tihrary of Che t:heolo0(cal ^tminary PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY FROM THE LIBRARY OF ROBERT ELLIOTT SPEER iLlI?/whfem Mitchell, 1851-1939. The church in the Roman i __ empire bef9re A.D. 170 Mi^kn. HtiV/lu^U<^ /IDansfielt) Colleae Xectutes. THE CHURCH IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE BEFORE A.D. 170. MANSFIELD COLLEGE LECTURES, 1892 »' iSiW* OF ^ J'JL 2 1959 >«; .% THE CHURCH ^^6vat stviv*^ iSJ>. THE ROMAN EMPIRE Before a.d. 170 W. M. RAMSAY, M. A., PROFESSOR OF HUMANITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN; FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL ARCH.EOLOGY, AND FELLOW OF EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD ; AUTHOR OF "the HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ASIA MINOR," ETC. WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK 27 WEST TWKNTY-THIKD STREET r.ONDON 24 BEDFORD STREET, STRAND S^t !)^nichtrbccKcr ^rtss Copyright, 1893 By G. p. PUTNAM'S SONS A. M. R. PREFACE. THIS work originates from the invitation with which the Council of Mansfield College, Oxford, honoured me in the end of July 1891, to give a course of six lectures there in May-June 1892. The opinion of Dr. Fairbairn, Dr. Sanday, and other friends encouraged me to hope that faults of execution — of which I was and am painfully con- scious— did not wholly obscure a good idea in them ; and it is at their advice that the present book appears. The lectures are almost entirely rewritten (except Chap. IX.), and are enlarged by the addition of Part I. and in other respects, which need not be specified ; but they retain their original character as lectures, intended rather to stimulate interest and research in students than to attain scientific completeness and order of exposition. They exemplify to younger students the method of applying archaeological, topographical, and numismatic evidence to the investiga- tion of early Christian history ; and, as I always urge on my pupils, their aim is to suggest to others how to treat the subject better than I can. viii Preface. The books of the New Testament are treated here simply as authorities for history ; and their credit is estimated on the same principles as that of other historical documents. If I reach conclusions very different from those of the school of criticism whose originators and chief exponents are German, it is not that I differ from their method. I fully accept their principle, that the sense of these docu- ments can be ascertained only by resolute criticism ; but I think that they have often carried out their principle badly, and that their criticism often offends against critical method. True criticism must be sympathetic ; but in investigations into religion, Greek, Roman, and Christian alike, there appears to me, if I may venture to say so, to be in many German scholars (the greatest excepted) a lack of that instinctive sympathy with the life and nature of a people which is essential to the right use of critical pro- cesses. For years, with much interest and zeal, but with little knowledge, I followed the critics and accepted their results. In recent years, as I came to understand Roman history better, I have realised that, in the case of almost all the books of the New Testament, it is as gross an outrage on criticism to hold them for second-century forgeries as it would be to class the works of Horace and Virgil as forgeries of the time of Nero. Some German reviewers have taxed me with unfair depreciation of German authorities. The accusation must Preface. ix seem to my English friends and pupils a retribution for the persistence with which I have urged the necessity of studying German method. None admires and reverences German scholarship more than I do ; but it has not taught me to be blind to faults, or to be afraid to speak out. I cannot sufficiently acknowledge my debt to various friends, chiefly to Dr. Sanday ; also to Dr. Hort, Dr. Fairbairn, Mr. Armitage Robinson, Mr. A. C. Headlam, etc. From the discriminating criticism of Mr. Vernon Bartlet I have gained much : the pages on i Peter were doubled in meeting his arguments. My old friend of undergraduate days, Mr. Macdonell, formerly of Balliol College, gave me especially great help throughout the first fourteen chapters. In the index I have been aided by my pupil, Mr. A. Souter, now of Caius College. A special tribute is due to two writers. Lightfoot's Ignatius and Polycarp has been my constant companion ; yet my admiration for his historical perception, his breadth of knowledge and his honesty of statement, and my grateful recollection of much kindly encouragement received from him personally, do not prevent me from stating frankly where I am bound to differ from him. Mommsen's review of Neumann explained certain diffi- culties that long puzzled me ; and the lectures attempt, however imperfectly, to apply principles learned mainly from his various writings. X Preface. Of many shortcomings I regret most the following. An account of the organisations permitted by the Empire, especially the Augustales, would illustrate by contrast the position of the Church. The evidence of Hermas was omitted from ch. xiii., because I had to put him before A.D. 112, and this date would not be generally considered to strengthen my argument. The discussion of Codex BezcB should have been concentrated in one chapter, and carried out to illustrate, by comparison with Acta Theklce, the character of the Church in Asia about 130 A.D. In palliation of many faults I may plead the want of a good library and the pressure of other duties. As the whole work is due to my explorations in Asia Minor, I hope it may stimulate the progress of discovery in that land, which at present conceals within it the answer to many pressing problems of history ; and, perhaps, may even prevent my researches from coming to an end. Next to further exploration and excavation, the greatest desideratum is a society to study and edit the acta of the Eastern Saints. Aberdeen, Januaryz^rd, 1893. CONTENTS. PART I.— EARLIEST STAGE: ST. PAUL IN ASIA MINOR, CHAPTER I. PAGE GENERAL ,, • • ' 3 1. Plan of the work 3 : 2. The Travel-Document 6 : 3. The Churches of Galatia 8: 4. Social Condition of Asia Minor, A.D. 50-60, 11: Note 13. " CHAPTER II. LOCALITIES OF THE FIRST JOURNEY ..... 16 1. Pamphylia 16 : 2. Pisidia and Ayo Paulo 18 : 3. Pisidian Antioch 25 : 4. Route from Antioch to Iconium 27 : 6. Iconium 36 : 6. Lystra 47 : 7, Derbe 54 : 8. Character of Lycaonia in the First Century 56. CHAPTER III. THE FIRST JOURNEY AS A NARRATIVE OF TRAVEL . . 59 CHAPTER IV. THE SECOND JOURNEY 74 xli Contents. CHAPTER V. PACK THE THIRD JOURNEY 90 CHAPTER VI. THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATTANS 97 1. Arguments founded on the Epistle 97 : 2. St. Paul's feelings towards the Galatian Churches : 3. Arguments for the North-Gaiatian theory 105 : 4. Analogy of i Peter no : 5. Change in the meaning of the name Galatia iii. CHAPTER VII. ST. PAUL AT EPHESUS 1x2 1. Demetrius the Neopoios 113 : 2. Acts xix. 23-41, 114 : 3. Demetrius the Neopoios and Demetrius the Silversmith 118 : 4. Action of the Priests of Artemis 120 : 5. Shrines of Artemis 123 : 6. Attitude of the Ephesian officials towards Paul 129 : 7. Fate of the silver shrines 134 : 8. Great Artemis 135 : 9. Text of Acts xix. 23-41, 139 : 10. Historical character of the narrative Acts xix. 23-41, 143. CHAPTER VIII. THE ORIGINAL AUTHORITY FOR ST. PAUL'S JOURNEYS : VALUE AND TEXT I46 1. Rapid spread of Christianity in Asia Minor 147 : 2. Distinction of Authorship 148 : 3. Text of Codex BezcB : Asia Minor 151 : 4. Text of Codex BezcB : Europe 156 : 5. Codex BezcB founded on a Catholic Recension 161 : 6. Postscript : Spitta's Apostelgeschichte 166. Contents. xiii PART II.— A.D. 64—170: . BEING LECTURES A I MANSFIELD COLLEGE, OXFORD, MAY AND JUNE, 1892. CHAPTER IX. PAGE SUBJECT AND METHOD . . . , , . . • I7I 1. Aspect of history here treated 172 : 2. Connexion between Church history and the life of the period 173 : 3. The authorities : date 177 : 4. The authorities : trustworthiness 182 : 6. Results of separating Church history from Imperial history 185 : 6. The point of view 190. CHAPTER X. PLINY'S REPORT AND TRAJAN'S RESCRIPT . . . . I96 1. Preliminary considerations 196 : 2. The religious question in Bithynia-Pontus 198 : 3. First and second stage of the trials 201 : 4. Pliny's attitude towards the Christians 205 : 5. The case was administrative, not legal 207 : 6. Pliny's questions and Trajan's reply 211: 7. The Christians were not punished as a Sodalilas 213: 8. Procedure 215 : 9. Additional Details 219 : 10. Recapitulation 222 : 11. Topography. CHAPTER XI. THE ACTION OF NERO TOWARDS THE CHRISTIANS , . 226 1. Tacitus Annals xv. 44, 227 : 2, The evidence of Suetonius 229 : 3. First stage in Nero's action 232 : 4. Second stage : charge of hostility to society 234 : 6. Crime which the Christians confessed 238 : 6. Character, duration, and extent of the Neronian persecution 240 : 7. Principle of Nero's action 242 : 8. Evidence of Christian documents 245. xiv Contents, CHAPTER XII. THE FLAVIAN POLICY TOWARDS THE CHURCH , , , 252 1. Tacitus' conception of the Flavian policy 253 : 2. Confirmation of Nero's policy by Vespasian 256 ; 3. The Persecution of Domitian 259 : 4. Bias of Dion Cassius 263 : 6. Difference of policy towards Jews and Christians 264 : 6. The executions of a.d. 95 an incident of the general policy 268 : 7. The evidence of Suetonius about the executions of A.D. 95, 271 : 8. The Flavian action was poUtical in character 274. CHAPTER XIII. CHRISTIAN AUTHORITIES FOR THE FLAVIAN PERIOD . . 279 1. The first Epistle of Peter 279 : 2. Later Date assigned to i Peter 288 : 3. Official action implied in i Peter 290 : 4. The evidence of the Apocalypse 295 : 5. The first Epistle of John 302 : 6. Hebrews and Barnabas 306 : 7. The Epistle of Clement 309 : 8. The letters of Ignatius 311. CHAPTER XIV. THE POLICY OF HADRIAN, PIUS, AND MARCUS . . . 32O 1. Hadrian 320 ; 2. Pius 331 : 3. Marcus Aurelius 334 : 4. The Apologists 340. CHAPTER XV. CAUSE AND EXTENT OF PERSECUTION 346 1. Popular hatred al the Christians 346 : 2. Real cause of State persecution 354 : 3. Organisation of the Church 361 : Note 374. CHAPTER XVI. THE ACTA OF PAUL AND THEKLA ...,;. 375 1. The Acta in their extant form 375 : 2. Queen Tryphaena 382 : 3. Localities of the tale of Thekla 390 : 4. The trials at Iconium 391 : 5. The trial of Thekla at Antioch 395 : 6. Punishment and escape of Thekla 401 : 7. The original tale of Thekla 409 : 8. Revision of the tale of Thekla, A.D. 130-50, 416 : 9. The Iconian legend of Thekla 423 : Notes 426. Contents. xv CHAPTER XVII. THE CHURCH FROM 120 TO 17O A.D 429 NOTES .••... ..••• 442 CHAPTER XVIII. GLYCERIUS THE DEACON 443 CHAPTER XIX. THE MIRACLE AT KHONAI 465 NOTES 480 INDEX 481 NOTES ON ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS 494 VIEW OF THE SITE OF LYSTRA . , , . facing^. 47 VIEW OF THE SITE OF DERBE . , , facing p. 55 EARLY CHRISTIAN MONUMENT FROM PRYMNESSOS facing^. 44I MAP OF ASIA MINOR ABOUT A.D. 50-70 . • in ;pocket at end MAP OF THE LYCUS VALLEY facing -p. ^"JZ THE CHURCH IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. PART I. — EARLIEST STAGE : ST. PAUL IN ASIA MINOR, CHAPTER I. GENERAL. I. Plan of the Work. IN view of the important part played by the churches of Asia in the development of Christianity during the period 70-170 A.D.,* the proper preliminary to the subject which is treated in this book would be a study of the social and political condition of Asia Minor about the middle of the first century of our era. Such a task is too great for the narrow limits of present knowledge. In place of such a preliminary study, it appeared a more prudent course to describe the travels of St. Paul in the country, as affording a series of pictures of single scenes, each simple and slight in character, and each showing some special feature of the general life of society. f But while chronological considerations require that these chapters be placed as a preliminary part, they are, alike in conception and in execution, later than the body of the book. The writer, while composing the opening chapters, had the rest of the work already clear in his mind ; and there has been unconsciously a tendency to write as if the views • See below, p. 171. t Perhaps at some later date, when the investigations, studies, and travel necessary for a projected historical work are completed, it may be possible to paint a general picture of the state of society in the first century. s S/. Paul in Asia Minor stated in the main body of the work were familiar to the reader. In the preliminary part it is important to observe any faint signs of the later idea that Christianity was the religion of the Empire. We trace the rise of this idea from the time when Paul went from Perga into the province Galatia " to the work " (Acts xiii. 14, xv. 38.) The discussion which is here given of the missionary journeys of St. Paul in Asia Minor is not intended to be complete. It is unnecessary to repeat what has already been well stated by others. The writer presupposes throughout the discussion a general familiarity with the previous descriptions of the journeys. His intention has been to avoid saying again what has been rightly said in the works of Conybeare and Howson, of Lewin, of Farrar, etc. ; and merely to bring together the ideas which have been suggested to him by long familiarity with the locali- ties, and which seemed to correct, or to advance beyond, the views stated in the modern biographies of St. Paul, and in the Commentaries on the Acts and the Epistles.* The notes which follow may perhaps seem to be unneces- sarily minute ; but the reason for their existence lies in the fact that it is important to weigh accurately and minutely minute details. Fidelity to the character and circumstances of the country and people is an important criterion in estimating the narrative of St. Paul's journeys ; and such fidelity is most apparent in slight details, many of which have, so far as I can discover, hitherto escaped notice. The writer's subject is restricted to the country with which he has had the opportunity of acquiring unusual familiarity, * Considerable parts of Chapters I., II., III. appeared in the Expositor, January, September, October, and November, 1892. /. General. 5 and about which many false opinions have become part of the stock of knowledge handed down through a succession of commentators. Even that most accurate of writers, the late Bishop Lightfoot, had not in his earlier works suc- ceeded in emancipating himself from the traditional miscon- ceptions ; we observe in his successive writings a continuous progress towards the accurate knowledge of Asia Minor which is conspicuous in his work on Ignatius and Polycarp. But in his early work, the edition of the Epistle to the Galatians, there is shown, so far as Asia Minor is concerned, little or no superiority to the settled erroneousness of view and of statement which still characterises the recent com- mentaries of Wendt and Lipsius ; * and only a few signs appear of his later fixed habit of recurring to original authorities about the country, and setting the words of St. Paul in their local and historical surroundings, a habit which contrasts strongly with the satisfied acquiescence of Lipsius and Wendt in the hereditary circle of knowledge or error. The present writer is under great obligations to both of them, and desires to acknowledge his debt fully ; but the vice of many modern German discussions of the early history of Christianity — viz., falseness to the facts * Wendt's sixth (seventh) edition of Meyer's Handbuch iiber die Apostelgeschichte, Gottingen, 1888 ; Lipsius' edition of Epistle to the Galatians in Holtzmann's Handcommentar zum N.T., ii. 2, Freiburg, 1891. These works are referred to throughout the eight opening chapters simply as Wendt and Lipsius. I am sorry to speak unfavourably of Lipsius so soon after his lamented death ; but my criticism refers only to his statements about the antiquities of Asia Minor. The obscurity of this subject does not justify wrong statements, and inferences founded on them. Harnack's excellent edition of Acta Carpi shows how a judicious reticence may be observed in cases where certainty is unattainable. SL Paul in Asia Minor. of contemporary life and the general history of the period — is becoming stereotyped and intensified by long repetition in the most recent commentators, and some criticism and protest against their treatment of the subject are required.* I regret to be compelled in these earlier chapters to disagree so much with Lightfoot's views as stated in his edition of Galatians : perhaps therefore I may be allowed to say that the study of that work, sixteen years ago, marks an epoch in my thoughts and the beginning of my admiration for St. Paul and for him.f 2. The " Travel-Document." In order to put the reader on his guard, it is only fair to state at the outset that the writer has a definite aim — viz., by minutely examining the journeys in Asia Minor to show that the account given in Acts of St. Paul's journeys is founded on, or perhaps actually incorporates, an account written down under the immediate influence of Paul him- * It is hardly necessary to say that my criticism is directed against one single aspect of modem German work in early Christian history. Of the value, suggestiveness, and originality of that work no one can have a higher opinion than I ; but I cannot agree with certain widely accepted views as to the relation of the early Christians to the society and the government of Asia Minor and of the Empire generally. t The Epistle to the Galatians formed part of the Pass Divinity Examination in the Final Schools at Oxford. It is only fair to acknowledge how much I gained from an examination which I sub- mitted to with great reluctance. Immersed as I was at the time in Greek Philosophy, it appeared to me that Paul was the first true successor of Aristotle, and his work a great relief after the unen- durable dreariness of the Greek Stoics and the dulness of the Epicureans. /. General. 7 self. This original account was characterised by a system of nomenclature different from that which is employed by the author of some of the earlier chapters of Acts : it used territorial names in the Roman sense, like Paul's Epistles, whereas the author of chap, ii., ver. 9, uses them in the popular Greek sense ; and it showed a degree of accuracy which the latter was not able to attain.* In carrying out this aim, it will be necessary to differ in some passages of Acts from the usual interpretation, and the reasons for this divergence can be appreciated only by careful attention to rather minute details. For the sake of brevity, I shall, so far as regard for clearness permits, venture to refer for some details to a larger work,t whose results are here applied to the special purpose of illustrating this part of the Acts ; but I hope to make the exposition and arguments complete in themselves. As this idea, that the narrative of St. Paul's journeys, or at least parts of it, had an independent existence before it was utilised or incorporated in Acts, must be frequently referred to in the following pages, the supposed original document will be alluded to as the " Travel Docu- ment." The exact relation of this document to the form which appears in Acts is difficult to determine. It may have been modified or enlarged ; but I cannot enter on this subject. My aim is only to investigate the traces of • The general agreement of this view with that stated by Wendt, pp. 23 and 278, is obvious ; and certain differences also are not difficult to detect. He dates the composition of Acts between 75 and 100 A. D., and holds that the original document alone was the work of Luke. t Historical Geography of Asia Minor, where I have discussed the points more fully. 8 St. Paul in Asia Minor. minute fidelity to the actual facts of contemporary society and life, which stamp this part of Acts as, in part or in whole, a trustworthy historical authority, dating from 62-4 A.D. I hope to show that, when once we place ourselves at the proper point of view, the interpretation of the " Travel- Document " as a simple, straightforward, historical testimony offers itself with perfect ease, and that it confirms and completes our knowledge of the country acquired from other sources in a way which proves its ultimate origin from a person acquainted with the actual circumstances. If this attempt be successful, it follows that the original document was composed under St. Paul's own influence,* for only he was present on all the occasions which are described with conspicuous vividness. 3. The Churches of Galatia. For a long time I failed to appreciate the accuracy of the narrative in Acts.f It has cost me much time, thought, and labour to understand it ; % and it was im- possible to understand it so long as I was prepossessed with the idea adopted from my chiei master and guide, Bishop * I wish to express his influence in the most general terms, and to avoid any theorising about the way in which it was exercised, whether by mere verbal report or otherwise. t My earlier views were expressed in the Expositor, January 1892, p. 30. Compare also the paragraph which I wrote in Ex- positor, July 1890, p. 20. \ Among other things I have been obliged to rewrite the sketch of the history of Lycaonia and Cilicia Tracheia in Hist. Geogr., p. 371, where I wrongly followed M. Waddington against Professor Mommsen in regard to the coins of M. Antonius Polemo. This error vitiated my whole theory. /. General. 9 Lightfoot, that in St. Paul's Epistle the term Galatians denotes the Celtic people of the district popularly and generally known as Galatia. To maintain this idea I had to reject the plain and natural interpretation of some passages ; but when at last I found myself compelled to abandon it, and to understand Galatians as inhabitants of Roman Galatia, much that had been dark became clear, and some things that had seemed loose and vague became precise and definite. As the two opposing theories must frequently be referred to, it will prove convenient to designate them as the North-Galatian and the South- Galatian theories ; and the term North Galatia will be used to denote the country of the Asiatic Gauls, South Galatia to denote the parts of Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Pisidia, which were by the Romans incorporated in the vast province of Galatia.* The question as to what churches were addressed by St. Paul in his Epistle to the Galatians is really of the first importance for the right understanding of the growth of the Christian Church during the period between 70 and 1 50 A. D. ; and the prevalent view, against which we argue, leads necessarily to a misapprehension of the position of the Church in the Empire. The diffusion of Christianity was, as I hope to bring out more clearly in the following pages, closely connected with the great lines of communica- tion across the Roman Empire, with the maintenance of intercourse, and with the development of education and * I did not expect to be obliged to argue that this great province was called Galatia ; but even this simple fact, which had been assumed by every writer since Tacitus, has recently been contested by Dr. Schurer, and I have appended a note on the subject at the end of this chapter. lo S/. Paul in Asia Minor. the feeling of unity throughout the Empire. The spread of Christianity had a political side. The Church may be, roughly speaking, described as a political party advocating certain ideas which, in their growth, would have resulted necessarily in social and political reform.* All that fostered the idea of universal citizenship and a wider Roman policy — as distinguished from the narrow Roman view that looked on Rome, or even on Italy, as mistress of a subject empire, instead of head and capital of a co-ordinate empire — made for Christianity unconsciously and insensibly ; and the Christian religion alone was able to develop fully this idea and policy. The chief line along which the new religion developed was that which led from Syrian Antioch through the Cilician Gates, across Lycaonia to Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome.f One subsidiary line followed the land route by Philadelphia, Troas, Philippi, and the Egnatian Way J to Brindisi and Rome ; and another went north from the Gates by Tyana and Caesareia of Cappadocia to Amisos in Pontus, § the great harbour of the Black Sea, by which the trade of Central Asia was carried to Rome. The main- * In the writer's opinion the Church proved unfaithful to its trust, ceased to adhere to the principles with which it started, and failed, in consequence, to carry out the reform, or rather revolution, which would have naturally resulted from them. But that chapter of history is later than the scope of the present volume. t This line is referred to in several passages which have never yet been properly understood, e. g., Ignatius, Ephes., § 12, Clement E^. i., ad Corinth., § i. X Cp. Rom. XV. 19. This route was taken by Ignatius' guards. § The early foundation of churches in Cappadocia (i Peter i. i) and in Pontus (i Peter i. i ; Pliny ad Traj., 96) was due to this line of communication. /. General. 1 1 tenance of close and constant communication between the scattered congregations must be presupposed, as necessary to explain the growth of the Church and the attitude which the State assumed towards it. Such communication was, on the view advocated in the present work, maintained along the same lines on which the general development of the Empire took place ; and politics, education, religion, grew side by side. But the prevalent view as to the Galatian churches separates the line of religious growth from the line of the general development of the Empire, and introduces into a history that claims to belong to the first century, the circumstances that characterised a much later period. The necessary inference from the prevalent view is, either that this history really belongs to a much later period than it claims to belong to (an inference drawn with strict and logical consistency by a considerable body of German scholars), or that the connexion between the religious and the general history of the Empire must be abandoned. If the arguments for the prevalent view are conclusive, we must accept the choice thus offered ; but I hope to show that the prevalent view is not in accordance with the evidence. 4. Social Condition of Asia Minor, a.d. 50-60. The discussion of St. Paul's experiences in Asia Minor is beset with one serious difficulty. The attempt must be made to indicate the character of the society into which the Apostle introduced the new doctrine of religion and of life. In the case of Greece and Rome much may be assumed as familiar to the reader. In the case of Asia Minor very little can be safely assumed ; and the analogy 12 SL Paul in Asia Minor. of Greece and Rome is apt to introduce confusion and misconception. Conybeare and Howson have attempted, in a most scholarly way, to set forth a picture of the situation in which St. Paul found himself placed in the cities of Asia and of Galatia. But the necessary materials for their purpose did not exist, the country was un- known, the maps were either a blank or positively wrong in regard to all but a very few points ; and, moreover, they were often deceived by Greek and Roman analogies. The only existing sketch of the country that is not posi- tively misleading is given by Mommsen in his Provinces of the Roman Empire ; and that is only a very brief description, which extends over a period of several cen- turies. Now the dislike entertained for the new religion was at first founded on the disturbance it caused in the existing relations of society. Toleration of new religions as such was far greater under the Roman Empire than it has been in modern times : in the multiplicity of religions and gods that existed in the same city, a single new addi- tion was a matter of almost perfect indifference. But the aggressiveness of Christianity, the change in social habits and every-day life which it introduced, and the injurious effect that it sometimes exercised on trades which were encouraged by paganism, combined with the intolerance that it showed for other religions, made it detested among people who regarded with equanimity, or even welcomed, the introduction into their cities of the gods of Greece, of Rome, of Egypt, of Syria. Hence every slight fact which is recorded of St Paul's experiences has a close relation to the social system that prevailed in the country, and cannot be properly understood without some idea of the general character of society and the tendencies which moulded it /. General. 13 The attempt must be made in the following pages to bring out the general principles which were at work in each indi- vidual incident ; and such an attempt involves minuteness in scrutinising the details of each incident and lengthens the exposition. It will be necessary to express dissent from predecessors oftener than I could wish ; but if one " does not formally dissent from the views advocated by others, the impression is apt to be caused that they have not been duly weighed. Note on the Name of the Province Galatia. It is not easy to find a more absolute contradiction than there is between the view adopted in the text and that of Dr. E. Schurer in Theologische Literaturzeitung, 1892, p. 468: "An official usage, which embraced all three districts (Galatia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia) under the single conception Galatia, has never existed." This extraordinary statement is made with equal positiveness by Dr. Schurer in Jahrbiicher fiir ^rotestantische Theologie, 1892, p. 471, where he affirms that "the name Galatia is only a ;parte ;potiori, being taken from the biggest of the various districts which were included in the provinces, and is not an official designation: the name and the conception Galatia did not embrace more than the special district of this name." When I read such a statement I fall into despair.* I have stated the facts with some care in my Histor. Geogr., pp. 253 and 453; and Dr. Schurer devotes considerable space to restating them in a less complete, and, as I venture to think, less accurate way, treating a small selection of inscriptions as if they represented the official usage, while the overwhelming majority of passages, which describe the entire province by the name Galatia, are entirely disregarded by him. Dr. Schurer twice refers to my work at the end of footnotes, but does not think it worthy of a place in his list of recent authorities. The history which I have given in it of the development of the province Galatia is inconsistent with his • Some of my German critics consider that I have spoken too strongly in my Histor. Geogr. regarding the erroneous ideas about the country held by some German scholars. 14 SL Paul in Asia Minor. view, and I see no reason to alter what I have said on any important point : a Roman province must have had a name, and the name of the province in question was Galatia. I shall not spend time in arguing the point, but shall lay down the following series of propo- sitions, which I believe to be correct and founded on the ancient authorities : — 1. The province in question was, in its origin, the kingdom left by Amyntas at his death in B.C. 25. 2. Amyntas was, in the estimation of the Romans, primarily and characteristically, king of Galatia. Galatia proper was the nucleus and the mainstay of his kingdom. 3. The first governor appointed is called " Governor of Galatia." 4. Inscriptions found in the extreme parts of Galatic Pisidia and Galatic Lycaonia mention the governor of the district as governor of Galatia. A striking case is the following : — A Latin official document of the most formal t)^e, recording a demarcation of boundaries in the western part of Galatic Pisidia, and dating in A.D. 54, or immediately after, defines the Roman officer who carried out the delimitation as procurator, and an inscription of Iconium describes the same person as procurator of the Galatic province (C.I.G., 3991).* 5. Honorary inscriptions, in which it is an object to accumulate titles, speak of the official as governor of Galatia, Pontus, Paph- lagonia, Pisidia, Phrygia, Lycaonia, etc. ; but we possess the actual text of the inscription in which the people of Iconium expressed their gratitude to the procurator of the Galatic province, who had been charged by the Emperor Claudius with the duty of re- organising the city; hence they call him "Founder." The city takes its new name of Claudiconium in this inscription, and the date must be about the year 54.t Here Iconium formally reckons itself as Galatic. 6. When a large part of Pontus was incorporated in the province about A.D. 2 — 35 it was named Galaticus, i.e., the part of Pontus attached to the province Galatia, as distinguished from Pontus Polemoniacus, i.e., the part of Pontus governed by King Polemon. * I have published it in American journal of Archceology, 1886, p. 129, 1888, p. 267. t C. I. G. 3991. The date is shown by the fact that the procurator was appointed by Claudius, who died October 13th, 54 ; and the inscription was composed under his successor Nero. /. General. 1 5 The term Galaticus implies that Galatia was recognised as the official name of the province. Precisely the same distinction exists between Lycaonia Galatica and Lycaonia Antiochiana (C. I. L., V., 8860). 7. There are cases in which the Roman ofiScial title of a province was a compound name, e.g., Bithynia Pontus, Lycia Pamphylia, the three Eparchiae, Cilicia, Lycaonia, Isauria. But in all these cases there was a permanent distinction between the component parts : each retained a certain individuality of constitution, which is well marked in our authorities. In the case of Galatia there is no trace * that such distinction between its constituent parts existed ; but all the evidence points to the conclusion that the parts were as much merged in the unity of the province as Phrygia was in Asia. The name Phrygia retained its geographical existence as a district of Asia ; but the official name of the province was Asia. 8. Under Vespasian the province Cappadocia was added to Galatia, but continued to enjoy a separate constitution. The governor presided over united, yet distinct, provinces ; and this novelty is clearly marked in the inscriptions, which henceforward use the plural term " provinciarum," or firapxfiav' 9. After Cappadocia was separated from Galatia by Trajan, the plural usage persisted, at least in some cases, as is clear from the inscription given in C. I. L., III.,Suppl., No. 6813. This is contrary to the old usage. The plural gave more dignity to the title ; and, moreover, it was in accordance with the spirit of individuality which was stimulated in these oriental districts by western education and feeling under the Empire. It is possible that the Koinon of the Lycaonians was founded under the Flavian Emperors, but I still think that it was instituted later (see Ji/z's^. Geogr., p. 378). It is, however, not improbable that a distinction in constitution between Lycaonia and Galatia proper began in the Flavian period, and culminated in their separation between 137 and 161 A.D., when Lycaonia became one of the three southern Eparchiae under a single governor. • One exception, dating from the second century, is alluded to below (9). Consideration of space prevents me from discussing more fully the evidence in favour of identity in constitution among the various parts of Galatia Frovincia. CHAPTER II. LOCALITIES OF THE FIRST JOURNEY. I. Pamphylia. IT was about the year 48 or 49, probably, that Paul, Barnabas, and Mark landed at Perga. They had sailed some miles up the Cestrus in the ship which had brought them from Paphos in Cyprus. The feat seems so remark- able in view of the present character of the river, even duly considering the small size of the ship, as to show that much attention must have been paid in ancient times to keeping the channel of the river navigable. Similarly it is a well- attested fact that Ephesus was formerly accessible to sea- borne traffic, and the large works constructed along the lower course of the Caystros to keep its channel open as far as Ephesus, can still be seen as one rides from the city down to the coast The only incident recorded as having occurred during their stay, obviously a brief one, at Perga, has no relation to the state of the country, and therefore we need not spend time on it at present. At a later point in our investigation it will be possible to acquire a better idea of the relations among the three travellers and their separation, which took place at Perga. At present we cannot gain from the narrative any idea even of the time of year when they were at that city. Conybeare and Howson indeed in their Life and Epistles //. Localities of the First Journey, 17 of St. Paul* argue that Paul and Barnabas came to Perga about May, and found the population removing en masse to the upper country, to live in the cooler glens amid the mountains of Taurus. In this way they explain why the apostles are not said to have preached in Perga ; they went on to the inner country, because no population remained in Perga to whom they could address themselves. But C. H. can hardly be right in supposing that a general migration of the ancient population took place annually in the spring or early summer. The modern custom which they mention, and which they suppose to be retained from old time, is due to the semi-nomadic character of the Turkish tribes that have come into the country at various times after the twelfth century. Even at the present day it is not the custom for the population of the coast towns, who have not been much affected by the mixture of Turkish blood, to move away in a body to the interior.! The migrations which take place are almost entirely confined to certain wandering tribes, chiefly Yuruks. A small number of the townsmen go up to the higher ground for reasons of health and comfort ; and this custom has in recent years become more common among the wealthier classes in the towns, who, however. * I need not quote the pages of this excellent and scholarly work, partly because it is published in editions of various form, partly because any one who desires to verify my references to it can easily do so. As I shall often have occasion to refer to the book, I shall, for the sake of brevity, do so by the authors' initials C. H. In this particular point C. H. are followed by Canon Farrar. t The rule is universal : such migrations occur only where the Turkish element in the population is supreme, and where therefore the nomadic habit has persisted. Yaila and Kishla denote the summer and the winter quarters respectively. 2 S^. Paul in Asia Minor, do not go away from the cities till the end of June or July. But a migration en masse is contrary to all that we know about the ancient population. The custom of living in the country within the territory of the city is a very different thing ; and this was certainly practised by many of the people of Perga. But it is practically certain that the territory of Pcrga did not include any part of the upper highlands of Taurus ; and there can be no doubt that the festivals and the ceremonial of the Pergaean Artemis went on througliout the summer, and were celebrated by the entire population. The government was kept up during summer in the same way as during winter. 2. PiSIDIA AND AyO PAVLO. The apostles, starting from Perga, apparently after only a very brief stay, directed their steps to Antioch, the chief city of inner Pisidia, a Roman colony, a strong fortress, the centre of military and civil administration in the southern parts of the vast province called by the Romans Galatia. There can be no doubt that there existed close commercial relations between this metropolis on the north side of Taurus and the Pamphylian harbours, especially Side, Perga, and Attalia. The roads from Antioch to Perga and to Attalia coincide ; that which leads to Side is quite different. There can also be no doubt that in Antioch, as in many of the cities founded by the Seleucid kings of Syria, there was a considerable Jewish population. Josephus mentions that, when the fidelity of Asia Minor to the Seleucid kings was doubtful, 2,000 Jewish families were transported by one edict to the fortified towns of Lydia //. Localities of the First Journey. 19 and Phrygia.* Being strangers to their neighbours in their new home, they were likely to be faithful to the Syrian kings ; and special privileges were granted them in order to insure their fidelity. These privileges were confirmed by the Roman emperors ; for the imperial policy was, from the time of Julius Cassar onwards, almost invariably favourable to the Jews. The commerce of Antioch would in part come to Perga and Attalia ; and in all proba- bility the Jews of Antioch had an important share in this trade. Paul therefore resolved to go to Antioch ; and the immediate result was that one of his companions, for some reason about which we shall of cr some suggestions later, abandoned the expedition, and returned to Jerusalem. The commerce between Antioch and Perga or Attalia must of course have followed one definite route ; and Paul and Barnabas would naturally choose this road. C. H. seem to me to select a very improbable path : they incline to the supposition that the Apostles went by the steep pass leading from Attalia to the Buldur Lake, the ancient Lake Ascania. Professor Kiepert, who has drawn the map attached to Kenan's Saint Paul, makes the Apostles ascend the Cestrus for great part of its course, and then diverge towards Egerdir. C. H. also state unhesitatingly that the path led along the coast of the Egerdir double lakes, the ancient Limnai, the most picturesque sheet of water in Asia Minor. But the natural, easy, and direct course is along one of the eastern tributaries of the Cestrus to Adada ; and we must suppose • Joseph., Antiq. Jud. xii. 3. It must be remembered that, though Antioch is generally called of " Pisidia," yet the bounds were very doubtful, and Strabo reckons Antioch to be in Phrygia. It was doubtless one of the fortresses here meant by Strabo. 20 S^. Paul in Asia Minor. that this commercial route was the one by which the strangers were directed. Adada now bears the name of Kara Bavlo. Bavlo is exactly the modern pronunciation of the Apostle's name. In visiting the district I paid the closest attention to the name, in order to observe whether Baghlu might not be the real form, and Bavlo an invention of the Greeks, who often modify a Turkish name to a form that has a meaning in Greek.* But I found that the Turks certainly use the form Bavlo, not Baghlu. The analogy of many other modern Turkish names for cities makes it highly probable that the name Bavlo has arisen from the fact that Paul was the patron saint of the city, and the great church of the city was dedicated to him. It was very common in Byzantine times that the name of the saint to whom the church of a city was dedicated should come to be popularly used in place of the older city name. In this way apparently Adada became Ayo Pavlo. Now such religious names were specially a creation of the popular language, and accordingly they were taken up by the Turkish conquerors, and have in numerous cases persisted to the present day.f It is impossible not to connect the fact that Adada * For example, they have transformed Baluk hissar, " Town of the Castle," into Bali-kesri, " Old Caesareia." Baluk, as I am informed by Kiepert, is an old Turkish word, not now used in the spoken language, meaning " town " ; it is a very common element in Turkish names, and being now obsolete is commonly confused with other words. C. H. quote a report heard by Arundel about the existence of Bavlo (or Paoli, as he gives it) ; but they suppose it to be on the Eurymedon, and far away east of the road which they select. t Various examples are given in Hist. Geogr., p. 227 note ; e.g., Aitamas {i.e., Ayi Thomas), Elias, Tefenni {i.e.^ [ft? ll^re^avov), etc. //. Localities of the First Journey. 2 1 looked to St. Paul as its patron with its situation on the natural route between Antioch and Perga ; the church dedicated to Paul probably originated in the belief that the Apostle had visited Adada on his way to Antioch, There is no evidence to show whether this belief was founded on a genuine ancient tradition, or was only an inference, drawn after Adada was christianised, from the situation of the city ; but the latter alternative appears more probable. It is obvious from the narrative in Acts xiii. that Paul did not stop at Adada ; and it is not likely that there was a colony of Jews there, through whom he might make a beginning of his work, and who might retain the memory of his visit. It is possible that some reference may yet be found in Eastern hagiological literature to the supposed visit of Paul to Adada, and to the church from which the modern name is derived. If the belief existed, there would almost certainly arise legends of incidents connected with the visit ; and though the local legends of this remote and obscure Pisidian city had little chance of penetrating into literature, there is a possibility that some memorial of them may still survive in manuscript. Rather more than a mile south of the remains of Adada, on the west side of the road that leads to Perga, stand the ruins of a church of early date, built of fine masonry, but not of very great size. The solitary situation of this church by the roadside suggests to the spectator that there was connected with it some legend about an apostle or martyr of Adada. It stands in the forest, with trees growing in and around it ; and its walls rise to the height of five to eight feet above the present level of the soil. One single hut stands about half a mile away in the forest ; no 22 5/. Paul in Asia Minor, other habitation is near. Adada itself is a solitary and deserted heap of ruins ; there is a small village with a fine spring of water about a mile north-east from it. So lonely is the country, that, as we approached it from the north our guide failed to find the ruins ; and, when he left us alone in the forest, we were obliged to go on for six miles to the nearest town before we could find a more trustworthy guide. After all, we found that we had passed within three or four hundred yards of the ruins, which lay on a hill above our path. The ruins of Adada are very imposing from their extent, from the perfection of several small temples, and from their comparative immunity from spoliation. No one has used them as a quarry, which is the usual fate of ancient cities. The buildings are rather rude and provincial in type, show- ing that the town retained more of the native character, and was less completely affected by the general Grssco- Roman civilisation of the empire. I may here quote a few sentences which I wrote immediately after visiting the ruins.* " With little trouble, and at no great expense, the mass of ruins might be sorted and thoroughly examined, the whole plan of the city discovered, and a great deal of information obtained about its condition under the empire. Nothing can be expected from the ruins to adorn a museum ; for it is improbable than any fine works of art ever came to Adada, and certain that any accessible fragment of marble which ever was there has been carried * Athenceum, July i8go, p. 136, in a letter written in part by my friend and fellow-traveller Mr. Hogarth ; the description of Adada was assigned to me. //. Localities of the First Journey. 23 away long ago. But for a picture of society as it was formed by Grasco-Roman civilisation in an Asiatic people, there is perhaps no place where the expenditure of a few hundreds would produce such results. The opinion will not be universally accepted that the most important and interesting part of ancient history is the study of the evolution of society during the long conflict between Christianity and paganism ; but those who hold this opinion will not easily find a work more interesting and fruitful at the price than the excavation of Adada." C. H. are right in emphasizing the dangers to which travellers were exposed in this part of their journey : "perils of rivers, perils of robbers." The following in- stances, not known to C. H., may be here quoted. They all belong to the Pisidian highlands, not far from the road traversed by the Apostles,* and, considering how ignorant we are of the character of the country and the population, it is remarkable that such a large proportion of our scanty information relates to scenes of -^anger and precautions against violence, I. A dedication and thank-offering by Me«iis son of Daos to Jupiter, Neptune, Minerva, and all the gods, and also to the river Eurus, after he had been in danger and had been saved.! This inscription records an escape from drowning in a torrent swollen by rain. There is no river in the neighbourhood which could cause danger to a man, except when swollen by rain. • If the road was frequented by commerce, it would of course be more dangerous. Brigands must make a living, and go where most money is to be found. t Abb6 Duchesne in Bulletin de Corresp Hellen., vol. iii., p. 479. The name of the river is uncertain, Eurus or Syrus ; I tried in vain to find the stone in 1886, in order to verify the text. 24 ►S'^. Paul in Asia Minor. 2. An epitaph erected by Patrokles and Douda over the grave of their son, Sousou, a policeman, who was slain by robbers* 3. References to gens d'armes of various classes {opo- ^vXa/ce?, 'rrapa<})v\aKCTat) occur with unusual frequency in this district. Very few soldiers were stationed in Pisidia ; and armed policemen were a necessity in such an unruly country.f 4. A stationarius^ part of whose duty was to assist in the capture of runaway slaves (often the most dangerous of brigands), is also mentioned in an inscription.! The roads all over the Roman Empire were apt to be unsafe, for the arrangements for insuring public safety were exceedingly defective ; but probably the part of his life which St. Paul had most in mind when he wrote about the perils of rivers and of robbers, which he had faced in his journeys, was the journey from Perga across Taurus to Antioch and back again. Between Adada and Antioch the road is uncertain. One of the paths leads along the south-east end of Egerdir Lake, traversing the difficult pass now called Demir Kapu, " the Iron Gate." But I believe there is a more direct and easy road, turning from Adada towards the north-east, though further exploration is needed before it is possible to speak confidently. * Professor Sterrett in Epigra^hic journey in Asia Minor, p. 166. t Historical Geography of Asia Minor, pp. 177 ff. X Mitiheilungen des Insiituis zu Athen, 1885, p. yj. Examples might be multiplied by including the parts of Taurus farther removed from the road. On the whole subject see the paper of Professor O. Hirschfeld in Berlin. Sitzungsber., 1891, pp. 845 ff., on "Die Sicherheitspolizei im romischen Kaiserreich." //. Localities of the First Journey, 2 5 3. PiSIDIAN ANTIOCH. The city of Antioch was the governing and military centre of the southern half of the vast province of Galatia, which at this time extended from north to south right across the plateau of Asia Minor, nearly reaching the Mediter- ranean on the south and the Black Sea on the north. Under the early emperors it possessed a rank and im- portance far beyond what belonged to it in later times. This was due to the fact that between 10 B.C. and 72 A.D. the " pacification " — i.e., the completion of the conquest and organisation — of southern Galatia was in active progress, and was conducted from Antioch as centre. Under Claudius, 41-54 A.D., the process of pacification was in especially active progress, and Antioch was at the acme of its importance. In the Roman style, then, Antioch belonged to Galatia, but, in popular language and according to geographical situation, it was said to be a city of Phrygia. Even a Roman might speak of Antioch as a city of Phrygia, if he were laying stress on geographical or ethnological consider- ations ; for the province of Galatia was so large that the Romans themselves subdivided it into districts (which are enumerated in many Latin inscription.?), e.g., Paphlagonia, Phrygia, Isauria, Lycaonia, Pisidia, etc.* It is commonly said that Antioch belonged to Pisidia, but, for the time with which we are dealing, this is erroneous. Strabo is quite clear on the pointf But after the time of Strabo there took * See note appended to Chap. i. t See pages 557, 569, 577. Ptolemy mentions Antioch twice, v. 4. II, and V. 5. 4; in one case he assigns it to the district Pisidia and the province Galatia, in the other to the district Pisidian Phrygia {i.e. the part of Phrygia which had come to be included in 26 5/. Paul in Asia Minor. place a gradual widening of the term Pisidia to include all the country that lay between the bounds of the province of Asia and Pisidia proper. It is important to observe this and similar cases in which the denotation of geographical names in Asia Minor gradually changes, as the use of a name sometimes gives a valuable indication of the date of the document in which it occurs. The accurate and full geographical description of Antioch about 45-50 A.D. was "a Phrygian city on the side of Pisidia " {^pvyia ttoXi? tt/so? IltarcSia). The latter addition was used in Asia Minor to distinguish it from Antioch on the Masander, on the borders of Caria and Phrygia. But the world in general wished to distinguish Antioch from the great Syrian city, not from the small Carian city ; hence the shorter expression " Pisidian Antioch " (^AvTt6')(et,a r] IltatBta)* came into use, and finally, as the term Pisidia was widened, " Antioch of Pisidia " became almost uni- versal. The latter term is used by Ptolemy, v. 4. 11, and occurs in some inferior MSS. in Acts xiii. 14. " Pisidian Antioch," however, is admittedly the proper reading in the latter passage.f Pisidia) and the province Pamphylia. This error arises from his using- two authorities belonging to different periods, and not under- standing the relation between them. He makes the same mistake about several other places : e.g:, Olba, Claudiopolis, etc. {^Hist. Geogr., pp. 336, 363, 405, 447). * Compare Ptolemy's " Pisidian Phrygia," quoted in the preceding note. t Codex BezcB reads "Antioch of Pisidia," which is one of many proofs that it is founded on a modernisation of the text made not earlier than the second century by an intelligent and well-informed editor. This editor introduced various changes which betray the topography of the second century. //. Lccaliiies of the First Journey. 27 From these facts we can infer that it would have been an insult to an Antiochian audience, the people of a Roman Colonia, to address them as Pisidians. Pisidia was the " barbarian " mountain country that lay between them and Pamphylia ; it was a country almost wholly destitute of Greek culture, ignorant of Greek games and arts, and barely; subjugated by Roman arms. Antioch was the guard set upon these Pisidian robbers, the trusted agent of the imperial authority, the centre of the military system de- signed to protect the subjects of Rome. " Men of Galatia" is the only possible address in cases where " Men of Antioch " is not suitable ; * and " a city of Phrygia " is the geographical designation which a person familiar with the city would use if the honorific title " a city of Galatia " was not suitable. These accurate terms were used by the Roman Paul, and they are used in the original document employed by the author of Acts, though in one case the looser but commoner phrase, " Pisidian Antioch," is used to distinguish it from Syrian Antioch. 4. Route from Antioch to Iconium. As to the route by which Paul and Barnabas travelled from Antioch to Iconium, widely varying opinions have been entertained by recent authorities. Professor Kiepert, the greatest perhaps of living geographers, who has paid special attention to the difficult problems of the topography of Asia Minor, has, in the map attached to Renan's Saint Paul, represented that in all his three journeys Paul travelled between the two cities alone the ereat Eastern * " Phrygians " was also an impossible address, for Phrygian had in Greek and Latin become practically equivalent to slave. 28 SL Paul in Asia Minor. Trade Route,* a section of which connected Philomelium and Laodicea Katakekaumene : according to Kiepert, Paul crossed the Sultan Dagh to join this route at Philomelium, and left it again at Laodicea to go south to Iconium. C. H. indicate his route along the western side of Sultan Dagh, until that lofty ridge breaks down into hilly country on the south, across which the route goes in as direct a line as possible to Iconium. The map attached to Canon Farrar's Saint Paul indicates a route midway between these two, passing pretty exactly along the highest ridge of the Sultan Dagh. The line marked out by C. H., though not exactly correct, approximates much more closely than either of the others to that which we may unhesitatingly pronounce to be the natural and probable one. But, partly in deference to Professor Kiepert's well-deserved and universally acknow- ledged authority, and partly on account of an interesting problem of Christian antiquities which in part hinges on this question, it is necessary to state as briefly as possible the main facts. According to Kiepert, Paul in going and in returning crossed the lofty Sultan Dagh. There is no actual pass across that lofty ridge. The path climbs a steep and rugged glen on one side, crosses the summit of the ridge fully 4,000 feet above the town of Antioch, and descends a similar glen on the other side.f On the map Antioch seems very near Philomelium ; but six hours of very toilsome travelling lie between them. Then follows a * Of this road, which came into use during the later centuries B.C., and which was the main arteiy of communication and govern- ment in Asia Minor under the Roman Empire, a full account is given Hist. Geogr., chaps, iii., iv. t See the description given of the crossing by my friend, Pro- fessor Sterrett, in his Ef {graphic Journey in Asia Minor, p. 164. //. Localities of the First Journey. 29 peculiarly unpleasant road, twenty-eight hours* in length, by Laodicea to Iconium. Except in the towns that lie on the road, there is hardly any shade and little water along its course. It is exposed to the sun from its rising to its setting : and, if my memory is correct, there are only two places where a tree or two by the roadside afford a little shadow and a rest for the traveller. This road makes a circuit, keeping to the level plain throughout ; but it would not be used by pedestrians like Paul and Barnabas. If they went to Philomelium, they would naturally prefer the direct road thence to Iconium through the hill country by Kaballa. This path is nowhere very steep or difficult, is often shady and pleasant, and is shorter by an hour or two than the road through Laodicea ; it is in all probability older than the great Trade Route, and was undoubtedly used at all periods for direct communication by horse or foot passengers between Philomelium and Iconium. But there is no reason to think that Paul ever crossed the Sultan Dagh. The natural path from Antioch to Iconium went nearly due south for six hours by the new Roman road to NeapoHs, the new city which was just growing up at the time.f Thence it went to Misthia on the north- * The " hour " indicates a distance of about three miles, or slightly over. The exact distances, as measured for the proposed extension of the Ottoman Railway, are, — Philomelium to Arkut Khan . . i8 miles (6 hours). Arkut Khan to Tyriaion (Ilghin) . lo^ „ (3^ ,, ). Ilghin to Kadin Khan . . . 16J „ (5^ „ ). Kadin Khan to Laodicea . . . 13 „ (4 ,, ), From Laodicea (Ladik) to Iconium the distance (43 miles) is measured by a circuitous route to avoid a ridge : the distance by road cannot be much over z'] miles (9 hours). I am indebted for these figures to Mr. Purser and Mr. Cook. t On the history of Neapolis, see Hist. Geogr., pp. 396-7 30 SL Paul in Asia Minor. eastern shores of the great lake Caralis. A httle way beyond Misthia it diverged from the Roman road, and crossed the hilly country by a very easy route to Iconium. The total distance from Antioch to Iconium by this route is about twenty-seven hours,* as compared with thirty-two or thirty- four by way of Philomelium. This route is still in regular use at the present day. The line indicated in the map of C. H. is straighter, and I believe that it is actually practicable ; but it has never been traversed by any explorer, and I know only part of the country through which it runs. It would pass east of Neapolis, and may possibly have been a track of com- munication in older time. But in B.C. 6 Augustus formed a series of roads to connect the Roman colonies which he founded as fortresses of defence against the Pisidian mountain tribes. f Hence we might feel some confidence in assuming that Paul and Barnabas would walk as far as possible along the Roman road. This road indeed was not the shortest line between Antioch and Iconium, because its purpose was to connect Antioch, the military centre of defence, with the two eastern colonies, Lystra and Parlais ; and it did not touch Iconium. But communication would be so organised as to use the well-made road to the utmost ; all trade undoubtedly followed this track, entertainment for travellers was naturally provided along it, and the direct path, though a little shorter, would be less convenient and would no longer be thought of or used. We are * Arundel, Asia Minor, ii., p. 8., gives the distance as twenty- eight hoars by report ; neither he nor Hamilton traversed this route. No description of the road is published, so far as I remember. t The existence of a system of military roads may always be assumed, according to the Roman custom, connecting a system of fortresses {colonics) on these roads. See pages 32, 34. //. Localities of the First Jour 7tcy. 31 not, hcv/cvcr, left in this case to mere probabilities. We have the express testimony of an ancient document that Paul used this Roman road ; and my object in giving this minute and perhaps tedious description of the road and of its origin has been to bring home to the reader the exactness with which this document describes the actual facts. The document in question is one of the apocryphal Apostle-legends, the Acts of Paul and TheJda, The general opinion of recent scholars* is that this tale was composed about the latter part of the second century ; and in that case it would have no historical value, except in so far as it quoted older documents. Reserving for another place the whole question of the date and character of these Acta, we are at present concerned only with one passage, in which the road from Antioch to Iconium is described. In the opening of the Acta a certain Oncsiphorus, resident at Iconium, heard that Paul was intending to come thither from Antioch. Accordingly he went forth from the city to meet him, and to invite him to his house. And he pro- ceeded as far as the Royal Road that leads to Lystra, and there he stood waiting for Paul ; and he scanned the features of the passers-by.f And he saw Paul coming, a • There are some exceptions. t The Greek text is usually and naturally translated, " he pro- ceeded along the Royal Road," but the following cIorr/Ket implies that the first clause indicates the point to which Onesiphorus went and where he stood. The Syriac translation makes the sense quite clear : " he went and stood where the roads meet, on the highway which goes to Lystra." Lipsius, in his recent critical edition, omits this Syriac passage, which is of cardinal importance. In several cases he shows a preference for the easiest, the least characteristic, and therefore the worst reading ; e.g., he here prefers tpxanevovs to Sifpxofifvovs. 32 S^. Paul in Asia Minor, man small in size, with meeting eyebrows, with a rather large nose, baldheaded, bowlegged, strongly built, full of grace, for at times he looked like a man, and at times he had the face of an angel. This plain and unflattering account of the Apostle's personal appearance seems to embody a very early tradition. The " Royal Road " {^aaCkiKT) 6S09, via regalis) that leads to Lystra is obviously the Roman road built by Augustus from Antioch to Lystra. The epithet is a remarkable one, and very difficult to explain. The first impression that any one would receive from it is that it denotes the Roman road built by the Basileis, as the emperors were commonly called in the second century, and that it points to a second century date more naturally than to any earlier period. So far as I can judge, this argument as to date would be unanswerable, were it not for an inscription discovered in 1884 at Comama, the most western of Augustus' Pisidian colonies, a city whose name had entirely disappeared from human knowledge until this and other Latin inscriptions were found on the site. It was then observed that numerous coins of the city existed, but had been misread and attri- buted to Comana in Cappadocia ; it also appeared that the city was mentioned by Ptolemy and other authorities, but that the name was always corrupted. In the ruins of Comama there still lies a milestone, with the inscription — " The Emperor Caesar Augustus, son of a god, Ponti- fex Maximus, etc., constructed the Royal Road by the care of his heutenant, Cornelius Aquila."