History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne Volume I Part 29

Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus notices (xxvii. 3) the great wealth the Roman bishops of his time had acquired through the gifts of women.

Theodoret (_Hist. Eccl._ ii. 17) gives a curious account of the energetic proceedings of the Roman ladies upon the exile of Pope Liberius.

_ 804 Conj. Praecept._ This pa.s.sage has been thought to refer to the Christians; if so, it is the single example of its kind in the writings of Plutarch.

805 Pliny, in his letter on the Christians, notices that their a.s.semblies were before daybreak. Tertullian and Minucius Felix speak frequently of the "nocturnes convocationes," or "nocturnes congregationes" of the Christians. The following pa.s.sage, which the last of these writers puts into the mouth of a Pagan, describes forcibly the popular feeling about the Christians: "Qui de ultima faece collectis imperitioribus et mulieribus credulis s.e.xus sui facilitate labentibus, plebem profanae conjurationis inst.i.tuunt: quae nocturnis congregationibus et jejuniis solennibus et inhumanis cibis non sacro quodam sed piaculo fderantur, latebrosa et lucifugax natio, in publico muta, in angulis garrula; templa ut busta despiciunt, deos despuunt, rident sacra."-_Octavius._ Tertullian, in exhorting the Christian women not to intermarry with Pagans, gives as one reason that they would not permit them to attend this "nightly convocation." (_Ad Uxorem_, ii. 4.) This whole chapter is a graphic but deeply painful picture of the utter impossibility of a Christian woman having any real community of feeling with a "servant of the devil."

_ 806 De Civ. Dei_, xix. 23.

807 The policy of the Romans with reference to magic has been minutely traced by Maury, _Hist. de la Magie_. Dr. Jeremie conjectures that the exorcisms of the Christians may have excited the antipathy of Marcus Aurelius, he, as I have already noticed, being a disbeliever on this subject. (Jeremie, _Hist. of Church in the Second and Third Cent._ p. 26.) But this is mere conjecture.

808 See the picture of the sentiments of the Pagans on this matter, in Plutarch's n.o.ble _Treatise on Superst.i.tion_.

809 Thus Justin Martyr: "Since sensation remains in all men who have been in existence, and everlasting punishment is in store, do not hesitate to believe, and be convinced that what I say is true....

This Gehenna is a place where all will be punished who live unrighteously, and who believe not that what G.o.d has taught through Christ will come to pa.s.s."-_Apol._ 1. 18-19. Arn.o.bius has stated very forcibly the favourite argument of many later theologians: "c.u.m ergo haec sit conditio futurorum ut teneri et comprehendi nullius possint antic.i.p.ationis attactu: nonne purior ratio est, ex duobus incertis et in ambigua expectatione pendentibus, id potius credere quod aliquas spes ferat, quam omnino quod nullas? In illo enim periculi nihil est, si quod dicitur imminere ca.s.sum fiat et vacuum.

In hoc d.a.m.num est maximum."-_Adv. Gentes_, lib. i

810 The continual enforcement of the duty of belief, and the credulity of the Christians, were perpetually dwelt on by Celsus and Julian.

According to the first, it was usual for them to say, "Do not examine, but believe only." According to the latter, "the sum of their wisdom was comprised in this single precept, believe." The apologists frequently notice this charge of credulity as brought against the Christians, and some famous sentences of Tertullian go far to justify it. See Middleton's _Free Enquiry_, Introd. pp. xcii, xciii.

811 See the graphic picture of the agony of terror manifested by the apostates as they tottered to the altar at Alexandria, in the Decian persecution, in Dionysius apud Eusebius, vi. 41. Miraculous judgments (often, perhaps, the natural consequence of this extreme fear) were said to have frequently fallen upon the apostates. St.

Cyprian has preserved a number of these in his treatise _De Lapsis_.

Persons, when excommunicated, were also said to have been sometimes visibly possessed by devils. See Church, _On Miraculous Powers in the First Three Centuries_, pp. 52-54.

812 "Si quis aliquid fecerit, quo leves hominum animi superst.i.tione numinis terrerentur, Divus Marcus hujusmodi homines in insulam relegari rescripsit," _Dig._ xlviii. t.i.t. 19, l. 30.

813 A number of instances have been recorded, in which the punishment of the Christians was due to their having broken idols, overturned altars, or in other ways insulted the Pagans at their wors.h.i.+p. The reader may find many examples of this collected in Cave's _Primitive Christianity_, part i. c. v.; Kortholt, _De Calumniis contra Christianos_; Barbeyrac, _Morale des Peres_, c. xvii.; Tillemont, _Mem. ecclesiast._ tome vii. pp. 354-355; Ceillier, _Hist. des Auteurs sacres_, tome iii. pp. 531-533. The Council of Illiberis found it necessary to make a canon refusing the t.i.tle of "martyr" to those who were executed for these offences.

