of reason, was at length assaulted by a crowd of daring fanatics, who from the twelfth to the sixteenth century assumed the popular character of reformers. The church of Rome defended by violence the empire which she had acquired by fraud; a system of peace and benevolence was soon disgraced by proscriptions, war, massacres, and the institution of the holy office. And as the reformers were animated by the love of civil as well as of religious freedom, the Catholic princes connected their own interest with that of the clergy, and enforced by fire and the sword the terrors of spiritual censures. In the Netherlands alone, more than one hundred thousand of the subjects of Charles V. are said to have suffered by the hand of the executioner; and this extraordinary number is attested by Grotius, 185 a man of genius and learning, who preserved his moderation amidst the fury of contending sects, and who composed the annals of his own age and country, at a time when the invention of printing had facilitated the means of intelligence, and increased the danger of detection.
If we are obliged to submit our belief to the authority of Grotius, it must be allowed, that the number of Protestants, who were executed in a single province and a single reign, far exceeded that of the primitive martyrs in the space of three centuries, and of the Roman empire. But if the improbability of the fact itself should prevail over the weight of evidence; if Grotius should be convicted of exaggerating the merit and sufferings of the Reformers; 186 we shall be naturally led to inquire what confidence can be placed in the doubtful and imperfect monuments of ancient credulity; what degree of credit can be assigned to a courtly bishop, and a passionate declaimer, 1861 who, under the protection of Constantine, enjoyed the exclusive privilege of recording the persecutions inflicted on the Christians by the vanquished rivals or disregarded predecessors of their gracious sovereign.
185 (return)
[ Grot. Annal. de Rebus Belgicis, l. i. p. 12, edit. fol.]
186 (return)
[ Fra Paola (Istoria del Concilio Tridentino, l. iii.)
reduces the number of the Belgic martyrs to 50,000. In learning and
moderation Fra Paola was not inferior to Grotius. The priority of time
gives some advantage to the evidence of the former, which he loses, on
the other hand, by the distance of Venice from the Netherlands.]
1861 (return)
[ Eusebius and the author of the Treatise de Mortibus
Persecutorum. It is deeply to be regretted that the history of this
period rest so much on the loose and, it must be admitted, by no means
scrupulous authority of Eusebius. Ecclesiastical history is a solemn
and melancholy lesson that the best, even the most sacred, cause will
eventually the least departure from truth!—M.]