* * C. I. L. III., Supplem., No. 6,974. Regalem, suggested tenta- tively by Mommsen, suits the copy in my note-book even better than appears from the printed text, and may safely be accepted. //. Localities of the First Journey. 33 The roads built by Augustus to connect his Pisidian colonies* were doubtless built with a solidity unusual in the country. They are two in number, one leading to Olbasa Comama and Cremna, the other to Parlais and Lystra. The former is called Via Regalis on the milestone, the latter in the Acta. The original Acta then described the scene with a minute fidelity possible only to a person who knew the localities. Onesiphorus went out from Iconium till he came to the point a few miles south of Misthia, where the path to Iconium diverged from the built Roman road that led from Antioch to Lystra ; and here he waited till he observed Paul coming towards him. I am far from assuming that the facts here narrated are historical ; but I do hold that the tale was written down by a person familiar with the localities, and that the route now employed for traffic be- tween Iconium and Antioch was used to the exclusion of any other at the time when he wrote. It is therefore proved that the term Royal Road in the Acta furnishes no proof of a second century date. It may even be proved that the term is not consistent with an origin later than the first century, because the very name Via Regalis, denoting the road from Antioch to Lystra, was soon disused. The sentence where it occurs was writtenf * The name "Pisidian" is convenient, though they were not all in Pisidia. Augustus in enumerating his colonies seems to sum them all up as in Pisidia. (Mommsen, Monu?nentum Ancyranu/n, p. 119 ) But colonies on the Pisidian frontier to keep under control the Pisidian mountain tribes are readily called Pisidian. Thus we have above explained the term " Pisidian Antioch." t No mere tradition can be so strong as to fix in the memory of pos- terity verbal peculiarities which no longer correspond to actual facts. It will appear in the following paragraphs that the name Via Regalis was retained in the text long after it had ceased to be understood. 3 34 ^^' Paul in Asia Minor. before the name passed out of use. Can we fix approxi- mately the date when the name ceased to exist, and before which some written authority for the tale must have come into existence ? Several arguments point decisively to the conclusion that the name did not survive the first century, but belonged to a state of the country which characterised the first half of the first century and then ceased to exist. As this subject is of great consequence in our attempt to realise the circumstances in which Paul's journey was made, and has never been properly described or understood, I shall try to state briefly the main facts. The purpose of Augustus's roads was to keep in order the recently subdued Pisidian mountaineers. When the pacification of Pisidia, and the naturalisation of the imperial rule and the Grseco-Roman civilisation in the country had been completed, the need for these roads disappeared ; they were no longer maintained by the imperial govern- ment with the care that was applied to roads of military importance, and they were merged in the general system of communication across Asia Minor.* The period when this pacification of Pisidia was taking place can be determined precisely from the evidence of coins, of inscriptions, and of authors, and from the dates at which the constitutions of cities on the northern fron- tiers were fixed. I need not weary the reader by enume- rating here the long lists of facts, which show that the earlier emperors from Augustus to Nero directed close and continuous attention to this district of Asia Minor, and that in the reign of Claudius the process of organisation * This opinion was arrived at as the natural explanation of the known facts, and published before its application to the present case had become apparent. (See Hist. Geogr., pp. 57-8.) //. Localities of the First Jou7'ney. 35 was in specially active progress. Vespasian in A.D. 74 remodelled the government, separated great part of Pisidia from the province of Galatia, and attached it to Pamphylia,* This marks the end of the Pisidian colonial system and military roads. Antioch, the centre of the system, was now entirely separated from at least three of the colonies. f which were transferred to a different province. Moreover there were no soldiers in the province Lycia-Pamphylia, as there were in Galatia ; great part of Pisidia would not have been united to the unarmed province, unless all possible need for soldiers and garrisons had been con- sidered to be at an end. Lystra, the most easterly point of the colonial system, must have been a place of great importance under the early emperors ; but after 74 it sank back into the insignificance of a small provincial town with nothing to distinguish it. Direct communication between Antioch and Lystra had previously been maintained only for military and political reasons ; no commerce could ever have existed between them. After A.D. 74 therefore the road from Antioch to Lystra ceased to be thought of as a highway, and must have disappeared from popular language. Iconium, not Lystra, was the natural commercial centre, and has main- tained that rank from the earliest time to the present day. Thus the road from Antioch to Iconium was, after the year 74, the only one present to the popular mind ; and it ceased to be possible that a traveller from Antioch to Iconium should be described as going along the road to Lystra for a certain distance and then diverging from it. * He made Lycia and Pamphylia a single province. t Comama, Cremna, and Olbasa were henceforth attached to Pamphylia. 36 SL Paul in Asia Minor. It is characteristic of the way in which the figure of Paul dwarfed that of Barnabas in the memory of later genera- tions that no reference to the latter occurs in these Acta. The companions of Paul are only the treacherous Hermo- genes and Demas. An example of the same feeling is observable in the text of Codex Bezce, xiv,, i. The reviser has there substituted "he" for "they."* The change is entirely out of accord with the tone of the "Travel- Document," but in perfect agreement with later tradition in the district, as attested in the Acta of Paul and Thekla. Such a change would not naturally be made except in a country where the memory and influence of St. Paul was especially strong. That this was the case in Phrygia during the second century is proved by the Testament of Avircius Marcellus, dating about 190-200 AD. ; f and we may safely assume that the same feeling would remain in the Galatian churches. 5. ICONIUM. According to the route described, Paul and Barnabas entered Iconium from the west, having a good view of the extensive gardens and orchards, which form such a charm- ing feature of the suburbs. C. H. give a very fair account of Iconium.t of the great part that it played in later history, and of the natural features amid which it is placed, * ftVeX^etv avThv els Trju crvvayooyTJv. On the reviser, his character and date, see Chapter VIII. t See Ex;positor, April 1889, p. 265. \ But they ought not to quote Leake's incorrect statement that Mount Argaeus in Cappadocia is visible from the outskirts of the city. Hamilton has rightly expressed his disbelief in this state- ment. The two snowy peaks which Leake saw are the peaks of the Hassan Dagh, a lofty mountain north-west of Tyana, which I //. Localities of the First Journey. 37 at the western extremity of the vast plains of Lycaonia, with a mountainous country beginning to the west about six miles away, and hills on the north and south at a distance of about ten or twelve miles. Iconium was in early times a city of Phrygia, situated on the eastern frontier, where Phrygia borders on Lycaonia ; but in later times it was called a city of Lycaonia. It is important for our purposes to discover at what period it began to be called a city of Lycaonia and ceased to be Phrygian. Modern geographers all state that no writer later than Xenophon calls Iconium Phrygian ; but this is erroneous. In Acts xiv. 6 the apostles, being in danger at Iconium, are said to " have fled to the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra, and Dcrbe, and the surrounding country." The writer obviously considered that in their flight from Iconium to a town eighteen miles distant they crossed the Lycaonian frontier, and his view is precisely that of Xeno- phon, who also entered Lycaonia immediately on leaving Iconium. The coincidence is perfect. The phrase is a striking instance of local accuracy, and at the same time a strong proof that even in the first century after Christ Iconium was by the natives reckoned as Phrygian. It is true that Cicero, Strabo, and Pliny make Iconium a Lycaonian city. This constitutes a perfectly satisfactory proof that such was the general usage between at least 100 B.C. and 100 A.D., founded on the fact that for administrative purposes Iconium was united with Lycaonia ; but it is quite con- have seen from a still greater distance. The summit of Argaeus is single, and though it is higher than Hassan Dagh, being about 13,000 feet, it could not possibly be visible from such a distance as Iconium ; moreover, Hassan Dagh lies right in the way. 38 SL Paul in Asia Minor. sistent with the view that the Iconians continued to count themselves Phrygian, and to distinguish themselves from their Lycaonian neighbours even after they were united with them in one governmental district. The witness to this view actually visited Iconium, came into intimate relations with the people, and spoke according to the native fashion. In the third century another visitor's testimony assigns Iconium to Phrygia. The witness is Firmilian, Bishop of Csesarea in Cappadocia. It is certain that he had visited the city, for he implies that he was present at the council held there about 2 1 5 A.D.* The supposition that the Iconians clung to their old nationality, after it had become a mere historical memory devoid of political reality, may appear rather hazardous, as the ancients are certainly rather loose in using geographical terms. But one who has studied the history of Asia Minor realises how persistently ethnical and national distinctions were maintained, and how strong were the prejudice and even antipathy felt by each tribe or nation against its neighbours. The Iconians cherished their pride of birth ; and in all probability difference of language originally em- phasised their diversity from their Lycaonian neighbours. It is inconsistent with the whole character of these races to suppose that the Phrygians of Iconium could be brought to call themselves Lycaonians, and to give up the old tribal hatred against their nearest neighbours. It was precisely the nearness which accentuated the hatred. * See Cyprian, Epist. Ixxv. 7. On the other hand, Ammianus speaks of it as a town of Pisidia ; the rearrangement of the provinces about A.D. 297 led to this temporary connection, which does not concern us. (See Hist. Geogr., p. 393.) //. Localities of the First Journey. 39 This tribal jealousy is characteristic of Asia Minor still. The traveller frequently finds the people of two neigh- bouring villages differing from each other in manners and in dress ; they speak the same language, profess the same religion, but have little intercourse with each other and no intermarriage, and each village regards the other as hateful and alien.* But I should hardly have ventured to state this suppo- sition publicly, were I not able to prove it by the testimony of the only native of Iconium whose evidence is preserved to us. In the year 163 A.D. Hierax, one of the Christians associated with Justin Martyr in his trial before the Prefect of Rome, Junius Rusticus, was asked by the judge who his parents were. He replied, " My earthly parents are dead ; and I have come hither {i.e., as a slave), torn away from Iconium of Phrygia."t By this single testimony of a native, preserved in such an accidental way, we are enabled to realise that the ex- pression in Acts xiv. 6 was contrary to general usage and peculiar to Iconium, and that it could hardly have occurred except to one who had actually lived in the city and caught the tone of its population. It is perhaps unnecessary for * After the " Union of the Lycaonians " was established towards the middle of the second century after Christ, Iconium was not a member ; but we are precluded from using this fact as evidence that Iconium still held aloof in social matters from the Lycaonians, for it had been made a Roman colony by Hadrian, and as such it was raised far above the level of the " Union "; the colony Lystra, also, though originally a Lycaonian city, did not condescend to join it. t Rusticus was prefect in A.D. 163, as Borghesi has shown. Hierax was in all probability a slave of the Emperor. It is noteworthy that Ruinart proposed to change Phrygia in the text to Lycaonia, not re- cognising the importance of this testimony. (See Acta Justini, 3.) 40 SL Paul in Asia Minor. me to reply to the possible objection that Cicero also visited Iconium, and yet he calls it part of Lycaonia ; no one who has comprehended the reasoning would make this objection. Cicero was a Roman governor, who looked on Iconium merely as the chief city of the government district. He did not mix with the people or catch their expressions. He was devoid of interest in the people, the country, the scenery, and the antiquities ; the smallest scrap of political gossip or social scandal from Rome bulked more largely in his mind than the entire interests of Lycaonia. A complete change of feeling towards the provincials was produced by the Imperial government ; and no better proof of the change can be found than the contrast between Pliny's and Cicero's letters written from their respective provinces. The two instances which have been mentioned in this chapter show how accidental is the preservation of the knowledge which enables us to refute negative arguments. But for the answer given in the Roman trial by a native of Iconium in 163 A.D., we should be unable to reply to the argument that the phrase in Acts is inaccurate, because Iconium was universally entitled Lycaonian in the centuries immediately before and after Christ ; and but for the acci- dent that in 1884 the present writer persevered in minutely examining a hillock in the plain, which had previously been passed by other travellers unnoticed, we should be unable to answer the presumption that the term " Royal Road," as applied to a Roman Imperial road, indicated rather a second than a first century date. Iconium was, under the Persian Empire, a part of Phrygia. Afterwards geographical situation prevailed over tribal character, and it came to be recognised by the world in general as the chief city of Lycaonia. This may pro- //. Localities of the First Journey. 41 bably have taken place during the third century B.C., when it was part of the vast kingdom ruled by the Seleucidae of Syria. It was perhaps in 63 B.C. that a tetrarchy of Lyca- onia, containing fourteen cities, with Iconium as capital, was formed. This tetrarchy was given to King Polemo in 39 B.C. by Mark Antony ; but soon afterwards it passed into the hands of King Amyntas, and on his death it became a Roman province in 25 B.C. The tetrarchy in- cluded Dcrbe, which was the frontier city of the Roman Empire in this quarter down to the year 72 A.D. Under the Roman Empire one of the most prominent features in the development of society in Asia Minor was the way in which it was affected, first by the Greek, and afterwards by the Graeco-Roman civilisation. The Greek civilisation was dominant in a few great cities, which had been founded or reorganised by the Greek kings, and into which many foreigners — Greeks, Syrians, and Jews — had been introduced. But it never affected the country very strongly until Roman organisation began to spread abroad that mixture of Greek and Roman ideas which we may style the Graco-Roman civilisation. Few questions relating to Asia Minor during the first two centuries of the Empire can be understood properly unless we appreciate the true character of this movement, which took the form of a con- flict between the native, primitive. Oriental, " barbarian " * manners of the country and the new European fashion. The western civilisation and spirit spread first through the towns, and at a later time very slowly through the country districts. All who got any education learned the Greek • The term "barbarian " is, of course, used here to indicate all that is opposed in character to " Graeco-Roman." 42 SL Paul in Asia Minor, language, adopted Greek manners, and no doubt Greek dress also, called themselves, their children, and their gods by Greek names, and affected to identify their religion with that of Greece and Rome. All this class of persons despised the native language and the native ways ; and just as they adopted Greek mythology and Greek anthro- pomorphic spirit in religion, so they often professed to be connected with, or descended from, the Greeks.* In Iconium especially, the metropolis of the tetrarchy, the population, we may be sure, prided themselves on their modern spirit and their high civilisation ; and they naturally distinguished themselves both from the rustics of the villages, and from the people of the non-Roman part of Lycaonia. Now it is a fact that the latter were called at this time Lycaones ; the name appears on the coins of Antiochus IV., who was their king from A.D. 38 to 72. f In contrast to them, the Iconians prided themselves on belonging to the Roman province ; for the loyalty of the Asian provinces to the empire was extraordinarily strong. But, if they contrasted themselves with the Lycaonian sub- jects of a barbarian king, by what ethnic or geographical name could they designate themselves ? " Phrygian " was equivalent in popular usage to " slave." There was no * It is characteristic of the inconsistencies and curiosities of "patriotism," that the same persons who stubbornly maintained that they were Phrygians in contrast with their Lycaonian neigh- bours, were flattered by any suggestion that they were of the Greek style and kindred. Myths of the Greek origin of Phrygian cities are common (see, e.g., Synnada, Hist. Geogr., p. 14). It would have been, of course, treasonable to coquet in any way with the name " Roman." t With a brief interval, 39-41, during which he was deprived of his kingdom by Caligula. //. Localities of the First Journey. 43 possible name for them except that which was derived from the Roman province to which they belonged. I can enter- tain no doubt that about 50 A.D. the address by which an orator would most please the Iconians, in situations where the term " Iconians " was unsuitable, was ai^Spe? TcCKaraiy " gentlemen of the Galatic province." This general term was still more necessary in addressing a mixed audience drawn from various towns of the Roman part of Lycaonia.* Some term applicable to all, yet not calculated to grate on the ethnic prejudices of any, was needed for purposes of courtesy. Besides using this generic term, the skilful orator would also introduce allusions to the Greek feeling and culture of his audience, assuming that they belonged to the more advanced and intelligent part of the population. This tone of courtesy and solicitude for the feelings of his audience, which we attribute to the supposed orator of the period, is precisely the tone in which Paul addresses the " Galatians " ; and he introduces in iii. 28 an allusion to them as Greeks, when he contrasts them with the Jews. The most instructive commentary on St. Paul's way of addressing the Galatians is to be found in the orations of Dio Chrysostom half a century later, addressed to the people of Nicomedeia, of Nicaea, of Apameia in Bithynia, and of Apameia in Phrygia. In the latter case he pointedly avoids an ethnic term : " Phrygians " had a bad connotation, " Asians " was too general ; and he styles them simply • But when we take into account that Antioch also was one of the churches addressed, the term "Galatians " becomes still more necessary. In the apostrophe, "Ye foolish Galatians," the adjective is softened by the polite and general ethnic appellation : it would have been personal and rude to say, "Ye foolish Antiochians and Iconians," etc. 44 S^. Paul in Asia Minor. " Gentlemen." But he uses the old historic name Kelainai, not the modern name Apameia, -and he speaks of their country sometimes as Asia, sometimes by the more precise geographical term Phrygia. An objection may be urged that Christianity was opposed to such a tone as is here implied in the civilised towns- people towards the ruder population of the uncivilised extra-Roman districts. But this objection seems to be out of keeping with the facts. The Christian Church in Asia Minor was always opposed to the primitive native cha- racter. It was Christianity, and not the Imperial govern- ment, which finally destroyed the native languages, and made Greek the universal language of Asia Minor. The new religion was strong in the towns before it had any hold of the country parts. The ruder and the less civilised any district was, the slower was Christianity in permeating it. Christianity in the early centuries was the religion of the more advanced, not of the " barbarian," peoples ; and in fact it seems to be nearly confined within the limits of the Roman world, and practically to take little thought of any people beyond, though in theory " Barbarian and Scythian " are included in it. Why then, it may be asked, does St. Paul counte- nance the expression, " the cities of Lycaonia, Lystra and Derbe"? Simply because in the narrative he is expressing himself geographically, and is using the precise words in which his advisers and informants might have described his route to him when he was arranging his flight from Iconium, whereas in the epistle he is using the language of polite address. Lystra and Derbe were cities of Lycaonia Galatica, i.e., the part of Lycaonia which was attached to the province Galatia, while Iconium reckoned itself as a //. Localities of the First Journey. 45 city of Phrygia Galatica, i.e., the part of Phrygia which was attached to the province Galatta. The account of Iconium given by Mr. Lewin and by Canon Farrar (who is in perfect agreement with him) differs greatly from that which has just been given. The latter calls it " the capital city of an independent tetrarchy," says that it was not in the province Galatia, * and that " the diversity of political governments which at this time pre- vailed in Asia Minor was so far an advantage to the apostles that it rendered them more able to escape from one jurisdic- tion to another." In so far as it concerns antiquities, this view is against the evidence ; f and, when a correct map is before us, we see that Paul did not use the frontier, like the modern brigands in Turkish Macedonia, to " dodge the law." He did not go out of the Roman province, but found safety through the self-government of the various cities. He never came into collision with the Roman administration on this first journey, but only with the city officials ; and the action of the magistrates of Antioch had no force beyond the territory that belonged to the city. There is an interesting reading in Codex BezcB, xiv. 2, "The archisynagogoi of the Jews and the rulers of the synagogue brought persecution against them Kara twv • I find that this error is widespread. Dr. Salmon, Introduction to the New Testament, 1891, Chap. XVIII., p. 323, even employs it to get a proof of the historical accuracy of Acts. Coins are extant struck by Iconium as a Roman city from the time of Claudius onwards ; and it was certainly Roman from B.C. 25. t It would be tedious and unsuitable for the present occasion to discuss the evidence ; but the allusion to evidence against him made by Canon Farrar in note i, p. 378, is sufficient to disprove his own case. 46 SL Paul in Asia Minor. hiKaiwv, and stirred up the souls of the Gentiles against the brethren. And the Lord quickly gave peace." * The officials of the synagogue are here clearly distin- guished from the archisynagogoi. The distinction is perfectly correct, and makes an important addition to our knowledge of the administration of the Jewish synagogues in Asia Minor.f The carefulness with which the different classes of Jews are enumerated seems hardly explicable except on the supposition that actual popular tradition is here preserved. Such minuteness is not consistent with mere expansion of the text by a scholiast or composer of glosses. The reviser had something definite to relate. The words KaTo. tmv SiKaicov, " against the just ones," are perhaps a gloss on avroiv 'lov8ai(iov Koi ol ap-)(ovres Trjs (Tvvayayrjs eTTJjyayov avrois dieoyfiov Kara rav diKaiav, Kui] eKdnaxrav ras ^Irvx^as toov iOvSiv Kara roav d8e\(pS>v [6 8e Kvpws eScoKfV Ta)(v elprjvrjv^. t See Reinach, Revue des Mtudes J^uives, vii., 161 £f. ; and below, p. 480. X The governor of Galatia was not a proconsul, but a legatus pro prsetore //. Localities of the First Journey. 47 Roman governor. At the end of the verse the reviser added a phrase showing how the proceedings ended, in order to explain the statement in the following verse that " they remained therefore a long time." 6. Lystra. Lystra is about six hours S.S.W. from Iconium. The road passes for a mile or more through the luxuriant gar- dens of the suburbs, and then across the level plain. It ascends for the first fourteen miles so slightly that it needs a barometer to make the fact perceptible. Then it reaches a range of hills, which stretch outwards in a south-easterly direction from the mountainous country that bounds the vast Lycaonian plains on the west and separates them from the great depression in which are situated the two con- nected lakes Karalis and Trogitis, now called Bey Sheher and Seidi Sheher lakes (the former the largest in Asia Minor). This range of hills, which entails a further ascent of about 500 feet, gradually diminishes in height as it stretches further away towards the east, and finally sinks down into the plain about ten miles away. After crossing these hills, the road descends into a valley, in breadth about a mile, down the centre of which flows a river * towards the south-east ; and on the southern bank of the river about a mile from the place where the road leaves the hills, stands • This river is wrongly represented in every published map. It has had a considerable course before it reaches Khatyn Serai, drain- ing a large part of the mountain district, in which Kiepert's latest maps represent the water as flowing westwards to Bey Sheher Lake. My friend, Professor Sterrett, has erred in this point in his Wolfe Ex;pedition, pp. 159 and 190. The map in my Hist. Geogr. is also wrong. I examined this point in 1891, but the map was complete before that time. 4 8 5^. Paul in Asia Minor. the village of Khatyn Serai, " The Lady's Mansion." The name dates no doubt from the time of the Seljuk Sultans of Roum, when the village was an estate and country resi- dence of some sultana from Konia (as Iconium is now called). Its elevation, about 3777 feet above the sea and 427 above Iconium, fits it for a summer residence.* This situation for Lystra was guessed in 1820 by Colonel Leake with his wonderful instinct, and was rejected by succeeding geographers. To Professor Sterrett belongs the credit of having solved this most important problem by discovering epigraphic proof that Lystra was situated beside Khatyn Serai. A little personal reminiscence, concerning the greatest disappointment of my exploring experiences, may perhaps be pardoned. It gives some idea of the chances of travel, and puts in a stronger relief Professor Sterrett's patience and skill in exploration, to which we owe the discovery of the site of Lystra and all the results that follow from it. When I was travelling in 1882 in the company of Sir Charles Wilson, we had set our hearts on discovering Lystra. Leake's conjecture, confirmed by the fact that Hierocles implies Lystra to be near Iconium, turned our minds to Khatyn Serai ; and when we heard that it was reported to contain great remains, we left Iconium with the full expectation of finding Lystra there. But in the village six inscriptions were discovered, four of which were Latin. This preponderance of Latin inscriptions made me certain that a Roman colony must have been situated there ; and as Lystra was not a colony, it must be * The height of Iconium, 3350, is given by the Ottoman Railway Survey ; that of Lystra is calculated from my friend Mr. Headlam's aneroid observations. //. Localities of the First Journey. 49 looked for elsewhere. Sir C. Wilson did not admit my reasoning, and maintained his own opinion that Lystra might be there. On the morrow we rode up the water two hours' distance to Kilisra, and spent great part of the day examining the interesting and really beautiful series of churches, cut in the rock, which prove that an ancient monastery (rather than a town) was situated there. As we returned in the afternoon, our road passed near the ancient site beside Khatyn Serai, and we thought of crossing the river to examine it. But the day was far spent, and the camp had been sent to a village four hours beyond Khatyn Serai, so that time was short. Had we gone over * to the small hill, to a considerable extent artificial, on which the ancient city was built, we should have discovered the large inscribed pedestal on which the colony Lystra recorded the honour which it paid to its founder, the Emperor Augustus, and we should have found that both our opinions were right — Sir C. Wilson's that Lystra was situated at Khatyn Serai, and mine that a Roman colony was situated there. But at that time no evidence was known, no coin of Lystra had been preserved to prove that it was a colony ; and the fact remained unknown till 1885, when Professor Sterrett's exploring instinct guided him to the marble pedestal. Then other evidence came to light : M. Waddington possessed a coin of the colony Lystra, Dr. Imhoof-Blumer another, and the British Museum has recently acquired a third. The exact site of Lystra is on a hill in the centre of the valley, a mile north of the modern village, and on the opposite side of the river. The hill rises about 100 to 150 * I must bear the blame for this omission. I had had fever, and was suffering greatly during that part of the journey, and I was ready to take any excuse to get to camp an hour earlier. 4 50 SL Paul in Asia Minor. feet above the plain, and the sides are steep. Few traces of ancient buildings remain above the surface. A small ruined church of no great antiquity stands in the low ground beneath the hill on the south-west ; and beside it a fountain gushes forth from beneath a low arch. This fountain is still counted sacred, and is called Ayasma {i.e.^ cuyLa(Tfia\ a generic name in Asia Minor for fountains visited as sacred by the Christians. As Khatyn Serai is a purely Turkish village, this fountain, which has retained its character among the Christians of Iconium, must mark a spot which was peculiarly sacred in ancient Lystra. Situated on this bold hill, Lystra could easily be made a very strong fortress, and must have been well suited for its purpose of keeping in check the tribes of the mountain districts that lie west and south of it. It was the furthest east of the fortified cities, which Augustus constructed to facilitate the pacification of Pisidia and Isauria ; * and for seventy years after its foundation it must have been a town of considerable consequence, proud of its Roman character and its superior rank. As a Lycaonian town Lystra had been quite undistinguished ; as a Roman garrison town it was a bulwark of the province Galatia, and a sister city to the great Roman centre at Antioch. A contemporary memorial of this pride of relationship is preserved in the following inscription found in Antiochf on a pedestal which once supported a statue of Concord : — " To the very brilliant colony of Antioch her sister the very brilliant colony of Lystra did honour by presenting the statue of Concord." * They were really old cities, which Augustus remodelled and reconstituted. + Discovered by Professor Sterrettin 1885 ; recopiedby mein 1886. //. Localities of the First Journey, 51 When we consider these facts we can hardly hesitate to admit that St. Paul might in a letter address the church at Lystra by the Roman provincial title, Galatians. Much may yet be discovered at Lystra, We should be especially glad to find some independent proof that a temple of Jupiter before the city (^to? UpoTToXeo)?) existed there. From the many examples of such temples quoted by the commentators on Acts, it seems highly probable that there was one at Lystra. The nearest and best analogy, which is still unpublished, may be mentioned here. At Claudiopolis of Isauria, a town in the mountains south-east from Lystra, an inscription in the wall of the mediaeval castle records a dedication to Jupiter-before-the-town {Ait npoaariw). In iSQoMr. Hogarth and Mr, Headlam visited Lystra along with me ; and our hope was to fix the probable position of the temple and perhaps to discover a dedication to the god. In the latter we were disappointed ; but there is every probability that some great building once stood beside the pedestal dedicated to Augustus. This pedestal stands near the hill on the south-east side ; and looking from the hill down the valley towards the open plain, one cannot fail to see it in front of the city, and the signs of concealed ruins beside it. The pedestal of Augustus seems to be in its original place, and there is every probability that the worship of the Imperial founder was connected with the chief temple, and that the pedestal was placed in the sacred precinct of Zeus, as at Ephesus the Augusteum was built within the sacred precinct of Artemis. The other possibility, that the Ayasma marks the peribolos of Zeus and retains the sacred character attaching to the spot in pre-Christian and Christian times alike, is not so probable. 52 Si. Paul in Asia Minor. Very little excavation would be needed to verify this identification, and probably to disclose the remains of the temple, in front of whose gates the sacrifice was prepared for the Apostles. The text of the Codex Bez(B is specially remarkable in the case of Lystra. In xiv. 13, it preserves a more accurate form than the majority of MSS. It has tov 6W09 Jto9 irpo 7roX.e&)9,* whereas the character of the epithet is lost in TOV Aiopv8pfs crvvrexvi-Tai, k.t.X. The form of address is more individualised ; but the distinction between TexylrM and (pydrai is lost. VII. St. Paul at Ephesus 129 smiths were of course a craft of higher standing, greater skill in delicate work, larger profits, and therefore greater wealth and influence, than the potters and marble-workers. How natural then it is that it should be a silversmith who gathered together a meeting of the associated trades and organised a disturbance ! The less educated workmen follow the lead of the great artisan. On this view every detail confirms the general effect. We are taken direct into the heart of artisan life in Ephesus; and all is so characteristic, so true to common life, and so unlike what would occur to any person writing at a distance, that the conclusion is inevitable : we have here a picture drawn from nature, and copied literally by the author of Acts from the narrative of an eyewitness. 6. Attitude of the Ephesian Officials towards Paul. On the other hand, look at the picture drawn by H. The riot is got up by the priests through the agency of a leading official and his board of colleagues. That is precisely the idea that would occur to any person inventing such an incident. Paul goes to Ephesus ; he preaches at first with effect ; the priests are alarmed, and raise a dangerous riot against him. Such is the picture that every inventor of the biography of a saint * is sure to draw : the priests at once occur to his mind as the natural enemies of his hero. There is nothing characteristic and individual about such an * Thoughtheearlysaintsof Asia Minor are, as a rule, real persons, yet their biographies are, in general, deficient in historical value, being invented, or at least profoundly modified, in later centuries. Only the discovery of early evidence can enable us to learn anything definite about their real history. 9 130 S/. Paul in Asm Minor, account ; all is commonplace, and coloured by the religious ideas of a later time. The first way in which Christianity excited the popular enmity, outside the Jewish community, was by disturbing the existing state of society and trade, and not by making innovations in religion. The rise of a new god and a new worship was a matter of perfect indifference to almost everybody in the cities of the Roman provinces. In the Graeco-Roman world every one was quite accustomed to the introduction of new deities from other countries. The process had been going on with extraordinary frequency, and had produced a sort of eclectic religion in all Grseco- Roman cities. The priests of Artemis looked on it with indifference. They had not found it injurious to their interests ; rather, the growth of each new superstition added to the influence of Artemis and her priests. Isis was no enemy to Artemis. The narrative of the New Testament has led to a general misapprehension on this point. We are so accustomed to the strong religious feeling of the Jews and the intolerant fanaticism with which they persecuted all dissentient opinion, that we are apt to forget that this feeling was peculiar to them, and beyond any other of their character- istics excited the wonder of the tolerant, easy-going in- differentism of the ordinary pagans, who did not care two straws whether their neighbour worshipped twenty gods or twenty-one. A new deity preached in Ephesus, a new inmate of their eclectic pantheon : it was all a matter of indifference. Gradually people began to realise that Christianity meant a social revolution, that it did not mean to take its place alongside of the other religions, but to destroy them. The VII. St. Paul at Ephesus. 131 discovery was made in a homely way, familiar to us all — viz., through the pocket. Certain trades began, with all the sensitiveness of the money-market, to find themselves affected. The gradual progress of opposition to Christianity is well marked in the Acts, and is precisely in accordance with the above exposition. When Paul began to preach in Asia Minor, he at first experienced no opposition except from the Jews. In Antioch of Pisidia, in Iconium, in Lystra, in Thessalonica, his experience was always the same. The Gentiles were indifferent or even friendly, the Jews bitterly hostile. But in Philippi occurred the incident of the "maid having a spirit of divination"; and "when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone," they accused Paul as a Jew of inciting to illegal conduct and violation of the Roman law, and turned to their own account the general dislike felt by both Romans and Greeks towards the Jews. Similarly in Ephesus the first opposition against Paul was roused when the trades connected with Artemis- worship felt their pockets touched, and then the riot arose. It was not a religious persecution, but a social and mer- cenary one. So far am I from thinking with H., that " the hierarchy would be sensible of the Apostle's influence before any others suspected it," that I should not be surprised if priests or leading supporters of the worship of Artemis were among the Asiarchs, who were " the only influential friends of Paul at Ephesus." Probably the priests of Artemis would act like the priests at Lystra ; they would encourage the " revival," and try to turn it to their own account, as in so many cases previously such " revivals " of religious feeling had ultimately only enriched Artemis and her priesthood. 132 S^. Paul in Asia Minor. Another contradiction between the account given in Acts xix. and H.'s theory must be noticed. According to the latter, the officials who organised the riot were rewarded for this action with a special vote of distinction by the senate and the popular assembly. But according to the account in Acts, it was a thoroughly disorderly riot, dis- couraged by the Asiarchs, and rebuked by the city clerk as a groundless disturbance, which involved the magistrates and the city in danger at the instance of the Roman law (see ver. 40). This contradiction alone would be fatal to the theory against which I am arguing ; or rather, if the theory be true, it convicts the author of Acts xix. as guilty of a most inaccurate and prejudiced account, and as an altogether useless authority for history. I prefer then to follow the version of the incident given in Acts. Far from finding that " the action of Demetrius appears in a new and far more significant light if he really was the Demetrius of the inscription, and if the honour therein voted to him and his colleagues by the senate and people of Ephesus was in recognition of the services rendered by him and them on behalf of the national goddess," I think that this theory both involves us in con- tradiction to the general situation recorded in Acts, and reduces the incident from a marvellously vivid and true picture of society in Ephesus to a commonplace and unin- structive tale. If I were to trust my own inference from Acts, I should picture the riot as entirely that of an ignorant mob, fomented by an artisan more far-seeing than his neighbours. It was a riot disapproved of alike by priests and by magis- trates : the former saw nothing in Paul to characterize him as dangerous to the goddess (see ver. 37) ; the latter felt VII. St. Paul at Epkestcs. 133 that the riot was contrary to the Roman regulations. The distinction which H. makes between the attitude of the Asiarchs and that of the priests of Artemis towards Paul is entirely groundless, and forms an unfortunate conclusion to a paragraph, great part of which is excellently expressed and thoroughly true. The cultus of the emperors did indeed prepare the way for the Christian Church ; but this preparation was quite involuntary. It co-ordinated the various religions of the province into something approxi- mating to a single hierarchy. But to maintain that the officials of the imperial cultus, «>., the Asiarchs, naturally represented a different point of view from the priests of Artemis is to go against all evidence. These officials were simply provincials, selected chiefly on account of their wealth and sometimes against their will ; they did not represent the point of view of the Roman governors, but the average view of the upper classes of the province Many of them no doubt had held priesthoods of the native deities before they became officials of the imperial cultus ; in fact, it is probable that the native priesthoods were a sort of stepping-stone to the Asiarchate. The attitude of the Asiarchs towards Paul may then be taken as a fair in- dication of the tone of the educated classes, among whom I include the higher priests. The attitude of Demetrius and the mob was that of tradesmen whose trade was threatened, and who got up a demonstration on its behalf. We find, then, that the attitude of the officials and of the educated part of the Ephcsian people was that of curiosity and intelligent interest in the new doctrines. This curiosity was in the air at the time throughout the Eastern world ; and it is one of the signs of a very early date in the narrative, that it shows no trace of the feeling of dislike to 134 '^^- Pci^l i^ Asia Minor. the new religion which soon began to spread abroad. Here and always we find that the spread of Christianity at first was favoured by a measure of intelligence and freedom of mind in those among whom it was preached. 7. Fate of the Silver Shrines One objection made by H. must be met. " If these silver shrines were common articles of merchandise, such as pilgrims to the famous temple purchased to take back to their homes, then we might fairly expect to find some specimens still extant among the treasures of our museums." Probably the chief use made of silver shrines was, not to take home, but to dedicate in the temple. They were sold by the priest to the worshippers, and dedicated by the latter to the goddess : similar examples of trade carried on by priests are too familiar to need quotation. Why then have these silver shrines all disappeared ? Simply on account of their value. They have all gone into the melting- pot, many of them being placed there by the priests them- selves. Dedicatory offerings were so numerous, that they had to be cleared out from time to time to make room for new anathemata. The terra-cotta shrines, being worthless, would be thrown away quietly, the silver would be melted down. Those which remained to a later period met the same fate at other hands, less pious, but equally greedy. H, indeed speaks apparently of silver statuettes of Artemis as common.* The expression, however, is only a careless * His words are (p. 417) : " Statuettes " (sharply distinguished by H. from shrines) " of the Ephesian Diana were to be found every- where in the Greco- Roman world. In fact, these statuettes of the goddess, reproducing all her hideous Oriental features, may be found in bronze, in silver, or in terra-cotta, in every European VII. St. Paul at Ephesus. 135 and probably unintentional one ; for existing examples of them are so rare as to be unknown to me. 8. Great Artemis. After Demetrius' speech the excited mob began to shout " Great is Artemis ! " and at a later stage they spent about two hours in clamour to the same effect. The phrase is noteworthy. In such circumstances there can be no doubt that some familiar formula would rise to their lips ; it would not be mere chance words that suggested themselves to a whole crowd, but words which were well known to all. We are therefore justified in inferring from this passage that the phrase, " Great is Artemis ! " was a stock expression museum. The type was exceeding-ly common, and witnessed to the wide extent of the worship. If the writer of the Acts had spoken of Demetrius as driving a brisk trade in these metal statuettes, the narrative would have corresponded with the facts. As it is, the statement that Demetrius was the maker of ' silver shrines' is either to be set down as a loose mode of expression, or else it awaits explanation." In these sentences H. does not explicitly say that statuettes in silver may be found in every museum. But he proceeds to reason as if this were stated, and assumes throughout the rest of his remarks that he has proved silver statuettes to be quite common. In his reply to the article which is here reprinted, he says, "I should like to see and handle some specimens of metal shrines of Artemis discovered at Ephesus. In default of such metal shrines or of any mention of them elsewhere than in this passage, I made bold to suggest metal statuettes. Such metal statuettes are well known in modern museums." In thio last sentence H. must either mean that silver statuettes are common in museums, or he has abandoned his case. He insists on seeing silver shrines, and till they are shown he declines to believe in their existence. In my criticism I plainly put the case to him that silver statuettes of the Ephesian Artemis were unknown to me, and quoted in a footnote Mr. Cecil Smith's statement (made in answer 136 S^. Paul in Asia Minor. in the religion, just as we might argue from a single loyal demonstration that " Long live the Queen ! " was a stock phrase in our own country, or Xpia-riavcov BacrCkewv TToXKa ra err) a current phrase in Constantinople under the Byzantine emperors. Conversely, if we can prove that " Great is Artemis ! " was a stock phrase of Artemis-worship, we shall add one more to the list of vivid, natural, and individualised traits in this scene. We have very scanty information about the ritual of the goddess of Ephesus and of Western Asia Minor in general ; but recent discoveries have added greatly to our knowledge. The expressions " the great Artemis, " the queen of Ephesus,"* were formerly proved to have been actually to a question which I addressed to him on the point), that in the British Museum there is no silver statuette of the Ephesian Artemis, and only one supposed doubtfully to represent the Greek Artemis. Metal statuettes of the Ephesian Artemis do not prove H.'s case, for he himself explicitly demands proof of silverwork. But even metal statuettes of the Ephesian Artemis are unknown to me ; and I ask for proof of H.'s reiterated statement, that they are common in museums. A single example, or even two, will not prove his words to be accurate. Even marble and terra-cotta statuettes of the type which is commonly called the Ephesian Artemis (and which is clearly intended by H.) are, so far as my own experience goes, rare. I know of only four examples in terra-cotta, and Wood {£^/ies., p. 270) gives an illustration of a marble statuette which he had seen in private possession at Mylasa. Baumeister's Denkmdler and Roscher's Lexicon der Mythologie, s. v. Artemis, do not mention any statuettes, but only statues, of the Ephesian Artemis. I believe that H. has unintentionally exaggerated the importance of this type. Representations of the other type in niches are common in marble and terra-cotta ; and the value of the metal is a sufficient explanation why none in silver are known. The silver figures quoted in H.'s reply were not of the Ephesian Artemis, * T^y fjLfyaKrjs 6(as 'Apre/uiSos, CorJ>. Inscr. GrCBC, 2963 C, : ''^4'ia-ov " Avaaaa, lb., 6797. VII. St. Paul at Ephesus. 137 used of the goddess ; but proof was wanting that the epithet " great " was so peculiarly and regularly associated with her as to rise naturally to the lips of her worshippers as a sort of formula in her service. In 1887 Mr. Hogarth, Mr. Brown, and myself found the site of a temple dedicated to a goddess and her son, Artemis-Leto and Apollo-Lairbcnos, at the Phrygian city of Dionysopolis. Beside it we found numerous inscriptions of a remarkable type. They were all erected within the sacred precinct by persons bound to the service of the two deities. They agree in representing the authors as having come before the god when polluted with some physical or moral impurity (sometimes of a very gross kind), and when therefore unfit to appear before the god. The offenders are chastised by the god (in some cases at least, perhaps in all cases, with disease) ; they confess and acknowledge their fault, and thereby appease the god. They are cured of their ailment, or released from their punishment, and finally they relate the facts in an inscription as a pattern and a warning to others not to treat the god lightly. In publishing these inscriptions,* I have drawn out a number of analogies between the formulse used in them and those hieratic formulae which we can trace at Ephesus ; and have argued that the religion of Ephesus and of Dionysopolis was fundamentally the same. Among the • journal of Hellenic Studies, 1889, p. 216 ff., in completion of a paper by Mr. Hogarth, ib., 1887, p. 376 flF. In my paper I have to make one correction in a detail of the fourth inscription. The phrase 'Ar^lf 'A.yadr]fji(pov must be translated " Atthis, wife " (not daughter, as I have rendered it) "of Agathemeros." The impurity alluded to is of the same type as in No. 5. Mr. Hogarth's paper was right on this point, though the inscription was imperfect in some other points. 138 St Paul in Asia Minor. formulae common to the two cults is the cry, " Great Apollo ! " " Great Artemis ! " The former occurs as the heading of one of these confessions at Dionysopolis, and was evidently a regular formula of invocation addressed to the god by a worshipper. In these inscriptions, and in an- other group found in the Katakekaumene, the great power of the goddess is even oftener insisted on than that of her son : e.g., " I thank mother Leto, because she makes impossibilities possible " is the exclamation of a pious epi- graphist * at Dionysopolis, and in the Katakekaumene we find the heading " Great Anaitis " f over a confession of the type just described. The Oriental colonists of the latter (as has already been remarked) often applied the Oriental name Anaitis to the Lydo-Phrygian goddess. In other seats of Artemis-worship we find that her great power is insisted on in the same way. The Artemis of the lakes is called Great Artemis in an inscription. J The Artemis of Therma in Lesbos is invoked by the single phrase " Great Artemis of Therma " on a stone still standing by the road between Mitylene and Therma. § Pamphylia affords a good parallel to Ephesus. The cult of the Pergaean Artemis closely resembled that of the Ephesian goddess. The former was styled the Queen of Perga, and the tribe at Sillyon (a neighbouring town), which bore the name of the goddess, was called " the tribe of the great one." || * Journal of Hellenic Studies, 1883, p. 385. t Smyrna Mouseion, No. vk^. X Hist. Geogr.y p. 410. § P\ehn, Lesdiaca, p. 117; Bulletin de Corresp. Hellen., 1880, p. 430. II As this last fact has never been observed, so far as I know, I shall point out the evidence on which both statements rest. In 1880 VII. St. Paul at Ephesus. 139 These numerous analogies show that the power of the Ephesian goddess was insisted on in the cultus, and that her greatness was vividly present to the mind of her worshippers, and prompted the cry " Great Artemis." The invocations "Great Apollo" at Dionysopolis, "Great Anaitis" in the Katakekaumene, " Great Artemis " in Lesbos, afford complete corroboration of the title " Great Artemis " mentioned in Acts. 9. Text of Acts xix. 23-41. Here we find a discrepancy between the inscriptions and the received text of Acts. The customary phrase was an invocation " Great Artemis," but the text of Acts reads " Great is Artemis," as a formal assertion. There can be no doubt that it would be a far more striking trait if the narrative represented the population as using the precise phrase which has just been proved to have been common in their ritual. Also, we cannot fail to observe that popular shouts are not usually expressed in the indicative. The suspicion suggests itself, that the populace used their ordinary I published in the journal of Hellenic Studies a paper on the then undeciphered Pamphylian alphabet, in which (p. 246) the title " Queen of Perga " was given as the explanation of the enigmatic legend on some coins of the city. This explanation has been ac- cepted by almost every subsequent writer, and may be regarded as certain. In the same paper (p. 253) the group of letters MHEIAAE, which occurs several times in an inscription of Sillyon, was explained as the Pamphylian dialetic form of /xtyaXj;. The latter interpretation has not been so widely accepted, though it has met with the approval of several very good scholars. A recently discovered inscription of Sillyon shows that one of the tribes was called MeaXftrtf. It is evidently named after the MftdXr; goddess. The inscription is pub- lished in Bulletiti de Corresp. Hellen., 1889, p. 486. 140 St. Paul in Asia Minor. phrase, and that their words have been misrepresented by a very sHght alteration, viz., the duplication of the letter 77, so that fxefyaXr) "Apre/xi'; became fieydXi] rj "Aprefii^. We turn, then, to the manuscripts to see whether we can find any confirmation of this suspicion. The best manuscripts are agreed on this point : they read " Great is Artemis " ; but Codex Bezce * preserves the form which, as we see from the inscriptions, was actually used in the cultus. The latter form, moreover, lends more character to the scene. The mob for two hours invoked with loud voice the goddess and queen of Ephesus, but it is much less natural to represent them as shouting in the streets and in the theatre the statement that Artemis is great. The people were praying, not arguing against Paul's doctrines ; and there is a keen sarcasm in the way their praying is described, eKpa^ov \iyovTe '1'gian Inscriptions of the Roman period " in Zeitschrift fiir vergleichende Sprachforschung, 1887, pp. 383, 398. 148 St Paul in Asia Minor. Roman ideas had on the mind of St. Paul. In theory he recognises the universality of the Church (Col. iii. 11) ; but in practice he goes where the Roman Empire goes. We therefore feel compelled to suppose that St. Paul had conceived the great idea of Christianity as the religion of the Roman world ; and that he thought of the various districts and countries in which he had preached as parts of the grand unity. He had the mind of an organiser ; and to him the Christians of his earliest travels were not men of Iconium and of Antioch — they were a part of the Roman world, and were addressed by him as such. 2. Distinction of Authorship. Throughout these chapters a distinction has been drawn between the author of Acts and the writer of the original document describing the journeys of St. Paul, which we assume to have been worked into the book as it has come down to us. This distinction seems to be proved, both by other reasons which do not come within our present purpose, and by the variation in Acts in the use of names denoting the districts of Asia Minor. The original docu- ment employs these names in the Roman sense, while in the earlier part of Acts the names are used in the popular Greek sense which was common in the century before and after Christ. There was at that time great uncertainty in the usage of the names denoting the great territorial districts of Asia Minor. Not merely were the boundaries of several of these districts very uncertain (so that, for example, the difficulty of drawing a dividing line between Mysia and Phrygia was proverbial) ; but also several of them had. according to the Roman provincial system, an extent dif- VIII. Authority for St. PauVs Journeys. 149 ferent from that which they had according to older history, ethnical facts, and popular usage. The only source of diversity which concerns us here is the latter. There is no distinction of practical consequence in the extent of Lycia, Pamphylia, Bithynia ; Pontus and Cilicia also do not afford any criterion. Galatia and Asia are the two provinces in regard to which very serious difference of usage existed.* The use of these names in the Travel-Document has appeared very clearly in the preceding discussion. It appears to agree with the practice of St. Paul's Epistles. It is not possible to demonstrate that in the Epistles every name is used in the Roman sense, where the Roman and the popular sense differ ; but in some cases there is no room for doubt, and the invariable presumption that the Roman sense is intended, is fully admitted even by Wendt, though he is an advocate of the North-Galatian theory.f In Actsii. 9 the enumeration, " Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia," is distinctly popular and Greek in style. According to the Roman fashion Phrygia was included in Asia, except a small part which belonged to Galatia. In making such an enumeration a Roman would not have omitted Galatia, nor would he have mentioned Phrygia, for * In Greece a similar difference existed in regard to the names Achaia and Macedonia ; which to the Romans meant two large provinces, and to the Greeks two much smaller districts. t So in the latest edition of " Meyer's Commentary," 1888. In the previous edition, Wendt held that the Epistle to the Galatians was written to the churches of Antioch, etc. But even in the latest edition he still admits that Paul used the provincial names according to the Roman sense. He admits this even in the case of Galatia as it is used in i Cor. xvi. i (see Comm. on Acts xiii. 9) ; and why he should deny that in the Epistle to the Galatians, Galatia is used in the same sense as in i Corinthians, it is difficult to see. 150 Sl Paul in Asia Minor, to a Roman Phrygia had no political existence. Mysia and Phrygia and Lydia were in the Roman sense merely geo- graphical terms denoting parts of the province of Asia, which he might sometimes feel himself obliged to use (as, e.g., in Acts xvi. 9), in order to specify more distinctly some exact position within the province, but which he would not employ in an enumeration of countries and provinces like Acts ii. 9fif. Asia is a term about which it is very difficult to decide. The Roman province Asia had been formed in 133 B.C., and the name seems to have soon come into popular use, because there was no other term to denote the iEgean coast lands. But during the first century before Christ, the province was greatly increased in size, and it is very difficult to determine after this time whether the name Asia is used in the popular sense of the .^gean coast lands, or denotes the entire Roman province ; in short, whether it includes Phrygia or not. In Acts ii, 9 Asia is pointedly used in the popular sense, excluding Phrygia. In Acts vi. 9 the use of the term Asia is quite consistent with either the Roman or the popular sense. The Jews in question are probably those educated in the rhetorical schools of Smyrna and Pergamos ; the Phrygian Jews would be less likely to have received a philosophical education and to engage in subtle discussions, but they were numerous, and may be included. There are only these two verses from which any inference can be drawn as to the usage in Acts i.-xi. ; but even one clear example is a sufficient proof that some parts of these chapters use a geographical nomenclature different from that which is employed in the Travel-Document and in the Epistles. VIII. Authority for St. Paul's Journeys. 151 On one point of great interest this theory perhaps throws some light — viz., on the abrupt ending of Acts in the middle of St. Paul's imprisonment. Probably the original Travel - Document was composed in the sphere of his influence during that imprisonment ? If that be so, the author of Acts stopped where his chief authority stopped : perhaps he intended to complete the tale in another work, using different authorities. 3. Text of Codex Bez^ -. Asia Minor. In addition to the points which have already been noticed, it will be convenient to examine some other passages bearing on the antiquities of Asia Minor, in which Codex Bezce differs from the received text of Acts, and thereafter to examine some of the variations in the narra- tive of St. Paul's adventures in Greece. The radical change of text in xvi. 9, 10, is very re- markable. The scene is described with a vividness and completeness of detail that almost incline us to think that Codex Bezce gives here the original text. But perhaps the reading of this Codex may be best explained as an alter- ation founded on a tradition still surviving in the churches of Asia, " And [in] a vision by night there appeared to Paul [as it were] a man of Macedonia,* standing [before his face], beseeching him and saying, ' Come over into Macedonia and help us.' [Awaking, therefore, he related the vision to us, and we perceived that] the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them in Mace- donia : and [on the morrow] setting sail," etc. In xviii. 24 Codex Bez(B\vA.s ' AttoWcovlo^: for the common • The changes in Codex Bezcs are marked by square brackets. 152 SL Paul in Asia Minor. AiToXKm. The latter is the familiar diminutive or pet-name of the former. The same person may be spoken of by both names, as in an English book the same person might be spoken of sometimes as Henry, sometimes as Harry. A similar example occurs in the case of Prisca, as she is called by Paul in Rom. xvi. 3, but who is generally known by the diminutive Priscilla.* Apparently the reviser was offended by the use of the familiar Apollos in a passage of serious and lofty tone, just as in a highly wrought passage of Burke one would be offended by a reference to Will Shakespeare. Accordingly he substituted the full name Apollonius. In xix. 9 the addition airo wpa? i €Q)or icon, § 11, in the "Palestine Pilgrims' Series"), who suggest Hierapolis of Phrygia. Strobolis is for (fi)r TpcoyvXti/ — a form in accordance with a common analogy ; and some cursive MSS. of Acts read SrpoyvXtw or SrpoyyuX/o). Willibald, however, would use a Latin Bible, and this word seems not to have penetrated into the Latin versions. Even if we do not suppose that Willibald's selection of Strobolis and Patara was due to recollection of the narrative in Acts, his voyage is at least an apt illustration of St. Paul's voyage, as showing that these points are natural halting- points for a small coasting vessel. t I hope to discuss this interesting work fully elsewhere. 156 5/. Paul in Asia Minor. the present writer is inclined to date soon after 130 the enlarg-ement and revision of a much older text of the Acta. 4. Text of Codex Bez^-. Europe. To appreciate the force of these results, let us compare a few of the discrepancies between Codex BezcB and the received text in the narrative of St. Paul's travels in Europe. In xvi. 12, according to the received text, Philippi is the " first {i.e. leading) city of its division of Macedonia, a colonia" ; but in Codex Bezcs it is " the head of Macedonia, a city, a colonia."* The latter description is not expressed in the proper terms, does not cohere well together, and is actually incorrect. The term " first " was commonly assumed by towns which were, or claimed to be, chief of a district or a province ; and Philippi either boasted, or was believed by the reviser to boast, of this distinction ; but he is wrong in assigning to it the pre-eminence over the whole of Macedonia. Philippi was merely first in one of the districts into which Roman Macedonia was divided, but not in the whole province. While the received text is right, Codex Bezce shows an alteration made without knowledge of the country and its circumstances, and without proper comprehension of the text. The reviser, unfamiliar with the constitution of the province, understood MaKeSovia'i as genitive in apposition with fiepiSo<;, whereas it is really partitive genitive depending on it ; and he was therefore dis- satisfied with the term fiepiSoii as applied to a province. He might have substituted province (i'7rapxici,., p. 55, ed. I. VIII. Authority for St. Pauls Journeys. 