814 The first of these anecdotes is told by St. Jerome, the second by St. Clement of Alexandria, the third by St. Irenaeus.

815 The severe discipline of the early Church on this point has been amply treated in Marshall's _Penitential Discipline of the Primitive Church_ (first published in 1714, but reprinted in the library of Anglo-Catholic theology), and in Bingham's _Antiquities of the Christian Church_, vol. vi. (Oxford, 1855). The later saints continually dwelt upon this duty of separation. Thus, "St. Theodore de Pherme disoit, que quand une personne dont nous etions amis estoit tombee dans la fornication, nous devions luy donner la main et faire notre possible pour le relever; mais que s'il estoit tombe dans quelque erreur contre la foi, et qu'il ne voul.u.s.t pas s'en corriger apres les premieres remonstrances, il falloit l'abandonner promptement et rompre toute amitie avec luy, de peur qu'en nous amusant a le vouloir retirer de ce gouffre, il ne nous y entrainast nous-memes."-Tillemont, _Mem. Eccles._ tome xii. p. 367.

816 "Habere jam non potest Deum patrem qui ecclesiam non habet matrem.

Si potuit evadere quisquam qui extra arcam Noe fuit, et qui extra ecclesiam foris fuerit evadit ... hanc unitatem qui non tenet ...

vitam non tenet et salutem ... esse martyr non potest qui in ecclesia non est.... c.u.m Deo manere non possunt qui esse in ecclesia Dei unanimes noluerunt. Ardeant licet flammis et ignibus traditi, vel objecti bestiis animas suas ponunt, non erit illa fidei corona, sed pna perfidiae, nec religiosae virtutis exitus gloriosus sed desperationis interitus. Occidi talis potest, coronari non potest.

Sic se Christianum esse profitetur quo modo et Christum diabolus saepe ment.i.tur."-Cyprian, _De Unit. Eccles._

817 Eusebius, v. 16.

_ 818 Confess._ iii. 11. She was afterwards permitted by a special revelation to sit at the same table with her son!

_ 819 Ep._ xl.

_ 820 Ep._ xviii.

821 Tertull. _De Corona_.

822 Milman's _Hist. of Christianity_, vol. ii. pp. 116-125. It is remarkable that the Serapeum of Alexandria was, in the Sibylline books, specially menaced with destruction.

823 Eunapius, _Lives of the Sophists_. Eunapius gives an extremely pathetic account of the downfall of this temple. There is a Christian account in Theodoret (v. 22). Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria, was the leader of the monks. The Pagans, under the guidance of a philosopher named Olympus, made a desperate effort to defend their temple. The whole story is very finely told by Dean Milman. (_Hist. of Christianity_, vol. iii. pp. 68-72.)

_ 824 Apology_, v. The overwhelming difficulties attending this a.s.sertion are well stated by Gibbon, ch. xvi. Traces of this fable may be found in Justin Martyr. The freedom of the Christian wors.h.i.+p at Rome appears not only from the unanimity with which Christian writers date their troubles from Nero, but also from the express statement in _Acts_ xxviii. 31.

825 "Judaeos, impulsore Chresto, a.s.sidue tumultuantes, Roma expulit."-Sueton. _Claud._ xxv. This banishment of the Jews is mentioned in _Acts_ xviii. 2, but is not there connected in any way with Christianity. A pa.s.sage in Dion Ca.s.sius (lx. 6) is supposed to refer to the same transaction. Lactantius notices that the Pagans were accustomed to call Christus, _Chrestus_: "Eum immutata litera Chrestum solent dicere."-_Div. Inst._ iv. 7.

826 This persecution is fully described by Tacitus (_Annal._ xv. 44), and briefly noticed by Suetonius (_Nero_, xvi.).

827 This has been a matter of very great controversy. Looking at the question apart from direct testimony, it appears improbable that a persecution directed against the Christians on the charge of having burnt Rome, should have extended to Christians who did not live near Rome. On the other hand, it has been argued that Tacitus speaks of them as "haud perinde in crimine incendii, quam odio humani generis convicti;" and it has been maintained that "hatred of the human race" was treated as a crime, and punished in the provinces. But this is, I think, extremely far-fetched; and it is evident from the sequel that the Christians at Rome were burnt as incendiaries, and that it was the conviction that they were not guilty of that crime that extorted the pity which Tacitus notices. There is also no reference in Tacitus to any persecution beyond the walls. If we pa.s.s to the Christian evidence, a Spanish inscription referring to the Neronian persecution, which was once appealed to as decisive, is now unanimously admitted to be a forgery. In the fourth century, however, Sulp. Severus (lib. ii.) and Orosius (_Hist._ vii. 7) declared that general laws condemnatory of Christianity were promulgated by Nero; but the testimony of credulous historians who wrote so long after the event is not of much value. Rossi, however, imagines that a fragment of an inscription found at Pompeii indicates a general law against Christians. See his _Bulletino d'Archeologia Cristiana_ (Roma, Dec. 1865), which, however, should be compared with the very remarkable _Compte rendu_ of M. Aube, _Acad. des Inscrip. et Belles-lettres_, Juin 1866. These two papers contain an almost complete discussion of the persecutions of Nero and Domitian. Gibbon thinks it quite certain the persecution was confined to the city; Mosheim (_Eccl. Hist._ i. p. 71) adopts the opposite view, and appeals to the pa.s.sage in Tertullian (_Ap._ v.), in which he speaks of "leges istae ... quas Traja.n.u.s ex parte frustratus est, vitando inquiri Christianos," as implying the existence of special laws against the Christians. This pa.s.sage, however, may merely refer to the general law against unauthorised religions, which Tertullian notices in this very chapter; and Pliny, in his famous letter, does not show any knowledge of the existence of special legislation about the Christians.