1 6 1 honourable estate, men and women in considerable numbers believed," instead of " Also of the Greek women of honour- able estate, and of men, not a few." 5. Codex Bez^ founded on a Catholic Recension. The omission of Damaris in Codex Bezce (xvii. 34) is specially remarkable. There seems no doubt that this omission is deliberate and intentional. The word evcryiqiKov, which occurs here in Codex Bezce {Aiovvaio'^ [rt?] ^ Apeoira'^iTi)'^ [et'o-;^7;/ia)i/], Koi erepoc), seems to be appropriated to women in Acts (compare xvii. 12, xiii. 50); and its use is the last remaining trace of the vanished Damaris. The process of change seems to have been that the word evaxv/J'Oiv was added as a gloss to her name under the influence of xiii. 50, xvii. 12; and then her name was cut out, and the gloss remained in a wrong place in the text.* In the first place the question occurs, why Damaris was cut out. The omission may be compared with the change in the second part of xvii. 12. The reason for both changes is the same : they are due to dislike to the prominence assigned to women in the accepted text. Now the prominence of women is, as we have seen, a characteristic of the social system of Asia Minor. This feature in Codex Bezce might therefore seem to be out of keeping with our theory that it is founded on a revision made in that country. But the prominence assigned to women was, firstly, pagan rather than Christian, and secondly, heretical rather than Catholic. It was characteristic of the This explanation is founded on suggestions of Mr. Armitage Robinson. ZI 1 62 SL Paul in Asia Minor. less advanced and less civilised parts of the country : it lingered longest in villages and small towns in remote and mountainous districts ; it was extirpated or reduced to a mere honorary position at an early period in the more advanced cities, under the influence of the Graeco-Roman civilisation. Now it was precisely in the educated parts of the country that Christianity first spread. Thus in the second century the situation was produced that the more advanced districts were Christian, while the uncivilised districts retained their paganism and their old mutterreckt, even reckoning descent through the mother.* Further, it is pointed out in chaps, xx. and xxi. that various developments of religious feeling, which arose in Asia Minor, were penetrated by the native tone and spirit of the country, and, in particular, were characterised by prominent position and influence of women. In opposition to these provincial types, the Universal and Catholic type of Christianity became confirmed in its dislike of the pro- minence and the public ministration of women. The dislike became abhorrence, and there is every probability that the dislike is as old as the first century, and was intensified to abhorrence before the middle of the second century. Under the influence of this feeling the changes in Acts xvii. 12 and 34 arose in Catholic circles in Asia Minor. 6. Relation of Codex Bez^ to Asia Minor. The explanation just given of the change in xvii. 34 implies that some at least of the alterations in Codex Bezoe * Epigraphic proof in the case of Dalisandos, a small town of Isauria, will be found in a forthcoming paper by my friend Mr. Headlam, in the special issue of the Journal of Hellenic Studies^ i8q2. VIII, Authority for St. Paul's Journeys, 1 63 arose through a gradual process, and not through the action of an individual reviser. Possibly all the changes which have been discussed in the preceding pages may have arisen in this way. But some of them are perhaps more naturally explained as the work of a single individual, whom I shall speak of as the reviser. The freedom with which the reviser treated the text proves that he was a person of some position and authority. The care that he took to suit the text to the facts of the day proves that he desired to make it intelligible to the public. The knowledge that he shows of the topography and the facts of Asia and of South Galatia proves that he was intimately acquainted with the churches from Ephesus on the west, to Iconium and Lystra on the east ; and the felicity with which he treats the text, in all that relates to Asia, seems to be due to his perfect familiarity with the country, for it deserts him when he tries to apply the same treatment to the European narrative. He shows a certain desire to give Ephesus all due glory, and to deny to Beroea any glory that she is not fully entitled to, which proves his Asian bias. He seems to have known certain traditions still surviving in the churches of Asia and South Galatia, whereas none of his changes imply knowledge of any tradition relating to Achaia or Macedonia. He belonged to the second century, for he alters first century forms and facts to suit those of later time (xiii. 14, xiv. 19). But his knowledge was gained before Lycaonia was disjoined from Galatia between 138 and 161 A.D. As he altered the text freely in order to make it clear to contemporary readers, he would certainly have altered the phrase " the Galatic country," if he had lived so long after the chancre introduced into the constitution of Galatia and 164 SL Paul in Asia Minor. Lycaonia as to have realised the efifect upon the nomen- clature. It is conceivable that, if he was living in Asia, he might not for some years realise that what he had once been familiar with as the Galatian district could no longer be called so, and that the old phrase was rapidly becoming unintelligible. But even if we allow for this possibility, the revision can hardly be dated later than A.D. 150-160. The reviser treated his text with great freedom. He therefore cannot have had any superstitious reverence for the mere letter. His aim was to make it clear and com- plete ; and for the latter purpose he added some touches where surviving tradition seemed to contain trustworthy additional particulars. Apart from a few cases in which he perhaps had before him a better text than any other MS. has preserved, the value of the reviser's work lies in his presentation of the interpretation put upon Acts in the schools and churches of Asia Minor during the first half of the second century. The book existed then as a whole, and was studied as a work of antiquity, which needed interpretation and modernisation in order to make it readily intelligible. The process of modernising was performed with skill ; it was applied to many passages in which the received text presented real difficulty, and to a few where the received text still defies interpretation. In several cases, chiefly relating to Asia Minor, it produced a text which is really smoother and clearer in expression without actual change of sense ; but in some cases, relating to a foreign country, it was guided by ignorance, and misrepre- sented and constructed a radically false text. We can imagine what would have been the result if this process of modernisation had been applied systematically for centuries. The introduction of surviving tradition about VIII. AiUhority for St. PauVs Journeys. 165 matters of fact (as, for example, the hours when St. Paul taught in Ephcsus) is not so dangerous, and is sometimes interesting. But the reviser considered himself equally justified in making additions warranted by the doctrinal tradition current in the Asian churches, and shows a distinct tendency to exaggerate the Divine guidance given to Paul, and to specify more precisely than was done in the text the character of his teaching. We cannot doubt that, in all his changes, the reviser was guided by the general con- sensus of opinion in the churches of Asia, and not by his mere individual opinion. But the results, even of this first revision, are, as a whole, very serious, and, if the process had been performed a second time a century later, would certainly have been ruinous to the character of the text. In another place I shall try to show what was the effect of such a continued process of revision in the case of a work which was (as I believe) composed in the first century, and revised after the middle of the second century, which was extraordinarily popular in Asia Minor, but which was never protected by the reverence that attached in ever- growing degree to the books recognised in course of time as canonical and venerated from the beginning. If the text of Acts was treated so freely in Asia, the question arises how far a similar freedom of treatment was applied to it in other countries. There is no reason to think that the Asian churches would stand alone in thus treating the text ; but there is reason to think that they would be bolder than other churches. During the century following A.D. 70 they had a marked pre-eminence in authority (see p. 171) ; and they were no doubt conscious of their dignity and weight, and apparently handled the sacred texts more rashly. 1 66 5"/. Paul in Asia Minor POSTSCRIPT: SpITTA'S APOSTELGESCHICHTE. After the preceding chapters were printed, I became acquainted with Spitta's work, die Apostelgeschichte : ihre Quelleii und deren geschichtlicher Wett (Halle, 1891). It is too late to make in these chapters any use of the book, which I have only time to glance hurriedly into before sending away the last pages of the Preliminary Part. The following points have struck me. The distinction in the usage of geographical names, which I have pointed out. Chap. VIII., § 2, corresponds to Spitta's distinction of documents A and B. A uses names in the Roman sense, B in the popular or Greek sense. The second part of xix. 10 must be assigned to the editor, who fused A and B (he is called R by Spitta) : the name Asia is used there in the Roman sense. In xix. 26, 27, Asia is used in the popular or Greek sense ; but, as it is there spoken by the artisan Demetrius, we cannot quote this as a proof of the character of B.* It is remark- able how rarely the names of districts in Asia Minor occur inB. The usage of the participle, which is alluded to above, p. 52, seems to belong to R : Spitta's division makes this necessary in some cases, and easy in all. Spitta's solution of the problem connected with the account, given in Galatians, of St. Paul's visits to Jerusalem is so simple that it carries one away and compels assent, at least for the moment. If it be true, then it follows that the Epistle, which mentions only two visits to Jerusalem, must have been written before that third visit which Paul • Hence I did not mention it in Chap. VIII., § 2. VIII. Atithority for St. PaitV s Jotirneys. 167 made at the conclusion of his second journey. This agrees with the date which we have, on independent grounds, assigned to the Epistle (see p. 100) : Paul must have sent the letter to the Galatian churches either from Corinth or from Ephesus, where, during his brief visit, he may have heard news from Antioch and Iconium. Wendt's argu- ment (see p. 106) shrivels away if Spitta's solution is correct. Almost every case in which, according to our arguments, Codex Bez(2 presents a reading superior in individuality and accuracy to the accepted text, belongs to B. This is remarkable, and confirms Spitta's view that B is inferior in value to A : it would favour the view that a text, in which the accuracy of some details relating to Asia Minor had been lost, was deliberately improved in all these cases. But, as I have already pointed out, every instance in which we have to attribute to a reviser of the second century such marked improvements in point of indi- viduality and local colour as those in xiv. 13, xix. 28, constitutes a strong proof of my theory that the reviser whose work has been used in the text of Codex Bez(2 was intimately acquainted with Asia Minor. Many improvements* in the preceding chapters will become possible if Spitta's theory be accepted ; but on the whole it is agreement in the main issues, rather than difference, that strikes me on a first hasty glance into a few of the chapters. In regard to date, Spitta places B after A.D. 70 and R before A.D. 100 ; while he has apparently no objection to putting A almost as early as I have placed the "original authority for St. Paul's journeys" (see p. 151). • Some details would have to be cut out entirely, e.g. the argu- n.ont advanced as the lesser evil on pp. 107-8, and the note p. 74. 1 68 6*/. Paul in Asia Minor. The passage in A, which I have found deficient in clear- ness, occurs at a junction with B ; and the obscurity is probably due to some mutilation of the text (cp. p. 53, and Spitta, p. 171). Granting Spitta's general theory, I would take A as written down under Paul's immediate influence during his imprisonment, A.D. 62-64 ; whereas B is a narrative that has passed through more than one intermediary. But much of B must ultimately depend on an eyewitness, though the details have sometimes suffered a loss of vividness. The argument of Chap. VII. acquires new meaning, if Spitta be right, and I am glad that it was completed before I saw his work. I now feel even more confident than before, that Acts xiii. — xxi. is an authority of the highest character for the historian of Asia Minor. Formerly I looked on it with much suspicion, and refrained entirely, in my Historical Geography, from founding an argument on it. Now I have learned that those points which roused suspicion were perfectly true to the first century, but were misjudged by me, because I contemplated them under the influence of prepossessions derived from the facts of the second century THE CHURCH IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. PART II.— A.D. 64-170: BEING LECTURES AT MANSFIELD COLLEGE, OXFORD MAY AND JUNE, 1892. CHAPTER IX. SUBJECT AND METHOD. AN apology is due for my boldness in venturing to address such an audience on so difficult and so vexed a subject. But I may almost claim that the topic had been chosen for me by those who had for a time the right to direct my studies. In the task of exploration in Asia Minor the subject was forced on me : unless a large part of my materials and a large part of the history of the country were handed over to others, this subject must engage a great deal of my attention. If there had been at first some one in the circle of my own friends ready to take over my materials and to work them up, as there are still many who could do so with fuller know- ledge than I possess, I should not be placed in the difficult position that I now occupy. Every word that I have to say springs ultimately from the desire to do as well as I could the work assigned to me in Asia Minor. How closely the subject on which I venture to speak is involved in the investigation of the history of Asia Minor may be shown in a single sentence. Asia Minor, and especially the province of Asia, was during the century following A.D. 70, to use the words of Bishop Lightfoot,* " the spiritual centre of Christianity." There the new religion spread most rapidly and affected the largest • Ignatius and Poly carp, I., p. 424. 171 172 The Church in the Roman Empire. proportion of the whole population ; the conduct of the Asian communities during that period, their relations with the imperial government, with their pagan neighbours, and with other Christian communities, gave to a considerable extent the tone to the development and organisation of their Church. To discuss the relation of the Asian com- munities to the Empire is practically to discuss the relation of the Church to the Empire. This page of history must be written as a whole. I. Aspect of History here Treated, The subject before us has many sides, of which one alone will here concern us. These lectures are historical, not theological. It is to a page in the history of society that I ask your attention, and not to a theory of the development of religious organisation, or doctrine, or ritual. I want to take Church history for the moment out of the theological domain, and to look at it from another point of view. When it is treated by writers whose interests are either theological or anti-theological, there is generally a tendency to treat controversies between sects, and struggles between opposing churches, too much as a matter of reli- gious dogma. The diversities of opinion on points of doc- trine, often sufifiiciently minute points, are related in great detail, by the theologians with the interest of love, by the anti-theologians with the interest of ridicule. But, to take an example from my own country, the historian of Scotland who described the differences of doctrine, often barely discernible by the naked eye, between our innumerable sects, and left the reader to infer that these were the sole, or even the chief, causes of division between the sects, IX. Subject and Method. 173 would give a very inadequate picture of the facts. He must also describe and explain many social and political differences ; e.g., he must not leave his readers ignorant of the fact that one church as a body took one political side, another as a body took the opposite side. So in earlier Church history, it has often been the case ' that differences of race or manners were the cause of division between churches and sects, and slight differences of doctrine or ritual were merely badges on the banners of armies already arrayed against each other. I do not maintain that this is the whole matter, nor even that it is the chief matter ; but I do say that it is a side that deserves and will reward study, and that it does not always receive its fair share of attention. The schism between the Latin and Greek Churches in the ninth century, the schisms between the Greek and the Armenian and other Eastern Churches, are examples of religious movements which were even more important in their political than their theological aspect. 2. Connexion between Church History and the Life of the Period. I do not think that in this work I am venturing away from my proper subject — viz., the study of the charac- ter and life of the Roman Empire, especially in the eastern provinces. It is possible to set too narrow bounds to the study of Roman life ; and any bounds are too narrow which exclude from that study what is probably its most important problem — viz., its relations to the system of belief, morality, and society which, beginning in the eastern provinces, gradually spread over the whole Empire. It must be confessed that this opinion as to the close 174 The Church in the Roman Empire. connexion between Church history and the general history of the time is not generally held. They are generally considered to be unconnected with each other, and to belong to different fields of study. There has existed, and perhaps still exists, a widespread opinion that Christian writings (like Byzantine history) lie beyond the pale of what is called humane letters, and that the classi- cal scholar has nothing to do with them. We are all only too prone to bound the realm of humane letters by the limits of our individual interests. Is it still necessary to plead that a classical scholar may justifiably spend some part of his time in reading such authors as Cyprian or Tertullian, as interpreters of the society in which they lived, or such authors as Basil of Caesareia or Gregory of Nazianzos, as aids in understanding the history of Roman Cappadocia? In becoming Christians, these writers did not cease to be men : they only gained that element of thoroughness, sincerity, and enthusiasm, the want of which is so unpleasant in later classical literature ; and if they directed these qualities into different channels from those which are most natural now, every such direction of our common human nature must be studied and explained by the circumstances of its time. History only deepens in intensity and interest as we pass from the classical and come down towards the present time. The only reason why it sometimes appears less interesting is that the strands of life become more numerous as time goes on, and the effort to comprehend them separately, and bring them together in the mind to form the complicated thread of human history, grows more serious. There are many interests of the most fascinating kind in the history of the Roman empire, when we turn away from IX. Subject and Method. 175 the battles and sieges, the murders and suicides, the crimes of one emperor and the lofty character of another — in short, from all the great things of history. The machinery by which for the first time in human history there was constructed a great and stable empire, more permanent than the strong arm of the despot who held it together; the remarkable system by which such a splendid series of provincial administrators was produced and trained, administrators of whom one of the greatest scholars Cam- bridge ever sent forth — a scholar whom we all grudge to the politics that absorb him — says that we can find among them examples occasionally of cruelty, occasionally of rapacity, but never of incompetence * : that magnificent system is a fascinating study, but it is inferior in human interest to the study of social phenomena. The widest democracy of ancient times was a narrow oligarchy in com- parison with our modern states. But the ideas which have realised themselves among us as the rights of the poorest and lowest classes were at work under the Roman empire ; and the central point in the study of Roman imperial society is the conflict of the new religion with the old. By a study of Roman imperial society, I do not, of course, mean superficial talk about Juvenal and the society he describes. What Juvenal considered to be society was merely the slowly dying governing caste of earlier Rome, the nobles who had conquered the world, who had long maintained their pre-eminence by absorbing into their number every person of vigour and power enough to raise him above the level of the lower class, but who at last paid the penalty that every privileged class seems always to pay, in cor- • Waddington, " Pastes des Provinces Asiatiques," p. 18. 176 The Church in the Roman Empire, ruption and gradual death. Tacitus and Juvenal paint the deathbed of pagan Rome ; they have no eyes to see the growth of new Rome, with its universal citizenship, its universal Church (first of the Emperors, afterwards of Christ), its "alimentations," its care for the orphan and the foundling, its recognition of the duty of the State to see that every one of its members is fed. The Empire out- raged the old republican tradition, that the provincial was naturally inferior to the Roman ; * but this, which was its greatest crime in the eyes of Tacitus, is precisely what constitutes its importance in the history of the world. What we are in search of is the historian who will show us the state of things beyond the exclusive circle of aristocratic society, among the working classes and the thinking classes ; who will discuss the relation between the Christian and his next-door neighbour who sacrificed to Rome and the emperor, and amused himself with the pageantry of Jupiter and Artemis. I want to be shown what the middle classes of the community were doing, and still more what they were thinking. I care little for the university scholar who immured himself in the university, and dabbled in elegant literature and gave showy lectures ; but I want to see the man of high university training who went out to move the world. I get little for my purpose among the pagan writers ; and I must go to the Christian writers, whom I find full of social enthusiasm, though expressed in strange * On Horace's protest against this tendency of the Empire, of which he was vaguely conscious, see Mommsen's speech to the Berlin Academy on the anniversary of the two emperors, Frederick and William II., in Berlin Sitzungsber., January 24th, 1889. Horace, though an adherent of Octavian, never really abandoned his old republican view ; he admired Augustus as the restorer of old Rome, not as the maker of new Rome. IX. Sjibject and Method. 177 and to me sometimes repellent forms. They weary me sometimes with doctrine, when I want humanity ; but beneath their doctrine the man appears, and when they condescend to the affairs of the world, they are instinct with human feeling. The greatest of them often reach the level of thought where doctrine and life are fused as two aspects of the same thing. Placed amid the uncongenial society of the Roman Empire, the Christian Church found itself necessarily in opposition to some parts of the Roman law and custom ; negatively it refused to comply with them, positively it even enacted laws for itself which were in flat contradic- tion to the national laws (as when Callistus, Bishop of Rome, ordered about 220 A.D. that certain marriages should be legal, though the state considered them illegal). The Church was a party of reform and of opposition to the government policy, carried sometimes to the verge of revolutionary movement. Notable differences are found in this respect between the teaching of different periods and different individuals. The question as to the point where disobedience to the imperial law became justifiable, or as to how far the Imperial Government was right in trying to compel obedience and to maintain order, is a very difficult one. The usual answer, that he who thinks as I think is right in disobeying, he who thinks otherwise is wrong, is completely satisfactory to few. We attempt to approach the question from the imperial point of view, and to follow where the evidence leads us. 3. The Authorities : Date. What then is the evidence ? The answer to this question is of primary importance in a subject where the date, the 12 178 TJie Church in tJte Roman Empire. authorship, and the trustworthiness of many of the ancient authorities are all matters of dispute. A few words on these points are necessary as a preliminary. The criticism applied to one class of our authorities — viz., the writings that give (or profess to give) the views of the Christians — has been strict and severe ; it is very important that they should have been subjected to this minute examination, conducted with the learning, acuteness, and ingenuity which belong to German scholarship. But it is unfortu- nate that some scholars should so habituate themselves to this point of view as to become incapable of taking a wider historical survey of the situation as a whole. There are some documents whose falseness to the period to which they profess to belong has been clearly demon- strated. All such documents have certain well-marked characteristics. Some purpose or intention of the writer is obvious in them ; and above all, nothing, or next to nothing, for the historian's purpose can be inferred from them. They have no reality or life beneath the surface ; or, to put it in another way, they have no background on which, by closer inspection and minuter study, other facts and figures can be seen to live and move. They attest some single fact in view of which they were com- posed ; but they give no further evidence to aid the historian. The personages are mere lay figures : they have lived no life ; they have no past and no historical surroundings. But there is another class of documents, whose spuriousness would cause a serious loss to the historian. Such documents suggest a real story under- lying the superficial facts : the characters are living men, whose real experiences in the world have caused the facts which appear on the surface ; and from these facts we can IX, Subject and Method, 179 work back to their past experiences, their surroundings, the world in which they moved. I know no case in which it has been demonstrated that such a document is spurious. It is quite true that there are many grave and serious difficulties in documents of this type ; but such difficulties occur in all historical documents. The historian has to accept them, though often he fails entirely to solve them. Not a year passes, hardly a month passes, in which the solution of some puzzle in classical antiquities is not attained through the discovery of new evidence ; and each difficulty solved marks an advance in our knowledge and an increase in our powers. But many of them remain for the future to solve ; with our present resources they must be accepted. These difficulties often take the form of apparent contradictions between authorities. It is a cheap solution to bring down the date of one authority by a century ; but historians have found that this method of explanation raises far more difficulties than it solves, and it has been practically abandoned in almost all branches of history. In them the rule is for the critic to test the genuineness of documents so far as possible apart from his own theories on disputed points, and frame the theory on the basis of the documents. For example, Juvenal and Martial were contemporaries and acquaintances ; but it is very hard to reconcile and to work into a consistent picture their allusions to the habits and manners of upper-class Roman society in reference to the formal visits of courtesy and the presents given by the host to his visitors {salutatio and sportuld). Even if we take into account the slight difference of time, Martial's writings being published at intervals from %6 to 101 A.D., whereas Juvenal's first book (the one chiefly i8o The Church in the Roman Empire. in question) was published about 103 to 105, no theory of development that can be considered satisfactory has yet been offered. Moreover, Juvenal expressly claims to be describing the manners of the reign of Domitian, 81 to 96, and to avoid as dangerous all references to the age of Trajan, in which he was writing. The attempt to solve this contradiction by bringing down the date of either authority a half-century or a whole century or more would only arouse ridicule ; it certainly would not be thought worth serious refutation. In one branch of history alone do we find still in full vigour, unaffected by sounder methods of inquiry, the superficial and uncritical way of getting rid of such diffi- culties by tampering with the date of documents and moving them about like pieces on a chessboard. Oddly enough, it is among those to whom the name of critics has been specially applied that this uncritical method is still practised, after it has passed out of credit in all other departments of inquiry. Many consequences of an un- expected kind have resulted indirectly from the practice of this method. For example, it is now generally acknow- ledged that the tendency of the Tubingen school of criticism was to date the documents and the facts of early Christian history decidedly too late, and most recent critics have carried back the documents to an earlier date. But the question latent in their minds seems always to take the form, " How far back does clear and irrefragable evidence compel us to carry the documents ? " They seem to start with the presumption of a late date in their minds, and thus always to have a certain bias, which hinders them from attaining the purely historical point of view. Evidence which formerly was weighed under the bias of a dominant IX. Subject and Method. i8i theory seems to retain, even among those who have gradually come to abandon that theory, part of the weight derived from it. It is, as I believe, due to this bias that some German scholars are now gradually settling down to an agreement in dating a number of important documents about midway between the traditional date and the date assigned by the earlier Tubingen school. To quote another example, similar in character, Neu- mann * has realised clearly and argued convincingly that the interpretation of Pliny's letter about the Christians which was almost universal in Germany is wrong, and that the letter marks not the beginning, but a stage in the further course of persecution. Yet certain theories f of the growth of church organisation retain their hold on him, although they were elaborated by a long series of investi- gators, who were biassed in their judgment by the misinter- pretation of that cardinal document, which Neumann has more correctly estimated. He assumes the conclusions, after having overthrown one of the premises. • It is impossible to avoid frequent references to Neumann's ad- mirable work on "The Roman State and the Universal Church " (Part I, Leipzig, 1890). It is an excellent collection of materials : much of what he says I agree with, and shall as far as possible avoid repeating ; but his general view of the subject differs greatly from mine. As the book is widely known, I shall mention also some details in which his interpretation of the ancient authorities differs from that which is assumed in this book. t These theories have affected his view throughout. The heroic dogmatism of his reference on p. 57 to the letter of Ignatius to the Smymjeans is a fair example : if the word " universal " (Ka6o\iKrf), applied to the Church, occurs in it, the author cannot be Ignatius of Antioch. Where proof is defective, Neumann has not risen superior to the method of supplying the defect by increased boldness in assertion. 1 82 The Church in the Roman Empire. With the question of date, that of authorship is to a certain extent bound up ; so far as it is a separate question, it hardly concerns our purpose. For example, the question whether the Epistles attributed to St. John were written by the Apostle will not practically affect the historian's estimate of their value, if once he is convinced that they are first-century productions. 4. The Authorities : Trustworthiness. With regard to the trustworthiness of the documents, some words also are needed. We have now for ever passed beyond that stage of historical investigation which consisted in comparing the statements of Christian docu- ments with the Roman writers, and condemning the former in every point where they differed from the authoritative standard of the latter. We have now recog- nised, once and for all, that the value of the Christian documents for the historian lies in their difference from the Roman writers at least as much as in their agreement ; that a contrast between the version of the same facts given by these two classes of documents was inseparable from their differing points of view, and, so far from disproving, is really the necessary condition for our admitting, the authenticity of the Christian documents. If they agreed, they would lose their value as historical authorities, and they could not possibly be genuine works of the period to which they claim to belong. In truth we are fortunate, amid the dearth of documentary evidence as to the actual facts of history in the period 50-170, to have so many presentations of the general tone of feeling and thought from very different points of view. IX. Subject and Method. 183 In the Roman writers of the period of history in which our subject lies, we have in general the view of the opposition to the imperial rule ; even some writers who nominally take the side of the government are so hope- lessly hedged in by the prejudices of the past, so dominated by the glories of republican Rome, so incapable of ap- preciating the higher elements of the imperial rule, so opposed in heart to those higher elements if they had understood them, that they present themselves as mere apologists of a rule with which they at heart are not in sympathy, and are really the most telling witnesses against the system which they believe themselves to be defending and extolling. Few authors are more full of interest than the Roman writers of this period. Historical literature has never found a subject more full of picturesque and striking incidents, of strong lights and deep shadows, of vivid contrast of individual characters, of enormous vices and of great virtues in the dramatis personcB, Few writers also have shown greater power of telling their story in the way best suited to heighten its effect. No writer has surpassed, hardly any has equalled, Tacitus in power of adding effect to a narrative by the manner in which the incidents are grouped and the action described. What- ever faults a purist may find with the style of the period, its practical effect as a literary instrument can with difficulty be paralleled in the whole range of literature. But their historical view is far from wide. It would not be easy to find a period in which literature was so en- tirely blind to the great movements that were going on around it. The Romans were destitute of the historical faculty, and of scientific insight or interest : they could 184 The Church in the Roman Empire. make history, but they could not write it. The early emperors are remarkable figures in themselves, and still more remarkable as they are presented to us by Tacitus and Suetonius ; and their individual influence and im- portance were of course great. But the permanent Imperial policy was distinct from them and greater than they were, and offers a more serious problem for the modern historian of the Roman empire. We must determine what was the policy in reference to the pro- sperity and education of the population, the development of jurisprudence, the organised machinery of government, the training of the officials, the alimentary foundations for poor children, the attempts to cope with great social problems (such as the formally admitted duty of the State to feed its pauper population), the spreading of equal rights and equal citizenship over the whole civilised world, the making of a state religion to guarantee that citizenship. On such things as these depends our estimate of the Roman Imperial system ; and on such points the Roman writers are practically silent. Among them we find philosophers who aired their rhetoric, rhetoricians who dabbled in moral philosophy, at best pessimists who dis- believed in the present and in the future of the Empire, who made heroes of Cato with his pedantry, of Brutus with his affectation, and Cicero with his superficiality, but who despaired entirely of the possibility of restoring their golden age. The historians are so occupied with the great events of history, the satirists so busy with the vices of upper-class society, the moralists with abstract theorising, the poets with Greek mythology and with the maintenance of their footing in the atria of the rich and IX. Subject and Method. 185 the favour of the Emperor and his freedmen, that they have neither time to write about the aims of imperial poHcy nor eyes to see them ; and we gather only indirectly from them some information which we can interpret by other authorities. Here we must trust to our second class of authorities, the inscriptions and the laws. Lastly, we have the view taken by the adherents of that new religion which grew up within the Empire, formed itself in a great and powerful organisation, and finally took into itself the Imperial Government, its policy, and its laws. As to them, we might with little exaggeration say in one sweeping sentence that, when we find any person who sets himself to do something with energy for the improvement of society, he is either an Emperor or a Christian. 5. Results of Separating Church History from Imperial History. It is safe to say that this last class of authorities has not yet been used so fully as it might be by the modern historians of the Empire, partly, indeed, from doubts with regard to the authenticity and value of the documents, but partly also from preoccupation with the other two classes of authorities. But if classical scholars have more to learn from the Christian writers than has been generally recog- nised, theologians also have something to learn from the evidence of classical history. The wide and accurate know- ledge, and the grasp of the facts of Roman life, shown by the late Bishop Lightfoot and some other scholars whom I need not name, must not blind us to the comparative rarity of such depth of treatment as theirs. 1 86 The Church in the Roman Empire. In particular, I feel bound to say that in several of the modern German critics there has been a want of historical sense, and even a failure to grasp the facts of Roman life, which have seriously impaired the value of their work in early Church history, in spite of all their learning and ability. Perhaps the best way to explain my meaning, and to offer myself to criticism and correction if I am wrong, will be to quote a few typical examples. Baur's " Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ," with its keen criticism of the historical incidents in St. Paul's life, has been an epoch-making work in the subject. Let us take one specimen of the historical arguments which he uses. There is no more difficult problem for the historian than the relations in which Romans and non-Romans stood to one another in provincial towns : a recent paper of Mommsen's * will give some idea of the utter obscurity in which this subject is involved. But for Baur there is no obscurity. Utterly unconscious of the difficulty of the subject, he moves with perfect ease and unhesitating confi- dence through the scene with the magistrates at Philippi ; he knows exactly what the colonial magistrates would do and how they would behave ; and he triumphantly dis- proves the authenticity of a document which might give one who possessed the historic sense a vivid picture of the provincial Roman magistrate suddenly realising that he has treated a Roman like a mere native. Ignorance might be freely pardoned, but not such bold assumption of knowledge. But this example is perhaps antediluvian ; let us see * Epkameris Ej^igra^hica, vol. vii., 1892, p. 4362. IX. Subject and Method. 187 whether all is now changed for the better. I shall come down to a recent date, 18S7, and to no mean theologian, Dr. Pflcidcrer of the University of Berlin ; and shall select two examples bearing closely on my present subject and helping to make it clear. I. In one single sentence he states the historical argu- ment about the first epistle attributed to St. Peter. It presupposes that the persons to whom it was addressed were in a situation introduced by an act of Trajan, and therefore the epistle must be later than Trajan. These persons belonged to the provinces or countries of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia ; * and Dr. Pfleiderer boldly sums up these countries as the Roman province of Asia Minor, declares that Pliny was governor of Asia Minor, and that Trajan, in reply to a question addressed to him by Pliny, issued an edict, ordering a persecution of the Christians in the province of Asia Minor. It would not be easy to unite more errors in a single short sentence, (i) There was no such Roman province as Asia Minor. (2) There was for the ancients no such geo- graphical or political entity as Asia Minor. (3) Pliny was governor, not of all the districts mentioned in I. Peter, but of the one province of Bithynia-Pontus. He had no authority in Cappadocia or Galatia or Asia. Therefore, if Trajan's orders extended only to Pliny's province, Dr. • *' Urchristenthum," p. 656 : " Der Brief setzt voraus, dass die Kleinasiatischen Laser um ihres Christennamens willen gerichtliche Verfolgungen zu bestehen batten ; solche Glaubensprozesse aber, bei welchen keine andenveitige Beschuldigung als eben das Christen- bekenntniss den Anklagepunkt bildete, sind erstmals von Trajan angeordnet worden, und zwar gerade fiir die Provinz Kleinasien, wo Plinius Statthalter war, der durch seine Anfrage in dieser Sache das kaiserliche Edikt veranlasste." 1 88 The Church in the Roman Empire. Pfleiderer's explanation fails to account for the facts with which he is dealing. (4) Trajan did not issue any edict about the Christians. In the sequel we shall see how far any unprejudiced reader of the original letters could hold that Trajan first instituted a persecution of the Christians. 2. Arguing that the Epistles of Ignatius are a forgery, Dr. Pfleiderer says that the tale of Ignatius' journey as a prisoner to be exposed to beasts in Rome is an unhistorical fiction ; for there is no analogy in the second century to this transportation of the criminal from the place of trial to the Roman amphitheatre.* But it is a commonplace of history that the practice was usual. It was regulated by special enactments, a few of which are preserved to us. If among the small number of cases known to us of Christians exposed to wild beasts no parallel to Ignatius occurs, that is no argument against the general practice, Mommsen expressly argues that the words of the Apocalypse, that Rome was " drunk with the blood of the martyrs," must be understood as referring to those who were condemned in the Eastern provinces and sent to Rome for execution.f I do not quote these faults from any desire to pick holes in the work of scholars greater than myself, but solely be- cause they are examples of false method. The question as to the date of I. Peter is a historical question, and the * Pfleiderer, " Das Urchristenthum," p. 826 : " Diese ganze Raise des Verurtheilten nach Rom ist eine ungeschichtliche Fiktion ; denn so oft auch Christen zum Thierkampf verurtheilt wurden, so findet sich doch im zweiten Jahrhundert keine Analogic zu diesem Trans- port aus dem Gerichtsort ins romische Amphitheater." t See Provinces of the Roman Em fire, vol. ii., p. 199, of the English Translation. IX. Subject and Method. 189 necessary condition of understanding it properly is to accurately conceive the circumstances and position of those to whom it is addressed. What confidence can be placed in the judgment about the authenticity of a historical document pronounced by a critic who is so hopelessly at sea in regard to elementary facts about the condition of the provinces to which the document relates? But Dr. Pflcidcrcr cares for none of these things. Ingenious and highly abstract philosophic thought reveals to him the whole evolution of Christian history, and with that knowledge clear in his mind he decides with secure confidence on the authenticity and date of historical documents. In truth historical arguments are to him of little importance and of no interest. His historical argu- ment about I. Peter is a mere parergon, a mere make- weight thrown in for the sake of appearance and effect : unreasonable people demand historical arguments about historical documents, and it looks well to give them. The whole value of Dr. Pflciderer's learned, ingenious, and able work lies in another direction ; but for us, who require the theory to be founded on the document, not the document cut to fit the theory, its value is nil. The false method which has just been alluded to is far too common. In a subject of such difficulty as the history of the early Church, a subject about which the only point that is universally agreed on is its obscurity, not a few writers feel so confident in their own particular theory that they condemn as spurious every piece of evidence that disagrees with it. This condemnation is sometimes justified by a professed examination of the evidence — a mere pretence, because conducted with mind already made up and strained in the outlook for reasons IQO The Church in the Roman Empire. to support their conclusion ; at other times the pretence of examination is discarded, and a document, in spite of the general presumption in its favour on other grounds, is rejected or relegated to a later date, simply and solely because its admission is fatal to the critic's pet theory. 6. The Point of View. No one can be free from bias in this subject, and perhaps, therefore, it would be best to put you on your guard by stating briefly the general point of view from which these lectures are written. The Roman Empire and the Church represent to the historian two different attempts to cope with the existing problems of society. The former started from the idea first articulated by Tiberius Gracchus, that every Roman citizen deserved to occupy a situation of decent comfort, and to benefit in some degree by the wealth and prosperity of the whole state. It soon appeared that this idea implied political reform, or rather revolution. Experience further showed that this revolution, and the changed relations to the subject countries which were introduced by it, de- manded a new religion. A religion was needed, for to the ancients a union with- out a religious bond to hold it together was inconceivable. Every society made its union binding on its members by religious obligations and common ritual. The family tie meant, not common blood, but communion in the same family cultus. Patriotism was another form of adherence to the national religion. Further, this religion must be a new one ; for no existing IX. Subject a7id JMethod. 191 religion was wider than national ; * and no ancient religion wished to proselytise or to take in new members. The object of each was to confine its benefits to a small circle of devotees, and to enlist the aid of the god whom it worshipped against all strangers, all foreigners, all enemies — i.e., against all who were not within the privileged circle. But the new Empire transcended national distinc- tions and national religions. Roman citizenship included an ever growing proportion of the population in every land round the Mediterranean, till at last it embraced the whole Roman world. This new unity therefore required a new religion to con- secrate it, and to create a common idea and a tie. Half with conscious aim, half driven on unconsciously by the tide of circumstances, the new empire set about creating a new religion. It showed extraordinary skill in construct- ing the new system out of the old with the least possible change, taking up the existing religions and giving them a place in its scheme. The Emperor represented the majesty, the wisdom, and the beneficent power of Rome : he was in many cases actually represented in different parts of the empire as an incarnation of the god worshipped in that district, the Zeus Larasios of Tralles, the Men of Juliopolis, the Zeus Olympios of the Greeks in general. Even where this final step was not taken, the imperial cultus was, in the Asian provinces generally, organised as the highest and most authoritative religion, and the emperor was named along with and before the special deity of the district. • Apparent exceptions, such as the worship of Isis, need not be here discussed. The general principle will not be disputed by any 192 The Church in the Roman Empire, Christianity also created a religion for the Empire, transcending all distinctions of nationality ; but, far from striving to preserve a continuity between the past and the future, it comprehended the past in a universal con- demnation, "dust and ashes, dead and done vi'ith." It cannot be denied that the Christians were in a historical view unfair to the old religions, and blind to certain fine conceptions lurking in them ; but it is equally certain that the Imperial state religion had no vitality and nothing of the religious character. The path of development for the empire lay in accepting the religion offered it to complete its organisation. Down to the time of Hadrian there was a certain progress on the part of the Empire towards a recognition of this necessity ; after Hadrian the progress ended, but also after Hadrian the development of the imperial idea ended, until he found a successor in Constantine. This view * has been the guide in my reading, and has perhaps caused some bias in choosing facts. But I am glad to be able to refer to the eloquent and weighty pages in which Mommsen last year showed f that Christianity was in reality not the enemy but the friend of the Empire, that the Empire grew far stronger when the Emperors * I may quote what I said in the Expositor, December 1889, p. 402 : " One of the most remarkable sides of the history of Rome is the growth of ideas which found their realisation and completion in the Christian Empire. Universal citizenship, universal equalitj'', universal religion, a universal Church, all were ideas which the Empire was slowly working out, but which it could not realise till it merged itself in Christianity." t On pp. 416 £f. of a remarkable review of Neumann, which appeared in the Historische Zeitschrift, vol. xxviii., pp. 389-429, under the title of " Der Religionsfrevel nach romischem Recht." IX. Subject and Method. 193 became Christian, that the religious attitude of the earlier centuries was a source of weakness rather than of strength, and the endeavour of the fourth century to make the state religion an abstract monotheism tolerant of all creeds and sects was soon found impracticable. But when Mommsen implies that the emperors would gladly have tolerated Christianity, but were occasionally forced by popular feeling and popular clamour to depart from their proper policy and persecute Christianity, I cannot follow him. Instances of mere weak yielding to popular feeling undoubtedly occur ; but in a strong govern- ment a permanent policy could not be based on such a motive. The difficulty then is, how is the persecution of Christians by the emperors to be explained? Lightfoot has urged that Christianity was a religio illicita, and as such forbidden by immemorial law. This is true, but it does not constitute a sufficient explanation of the persecution. The same prohibition applied to many other religions which practi- cally were never interfered with. Growing toleration of non-Roman religions was inseparable from the growth of the imperial idea and the gradual merging of Roman citizenship in Imperial citizenship. The exclusivencss of Roman religion, which sprang from the pride of Roman citizenship, necessarily grew weaker along with it. The sense of this growing change was not perhaps consciously and distinctly present to the mind of any Emperor except Hadrian, who is said to have entertained the thought of building temples everywhere to the unseen god.* But it must have been dimly felt by all the emperors, and it See Scripiores Histories Augusta^ xviii. (Alex. Severus), 43, 6. 13 194 The Church in the Roman Empire. certainly lies at the bottom of the growing indifference to the spread of foreign rites among the Romans. To explain the proscription of one religion alone, amid otherwise universal tolerance, is our first object. Few historical questions have suffered more from loose expression and loose thought than this. It is universally agreed (i) that originally Christians were regarded as a mere Jewish sect, that the Empire did not concern itself with questions of Jewish law, and that Christianity benefited by the freedom and even favour granted to the Jewish religion by the Roman Government ; (2) that at a later period there was an absolute proscription of Christianity by the empire, and war to the knife between these two powers. The question at what time the one treatment was changed for the other, or whether any intermediate treatment different from both was in force for a time, is a delicate one, in which precision in word and in thought is abso- lutely essential. Until Mommsen had introduced more exact ideas as to the terms and forms of Imperial procedure, such precision was very difficult to practise ; and even now to attain it is " hard and rare." The beginning of the declared and inexpiable war between the Empire and the Christians has been assigned to very different dates by modern writers. Some make it the result of a supposed edict of Septimius Severus, but Neumann has shown conclusively that no proof exists that Severus issued any edict on the subject. It illustrates the looseness with which the legal and administrative aspects of this question are treated, that Dr. Harnack,* in review- ing Neumann, continues to speak of this edict, whose Theologische Zettschri/t, 1890, No. 4, col. 87. IX. Subject and Method. 195 existence Neumann has disproved. There is no proof, and we may add no probability, that Severus did more than answer by rescript questions addressed to him by provincial governors. This is no mere question of words and names ; it is a question of prime consequence in under- standing the relation of the Empire and of Severus to the Church. Others date the beginning of this war from the reign of Trajan ;* Neumann recently derives it from Domitian, and dates the supposed change in the attitude of the State to the Church precisely 95 A.D. Where shall we find a safe point from which to start our investigation ? This cannot be a matter of doubt. If we were allowed our choice of a piece of evidence about the view held by the Imperial administration with regard to the Christians, probably those most conversant with Roman history would ask for a private report addressed to the Emperor for purely business reasons, with no thought of publication, by some experienced official, possessing a good acquaintance with the ordinary imperial procedure, and for the Emperor's reply to it. That we possess in Pliny's Report addressed to Trajan from Bithynia, probably in the latter months of the year 112, and Trajan's Rescript to Pliny. * This was the prevailing idea in Germany, and in all scholarship that was dominated by German influence, till Neumann. A slight variety of it is stated by Overbeck, Studien zur Geschichte der alien Kirche, p. 94, " Before Nerva it is only by accident through the personal mood of one or another Emperor that the Christian sect found itself at enmity with the state." A CHAPTER X. PLINY'S REPORT AND TRAJAN'S RESCRIPT.* I. Preliminary Considerations. WORD of preliminary is needed on the question of the genuineness of the documents. The question fortunately has been already raised, discussed, and, we may almost say, buried. The correspondence of Pliny with Trajan depends on a single manuscript, of unknown age, found in Paris about 1 500, apparently taken to Italy in the next few years, used by several persons before 1508, and never since seen or known. In spite of this suspicious history, the correspondence is indubitably genuine. It contains such a picture of provincial administration that, until Mommsen had written and the publication of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum had been well advanced, no one was able adequately to understand its importance ;t and each advance in our knowledge of the imperial organi- sation only enables us more clearly to appreciate the importance of this unique revelation of Roman provincial government. The two letters (nos. 96 and 97) which especially concern us now are also genuine. The one is indubitably written in • Pliny, " Epist. ad Trajan," 96, 97. + The whole correspondence can be studied best in Mr. Hardy's useful edition, the notes in which bring out the characteristics of provincial administration very well. A few occasional errors are not such as to interfere with the enjoyment and profit of the reader. ig6 X. Pliny s Report and Trajan s Rescript. 197 Pliny's style. The other shows the direct, incisive manner of the great practical administrator, Trajan, who speaks his meaning without a single unnecessary clause ; but we have not the same criteria about the style as we have in the case of Pliny, and we must take into account that such rescripts were perhaps composed in the imperial chancellery from the Emperor's notes or verbal directions. Personally, I must confess that the whole series of Trajan's rescripts to Pliny make on me the impression of having been composed (and doubtless dictated) by one single person ; but it is not easy to estimate, and it is certainly not safe to minimise, the degree to which uniformity of style could be impressed on an official bureau under the permanent direction of one powerful genius. The spirit of these documents, so different from that of any later age, is alone a sufficient defence. A forger is confined within the limits of his own knowledge and of the tone and spirit of his time ; but these documents become more pregnant with meaning the longer they are studied ; and the diffi- culties which they undoubtedly present are caused partly by the imperfection of our own knowledge, and partly by determined prepossession in favour of some imperfect historical view. In order to appreciate properly two such documents we must put ourselves in the position of the two parties, and we must clearly conceive their character and their training —the one with the precise, formal, but scrupulously just character of a lawyer of high standing and long practice in the Roman courts, the other the greatest and most clear- sighted administrator that ever wielded the power be- queathed by Augustus. We may be sure that a question on a point of legal procedure addressed by Pliny to Trajan 198 The Church in the Roman Empire. puts before him clearly the legal aspect of the situation ; but he explains nothing which he can assume to be present in the Emperor's mind. We have, then, not merely to translate the documents, which is comparatively easy, but to understand them, which is very difficult. We have to read much between the lines, to conceive very precisely the meaning of certain phrases, and above all to remember that these are business papers, and the writers men of affairs — not philosophers discussing subtleties, nor historians drawing a picture of events for the benefit of future readers. This is by no means a short or easy task ; and I trust therefore to your patience if I enter with even painful minuteness into the discussion of the whole situation, and to your indulgence if, after all, I should fail to grasp thoroughly, or explain clearly, the situation. 2. The Religious Question in Bithynia-Pontus. In A.D. 112,* as we learn incidentally from Pliny's letter, the new religion had spread so widely in Bithynia, not merely in the cities, but also in the villages and the country districts generally, that the temples were almost deserted, and the sacrificial ritual was interrupted. In- formation against the Christians was lodged with Pliny ; but we are left to guess from what quarter it came, and what precise form it took. He does not expressly tell us whether the accusations were simply couched in the form that the accused were Christians, or whether it was also alleged that they had caused injury and undeserved loss to respectable persons, or had been guilty of grave crimes. * Mommsen leaves a choice between the two years 112, 113. X. Pliny s Report and Trajan s Rescript, 1 99 Whatever was the precise character of the charges Pliny entertained them. It is probable that Pliny, with his strict, precise ideas of the law, and with the careful, zealous attention to duty which belonged to his character, proceeded, immediately on his arrival in the province, to carry out the principles of Roman provincial administration with an energy and thoroughness that formed a strong contrast to the conduct of the preceding governors. The latter had permitted a laxity of administration, which had led to serious disorders and disorganisation throughout the province. Pliny had been sent on a special mission to restore order ; and he showed his activity, we may be sure, from the day he entered on office. The character of his mission — to restore order in a province disorganised by lax administration — lends additional emphasis and meaning to the fact that he rigidly enforced the procedure against the Christians. It also throws a clear light on his explanation to the Emperor that the Christians deserved death for their obstinate and insubordinate spirit, quite apart from any question as to the penalty of their Christianity, They offered a gross instance of the disorder and insubordination which had been allowed to pervade the province, and which Pliny was commissioned to stamp out. Such was his first duty, and it is easy to understand how the Christians must have appeared to him to need energetic and severe treatment as soon as his attention was called to them. Now Pliny pointedly menlions that an improvement in one branch of trade, — viz. in the sale of fodder for the victims that were kept in stock at the temples to be ready for sacrifice by worshippers — took place in consequence of his energetic measures against the Christians. This curious 200 The Church in the Roman Empire. reference to a rather humble trade suggests that originally complaints had been made to Pliny by the tradesmen whose business was endangered, and that in this way his attention was first drawn to the Christians. He saw that persons engaged in a lawful occupation were interfered with in their trade, and deprived of their proper gains, through the disturbance caused in society and ordinary ways of life by the action of the Christians and the new- fangled ideas and ways which they introduced. Such interference with the settled course of society was certain to rouse the action of the Roman Government wherever it was vigorously administered, and it was, as a rule, in some such way that the Christian religion in its earlier stages attracted the notice and the repressive action of the State.* An example of the attitude which a Roman governor would be likely to assume towards any such interference with the normal course of trade may be quoted from the neighbouring province of Asia. When disturbances were caused at Magnesia on the Mseander by the bakers, who had struck for higher prices, a Roman official (of course the proconsul) prohibited them from forming a union, and ordered them to continue their industry. Such revolu- tionary conduct was destructive of peace and order, and was always vigorously repressed by the Roman Government. No question was asked whether the bakers had any justification for their demand for higher prices. Their action in depriving the city of the necessary supply of bread must necessarily cause disorder, and was therefore * E.g., Paul's troubles at Philippi and at Ephesus were caused in this way. See p. 131. X. Plmys Report and Trojans Rescript. 201 dangerous. The proconsul, accordingly, ordered them to submit in all respects to the officials charged with the superintendence of the general interests of the city.* 3. First and Second Stage of the Trials. In the investigations which followed in Bithynia or Pontus,t the earlier cases appear to have been of a uniform type. The first that were accused — they were no doubt the boldest and most prominent adherents of the faithj — appear to have all, without exception, persisted in avowing their religion. Pliny's procedure was to put three times to them the question whether they were Christians, at the same time threatening them with punishment. When they persisted in declaring themselves Christians, Pliny con- demned to death those who were provincials, while those who were Roman citizens he ordered to be transported to Rome to await the Emperor's decision. More complexity in the cases appeared, when in con- sequence of the proceedings § new charges were brought ; * aTrayopevo) fi'i're (TVVfp\(a9ai Toiis apTO»c[d]»couf kot (Taipiav, firjre 77 pot crTTj KOTOS dpuavvfcrdai, ntiOapxiiv 8e Trl^dv^Tcos rols vnep rov Koivjj (Tvp.(p(poirros fTTiTaTTOfifvois, Koi Tr\v avayKaiav tov aprov ipyacrlav avevber] napfxftv TTJ TToXfi. — Bull. Correspondance Hell6nique, 1883, p. 506. It is unfortunate that this extremely interesting and important document is imperfect, so that the date and the precise circum- stances are uncertain. t On the precise part of the province Bithynia-Pontus, where the trials were held, see p. 224. t They correspond to those qui fatebantur in Tacitus, Annals, XV. 44 ; see p. 238. § Ipso tractatu : i.e., new cases resulted from information obtained in the first trials ; but Mr. Hardy's explanation — that the informers were encouraged to fresh accusations — is perhap- correct ; or both results may be summed up in one brief phrase. As I am disposed 202 The Church in the Roman Empire. and the variety in the cases was still further increased when an anonymous document reached Pliny denouncing a large number of persons. In the course of the further trials that were thus brought about, some of the defendants at once denied that they were Christians, others at first acknowledged, but yielded (as we may understand from the context) to the threats of the governor, and recanted, saying that they had formerly been Christians, but had ceased to be so, some even twenty-five years ago. All these offered incense before the statue of the Emperor, and cursed Christ Pliny now found himself in a difficulty. He had no doubt as to the procedure when the culprits persisted in claiming the name of Christian, but when they repented he began to hesitate. Apparently he detained the penitents until he consulted the Emperor, while those who denied that they were or ever had been Christians were dismissed. This exposition differs to a slight degree from the view held by Neumann,* who says that a change in the form of procedure occurred after the anonymous document of to understand it, i^so tractatu corresponds to indicia eorum in Td.c\\.ViS^ Annals , xv. 44: information obtained in the course of the first trials is meant ; but Tacitus lays more stress on the fact that this information was gained through the examination of the accused persons, Pliny on the fact that it was elicited in connection with their cases. As other cases of later date show, Pliny would begin in each case by identifying the accused, asking his name, station, city, occupation, etc. See, e.g., Acta Carpi, and M. Le Blant, Supplem. aux Actes des Martyrs, § 59, in Memoires de V Institut, tome XXX., part II., 1883. * " Es lief ein anon. Klagschrift ein : . . . Jetzt begniigt sich Plinius aber nicht mehr mit der Frage, ob die Angeklagten Christen sind, sondem jetzt fragt er sie auch, ob sie es iiberhaupt einmal waren. Auch geniigt ihm jetzt nicht mehr die einfache Verleugnung, sondern er fordert dass sich dieselbe in der Anrufung, u.s.w. bewahre " (Neumann, p. 20). X. Pliny s Report aiid Trajan s Rescript. 203 accusation {libellus accusatorius) was received, and that Pliny, who had previously accepted the denial at once, now in the second series of trials went further, first, asking whether they ever had been Christians, and secondly, requiring them to confirm their denial by distinct acts of conformity to the established religion. But this further procedure need not and cannot be taken as an innovation introduced in the second series of trials. In the first series, where the best known cases appeared, there were only respondents of one class, viz., the confessors {confitentes or fatentes) ; in the second series several classes appeared {plures species inciderunt). Pliny did not modify his procedure : he acted throughout on a certain view as to the proper law and procedure, and when he began to feel some misgivings whether his knowledge was equal to the com- plexity and importance of the cases, he stayed the investiga- tions till he could lay his difficulties before the Emperor. Pliny does not expressly state that there were in the iater series of trials any cases of persistent and resolute confession ; but there can be no doubt that there were. It was unnecessary for him to mention them expressly, for his object was merely to indicate the various types : the confessors are mentioned once for all in the original series of cases, and Pliny's way of treating them is described.* When the simple process of listening to reiterated con- fession and pronouncing sentence was no longer sufficient, Pliny began to inquire into the course of action, the principles, and the character of the Christians. The • Neumann's view is different. He considers that Pliny reserved all cases of confession in the further series of trials : " Das Urteil iiber die Christen die fest geblieben hat er offenbar noch nicht gefallt," p. 20. 204 The Church tn the Roman Empire. question here arises, why did he make this inquiry? Was it from enlightened curiosity and scientific desire to inves- tigate the facts, or was it as an essential necessary part of the legal proceedings? Pliny's position and legal training leave no doubt that he conceived the inquiry to be necessary in order to enable him to decide on their case. If they persistently confess the Name Pliny does not think it essential to inquire further into their behaviour before condemning them ; but if they recant and abjure the Name, and prove their penitence by acts of conformity with the religion recognised by the State, then he finds it necessary to investigate into their previous action and life before he comes to any determination as to what verdict he should pronounce. What is his view in acting thus? It is obviously as follows. Mere penitence for past crime is not in law a sufficient atonement, and does not deserve full pardon. A robber who confesses and promises to live a better life is treated less harshly than a persistent criminal, but he is not pardoned forthwith ; his past life and conduct are examined into, to see what penalty is appropriate for him. Similarly Pliny proceeded to investigate into the past life and conduct of the Christians with a view to determine what degree of punishment was appropriate. Having abjured Christianity, they could no longer be condemned for the Name, as persistent confessors were. But if they had in their past life been guilty of child- murder, and cannibalism, and other abominable crimes, they were still amenable to the law, and must stand further trial. The analogy with the proceedings at Lugdunum in A.D. 177 is remarkable. There also the penitents were not pardoned fully, but an investigation was made into their past conduct as Christians, and the evidence of slaves X. Pliny s Report and Trajan s Rescript. 205 was taken. These slaves were Pagans, belonging to Christian masters. Their evidence was to the effect that the Christians had been guilty of abominable crimes.* Thereupon, those who had abjured their religion were imprisoned as murderers and guilty criminals, and suffered even more than the con- , fessors, who were punished simply as Christians.t 4. Pliny's Attitude towards the Christians. Pliny apparently fully believed at first that the charges currently brought against the Christians were well founded, and that the general proscription, in accordance with which he condemned them instantly after confession, was founded on their detestable rites. He proceeded to inquire into the cases individually ; and he learned first of all from those who recanted, and afterwards from two deaconesses (who, being slaves, were examined under torture), that the rites of the Christian religion were simple and harmless, that their discipline forbade all crimes, that the worshippers bound themselves by a sacramentum to do no wrong, and that the charges commonly brought against them of practising child-murder, cannibalism, and other hideous offences at their private meetings were groundless.^ • eveVreia SeiTTva and OtStTroSetoi /xi'^eis, Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., V. I. t Afterwards the governor wrote to ask the Emperor's instructions about those culprits that were Romans, and in explaining the situation mentioned (apparently incidentally, and not with a view to ask for guidance) what he had done with the penitents ; and the Emperor in his rescript ordered that all penitents should be pardoned. X Neumann acutely remarks that from their answers we can gather that the questions put to them were about the very charges which are explicitly mentioned in the proceedings at Lugdunum. See above, note *. The same charges are referred to by Tacitus, A nnals, XV. 44, d.h Jlagitia. 2o6 The Church in the Roman Empire. Pliny clearly was much impressed with the harmlessness and simplicity which he discovered in the principles of the new religion. But this general impression did not affect his attitude towards it. He still considers that it is a crime, and that those whom he had condemned were deserving of death for obstinacy, if not for Christianity. He felicitates himself on the good results that had been already produced by his action, and he expects that by a continuation of judicious and rigid enforcement of the law, the sect may be easily suppressed and order restored. He found it to be nothing more than a superstitio prava immodica. It was a superstitio (in other words, a non- Roman worship of non-Roman gods), in the first place a degrading system {prava), and secondly, destructive of that reasonable and obedient course of life which becomes both the philosophic mind and the loyal citizen {immodicd). They had indeed been in the habit of holding social meetings, and feasting in common ; but this illegal practice they had abandoned as soon as the governor had issued an edict in accordance with the Emperor's instructions, forbidding the formation or existence of sodalitates. None of the fundamental laws applied to their case ; they avoided breaking these laws. The only question that remains about the system is whether in itself, apart from its effect on the life and conduct of its votaries (which is found by Pliny to be morally good), it requires to be prohibited on political or religious con- siderations ; and these two were to the Roman essentially connected, for the State interfered in religious matters only in so far as they had a political aspect and a bearing on patriotism and loyalty ; while in other respects the gods were left to defend themselves (deorum iniurics dis cures). X. Pliny s Report and Trajan s Rescript. 207 5. The Case was Administrative, not Legal. Meanwhile Pliny resolved to postpone further pro- ceedings until he learned what was the Emperor's view as to the proper action to take ; and he mentioned in his report that his strongest motive for postponing proceedings lay in the consideration of the large number of persons affected. This leads to the question under what special law, or in virtue of what power, Pliny understood the proceedings to be conducted. He was too strict a lawyer to take the view that the law should be leniently administered because it was disobeyed by a large number of persons ; on the contrary, the Roman practice was guided by the maxim that, when offenders increase in numbers, an example must be made by enforcing the law more strictly and energetically. Accordingly, Pliny cannot have conceived the matter as one coming under some definite law ; he understood it to be a matter of practical administration, and he knew, as every Roman governor knew, by nature and by training, that govern- ment must often be a compromise. He might, by too rigidly carrying out the general principle that mere profession of Christianity was dangerous to law and order and deserving of death, increase rather than quiet the disorder, through the number of prosecutions. It was a case in which much was left to his own judgment, in which tact and governing capacity had full opportunity; in short, one where he acted with the full authority vested in a governor and administrator, not as the mere instru- ment and judge enforcing the penalty of a fixed and definite law. Pliny must have been under the impression that his 2o8 The Church in the Roman Empire. action was in accordance with the general powers and instructions of all governors of provinces, to maintain peace and order, and to seek out and punish all persons whose action disturbed, or was likely to disturb, public order.* Such also is the interpretation of Neumann, who has understood the facts better than any of his predecessors. This view is confirmed by the character of the corre- spondence of Pliny with Trajan. He refers to the Emperor, not questions of law, but questions of administra- tion and policy ; he asks for relaxation of law or custom in individual cases, and, in general, seeks for guidance in cases which are left to his own judgment and tact. Especially where he thinks an exception might be made to a general principle, he consults the Emperor in matters which appear almost ludicrously slight ; but critics have been too severe on Pliny, for in these cases he is really only criticising the rules laid down for him, and suggesting that they may judiciously be relaxed. Such examples show how strictly Pliny conceived himself to be bound by the general principles of Imperial policy, and how afraid he was to swerve from them in small matters ; and he may no doubt be taken as a good example of the Roman official. The imperial policy ruled absolutely in the provinces, and * Digest, 48, 13, 4, 2 : " Mandatis {i.e., the general instructions given to each governor of a province) autem cavetur de sacrilegiis ut prsesides sacrilegos latrones plagiarios conquirant, et ut, prout quisque deliquerit, in eum animadvertant." Digest, i, 18, i}^, ;pref.\ " Ulpianus libro VII. de officio proconsuhs. Congruit bono et gravi prassidi curare, ut pacata atque quieta provincia sit quam regit. Quod non difficile obtinebit, si soUicite agat ut malis hominibus provincia careat, eosque conquirat : nam et sacrilegos latrones plagiarios fures conquirere debet, et prout quisque deliquerit in eum animadvertere.' X. Pliny s Report and Trajan s Rescript. 209 the emperors, though not present, were consulted before even slight modifications of the general rules were made. The representatives who governed provinces were not viceroys but merely deputies. This fact is very important in our present subject : the policy throughout the empire towards the Christians was moulded by the wishes and views of the reigning Emperor, Mommsen has pointed out the power in the Roman constitution which allowed the most prompt and effectual action against the Christians, and which seems to have been always employed in the proceedings taken against them.* The higher magistrates were entrusted with a very large power of immediate action on their own responsi- bility for checking any disorder or abuse, and for correcting and chastising any person who was acting in a way prejudicial, or likely to be prejudicial, to the State. They could, where they thought it advisable, in such cases in- flict personal indignity, such as tearing the clothes and beating ; they could order a culprit to be for the moment imprisoned, and they could fine him, or even put him to death, but they were not empowered to inflict lasting punishments (such as exile or imprisonment for a definite term), except in so far as the momentary act of punish- ment caused permanent results. Especially in the case of religion this magisterial action was widely and almost exclusively employed. The Roman religion was the ex- pression of Roman patriotism, the bond of Roman unity, and the pledge of Roman prosperity. Magisterial action, prompt and vigorous, was a better and shorter way of • See his paper in Histortscke Zeitschrift, xxviii., p. 398, on which the ensuing paragraph is founded. 14 2IO The Church in the Roman Empire, preventing the Roman citizen from neglecting this part of his duties to the State, and of punishing the tempter who made him neglect them, than any appeal to formal law and a formal trial. Hence, although such legal pro- cedure was possible, it was hardly used, was never de- veloped, and has no practical bearing on our present subject. It was by magisterial action alone that Isis- worship was expelled beyond the walls of Rome, that worship of the Celtic deities was forbidden to Roman citizens by Augustus, that Romans who professed the Jewish religion were expelled from the city. Pliny therefore was acting in virtue of his imperium, which gave him power of life and death over all persons within his province, except Roman citizens ; nor is there any reason to think that he was the first governor called upon to act in such cases. The supposition is therefore excluded that any formal law had been enacted to forbid Christianity. We may safely infer also that no express edict of any Emperor had been issued to suppress Christianity. The inference is confirmed by the way in which Pliny put the case to the Emperor. He was in the habit of quoting or referring to any edict or rescript of any emperor which bore upon any question referred to Trajan ; and if the usage of previous proconsuls in Bithynia had given pre- scriptive force to a point of administration, * he mentioned the fact. But here he refers to no previous edict or law. An instructive parallel is to be found in Epist. no. There a point is raised for Trajan's consideration, a point of practical administration, where compromise is advisable or at least allowable. Pliny puts the case as turning on • See Epist. io8. X. Pliny s Report and Trajan s Rescript. 211 a point in his instructions {inandatd) forbidding all dona- tions from cities to individual citizens. The question is whether this principle is retrospective, whether prescriptive right of long standing has any validity, and whether the public prosecutor of Amisos is justified in demanding that a donation given twenty years ago should be refunded. In the case of the Christians, not merely does Pliny not state any law or edict against which they had offended, but he points out that they had taken care to avoid offend- ing against the edict which he had, according to the regular practice, issued on assuming command of the province. In the edict he had, in accordance with the Emperor's instruc- tions (inandatd), insisted on strict observance of a law which had been suffered by preceding governors to fall into abey- ance— viz., the law forbidding sodalitates. Thereupon the Christians had altered their practice so as to conform to the law. 6. Pliny's Questions and Trajan's Reply. Pliny puts three special questions to the Emperor, which I have postponed in order to bring them into immediate connection with the rescript sent in reply by Trajan. 1. Should any discrimination be made between different culprits on account of youth ? In other words, are extenu- ating circumstances to be taken into account ? * 2. Should those who repent be pardoned ? 3. What is the precise nature of the offence which is to • It is assumed throughout both letters that the penalty is death ; the question quatenus puniri debeat in the preceding clause means, not what degree of punishment should be inflicted ? but what distinctions should be made in the infliction of penalty — i.e., should extenuating circumstances be taken into account, or repentance ensure pardon ? 212 The Church in the Roman Empire. be investigated and punished ? Is the mere Name, without any proof that serious moral offences have been committed, to be punished, or is it definite crimes conjoined with the Name that deserve punishment ? In the latter case it is of course implied .that the commission of these grave moral offences must be proved by distinct evidence, if denied by the criminals (as it may safely be assumed that they will deny). In the former case the acknowledgment of the Name by the accused is in itself sufficient ground for condemnation. Trajan does not formally reply to the questions in this form and order ; but in his brief review of the situation and the principles of action an answer to each is implicitly contained. After the long discussion which has just been given we can readily understand his view. 1. Pliny's procedure has been correct — i.e., his original assumption that the Name of Christian, if persisted in, deserved the penalty of death, was right.* 2. No universal rule applicable to all cases can be laid down — i.e., extenuating circumstances are to be considered according to the discretion of the governor. 3. Penitence deserves pardon, if shown in act by com- pliance with rites of the Roman religion. 4. The governor is not to search for the Christians ; but if they are formally accused by an avowed (not by an anonymous) accuser, the penalty must be inflicted. This rescript does not initiate procedure against the Christians. It is absurd to suppose that Trajan for the first time laid down the principle, " The Christians are criminals * Neumann has rightly emphasized in the strongest terms the original action of Pliny, p. 22, n. 3, " Es kann nicht scharf ge?iug letont werdeny X. Plviys Report and Trajan s Rescript. 213 deserving death ; but you may shut your eyes to them until an accuser insists on your opening them." Tr Ajan's language >^ is that of one who feels unable to contravene or to abrogate an existing principle of the imperial government, but who desires this principle to be applied with mildness and not insisted on. Neumann has rightly perceived that this is the true meaning of Trajan's rescript, and in this respect has made a great advance on previous critics. It is one of the most astounding facts in modern historical investigation that so many modern, and especially German, critics of high standing and authority,* have reiterated that Trajan was the first to make the Name a crime, and that any Christian document which refers to the Name as a ground for death must be later than his rescript.! 7. The Christians were not Punished as a sodalitas. Trajan, like Pliny in his early trials, condemns the Christians simply on their confession without further ques- tion, trial, or proof. They are outlaws ; they are treated * Even those who have not fully adopted this erroneous view have often been affected to some degree by it. On the history of the view see Lightfoot's note, Ignat. and Folyc, i., p. 7. M. Doulcet, in his Essai sur les Rapports de fEglise Chretienne avec I'^tat Rontairi, 1883, p. 52, reckoned Wieseler the only scholar who declined to accept this view ; but Lightfoot mentions others. It would be un- fair to refrain from alluding to the many English scholars, Lightfoot, Salmon, Hort, etc., who, in writings or in lectures, have interpreted Pliny and Trajan more correctly. But in general their treatment of the question has suffered to some slight degree from their treating it as a matter of formal and positive law, mstead of as a question of practical administration. t The inference has been drawn especially about First Peter ; see above, p. 187. 214 ^-^^ Church in the Roman Empire. like brigands caught in the act. It is necessary to insist on this point, because many high authorities differ from the view here stated. Practically the question comes to this : were the Christians condemned for violating the general law (recently confirmed by Pliny's edict in accord ance with the imperial mandatd), which regulated and confined within very narrow limits the right of forming associations {collegia, sodalitates), or were they condemned simply for the Name ? A want of clearness and a wavering between these two essentially different forms of trial are apparent in much that has been written on the subject The same writers who in one page recognise that the Name is punished, on the next page speak of the edict against sodalitates as the ground on which the Christians were punished.* In answer to this question, the following considerations suggest themselves : — I. If the Christians had been punished by Pliny as an illegal association (sodalitas), he must have put some ques- tions on the point to them. Even the most arbitrary of governors could not condemn a criminal to death for vio- lating a law without some show of trial, some statement of the law, and some show of testimony, good or bad, that the criminal had broken the law ; much less can we suppose that a strict lawyer like Pliny would act in so illegal a way. Even a confession of guilt was regarded by the Roman law in some cases f as insufficient to entail condemnation. * In the original form of these lectures I criticised Mr, Hardy's excursus on the subject ; but he has informed me that he has, since the book appeared, modified his opinion there expressed. t Viz., injudicio ; but in cognitions (pp.216, 398), acknowledgment of the charge suflSced to ensure condemnation. X. Pliny s Report and Trajan s Rescript. 2 1 5 2. Pliny could not have asked Trajan what was their crime, and how he should treat them, if he had conceived them to be a sodalitas. It had already been made abund- antly clear to him by repeated rescripts that Trajan would not permit the smallest infraction or exception to the law/' 3. Pliny expressly mentions that the Christians had of their own accord given up a weekly meeting and a common meal, which would have constituted them a sodalitas. 4. Trajan would not in his rescript have ordered Pliny to abstain from seeking out the Christians, if he had under- stood them to be a sodalitas. He regarded the prohibition of sodalitates as a fundamental point in strong government 8. Procedure. The question may suggest itself, if Pliny was acting on a principle of administration carried out by previous governors, whether of Bithynia or elsewhere, are we not obliged in accordance with what has just been stated, to conclude that he would have quoted the action of previous governors as justifying him ? The answer is clear. He does refer to it, and explains why he is uncertain as to its character : he had never taken part in investigations {cognitiones) of the case of Christians. Many points are involved in this short statement.! * Trajan would not permit the formation of a body of one hundred and fifty firemen in a great city like Nicomedeia (Epist. t^t^, 34); he also forbade poor people to join together for a common meal at common expense (Epist. 102, 103). All such unions were dangerous, as liable to cause common action and to assume a political character. t The import of the phrase is, as a rule, disguised by the rendering " I have never been present at " such cases. The meaning in thio report is : " 1 never occupied such an official position as to be called on to decide or advise in the case of Christians, and therefore I am ignorant of the precise nature of the proceedings." 2i6 The Church in the Roman Empire, In the first place, Pliny and Trajan were obviously well aware that such investigations were of ordinary occur- rence.* Secondly, these cases were cognitiones, not formal trials according to \^.v^,judicia. Pliny's experience as a lawyer had lain in ihejudicia before the centumviral courts, with a few political cases before the Senate. Cognitiones might indeed fall within the jurisdiction of the Senate and consuls ; but it seems pretty certain that trials of Christians were left to the Emperor or his delegates.f The Emperor often delegated such cognitiones, even in Rome, to the prefect of the city, and necessarily in the provinces to the governors. Pliny could not be fully cognisant of the law in such cases. He had not hitherto governed a province, nor had he been prefect of the city. The cognitiones held by the Emperor were conducted in private,^ and only the result was known publicly. Pliny * As to the number of such cases, the words do not justify any inference. I cannot agree with Mr. Hardy, who says that Pliny's statement proves conclusively that the trials of Christians had been neither frequent nor important, othens'ise Pliny would not have been ignorant of their procedure. The following paragraphs will prove that the inference is unjustifiable. t Hence almost all cases of Christians that we know of came before governors of provinces, prefects of the city, or the Emperors in person (see Mommsen, Historische Zeitschrift, xxviii., p. 414). X This was generally, and probably always, the case. See Mommsen, Mom. Staatsrecht, ii., p. 926, ed. ii. Mr. Fumeaux is certainly wrong (Tacitus, Annals^ vol. ii. p. 577) when he speaks of such standing qucestwnes de Christianis as we have in Pliny's letter. The process against the Christians was invariably, so far as evidence goes, Imperial cognition, exercised personally by the Emperor or delegated to the prcefectus urbi or to the provincial governors. Judicium before a qucestio was never employed. X. Pliny's Report and Trajan s Rescript. 217 could not have been acquainted with the procedure in such cognitiones, except as a member of the consilium, which the emperors often employed for consultation. But though he had never actually taken part in such cases, he naturally, as a Roman lawyer and official, had a general idea of their character and procedure. In conducting these investigations Pliny followed a de- finite procedure. He put the question three times to each person, giving full opportunity of repentance. What was his reason for following this course ? A possible interpretation of his action is that he was, from motives of pure humanity, anxious to avoid inflict- ing the penalty of death. There is no doubt that this kind of action would be quite in accordance with his private character. But we must remember that Pliny in this case is the Roman magistrate and judge, and that he is a man in whom long experience as a lawyer and judge had rendered dominant and habitual the strict law-abiding spirit of the Roman. On the judicial bench Pliny was no longer the kind and generous, though rather weak and affected, man whom we see in his carefully studied letters ; he is the Roman officer, trained in the law-courts in the straitest Roman formalism and pragmatical spirit of minute legality. He had not the loftier character which could discern the spirit behind the letter of the law. To him it was second nature to act according to the prescribed forms, and in this case we must assume that he did so. He indeed says that he had never before taken part in such trials ; but, as we have already seen, this does not imply entire ignorance of the forms of procedure. It merely means that he did not feel himself complete master in this branch of law. He could trust his law to the extent of executing 2i8 The Church in the Roman Empire. lOO or 200 persons,* but when it came to a case of thousands he was not so confident. Moreover, Pliny is here reporting his procedure to the Emperor, and there can be no doubt that he conceives him- self to be playing the strict official. Nothing could be more foreign to the Roman ideal than to allow that conduct on the tribunal should be influenced by individual emotions of compassion or humanity. Severity, degenerating even into cruelty, is characteristic of the best and most upright class of Roman governors : lenity, as a general rule, was the result only of weakness, of partiality, or of carelessness. Pliny certainly was most careful and conscientious ; and equally certainly he did not consider that his procedure would seem to the Emperor to imply weakness. We observe also that the same procedure obtained in numerous other trials of later date, which we cannot think were modelled after Pliny's example. The only possible hypothesis seems to be that Pliny was acting according to a standing procedure which had grown up through use and wont. A succession of governors and emperors, apply- ing the general view that Christianity was subversive of law and order, and acting with the same general inten- tion of maintaining law and order, had, with the usual legal constructiveness characteristic of the Romans, brought about a general procedure which had all the force of legal precedent. One objection which might perhaps suggest itself hardly deserves notice. If the procedure had already become habitual, how should Pliny require to consult the Emperor about it ? If any answer is needed after the above discussion * On the numbers see p. 220. X. Pliny s Report and Trajan s Rescript. 2 1 9 of his position, we might quote the fact that in A.D. 177 the governor of Gallia Lugdunensis consulted Marcus Aurelius, and received a rescript correcting his action in a fundamental point. Even Septimius Scverus was pro- bably consulted by his delegates ; for his action towards the Christians took the form of one or more rescripts. The governors wished to act as the Emperor would act if he were present ; and hence in this matter, where details were left greatly to their individual judgment, they frequently asked advice. 9. Additional Details. Some details must be noticed before we leave the subject. The regular morning meetings which Pliny speaks about, and which, as we know, must have been weekly meetings, were not abandoned, and Pliny obviously accepts them as strictly legal. Amid the strict regulations about societies, the Roman Government expressly allowed to all people the right of meeting for purely religious purposes.* The morning meeting of the Christians was religious ; but the evening meeting was social, including a common meal, and therefore constituted the Christian community a sodalitas. The Christians abandoned the illegal meeting, but con- tinued the legal one.t This fact is one of the utmost consequence. It shows that the Christian communities * Unless, of course, the religion was a forbidden one ; but the Empire had quite given up in practice, though not in fheory, the old objection to non-Roman religions as illicit. t Neumann indeed considers that the Christians suspended even the morning meeting for religious purposes. This seems not to be required by the Latin words, while it is inconsistent with the principles of the Christians to suppose that they discontinued their Sunday worship. 220 The Church in the Roman Empire. were quite alive to the necessity of acting according to the law, and of using the forms of the law to screen themselves as far as was consistent with their principles. Pliny's language permits no inference as to the number of executions, and we are left entirely to individual estimate of probability. How many examples would be sufficient to produce the effect described by Pliny in re- storing the disused worship of the ancestral gods, and reintroducing the disused temple ritual ? Probably the history of the Church may show that I have not exaggerated in speaking of lOO or 200. If some sort of remote analogy may be found in the number of witches burned in Scotland at no very remote period, I may seem to have understated the probabilities. A certain lapse of time is also required to produce the effect described. It is also quite impossible to attain certainty as to Pliny's treatment of the confessors, whether he employed torture, or condemned them to be exposed in the amphi- theatre, or took the more merciful course of ordering them to instant execution.* Probably he would follow the usual course, which was to utilise condemned criminals for the public games. Trajan's letter to Pliny applied only to the single pro- vince. A copy, of course, was permanently preserved in the governor's office ; but in the ordinary course of events the document would not have any wider publicity or influence. Accident, however, gave this rescript an unusual * The latter is the ordinary, but not the necessary, sense of duct iusst. The phrase is perhaps used more generally, ' ' I ordered them to be taken whither the law directed." The torture applied to the deaconesses was not punishment, but the preliminary required by the Roman law before the evidence of slaves could be accepted. X. Plhiys Report and Trajan s Rescript. 221 importance both in ancient and in modern times. It was published (of course by the Emperor's permission) after a few years in the collected correspondence of Pliny and Trajan. It thus reached a wider public ; and officials, who were always eager to act according to the imperial wishes, would take it as representing Trajan's settled policy. Tertullian was able to quote this letter ; whereas he merely refers by inference to the supposed reports of Pilate to Tiberius, and of Aurelius to the Senate, assuming that, if sought in the imperial archives, they may be found. The importance of Trajan's rescript is twofold, being due, partly to its internal character, partly to the chance which preserved it to our time. An entirely fictitious importance has been attached to it, as if it were the first imperial rescript about the Christians and defined for the first time the Imperial attitude towards them.* Its real importance is very different. It marks the end of the old system of uncompromising hostility. A question suggests itself which is of interest in esti- mating Pliny's character, but which does not directly bear on our purpose. Was his intention in consulting the Emperor merely to learn his views, or had he any wish and hope that the policy towards the Christians should be recon- sidered? Personally, I can feel no doubt that the latter alternative is correct. It would of course be unbecoming and unprofessional to hint that the imperial policy should be reconsidered ; but Pliny goes as far as he could go without directly suggesting it, and he has conceded to the • We need not doubt that anxious reports from many governors had reached Rome long ere this, coming especially from Asia Minor ; and that the matter had engaged the serious attention of the Emperors. 2 22 The Church in the Roman Empire, prevailing anti-Christian prejudice enough to avoid the appearance of hinting. The only respectful course for him was to profess ignorance, and ask for instructions ; and thus we have the astonishing change in his attitude, that, beginning with unhesitating condemnation, he ends by addressing to the Emperor the charmingly simple question, " Am I to punish them for the Name, or for crimes co- existing with the Name?" He apologises more for con- sulting the Emperor on this case, involving the lives of many thousands, than he does for any of the other ques- itons, many rather insignificant, which he addresses to him. The apology seems unsuitably elaborate ; and we cannot really appreciate the letter, till we understand that the writer is desirous to have the policy changed, and yet shrinks from seeming in any way to suggest a change. Considering the confidence which Trajan reposed in Pliny and the friendship he entertained for him, we shall not err in believing that this letter exercised some influ- ence on him. Trajan's reply inaugurated a policy milder in practice towards the Christians ; and it is a pleasant thought that a writer, whose life gives us a finer conception than any other of the character of the Roman gentleman under the Empire, should be, in the last months of his life, so closely identified with the change of policy and with the first step in the rapprochement between the Empire and the Church. 10. Recapitulation. In view of the importance and the complication of the subject, it will be convenient to sum up our results here : — X. Pliny s Rcp07't and Trajan s Rescript. 22; 1. There was no express law or formal edict against the Christians in particular. 2. They were not prosecuted or punished for contravening any formal law of a wider character interpreted as applying to the Christians. 3. They were judged and condemned by Pliny, with Trajan's full approval, by virtue of the imperium delegated to him, and in accordance with the instructions issued to governors of provinces, to search out and punish sacrilegious persons, thieves, brigands, and kidnappers. 4. They had before this been classed generically as outlaws (Jtosies piblia), and enemies to the fundamental principles of society and government, of law and order ; and the admission of the Name Christian in itself entailed condemnation. 5. This treatment was accepted as a settled principle of the imperial policy, not established by the capricious action of a single Emperor. 6. While Trajan felt bound to carry out the established principle, his personal view was opposed to it, at least to such an extent that he ordered Pliny to shut his eyes to the Christian offence, until his attention was expressly directed to an individual case by a formal accuser, who appeared openly to demand the interference of the imperial govern- ment against a malefactor. 7. A definite form of procedure had established itself through use and wont. 8. Pliny, when for the first time required to take part in such a case, used the regular procedure, either through his own general knowledge of a branch of official duty not specially familiar to him, or as following the advice of his consilium and the precedents which they might quote. 224 "^^^^ Church in the Roman Empire. II. Topography. The province which Pliny governed, officially entitled BitJiynia et Pontus, was of very wide extent, reaching from the river Rhyndacos on the west to beyond Amisos on the east. The question suggests itself whether his experiences, with regard to the Christians, extended over the whole province, or was confined to part of it. Mommsen has shown that Pliny visited the eastern part of his province in the summer and autumn of 112, and that letters 96 and 97 were written during this visit, perhaps from Amisos.* It is therefore clear that the events which led to Pliny's letter took place there, and that the description of the great power acquired by the new religion m the province applies to Eastern Pontus at least But it would not be right to restrict his description to this part of the province. The general impression made by the letter is, that it describes a condition of things which was true of the province as a whole, and was not confined to a small district. Pliny speaks of the cities {civitates) in general as being much affected by Christianity. In the letter Pliny alludes to two distinct stages in his proceedings against the Christians. In the first stage he acted without hesitation, and had no thought of appealing to the Emperor for advice. But facts that came to his knowledge in the second stage led him to hesitate, and to stop further proceedings until he heard from the Emperor. We may, then, feel fairly confident that the second stage of the proceedings belonged to Eastern Pontus, and that * See Mommsen' s paper on Pliny's life in Hermes, iii., p. 59. The letters which immediately precede and follow 96 and 97 were written from Amisos. X. Plhiys Report and Trajan s Rescript. 225 the two deaconesses whose evidence produced such an effect on Pliny belonged to the church of Amisos, or of the immediate neighbourhood. This fact suggests some reflections on the geographical distribution of Christianity in the north of Asia Minor. We have seen, on page 10, that Amisos was the point on the north coast to which the new religion might naturally be expected to spread earliest. We now find that Amisos is the place where, in A.D. 112 or 113, renegades were found in considerable number ; and that some of these claimed to have abandoned that religion even twenty-five years previously. Christianity, therefore, was already of some standing in Amisos in A.D. 87 or 88. We have seen that in the earlier stage of the proceedings all the accused persons were confessors : renegades appeared only in the later stage in Eastern Pontus. This implies, probably, that in the western parts Christianity was more recent, and that greater boldness was required to be a Christian ; whereas about Amisos the religion had spread more widely, and was more powerful, so that there might even be advantages in belonging to such a strong and closely united sect. We are therefore again brought, by a new line of argument, to the conclusion that Amisos was the first city on the Black Sea to which Christianity spread. As to the date when this took place, it was, on the one hand, some time before 87-88 ; and, on the other hand, it would naturally be later than the spread of Christianity along the main Eastern highway to Ephesus and other Asian cities, about 55-57. We may fairly place the entrance of the new religion into Amisos about 65-75 A.D. 15 CHAPTER XI. THE ACTION OF NERO TOWARDS THE CHRISTIANS. WE have learned from Pliny that actions against the Christians had become habitual before the acces- sion of Trajan, and that a form of procedure had grown up. Neumann, though differing in some respects from our estimate of Pliny's evidence, is quite agreed on this point. The next question that comes up is, when did this habitual action originate. Neumann dates its origin in A.D. 95, and supposes it to be founded on an edict of the Emperor Domitian. But we have already seen that Pliny's action was not founded on any law or edict, but was that of a practical ruler and governor interpreting a fixed but unwritten principle of policy. Moreover, the opposition of the Empire is too settled and confirmed to be explained in this way. An edict of Domitian might be overturned by a word from Trajan ; * but Trajan clearly regarded the pro- scription of the Christians as a fundamental principle of the Imperial policy, which he did not choose, or shrank from trying, to alter. We cannot then accept Neumann's view, and must look for some more deep-seated reason for the hostility of the Empire to the new religion. Our authorities for the time of Domitian are so scanty that we are reduced to hypothesis about it ; and we have to go back to the reign of Nero to find another well-attested moment in the Imperial action. * See Mommsen, Siaaisrechi, ii., p. 1069, ed. ii. S26 XI. Action of Nero tozvards Christians. 227 I. Tacitus, Annals, xv. 44. In the famous chapter of Tacitus about the persecution of the Christians under Nero in 64 A.D., we have a docu- ment very different in character from Pliny's report to Trajan ; and the difficulties which face us in the attempt to estimate rightly its meaning and value are of a different order. 1. It is written for publication, and composed with a view to literary effect ; and the question arises in several points, how much is to be attributed to rhetoric and how much to faithful description of the facts ? 2. It is written more than fifty years after the events by an historian, who was a child when they took place, and who was entirely dependent on the evidence of others. / In regard to many points, a doubt arises whether Tacitus may not have been attributing to the earlier period the knowledge and the feelings of the time when he was writing ; and it is at least certain that Tacitus could not, even if he tried, altogether free himself from the additional experiences of fifty years. He must write from a more developed point of view. Any question as to Tacitus' veracity in matters of fact need not trouble us. He certainly took the greatest care to seek out good authorities and to compare them with each other, and to state facts as they occurred* Nor need we touch on the genuineness of the chapter. * The bias which undoubtedly exists in his work is founded on his inability even to see, much more to sympathise with, the finer sides of Imperial policy In matters of detail and fact he was a very careful investigator, and tried to be an accurate recorder, though his straining after literary effect often veils his description of facts. 2 28 The Church in the Roman Empire. There have been, and perhaps always will be, occasional doubts ; but they belong to the curiosities of literature: As to the extent to which Tacitus' account is coloured by the circumstances of his own time, the most diverse opinions have been held. It has been maintained* that Tacitus took his materials for describing the Christians of Nero's time from the letter of Pliny, which we have just been discussing, that he adopted from him the term fatebantiir, deepened Pliny's superstitio prava innnodica into superstitio exitiabilis, and used th&Jlagitia which Pliny speaks of as an explanation of the popular hatred of the Christians. Bauer has even used this theory as a proof that the letter of Pliny is genuine. In direct contradiction to this theory it has been stated f that "the ignorance of Tacitus on this subject is more remarkable because his friend Pliny had already learned the ways of Christians while governor in Asia Minor." This implies the view that Tacitus had strictly adhered to the ignorant accounts of contemporaries, and had intro- duced nothing of the knowledge which was possessed by some, at least, of his contemporaries.^ We shall neither accuse Tacitus of ignorance about what * By B. Bauer, Christus und die Ccesaren, 1877, p. 273. Not having access to the book, I follow the account given by Arnold, "Die neronische Christenverfolgung''' p. 105. t By Holbrooke, Tac. Ann., note on xv. 44. j X There can be no doubt that Tacitus possessed as much know- ledge of the Christians as any Roman did at this period, because ( I ) he had been proconsul of Asia, the chief stronghold of Christianity, about 1 1 2-1 16, before he is believed to have composed the Annals (see the inscription of Mylasa quoted in Bull, de Corr. Hell., 1890, p. 62 1 ) ; (2) he is known to have taken great pains to collect evidence for his history, and to have consulted Pliny about another point ia preparation for his earlier great work. XI, Action of Nero towards Christians. 229 was known to Pliny, nor shall we credit him with thrusting Pliny's ideas into a period to which they were foreign. We shall try whether it be not possible to believe Tacitus, when he claims to be describing the state of public '"eeling and belief in A.D. 64 ; even though we also consider that he was probably quite aware of Pliny's investigation and its results. We hold that Tacitus wished and tried to describe the events of this year 64 and of other years as they occurred ; though we quite acknowledge that he could not divest himself of his knowledge, and could not possibly write exactly as he would have written if the Annals had been composed in the reign of Nero. It is not possible to determine the meaning of Tacitus' words with the same certainty as in the case of Pliny's letters. Here, as usual, the attempt to disentangle from the rhetoric of Tacitus the precise and exact facts which he is describing cannot be successful, for it is hardly possible to rise above individual subjective judgment, and attain an interpretation which shall be quite certain. In such a case it is of the first consequence to determine from independent witnesses, even to a small extent, the exact state of the facts. Several other writers have, on authority quite in- dependent of Tacitus, alluded to or described the action of Nero towards the Christians. The earliest of these is Clement of Rome, a contemporary and probably an eye- witness ; but his reference is too slight and general, and is not confined to this persecution alone. It will be con- sidered in a later chapter. 2. The Evidence of Suetonius. The chief independent witness is Suetonius, who was certainly acquainted with the work of Tacitus, with whom 230 The Church in the Roman Empire. he undoubtedly had personal acquaintance. He has apparently used and followed the authority of Tacitus in some few passages, * and it is a quite fair assumption that he was acquainted with Tacitus' view. Among a list of police regulations to ensure good order in Rome,t he mentions the punishment of the Christians, a class of persons characterised by a novel and mischievous super- stition. His list enumerates what he evidently considers as examples of good administration. They are all of the nature of permanent police regulations for maintaining order and good conduct. He mentions the sumptuary regulations, the institution of the sportula in place of the publica cena, the prohibition of the sale of any cooked food except vegetables in the cook shops, the infliction of punish- ments on Christians, the prohibition of the disorderly revels of the charioteers, etc. Every other regulation which is mentioned in the list is the permanent institution of a custom, or the lasting suppression of an abuse. It would be quite inconsistent with the others to introduce in the midst of them a statement which meant only that a number of Christians were executed on the charge of causing a fire. The fair and natural interpretation of Suetonius' words is, that he considered Nero to have maintained a steady prosecution of a mischievous class of persons, in virtue of his duty to maintain peace and order in the * See especially Vespas, § 4, where he speaks of the general expectation of the period that out of Judaea were to spring they that should rule the world. Cp. Tac, Hist., v. 13 ; Teuffel-Schwabe, rom. Litteratur, § 347, 8 ; Arnold, "Die neronische Christenver- folgimg,'" p. 38. I shall have occasion often to quote, and sometimes to criticise, the latter useful monograph. t Ner , § 16. XI. Action of Nero towards Christians. 231 city, and to have intended that this prosecution should be permanent. Such a steady prosecution implies a permanent settled policy ; and if the chapter of Suetonius had been the only extant passage of a pagan writer referring to the subject, the view which is here stated would in all proba- bility have been universally accepted. As we see, this interpretation is in perfect harmony with all we have gathered from Pliny. Contrast with this Suetonius' account of the action taken by Claudius in the case of the disturbances which took place among the Jews in Rome about A.D. 52.* This measure, which is obviously a single act suited to a special occasion, and does not involve the institution of 7 any general rule, is mentioned along with the taking away / of freedom from Lycia, the giving of freedom to Rhodes, the remission of tribute of the Ilians, the permitting of the German ambassadors to sit beside the Armenian and Parthian envoys in the orchestra. The whole list is of the same kind, — individual and single exertions of authority in special cases. None of them involves a general principle or the institution of a permanent rule applicable to all cases of a class. Comparison of these two passages of Suetonius shows that he considered the action of Nero as different in cha- racter from that of Claudius. The latter expelled all Jews from Rome ; but, as we know from other authorities, this was a mere single isolated act, and involved no lasting * Claud., % 25. Here we have, according to the generally ac- cepted view, a proof that the Christians were still considered under Claudius to be a mere Jewish sect ; and dissensions between Christians and Jews were described in the authorities employed by Suetonius as " continued disturbances among the Jews." 232 The Church in the Roman Empire. judgment. The former, on the contrary laid down a permanent principle regulating the attitude of the govern- ment towards the parties affected, viz., the Christians ; and this inference would certainly have been drawn by all historians had it not been for the authority of Tacitus, who has been interpreted as contradicting the view naturally suggested by Suetonius. Now, even if Tacitus' words were as strongly opposed to this view as is usually thought, it might be plausibly argued that Suetonius was almost certainly acquainted with Tacitus' opinion, and intention- ally dissents from it ; and, as he used excellent authorities, his express contradiction must be accepted. But I believe that Tacitus' description has in parts been misunderstood, and that there is no serious contradiction, but a slightly different and more detailed version of the same facts. Suetonius gives merely a brief statement of the permanent administrative principle into which Nero's action ultimately resolved itself Tacitus prefixes to his account of the same result a description of the origin and gradual develop- ment of Nero's action ; and the picture which he draws is so impressive and so powerful as to concentrate attention, and withdraw the mind of the reader from the final stage and the implied result of the Emperor's action. 3. First Stage in Nero's Action. Let us then turn to Tacitus' account, and try to dis- entangle the facts as they were conceived by him. To do so successfully, we must try as much as possible to look from Tacitus' point of view, and to assume the tone and the emotion with which he looked down from the lofty, serene height of philosophy on the toil, and zeal, and earnestness, and enthusiastic errors of miserable Christians. XL Action cf Nero towards Christians. 233 According to Tacitus, Nero wished to divert from him- self the indignation which was universally entertained against him as the author of the conflagration which destroyed great part of Rome in A.D. 64. He turned to his purpose the popular dislike of the new sect of fanatics, who were generally detested on account of the abominable crimes of which they were supposed to be guilty,* and who were nicknamed by the populace " Chris- tians." He laid the blame of the fire on them, as being enemies of society, eager to injure the city. The Christians, therefore, were sought out. Those first of all who openly confessed the charge of Christianity were hurried to trial. Then on the information elicited at their trial,t many others were involved in their fate,J far * Tacitus probably exagfgerates the popular hatred (p. 346). t The word indiciiun is obviously not used in its strict sense of evidence given by a criminal who denounces his accomplices on promise of impunity, nor can we suppose that the first arrested Christians voluntarily called attention to others; hence we must understand information elicited from them during their trial. X I see no reason either to adopt the almost universally accepted emendation convicti for coniuncti, or to have recourse to Boissier's awkward co7iiuiicti reperti sunt. Tacitus' rhetoric is responsible for the doubts. We must accept the MS. reading (corrected in all but the original and important MS.). Tacitus does not expressly state in precise terms that the accused were condemned : " they were hurried to trial ; they were executed with novel refinements of punishment." Had he said merely this he could not have been misunderstood ; all would have recognised the rhetorical device which leaves the essential point of condemnation to the reader, and hurries on to the final scene. But, in order to picture the hurry still more effectively, a sentence referring to a second class of criminals is interposed between the two clauses which describe the trial and the punishment respectively ; and so we have the form : " First, some were tried ; then others were involved in the same fate : they were executed," etc. Cuq alone prefers the MS. reading. 234 ^'^^ Church in the Roman Empire* less on the charge of incendiarism, than of hostility to society and hatred of the world.* Their punishment was turned into an amusement to divert the populace ; for example, they were made to play the part of Actaeon torn by his dogs, or were fixed on crosses t to be set on fire, and to serve as torches at nightly festivities held in the Vatican Gardens, 4. Second Stage: Charge of Hostility to Society. But the trials and punishments of the Christians con- tinued even after all pretence of connection with the fire had been abandoned. The safety of the people, it was argued, required that these enemies of society should be interpreting coniuncti SiS a legal term in the sense of " called on to answer the same charge." Arnold, with some justice, protests against the technical term in this highly rhetorical passage. I should rather understand a bold Tacitean, not technical, but poetical usage, such as Ann., xiii. 17: Nox eadem necem Britannici et rogum coniunxit (cp. Ann., vi. 26, iv. 57, n, etc., for various bold uses of this verb). " They were put side by side with ' ' (or immediately after) " the first class of culprits." * Haud ;perinde is to be interpreted on the analogy of xiii, 21, where Agrippina, defending herself against Silana's accusation that she had plotted against her own son Nero, says 7ieque ;proinde a farentibus liberiquam ab impudica adulteri mutafitur. " Parents are not so ready to change their children as a shameless woman like Silana is to change her lovers " — i.e., while Agrippina would not actually deny that parents occasionally turn away from their own children, the other case is infinitely more common. So here Tacitus is not prepared to assert that no one was actually involved in, and convicted on, the charge of incendiarism ; but the other charge was far more common. t Arnold's alteration, sunt,Jlammandiutque, is, I think, a change in the right direction ; but the general sense is not doubtful. XL Action of Nero towards Christians. 235 severely dealt with ; and more general charges of employing unlawful means to affect the minds of their victims among the people and turn them from the ways of their fathers, were brought against them, and easily proved. There can be no question that this action was at first popular with the mob. It furnished them with an object on which to direct for the moment the rage and frenzy aroused by the great fire ; and popular feeling was already against the Christians. But, as Tacitus emphatically says, and as Pliny afterwards attests, the judgment of the mob on the origin of the fire was not permanently blinded : Nero was the real culprit, and not these miserable victims. At last popular feeling veered round, and the Roman public began to feel compassion for the Christians. Guilty indeed they were, and well deserved was their punishment ; but the people thought that they were being exterminated rather to gratify the cruelty of an individual than from considera- tion of the common weal. On this interpretation we observe a remarkable analogy to the action of the English law-courts and people during the " Popish Plot " in 1679 — action which in respect of brutality, injustice, and unreasoning credulity, furnishes a fit parallel to the Neronian trials. We have first a frenzy of terror and rage against the Christians, who are tried on the charge of incendiarism. In the fear and excitement of the people, witnesses were easily found, and immediately believed. Soon, however, some variety in the accusations was needed, and this was supplied by the hatred of society {odium humani generis), of which the Christians were uni- versally believed to be guilty. The new charge was obviously as easily proved and as readily credited as the first. But gradually popular feeling changed both in Rome 236 The Chwch in tJie Roman Empire. in 64 and in England in 1679. The number of executions sated the people, and a reaction occurred. To understand the development of Nero's action, it is necessary to conceive clearly and precisely what is meant by the hatred of the world with which the Christians were charged (odium hurnani generis). It was not the mere abstract emotion of which they were accused, but the actions in which that emotion manifested itself. To the Romans genus humanuni meant, not mankind in general, but the Roman world — men who lived according to Roman manners and laws ; the rest of the human race were enemies and barbarians. The Christians then were enemies to civilised man and to the customs and laws which regulated civilised society. They were bent on relaxing the bonds that he>ld society together ; they introduced divisions into families, and set children against their parents ; and this end they attained by nefarious means, working on the minds of their devotees by magical arts.* All this they did with a view to practise their abominable crimes {fiagitia) more freely. So elastic an accusation was easily proved in the excited state of popular feeling. The Christians were in , truth hostile to certain customs practised freely in Roman society, but considered by them as vicious or irreligious ; and the principle was readily admitted that he that is an enemy to a part is an enemy to the whole. The Christians • Odium humani generis was, as Arnold aptly points out, the crime of poisoners and magicians, p. 23, n. i. The punishments inflicted on the Christians under Nero are those ordered for magicians . Paullus, Sentent. V. 23, 17, " Magicce artis conscios summo su^j>licio ajffici ;placuif, id est, bestiis obici aut cruet suffigi. Ipsi autem ?nagi vivi exuruntur" Constantine ordered that feralis pestis absumai those, who used magic arts {Cod. Theodos., vs.. 16, 5); and also that hai'us^ices should be burned {ib. ix. 16, i). XL Action of Nero towards Christians. it^J were bent on destroying civilisation, and civilisation must in self-defence destroy them.