828 Ecclesiastical historians maintain, but not on very strong evidence, that the Church of Rome was founded by St. Peter, A.D. 42 or 44. St.

Paul came to Rome A.D. 61.

829 On this horrible punishment see Juvenal, _Sat._ i. 155-157.

830 Lactantius, in the fourth century, speaks of this opinion as still held by some "madmen" (_De Mort. Persec._ cap. ii.); but Sulp.

Severus (_Hist._ lib. ii.) speaks of it as a common notion, and he says that St. Martin, when asked about the end of the world, answered, "Neronem et Antichristum prius esse venturos: Neronem in occidentali plaga regibus subactis decem, imperaturum, persecutionem autem ab eo hactenus exercendam ut idola gentium coli cogat."-_Dial._ ii. Among the Pagans, the notion that Nero was yet alive lingered long, and twenty years after his death an adventurer pretending to be Nero was enthusiastically received by the Parthians (Sueton. _Nero_, lvii.).

831 See the full description of it in Rossi's _Bulletino d'Archeol.

Crist._ Dec. 1865. Eusebius (iii. 17) and Tertullian (_Apol._ v.) have expressly noticed the very remarkable fact that Vespasian, who was a bitter enemy to the Jews, and who exiled all the leading Stoical philosophers except Musonius, never troubled the Christians.

832 See a pathetic letter of Pliny, lib. iii. _Ep._ xi. and also lib. i.

_Ep._ v. and the _Agricola_ of Tacitus.

833 Euseb. iii. 20.

834 "Praeter caeteros Judaicus fiscus acerbissime actus est. Ad quem deferebantur, qui vel improfessi Judaicam intra urbem viverent vitam, vel dissimulata origine imposita genti tributa non pependissent."-Sueton. _Domit._ xi. Suetonius adds that, when a young man, he saw an old man of ninety examined before a large a.s.sembly to ascertain whether he was circ.u.mcised.

835 Euseb. iii. 18.

836 See the accounts of these transactions in Xiphilin, the abbreviator of Dion Ca.s.sius (lxvii. 14); Euseb. iii. 17-18. Suetonius notices (_Domit._ xv.) that Flavius Clemens (whom he calls a man "contemptissimae inertiae") was killed "ex tenuissima suspicione." The language of Xiphilin, who says he was killed for "impiety and Jewish rites;" the express a.s.sertion of Eusebius, that it was for Christianity; and the declaration of Tertullian, that Christians were persecuted at the close of this reign, leave, I think, little doubt that this execution was connected with Christianity, though some writers have questioned it. At the same time, it is very probable, as Mr. Merivale thinks (_Hist. of Rome_, vol. vii. pp.

381-384), that though the pretext of the execution might have been religious, the real motive was political jealousy. Domitian had already put to death the brother of Flavius Clemens on the charge of treason. His sons had been recognised as successors to the throne, and at the time of his execution another leading n.o.ble named Glabrio was accused of having fought in the arena. Some ecclesiastical historians have imagined that there may have been two Domitillas-the wife and niece of Flavius Clemens. The islands of Pontia and Pandataria were close to one another.

837 "Tentaverat et Domitia.n.u.s, portio Neronis de crudelitate; sed qua et h.o.m.o facile cptum repressit, rest.i.tutis etiam quos relegaverat."

(_Apol._ 5.) It will be observed that Tertullian makes no mention of any punishment more severe than exile.

838 Euseb. iii. 20.

_ 839 De Mort. Persec._ iii.

840 Xiphilin, lxviii. 1. An annotator to Mosheim conjectures that the edict may have been issued just before the death of the emperor, but not acted on till after it.

841 Euseb. iv. 26. The whole of this apology has been recently recovered, and translated into Latin by M. Renan in the _Spicilegium Solesmense_.

_ 842 Apol._ 5.

843 Lactant. _De Mort. Persec._ 3-4.

844 Pliny, _Ep._ x. 97-98.

845 Euseb. lib. iii.