* > The crime of employing magical arts to compass their nefarious purposes was closely connected with this, and was even more easily proved. The extraordinary influence which the new religion acquired over its votaries, thel^ marvellous reformation which it wrought in its converts, the enthusiastic devotion and unbending resolution of the whole body, were all proofs that supernatural means and forbidden arts were employed. Tacitus has been criticised on the ground that there is no authority to prove that such flagitia were attributed to the Christians earlier than the second century. Putting out of sight that in i Peter ii. I2, "they speak against you as evildoers," f these popular accusations are distinctly referred to, we may reply that numerous historical examples show that such crimes were likely to be attributed to the private meetings of the Christians from the begin- ning. It is a real difficulty to understand how Fronto, the monitor of Marcus Aurelius, could credit these flagitia ; \ but there is needed no proof that Tacitus is right in attri- buting the belief to the vulgar of the year 64. We find in his words a strong proof that he is giving the views held in 64, and not those which he himself entertained. We need not suppose that so careful an investigator credited them, especially as he so carefully and specially restricts the belief to the vulgar and the past. • In this connection the phrase utilitate fublica is important. Obviously Nero assigned the common interest as the reason for his continued persecution of the Christians. t KaraKaKoivra v\t.(i>v coy KaKOiroiiov. X According to the representation of his words by Minucius Felix, Oct. 9 and 31 238 The Church in the Roman Empire. 5. Crime which the Christians Confessed. Some other points in Tacitus' description need a word. As to the words qui fatebantur, what crime did they con- fess ? Arnold understands that they acknowledged the charge of incendiarism, and gave information against other Christians as guilty of the same crime. Credat JudcBUS Apella : to me this seems absolutely incredible ; and the suggestion which Arnold makes that the Christians were partially implicated in, or at least privy to, the criminal act appears impossible. Moreover, this view is contrary to the recorded facts. If so many of the Christians acknowledged the crime on their trial and denounced others, their com- plicity in the crime would necessarily have been accepted by the popular opinion. But Arnold himself shows clearly that the popular opinion remained ultimately unshaken about the author of the fire, and that the revulsion of popular feeling which finally occurred was due to the growing conviction that the Christians were innocent and ill-treated. Such a conviction could never have grown up if the Christians had in numbers confessed the crime. The difficulty, which requires from Arnold seven pages of examination, seems to arise entirely from the compression of Tacitus' style, and to disappear as soon as we make explicit the thought which is in his mind, and which he expects his readers to have in their minds — viz., "The Christians were sought out." Assuming this step as implied in the context, * Tacitus then proceeds, " Those who ac- • This thought is implied in the brief introductory sentence : dbolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos et pcenis affecit Christianas ; ^ritnutn correpti qui fatebantur. This is the sequence of the XL Action of Nero towards Christians. 239 knowledgcd the charge (of being Christians) were hurried to trial." The form of expression, assuming, but not making explicit in words, a thought implied in the circumstances, is quite in the style of Tacitus. There is here implied, precisely as in Pliny's letter, a distinction between two classes of Christians — those who made no secret of their religion, but openly professed, and, we may perhaps add, taught and preached it, and those who were not known to their neighbours as Christians. We may safely conclude that the latter were the great majority. It is clear that in outward appearance they must have avoided all show of difference from their pagan neighbours. Situated as they were in the midst of a society where numberless little acts of life daily expressed respect for the common religion, these persons must in outward show have conformed with the common fashion and the ordinary usages of politeness, though strictly taken such usages implied belief in an idolatrous worship.* It is of course well known that much controversy existed in the Church during the early centuries as to how far such con- formity with the usages and conventions of society was right or permissible ; and it is obviously a very delicate point, on which considerable difference of honest opinion is sure to exist, as to where such conformity ceases to be mere compliance with polite conventions, and becomes an acknowledgment of false religion. narrative, for all that is interposed between Christianos andi^rimum is a parenthetical description of the Christians. When the parenthesis is omitted, the sense oi fatebantur is clear. Hardly any one before Arnold felt a diflBculty. • For example, the pagan formula D(is) M(anibus) was sometimes used on Christian graves. See below, p. 435f. 240 The Church in the Roman Empire. 6. Character, Duration, and Extent of the Neronian Persecution. The analogy between the narrative of Tacitus and that of Pliny is great ; * but the inference drawn from it that Tacitus coloured his narrative through his knowledge of the situation in the second century is incorrect. There is an even more striking analogy in certain respects between the conduct of Pliny and that of the governor of Gallia ^Lugdunensis in A.D. I77.t In each case the resemblance is due to the essential similarity in the circumstances, and not to the colour imparted by the narrator. In the words of Tacitus, taken by themselves, there is nothing to suggest that the prosecution of the Christians continued for several years ; but at the same time there is nothing inconsistent with this conclusion, which was suggested by the words of Suetonius. As we have seen, Tacitus asserts that the larger number (as the passage has been interpreted above, the far larger number) of the accused must have been condemned on the ground of hatred of the world and hostility to society. This went on till the Roman populace was sick of it, and began to pity the sufferers. Here we have the one expression in the whole paragraph that can safely be used as an indication of * Besides the points mentioned already in this chapter {/ate- bantur, indicia, Jlagitid) Tacitus uses the phrase su^erstitio exitiabilis, Pliny superstitio j)rava ifnmodica. t See above, p. 204. The similarity would certainly be much more striking if we had the report addressed by the governor to Marcus Aurelius ; but we only know the situation as it appeared to the Christians in Lugdunum. XI. Action of N'ero towards Christians. 241 the extent of the persecution. The phrase ingens multitudo alone might quite well be interpreted, in a writer like Tacitus, as indicating that the number arrested and tried was great in view of the charge — viz., incendiarism, in which, as a rule, only a small number of persons are likely to unite. But it can have been no inconsiderable number and no short period which brought satiety to a populace accustomed to find their greatest amusement in public butcheries, frequently recurring on a colossal scale. Accordingly those writers who would minimise the whole occurrence and treat it as the execution of a few Jews, find this statement a difficulty. Schiller treats it as absolutely false and incredible ; and he considers that any novelty or intensification of cruelty in the form of execution would be only an additional amusement to the jaded nerves of the mob.* It certainly is a statement well deserving of careful thought; but probably few will agree with Schiller in think- ing it absolutely incredible that the Roman populace could ever grow tired of butchery, or could ever feel that a persecuted class had been unfairly treated. It must, how- ever, be confessed that there is no third alternative. Either Schiller is right and the statement incredible, or else there must have been a great and long-continued massacre. On these grounds we conclude that if Tacitus has \l correctly represented his authorities, the persecution of \ Nero, begun for the sake of diverting popular attention, | was continued as a permanent police measure under the | form of a general prosecution of Christians as a sect/ dangerous to the public safety. / • Schiller, Gesch. d. Kaiserreichs unter der Regierung des Nero, p. 437. I quote it from Arnold, not having access to the book. 16 242 The Church in the Roman Empire, 7. Principle of Nero's Action. As we have seen, Pliny implies that the attitude of the Government towards the Christians was governed by a principle which was already in existence before Trajan's time. The next question that awaits us is whether the principle is the same as that introduced by Nero. The answer must be in the negative, Pliny and Trajan both assume that Christianity is in itself a crime deserving of death. No question is asked, no investigation is made, about crimes committed by the Christians ; the acknow- ledgment of the Name entails immediate condemnation. But under Nero it is otherwise. The trial is held, and the condemnation is pronounced, in respect not of the Name, but of serious offences naturally connected with the Name (Jiagitia cohccrentia nomint). These offences are, in the first place, incendiarism, and secondly, hostility to civilised society, which, as we saw, implied the practice of magic and tampering with the established customs of society. Now we can admit that a certain rhetorical manner veils the bare facts in Tacitus's narrative ; but we cannot admit that he has seriously misrepresented them. We have founded our interpretation on the view that he is accurate and trustworthy, and we cannot now abandon it The action which he attributes to Nero is essentially different from the practice of Trajan's time. Tacitus was familiar with the later practice ; and, since he describes Nero's action as different from it, we must conclude that he is following older authorities. Unless they had been conclusive on this point, he would naturally have de- scribed the action of Nero as similar to that of his own time. XI. Action of Nero towards Christians. 243 The chapter of Tacitus describes the action of A.D. 64 ; | and Nero reigned four years longer. Now the development is easy from the stage described by Tacitus (in which proof is required that an accused Christian has committed some act of hostility to society) to the further stage implied by Pliny (in which it is assumed that Christians are all guilty of such hostility, and may be condemned offhand on con- fession of the Name), Was this further step taken in the later years of Nero, and mentioned, as we must then sup- pose, by Tacitus in a later chapter ? Within the reign of Nero there is hardly enough time for such a development. The persecution began in 64, and it was obviously at an end when Nero left Rome towards the end of 66* It had been continued by the Emperor after the people had become sick of it ; and when his personal influence was withdrawn, it can hardly have con- tinued. Flavius Sabinus, who was prefect of the city at the time, was not a person likely to urge it on actively, and the populace was opposed to it. It is true that Sulpicius Severus, whose account of the | Neronian persecution is founded on Tacitus, and stated i almost in his words, proceeds, " This was the beginning of !' severe measures against the Christians. Afterwards the religion was forbidden by formal laws, and the profession of Christianity was made illegal by published edicts."t' But the value of this late evidence depends entirely on its] • This does not mean that executions of Christians ceased entirely, but that they were sporadic. The fact remains always that Chris- tianity, as a disturbing influence, was opposed and punished by the State, whenever anything of a marked character drew the attention of the Government to it. t Chron., ii. 29. 244 ^'^^ Church in the Roman Empire. source ; and there can be no doubt that this author's account of the Neronian persecution has no authority, except in so far as he quotes from Tacitus. Now this statement was certainly not founded on anything that was said in the Annals ; for the chapter, xv. 44, has the appearance of summing up the whole subject of Nero's attitude towards the Christians, and there seems to be no opportunity for Tacitus to resume it in the conclusion of the work.* / There are then only two alternatives in regard to the /statement of Sulpicius Severus, Either it is a pure ampli- ' fication of his own, inconsistent with Tacitus and possessing no authority, or it must be interpreted as referring to the I action of subsequent emperors. I incline to the latter alternative. Sulpicius having described the beginning of persecution under Nero, adds a sentence briefly describing the repressive measures, more marked in theory, but not more terrible in action, which were decreed by later emperors. But, as we have inferred from Suetonius, Nero introduced the principle of punishing the Christians. Is the account given by Tacitus consistent with this ? The answer must be affirmative. In any single trial the general principle must have been laid down that certain acts, which all Christians were regularly guilty of, were worthy of death. Even after Nero left Rome, the prefect of the city would • The extant part of the Annals brings down the history till the summer or autumn of 66. Before the end of 66 Nero went away to Greece, and only returned in 68, just in time to hear of the revolt of Vindex. During the few weeks of his reign that remained, his attention must have been absorbed with more pressing needs than the trials of Christians. XL Action of Nero towards Christians. 245 be bound to follow the example set by the Emperor ; for it would be treason to dispute or disregard it* When Nero had once established the principle in Rome, his action served as a precedent in every province. There is no need to suppose a general edict or a formal law. The precedent would be quoted in every case where a Christian was accused. Charges such as had been brought against Paul in so many places were certainly brought frequently against others ; and the action of the Emperor in Rome would give the tone to the action of the provincial governors. We conclude, therefore, that between 68 and 96 the ' attitude of the State towards the Christians was more . clearly defined, and that the process was changed, so that | proof of definite crimes committed by the Christians {fiagitia cohccrentia nomini) was no longer required, but ' acknowledgment of the Name alone sufficed for condemna- tion, Nero treats a great many Christians as criminals, and punishes them for their crimes. Pliny and Trajan treat them as outlaws and brigands, and punish them without a reference to crimes. 8. Evidence of Christian Documents. Finally, we have to ask what is the evidence of contem- porary Christian documents. In the Apocalypse and in First Peter the development has taken place, and Christians suffer for the Name. Both these documents have been referred to this period, the former by many recent critics, • If the widely entertained opinion, that St. Paul was executed in A.D. 67 or 68, be ri>jht, we have an example of the trials which took place during Nero's absence before one of his delegates, probably the prefect of the city. 246 The Church in the Roman Empire. the latter by tradition, which supposes St. Peter to have perished in the Neronian persecution. But in the following chapter we shall try to show that both belong to the latter [part of the first century. As to the other documents of ithis period (admitting, as we do, the authenticity of the ! Pastoral Epistles), we find in them no hint about persecution for the Name. Persecution is indeed alluded to as imminent on all ; but it is not an organised persecution directed by the Government, nor do we find explicit references to j punishment for the Name simply. The advice given by St. Paul as to the relations of the Christians to the society in which they are placed, is always in accordance with the situation which we have described as occupied by them under Nero. They should avoid, as far as is consistent with religion, the appearance of interfering with the pre- sent social order. The proper rule of life is to accept the world's facts, not as in themselves right, but as indifferent, and to waste no time and thought on them. Slaves must be obedient. In society Christians are to observe the courtesies of life, though these had often a religious appearance. The most developed and pointed expressions in Paul are perhaps l Tim. vi. i, where slaves are counselled to " count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and the doctrine be not blasphemed," and Titus ii. 4, 5, where the young women are advised to maintain strictly the proper relations of family life, " that the word of God be not blasphemed." In both cases the position of Christians in pagan households is not merely not excluded, but is even the prominent idea.* The es- * In the former passage heathen masters are expressly meant, for Christian masters are distinguished in the next verse. In the latter the analogy of i Peter ill. i shows what the true significance is. XI. Action of Nero tcwaj'ds Christians. 247 tablishcd social order must, where possible, be respected, for any vain interference with it will give rise to calumnies and accusations against the Christians who bear the name of God, and against the doctrine which they teach. James ii. 6 stands on the same plane as the passage which has just been quoted from i Timothy : " Do not the rich persecute you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats? Do not they blaspheme the honourable name by the which ye are called?" Here and in i Tim. vi. i, the name is not spoken of in the tone used twenty years later, when it becomes almost a technical formula.* The danger about 65-70 is that calumnies and false charges be circulated, and the Christians tried for these imputed crimes. In such trials recantation is not sought for, and would be I no palliation of the crimes charged against the Christians. All these familiar passages suit the close of the Neronian period, as we have described it. It would, however, require a special chapter to go over the Epistles of Paul from this point of view, and to show their agreement with the facts which we have elicited from Tacitus and Suetonius. As in all early Christian literature, the persecutions to which the Christians are liable occupy much less space than might perhaps be expected ; only in a passing word or an obscure implication is any attention paid to them. But through the period that engages our attention paucity of references to persecutions can never be taken as a proof that none were going on. Probably " the doctrine " would never have surmounted them, if the attention of its teachers had been much given to them. • That stage is marked in these pages by using the capital. James, strictly, does not bear on our present subject, see p. 349. 248 The C/mrch in the Roman Empire. Incidentally we may here note that the tone of the Pastoral Epistles in this respect is consistent only with an early date. It is difficult for the historian of the Empire to admit that they were composed after that development of the Imperial policy towards the Christians which oc- curred (as we shall see in the following chapter) under the 1 Flavian Emperors. But as this remark touches on a keenly controverted point, a little more space may fitly be devoted to the sub- ject. I take Holtzmann's Pastoralbriefe, p. 267, as the most complete statement of the opposite view, that the references to persecution denote a late date towards the middle of the second century.* The seeking out of the Christians (Stco^t?, Biwyfioi;) is alluded to in 2 Tim. iii. 12 (hLoixOwovrai) ; but it was practised from the first day of the Neronian persecution. The suffering of affliction and persecution (jcaKOTradelv) is the lot of all Christians (2 Tim. iii. 12, etc.) ; but the kind of suffering is expressly defined as the same to which Paul himself was exposed, and Holtzmann cannot surely be serious when he quotes these passages as a proof of a second century date (2 Tim. iii. 11, iv. 17, 18). There were some who showed cowardice, and shrank from en- during the persecution ; but we need not ask for proof that recantation occurred in Nero's time, as well as in the second or the third century. The suffering is endured by • Among Holtzmann's indications of later date, none appear strong. An analogy to Apuleius does not tell much in favour of the date he assigns, 1 12-150. Every analogy to anything men- tioned in later literature is taken, most uncritically and unhistori- cally, as a proof that an early date is impossible. Such analogies often merely prove general similarity in the situation ; see p. 204-5. XI. Action of Nero towards Christians. 249 the Christian as if he were a malefactor, and this treatment is complained of as unjust (2 Tim. ii. 9) ; but that is exactly the tone of the Ncronian period, and the Greek word KaKovfrfoT]fie'ip is used in Clement, Epist., § 47 ; but that is no proof that the Epistles to Timothy were composed at the same time as Clement's letter to the Corinthians. I do not know what date Holtzmann assigns to Clement's Epistle^ or whether he quotes this analogy as a proof of the date of Timothy. t I cannot therefore agree with the inference that Lightfoot draws from the use of the singular by Celsus. See his Igtiat. and Folyc.y i- P- 530, 593 "» edition II. 250 The Church in the Roman Empire. by the usage of Athenagoras, and many other writers.* But the case is quite different in i Tim. ii. 2 ; the writer directs that a general rule be observed to pray "for all men ; for kings and all that are in high place." The term ^ao-Ckewv without the article cannot be understood as de- noting "the emperors who are reigning at the present time ; " it means " emperors (or sovereigns) in general." Where any definite information has reached us, we find that the accusations made against the Christians through- out the reigns of Claudius and Nero are, as a rule, of the type just described — e.g., at Philippi, " these men set forth customs which it is not lawful for us to receive or observe, being Romans " (Acts xvi. 21) ; at Thessalonica "they that have turned the world upside down." On the other hand, where the accusation was a purely religious one — as at Corinth, "this man persuadeth men to worship God con- trary to the law "(Acts xviii. 13) — the Roman governor refused to listen to a charge that was not on " a matter of wrong or of wicked villany." So St. Paul's judges in Pales- tine agreed that there was no real charge against him, and that, if he had not appealed to the Emperor, he might have been set free. One charge especially, which soon afterwards became a i standing one and the regular test and touchstone of perse- 1 cution, is never alluded to under Nero : this was the refusal to comply with the established and official worship of the emperors. That religion, though widely and willingly practised in the provinces, was not yet explicitly adopted by the State as a political institution. Disrespect to the * Many of the cases are rightly quoted by Holtzmann, p. 269 ; see also Neumann, p. 58 n XI. Action of Nero towards Christians. 251 Emperor had indeed already been treated in Rome as treason {majestas, aae/Seca) ; but there is no evidence that as yet this charge had been brought against the Christians * or that compliance with the rites of the Imperial religion was formally proposed to them as the test of their faith. That treatment belongs to the later period, and marks the stage when they are condemned for the Name, and when their death constitutes them " Witnesses " (jxdpTupe'i) to the Name. Under Nero they are not martyrs in the strict sense ; they are only sufferers. The action of Nero inaugurates a new era in the relation of the Empire towards Christianity ; or, to speak more precisely, the Empire then for the first time adopted a definite attitude towards the new religion. So says Sue- tonius, and Tacitus does not disagree. Hitherto the Roman officials had, on the whole, treated the Christians with indifference, or even with favour mingled with contempt (see p. 133). Where they acted harshly, either they were influenced by the enmity of influential Jews, or they punished the Christians as being connected with disturbances, which were due in whole or in part to their presence and action. But after 64 A.D. the example set by the Emperor necessarily guided the action of all Roman officials towards the Chris- tians. As yet, however, the religion was not in itself a crime. • Treason is, indeed, involved in the charge at Thessalonica : " These all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one Jesus." But this and similar instances are quite different in type from the charge of treason founded on refusal to worship the Emperor. They belong to an early period, before the charge had been formulated in its developed shape. CHAPTER XII. THE FLAVIAN POLICY TOWARDS THE CHURCH. DURING the two years that immediately followed the death of Nero, the anarchy and confusion of the struggle for power would naturally prevent any development in the Imperial policy. The attention of the rival emperors and of the governors of provinces must have been almost entirely concentrated on the great struggle ; and none but the most pressing business of government can have been attended to. We thus reach the year 70, when the Flavian dynasty was firmly settled in power. Here unfortunately we lose the guidance of Tacitus, whose Histories of the Flavian period would have doubtless cleared away the obscurity which envelops this critical time in the relations of the Church to the Empire. We possess only the brief biographies of Suetonius, which are personal studies, not formal history, Xiphilin's epitome of the history of Dion Cassius, and various other even poorer documents. In the dearth of contemporary and trustworthy authorities we are compelled, unless we leave this period a blank, to have recourse to hypothesis. The development in the State action, which has been alluded to on p. 242, must fall between 70 and 96. What can we learn or conjecture about the way in which it took place ? 253 XII. Flavian Policy towards the Church. 253 I. Tacitus' Conception of the Flavian Policy. It will serve our purpose best to begin by considering the attitude of Tacitus as a historian towards the Christians. In Annals, xv. 44, he introduces them into his pages.* After mentioning the names popularly applied to them and the hatred popularly entertained towards them, he describes their origin and early history. From this elaborate and careful introduction we may infer, first, that Tacitus, with the fuller knowledge of their importance as a factor in Roman history which he possessed in A.D. I20,t considered this to be the moment when they entered on the stage of his history ; and, second, that the carefulness and parade with which the new factor is introduced mark the entrance of a figure which is to play some important part in the tragedy.^ In the conclusion of the Annals, as we have seen, this figure can have played no part ; but in the Histories there can be no doubt that the Christians were mentioned several times. Although this work is lost, except for the years 68-70, we have in the pages of Sulpicius Severus, as has been proved by Bernays,§ an epitome of one important passage. This fourth century writer used Tacitus carefully : he made extracts almost verbatim from the account of the Neronian persecution in the Annals ^ * In the Histories, which were written before the Annals, the Christians were certainly mentioned as a developed sect. Tacitus wrote the Annals to lead up to the completed Histories. t Taking this as a rough date for the composition of Anttals, xv. X We must remember that in the ancient plays every important figure is formally introduced to the audience at its first appearance. § See his paper, a masterpiece of analysis, iiber die Chronik des Sulpicius Severus, republished in his Gesammelte Abhatidlungen. 254 "^^^ Church in the Roman Empire, XV. 44 ; and Bernays has discussed his relation to Tacitus, and has shown that there are strong signs of a Tacitean origin in Sulpicius' narrative of the council of war, which was held after the capture of Jerusalem. In this council different opinions were expressed. Some thought that the temple should be left uninjured. Others, and among them Titus himself, expressed the view that the Temple especially ought to be destroyed, in order that the religions * of the Jews and of the Christians might be more completely extirpated; for these religions, though opposed to each other, had yet the same origin. The Christians had arisen from amongst the Jews ; and, when the root was torn up, the stem would easily be destroyed. This speech cannot be supposed to embody the actual words of Titus. Very probably it was composed by Tacitus himself ; but its importance is even greater in that case, for it would then embody the historian's mature conception of the nature of the Flavian policy towards the Christians, as shown in the whole course of their rule. Whether then it gives an abstract of Titus' actual speech, reported by some member of the council, or was composed by Tacitus, it is a historical document of the utmost importance, and we must examine it carefully. In Titus' speech the difference between Judaism and Christianity is fully recognised; but the fact is not grasped that the latter was quite independent of the Temple and of Jerusalem as a centre. Titus had only a superficial know- ledge of the Christians and their principles, gained entirely from his experience in Palestine ; and the circumstances of * Tacitus, of course, called them su^erstitiones, but Sulpicius altered the term to religiones. XII. Flavian Policy towards the Church. 255 Palestinian Christianity quite explain his idea of its con- nexion with the Temple. Further/Titus regarded both the Jewish and the Christian religions as evils to be extirpated ; but he believed that they had a local home and centre, with which their organisa- tion was connected and on which they were dependent. The hypothesis is inevitably forced on us that, when Christianity was found to be independent of a centre at Jerusalem, and to flourish unchecked after the Temple was destroyed, the enmity that underlies the speech of Titus would be carried into vigorous action. If that were not so, the speech of Titus loses all its force and appropriateness ; but, if our hypothesis as to the subse- quent policy is correct, his speech appears as a fitting and dramatic introduction, worthily put into the mouth of the conqueror of Jerusalem. In the following books Tacitus would show how the emperors, when settled in Rome, and masters of the information about the Christians contained in the Imperial archives and steadily accumu- lating during their reign, resumed the Neronian vigour of repression.* • The passage in which Severus describes the subsequent de- velopment of Nero's policy towards the Christians has been quoted above (p. 243) ; and Bernays has taught us how much use that chronicler made of Tacitus. Is he in this passage, with its reference to laws and edicts, giving his own general impression derived from the Histories of Tacitus ? It is possible that he is ; but if so, we must take exception to the words edicts and laws. We must hold that Sulpicius uses these terms loosely and inaccurately ; and perhaps a chronicler of the fourth century was quite as likely to use the words loosely, as we have found some modem writers to be, even while they aim at scrupulous and rigid accuracy. (See above, p. 194.) 256 The Church in the Roman Empire. Mommsen also is strongly inclined to the opinion that the account of the council of war which Sulpicius Severus gives (flatly contradicted as it is by the contemporary Jewish historian Josephus), is derived from Tacitus ; and he unreservedly adopts the view, that " the Jewish insurrection had too clearly brought to light the dangers involved in this formation of a national religious union — on the one hand rigidly concentrated, on the other spreading over the whole East, and having ramifications even in the West"* 2. Confirmation of Nero's Policy by Vespasian. Our hypothesis is that this development took place under Vespasian, after some years of his reign had elapsed. But the brief remainder of his reign, and the short reign of Titus, did not impress themselves on the memory of the Christians.t Hence Domitian alone was remembered as the persecutor, ranking along with Nero ; and the execration and condemnation, which were deserved by his personal character and conduct in other respects, have been ap- portioned to him in the popular memory of Christian times on account of a policy to which he was only the heir. His action was not due to his personal idiosyncracies ; it was * Provinces, ii., p. 216. I have slightly altered the printed trans- lation. t But of course there probably were, even in the interval 68-75 A.D., isolated cases of accusation and trial, and, no doubt, condemnation, of Christians. The reference of Hilary to a persecu- tion under Vespasian is only a slip in expression. A writer of the fourth century, who enumerates as three t)rpes of the persecutor Nero, Vespasian, and Decius, must not be quoted as a witness to a persecution under Vespasian (as is hesitatingly done by Lightfoot, Ignat. and Pol., i., p. 15). He meant Domitian, who was the second type. XII. Flavian Policy towards the Church. 257 the natural development of the Imperial policy, and the facts and reasons on which it was founded were stored in the Imperial archives, and were, of course, consulted by Trajan before he replied to Pliny. It is possible that a reference to Vespasian's actions occurs in a mutilated passage of Suetonius, where it is said that " never in the death of any one did Vespasian [take pleasure, and in the case of] merited punishments he even wept and groaned,"* The words in brackets are restored to fill up an obvious gap in the text of the MSS, ; but this restoration is not sufficient. We have here indubitably a reference to some class or individuals, whose punish- ment Vespasian felt himself compelled to accept while he regretted it ; for it is inconceivable that Vespasian, a Roman, a soldier of long experience in the bloody wars of Britain and Judea, wept and groaned at every " merited " execution, as the restored text would imply. We think of the punishments which by the principle of Nero attached to the Christians ; we saw from the way in which Suetonius mentioned Nero's measure that he considered it a good one ; he uses the same term siipplicia in both places. Does not the second passage {Vesp. 15) look back to the ^rst {Nero 16), and is not Suetonius here continuing in his own way the same subject ? t A more detailed reference did not enter into his • Suetonius, Vesp., 15. Neque ccBde cuiusqjiam umqunm \l(r.tatus est et} itistis supph'cns i?ilacrimavit etiam et ingetnuit. Some fill the gap with the single word Iceiatus, but neque at the beginning looks forward necessarily to t/ following. t This suggestion is so obvious that I have no doubt it has been already made. 17 258 The Church in the Roman Empire. plan. The principle was instituted by Nero. It continued permanently ; and Suetonius would, according to his usual practice, not again allude to it, were it not for the detail, interesting to a biographer, that Vespasian wept while he confirmed its operation. What form did the confirmation take? As yet Nero's principle was merely unwritten law, according to which the governors, when any case came before them, judged it according to the precedent set them by the Emperor. The punishment of Christians was administrative, not judicial. The same character continues to attach to it under the Flavian Emperors and under Trajan (see p. 207). Hence we need not suppose that any edict or law was passed ; only rescripts were issued to inquiring governors. But such repressive measures could not remain in the form which Nero gave them : they must develop to their logical con- clusion ; and the followers of a sect, whose tendency was to unsettle the foundations and principles of Roman society, were held as outlaws, and the very name treated as a crime. Such seems the natural course foreshadowed in the speech which the great historian puts into the mouth of Titus ; and such is the state of administrative procedure, when Pliny was first called on to conduct cognitiones in the case of Christians. If the theory just stated be not accepted, the only possible alternative seems to be that under Nero the attitude of the Roman State towards the Christians was determined finally. We have rejected this alternative (see p. 243), for Tacitus's evidence on the point is conclusive against it, though the weight of Suetonius' evidence is rather in its favour. XII, Flavian Policy towards the Church. 259 3. The Persecution of Domitian. It may safely be asserted that it is only the date of the proscription which is hypothetical ; its occurrence at some time before the downfall of the Flavian dynasty is certain. The persecution of Domitian burned itself ineradicably into the memory of history ; it may be doubted by the critic, but not by the historian. He that has only an eye for details, that "sees hairs and pores, examines bit by bit," will always find the evidence defective for almost every detail and fact of the per- secution. But the historian who can discern *' How parts relate to parts, or they to whole, The body's harmony, the beaming soul," can never feel any doubt as to the general character of Domitian's action towards the Christians, and will always see in it the same type of absolute proscription of the Name, which was taken by Pliny and Trajan as pre- determined. So strong and early a tradition as that which constitutes Domitian the second great persecutor cannot be discredited without wrecking the foundations of ancient history. Those who discredit it must, to be consistent, resolve to dismiss nine-tenths of what appears in books as ancient history, including most that is interesting and valuable. It is urged that it was the interest of the Christians to represent the two worst emperors, Nero and Domitian, as the two great persecutors ; and therefore their evidence is dismissed as unworthy of credit. Pliny tortured the two Christian deaconesses, before he would accept their evidence ; but he applied the same process to heathen 26o The CInirch In the Roman Emph-e. slaves. To be consistent let us apply the same standard to all our authorities ; and we then must begin with Thucydides, who had the strongest motives for misrepre- senting the Athenian policy. If it were contended that ancient history as a whole is uncertain and unknowable, no reply need be made ; but the same measure must be applied to it throughout ; and on the ordinary standards of history, Domitian's persecution is as certain as that of Nero.* The only passage in which any pagan writer mentions punishments inflicted by Domitian for religious reasons, occurs in the Epitome of the history of Dion Cassius, made in the eleventh century by the monk Xiphilin. Dion mentioned that Flavius Clemens, consul A.D. 95 and cousin of the Emperor, and his wife Flavia Domitilla, niece of the Emperor, were tried on a charge of sacrilege {a6e6rT]., the temple of Rome and Augustus, " is " (ii. 13).! But on the whole surprisingly little space or attention is * Neumann (p. 15) infers unjustifiably that Antipas was the only martyr that had as yet suffered at Pergamos. t We may note in passing that this phrase belongs rather to the first century than the second. In the first century the supremacy of Pergamos in the Imperial cultus is certain or highly probable ; but in the second century it would rather appear that Ephesus succeeded to its place, and became the most important seat of the worship. 298 The Church in the Roman Empire. given in these messages to the subject of persecution, and this same character attaches to all letters addressed to the early churches.* Incidental allusions occur to the sufferings, but other subjects are more important to the writers. If the early Christians had given much thought to their persecutions, they would not have conquered the world. The date of the Apocalypse, and the question whether it is a product of Jewish or of purely Christian feeling, have been much debated. The hypothesis has even been advanced by Vischer and others that the Apocalypse was originally composed about A.D. 70, as a pure Jewish and non-Christian work, which was enlarged and retouched about A.D. 95, so as to become a Christian work. But this extreme hypothesis can certainly not be adopted. The Christian character is so imbedded in the structure of the Apocalypse that it cannot be taken out of it even in the most superficial way, except by such gross violence as is unworthy of sound criticism. The experiment has been made by Vischer ; and his work has the great value of showing conclusively that the thing is impossible. The Apocalypse is a Christian document from its inception to its completion. This does not, however, imply that John, in composing the Revelation, made no use of already existing Apocalypses. Vischer's investigation has shown conclusively that John was greatly influenced by older Jewish works of this character ; though he errs in regard to the manner in which John used them. The Revelation, as we have it, * Except, of course, on the supposition that i Peter was written before official action became regular. In that case surprisingly much space and attention are devoted to the subject in that Epistle. XII I. Azithorities for the Flavian Period. 299 is not a revised edition of a Jewish document. It is the work of a Christian writer, who was familiar with Jewish Apocalypses, and adapted to his own purposes much that was contained in some one or more of them ; but this writer treated the material with a mastery and freedom that made his work in its entirety a Christian document, however strong are the traces of the older form in parts of it. Spitta, in his Offenbarung des Johannes, has justly appreciated the erroneous side of Vischer's hypothesis. He considers that John's Apocalypse was at first com- posed as an independent Christian document about A.D. 60, and that this Christian Apocalypse was enlarged by a redactor, who incorporated along with it two Jewish Apocalypses, one composed about B.C. 65, the other about A.D. 40. The redactor made considerable additions of his own to effect a harmonious junction between the fragments of these three works. This theory, while avoiding the difficulties into which Vischer fell, is involved in others even more serious. Its artificiality is so extreme as to make it incapable of proof and on the face of it improbable, since Spitta has not succeeded in finding any sufficiently clear marks to distinguish one document from another. The separation between the work of the two supposed Christian writers is especially hazardous and hypercritical. According to Spitta, the last two chapters are a patch- work of fragments from all four sources. Yet this patch- work has always been considered to be one of the most poetic and highly wrought passages in the Bible. A patchwork which rises to that rank is no mere piecing together of fragments ; it is an original work, in which ideas learned from various sources are fused into a truly original production. 300 The Church in the Roman Empire. Spitta's theory, however, is at least a strong confirmation of the arguments which we have advanced against Vischer 's theory in its actual form ; and we are in agreement with much that is contained in each of them, while considering that both require considerable modification. But the decisive argument against the actual form of Spitta's theory is that the supposed first Christian document is quite unsuitable to the year 60. It is most improbable that the Christians of Asia were at that date so highly organised in numerous congregations as they were when the letters to the seven churches were composed ; and it is contrary to all evidence that they were at that time exposed to serious persecution and actual execution. Spltta supposes (p. 477) that the churches of Asia were persecuted even to death by the Jews, and compelled to take the yoke of the law upon them ; and he shows that, in the message sent to the churches, Jesus does not threaten the Jews with judgment, but encourages His faithful people to resist to death. The idea that in great cities of the Roman Empire, some of them the residence of high Roman officials, Ephesus, Pergamos, Smyrna, etc., the Jews could persecute and kill the Christians in the public and open way that is implied in the Apocalypse, does not require serious refutation. We need only recommend Dr. Spitta to devote a little more time to the study of Roman Imperial history and administration, in order to learn that, defective as was the Roman Empire in some respects, it was not so utterly unfit for the fundamental duties of government, as to allow the extreme license and organised riot that are implied by his theory. But, even if the hypothesis be true, that the Apocalypse is the re-edition issued about 90-96 A.D. of an older work or XI I L Authorities for the Flavian Pe}iod. 301 works, whether composed by Jews or by Jewish Christians, it still continues authoritative for the later period. If the Apocalypse was originally a Christian document, there can remain no doubt that the preceding exposition forces us to date it not earlier than about A.D. 90.* The external circumstances in which it is environed are those which characterise the fully developed policy of the Flavian Emperors, and are different from those of the Neronian period. It looks back, unlike i Peter, over a period of persecution. As a Christian document, the Apocalypse is an historical impossibility about A.D. 70. The Church did not at that time stand opposed to the Empire and " the World " in declared inexpiable war ; the idea that Christianity might spread peaceably through the Empire was still dominant, as we see both in the Epistles of Paul t and in i Peter. Accordingly, if the Apocalypse is placed under Nero or Vespasian, the feeling that rules in it could be attributed only to the Jewish hatred against the Empire, which led to the rebellion of 67-70 ; and then it must lose the Christian character which we find to be inherent in it. Moreover, the circumstances and details are not in accordance with Jewish feeling. We must agree with Volter that these imply " a persecution which leads to imprisonment and death " ; % and no such relation existed between the Jews and the Empire. • The earliest authority extant — viz., Irenaeus — dates it in the later years of Uomitian, i.e., 90-96. t His earlier Epistles to the Thessalonians do not show this character; but in the later Epistles there is a distinct progress towards it, until it becomes strongly marked in the Pastoral Epistles. X Streiischrift gegen Harnack und Vtscher, p. 34. " Es ist vielmehr eine Verfolgung (cf. xii. 12) gemeint, die zu Gefangniss und Tod fuhrt (xiii. 9, 10, 15)." 302 The Church in ihe Roman E7npire. On the other hand, the Apocalypse is equally an historical impossibility much after the year 112, when Trajan revised and toned down the harshness of the previous policy,* modifying it in execution without abro- gating it in principle. As we shall see, there then began a gradual rapprochement between the Church and the Empire, and the idea that rules in the Epistles of Paul and Peter again became dominant in a much more advanced and defined form. One marked development in the procedure against the Christians seems to have taken place between the com- position of I Peter and that of the Apocalypse. The worship of the Emperor is not alluded to in the former, whereas it is prominent in the latter. Precisely in the interval between them lies the accession of Domitian, and, as we have seen, it was his desire to be regarded as a god in human form, and to be styled dominus et deus. We shall probably not err in attributing to his influence the final development of procedure in regard to the Christians. 5. The First Epistle of John. From the Apocalypse we naturally turn to the Epistles attributed to St. John. There can be no doubt that the same hand can be traced in the First Epistle and the Fourth Gospel. No two works in the whole range of literature show clearer signs of the genius of one writer, and no other pair Volter's words, " nur bei Christen erklart sich das und auch bei ihnen nur in der Zeit seit Trajan," are half right and half wrong. The error is founded on the strange misinterpretation of the two letters of Pliny and Trajan, which prevails so widely, and which Neumann has happily abandoned. XIII. AutJiorities for the Flavian Pe^'iod. 303 of works are so completely in a class by themselves, apart from the work of their own and of every other time. One work alone stands near them, the Apocalypse ; and while identity of authorship is very far from being so clear, as in the case of the Gospel and Epistle, yet there is a closer relation between the three works than exists between any of them and any fourth work. We must expect to find a close connection in time and circumstances of origin between the First Epistle and the Apocalypse. The First Epistle of John was in all probability "addressed primarily to the circle of Asiatic Churches, of which Ephesus was the centre."* It may be expected to contain some reference to the persecution of the Christians by Domitian. No explicit reference, however, occurs ; and it has even been concluded that the situation was entirely different " Outward dangers were overcome. The world was indeed perilous ; but it was rather by its seductions than by its hostility. There is no trace of any recent or impending persecution." f Therefore, it may be argued, either they belong to a later date, or they prove that the author knew of no such persecution in Asia as we have found ourselves obliged to suppose. We answer that even the attribution to a later date does not explain the attitude of the writer in respect of the relations with the Empire, unless we bring him down to a decidedly later date than the most extreme critics advocate. Throughout the second century, as will be shown in the following chapters, Christianity continued to be forbidden, and the confession of the Name on trial constituted at once, • Westcott, Epistles of St. John, p. -^z, t Westcott, p. 33. 304 The Church i7i the Roman Empire. without any further proceedings, a sufficient ground for condemnation to death. A writer who was advising and admonishing any congregation during the second century must, if he referred at all to their relations with the State, refer to the proscription of the Church ; and if he could admonish the congregation at that time without referring to their relations with the State, he might equally well do so during the first century. Herein then lies the real explana- tion. The author has no thought to spend on the relation of his congregations to the Empire and the law, his mind is entirely occupied with another subject — viz., the inner life ; and he has no thought of advising them as to their be- haviour towards the State. But, though he does not allude to persecution, he does not leave us in the dark as to the feeling with which ho regarded the State. The State is summed up in " The World." As Bishop Westcott says, " In the Emperor the World * found a personal embodiment and claimed Divine honour." Accordingly, when St. John says, " Marvel not, brethren, that f the World hateth you," and goes on to state that the passage from the World to Christianity is a passage from death to life, and from hatred of the Church to love of the Church, we shall see in the paragraph iii, 13 ff., first, what was the attitude of the Empire towards the Church 90-100 A.D. ; and secondly, how little thought St. John bestowed on it. The transcendentalism of his thought, and the remoteness of his position from that of * E;pistles of St. John, p. 255. I have slightly modified his phrase (which is " the world ") for the sake of uniformity. t I have modified the translation to bring out clearly that the hatred is assumed as a fact; a literal rendering of d in English is apt to conceal this. XIII. Authorities for the Flavian Period. 305 the practical preacher who tells his congregation how they are to behave in the presence of the persecutor, cannot be better expressed than in the words of Westcott himself, p. 34 : " According to his view, . . . the World [including the " Empire "] exists indeed, but more as a semblance than as a reality. It is overcome finally and for ever. It is on the point of vanishing. . . . And over against ' the World ' there is the Church. ... By this, therefore, all that need be done to proclaim the Gospel to those without, is done naturally and effectively in virtue of its very existence. It must overcome the darkness by shining. ... St. Paul wrote while the conflict was undecided. St. John has seen its close." * Fully to appreciate the writer whose attitude is described in these words, and to realise his perfect in- difference to, and want of concern with, the superficial aspect of the facts of the day, we must remember that he was writing under Domitian, who banished him to an islet in the i4igean Sea, and who was addressed by his subjects as " our Lord and God." When we do so, this paragraph, written to explain why missionary work is not urged by John as it was by Paul, also explains why the enmity of the Empire is treated so lightly, and occupies a hardly appreciable place in his mind. We now see that the attitude of the Epistles to the Empire is the same as that of the Apocalypse ; and we also realise that it would be a mistake to argue, from the absence of any explicit reference in them to persecution, that they were composed in a season of peace, when persecution was at an end. Any apparent discrepancy • I would only add to this last sentence, " with the eye ot a seer," Epistles of SL John, p. 34. I have, as before, made the change of a capital in " the World." 20 3o6 TJlc Church in the Roman Empire. between the Epistles and the Apocalypse, in reference to the relations of Church and State, lies in the difference of their point of view. In the words we have just quoted, the first Epistle sees the World " only as a semblance, finally overcome, and on the point of vanishing." The Apocalypse explains how this is so, by the vision of the Divine scheme of things, in which the World, the persecutor, is conquered and evanescent, while permanence and reality belong only to the Church which the World has vainly tried to destroy In this vision the Empire and its action towards the Church must be expressly described. But neither in the Apocalypse nor in the Epistle is it described with the intention of advising Christians as to their behaviour in the face of persecution. The writer is always remote from that point of view, and on a higher plane of thought. 6. Hebrews and Barnabas. The Epistle to the Hebrews throws little light on the relation between the State and the Church, nor does this subject throw much light on that enigmatic work. The persons addressed have been exposed to taunts and afflic- tions (x. 33), and have endured a great conflict. Yet the general tone, perhaps, implies that worse and more serious trials have been experienced by Christians elsewhere, and that the persons addressed may expect a more terrible trial in the immediate future. The whole spirit of the advice given them seems to be directed to prepare them for serious persecution, and therefore the writer must already be familiar with persecution of that type. By the language of xii. 4 this impression is confirmed. The persons addressed were up to the present not sufferers XIII. Authorities for the Flavian Period. 307 of persecution that had been carried as far as death.* But the example of the heroes and heroines of old, who by faith were enabled to resist death and extreme torments, is urged upon them at such length, and with such earnestness, as to show that the writer considers them to be threatened by a similar fate. This summary practically assumes the point, and dis- regards the difficulty. It gives far too much definiteness to what is expressed in fainter outlines and in a less precise way. But, if it at all correctly represents the tone of the Epistle, the date of composition appears to be about 64-66. But, first, there is in the Epistle an absence of expressions which are specially and obviously appropriate to the character of the Neronian trials ; and, secondly, a certain poverty of meaning is on this supposition attributed to x. 33 (6vei,8cafioi<; re Kal ffkiy^ecfiv OeaTpi^ofievoi), which may however be in keeping with the rather rhetorical style of this writer. Yet no other date suits better, for there is an equal absence of expressions that would be suitable if the letter were composed at some critical period of later history — e.^-., under Domitian. Moreover, it is probably easier to understand the want of definiteness in the writer's attitude towards the State, if he belonged to an earlier period. Perhaps the reason for this difficulty of fitting the letter to any special date lies in its style, which is further away from the realities of life, and more rhetorical and abstract than the letters of St. Paul. The Epistle of Barnabas is assigned by Weizsacker and Lightfoot to the reign of Vespasian. The date is reckoned • The sense which Wordsworth, for example, gets from this verse by pressing the force of the aorist seems to me quite unacceptable, for it is not consistent with oCna. 3o8 The Church in the Roman Empire. by them from the passage in which Daniel is quoted : " Ten kingdoms shall reign upon the earth, and after them shall rise up a little horn, who shall lay low three of the kings in one." The writer quoted this to prove that the last day was approaching, for this sign was in actual fulfilment when he was writing. Weizsacker and Lightfoot differ in the details of their explanation, and the latter certainly is more satisfactory. In one respect they seem both to miss the truth. Both say that Vespasian is the tenth king — i.e., the tenth Roman Emperor ; but they differ about the three kings that are laid low by the little horn. Weizsacker finds them in Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, overthrown by Ves- pasian. The objections to this are obvious. Vespasian is made to do double duty, as one of the ten kings, and also as the little horn ; moreover, Vespasian did not in any sense lay low Galba, but vindicated his memory. Light- foot explains the little horn as the returning Nero, who was expected to destroy the three Flavii, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian, conceived to reign together as Augustus and two Cassars. In this explanation a difficulty suggests itself. It is clearly implied that the three who are to be destroyed at a blow are all included in the ten, whereas on this ex- planation an eleventh and twelfth, viz., Titus and Domitian, have to be added to make up the three. But little change is needed. We have only to bear in mind that, in the time of Vespasian, Otho and Vitellius were not regarded as Emperors, for Vespasian claimed to succeed Galba directly, and to avenge his death on the two usurpers.* Vespasian therefore was the eighth, Titus the ninth, and Domitian the * It was a later idea to reckon Vitellius and Otho among the twelve Caesars. To do so in the time of the Flavian Emperors would have been treason. XIII. Authorities for the Flavian Period. 309 tenth king ; and three kings reigning together between 70 and 79 were according to widespread belief destined all to perish together at the hands of the expected Nero. This remarkable situation fulfilled the sign of the prophet Daniel, and portended the approaching end of the world ; and this part of the Epistle of Barnabas was therefore written under Vespasian. The subject of the Epistle gives little or no occasion for alluding to the relation of the Christians to the State. Only in the concluding part, " the Two Ways," is there any opening for such allusion ; and here we find little or nothing bearing on the subject, except the advice to " be subject to masters as the image of God " (§ 19). The im- pression here given is that the writer, like Paul and Peter, insists on the strict observance of the actually existing laws. The Christians are not to give any countenance to changes of the established order ; they are to accept the present situation, and to remember that their own world is a different one. 7. The Epistle of Clement. The evidence of Clement, in the letter to the Corinthian Church, written, perhaps, about A.D. 97,* is very important. After quoting from ancient Jewish history various ex- amples of the evils wrought by jealousy, he proceeds : — " But let us come to those champions who lived very near to our time. Let us set before us the noble examples which belong to our generation." He quotes at some * Lightfoot argues convincingly that Clement wrote under Nerva, *•» P- 352 ; but elsewhere he regularly speaks of the E;pistle as composed in the latter years of Domitian. 310 The Chwch in the Roman Empire. length the sufferings of St. Peter and St. Paul ; and he then proceeds : " Unto these men of holy lives was gathered a vast multitude of the elect." The idea of two distinct and isolated persecutions is forced upon these words in accordance with the tradition of the second century, which mentions only two great persecutors, Nero and Domitian.* But Clement is most naturally understood as referring to a continuous persecution throughout his own generation, keener perhaps at one time than at others. It appears probable that after the death of Domitian, as after the persecution of Nero, there was a temporary cessation of a policy which had been carried to an extreme. There was in each case a certain revulsion of feeling, which is expressly attested in the earlier case by Tacitus, and which may be inferred in the second case both from Clement's expression " the sudden and repeated calamities and reverses which befel us,"t and from the statement of Dion that Nerva dismissed those who were awaiting their trial on the charge of sacrilege. Hence Clement was apparently writing during a lull in the storm of persecution ; while it was at its height, he had no time to attend to the reports which reached him about the Corinthian church. But Clement knows well that the present is only a momentary lull ; he says in § 6 that " we are in the same lists [with those who have been slain], and the same contest awaiteth us." * Lightfoot, though on the whole he takes this view, remarks about the " vast multitude of the elect," that " the reference must be chiefly, though not solely, to the sufferers in the Neronian persecution." t Lightfoot translates as if the text were yH/o/xtvas, but in the text he reads yevoixivas, which alone has MS. authority, and which he expressly prefers, i., p. 352, ii., p. 8, although the Syriac translation has a present XIII. Authorities for the Flavian Period. 3 1 1 Clement has been interpreted* as implying that there had never been a persecution at Corinth : " a profound and rich peace had been given to all." But the context shows that here the thought in the writer's mind is not of persecutions. He is speaking of that peace and freedom from dissensions which formerly characterised the Church of Corinth, but which characterised it no longer, 8. The Letters of Ignatius. One other work remains, which throws much light on the spirit of this time, but it is a work whose date and authenticity are more keenly contested than those of any other in Christian literature. The letters of Ignatius have certainly formed a subject for forgery to work upon on an extraordinary scale. But, after Lightfoot's argu- ments, it is clear that the supposition of a forgery in the case of the seven central documents entails the belief that a tale coherent, probable in itself, and yet unusual in some points, was constructed as a basis, that the letters are written on this foundation, and, without ever formally referring to the incidents of this tale, pre-suppose them as having actually occurred ; that this tale disappeared from memory ; that it was flatly contradicted by a later forger, who remodelled the original forgery, and also by all tra- dition ; and that it remained for scholars in recent years, and especially for Lightfoot, to disentangle this tale from the obscure language of the genuine letters, and thus enable us to comprehend the skill of the most skilful forger known in history. He that is not prepared to admit all this is • By Gebhardt and Hamack, in Prolegometia to their edition of element, p. Ivii. 312 The Church in the Roman Empire. bound to admit the genuineness of what Lightfoot calls the Middle Recension. Strange to say, it is not possible to prove from the actual words of Ignatius that a general persecution was going on at the time. The situation in which he was placed made any such allusion unnecessary. No exhorta- tion to face persecution could strengthen the effect of his mere example. In his letter to the Romans, § 5, Ignatius refers to previous cases in which the beasts had " refused through fear to touch" martyrs exposed to them. The passage does not, indeed, explicitly mention that the vic- tims were Christians ; but it is natural and probable that he should refer to martyrs. This shrinking of the beasts from human beings is often referred to in the best and most authentic Acts of Martyrs ; and M. Le Blant has dis- cussed the subject with his usual learning and critical sense.* But if we except this letter, no direct reference to persecution occurs ; though there is a general implication that Ignatius is suffering the common lot of Christians. His attention is almost exclusively devoted in the other six letters to the affairs and the future of the churches to whom he writes. But even where he makes no express reference to it, Ignatius leaves the feeling in the reider's mind that persecution and suffering are general. A subtle difference exists, in respect of our subject, between the two groups of letters, the four written from Smyrna, and the three from Troas.f In the latter nothing occurs for our purpose ; the former abound in delicate • Actes des Martyrs, p. 86 and 95 ; see below, p. 404. t Incidentally we may notice this difference in thought as a proof of genuineness : it implies a difference of situation, such as is inex- plicable on the theory of forgery. XIII. Authorities for the Flavian Period. 313 phrases, the most explicit of which may be quoted. The life of the Christian is a life of suffering, the climax of his life and the crowning honour of which he gradually makes himself worthy is martyrdom, and Ignatius is far from confident that he is worthy of it {Trail. ^ 4). Suffering and persecution are the education of the Christian,* and through them he becomes a true disciple {Ephes., 3 ; Magn., 8, 9). The teacher, then, is the person or church which has gone through most suffering, and shown true discipleship ; and Ignatius distinguishes Ephesus and Rome as his teachers {Ephes., 3 ; Rotn., 3). Ignatius is still in danger, not having as yet completely proved his steadfast- ness, whereas Ephesus is proved and firmly fixed, the implication being that it has been specially distinguished by the number of its martyrs {Ephes., 12); and, moreover, Ephesus has been the highway of martyrs, the chief city of the province where many, even from other parts, appeared before the proconsul for trial, and at the same time the port whence they were sent to Rome (see p. 318). A detailed comparison is made in Magn., 8, 9, between the prop? ets and the Christians of the age. The prophets were pc ;se- cuted, and the Christians endure patiently in ordei to become true disciples. When such is the principle of the Christian life, that suffering is the best training, it is the devil's teaching to make any compromise with the wvirld, and to ask pardon for one who has been condemnefivva-av. Numerous inscriptions show how common was the formula iirep aarrjpias tov AvTOKpdropos. XIV. Policy of Hadrian, Pius, and Marcus. 325 prosecutor who failed to make out his case was to be punished for false accusation {calunmid). But still the settled principle remained in operation, that any Christian might be ordered to execution at any time by any governor of a province. The most important effect of such acts as those of Trajan and Hadrian was to require some definite person, willing to take on himself the invidious character of accuser (which had hitherto been almost equivalent to murderer) of some definite person. There are many indications that various circumstances might originate a short and temporary enforcement of the general law and practice. But apart from this, in the period on which we are now engaged, the Christians must have been, to a considerable extent, protected against accusers by their own strength and union. The professional accuser {delator), though necessitated and encouraged by the Roman laws,* was always highly unpopular.! Even in our own country a private prosecutor has always to face a certain prepossession against him, which can be overcome only by a complete proof of the justice of his plea. But in the Mediterranean lands there is a much stronger feeling, for law and police are tacitly regarded as enemies to the in- dividual citizen to an extent that we can hardly under- stand, at least after we have ceased to be boys at school ; and the same feeling existed in ancient times. Occasionally revenge produced a delator; but usually an accuser was actuated by hopes of gain. In free Rome of the Republic, political advancement was sometimes the inducement ; but generally the actual rewards in money or position, • There was no public accuser, and many laws were inoperative unless private initiative set them in motion, t Compare Horace, Sai. I., 4, 66. 326 The Church in the Roman Empire. promised in several individual laws to successful prose- cutors, elicited dclatores. In the case of prosecutions on the charge of Christianity, no such rewards were to be obtained ; the delator would not win permanent approval even from those who hated the Christians, and who might encourage him at the moment. An isolated accuser would have much to lose, and could, in general, have little chance of gaining anything. Finally, the hatred of a united and energetic body like the Christians would, in itself, be a serious penalty, and, in places where Chris- tianity was very strong, might be a sufficient deterrent to any single prosecutor. The hatred which was popularly entertained for the Christians during the century following 64 A.D. was too intense not to contain a considerable element of fear. In modern history, the Judenhass and Judenhetze are strongest where the Jews are thought dangerous. An example of the strong feeling entertained by the Christians against any who had been instrumental in procuring the condemnation of Christians, is found in the action taken in A.D. 320 against those who, in the great persecution by Diocletian and Maximian, had played the part of informers or accusers, or had delivered up to de- struction copies of the sacred books {traditores). How then were accusers found in the face of such deterrent motives ? In the first place, from disturbance of trade. This is a subject on which we have very little information ; but that trade was highly developed and very influential in the Asiatic societies is obvious. We have already referred to the strike of the bakers in Magnesia (p. 200), which produced such serious consequences as to require the intervention of the proconsul. The circum- stances which led to the outbreak of persecutions in the XIV. Policy of Hadrian, Pius, and Marcus. 327 second century are almost wholly unknown to us, and no case in point later than the hypothetical one of 112 (which has been already alluded to) is known ; yet it is highly probable that combined action of a whole trade was occasionally instrumental in prompting the action of the Government against the Christians. In the second place, motives of a personal nature, such as revenge, might occasionally induce individuals to face the odium and appear as delatores. An example of this occurs in the case of Ptolemaeus, who was prosecuted before the prefect of the city, Lollius Urbicus, about 152.* But the great danger lay in popular excitement produced by some sudden cause, some general calamity, or signs, prodigies, and prophecies, which either made the multitude by a unanimous impulse act as accuser, or raised individuals beyond the influence of motives which, in saner moments would weigh with them. As Tertullian puts it : " If the Tiber rises, if the Nile does not rise, if the heavens give no rain, if there is an earthquake, famine, or pestilence, straightway the cry is, * The Christians to the lions ! '" f Hence we see how strong Hadrian's rescript was, for it expressly forbade the shouts of a crowd to be received as an accusation, and required some definite individual to appear and to take the risk of punishment if he failed to prove his case. That proceedings against the Christians were not quite discontinued under Hadrian must be taken as certain. The general principle of proscription had not been abrogated, * SeeBorghesi,(15'«z/rfj, ix., 295; y«i-//«, ii. ^/o/(9^., 2. Lightfoot, Jgnat. i. p. 509, gives the date 155-160, after Borghesi, viii. 545; but in the later vol. (1884) Borghesi inclines to an earlier date. t Analog., 40. 328 The Church in the Roman Empire. and the evidence as to this and the following reigns is clear, Lightfoot is on this point not so accurate and logical as he generally is * except in his concluding phrase, that our knowledge is too scanty to permit the inference that no prosecutions of Christians took place under Hadrian. But when he disposes of all the Acta which assign martyr- doms to this reign, on the ground that " the reign of Hadrian was a convenient receptacle for these real or supposed martyrdoms which were without a date," it is impossible to follow him. The reign of Domitian, who in all later time was one of the typical persecutors, was equally convenient, and was comparatively empty ; so also was the reign of Trajan. There occur under Hadrian more martyrdoms about which detailed Acta are preserved, than under Domitian or Trajan ; but the reason is that Hadrian was later, and nearer the time when Christian historians flourished. More actual names of individuals were remem- bered under his reign ; but even in their case, hardly anything of perfectly authentic character is preserved. The Acta are fabulous, or nearly so ; but that does not warrant the rejection of the tradition as unhistorical, or the assertion that martyrs attested by the older martyrologies are purely fictitious (pp. 405 «, 434i'0. Nor can we accept Lightfoot's explanation that here " misinterpretation of Eusebius' words " by Jerome origin- ated the belief in a persecution under Hadrian. Eusebius' statement is that Quadratus composed his Apology because " certain wicked men were endeavouring to molest our people " ; and Lightfoot holds that " the implication is that they were thwarted in their endeavours." This seems too * Jgnat. and Pol. , i., p. 507. XIV. Policy of Hadrian^ Pitis, and Afarcus. 329 strong an inference. Quadratus, a private citizen in Athens, could become aware of such endeavours only through their resulting in action. Hadrian did not hold a public discussion as to his policy, but the Christians, finding that he was disposed to relax in some degree the severity of the standing policy, and hoping that he would listen to argument, began to defend their cause in formal Apologies. That Euscbius knew few facts regarding H-adrian's action is certain ; but his comparative ignorance was due to the dearth of authorities. The Apology of Aristides is itself the best proof that a defence and a protest against the accepted policy were thought necessary by the Christians.* But after all deductions are made, the fact remains that the lot of the Christians in this reign must have been comparatively a happy one after their experiences before A.D. 112. Rescripts such as that addressed by Hadrian to Fundanus were secret and confidential documents. We learn the exact terms of some, in whole or in part, in ways not contemplated by the writers, and quite apart from their nature. Trajan's was published — of course with the Emperor's permission — in the collected correspondence that passed between him and Pliny ; and many fragments of others are quoted in the law books, and thus preserved to us. Hadrian's was quoted by Justin Martyr about twenty years or less after it was written. How had it become known to the Christians ? This is a point of some interest, but an answer cannot be given with certainty. Possibly Hadrian himself may have intentionally allowed * The view of Professor Rendel Harris is that Aristides addressed, not Hadrian, but the succeeding Emperor Hadrianus Antoninus, in the beginning of his reign. 330 The Church in the Roman Empire. it to be brought to their knowledge. But, so far as I can judge, it is more probable that its terms became known to them through their influence in the province of Asia and in the bureau {pfficiuin) of the proconsul. That suppo- sition is quite in accordance with the general impression we receive, that the new religion was very widespread and influential in this and the neighbouring provinces before the middle of the second century. We find an example which has some bearing on this point in the case of Florinus, who was listening to Polycarp's lectures in Smyrna along with Irenaeus, while he was attending the Imperial court and enjoying high favour there. The exact date and the precise circumstances are as yet a matter of conjecture. In the great uncertainty about Irenaeus' birth and early life the facts may belong to any time between 135 and 150. But it is quite probable that an inscription may any day be found giving a clue to the circumstances and time when an imperial visit, otherwise unknown to us, was made to Asia during this period.* It is of course possible that the Christians bought a copy of the rescript. Many instances are recorded in which they purchased from the clerks {commentar lenses) copies of the official shorthand report of the proceedings at trials of martyrs, and these official Acta form the groundwork of many of the tales of martyrs, and are even reproduced verbatim in some of the best and most authentic accounts.f The rescript would certainly be preserved in the proconsular archives of the province of Asia.| * This is a fair example how much may reasonably be expected from the progress of investigation and discovery. t Le Blant, Actes des Martyrs, pp. 65 and 70. \ A rchivum proconsulis is the phrase used by St Augiistin in refer- ence to Africa {contra Cresconium, iii. 80 (70), Le Blant, pp. 63-4. XIV. Policy of Hadrian, Phis, and Marcus. 331 2. Antoninus Pius, July ioth, 138, to March 7TH, a.d. 161. The more liberal procedure of Trajan and Hadrian was, on the whole, maintained in this reign. The general tone of the rescript to Fundanus seems to have characterised the letters addressed by Antoninus Pius to several cities of Greece and Thrace, forbidding disorderly procedure against the Christians.* These letters confirmed the section in Hadrian's rescript, ordering that mere tumultuous shouting should not be taken as a formal accusation of the Christians. They required that the proper procedure before the governors of the provinces should be observed, and for- bade any riotous action on the part of the populace. In this very restriction, however, it is implied that the regular formal procedure was still maintained, and was, in the opinion of the Emperor, fully adequate to the requirements of the case. As to the facts which occasioned these letters, we may assume with some confidence that tumultuous action, similar to that which took place at Smyrna in A.D. 155 against Polycarp, had occurred in various other cities about the same time ; and the Emperor wrote to the Athenians, Larissaeans, Thcssalonians, and the Greek cities in general,! • The reasoning of Neumann (p. 28), Overbeck (^Studien zur Geschichte, etc., p. 146 ff.), and others, about these letters is vitiated by their wrong interpretation of the phrase \j.T]hkv vtarepl^eiv. This does not indicate " innovations," as they understand it, but riotous and tumultuous action. In the Latin original novcB res was, no doubt, the phrase. Lightfoot rightly translates the phrase, Ignat., i., 459. The letters are mentioned by Melito, in a lost Aj)olngy addressed to Marcus Aurelius, and quoted by Eusebius, H. E., iv., 26. t Among these Smyrna is included. The phrase is not " cities of the province Achaia," but "all Hellenes," which includes those of the .^gean coast. Compare the coin on which the people of Tralles claim to be the " First of the Greeks," see above, p. 157 n. 332 The Church in the Roman Empire. reminding them of the actual state of public law, and warning them against stretching municipal action too far, and encroaching on the powers of the Imperial Govern- ment (see p. 393/").* The action of the citizens of Smyrna was in direct dis- obedience to the rescript of Hadrian ; but the rescript was in advance of public feeling, and was therefore liable to be disregarded. It seems also clear that the pro- consul was a weak official. This is shown by his attitude towards the mob. His inclination and sense of duty urged him to give Polycarp a further hearing and a formal trial, if he could " prevail upon the people ; " but their shouts impelled him to order, or rather to permit, immediate execution.! We may suppose that the passions and fears of the mob were strongly excited by some recent great calamity, for many events of that kind are mentioned in the reign of Pius.J In Smyrna a serious earthquake had occurred not long before, A.D. 151 or 152 apparently. § This series of outbreaks of popular feeling in the Greek cities points to some widely spread cause ; and the cir- cumstances of the following reign show that the cause was * This point of view is involved in i/ecorep/feti/ and novce res. The precise time when the letters to the cities were written is not re- corded. Melito implies that it was after the assumption of Marcus Aurelius as Caesar in A.D. 147 ; and the reasoning in the text shows that it was probably soon after the action of the Smyrnaeans in A.D. 155. t See § 10 of the letter of the Smyrnaeans. X Script. Hist. Aug., iii., Vit. Anton., 9. § Lightfoot, Ignat. i., p. 461, following Waddington, Pastes, $ 141 ; but the latter gets his date from the forged letter of An- toninus to the Koinon of Asia, which he assigns to A.D. 152, whereas Mommsen and Lightfoot, p. 483, put it in 158. Probably the date for the earthquake is pretty accurate. XIV. Policy of Hadrian, Pius, and Marcus. 333 a general revival of paganism in a more philosophic and reasoned form. A larger body of detailed information is extant about the sufferings of individual martyrs under Antoninus Pius than under Hadrian. Lightfoot has clearly shown this,* but we need not infer that the Christians really suffered more. We are now coming nearer the period when regular contemporary registration of Christian history began ; and moreover, the extraordinary personal importance of Poly- carp secured the preservation of the facts of his death. The language of Justin and of Minucius Felix is con- clusive as to the existence of persecution in this reign. In his first Apology Justin appeals direct to the Emperor against the principle now enforced that the mere Name is a capital offence. He argues against it on the ground of justice and legality, and quotes the rescript to Fundanus as a proof that Hadrian was opposed to it. He did not find it serve his purpose to quote Trajan's rescript, which expressly affirmed the principle ; and his silence about the rescript is no argument that he did not know it. The later rescript of Hadrian might fairly be considered as over- ruling the earlier.f But he does not refer to the actual seeking out of Christians as practised by the Government officials, and we shall see that in this respect the authorities for the succeeding reign differ greatly from him. A procedure conforming to the rescripts of Hadrian * Ignat. and Pol., i., p. 509. t I need not quote all the passages in yustin, which are numerous. (See Lightfoot, Ignat. and Pol., i., p. 534.) The date of Minucius not later than A.D. 160 appears to Lightfoot established by the passages quoted by Schwenke. I have not the right to express any opinion on the date of Minucius ; but, if the words are pressed in that way, they point to a period before A.D. 147. 334 ^'^^ Church in the Roman Empire. and Antoninus was employed in the case of Ptolemaeus and Lucius. Neither of them was sought out by the prefect, Lollius Urbicus, but private accusers came forward against the former, and the latter offered himself volun- tarily.* The exception in the case of Polycarp has been shown to be an infraction of the established rule. A good example of the action which a Roman official might take at the time is furnished by the case of Pudens, who, as Neumann has shown, was probably proconsul of Cyrene and Crete a few years before i66.t He expressly declared that he was forbidden by the instructions {mandaium) of the Emperor to investigate the case of a Christian, unless a formal accuser appeared ; and, after tearing up the document of accusation which was sent along with the prisoner, he dismissed him on the ground that no individual prosecutor had come forward. 3. Marcus Aurelius, March 7TH, 161, to March 17TH, 180. The larger policy of Trajan and Hadrian was not under- stood by Marcus Aurelius. His ideal was to be the true Roman ; and a decided reaction towards the older narrow Roman policy is apparent during his reign. He could not of course " stem the torrent of descending time " ; ideas * Lollius was, according to Borghesi, prcB/ectus urbi about 152. See note, p. 327. t TertuUian, ad Scaf., iv. The usual view is that Pudens was proconsul of Africa when the incident occurred ; but Neumann's reasoning establishes the strong probability of his case. If the usual view were correct, Pudens' proconsulate would have to be dated under Commodus ; for his action is contrary to the character of procedure under Marcus, but similar in style to that of Cincius Severus, which has been quoted previously (p. 323). XIV. Policy of Hadrian, Pius, and Marcus. 335 enlarged, policy widened, and the conception of Rome developed insensibly and inevitably. _ But philosophic leanings now no longer inclined toward Christianity and against the Imperial rule, as in the Flavian period. The Cynics indeed were still in opposition to the narrower policy, and championed the cosmopolitan spirit, which was steadily marching towards its final triumph. But popular dilettante Greek philosophy was no longer on the side of the opposition. It was now seated on the throne ; and for the time the Imperial policy coquetted with other favourites, and lost sight of the goal towards which history was moving. Christian thought was diametrically opposed to the Greek ideals of social life ; * and for a time, while the retrogressive tendency in the Imperial policy lasted, a union took place of the Roman power and the Greek philosophic influence, in opposition to the Christian re organisation of society. They allied themselves with the current religions, and tried to make explicit in the cere- monial paganism the higher ideas, which certainly were latent beneath the gross and detestable exterior of its mystic rites. Paganism, which the Imperial policy had throughout the first century, from Augustus to Domitian, tried in vain to galvanise into life, began even under Hadrian to feel, under the stimulus of opposition to Christianity, the pulse of returning life. The mysteries set before the initiated a doctrine which might com- pete with Christian doctrine, and might prove that the higher truths of life and morality had been stolen from • I do not refer here to questions of morality. The introduction of the purest morality into Greek ideals would have left them still essentially opposed to the Christian principles of society. 33^ The Church in the Roman Empire. them by the Christians. Already in 134 A.D., Hadrian was greatly interested in watching the contest between the doctrines of Christianity and the mysticism of the religion of Serapis, which he considered to be of much the same character and rank.* It seems clear that during this reign the active pursuit of the Christians became a marked feature. Celsus in his True Word speaks of them as being sought out for exe- cution.! The evidence of the Christian writers is to the same effect. Melito, about 1 70-1 71, refers to new edicts, according to which the Christians are pursued.^ Such persecution he declares to be unprecedented. It would also appear, if Melito can be trusted, that re- wards were promised to informers from the property of the accused ; for the informers are said to be greedy for property of others, and to spoil the innocent by day and by night. Athenagoras, about 177-180, also refers to the harassing, plundering, and persecution of the Christians, and the fines imposed on them (which are probably the rewards given to informers). He speaks also in strong terms about the Name being sufficent proof of guilt, and entailing death. § * See the letter to Servianus, quoted in Script. Hist. Aug., xxix., ( Vita Saturnini) 8 ; Lightfoot, Ignat, and Pol., \., p. 480. t See Origen, c. Celsum, viii., 69. The date of Celsus' work has been the subject of much discussion, but it may be probably placed in this reign, when conjoint Emperors were in power, either in 161-169, or 177-180. The variation between the singular and the plural in referring to the sovereign authority is characteristic of many docu- ments of the period. (See p. 249.) I Quoted by Eusebius, H. £., iv., 26 : Kaiva boynara, irpoarayixara. J Libellus pro Christianis, I. etc. XIV. Policy of Hadrian, Pius, and Marcus. 337 Thcophilus of Antioch, about 180, also mentions that the Christians were pursued and sought out in his time.* The Acts of Martyrs give similar evidence. The governor of Gallia Lugdunensis sought out the Christians in 177 ; and already at the beginning of the reign, Justin Martyr and four companions were brought before Junius Rusticus, Prefect of the City in 163. In the beginning of the Acta fustini, it is said that the arrest was made in accordance with decrees enforcing worship of idols on the part of the Christians. It is clearly implied that the accused were sought out by officers in consequence of these decrees, and were not formally accused by any indi- vidual. Having acknowledged their religion, they are ordered to sacrifice, and the order is repeated with threats of severe punishment. The seeking out of Christians, then, is a marked feature in all documents relating to the time of Marcus Aurelius ; whereas there is not a trace of evidence that it was practised under Antoninus Pius, and it had been forbidden by Trajan and Hadrian. Keim has correctly observed that it begins under Marcus Aurelius ; f but we hold that this was the re-introduction of the Flavian practice, the only logical course when Christianity was a crime. * The word hiinKovcn, which he uses, reminds us that the officials charged with this duty and commanded by the Eirenarch were styled Siwy/xtrat. See O. Hirschfeld, die Sicker heitspolizeiim rom. Kaiserreich^ p. 28 {Berl, Sitzungsber., 1891, p. 872). t " Unter M. Aurel kam die Verfolgung des ' Atheismus ' recht im Schwung und unter ihm erst kam es zur Aufsuchung der Christen." — Aus dent Urchrist., p. 99. Justin, in his first Apology, written under Pius, is emphatic about the Name being a capital crime ; but he makes no reference to the seeking out of Christians or to rewards for accusers. 22 338 The Church in the Roman Empire. These facts prove clearly that new methods were intro- duced by Marcus Aurelius, at least in the sense that pro- ceedings against the Christians were enforced more actively, though the penalties remained the same. The question arises how this was brought about. Was it by a general edict ? Was it by a clause inserted in the general instruc- tions to governors ? Or did the governors merely act on the knowledge that the Emperor was inclined to act logically in respect of the Christians, and, as they were criminals deserving death, to seek them out actively ? Some expressions occurring in the documents of the period would, if taken strictly, imply that an edict on the subject was issued. But probably they are simply rather loose phrases, which must not be taken too strictly. Melito, who speaks of " new decrees " in one place, uses in another the term " instructions." * The latter term is probably the right one ; the action towards the Christians was guided by the Imperial instructions to provincial governors {iiiandatd). These instructions, as has been shown, were susceptible of varying interpretation, according to the feeling of the governor and the tone of the reigning Emperor. During this reign the general revival of religious feeling would naturally lead to a stricter and logical interpretation of the instructions ; especially as it would rapidly become known that the Emperor was not opposed to this course. The question remains, whether there was any actual change made in the instructions by Marcus ? Neumann considers, p. 33 «., that there had previously been actually a clause in the instructions, forbidding the seeking out of * Kaiva Soy/iara, nova decreta, in the former case, irpoa-TdynaTa, mandata, in the latter. In Acta Justini, i., also the word is TrpocTTay/xara. XIV. Policy of Hadrian, Pius, and Ilfarcus. 339 Christians, and that this prohibition was abrogated by Marcus. He quotes the action of Pudens, as above described ; but it is very doubtful whether the proof is sufficient. Such a clause may perhaps have been inserted in the instructions issued by Hadrian and Pius to their lieutenants in the provinces ; but the variability of pro- cedure would rather suggest that the inconsistencies which we have described continued to exist throughout this whole century, and that none of the Emperors did anything beyond replying by rescript to questions which their lieutenants addressed to them. The lieutenants had the general instructions to seek out and punish sacrilegious per- sons, etc., and Christians were sacrilegious. The lieutenants might then either carry out the instructions logically, or observe the rescripts of Trajan and Hadrian forbidding the hunting out of Christians. Under Marcus the logical course was the rule. We conclude, then, that no actual change was made by Marcus Aurelius in the wording of the clauses that regu- lated the attitude of the provincial governors towards the Christians. He did not professedly alter the policy of his immediate predecessors, and yet the spirit of that policy was, for a time, changed. Far more cases of persecution are known in this than in the preceding reign ; but no stress can be laid on this fact. Contemporary record of historical facts had now begun among the Christians, and the interest in preserving Christian documents and the Acta of martyrs dates from about the sixth decade of this century. The principle of proscription still continued ; and persecution had never ceased even under the most tolerant Emperors. Neumann's view (p. 32) is very different. He traces the 340 The Church in the Roman Empire, intensification of persecution in this reign to a rescript, dated, according to his view, in A.D. 176, forbidding the introduction of new religious rites which tended to unsettle the minds of the people. This view we cannot accept, (i) It does not explain the facts, for the seeking out of Chris- tians seems to have been practised before 176 {Acta Justini, 163, Melito, perhaps 170). (2) The rescript was merely a reply to some question addressed to the Emperor, and does not appear to have been the basis of procedure against Christians, for it was approved by Christian Emperors, and retained in the Digest. (3) In 177 the Christians at Lugdunum do not appear to have been punished for proselytising ; nor did they suffer the milder penalties of this rescript.* The procedure is the same as of old, but carried out with more activity. Coincident with the change of policy there was a revival of the old charge oi flagitia against the Christians. It is quoted from Pronto, the tutor of Marcus, and it is mentioned in connection with the persecution at Lugdunum in 177. The evidence of slaves was used in support of it ; and the statements made even by Christian writers, not very much later, about actual scandals, suggest that the revival was only an exaggeration of real evils. 4. The Apologists. With Hadrian's rescript begins the age of Apologies — i.e.^ formal defences of the faith. Christianity had now a hearing granted to it. Before 112, when the religion was * Neumann quotes the expression of the populace at Lugdunum, ^evqv Tiva icai KaivfjV flcrdyovcn OprjcrKelav, Euseb., jEf. E., V., I, 63 J but this phrase was not used in the trial, nor did the thought affect the proceedings. Neumann follows Keim in his dating, see p. 321 n. XIV. Policy of Hadrian, Pius, and Marcus. 341 absolutely condemned, an Apology would have been absurd. Now that the Imperial policy was hesitating about its attitude, and a trial was allowed, defence and argument might have some effect ; and a long series of formal pleadings in defence were addressed to the Govern- ment, beginning, perhaps, about 129, when Aristides presented his Apology to Hadrian during his visit to Athens.* Defence and argument imply a recognition of the authority to which it is addressed. The spirit of which we discerned some slight indications in Ignatius' letters (see p. 315), had developed greatly before the first Apology was presented. In the age which produced i John and Apocalypse, and which nourished the spirit of Ignatius, an Apology would have been treason to religion. The irreconcilable opposition to the actual system, and the aspiration after an absolutely new era and a new society, Had now been given up. The Church responded to the tone of Hadrian's action : mutual allowance and an approximation between the two great enemies began. The Apologists always express or imply with regard to the character of Trajan's action the same view that we have taken. It is indeed true that the Apologists were special pleaders, and that their testimony in certain respects must be discounted to a certain degree. But they were advocates of at least fair ability and good sense ; • The Apology is noticed in Euseb., H. E., iv., 3, and dated in Chron., A.D. 125 ; but Hadrian's second visit is the only one that can be thought of. Professor Rendel Harris brings down the date to 140. Eusebius seems to treat Hadrian's rescript as the effect of the Apology ; but this is, no doubt, pure conjecture, and we rathe consider the Apology as elicited by the rescript. 342 The Church in the Roman Empire. misrepresentation of the Imperial action was subject to immediate contradiction, and could only injure their cause. They would naturally darken the colours of the picture which they drew of contemporary paganism ; they saw only the bad side of it, and no student of ancient life can accept their account as complete. But, if the view that Trajan was the institutor of formal persecution were correct, it is hard to see how sane men could think to effect any good by misstating plain facts of recent history to the Emperors, The Apologists of the second century stand on a much higher intellectual level, if our interpretation of the evidence is correct. The objection may be urged against the credit of the Apologists that TertuUian speaks of Marcus Aurelius in terms much more favourable than facts seem to warrant* But, as we have seen, Marcus did not formally make any change in the policy of his predecessors, though he favoured a more severe interpretation of the clauses on which that policy was based ; and he ranks, in a general view, with Trajan, Hadrian, and Pius, as contrasted with the uncompromising spirit of the Flavian Emperors ; and this is all that TertuUian asserts.f Moreover, it is obvious that TertuUian firmly believed in the existence of a letter from Aurelius to the Senate, ascribing to Christian soldiers the merit of a great deliver- ance from imminent danger during his German wars. It is impossible, and, unless new documents are discovered (of which hope need not be abandoned), it must always • Apolog., 5. t TertuUian expressly notes that Marcus did not alter the general principle of condemning Christians. This is exactly what we have to remark about all these Emperors. XIV. Policy of Hadrian, Pius, and Marcus. 343 remain impossible, to discover the truth of that famous legend. So much is certain : (i) such a deliverance did occur, and was universally attributed to the special in- terposition of Heaven ; (2) there were many Christian soldiers in the army ; * (3) the Christians at the time attributed the deliverance to the prayers of these soldiers,! (4) P^'^gan historians narrated the almost miraculous event, but explained it differently. It is not safe to assert abso- lutely, what is the most simple explanation, that Tertullian merely assumes that there existed a letter of Marcus to the Senate, declaring that the deliverance had followed the prayers of the Christians, and denouncing penalties against their accusers. This explanation is apparently simple ; but it leaves unsolved the greatest difficulty of the case — viz., how could Tertullian entertain the belief which he expresses so positively in a document addressed to the Senate, if it were contrary to all facts and all non-Christian evidence and belief? It is clear that Tertullian was not conscious that any opinion different from his own existed, or that any member of the Senate would be likely to • In accordance with the method of recruiting the Roman army, as deduced by Mommsen, Hermes, 1884, pp. 8 flf, and stated very precisely for Africa by Cagnat, I' Arrnee Romaine d^ Afrique, PP- 353 ff-> Legio XII. Fulminata, whose permanent station {sfatwa) was at MeHtene, would be originally recruited from the Eastern provinces; but after Hadrian (Mommsen, p. 21) the recruiting for it would be almost wholly restricted to the adjacent provinces of Asia Minor. Christianity was specially strong in these provinces; "and," as Mommsen remarks {Histor. Zft., xxviii., p. 419, n. 2), " the camp and the court were always centres of Christianising influence." t Apollinaris is strictly contemporary ; Tertullian wrote within about twenty-three years of the event. 344 "^^^ Church in the Roman Empire. challenge his statement. There seems to be more in the story than we can as yet fathom. The Apologists do not ask for a change of law ; they ask for a regulation of practice to accord with the law of the State. They demand for Christians a fair trial on some definite charge, attested by witnesses, with permission to make and prove their defence. They ask to be brought under the ordinary law ; and they inveigh against the exercise of arbitrary authority against them on no definite charge. This, the most elementary right of citizens, had been absolutely denied them by the Flavian policy, which treated them as brigands. Trajan had left the Flavian principle unaltered, but had exempted them from active pursuit. The Apologists justly argue against the illogical nature of a policy which treats them like brigands when any one formally accuses them, but does not take the trouble to look for them : if they are brigands, it is the duty of the State to hunt them down. Even Hadrian had shrunk from the decisive step of clearly stating that Chris- tianity was not in itself a crime ; and this is the step which the Apologists urge upon the Emperors whom they address. In support of this claim the Apologists advance various arguments : (i) that their religion has a high moral tone, and is absolutely inconsistent with the gross crimes which were currently charged against them ; (2) that it is of a higher moral character than Paganism, and is therefore an educative influence in the State ; (3) that Christians are loyal citizens, and, though they are compelled by their religion to abstain from some of the conventional signs of loyalty, yet in all essential points they discharge its duties fully; (4) that a name is not in itself a crime, and that XIV. Policy of Hadrian, Pius, and Marcus. 345 even a brigand is not punished for the name he bears, but only after the truth has been proved in regard to his actions. An essential point in the Christian doctrine was the unity and brotherhood of all men ; and the same idea was being gradually wrought into the Imperial system. Trajan and Hadrian, two Spaniards, free from the nar- rower Roman tradition, were, not unnaturally, the leaders in the policy of mercy towards the party that carried out most logically the idea which they themselves did much to work out in practice. Tatian expresses this idea more clearly than any other of the Apologists, and contrasts it with the theories of Greek philosophy, which always clung to the old separation of states, and the belief that moderate size was of the essence of a state. In § 28 he professes the cosmopolitan doctrine, and rejects the narrower systems which separate state from state. The true philosophy maintains that there should be one common polity for all, and one universal system of law and custom. The Christian doctrine, § 29, puts an end to the servitude that is in the world, and rescues mankind from a multiplicity of rulers. Its aim, § 32, is universal education, not education confined to the rich, as among the Greeks and Romans ; its prin- ciple is free education to the poor, and it makes no distinction of sex, but admits all to its universal system of education. He defends, § 33, the Christian custom of women studying philosophy.* • Tatian did not address any Emperor; but he employs similar arguments with the other Apologists, sometimes expressing them more sharply. Tertullian's A^ologeticum would need a chapter to itselL CHAPTER XV. CAUSE AND EXTENT OF PERSECUTION. WE have now determined the main facts in regard to the action of the State towards the Christians before A.D. 170. We have next to inquire into the reason why the Empire proscribed this sect. The question is presented to us as a paradox : the Empire being remarkably tolerant, as a general rule, in religious matters, what reason was there for the persecution of this religion ? I. Popular Hatred of the Christians. There can be no doubt that the dislike generally enter- tained towards the Christians was an element in deter- mining the attitude of the Emperors and their delegates towards them. The governors, and even the Emperors to a less degree, acted in some cases simply to conciliate the populace, and keep it in good humour. The action of Nero was, as we have seen, turned against the Christians through his wish to supplant one passion by another in the popular mind. Having private reasons for seeking to divert the populace, he tortured for their amusement a class of persons whom they hated. We have found reason to think that at first Christianity was received in Asia Minor, and perhaps in the West generally, without any detestation, and even with consider- able favour. The growth of the opposite feeling was due to various social causes, among which probably the strongest 346 XV. Cause and Extent of Persecution. 347 were (i) loss incurred by tradesmen whose business was interfered with by the habits which Christianity inculcated ; (2) annoyance caused in pagan families by the conver- sion of individual members. In the latter case it is clear that the anger felt by the pagan members of any family - would, as a rule, be proportionate to the degree of affection ^ that had existed before the family was disunited. The stronger the love that had held together the family, the stronger the hatred that would be felt against those who had introduced discord into it. Spurred on by such causes, private individuals tried to revenge themselves on those whom they considered to have injured them, whether by riotous and illegal action (Acts xiv. 19, xvii. 5, xix. 23 ff.), by action before the magistrates of provincial cities, who were not empowered to inflict severe penalties (Acts xvi. 19), or by moving the Roman law (Acts xix. 38). Various methods of prosecution before ordinary tri- bunals might be, and frequently were, employed by in- dividuals who felt themselves aggrieved. Some of these have been already referred to (p. 250 f). Riotous con- duct, disturbance of the public peace, sedition, and sac- rilege, were charges that readily suggested themselves (Acts xix. 37), and might be tried with good hopes of success ; but a purely religious charge was derided by the Roman officials (Acts xviii. 15-17).* We have seen that • St. Paul's experience in Corinth of the favour of the Roman courts as a defence against the Jews seems to have produced a powerful effect on his thought and teaching. This event divides the two letters to the Thessalonians by a deep chasm from the group of Galatians, Corinthians, Romans. There is a remarkable change of feeling as we pass from one group to the other. 34^ The Church in the Roman Empire. charges of breaking up the peace of family life formed the subject of anxious consideration and advice both to St. Paul and to St. Peter (see pp. 246, 281) ; and we cannot doubt that such charges had often been carried into court. The father or husband or master dealt in private with the individual members of his family ; * but he must go before the courts in order to punish the person who had tampered with their beliefs and habits. In such actions probably the accusation of unjustifiable interference with the sphere of duties and rights belonging to another,! though not recognised as a criminal category, would be useful to excite odium and bad feeling, a practice in which extreme licence was conceded to pleaders in Roman courts. The persecution of Nero made the situation of the Christians distinctly worse, without altering its general character. The Emperor's action in allowing certain charges, moral, rather than criminal, to be urged against Christians, constituted a precedent, and exercised a strong influence on all provincial governors in judging such cases; but still the same method remained in practice, and the governors in Asia Minor still stood as judges between the Christian and his accuser ; " for praise to them that do well" (i Peter ii. 15). Christians suffered by being con- victed as criminals, and not as Christians ; defence lay in a life above suspicion (i Peter iv. 25). * Tacitus, A nnals, xiii., 32. Pomponia was judged by her husband 'brisco instituto, A.D. 58, t The Latin term, alienum s^eculari, and the noun, a Item specu- lator, suggested the extraordinary Greek rendering aXXoT-pioeTrto-KOTro?, 1 Peter iv. 15, which is quite unintelligible, except as a rough attempt to translate a foreign term that had no recognised equiva- lent in Greek (see p. 293 n). XV. Catcse and Extent of Persecution. 349 It is not true that mere social annoyances could have had a serious character, until, through Nero's example, they were abetted and completed by action on the part of the Roman administration ; and it is regrettable that several excellent authorities have countenanced this un- historical view* It is true that James implies persecution of a more serious character, as taking place before the Neronian policy had come into force ; but James wrote to Jews, who were not governed solely by Roman law, but who, down to A.D. 70, administered justice to a certain extent among themselves, according to their own sacred law, even in Roman cities of the Eastern provinces. Of course the most serious penalties, and especially death, .were beyond the independent Jewish jurisdiction ; but still much sufTering could be legally inflicted by Jews on other Jews, unless the victims possessed the Roman citizenship, f Hence the situation of Jewish Christians before A.D. 64 was much more serious than that of Gentile Christians ; but after that year official Roman action could be invoked with confident expectation of success against both classes, and after A.D. 70 the self-governing privileges of the Jews .vere entirely withdrawn. • Weiss' commentary on i Peter {die katholischen Briefe, Leipzig, 1892), whatever be its merits in a textual or theological view, is a distinct retrogression from Holtzmann and other critics when regarded as a historical investigation. On Spitta, see p. 300. t The Jews could act against the Roman Paul only by rousing official Roman action on some pretext. Gallic probably did not allow the case to go far enough to find out whether Paul was Roman, but dismissed the case to the Jewish tribunals. In the case of Jesus, the Jews could not make the matter a serious one, except before the Roman tribunal. The Jews, even in Palestine, coulJ not suffer to death (Heb. xii. 4), except before a Roman governor. 350 The Church in the Roman Empire. Experiences of the kind described, though annoying in themselves, could never have been a serious evil or danger to the Christians ; and the Apologists of the second century argue in favour of the restoration of this procedure {Justin^ i., 3 ; Tatian, 4, etc.), claiming a fair statement of charges against each Christian, an open trial, and liberty of defence against the accusation. While this kind of persecution alone was available against them, the Christians had fair treatment and toleration from the Roman officials, and on the whole looked to them for protection. Paul himself suffered personally a good deal of hard treatment ; but he is an exceptional case. A poor Jewish stranger, almost a beggar, whose language in public had led to much disorder among the Jews, and who was exposed to the enmity of rich and influential Jews, must not be taken as a fair instance of what known citizens would suffer in their own land. It was not merely the populace who felt this dislike to the Christians ; the governors of provinces, the officials of every class, the Emperors themselves, shared it. Even such a humane spirit as Pliny was so shocked by the demeanour of the Christians on their trial that he men- tioned it to Trajan, as in itself a sufficient reason for condemnation. The Greeks were difficult enough to deal with. Cicero speaks of their perverse humour, with which all Romans who had dealings with them must reckon ; * and every proconsul of Asia could tell many a tale of the unreasonable ways of the Greeks in the * Perversitas, Fatn III.^ i., 4. Every Turkish governor would give the same account now. Greeks under his power make his life a burden to him. XV. Cause and Extent of Persecution. 351 coast cities. But the Roman governors found the Christians much more difficult to manage than the Greeks. Popular feeling, therefore, was strongly on the side of persecution ; and there can be no doubt that the reason for the severity of Marcus Aurelius lay in the dislike which he shared with the educated and uneducated classes alike. Void of insight into social questions, and raised above enthusiasm by philosophy, Marcus honestly carried out against the Christians the principles in which he believed. It would be a mistake to look for the reason of the antipathy towards the Christians in their disobedience to any single law. The Christians were so diametrically op- posed to the general tendencies of the Government and of the ancient social system, they violated in such an unshrink- ing, unfeeling, uncompromising way the principles which society and philosophy set most store by, that to prosecute them under any one law, or to think of them as ordinary criminals guilty on one single count, was to minimise their offence in an apparently absurd degree. It was true that a Christian was guilty of treason against the Emperor, and as such deserved death ; but to put his crime on that footing was to class him with many noble and high-minded Romans, who had been condemned for the same offence. It was true that he practised a foreign and degrading superstition ; and that he induced many Roman citizens to desert their patriotic loyalty to the religion of their country and their fathers, and to go astray after a fan- tastic and exaggerated devotion ; but the worshippers of Isis and of Sabazios did something of the same kind, and the fashion was to treat this offence with contemptuous toleration. It was true that Christians cut themselves off from all Greek culture, from everything that was 352 The Church in the Roman Empire. good and noble ; that they broke up family ties, and set brother against brother ; that their words, thoughts, and acts were alike void of good result for society ; that they stood aloof from the pleasures, the religion, and the duties of educated or loyal citizens ; held no official position ; com- forted none who were in sorrow ; healed no dissensions ; gave no good counsel ; made poverty and beggary into virtues ; practised robbery under the guise of equality, and shameless vice under the cloak of rigid virtue ; made evil into good, and reckoned ugliness as beauty ; laid claim to be the true philosophers ; and spoke villainous Greek. But, as the very man who paints this picture im- plies, so did the Cynics ; * yet the Cynics were merely satirised and ridiculed. The combination of so many and various faults, com- bined with the power given them by their close union, and the fear which mingled with and embittered the general hatred, rendered them pre-eminently the object of popular fury ; it seemed absurd to apply to such people any ordinary judicial process. Hence the Flavian pro- scription, which treated them like brigands, met with general approval. One cry alone was adequate to the case — Christianos ad hones. If they gave only annoyance to the world during their life, let them at least afford society some compensation by amusing it at their death. Some of the traits in the picture drawn by Aristides * Aristides, un-ep rSiv Tfrrdpcov, vol. iL, p. 400 f. (Dind.) So un- suitable do some of the traits appear to Lightfoot, that he refuses to accept it as a picture of the Christians, and declares that the Cynics were the model for Aristides to paint from {Ignat., i., p. 533). But I cannot separate the picture wholly from the Christians, nor believe that the Cynics alone could have aroused the deep-seated hatred which is here expressed. They were not sufficiently power- XV. Cause and Extent of Persecution. 353 partake (to put it mildly) of exaggeration and prejudice ; but if we wish to understand this question we must approach the subject from the point of view of the Empire, and of the educated classes of pagan society, and try to realise their views. We must, for the moment, assume the attitude of those who found the fabric of society assailed by the Christians with a bitter undistinguishing hostility and contempt, which the student of classical antiquity must feel to have been not wholly deserved. But action that consists only in occasionally yielding to pressure from popular passions does not constitute a policy. We have seen that a permanent proscription of the Name of Christian was implied in Pliny's first action ; and it is impossible to suppose that the permanent policy of such a government as the Roman was determined by mere feelings of personal and popular dislike. We cannot suppose that these passions weighed with Trajan, when he reaffirmed the general principle of proscription. Hadrian and Pius expressly forbade that popular clamour should weigh against a Christian ; but they both left the general principle in force. The direct and strong antagonism ful to cause fear ; and only an enemy which is also feared can rouse such intense hatred. The Cynics and the Christians were united in the mind of Aristides and his compeers as two members of one class, differing in some respects, but, on the whole, of the same type, and this picture gives the features common to the class. The Greek philosophers objected to the cosmopolitan spirit and superiority to the narrow Greek state, which characterised both Cynics and Chris- tians. Neumann, pp. 35-6, has caught excellently the spirit of this passage, following a fragment of Bernays, Gesammelte Abhandl., ii., p. 362, which seems to imply a change from the view expressed in Lucian und die Kyniker. In that work Bernays considered the description to be intended for the Cynics alone. 23 354 The Church in the Roman Empire. against the State which rules in Apocalypse and Ignatius cannot be thus explained. We must look deeper for the real ground of the Imperial action, which, as we have seen, was probably determined about 75-80 A.D. 2. Real Causes of State Persecution. The success of the Imperial Government in the provinces rested greatly on its power of accommodating itself to the ways and manners and religion of the subjects ; it accepted and found a place in its system for all gods and all cults. Religious intolerance was opposed to the fundamental principles of the Imperial rule, and few traces of it can be discerned. It proscribed the Christians, and it proscribed the Druids. In these two cases there must have seemed to the Imperial Government to be some characteristic which required exceptional treatment. In both cases there was present the same dangerous principle : both maintained an extra-Imperial unity, and were proscribed on political,* not on religious, grounds. On the other hand, the Jews must have appeared to the Government to resemble the Christians very closely. Almost every trait in the picture drawn by Aristides applies to them, and they also were the object of general hatred. But so far from yielding to the popular feeling in this case, the Imperial policy protected the Jews on many occasions from the popular dislike. * Mommsen says {Provinces, i., p. 105) "the institution of the Gallic annual festival in the purely Roman capital . . . was evi- dently a countermove of the Government against the old religion of the country, with its annual council of priests at Chartres, the centre of the Gallic land." See also Duruy in Revue Archeologique, April 1880, p. 247 (347). Xl^. Caiise and Extent of Persecution. 355 If the Jews appeared to the Emph-e to resemble the Christians so much, and yet were treated so differently, the reason for the difference in treatment must have lain in those points in which the Christians differed from the Jews in the estimate of the Imperial Government.* In so far the Jews were merely a body professing a different religion ; the Emperors allowed them the complctest toleration. But so long as the Jews maintained an articu- lated organisation, centred in the Temple at Jerusalem, they maintained a unity distinct from that of the Empire ; and this fact was brought home to the Emperors by the great rebellion of 65-70. The Flavian policy (see p. 254) made a distinction between the Jewish religion and the Jewish organised unity ; the former was protected, but the latter was proscribed. Titus conceived that the destruction of the temple would destroy the unity centred in it ; and he substituted the temple of Jupiter tor the temple at Jerusalem, collecting for the former the tax hitherto con- tributed by the Jews for the latter. With the Jews it was found possible to separate their religion from their organisation. The destruction of the temple, indeed, had to be completed under Hadrian by the destruction of Jerusalem, and the foundation of a new Roman city there. But, to a great extent after 70, and completely after 134, the Jews accepted the situation as- signed them by the State — religious toleration on con- dition of acquiescence in the unity of the Empire. * Tacitus, indeed, says {Hist., v., 5) that the Jewish rites unit' quitate defendu7itur ; but he is not here professing to explain formally why the Empire favoured the Jews. The distinction in this point of antiquity between Judaism and Christianity had more weight in philosophy than in government 356 The Church in the Roman Empire. Titus at first entertained the belief that the Christians also had their centre in the temple, and that their unity- would perish with it (p. 254). But soon the Flavian Government recognised that their united organisation was no whit weakened by the destruction of the temple. The Christians still continued, no less than before, to maintain a unity independent of, and contrary to, the Imperial unity, and to consolidate steadily a wide-reaching organisation. Such an organisation was contrary to the fundamental principle of Roman government. Rome had throughout its career made it a fixed principle to rule by dividing ; all subjects must look to Rome alone; none might look towards their neighbours, or enter into any agreement or connection with them. But the Christians looked to a non-Roman unity ; they decided on common action inde- pendent of Rome ; they looked on themselves as Christians first, and Roman subjects afterwards ; and, when Rome refused to accept this secondary allegiance, they ceased to feel themselves Roman subjects at all. When this was the case, it seems idle to look about for reasons why Rome should proscribe the Christians. If it was true to itself, it must compel obedience ; and to do so meant death to all firm Christians. In the past the success of the Roman Government had been greatly due to the rigour with which it suppressed all organisations ; and the Church was a living embodiment of the tendency which hitherto Rome had succeeded in crushing. Either Rome must now compel obedience, or it must acknowledge that the Chris- tian unity was stronger than the Empire, This disobedience to the principles of Roman admini- stration is only one form of that spirit of insubordination and obstinacy, which is so often attributed to the Christians XV. Catise and Extent of Persecution. 357 by the ancient writers, and which seemed to Pliny to justify their condemnation. In his note on the passage (Pliny, ad Traj., 96), Mr. Hardy rightly remarks that " the feature of Christianity which Pliny here points out as a sufficient reason * for punishing them, was exactly the point which, as Christianity grew, made it seem politically dangerous to the authority of the Empire, and which, more than religious intolerance, was at the root of later persecutions." We ask why it should be left for Pliny to make the discovery that the Christian principles were dangerous. He was not the first governor of a province in which Christians were numerous. He was not the character to display special insight into the probable political outcome of new prin- ciples, or to be specially jealous of the authority of the Empire. He was not a practised administrator. He had never before held a province. He had been a skilful finan- cier and good lawyer, whose entire official life had been spent in Rome with the single exception of the necessary months of military service as a tribune, and even this term he had spent in managing the accounts of the legion. He had been selected for this government becau^^^e the finances of the cities were in a bad state, and a trustworthy and hardworking officer and good financier was needed to administer the province. It is not too much to say that, if Pliny perceived forthwith the disobedience that was in- herent in the new religion, every governor of any Asiatic province, every Emperor of Rome, and every prefect of the city, must have made the same discovery for himself long before 112. • I have made one slight, but significant, change, substituting " a sufi&cient reason "for " his personal reason." Compare note on p. 214 ; also excursus, p. 374. ^^8 The Church in the Roman Empire. The cause here suggested, obvious as it appears, has been ridiculed as impossible by Aube, who thinks it incon- ceivable that Nero should already have begun to suspect that the growth of the organised Christian religion might prove dangerous to the Empire. It is difficult to reply to such an argument. For my own part, I can see nothing improbable even in this supposition, and still less in the theory that the Flavian Emperors considered Christianity to involve a dangerous principle. I should only be sur- prised if the watchful Roman administration had failed to recognise at a very early moment that the principles of the new sect were opposed to its policy. Trajan refused to permit an organisation of 1 50 firemen in Nicomedeia, or to allow a few poor people to improve their fare by dining in company, on the express ground that such organisations involved political danger. The Christians so managed their organisation as to elude the law prohibiting sodalitates ; * but they could not elude the notice of the Emperors. How can we understand the marvellous power which the Empire showed of Romanising the provinces, except on the supposition that it showed great practical ability in dealing with the various views and principles of different peoples ? and how is such practical ability to be explained, except on the supposition that the Imperial Govern- ment was keenly alive to the character and probable effect of any such system ? The Emperors were aiming at a great end ; they pursued it with all the experience and wisdom of Roman law and Roman organisation ; and they punished rigorously those who impeded their action. * The discontinuance of Agapae (see p. 215) for this reason in Bithynia may safely be taken as a type of the action of other Christians in this respect. XV. Cause and Extent of Persecution. 359 The principle of government just described is connected with, but still must be distinguished from, the restrictions imposed on the formation of collegia and sodalitates. The same jealousy on the part of the Government and the same distrust of the loyalty of the people underlies both. While Rome was a republic, all citizens had the right of forming associations at will ; but as soon as the Empire began, it distrusted such associations, and Julius restricted them within the narrowest limits ;* for the Roman Govern- ment now considered the Roman people as a danger to be guarded against. The old rule of prohibiting all attempts at union among the subject populations, appears under the Empire mainly under the form of prohibiting collegia and sodalitates ; but it was really of much wider scope, and this prohibition was only one special applica- tion of a general principle. This jealous principle of Roman administration was fatal to all vigorous life and political education among the subject peoples. It was an inheritance from the old narrow Roman system, which regarded the subject peoples merely as conducive to the benefit of Rome. The true interest of the Empire lay in abandoning this narrow and jealous spirit, and training the provincials to higher con- ceptions of political duty than mere obedience to the laws and the magistrates. Only in this way could it carry out • Benefit clubs among poor people, associations for mutual assist- ance, alone were permitted ; and these were allowed to meet only once a month for any purpose beyond religious ritual, which was of course unimpeded. The commonest kind of these clubs were Burial Societies ; but it would be a mistake to suppose that these were the only examples of their class. The use of the term collegia funeraticia (a purely modern name) has sometimes led to the false idea that these alone were permitted. They were collegia tenuiorum. 360 The Church in the Roman Empire. its mission of creating a great unified state, characterised by universal citizenship and patriotism (see p. 192 «.). Here, as in many other cases, the Church carried out the ideas and forms towards which the Empire was tending, but which it could not realise without the aid of Chris- tianity. Political and religious facts were in ancient time far more closely connected than they are now. It was under the protection of religion that law, social rules, and politics, gradually developed. Before they had strength to exist apart, they maintained themselves as religious principles, enforced by religious sanctions and terrors. Thus the right of free general intercourse and free union among all sub- jects of the Empire, had for a long time no existence except as a religious fact. The strength of the Imperial Government lay in its recognising, more fully than any administration before or since has done, the duty of maintaining a tolerable stan- dard of comfort among the poorer classes of citizens. But while it showed great zeal as regards their physical comfort, it was less attentive to the other duty of educating them. The education imparted on a definite plan by the State did not go beyond a regular series of amusements, some of a rather brutalising tendency. Christianity came in to the help of the Imperial Government, urging the duty of edu- cating, as well as feeding and amusing, the mass of the population. The theory of universal education for the people has never been more boldly and thoroughly stated than by Tatian (see p. 345). The weak side of the Empire — the cause of the ruin of the first Empire — was the moral deterioration of the lower classes : Christianity, if adopted in time, might have prevented this result. Xl^. Cause and Extent of Persecution. 361 3. Organisation of the Church. The administrative forms in which the Church gradually came to be organised were determined by the state of society and the spirit of the age. In the conflict with the civil Government these forms were, in a sense, forced on it ; but it would be an error to suppose that they were forced on it in mere self-defence against a powerful enemy. They were accepted actively, not passively. The Church gradually became conscious of the real character of the task which it had undertaken. It came gradually to realise that it was a world-wide institution, and must organise a world-wide system of administration. It grew as a vigorous and healthy organism, which worked out its own purposes, and maintained itself against the disintegrating influence of surrounding forces ; but the line of its growth was deter- mined by its environment* The analogy between the Church and the State organisa- tions is close and real. But it would be a mistake to attribute it to conscious imitation, or even to seek in Roman institutions the origin of Church institutions that resemble them. The Christians would have indignantly rejected all idea of such imitation. Hermas states {Vis., ii., 4, i) the view held by the early • As I cannot hope to hit the passionless scientific truth in a subject so difficult as the present, or to avoid conflicting with widely felt emotions, where such deep and such opposite feelings are entertained, I shall simply indicate, in as unemotional and external way as I can, the view that seems best to explain the attitude of the State to the Christians. The Church is here treated not as a reli- gious body, but as a practical organisation for social duties and needs, and as brought in contact with the State. 362 The Church in the Roman Empire. Church as to its own origin. The Church appears as an old woman, " because she was created first of all, and for her sake was the world made." The Church was to Hermas a well-articulated organism, and not a collection of individual Christians with no bond of union beyond certain common rites and beliefs ; yet its organisation was not constructed by the early Christians, but was a pre- existing, Divinely created idea, independent of the existence of actual Christians to embody it in the world. But all the more surely and truly were the Christians under the influence of Roman administrative forms and ideas, that they were entirely unconscious of the fact. The secret of the extraordinary power exerted by the Roman Government in the provinces lay in the subtle way in which the skilful administrative devices, shown by it for the first time to the provinces, filled and dominated the minds of the provincials. After the Roman system was known, its influence took possession of the public mind, and is apparent both in every new foundation for admini- strative purposes, and even in the gradual modification of the previously existing organisations. Those institutions of the Church which belonged to its Jewish origin steadily became more and more Roman in character. Roman ideas were in the air, and, had the Church not been in- fluenced by them, it would have been neither vigorous nor progressive. After all, Hermas' view and the one here stated differ little from each other. We are trying to express the same fact ; but in these pages the Divine is treated as a development, whereas to Hermas it was immutable and eternal, like a Platonic idea. Like the Empire, the Church fully recognised the duty of the community to see that all its members were fed ; Xy. Cause and Extent of Persecution. 363 and this was one of the earliest forms in which the ques- tion of practical organisation began to press on it (Acts vi.). Further organisation was required when many communities existed in different lands, all considering themselves as a brotherhood. Such separation involved, in the course of natural growth, the development of differ- ences of custom and opinion in details ; and in life details are often of more apparent value than principles. Ques- tions arise in the relation of community with community. If these are not settled with judgment and skill permanent differences spring up. In the actual development of a Church scattered wide over the world, the officials whose duty it was to guide the communications between the com- munities necessarily played a decisive part in framing the organisation through which the brotherhood developed into the Church. As it was completed in its main elements by A.D. 170, the organisation of the Church may be described thus : — 1. Each individual community was ruled by a gradation of officials, at whose head was the bishop ; and the bishop represented the community. 2. All communities were parts of a unity, which was co-extensive with the [Roman ?] world. A name for this unity, the Universal or Catholic Church, is first found in Ignatius, and the idea was familiar to a pagan writer like Celsus (perhaps 16 1-9 A.D.). 3. Councils determined and expressed the common views of a number of communities. 4. Any law of the Empire which conflicted with the principles of the Church must give way. 5. All laws of the Empire which were not in conflict with the religion of the Church were to be obeyed. 364 The Church in the Roman Empire. In this completed organisation the bishops were esta- blished as the ruling heads of the several parts, divided in space but not in idea, which constituted the Church in the Roman world. The history of this organisation is, to a great extent, the history of the episcopal power. The bishops soon became the directors of the Church as a party struggling against the Government. I should gladly have avoided this peculiarly difficult part of the subject, but it is not possible to discuss the relations of Church and State without showing the nature of these typical officers in the proscribed organisation. The view which I take is, that the central idea in the development of the episcopal office lay in the duty of each community to maintain com- munication with other communities. The officials who performed this duty became the guardians of unity. They acquired importance first in the universal Church ; and thereafter, partly in virtue of this extra-congregational position, partly through other causes, they became the heads of the individual communities. Such a vast organisation of a perfectly new kind, with no analogy in previously existing institutions, was naturally slow in development. We regard the ideas underlying it as originating with Paul. The first step was taken when he crossed Taurus ; the next more conscious step was the result of the trial in Corinth, after which his thought developed from the stage of Thessalonians to that of Gala- tians, Corinthians, and Romans. The critical stage was passed when the destruction of Jerusalem annihilated all possibility of a localised centre for Christianity, and made it clear that the centralisation of the Church could reside only in an idea — viz., a process of intercommunication, union, and brotherhood (p. 288). XV. Cause and Extent of Persecution. 365 It would be hardly possible to exaggerate the share which frequent intercourse from a very early stage between the separate congregations had in moulding the develop- ment of the Church. Most of the documents in the New Testament are products and monuments of this intercourse ; all attest in numberless details the vivid interest which the scattered communities took in one another. From the first the Christian idea was to annihilate the separation due to space, and hold the most distant brother as near as the nearest. Clear consciousness of the importance of this idea first appears in the Pastoral Epistles,* and is still stronger in writings of A.D. 80-100, as i Peter and Clement. In these works of the first century the idea is expressed in a simpler form than in writings of the second century, where it has a stereotyped and conventionalised character, with a developed and regulated appearance. The close relations between different congregations is brought into strong relief by the circumstances disclosed in the letters of Ignatius : the welcome extended every- where to him ; the loving messages sent when he was writing to other churches {Rom. ix.) ; the deputations sent from churches off his road to meet him and convoy him {Ro7n. ix., etc.) ; the rapidity with which news of his pro- • Its prominence in them is one of the many characteristics which distinguish them from the older Epistles, and which would make us gladly date these Epistles ten or twelve years after A.D. 67 (later they cannot be, on account of the undeveloped type of persecution which appears in them). But it does not appear worth while to sacrifice the tradition, and the claim they make to be the work of Paul, for the sake of a few years. We must accept the difficulty involved in their developed character. There is no person who is so likely to have originated these ideas as Paul, in the intense activity of his later years, A.D. 64-67. 366 The Church in the Roman Empire. gress was sent round, so that deputations from Ephesus, Magnesia, and Tralles were ready to visit him in Smyrna ; the news from Antioch which reached him in Troas, but which was unknown to him in Smyrna ; the directions which he gave to call a council of the church in Smyrna, and send a messenger * to congratulate the church in Antioch ; the knowledge that his fate is known to and is engaging the efforts of the church in Rome. Such details in the letters and in other authorities presuppose regular intercommunication and union of the closest kind along the great routes across the Empire. Lucian was familiar with this intercourse among the Christians ; and his language about it implies that it seemed to him the crowning proof of the detestable and perverted energy of the sect.f Light- foot has correctly emphasised this class of facts, but he does not sufficiently bring out they were the regular and characteristic practice of the Christians ; hence he quotes the passages of Lucian as proof that Lucian was acquainted with the story of Ignatius, But Lucian might have gained his knowledge from many other similar incidents as well as from the story of Ignatius ; and the only safe inference from his words is, that the picture of life given in the letters of Ignatius is true. This close connection could not be maintained by mere unregulated voluntary efforts ; organised action alone was able to keep it up. The early system of government by the presiding Council of Elders was slowly developed to cope with the pressing need ; and the episcopal organisation was thus gradually elaborated. * Smyrn.y 11 ; Philad., 10 ; Polyc, 7. He is called deoTrpea-^fVTrjs, Qeohpofios. t De Morte Peregrini, 12 and 41. Xy. Cause and Extent of Persecution. 367 The word episkopos means overseer. Originally, when the deliberative council of elders resolved to perform some action, they would naturally direct one of their number to superintend it This presbyter was an episkopos for the occasion. Any presbyter might be also an episkopos^ and the terms were therefore applied to the same persons, and yet conveyed essentially different meanings. The episkopos appointed to perform any duty was necessarily single, for the modern idea of a committee was unknown ; * any presbyter might become an episkopos for an occasion, yet the latter term conveyed an idea of singleness and of executive authority which was wanting to the former. On the other hand, the idea of an order of episkopoi at this stage, like the order of presbyters, is self-contradic- tory. The episkopos was necessarily single, and yet there might be many episkopoi for distinct duties. Such appears to be the natural interpretation of the term, as it was used in ancient life. It was natural that proved aptness and power in an individual presbyter should lead to his having executive duties frequently assigned to him. The Imperial idea was in the air ; and the tried episkopos tended to become permanent, and to concentrate executive duties in his hands. The process was gradual, and no violent change took place. The authority of the episkopos was long a delegated authority, and his influence dependent mainly on personal qualities. In such a gradual process it is natural • Bodies of 3, 5, 10, or more officers were frequent in Rome ; but they were not committees. Each individual possessed the full powers of the whole body. The act of one was authoritative as the act of all ; each could thwart the power of his colleagues ; no idea of acting by vote of the majority existed. 368 The Church in the Roman Empire. that the position of episkopoi should vary much, that the position of the same individual should be susceptible of being understood and described differently by different observers, and that the episkopos became permanent in fact before the principle of permanence was admitted. The hospitality which is assigned as a duty to the episkopos in i Tim. iii. i ff., Titus i. 5 fif., was closely connected with the maintenance of external relations (see p. 288) ; and the composition of the letters sent by one community to another was also assigned to him. Hence a copy of the message given to Hermas was ordered to be sent to Clement, who should send it to foreign cities, for to him had been entrusted the duty (viz., of communicating with other com- munities) ;* while Hermas, with the presbyters who preside over the Church (among whom Clement is, as we believe, included), was to read it to the Romans. This duty was likely to be permanently assigned to the same individual, for uniformity of tone could not otherwise be secured. The scanty and unsatisfactory evidence of the first cen- tury points to the practical permanence of the episkopos as already usual, but is inconsistent with the idea that the episkopos was considered as separate in principle from his co-presbyters (as he continued for centuries to term them). He was only a presbyter on whom certain duties had been imposed. There was in practice one permanent episkopos in a community, when i Peter ii. 25 was written, and when the messages were sent to the angeloi of the seven Asian Churches ; but the episkopos was very far re- • Vis.., ii., 4, 3, I cannot doubt that, to a Roman Christian of the period, Clement must mean the famous Clement. Either Hermas wrote before Clement's death, or he intended that his booh should appear to be of that period. XJ^. Catise and Extent of Persecution. 369 moved from the monarchical bishop of A.D. 170, and we find not a trace to suggest that he exercised any authority ex officio within the community. He represented it in certain cases : he wrote in its name ; but the words purported to be spoken by the community. Letters addressed to it were sent to him ; but the contents referred solely to the com- munity, and made no allusion to the episkopos. His position was ostensibly a humble one within the com- munity ; and yet its real influence and its future possibili- ties must have been obvious to him that had eyes to see beneath the superficial aspect* The importance of the episkopos would be estimated by a writer according to the degree in which his attention was occupied with the unity of the Church.f In Hermas the Church is thought of rather as distinguished from the wicked. He divides the world, one might almost say, into Christian and non-Christian, and heretics are to him mistaken teachers, as they are to Paul in Philip, i. 15-18. The organisation and practical mainte- • Such is the nature of the ofiBce as it appears in Apoc. i. i6, 20. Spitta considers that the interpretation of the stars as bishops belongs to the revision, 90-112, not to the original Christian docu- ment, 60 A.D. His arguments, p. 37 f., are founded on a misap- prehension of the delicate contrasts in the position of the episkopoi. Again, when Ignatius writes to Polycarp a private letter, he, in the middle of it, begins to address the whole community, being accus- tomed to regard Polycarp as its representative. Ignatius does not write as bishop, but as an individual, and in his own name : the church in Antioch has now no bishop. f From Clement alone the permanence of his duties could not be inferred ; but it is the natural inference from a comparison of Clement and Hermas' language about him. But it would be as wrong to draw from Clement, as it would be to draw from Polycarp's letter to the Philippians with its similar language (see Lightfoot, Jgnat., i., p. 594), any inference against the permanent concentration of episcopal duties in the hands of an individual. 24 370 The Church in the Roman Empire. nance of unity is not a thought that weighs much with him ; and he merely speaks in a general way of the heads of the community, ol irporfjovyb^voi tt}? eKK\r](TiaidfaTpov, a species of building, about which I hope in 1893 to write in Bulletin de Corresp. HelUnique. XVI. The Acta of Paul and Thekla. 401 that Thekla was placed on the top of the cage where the lioness was confined in the amphitheatre, and that, when she was in that position, the procession entered the arena. The lioness protruded its tongue between the bars of the cage, and licked Thekla's feet. The extent to which the ignorant creative fancy of later hagiography has distorted the original document into unnatural form is well exemplified in this case. Lipsius docs not quote the complete Syriac version ; but we cannot doubt that the Latin approximates far more closely than the Greek to the original text. I see no reason to treat the incident as one that may not have actually occurred. The lioness had been brought from a distance, and it must have been kept in a portable cage during the journey. This cage was put in the arena during the procession. When Thekla was thus exhibited in the arena, a tablet was placed beside her with the inscription "SACRILEGA." Similarly at Lugdunum in 177, it is mentioned that in front of Attalus was placed the inscription " CHRISTIANUS."* The Greek rendering lepoavXo^} recalls the language of Acts xix. 37 (see p. 26on.). 6. Punishment and Escape of Thekla. On the day of the procession Tryphaena produced Thekla to take part in it, and received her back to her house to spend the final night. We cannot accept as original the statement that Tryphaena accompanied her • Cp. also Mark xv. 26. M. Le Blant quotes the gloss: elogium, titulus cujuslibet ret {Actes, p. 172: the -word elogium, eulogium, is used in D). He also compares the Greek text with Matt, xxvii. 37, forgetting, however, that he is quoting the valueless words of the Metaphrast. 26 402 The Church in the Roman Empire. during the procession. This is the exaggeration of a later enlarger, who did not comprehend the situation ; it is an improbabiUty of the most glaring kind that this noble lady- should go into the arena. Moreover, it is inconsistent with the tale, for Tryphaena's great affection began during the next night,* when her lost daughter appeared and bade her take Thekla as a new-found daughter. At dawn of the following day Alexander appeared to require Thekla's presence in the arena. The fact that so high an official came in person can be explained only as a special mark of respect to the queen ; it was not thought courteous to send the officers of the law. But Tryphaena now refused to give up her prisoner, and did not yield until the governor sent soldiers, f Tryphaena then led her by the hand to the stadium. She, of course, was accompanied by a numerous retinue of her attendants, who are alluded to at a later stage. When Thekla was exposed in the arena she was stripped, and a cincture was given her. When she was released her clothes were given back to her. This account, as M. Le Blant remarks, is true to Roman custom ; and he quotes * The Latin version D is very much superior to the Greek text. This could not be gathered from Lipsius' notes. I regret that I am obliged to write without having any of the Latin texts except D before me. t The Latin versions have stratorem (two corruptly). I believe that this is due to the influence of such a document as Acta Procos. Cypriani, and marks these versions as being later than the middle of the third century. A strator would be an anachronism in the first century. Ulpian says that no proconsul is allowed to have stratores, but soldiers must perform their duties in the provinces {Digest, i., i6, 4, i) ; and probably this rule applied also to Imperial provinces like Galatia. The prohibition seems to have been relaxed between 228 and 258 A.O. XVI. The Acta of Paul and Tkekla. 403 the case of an executioner who was burned to death, because he had not given a cincture to a noble Roman woman when she was led to execution, but had compelled her to go absolutely nude.* The simple and pathetic prayer of Thekla, standing exposed in the arena (it is given in the Syriac version alone; see p. 413) is not in the later hagiographical style, and is probably genuine, in whole or in great part. Thekla in it speaks unconsciously as repre- senting her whole sex ; in her exposure the nature and rights of womanhood are outraged. A similar view is taken by the women who defended her cause ; and this ethical idea, of a non-religious type, which runs through the action, is one of the strongest proofs that the tale is no artificial creation of unhistorical hagiography. It is the only existing document that gives us any insight into popular feeling in central Asia Minor during this century ; and it is also the only evidence we possess of the ideas and action of women at this period in the country where their position was so high and their influence so great. The scene in the arena gives excellent opening to later additions. Marvels of the common type are related of the strange escape of Thekla from death ; and the incident of the seals slain by lightning is extremely grotesque and puerile. It is doubtful whether any details can be assigned to the original composition, except that the lioness spared her, and that in her subsequent danger Queen Tryphasna fainted. There can be no doubt that this was the cause of Thekla's rescue from the first, as it still is in the most corrupt form of the tale. It is improbable that the lioness was baptized by Thekla, according to the statement of • Le Blant, Actes, p. 247; Ammianus, 28, i, 28: to refuse the cincture {subligaculum) was nefas admisisse. 404 The Church in the Roman Empire. Jerome.* This grotesque detail is quite incongruous with later views ; and is also quite as far removed from primi- tive simplicity as it is from later hagiographical inanity. It can only be treated as a fault of memoiy on Jerome's part, who remembered that Tertullian referred to it in his treatise on baptism, and mixed up the baptizing with the lion. The precise form in which the incident was originally related cannot be discovered ; but the following considera- tions suggest themselves : — 1. Zahn is orobably right in suspecting that Ignatius refers to this incident when he speaks of beasts, " as they have done to some, refusing to touch them through fear." f Such an occurrence may be accepted as quite possible. The capricious conduct of beasts suddenly released from confinement and darkness, and brought into the glare of the arena amid the shouts of the spectators is natural ; and is vouched for by narratives of perfect credibility.^ We believe, that this incident was embodied in a literary form early enough to be known to Ignatius. 2. A remarkable analogy to the case of Thekla occurs in that of an African martyr, Marciana. A lion was sent against her in the arena. It sprang on her and placed its paws on her breast, and then, after smelling her,§ let her * Lipsius accepts the statement. Jerome, de vir. zllusir., c. 7. t Zahn in Gotting. Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1877, p. 1308 ; Ignatius, Rom., 5. X See p. 312. The narrative of Tacitus, Hist., ii., 6r, is specially appropriate. Mariccus was spared by the beasts to whom he was exposed, and the crowd believed that this was the effect of his divine power. Cp. Le Blant, Actes, pp. 86 and 95. § Acta Sanctorum, 9 Jan., p. 569. M. le Blant's reference, .^4c/^i-, p. 86, directed me to this document. His view with regard to the scene differs from mine. The lion, having licked Thekla's feet, might recognise her in the arena by smell. X VI. The Acta of Paul and Thekla. 405 alone. Immediately afterwards a bull wounded her, and then a leopard killed her. This action of the lion was interpreted afterwards in a more miraculous sense : an old Spanish hymn speaks of the lion " coming to worship, not to devour the Virgin." * The tale of Marciana is unhistorical.f It contains various miracles of a rather absurd type. Possibly her fate in the arena was modelled on that of Thekla ; and perhaps the incident of the lion was told in Acta TJieklcB originally in this simple and natural form, which afterwards was replaced by other details of a more marvellous kind, suited to the taste of later centuries. In this small city of an eastern province it is not probable that the ve^iatio would be on a large scale ; probably it was given at the expense of the president, as was commonly the case, and as is here stated in the Latin version. There was therefore probably only one lion ; and this single lion was esteemed a great rarity and a proof of unusual magnificence. The Syriac version speaks only of one lion. Bears were found in the mountains not far from Antioch,t and it is quite probable • Adoraturus, non co?nesiurus, Virginem, where, as M. le Blant observes, the old odoratus has undergone only a slight change. The hymn is quoted in Acta Sanctorum, I.e. t In such a case one need not conclude that the person is a m)rth, but that details had perished, and were in demand, and were supplied from the analogy of other documents and general proba- bility. M. le Blant has shown that details, historical in one tale, were adopted unhistorically in others, Actes, p. 88, etc. X I have actually seen a bear further east in a solitary glen of the Anti-taurus ; and in one case among the Phrygian mountains a Turk professed to point out traces of a bear in a cave, and assarted that bears were occasionally found. I felt far from certain that he was not speaking from a wish to please me, mistaking, as these people often do, curiosity about a point for a desire that the point should be of some suggested character. 4o6 The Church in the Roman Empire. that there was a bear in the venatio, and that the original intention, before a criminal turned up in the person of Thekla, was to exhibit a fight between the two.* All versions of the tale mention the bear and its fight with the lioness. The Syriac version alone mentions a leopard. This is probably an addition ; and we remember that the Syrian Ignatius makes the earliest known reference to leopardsjt which therefore must have been well known in Syria. Panthers were frequently found in Taurus at that time ; % and I have heard men assert that they are still found in the country, but have never known any person who had actually seen a panther there. As no reference occurs to the panther, we may set down the leopard as an addition made by the Syrian translator. The numerous other animals are likewise due to later exaggeration. The bulls alone, which were introduced as an afterthought on the part of Alexander, in order to tear the criminal asunder, perhaps belong to the original tale. Some specially shock- ing detail is needed as a cause for Tryphaena's fainting ; and this seems a device which might be easily suggested and acted on in real life. The preparation of this mode of execution so affected the Queen that she fainted. Alexander was terrified lest he should be considered by the Emperor, her relative, as guilty, if Tryphaena suffered seriously. He hastened to release Thekla. The governor, who is repre- sented as having consented rather reluctantly to the last • Camel fights are now a recognised sport at festivals. A lion- and-bear fight is reported in Scotsman, about January 2nd, 1893. t Lightfoot, Ignat, i., p. 412; ii., p. 212. Syrian and African leopards were the two species used in venationes by Probus, Scr. Hist. Aug., xxviii., 19. X They are often mentioned in Cicero's letters from Asia Minor. XVI. The Acta of Paul and Thekla. 407 act of barbarity, at once pardoned her, and she returned home with Tryphaena. In the scene at Antioch few traces are found which imply that Thekla was known to be a Christian. The women sympathise with her in a most thorough and enthusiastic way. Her cause was theirs : what she is con- demned to suffer they may in ordinary course deserve. This is most strongly expressed in the Latin version, § 32, but the Greek also has it less plainly. Such a view was impossible if they thought her a Christian ; they believed her to be a devotee, bound by some unusual conditions.* Only in the passage referring to Falconilla is Thekla's religion known to other persons. But the name Falconillaf shows that the passage is not original ; and its inconsistency with its surroundings in this feature confirms the inference. Moreover, the prayers for the soul of the deceased Falconilla have a formal and de- veloped tone, which suits the second century better than A.D. 50. The words of the governor's actX setting Thekla free, have not been left uninterpolated by later taste ; at least, the epithet God-fearing (^eocre/Sr), metitentem dominuni) is due to a later age, and to the desire to use this oppor- tunity of making the governor bear witness to the truth. The phrase "the servant of God," however, is probably • Much allowance, they might contend, ought to be made for an inspired servant of "the God" ; she differed from the usual type, but that is a matter between " the God " and herself. t It could not occur in the gens Antonia : it became familiar in Asia when Falco was proconsul, about 130. X F and G retain the term actum, which is correct, though the plural is much commoner than the singular. 4o8 The Church in the Roman Empire. original, for, in the Latin* form ancillam dei, it is sus- ceptible of a sense perfectly consistent with the original scene. The governor knew that the women defended Thekla as a devotee of unusual style acting in obedience to the commands of "the God," who had imposed on her a special service ; and he therefore says, " I release to you Thekla, the servant of ' the God ' " — i.e., " I accept your explanation of her action towards Alexander as a ground for freeing her from punishment." M. Le Blant {Actes, p. 174) finds in the use of the correct term diniitto in the Latin version evidence that the scene is of early character. But it is obvious that the use of such a term in a translation from the Greek cannot be taken as evidence of anything more than the translator's skill. Moreover, in this case, M. Le Blant makes the mistake of taking Grabe's Latin rendering of the text of G for the old Latin version. Grabe uses a formula which M. Le Blant considers to be strikingly accurate ; but the old Latin version is far laoser and freer in its expression. This is one of the cases in which G has preserved the original form better than the Latin version. The ease with which Grabe renders it into a Latin phrase that has deceived M. Le Blant, shows that the Greek is a literal translation of the Latin original. • The proceedings were of course in Latin, except where evidence had to be taken in Greek ; and the original actu?n was couched in Latin. There can be no doubt that Lipsius has been leJ astray by his false view as to the excellence of E, when he prefcis its text, Xeycoi/, to that of F and G, y^ia^a^ ovTdts. The rule wks that the sentence must be written out first, and then recited from th/ y6']v X From this point of view we must date the Shepherd of Hermas before the era of the charge — i.e., before c. 130. In every aspect that I can appreciate, it belongs to the age 100-120, and is earlier even than Ignatius' letters. 2 Peter seems to belong to the same period as Hermas : I cannot, e.g., imagine iii. i, 2, being written at an early period. XV I L The Church fro7n 120 to 170 A.D. 433 to the dearth of works of the period, to say when the disagreement began to be apparent ; but it is a striking feature of Christian documents (except the purely Apolo- getic) in the period that follows A.D. 150. In the Letter of the Smyrnaeans about the death of Polycarp in 155, it is strongly marked, and evidently is a question that has existed for some time, but on which peaceable discussion is still possible. The Acta of Carpus, a document of uncertain date, but probably very little later, shows a similar state of the discussion, in which it takes the opposite side. In the former document, as Keim has rightly observed, there is a strong though veiled protest against voluntarily offering oneself for martyrdom. The Christian should wait till he is arrested, and should consider the safety of his co- religionists. Keim * rightly urges that such a protest is not in keeping with the earlier tone of the Church ; but he wrongly adduces it as an argument that the document is a late forgery. In this protest we catch the new tone that grew up after Hadrian's time. Hence marked blame is cast on the Phrygian, Quintus, who voluntarily gave him- self up ; and the drawing of a triumphant moral is implied in the way in which his subsequent weakness is described. On the other hand, Polycarp's withdrawal from the city is described as arising, not from cowardice, but from the belief that it was the right course ; and the intention to paint Polycarp's action as a law to others is proved by the straining after analogies, some rather far-fetched, between his death and that of Christ (p. 374 ; Lft., Ign., i., p. 610). In Acta Carpi, especially in the concluding episode of * Aus dent Urchris tent hum, p. 119. In his reply to Keim Lightfoot seems to me not to show his usual historical insight when he inclines to dispute the fact, i., p. 619. 28 434 '^^'■^ Church in the Roman Empire. Agathonike, the opposite principle — viz., that the Christian ought to proclaim openly his religion, and even to rush upon martyrdom * — is insisted on. This document shows the same type of feeling, though not so developed, as appears in Acta Perpetucs^ in which Professor Rendel Harris has rightly recognised the controversial character. But, though in Acta Carpi the tone is more developed than in the Smyrnasan letter, it is still peacable, and free from the rancour that characterised the bitter controversy of the years after 170.! In that period Catholic prisoners would have no intercourse with Montanists, and in Acta Per- petuce the Montanist Saturus in a vision saw the bishop of his church shut out from heaven. Acta Carpi is still far from that extreme. The bishops were the chief agents in carrying out the policy of conciliation towards the State, which the Catholic Church, as a whole, resolved on, but which a strong party in it considered to be a secularisation of • This episode, as Hamack well shows, wants the striking in- dividualism shown in the characters of Carpos and Papylos, and the incidents seem even coloured in imitation of the tale of Thekla. Where he preaches most, the writer is more remote from bare narra- tive of facts (p. 399). t The chief point in which I differ from Dr. Hamack's admirable edition of -4 c/<2 Carpi is his inference, founded on a comparison between the later and the earlier Acta, that it is impossible to recover from late Acta, by such subjective criticism as M. Le Blant has used, any real historical facts. The inference I would draw is different. In the late Acta Carpi there is not a single point that would be quoted as indicative of real foundation, and there is not a trace of local colour ; yet we now find that this miserable legend is only a distortion of fact. This case seems to lend strength to the argument of those who take any points of finer character in these late legends as survivals of real history on which the legends are founded. XVI L The Chu7'ch from 120 to lyo A D. 435 religion, and an unworthy compromise* \^'hile the Church, guided by the bishops, acted on a skilful and well-con- sidered plan, the party which held that accommodation with the State was compromise with the World maintained that this plan was worldly wisdom, and that the Church should have recourse always to Divine guidance, as accorded in new revelations to seers, and prophets, and martyrs. At first both parties continued within the limits of brotherhood and one common Church, and both equally clung to the idea of unity and solidarity of all Christians, Both episkopoi and prophets therefore characterised the organisation with which each party started ; but naturally, as bishops guided the one and prophets the other, each, in the progress of disagreement, acquired a growing dislike for the organisation which the other insisted on. The Church in Asia Minor seems to have held that Christians should live in society as far as possible, should act as members of the municipal senates, and serve as soldiers.f But in Acta Carpi it is clear that the official information {elogiuin) supplied to the proconsul specified Papylos as a senator ; yet, when the question was put to Papylos, he would not admit the fact, but replied, " I am a citizen." Apparently he had been called on to serve, but • In this critical period our present concern is merely to under- stand what did take place, and not to apportion praise or blame to the contending parties. t Numerous examples, especially of senators, occur in the Christian inscriptions of the third century. See my papers in Expositor , 1888-9, and journal of Hellenic Studies, 1883. When Tertullian says that Pliny degraded some Bithynian Christians from their rank, he is referring to senators degraded as Dorymedon was at Synnada (see Le Blant, Actes, p. 122); but his remark is not justified by Pliny, and is a judgment grounded on the facts of his own time. 43^ The Church in the Roman Empire. considered the duty an unworthy one. He held, with TertulHan and Origen, that Christians ought not to hold office, nor serve in the army, as in both cases it was impossible to avoid countenancing heathen rites. But the ordinary Christians, the tradesmen and shopkeepers and skilled artisans, who had to face the practical difficulties of life, while TertulHan taught and thought and wrote, could not act on this principle ; * and the Church, as a whole, justified them, and held that they ought not to force their religion on the notice of others, and might even employ legal forms to give a show of legality to their position, and help inactive or well-disposed officials to keep their eyes shut. The object of using legal forms and fictions was not concealment, as that was impossible and unnecessary, when they were so powerful as the Church was in Asia Minor during the second century.f It was to give themselves a legal footing, and allow all who had no active animosity to keep up the fiction about them. Thus, even while Christianity was held a capital offence, communities ob- tained a legal position as Benefit Societies. The party which rejected all these compromises with the • Examples of soldiers, stirred by religious feeling to refuse service, or to participate in heathen rites, occur in Acta Maxirniliani, Acta Marcelli (Aug. 2^), TertuUian de Cor. Mil., i. The refusal to perform the ordinary duties of society was termed by the State indolence (see above, p. 274, and Le Blant, Actes, p. 312). t At an earlier time concealment was an object ; and perhaps a trace of this remains in the legend of Avircius Marcellus. At the source of a stream among the mountains between Synnada and Hieropolis was a place called Gonyklisia — i.e., where the early rite of yovdrav kKictis was held. This remote place was clearly a secret meeting-place ; and after the meetings had ceased, and the archaic term was no longer understood, a foolish legend grew up to explain the name, see Expositor, 1889, p. 262. XVII. The Church from 120 to 170 A.D. 437 State gradually took form as Montanism. Montanism was in many respects the conservative principle. It remained truer to the old forms. It maintained the order of prophets in its old dignity : it did not admit the growing dignity of the bishops. It claimed that it preserved the character and the views of the early Church. But it was unconscious that in human society conservatism is an impossibility. The life of the Church lay in the idea of unity and inter- communication ; the Catholic Church was truer to this essential idea, and, in order to maintain it, was ready to sacrifice some of the older forms. Montanism was blind to the real character of this idea, and went back to the early thought of a local centre for the unified Church, for which it was as zealous as the Catholics. It made a New Jerusalem, and localised it in two little villages of the Phrygian highlands, Pepouza and Tymion.* In opposition to this idea of a local centre, the Catholic Church maintained in theory that its centre had no locality, and that primacy in the Church lay in the most perfect realisation of the Christian idea ; but in practice one cannot doubt that the thought of Rome as the centre in fact, though not in principle, was conceived or at least strengthened in opposi- tion to the Montanist Jerusalem. Hence, when Avircius Marcellus, the Catholic champion in Phrygia at this period, was approaching death, and wished to leave behind him in his epitaph before the eyes of men a testimony • Hamack, almost alone among modern writers, and in confessed opposition to the views of the later Montanists, considers that the earlier Montanists held the new Phrygian Jerusalem to be the proper home of all Christians, who were to leave their own houses, and to settle there. This appears to me to misconceive the Montanist idea, which was conservative. 43 8 The Church in the Roman Empire. brief, clear, emphatic, of the truth for which he had during his life contended, he described in it his visit to Rome and his intercourse with the Church there, and his visit to Syria with all its cities ; but the only Syrian city which he named was not Jerusalem, but Nisibis. Conservative as Montanism desired to be, it could not preserve the reality of the form that it prized by mere conservatism. A living and vigorous organism must develop, and Montanism was no exception to this rule. It made a Phrygian mountain glen the centre of the Church ; and, as a necessary consequence, the marked character of the country and the people impressed itself more and more on their religion. It is a trite subject, on which I need not dwell, how many traces of the old enthusiastic religion of Phrygia are to be found in Mon- tanism. While, therefore, the unity and brotherhood of Christians was the central principle of Montanism, as of Catholicism, it was in the nature of things inevitable that the former should in Asia Minor become the Church-ac- cording-to-the- Phrygians. There was no outside influence to counteract the natural tendency of the Phrygians to Phrygianise their beliefs ; for outside influence was mainly Catholic, and Montanism disliked the episcopal channel through which intercommunication was maintained. Thus it happened that an influential position was accorded to women in Phrygian Montanism. This arose, not from any essential principle of Montanist doctrine, but from the tone of Asian society. Hence it was not a characteristic of Montanism generally ; and no one can be more opposed to it as a feature of Church government than the Montanist Tertullian, That visions were granted to women he ad- mitted, but beyond this he would not go ; and it is clear XVII. The Church from 130 to 170 A.D. 439 that the Phrygian Montanist prophetesses, Prisca and Maximilla, must have gone far further. The subject would soon carry us far beyond our limits. We must not, however, pass from it without referring to the one great figure on the Catholic side produced by the Phrygian Church during this period, Avircius Marcellus, born about A.D. 120-130. We are fortunate in possessing two accounts of his life and action ; one written by himself, in his seventy-second year, the other a legendary biography, composed, probably, about A.D. 400. In the former he appears as an upholder of what he believed to be the truth, in a controversy that took place within a powerful and world-wide church ; in the latter he is the missionary who converted a heathen land. From the latter alone it would be impossible to discover the real character and position of Avircius Marcellus ; and yet the original document, combined with the information given by Eusebius, shows how most of the legendary adventures originated. It would be most instructive in regard to the nature of these late Acta in general, and also in regard to the difference between the tone of the Church in the second century and A.D. 400, to study in detail the legendary biography. But such a study would be premature until a MS. of the Acta in the National Library in Paris is published.* An important MS., now in Jerusalem, is said by Professor Rendel Harris to be on the eve of publica- tion by M. Papadopoulos Kerameus. For the present I need only refer to what I have written on the subject in Expositor, 1889; further reflection and study have confirmed me in the opinions there expressed. In par- • No. 1540. Rev. H Thurston, S. J., has kindly sent me some highly interebting passages from it. 440 The Church tn the Roman Empire. ticular, the name Avircius Marcellus still seems to me to imply Western origin. If the name occurred in a pagan inscription, no one would have a moment's hesitation in accepting it as belonging to an Italian settler in Asia Minor, one of the numerous Roman traders who swarmed in the great cities of the provinces, and who played in ancient times a part similar to that played by British commerce in spreading national influence at the present day. I feel obliged to interpret the names of Christians on the same principles as those of pagans, and to recognise Avircius Marcellus as a Roman citizen (the prcBuomen being, as often, omitted) belonging to a Western family settled in Asia Minor.* The Catholic champion's fame naturalised the name Avircius in Phrygia in its Greek forms, ^AovlpKco<;, ''A^lpKcof, ^A^epKLo. 441. XVII. The Church from 130 to 170 A.D. 441 sufficient proof that he belonged to the Catholic Church, and therefore that there was a Catholic Church at Prym- nessos, in the anti-Catholic part of Phrygia.* The sculpture on the gravestone is interesting, as giving one of the earliest known representations of the Saviour, who, as in other early sculptures, is represented as a youth- ful figure. In all probability a Montanist would have regarded the representation of the Saviour as idolatrous ; but the Iconodoulic tendency was already beginning in the Orthodox Church. He stands, facing, but with the head turned to the right, with the thumb and two fingers of the right hand extended. The attitude is that of admonition and instruction. The figure has the squat proportions that mark the declining art of the late third and the fourth century. The features are those of the conventional male youth of later art, insipid but retaining the Greek type and character. The artist was used to represent the face in profile, and therefore put the head in that position, though the body is differently placed. The heads of Abirkios, and his wife, Theuprepia, are shown on a larger scale, one on each side of the central figure. That of Abirkios is of the conventional, expression- less type ; but in the face of Theuprepia there appear individuality and beauty, which are lost in the reproduction. It is the portrait of a matron, plump, with a slight tendency to double chin ; the features are graceful, dignified, and • An inscription of Sinethandos or Laodiceia Combusta, probably of the end of the fourth, or early fifth, century, mentions the Church of the Novatians there. The phrase rutv Navarajf has been mis- understood in the Corpus, No. 9,268, and treated as a single word even by M. Waddington, No. 1,699. The article tSdv has been doubled by error of the engraver. 442 The Church in the Roman Empire. noble, and wear the placid and contented expression which indicates comfortable circumstances and a happy life. I can hardly imagine this face to be the work of a fourth- century artist. The official title deacon, on the other hand, points to the period when the Christian religion was recognised and legal after the triumph of Constantine. The Catholic principle seems to have been to avoid the public use of official terms before the Church was explicitly legalised. It is, however, not Impossible that we have here an instance of the title being used even earlier — e.g.^ in the early years of Diocletian's reign, when he was favourably inclined towards the Christians.* The use of memorion to indicate an ordinary grave also, perhaps, points to a third rather than a fourth century date. It was afterwards appropriated to the holy grave and shrine of a martyr or saint. We notice that, as in almost all Asian epitaphs, the wife precedes the children. The regular order in Greek literature was to mention the children before the wife. Note. — A document, published too late for Lightfoot to use, gives a clue to the proper form of the inscriptions about Philip the Asiarch, published in his Ignat., u, p. 629 f. : the words perhaps are [(cara TO rfjf /3ouX^s boyyiora, avayv(t)(T6ev^T[a\ Kat. €7rtKup[ci)^eV]Ta viro rov deiorarov avTOKparopos 'AvTcoveivov, k.t.\. ', or possibly [Kara ra vno T^y ^ouX^s yi/rjostior, 1891, was originally a lecture delivered in Cambridge at the invitation of Dr. Westcott in 1889. Traces of the original form remain on pp. 448, 450. 443 444 "^^^ Church in the Roman Empire, some place — even a prominent place ; * and until the local varieties are better understood and more clearly described than has hitherto been the case, it will be impossible to attain a trustworthy conception of the position of the Church within the Empire, between the point which we have reached and the final triumph of the new religion. To come to the particular case of the country with which I am most familiar, we want to catch the Cappadocian Christian of the fourth century, the Phrygian Christian of the second and third centuries, and to acquire some con- ception of his character, his ways, and his thoughts, and of how he got on with his non-Christian neighbours. In studying this subject, one is led to the opinion that a distinction in social type must be drawn among the Christians. In the period following A.D, 130 the history of Christianity in Asia Minor, when treated as a branch of the history of society, is a long conflict between two opposing tendencies, leading to the formation of sects or churches. From the theological point of view, these provincial churches belong to various classes, and are called by many names ; but they have all certain common features, — they tended towards separatism and diversity, in opposition to the unity of the Catholic Church, and they arrived at this diversity through no intentional re- jection of the unity of all Christians, but through the gradual and unmarked development of native character- istics in what they considered to be the true and original form of their common religion. • In Mommsen's Provinces of the Roman Empire it did not enter into his plan, and the social conditions of each province are described almost as if there had been no Christians in it, or, at least, as if they exerted no influence on it. XVIII. Glycerins the Deacon. 445 The history of the Catholic Church varied greatly in different districts of Asia IMinor. In some it never touched the popular heart, and was barely maintained by external influence ; in others it achieved a complete victoiy over the forces that tended to cause disintegration ; and in some cases only a faint echo of any conflict has reached us. My position is, that there was, in every case throughout Asia Minor where any evidence is known, such a conflict ; that the first Christians of the country were not organised in a strict fashion, but were looser communities, in which per- sonal influence counted for much and official station for little ; and that the strict discipline of the Catholic Church was gradually framed to counteract the disintegrating tendency, in a political and a religious view alike, of the provincial character, organised the whole Church in a strict hierarchy of territorial character, parallel to the civil organi- sation, and enabled the Church to hold together the Roman Empire more firmly than the worship of the Emperors could ever do. Politically the Church was originally a protest against over-centralisation and against the usur- pation by the Imperial Government of the rights of the individual citizen. It ended by being more centralised than the Empire itself; and the Christian Empire destroyed all the municipal freedom and self-government that had existed under the earlier Empire. We should be glad if we could answer the question why some districts of Asia Minor resisted the Catholic Church so persistently, and others followed it so readily ; why, for example, if I may use the question-begging terms, Cappa- docia was orthodox and Phrygia heretical ? The answer seems obvious in the case of Cappadocia. The group of great Church leaders, Basil, Amphilochius, 446 The Church in the Roman Evipire. and the three Gregories (for I think Gregory, the Bishop of Nazianzos, may fairly be mentioned along with his far more famous son), — this group of leaders carried the countiy with them. But this answer only puts the difficulty one step back. Can any reason be suggested why the great Cappadocian leaders followed the Roman Church, whereas almost all the most striking figures in Phrygian ecclesiastical history opposed it ? Partly, no doubt, the reason was geographical or racial — i.e., it depended on the character produced in the inhabit- ants by the situation, the atmosphere, the scenery, and the past history of the two districts respectively; but partly it was due to influences acting at the time on the general population and on the leaders of thought in each country. These influences are an interesting study. In Phiygia the evidence is almost entirely archaeological, for no historian does more than make an occasional passing allusion to the country ; but in Cappadocia much light is thrown on the subject by the biographies and writings of a series of great historical figures ; and a study of these documents in their relations to the archaeological evidence is the first preliminary in carrying out the purpose that has just been indicated. This book cannot be better concluded than by a few specimens of the work that remains to be done for the later history of Christianity in the country with which we have been chiefly concerned. The history of Basil of Caesareia, Gregory of Nyssa, and the distinguished family to which they belonged, is closely connected with the city of Ibora in Pontus. A glance at the biography of the various members of the family shows that a number of questions with regard to the circum stances of their life, and the exact meaning to be placed XVIII. Glycerins the Deacon. ^^'j on the language of many of their letters and the incidents they describe, depend on the locality and surroundings. But the name Ibora was long floating in air, and had not set foot on the ground ; and for all reasoning that depends on local circumstances, on the relation of city with city, district with district, and civil governors or bishops with each other, it would have been as useful to say that Basil's family owned an estate beside Cloud- Cuckoo-Town, as to say that they were landed proprietors near Ibora. But, if any one were to attempt the task of reconstructing a picture of the society in which Basil, the Gregories, and Amphilochius moved, and of their relations with it, the state of education in the country, and the attitude which young graduates of the University of Athens assumed to the home-trained Cappadocians or Pontians — an historian of that class, if such a one should arise, would find many investigations stopped, unless he could attain certainty as to the situations in which the events were transacted. The operations of the English Asia Minor Exploration Fund have now cleared away much of the uncertainty that hung over the localities in which the great events of Cappadocian religious history took place, and have made it possible to face fairly the problem of describ- ing the circumstances of that critical period, 350-400, when the character of the Cappadocian Church was determined. Here is a period about which a great body of evidence remains, in the writings of the principal agents on the victorious side. The account of their opponents, of course, has to be accepted with caution ; but in weighing it we can, at least, always have the certainty that they are not too lenient in their judgment, or flattering in their descrip- tion, of the opposite party. 448 The Church in the Roman Empire. In the year 370, Basil was appointed bishop of Caesareia, metropolitan of Cappadocia, and exarch or patriarch of the Pontic dicBcesis. He was appointed in spite of the resist- ance of the majority of his bishops, in spite of the dislike and dread of many of the people, in spite of the open opposition of the Government. He was elected by the strenuous exertions of a few influential individuals ; and the authority of the Church outside the province was needed in order to put down the disaffected within it. The cause of the Catholic Church was involved in his election : without the hand of a vigorous organiser there was extreme danger that " heresy "— Eunomianism, Arian- ism, and so on — would triumph in Cappadocia. We want to learn what this means to the student of society. Did the Eunomian differ from the Catholic only in certain points of doctrine, being otherwise undistinguishable from him? or do these words indicate a difference in private life, in political feeling, and in Church organisation ? The question may be answered fully, when the historian is found who will face the problem as it has just been sketched.* I can only express the hope that in this university something may be done to solve it. The later Greek and Latin writers are full of material, uncollected and unvalued, for the history of society. Why should almost all the natural ability and admirable training of the classical scholars of Cambridge be directed towards such a narrow range of authors ? Every one who has toiled through a Byzantine historian in the edition of the Berlin Academy — that dauernde Schande der deutschen Philologie • The following sentences are left in the same form as they had in the lecture addressed to a Cambridge society. So also on p. 450 XVIII . Glycerius the Deacon. 449 — compelled, as he does so, slowly and without critical material, to remake his edition for his own use, and has then run joyously through De Boor's admirable Theo- phanes — every one who has done that knows what need there is for the wider employment of learning and skill. Why should traditional belief — or, shall I say, traditional ignorance? — exclude all Christian Fathers or Byzantine historians from the classical scholar's interests, and almost confine him to producing the 43rd edition of one out of about a score of writers ? When he has something to say about Homer or Cicero that he must say, then let him say it ; but might not some of the good scholarship of this university be more profitably employed ? I am not un- grateful for the large amount of help that I have had from Cambridge scholarship, but what I have had only makes me wish for more. I shall try to give an example of the importance and the human interest of this subject, by examining one single episode in Cappadocian history, about A.D. 371-374, aiid showing what light is thrown by it on the character of the Cappadocian Christians at the time. The incident is related by Archdeacon Farrar in his Lives of the Fathers as follows. His account agrees in all essential points with that given by Canon Venables in the Dictionary of Christian Biography, with Tillemont, and with the Migne biography, and may fairly be taken as representing the usual interpretation. " The extraordinary story of the deacon Glycerius illus- trates the aberrations due to the fermenting enthusiasm and speculative curiosity which marked the Eastern Church, and which were fostered by the dreamy idleness of innumerable monks, Glycerius was a young man whose early vigour 29 450 The Church in the Roman Empire. Basil viewed with so much favour, that he had ordained him deacon of the church of Venesa (?) * about 372. Puffed up by his ordination, the young deacon proceeded to gather round him a band of devoted young ladies, whose admira- tion he won by sleek and soft religious arts, and who supported him by their offerings. Severely reproved by his presbyter, his chorepiscopus, and lastly by Basil, Glycerius left the town by night with a band of these girls and some youths, and scandalised the country by wandering about with them in a disorderly manner, dancing and singing hymns, amid the jeers of the coarse rustics. When their fathers came to rescue the girls Glycerius ignominiously drove them away. Finally, the whole band took refuge with a bishop named Gregory, whom even the Benedictine editor is inclined to think may have been Gregory of Nyssa. Basil treated the vain, mischievous, and deluded deacon with much fatherly forbearance, and promised to deal with him kindly if he would dismiss the votaries he was leading, not to God, but to the abyss. Strange to say, the bishop, whoever he was, either failed to second Basil's efforts, or only did so in a lukewarm and inadequate way." Let me now read to you the letters from which all our knowledge has to be gathered. I hope that, through my bald translation something of the fire and vigour of the original may appear. Few writers can compare with Basil in directness ; not a word can be spared without a distinct loss of effect. He does indeed use Xva with conjunctive in a way to make a classical scholar's hair stand on end ; but, if the classical scholar disdains the usage, so much • The interrogation is left as in the original. XVIII. Glycerins the Deacon. 451 the worse for him.* It is true that the usage does not occur in Demosthenes, but it is stamped by a greater than that man of words, the man least capable of understanding his time of all that have ever figured in history as states- men, unless Cicero be taken into account I. Basil to Gregory (Ep. clxix. [ccccxii.]). " Thou hast taken a reasonable and kindly and compas- sionate course in showing hospitality to the captives of the mutineer Glyccrius (I assume the epithet for the moment) and in veiling our common disgrace so far as possible. But when thy discretion has learned the facts with regard to him, it is becoming that thou shouldst put an end to the scandal. This Glycerius who now parades among you with such respectability was consecrated by ourselves as deacon of the Church of Venasa, to be a minister to the presbyter there and to attend to the work of the church ; for though he is in other respects unmanageable, yet he is clever in doing whatever comes to his hand. But when he was appointed, he neglected the work as completely as if it had never existed. Gathering together a number of poor girls, on his own authority and respon.sibility, some of them flocking voluntarily round him (for you know the flightiness * There is too great proneness to stamp one period of Latin, one period of one dialect of Greek, as correct, and everything that differs as wrong. But the real cause of the inferiority of style in later pagan writers lies, not in the words, but in the want of life and spirit in the men. The question has yet to be asked and answered, how far the language used by Basil is less fit to express clearly and vigorously his meaning than that used by Demosthenes, and, if so, what are the real reasons for the inferiority ? Those who have read least of such authors as Basil are most ready to condemn their style. 452 The Church in the Roman Empire. of young people in such matters), and some of them unwill- ing, he set about making himself the leader of a company ; and taking to himself the name and the garb of a patriarch, he of a sudden paraded as a great power, not reaching this position by a course of obedience and piety, but making it a livelihood, as one might take up any trade ; and he has almost upturned the whole Church, disregarding his own presbyter, and disregarding the village-bishop and ourselves too, as of no account, and ever filling the civil polity and the clerical estate with riot and disorder. And at last, when a slight reproof was given by ourselves and by the village-bishop, with the intent that he should cease his mutinous conduct (for he was exciting young men to the same courses), he conceives a thing very audacious and unnatural. Impiously carrying off as many young women as he could, he runs away under the cover of night. This must seem to thee quite horrible. " Think too what the occasion was. The festival of Venasa was being celebrated, and as usual a vast crowd was flock- ing thither from all quarters. He led forth his chorus, marshalled by young men and circling in the dance, making the pious cast down their eyes, and rousing the ridicule of the ribald and loose-tongued. Nor is this all, serious as it is ; but further, as I am informed, when the parents could not endure to be orphaned of their children, and wished to bring them home from the dispersion, and came as weeping suppliants to their own daughters, he insults and scandalises them, this admirable young fellow with his piratical discipline. " This ought to appear intolerable to thy discretion, for it brings us all into ridicule. The best thing is that thou shouldest order him to return with the young women, for he XVIII. Glycerins the Deacoju 453 would meet with allowance if he comes with letters from thee. If that be impossible, the young women, at any rate, thou shalt send back to their mother the Church, Or, in the third place, do not allow them that are willing to return to be kept under compulsion, but persuade them to come back to us. " Othei-wise we testify to thee, as we do to God and men, that this is a wrong thing, and against the rules of the Church. If Glycerius return with a spirit of wisdom and orderliness, that were best ; but if not, he must be removed from the ministiy." II. Basil to Glycerius (Ep. clxx. [ccccxiv.]). " How far wilt thou carry thy madness, working evil for thyself and disturbance for us, and outraging the common order of monks ? Return then, trusting in God and in us, who imitate the compassion of God. For, though like a father we have chidden thee, yet we will pardon thee like a father. Such are our words to thee, inasmuch as many supplicate for thee, and before all thy presbyter, whose gray hairs and kindly spirit we respect. But if thou con- tinuest to absent thyself from us, thou art altogether cast out from thy station ; and thou shalt be cast out from God with thy songs and thy raiment, by which thou leadest the young women, not towards God, but into the pit." These two letters were obviously written at the same time, and sent by the same messenger ; the third was written after an interval, and apparently after receipt of a letter from Gregory asking for assurance of full pardon for Glycerius, 454 ^^ Church in the Roman Empire, III. Basil to Gregory (Ep. clxxi. [ccccxiii.]). " I WROTE to thee already before this about Glycerius and the maidens. Yet they have never to this day returned, but are still delaying ; nor do I know why and how, for I should not charge thee with doing this in order to cause slander against us, either being thyself annoyed with us or doing a favour to others.* Let them come then without fear ; be thou guarantee on this point. For we are afflicted when the members of the Church are cut off, even though they be deservedly cut off". But, if they should resist, the responsibility must rest on others, and we wash our hands of it." For the right understanding of this incident the only evidence available is contained in (i) these three letters of Basil ; (2) a sentence of Strabo (p. 537), describing the village and district of Venasa ; (3) an inscription found in 1882 on a hill-top near the village ; (4) the map of Cappa- docia as now reconstructed. A first glance at the evidence is enough to reveal various details inconsistent with the accepted account ; and we may be sure that Basil has not coloured in favour of Glycerius those details that give a different complexion to the incident. In the first place, the very evident sympathy of Gregory for Glycerius disquiets all the modern interpreters ; his sympathy cannot be due to ignorance of the facts of the case, for he was far closer to the spot than Basil himself, and the acts were not hid under a bushel, but done openly, * The reference is to Basil's numerous enemies, who would be delighted that the Bishop of Nazianzos should refuse to comply with his wishes. XVIII. Glycerins the Deacon. 455 and no doubt widely talked about. The only explanation that can be devised by the interpreters is to deny part of the evidence. The MS. evidence, so far as quoted in the Migne edition, is that two of the letters are addressed to Gregory of Nazianzos. Most of the interpreters say that Gregory of Nyssa must be meant, and that Gregory of Nyssa was guilty of many weak and foolish acts. The answer lies in the map, which confirms the old authority, and disproves the modern suggestion.* In the next place, the presbyter, whom Basil represents as having been disregarded and set at nought, is in favour of the offender, and beseeches Basil to act kindly to him. Canon Venables indeed says that the presbyter " gravely admonished" Glycerius; but this misrepresents the evidence. The " village-bishop " and Basil himself censured Glycerius ; but though Basil says Glycerius showed disrespect to the presbyter, he drops no hint that the presbyter complained about this, but rather implies the opposite. Basil himself does not even hint at any darker crime than injudiciousness and ambition in the relations of Glycerius to the devotees ; and there can be no doubt that the letters omit no charge that could be brought against the rebellious deacon. The evident purity of conduct in this strange band may fairly be taken as necessarily implying that the strictest religious • If any change is permitted in the MS. authority, I should understand the elder Gregory, Bishop of Nazianzos, and date the letters a.d. 2,']2^. The Gregory to whom these letters were addressed ■was obviously not under Basil's authority, and was therefore under Tyana ; but Nyssa was under Ca^sareia, subject directly to Basil, as Venasa also was. The tone of the letters also is more respectful and less peremptory than Basil would probably have employed to his brother, or even to his friend Gregory. On the map, see Historical Geography of Asia Minor, p. 293. 456 The Church in the Roman Empire. obligations were observed by the devotees. In such a difficult situation there is no alternative but either strict asceticism, springing from fanatical or enthusiastic religious feeling, or license and scandal. Now the evident sympathy both of the immediate superior, the presbyter, whose influence had been appa- rently diminished by the popularity of the deacon, and of the Bishop of Nazianzos (whether the older Gregory or his son, who filled his place for a short time after his death in 374), is quite unintelligible if Glycerius had introduced some new and startling features into the religion of the province. It is, of course, certain that the principles of both the Gregories, father and son, were opposed to such mani- festations, as being contrary to the whole spirit of the Catholic Church. The reason why Gregory sympathised must be that Glycerius was only keeping up the customary ceremonial of a great religious meeting. Canon Venables indeed says that the band " wandered about the country under the pretence of religion, singing hymns and leaping and dancing in a disorderly fashion," and Archdeacon Farrar agrees with him. But there is no warrant in the letter of Basil for this account. The band is not said either to wander about the country or to dance in a dis- orderly way. Accurate geography is useful in studying these writers, but accurate translation is not without its advantages. Let us scrutinise the facts a little more closely, examining the situation and the probabilities of the case ; and I think we shall have to admit that Basil is giving us a picture, coloured to his view, of a na'ive and quaint ceremony of early Cappadocian Christianity, which he regarded with horror, and was resolved to stamp out. One of the most striking features in the whole incident XVIII. Glycerins the Deacon. 457 is the important part played by women. Now this is the most striking feature also in the native religion and society of Asia Minor. (See pp. 161, 398.) The occasion when the most extreme features of this Cappadocian " heresy " were displayed was the great festival at Venasa, when a vast concourse was gathered there. This festival is called by Canon Venables a " fair " ; but this is not an accurate translation. The synodos, which was held there, was certainly similar to the Armenian synodos^ held at Phargamous. At Phargamous, in the month of June, a great festival was held in honour of certain martyrs ; and such dignitaries as Basil himself, Eusebius of Samosata, and Theodotus of Nicopolis, might be expected at it. Moreover, the synodos of Venasa was one of the most ancient and famous religious meetings in Cappadocia. The priest of Zeus at Venasa was second in dignity and power only to the priest of Komana ; he held office for life, and was practically a king. A village inhabited by 3,000 hierodouloi was attached to the temple, and round it lay a sacred domain that brought in an annual income of fifteen talents (nearly ;i^4,ooo). Christianity directed the religious feeling of the country towards new objects, but preserved the old seasons and methods. A Christian festival was substituted for the old festival of Zeus, doubt- less the occasion when the god made his annual e'^oSo?, or procession round his country. Basil, unluckily, pitiless of the modern scholar, does not name the month when the festival took place, and the sole memorials of it that remain to complete the account of Strabo are, first, a brief invoca- tion to the heavenly Zeus, found on a hill-top, to guide us (along with other evidence) to the situation (see p. 142) ; 458 The Church in the Roman Empire. and, secondly, these letters of Basil, to show how the Cappadocian Christians developed the pagan festival. At this great religious ceremony of the whole country, Glycerins brought forth his followers, singing and dancing in chorus. Such ceremonies were necessarily a part of the old religious festival of Zeus, and their existence in it, though not attested, may be safely assumed ; accordingly there is every probability that they were not novelties introduced by Glycerius, but were part of the regular Cappadocian custom. They are a natural and regular concomitant of the earlier and simpler forms of religion, whether Pagan or Jewish ; and at Venasa they were re- tained, with some modifications in the words and the gestures. Hymns undoubtedly were substituted for the pagan formulae, and not a hint is dropped by Basil that the dancing and singing were not of a quiet and modest character. The license of the old pagan ceremonies had been given up ; but in many respects there was no doubt a striking resemblance between the old pagan and the new Christian festival. Probably the dancing of the great dervish establishments of Kara Hissar and Iconium at the present day would give the best idea of the festival at Venasa in the time of Basil, though the solemnity and iconoclastic spirit of Mohammedanism have still further toned down the ecstasy and enthusiastic abandon of the old ritual. But the strange, weird music of the flute and cymbals, and the excited yet always orderly dancing, make the ceremony even yet the most entrancing and intoxicating that I have ever witnessed. Through this analogy we can come to realise the power that might be acquired by a man of natural ability and religious fervour over numbers of young persons. This influence was increased by the XVIII. Glycerins the Deacofi. 459 character which Glycerius assumed and the robes which he wore. In the old pagan festival the leader of the festival wore the dress and bore the name of the deity whom he represented. The custom is well known both in Greece (where the Dionysos festival is the most familiar, but far from the sole, example) and in Asia Minor.* Glycerius, as Basil tells us, assumed the name and the dress of a " patriarch." The meaning of this seems to be that the director of ceremonies (who, like the modern dervish sheikh, never danced himself) was equipped in a style corresponding to the pagan priest, and assumed the character of the highest religious official, the patriarch. But a new era began in Cappadocia when Basil became head of the Church. It is obvious that abuses might readily, almost necessarily, creep into such ceremonies ; and clearly the edict went forth that they must cease. Basil does not say that any real abuses had occurred. He speaks only of the downcast looks of the pious spectators, and the jests of the ribald and loose-tongued ; but he is clearly describing what he conceives to be the inevitable outcome of such ceremonies. The spirit of the Church, whose champion Basil was, was inexorably opposed to such exhibitions. For good or for evil, such prominence given to women in religious ceremonial was hateful to it. The influence acquired by a deacon, his assumption of the robes and name of a patriarch, were subversive of the strict discipline of the Roman Church. The open association of a monk with a band of young women was contrary to the rules of the monastic order. The village-bishop, acting doubtless on previous general orders of his superior, • £.g., at Pessinus the priest took ex officio the name Attis. 460 The Church in the Roman Empire. reprimanded Glycerius, and his action was confirmed and enforced by Basil. Glycerius, when thus treated, took advantage of the recent changes which had curtailed the power of Basil. He crossed the frontier into the adjoining bishopric of Nazianzos, which was now included in the province of Second Cappadocia, under the metropolitan of Tyana. The young women that followed his ministrations fled with him ; and, as Gregory received and sheltered them all, we cannot doubt that the flight was made in an orderly way, without scandal, and with the air of pious but per- secuted Christians. Basil then complained to Gregory in the letter quoted. The reply of Gregory unfortunately has not been preserved ; but we can imagine that he gave a different version of the case, stated his views as to the character of Glycerius, and urged Basil to promise complete forgiveness on condition of the immediate return of all the fugitives. We have the reply of Basil, giving the required assurance, though not with the best grace. One motive that evidently weighed with him was apprehension of the talk that he would give rise to, if he persisted in an intolerant policy. Now all this is inconceivable except on the supposition that, according to the above description, Glycerius was acting in accordance with established custom and the general feeling of the Cappadocian Church, while Basil was too hastily and sternly suppressing the custom of the country. The incipient schism, roused by the sternness of Basil, was healed by the mild mediation of Gregory. The fault in Glycerius which most offended Basil was evidently his transgression of the Church discipline. The full significance of this can be grasped only in its connection with the whole policy of Basil. XVIII. Glycerins the Deacon. 461 The powerful personality, the intense, uncompromising zeal, and the great practical ability of Basil were of the first consequence in insuring the triumph of the Catholic Church in Cappadocia. But one man, however powerful, cannot do everything by his own immediate effort, especially when his personal influence is interrupted by a too early . death, as Basil's was. The organising power which has always been so conspicuous a feature of the Church, ex- ercised as powerful an influence in Cappadocia as elsewhere. The organisation which Basil left behind him completed his work. One great object of Basil's administration was to establish large ecclesiastical centres of two kinds : first, orphanages, and, secondly, monasteries. An orphanage was built in every district of his immense diocese ; the one at Cassareia, with its church, bishop's palace, and residences for clergy, hospices for poor, sick, and travellers, hospitals for lepers, and workshops for teaching and practising trades, was so large as to be called the " New City." Such establishments constituted centres from which the irresistible influence of the Church permeated the whole district, as, centuries before, the cities founded by the Greek kings had been centres from which the Greek influence had slowly penetrated the country round. The monks and the monasteries, which Basil established widely over the country, were centres of the same influence ; and though the monks occasionally caused some trouble by finding even Basil himself not sufficiently orthodox, they were effective agents of the Catholic Church, whereas the solitary hermits and anchorets, whom Basil rather discouraged, though he had been one himself, were perhaps more favourable to the pro- vincial Church, and were certainly a far less powerful engine for affecting the country. 462 The Church in the Roman Empire. That the monk Glycerius should break through the gradations of office and the spirit of the Church, should parade in the robes of the patriarch, and flee from his superior's jurisdiction in the company of a band of women, was a thing intolerable to Basil. One other point requires notice : is any external cir- cumstance known that is likely to have directed such men as Basil and Gregory away from the line of native develop- ment in religion ? A strong impulse probably was given them by their foreign education. They lost the narrow, provincial tone ; they came to appreciate the unity and majesty of the Roman Empire ; they realised the destiny of the Church to be the unifying religion of the Empire — i.e.^ of the civilised world. They also learned something about that organisation by which Rome ruled the world, and they appreciated the fact that the Church could fulfil its destiny and rule the Roman Empire only by strict organisation and rigid discipline. Men like Glycerius could not see beyond the bounds of their native district with its provincial peculiarities; men like Basil were perhaps intolerant of mere provincialism. Perhaps a clearer idea of the causes which made Cappa- docia orthodox may be gained by looking at Phrygia, which was mainly a heretical country. The cities of the Lycus valley, and of the country immediately east and north-east of it, which were most under the Roman influence, were of the dominant Christian Church ; but the mass of the countiy adhered stubbornly to the native forms of Chris- tianity. Probably this has something to do with the fact that in Phrygia so few Christian communities have main- tained an unbroken existence through the Turkish domina- tion, whereas in Cappadocia a fair proportion of the whole XVIII. Glycerins the Deacon. 463 population has preserved its religion to the present day. Many of the Phrygians were always discontented with the Byzantine rule, except under the Inconoclast emperors. When John Comnenus was invading the Seljuk dominions, he found Christian communities, who so much preferred Turkish rule to Byzantine, that they fought against him, even without support from the Turks, and had to be reduced by force of arms. To a certain extent this was perhaps due to their preferring the easy Seljuk yoke to the heavy Byzantine taxation ; but it is very probable that religious difference was the chief cause. How far then can we trace in Phrygia the presence or absence of the causes that made Cappadocia orthodox? Little or no trace of such organisation as Basil made in Cappadocia can be found in Phrygia. In the life of Hypatius written by his disciple Callinicus, and corrected by another hand in the time of his third successor, we read that he was born in Phrygia, but was obliged to emigrate to Thrace in order to gratify his wish to live in a church or monastery where he might associate with discreet men ; " for there were then no such persons, except isolated indi- viduals, in Phrygia, and if a church existed anywhere, the clergy were rustic and ignorant, though the country has since become almost entirely Christian " {i.e., orthodox). Hypatius flourished in the first half of the fifth century ; so that the apparent reform here described belongs to the period 450-500.* The organisation of Phrygia on the * The revision of the biography as composed by CalHnicus is said expressly to have extended only to a correction of the bad Greek of a Syrian dialect. The reviser neither added nor took away anything, though he knew various things that might be added {^Acta SancL, June 17th, p. 308). 464 The Church in the Roman Empire. orthodox model therefore is much later than that of Cappadocia, and it was probably not so thorough. It seems to have been only superficial, caused by the Govern- ment imposing on the countiy the forms of the Catholic Church* Note. — The "New City" of Basil, p. 461, seems to have caused the gradual concentration of the entire population of Cassareia round the ecclesiastical centre, and the abandonment of the old city. Modern Kaisari is situated between one and two miles from the site of the Graeco- Roman city. Here we have a type of a series of cases, in which population moved from the older centre to cluster round an ecclesiastical foundation at a little distance ; and this cause should be added to those which are enumerated in Hist. Geogr., ch. viii., "Change of Site." • In writing to Gregory, Basil had to give details ; and from these we learn the real character of Glycerius's action. But, if we had only some brief reference to him, made by Basil in writing to a sympathetic foreign friend, we can imagine that it would have been prejudiced and unfair. The letter of Firmilian, Bishop of Csesareia, to Cyprian (Ep. 75) is a document of the latter class ; and we cannot take his description of the unnamed Cappadocian prophetess as fully trustworthy. The general facts are true ; but the colour is prejudiced. One detail has been recently confirmed by Mr. Hogarth : he has found an inscription stating that Serenianus (mentioned by Firmilian as presses temporibus post Alexandrunt) was governor of Cappadocia under Maximin, Alexander's successor. CHAPTER XIX. THE MIRACLE AT KHONAI. IN Asia Minor the result of the contest between the unifying principle of the Catholic Church and the tendency towards varieties corresponding to national cha- racter, was that the former succeeded in establishing itself as the ruling power. But it could not entirely extirpate the development of varieties. The national idiosyncracies were too strongly marked, and these Oriental peoples would not accept the centralised and organised Church in its purity, but continued the old struggle of Asiatic against European feeling, which has always marked the course of history in Asia Minor, The national temper, denied expression in open and legitimate form, worked itself out in another way — viz., in popular superstitions and local cults, which were added as an excrescence to the forms of the Orthodox Church. A growing carelessness as to these additions, provided that the orthodox forms were strictly complied with, manifested itself in the Church. The local cults grew rapidly in strength ; and finally the Ortho- dox Church in Asia Minor acquiesced in a sort of com- promise between local variety and Catholic unity, which showed much analogy with its old enemy, the State religion of the Roman Empire. The latter, so far as it had any reality, was, as we have seen, founded on the principle (which was indeed never fully developed, but which is quite apparent underneath most of the fantastic varieties 46s 30 466 The Church in the Roman Empire, of the Imperial cultus) that the incarnate God in human form who ruled the State was in each district identified with the deity special to the district. The Orthodox Church acquiesced in the continuance of the old local impersonations of the Divine power in a Christianised form. The giant-slaying Athena of Seleuceia is dimly recognisable beneath the figure of Saint Thekla of Seleuceia ; the old Virgin Artemis of the Lakes became the Virgin Mother of the Lakes, whose shrine amid a purely Turkish population is still an object of pilgrimage to the scattered Christians of southern Asia Minor ; the god of Colossae was represented as Michael. In one case (unique, so far as my knowledge extends) we find in A.D. 1255 even the Christ of Smyrna, Hist. Geogr., p. 116. The tendency to localise the Divine power and to find a special manifestation of the Divine nature in certain spots can nowhere be better studied than in Asia Minor. A succession of conquering races has swept over the land, coming from every quarter of the compass, by land and by sea, and belonging to diverse branches of the human family. Time after time the language, the government, the society, the manners, the religion of the country have been changed. Amid all changes one thing alone has remained permanent and unchanging — the localities to which religion attaches itself In the same place religious worship continues always to be offered to the Divine power : the ritual changes, and the character attributed to the Divine Being varies, according to the character of the race, but the locality remains constant. The divinity is more really present, more able to hear or to help, in certain spots than he is elsewhere ; he assumes a distinct and individualised character in these spots, and takes on himself something of XIX. The Miracle of KJionai. 467 humanity, becoming more personal and more easily con- ceived and real to the ordinary mind. After a time this law was accepted by the Orthodox Church, and became a strong determining force in its future development. The country was divided and apportioned to various saints, who were not merely respected and venerated, but adored as the bearers and embodiments of the Divine power in their special district. We would gladly know more about the attitude in which the later heresies of Byzantine history, the Iconoclastic movement, Paulicianism, etc., stood towards this tendency of the Orthodox Church. But we must not lose sight of the fact that above all these local differences there was a rather empty, but still very powerful, idea of unity. So strong was this idea that it alone has held together that which is now called the Greek race. The Greeks of to-day have no common blood. They include Cappadocians, Isaurians, Pisidians, Albanians, as well as Greeks by race. They have little common cha- racter ; they are divided by diversity of language. They are united by nothing except the forms of the Orthodox Church ; but in spite of a low standard of education in its priests and no very high standard of morality in its teaching, these have been strong enough to maintain the idea of a united people. For old Rome as its centre was substituted the new Rome of Constantine. The political changes of the present century have even destroyed to appearance the unity of the Church ; but still the idea remains, and every Greek looks forward to a future unity of the Church and its adherents, with free Constantinople as its metropolis. To understand the character of this later development of Christianity in Asia Minor, it is best to study it in 468 The Church in the Roman Empire. individual cases, and we shall find a typical instance in the narrative of the miracle wrought at Khonai by the arch- angel Michael. Our authority is a document, which, in its existing form, is a very late fabrication, probably not earlier than the ninth century. It shows a strange mixture of knowledge and ignorance of the localities, and, while purporting to be strongly individualised in its account of persons, it is a tissue of general platitudes and marvels applied to individual names. The author was perhaps a monk of the ninth century. I shall speak of him as the redactor. He was not uneducated, but his knowledge was very inexact and of a low order. He was in some way acquainted with a tale current at Khonai, the town which succeeded the older Colossas, with regard to an apparition of Michael there. This tale was the foundation legend {lGpopos, beside the junction of Lykos and Kapros, may have been called Lykokaprios, and thus have misled the author into the idea that there was a river Lykokapros. XIX. Tlie Miracle of Kkonai, 471 pedes the exit of the Lycus from the valley. That the Lycus ever flowed to Lycia is of course absurd ; but the legend had to explain what happened to the river before its new course was opened for it by the archangel. Whether from some vague idea that Khairetopa was near a stream that flowed to Lycia, or from the mere pseudo- etymological fancy that the names Lycus and Lycia were connected, the explanation suggested itself that the Lycus originally flowed away towards Lycia. Whether this de- tail was added by the redactor or belonged to the older local legend, no evidence remains. The name Chryses is perhaps a relic of an older form of the legend distinguished by better local knowledge. Names of this form are not uncommon in Asia Minor ; and it is quite probable that some branch of the Lycus beside Colossae was called Chryses. The sacred stream at Hierapolis is called on coins the Chrysorrhoas, so that a name of the same stock, at any rate, occurred in the Lycus valley. It is remarkable that two branches issuing from the same source flow on the right and the left of the sacred spring at the present day, as may be seen on the map. The northern one is artificial, but ancient.* Legends of this kind may originate in three ways : (l) Some are mere inventions to explain a name.f In this • In Maspero's Recueil de Travaux, xiv., 1891, Hogarth and I have described the irrigation works at Heracleia-Cybistra, which are probably very ancient. ■)• One case bears on our subject. The name KfpeVajra was some- times misspelt Kaip«Va7ra and XaipfTarra ; a legend arose of the apparition of Michael, saying Xalpt, Toire, and this has found its way into some MSS. of the Miracle at Khonai. A different legend connected with Keretapa and St. Artemon exists, see Expositor, 1889, i., p. 150. 472 The Church in the Roman Empire. way a tale might be made to explain the name Khonai, "funnels" as derived from a channel or funnel through which a neighbouring river flows, (2) In many cases old legends, told originally of some pagan deity, were trans- ferred to a Christian saint. (3) Some legends were founded on historical facts, which occurred in Christian times. The last class is far the most interesting ; and it is possible that the miracle at Khonai belongs to it Colossae was situated at the lower western end of a narrow glen some ten miles long. On the north and east the broken skirts of the great central plateau hem in the glen. On the south Mount Cadmos rises steep above it. On the west a low rocky ridge about two miles in breadth divides it from the lower Lycus valley. This glen forms a sort of step between the lower Lycus valley, which is an eastern continuation of the long narrow Maeander valley, and the central plateau, to which it affords the easiest approach ; and the great highway from the western coast to the Euphrates valley traverses it. The river Lycus flows down through the glen, rising in a series of vast springs at its upper eastern end. The largest set of springs forms a lake now called Kodja Bash (Big Head, or Source). According to popular belief, this lake is a diiden {Kard^oOpov), a term which denotes a place where a river either rises out of or disappears into the ground. Such dudens are numerous in Asia Minor.* East of the Colossian glen, on the upper plateau, is the salt lake Anava. Popular belief sees in the Lycus springs the outlet of this lake ; and the Lycus water, though not salt, is bad in taste and not drinkable. Similar * The Maeander, the Sangarios, and many other rivers rise in dudens^ forming small lakes like Kodja Bash. KrORARA OR HYDRELA R." L V C OCa] HIERAPOLIS ^ *-&0 . rCRJJK TCHAMLI -'■ sali\agh« TCH FLIK ■^ MAP OF THE LYCUS VALLEY XIX. The Miracle of Khonai. 473 connections between rivers and high lakes behind their sources are often traced in Asia Minor, the typical example being between the Masandcr and the lake of Bunarbashi, the ancient Aurocreni Pontes. Such dudcns are commonly found where a ridge separates two plains at different levels. At the western end of the Colossian glen the Lycus has a good opportunity for another duden, for a ridge separates the glen from a plain three hundred feet lower ; but the Lycus traverses the ridge by a narrow open gorge in place of a duden. Now Herodotus says that the Lycus at Colossae enters a rift in the earth within the very city, and reappears at a distance of five stadia. Colossae was situated on the south bank of the river, but the buildings extended to the north bank ; and a glance at the map shows that the Lycus enters a rift in the ridge within the circuit once inhabited. The question then arises, did Herodotus describe rather inaccurately the scenery as it at present exists, or has any catastrophe occurred to change a former auden into an open gorge ? It must be granted that the phenomena of the legend are strongly suggestive of such a catastrophe : the noise like an earth- quake, the inundation caused by the blocking of the passage, and the subsidence of the water when the gorge was cleared, would all be explained by Hamilton's sup- position, that the two cliffs of the gorge were once connected over the stream, and that the crust was sub- sequently broken by an earthquake. The breaking of the crust would necessarily block the stream till the accumulated waters carried away the fallen dt^bris. If such an event took place it must have been after the time of Strabo and Pliny, otherwise they would have mentioned such a remarkable phenomenon in alluding 474 ^^ Church in the Rojitan Empire. to Colossae. If it happened at all then, the change hap- pened when a Christian community existed at Colossae. These considerations prompt us to examine the evidence more closely, taking as guides M. Bonnet's excellent edition of the Greek text of the legend (with his useful essays prefixed), and M. Weber's careful description of the gorge * No clear confirmation of Herodotus' statement has come down to us. The chief witness is Strabo, who, unlike Herodotus, had actually seen both Colossae and Apameia : " (the Lycus) flowing for the greater part of its course underground, thereafter appears to view, and joins t the other rivers (Maeander, Cadmos, Kapros), proving at once the porous character of the country and its liability to earthquake." The passage has frequently been misunderstood ; the words cannot be explained as a reference merely to this duden, for Strabo is a careful writer, and the Lycus has a course of considerably more than twenty miles. Obviously Strabo refers to the con- nection of the Lycus with Lake Anava ; and thus he is correct in saying that most of its course is under- ground, and that after its underground course it appears to view, and flows to join the Meander. The description is illustrated by Hamilton's description of the source near Dere Keui. It issues from beneath the rock ; and when Hamilton penetrated further up a cavern or " deep chasm in the rock, . . . the sound of a subterranean river rushing along a narrow bed or tumbling over pre- * Bonnet, Narratio de Miraculo Chonis ^atrato, Paris, 1890; Weber, derunterird. Lauf des Lykos, in A then. MMheil., 1891, P- 195- j" The aorist, avveireaev, is remarkable here, Strab., p. 586. XIX. The Miracle of Khonai. 475 cipiccs . . . was distinctly heard " (i., p. 507).* Now it is probable that Strabo, who certainly knew Herodotus' description, would tacitly correct anything in it which he disapproved of; and when he says so emphatically that the river runs underground for many miles, and~ then emerges to view and joins the Maeander, he must be interpreted as expressing dissent from Herodotus. No other passage known to me seems to possess any value as independent evidence about the localities ; and especially the words of Scylitzes are obviously a mere report of the legend, connecting it with the derivation of the name Khonai. Such is the ancient evidence — scanty and inconclusive. We are brought face to face with the old question as to Herodotus' credibility. Can we accept his evidence un- supported, even supposing that it were not contradicted by Strabo? Is his statement of that strikingly accurate and vivid character, which in many cases leads us to accept a description even against other witnesses? We turn, then, to the archiEological or topographical evidence. Here scientific training as a practical geo- logist would be of high value in a witness. Hamilton had training and practical experience, but he saw only the lower and upper ends of the gorge. The engineers of the Ottoman Railway traversed and surveyed it some years ago, and I have talked with them. M. Weber, of Smyrna, has printed in Athen. Mittheil., 1891, p. 197 ff., a clear and accurate account of the gorge; but he did not extend his researches over the whole territory of Colossae, nor attend specially to the points • I explained what I believed to be Strabo's meaning in Amer. Jour. Arch., 1887, p. 358/, but have failed to convince M. Bonnet 47^ The Church in the Roman Empire. raised by the legend. So far as he goes I agree with him ; * but only a practical geologist can answer the further questions that arise. The gorge, as a whole, has been an open gap for thousands of years ; on that all are agreed who have seen it ; and the grave chambers in the north wall of the gorge near its northern end, as M. Weber acutely argues, prove this conclusively. This statement, however, does not imply that the stream was always open to view. It is still in some places half concealed from view, as M. Weber says ; and we must admit the possibility that incrustation from the streams that join it, both on north and south, may have at a former period completely over- arched it for a little way. But such a bridge would not justify Herodotus, who describes a duden more than half a mile long. His description fails in minute accuracy ; and we must, so far as the evidence goes, consider his words as less accurate than Strabo's, and due to mis- conception in reporting an account given him by an eye-witness, f The character of the localities shows that an inundation might readily occur at Colossae ; though we must abandon the theory that it was caused by the collapse of Herodotus' * I cannot, however, accept his statement, p. 197, " sein Lauf hal sick nie gedndert, wie es Hamilton annimmt." Hamilton is quite right ; M. Weber has not observed quite carefully. t An idea, more favourable to Herodotus, occurred to me in 1891 {Athencsum, August, p. 22^); but I have been forced by M. Weber's clear argument to abandon it. Sacrifice of this idea spoils the view with which I planned this chapter ; and brings me back to the con- clusion I stated in A?ner. your. Arch., 1887, p. 358, that Herodotus confused the duden at the source of the Lycus with the gorge at Colossae. Vast incrustations are made by these streams. XIX. The Miracle of Khonai. 477 duden. Deliverance from such an inundation would in- evitably be construed as a miracle by the inhabitants. In the Pagan time they would have attributed their safety to the Zeus of Colossze ; in the later Christian period they attributed it to one of the angels — a proof how little removed was the later Christianity of Colossae from the old paganism. The worship of angels was strong in Phrygia. Paul warned the Colossians against it in the first century. The Council held at Laodiceia on the Lycus, about A.D. 363, stigmatised it as idolatrous.* Theodoret, about 420-50 A.D., mentions that this disease long con- tinued to infect Phrygia and Pisidia.f But that which was once counted idolatry, was afterwards reckoned as piety. Michael, the leader of the host of angels, was worshipped very widely in Asia Minor. Akroinos-NikopoHs, the scene of the great victory over the Saracens in 739, was dedicated to him ; and his worship is implied in an inscription at Gordium-Eudokias in Galatia.J A church of Michael was built by Constantine on the north coast of the Bosphorus ; § and here Michael was believed to manifest himself, and miraculous cures were toSozomen'sown knowledge wrought. The origin of Christianity at Isaura, in the legend of Conon, • Coloss. ii. 18, eV dprja-Ktia tS>v dyytXav; Concil. Laod., ov Sfi ■)(piaTiavovs fyKarakenreiv t^p fKKKrjaiav rov deov Koi dyyfXovs ovofid^eiv KOI (Tvya^di ttok'ip, anep dnayopfvfTai. ei ris ovv €vpf6fj tuvtt] rfj KfKpvppfUtj (iduiXoKaTpeia crxoXu^cov, ecrro) dvddepa, on . . . eiScoXoXurpfta TrpocrrfKdtv, Canon 35. t fpfive 6e ToiiTO to nd6os Iv rfj ^pvyla Ka\ niaibia p^XP^ ttoXXov . . . koL pfXP*- ^* ^°*^ "^^ v K.T.X. Underneath the seven inscriptions is the single line dpxavye\otl^s^ (f>vXd(X(TfTai t) TroXty Mi\i](Ticov /c.r.X- C. I. G., 2895. The words quoted from Theodoret illustrate this curious piece of super- stition, oi §€ dpx^ayyfXoi Tas tSdv iOvSiv TTpocrTaalas evemareiidria-av, inter p. tn Dan. c. x. Note 2. — The length to which this work has already been carried prevents me from saying more about the Jews in Asia Minor ; but one point must be alluded to (p. 46«.). M. Salomon Reinach has inferred from a Smyrnaean inscription that the archisynagogot (women as well as men) in Asia Minor were not officials, but merely persons of rank in the comn>unity, who exercised, by virtue of their social weight, a certain influence on the religious practices. Codex BezcB confirms his acute conclusions. The inscription which he comments on must be probably older than A.D. 70 (p. 349). Note 3. — The British Museum inscription, No. 482, "begins by complaining that the Ephesian Goddess was now being set at nought," about A.D. 161. This document would appear to have an important bearing on Chap. XIV., § 3 ; but I have tried to show in Classical Review, January 1893, that the text is wrongly restored, and that the meaning is different. Note 4. — It resulted from the requiring of a specific accuser, and still more from the rewards given to the accuser out of the property of the accused (p. 336), that a class of lawyers arose, who made a speciality of cases against Christians. Just as delatores in charges of treason arose in numbers from the policy of Tiberius and Domitian, so delatores in Christian cases necessarily sprang from the circumstances of the second and third centuries. Allusions to such advocati often occur (Le Blant, Actes, p. 306). INDEX. Achaia I49«, I57« Acilius Glabrio 261, 271 Acta of Martyrs, character of i2gn, 328, 330, 337, 339, 374, 404, 422, 424, 434«, 439, 463, 471-2 Acfa of Paul and Thekla, of Carpos, etc. : v. Thekla, Carpos, etc. Acts, distinction of authorship in 7, 148, 166; alleged incompleteness of narrative in 87« : see Paul^ Codex Beza, Travel-Document Actum 407 Adada 20, 57 Advocati, professional, in Christian cases 480 iEschylus 3I3« Agapae, discontinuance of 206, 215, 219, 358» Agathonike 395, 399, 433/: see also Carpos Alexander Galatarch or Syriarch ^77, 395-8, 402, 406, 411, 413 Amastris 82, 83, 84 Amisos 10, 84«, 211, 225, 285 Ammianus 38«, 403^ Amphilochius 445, 447 Anaitis 125, 138 Anazarbos I57» Ancyra 82, 99, 108 Ancyranura monumentum 387 Angels, worship of 477, 4S0; of churches 368, 369» Antioch of Pisidia 19, 25-9, 35, 50, 66, 70, 81, 93, 102, 131, 148, 377, 389, 395-413. 417, 422, 425 ; of Syria 10, 60, 72, 74, 91, 127, 381, 390 Antipas 297 Antoninus Pius, policy of 331-4, 337, 353 Antonius Triumvir 41, 387, 427 Apameia 44, 93 Aphrodisias 123 Apocalypse 188, 245, 287, 295-301, 306, 3 1 5, 318, 341, 368, 369» Apollo-Lairbenos 137 Apollonia 81, 109 Apollonius 152 48. 31 482 Index. Apollos 152 Apologists 340-5, 430, 432 : see also Aristides, Tatmn, etc Aquila 158 Aquilius : see Acilius Archisynagogoi 45, 68, 480 Archives, proconsular 330 Argaeus, Mount 36^ Aristides, apology of 329, 341 ; iElius 264, 352 Arnold 228, 230«, 234^, 238 Artemis, Great 135; Leto 137; Queen 136; Pergsean 138; Virgin of the Lakes 466; her Shrines 121, 123, 134; her Statuettes 122, 134; inscription about, falsely interpreted 480 Asceticism 416 Asia Minor, social condition of 11-13, 317, 398, 443,444: see also Women Asia, Province 43, no, 149, I57«, 166, 187, 287, 295, 312, 330, 332, 416/ Asiarchs 116, 131 Athenagoras 250, 321, 336 Athens 56, 85, 160 Attalia 19 Aube 320/, 358 Avircius Marcellus 36, 430«, 436-41 Axylon 146 Ayasma 50, 469» Ayo Paolo 18 Babelon, M. 56^, I57» Babylon 287 Bacchanalia 373« Barnabas 16, 36, 97, 420; Epistle of 307-9 Basil of Caesareia 445, 448-64 ; of Seleuceia 381, 390, 393* Batiffol P. 469«, 478, 479^ Baucis and Philemon 58, 398 Bauer 228 Baur 186 Bavlo 20-23 Bears in Asia Minor 405 Bernays 253, 353« Beroea 85, I54«, 160, 163 Bishops 361-74, 428-32, 435 Bithynia 75, 82, 83, no, 144, 146, 149, I57«, 187, 198-225, 286, 289 Bonnet, M. 474, 479« Brigandage 24, 373 Cadmos, Mount 478 Csesarea of Cappadocia 10, 432, 461, 464 Index. 483 Cagnat, Professor 343^ Caligula 373, 387, 427 Callistus 177 Cappadocia 10, 15, no, 141, 187, 445-64 Carpos, Papylos, and Agathonike, Acta of 202, 249, 379, 39i«, 395, 399«. 433. 434«, 435 Castelius 377. 39i. 392, 428 Catholic Church, over-centralization in 445 ; in Phrygia 439-42, 463 ; in Cappadocia 446-62 ; later history, ch. xviii, xix : see also Church, Christianity, Bishop Catullus 374, 398 Celsus 249, 336, 363 Celtic language in Galatia 82», 99 Christ of Smyrna 466 Christian attitude in prayer 421 ; communities, property of 429-31 ; martyrs sent to Rome for execution 317 ; their numbers 220, 241, 328, 333, 339, 373; spared by beasts 312, 404-6; women martyrs, outrages on 399« ; name 212, 223, 242, 245, 247, 259, 281, 323, 333, 336. 344/; vvomen tried privately 348«, 393 ; writers as historical witnesses 176-85, 278 Christianity, in court and camp 57, 343«, 435 ; in Asia suppressed the native character 44, 443-66; attitude of educated classes towards, see Edi/cated; spread of 57, 146, 284; connected with lines of communication 9, 225, 285 ; political side of 10, 177, 192, 360, 445 ; local and ideal centres of 288, 364, 438 ; its relation to pl;ilosophy 272, 335 ; opposed to Greek ideas of social life 335 ; its cosmopolitan doctrine 345, 360 ; its attitude towards education 345. 360 ; its attitude towards women 345, 360 (see Women, Church) ; at first received favourably 130, 346; aggressiveness of 12, 239, 246, 314/ 357, 374, 432 ; cause of family divisions 236, 246, 281, 347> 352 ; disturbing society and trade 130, 200, 239, 246, 326, 347 ; causes of persecution of 346-60 ; involved dangerous principle 358 ; a religio illicita, but not punished on that ground 193, 250/ 255, 347, 373; no law against 210 Christians, their behaviour in society 130, 239, 246 ; characterised by indolence 274, 436; their conduct in Roman courts 199, 357, 374; treated as brigands and outlaws 208, 223, 269, 275, 327, 333, 338, 342 ; charged \\\\.\\Jlagitia zo^, 237,289, 340; charged as magicians 236,392, 410; searching out of 212, 290, 333, 336; professional advocates in cases against 480; secret 239, 274, 436; swore by safety of Emperor 323^; their power 325, 330, 353«, 436; pro- tected by their power 325 ; acted as senators and soldiers 435 hatred of 235, 326, 346 ; how far regarded as Jewish sect 194, 266-8 Chryses 469, 471 484 Index. Chrysorrhoas 471 Chrysostom, homily on St. Thekia attributed to 393, 4io«, 424« Church, organization of the 361-74, 428-32 ; its attitude towards women 162, 375, 459; see also Catholic, Orthodox, Women Church history, its connection with political history 172-6, 185-9, 190-92 Cicero 37, 4o6«, 451 Cilicia 63, 108, no, 149, I57« Cilician Gates 10, 74, 85, 91/ io8», 3l8» Cincius Severus 323« Claudiconium 45», 56 : see Iconium Claudio-Derbe 55 : see Derbe Claudius 231, 373«, 387, 393, 414, 427 Clement 229, 283, 284, 287, 309-11, 319, 365, 368, yjon Codex BezcB 36, 52-4, 87, 94, I28«, 140, 151-63, 167, 418 Cognitiones 207, 214^, 215-17, 398/ Collegia 215, 359, 43032, 43^ Colossae 93, 466-80 Comama 32 ; Comana in Cappadocia 33 Commentarienses 330 Comnenus, John 463 ; Manuel 94 Conjoint Emperors 249, 333, 336^ Consilium 217, 223, 426 Constantinople 99 Conybeare and Howson 4, 12, 16, 28, 36, 56, 57, 61 «, 81 Corinth 10, 56, 85, 158, 311, 3I9«, 420; persecution at 31 1 Councils 363 ; at Iconium 38 ; at Laodicea 377 Cultus of the Emperors 133, 191, 250, 275, 296, 304, 323«, 324, 354.373. 396, 398, 465/ Curtius, Professor E. 123 Custodia libera or privata 399-400 Cybele 125 Cynics 352 Cyprus io8« Cyzicos 387 Dalisandos l62« Dalmatia 285 Damaris 159, 161 Dangers of travel in Asia Minor 23 Deaconesses at Amisos 205, 220«, 225 De Boor, Prof. C. 449 Delatores 325/, 327, 480 Demas 377, 392, 417 Demetrius 112 Jf Index. 485 Derbe 44, 54, 56, 68, 74, 85, 103, io8« Diana Ephesia 143 : see also Artemis Dikastai 393, 394, 411 Dion Cassius 260, 263-4, 268, 270, 310, 323» Dion Chrysostom 43, 41 1» Dionysopolis 137 Dispersion 287 Dods, Dr. Marcus 291-5 Domitian 226, 249, 256, 259-78, 302, 308, 310, 328: see also Flavian Policy Dorymedon 43 5« Dorjiaion 76«, 84 Doulcet, M. 2i3» Druids 354 Educated classes, their attitude towards Christianity 133, 147, 335, 346, 351 Egnatian Way 10 Emperors, worship of : see Culttts ; conjoint 249, 333, 336^ Empire, thought of as "the World" 304, 314; frontier poHcy of 41, 385; tolerant spirit of 194, 210, 268, 346; its reasons for persecuting Christianity 191-3, 346^; when it began to persecute 194/ 226, 242, 251, 255 Ephesus 10, 16, 51, 56, 91, 112-45, 147. 152/ I57», 163, 20o«, 285, 297, 302, 313, 318, 365, 427 Episcopal power, development of 364-74, 428-31 Epistles : see Paul, etc. Eumeneia 94 Expositor 4, 8, 36, 112, 144, 371, 430, 435/ 439/ 443, 471 Falconilla 407, 420 Farrar, Archdeacon 4, 28, 45, 449, 456 Felicitas, St. 294^ Female prisoners, brutality of gaolers towards 399» Firmilian 38, 464^ Flavia Domitilla 260 Flavian policy towards the Christians 226, 249, 252-319, 354-60, 372/ Flavins Clemens 260, 271 ; Sabinus 243 Floriuus 330 Fundanus, Minucius 320, 329 Fumeaux, Mr. 2i6» Gaius of Derbe 98 486 Index. Galatia 9, 13, no, 149, 163, 187, 285, 396, 411 ; change in extent of the province in, 423 ; development of Northern 99 ; language of 82«, 97, 100 Galatian Churches 11, 36, 43, 51, 64, 72, 82, 91, 97-111, 154, 167; date of importance of 104 Galatians, North, a Celtic race 105 ; date of Epistle to 100, 167, 364, 427 Galatic country 77. 81, 88, 90, 95 ; Phrygia 93, 391, 396, 398, 415 Galaticus 14, 78«, 8o» Gallic 349, 364, 426 Germa 82«, 99 Glycerins 449-62 Gonyklisia 436« Gordium 99^ Graeco-Roman civilisation in Asia Minor 34, 41, 317, 358/ 362, 385, 396^ Greek cities, Latin names in I45;i ; language, excellence of later 45 1« Greeks, modern, united by religion alone 467; their " perversitas"' 350 Gregory Nazianzen 374, 445, 447, 453. 455. 460 Gregory of Nyssa 424, 445, 447, 450, 455 Guarding of prisoners 400 Gutschmid 382«, 383, 428 Gwynn, Dr. 376, 380, 403, 4i6», 4I7«, 424, 425^ Hadrian 143, 192/. 278^, 289, 320-30, 336, 345, 353, 400, 430, 432 Hamilton 473 Hardy, Mr. 20i«, 2I4«, 357 Harnack, Dr. A. 5«, 283, 31 1«, 316, 399^, 434^, 437^ Harris, Prof. Rendel 88, 329^, 376«, 434, 439 Hassan Dagh 36« Hatch, Dr. 430^ Headlam, Mr. 48, 51, i62« Hebrews, Epistle to 288, 306, 349^ Heracleia-Cybistra 47 1« Hermas 361/ 368, 369, 432 Hermogenes 377, 392, 417 Herodotus 473-6 Hicks, Canon 112-45 Hierapolis I55«, 469, 471 ; Hieropolis 430«, 436^ Hierax of Iconium 39 Hilary 256^ Hirschfeld, Prof. O. 24», I58«, 3377* Historical Geography of Asia Minor 7, 8, 13, 20, 24, 26, 28/ 34, 38, 42, 47. 80/; 96, 99, 125, 138, 142, 168, 285, 455. 464, 469 Index 48 7 Hodceporicon ot St. Willibald I55» Hogarth, Mr. 51, 55, 137, 464, 494 Holleaux, M. 277« Holtzmann 248, 286, 349^ Horace 176M, 325« Hort, Dr. I58«, 283» Hypatius 463 Ibora 446 Iconium 27, 36-46, 55, 67/ 75, 81, 85, 99«, 103, 108, 131, 148, 163, 376, 379. 39095. 409-". 417, 422-6, 427, 458 ; originally Phrygian 37-9, 42 Iconoclast 463, 467 Ignatius, letters of 127, i8i«, 188, 3H-19, 341, 363, 365, 369-71,404, 406, 430, 432 ; the name of 44o« Imperial religion : see Cultus Indicium 202«, 233 Inscriptions of British Museum 113^, 480; Corpus of Greek 14, 56, 79 109, 123, 136, 441, 480; Corpus of Latin 15, 32, 80, 430, 440; of Exploration Fund 14, 23/ 32, 50, 56, 128, 12,7 ff, 142, 162, 398, 430, 432. 435. 440, 457, 480; various 23/ 138/, 201, 227, 440/" Isauria I57«, i62«, 390, 423 Isis worship 373« James 247, 349 Jerome 374, 404, 414 Jerusalem 74, 355, 438; influence of its destruction on Christianity 287/ 364 ; New 437 Jews in Asia Minor 18, 45/ 68, 131, 150, 287, 349, 354/ 480; poHcy of empire to 19, 265, 268, 349, 354/; rights and powers of 349, 355; their expulsion from Rome by Claudius 231, 373^ ; and Christians, distinction of 194, 266 ff John, Gospel of 302 ; First Epistle of 302-6 John Mark 16, 19, 61/ Juliopolis 82, 191 Jupiter before the city 51 : see also Zetis Justinian, his defensive scheme 478 Justin Martyr 39, 320/, 333, 337, 338» Juvenal 175, 179, 400 Kara Hissar 458 Katakekaumene 138 Keim 320, 324, 337, 340^, 433 488 Index. Keretapa 468-80 Khairetopa 468-80 Khatyn Serai 48 ^ Khonai 468-80 Kiepert, Professor 19, 28, 47» Kilisra 49 Kotiaion 76^ Kouphos river 470 Language of Galatia 82«, 97, 100 Laodiceia ad Lycum 93, 142, 389, 469 Laodiceia Combusta 44i« Latin names in Greek cities I45« Leake, Colonel 36«, 48 Le Blant, M. 262«, 265«, 269«, 294^, 312, 33o«, 374, 397«, 398«, 399«, 4oi«, 402, 403«, 404«, 405«, 408, 4I3«, 418, 419, 421, 422, 425, 432«, 434«, 435«, 436«, 480 Leopards 406 Leto 125, 138 Lewin, Mr. 4, 74«, 76«, 94« Licinius Silvanus Granianus 278* Lightfoot, Bishop 5,9, 64,78,81, 82, loi, 111, I26«, 127, 156, l6o«, 171, 185, 193, 2i3«, 249«, 26i«, 262«, 274, 277«, 292, 307, 309«, 3io«, 311, 3i5«, 318, 320, 322, 327«, 328, 33i«, 332«, 333, 336«, 352«, 370W, 376, 379«, 395«, 440. 442« Lipsius, Dr. R. A. 5, 3i«, 97, 99«, 320, 324, 376, 380, 382«, 401, 402«, 404^, 4o8«, 416, 417, 421, 428, 469^ Localisation of Divine power 466 Lollius Urbicus 327, 334 Loyalty of Asian provinces 42 Lucian's familiarity with Christian procedure 366 Lugdunensian martyrs 204, 219, 240, 337, 379, 401 Lycaonia 37, 41, 56-8, 95, io6, 108, no, ill, I57«, 164, 390, 423, 427 Lycaonians, character Oriental 57, 106, 161 ; Koinon 15, 39; language 57 Lycia no, 149, 46S, 471 Lycus valley, topography of 468^ Lystra 33, 35, 44. 46, 56, 68, 74, loi, 103, 131, 144, 163, 390, 409, 41 1« Macedonia 149», 151, 156 ; subdivisions of I58», l6o Magistrates in provincial cities 45, 67, 70 Magnesia on the Mseander 200, 326, 365 Mandata Imperatorum 208, 211, 214, 334, 338/ Marciana, African martyr 404/, 413 Index. 489 Marcion 100 Marcus Aurelius, policy of 334-40, 342, 351 Manccus 404^ Martial 179, 318 Martyr, the name 251, 281, 296 Martyrs, nude 377 ; fastened to a stake 413; spared by beasts 377,404; inscriptions placed beside 401 ; see also Christian Mealitis tribe at Sillyon, meaning of the name 139 Meetings for religious purposes legal 219 Melito 320, 33 1«, 336, 338 Mfin 191 Methodius 424 Metropolis of Ionia 442^ Michael at Colossae or Khonai 468-80, other seats of his worship 468, 477 Migratory habit in Asia Minor 17 Miletos 155, 480 Minucius Felix 333 Monimsen, Prof. Th. 8«, 12, 32«, I27«, \^(>n, 186, 188, 192, 194, 208, 2i6«, 224, 226«, 256, 269/ 293«, 295, 318, 322, 332«, 343«, 354«, 373 «■ 383. 386«, 387/?, 432«, 444« Monks in Phrygia 463 ; in Cappadocia 449-59, 461-63 Montanism 416, 433-42 Mutterrecht: see Women Myra 155, 379, 4io«, 417-19 Mysia 75, 82, no, 160 Nakoleia 76» Name : see Christian Naoi 123-8 Naokoros 154 Naophoroi 128 Neil, Mr. I52« Neopoioi 114, 119, 122 Nero 226-51, 276, 278«, 282, 301, 307, 346, 348, 349, 388, 392, 414; date of his return to Kome from Greece 244, 277 ; expected return of 308 Nerva 310 Neubauer, Dr. A. 68« Neumann, Prof. K. J. 181, 194, 195, 202, 203, 213, 2I9«, 226, 26o», 266, 297«, 302«, 33i«, 338, 339, 353«, 399^ Nicaea 83, I57« Nicetas of Paphlagonia 375 490 Index. Nicomedeia 83, 99, I57«, ii^n ; case of the firemen at 2IS«, 358 Niobe I24« Nisibis 438 Nomadic habit in Asia Minor 17 Nomophylakes 114 Nomothetae 114 Novatians in inscription 441 » Officium 330 Olba 427 Onesiphorus 376, 390, 409, 417 Origen 283, 336^ Orthodox Church 465-7 ; unifying the Greek race 467 Overbeck I95«, 320, 324, 33i« Pamphylia 16, 61, io8«, no, 138, 149 Papadopoulos Kerameus 439 Paphos 61 Papylos : see Carpos Patara I55» Paul 3-168, 245, 246-51, 282, 284, 286, 302, 349/ 364/ 426; infirmity of 62-74, 86 ; personal appearance of 32 ; a tentmaker 1 59 ; Roman ideas 56, 58, 60, 70, 94;?, 148, 158^ (see Travel Document) ; develop- ment of his views 364/; 426 ; chronology of his life 100/, 166, 426 ; persecution of 131, 246-50, 349^, 350; visits to Jerusalem 100 f, 107, 166; first journey 16-73, 364. 420; second journey 74-89, 420; third journey 90-96, 418^; at Ephesus 112-45; pastoral epistles 103, 246-50, 288, 365, 368, 380, 417 ; Epistle to Thessalonians 85, loi, 347, 364, 426; Galatians 9/", 43, 59/", 64/; 91, 97-1 n, 285, 347, 364, 420, 426/; Corinthians 64/ loi, 103, 106, 149, 347, 364, 420; Romans loi, 286, 288, 347, 364; Ephesians 286 ; Colossians 148, 469, 477 ; see also Thekla\ Paul of Samosata 43 1» Paulicianism 467 Pepouza 437 Perga 16, 61 : see also Artemis Pergamos 150, I57«, 297 " Perils of Rivers " — " of Robbers " 23 Perpetua, Acta of 434 Perrot, M. lii« Persecution of Christianity, administrative not legal 207 ; early forms of 200, 250/^ 347, 349, 372, 392_/'; ineffectiveness of, 325, 373; causes of, 346-60 ; social 294 : see also Christianity Index. 491 Pessinus 82, 99, 108, 459« Peter, First Epistle of no, 187, 2i3«, 245, 279-94, 302, 348, 365, 368; Second Epistle of 288, 432« Pfleiderer, Dr. 187-89 Phargamous 457 Philadelphia 10, 93, 3i8«, 370» Philemon : see Baucis Philip the Asiarch 442» Philippi 10, 56, 85, 103, 131, 156, 160, 186, 200», 250 Philomelium 28, 430 Philosophy, its relation to Christianity 272, 335 : see Educated Philostratus 384^ Phrygia 37, 42, 58, ^6, 91, 106, no, 146, 149, 160, 446: see also Angels, Galaiic, Montanism Phrygian, a title of disgrace 27, 42 ; cities, Greek origin of 42« Pionius, Acta of 393« Pisidia 18, 50, 72, no Pisidian colonies 30-35, 70 Pliny 146, 181, 187, 196-225, 226, 228, 240, 259, 266, 267, 275, 278«, 289, 302«, 435« ; character of 217, 221, 350, 357 ; fundamental importance of his letter to Trajan 195 ; see also Trajan Pliny, the Elder 37 Polemon, King 382-9, 427 ; Sophist 384;/, 389 Polycarp 330/ 369«, 374, 398^, 399^, 430, 433/, 442^ Pomponia Graecina 348^ Pontus \on, 81, no, 149, 187, 198-225, 285; date when Christianity reached 225, 285 Presbyters 367-74 Priests, attitude of, towards Christianity 58, 131, l44;of Artemis 120; named and dressed as their god 459 Ptolemaeus, prosecution of 327, 334 Pudens, action of 334 Pygela i55» Quadratus' Apology 328-9 Religion, ancient, its character 130-34, 144, 191, 209, 360; localisation of 466; meetings for, legal 219; Imperial: see Culttis Renan 19, win Robinson, Mr. Armitage 52, i6i« Roman organisation in provinces 41^, 358/; 362: see Graco-Roman Royal Road i\ff 492 Inaex. Sacrilege 260^, 396-401 Saint, giving name to city, 20 Saints : see Ada Salmon, Dr. 45«, 38o«, 4i6» Samos 155 Saracen inroads, character of 478 Sardis 125 Sasima 426 Scaliger 379 Sceva 153 Schlau 380, 428 Schiirer, Dr. E. 9«, 13 Seleuceia of Isauria 379, 426, 466; of Syria 60, 3i8«, Seljuk Sultans 463 Seneca 273 Servants of "the God " 397, 407 Seven Churches, letters to 300, 368, 369» Severus, Septimius 194, 219, 317 ; Sulpicius 243, 253, 255 Silas 74 Sillyon 138 Sinethandos 441^ Slaves, evidence of 204 Smith, Mr. Cecil I35« Smyrna I28«, 147, 150, I57», 297, 332, 365, 4l8«, 430, 433 Sociari Sanctis martyribus 262^ Sodalitates 211, 213-15, 219, 358/ 430-32 Spitta 166-8, 299, 369«, 426 Stadium Amphitheatrum 400« Stadium, trials held in 399 Stephanephoros 397 Sterrett, Prof. 28, 47^, 48, 5o«, 54 Strabo 19, 25, 37, 55, 76, 79, 427, 454; and Herodotus 474^ Strobolis I55« Suetonius 240, 257, 258, 267, 271, 273, 276; and Tacitus 230 Synnada 435;?, 436« Tacitus 9, 176, 183/ 201/ 205, 227-51, 258, 267, 276, 348«, 355, 387«, 399«, 404« ; proconsul of Asia 228 ; conception of Flavian policy 253-6 Tarsus io8«, I57« Tatian 345, 353, 360 Taurus 17, 19-24 Tavium 82, 99^ Index. 493 Tertullian 221, 283», 321, 323-6, 327, 334«, 342, 34S«, 37 jw, 400, 404, 414, 415, 421/ Tetrarchy of Lycaonia 41, 45, 55 Thamyris 377, 392, 394, 410 Thekla, Acta of Paul and 31-3, 36, 46, 66, 155, 159, 26o«, 375-428 Theokleia 376 Theophilus, of Antioch 337 Thessalonica 56, 85, 131, 250 Thessaly 160 Thundering Legion 342 Thurston, Rev. H. 439^ Thyatira 416 Timothy 74, 85, 98, 102, 420 Titus 417, 420; Emperor 254, 256, 267: see also Flavian Policy Toleration of non-Roman religions 12, 193, 219, 268 Trade Route, Eastern 28 Traditores 326 Trajan 195, 226, 259, 266, 278«, 289, 302, 329, 333, 337, 341, 345, 353, 435« : see also Pliny Tralles I57«, 191, 33i«, 365, 398^ Travel-Document, Pauline character of 6-8, ^ ff, 43/, 54, 56, 60, 62-4^ 65- 11, 78, 93. 117, 146-50, 164/ Trials held in Stadium 399 Tribal jealousy in Asia Minor 39 Troas 10, 76, 85«, 89, 151 Trogj'lia 155 Tryphsena, Queen 378, 382-9, 396, 400403, 406, 412-14, 427/ Tubingen school of criticism 180 Tyana 10 Tychicus 154 Tymion 437 Ulpian \oin Venasa 4, 142, 450-64 Venationes 317, 378, 396, 398, 405-6, 413 Vespasian 256-8, 278«, 301, 308 : see also Flavian Policy Vischer 298 Velter 301, 302» Waddington, M. 8«, 109, 142, 175, 332«, 383, 385, 44l» Weber, M. 474-6 Weiss, comm. on i Peter 349« 494 Index. Weizsacker lli«, 307 Wendt 5, 76«, Tjn, 82, 106, 149, 167 Westcott, Bishop 303;^, 305, 443« Wieseler 2i3« Willibald, St. I55« Wilson, Sir Charles 48 Women in Asia Minor 67, 161, 398, 403; in the early Asian Church 161, 345, 360, 375, 438, 452-9; in Macedonia 160; see also Christian, Christianity, Female Prisonefs Xenophon, his evidence about Phrygia 37 Yaila 17 Zahn 3i8«, 379, 383^, 384«, 404, 414, 4i6» Zeus of Laodiceia 142 ; of Lystra 51, 57/; of Venasa 142, 45^ Zeus Larasios 191 ; Olympius 191 ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS. 1 (p. 47). View of Lystra, from a photograph by Mr. D. G. Hogarth, 1890. The view is from the south ; Ayasma with trees in the fore- ground. 2 (p. 55). View of Derbe, from a photograph by Mr. Hogarth, 1890. The view is from the south-west. 3 (p. 441). Gravestone, in possession of a Turk, native of Seulun, drawn by Mrs. Ramsay, August 1884. I tried vainly to induce some rich Armenians of Kara Hissar to bring the stone to their church for preservation. 4. The Map of Asia Minor is intended chiefly to show the political divisions a.d. 50-70, and, secondarily to aid the comprehension of the history of Christianity in the country during the early centuries. By a mistake the hills bounding the valley of Lystra on N.E. are represented too near Iconium. 5. The Map of the Lycus valley depends on the Ottoman Railway Survey, kindly given me by Mr. Purser. The route from Denizli to Khonai is added by me : I traversed it in October 1891. By W. M. RAMSAY. THE CHURCH IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE BEFORE A.D. 170. With Maps and Illustrations, 8vo $3.00 " It is a book of very exceptional value, Prof. Ramsay is a real scholar and of the very best type of scholarship. A thoroughly trood book ; a product of first- hand and accurate scholarship ; in the highest degree suggestive ; and not only valuable in its results, but an admirable example of the true method of research. — The Churchman. ST. PAUL THE TRAVELLER AND THE ROMAN CITIZEN. With Map, 8vo $3.00 *' A work which marks an important step in advance in the historical inter* Eretatjon of St. Paul. . . . It is an immense gain to have the narrative fted from the mean function of being an artful monument and mirror of a strife internal to Christianity which it seeks by a process, now of creation, now of elimination, to overcome and to concealj to the high purpose of representing the religion as it began within the Empire and as it actually was to the Empire and the Empire to it. . . . Professor Ramsay has made a solid and valuable contribution to the interpretation of the Apostolic literature and of the Apostolic age — a contribution distmguished no less by ripe scholarship, in- dependent judgment, keen vision, and easy mastery of material, than by fresh- ness of thought, boldness of combination, and striking originality of view."— The Speaker. 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Date Due ^ i r^^.&%«"-:r.r:' Princeton Theologi „calSemmary-SpeerL;brarv 7 1012 00015 9428^